Burial Ground: The Next Generation

It's been long delayed, but 88 Films' restoration of Burial Ground has finally landed in the USA! If you contributed to their indiegogo campaign at the end of 2014 (it was DVDExotica's very first tweet!), you should be getting your copies now. And if you didn't, it's in stock and shipping. So it's available for all. Now, I suppose, the only question is... was it worth it?

Update 3/11/16 - 10/27/16: And now it's time for another blu-ray edition of Burial Ground, this time from Severin Films. This isn't the first time they've followed closely on 88 Film's heels with a US release of one of their Italian restorations (for that, see Zombie Holocaust, which was in the same Indiegogo campaign). That time, Severin won a lot of fan favor for their improved color timing, alternate cut of the film and impressive set of special features (though disappointingly, they lost the Italian subtitles, forcing Western audiences to stick to the English dub). But can they snatch the crown a second time?

Update 3/30/24: Eight years later, and Burial Ground has advanced to a new age, an Ultra High Def age.  Once again, 88 and Severin have put out competing editions.  Especially with UHDs, region locking isn't a thing (well, except in a very few infamous cases), so we're really free to choose which edition we want.  I've rolled the dice on Severin.  Let's see how I did.

Admittedly, Burial Ground is a B-movie. I mean, even within the realm of horror movies and 80s zombie films, it's a B. No one's ever going to refer to this film's taste or class. But it's such a fun flick. It's an Italian film that doesn't shy away from the blood and guts, provided by Fulci effects regular Gino de Rossi, and it's shot in a castle! So it's got that European Gothic flavor, including a creepy little incestuous subplot, sprinkled over essentially another Zombi knock off sequel. In fact, it was released in Japan as Zombie 3. Burial Ground's a little on the cheaper side - some of the zombies look a little more mask-y than Fulci's undead - but this film certainly delivers the mayhem, giving it a replay value many of its peers lack, even if they're maybe technically, objectively better films.

So, Andrea Bianchi's Burial Ground's been around the home video block. There are lower quality DVDs from your usual suspect labels like Vipco and Laser Paradise, as well as a non-anamorphic Italian Shock DVD. At least pretty much every release has been uncut. But probably the first really respectable release was Shriek Show's 2002 DVD, which was an anamorphic widescreen special edition, which I've got here for comparison. Shriek Show bumped it up to blu-ray with a new but mildly received transfer in 2011, and about two minutes worth of controversially missing frames. Essentially, damaged frames were removed whenever the picture cut, similar to the issue we saw on Blue Underground's blu-ray of Hell Of the Living Dead. And as in that case, the loss of visual frames is less the issue itself than what it does to the synced audio. So I held off on upgrading to that disc.

One of the many frames missing from Shriek Show's blu, restored on 88's.

Now, the running time for 88's 2016 restoration is 85:11, as opposed to Shriek Show's 83:24, and there's no 88 Films logo or anything at the beginning padding it out; so that's a very promising sign. Unfortunately, the review that detailed all of the missing shots between the DVD and blu-ray is gone. The whole site, wtf-film.com has closed.  :(  But the post on Kentai's blog lists a few of them, and shows some of the missing frames, so I'm checking the new blu against the time codes there. And... oh thank goodness! The missing frames are there at 14:25. You do hear the chandelier exploding at 16:09, and see the shot of the zombie starting to emerge from the planter at 25:51. 88 Films came through!

So with that problem resolved, we can relax.  The missing frames thing is behind us.  Anf, funf act: 88's first blu-ray features two transfers: a new 2k scan from a 35mm print done in the USA, described as their "alternative grindhouse version," and a new HD master taken from the original 16mm negative in Italy.  Then came Severin's blu-ray, using that same, latter master.  In 2023, 88 released a flusher special edition UHD, and now in 2024, Severin have done the same.  In fact, it's a BD/ UHD combo-pack, so we'll be adding two new sets of shots to the comparison.

