Obscure Cinema

Asterix and the Vikings

Asterix and the Vikings leaves an overall impression of being one of the better adaptations of the series. We've been starved for traditional animation lately, and to see a new film that is not only hand-drawn but also drawn well is a rare treat indeed. Still, if you're already a fan of the book, don't expect this adaptation to convey the depth and tone of the source material, although, conversely, it may give you a newfound appreciation for what Goscinny and Uderzo were able to achieve in only 44 pages that the filmmakers struggle to convey in 75 minutes. That said, a new Asterix has been a long time in coming, and I only hope we don't have to wait another 12 years for the next one.

After a 12-year absence, Asterix the Gaul returns with a new animated adventure. I've reviewed the R2 French release of Asterix and the Vikings, which features both English and French audio and an array of extras.

Asterix and the Vikings

My copy of the recently released R2 French release of Asterix and the Vikings arrived this morning from Amazon.fr. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the French release is unusual in that it caters to English speakers by including not only English audio but also subtitles. Like Asterix Conquers America, the film was animated to an English dialogue track. As is usually the case with the Asterix films in English, all the roles were once again recast, with a selection of A- and B-list actors providing the voices. Asterix is played by Paul Giamatti, Obelix by Brad Garrett, Justforkix by Sean Astin, Abba by Evan Rachel Wood, and Timandahaf by John Di Maggio.

Of these, only Garrett and Di Maggio have had any particular experience providing voice-overs for animation, and to be honest it shows. As I said in my review of Corpse Bride yesterday, live action stars generally do not make good voice actors, because providing voice-overs requires a completely different set of abilities (since, naturally, they have to rely on their vocal performance alone instead of also drawing on things like body language and appearance). The voices are generally competent, but none of them really feel like they're coming organically from the characters, and a number of the actors are guilty of overacting. This is especially true of the individuals playing Vitalstatistix and his brother Doublehelix (the guilty parties aren't listed on IMDB, and the DVD includes only the French credits, so I'm not sure who's responsible). It's bizarre, but the French track, which is dubbed, feels a lot more natural than its English counterpart.

As far as the Asterix films go, this is one of the better ones. This is a series that really hasn't had a particularly rosy history in the cinematic form, mainly because the mood and humour of the comics is so precise that it must be very difficult to convey it adequately in animation (and the less said about the two live action adaptations the better). As such, Asterix and the Vikings may not be perfect, but it's certainly not a travesty by any means - and it's definitely better than Asterix Conquers America, which, produced in 1994, was the most recent animated effort before this one. In terms of animation and technical prowess, this is definitely the most attractive of the bunch, although the garish colour palette is a little overdone. Plot-wise, it varies between being extremely faithful to the source material (so close, in fact, that entire pages are literally lifted from the book Asterix and the Normans with only minimal changes), and coming up with completely unique material, including a bunch of new characters and situations. Unfortunately, like Asterix and the Big Fight, the jokes are fairly infrequent, and those that are included aren't hugely funny. It's nice to see Asterix back on the screen in an animated form, however, and it blows the live action iterations out of the water.

Transfer-wise, this release is a bit of a disappointment. The digitally sourced transfer certainly looks vibrant (too vibrant, in fact, although this is most likely the result of the colour palette itself rather than any additional goosing for the DVD release), but the image has a very harsh look. Noticeably filtered and edge enhanced, lines are rough and jagged rather than smooth, with massive amounts of stair-stepping on display. This gives the image an oddly low resolution appearance, looking a little too much like a poor scaling job for comfort. At least the compression is reasonably competent, though, and the banded gradients that show up so often in digital animation are thankfully kept to a minimum.

Update, December 19, 2006 06:15 PM: Fixed dead link.

Halloween reviews special: Death Laid an Egg

Although I would consider Death Laid an Egg absolutely essential viewing for anyone with an interest in gialli, the problematic nature of this DVD's presentation makes it difficult to recommend, particularly given the high price tag. Unfortunately, it seems to be the best we're going to get for the time being, since the usual rights issues would appear to be preventing a wider release.

What would you get if David Cronenberg, Jean-Luc Godard and Nicolas Roeg got together to make a giallo? Answer: Death Laid an Egg. I've reviewed the R2 Japanese DVD of this bafflingly weird 1968 offering.

Mother of Tears news

Loads of new information has emerged over the last couple of days regarding Dario Argento's upcoming Mother of Tears, so I'm going to list it in the form of some handy bullet points:

• The cinematographer is Frederic Fasano (Do You Like Hitchcock?). The film is being shot in Super35 for a 2.35:1 aspect ratio, and the outrageous colours will be achieved via a digital grade.
• Contrary to rumours, Myriad Pictures is still involved in the project, and the budget is apparently adequate for everything required by the script.
• Yesterday was the last day of principal photography in Rome, which now moves to Turin for six weeks.
• The visual effects, both practical and digital, are being handled by the same people responsible for the effects of the Masters of Horror series.
• The UK premiere will be at FrightFest 2007, and Dario and Asia Argento will hopefully both be present.

