Spend Your Holidays With the Whole Blind Dead Family!

Happy holidays, everyone!  It's that time of year again, to gather 'round the hearth and spend this magical evening with your chosen family, whether that be your relatives, closest friends, or Amando de Ossorio's iconic Blind Dead.  Yes, before Dan Brown turned his creative sites on the Knights Templar, before John Krasinski started claiming credit for inventing monsters that hunt by sound and before George Romero realized, hey, he could franchise walking corpses, Ossorio was doing it all with his most famous series of films: Tombs Of the Blind Dead, Return Of the Evil Dead, The Ghost Galleon and Night Of the Seagulls.  And you can own the whole run on blu-ray ...if you're willing to put in a little effort.

It was a great day in 2005 when Blue Underground assembled all four horror classics on widescreen, restored somewhat special edition DVDs.  There had been an earlier, non-anamorphic flipper disc of the first two films from Anchor Bay, but that was it.  They came in an awesome coffin box and everything.  But unfortunately, the rights to these films seem to be spread across all different owners, making it nigh-impossible for any boutique label to do the same again today for blu-ray.  They have all received at least some kind of decent blu-ray, though, some fancier than others.  You've just got to shop around.

1972's Tombs starts off the series.  A titillating lesbian romance between Betty and Virginia goes sour when boyfriend Roger enters the picture.  And then everything goes sour when Betty wanders off into the abandoned village of Berzano and draws out the risen husks of 14th century knights who live forever via a perpetual series of blood sacrifices.  Soon, everybody's drawn into the mayhem, from creepy coroners to a gang of smugglers.

Okay, the writing isn't the sharpest, and it's a bit ridiculous how much everybody is unrepentantly raping everybody in these movies.  But all that's easy to ignore with so much masterful atmosphere, visual panache and the coolest movie monsters in all of movie monster history are on display.  These bad boys look way creepier than Romero's, with their skeletal faces, beards and rotted robs.  They're just as slow, even when they ride their horses and they have an unforgettable theme that returns in each sequel.  It's ambitious, with its flashbacks to the 14th century.  And even "basic" shots, like the blinking neon lights in the mannequin factory or the smoke from the train carrying into the bedroom flashback, show a director determined to create something more artful than just exploitation.

Austria's XT Video first released this film on blu in 2018, and Spain's Gabita Barbieri has released their own edition.  There are also Austrian discs from Carol Media, but those are censored/ cut, so stay awy from those.  Anyway, the smart money's on Synapse, which released a pricey, 2-disc steelbook edition in 2022, followed by a cheaper retail edition this October.  I've got the former, so that's what we'll be looking at here, but my understanding is that the two blu-ray discs are the same across both editions.

Now, both BU and Synapse have included both the US theatrical cut and the longer, "Integral" Spanish/ English hybrid cut with almost twenty minutes of additional footage.  So the second set of screenshots only has two, because there I'm comparing a shot that's only in the longer version.

1) 2005 BU DVD; 2) 2005 BU TC DVD; 3) 2022 Synapse BD; 4) 2022 Syanpse TC BD.

Disappointingly, BU's main version is interlaced, which is surprising, because none of the other discs in their set are, and even their shorter theatrical cut isn't.  Maybe it's just a screw up, but it sure was frustrating, as the longer cut is easily the one to watch.  Plus, even if you're indifferent to the difference between cuts, BU's theatrical cut is taken from a lesser source, seemingly a blown out, high contrast print.  So it was a good thing when BDs finally came around to correct this situation.  Synapse's specifically is taken from a 2k from the original camera negative, with additional color correction and clean-up done in-house.

BU presented the integral cut in 1.70:1 and the theatrical cut in 1.66:1.  Synapse sticks with the proper 1.66 (or, technically, 1;65:1) ratio, while still revealing a sliver more picture along the edges.  That's for both cuts.  Unlike BU, Synapse has clearly used the same 2k restoration for both edits.  And it looks great.  Sure, could grain look a little finer in 4k on UHD?  But for a 2k scan on 1080p, it reaches Synapse's reliable level of perfection.  It also clears away the greenish cast on BU's disc.