1) Shriek Show 2002 DVD; 2) 88 Films 2016 grindhouse BD;
3) 88 Films 2016 restored BD; 4) Severin 2016 BD;
5) Severin 2024 BD; 6) Severin 2024 UHD.

hehe  Look how some form of scratch removal
removed Mariangle's flowing white scarf in this frame.

Happily, the scarf returns to us in 2024!

Well, I even prefer 88's "grindhouse" version to Shriek Show's DVD, even though the contrast is through the roof. The grindhouse version has lots of dirt flecks, especially in the beginning; but at least it preserves the film's 1.66:1 ratio. The DVD is slightly letterboxed to 1.85:1, mostly cropping the top of the image. It's also faded, soft and washed. Plus, the DVD is interlaced:

Shriek Show 2002 DVD.

Meanwhile, the newer 1.66 version from the negative is clearly the best this film had ever looked. Of course, the deck was stacked against the other versions - I almost suspect the whole reason 88 included the print version may've just been to make the other look better by comparison - but no matter what context you put it in, it's surprising the 16mm footage could look this good. It's crisper than I was expecting, and the grain looks natural and un-tampered with. And between the two 2016 negative transfers?  Severin did some more re-timing, going for some slightly more vivid colors and higher contrast, but possibly crushing the slightest bits of info out of some shadows and highlights.  So which is preferable is a bit of a personal judgement call.

But we can pretty much forget about that now in 2024, anyway.  We can see this isn't just the same master blown up to 2160p because that scarf is back.  Besides that, okay, it's not like there's loads of new details to unveil.  But thanks to the new Dolby Vision/ HDR presentation, subtle colors like the shine on Bark's forehead get to be more subtle and authentic, and small edges like the food on his plate are smooth and natural, as opposed to blocky like on the BDs.  Look at his hand facing the camera, and even on the Severin negative transfer, you can see areas where film grain is jagged and pixelated, but not on the UHD.  Burial Ground has upgraded to a new generation of image quality, though you'll need a pretty good set to notice the difference.

More good news: since 88 Films' 2016 BD, every release has provided both the English and Italian audio tracks in lossless 1.0 (LPCM in the case of 88's 2016 blu, DTS-HD for all that followed), with optional English subtitles. So we now have both language options.  Past releases, including Shriek Show's DVD and subsequent blu, only featured the English audio and no subs at all.

Now let's talk extras. This is where I said hang onto your Shriek Shows, because they had a couple exclusive interviews not on 88's release. There are roughly 10 minute talks with producer Gabriele Crisanti, and actress Mariangela Giordano. Besides those Shriek Show also has a photo gallery, the trailer, some bonus trailers and an insert with liner notes by AV Maniacs' Charles Avinger and European Trash Cinema's Craig Ledbetter. Plus, on their 2011 blu-ray - but not their original 2002 DVD - they have 9+ minutes of outtakes without sound.

88's blu does not have those interviews, but they did make their own new extras, just with experts rather than any of the filmmakers. There's an audio commentary by UK critic and author John Martin, who's surprisingly negative about the film and spends most of the track ignoring it to talk about his own personal history. And there's a nearly half hour on camera interview with Mikel Coven (who wrote a book on Bianchi's films), which has a lot of interesting information. Coven really gets into Bianchi's other films, and I'm glad to have these extras - though you can really skip the commentary - but you can't top the people who were actually there.

Now so far, Severin has been running neck and neck with 88 Films, but here's where they started to pull ahead. They have a bunch of new special features, and they've actually got people who worked on the film.  Most excitingly for most fans is an interview, recorded before an audience at a 2013 screening, with the one and only Peter Bark!  They show clips from some of his other work, and it's definitely a fun, if a little brief (7.5 minutes) piece fans will want to see.  There's also a nice interview with actor Simone Mattioli, and a pretty in-depth featurette about the film's dramatic villa, filmed on location.  It turns out there's a ton of film history there.  All these new extras are great, and you should definitely check them out.

