Scream, In 4k But Still Cut... Why, Paramount, Why?!

Scream is one of the most re-released films that still hasn't managed to get it right. It's frustrating. It's also confusing to fans who aren't patient enough to dig into it all, so I see people just buying low quality discs or cut versions without even realizing. We're talking Dimension Home Video and Lions Gate, so of course the situation's unsatisfying. So I figure I'd tackle it here and do my little bit to try and help tip the scales.

Update 1/8/16 - 11/23/21: Scream is back, now available as a 4k Ultra HD release!  But spoilers: they still obstinately refuse to get it right.  It's the cut version once again.  Wah, wah.

I don't think I even need to talk about the movie itself here. Wes Craven directs then newcomer Kevin Williamson's screenplay that takes the slasher film into the ironic, self-referential teen movie realm. It's filled with stunt casting and pop culture references spilling out of every orifice, but Craven winds up giving us possibly his most powerful, old school horror direction of his entire career. Sure, some of his other films are better for having brilliant ideas and iconic imagery, but just in terms of having really effectively done scare sequences, Scream might be at the top of the list. And Williamson's story structure really works, too. It's tempting to write it off as a teen movie or outdated hipster fare, especially with the mainstream reception it got and the declining sequels; but you'll be invested in the characters and guessing who the killer is right up to the end. So it's worth trying to get this on a really good disc.

So Scream first hit DVD as a new release. The film came out in 1996, and it hit US DVD in 1997. It also hit laserdisc in 1997, with one crucial difference. The laserdisc featured the unrated director's cut, while the DVD had the theatrical, edited R-rated version. And here's where things get complicated, because both the laserdisc and DVD were reissued in 1998. In fact, there's two pressings of the second issue of the DVD, because Scream's a big seller, so they're going to keep putting it out, but don't think that means they're going to start getting it right.

an extended moment from the unrated version, only on the laserdisc.

So let's start with the laserdiscs. Both laserdiscs feature the film in full widescreen 2.35:1 in CLV. They're both the uncut director's cut and they both have the audio commentary by Craven and Williamson. Pretty much every release of Scream has this commentary (except for some foreign discs), but it's interesting because they reference the film being the uncut version... which is just inaccurate when you hear the same commentary on any of the DVD or blu-ray releases, and only adds to the confusion. The difference between the two lasers is just the addition of a DTS track to 1998 version. Reissuing DTS editions of films was a thing for a short time in the late 90s, which I talked a bit about in my Army of Darkness post.

The beginning of this shot is in both versions, where the cameraman gets his throat slit;
but only the unrated stays on him as he looks at the blood on his hand.

Okay, so now for the DVDs. Both the 1997 and 1998 discs feature the R-rated version in non-anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen. The 1998 disc was issued with two different covers, basically with or without that gold "Collector's Series" band across the top. The 1997 has that curved purple "Widescreen" logo across the top. The difference between the 1997 and 1998 versions are the extras. The original disc just has the commentary from the laser, plus the trailer. The 1998s keep those but also add some short featurettes.

Even the 2000 Ultimate Scream Edition, which includes the first two sequels, is still non-anamorphic and the R-rated version. It does feature a couple more short extras on the fourth bonus disc, but that's the only upgrade. And in 2009, the Scream Triple Pack, still only includes the non-anamorphic R-rated cut. It's actually got the exact same disc as the 1998 Collector's Edition inside. And if you can believe it, even the Scream Triple Feature 3-DVD set from 2011 is still the non-anamorphic R-rated cut. Non-Anamorphic in 2011? Jeez Louise! It's a wonder the make the blu-ray 4:3! They didn't, but of course it's still the R-rated cut.  And now in 2021, there's a new UHD from Paramount, which is again the R-rated cut.

1) 1997 Dimension laserdisc; 2) 1998 Dimension DVD;
3) 2011 Lions Gate BD; 4) 2021 Paramount UHD.

