Have yourself a Blu-Ray Black Christmas…

So after recently swinging a great deal on a 42″ LCD tv for my downstairs “rec room” (thanks to my parents – they won a 42″ Plasma and sold me their year-old LCD) I decided to take the plunge into Blu-Ray. My DVD player was just about 10 years old and has never been able to play anything other than standard DVDs (so all my bootleg burned discs were watched on my computer). Plus, I had been given a copy of Black Christmas on Blu-Ray for review and up until then, had no way to view it. So, I bought a player and was able to finally experience the film in all it’s awsomeness…First off, I will say that Blu-Ray is AMAZING. However, it’s important to understand that not every film is going to be made to look brand new when given this treatment. It has largely to do with the quality of the source material, and who oversees the re-mastering process. And while some movies have been restored to a pristine look, it just cannot be expected that others (especially low budget films) to get the same treatment or even be able to be restored that well. Such is the case with this release of Black Christmas. Though miles away from the initial disc release a few years ago, it still shows its age and has an overall grainy quality. That said, I believe it enhances the quality of the flm. In fact, I’m not sure I’d want a perfect version of it to be honest….I like the “film quality” of it.

As a side-by-side comparison, I popped in the regular version of the disc (new release – just not Blu-Ray) and instantly noticed the difference between the two. In that case, Blu-Ray makes all the difference…it’s just better in all ways. Especially the audio…that is where I was most impressed.

The extras are pretty cool as well. The new documentary fills in some of the gaps from the extras on the prior release, but there’s not much new to say about the film. All in all it’s a great release. If you have a Blu-Ray player, I highly recommend picking this up…it’s a great transfer and in widescreen (for the first time, I believe). If you don’t have a Blu-Ray player, I wouldn’t run out to buy one just for this movie…but pick up the standard version of it as it’s still better than the earlier disc.