Sources: Mobius and Dark Discussion

Halloween reviews special: Seven Notes in Black

Had it contained an English audio track as the packaging states, this could probably have been accepted as the definitive version of Seven Notes in Black. As it stands, however, this oversight means that, despite the generally impressive transfer and in-depth extras, this release is seriously flawed. Hopefully, one day, there will be a legitimate English-language release of the film. Until then, however, it's disappointing that most English speakers can only watch this underrated entry in Fulci's filmography by means of an illegal bootleg.

Released last year, Neo Publishing's 2-disc Collector's Edition of Seven Notes in Black combines an underrated Lucio Fulci film with an exhaustive set of extras. I've reviewed the R2 French release, which annoyingly lacks the English audio track listed on the packaging.

Halloween reviews special: Plot of Fear

Plot of Fear may disappoint viewers who like their gialli exotic or camp, and as a straight murder mystery, it's not perfect. Still, as an example of the genre at its more serious and downtrodden, this is a compelling thriller with a palpable atmosphere of pessimism and distrust. It may lack the grandeur of an Argento or the viscera of a Fulci, but Cavara's film is a fine addition to the genre and one that can boast to offer something slightly different from the usual run of animal-titled chic slashers.

I return to the world of the giallo with a review of Plot of Fear, a bleak 1976 thriller from Paolo Cavara, starring Corinne Clery. Raro Video's R0 Italian DVD offers both English and Italian audio but features a disappointing transfer and a lack of extras.

Halloween: the countdown begins

I've now finalised the list of reviews that will be going live this Halloween at DVD Times. Unfortunately, I've had to cut back a little on my original projected list of titles due to a lack of time and, in some instances, motivation, but you should still be seeing six horror-themed reviews from me (plus a few from other contributors), so you shouldn't want for lack of reading. The schedule looks like this:

• October 30th, 6 AM: Plot of Fear (R0 Italy, SD DVD)
• October 30th, 12 PM: Constantine (R0 USA, HD DVD)
• October 30th, 6 PM: Seven Notes in Black: Collector's Edition (R2 France, SD DVD)
• October 31st, 12 AM: Corpse Bride (R0 USA, HD DVD)
• October 31st, 12 PM: The Machinist (R0 Japan, HD DVD)
• October 31st, 6 PM: Death Laid an Egg (R2 Japan, SD DVD)

Of these, all but Corpse Bride are written and ready to go.

I also intend to watch several horror-themed films over the next few days, including some old favourites, like Rosemary's Baby, The Omen, Suspiria and Inferno. Time will tell, of course, whether I actually manage to keep to that, but I live in hope. At any rate, the TV schedules look as piss-poor as usual for October 31st, so it looks as if I'm going to have to provide my own playlist, as usual.

My latest little project

I knocked this one together this evening, once again proving what Anchor Bay could easily have done if they'd invested a little effort, instead of cobbling the missing material together as a bunch of VHS-sourced "deleted scenes". The Italian print has much nicer colours too, which I'm led to believe are an accurate representation of how the film should look, so that's a nice bonus.

The results are fine overall, with the film playing in as seamless a manner as possible when taking into account the language switching (I wish I had the work print available so I could get the original English dialogue for the affected material), although I've had a lot of trouble fitting this one on a single layer disc without major artefacting. The Italian transfer wasn't the best compression job in the first place (it too was crammed on to a single layer disc), and if there's one thing I've learned from these projects, it's that, since the material is effectively going to be encoded twice, you'll need to give your version a higher bit rate than that of the source file, otherwise you essentially get double the artefacts. One of these days, I'd love to get a dual layer burner - maybe I'll wait till HD DVD-compatible drives become available and/or affordable.

Mother of Tears: it has begun

Source: Dark Discussion

Apparently, filming of Dario Argento's Mother of Tears, the long-overdue conclusion to the Three Mothers trilogy begun with Suspiria (1977) and Inferno (1980), began yesterday at the Bocca della Verità in the centre of Rome.

And at the moment, that's all we know. The only other news is that Myriad Pictures, which was to be the production's USA partner, is no longer involved with the project. The reason, apparently, is disagreements over casting decisions. (My guess? Myriad wanted Sienna Miller to play the lead, Argento wanted Asia Argento.) While I'm personally glad that Argento has stuck to his guns rather than caving into the demands of a studio whose output so far has been comprised of the likes of Jeepers Creepers II and The Good Girl, I can't help thinking that this must have lowered the budget considerably and scuppered pretty much any chance of an English-language theatrical release. Ah, well.