It's kind of shocking that even the later DVDs are non-anamorphic, but here you go. Framing for all the old releases is essentially the same 2.35:1 across all three releases, except the blu-ray actually loses a smidgen along all four sides. We're just talking slivers here, but still; if there's anything to add to the disappointment sandwich here, they throw it in. The blu is a lot clearer and more detailed than the DVD and laser (versus non-anamorphic, how could it not be?), we can finally read that the VHS Jamie Kennedy has on top of his TV is for the 1995 Harvey Keitel movie Smoke. But it still looks kind of flat, and in some scenes significantly edge enhanced and otherwise tinkered with. It's a single layer disc that looks like it was taken from an older master.

Happily, or perhaps just frustratingly, given that it's still cut, Paramount's UHD looks heaps better.  It's still 2.35:1, but reveals more information along all four sides, and most importantly gets rid of all that ugly image tampering.  Contrast no longer looks over-sharpened to the point where tiny bright spots peak way out, and the washed colors of the BD are restored (look at that lapshade for a quick idea).  Grain still looks a little light and the edges might still be slightly overworked, but this is a substantial improvement over the BD.

The DVD, BD and UHD all feature essentially the same 5.1 mix, though it is lossless DTS-HD on the BD and UHD.  They also all include optional English subtitles, and the UHD has added a slew of additional foreign language dubs and subs.

So let's talk extras. The commentary is actually quite good. Again, if you're not watching an uncut version, it'll throw you off a bit; but for the most part it's just fun and informative, with a good rapport between Craven and Williamson. Then the DVD adds several things, including the original promo featurette, which is of course clip heavy and plays like a 6-minute trailer, but it has some interview clips and is nice to have. It does show you how bad the movie looks in 4:3 with so much of the sides chopped off. Then there's two very short (about 3 minutes each) featurettes that give you a little glimpse of the film being shot behind-the-scenes. They're basically just B-roll footage set to music, but they're fun. Then there's about 5 minutes of extended interviews from the promo featurette, plus trailers, TV spots and a stills gallery. Essentially, the sum total is just the press kit, but I'd rather have it than not. And that's all the Blu-ray has, too. It's just the same set of small extras, in SD on the blu, too, except the 1997 and 1998 DVDs also include a single sheet insert with chapter titles, which the blu forgoes.

Again, though, you can get about 45 minutes of additional extras, including a 30-minute featurette, screen-tests and outtakes, if you get the 2000 Ultimate Scream 4-disc set. That's a little underwhelming to double-dip on a boxed set for, but it's something. And there's a 4-disc blu-ray set which includes two far more extensive 90+ minute documentaries, called the Scream 5 Film Set. To be clear, they mean parts 1-3 plus the two docs add up to five films. Scream 4 isn't in that set. But if you really love Scream, that's the best version to get of the R-rated cut, in that it has the HD transfer and the most extras... though NOT the Ultimate Scream bonus disc extras. If you want to be a completist, you'll still need to get that set, too. And even then, you have to figure out a way to get the director's cut.

And the new UHD? Pretty much the same deal, with the same limited extras package as the blu, where you'll need to delve into box sets and all for longer docs.  It does add one new, brief (just under seven and a half minutes) featurette that takes a look back at the film, 25 years later with brand new cast and crew interviews.  It's worth a look, but its running tells you all you need to know about how substantive it is, hampered further by the fact that they give a good chunk of that time to the young stars of the upcoming 2022 reboot.  It's as underwhelming as it sounds, but it's not worthless.

Ultimately, as many times as Scream has been repackaged and re-sold, it still badly needs a new edition.  At least it looks better now, but critically, all of these discs are cut! We need the director's cut, which is still essentially only available on laserdisc. Now, if you don't have a laserdisc player, there are a couple of old, foreign DVDs that are comparable. Every single blu-ray in every country is as cut as the USA's, but on DVD there are Korean, Scandinavian and Japanese options. There's plenty of DVD versions in plenty of countries, but they're all cut, too. Korea, Scandinavia and Japan are your only options, and don't get too happy, because they're non-anamorphic, too. Essentially they're just ports of the laserdisc; but there's no other choice [Or maybe not??  See the comments below about a possibly slightly better, but very difficult to track down, German DVD].  Because, for whatever reason, the studios just refuse to give fans what we want.