And Severin has also imported the Shriek Show extras... mostly, kinda sorta.  Where Shriek Show's on-camera interviews with Crisanti and Giordano were nine and a half, and eleven minutes long, respectively, Severin has made an odd choice. They edited them together into one nine minute and twenty second featurette that cuts back and forth between them.  And it's not even like they cut out all the clips from the film; those are still in there, plus about 30 seconds worth of newly added credits.  So, on the one hand, it is a more tightly edited piece, which some viewers will prefer.  A lot of what was cut was the interviewer asking his questions.  But on the other hand, we lost about 12 minutes, which is more than half of the interviews, including a lot of the subjects' thoughts; and that's a little bit disappointing.  Now it's like, uh, do I still hang onto my Shriek Show disc?  But if you've got the Severin disc, I'd say really don't go back and double-dip for the complete interviews unless you're a super fan with a poster of Mariangela up on your wall.

from the outtakes on 88's 2016 blu.

Happily, all the blu-rays also include the outtakes, albeit without sound. They've each got the theatrical trailer, too, and 88 includes a bonus trailer for their other indiegogo restoration, Zombie Holocaust. Severin also includes the alternate Italian opening credits, which 88 has on their "grindhouse" version. 88's disc includes a postcard with alternate artwork, a 16-page booklet with liner notes by Calum Waddell (who also moderated the audio commentary), reversible cover art and an exclusive slipcover if you're one of the people who donated to the campaign.  Meanwhile, the first 3000 copies of Severin's blu came in a slipcover, and all copies have reversible cover art with the traditional giant skull face or lumbering zombie images.

And yes, things have gotten even better for UHDs.  88 Films commissioned several exciting new extras for their 2023, and Severin has carried the most exciting of them over to their 2024 disc, too.  There's a new expert commentary by Nathaniel Thompson, Troy Howarth, and Eugenio Ercolani that's definitely better than the Martin one (which is still here, too), if a little overly casual and prone to long tangents.  Then, what's sure to be the real crowd pleaser, there's a new interview with Peter Bark (the old Q&A's still here, too), conducted at the old villa.  Now, 88 did also conduct two new on-camera interviews with additional experts that Severin didn't carry over (they haven't ported the Koven interview either)... but even 88's latest set is still missing the cast interviews with Mattioli, Cristiani and Giordano, which are all on Severin's UHD.  And for me, no knocks against anybody, but three interviews with the actual cast versus three interviews with additional experts is no contest.

Severin's UHD is light on booklets and stuff, but it does come in a nice, embossed slipcover.  And if you really need some swag, you can get their special bundle exclusive from their website, which includes a T-shirt and a Peter Bark pillowcase!

I was quite happy with 88's initial restoration. I was confident this would give us the best version of Burial Ground to date back when I donated, but I wasn't at all sure how much better. I was prepared for just slightly less noise. Thankfully though, all of the issues were fixed, the picture was a nice upgrade, plus we get some fresh extras and the Italian track, all in an attractive package. I'm still glad I donated.  Since that time, we've gotten even more improvements and special features, making incrementally better releases each time.  It may not have been worth the trouble and expensive of collecting each step along the way, but we've wound up in a pretty incredible place for this crazy little film. Whichever edition winds up on your shelf, it's all delightful.

Ultra High Deviancy: Zombie Holocaust

The rewards of 88 Films' indiegogo campaign have come in... the Zombie Holocaust 2k restoration is here! [Update: 3/6/16: Burial Ground has just arrived, too.] Everyone who supported should have their blus by now, and they're available commercially for the rest of the world. Now it's time to crack these suckers open and see what we've got!

Update 8/2/15 - 7/19/16: There's a new Butcher in town! Severin has just released their 2-disc blu-ray set of Zombi Holocaust, including both versions of the film: the Italian original and the US Dr. Butcher M.D. version. They've also got a bunch of new special features. But how does this new blu compare to 88 Films' HD restoration from last year? Is it better, worse, or are they totally indistinguishable? Let's find out.