One on Top of the Other in 2007

Severin Films has just announced that, in early 2007, they will be bringing Lucio Fulci's long-lost first giallo, One on Top of the Other, to DVD, complete with a new transfer from the original negative. This is fantastic news, since, with the Anchor Bay DVD that was announced ages ago seemingly disappearing without a trace, many people were beginning to wonder if it would ever see the light of day. I'll certainly be picking this up, and I'll be glad to throw away my VHS bootleg, which has served me well but is certainly no way to watch such an impressive film. Of course, given that I don't own any of Severin's other releases, it's hard to say what the quality of their output is like, but it's got to be better than what's available already.

Asterix and the Vikings... soon

The French R2 release of the latest Asterix film, Asterix and the Vikings, is due to be released tomorrow. I've had it pre-ordered for some time, but, mindful of my horrible experience with Astérix: La Trilogie Gaumont, which was delayed for over a year, I was half-expecting a last-minute postponement. Luckily, my copy is now packing at Amazon.fr, so with any luck I'll be able to let you know how the disc measures up before too long.

Until then, you might want to check out this review at DVDRama. The text is in French, so I know not everyone who visits this site will be able to follow it, but both the transfer and audio have received very high marks (and this is a site that's generally very good when it comes to audio-visual reviews), and you can see plenty of screen captures from the menus and extras. Most surprising is the audio setup menu screen, which shows that not only does the disc include English subtitles but also English audio. I was half-expecting this to be left out, given that it's absent from DVDFr's spec page for the DVD, and also because French DVD distributors, to be honest, don't have the best track record when it comes to supporting English speakers. Asterix and the Vikings was animated to an English vocal track, however, so it's only right and proper that this is included, even if I have a sneaking suspicion that I may end up preferring the French dub, as I did for Asterix Conquers America. Still, you can't argue with choice, and I'm glad I get the chance to make up my mind for myself. Fingers crossed for the first ever non-problematic Asterix DVD!

Update, October 24, 2006 06:54 PM: As of 6:50 PM, it's now on it's way.

New Lizard in a Woman's Skin DVD from Media Blasters

Source: 10K Bullets Forum

Media Blasters, it would seem, are working on a new release of Lucio Fulci's A Lizard in a Woman's Skin. As many of you probably know, they hopelessly bungled their previous release of the film a couple of years ago, failing to secure an uncut print and as a result offering only a choice between a widescreen cut version and a VHS-sourced, pan and scan version, which contained considerably more material than the cut version, but was still missing a couple of segments due to Italian censorship. At the time, Media Blasters claimed that an uncut print of the film didn't exist.

Egg was on their faces, however, when Federal Video in Italy released a DVD earlier this year which contained an almost-uncut version of the film. This version, it would seem, will be used as the source for the new Media Blasters release, which, according to 10K Bullets editor Mike Den Boer,

will include the region 2 cut of the film and the extras from the region 2. All with English subtitles.

Apparently, they will be syncing the superior English dub up with the transfer wherever possible, but there are still a number of issues to consider. First, will this be a proper native NTSC transfer, or will they simply do a half-assed PAL to NTSC standards conversion of the Italian DVD? Secondly, will they make any attempt to reinsert the material that is missing from the Italian DVD? There are three specific instances: (1) around 15-20 seconds of sapphic canoodling near the start of the film; (2) a few seconds of Anita Strindberg's ass as she approaches a man lying prostrate on the floor during one of her sexy parties; (3) a dream sequence which misses a few more seconds of fondling, and is partially overlaid with a "ripple" effect. For the composite version of the film that I made for my own personal use back during summer this year, I was able to fix the first two but couldn't do anything about the third. The discrepancy on the Italian release came about because they used two different sources for their version - the cut American print and a slightly poorer quality but less cut Italian print. The American print includes the "ripple" effect and is partially censored, but for some reason whoever was in charge of combining the two didn't notice this, and as a result the Italian DVD features a botched version of the dream sequence. The uncut version presumably exists on the Italian print, so if Media Blasters are able to access it, they could, with a little effort, create the definitive version of this film. Unfortunately, knowing their track record, I somehow doubt that they are going to go the extra mile.

Oh, and I'm still waiting for Media Blasters boss John Sirabella to make good on the promise he made back when the previous version was released, that, should an uncut print emerge, he would ship replacement copies of it free of charge to everyone who got gypped in the first place.

Mother of Tears cast news and shooting date

Variety has a piece on Dario Argento's upcoming Mother of Tears. The article, written in Variety's usual bastardisation of the English language, states that

Shooting is set to start Oct. 30 in Rome, with plans to move after one week to Turin, where the Piedmont Film Commission is providing location and accommodation incentives.

Additionally, two more cast members are announced: Massimo Sarchielli and Philippe Leroy (no word on who they'll be playing, though).

Real-life Suspiria locations

Source: Mobius

Ever wondered what some of the locations from Dario Argento's Suspiria look like without the crazy Technicolor lighting? This guy has visited some of them and taken a few photos, which are interesting to say the least. The text is in Italian, but the pictures speak for themselves.

