[In progress] Fright Night Part 2 (1988) Full 4K UHD Restoration (Help Needed)

[NewNightmare]

STORY & PROJECT OUTLINE
Where do I begin?  I can remember, like many of the fans out there, watching this movie for the first time on cable TV when I was about 8 years old.  I used to be drawn to the VHS cover art every time I would walk into the video store to rent a movie.  2003 ... it was finally happening ... an Official DVD Release .  Expecting a restored masterpiece in its proper widescreen format, we got exactly the opposite ... a VHS-to-DVD transfer stating that “This film is presented in the original 1.33:1 format in which the film was shot”.  The film, matter of factly, was shot in a 2.35:1 widescreen format, which brings me to my next point.  2009 ... for the very first time ... MonstersHD, a cable TV network, aired the film in a High Definition format preserving the original widescreen 2.35:1 aspect ratio, courtesy of Paramount Pictures (later "officially” released in Germany, courtesy of '84 Entertainment ).  The reality of an official remastered DVD + Blu-ray release was looking more hopeful but again, we were all disappointed to go another 8 years (bringing us to our current year, 2018) without an official release.  Attempts were made by some smaller based companies like Scream Factory but all attempts lead us to yet another dead end. The only physical media release in a high definition format this film has ever had in its 30 years of existence have all been bootlegs of the only existing HD transfer of the film (from 2009).  For those that didn't already know the story, they would soon get that story in great detail following the release of  "You're So Cool, Brewster! The Story of Fright Night" Documentary in 2016.  

As quoted by Director Tommy Lee Wallace, "The Menendez Brothers killed Fright Night Part 2, as well as their parents."

With no future release dates being discussed and no studio coming forward to officially release the film due to the rights limbo it has been in since it was pulled out of theaters back in 1988, I am hoping to give this film the credibility and treatment it and its fans deserve.  I have here with me a 35MM Release Print of the film from 1988.  From what I can see, it is in excellent condition stored in its original film canisters.  Currently I am in talks with a Professional Restoration Team to do a Full Restoration of this film in 4K (2160P) Ultra High Definition.  We will be working with the copyright holders during this restoration process.  

BUDGET & FINANCIALS
Digital restoration is highly specialized work, with a film costing anywhere from $50,000 to $150,000, depending on its condition. Our current goal is $12,000CAD to cover the partial cost of a full restoration with film clean and prep, triple flash 4K Director scan with damage matte, stabilisation, dust-busting, scratch repair, grain management, HDR colour grade, restored stereo and creation of stereo DTS track.

VIDEO
Rec709 is the standard for Blu-ray, DVD and non-HDR UHD and is what most 4K and 1080P TVs are calibrated to at the factory. i.e. the grade that looks the best on the widest range of televisions and projectors.  An HDR graded movie can look dark on 4K TVs and 1080P TVs unless the owner has calibrated their set for HDR use.  An HDR grade is also a lot more work.

AUDIO
Creating a mix from Stereo to 5.1 is possible, but is a lot of work (at least a full-time week) for creating a new mix, which then has to be checked and trialed multiple times.  Getting a good 5.1 mix is a lot of work.  We need to watch the film multiple times and make notes as to where the various sounds should be positioned, and then go through and try and isolate the elements to get a good mix. It is much easier if the original sound recordings are available, that often have the isolated vocals and sound effects - it is much harder working from just a stereo track.

HELP REQUIRED
With this campaign, we’re asking the public to help us cover part of the cost to restore Fright Night Part II.  I will be funding the rest.  Any money that goes over our target will be invested in new restorations and releases.  Let us experience Fright Night Part II for the first time all over again with an all new Ultra High definitive look.

THE CHALLENGE
It can’t be seen in today’s digital cinemas and, over time, the 35MM film will deteriorate.  We will work in collaboration with the filmmaker where possible to bring their original vision of the film back to life, frame by frame.

**PM FOR DETAILS ON HOW YOU CAN HELP**

[NewNightmare]

3-Disc WIP Release
Disc One: 4K ULTRAHD

• ALL-NEW 4K Scan of the 35MM Release Print (and/or Original Camera Negative)
  
• Feature Film in 2160P UHD
  
• All-New DTS-HD Master Audio
  
• All-New English Subtitles
  
• All-Region (will play world-wide)
  

Disc Two: BLU-RAY

• ALL-NEW Transfer of the film from the 4K Scan
  
• Feature Film in 1080P
  
• All-New DTS-HD Master Audio
  
• All-New English Subtitles
  
• Region A/1 Locked
  

Disc Three: BLU-RAY
SPECIAL FEATURES

• Cast & Crew Biographies
  
• Comic Book Adaptation
  
• Photo Galleries:
  Behind-the-Scenes
  Special Effects
  Film Stills
  
• Lobby Cards (Spanish, French, German, US)
  
• Promotional Material
  
• Poster Art
  
• Revised Shooting Script
  
• Exclusive Theatrical Trailers (2), 1080P
  
• Exclusive ET Interview from 1989, 480P
  
• Exclusive Radio of Horror team Interviews Julie Carmen, 1080P
  
• Exclusive Interview with Julie Carmen: “A Beautiful Darkness: The Look of Regine”, 480P
  
• Exclusive Feature-Length Documentary: “You’re So Cool, Brewster! The Story of Fright Night Part II” (excluding all "Peter Vincent" segments), 1080P
  
• Exclusive Unreleased Soundtrack
  

[deleted user]

I don't really have any money to contribute, but I see the movie soundtrack is in "Ultra Stereo", which seems to be compatible with Dolby Stereo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra_Stereo

I have access to an analogue Dolby Stereo decoder (Dolby SDU4) as well as a good RME audio interface. If you send me the optical audio track as a PCM WAV with as much bit depth/sample rate as possible (after the Dolby A noise reduction processing!), I can use this to dematrix it to 4.0 (LCRS) audio, from which it's also possible to create a rudimentary 5.1 track by splitting the rear channel into two (with 3dB reduction) and by using a low pass filter for the LFE channel.