Update 11/29/23: Well, it's the Ultra HD age now, so it's time for a new Zombie Holocaust.  And Severin has released a new, whopping 4-disc BD/ UHD combo-pack.

Zombie Holocaust, of course, is the over-the-top 1980 Italian horror flick that had the crowd-pleasing idea to combine the infamous cannibal and zombie subgenres into one nutty film. It also features Donald O'Brien as a mad scientist, hence the American title Dr. Butcher, M.D. Like Umberto Lenzi's Eaten Alive, this one starts out with a little bloody mayhem in a New York City hospital compelling our investigative leads, including star Ian McCulloch, to venture off into the jungles of the East Indies. Only this time they don't just fall into the path of a lethal cannibal tribe, but zombies as well! It all comes to an exciting climax on the set of Lucio Fulci's Zombie, because this film has three tent poles: thrills, exploitation and saving money. I mean, you saw the movie's title, right? So it's pretty much exactly what you'd expect, and whether that's terrible or glorious is all up to you.

a scene only featured in the Dr. Butcher M.D. version

Now, amongst other things, Severin's sets introduces the alternate, US version of the film Dr. Butcher M.D. to the table, which I don't think had been released on home video since the original VHS tape (which I used to own, back in the days). But are these two cuts significantly unique that it's worth getting both versions - what's the difference between them? Well, primarily, Dr. Butcher features some new, introductory footage shot in the US by Roy Frumkes (director of Document of the Dead), originally intended for an unfinished anthology horror film called Tales That Will Tear Your Heart Out. He intercuts that with footage from much later in the movie, to try to establish the whole "mad doctor is making zombies" story-line right from the very beginning. But even with all this extra footage, Dr. Butcher is almost ten minutes shorter, trimming a lot out. Dr. Butcher also has an entirely different all-synth score, although famously, you can still sometimes hear the original soundtrack playing underneath it. Finally, Dr. Butcher includes the scene where Alexandra Delli Colli falls into a pit, and Ian helps her out, which has long been included on discs of Zombi Holocaust as a deleted scene. Interestingly, Severin has also reinstated that scene into the original Zombi Holocaust version of the film.

the deleted pit scene

Shriek Show first released this on DVD in 2002, and they also released the first blu in 2011.  Then we got two competing restorations on blu-ray: 88 Films' 2015 release in the UK, followed quickly by Severin's 2016 release in the USA.  I wound up getting both.  So now in 2023, the film's been restored in 4k ("from original vault elements discovered in Manhattan and Rome," as Severin describes it on the back of their case) and again it was released first by 88 Films.  But this time I knew to be just a little patient and wait for the Severin release that quickly followed, which turned out to be a 2 UHD/ 2 BD combo-pack.  And one thing that distinguishes Severin's releases from the rest is that they include both the Dr. Butcher and Zombie Holocaust cuts, so get ready for a lot of comparison screenshots.

1) 2002 Shriek Show DVD; 2) 2015 88 Film BD; 3) 2016 Severin Dr. Butcher BD;
4) 2016 Severin ZH BD; 5) 2023 Severin ZH BD; 6) 2023 Severin Dr. Butcher BD;
7) 2023 Severin ZH UHD; 8) 2023 Severin Dr. Butcher UHD.

So I've included shots of the Dr. Butcher transfers, too, just to be thorough.  But they consistently match Severin's Zombie Holocaust counterpart.  Every transfer here is 1.85:1, except Shriek Show's DVD, which comes close at 1.84:1, and Severin's 2016 BD, which they opened up to 1.78:1 (they matted it back to 1.85 for their 2023 release).  They also adjust the framing slightly lower on their latest release.  The differences that stand out the most are Shriek Show's interlacing - and just generally being a softer SD presentation - and the fact that 88 Film's is a few shades brighter.  There's never exactly a wealth more detail, at least once we jump to HD.  But there's a solid jump in clarity and film grain rendering going from DVD to 88's blu.  And it's much more thorough, still, on the 4k scans, even when just comparing the 2016 BD to the 2023 BD.  On both the earlier blus, grain is there but inconsistent, while it's all captured perfectly on the 2023 release.

