The Crow

General		Extras
Category	Horror	Theatrical Trailer(s)	Yes, 1
Rating		Other Trailer(s)	None
Year Released	1994	Commentary Tracks	None
Running Time	97 minutes	Other Extras	Cast Biographies Featurette - Making Of (8 mins)
RSDL/Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Movie
Region	4	Director	Alex Proyas
Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Brandon Lee Ernie Hudson Michael Wincott
RRP	$34.95	Music	Graeme Revell

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Full Frame	MPEG	2.0
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	None	Dolby Digital	2.0
16x9 Enhancement	Not Applicable	Soundtrack Languages	English (MPEG 2.0 ) English (Dolby Digital 2.0 )
Theatrical Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
Macrovision	Yes
Subtitles	None

    The movie is based on a series of comic book novels, and has a very gothic look about it. Couple this with an aggressive music soundtrack, stunning effects and spectacular stunts, and you have a truly memorable movie experience.

Video

    This transfer was taken from a release print, as you can just glimpse the tell-tale reel change markings in the upper right hand corner of the frame at times.

    The transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 (i.e. 4:3). This is a full frame presentation rather than a Pan & Scan presentation, with additional image at the top of the frame. No image appears to have been lost at the sides of the frame, though the reel change markings would suggest otherwise.

    The transfer was generally quite sharp and clear. However, as is common with transfers taken from release prints, the dynamic range of the transfer suffered, with very little shadow detail and often excessive whites. Low level noise was present in a number of the black fields, and some of these were more a dark grey than a truly deep black. This movie, being very dark, is definitely better watched at night or in complete darkness.

    The colours were somewhat muted. Once again, they looked like a movie release print rather than having the richness that we have come to expect from interpositive transfers.

    No MPEG artefacts were noted. Aliasing was only rarely present and quite minor. Film artefacts were excessively common, and somewhat distracting at times.

    In comparison, the Region 1 DVD of this movie is framed at 1.85:1, non-16x9 enhanced, and has been taken from an interpositive. A brief check of this disc revealed that the image quality is generally slightly better, though not much better, than the Region 4 DVD. It is certainly a much cleaner looking DVD. Note that there was a major fault with the brightness level of the original Region 1 DVD release, and the disc was remastered and reissued with the same packaging. The number on the inside edge of the corrected disc is 128157.C3.02.

Audio

    Dialogue was frequently hard to hear and quite muffled. Indeed, the entire soundtrack had a "compressed" sound to it.

    There were no audio sync problems with this disc.

    The musical score is by Graeme Revell. It is a great score, with a mixture of lyrical orchestral music and pounding techno. It is a major component adding to the overall gothic feel of this movie, so it is quite a shame that the soundtrack sounds so dynamically limited.

    The surround channel was aggressively used for ambience, special effects and music. It was highly enveloping.

    The .1 channel received a great deal of redirected signal from the surround processor and was heavily utilized.

    The Region 1 DVD of this movie has a remastered Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack which sounds significantly better than the Region 4 version.

Menu

Theatrical Trailer

Cast Biographies

Featurette - Making Of

    The video quality is better than I thought it would be, but is certainly not great.

    The audio quality is a let-down for this movie, and is quite disappointing.

    The extras are slightly better than the usual Village Roadshow extras. The Region 1 version of this disc, being a Buena Vista release, is bereft of features.

    Overall, I would recommend the Region 1 version of this disc because of its superior image and audio quality. However, it is worth at least borrowing the Region 4 version to watch the Making Of Featurette which is very interesting.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Michael Demtschyna
23rd February 1999