Dead of Winter [DVD]

Title: DEAD OF WINTER (1986)Label: 88 FILMSTranfer by: MGMAspect Ratio: 1.85:1A pretty solid BD release from 88 FILMS. What a wonderful old-schoolish creepy thriller in the style of an intimate play. Although shot in 1986 there are nowhere elements you know from typical 80th movies. The character-actors are so cool and gifted and they seem to perform with heart and passion. The technical aspect ist great eather. The photography really can be described as painting with light. Pure eye candy. Good frame compositions, nice set- and costumedesign, script, lightning, acting, atmosphere…everything great on that side. The movie is a tense little nailbiter - a gem you can enjoy several times. The many lovley set in place details fit strongly together cause it is so well written. Brian de Palma and Hitchcock would appreceate this movie for sure. Re-see it if you know it already. If you dont knwo it, see experience it new (lucky bastards :)) Do not expect a slasher movie with breathtaking special effect. Here you are truely tied to narrating and acting qualities. DEAD OF WINTER is a kind of its own and stands above nearly (there are always exceptions) every slasher movie I saw, regarding its qualities and acting aspects.No Grain Baby, No Gain / The Transfer:A nice HD transfer has been done by MGM. There is some grain structure left but in many scenes I thought its appael could be more filmic, especially in darker segments of the movie it kind of can look a bit noisy and sometimes I missed texture and grip to the picture. MGM did certainly no new 4K transfer. They do it quick and easy. But the master has been cleaned well and is very good stabelized. Colors are de-saturated, which I find supports the atmosphere further. The Deep dimension picture is very good and the transfer offers relativly good levels of detail. Although the picture sometimes tends towards smoothness. On the other hand, I couldnt spot edge enhancement. DEAD OF… is mastered bright, therefore no crush in blacks occur. This supports the color-composition and style of photography very well.Cut and Run:DEAD OF WINTER is a version integrale. NO noticeable inserts from different sources have been applied. The movie is uncut.Final Thoughts:Fans, collectors and cineastic people with bigscreens or projectors should spent their money. The Movie is worth it anyway. This may not be the definite quality version but it represents the movie quite well and looks relatively filmic.Statement:My ratings refer exclusively to technical aspects of BD sets. The more filmic / photographic a movie looks and feels via bigscreen projections and the more authentic to its camera negative (or other sources) the movie is scanned and digitally treated afterwards, the higher the ratings will be.I do not rate movies at all. I just watch them and I think of them as artificial pieces of work where many efforts have been taken (including complex postproduction) to accomplish a vision of whatsoever kind. No movie ever shot has earned a 1 star rating on AMAZON or a 1 point rating on IMDB. Anyway, I could rate them because I have studied in private many publications about making films, their psychological impact, and the subject violence on film. And because I am a hobby photographer for years now I know much about frame compositions, color composition and different styles and so on. I am interested in the arts in general. I am also a hobby musician and sound designer with a little studio. So I even could rate the filmical scores. But hell...why should I? Things are what they are and nothing more or less. I like to think beyond mind constructed terms like good and bad. So called "objectivity" becomes fast diluted by personal preferences which results in comments of personal taste. And that should not be the base for a rating-scale which claims to be universal. When it comes to technical aspects thats a different kind of thing. DNR, edge enhancement or block noise and such things are obvious on big screens and we can speak of objectivity and measurability.All about Ev(m)e:I am a collector of films for about 27 Years, own about 3.000 films (would be far more, but I often sort out transfers I dont like) and watch them in a home-cinema room via bigscreen projection. I am also a hobby musician and photographer with some experience scanning camera negatives in high definitions. I am fascinated by films from reels since I am a kid and spent hours for hours in cinemas and visiting film festivals.

Very atmospheric mind bending scary story. I've loved the film Black Christmas and wanted something similar to watch at this time of year and I found it in Dead of Winter. The story is completely different and there's no masked killer but the guide lines are the same. Spooky house a blizzard outside all alone and dead bodies hidden away it's dark it's gloomy it's nightmarish.

The user who is dissing the Blu-Ray transfer doesn't know what (s)he is talking about. Certainly this is not a 4K restoration, but then the original cinematography was probably intentionally a bit soft-focussed (helpful, among other things, when the same actress is supposed to be three different people). The DVD transfer of this one was particularly poor, and the amount of extra detail on Blu-Ray is staggering. Particularly the many striking scenes with mirror distortions, unusual angles or action in the background of the frame - these gain immeasurably. I watched this on a 65 inch screen and have no complaints. The film itself is one of the best claustrophobic thrillers ever made and a class act all around - though NOT a 'slasher', contrary to the statement on the BD cover (oh well, we know you have to pick a label that sells).

Katie MacGowan is a jobbing actress hired by a film producer. He is friendly charming and is also a psychologist. She is taken to his country mansion to practice her part. The producer tells her the movie's original actress walked off set. The original actress is the splitting image of Katie. Gradually Katie begins to notice that things are not as they seem. Firstly, she notices the phone wire has been cut. Then she notices remnants of her burn driving licence in the fireplace. Great movie with many twists and turns that keeps you guessing.

This film is directed and performed with all the attributes that would have made the great Alfred Hitchcock proud to have called his own.A great tale of suspense, murder and blackmail thrown in for good measure.very rarely shown, never to the best of my knowledge shown on british television, this cinema release is top drawer if you like good thrillers.Presented here as a region 1 n.t.s.c.dvd release [ check compatabillity with your dvd player before ordering] this has not as. at 06/03/2010 been released on region 2 for G.B., which is a shame. Additionally this release is 16/9 on one side and 4/3 on the other.Personaly i enjoyed this film and unlike a lot in my collection has a repeatabillity factor.

Not bad at all. Higher production values, if compared to the other Slasher Classics Collection titles!

Good to watch on a winters night.

l have watched this film years back and l really enjoyed it,cant wait to watch again.Quite a good twist in it,l think.