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The Scarlet box collects together the first (and for my money, the best) three of the Hellraiser franchise, digitally restored and mastered in 2k from newly sourced prints and crammed full of extras, including the Clive Barker early works Salome and The Forbidden that were included in Anchor Bay's superb 4 disc DVD set. This is certainly one of the most stunning box sets I've seen, and its no surprise with the sheer wealth of content that it went out of print a good three weeks before release date. The sturdy outer case graced with some Barker style art, is filled with stacked slim gatefold inner cases with wonderful matching art for the four discs of content, plus a futher gatefold case with concept art, cards and extras, and an impressively fat full-colour hardback book detailing the Barker literary and film universe. The film extras are practically inexhaustable. New commentaries, EPKs, interviews, dailies, features, and even the infamous Surgeon scene from Hellbound plucked from a long lost workprint, and it goes on and on - basically, everything you could ever want is in here!
It would unquestionably be a 5 star rated release if not for the contentious picture quality of the re-mastered Hellraiser print. I’ll be honest, I'm really torn on it. "New source" usually equals vast improvement, but that's going to be a matter of taste. Whilst the stability, colour, detail, and black levels are unquestionably terrific and radically improved over prior releases (this is the ONLY official DP approved version) this print has a constantly distracting level of coarse grain that fluctuates quite inconsistently throughout. Sometimes a dark scene looks fine then all of a sudden there's one that looks startlingly like a DVD on a channel that’s not quite tuned in properly. On very odd occasions, the grain even appears to move, giving rise to some peculiar anomalies. Whether this is just the nature of the print, or something that's just been exacerbated by lightening or sharpening in a mastering process I don't know, but either way, it's undeniable that this hits you in the face, particularly on a big screen. I'm not averse to film noise, in fact I'd much rather have something closer to it's intended look than scrubbed to death with DNR, but given Arrow’s impeccable track record for these kinds of restorations (Zombie Flesh Eaters, I'm looking at you) it's really hard not to be disappointed with this.
Hellbound meanwhile, which has always suffered from some truly horrible DVD releases, is unquestionably the most incredible I have ever seen it look, even making prior blu-ray efforts look poor. Detail is rich, lighting and colour vastly improved, and even despite being free from DNR doesn't offer the same degree of distracting noise as its predeccesor. Hellraiser III is a solid release, marginally improved over other blu-ray offerings, (being the most recent, it was always the better looking of the three in most collections). And the combined extras on all 3 discs together with the bonus Barker Legacy disc will keep you busy for months.
So if you’re not bothered by the coarse and noisy look of the original, this release will be absolute heaven, but if you're expecting some Arrow related magic for Barker's first film, you may well be a bit disappointed. One thing’s for sure though as an entire package, this is unquestionably one of the most detailed and beautifully constructed sets you'll ever own.
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This boxset is legendary even on Amazon
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 31 October 2015
Ooooh this is one amazing boxset. It's everything a true Hellraiser fan could ever want. Smashing transfers, tons of extras and all in a beautiful box. Oh and if you were to slow getting your order in .... No tears, there a waste of good suffering !!!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 31 October 2015
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