Sisters [Blu-ray]

Format: BlurayTitle: SISTERS aka BLOOD SISTERS (Germany: Die Schwestern des Bösen) (1972)Label: ARROW VIDEOTranfer by: CRITERION / ED PRESSMANAspect Ratio: 1.78 : 1Some Thoughts About The Movie (NOT the base for my rating):Wow! What a great movie, providing an astonishing visual and emotional experience. BRIAN DE PALMAS movie is creepy, full of tension and offers surprisingly shocking elements which continue to have an effect on its audience. The visual looks by choice of camera lenses, film stock, style, editing, timing including split screen techniques and camera angles are great and inspiring. Underpinned by the superb sounding and nifty composed soundtrack the result is breathtakingly good. The acting is convincing and there is a certain irony attached to the direction DE PALMA achieved. I wont spoil anything for you here and wont go into detail either because I like you to experience it all for your own and hopefully you will watch the movie detached from every other film-works out there. Enjoy!No Grain Baby, No Gain / The Transfer:The 2K transfer done for this BD set is very good. Spoken in terms of 2K I like to say it is nearly perfect. There is an overall organic and very film-like appeal to it. That fact underlines DE PALMAS design choices so good and enjoying this movie on a big screen or via projection is like seeing it for the first time ever for real. The grain structure seems to be 100% intact and looks and behaves totally film-like. The colors are fantastic and stable throughout the whole feature. Level of details, textures, grip, gray-levels and details in darker segments are awesome. Every frame here declares „I was shot on real film stock“. No noticeable DNR and edge enhancement filters have been applied!Cut and Run:This is a version intégrale from a complete intact source. NO noticeable inserts from low quality sources have been applied. The movie has passed uncut by the BBFC.Final Thoughts:Fans, collectors and people with big screens or projectors should spend their money at once and will for sure have a great time, giving them the creeps. SISTERS never looked better in home cinemas. There is a nice collectors booklet within the first issue and the BD contains nice supplements. This is the definite film-like version at the moment and it outsmarts the already very good CRITERION DVD in every aspect. An upgrade is essential. The film is worth seeing several times anyway. This work is getting better each time you'll see it. Absolutely recommended.How I rate / What I rate:My ratings refer exclusively to technical aspects of BD sets. The more film-like a HD transfer looks and feels via a projection, the more high-class the source is scanned and digitally treated afterwards, the higher my ratings will be. Digital phenomenons like edge enhancement, block noise, digital appealing grain, swarming grain / noise behavoir and DNR filtering will directly result in lower ratings.I do not rate movies at all. In the introduction part I just offer my opinion, based on taste, preferences and knowledge about film/photography in general. Movies are artificial constructions where many efforts have been taken (including complex postproduction) to accomplish a vision of whatsoever kind. No movie made for cinema ever shot has earned a 1 star rating on AMAZON or a 1 point rating on IMDB. I have studied many publications about making films, their psychological impact, and the subject violence on film. I am a hobby photographer knowing much about frame compositions, color and light effects and different styles. I am also a hobby musician and sound designer for my own private joy. I could rate a movie/ its soundrack, but why should I? Things are what they are and nothing more or less. I like to think beyond mind constructed terms of good and bad. So called "objectivity" becomes fast diluted by preferences which results in comments of personal taste. These comments are fine but they go without any base value for creating a rating-scale out of them. Technical aspects are a different kind of matter. DNR, edge enhancement, block noise and such things are obvious even on small screens and maybe we can speak more of objectivity and measurability in this area. I think we should be informed about the quality of a product.All about Ev(m)e:I am a collector of films for 27 Years, own about 3.000 films (would be far more, but I often sort out transfers I dont like) and watch them in a home-cinema room via bigscreen projection. I am also a hobby musician and photographer with some experience scanning camera negatives in high definitions. I am fascinated by film (from reels) since I am a kid and spent hours for hours in cinemas and visiting film festivals.

SISTERS, a great suspense thrill ride by Brian De palmalove the story , love the Directing by Brian, incredible acting performance by Margot kidder doing both rolesDanielle & Domenique, Jennifer salt plays a great New York reporterthis film is still yet to get a blu-ray release in the U.S. if it ever gets oneCriterion collection holds the rights to the film who released the film on dvd back in 2003 with some extraswell now Arrowfilms have released the film on blu-ray & dvd with Criterion's authorityit's packaged in Blu-ray/dvd combo region B locked ofcourseBlu-ray is now, dvd is long Gone, so i watched the blu-ray expecting an excellent HD transfer & excellent sound quality mixi was very Disappointed, here's whythe HD transfer in 1:78:1 ratio was done by Criterion collection who sent it to Arrow films for this blu-ray reissueit says so in the thick booklet that comes with the blu-raythe picture quality is very Good, sharp & clear picturethere's still some Grain/Dirt in the quality so a 2k or 4k Higher resolution transfer would've been better transfer, No grain no Dirtbut it's still better quality than the old Digital remaster transferso congrats to criterion for making the effort with the picturebut they did not make any effort with the sound quality which pissed me offthey sound mix is Mono sound which is probably the same sound quality from the old dvd releasethe sound could easily be boosted up to new Master audio stereo mix at leastwould've sounded alot better than Monotragically criterion didn't bother with the sound quality about the extras, all the extras from the old Criterion dvd have been carried over aswell as some new interviews added by ArrowWHAT THE DEVIL HAD JOINED TOGETHER is U.S. made Documentary from the Criterion dvd-46minsthe Doco narrated by author Justin humpreys is about Brian's film SISTERSvery Detailed Doco, no interviews with Brian or Margo just Photos of the production, Actors etcwhile Justin talks about the film, the production , the cast, the music scoreBLOOD SISTERS- new interview with Jennifer salt- 10minsnew interview with co-writer Louisa rose about her involvment in the script-10minsnew interview with editor Paul Hirsch who was the films Editor on sisters-15minsnew interview with unit manager Jeffrey Hayesarchive Audio interview with actor William Finleyplus the Theatrical trailer & Stills Gallerythere's also booklet aswell which has very interesting Brian de palma interview about sistersso i give this blu-ray 3 stars only based on lots of new extras & old extras based Very good HD transferthe sound quality is terrible Mono mix, should've been boosted up to master stereo mix

De Palma channelled his inner-Hitchcock for a tale of voyeuristic dangers and misdirection heavily inspired by Rope (1948) and Rear Window (1954). He builds suspense with the same visual language elements that Hitch perfected, such as using figurative precursors to upcoming key events and granting viewers a godlike view of a situation while simultaneously keeping them at a precise distance from the real truth.He further enhances the narrative by using a split screen technique not just to add a cool visual effect but to highlight subtext, ensuring the role we play as audience is an active, analytical one.

This is one of my favourite Brian De Palms films. Margot Kidder gives the performance of a lifetime as a pair of conjoined twins in this Hitchcock-style horror thriller that features some truly shocking twists and turns. Full of great character actors, this is a genre classic.

The Arrow Blu-ray of Sisters is the best I have ever seen the film look, including when I saw it in the cinema. The Arrow Blu-ray is far superior in color and image clarity to the Criterion DVD version. I won't discuss the merits of the film other than to say it is terrific. One more plus, the Arrow Blu-ray opens with the AIP logo, as it should.

Finally in blu ray -- something the Americans won't bother with doing.Great clear imagery and detail you would expect from blu ray, even the noticeable grain. Sound was vivid. The only flaw would be the framing of the image. Lower half of the bottom lettering in some title credits is missing; this is a problem for sticklers since the fonts are small. However, the blu ray imagery makes up for this tiny flaw. I do not regret this purchase.