The Two Third Mothers: The Black Cat and Mother of Tears

We've done Suspiria... We've done Inferno... Now I suppose it's time to do the final film in the trilogy.  Both of 'em.  Yes, Dario Argento and his then-wife Daria Nicolodi (R.I.P.) collaborated on the first of the Three Mothers films, about Mater Suspiriorum, the Mother of Sighs, in 1977, and it's become world renowned as a horror classic.  So they channeled that success into the even grander 1980 tale of Mater Tenebrarum, the Mother of Darkness.  And naturally, right after Inferno, they wrote the third film about the final mother, Mater Lachrymarum, the Mother of Tears.  Dino De Laurentiis was going to produce it, but because of financing problems, Argento instead went to work on the less ambitious giallo Tenebrae.  And then Argento and Nicolodi divorced, leaving the trilogy's conclusion in a vague state of mystery fans spent decades asking the director to resolve.

And he eventually did.  But Daria tried it first, giving their original script to Luigi Cozzi, they created what wound up becoming 1989's Edgar Allen Poe's The Black Cat, a.k.a. Demons 6, a.k.a. De Profundis, despite having no legit connection to the Demons films.  There is at least a tenuous connection to the Poe story, as it relates to a line that black cats are witches in disguise and features a black cat in a few scenes.  But in actual fact, this is the story of the third mother, rewritten by Cozzi to the point that Daria quit the film.  So now it's a bizarre, convoluted story that's sort of all over the place.  Like Paganini Horror, Cozzi inserts his sci-fi interests into a horror story, so we get some rather out-of-place feeling shots of outer space and disconnected dialogue about mutants and time travel.  It's a real mess of a movie, but it's full of non-stop wild set pieces, wacky effects, vivid colors, cult actors, and some surprisingly impressive photography.

It's also a fascinating puzzle to try and discern what does and doesn't come from Dario and Daria's original story.  What we're presented with is a group of famous Italian horror filmmakers (including Michael Soavi) making a film called The Black Cat.  It's taking it's psychological toll on their lead actress, a problem only exasperated when they introduce her to their next film: the third film in the Three Mothers trilogy.  Yes, it's a film within a film thing, where they actually talk about Dario Argento by name,  the fictional filmmakers find the ancient tome from Inferno during their research, and they even play Goblin's main Suspiria theme during key scenes.  The idea is that by carelessly invoking the final mother, they are inadvertently summoning her, as she tries to take over the lead actress's body and sacrifice her baby.  The witch also pops into existence on her own to make others do her bidding, including jealous co-star Caroline Munro, an evil film producer played way over-the-top by Brett Halsey and a teenage ghost named Michael who casts illusions and of course that evil cat lurking around.  There's also a good ghost who lives inside our hero and occasionally pops out to give advice, which will ring familiar later.  A surprising amount of the evil is centered around our protagonist's refrigerator.  It may be an objectively bad film by most units of measure, but it sure is a kick, with gross-out gore, explosions, laser beams, a disintegrating fetus, catchy music themes, cars crashing into houses (okay, just one of those) and green slime.

Given its cult pedigree, it's been startling how the film has managed to go all these decades completely unreleased.  There's been no previous DVDs, let alone blu-rays - not even a dodgy VHS rip from an obscure region.  No laserdisc either.  But Severin has finally arrived to fill this gaping hole in our collections, even restoring it in 2k from "pristine vault elements," with their Black Friday 2020 blu.

2020 US Severin BD.

Pillarboxed to 1.67:1, Severin's new transfer looks great.  The colors are bold and strong without looking artificially saturated, blacks are deep and the grain is nicely preserved.  The encode is clean and satisfyingly free of digital artifacting.  I daresay this is one of the best transfers I've seen from Severin in a while.  And all of this really helps restore The Black Cat's good name as a legitimate film after existing only in the form of ugly, fullframe bootlegs all ripped, I believe, from an old Hong Kong VHS - the only home video release this film had previously received.  The English audio (there's only one language track on this one) is presented in lossless DTS-HD stereo with optional English subs.

