According to DVDCompare:

OVERALL: R3
The R3 Hong Kong release has a vastly superior picture quality (it´s missing the "The Men Behind The Army" -featurette and "The creature concept art ". Color and shadow detail are far superior to the Anchor Bay versions. The MGM version also includes possibly the best 5.1 mix created for this film as well. R2 UK box set has the exclusive extra-material on the disc 4 though and the Italian release from DVD Storm has exclusive extras and a dubbed DTS track.

GENERAL NOTES:
The AB version looks cropped on all four sides in some scenes and even zoomed in others.

All Anchor Bay´s prints are MISSING a short 2 second shot: After Sheila is first captured and presented to Evil Ash, he rips Sheila's dress down to her waist. Explaining the next shot of looking her up and down. The following shot of the nude slave girls is also much clearer. The R3 HAS this shot (perviously shown only on the Japanese "Captain Supermarket" Laserdisc). The bodice ripping scene was actually an idea of a producer Dino DeLaurentis, and Raimi cut it from his "director approved" versions.

Anchor Bay's releases consist of only 2 different discs released separately or as a combination. One is the Theatrical Cut, the other one the Director's Cut. The differences between the releases are only covers and booklets.

There are also vanilla releases available from Anchor Bay UK under there 'Horror Classics label which should be avoided.

I just wanted to point out that, unless it's just a previous feature renamed, Creating the Deadites would be a new feature

I love this cover art (except for the spine)... and since I don't own the film on disc yet (I have it on VHS), this is a must own. It just seems a bit incomplete without the Director`s Cut present though.

Book of the Dead edition is a no go....sadly.

As someone stated above, Anchor Bay lost the rights to not only this movie but the first two as well. That's why they released that trilogy box set not long ago, it was their "last hurrah" as it were.

yesiamaplant wrote: Everyone here is just assuming there's going to be a commentary on this disc in the first place. Where are you getting this information? Cause if there's no commentary, I'm not buying.

There was a commentary listed in the first announcement. It's no longer listed

Everyone here is just assuming there's going to be a commentary on this disc in the first place. Where are you getting this information? Cause if there's no commentary, I'm not buying.

Why the spine that makes it look like an American Pie movie? WTF!

Who wants to put $100 down that "Drag Me to Hell" will ALSO be released on September 15???

Why must they sell this movie alongside Spiderman and Drag Me To Hell?

Let it breathe as a stand-alone film, Universal!

Awesome cover art.

Has this been pushed back until a later date or something?

I'll stick with my limited edition thanks.... great movie but why so many double dips? It's not as if another one's around the corner......yet....

Thanks guys but I'm sorry I asked now, I really was hoping everyone would say "it's this one" and that it'd be the same one...........

Any ideas where I'd get hold of a copy of the Hong Kong one?

Gromit wrote: According to Rewind, the Region 3 Hong Kong is the best version anywhere in the world to date.
Unless you want it in high def.

According to Rewind, the Region 3 Hong Kong is the best version anywhere in the world to date.

Wow, wasn't there already a Blu-Ray?

I'm happy with my Boomstick Edition which has the theatrical and director's cut.

mike smith3 wrote: This has more releases then Star Wars.  Its also pretty over-rated.  Some memorable lines, sure, but a pretty terrible film as a whole, I simply don't get, nor will ever understand, the appeal of this movie.

i think its mainly due to their love of the first 2 movies. the universe and character got so ingrained into their minds that they couldnt help but like this one.

because it seems to me that most of the people who like this one also liked the first two and those who dont like it either didnt like the originals or never even saw them.

and i can totally understand and relate to that. i'm a huge Elm Street fan and while NOTHING will forgive or hide the c**p that is Freddy's Dead, i do enjoy the other lesser sequels more than i should  or would because of my love for the series as a whole and the character.

Well, after some research, I think I'll just stick with my Bruce vs. Army of Darkness The Director's Cut Official Bootleg Edition.  It's longer, has commentary by Sam, Bruce and Ivan.  It's 15 minutes longer and widescreen and original ending.  I see no reason to purchase this.  I've heard a lot of scuttlebutt about different versions but this one seems to be the one to have.  Plus, I'm happy with it and it sums up the trilogy very nicely.