The biggest difference between the 2015 and 2016 blus is the color timing. Severin re-timed the levels completely in 2016, and I have to say, their version does look the most attractive and natural. Skies look blue instead of green, etc. You can also see Severin's copy has flecks and damage in spots that 88's doesn't, but it's all quite minor.  Those have all been cleaned up in 2023, anyway.  Comparing the two Severins, the colors come across a bit more faded on the BD, more authentic with slightly lower contrast.  But on the UHD with Dolby Vision enabled, everything's more robust, and the increased resolution keeps finer detail more lifelike.  Each stage from 88's BD to Severin's UHD is like another step forward.  Maybe not major leaps, but visible improvements each time.

Now, 88 did have one nice advantage over Shriek Show's DVD and blu-ray, in that both Shriek Show editions only feature the US dub and no subtitle options. 88 has both the English and Italian audio tracks (in DTS-HD 2.0) and English subtitles, so you can watch it either way.  Severin's 2016 blu, meanwhile, has the English DTS-HD 2.0 and Italian in LPCM 2.0 on the Zombie Holocaust cut, and DTS-HD and LPCM options for the English on the Dr. Butcher cut. But here's the thing: no subtitles on either version! That's right, Severin has no English subtitles when you play the Italian version of Zombie Holocaust, a baffling decision.

But thankfully, they've fixed that in 2023.  They've got the English mono in DTS-HD for Dr. Butcher, and both English and Italian mono tracks in DTS-HD on their Zombie Holocaust disc.  And critically, there are now also optional English subtitles for the English tracks on both cuts, and a second set of translated subs for the Italian audio (in other words, both sub and dubtitles) of Zombie Holocaust, making the Italian track a perfectly viable option for non-Italian viewers.

Now let's talk extras! 88 Film's only has a couple, but they're pretty major. First up is a feature length documentary on Italian cannibal films (also included on Grindhouse's recent Cannibal Ferox blu). And this isn't one of those things where they let one or two "cult film extras" pontificate for the entire time; this interviews the biggest cannibal directors: Ruggero Deodato, Umberto Lenzi and Sergio Martino. There are cannibal film stars like Robert Kerman, Antonio Climati, and the delightfully controversial Giovanni Radice. There's Zombie Holocaust's distributor Terry Levine, and there are modern filmmakers like Joe Dante, Frank Henenlotter, Luigi Cozzi and of course Eli Roth. And yeah, the experts are on hand, too; most notably including Kim Newman. This is definitely not the kind of "extra" one skips; they break down each major cannibal movie film by film (though personally I would've included Deodato's Cut & Run, too, even if technically none of the natives quite managed to take a bite out of anybody) and discuss all the signature elements of the genre.

Their other main extra is a Q&A with Ian McCulloch. That's kind of light for being the only Zombie Holocaust-specific feature on here, but it does run about 50 minutes, so it's pretty substantial. The other extras are the deleted scene that's been on past Zombie Holocaust editions, and the trailer. The booklet's pretty cool... even if you're the type to usually forgo reading the books, this one has an interview with McCulloch, so you might want to check that out - that is if there's anything left to be said after the 50 minute Q&A. Oh, and as you can see up top, 88 has also included some cool, reversible cover art.

Unfortunately 88 didn't or couldn't get Shriek Show's extras. Shriek Show (on both their DVD and blu) had some interesting coverage of the whole Doctor Butcher M.D. thing. They included that footage as an extra, as well as interviewing its director, Roy Frumkes. Plus, they had a Doctor Butcher trailer and Frumkes' personal photo gallery. Still, if you didn't grow up with the old Doctor Butcher VHS tapes like I did, that Frumkes stuff may be of less interest to you anyway. And apart from that stuff, the regular trailer and that deleted scene, Shriek Show just had the one notable extra: an interview with special effects expert Maurizio Trani. That was pretty good, though.  Oh, and they also had a neat fold-out insert with some fairly extensive notes.

