Customer Reviews

From Dusk Till Dawn [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I finally got around to transforming my home entertainment center into a full HD experience late last year, with the final step (a new Sony blu-ray player... 3D capable w. built-in wireless) occurring just weeks ago.

When I upgraded the TV from a picture-tube unit (albeit a very nice one) to a big flat-panel HD monitor, I discovered what "anamorphic widescreen" really meant. Far too many of my favorite movies, which always look "right" on my standard-def 4:3 tube, suddenly were totally inadequate on a 1080p 240hz high-def monitor. For anyone who's not familiar with it, you may have noticed it once or twice... "non-anamorphic widescreen" means that the image is actually recorded in 4:3 image ratio, with the "black bars" actually being part of the recorded image! So, play a "non-anamorphic widescreen" movie on a widescreen display, and you get a 4:3 image (including black areas) in the middle, with big black areas on either side as well... basically, a postage-stamp image of the movie in the middle of a sea of black! NOT acceptable... (and there's no excuse for egomaniacs like James Cameron REFUSING to allow upgraded versions of their movies ... "Titanic," "The Abyss," "True Lies," and so forth... unless they, personally, oversee the entire transfer process... hence why none of those flicks have decent transfers yet!)

SO... I discovered that my DVD of "From Dusk Til Dawn" was non-anamorphic. And I decided to upgrade it to a blu-ray disk.

Now, this disk is a "Canadian" disk... which surprised me a bit. There may be a "domestic USA" version which is different, but this is the one I bought from Amazon, so that's what I'm reviewing. (I had no idea that it was "Canadian" until it arrived, by the way.)

Okay... so, here are the PROS:

1) This is a truly beautiful transfer. The image is perfect, as far as I can tell. I saw no artifacts, no noise, no blur... nothing. This actually looked better than it did when I saw it on the big screen. I'd rate the image as a 9.5/10 (and thats' simply because I never rate anything as "perfect").

2) The sound is also a wonderful transfer. My home theater system allows full HD audio (in this case, DTS-HD Master Audio, though I also have Dolby TrueHD capability, which is a bit less common but sounds at least as good as DTS-HD MA). Using the Dolby 5.1 soundtrack, it sounded very nice... but using the DTS-HD track, it was phenomenal. (Mind you, I have a very nice 7.1 sound system... if you're going off the TV speakers, you almost certainly won't hear any difference between the two!) The surround effects were well-used... hearing "bat wings" fluttering behind my recliner, clearly moving from one side of my living room to the other, was pretty impressive!

So, the movie itself is nearly perfect.

But there are a few CONS:

1) There are ZERO "extras" on this disk. I know that there were extras on the DVD... I've got it right here. It's a shame that they chose not to provide those on this disk.

2) As a "Canadian" disk, this has the original English soundtrack (Dolby Digital, and DTS-HD MA, as described before). It also has a French Dolby Digital soundtrack. But that's it. This is perfect for me, but if you're buying it in the USA, you're going to get some other language choices (for instance, you'll almost certainly get Spanish).

SO... if you only want to watch the movie, in the original form and with the original sound, in the best possible quality, this is a wonderful choice. If you're one of those who likes "extras" as part of your entertainment purchases, you'll be disappointed in that part of it.

"From Dusk 'Till Dawn" is not a great film by any means, but it is entertaining...up to a point. The first half of the film is an effective, stylish and creepy noir/suspense film, with director Robert Rodriguez showing uncharacteristic restraint in his film direction. Clooney and (surprisingly) Tarantino are good in their roles, and play off of each other well. Unfortunately, the second half of the film becomes increasingly silly, as Robert Rodriguez succumbs to his fetish for over-the-top action and cartoonish violence, quickly undoing all the creepy suspense that was so carefully built up over the film's first half and settling for a parody-like tone for the rest of the film.