Audio-wise, they call the integral cut a hybrid for a reason.  Both discs let you watch the US theatrical cut, naturally, in the original English mono.  And the longer cut in the Spanish mono with optional English subtitles.  But Synapse has also edited together an English track for the longer cut that only cuts to Spanish audio for the composite shots, and it has a second subtitle track to just show subs for those scenes.  Synapse has also added optional English subtitles for the theatrical cut, which BU didn't bother with.  All of Synapse's tracks are in lossless LPCM, while BU's are just in lossy Dolby Digital, and have been restored to sound less echo-y and tinny.

Extras are another strong upgrade, though honestly, I was a little disappointed with Syanpse here, given their high price point.  Though I appreciate that a lot of key personnel have passed, limiting their options.  BU just had the alternate "Revenge From Planet Ape" opening credits, a stills gallery and the trailer on the main disc.  But it also included a very interesting half-hour documentary on Ossorio and another excellent interview with Ossorio on their bonus disc.  Plus also another photo gallery.  It comes in an amary case, which fits with the other discs inside that awesome coffin box if you bought the whole collection, and includes a stylish 40-page booklet.

Synapse, sadly, did not license that bonus disc content and we don't really hear from Ossorio at all on their edition.  Frankly, a lot of their stuff feels more like filler than can't-miss content, though they have their compelling highlights, for sure.  First, there are three audio commentaries, but they're all just by modern horror experts except one, which features star Lone Fleming.  That's obviously the most compelling, but as just one actress who often isn't in the scenes on screen, they're left to do a lot of stretching to fill the entire run-time.  An on-camera interview would've been more appropriate.  Still, I can't deny there's some interesting stuff to be heard in her track if you have the patience for it.

The best part of Synapse's package is their feature-length doc on Spanish horror, though how enthralled you are will depend on how interested you are in other Spanish horror filmmakers.  Lone Fleming is back, and we also hear from Jack Taylor of Ghost Galleon.  But get ready for a lot of Paul Naschy and all kinds of other stuff that isn't directly Blind Dead-related.  They did restore the trailer, though, so it looks a lot better than what was on the old DVD, and they did port over the expert interview from XT Video's blu-ray.  They've also got the Planet Ape intro, a music video by some modern heavy metal band inspired by the Blind Dead, oh, and a whole CD of heavy metal tributes to the Blind Dead if you're a fan of that sort of thing.  This release also includes an 8-page booklet and comes in a steelbook package housed in a slipcover.

Return Of the Evil Dead, in some ways, is more fun than the original.  In typical sequel-fashion, it gets to the action sooner.  But it also makes more use of the blind dead actually being blind, and people creeping silently around them to escape.  It has more fun characters, with a corrupt mayor putting everybody else's lives in danger, and this is the film that conclusively reveals, yes, those horses are zombies, too.  I think it's meant to be a prequel, showing how the town of Berzano came to be deserted, though the rules and continuity between these films has always been a little shakey.  Lone Fleming is back, as a different character, and there's another 14th century flashback.  Sure, it recycles some footage of the Templars rising from their tombs, but considering how amazing those shots looked, who could blame them?

Sadly, there isn't a US option for this film on blu, just the aforementioned AB and BU DVDs.  There's just the Austrian BDs and the more recent Spanish blu from Gabita Barbieri Films, which is actually a fairly loaded special edition.  Oh, and once again there is a shorter US theatrical cut and a longer, original Spanish version; though the difference is only about four minutes this time.  GB didn't bother with the shorter cut on their blu (so once again, the second set of screenshots only has two shots), but honestly that's fine by me.  These shorter US edits are just as well left to history as far as I'm concerned.

