Posted by whynotsmile99 at 24-205-35-62.gln-eres.charterpipeline.net on January 13, 2003 at 22:27:00:
In Reply to: Avoid OPERA? + SUSPIRIA & Anchor Bay remix madness posted by Vincent on January 13, 2003 at 22:12:46:
: Who told you such nonsense? OPERA is a visual masterpiece. The story leaves a bit to be desired, but that can be said of almost any Argento film. For sheer filmmaking prowess, OPERA is Argento's most impressive film and has some of the greatest murder scenes ever committed to celluloid, and Anchor Bay's DVD is very nice (note- be sure that it has "Version 2.0" on the DVD cover. The first pressing was defective and had to be replaced, and the "Version 2.0" marking designates that it's the corected 2nd pressing).
: As for SUSPIRIA, it's Argento's most well-known film, but not many fans actually consider it his "best". It has great moments, but also some really dull stretches (although it works a lot better on the big screen. Even the dull parts are interesting to look at thanks to the out-there production design and color scheme, and that doesn't come across so well on video, even DVD). INFERNO is a kinda/sorta sequel to SUSPIRIA and I think it works a lot better overall- there aren't any real dull stretches, it rockets forward from weird/creepy/interesting scene to weird/creepy/interesting scene with little fat in between them.
: Anchor Bay's DVD of SUSPIRIA looks great, but the remixed soundtrack has been severly tampered with and fucked up. If you've never seen the film this might not bother you so much, but to the experienced SUSPIRIA fan like myself, it renders the AB disc all but unwatchable. They left out a whole bunch of sound effects plus dialogue and some music, and made many other simple mixing mistakes, as well (inproperely mixed music levels and other mixing errors, like mixing an insanely barking dog to be barely audible when the guy who's walking him's voice literally BOOMS out of the speakers). It's a damn shame, and a bigger shame that the 2.0 soundtrack viewing option they offer on that DVD is not the original mix, but a downconversion of their fucked-up remix, an inexcusable choice on their part. If they'd included the original mix as a viewing option I wouldn't have anything to complain about, but for some reason they didn't and they refuse to offer original mixes as viewing options on just about all of their DVDs, not just SUSPIRIA.
: Vincent
i really appreciate all the info. im printing this out right now actually