This has more releases then Star Wars.  Its also pretty over-rated.  Some memorable lines, sure, but a pretty terrible film as a whole, I simply don't get, nor will ever understand, the appeal of this movie.

Thanks dbeamish.

Clearly, the theatrical cut looks the best.

However, if you compare the color to the other versions, you can see it's a little too pink/purple.

The original Universal DVD had better color, which is why I believe this new release will be THE definitive version.

So... about a million years ago I did a comparisson..

http://www.dvdactive.com/editorial/articles/arm...

Those who want all of these - some of them now are very expensive, even tho the actual content is duplicated in several other instances of the discs.

edit - that wasn't my one. this was my one:
http://www.dvdactive.com/editorial/articles/arm...

Can I please get some clarification here? Is this Universal's "theatrical cut" that will be released?

If I'm not mistaken, these will be the transfers from the Universal HD-DVD / SD-DVD Combo disc.

There's yet to be a definitive quality version of the theatrical cut on DVD. Universal's original DVD had nice color and looked relatively good, but was only 4:3 letterbox. The subsequent Anchor Bay 16:9 release had poor color and looked dull.

I believe the theatrical is clearly the best cut of this film. It has the best quality print, best lines/jokes and overall flow and rhythm. Listening to Raimi's commentary on the Director's Cut, he appeared to inadvertently feel the same way.

Hopefully, this looks like the Universal's definitive cut and transfer.

enough already....people?  dont let these schmucks take all of your hard earned money.   we as consumers deserve the best and all the c**p they can find for each release.   I am so sick of those companies...yanking my crank and getting nothing back.  JUST SAY NO, and say "BUCKLEUP BONEHEAD YOUR GOING ON A RIDE"

So is this the 6th or 7th (R1) version of this film?
That's gotta be a record?

Ill pass on the steal your money edition. I have the MGM DVD which is uncut and has the best transfer...
Yes I also have the Boomstick edition because it has both versions of the movie, but thats all I own I promise

Come on Universal, don't you want my cash? I have the Hong Kong DVD, which NO western distibutor has beaten yet in terms of PQ for the Director's Cut. Do the right thing this time, eh?

This has been released so many times on DVD now. However if improvements are made, perfect. I'm guessing very little will rebuy it if msrp isn't $9.99 for DVD and $19.99 for BRD. The lower the msrp, the better the odds of getting more buyers since this has been released plenty of times before.

I have the non-anamorphic Universal release, and the Anchor Bay Bruce Campbell vs Army of Darkness Directors Cut with slightly shoddy video. The UK Blu-Ray looks good, PQ wise, this is one of my favorite movies, will buy it.

The runtime is listed as being 1 hour 21 minutes

Quote: TECHNICAL INFORMATION DVD

Street Date: May 19, 2009
Copyright: ©1993 Universal Pictures
Selection Number: 61106402
Price: $19.98 SRP
Running time: 1 Hour 21 Minutes
Layers: Dual layer
Aspect Ratio: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1
Rating: R for violence and horror
Languages/Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish and French Subtitles
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1

TECHNICAL INFORMATION – BLU-RAY™ HI-DEF:

Selection Number: 61109066
Price: $29.98 SRP
Running Time: 1 Hour 21 Minutes
Layers: BD-25
Aspect Ratio: Widescreen 1.85:1
Languages/Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish and French Subtitles
Sound: DTS HD Master Audio 5.1, DTS Surround 5.1

For those interested, Universal recently placed its long-standing "Theatrical Cut" DVD of the movie (that's been around since 1999) out of print, and Anchor Bay, from what I understand NO LONGER CONTROLS THE LICENSE on Army of Darkness, which is why Universal is putting this version out at long last (so those, like myself and the guy above me who were hoping for a "Book of the Dead" are out of luck). It doesn't necessarily look like there's anything new here, unless this is an R1 release of the much nicer R3 transfer of the Director's Cut (which this presumably is -- the audio commentary is for the DC).

I recently bought a second hand copy of the 4 Disc UK boxset which I am delighted with. But Army of Darkness does have poor video quality on some of the added scenes. I think the best option will be to get a cheap R3 version of ED3 which will have better PQ, and the bodice ripping scene reinstated.

Not that having that included bothers me too much

hmm.... i wonder if its a new commentary.Can't see it being much cop on BD. The picture quality is pretty shocking.