[In progress] The Exorcist (1973) 4K TC Reconstruct. - Exorcism fixed

[sanjuro_61]

Hey guys.
First of all, the title is pretty much self explanatory. The exorcism scenes, badly chroma dnr'ed (WTF is that?, seriously), will be replaced with the AI upscaled (the horror!) BD ones, and of course regraded.
I had a divx file of the 1997 DVD version I got from the archive dot org... but I can't find it (I must have accidentally deleted it). It will be helpful if I can get it again, as the 35mm print floating around is not very good (it's, indeed, faded). IMO, besides the exorcism, I don't think the 4K is in need of a regrading. Honestly, it looks good to me.

Now, a question that is bugging me:
I remembered a few years ago, the moviecensorship site, as we all know, great for comparing different versions, mentioned a digital tweak of Regan's mouth somewhere during the exorcism, or a scene right before it. Now is not mentioned anymore? Am I delusional? It would be great if someone could shed some light on this.

Work is in progress!

[sanjuro_61]

Update.
Some pics of the exorcism... (exported  in 1920x1080, but don't worry, the project is in 4K)
(Edited: updated pics in post below)

Since we don't have a 35mm reference, I'm just trying to make it look consistent with the rest of the footage, which I must say once again, looks very nice.

[X5gb]

You have a pm, sanjuro_61.

[Beber]

We do have a 35mm reference, well, sort of, since it's from Rob's Nostalgia Project with the usual liberties taken...

[sanjuro_61]

We do have a 35mm reference, well, sort of, since it's from Rob's Nostalgia Project with the usual liberties taken...

I know, I know. I've seen it. He did a good job bringing back the colors, but you can still see it's quite faded. Very often, dark areas are just grey, no colors. Gone. All throughout the movie, greens and cyans are mostly gone too. I mean, yeah, we can see the exorcism didn't have a blue tint, but beyond that... not useful.

A comparison (the UHD wins, hands down):

 

 

 

[Beber]

And yet, Rob usually tends to use LUTs that turn the color palette bluer. It's kinda funny in that regards that the exorcism scene doesn’t look blue.

[sanjuro_61]

And yet, Rob usually tends to use LUTs that turn the color palette bluer. It's kinda funny in that regards that the exorcism scene doesn’t look blue.

If the raw scan looked like the film cells we can find out there, he did a tremendous job regardless.

[sanjuro_61]

New update.
Taken care of the slightly pinkish skintones after removing the bluish tint...
Compared to the '97 DVD it might still look bluish, but I would say it's the DVD that has a brownish tint.

I like what I see (hope they fix the bug soon, these are supposed to be miniatures):

[Nick Laslett]

I’m glad we are getting another fix for the end sequence of The Exorcist. Thank you Sanjuro.

I have Aluminium Falcon’s earlier fix, which can be hard to obtain. The 35mm is a revelation for the colours of the end sequence in comparison to the UHD/bluray.

Another colour reference is Mark Kermode’s Fear of God documentary. It is on BBC iPlayer and has scenes from the exorcism. I believe it is using the same source as the ‘97 DVD.

Then there is “Terror in the Aisles” Blu-ray. Another good colour reference and this is the source for one of the replacement shots needed.

See Aluminium Falcon’s notes here.

https://fanrestore.com/thread-1586.html?...t=Exorcist

[sanjuro_61]

Yeah, I've read the thread. He regraded the whole thing, not just the exorcism, using the 97 DVD as color reference. Honestly, the UHD looks good (BTW, I'm taking care of the oversaturation in a handful of shots, like the subway scene).
For the jump cut shot I've used the 35mm scan (cleaned). That Terror in the Aisles thing sadly misses 2 frames.

The 35mm is no good. The last reel is very faded, to the point of being almost gray for many shots, save for the skintones.
35mm scan pics from the exorcism (you can compare them  to the ones I posted):