Rollercoaster
UNIVERSAL HOME VIDEO - 20439

STATS
Widescreen (Letterbox 1.85:1), Color, CC, MONO (1.1), Languages: English, French, Subtitles: English, Spanish, Chapters: 16, Running Time: 1 hrs. 59 mins., Rated PG, Price: $14.95



VISUAL
Colors are bright and bold. The image is clean from scratches and nicks. This isn’t a bad transfer at all; it even has deep blacks. The only think wrong with this release is that it’s outdated – not anamorphic. To that end there is a decreased amount of detail, and information in the image. Why UNIVERSAL didn’t go the extra yard doesn’t make sense. This is the same master used in the Laserdisc release just a few years prior to the advent of DVD – if it were a more popular film it would have garnered a new 16.9 transfer. All I know is that there are present major bombs released by the same company which have gotten better treatment which this film, which was a box office success gets snubbed. So, for those who have a 16.9 monitor you what you’ll see is a 4.3 image with a 2.35.1 letterbox image. This greatly decreases the size of the viewing area but if you increase it either by zooming expect the image quality to diminish.

AUDIO
The film was released in the process known as SENSERROUND (see link below to article). For this reason UNIVERSAL has included a L.F.E track – thus the .1 Theatrically released in MONO the mix is preserved, and is rendered well here. The added bass track supports the mix well in both effects and music. If the viewer wants an added effect consider turning up you bass just a bit so the subwoofer can take extra advantage of the L.F.E information. In the theater the bass was part of a special sound presentation which filled the air with currents of strong bass shaking the audience beyond any 5.1 presentation known today. It was, in effect, allowing the viewer to experience a ride on a rollercoaster. At home it may not have the same jarring effect, but is does add a bit of fun to the viewing.

EXTRAS
CAST & FILMMAKER’S BIOS (Text).

THEATRICAL TRAILER – This is an interesting trailer since it is in 1.85:1 9 for a film that’s 2.25:1. Although the film was presented as a SENSERROUND release it was also run in theatres as a regular release – this is a general release trailer. Running Time 1 min., 16 secs. It would have been nice if UNIVERSAL had included the SENSURROUND trailer.


Disc

PRESENTATION
With silent menus and n transitions to sub-menus this is a quick release by UNIVERSAL made with little effort. There’s a bi-fold insert with chapter stops but probably new run offs of this release won’t have this. The disc comes in the standard UNIVERSAL black plastic Amaray. The cover art is taken from one of the theatrical ads created for the theatrical release of the film.

SIGHTS AND INSIGHTS
This was the third film produced for released in SENSURROUND. (The first being EARTHQUAKE and MIDWAY the next.) The sound system originally conceived to shake its audience to simulate the quake on screen also worked well in creating a shell-shock atmosphere of was in MIDWAY. For ROLLERCOASTER the ads read, “Ride it, in SENSURROUND!” Limited in use during rollercoaster segments certainly curtailed the fun when compared to long multiple battle scenes in the previous film, MIDWAY; may have disappointed audiences, and might even reflected on box office receipts. The expense of setting up these huge subwoofers throughout the theatre probably all added to the fun and gimmicky presentation.

REVIEW by Scott Michael Bosco©
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READ THE ARTICLE ON SENSURROUND