Night School (1981)
Horror, Mystery, Thriller • 1h 28m
Overview
A Boston police detective investigates a series of gruesome decapitations of various college coeds, committed by a helmeted, black-leather clad serial killer.
Director: Ken Hughes
Cast: Leonard Mann, Rachel Ward, Drew Snyder, Joseph R. Sicari, Nicholas Cairis, Karen MacDonald, Annette Miller, Bill McCann, Margo Skinner, Elizabeth Barnitz, Holly Hardman, Meb Boden, Leonard Corman, Belle McDonald, Edward C. Higgins, William McDonald, Kevin Fennessy, Edward Chalmers Jr., John Blood, Lisa Allee, Elizabeth Alice, Patricia Pellows, J.J. Wright, Ted Duncan, Patricia Rust, Jane-Leah Bedrick, Wally Hooper Jr., Kevin King, Nancy Rothman
Director: Ken Hughes
MGM Blu-ray's stereo track.
MGM's 7.1 track is a remix with a few flaws and much worse fidelity. Capelight's stereo and 7.1 track are both from the remix.
The movie was originally premiered as a roadshow release, with a a 70mm 6-Track Stereo mix. This mix, unfortunately has not been released on home video.
The closest thing to that mix, is the stereo track included on the 2010 Blu-ray. It sounds great, with high fidelity and little filtering. It's lossy, but that doesn't matter very much.
Both the DVD 5.1 and the Blu-ray 7.1 tracks (identical on both discs) are a new remix, rather than a repackaging of the original mix. The 7.1 track sounds quite muffled, though not evenly so. The Capelight Blu-ray's lossless stereo track uses the same remix, but with higher fidelity than the surround tracks, sounding significantly less muffled. Compared to the original, this remix sounds wider and more "cleaned up". The remix contains a handful of errors, for example the intermission cue fades out, rather than ending correctly.
Comparison samples
Director: Ken Hughes
MGM Blu-ray's stereo track.
MGM's 7.1 track is a remix with a few flaws and much worse fidelity. Capelight's stereo and 7.1 track are both from the remix.
The movie was originally premiered as a roadshow release, with a a 70mm 6-Track Stereo mix. This mix, unfortunately has not been released on home video.
The closest thing to that mix, is the stereo track included on the 2010 Blu-ray. It sounds great, with high fidelity and little filtering. It's lossy, but that doesn't matter very much.
Both the DVD 5.1 and the Blu-ray 7.1 tracks (identical on both discs) are a new remix, rather than a repackaging of the original mix. The 7.1 track sounds quite muffled, though not evenly so. The Capelight Blu-ray's lossless stereo track uses the same remix, but with higher fidelity than the surround tracks, sounding significantly less muffled. Compared to the original, this remix sounds wider and more "cleaned up". The remix contains a handful of errors, for example the intermission cue fades out, rather than ending correctly.
Comparison samples
Directors: Val Guest & Ken Hughes & John Huston & Joseph McGrath & Robert Parrish
Directors: Val Guest & Ken Hughes & John Huston & Joseph McGrath & Robert Parrish
Director: John Ford
1988/1990 WB Hi-Fi VHS, crystal clear, albeit with some distortion in louder areas
The 4K Blu-ray reuses the same poor mastering used on the 2006 WB Blu-ray, only with a completely unnecessary bass cut and extra noise reduction.
Even putting resolution aside, the Warner Archive 4K Blu-ray has the best video. The old Blu-ray master and earlier DVD both had massive issues with colour.
That said, picture on the 4K Blu-ray isn't perfect, with strange posterized magenta glints and some instances of DNR: https://bsky.app/profile/dagscott.bsky.social/post/3leahavqi7k2l
Director: John Ford
1988/1990 WB Hi-Fi VHS, crystal clear, albeit with some distortion in louder areas
The 4K Blu-ray reuses the same poor mastering used on the 2006 WB Blu-ray, only with a completely unnecessary bass cut and extra noise reduction.
Even putting resolution aside, the Warner Archive 4K Blu-ray has the best video. The old Blu-ray master and earlier DVD both had massive issues with colour.
