MovieChat Forums > The Hills Have Eyes Part II (1985) Discussion > BluRay... yeah right

BluRay... yeah right

posted 12 years ago by RHPSvegas
4 replies | jump to latest

I got the new BluRay last night, and I have to say I'm less than impressed. The 'remastering' is nothing special; the movie still looks like a bad made-for-cable POS (oh wait - it IS!). The 1.66:1 aspect ratio is an insult. Let's face it: the true aspect of this film is open-matte 1.33:1 or 1.37:1. All they did for this was make it a little more suitable for 16x9 TVs by lopping off the top and bottom a bit and boxing in the sides slightly (even the so-called 'trailer', which is nothing more than a VHS coming attraction, got this treatment). This was made for HBO in the early 80s; why does IMDB insist it's 1.85:1? Because the Anchor Bay UK DVD release was matted to 1.85:1? This film is really nothing special, but I like it for nostalgic reasons (and I love the original). It would be nice to see this film actually get a real 'remaster' and the flashbacks be replaced with restored footage from the original, but that's never going to happen. This film was only begrudgingly made because Craven needed the funding to make A Nightmare On Elm Street (he's admitted this several times), so this film, by all intents and purposes, should not even really exist. The film is ridiculous: Pluto's back from the dead, Beast has 'flashbacks,' etc. This is a complete waste on BluRay as the presentation adds nothing. I can get this quality from the old VHS releases or the cheap Image DVD.

I do not care for trolls. I ignore them. They mean nothing and have no place here.

[–] macabre_madness 12 years ago

Where did you get the blu-ray cuz I looked a few places the day it supposedly came out and couldn't find it anywhere and it was backordered or sold out online (which I didn't want to do anyway). Hell, I never even found the orginal's blu-ray in stores. Guess I'm gonna have to risk ordering it online.

[–] RHPSvegas 12 years ago

I live in Las Vegas. There's a specialty record/DVD store here called Zia. Zia is located in Las Vegas, Phoenix and Tucson. They usually get all of the funky releases. That's where I got the original (which is honestly nothing more than a conversion of the Anchor Bay DVD). I know that Hills 2 is mostly backordered, but honestly you're not missing anything special. I rewatched the whole thing last night and compared it to the old DVD. It's a little clearer and colors are slightly better, but really it's not that much of an improvement.

I do not care for trolls. I ignore them. They mean nothing and have no place here.

[–] TheSilhouette 12 years ago

I ordered it on Amazon on Friday and got it in the mail yesterday.

Looking forward to checking it out this weekend.

I agree with the OP, it's crap. But it's fun crap.

They thought they were alone...

[–] ElectricWarlock 10 years ago

No offense to anyone who was involved with the making of the film in case they happen to read this. I love the film and think it's a very good movie, but I'm surprised this even got a Blu-Ray release in the first place. As I said, I like it but I know lots of people don't so I'm pleasantly surprised to see it hasn't slipped into obscurity and forgotten like so many other films that aren't well liked.

I've been waiting for you, Ben.