Dead Alive (Braindead) Blu-ray

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1) Laser Paradise - Region 0 - PAL - TOP

2) Lionsgate - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

Directed by Peter Jackson
New Zealand 1992

Director Peter Jackson's second feature cheerfully trumps the gross-out quotient of his splatterfest debut, the appropriately named Bad Taste. The tone is cartoonishly comic, and the premise is simple: The village dweeb (Timothy Balme) is trying to maintain a budding romance with the sweet Paquita (Diana Penalver) while concealing the fact that his overbearing mum (Elizabeth Moody, in an amazing good-sport performance) is a flesh-eating zombie. (She owes her condition to a bite from a "Sumatran Rat Monkey" at the local zoo.) Complicating matters even further is Les, a greedy uncle (Ian Watkin), who suspects that his sister has died and is eager to occupy her elegantly furnished Victorian mansion. The climax is a housewarming party Les throws to celebrate his "inheritance;" what he really gets is his comeuppance, thanks to his sister and her similarly afflicted zombie pals, who burst out of their basement prison to turn the guests into appetizers. Our hero finally cuts a wide swath through the zombie party crashers with the help of a rotary blade lawn mower, leaving the house awash in blood and body parts in order to save his romance.

***

Peter Jackson's zombiefest follow-up to Bad Taste, set in suburbia in the late '50s, is 'a slapstick comedy with blood and guts instead of custard pies'. When 25-year-old virgin Lionel (Balme) falls for the lovely Paquita (Peñalver), he provokes his domineering mother's jealousy. Soon after, a toxic nip from a Sumatran rat-monkey at the local zoo transforms Lionel's mother - through several putrescent stages - into a hideous, pustulant monster with a craving for human flesh. The finale, in which Lionel reduces a horde of flesh-eaters to a mulch of blood, flesh and offal with the aid of a flymo, is probably the goriest scene ever.

Posters

Theatrical Release: July 30th 1992 (Munich Fantasy Filmfest)

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Comparison:

Laser Paradise - Region 0 - PAL vs. Lionsgate - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

1) Laser Paradise - Region 0 - PAL - LEFT

2) Lionsgate - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - RIGHT

Box Covers
Distribution	Laser Paradise - Region 0 - PAL	Lionsgate Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:39:21 (4% PAL Speedup)	1:37:15.830
Video	1.58:1 Letterboxed Average Bitrate: 4.71 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	Disc Size: 18,734,382,768 bytes Feature Size: 17,051,762,688 bytes Total Bitrate: 19.97 Mbps Single-layered Blu-ray MPEG4 - AVC
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate:
Bitrate: Blu-ray
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 2.0), DUB: German (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)	DTS-HD Master Audio English 2073 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2073 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Subtitles	German, None	English, English (SDH), Speniahs, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Laser Paradise Aspect Ratio: 1.58:1 Edition Details: • Trailer (2:29) DVD Release Date: Mary 17th, 2005 Keep Case Chapters: 36	Release Information: Studio: Lionsgate Disc Size: 18,734,382,768 bytes Feature Size: 17,051,762,688 bytes Total Bitrate: 19.97 Mbps Single-layered Blu-ray MPEG4 - AVC Edition Details: • Trailer (1:49) Blu-ray Release Date: October 4th, 2011 Standard Blu-ray case Chapters 24

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Lionsgate - Region 'A' - Blu-ray March 15': The letterboxed DVD is a no-go although it is advertised as 'uncut'. The film has a number of versions ie. 104 min | 85 min (R-rated) | 97 min (unrated) | 80 min (FSK 16) | 92 min (1992) (1993) (cut) | 85 min (heavily cut) | 99 min (DVD). So with the PAL speedup (4% making it the 104-minute version) there is about 6+ minutes worth of more scenes on the DVD oft referred to as the 'Braindead' cut. The Blu-ray is the 97-minute version (aka unrated) and is frequently cited as the 'best version' of the film complete with plenty of gore, blood and grotesquerie. But the single-layered BD, while 1080P, doesn't look especially crisp although does advance in most areas over the DVD. The Blu-ray is 1.78;1 and has moments that appears cropped beside the SD. What I'd like to do is compare this modest HD transfer to a new Blu-ray one day. It would seem appropriate to release one as this 2011 BD is way out-of-print getting big bucks in auctions and third party selling.

Lionsgate use a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel track at 2703 kbps (24-bit). There is plenty of effect aggression but it always sounds restrained to me and not particularly deep - although loud. The score is by Peter Dasent (Jackson's Heavenly Creatures) and the fidelity advances over the DVD but I still think it could be exported more effectively although for all I know this is how it sounded originally. There are optional subtitles on the Blu-ray disc which is region 'A'-locked. The DVD offers a German DUD and optional German subtitles.

Both discs include a trailer - but there are no extras where I'm sure a commentary (by Jackson) would have been fun and informative.

You can really enjoy Braindead (Dead Alive) in the right mood. It's over-the-top, humorously gross and has it's own cuteness. This type of film always gets a huge ciult-following - hence the OOP status of the Blu-ray. My suggestion would be to wait for a new BD release.

Gary W. Tooze

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Laser Paradise - Region 0 - PAL