Ahead of its release later this week, High Def Digest has published their in-depth review for Scream Factory’s The Halloween 4K Collection (1995-2002) set, featuring comparison images between various releases and an overview of the set’s contents.
I’ve included some highlights below, but please make sure to read the entire review for any questions you may have!
As one of the longest-running horror franchises in cinema history, the Halloween films have run the map of sequels, remakes, and reboots. Scream Factory brings together The Halloween 4K Collection – 1995-2002, combining Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, the relaunch Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later and its follow-up Halloween: Resurrection. Now in 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, each of the films have been given new 4K scans from the original camera negatives and Dolby Vision HDR (with varying results), the same solid audio tracks, and plenty of new and archival bonus features to slice through. Die Hard Myers fans will want to pick this set up, but for the casual franchise fan it may be a tough sell.
Scream Factory continues their work started a year ago with The Halloween Collection (1995-2002). This is an eight-disc set, with two 4K discs and two Blu-ray discs covering both cuts of Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers. All of the individual slipcases are held together with a thin paper-stock box.
As we approach yet another entry in the long-running franchise with Halloween Ends on October 15th, Scream Factory gives the sixth, seventh, and eighth films another run. This set is a bit of a mishmash of films, each with its stalwart fans and detractors. And unlike Scream Factory’s last run of franchise releases, the only way you can get these three films on 4K is in this set, and that may well be a sticking point come purchase time for many out there.
Each film in the set was given new 4K scans with Dolby Vision HDR for the 4K discs. Generally, the improvements are appreciable but the color timing changes for The Curse of Michael Myers will no doubt be a conversation piece within the fan and collector communities. I personally don’t mind it, but it takes a little getting used to. As for H20 and Resurrection, the color changes are far less dramatic working better to accent the films visuals. And since those films had such shoddy releases previously, it’s easier to see and appreciate the numerous improvements.
Bonus features junkies also pick up an excellent new audio commentary for the theatrical cut of The Curse of Michael Myers with Resurrection scoring several new very good and informative cast and crew interviews. Even with the improvements mentioned, this set isn’t really for the casual Halloween fans but instead for the die-hard junkies like myself. Ultimately this one is Recommended… at least until the next set for Rob Zombie’s remakes and/or a massive mega franchise set with all of the films together – even if that seems unlikely.
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