Delivery deluge

Today has been quite a day for deliveries, with the HD DVD releases of The Machinist and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the latter a review copy) and the DVD of the 25th Anniversary edition of The Fox and the Hound (again, for review) all arriving.

I'm going to discuss The Machinist first because it's definitely the most noteworthy of the three arrivals. It constitutes several first for me: my first non-US HD DVD (it's Japanese), my first HD DVD from a distributor other than one of the major Hollywood studios (it's a Toshiba release), and my first HD DVD using MPEG4/AVC/H.264 as its compression format rather than VC1.

I was a little wary regarding this release given the mixed reports that have come through so far regarding Toshiba's Japanese releases, all of which have used MPEG4 rather than VC1. Essentially, MPEG4 has been characterised as an inferior format, and I was expecting to be a bit let down by The Machinist. I needn't have worried: it looks excellent, and in places is up there with Serenity in terms of detail. For the most part, the image is razor-sharp, and the grain, too, looks excellent. The Machinist is stylistically a very harsh film, with heavily desaturated colours and very pronounced contrasts. All of this is maintained with aplomb on the HD DVD.

Unfortunately, it is slightly marred by a few instances of unsightly edge enhancement. I should point out, however, that this was actually present when I saw the film at the cinema. It was the first time I'd ever seen edge enhancement on a projected film print, and it's indicative of the move towards using digital intermediates as opposed to conventional chemical colour timing in a laboratory. The fact that the entire film is stored on a computer gives technicians free reign to monkey with the image until their hearts content, and it does seem that they have gone way overboard with the artificial sharpening in some shots here. These are exactly the same shots that were affected when I saw it at the cinema, so it is the filmmakers themselves who deserve the blame for this rather than Toshiba.

The film comes with English and Japanese Dolby Digital-Plus 5.1 audio tracks and Japanese subtitles, which can be disabled either on the fly using the remote control function or via the menu. A handful of extras are included - a documentary, deleted scenes, two trailers and some filmographies. For these, the subtitles unfortunately can't be disabled. Oh yeah, and, oddly enough, this HD DVD comes in a standard amaray case, which is most annoying given that it's a completely different size from the rest of my collection:

Meanwhile, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is, comparatively speaking, a disappointment. I'm not exactly sold on the film itself (I think Johnny Depp's interpretation of Willy Wonka is cringe-worthily awful, the musical numbers are atrocious, and the subplot involving Christopher Lee as Wonka's father one of the worst additions I've ever seen in a book-to-film adaptation), and the HD DVD's transfer is a real let-down. Reviewers and laymen alike have been raving over it - "Best HD DVD yet!" "10/10!" and so on. Unfortunately, this is actually the worst-looking HD DVD I've seen so far. Like the other two Warner releases I've seen so far, it's slightly edge enhanced, but, unlike Million Dollar Baby and Constantine, it's also quite soft. Some of this is intentional - as with The Machinist, it was digitally colour timed, and Tim Burton, it would seem, took the opportunity to add a further touch of artificiality to the movie by cranking up the automated spot remover beyond what most people would consider a reasonable level. A lot of the time, the actors' faces, even in close-up, look like those of porcelain dolls, and in some scenes, such as the early flashback to when Grandpa Joe worked at the factory, they look waxy and smeared.

These are not, however, the fault of the HD DVD. What is, however, is the overall diffuse look of the film. Throughout, it looks ill-defined and almost outright blurry, but for one occasion: the first Oompa-Loompa musical number after Augustus Gloop has been sucked into the pipes of the chocolate river. Suddenly, the softening disappears and, for a few brief moments, it becomes a 10/10 transfer. The grain that was sorely missing comes back, the individual blades of grass stop being merely a swathe of poorly-defined green, and it all seems much more three-dimensional. It doesn't last, though, and, almost as soon as the song has finished, it goes back to its murky, diffuse look, which remains for the rest of the film.

Also problematic is the encoding. This is the first time that I've seen noticeable compression problems on an HD DVD, but they are here for all to see. I don't have the specific time code references to hand (I'll make sure to note these down when I come to do my official DVD Times review), but on at least three occasions, parts of the screen disintegrate into mushy macroblocks. One occasion involves swirling melted chocolate, while the other takes place in the midst of a series of explosions as Charlie, Wonka and Grandpa Joe right the Great Glass Elevator. These can't have been easy scenes to compress, but this is the first time I've seen an HD DVD encode slip up so badly, and I genuinely hope it's not the start of a trend. Although, given the rave reviews the transfer has been getting, even from so-called experts, I have my fears.

