Demon Pond (1979)
夜叉ヶ池
Fantasy, Romance, Horror • 2h 4m
Director: Masahiro Shinoda
Cast: Tamasaburō Bandō V, Gō Katō, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Kōji Nanbara, Yatsuko Tan'ami, Hisashi Igawa, Norihei Miki, Juro Kara, Ryūnosuke Kaneda, Fujio Tokita, Jun Hamamura, Megumi Ishii, Tadashi Furuta, Kazuo Sato, Kai Ato, Hatsuo Yamaya, Maki Takayama, Yuni Nishigami, Tōru Abe, Shigeru Yazaki, Dai Kanai, Toshie Kobayashi, Hitoshi Ōmae, Fudeko Tanaka, Yumi Seigan, Baiken Jukkanji, Mansaku Fuwa, Moriwaka Bandô, Sōnosuke Oda, Tadayuki Okamoto, Shuichi Oki, Yasuo Shinohara
UHD tiers
About the film
When a lone traveler stumbles upon a remote, drought-stricken village, he finds himself engulfed in a whirlpool of myth, mystery, and magic: in a nearby pond reside spirits who hold the fate of the town’s inhabitants, including lovers Akira and Yuri, in their hands.
- Alternative Titles
- Dragon Princess
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Director: Masahiro Shinoda
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
The 4K discs in both Criterion and Imprint sets are FiM encodes, but low-passed. The compression is better, but some of the grain is lost. Difference is pronounced in screen caps, but not likely to be noticed during playback, without a reference to compare it to. Comparisons
All discs use the same source transfer. It's not of the highest quality, and it includes some slight distortion, looping, clicks, pops, and hum. Criterion cleaned it up for their release, but unfortunately also lost a lot of fidelity in the process.
MGM NTSC DVD doesn't seem to have some of the more prominent distortion and has slightly different EQ but is otherwise the same.
Director: Sidney Lumet
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
1.85:1: Kino Lorber 4K / Capelight 4K
1.66:1: Criterion 4K but low pass filtered
Comparison between the 4Ks, Criterion on the AR choice
Other discs have unnecessary filtering and sound worse, the difference isn't substantial but audible
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Included in the Complete Kubrick box set with FiM encode of the same master from the Universal release without the filtering.
DTS:X mix on Universal 4K Blu-ray most closely approximates original surround mix
Criterion DVD and Universal 4K Blu-ray has additional features not found on the Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Director: Sam Peckinpah
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Janus and thus Criterion likely to release 4K Blu-ray in 2027
Director: Hal Ashby
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
See caps https://slow.pics/c/lVdZaG0W
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
StudioCanal's 4K release is similar in encode quality, but has significant glitches in multiple frames. See comparisons 9-16 here: https://slow.pics/c/YkSVb3Ey
The pitch of the StudioCanal 4K's English audio is too high
Criterion has more extras than StudioCanal.
Director: Jacques Tati
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray (part of Jacques Tati boxset releasing December 2026)
More Fantasy on Blu-ray
Director: George Pal
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Directors: Ernest B. Schoedsack & Merian C. Cooper
Directors: David Hand & Ben Sharpsteen & William Cottrell & Larry Morey & Perce Pearce & Wilfred Jackson
Mono track is on the included Blu-ray; 4K Blu-ray missing original mono. LaserDisc probably better
Director: Gary Ross
Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray, but a shot was cut from the film
Warner Bros Blu-ray for the uncut version, but it's an older master.
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab) · YouTube (opens in a new tab)
Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray, but a shot was cut from the film. See comparison
Warner Bros Blu-ray for the uncut version, but it's an older master.
Directors: Chris Appelhans & Maggie Kang
"Sing-Along Edition" not included on the Criterion 4K Blu-ray, only available on Netflix Streaming
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Criterion 4K Blu-ray also includes exclusive "Reborn Cut"
Director: Lam Nai-choi
88 Films UK or Vinegar Syndrome US Blu-ray (preference)
Different color gradings, 88 Films disc is encoded by FiM but Vinegar Syndrome encode (by Marcus Johnson) is more than robust
Vinegar Syndrome potentially has better audio than 88 Films, due to VinSyn possibly having EQ'd the audio mix after Fortune Star scanned the track in a way that makes it sound too hot, whereas 88 left it alone without addressing that issue. However, no direct comparisons exist
Director: Masaaki Yuasa
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray and 2011/2013 Optimum Blu-ray
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Cineverse 4K Blu-ray announced with a new 4K restoration from the original negatives
Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray and 2011/2013 Optimum Blu-ray both have issues, up to preference. UK Optimum/Japan Amuse Soft Blu-ray is better, Criterion is worse
Japan Amuse Soft Blu-ray is better encoded than the Optimum, is in the original 1.85 ratio, and has the original colors
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