Update Megaweek, Day 8: Bergman Vs. Fellini, 8 1/2 Meets All These Women

Let's shake things up for the conclusion of Fellini Week, shall we?  Besides covering one of Fellini's best known and well regarded films, 1963's 8 1/2, which I think would be a worthy conclusion on its own, I thought I'd pair it up with Ingmar Bergman's barbed 1964 response, All These Women.  Wikipedia calls it a "parody" of 8 1/2, which I wouldn't say is quite accurate, and theretroset.com describes it as "a plot largely inspired by Federico Fellini's 8 1/2," which is getting warmer.  The relationship between the two films is both more distant and indirect, yet more critically pointed than that.  On the surface, they're entirely different and essentially unrelated, but the film seems to exist as a criticism of the attitude Fellini displays towards women in his picture.

Update 12/24/19 - 6/4/21: Adding the Essential Fellini boxed set edition.

Update 4/29/26: What's up, film nerds?  Not satisfied until your Fellini is in 4k?  Me neither!  I got your back with Criterion's 2024 UHD release of 8 1/2.  What's that?  Not nerdy enough?  Well, guess what?  Since it's Update Megaweek, I went back and wrote a whole, long thing on the 1986 version of Northanger Abbey.  How ya like me now?

There have been other filmmakers to wrestle with 8 1/2 as well.  Peter Greenaway's 8 1/2 Women is an obvious one, and Woody Allen practically remade the film with Stardust Memories.  And it's been argued that nearly any self-reflexive film about filmmaking is inherently some sort of nod to 8 1/2, from The Pickle to Lucio Fulci's Cat In the Brain.  Now, it has to be said that Fellini didn't exactly invent narrative movies about movie making... a couple of the more obvious examples include Singin' In the Rain, Sullivan's Travels and heck, even King Kong.  But he definitely blurred the meta lines even further between the picture and the frame by making his movie about his own (albeit somewhat fictionalized) specific struggles to create the particular film we're watching, and we meet multiple versions of the same characters and events: as they're depicted in the film, and how they're depicted in the film they're creating within the film.

But what makes 8 1/2 so compelling is that, even if you took all of that invention and novelty which causes 8 1/2 to be so recognized and put it aside, the film still works as a dramatically potent character study.  It's ability to capture humanity is up there with the greats, Nino Rota delivers one of his most iconic scores, and Marcello Mastrionni is a master at multi-dimensionalizing the role of the director, while still projecting a kind of unreal, hyper-cool Hollywood mask of a man as the same character - the perfect performance for the sort of conflicted, multi-tiered storytelling Fellini is experimenting with.  And sure, Fellini's portrayal of women here is... not great.  I mean, to some degree I'd argue that the most infamous scene, where Mastrionni whips at the women in his life who are all living in a personal harem isn't a depiction of a literal man and whipping actual women but someone fighting with the images he has of them in his own mind.  It's clear in the film this isn't meant to happen outside of his own head, and there are a few nods towards objective fairness pushing back against the character's sexism (for example, Mastrionni is told he's being a hypocrite because he, too, has past the age that he considers worthy of amorous obsession).  But, yeah, to watch it today, you do have to bear in mind that this was made by an older man in 1960's Italy when the culture was still struggling with equal rights and its relationship to women (the International Feminist Collective wasn't even started there until almost a decade later); Bergman wasn't keying into nuthin'.

So now 8 1/2's history on US DVD has a bit of a curve ball in it.  Criterion first issued it in 2001 as a 2-disc special edition.  And when it was time for the film to come out on blu, Criterion was ready with their 2010 blu, with additional extras and everything.  Standard story.  Oh, and they also included a barebones edition in vol 5 of their hefty Essential Art House DVD sets.  But for whatever reason, in 2002, Image also released 8 1/2 on DVD in the US.  Widescreen, but no extras, single disc, just a year after Criterion's.  Why?  As a budget alternative?  Maybe, but it's list price wasn't particularly low.  The rights for 8 1/2 must've just been a little freer than usual, I guess.  You don't see that happening with most other Criterion titles.  Anyway, it's an odd little curiosity, so I just had to get all three versions to compare for Fellini Week.  And then, of course, I also had to include the new and improved 2020 BD edition, still only available in their Essential Fellini box set. and their latest 4k Ultra HD set from 2024.