Finally, The Fox and the Hound, and it's the least impressive of today's deliveries by far. Actually, it's a downright disgrace. Despite being promoted and packaged as some sort of 25th anniversary special edition, Disney have done a really crummy job with it. In terms of extras, there seems to be nothing here that wasn't already present in the underwhelming line-up for the previously-released UK version of the film - we're talking a rudimentary behind-the-scenes featurette, a couple of bonus shorts, a sing-along and a narrated "storybook".

Of course, what really counts is the audio-visual presentation, and I'm sorry to report that it's a complete disaster. First, the original mono mix of the film is nowhere to be seen. In its place is a Dolby Digital 5.1 remix, which sounds weak and clumsy, and very clearly wrong. Worse still is the transfer, which is nothing more than a recycle of the pan and scan LaserDisc master used for the previous DVD. That Disney would put out something so shoddy in this day and age is an absolute joke, and I am very strongly recommending that anyone thinking about picking up a copy of this seriously reconsider before plonking down a wad of cash for this lazy botch-job. This is 0/10 for video, 0/10 for audio - who are they trying to kid?

Update, October 17, 2006 03:55 PM: Regular Disney DVD reviewer Dave Boulet, whose comments about The Little Mermaid's transfer were right on the money, has given The Fox and the Hound's DVD an absolute savaging at DVD File - and, for once, I actually find myself nodding my head in agreement as I read a review.

The Do-It-Yourself Giallo Generator

A Yellow Parrot in a Darkened Room

Directed by Carlo Plagiarino

A frantic young woman is found dead with her head and hands cut off on stage, in front of an audience which doesn't understand what's going on. Her brother is unsatisfied with the official explanation of the killing. After discovering an old painting, he discovers that he himself is actually responsible; his own lover is forced to kill him before he can kill again.

I posted this link before a couple of years back, but it's so damn neat it bears repeating. The Do-It-Yourself Giallo Generator perfectly captures everything that makes the wackiest gialli so wacky, from the ridiculous animal-themed titles with no relation to anything in the film, to the convoluted and/or nonsensical plots. Anyone who is a fan of the genre should get a kick out of this well-observed send-up.

Mother of Tears production begins soon

Source: Dark Discussion

Dario Argento : effettuati i sopralluoghi a Torino nell'ultima settimana di agosto, partiranno il 23 ottobre, e proseguiranno per sei settimane, le riprese del suo nuovo film, La terza madre , protagonista Asia Argento; cast tecnico locale: 30 unità.
Produzione Opera Film tel. 06/80691277

Hi everybody

it seems the locations in Turin were surveyed at the end of August and a tunnel for the final horrific scene was chosen. The shooting will start on October 23rd with a local crew of 30 people and it'll last for six weeks.

Even though Turin has always proved visually magnificent in Argento's films, I still hope the movie will be partly set in the Italian capital. Just imagine Dario's visionary flair in the catacombs of Ancient Rome...

Ciao
Carlo

This is most excellent news, although the news that the production is to take place in Turin rather than Rome (which I believe I read before) is rather surprising. Given that we know from Inferno that Mater Lachrymarum holds rule over Rome, I'm assuming Turin will be standing in for the capital city in much the same way that it did in Profondo Rosso. Still, I'm slightly disappointed that we won't be seeing any of the landmarks - I'd love to have seen the exterior of the library from Inferno again, for example. Ah well, perhaps there will be some location shooting.

Update, October 12, 2006 10:36 PM: Fangoria has a piece on the news as well. Apparently Udo Kier will be playing "a priest/exorcist".

Halloween: what can you expect?

As I'm sure won't have escaped your notice, Halloween 2006 is only slightly over two weeks away. DVD Times always does a special round-up of scary reviews to coincide with the special event, and in the past I've always made a point of contributing as many as I can. This year will be no exception, and I've got several titles in the pipeline that I intend to cover.

This year, I'm going to make a point of reviewing as much HD DVD material as possible. Unfortunately, high definition horror films are a little scarce at the moment, but I've been able to come up with a few:

• Constantine
• Land of the Dead
• The Machinist
• Sleepy Hollow

In addition to those, I'll be covering some standard definition releases as well:

• The Beyond: Limited Edition (R0 USA)
• Death Laid an Egg (R2 Japan)
• Plot of Fear (R0 Italy)
• Seven Notes in Black: Collector's Edition (R2 France)

Obviously, I can't guarantee that every single one of these will be finished in time, but I wrote Plot of Fear's review today, so it at least should be going up.

Update, November 04, 2006 10:43 AM: I'm disabling commenting on this entry because it seems to be attracting an inordinate amount of spam.

So who's really in Mother of Tears?

