RED SCORPION special edition from Synapse!

[Jerry_Dam]

Synapse Films finally unveiled details about their upcoming Blu-Ray/DVD combo edition and it's gonna be legendary!

With all the news about the various upcoming international releases of RED SCORPION on Blu-ray (UK, France, Germany, etc.), I just wanted to take a few moments to let you know what's happening with our version, which should be announced soon.

We've been working on our release of RED SCORPION for almost a year now. We want ours to be the best version available in any country, on any format, and we have been taking our time putting together the ultimate version of the film for our audience. Not only in compiling some amazing supplements, but also working on a restoration of the original materials to make ours the best looking version released.

Here is a breakdown of some of the features of our RED SCORPION release:

- All-new 2K transfer of the uncensored edition, containing additional footage not found in the original U.S. theatrical release
- Digital restoration of film materials supervised by Synapse Films and Reliance Mediaworks (formerly Lowry Digital), exclusive to Synapse Films
- All-new DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround Mix, made specifically for the Synapse Films release
- Digitally Remastered Original 2.0 Soundtrack.

- Synapse Films exclusive audio commentary with director Joseph Zito, moderated by Mondo Digital's Nathaniel Thompson
- HATH NO FURY - DOLPH LUNDGREN AND THE ROAD TO RED SCORPION - Video Interview with Dolph Lundgren
- ASSIGNMENT: AFRICA - An All-New Video Interview with Producer Jack Abramoff
- SCORPION TALES - An All-New Video Interview with Special Make-Up Effects Creator Tom Savini
- Original On-Set Behind-the-Scenes Video Footage
- Animated Still Gallery
- Extensive Liner Notes on the Making of RED SCORPION by Jérémie Damoiseau

...and the list of extras is growing daily... we're still working on some other things to add!

And, yeah, you read that right up there... we DID get Jack Abramoff. I know a lot of people made some jokes about getting him to do something for us while he was in prison. Well, we just waited for him to get OUT... and he agreed to give us an interview. It's a really cool thing and Jack was a great guy.

We worked closely with two companies to help us with extras for our release. Both RED SHIRT PICTURES and BALLYHOO MOTION PICTURES have put together some GREAT stuff. And a big congratulations goes to Tom Savini who not only gave us an interview, but raided his footage archive to give us some great behind-the-scenes "on the set" footage that no one has seen in 14 years. And big thanks to Dolph Lundgren for allowing us into his home for a great retrospective/interview about his career.

RED SCORPION is also being digitally restored by the same folks who did the Indiana Jones films, Once Upon a Time in the West, the Godfather Trilogy, The Alien films and, most recently, the all-new 4K 3D restoration on TITANTIC. We are thrilled to be working with them on this, as well as many future releases for Synapse Films.

Our release is going to be superb, not to mention a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack, so you get both formats in one package. Also, our release will be encoded for ALL REGIONS for both the DVD and the Blu-ray.

We're going to announce it in the coming weeks. Remember the old saying... "Good things come to those who wait!"

This US region free edition is not to be confused with the UK Arrow edition coming this month, also a great one.
Fans of the film should get both as they complete each other!

THIS EDITION CONTAINS

- Reversible sleeve with original and newly commissioned artwork

- Double-sided fold-out artwork poster

- Collector’s booklet featuring brand new writing on the film by author Calum Waddell

BLU-RAY CONTAINS:

- Brand New High Definition Transfer of the film (1080p)

SPECIAL FEATURES:

- Introduction to the film from star Dolph Lundgren

- UK exclusive audio commentary with director Joseph Zito, moderated by filmmaker and genre scholar Howard S. Berger

- ALL OUT OF BULLETS: Dolph Lundgren remembers RED SCORPION

- MUSIC WITH MUSCLES: Composer Jay Chattaway on the soundtrack of RED SCORPION

- Original Trailer

Original Art by The Dude Designs

In original 1.78:1 Aspect Ratio

Original Uncompressed LPCM Stereo Audio

Feature and extras 1080/24p Region ABC playable worldwide

RRP £24.99

Released 6th February 2012

[Anthony_DiPaola]

Synapse really went all out with this release.

[Jim_Mcdonaugh]

Surely the movie looks better then on any DVD but still the A/V quality is poor. Very very soft, almost no detail, hazy and grainy as hell, plus totally washed out and anemic. In motion it looks a bit better but still no good.
The sound is ridicules too. I didn't notice any difference between DVD.
Buying the Arrow disc is a waste of money to me. But I doubt any other edition gonna look and sound better.
Hopefully, when the era of Blu-Ray is over (the sooner the better), some studio gonna properly remaster everything.