1) BU 2005 theatrical DVD; 2) 2005 BU DVD; 3) 2022 Gabita Barbieri BD.

So, okay, I'm not in love with Gabita Barbieri's work here.  BU again seems to have used higher quality source for the longer cut and a rougher print for the theatrical cut.  And GB at least seem to have used the better source.  But it looks DNR'd to death, showing less hint of grain than the old DVD.  They're all in 1.66:1 (well, BU's theatrical cut is more like 1.68), but some parts, like that second set of shots, are slightly zoomed in.  The colors are more natural in general, though, and before you dismiss it out of hand, check out what they were able to do with the murky night shots:

1) BU 2005 DVD; 2) 2022 Gabita Barbieri BD.

That's so much more attractive.  And a lot of the film looks like this - especially many of the best bits.  So I would call this an improvement over the DVD; I just wish they hadn't scrubbed the picture ...or maybe just over-compressed it to death?  Either way, it's flawed but still preferable.

BU keeps it pretty simple this time in the language department.  The longer cut is in Spanish Dolby Digital with optional English subs, and the theatrical cut is in English DD with no subs.  GB has gone all out, though, giving us another hybrid English track in DD or the original Spanish in lossless DTS-HD, plus an Italian dub.  And there are optional English subtitles for both language options, as well as Spanish, Italian and Portuguese subs.

The Lost Script

And it's a surprising win in the extras department.  BU just had two trailers and a photo gallery.  GB has the trailer, alternate Spanish-language credits, and way more.  There's an interview with Lone Fleming that's over an hour long.  Yes, they go over her whole career, but there's plenty about the Blind Dead films.  They even show a complete short film she wrote and directed called The Barefoot Virgin in the middle of the interview.  Yes, it all has optional English subtitles.  As does The Lost Script, a short 2016 Blind Dead sequel(!) starring Lone Fleming, as well as a bunch of Spanish cult actors from the 70s and 80s, including Loreta Tovar from Return Of the Evil Dead.  Essentially, Fleming plays herself, haunted by nightmares of the blind dead after receiving a long lost script by Ossorio.  Obviously, it's not on the same level as the original films, but it's pretty fun.

There are a couple more extras related to The Last Script: an interview with the director and a behind-the-scenes feature, but sadly, those are not English-friendly.  But even that's way more than any past edition has given us!

Next up is 1974's Ghost Galleon, a.k.a. The Blind Dead on a boat!  Trapping our protagonists on claustrophobic set is an effective way to ratchet up suspense, and the Templars were merchants famous for establishing trade routes and all, so it all fits historically (or well enough for this kinda stuff).  But on the downside, the model looks like a tiny toy boat, and there the professor jumps to some ludicrous exposition about slipping into alternate dimensions.  They can't recycle as much footage now that the dead are in a new location, and without their horses, but watching these films close together, you'll find some tight formulas all these films are following.  For example, the first girl to encounter the blind dead always runs away, up some stairs, gets her foot stuck, which the zombies reach for an almost grab, but then she pulls away, gets cornered upstairs, and leaps back down to the lower level to escape just in the nick of time.  Seriously, that sequence happens in all three films so far.  But hey, at least they tried something different with this ghost ship stuff, and it still delivers on the awesome blind dead.

There was no Anchor Bay DVD of this one, so we just had the Blue Underground and some gray market stuff from Brentwood and Mill Creek.  On blu, there's just the Austrian discs and the Spanish one from Babita Barbieri.  The Austrian discs were limited and are no long OOP and expensive, so we're going with the Spanish one again.  And this time there's only one cut (except for those extra censored Carol Media BDs).

1) BU 2005 DVD; 2) 2022 Gabita Barbieri BD.

