While I grew up in the 1990s, and in the Pacific Northwest, I never really got into grunge music, though I knew all about Nirvana of course, so Hype didn’t do a whole lot for me but at the very least did give a good history of the music from that time and the bands that sprung from it.
Hype!
— Collector’s Edition / Shout Select —
(1996)
Genre(s): Documentary, Music
Shout Factory | NR – 83 min. – $21.98 | September 26, 2017
Date Published: 09/10/2017 | Author: The Movieman
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PLOT SYNOPSIS
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| Drop into the Pacific Northwest in the early ‘90s and watch a vibrant underground music scene explode into a global “grunge” media frenzy. Hype! follows the music from local bands playing for their friends, to Sub Pop Record’s brilliant exploitation of “the Seattle Sound,” to Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” hitting #1 on the charts. Questions of money, authenticity, and fame arise as “grunge fashion” hits the runways and a mass migration of wanna-be Seattle bands saturates the city. The Northwest experience is one of humor, loss, and epic irony. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.75/5 |
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Audio Commentary – This is a new track with director Doug Pray Hype! 20 Years After (16:10; HD) is a new retrospective featurette with interviews by The Fastbacks, record producers, and others. Peter Bagge’s “Hate” (4:07; SD) is an animated short film. Additional Performances (11:43; SD) – Here we get performances by Mudhoney, Supersuckers, Pond and The Gits; comes with an optional commentary with Pray. Interview Outtakes (22:39; SD) with Megan Jasper, Art Chantry, Tad, Leighton Beezer, Peter Bagge and random quotes with others. Theatrical Trailer (2:12; HD) |
VIDEO – 3.5/5 |
| Considering Hype is a 21 year old documentary, there’s not much to expect from this. The movie is presented with a 1.85 widescreen aspect ratio and a 1080p high-definition transfer. Much of the interview footage looks fine but the older footage from the early 90s of course didn’t look great. Detail is decent enough and colors, albeit not exactly vibrant, do appear natural looking. |
AUDIO – 4.0/5 |
| The included DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is fairly strong especially when the music, not live archive footage however, comes on pushed out from every speaker. Dialogue, through the center channel, is clear and this is just an all around fine lossless track. As with most of Shout’s releases, this also comes with a DTS-HD MA 2.0 track. |
OVERALL – 3.0/5 |
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Overall, while I grew up in the 1990s, and in the Pacific Northwest, I never really got into grunge music, though I knew all about Nirvana of course, so Hype didn’t do a whole lot for me but at the very least did give a good history of the music from that time and the bands that sprung from it. This “Collector’s Edition” and “Shout Select” Blu-ray offers a solid selection of bonus material and good video and audio transfers. |
Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.