Thankfully, Severin did get Shriek Show's extras, so you can finally let go of your copies of those. All of that's been ported over, and they've also added a whole ton more stuff. There is a lengthy, 31+ minute interview with Terry Levine, a featurette with Frumkes talking about 42nd St, an interview with the guy who drove a "Butcher Mobile" van around the city to promote the movie back in the day (this one's pretty fun!), an interview with Jim Markovic, the editor who recut the Dr. Butcher version, a gallery, plus several trailers. And that's just the first disc! Onto disc two, there's a new interview with Ian McCulloch. I think we might've finished mining the depths with him considering the mass amount of interviews we've seen of him on Italian horror DVDs, but it would be disappointing if he wasn't on here. There are also interviews with effects artist Rosario Pretopino, Enzo Castellari (son of director Mario Girolami), and actress Sherry Buchanan. There's also a short but fun featurette looking at the film's shooting locations (I'm a sucker for these), more trailers, and a clip of McCulloch singing a song for us. And in lieu of a typical insert or booklet, Severin includes a charming Dr. Butcher M.D. barf bag [right].

In 2023, Severin has kept almost all of the extras from their 2016 release.  We just technically lost the German trailer for Zombie Holocaust and the second video trailer for Dr. Butcher.  But we've gotten some substantial additions.  First there's a new set of interviews with two of the student filmmakers who were going to have segments in Tales That Will Tear Your Heart Out.  Finally, we learn who "Snuff Maximus" was!  Then Michael Gingold gives us a tour of Italian horror NY locations.  You might be thinking: didn't they already have a brief featurette touring Zombie Holocaust's NY locations that you described one paragraph up?  Yes, but this is a substantial, over 45 minute trip through the NY locations of a whole bunch of Italian horror films, like The Gates of Hell and New York Ripper.  It's pretty great, though I suppose it might test your patience at points if you're not a fan of some of the Italian horror flicks he's covering.  Anyway, we also get an additional Dr. Butcher TV spot.  It comes in reversible artwork and an embossed slipcover and yes, the barf bag is back. 

I naively suggested that the 2015/ 2016 BD restorations would be "the best looking editions we're going to get." But home video releases of entered a whole new generation, and so yes, we've stepped even further forward this year with a higher resolution presentation and even more special features.  And before, Severin had one distinct weakness: no subtitles for their Italian audio, which put them behind 88 Films' release in at least one substantial department.  But they've fixed that, making their new set a clear winner.  If you're a super fan, you might still want to pick up 88's release for their exclusive extras, in order to have everything.  But Severin's new set covers all the bases pretty damn well.

House On the Edge Of the Park: Nailed It This Time

I usually avoid looking at the stats and metrics of my site.  Because once I see that one post has more hits than another, it's an easy slope to slip down, constantly chasing the hints of popularity, forgoing what I want to write about or what I think would be best, caught up in an internet-driven numbers game.  But I looked, and here's what I now believe think people would like to see most from me: a limited edition Code Red blu-ray sleazy Italian horror movie compared to a more broadly released American DVD version.  Happily, that's exactly what I was going to write about today anyway, so here's House On the Edge Of the Park!  😀

Update 11/6/16 - 12/22/21: I've stuck to my policy of not looking at the numbers, so hopefully what you'd most like to see today is an updated comparison with Severin's brand new special edition, because here it is!