Here're some snaps of the Arrow Blu-Ray:

[Jerry_Dam]

The US edition has been digitally restored in 2K by the same folks who did the Indiana Jones films, Once Upon a Time in the West, the Godfather Trilogy, The Alien films and, most recently, the all-new 4K 3D restoration on TITANTIC...

It will also feature an all-new DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround Mix, made specifically for the Synapse Films release...

The release date has just been announced for June 12!

http://synapse-films.com/dvds/red-scorp ... dvd-combo/

Features
All-New 2K High-Definition Digital Restoration of the Uncensored Version
All-New DTS-HD MA 5.1 Soundtrack Mixed Specifically for This Release

Audio Commentary with Director Joseph Zito and Mondo Digital’s Nathaniel Thompson
HATH NO FURY – DOLPH LUNDGREN AND THE ROAD TO RED SCORPION Featurette
ASSIGNMENT: AFRICA – Video Interview with Producer Jack Abramoff
SCORPION TALES – Video Interview with Make-Up Effects Artist Tom Savini
Rare Original On-Set Behind-the-Scenes Video Footage
Animated Still Gallery
Liner Notes on the Making of RED SCORPION by Jérémie Damoiseau
Theatrical Trailer and TV Spots

Reversible Cover Design:

[Jim_Mcdonaugh]

I seriously doubt the US Blu-Ray gonna be any better. The movie itself isn't great quality so I wouldn't expect much.
But anyway it's better then all DVDs that exist. None of those discs I've watched were any good. But still I'm not wasting my money on the US BR...

[Hamish_Towgood]

Typical! I just got this on Blu-Ray from Arrow!

[Jim_Mcdonaugh]

Typical! I just got this on Blu-Ray from Arrow!

What a waste of money...

[Hamish_Towgood]

Typical! I just got this on Blu-Ray from Arrow!

What a waste of money...

No it wasn't.

[Samuel_Scott]

Exclusive commentary = good purchase for fans. Both releases will eventually be mine.

[Jim_Mcdonaugh]

Both releases will eventually be mine.

[Jerry_Dam]

Reviews

This Blu Ray is crazy – because not only is there a great transfer, but there’s a whole lot of extras, including Lundgren kind of going through his entire career leading up to the film – and it’s great!
-Harry Knowles

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/56345
http://www.rockshockpop.com/forums/cont ... d-Scorpion
http://mondo-digital.com/redscorpion.html
http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/daily/a ... Submarine/

[Jerry_Dam]

Another great and very detailed review!
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/55477/red-scorpion/

(click for high-res capture)

Video
As you'd probably expect from a shiny, new Blu-ray disc with Synapse's logo stamped on the cover, Red Scorpion looks pretty much perfect. The filmic texture of the original photography has correctly been left intact, not smeared away by overzealous digital noise reduction. The bitrate's high enough to handle that sheen of grain without any hiccups, and there's not a trace of wear, speckling, or damage anywhere throughout the movie's hour-forty-five runtime either. Red Scorpion's palette isn't dazzlingly colorful but comes through pretty well, and I get the sense that I'm seeing every last bit of definition and detail that can possibly be resolved. Sure, the film stock has that yeah-this-was-shot-in-1987 look to it, and the photography struggles under lower light, but Red Scorpion is still one of the better looking late-'80s action flicks I've come across on Blu-ray. No complaints on this side at all.

The AVC encode for Red Scorpion spans both layers of this BD-50 disc. The presentation is presented without any matting, so you score a few extra scanlines' worth of the original photography.

Audio
This Blu-ray disc piles on two 24-bit lossless soundtracks: one in Red Scorpion's original stereo and the the other newly-remixed to 5.1. When I say that Red Scorpion doesn't sound like a remix at all, I absolutely mean that as a compliment. The aggressive use of the surrounds throughout the action sequences coupled with the sheer number of smooth pans from channel to channel...I mean, it all sounds so organic and so natural that if I didn't know better, I'd probably have assumed this is how Red Scorpion was always mixed. The elements used for this remix are in terrific shape, sounding at least a few years more recent than they actually are. The low-end really rattles the room while reinforcing all those megaton explosions and throaty engines. Every once in a while, I'd feel like there's too much bass -- as if such a thing were even possible -- and dialogue sometimes slinks a little further into the background than I would've preferred. The balance is generally spot-on, though. There's one point after a high-speed chase where the actors' breathing and slivers of dialogue bleed into the surrounds, and that's a little distracting. This is probably veering head-on into irrational nitpicking, but I was kind of surprised that the shotgun blasts that kick off the final siege sound so meek compared to the other havoc being wrought. Whatever, though. This is a really, really great remix, and I think even the most die-hard purists will be impressed by how well-done it is.

