Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence, along with prior sequel Manic Cop 2, will hit 4K UHD Blu-ray next week from Blue Underground. Both films made their original standard Blu-ray release in 2013, also from BU.
For the new UHD edition, Maniac Cop 3 is outfitted with a brand new 4K scan which also made its way onto the newly authored Blu-ray disc in the same combo package (the Blu-ray disc packed in Maniac Cop 2 UHD, on the other hand, remains the same disc as before — I ran the comparison and confirmed the images were identical).
Using the new 1080p Blu-ray disc, we can directly compare the two transfers. Note the images in this comparison are not taken from the 4K UHD disc (so they don’t demonstrate the full native resolution nor HDR benefit), but even so we can see huge across-the-board improvements:
Brightness Improvements
The new restoration looks consistently better, and the brightness, or more specifically, the clarity in lighting, is one of the biggest reasons. Formerly murky or shrouded scenes are now vibrant and full of immediacy.
Color Improvements / Blue Mitigation
Another major improvement is the more natural color. The older scan exhibited a blue bias which has been corrected.
Frame Positioning:
The framing varies a bit throughout the scan, most likely by reels. In some parts of the film there’s little difference. In others, you can see there’s a difference in the placement of the crop (eg Julius Harris’s shirt button in the comparison below).
Close-ups:
Subtitles
The formatting of the subtitles has changed from positional yellow titles to white & centered, making it the only category in which I’d give the older disc the edge.
A/V Out.
Get it at Amazon: If you enjoy reading Cinapse, purchasing items through our affiliate links can tip us with a small commission at no additional cost to you.
https://amzn.to/2YkdezNhttps://amzn.to/2YkdezN
Except where noted, all 16:9 screen images in this review are direct captures from the disc(s) in question with no editing applied, but may have compression or resizing inherent to file formats and Medium’s image system.
