MovieChat Forums > The Children (1980) Discussion > The bad audio + video quality

The bad audio + video quality

posted 18 years ago by british1500
7 replies | jump to latest

Okay, I just checked out a clip from badmovies.org(which inspired me to rent the DVD). Yes, there is absolutely no doubt to the fact the DVD version is awful. Wherever badmovies.org got their clip from seems to be a lot more "remastered" than this was.

But, allow me to play devil's advocate here. I actually kind of like the splotchy video quality and audio quality comparable to a bad record. It helps me into the 1980 mind set where all films looked like that to me.

Heck, even the reel change "pop" is left intact on the DVD version. Look no further than a neglected film that never got the filmguard treatment, or countless hours of digital restoration, and here it is.

Yes, I prefer the grainy film quality. There, I said it. If I was a big time movie producer/director and made a movie set in 1980, I would pay extra to make a film look this bad. There you would get the full illusion.

[–] Woodyanders 18 years ago

I'm glad to read a post from someone who's grateful that this movie finally came out on DVD. I'm a huge fan of "The Children," so I was overjoyed when Troma put it out on DVD with such nifty extras as a commentary and cast and crew interviews. You make an excellent point about how movies tended to look and sound pretty ragged at drive-ins and grindhouse theaters back in the day. The DVD does offer an authentic recreation of that singularly shoddy late 70's/early 80's drive-in movie theater experience.

"Warren Oates died for our sins"

[–] british1500 17 years ago

Quentin Tarantino's grindhouse double-feature movie trailer(forgot the name) had graininess and such added to it, not unlike The Children.

[–] prbronx5 17 years ago

I purchased the DVD as well and I was pissed at how bad it looked and sounded. The whole point is for the movie to look good on a widescreen t.v.. They didn't even try to letterbox it. So the picture looks even worse on a 16x9 set. It amazes me that they can remaster older crappy movies from the 60s and earlier that were also low budget, but 80s movies get no respect. Hell most of them don't get released at all.

[–] Dreamer80 17 years ago

Where can I find this movie to purchase it? My fiance wants this movie so bad and I can't find it anywhere.

[–] raging_bull75 17 years ago

Check ebay....thats where i got my copy from.

[–] prbronx5 17 years ago

I got mine for like $9 on www.deepdiscountdvd.com

[–] 17 years ago

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