There's been a lot of speculation regarding the cast of Dario Argento's upcoming conclusion to the Three Mothers trilogy, Mother of Tears. Back when it was originally announced, an Italian film news site ran a bogus story featuring a made-up synopsis and attaching several actors who, as it turns out, have nothing to do with the film. The real story has since emerged (and been pulled, presumably because US producer Myriad Pictures doesn't want people to look forward to the movie), and several actors have come forward to confirm that they are appearing in it. Therefore, without further ado, the full list of attached names and whether or not they're really attached:

• Asia Argento - Yes
• Chiara Caselli - No
• Ennio Fantastichini - No
• Valeria Golino - No
• Udo Kier - Yes
• Sienna Miller - No
• Daria Nicolodi - Yes
• Giordano Petri* - No
• Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni - Yes
• Max von Sydow - No

There you go. The cast of Non Ho Sonno ain't in this one, people, so I strongly recommend ignoring anything in the film's IMDB profile, as some fool keeps adding those erroneous names to it almost as quickly as I can delete them.

* This person doesn't even seem to exist, given that Mother of Tears is the only film in his IMDB profile.

Films I want on HD DVD

Just for laughs, I thought I'd compile a list of movies that I'd dearly love to see released on HD DVD, either because the current standard definition release is particularly poor, or because the film is particularly visually stunning and could especially benefit from the increased resolution, or just because I love the film in question. I've also listed the relative probability of each title seeing the light of day on my high definition format of choice.

