2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
This is DVD quality?, April 6 2004
This review is from: Fright Night Part II (DVD)
I have bought a few cheapie $3.99 DVD movies. Though the picture was far from great, thery were no worse than VHS picture quality. I recently bought Fight Night Part II on DVD for $10.99 and the picture quality is atually worse than the VHS that I have! What the hell happened! Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that Artisan Entertainment is digging and releasing some old classics from their vaults, but if your going to release them like this then don't bother! This is by for the worst from Artisan. Bride of Re-Animator, Waxwork, and Lair of the White Worm were disappointents because of the poor picture quality, no widescreen formats, and lack of supplemental material, but Fright Night Part II takes the cake as their worst release! MGM may be getting lazy too and only releasing their titles only in Full Screen format, but at least their movies have good picture quality! Artisan needs to shape up or get out! Artisan should sell the rights of their older movies to Anchor Bay Entertainment so they could be properly released!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
Great movie, awful presentation, Aug 22 2003
This review is from: Fright Night Part II (DVD)
Fright Night Part II is, IMO, very nearly the equal of the first movie, which itself is my favorite horror film of all time. That said, I have been waiting for a few years (ever since the release of the first FN film by Columbia TriStar in '99) for Part II to become available on DVD.
I'm not disappointed that the presentation is full-frame, 1.33:1, as from what I understand, the film was originally shot in this aspect ratio. I'm not even disappointed that there aren't any extras to speak of (extras being rare for any sequel DVD, really).
No, the problem lies with the ABOMINABLE transfer. The movie seems to have been mastered directly from whatever print Vista had lying around--it's very grainy and looks about the same, or perhaps slightly worse than, an SP speed VHS copy. For DVD, it's absolutely hideous. Artisan should know better than to release such product without at least attempting a remastering which would have tightened up the picture and made it worth the DVD release (look at the 2 films' DVD releases side-by-side...nothing to compare!).
If you're a Fright Night completist or just really really like the movie, buy this DVD. It'll keep your VHS copy (you know you have one!) from withering away. Don't buy the disc looking to be wowed by the digital format, you'll disappoint yourself (I did).
The movie: 4 stars (out of 5)
The DVD: 1 star
Average rating: 2.5 stars
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
No Widescreen!, Aug 20 2003
This review is from: Fright Night Part II (DVD)
Okay, so this sequel wasn't the best, or even close to the original, but for completists such as myself it was ok. I would've appreciated AT LEAST a Widescreen transfer. This DVD version is a reformatted (cropped) cheapie. The film is grainy and has only a 2.0 Audio. I'm surprised Artisan released this as is. Save your money.
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