Film Reviews by MR

After the widescreen 2:35 opening credits end the DVD switches to a pan and scan 4:3 version which means you lose more than 50% of the original picture. I immediately stopped watching and found a version on streaming. Pan and scan really is the worst and I wish Cinema Paradiso would not offer these discs without a clear warning as I would avoid like the plague. 

A lazy uninspired sequel to a horror classic. No wonder John Carpenter chose to completely reinvent what a ‘Halloween’ movie was with the delightfully bonkers Halloween III: Season of the Witch. The film has several unintentional laugh out loud moments that make it worth a watch, but the overall workman like quality of the film sinks it. Even Jamie Lee Curtis in a bad obvious wig delivers a completely flat performance. 

On the technical aspects of the DVD at least it is presented in the correct 2:35 widescreen aspect ratio (not the shameful 4:3 pan and scan TV version I found on one streaming giant). However the transfer and image quality is atrocious. The image appears out of focus and has some kind of doubling effect going on that makes it look as if it was been projected through the bottom of a pint glass.

There is a new BluRay out that apparently is a fantastic high definition transfer of the film. Hopefully Cinema Paradiso will eventually stock this as the DVD is like a bad VHS. 

Disappointed to discover that what should be a 2 hour 20 minute film is actually only disc 1 containing the first half of the movie and Cinema Paradiso appear not to have the disc 2! 

They don’t even list it as a 2 disc film which is easily discoverable if you look into the Artifical Eye release DVD specs. 

Hopefully Cinema Paradiso will remove this title till they are actually able to offer the viewer the complete movie and not just the first half.  

From a technical perspective the DVD image quality / transfer is also pretty poor.