Phantom of the Paradise (1974)
Music, Comedy, Horror, Fantasy, Drama, Romance, Thriller • 1h 31m
Director: Brian De Palma
Cast: William Finley, Paul Williams, Jessica Harper, George Memmoli, Gerrit Graham, Archie Hahn, Jeffrey Comanor, Peter Elbling, Colin Cameron, David Garland, Gary Mallaber, Art Munson, Mary Margaret Amato, Rand Bridges, Jim Bohan, Herb Pacheco, Jennifer Ashley, Janit Baldwin, Janus Blythe, Katherine Mastellos, Robin Mattson, Patrice Rohmer, Cheryl Smith, April Troy, Walter Foster, Peter Harrell, Troy Haskins, Gene Gross, Henry Calvert, Ken Carpenter, Sam Forney, Leslie Brewer, Celia Derr, Linda Larimer, Roseanne Romine, Nydia Amagas, Sara Ballantine, Kristi Bird, Cathy Buttner, Linda Cox, Jane DeFord, Bibi Hansen, Robin Jeep, Deen Summers, Judy Washington, Susan Weiser, Janet Savarino, Jean Savarino, Keith Allison, Bobby Birkenfeld, Sandy Catton, William Donovan, Scott Edmund Lane, Dennis Olivieri, Adam Wade, Nancy Moses, Diana Walden, Sherri Adeline, Carol O'Leary, Marty Bongfeldt, Coleen Crudden, Bridgett Dunn, William Shephard, Angelyne, Greg Bransom, Shelly Desai, Paul Hirsch, Rod Serling
Best English-friendly release · updated 1 year ago
Overview
Fledgling singer-songwriter Winslow Leach finds himself double-crossed by the nefarious music producer Swan, who steals both his music and the girl Winslow wants to sing it, Phoenix, for the grand opening of his new rock palace, the Paradise. After Swan has Winslow sent to prison for trespassing, Winslow endures a freak accident that leaves him disfigured and seeking revenge.
Director: Brian De Palma
Arrow 4K Blu-ray has a better encode than the Kino Lorber and Capelight 4K Blu-rays. Capelight 4K Blu-ray looks low-passed in comparison to the Arrow but is slightly closer to the Arrow in PQ than the Kino Lorber.
Director: Brian De Palma
Director: Brian De Palma
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Radiance 4K Blu-ray see caps vs Arrow
Director: Brian De Palma
Paramount 4K Blu-ray despite issues
Laserdisc Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 matrix Dolby Surround, VHS hifi 2.0 Dolby Surround, Cinema DTS
The film was remixed for the first DVD to remove a great deal of the bass and tame the LFE channel. Every version since uses this revised mix. Only the Laserdisc and release prints have the original theatrical 5.1 discrete mix. The 2.0 matrix version also has the low end intact on LD and VHS. Just demo the main title or the aquarium restaurant glass explosion and you’ll note the difference immediately.
The first DVD while porting the LD and vhs master is where the audio remix happened. The remix still sounds good but it was an unnecessary compromise to place on one of the great mixes of all time. The UHD also uses the remix.
The Paramount UHD is ok though it has some frozen grain and some HDR issues as expected of a screwy Paramount master.
Director: Brian De Palma
Director: Lewis Teague
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray disappointing
R1 DVD
R1 DVD sounds best and has the original mono and a Dolby Stereo remix
Director: Ron Shelton
Australia Imprint 4K Blu-ray disappointing, nice new master, but poor encode, grain completely crippled in some scenes, artifacts abound, etc, makes Kino Lorber look like FiM.
Director: William Friedkin
Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)
Plaion have also released a BD sourced from Arrow's recent 4K remaster, holds up strongly in comparison https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?d1=19341&d2=19005&c=5415
Director: John Carpenter
Sources: blog.sporv.com (opens in a new tab)
1997? Signature Collection LD
Good: 2017 Arrow and 2016 Shout! Factory Blu-ray have the original audio options.
the only track on Universal 4K, which is in DTS:X, has a mixing error of around 6dB too low on side channels, otherwise very similar to other 5.1 mixes.
Director: Rob Reiner
Arrow 4K Blu-ray releasing December 14 2026
Director: Bob Clark
Scream Factory 4K Blu-ray
UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray in December
Director: David Lynch
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray in December
Subtle difference in encoding to the Criterion in encoding, trading blows in different shots, with Plaion taking a slight edge with less highlight blocking
Criterion's 2.0 sounds muffled due to noise reduction and EQ.
Plaion's 2.0 lacks bass and has a very bright EQ, more resembling the 5.1 remix. Plaion’s 2.0 doesn't have any filtering unlike the Criterion, see https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=23831289&postcount=110
More Music on Blu-ray
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has excellent master in SDR and a good encode. BD caps here.
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has poor audio: The 2.0 is fine but unremarkable, the 5.1 is presumably an upmix with a botched, strongly raised LFE channel which makes the entire track unlistenable on well-tuned equipment. Audio graphs here.
Director: Sian Heder
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Has full and forced English subtitles
Apple TV 4K Blu-ray with Atmos
(Eagle Pictures is 5.1)
Director: Miloš Forman
Theatrical: WB 4K Blu-ray
Extended: Warner Bros Blu-ray
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray: Huge improvement in colors and detail. The restoration was done by the Academy instead of WB MPI which explains that there’s no grain management or issues with colors. They also accessed the original credit optical and scanned that one instead of recreating them digitally
Theatrical: WB 4K Blu-ray, according to Saentz, the 5.0 is a recreation of the original and subsequently 70mm mix from original elements.
Director: Sidney Lumet
Criterion 4K Blu-ray replacement disc for fixed audio (there were some dialogues missing)
While the video on the replacement disc is exactly the same as the original release, the Atmos with missing lines has been corrected as it was also corrected on the Criterion commentary. Criterion also included the 6-track which is almost identical to the PAL track; It’s 4.0 in a 5.1 container. This 6-track is slightly better than the PAL DVD track as the PAL has some flutter on some parts that Criterion doesn’t have.
The Atmos on the replacement is identical to the Imprint AUS Blu-ray track which also has all the lines. The compatibility track is also the same,
It is worth mentioning the Imprint only has the Atmos and no 6-track. The 5.1 surround is with LFE and split surrounds and it’s just a downmix of the Atmos. Ditto for the LPCM 2.0 on said Blu-ray.
Director: George Cukor
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· last reviewed 1 year ago
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