The only extras are the trailer (with some fun narration) and a brief (under ten minutes) featurette interviewing Cozzi and Munro.  It's alright but too short to answer many of the bajillion questions this film raises. Subtract the opening and closing credits, plus all the clips from the film, and we get maybe four minutes from each of them?  Munro doesn't even touch on the famous problems she had with this film.  The most publicity this film ever got is when Fangoria ran a hefty, 6-page spread called "Ripped Off In Rome" all about how she got scammed by the producers.  And Cozzi never tells the story of why this film was turned into a Poe flick, the Demons thing, and just shares a tiny bit of the Three Mothers debacle.  And that's surprising, because this interview was done by the same people who conducted a much better interview with Cozzi about The Black Cat on Arrow's Inferno blu, addressing much more of this stuff, so it's not like they didn't know what to ask about.  It feels like we just got previews of longer interviews that exist somewhere else.  Still, it's a lot nicer to have than nothing.

De Profundis stood as the only closing chapter for The Three Mothers, as unofficial as it may've been, for decades.  It wasn't until 2007 that Argento hired the American team behind Tobe Hooper's Mortuary and the Crocodile movies to pen his true conclusion, Mother Of Tears.  It starred his now quite famous daughter Asia, and they even talked Daria into appearing as a good ghost who lives inside our hero and occasionally pops out to give advice.  Again, it makes you wonder how much, if anything, of Dario and Daria's original Third Mother plans made its way into this.

This movie gets knocked about pretty hard by fans and critics.  It's got a 5.1 on the IMDB (actually pretty high for that writing team), but like The Black Cat, it's a blast.  It's super uneven in terms of quality, which definitely contributes to the "it's awful but I love it" vibe.  Take the special effects: the CGI is pure Sharknado, but it's paired with some genuinely kick-ass physical effects by Sergio Stivaletti.  Impressive fire stunts are intercut with pasted-on CGI flames.  The music never even gets near the genius of Suspiria's famous score, but Goblin's Claudio Simonetti is back and he does provide a score that would out-do most genre films of its time.  Although the title song might've benefited by not having its lyrics in English.  Instead of a black cat we get a nasty monkey, which is a definite improvement, and as the film travels from location to location, you can feel how much money was spent on the film.  The photography looks nothing like the technicolor fantasy of the previous chapters, but it still has an elegant, stylish look to it.  And it's a non-stop thrill ride full of extreme over-the-top kills, magical surprises, and a strong cast.  Asia gives as strong a performance as possible given the material, it's charming to have Daria back even if having her play a Force Ghost was a huge tonal miscalculation, and Udo Kier shows up to get killed.

But it's also a disaster.  The sinister witches of the past films are now presented as Hot Topic goth girls with fake boobs.  The end of the world is mostly illustrated by pairs of middle-aged men in business suits having a shoving match behind the protagonists.  One of the most memorable scenes, again to show just how mankind has descended into evil and madness, is watching these two random dudes in leather jackets and sunglasses bash a car with baseball bats.  The script spends most of its time ripping off The Da Vinci Code, except there's no mystery for Asia to solve, so she just shows up to various locales, meeting new strangers who explain what we already knew from the onset and then predictably die.  The historical exposition is displayed with comic book style illustrations.  It's kind of like the talent is still evident, but they keep making one wrong decision after the next.  But in a way, they're delightfully wrong.  If you go in looking for a respectable film to stand alongside Suspiria and Inferno, you're going to be super disappointed.  But if you're just looking for an unserious good time, The Black Cat's good and this one's even better.

Mother Of Tears came out on DVD as a new release in 2008 from The Weinstein Brothers' as part of their low-brow Dimension Extreme line.  And since the Weinsteins' have the rights, American blu-rays and 4k remasters are probably forever off the table.  Fortunately, it keeps on getting released and re-released overseas.  Yeah, they're stuck using the same old master, but at least you can import a nice, if dated, HD edition pretty easily.  Personally, I went with the recent Happinet blu from Japan, but really there's a ton of fairly equivalent options, so have at it.

