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Piranha (1978)
Piranha (1978) poster

Piranha (1978)

Horror, Science Fiction • 1h 34m

Director: Joe Dante

Best English-friendly & video release

Scream Factory 4K Blu-ray

Updated 1 year ago


UHD tiers

Solid
Scream Factory

About the film

When flesh-eating piranhas are accidently released into a summer resort's rivers, the guests become their next meal.

More from Joe Dante

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Director: Joe Dante

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

MCA 1989 LaserDisc or Universal 1999 NTSC DVD

Director: Joe Dante

4K · Excellent

Director: Joe Dante

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

1985 WB LaserDisc

Director: Joe Dante

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray; caps

Audio Notes:

Arrow includes the original 70mm 6-track mix in a discrete form (4.1), as well as the matrixed 35mm Dolby Stereo mix (2.0), both from new transfers. The German Blu-ray uses an earlier transfer dating back to the LaserDisc for the stereo. Both sound good.

Arrow includes a 7.1 Atmos remix, whereas earlier releases include a 5.1 remix.

Director: Joe Dante

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Scream Factory US 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Scream Factory US 4K Blu-ray > StudioCanal UK for the inclusion of original mono, more extras

Best Audio:

Scream Factory US includes original mono

For the director/actor commentary, the 1995 Image Entertainment LaserDisc is uncut, subsequent releases are cut

Director: Joe Dante

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray

Director: Joe Dante

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

More Horror on Blu-ray

Director: Roman Polanski

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Carlotta France 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

UK 4K teased by 88 Films https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?p=24252379

Video Notes:

Carlotta France 4K Blu-ray > Vinegar Syndrome 4K Blu-ray (better encode on Carlotta without any low-pass filtering, more extras and English subtitles on Vinegar Syndrome)

Director: Roy Del Ruth

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive 3D Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration of the original 3D left eye and right eye camera negatives

Directors: Ernest B. Schoedsack & Merian C. Cooper

Best English-Friendly & Video:

WB Blu-ray

Director: Bernard Rose

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Scream Factory/Arrow 4K Blu-ray or Turbine 4K Blu-Ray

Additional Info:

SF and Turbine also have the 2004 Audio Commentary with Bernard Rose, Clive Barker, Alan Poul and actors Virginia Madsen, Tony Todd and Kasi Lemmons

Director: Fede Álvarez

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

UK StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray

Director: Peter Jackson

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Arrow US/UK 4K Blu-ray or Turbine Germany 4K Blu-ray

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Both will look identical in motion but the Turbine looks marginally better due to a higher bitrate allocation by each cut being given its own disc, whereas Arrow had FiM seamlessly branch the two onto one. However, Arrow has both cuts in Open Matte (on Blu-Ray) and corrected the opening Universal logo's aspect ratio. https://slow.pics/c/McvVcYDG

Best Audio:

Cinema DTS

Director: Guillermo del Toro

Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Additional Info:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray also includes exclusive "Reborn Cut"

Director: Lam Nai-choi

Best English-Friendly & Video:

88 Films UK or Vinegar Syndrome US Blu-ray (preference)

Video Notes:

Different color gradings, 88 Films disc is encoded by FiM but Vinegar Syndrome encode (by Marcus Johnson) is more than robust

Audio Notes:

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: Tobe Hooper

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

4K Blu-ray has both the original Dolby Stereo mix and a 5.1 remix.

Additional Info:

HBO Max Streaming includes the theatrical version with original credits, goofs. 1080p with the 5.1 remix

Director: Stanley Kubrick

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Included in the Complete Kubrick box set with FiM encode of the same master from the WB release without the filtering, 1.85 ratio restored for US Cut; both US and International Cuts are 4K.

Best Audio:

US Cut: 1999 WB DVD/Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Additional Info:

No Blu-ray or DVD release until the Criterion 4K Blu-ray has presented the US in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The International Cut has never been presented in it's OAR of 1.66:1 in any home video releases.

The packaging on the back of the WB 4K Blu-ray incorrectly states it as 1.85:1 when the movie is actually 1.78:1 as is the original Blu-ray. 

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Researched and maintained by

vanshady

· last reviewed 1 year ago

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