Red Scorpion also sports a set of optional English subtitles, captioned for the deaf and hard of hearing. Oh, and the disc's commentary is also a 24-bit DTS-HD Master Audio track, so that's kind of amazing too.

Red Scorpion is a combo release, packing in an anamorphic widescreen DVD in case you haven't made the leap to Blu-ray or just don't have a BD player handy while you're out and about. The reversible cover gives fans their choice of art, and there's a very detailed set of liner notes tucked inside penned by Dolph Lundgren über-fan Jérémie Damoiseau. Both the DVD and Blu-ray disc are region-free/all-region for those of you on the other side of the ocean.

The impressively hefty list of extras keeps going from there too.
Hath No Fury: Dolph Lundgren and the Road to Red Scorpion (25 min.; HD): Best thing about this Blu-ray disc...? This half-hour-ish conversation with Dolph Lundgren, hands down. The superhumanly charming, endlessly awesome Lundgren kicks things off by talking about how he landed into acting: dating Grace Jones and scoring a bit part in a James Bond flick. I mean, if the interview ended there, that'd already make it one of the best conversations ever, and yet the already-established awesome-ness just gets ratcheted up with really in-depth discussions about Rocky IV and Masters of the Universe. Red Scorpion is naturally the dominant topic on the bill: weapons training under hardened warriors, fielding a lot of his own stuntwork, filming while an honest-to-God war was underway in nearby Angola, and how the location was so far removed from everything that there was literally nothing to do but work, sleep, and drink. If this interview had gone on for another hour, I'd still be all over it. The short answer: required viewing.

Assignment: Africa (13 min.; HD): Oh, wow! Producer Jack Abramoff -- and, yeah, it's that Jack Abramoff -- sits down to talk about putting together his first feature film. Abramoff chats about how his experiences in Angola led him to dream up the premise for the film and eventually to produce such an ambitious action flick independently. From there, he talks about being forced out of Swaziland all of a week before filming was scheduled to start, how the Red Scorpion crew built more bases in South Africa than the Soviets actually did, toiling away in an area with no real film infrastructure, and his involvement in the sequel.

Scorpion Tales (10 min.; HD): Special make-up effects creator and all-around legend Tom Savini talks about his work on Red Scorpion: a gig that involved essentially zero prep time, three key sequences, and one gag that was never actually used. It kinda goes without saying that Savini delves in depth into his splatter wizardry, but that comes after ridiculously awesome stories about thinking he and his family were gonna die in a flood, suffering through one barely-edible meal after another, and how a Bond workshop kind of saved the day. Obviously well-worth setting aside ten minutes to watch.

Original On-Set Behind the Scenes Footage from Tom Savini (9 min.; SD): Well, with a heading on the menu like that, there's not a whole lot left for me to say here. This set of fly-on-the-wall footage as cameras rolled on Red Scorpion covers more than just Tom's two big setpieces, with plenty of shots of stuff blowing up around Dolph.

Audio Commentary: Director Joseph Zito fields Red Scorpion's commentary track, joined by moderator Nathaniel Thompson from Mondo Digital. Zito covers pretty much everything and then some: the score, the editing, the slew of different cuts of Red Scorpion that have been floating around for the past quarter-century, using an actual Russian tank captured in the war across the border in Angola, a skirt-chasing ninety-something-year-old bushman, not leaning on any miniatures or optical effects when s**t blows up, and how filming ultimately spanned thousands of miles. A hell of a lot of fun and really comprehensive to boot.

Motion Still Gallery (7 min.; HD): Rather than force you to mash a button a couple dozen times, Red Scorpion's image gallery automatically cycles through an extensive set of one-sheets, video art, production stills, and behind-the-scenes shots.

Trailer (2 min.; HD): Last up are a high-def theatrical trailer...

TV Spots (3 min.; SD): ...and a few minutes' worth of promos on the small screen.

The Final Word
Red Scorpion is a mostly routine '80s action flick, but if you were weaned on Cannon asskickers or are just a sucker for Dolph Lundgren, this Blu-ray disc's definitely worth checking out. The high-def remaster and six-channel remix are both first-rate, there are a hell of a lot of extras for this sort of movie, and it's all of fifteen bucks on Amazon. Recommended.

[Anthony_DiPaola]

Hate to say I told you so, but I told you so!

[Jerry_Dam]

The reviews keep popping up! 1989 is long gone... (can't say RED SCORPION had good reviews or the public enthusiasm far from it)
http://www.mediamikes.com/2012/06/blu-r ... d-scorpion
http://movieline.com/2012/06/21/red-sco ... off-rocky/
http://www.okgazette.com/oklahoma/artic ... rpion.html
http://digitalchumps.com/movie-reviews/ ... eview.html
http://www.schlockmania.com/ds-red-scorpion/