Tag: 4K remaster

All Hail The Metal Messiah! Vividly Restored to 4K, at Fantasia Film Festival and Coming to Home Video Too!

Canadian International Pictures screened the 4K restoration of Tibor Takács’ Metal Messiah at Fantasia Film Festival, and if you missed it, fret not. A Blu-ray release is expected to be announced later this year.

Metal Messiah 1978 Movie Poster
Played at Fantasia Film Festival on July 25, 2026 at the Salle J.A. De Sève

Because I wasn’t born in time and be of the right age to witness Metal Messiah back in 1977, whether in theatres, if it ever reached Victoria’s Roxy or Vic Theatre, or later on VHS, discovering it now feels surreal. With it’s recent 4k remaster, some scenes only look that much more cosmic when considering the how well it’s been colour balanced. Although some video artifacts remain, this movie would not be what it is, a product of the times. Even today, I wasn’t sure what to expect from a story so deeply rooted in an era still firmly rooted in The Cold War.

Today, it’s a cult film that embodies the raw spirit of Toronto’s early punk movement. And when looking back at my own discovery of the stylings of Iggy Pop and Ziggy Stardust, I’m sure either would’ve appreciated what writer-director Tibor Takács (The Gate, Sabrina the Teenage Witch) accomplished here. What he made feels like hard-boiled detective fiction colliding with This Is Spinal Tap, only with a far more philosophical edge.

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The Red Spectacles Restored! And Celebrating Mamoru Oshii’s Kerberos Saga

Mamoru Oshii’s The Red Spectacles returns in a striking 4K restoration that reveals just how strange, abrasive, and foundational it is to the Kerberos Saga. Part neo-noir, part absurdist fever dream, it plays like a dark mirror to knightly orders and Orwellian authority, stitched together by one of Kenji Kawai’s most playful scores.

The Red Spectacles OriginalMetrograph Showtimes:

  • Nov 22 8:15pm
  • Nov 23 9:00pm
  • Nov 26 8:20pm

Distributor: Small Sensations!

Anyone unfamiliar with Mamoru Oshii’s Kerberos Saga may wonder where to begin. The franchise sprawls across anime, radio dramas, manga, and live-action films, making its chronology look more like a web than a line. For my part, I believe the journey starts most powerfully with The Red Spectacles. Its recent 4K restoration—debuting at The Metrograph and perhaps also courting other art houses down the road—offers the perfect opportunity to revisit this strange, brooding cornerstone of Oshii’s world. There’s hardly any grain in sight!

To experience this work on the big screen is essential. The Japanese crowdfunding campaign (via Motion Gallery) performed remarkably well, reflecting both local enthusiasm and international curiosity. And for viewers whose entry point was Jin-Roh—as mine was—this neo-noir odyssey feels shockingly raw. More grounded. More abrasive. Visceral in ways that anime, by its nature, softens.

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