2008 US Dimension DVD top; 2020 JP Happinet BD bottom.

Shot in 'scope, Dimension presents the film in a slightly pinched 2.32:1, which the blu corrects to 2.35:1.  Otherwise, as you can see, it's still the same master in 2020: same colors, framing, lighting.  Admittedly, with all its CGI, that would make a new scan even more difficult and expensive, so even though the film grain is soft and haloing to suggest unwise digital tweaking, I think we're going to have to get used to it.  It's a bit crazy, though, that it means The Black Cat winds up with a much higher end, fancier blu.  But it's sharper and clearer than the DVD.  It's just looks like an old blu despite having come out in 2020.

Another plus is that the audio is now lossless.  The English (there's only one language track for this one, too) Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is bumped up to DTS-HD on Happinet's blu.  One step backwards, though, is that Dimension offered English and Spanish subtitles, while Happinet only has Japanese subs.

And that language disappointment carries over into the extras.  The original DVD had a nice, roughly 30-minutes 'making of' with lots of good interviews and behind-the-scenes footage.  They didn't get much from Dario, but they made up for that with a separate on-camera interview.  And there were two trailers.  Not the loaded special edition you'd want, but pleasing enough. 

Happinet carries all of that over, but doesn't offer any English subs, just Japanese ones.  And that's a bummer, since most of the extras are in Italian.  They also included some new special features, including an interview with Argento's friend Vivien Villani who was on set during the shoot, and a new interview with Argento.  But those are all in Italian, too.  The original Argento interview, which is on both discs, is in English though, and both offer an English trailer.  So it's a little disappointing not being able to watch it all, but you could do worse.  Plus, they might win you over with their fancy packaging.  Besides including reversible cover art, a stylish slipcover and an obo, it also comes in a fancy Three Mothers box, designed like the E. Varelli book, to house the whole trilogy.  You can of course put the other Happinet blus in there, but you get the whole box with just this disc, so you can just as easily put in whatever versions of Suspiria and Inferno you own (though the Camera Obscura mediabook doesn't fit, natch), and they even provide custom slipcovers so your editions will match.  It's pretty neat.

So say what you will, but I get a heap of pleasure out of both films, and the fact that they're rather artlessly tacked onto two masterpieces just adds to the cheekiness.  I'll certainly take either one of 'em over Amazon's competently dull Suspiria remake.  And Severin and Happinet have given us some nice new options to take advantage of.

Hellraiser 4 & 5

As far as I'm concerned, there are five Hellraiser films that are worth having in your collection.  Every single one is at least worth a watch once, as a curiosity piece; but now that I've seen, for instance, Hellraiser: Hellworld, I hope never to see it again.  And while none of the sequels are in the same league as the original, the first four I'll revisit.  And I've already covered the first three in the series, so it was only a question of opportunity as to when I'd tackle parts 4 and 5.

Now, my initial impulse was to hold off writing about these two until better HD options surfaced.  But despite the odd, overseas and overpriced media-book, it doesn't look like anything better's coming down the pipeline.  Considering the current state of Miramax and the not particularly high regard these films are held in, even by Hellraiser aficionados, We may well be living in the final chapter.  So let's at least examine what we've got.

Update 10/31/23: Wow!  I can't say I was expecting to see Hellraiser 4 restored in 4k, but here we are!  It's all a part of Arrow's impressive, new Quartet of Torment, a UHD boxed set of the first four Hellraiser films, the other three of which I'm covering on their page over here.

1996's Hellraiser IV: Bloodline is a huge mess.  To give you an idea, special effects artist turned one time director Kevin Yagher took his name off this, something the man behind Hellworld didn't even do.  Although that's largely because this film involved a second director coming in and reshooting a lot of Yagher's material, substantially changing the story.  But it's still a wonderfully ambitious mess that holds a strong appeal for fans who can see the intention behind the missteps on the screen.  I once spent a long time personally re-editing this film with the workprint, trying to bring it back as much as I could do the original script.  And that did yield a better version, but so many key scenes and effects don't seem to have ever been shot, so unfortunately I don't believe a director's cut would be possible, even imaging a scenario where that could get funded.  So the film as we have it is just a tool for us to help picture screenwriter Peter Atkins' vision in our minds' eye.

