MovieChat Forums > Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973) Discussion > I can't believe no one's asked this yet....

I can't believe no one's asked this yet...!?

posted 15 years ago by butcherofbakersfield
6 replies | jump to latest

With a remake coming out and a worthless and overpriced DVR available from Warner Archives...Any chance WB will see dollar signs and put this out for a proper DVD and Bluray release? That's probably the only upside to all these remakes coming out...the originals usually get the royal treatment for a special edition. I know Disney is doing the remake, but Warner should see the buzz on this and make a move...Anyone know anything concrete regarding this?

[–] sflowers539 15 years ago

I can see WB wanting to cash in, but I heard that the original was shot on tape not film since it was made for TV, so I don't think you can do much to improve the picture quality. Who knows what extra material was saved as well from the original that the could use in a DVD Special Edition.

[–] butcherofbakersfield 15 years ago

Thanks for the response - From what I've read about the picture quality, it sounds like they could have done SOMETHING to better the presentation. Tape or film, you can still clean up the image. But I guess that's the whole point of WB Archive. Dump obscure titles as is on a DVD-R. This would be fine as I've endured my share of unavailable bootlegs, but for $20 a pop? Not a chance. I would love to see what their sales are like. If they thought they didn't have a market before for these titles...God help them. Most fans of obscure genre films are also audiophiles. It kind of goes hand in hand. They want the best presentation possible. I still have yet to see this film and it irks me that I can't even just rent it from Netflix because of WB's little embargo on their Archive collection. Sorry, you can't force me to buy it.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] Vermathrax 14 years ago

but I heard that the original was shot on tape not film since it was made for TV

Not true, most TV movies from back in the 70's (and 60's and 80's for that matter) were actually shot on 16mm film and then transferred to tape for broadcast, look at the very good quality of The Night Stalker, Spielberg's DUEL and Night Gallery DVD's to see how it can be done right if the original film is used for the transfers.

The Night Gallery DVD's were in fact an older transfer done for VHS and LD in the 90's but it still used the original film negatives and therefor look pretty good IMO.

Point being that if the original 16mm film neg's were used, Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark could look pretty damn good on DVD.

[insert very clever movie quote here]

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] adamsmo 14 years ago

I would think so. I read on a horror forum that there've been indications of it, though I don't recall what exactly.

I would think that if an absolutely terrible movie like the original 'the Crazies' could get a blu ray release, this would as well. It already had a DVD before its remake, though.