Plot of Fear (1976)
E tanta paura
Crime, Mystery, Thriller, Horror • 1h 38m
Director: Paolo Cavara
Cast: Corinne Cléry, Michele Placido, Quinto Parmeggiani, Edoardo Faieta, John Steiner, Jacques Herlin, Cecilia Polizzi, Greta Vayan, Sarah Crespi, Enrico Oldoini, Tom Skerritt, Eli Wallach, Giorgio Gargiullo, Eleonora Vivaldi, Guidarino Guidi, Enzo Robutti, Mary Ruth League, Susanna Radaelli, Daniela Grassini, Bianca Toso, Claudio Zucchet, Mirella Giraldi, Maria Rosa La Fauci, Maria Tedeschi, Mario Mercalli, Giuseppe Rodolfo Dal Pra, Ennio Antonelli, Marcello Meconizzi, Tino Polenghi, Piergiorgio Plebani
UHD tiers
Compare the discs
About the film
Plot of Fear tells the story of a decadent weekend party full of orgies and drugs on the outskirts of Milan. After two deaths occur Inspector Lomenzo interrogates one of the guests, a fashion model who becomes his informant, as well as his lover. Clery reveals that after a “wildlife orgy”one of the hosts tried to jokingly feed one of the prostitutes to a tiger but she got so frightened that she died of heart attack. In his attempt to find a connection between the victims, he investigates a cutting-edge security and surveillance firm whose director has secrets of his own to hide.
US Celluloid Dreams 4K Blu-ray
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
US Celluloid Dreams 4K Blu-ray caps and detailed QC breakdown
Director: Alan Clarke
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
The 88 Films 4K Blu-ray is disappointing. Indicator Blu-ray > 88 Films Blu-ray. From nicolas:
Fine master, solid HDR but very poorly encoded with strong blocking artifacts in normal areas and clipped highlights that bring Criterion’s Walkabout to mind. Their Blu-ray is slightly better overall but then again still not as good as FiM’s encode for Indicator.
Director: Vincent Sherman
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)
Indicator Blu-ray > Kino Lorber see DVDBeaver
Indicator is using a different restoration from earlier Kino Lorber Blu-ray and it has much better contrast and slightly better grain resolution
Director: John M. Stahl
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Indicator Blu-ray is encoded by FiM and likely better than Kino Lorber Blu-ray
Director: Fritz Lang
Sources: DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)
Indicator Blu-ray is superior to Kino Lorber transfer see caps. 2K restoration
More Crime on Blu-ray
Director: Robert Altman
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Cinematrographe's HDR grading is overcooked, which is a known VinSyn tendency. Additionally, their booklet mis-credits the encode to FiM.
YMMV, but for some, the included BD encoded by Marcus Johnson—ironically may make for a more pleasing experience.
4K restoration of the original 3D left eye and right eye camera negatives
Director: John Woo
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Arrow has a different grade and a better encode than the Shout! Factory, though the difference in either is not major. Imprint release, which leaves Shout! Factory's master and subtitles as is, is encoded by FiM. https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=24473097&postcount=56
Original mix: Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray
Alternate mix: Scanbox Nordic PAL DVD
Surround remix: HK Video France 4K Blu-ray (5.0)
Original mix: Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray (similar to Criterion LaserDisc, but less distorted)
Alternate mix: Scanbox Nordic PAL DVD
Surround remix: HK Video France 4K Blu-ray (5.0)
Arrow used the alternate mix, but with extra filtering and lowered dynamic range. The alternate mix has much better fidelity.
Imprint presumably used the Shout! Factory original mix and left it as is, though no official confirmation.
Director: Richard Brooks
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Arrow 4K Blu-ray > Criterion 4K Blu-ray > Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray
1991 Orion LaserDisc vs 2024 Arrow 4K Blu-ray
Director: William Dieterle
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
The 4K discs in both Criterion and Imprint sets are FiM encodes, but low-passed, Imprint minimally less so. Unfortunately, unlike with The Killing, Kino does not hold up at all, the grain is much rougher and the compression visibly struggles making for a much less pleasant watch, even if select stills look better.
All discs use the same source transfer. Criterion cleaned up some hums and hiss, but lost a little bit of high-end detail. Unlike The Killing, the difference's relatively mino.
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: Karel Reisz
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Cinematographe is mis-credited to be an FiM encode. It isn't. Neither the encode nor the color grading are entirely satisfactory.
Edit history
Every recommendation follows the same method — how these calls are made.