Things are simpler this time; no theatrical cuts or other sources.  GB seems to be using the same master as BU, though we do benefit from the HD format.  Colors, brightness levels, etc are all the same.  Both discs are roughly 1.85:1, with GB correcting BU's slightly squished 1.82 ratio.  And flicking between the two, it's like: in focus, out of focus.  It's essentially the same picture except in SD or HD.  Grain is still pretty lacking, but compared to the DVD, it's a no-brainer.

Language-wise, BU gives us the options of Spanish or English with optional English subs.  GB does the same, though theirs are both in DTS-HD this time.  They also throw in French, Italian and Russian dubs, and Spanish and French subs.

Extras are light all over for this one.  BU has a couple trailers, radio spots and a TV spot, plus a gallery.  GB has the trailer and its own gallery, plus the entire soundtrack album as an easter egg.  Just let the photo gallery play to the end and it'll cut to footage of the record being played.

Finally, we come to Night Of the Seagulls.  This is a slower one, where a doctor visits an old fishing village that has to sacrifice virgins to the Templars in order not to get massacred.  Obviously, the doctor interferes and everybody comes to regret it.  The dead get their horses back, there's a neat castle and a funny pagan frog god statue.  Otherwise, it's everything you've come to expect from this series (and yes, seagulls): another atmospheric good time, but no surprises.  The fact that this is the slowest, and many find it the most boring, may be why this was the final one.  Though we know from interviews Ossorio had interest in making a fifth.

BU's DVD was pretty much the only option on DVD, and the Austrian discs were the only options on blu, until 2018 when Scream Factory surprisingly threw their hat into the ring to release just the fourth and final entry into Ossorio's series.

1) BU 2005 DVD; 2) 2018 Scream Factory BD.

And I guess it's okay?  Both releases are 1.85:1, but Scream zooms in to shave a little off of all four sides compared to the DVD.  At least it gets rid of the red tint from BU's disc.  And it is genuinely a little less smudgy and compressed (after all, I'd hope so, going from DVD to SD), but it's barely an more detailed, and there's not really any more grain than on the Spanish discs.  In fact, subtle detail seems to have been scrubbed away.  It's another improvement, but not what I was hoping for when I bought it.

Audio-wise, both discs give us both English and Spanish tracks with optional subs, but at least Scream Factory's are DTS-HD.

And extras are pretty light, too.  BU just gives us the trailer and a photo gallery.  And SF gives us the trailer and an audio commentary by the guys from the NaschyCast.  It's not bad, but as the name implies, they wind up talking a lot about Paul Naschy and lots of other tangents besides this movie.  They're fine, really, it's more just an inherent flaw of getting modern horror fans to do audio commentaries for films... they almost never have nearly enough to info to convey so they wind up filibustering for most of the run time.  These should be on-camera interviews (or visual essays if they prefer), but labels think audio commentaries look better when they release the specs, so everybody winds up losing.  But now I'm ranting; these guys actually do a better job than most.  I just wish labels would re-think their strategies a little.

Anyway, that's all of Amando de Ossorio's Blind Dead movies.  But it's not totally all of the Blind Dead movies.  There are several unofficial sequels and knock-offs that bear mentioning, including one I'd even seriously recommend.  Most of them not so much.

First, there's Cross Of the Devil, which came out in 1975, the same year as Seagulls.  It's written (but not directed) by Paul Naschy and clearly inspired by Ossorio's films.  In it, the Templar Knights are ghosts, though they have very little screentime.  Also, crucially, they're not blind or undead zombies.  It's the most tenuous "unofficial sequel."  It's a very talky ghost story, but the Templars do wear roughly the same outfits and ride their horses.

Then there's Mansion Of the Living Dead from 1982.  It's essentially a Jess Franco porno movie starring his wife, where four stewardesses have sex scenes in a hotel.  But occasionally, hooded monks, clearly inspired by Ossorio's Templars, show up to rape them.  For hardcore completists only.

