In our offices there’s always a lot of talk about what discs and films the home cinema team is using for testing, or generally enjoying, at the time. Indeed, we have a monthly column about it: Now Showing.
And why not? It has a fantastic, talented cast and excellent Atmos mix. Plus there’s winged monkeys and Jeff Goldblum – who could resist?
Robyn’s feature sent me on a trip down memory lane, and got me revisiting one of the musical movies that got me so enamoured of the genre and home cinema in general: the iconic, gag-worthy, The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
I couldn’t have picked a better time. The cult classic got a new 50th anniversary 4K Blu-ray special edition steelbook release last month, complete with a new 4K, HDR, Dolby Atmos remaster.
And, let me tell you, there’s nothing quite like seeing Dr. Frank-N-Furter, iconically played by legend Tim Curry, in glorious 4K with HDR colour grading. But as I watched, it wasn’t the picture I found myself most impressed with – it was the audio.
Despite being a musical, The Rocky Horror Picture Show was originally recorded in mono, as nearly all movies at the time were.
It then got a mainstream stereo upgrade for the film’s 15th anniversary in 1990, which has become the staple on most formats, be they streaming or physical. That’s the version I have on DVD.
Purists will always maintain the original recording is the best, and until recently that was actually the case with the The Rocky Horror Picture Show – so much so that there’s a project devoted to preserving the original, completely untouched cut. This is because the original, most prevalent stereo upgrade is, let’s say, disappointing…
Distracting, poorly executed sound effects, noise and a lack of separation between vocals and the chaotic soundtrack and background audio made it a poor experience compared with the original mono, which itself isn’t perfect.
And that’s all before I start ranting about the fact they replaced many of the songs in the mono track with newer cuts from the soundtrack album, some of which had completely different singers to the original.
The mono version, of course, had its own issues, feeling (unsurprisingly) flat and lacking the tonal balance, precision and oomph to make certain more “animated” scenes shine.
This became apparent the moment I switched audio to the new Atmos mix on the anniversary disc. This version is now, night and day, the best way to enjoy the movie in my opinion.
Even bopping along in my compromised home cinema room, which consists of a Hisense PX3 UST projector and JBL Bar 1300 Dolby Atmos soundbar system, it was just… well, better!
Why? The best summary I can give isn’t a technical one. There are better examples of Atmos’s increased “dome of sound” directionality available if you’re only interested in a technical demonstration. No, it’s because the audio wizards at Walt Disney Studios, which did the remaster over a whopping 10 month period, focused on what makes Rocky Horror special – how fun it is.
The wizards maintained the character of the movie, using the enhanced toolset to give the chaotic effects, such as the thunder claps, more depth, and to add noticeably more separation between the music and vocal parts.
There’s even some directionality as the camera pans across the mansion away from singers with reckless abandon, making the entire thing feel somehow more immersive and “alive” than the original.
It’s the delivery, not the technicality, that makes it better. The engineers clearly understood what each scene was trying to convey and make the viewer feel, and carefully used Atmos empathetically to deliver a better, more immersive version of that which makes it special.
This is done in stark contrast to most of remasters I hear, which are far too heavy-handed with their application of Atmos; the engineers seem more focused on showing what the tech can, rather than should, do in each scene.
Is it perfect? No. The vocals occasionally sound a little dull and too quiet still, and there’s some weirdness during certain scenes with the direction of incoming audio not quite matching the on-screen movements – which isn’t surprising given the mono recording it’s based on. That will limit what even the most talented of audio engineers can do.
But, for me, it’s still a fantastic upgrade that had my wife and me bopping along and doing the time warp again – both the dance and in the real world, as we continue to rewatch our favourite scenes from the movie whenever we need a pick me up weeks on from buying the remaster.
It’s also why I felt the need to make it the subject of this week’s Adventure in AV, offering it as yet more clear proof that decent audio upgrades can give golden oldies, like The Rocky Horror Picture Show, a fresh lease of life.
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We rank the best Dolby Atmos movie scenes to test your system