Halloween 35th Anniversary Blu-ray Honored At 40th Annual Saturn Awards
The Saturn Awards sure knows how to pick ’em as we both agree the Halloween 35th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray from last year was one of the year’s best. It was among my personal #1 of 2013 (I picked all John Carpenter releases and tied them together). Saturn maybe should have waited a year for the box set, haha. Or maybe the Halloween franchise can rake in back to back wins. This 35th Anniversary Edition was most notable because they got Dean Cundey to come back and get the color timing right and approve the image to be near identical to its theatrical release. And my, it looked absolutely fantastic. Almost like seeing it for the first time. There was one scratch most had on the release, and that was the lack of the original mono track. Fear not, it WILL be reinserted on the upcoming box set. Below is Anchor Bay’s statement on this great feat. Congrats!
35 IS THE NEW 40
WHEN HALLOWEEN 35TH ANNIVERSARY WINS AT
40TH ANNUAL SATURN AWARDS
Seminal Horror Classic Nabs “Best DVD/BD Classic Film Release” From
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films
BEVERLY HILLS, CA – Halloween, the 1978 John Carpenter terror classic that transformed the modern horror film, received yet another validation of its legendary status when the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films awarded Anchor Bay Entertainment’s Halloween 35thAnniversary Blu-ray™ the Saturn Award for “Best DVD/BD Classic Film Release” at tonight’s ceremony. The event, marking the 40th anniversary of the Saturn Awards, was held at the Castaway in Burbank, California. Dean Cundey, the cinematographer (who supervised the new HD transfer for the Blu-ray™) and Malek Akkad, son of the original film’s producer Moustapha Akkad, accepted the honor from presenters Eric Balfour and Joanna Cassidy (who worked with Cundey on Who Framed Roger Rabbit).
“This award is really a testament to the talents of John Carpenter and the original artists that made a film that is still so compelling 35 years after it’s release,” said Trancas International Films’ President Malek Akkad. “We worked hard with our partners at Anchor Bay to make this a special release, and we thank the Academy for their recognition.”
“Halloween is one of my proudest accomplishments, not only because it was early in my career, but it’s especially rewarding to know that audiences continue to appreciate it,” said Cundey. “Receiving this Saturn Award thirty five years later is a wonderful reminder of the film’s social and historical significance.”
“Anchor Bay has proudly featured the original Halloween in our library for almost 20 years,” noted Bill Clark, President of Anchor Bay Entertainment. “We thank the Academy for validating all our hard work here to create a definitive Blu-ray release of one of the greatest horror films ever made.”
For last year’s 35th Anniversary of Halloween, Anchor Bay Entertainment and Trancas International partnered on the Halloween 35th AnniversaryBlu-ray™. For this very special release, an all-new HD transfer was created, personally supervised by the film’s original cinematographer, Academy-Award® nominee Dean Cundey (Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Apollo 13, the Back to the Future trilogy), as well as a new 7.1 audio mix, a brand-new feature length audio commentary by writer/director John Carpenter and star Jamie Lee Curtis, an all-new bonus feature with Ms. Curtis, and selected legacy bonus features from previous ABE releases.
Halloween 35th Anniversary bested truly stellar competition in the category, including Fantastic Voyage, The Haunting, House of Wax, Nosferatu, and The Wicker Man. The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films was founded in 1972 by Dr. Donald A. Reed to recognize and honor excellence among filmmakers in the science fiction, fantasy, horror and action/adventure/thriller genres.
I really enjoyed this release. I thought the commentary was fantastic, and the Jamie Lee Curtis convention featurette was outstanding.
I do wish though it was a definitive edition with other bonus features from previous releases ported over so I can get rid of older Blu-ray and DVD editions. I must own Halloween about six times altogether it seems! haha.