Then there are a couple shorts.  There's The Lost Script, which I've already covered above.  It's fun and worth checking out if you don't go in with serious expectations.  And there's Scream Of the Blind Dead, which is a Full Moon short directed by Fangoria's Chris Alexander.  They describe it as an art film and a tribute, but that's just because they're stretching a couple minutes of footage into about 40 by playing with the colors, slow motion, etc.  It's basically two women running around being chased by a guy dressed like one of the blind dead.  The DVD comes out in February, but I'd avoid it.

Things are getting warmer, though, with 2008's Graveyard Of the Dead, a.k.a. Erotic Nights Of the Blind Dead.  It's basically a fan film, looks very amateurish, but is at least trying to be an actual Blind Dead film, as opposed to just cribbing from them like Naschy and Franco.  They even stage a 14th century origin scene, like the originals.  It's also pretty sleazy, with extended rape scenes and stuff, but that's actually fairly in keeping with the originals.  So if you have a high tolerance for home-made, no budget stuff, it is on DVD.

But finally, of much better quality is 2020's Curse Of the Blind Dead.  It's actually a professionally made feature film, and a proper sequel, as opposed to a rip-off, putting Ossorio in the opening credits, using the classic theme music and following the continuity as much as any of these movies can.  The 14th century prologue looks better than any of the originals ever did, and the practical gore is through the roof.  It's Italian, by the same guy who did Morituris (Legion Of the Dead) about the zombie gladiators.  As such, English isn't everybody's first language, so the acting is all over the place.  And that's not the only flaw... It's slow, taking a long time to get to the blind dead attacks, although Ossorio often did the same thing, with a lot of set-up and other villains besides the Templars.  So I think that's deliberate.  Also, these zombies are more robust.  They don't run, but they also don't creep and lurch like the originals (although they do ride their horses in slow-mo just like the old ones).

It's available on DVR from Uncork'd here in the states, but Germany has a proper blu-ray release.  It's uncut in 2.40:1, with both the English and German 5.1 tracks in DTS-HD with optional English subtitles.  For extras, it just has the trailer, in English and German, plus a couple bonus trailers.  But look how nicely it fits with the other BDs, and the original bonus disc, in the famous Blue Underground box - it's the perfect Blind Dead set for the giving season.  Do it for Santa!

The Total Creepshow Experience Just Got Totaller

Creepshow has always been released barebones in the USA. But in the UK, it had a sweet 2-disc DVD special edition. When it was time for blu-ray, Creepshow stayed barebones in the US, but the UK blu got even more extras! But finally, the director of the Creepshow documentary Just Desserts from the UK releases, Redshirt's Michael Felsher, put together an indiegogo campaign to release just his doc in the USA, even if it had to be by itself, as opposed to paired with Warner Bros' Creepshow discs. Well, that happened, and Synapse picked it up, including a bunch more special features. Just what's carried over from one special edition to another - and what isn't - can be a little confusing, so let's break it all down.

Update 10/14/18: And suddenly there's a lot more to the Creepshow story!  Scream Factory has restored the film in 4k from the original camera negative, and they've issued it in a fancy new special edition, with even more all new special features.

Update 7/1/23: And now that we're solidly in the 4k Ultra HD age, it only make sense that Scream Factory circle back around and release Creepshow on a proper UHD, which they've now done, in a brand new 2-disc BD/ UHD combo-pack.

First of all, Creepshow is a blast. It's one of those movies I loved as a kid and still get just as much out of today. You know, usually movies fall on one side of that line or the other, but this is one of those treats that fills both spaces. It's an anthology film directed by George Romero, written by (and co-starring) Stephen King, based on the old E.C. horror comics of the 1950s. That's already some top of the line talent, bolstered by the fact that they have a respectable (for a horror movie) budget and a big studio behind them. But then add to that the effects-work of Tom Savini and a terrific all-star cast, all delightfully shot and dramatically framed over-the-top, capturing the style of the original comic books perhaps better than any other, with the possible exceptions of much later entries like Sin City or Ang Lee's The Hulk. But unlike The Hulk, this doesn't suck, so it's really the best of both worlds.  ;)