• Amelie. Owned by Miramax (Disney) in the US. Disney are currently committed to Blu-ray, although they have shown no open hostility to HD DVD, and indeed executives have been quoted as saying that they expect to eventually release titles for both formats. In the UK, the rights are owned by Momentum, a division of Studio Canal, who have committed to HD DVD in Europe. Likely.
• American Beauty. Owned by DreamWorks, whose titles will from now on be distributed by Paramount, who support both HD DVD and Blu-ray. Likely.
• American Psycho. Owned by Lions Gate, who so far have released titles for Blu-ray. This particular title was announced for an October 17th release, but was recently delayed until "early 2007", apparently because Lions Gate are switching to VC1 as their codec of choice. Nothing has been publicly announced yet, but it is generally acknowledged that Lions Gate are preparing to go dual-format, so are likely to support HD DVD before the end of 2006, and intend to release all their Blu-ray titles on HD DVD as well. In the UK, the film is owned by Entertainment In Video, who, judging by the pre-orders at Play.com, intend to support both formats. Possibility.
• An American Werewolf in London. Owned by Universal, who are HD DVD exclusive. It has been announced as an HD DVD/SD DVD combo, with a street date of November 28th 2006. Definite.
• The Bird with the Crystal Plumage. Owned by Blue Underground, who have yet to announce any HD plans, but, like most independent labels, are likely to go with HD DVD due to the lower cost and lack of monopolisation by Sony. Possibility.
• The Birds. Owned by Universal, who are HD DVD exclusive. Likely.
• Blade. Owned by New Line, who intend to release for both HD DVD and Blu-ray starting in early 2007. Likely.
• A Bug's Life. Owned by Disney, who are currently committed to Blu-ray, although they have shown no open hostility to HD DVD, and indeed executives have been quoted as saying that they expect to eventually release titles for both formats. Possibility.
• A Clockwork Orange. Owned by Warner, who release for both formats. This title is one that Warner have confirmed that they intend to release, but no date has been given yet. Definite.
• Crash (Cronenberg). Owned by New Line, who intend to release for both HD DVD and Blu-ray starting in early 2007. Likely.
• Deep Red. Owned by Anchor Bay, who have yet to announce any HD plans, but, like most independent labels, are likely to go with HD DVD due to the lower cost and lack of monopolisation by Sony. Possibility.
• The Descent. Owned by Lions Gate, who so far have released titles for Blu-ray. Nothing has been publicly announced yet, but it is generally acknowledged that Lions Gate are preparing to go dual-format, so are likely to support HD DVD before the end of 2006, and intend to release all their Blu-ray titles on HD DVD as well. In the UK, the film is owned by Pathé, who have committed to HD DVD in Europe. Likely.
• Dial M for Murder. Owned by Warner, who release for both formats. Likely.
• Don't Look Now. Owned by Paramount, who support both HD DVD and Blu-ray. In the UK, the title is owned by Studio Canal, who have committed to HD DVD. Likely.
• Eyes Wide Shut. Owned by Warner, who release for both formats. This title is one that Warner have confirmed that they intend to release, but no date has been given yet. Definite.
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Already available from HD DVD from Universal, and constitutes a massive improvement on the SD releases from both Universal and Criterion. Available now.
• Finding Nemo. Owned by Disney, who are currently committed to Blu-ray, although they have shown no open hostility to HD DVD, and indeed executives have been quoted as saying that they expect to eventually release titles for both formats. Possibility.
• Frenzy. Owned by Universal, who are HD DVD exclusive. Likely.
• Gangs of New York. Owned by Miramax (Disney) in the US. Disney are currently committed to Blu-ray, although they have shown no open hostility to HD DVD, and indeed executives have been quoted as saying that they expect to eventually release titles for both formats. In the UK, the rights are owned by Entertainment In Video, who have sided with Blu-ray and are releasing it in November. Possibility.
• Hannibal. A co-production by MGM and Universal. MGM owns the rights in the US, while Universal owns them in Europe. Fox, who are currently a Blu-ray exclusive studio and unlikely to budge until Blu-ray crashes and burns, now own MGM's catalogue, so the title is unlikely to see a US release in the near future. In the UK, however, it is a distinct possibility. Likely.
• Home Alone. Owned by the HD DVD-phobic Fox, who are currently a Blu-ray exclusive studio and unlikely to budge until Blu-ray crashes and burns. Unlikely.
• The Incredibles. Owned by Disney, who are currently committed to Blu-ray, although they have shown no open hostility to HD DVD, and indeed executives have been quoted as saying that they expect to eventually release titles for both formats. Possibility.
• The Indiana Jones Trilogy. Distributed by Paramount, who support both HD DVD and Blu-ray. However, given that the rights are held by the Fox-friendly LucasFilm, who took forever to release them in standard definition, it seems unlikely that they will be released soon. Unlikely.
• Inferno. Owned by Anchor Bay, who have yet to announce any HD plans, but, like most independent labels, are likely to go with HD DVD due to the lower cost and lack of monopolisation by Sony. Possibility.
• The Iron Giant. Owned by Warner, who release for both formats. Likely.
• Kill Bill. The rights to the original theatrical versions of Volumes 1 and 2 are owned by Miramax (Disney). Disney are currently committed to Blu-ray, although they have shown no open hostility to HD DVD, and indeed executives have been quoted as saying that they expect to eventually release titles for both formats. The rights to the uncut, single-film "The Whole Bloody Affair" version, however, are owned by The Weinstein Company, who are committed to both formats. Likely.
• Kingdom of Heaven. Owned by the HD DVD-phobic Fox, who are currently a Blu-ray exclusive studio and unlikely to budge until Blu-ray crashes and burns. This director's cut is currently announced for release on Blu-ray on November 14th 2006. Unlikely.
• Lady and the Tramp. Owned by Disney, who are currently committed to Blu-ray, although they have shown no open hostility to HD DVD, and indeed executives have been quoted as saying that they expect to eventually release titles for both formats. Possibility.
• The Last of the Mohicans. Owned by the HD DVD-phobic Fox, who are currently a Blu-ray exclusive studio and unlikely to budge until Blu-ray crashes and burns. Unlikely.
• Lilo & Stitch. Owned by Disney, who are currently committed to Blu-ray, although they have shown no open hostility to HD DVD, and indeed executives have been quoted as saying that they expect to eventually release titles for both formats. Possibility.
• A Lizard in a Woman's Skin Owned by Media Blasters, who have yet to announce any HD plans, and, given their general lack of regard for quality, are unlikely to do so for some time. Unlikely.
• Lost in Translation. Owned by Universal in the US, who are HD DVD exclusive. In the UK, the rights are owned by Momentum, a division of Studio Canal, who have committed to HD DVD in Europe. Likely.
