Looks like their projectionist just finished a bucket of the Colonel's extra crispy too!

I would also like to add that the picture here was a replacement reel to a reel that came in with a brown scratch down the middle of the picture. It arrived directly from the lab in shrinkwrap on a core.

Apparently this is happening only on those reels that come tails out because the lab is pre-screening selected reels and of course, they do not put enough leader on to properly protect the ends of the actual reel.

Anyone have more information on this? I've about had it with their sloppiness and would far prefer to get a reel that had NOT been screened. Negative dirt, cloudy images, terrible registration and the like are at least obviously lab defects. This sort of thing looks like sloppy film handling at the theater level. There is no need for this nonsense. Looks like the guys at Kodak need to host a "Film From Start to Finish" seminar down there. This does not happen at any other major film lab (including Deluxe Toronto).