ChuckPenn3 | Video Release Comparison: The Exorcist (1973) Exorcism 1997 DVD to 2023 4K UHD Blu-ray @ChuckPenn3 | Uploaded December 2023 | Updated October 2024, 2 hours ago.
The 1997 DVD of The Exorcist, the premiere of the film on that then-new format, was the last time the original opening logo and color timing were presented for the film on video. The 1998 25th anniversary DVD release introduced all-new color timing for the exorcism, further modified in 2000 for the “Version You’ve Never Seen” theatrical reissue (now referred to as the “Extended Director’s Cut”). This drastically altered timing, similar to what was performed on the critically-lambasted first 2008 Blu-ray release of William Friedkin’s The French Connection (1971), involves blurring the color layer and over saturating it as shown here: youtu.be/xI_P0EF3aQk?si=1TGWho0za6mPqhtt The result on every release of The Exorcist since 1998 is a soft bluish mess, nothing like how the film was presented for its first 25 years. Even releases of the “original theatrical version” have this revised palette.
The 1997 DVD of The Exorcist, the premiere of the film on that then-new format, was the last time the original opening logo and color timing were presented for the film on video. The 1998 25th anniversary DVD release introduced all-new color timing for the exorcism, further modified in 2000 for the “Version You’ve Never Seen” theatrical reissue (now referred to as the “Extended Director’s Cut”). This drastically altered timing, similar to what was performed on the critically-lambasted first 2008 Blu-ray release of William Friedkin’s The French Connection (1971), involves blurring the color layer and over saturating it as shown here: youtu.be/xI_P0EF3aQk?si=1TGWho0za6mPqhtt The result on every release of The Exorcist since 1998 is a soft bluish mess, nothing like how the film was presented for its first 25 years. Even releases of the “original theatrical version” have this revised palette.