1) 2001 Criterion DVD, 2) 2002 Image DVD, 3) 2010 Criterion BD,
4) 2020 Criterion BD, 5) 2024 Criterion BD, 6) 2024 Criterion UHD.

First off, there's nothing egregiously wrong with any edition.  They're all uncut, widescreen, anamorphic and progressive (as opposed to interlaced).  Size-wise, though, each iteration of 8 1/2 seems to fluctuate a bit.  Criterion started us off with a reasonably credible aspect ratio of 1.78:1, just slightly windowboxed to protect for overscan, as Criterion was wont to do in their early days.  Image's DVD then zooms in tighter for a clearly inaccurate AR 1.75:1.  In 2010, then Criterion widened their image even further to 1.85:1, revealing more on all four sides compared to Image's disc, but primarily just on the left compared to their initial DVD.  Criterion's DVD is a bit brighter than the others, and Image's has dirt and debris (look at Barbara Steele's cheek) that Criterion cleaned up.

As for the HD, well, Criterion's booklet tells us the blu was "created on a Spirit Datacine from a restored 35mm fine grain master positive made from the original negative."  And it's obviously a substantial boost in clarity compared to the DVDs, which look fairly equivalent in this regard.  But in terms of film grain and fine detail, well it's inconsistently captured and occasionally blocky, and some shots seem to have been artificially sharpened or otherwise tinkered with... A thoroughly satisfying upgrade in 2010, but not quite up to the top standards of today.

ltr: 2010 Criterion BD, 2020 Criterion BD.

Criterion's 2020 blu is a 4k scan taken from the original 35mm camera negative.  Probably the first thing you'll notice is brighter shadows, revealing detail that was harder to discern (though to be fair, wasn't crushed) on the older disc without over-brightening the whole picture.  Still matted to 1.85:1, the framing pulls out to reveal even more picture.  The slight blocky pixelation I mentioned has been improved, and the tinkering (you won't notice it in the shot of Barbara, but look at Marcello and the tiles behind him in the first set of shots) is gone, which is a relief.  Look at the haloing on the left.  So, yes, it's now been brought up to the standards of today.

...Which is why I was so surprised to see the haloing back in 2024!  Yes, for whatever reason, the 2024 2-disc doesn't include a new blu, or even the 2020 blu, but the old 2010 blu.  WTF?  Fortunately, it's just the secondary disc packaged with a superior, next gen disc.  So I'll only really use the 1080p disc for the extras.  But if you haven't gone 4k yet, be prepared not to get the newer transfer in the latest set.  The important thing is that the UHD has the new scan, and on an actual 4k disc, making it the best available version available.  No HDR, but grain is much clearer and more distinct, and the boost in resolution is genuine for anyone with a set big enough to appreciate it. 

All these editions simply offer the original Italian mono track with optional English subtitles, though the blu-rays and UHD bump it up to lossless LPCM and take a second pass at translating the subs for a more natural, grammatical read.

Fellini: A Director's Notebook

Image's DVD is barebones - not even the trailer - but Criterion gives this film the treatment it deserves.  Their 2-disc set starts out with an enthusiastic introduction by Terry Gilliam, followed by an audio commentary by Fellini's friend Gideon Bachmann combined with essays by scholar Antonio Monda read by an actress.  It's quite impressive, but not so much as the inclusion of Fellini: A Director's Notebook, a 1969 TV movie by Fellini where he goes over his process of making films.  I've seen this described as a documentary, but in fact, it's as fanciful and unreal as Roma or Intervista, with scenes of truckers magically becoming Roman centurions and a host of far-out characters who are presented as being authentic (i.e. hippies who've crashed his film set) but are clearly actors playing scripted roles.  Unfortunately, the picture quality leaves a lot to be desired [see above], but the impression I get is that we're lucky any version of it survives at all.

