I'm going to say three things in a row I honestly can't believe I would ever, in a million years, get the chance to say:
1) I just pre-ordered an Arrow Video Blu-ray,
despite having sworn to never do that again. EVER.
2) It's a brand new scan of the original camera negative,
and absolutely wipes the floor with the previous restoration.
3) IT'S LUCIO FULCI'S ZOMBI 2.
Blu-ray.com is goddamn hit or miss with their reviews, I admit, but I think the following two screenshots are worth a thousand words each and then some:
Blue Underground 2011 2K Restoration
(LVR Video & Post, Rome)
(LVR Video & Post, Rome)
Arrow Video 2012 2K Restoration
(Deluxe Soho, London)
(Deluxe Soho, London)
Need more than two not-exact-frame grabs? Gary's got your back. Y'know what, Arrow? I yield: You win. Even without knowing how good the compression on the actual disc is because of any possible JPG shenanigans, it's clear that you did exactly what you promised you'd do, and more importantly, from the looks of it you didn't fuck it up. This looks fucking amazing - I can actually see every single tooth in that bag's zipper, and the pleats on Tisa Farrow's shirt! I had zero doubt that there was detail lurking beneath the CRT scanner noise and sticky, fuzzy DVNR that turned the Blue Underground master into a monstrous, inconsistent mess, and you have exceeded my expectations at least three fold here.
Let's make something as clear as possible: I'm sure everyone at Arrow Video (and at least the vocal majority of the people who hang out at the Cult Lab Forum) thinks of me as a pesky little bastard just waiting to tear each and every new Arrow transfer a new one, a sort of prose-spewing tick to pluck off and burn the wound closed as quickly and painlessly as possible. I get that; most critics aren't half as OCD as I am, and even some I find quite honest and respectable try to temper their disappointment because, at the end of the day, they're getting free shit and you tend to not keep getting free shit when you say "Wow, this is a big wet sack of ass!"
Understand that when I complain about DEMONS (or whatever I'm on the rag over that month) looking badly compressed or having a borked mono mix or, whatever, it is my panties are in a barbed-wire twist over, it's not because I get off on complaining. Not mostly, at least! It's because I'm legitimately disappointed that you guys just didn't quite stick that landing. I love these movies, and it's clear that you guys do, too. That's when you regurgitate the Blue Underground master with a reversible cover and a new interview all I can do is sigh, shake my head and wish someone would care enough to get this shit done, and properly at that! From the look of it... you've done exactly that. You looked at Blue Underground's previous work, stuck your nose up in the air and said "I think we can do better".
Y'know what, guys? You did do better. 14 Pounds is yours, and since I don't get Amazon kickbacks anyway, the above link's proceeds are instead going straight to the very Blu-ray.com review that convinced me to pony up. I'd recommend everyone else who's Region B capable does just the same. Alternately, for those who have a boner for Arrow's "Quad Box" slipcover designs, it's available from THEIR WEBSITE as a limited edition of 500.
Seriously, Arrow, keep this up and I'll be the happiest, brokest goddamn Yank you'll ever know.
Thanks to Michael at Land of Whimsy for pointing out that it's opposite day in Apocalypseland... and things couldn't be better.