Every story is great. You have a wrap-around segment where a young boy is forbidden to read his trashy comic books by his father, Tom Atkins. But he reads anyway, and each story is is one of our anthology's segments, starting with Father's Day, starring Ed Harris. He marries into a wealthy family who owe all their spoils to their deceased patriarch, but their lack of respect has him not just rolling in his grave, but crawling up out of it. Next, King himself stars as an over-the-top hillbilly hick who thinks his luck has turned when a meteorite lands in his backyard, but we all know things can't go as well as he hopes. Next, Leslie Neilsen exacts some morbidly fatal revenge on his wife and the man she cheats on him with (Ted Danson), but it winds up backfiring on him. And speaking of murderous solutions to marital problems, Hal Holbrook thinks he may have figured out a way to finally rid himself of his delightfully shrewish wife, Adrienne Barbeau, when he finds a mysterious crate in the basement of his university. And finally E.G. Marshall is a rich man who takes germophobia to new extremes in his futuristically designed penthouse apartment, but unfortunately for him, nature always finds a way.

Creepshow was originally released on DVD in 1999. I unfortunately sold it off long ago, so I don't have it for today's comparison, but it at least an anamorphic widescreen presentation. I got rid of it, though, because in 2007 Second Sight put out their loaded 2007 special edition 2-disc DVD set, which I do still have and am including here. Back in the USA, Warner Bros gave this film its HD debut with their 2009 blu-ray, but it was barebones.  Eventually in 2013, Second Sight gave us the best of both worlds: a special edition blu-ray. At the time, it was the champ.  But then in 2018, Scream Factory raised the stakes with a fresh 4k restoration from the original camera negative on BD.  And although that release had remained unchallenged to this day, SF are raising the stakes again, with an all new 4k scan of the OCN in Dolby Vision HDR, now released on a proper 2160p UHD disc (and a 1080p BD, too).

1) 2007 SS DVD; 2) 2009 WB BD; 3) 2013 SS BD; 4) 2018 SF BD.

So, by and large, it's the same root transfer on the DVD bumped up to HD on the original blus. It's got the same occasional flecks and dirt (look at the white speck at the top left of all three Halbrook shots), roughly the same colors etc. I say roughly, because the DVD's a teensy bit darker, but only so's you'd notice in a direct comparison like this. One more notable difference, however, is the framing. Second Sight matted it to 1.85:1 on the DVD, but Warner Bros left it open to 1.78:1 on the blu-ray, and so did they. Apart from that, though, they're pretty similar. What was a great looking DVD becomes an okay looking blu. It is a bit cleaner and more clear without the DVD compression, but it's still soft and generally feels like the older master that it is. A mild upgrade from the already pretty strong DVD.

But now the new blu!  First, to start off, the proper 1.85:1 aspect ratio is back.  And that white speck in the Halbrook shot is gone, along with plenty of others like it (though I did still catch a few specks).  The film's a bit darker, with more naturalistic colors, except in key shots where the impressionistic, comic book-influenced coloring comes in, and it actually goes a bit further in that direction.  Detail is improved and grain is definitely more distinct and natural by a wide margin.  The older blus didn't have any problems per se, crying out for correction; they're just older.  And Scream's edition brings Creepshow to the higher standards of quality on par with today's tech.

5) 2023 SF BD; 6) 2023 SF UHD.

And yes, in 2023, it's another new 4k scan, not just the 2018 transfer on a higher res disc.  Just comparing the two BDs, you'll notice the colors are a little subtler.  The encodes and grain distribution are clearly different, though it's hard to say one's really better than the other in that regard.  I was happy to notice, though, that the already very minor film damage, like a few tiny white spots behind Leslie in the sky there, have been cleaned up between the 2018 and 2023 releases.  And the UHD is, as you'd hope, an even bigger improvement, with much more consistent and thorough grain representation and more natural coloring and resolution of fine detail, notable, for instance, on his necklace.