Best known for being the "Hellraiser in space" movie, Bloodline almost takes on the format of an anthology, telling the ongoing saga of the L'Merchant (inventor of Hellraiser's signature puzzle box) family line over three different generations.  So one is a period piece set in 18th century France, one's in contemporary US (ostensibly taking place in the location established at the end of Hellraiser 3), and one in far flung the future, in outer space.  Unfortunately, budget cuts and studio interference lead to the film getting bogged down in the space station material, with a bunch of generic space marines wandering around bland, dark hallways, and the French stuff is given the shortest shrift.  But there's still plenty of entertaining costumes, locations and new cenobites.  And the ideas in the story are interesting, if not always fully serviced, and stay stay truer to the classic Hellraiser ethos than the previous film, which was more fun and coherent, but at the cost of taking the series somewhat of the rails.

Hellraiser 4 came out on DVD in 2000 from Dimension/ Buena Vista, and as you might expect from an Alan Smithee film, it's barebones.  As an extra bonus, it's also non-anamorphic, so it was desperately in need of an upgrade.  And that came along eventually, in the form of blu-rays from Echo Bridge, who packaged it separately, as a split release with Hellraiser 5, or as a Hellraiser 4-pack (all still on one disc), with parts 5, 6 and 8.  I went with the double feature.  Now I mentioned mediabooks, and there are some slightly intriguing import releases.  There's a German set that includes a DVD of the workprint, for instance.  But nobody was making any new masters.  Well, there is an Australian disc with a scan of a film print that reportedly looks worse than the US discs, but at least it was an effort.  But now in 2023, just in time for Halloween, Arrow's changed all that, with a brand new 4k scan of the original 35mm negative on UHD with HDR10 and Dolby Vision as part of their impressive, new Quartet of Torment boxed set (an alternative, 1080p BD set is available, too).

1) 2000 Dimension DVD; 2) 2011 Echo Bridge BD; 3) 2023 Arrow UHD.

Well, Echo Bridge's disc is a much bigger improvement over the DVD than I was expecting!  Granted, the fact that the DVD is non-anamorphic handed Echo Bridge the easy win.  But even besides that, the colors are much bolder and the AR is slightly adjusted from 1.81:1 to 1.78:1 (except for a few special effects shots that are inexplicably matted to 1.82:1) but is reframed to reveal an unexpected amount of additional picture.  Detail and is clear and the film grain looks surprisingly natural.  There's no DNR, edge enhancement or any other unwanted tweaking I'd been dreading before popping this in.  It's no cutting edge 4k spectacular, but Echo Bridge's blu looks surprisingly good.  But hey, now we've got our cutting edge 4k spectacular, and naturally, it's even better.  It essentially matches the improved framing of the BD, but is now properly matted to 1.85:1.  The colors are bolder and the film grain is now much more carefully captured and rendered, and the increased resolution keeps things from breaking apart into pixels even in close-up.

Dimension's DVD has a fancy 5.1 mix and optional English subtitles, with Echo giving us a stereo mix, but bumped up to lossless DTS-HD, though losing the subtitles.  Arrow now gives us the best of both worlds with the 2.0 and 5.1 mixes present and in lossless DTS-HD, plus the subtitles.

The Quartet of Torment box is full of special features (including a whopping 200 page hardcover book, much of which is devoted to this sequel), most of which I'm covering on the Hellraiser 1-3 page, but for the first time ever, Bloodline is getting some special features for itself (the DVD and BD didn't even have the trailer).  First, there's an audio commentary with screenwriter Peter Atkins, along with moderators Kim Newman and Stephen Jones, the latter of whom also has some unique insight, having worked on the promotional material for the Hellraiser series at the time.  They're a fun trio, and it's great to finally have the silence of this film be broken.  Also included is an earlier cut of the film in workprint form.  It's 1080p open matte full frame at 1.33:1, clearly sourced from tape with a counter imposed over the image during the whole thing.  As someone who's homemade his own little composite cut of Hellraiser 4 in the past, though, I'm happy to report that this is a different edit than the workprint that's been floating around on the internet for decades.  There's also a short clip of extra footage from that older workprint of about six minutes that aren't in this version or the final film.  And there's the trailer.