There are some digital solutions too, but they are all based on newer versions of Dolby Stereo/Pro Logic and aren't as authentic to the original experience as this one. For example, modern digital dematrixers ignore the lowpass and delay of the rear channel, both of which are authentic to the original process/experience, or in other words, how it would have been decoded in cinema.

Hit me up in this thread or via PM if that's of interest to you. I could do this up to 96 kHZ if wanted, and of course at 24bit.

Edit: By the way, UHD Blu Rays are region free.

[Feallan]

BUDGET & FINANCIALS
Digital restoration is highly specialized work, with a film costing anywhere from $50,000 to $150,000, depending on its condition.

Not an expert, but this is A LOT of money, for a film print that appears to be in good condition. What services does this price include?

[NewNightmare]

I don't really have any money to contribute, but I see the movie soundtrack is in "Ultra Stereo", which seems to be compatible with Dolby Stereo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra_Stereo

I have access to an analogue Dolby Stereo decoder (Dolby SDU4) as well as a good RME audio interface. If you send me the optical audio track as a PCM WAV with as much bit depth/sample rate as possible (after the Dolby A noise reduction processing!), I can use this to dematrix it to 4.0 (LCRS) audio, from which it's also possible to create a rudimentary 5.1 track by splitting the rear channel into two (with 3dB reduction) and by using a low pass filter for the LFE channel.

There are some digital solutions too, but they are all based on newer versions of Dolby Stereo/Pro Logic and aren't as authentic to the original experience as this one. For example, modern digital dematrixers ignore the lowpass and delay of the rear channel, both of which are authentic to the original process/experience, or in other words, how it would have been decoded in cinema.

Hit me up in this thread or via PM if that's of interest to you. I could do this up to 96 kHZ if wanted, and of course at 24bit.

Edit: By the way, UHD Blu Rays are region free.

We are still working on setting a day for the scan, once we have completed a test scan on reel 1. This does sound very helpful though so we will touch base once the scan has been completed and fully funded.

[NewNightmare]

BUDGET & FINANCIALS
Digital restoration is highly specialized work, with a film costing anywhere from $50,000 to $150,000, depending on its condition.

Not an expert, but this is A LOT of money, for a film print that appears to be in good condition. What services does this price include?

Our current goal is $12,000CAD to cover the partial cost of a full restoration with film clean and prep, triple flash 4K Director scan with damage matte, stabilisation, dust-busting, scratch repair, grain management, HDR colour grade, restored stereo and creation of stereo DTS track.

[LucasGodzilla]

Damn, that's gonna take a lot of work and effort. However, I have faith that you'll be able to make it work. As of right now, I don't have any funding either to contribute, but I'll certainly investigate around if I have anything that could be helpful. Out of curiosity though, how will you be working with the copyright holders and the filmmaker, have you already contacted them?

I'm also curious as to how you'll approach making a new audio mix. I'm certainly curious if you'd be able to somehow involve Brad Fiedel for the score, especially since you state that you hope to also release the score for the movie as a bonus feature.

Also, how did you even happen to come across these film reels???

[NewNightmare]

Damn, that's gonna take a lot of work and effort. However, I have faith that you'll be able to make it work. As of right now, I don't have any funding either to contribute, but I'll certainly investigate around if I have anything that could be helpful. Out of curiosity though, how will you be working with the copyright holders and the filmmaker, have you already contacted them?

We are reaching out to the copyright holders at this time. Once we hear back from them, we would like to clear the rights and discuss release details which may include access to the original camera negative and much more. This process can be fairly lengthy, from what I am told.

I'm also curious as to how you'll approach making a new audio mix. I'm certainly curious if you'd be able to somehow involve Brad Fiedel for the score, especially since you state that you hope to also release the score for the movie as a bonus feature.

We would love to work with Brad Fiedel as well as the cast and crew once this gets going. First things first. Creating a mix from Stereo to 5.1 is possible, but is a lot of work (at least a full-time week) for creating a new mix, which then has to be checked and trialed multiple times. Getting a good 5.1 mix is a lot of work. We need to watch the film multiple times and make notes as to where the various sounds should be positioned, and then go through and try and isolate the elements to get a good mix. It is much easier if the original sound recordings are available, that often have the isolated vocals and sound effects - it is much harder working from just a stereo track.

Also, how did you even happen to come across these film reels???

The film was found in a closed down movie theatre. I had created an inquiry to locate the 35mm and as luck would have it, received a response. A response I didn’t read and respond to until 2 years later. Luck, pure and simple.

[Evit]

It's an exciting project, I imagine you work for some company like Shout and an official release of this film is planned once the legal rights are acquired?

[Dr. Cooper]

Sounds very interesting and like a hell of work, but you seem to be very passionate about this which is something the studios are lacking for most films. So very best of luck and I'm looking forward to see how this is going on!

However (and you already know this as it's mentioned in the first post), there is an official Blu-ray available in Germany: https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Fright-Ni...ay/158445/
It's currently OOP, but there'll surely be a re-release sometime. I haven't seen it yet, but from what I read this release isn't bad at all - and 84 Entertainment is definitely not a Bootleg-label.