The DVD gave us a choice between a 5.1 remix or the original Dolby 2.0 stereo track, plus English subtitles. The Second Sight blu gives us the same audio options, but bumps them up to DTS-HD and LPCM respectively. However, unfortunately, this time around they neglected the subs.  On the other hand, Warner Bros remembered the subtitles (and French ones as well), but left off the 5.1 option, leaving us with just the TrueHD stereo 2.0.  And Scream?  Well, its 2018 release claims "DTS-HD Master Audio Mono" on the back of the case, but that's a little incorrect.  In fact, both the 2018 and 2023 releases offer us the choice of a 5.1 Surround mix or the 2.0 Stereo track, both in DTS-HD.  And yes, they have English subtitles.  The UHD also adds a new Dolby Atmos track, not mentioned on the back cover.

Now, like I said, the US Warner Bros release is barebones except for the trailer and a lame ad for Warner Bros releases in general.  So just forget about that and let's start with the DVD, which provides all the key staples. First, there's a very cool audio commentary by Romero and Savini, who provide a lot of great backstory to this film. But topping that is the feature length documentary Just Desserts, making its debut here. This is a great, very upbeat retrospective which talks to all the key players. It's very well made, in Red Shirt's usual, top notch fashion. And besides those two key features, there's also fifteen minutes of deleted scenes, a featurette compiling almost half an hour of Tom Savini's behind-the-scenes footage, the trailer and a stills gallery. The DVD also came in a cool slip-sleeve box.

Again, the US blu-ray didn't pick up any of that and remained barebones. Well, except for the trailer. But Second Sight's blu-ray carried over everything from their excellent DVD set, right down to the stills gallery, even bumping Just Desserts up to HD. Then, they added an all new audio commentary. This one, isn't really a proper audio commentary, though. It's more a collection of audio interviews that are laid over the film, but not commenting directly on it. They talk to director of photography Michael Gornick, actor John Amplas (the father in Father's Day), property master Bruce Alan Miller, make-up effects assistant Darryl Ferrucci and Bernie Wrightson, the artist who did the poster and the awesome oversized Creepshow comic book that my best friend and I used to borrow from the library like every other week for years.  Plus, they added an additional vintage TV spot.

And then we come to Synapse's 2016 blu-ray release of just Just Desserts.

1) 2007 SS DVD; 2) 2013 SS BD; 3) 2016 Synapse BD.

So, not much has changed apart from what you'd expect. The DVD looks a little more compressed, naturally, being in standard def. All three are framed at 1.78:1, but the 2013 blu-ray looks a little bit lighter than the other two, and the DVD is a little heavier saturated. I think I like Synapse's middle-of-the-road look the best. But oh no, wait - there is a big difference here: the whole lower third label is missing from the DVD shot! Well, watching the doc through, that label is on the DVD version, too; it just fades out a little earlier. So I guess Felsher did a little tinkering with the edit for the blu-ray reissue? I didn't notice any substantial changes between the two versions, though, but there might be more subtle alterations and flourishes for the particularly curious to discover.

So anyway, you might think getting Just Desserts is great for the Region A locked who've been stuck with entirely featureless Creepshow releases, and it is. But Synapse has packed their release with additional features which might just tempt owners of the Second Sight special editions. First, though, let me cover the other stuff they included from the Second Sight blu, because they did do some of that. You remember that collection of Savini's behind-the-scenes footage I mentioned before? That's been ported over to here, as has the not-quite-an-audio commentary with Gornick, Amplas, Miller, Ferrucci and Wrightson, which now plays as a commentary over the documentary (again, they're not commenting on anything in particular, so it's the same difference). They also carried over the stills gallery.