Anyway, that's far from all.  There's a substantial, 48 minute documentary on Nino Rota, and excellent on-camera interviews with Sandra Milo, Lina Wertmüller and cinematographer Vittorio Storaro.  There are also two photo galleries, the trailer, and a booklet with notes by Fellini himself, Tullio Kezich and Alexander Sesonske.  Criterion's blu, then, includes all of that but also adds a new, almost hour long documentary about Fellini's original intended ending for the film (including photos) and all the changes that were made along the way.

The 2020 blu has all the same extras (except technically, Fellini's Notebook has been moved to another disc in the set), with nothing new except, you know, all the other films and stuff in the collection.  But nothing more for 8 1/2.  And the same goes for the 2024 combopack, nothing new, nothing taken away.  In fact, that may well be why they gave us the 2010 BD instead of the 2024 BD: because Notebook was moved off the 2020 BD and they didn't want to lose any extras in 2024.  So, um, thanks?

Now the first time I saw All These Women, I wasn't aware of any connection to Fellini.  Roger Ebert famously called this the worst film Bergman ever made, and I wonder if he knew the intention either.  Because it's certainly never overtly stated, or even hinted at enough to suggest Bergman could feel the audience has to be acquainted with 8 1/2 to appreciate All These Women.  There's no nod to the meta aspect of 8 1/2 at all, nobody's a filmmaker or speaks of filmmaking in the story, and the look and tone of the film are worlds apart.  This one's about a stuffy music critic who arrives at the estate of a revered composer to interview him, but is constantly being lead around and misdirected by the collection of devoted women who all live there with him.  The women in 8 1/2 never all lived with the director like that, or fawned over him in such a way, except in that one sequence which was presented as a fantasy.  So the attitude Bergman seems to be rebelling against (and arguably with delusional levels of hypocrisy, given what we know of his own love life and relationships with his various leading ladies) is more just a general attitude, which could be found in any number of films just as much, if not moreso, than in 8 1/2.  But still, revisiting All These Women with Bergman's targeted intentions in mind, things do feel a little clearer and the satire a little more pointed.

This film's certainly an odd duck.  It has a very still look, almost like a film in tableau, where the camera delicately frames each shot and then does not move until the next scene.  This style is nothing like what we see in 8 1/2, so it doesn't come from that, but it's a style that absolutely draws attention to itself (including one or two sequences in black and white).  The script was actually co-written by one of Bergman's greatest actors, Erland Josephson, who doesn't appear in this one.  But we do get both Andersson sisters and the criminally underrated Eva Dahlbeck.  This is one of Bergman's rare comedies, a very heavy-handed slapstick farce, with the score repeatedly reverting back to the tune of "Yes! We Have No Bananas" as our leading man knocks over statues or stumbles down stairs.  It's sometimes amusing, but most of the humor (when it works, which isn't consistently) is more understated and hidden in the subtext. It's frantic enough to always hold your interest, and it's undeniably attractive to gaze at, so even if it's Bergman's worst film, that still places far above a great many other films out there with far fewer merits.

For ages, All These Women only had one English-friendly release: the region-locked 2004 Tartan DVD in the UK from their Bergman Collection.  But Criterion changed all that by giving the film it's first US release and the HD debut by including it in their massive Ingmar Bergman's Cinema boxed set in late 2018.

1) 2004 Tartan DVD; 2) 2018 Criterion BD.

