Thank you Blu-Ray Moments – Details you Only Spot in HD

Blu-Ray discs were a big upgrade from the DVD format when they first came out, offering more resolution and greater clarity on screen. It also offered up new opportunities to distributors to re-scan and edit the films into 2K & 4K films, leaving the days of blurry, over saturated and grainy films behind us. It also highlighted hidden details that had been lost on the poor quality film of the past, allowing fans to spot mistakes, fins new details and to finally be-in on the jokes. SO here is a list of little details that have only emerged thanks to the joys of Blu-Ray and HD films. Thanks Blu-Ray! 

Here for you reading pleasure is Thank you Blu-Ray Moments – Details you Only Spot in HD! 

It (1990) – Cake Tears

One of the most iconic books by Stephen King, IT is a dark horror novel that follows seven friends in the town of Derry, Maine as they face off against a shape shifting creature that preys on children. When a TV adaption was created in 1990, it brought to life in the glorious television qualities of 90s 4:3 analogue. To say that certain details were lost in broadcast would be an understatement. Thankfully, despite its age, IT was shot on film, allowing it to be remastered in HD for a Blu-Ray disc in 2016. This ultra-high-quality presentation shows up all the little details you may have missed on TV.

One such detail is a makeup mess-up that besets Richard Thomas when he encounters Pennywise at a graveyard. It looks like the makeup department went a little overboard for the scene, as Thomas’ s face is so caked in makeup that the tears rolling down his face end up collecting the pink makeup scraped against his cheeks, creating big salmon-coloured drops. Missed by audience during the 90’s this Thank you Blu-Ray moment completely destroys the illusion of the film. Cheers Blu-ray!

Wild Wild West (1999) – Will Smiths Junk 

Wild Wild West was a hodgepodge of ideas that really didn’t gel very well. The Will Smith and Kevin Kline comedy should have been the next Men In Black franchise, but burned down in terrible reviews and a sub-par box office. However, a split-second moment in the film went unnoticed for years, until it finally arrived on Blu-Ray in 2011.

In a pause or you’ll miss it moment, Smith’s James West character rises from a bathtub revealing his junk in two separate shots. Not exactly the WILD part of the movie you were expecting, but it’s here in crystal clear 1080. Sadly for us, this is not the only balls moment that HD has revealed to us.  

Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991) – Terminator Balls

Terminator 2: Judgement Day is a much-loved sequel from James Cameron. However, after years of watching the film on CRT TV’s and fuzzy VHS cassettes, the much needed HD versions of the film revealed a couple of extras no sci-fi fan wanted to see, Robert Patrick‘s bare balls.

You see, when the films negative was rescanned, re-edited and released back into the great wilds of the world, it seems that the camera caught Patrick’s plums clearly on film. The studio that released these Blu-Ray versions had no choice but to release the scenes “as is”, as it was simply beyond their job description to doing anything about removing a couple of testicles. It was only when Cameron re-released T2 back into cinemas in a 2017 3D re-release, that the unwanted love sacks were finally removed from the film. So, feel free to pick up a 3D version of T2, happy in the knowledge that it’s 100% balls free.

Stargate (1994) – Crew in Sunglasses

It’s always tricky shooting against reflective surfaces, but if you can get away with it, why not right? Well, it seems Roland Emmerich never planned for HD releases as recent prints of his 1994 sci-fi Stargate have proven fowl of modern media. In some scenes where the cast wear sunglasses in the desert, you can clearly see the crew looking right back at them, umbrella propped up to keep them out of the sun. Hilariously revealed thanks to HD. 

Back to the Future Part II (1989) – Wheel Trouble

Some of the best practical effects are those that the audience never spot. But sometimes, movie magic was covered up by the low-quality medium of the past. Back to the Future 2 is a great example of effects been revealed years later thanks to HD releases.