Scream Greats: Volume One

But Syanpse's blu also has a bunch of new stuff. There's an audio commentary (for the documentary, not Creepshow) by Felsher, an on-camera interview with Michael Gornick (which is actually the same interview heard on that second audio commentary, except slightly re-edited and now we get to see him), extended interview clips from the doc with Romero, Savini and Wrightson (the last of which, like the Gornick interview, is the same as on the audio commentary). There's also a Creepshow episode of Horror's Hallowed Grounds (these are always a blast), and a vintage segment of the Pittsburgh public access show Evening Magazine that interviews Romero and shows some behind-the-scenes footage of the filming of the movie. Finally, but perhaps most excitingly, is Fangoria's old Scream Greats: Volume One documentary that they released on VHS way back in the day, interviewing Tom Savini in his studio. It's presented here, along with its own audio commentary track by Savini. I imagine some fans will find this release worth the purchase price for this alone.

Also, if you supported the indiegogo campaign, you got an exclusive booklet and poster.  Good on ya.

The original cell animations.

And what about Scream Factory's new blu?  They have an interesting mix of new features and older stuff they carried over.  So let's start with the old.  The two commentaries, deleted scenes, trailers, galleries and half hour of Savini footage from the UK blu-ray are here.  In other words, everything except the Just Desserts doc.  And the Horror's Hallowed Grounds from the Synapse Just Desserts disc is here.

So the new stuff?  It's mostly also by Red Shirt Pictures, and basically feels like a collection of every other little thing they missed with their Synapse disc.  There are great new interviews with the costume designer Barbara Anderson and animator Rick Catizone.  There's a round-table discussion with Felsher, Amplas, Atkins, Savini and Marty Schiff which manages to cough up a few anecdotes which I don't think were in the previous extras.  And there's a couple interviews where it really begins to feel like they're stretching it, including one with a guy who collects Creepshow props, and another with two guys who commission new posters for older films, including Creepshow, though none of them compared to the classic original posters.  There's also two new audio commentaries.  One by Michael Gornick, which was good but repeated stuff from some of his other interviews, and another with composer/ assistant director John Harrison and construction coordinator Ed Fountain, which was fairly low energy and frankly boring.  More interesting for me, though possibly not for more casual viewers just interested in the film rather than the technical stuff, were new interviews with Gornick and sound designer Chris Jenkins, who talked about the finer points of the new 4k restoration.  However, fair warning: purists may wince at some of the changes Gornick made that border on the revisionist.

Scream Factory's 2018 blu comes in a thick hardbox, with reversible artwork for the inner case, and a glossy, 40 page book by Michael Gingold.  Also, if you pre-ordered early enough, you got a limited edition poster and lithograph.  And their 2023 set makes no changes, additions or subtractions, to their extras package, but comes in a standard amary case with reversible artwork and a slipcover.  It also came with a poster if you pre-ordered directly from Shout.  And if you really went all-in, you could their flush set with two slipcovers, two posters, five lobby cards, five enamel pins and a prism sticker.

So, together, Scream's UHD set and Synapse's Just Desserts disc nets you everything.  If you have those, there's nothing left exclusive on the Second Sight blu, or any of the other past releases.  If you don't have Just Desserts, though, Scream's disc feels a little bit off in terms of extras.  Like you've got a lot of odds and ends, but they never talk to the major cast members or anything.  I feel like Felsher specifically designed this set of extras to work as a companion piece, in conjunction with the Synapse blu, rather than something meant to stand alone.  And that's fine if you're happy to get both, but could be a little annoying to fans who think just shelling out for Scream's Collector's Edition should be pretty definitive on its own (especially if you laid down the $140 for the full swag set!), and feel stuck watching a couple of hipsters showing off their drawings instead of Adrienne Barbeau and Ed Harris.  In the end, it's certainly worth it, though, with a smashing new transfer of the film and - again, if you get both releases - an incredibly comprehensive and enjoyable set of features documenting what's still one of the most fun horror movies going.