If done right, over-the-top horror film parodies can be very entertaining, as the first two "Evil Dead" films show. However, that sort of tone usually works best in a short feature format (such as the "Tales From The Crypt" television series). If the film is to be feature length, then a good deal of imagination is needed to sustain interest, otherwise a sense of a fatigue sets in. It is this imagination that makes the "Evil Dead" films work, and is what's missing in "From Dusk 'Till Dawn" (endless vampire explosions notwithstanding).

Still, if you're a "B-Movie" horror fan, the film definitely has its moments; besides the two leads, there's a great supporting cast (put together especially for genre fans), fun (albeit goofy) make-up effects, plenty of scantily-clad women, and buckets of fake blood, making the film an acceptable (if padded out) "B" genre film. Overall, a three-star film (out of five).

Regarding the Echo Bridge Blu-Ray release, that is truly a lazy catalog release title, if I've ever seen one. Currently available exclusively at Best Buy stores (but not on Best Buy's online website), I picked this up for ten bucks less than a week ago, and have already decided to get my money back (the Blu-Ray will see a general release in stores on May 3rd).

Presented in the incorrect film aspect ratio of 1.78:1 (from the film's original 1.85:1), the picture quality of the Echo Bridge transfer is a wildly inconsistent mess. A few scenes here and there look very good. However, most of the time the picture quality is soft and murky-looking, giving the film a dull, flat look. Colors tend to look unnatural and overly-saturated. The picture has plenty of digital artifacting and is riddled throughout with edge enhancement, killing off fine background detail. Blacks come off as strong but shapeless, crushing any detail thanks to the transfer's murkiness. I've read by some that DNR was occasionally an issue with the transfer; personally, I didn't see it, but I think we can all agree that even if DNR has been used, it is the least of problems for Echo Bridge's Blu-Ray release of "From Dusk 'Till Dawn".

As a result of the good reviews I've read online, I decided to order online the Canadian Blu-Ray release of "From Dusk 'Till Dawn" from Alliance. Now, I must confess that I'm not very big on importing Canadian Blu-Ray's, and I've heard fairly crummy things about Canadian distributer Alliance's Blu-Ray releases. Well, after a side-by-side comparison, there is simply no contest: in every respect, the Alliance Blu-Ray release is superior to the Echo Bridge U.S. release.

The picture of the Alliance disc is sharp throughout, without any of the murkiness and softness that plagues the Echo Bridge Blu-Ray. Colors pop but maintain a natural look, blacks are strong without being crushing, and neither DNR or edge enhancement are anywhere to be found. Regarding the audio, both the Echo Bridge and Alliance versions contain a DTS-HD 5.1 audio mix. My initial (and rather quick) comparison did not find much difference between the Alliance and Echo Bridge releases. However, a second, deeper comparison revealed there was indeed a difference between the two soundtracks, and once again, Alliance came out ahead. Surround was more expansive throughout with stronger panning effects, and bass was definitely more present. In fact, about the only thing the two releases have in common is a complete lack of extras.

Overall, while the Alliance transfer is not quite demo quality, it is a vast improvement over the Echo Bridge release, and a commendable hi-def transfer for a catalog title (In fact, I'd go so far as to say that the Alliance transfer of "From Dusk 'Till Dawn" even trumps Lionsgate's recent U.S. Blu-Ray releases of the "Scream" trilogy, which were all flat-looking and had far too much edge enhancement for my tastes). Only the complete lack of extras prevents me from giving the Alliance Blu-Ray release a four-star review.

So, to sum up: for casual and hardcore fans, skip the U.S. Echo Bridge release and pick up the Canadian Alliance Blu-Ray, which can be had right here on Amazon.com for roughly the same price (or slightly more). Of course, true fans will also need to pick-up (or hang on to) the Miramax two-disc DVD set, with all of its top-notch bonus features, including the feature length making-of doc, "Full Tilt Boogie", audio commentary with Rodriguez and Tarantino, deleted scenes and outtakes, a special effects doc and more (I do not recommend that DVD set for casual fans, as the picture is presented in non-anamorphic widescreen).

Maybe someday the fabulous bonus features from the two-disc DVD "From Dusk 'Till Dawn" release will finally be married to a worthy film presentation, such as this Alliance Blu-Ray. For now, fans of "From Dusk 'Till Dawn" can only hope.

