The "Does Horror belong on DVD?" AKA "I miss VHS" thread

Werstrooper

Well-Known Member
There, I said it!

Now to find out if I'm alone. I'm a pretty big horror fan, have been sinse I was too young to watch horror. but I have never been satisfied with rereleases on DVD. They are never the same movie, the sharp sound, clean image and noiseless DVD player just changes so much of the atmosphere.

When I watch a horror on VHS, it feels complete, the picture is a little rough, the sound sometimes falls out of tune and you might get some annoying lines at the bottom of the picture. For me, this all adds to the horror experience. Does anyone else feel like this?

I went back over a few of my old horror flicks on VHS recently and was completely absorbed into the films, more so than on DVD. (I own DVD copies of the same films.

Two films that were ruined for me once watching Highdef rereleases of them.

NMOES 2
Evil Dead
Night of the Living Dead

I will never watch those on DVD ever agian, for me they felt off, clean and just not scary :(
 
I think you've got some nostalgia mixed up in there. I find for a horror movie you need the right atmosphere, quiet sound in a fully lit room just won't do.

That said if the lights are off and the sound is up DVD is fine for me.
 
I felt the same way when vinyl albums were being replace by CDs. There's a certain "warmth" that comes across when listening to recordings on vinyl that I found seriously lacking when listening to CDs.

For me, VHS vs. DVD/Blu-Ray is a completely different story. I hated VHS tapes. I dealt with them because that's all we had, but I was extremely pleased (and that's an understatement) when DVDs became the new entertainment media.

So, to answer your question, yes, in my opinion horror (and every other genre, for that matter) does indeed belong on DVD.
 
Well makeup in older films had wiggle room. HD pulls the curtain back on the edges we were supposed to miss on VHS. So I know your point. Also those old actress fuzzy lens filter scenes stick out like sore thumbs now.

I'm just addicted to resolution, and not rewinding.

-Mike
 
I miss VHS because it had no infuriatingly inane cg menu animations and crap. I'd rather put up with rewinding than have to sit through the kind of endless cg menu drivel at the start of the SW disc, from which you cannot escape - you can't wind forward like with VHS. You stick in your Thunderbirds DVD and are then prisoner to 20 seconds of bloody awful modern CG versions of the craft. I mean, what's the point of that? We old gits will obviously hate it, and any kids who think the cg menu is cool may be let down when they see the actual show is just models on string. Also, the painted sky backings on the sets in Thunderbirds are often trashed, with one side of the screen being dark blue, the other nearly white - on a shot which on VHS is an even tone of blue all the way across. Many shots in 2001, Space 1999 etc. have become almost unwatchable on DVD because digital imagery at that resolution cannot handle light flares, rendering them in broken up bands! No prob with light flares on VHS...

So, I agree. DVD has many advantages over VHS, but the DVD-bringers lied when they said it beat VHS on all counts. It doesn't, the main failing for me in film replication terms being this light flare break-up issue.
 
HaHa yes I am sick to death of long winded intro screens. There only getting longer as well.

Although I am no lover of rewind and ffwd either to be honest.
 
Depends. On one hand, I love my Evil Dead VHS. On the other, I'm tabbing over to amazon.com right now to buy the UK Release of The Thing on Bluray. I just can't deal without the awesome commentary.
 
Hey man, you might be on to something. I mean, what would The Ring be without VHS?


Still one of the worst "horror movies" ever made.


I have to say I am glad VHS is dead for the most part. No rewinding, no "eating the tape". The sharpness of digital makes filmakers work harder for the scene. That jello you used to use for slime and guts? not going to work as it's way too obvious with the clarity of digital.
 
None of those films were made to look good on VHS. They would have looked just as bad in the original theater run.

Made for TV might be a different story, since low res CRT was the norm for decades but, VHS was just a home video medium. Studios and theaters used real film which is by default high resolution.
 
I think you'll find a similar sentiment among fans of 70s grindhouse films: they almost want the scratches, splices, dupey picture quality and tinny sound of third rate cinemas running well-worn 35mm prints.
 
And yet, all that bad quality can be transferred into a DVD and each and every time you'll get the scratches, pops and other garbage, but never have to worry about the movie being wiped or torn by a VHS.

*****, talk about first world problems.

3rfmll.jpg
 
I miss VHS because it had no infuriatingly inane cg menu animations and crap...
The menus I can deal with. The one thing that bugs me about DVDs is having to sit through all of the "sneak peek" garbage they force you to watch when you start the DVD because they've locked out the controls and you can't skip or fast forward through them. If I were renting the DVD, fine, make me sit through it. But if I've paid for the DVD, I shouldn't have to, and neither should anyone else.
 
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