[versions] RE-ANIMATOR (1985) - mono or stereo?

[pipefan413]

Reading the blurb on the back of the letterboxed LD it does say mono so I guess the lddb listing is incorrect.
I'm always curious when a low-contrast print is used as opposed to an IP, as there's no colour mask to deal with the colours may be more accurate. Am I right in thinking the first Elite DVD is a port of the LD?

Indeed it does... or at least it says they used a mono element to make it, though it's theoretically possible that remixed it to stereo. I dunno why they would though and then not mention it on the packaging.

"The film element used for this laserdisc was a new 35mm low-contrast print struck from the original 35mm camera negative. An original 3-stripe mono audio mag was used for the film soundtrack. The low-contrast print was created by Elite Entertainment specifically for this laserdisc release."

I don't have the DVD, only LaserDisc and Blu-rays, but it wouldn't at all surprise me if Elite ported the LD across to DVD after doing this sort of work on it.

[SpaceBlackKnight]

Mono was indeed the original mix, also in part of US distributor Empire International being initially unsure of it's box office intake and unwilling to spend any more money on it. By the time it was a hit and reached Japan, the Japanese distributor reportedly had a Stereo remix (Bonic Sound) created just for the Japanese theatrical release (A trend that was also sometimes repeated in the past, Warner Japan had a custom stereo mix made exclusively for the Japanese theatrical run of Max Max). This mix was probably created by the producers in the US using original soundtrack recording tapes and D/M/E tracks, and might be the basis for the current stereo and 5.1 mixes.