Sunday, January 12, 2014

Evil Dead II

Evil Dead II


Evil Dead II

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Evil Dead II (DVD)
By Bruce Campbell

If you've never owned "Evil Dead II" before, or if you've owned it a million times already across VHS, Betamax, LaserDisc, VCD, DVD, and Blu-ray, the new 25th Anniversary Edition by Lionsgate is THE version to have.

Lionsgate apparently returned to the original camera negative for this new transfer, and it shows. Detail is far above and beyond every previous home video release, including the dreaded waxed-over Blu-ray from Anchor Bay. A strong grain structure is present, although some mild DVNR tampering is visible--the grain generally moves as grain ought to, although sometimes it becomes more static, but never at a standstill. Color grading is a lot more dynamic and pleasing with realistic flesh tones and beautiful lighting I swear I've never quite seen before, while the contrast is more stable with night scenes looking appropriately dark, while daytime and near-dusk scenes look more appropriate and fitting than ever before. Black levels are solid, although there have been concerns of black crush being involved--that is, when shadow detail is lost, the shading variances gone and blacks being "crushed" instead. This doesn't appear to be any defect of the mastering, however; the film has always been dark, and it's my belief that the stark, detail-free blacks are due to underexposure during filming. The '98 VHS tape, THX- and DiviMax-mastered DVDs, and original Blu-ray (all from Anchor Bay) that I own all feature the same "problem" (*); I believe it was an artistic decision and one that I find to be visually striking. To top it all off, the original age restriction warning before the Rosebud logo returns, which had been excised from Anchor Bay's Blu-ray.


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