Wednesday, April 9, 2008

The Terminator Report

I saw the Terminator at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco on 04/09/08 at 9:05.


They ran a stunning new 35mm print, which had been created after the rights switched to MGM and the sound was remastered. It featured the MGM logo at the beginning, a "Sound Restoration" credit card after the credits, and a very engaging 5.1 soundtrack. (The original theatrical release was mono.)

The presentation was better than the one I originally experienced at the Reel to Reel 4 in Johnson City, TN in 1984. (and better than BluRay on an HDTV)

Between 200 and 300 people were there, all laughing and cheering appropriately, but otherwise respectfully quiet. How many theatres had a crowd of 200 people for the Ruins or Leatherheads on Tuesday night?

The Terminator was the second half of a double feature with RoboCop. Based on the end credits, they had a terrific looking print of that as well.

Find classic films Back on the Big Screen near you!

2 comments:

David Jones said...

I really liked the remastered sound, and the print was quite clean.

Some areas for improvement for the Castro include:

A steady picture
Improved acoustics - The volume was a bit loud, needed a little more bass, and a little less echo.

Overall, I'm pleased, and will go back when they show movies I want to see.

Jonesy said...

Yeah, there was a very slight vertical jitter that was most noticable in the credits.

Also, a bit of the picture was projected off the edges of the screen. This was unfortunate, but I never felt like any critical imagery was lost. (In ONE shot in Blade Runner, this was a problem.)

The only time I noticed the echo was when Sarah's roommate Ginger spoke.