Update 3/8/22: The replacement discs are here! Yes, after the issues with the black levels and crush as reported in the last update, Severin announced they'd be sending replacements to everyone who ordered one directly from their site.  So far, the film's only been available directly from their site, so that means everyone's getting it.  And all retail copies in future will include the replacement disc, so there shouldn't be any risk of winding up with the old disc in future.  Though, just in case you're worried, the photo above shows the difference (it has "V3" at the end of its code, and a purpler background color), so you can contact Severin in the unlikely event an old disc somehow find its way to you.

Anyway, mine just arrived today.  Is everything all better now?

House On the Edge is Italy's answer to Wes Craven's The Last House On the Left, even borrowing its notorious leading villain, David Hess.  I've been reading some debate recently, over which is the sleazier, least comfortable watch, and Craven's seemed to win out, but I definitely feel that dubious honor goes to Ruggero Deodato's flick.  I can see making a case for Last House.  For one, it came first, and it's the more famous, American film, so most horror fans probably saw it first.  And the first time you see something is always the most shocking.  Also, while Last has some unnatural elements, like the comic relief cops, the graphic scenes are very realistic.  Contrast that with the Italian glamour models sitting around in color-coordinated outfits, and it gives you a bit of an "out" in feeling staged and unrealistic.

Casey Scott's liner notes for Shriek Show's insert say this film
has "no flair present in cinematography," but I beg to differ.

But on the other hand, the root sadistically sexual violence feels just as genuine in both films, and in Last, those scenes really just happen in the second act, after which the film switches mode to a karmic revenge thriller, like its Virgin Spring inspiration.  But pretty much the entirety of Park just wallows in it.  It takes the typical Italian exploitation habit of finding the saleable element the original film had - in this case Hess abusing and terrorizing his victims with a knife - and making that the whole movie.  Also, everybody's despicable in this one; there are no decent characters to latch onto.  And its damned effective, if a bit ethereal and stagey at the same time.  Plus, it's got a great disco theme song and finishes up with a nice twist ending that I certainly didn't see coming, and won't spoil here.

We originally only had House On the Edge of the Park on non-anamorphic DVD courtesy of those trashy budget packs from companies like Brentwood and Diamond, but in 2002, Shriek Show rescued it from obscurity with a widescreen special edition.  There have been UK editions, too, from Vipco and the more respectable Shameless Screen Entertainment, but outside of Shriek Show, almost all of those were edited versions.  The uncut DVD went out of print and started getting scarce.  But in 2016, Code Red came to the rescue with an uncut, limited edition (1500 copies) special edition blu-ray.  But now in 2021, Severin reckons they can top it, with a new 4k restoration, dual language options and all new special features.  Let's see how they did.

1) 2002 Shriek Show DVD; 2) 2016 Code Red BD; 3) 2021 Severin BD.

Where to begin?  The Code Red blu is pretty grainy and seems to have some of that infamous Italian scanner noise to boot.  But it's still a far superior image to the old Shriek Show DVD.  The 1.85:1 framing is only marginally different, with slim slivers of differences all around the edges.  But the DVD is flatter, with more limited and less natural colors, some ugly interlacing (a regular issue with Shriek Show releases), and heavy edge enhancement (look at the cards on the table; it's like somebody traced them on the table with a thick sharpie).  Code Red seems to've at least done the best they could with the Italian scan, and it certainly has a very noticeable jump up in quality from the DVD, which itself was a strong improvement over the old grey market junk.  But fans have always been in the market for something better.

And, we kinda got it with their new scan, which is 4k from the original OCN according to the back cover.  No more scanner noise for a start.  I've seen some people suggest Code Red's disc is sharper, but that's all artificial noise not actual detail.  And the framing's still 1.85:1, but it's pulled out a bit to reveal more picture along the edges.  The color timing is also warmer, more in line with Shriek Show's.  But the grain's pretty light for a 4k scan, and the black levels are rather milky.  Not quite to Wax Mask degrees, but less than ideal.  The blacks are actually rather crushed.  Just compare it to the Code Red - for example, look at Hess's left arm in the second set of shots.  We see a lot more of it on the CR disc that gets lost into a sea of blackness on the Severin.  It's a bummer, resulting in a draw PQ-wise, or at best a very slim victory, which should've been an easy win for a fresh 4k scan of a troubled older edition.  Or, at least, that was the case...

