The Halloween series is getting a facelift from Scream Factory. The first five films in the seminal horror franchise are getting the 4K UHD treatment. People were admittedly apprehensive about this release, wondering if it would be worth it over grabbing the Blu-ray copies. That question might have a bit of an answer now, especially with Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers.
The long lost footage of the alternate opening to Halloween 5 was found a couple years ago. Now we have it on this upcoming 4K release. The opening of that film originally featured something similar to Frankenstein, where Michael washes up at the home of an old hermit. His name in the film was Dr. Death, and it helps explain some of the more occult/cult type dealings in the fifth and sixth film. Dr. Death gives Michael the Mark of Thorn and then Michael kills Dr. Death in a brutal and evil way.
In addition to this new opening for the film, more scenes of gore and violence that had to be cut, are in the film. Finally, for Halloween 5, there’s a brand new featurette titled: Of Darkness and Shadows – The Cinematography of Halloween 5. It’s a new interview with cinematographer Robert Draper on the film. For fans of the series, this extra unseen footage is almost assuredly worth purchasing the 4K version of Halloween 5.
The Other 4K UHD Versions Of Halloween 1-4
As for the rest of the films they all have new 4K scans of the original camera negatives. Which gives it the absolute best picture quality these films have ever had. We also get Newspaper Ad Still Galleries by Drive-In Asylum for all five films. For the first film we get The Broadcast Television Cut (in standard definition 1.33:1). That’s a special treat for those who remember watching the film on television or want to see how most people might have experienced the film for the first time.
Halloween II doesn’t get any new content outside of what’s previously mentioned. Halloween III: Season of the Witch gets Tricks, Treats and Terror: The Masks of HALLOWEEN III – an interview with Justin Mabry of Trick or Treat Studios. The masks in that film are iconic (and showing up in the upcoming Halloween Kills), so that should be a treat for fans of that film. Finally, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers doesn’t get any new content for this release besides the previously mentioned additions.
Now does this make this release worth your buy? If you already own the previous editions of these films from Scream Factory, you might have to ask how much is that 4K UHD transfer worth? The picture and sound quality will not be better than this, so if you love watching movies in 4K, then sure, it’s worth it.
For me, I’ll definitely be grabbing these five 4K releases, and the additions to Halloween 5 are surely worth the price of admission.
You can grab them from Scream Factory and they release on October 5th, 2021!
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The little bits of added gore or violence might be interesting to see. Aside from that, I see nothing that needs to be changed. Not even remotely. Halloween 5 was the final great Halloween movie. I think a good case can be made that it was the final great SLASHER MOVIE, in general. Ever since the dawn of the 90’s, the Halloween series-and the slasher genre-have been trying to fix something that was never broken.