• Léon. Owned by Columbia Tristar (Sony) in most territories, so you can rule that one out. However, the rights in Germany are owned by Kinowelt, who have yet to make any announcements either way, while the Japanese rights are owned by Paramount, who support both HD DVD and Blu-ray. Possibility.
• May. Owned by Lions Gate, who so far have released titles for Blu-ray. Nothing has been publicly announced yet, but it is generally acknowledged that Lions Gate are preparing to go dual-format, so are likely to support HD DVD before the end of 2006, and intend to release all their Blu-ray titles on HD DVD as well. Possibility.
• Monsters, Inc. Owned by Disney, who are currently committed to Blu-ray, although they have shown no open hostility to HD DVD, and indeed executives have been quoted as saying that they expect to eventually release titles for both formats. Possibility.
• Moulin Rouge! Owned by the HD DVD-phobic Fox, who are currently a Blu-ray exclusive studio and unlikely to budge until Blu-ray crashes and burns. Unlikely.
• Mulholland Dr. Owned by Universal in the US, who are HD DVD exclusive. Un Europe, the rights are owned by Studio Canal, who have confirmed that they will be releasing it in early 2007. Definite.
• Naked Lunch. The rights are split across various companies in different territories. Criterion, who struck a deal with distributor 20th Century Fox, currently releases on DVD in the US, but it is not clear whether this deal would cover high definition distribution as well, and in any event they have made it clear that they intend to sit the format war out. In the UK, the rights are owned by Optimum, a division of Studio Canal, who have committed to HD DVD in Europe. Likely.
• The Nightmare Before Christmas. Owned by Touchstone (Disney), who are currently committed to Blu-ray, although they have shown no open hostility to HD DVD, and indeed executives have been quoted as saying that they expect to eventually release titles for both formats. Possibility.
• North by Northwest. Owned by Warner, who release for both formats. This title is one that Warner have confirmed that they intend to release, but no date has been given yet. Definite.
• The Omen. Owned by the HD DVD-phobic Fox, who are currently a Blu-ray exclusive studio and unlikely to budge until Blu-ray crashes and burns. Unlikely.
• Opera. Owned by Anchor Bay, who have yet to announce any HD plans, but, like most independent labels, are likely to go with HD DVD due to the lower cost and lack of monopolisation by Sony. Possibility.
• Panic Room. Owned by Columbia Tristar (Sony), so you can rule that one out. No chance.
• Phenomena. Owned by Anchor Bay, who have yet to announce any HD plans, but, like most independent labels, are likely to go with HD DVD due to the lower cost and lack of monopolisation by Sony. Possibility.
• Pinocchio. Owned by Disney, who are currently committed to Blu-ray, although they have shown no open hostility to HD DVD, and indeed executives have been quoted as saying that they expect to eventually release titles for both formats. Possibility.
• Rear Window. Owned by Universal, who are HD DVD exclusive. Likely.
• Rosemary's Baby. Owned by Paramount, who support both HD DVD and Blu-ray. In the UK, the title is owned by Studio Canal, who have committed to HD DVD. Likely.
• Se7en. Owned by New Line, who intend to release for both HD DVD and Blu-ray starting in early 2007. Likely.
• Sex and Lucía. Owned by Palm Pictures in the US and Tartan in the UK, neither of whom have announced their intentions regarding the HD formats. Unlikely.
• The Silence of the Lambs. Owned by Fox, who inherited MGM's catalogue, and are currently a Blu-ray exclusive studio and unlikely to budge until Blu-ray crashes and burns, so the title is unlikely to see a US release in the near future. Unlikely.
• Sin City. Owned by Dimension (Disney), who are currently committed to Blu-ray, although they have shown no open hostility to HD DVD, and indeed executives have been quoted as saying that they expect to eventually release titles for both formats. Possibility.
• The Stendhal Syndrome. The US rights are a bit of a wasteland. Troma officially holds them, but the master they own is nothing more than a standards converted VHS dupe. In Europe, the rights are split across various companies, none of whom have yet announced any HD plans. Unlikely.
• The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. Owned by Paramount, who support both HD DVD and Blu-ray. This title is one that Paramount have confirmed that they intend to release, but no date has been given yet. Definite.
• Suspiria. Owned by Anchor Bay, who have yet to announce any HD plans, but, like most independent labels, are likely to go with HD DVD due to the lower cost and lack of monopolisation by Sony. I suspect that, if Anchor Bay do jump aboard the HD DVD train, this will be one of the first titles they announce. Possibility.
• Swimming Pool. Owned by Universal in the US, who are HD DVD exclusive. In France, the film is owned by Pathé, who have committed to HD DVD in Europe. Likely.
• Tenebre. Owned by Anchor Bay, who have yet to announce any HD plans, but, like most independent labels, are likely to go with HD DVD due to the lower cost and lack of monopolisation by Sony. Possibility.
• The Three Colours Trilogy. Owned by Miramax (Disney) in the US. Disney are currently committed to Blu-ray, although they have shown no open hostility to HD DVD, and indeed executives have been quoted as saying that they expect to eventually release titles for both formats. In the UK, the rights are owned by Artificial Eye, who have yet to announce their HD intentions. Possibility.
• Toy Story. Owned by Disney, who are currently committed to Blu-ray, although they have shown no open hostility to HD DVD, and indeed executives have been quoted as saying that they expect to eventually release titles for both formats. Possibility.
• Toy Story 2. Owned by Disney, who are currently committed to Blu-ray, although they have shown no open hostility to HD DVD, and indeed executives have been quoted as saying that they expect to eventually release titles for both formats. Possibility.
• V for Vendetta. Owned by Warner, who release for both formats. It has been announced with a street date of October 31st 2006.Definite.
• What Have You Done to Solange? Owned by Media Blasters, who have yet to announce any HD plans, and, given their general lack of regard for quality, are unlikely to do so for some time. Unlikely.
• Where Eagles Dare. Owned by Warner, who release for both formats. Likely.
• Wolf Creek. Owned by The Weinstein Company, who are committed to both formats. This title is one that The Weinstein Company have confirmed that they intend to release, but no date has been given yet. Definite.

When you break it all down, it actually looks like a pretty impressive list.

Update, October 6, 2006 01:52 PM: It turns out that Optimum has been acquired by the HD DVD-friendly Studio Canal, making the release of Naked Lunch a possibility.

Update, October 6, 2006 05:08 PM: Entertainment In Video are not supporting HD DVD after all, so Gangs of New York has been demoted from "almost definite" to "possibility".

Update, October 19, 2006 02:06 PM: V for Vendetta has been confirmed with a release date of October 31st 2006.