2022 Severin replacement BD.

Now, when Severin announced their replacement, I was a little worried that they described "an export error which affected the color density of the feature."  Did this mean they would fix the milky black levels, but leave crush inherent in the scan?  That would still be an improvement, so I'd've been happy to get the replacement regardless; but it's the first thing I checked when my disc arrived.  And I'm relieved to report it fixes both.  The lost detail is restored (Hess's left arm is back!) and the blacks are genuinely black.  This is exactly what we hoped for from the replacement program.

They've also taken advantage of the opportunity to upgrade the disc and added the theatrical trailer as a bonus feature.  So that's fun.

But then Severin pulls ahead.  Neither previous disc has the Italian audio, just the English audio.  This is a case where the English is distinctly preferable, with Hess's real voice on the English track, as opposed to the poor dub on the Italian, but still, it's always nice to have both.  And now we do.  All three discs preserve the original English mono audio in clear 2.0 (in lossless DTS-HD on the blus), but only Severin also includes the original Italian mono (also in DTS-HD).  And it's the only one to provide English subtitles.

Shriek Show did cobble together a pretty nice selection of extras.  They got lengthy interviews with the two most important people, Hess and Deodato, who answer just about all the questions you'd have after seeing this crazy picture.  Plus there's another good interview with Giovanni Lombardo Radice and a feature with Hess's family (watch his son play guitar and his wife refuse to talk about her role in the film).  On top of that, they included the original trailer, a stills gallery, some bonus trailers and an insert.  Code Red doesn't add anything new, but ports all of the Shriek Show stuff over, except for the bonus trailers and the insert, so we can let go of our old DVDs.

But Severin came hard on this one.  They carry over the Hess interview (and include the bit with his wife as an easter egg), which they've given a more professional edit and the gallery - and now the trailer, too - but replaced the Deodato and Radice interviews with newer, HD ones.  Better still, they also conduct new interviews with the cinematographer and set designer.  And they provide an enthusiastic audio commentary by Bruce Holecheck & Art Ettinger.  They've met several of the key players in the making of this film, so they have some nice insight, in addition to some well researched backstory.  I've been listening to a couple Italian horror commentaries recently, where the "experts" are clearly just winging it, and go way off on long, self-indulgent tangents without telling us much of anything that fans wouldn't already know.  So this is a satisfying reminder of how much better these tracks can be.

...And that's just disc 1.  Disc two includes the surprisingly engaging 2019 feature length documentary Deodato Holocaust, which plays a lot like Baumbach's DePalma, except of course it's Deodato, and I'd say it's actually more fun.  Disc 2 also includes the trailer and almost 20 minutes of deleted scenes, some of which are as entertaining and worth watching as the material they left in.  And as Severin has been doing with a lot of their Italian titles, they've included the soundtrack CD.  At first I was thinking I don't know if I care too much about the soundtrack to this one; it's not like a beloved Goblin score or anything.  But when it arrived I realized, of course, this means we finally get the complete "Do It To Me" disco theme - we absolutely need this!  Severin's release also comes in an embossed slipcover with reversible cover art and an insert featuring the CD track-listing.

So Severin's new blu is undeniably the way to go with this film, but problems with the transfer hold it back it from being the distinct triumph it should've been.  Let's face it, we'll all be replacing this edition again a few more years down the line.  Not anymore!  Well, barring a UHD release some day in the future...  But now that Severin's disc has been corrected, it's the definitive blu-ray version we were all expecting.  Best picture, best audio and subtitle options, best extras, including a whole second feature.  I already recommended this, but I'm now very glad to retract any reservations.  Well, barring the sleazy, degenerate nature of the film itself...  But I assume if you've read this far, you know what you're in for.