I was very pleased with the picture and sound quality on this title. I have had the past 2 standard dvd releases, and neither were very impressive. First off......this film does not look perfect. So a 4 star review is pretty accurate, maybe a 4.5 at best. But.....it looks so much better than the standard dvd release. Simply put, this title looks about as good as it is going to get.

The picture quality is very nice indeed. There are minor specs of dirt from start to finish. These blemishes do not look bad. This film should look a bit grainy and a little rough. I highly doubt that a film of this caliber will ever get a million dollar restoration frame by frame. The opening scene looks great, the desert looks very sharp and bright. The picture somewhat resembles No Country For Old Men in the open country. The colors are super bright and sharp. The details really come through on this Blu title. The skintones are right on the money. The closeups show off great detail, the whites are super clean and the blacks hold up very well when the scenes are shot inside for the last half of the movie. There are lots of different colors displayed in this title. All look very nice and crisp. Overall this title exceeded my expectations on picture and sound.

The sound really rocks! Very good surround sound effort. All speakers get involved with this action movie. Lots of shootouts and explosions to keep a good 5.1 sound system working hard. The subwoofer gets it's fair share also. Once the action kicks in, the speakers get a lot of work. The voices come out crisp and clean. The shootouts really rock. The rear speakers are used often for great surround effects. The music sounds great to boot! Overall product review is a very, very good one. If you were dissappointed with the standard dvd release.....this will make up for that poor release. Easily worth the upgrade if you are a fan of this flick. A fun vampire/action movie!

One important note: As of 12/02/08, this title is only availible from Amazon CANADA.

Tarantino at his best. One of the greatest trash movies around, very funny and open minded. The DVD has English and Franch subtitles and audio tracks only.

I bought this DVD for my husband, who is a big Quentin Tarantino fan. This was the only movie of his that my husband had not yet seen.

He could not stop telling me about it after he finished watching it. He especially loved the look of the movie as well as the storyline. We just recently bought a blu-ray player, and he was really excited with how it looked on our TV. All in all, a purchase well worth it!

Oh man, I am so happy to finally have a blu ray of this flick. America needs to get the lead out! I shouldn't have to order imports! If one country has the blu ray, why don't they all? Anyway, this has always been one of my favorites! It looks good. It sounds good. Everything I wanted. Thanks!

I love this movie. One minute you're looking at two escaped cons fleeing when halfway through the movie it turns into a Vampire slaying movie! The halfway point of course is defined when Salma Hayek does a table dance that still leaves me looking look Quentin Tarantino does at the end of her dance...and I've watch the movie at least half a dozen times!
It's a strange movie and having George Clooney as a tough guy certainly makes an unexpected change. As my title says, it has a Hitchcock change that makes the movie interesting and it's better not to know anything about the movie before watching it. All I can say is do not give up on it because of the way the movie starts! Watch the whole thing before making comment.
The disc has great sound and excellent picture. Special effects are good but today they would be done better. Well worth the price though.

This movie is a four star fun fest from the 90's but this blu ray is cut rate with no extras at all , however the picture looks much better than on the truly awful
echo bridge blu ray from the states. However alliance could have done a better job on this; only they didn't. The blu ray is less than four stars but many blus have used; just like this one; the best print around with no cleanup. Unfortunately this fun flick wasn't given the top treatment. however it's not a bad as lets say halloween h20 looks on blu ray.

Combared to every non Blu-Ray DVD I have seen this is as good as it gets at home.Its like having a 35mm copy to watch on your HD TV.Like me you may say it was made in Canada and have not seen a Blu-ray done by our friends in the North.All I can say is great job.
For the picky it has a DTS non HD however the DTS a good mix.
As with any good transfer the real color tones jump out at you from the opening scene.Detail is sharp through the whole movie.

Violent, lots of blood and sex with Selma Hayek as hot as I've ever seen.Great cast with Cheech playing multiple roles. Great soundtrack.