American Werewolf in London coming in 2009!

Classic horror movie but let's see what kind of transfer they come up with before I get excited.

Will it be a new transfer, or the same one used for the HD-DVD?

probably will be the same one. well, actually, isn't that film-to-tape transfer now about 8 years old? Maybe it's due for another.

It definitely needs a new transfer.

Yes it does, the HD DVD transfer was very poor IMO.

i just have the DVD. i read that the HD DVD just improved on res although colour points are slightly different...with HD that makes sense.

specific examples please. I have it, think it looks fantastic, but am very curious to why so many seem to consider it unsatisfactory.

Have you ever flipped it over and compared it to the sd side?

Universal Studios recycles it's original home video masters. Video masters used for laserdisc and cable are ported to DVD and then HD-DVD/Blu-Ray. Sometimes they will make new transfers for whatever reason but that is a rare case. That's why so many of their catalog releases have been less than stellar.

This was released in the early days of "WTF!? This doesn't look like the discovery channel!" reviews. It didn't take an inordinate familiarity with the film to realize the differences in the HD presentation, when the sd was readily available to a/b on the flip side.
Another thing that I think was a huge factor in all the pot shots this took, was that format warriors found titles like this easy to slam since unlike the majority of Bds at the time, it was over 10 years old and was never known for being a particularly 'pretty', let alone splashy looking movie.

I won't be suprised if the film looks 'different' on Bd. A change in the films color timing would accomplish that. That won't mean it's more correct. I'm sure they can now feel free to DNR the hell out of it, since most of those bad reviews singled out the graininess of the image.
Let's put it this way, the current HD DVD is the antithesis of the New Line Pan's Labyrinth. You guys can have Pan, and the rest of the DNR'd monstrosities to come. I'll keep AWIL.

I am also in the "American Werewolf look amazing" camp. As someone who watched the SD DVD a million times, I thought the HD upgrade was brilliant. Very film like image, which great detail and colours.

You guys can have your DNRed BD, I'll keep my old one thank you.

I reckon if they're lazy they will use the same one they used for HD-DVD.Hopefully they're not

I thought the twentieth anniversary DVD looked good....Nice film like image with GRAIN....If that's how it looked on HD-DVD with six times more detail then i'll gladly take a port of that over to the Blu Ray version and i'll buy it....If they DNR out all the grain and give us waxy smooth images then it's a no sale for me.

Yes the HD DVD was a very film like transfer. With it being a Landis film I would be surprised if the BD is any different. Remember what happened with Animal House, Universal cleaned it up so much and Landis made them change it to how it was supposed to look. In the HD DVD forum a while back someone posted about being at a festival showing of AWIL where Landis introduced it and said the transfer looked better than his original prints of the film. I can't imagine anyone wanting a different transfer.

lol Those days are still alive and kickin' over at places like High Def Digest.

Where as I would normally have replaced an existing HD DVD with a BD upon the title's announcement in these dark days of DNR, I'm keeping all of them until I've read some reviews. In fact, I'm pretty much done pre-ordering in general unless some makes me an offer I can't refuse.

Same here! I would rather spend my money on newer titles in HD then have to start double dipping...

Any updates on this?

Another one here! Won't double dip either especially I paid $4.95 for it on a hd DVD clearance sale

Mid April is what I've heard.

The good movie and great make up effects but HD-DVD is enough for me.

If I remember correctly the HD DVD, although largely film-like with the grain intact, had a frustrating amount of edge enhancement present.

That said, by far my biggest complaint about the HD DVD (and the DVD release before it) was the exclusion of the original mono audio mix. In its place is an absolutely horrendous 5.1 remix that buggers up the film beyond all recognition with the insertion of completely new sound effects that bear no resemblance to the rest of the sound and stick out like a sore thumb.

I have the HD-DVD but have not watched it for a while however, I don't recall being very impressed with this title. It is one of my all time favorite movies and I do remember the HD-DVD being an improvement but the picture seemed soft and somewhat flat IIRC.

The only thing I really liked about the 5.1 mix was hearing the wolf growl behind me when it was circling them in the beginning, gave me a proper scare

Whatever its failings, the HD DVD wiped the floor with the DVD. I compared them before I popped the DVD on my Sell/Trade pile. I understand Whiggles' complaint about the EE, but it still made the DVD look very poor.

I totally agree but I still expected more. I don't know what the specifics are on the original print, what kind of film was used, etc. but I bought it after I bought The Thing and Blade Runner on HD-DVD which were about the same age but looked much better. Again this may not be a fair comparo due to condition of film stock and what was used to shoot it.

I love this movie so I will probably douple dip if there is any added value over the HD version

The HD-DVD had a very low tier rating. It might be better than DVD, but that doesn't mean a whole lot. It was soft and from what I recall, it had some film defects (scratches, etc.) that where transfered over. IMHO, it needs a new transfer for BD.

EDIT: I just found review link in the HD-DVD forum. Not very favorable. And it looks like the softness and poor quality were intentional based on the second post about the Director's comments. Read that post and still see if you think it doesn't need remastering on BD.

Do you watch The French Connection 1,2 BD yet?it was by far the worst as blu-ray discs ever for picture,I know these 2 movies was old aged but the movies older than these got a better transfer.(2 movies,I mean The American and The French connrction.)

I haven't yet, no. I'm currently waiting to see if the upcoming US release has the original mono audio intact, as the European releases only appear to feature a 5.1 remix. As far as I can gather, the biggest issue with its transfer is the extent to which it has been changed from its original theatrical presentation, but I don't want to say too much about it until I've actually watched the disc, instead of just going by the screen captures that have been posted. Based on these shots, though, I'd argue that calling them "by far the worst as blu-ray discs ever for picture" is hyperbole of the most extreme kind. I also don't think age really comes into it: the intended aesthetic, the budget, the materials used and so on play a far more important role than how old the film is.

ok, so I popped this in last night and flipped through a few scenes and I'll eat my words (mostly). It is a bit soft but nothing like I remember, there is certainly a level of detail that is missing but all in all I'd say it looks pretty decent. Based on the way Ralph Potts scores things I'd give it low 80's. The colors seem a little punched up and I do see some EE but neither are too distracting. I agree that this movie needs a re-master but the HD version is a pretty large improvement from the peasant disc.

Well April has come and gone and still not a peep about this title which seems to be one of the very few Uni titles that have yet to surface in the blu world.

Still have the HD DVD and it looks fantastic!