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Posted by Charles Eggen on 12/22/05 01:07
Universal scheduled a North American R1 NTSC double-sided, single disc
"Director's Cut" release on 29 Nov. 2005 ($20-25us); a 4-disc R2,4,5
PAL German release of 1 December (20-22eur); a 3-disc R2,4,5
Australian/NZ release of 7 December ($35au/$40nz) and a 3-disc R2 PAL
UK release of 26 December (17#). It is 13min. longer than what was
previously available on DVD and audio is dolby surround 5.1, dolby
surround 2.0 and, except for the R1 release, DTS 5.1. It is presented
in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen format.
The confusion over what exactly is contained has come from the info
going around about the package being one-disc, two-disc, three-disc or
four. The R1 North American release is a single disc that has the
feature, with a 2 minute intro by Jackson, on one side, along with an
optional audio commentary by Jackson. The other side contains a 270+
minute "Making of" documentary that includes: interviews with Michael
J. Fox, Trini Alvarado, Dee Wallace Stone, Jake Busey, Chi McBride,
John Astin and Jim Fyfe; a section (Ghost Stories) where Jackson and
Fyfe share their personal close encounters with ghosts; bloopers and
"lost footage" is included, as is a piece with Peter describing script
development; a cast rehearsal; an introduction to WETA; a close-up
look at miniature use; motion control and bluescreen effects; details
on how they constructed wallpaperman, portraitman, slimeface, blobman,
worm, the reaper; there is a 24 minute section on the music, with
Danny Elfman and more.
The R1 version also offers subtitles in English, Spanish or French.
With the AU/NZ and German versions, the 270+ minute documentary is
split between discs 2 and 3. The German version is the same as the
other R2s, except that there is a fourth disc in the package that
contains the original 105 min. theatrical version feature in
anamorphic 2.35:1 with original English plus French or German 5.1
surround dubbed options. There are many subtitle options on the R2,4,5
Director's Cut offerings. Special note for North American R1 only
users, although the 4-disc German version says it is R0, in fact it is
R2,4,5 and not written for R1, therefore, you will run into the usual
problem when trying to play it on an R1only player.
I suppose that we can expect a future R1 release that will improve on
the relatively low bit rate that the current R1 possesses. If you have
a machine that can play R2, 4 or 5 PAL discs, forget the US R1 and get
the Australian or German version, depending upon whether you want
both versions. I would appreciate hearing from someone who can confirm
the details of the UK version, once that is available, such as whether
it also offers DTS 5.1 and if it is R2 only.
Further info can be found at:
http://www.nzvideos.org/frighteners.html
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