 In the scene where Doc Brown is following Biff into the tunnel, as Marty starts to pass between the cars on his hoverboard, one of the wheels on the rig supporting the hovering DeLorean is clearly visible in HD. In the days of old, it was too dark and blurry to spot the practical effect, but here it is now, in HD!

Labyrinth (1986) – Ambrosius is a Horse

Childhood is a scary and dangerous place, and Muppet creator Jim Henson wanted to capture this in his epic adventure film Labyrinth. The film turned out to be the last feature film that Henson would direct, but he made sure that the film was filled with as many small details as he could fit on screen. Many of these finer details had been lost to all of us apart from the select few that saw the film in its short run at the cinema. But, thanks to Blu-Ray, we are only now spotting things.

One of these amazing little details comes in the form of Ambrosius the dog’s choice of foot-ware. When he raises up in distress for a brief moment. We see that he is wearing horseshoes on the bottom of his paws. We doubt Sir Didymus would have nailed iron shoes onto the bottom of Ambrosius sensitive dog paws, so it’s possible that the dog is actually a hybrid horse? Either way, it’s a great little detailed that has only just recently come to light.

Salem’s Lot (1979) – Weasel Spying

The TV miniseries adaption of Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot is filled with detailed characters and some of the most terrifying imagery ever shown on TV. One of the more interesting characters is Gordon ‘Weasel’ Phillips, played by legendary character actor Elisha Cook Jr.

During the film, Constable Parkins Gillespie tells Weasel to “keep an eye” on newcomer Ben Mears. Thanks to Blu-Ray, we finally can see that Weasel is as good as his word. During a dinner scene with Mears and Jason Burke, you can see Weasel spying on the dinner in the background. Just a little extra nugget of detail revealed by HD.

Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985) – Bus Driver

It might not be the best sequel in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise; in fact, it was written out of the franchise, but Freddy’s Revenge is still an amazingly entertaining film filled with gore and laughs a plenty. One detail, that was often lost on VHS/DVD transfers, is that of the films opening scene, that sees Jesse Walshe tormented by Freddy Kruger on a school bus. As Jesse enters the bus, we see for a second that the bus driver is actually played by Robert Englund. Considering that scenes following show that bus driver is now Freddy, adding the man behind the mask as the driver is a genius touch.

Explorers (1985) – Gremlins Easter Egg

Sometimes, gags were designed for the pause button. But if that gag is a fine detail on screen, say writing on a newspaper, then historically bad quality film would have destined that gag to be lost forever. Enter Blu-Ray and a super sharp image where you can read every inch of a briefly shown newspaper. As a great example of this, we turn to Joe Dante’s epic sci-fi adventure film, Explores (1985). In the film, Dante regular Dick Miller holds up a newspaper with the headline “UFO Scare?”. However, if you read the print just to right of that, you’ll spot a little Easter egg from another one of Dante’s 80’s films, Gremlins. The title reads “Kingston Falls ‘Riot’ Still Unexplained” referencing the mayhem caused by the Gremlins in the 1984 film. Yep, it’s confirmed that the films are in the same universe.

Psycho 2 (1983) – Posthumours Cameo

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock passed in 1980, so he never got an opportunity to watch Psycho grow into a massive franchise. The king of cameo’s, Hitchcock was just as famous for showing his face on camera as he was for directing behind it. So, it great that a little posthumous cameo has emerged in the last few years thanks to HD releases of the film. In a blink and you’ll miss it moment, you can spot a familiar shadow in the bottom right of the frame when a recently released from hospital Norman Bates enters a dark room. The shadow cast bares an almost identically silhouette of Hitchcock, one in which he used for series Alfred Hitchcock Presents. This is the perfect homage to the man that started it all back in 1960.

“Hello Horror Fans – Sadly for me, my eyes have never been the same since they fell out during the armature dramatic societies’ performance of 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag, I was playing one of the heads! Anyhow, these little details are so much fun, I’d love to know about more. Have you spotted any cool details in HD? Let us know in the comments below. Until next time…

Keep Rotten”

“Morti” The Mortician