For the time being, I’m going to leave this thread somewhat dark and mysterious, but I have a question: are there many horror fans around here?
I ask because I have the opportunity to scan two 35 mm prints of vampire films that have been treated rather poorly by official home video releases over the years. One is from the 80s, the other is earlier than that. Incidentally, both of them will probably have crossover interest for people who are into sci fi and/or fantasy, since they star actors who have appeared in film franchises like STAR WARS, ALIEN, and THE LORD OF THE RINGS…
The specific prints in question are printed with materials (stock and dyes) that are highly resistant to fading over time, so I am hopeful that colour reproduction on both should be excellent. One is an LPP (low-fade positive print) that is reportedly in exceptionally good condition; the other is a Technicolor IB (imbibition) print made with incredibly stable dyes that pretty much never fade at all (or at least I’ll be long dead before they do). A looked after Tech IB is, more or less, immortal.
I cannot fully fund the cost of scanning these on my own, so am looking for supporters to donate to cover the costs of getting the scans done. I will make zero profit from this, and in fact I expect it to cost me a fair bit, especially if there is limited interest. It is categorically not intended as an exercise in piracy, but rather as a private project in the interests of preserving two of my favourite films in a form that more accurately reflects how they originally looked in cinemas, since neither has been officially released in anything approaching that condition by any distributor to date.
THESE WOULD BE STRICTLY PRIVATE AND MUST NOT BE RE-SHARED ANYWHERE WHATSOEVER. IF THERE IS ANY DOUBT ABOUT THIS AT ALL, ASK ME.
Please PM me if this sounds like it might be something you’d like to get your teeth into. The sooner, the better, because if it can get fully funded within the next month or so then I can potentially get both scanned at the same time and save a little bit of cash in the process.
PROGRESS
Scanning costs: 92% pledged (of which 87% has been received)
Storage costs: 72% pledged (of which 93% has been received)
$128 (USD) + £60 (GBP) to go!