That said, picture on the 4K Blu-ray isn't perfect, with strange posterized magenta glints and some instances of DNR: https://bsky.app/profile/dagscott.bsky.social/post/3leahavqi7k2l
Director: Murray Roth
Warner Archive Blu-ray The Jazz Singer has it included as extras on one of the DVDs
Warner Archive Blu-ray The Jazz Singer has it included as extras on one of the DVDs
Director: Murray Roth
Warner Archive Blu-ray The Jazz Singer has it included as extras on one of the DVDs
Warner Archive Blu-ray The Jazz Singer has it included as extras on one of the DVDs
Director: Cecil B. DeMille
Director: Cecil B. DeMille
Director: Elia Kazan
Director: Elia Kazan
Director: Charles Walters
Warner Archive 4K Blu-ray is a remaster from the original VistaVision camera negaitve, FiM encode
Warner Archive 4K Blu-ray
The original mono sounds good. The Atmos remix is a mixed bag, music performances are sourced from magnetic stereo recordings and sound great, but mono dialogue/effectshas undergone destructive noise reduction and unnecessary EQ, so the jumps in fidelity are incredibly jarring.
Director: Charles Walters
Warner Archive 4K Blu-ray is a remaster from the original VistaVision camera negaitve, FiM encode
Warner Archive 4K Blu-ray
The original mono sounds good. The Atmos remix is a mixed bag, music performances are sourced from magnetic stereo recordings and sound great, but mono dialogue/effectshas undergone destructive noise reduction and unnecessary EQ, so the jumps in fidelity are incredibly jarring.
Director: Morton DaCosta
Warner Archive 4K Blu-ray from 12K scan on Aug 25th
Director: Morton DaCosta
Warner Archive 4K Blu-ray from 12K scan on Aug 25th
Director: Jacques Tourneur
Director: Jacques Tourneur
Director: Abel Ferrara
Director: Abel Ferrara
Director: Anthony Mann
Director: Anthony Mann
More Horror on Blu-ray
Director: Mike Flanagan
US Shout! Factory or UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray (similar encoding)
Director: Mike Flanagan
US Shout! Factory or UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray (similar encoding)
UK 88 Films 4K Blu-ray in October
Australia Imprint Blu-ray?
Germany Filmjuwelen 4K Blu-ray is disappointing with AI upscaling
UK 88 Films 4K Blu-ray in October
Australia Imprint Blu-ray?
Germany Filmjuwelen 4K Blu-ray is disappointing with AI upscaling
Director: Paul Schrader
Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray has DNR applied and encoding could be better. Possible issues in Dolby Vision
Great source, poorly encoded but it does look significantly better than the Blu-Rays.
Director: Paul Schrader
Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray has DNR applied and encoding could be better. Possible issues in Dolby Vision
Great source, poorly encoded but it does look significantly better than the Blu-Rays.
Director: Iain Softley
Director: Iain Softley
Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray Sept. 2026
Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray Sept. 2026
Director: Alejandro Jodorowsky
Umbrella 4K Blu-ray, part of Alejandro Jodorowsky Collector’s Edition, scheduled for November 2026 release
Severin 4K Blu-ray has bad encode
Director: Alejandro Jodorowsky
Umbrella 4K Blu-ray, part of Alejandro Jodorowsky Collector’s Edition, scheduled for November 2026 release
Severin 4K Blu-ray has bad encode
Director: Michael Mann
Theatrical/Director's Cut: Shout! Factory Blu-ray
Hybrid Theatrical Cut: Anchor Bay "Theatrical" DVD
Final Cut: upcoming UK StudioCanal Final Cut 4K Blu-ray
UK StudioCanal Final Cut 4K Blu-ray
Theatrical/Director's Cut: Shout! Factory Blu-ray
Hybrid Theatrical Cut: Anchor Bay "Theatrical" DVD
Final Cut: upcoming UK StudioCanal Final Cut 4K Blu-ray
Director: Michael Mann
Theatrical/Director's Cut: Shout! Factory Blu-ray
Hybrid Theatrical Cut: Anchor Bay "Theatrical" DVD
Final Cut: upcoming UK StudioCanal Final Cut 4K Blu-ray
UK StudioCanal Final Cut 4K Blu-ray
Theatrical/Director's Cut: Shout! Factory Blu-ray
Hybrid Theatrical Cut: Anchor Bay "Theatrical" DVD
Final Cut: upcoming UK StudioCanal Final Cut 4K Blu-ray
Director: Wes Craven
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has color space error but otherwise an improvement upon previous Blu-rays. See caps
Maybe the included standard Blu-ray is better?
Director: Wes Craven
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has color space error but otherwise an improvement upon previous Blu-rays. See caps
Maybe the included standard Blu-ray is better?
UK 88 Films 4K Blu-ray See caps
DE Nameless 4K Blu-ray is an extremely poor AI upscale. See caps
UK 88 Films 4K Blu-ray See caps
DE Nameless 4K Blu-ray is an extremely poor AI upscale. See caps
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