Now, Bloodline is the last film Clive Barker lent his name to, and upon its release, he seemed pretty dead set against Inferno.  But now looking at the long line of films, it may not just be the best of the post-Barker sequels, but in some ways better than one or two of the Barker-produced entries.  The acting has certainly improved over Bloodline, and it manages to avoid the cornier aspects of Hell On Earth (i.e. no CD-Head equivalent).  Rather than furthering the story of Pinhead, Inferno - probably wisely - is a smaller story, one that actually harkens back to the original Hellraiser graphic novels from the late 80s and early 90s, where new characters would encounter their own gateways to Hell, and face their own inner demons.  Doug Bradley's still in it, but he's returned to a very background role, as he was in the original story.  Despite the lack of Barker's endorsement, it feels like these guys got the intentions of the original writing more than Atkins and Co.

That said, it falls short in its own ways.  It obviously suffers from a very constricted budget, and the decision to make this a police procedural isn't the worst idea for an entry in this saga, but does make it feel like typical television fare.  And casting Nick Turturro straight out of NYPD Blue didn't help.  Nightbreed's Craig Sheffer helps us feel like we're still in the Barkerverse, but at the cost of a better performance another actor would've given us.  And the fact that the Hell factor has been dialed down definitely detracts from the thrills the previous four films delivered.  It feels like episode 1 of the Hellraiser cable TV show, rather than another film, and as the first of many Hellraisers to go direct-to-video, I guess that's not too far off the mark.  The cenobites look cool when we see them, but they only get a handful of minutes' screen time.  But still, Scott Derrickson, who's gone on to commandeer Marvel's current Doctor Strange, has restored a degree of quality that it's kind of a bummer Clive never recognized.

1) 2000 Dimension DVD; 2) 2011 Echo Bridge BD.

I've seen some confusion over whether Echo Bridge's blu is 1080p or 1080i and now I see why.  I was pleasantly surprised with Bloodline; I definitely wasn't expecting one film to be interlaced and one not.  But that's the case here; The Inferno blu is riddled with combing, which also gives an ugly juttering effect to camera pans and movement.  The DVD wasn't even interlaced!  The framing is ever so slightly fixed from 1.77:1 to 1.78:1, adding slivers of picture along the top and bottom.  And the blu is a little crisper than the DVD, which is slightly compressed to a softer feel.  But it's very subtle.  And the colors and everything else are unchanged.  This isn't an upscale, but it's a very slight boost in clarity, and taking into account the interlacing, this is arguably a downgrade.  Personally, I'd rate it as a side-grade.

And the audio situation is the same as part 4 was.  The DVD had a 5.1 mix with subtitles, while the BD gives us a lossless DTS-HD stereo mix and no subs.  And again, the blu is barebones.  The DVD at least had minimal extras: a six minute interview with Doug Bradley, an even shorter featurette where Gary Tunnicliffe gives us a look at the effects for the puzzle box and Pinhead's pins, and the trailer for Hellraiser 4.  So we've also lost those.

So Echo Bridge's release was actually a satisfying and entirely valid upgrade for the Bloodline DVD.  But for Inferno?  It's a tough call if the DVD is actually better or worse, all things considered.  Serious fans will be replacing Bloodline with the Quartet box, along with the original trilogy, all of which are substantially improved, and blessed with new features.  But for Inferno, there are those import blus.  Not that they'll have different masters, but by simply not being interlaced, you would genuinely do better going for the German (which has the Doug Bradley but not the Tunnicliffe interview) or Japanese (barebones) BDs.  The only question is if it's worth the trouble.  Because, boy are the US blu-rays prevalent and cheap.