Criterion widens out Tartan's ever-so-slightly windowboxed 1.33:1 fullscreen transfer just a tad to 1.38:1, which reveals a tiny sliver along the edges, but mostly crops in the bottom edge.  Criterion's book informs us that this one is a 2k scan of the 35mm interpositive, and while it isn't the most impressive transfer in their box (grain at times seems smoothed away, as if their scan didn't even capture it, and the bright white areas might've yielded a little more detail if they had the OCN), it's a huge leap beyond what we've had before.  Their BD displays more natural colors and much sharper detail compared to the old DVD with it's excessive contrast and a softness which suggests a videotape source overlayed with a little edge enhancement.  It's a fine BD transfer, just not on the cutting edge.  Meanwhile, the DVD was crying for an upgrade.  I mean, look at the first set of shots.  You can't even tell the men are wearing different color suits on Tartan's disc.

Both editions just include the original Swedish mono track with optional English subtitles, though Criterion's BD bumps theirs up to a heartier LPCM track.

Disappointingly, both discs are also essentially barebones.  Tartan threw in a couple of bonus Bergman trailers and an insert with notes by Philip Strick.  And Criterion... well it includes all the other films and generally Bergman-related extras that are part of the box, but nothing All These Women-specific except for the essay in their massive book.  An expert commentary or "visual essay" talking about the film's connection to 8 1/2 would've been nice, even if they couldn't have solicited any interviews, but oh well.

If it were any kind of competition, Fellini obviously won this round, but they both earned their place in cinema history.  Like, if you bought the big Criterion box but skipped All These Women because of its reputation, don't do that.  It's fun, just not on the same level as, say, The Seventh Seal.  And however much 8 1/2 might've gotten Bergman's back up at the time, his rejoinder couldn't have been too spitefully meant, as the pair announced a few years later that they planned to make a film together.  ...It didn't happen, but still.

Update Megaweek, Day 7: Daisy Miller

Here's a new release I'm super excited for that hardly anybody seems to be covering.  I guess that's why I started this site.  1973's Daisy Miller is making its blu-ray debut this July in a fancy "Édition Prestige limitée."  Yes, this is a French release, via Carlotta Films, and for now at least, it's a worldwide exclusive.

Update 7/17/22 - 4/28/26: Exclusive no more!  In fact, not only has it now been released on blu-ray in the US, but it's an upgraded 4k special edition!  Also, for Update Megaweek, I've gone and covered Scream Factory's 2021 blu-ray of that weird sci fi/ horror hybrid Come True.

I guess this is a movie still waiting to be fully rediscovered.  It's always had some critical recognition, but it was famously a flop, seriously hurting the careers of its director Peter Bogdanovich and star Cybil Shepherd, and even their whole production company.  It's been argued that it was too artsy and non-commercial, ahead of its time (i.e. before Merchant/ Ivory popularized putting this sort of period novel on the big screen), or the result of bad press Peter and Cybil were getting as a celebrity couple.  How much those are actual reasons or just excuses I don't know, but it's clear the general public didn't like this film, because it's pretty great.  It's an extremely faithful adaptation of Henry James' touching novella with a lot of talent on hand and gorgeous locations, with the crew sparing no expense in filming at all the real, lavishly historical locations described by the author across Rome and Sweden.  As far as I'm concerned, it's Bogdanovich's masterpiece.

Shepherd got a lot of flack for playing an unsophisticated American who doesn't fit in with the rest of the cast, but that's just how James wrote her.  Admittedly, you could argue that Shepherd is overplaying it, and I could certainly see audiences being rubbed the wrong way - in fact, she's supposed to rub us the wrong way at first.  And the precocious schtick they have Daisy's little brother play always made me feel like Bogdanovich hadn't fully divested himself from Paper Moon yet.  But, come on, who doesn't like Paper Moon?  And Shepherd lets so much humanity slip out by the end that you're really missing something if you can't appreciate any of her performance, especially when paired with the delightful Cloris Leachman and the stone-cold perfect Barry Brown, who surely would've gone on to a far greater career had he survived into the next decade.  It's photographed beautifully (with some crazily long takes if you're in the market for them), with Bogdanvich expertly slipping just enough touches of humor and character to add to the story without tipping its delicate balance of tone.  But, yes, I can see how for some people, the Millers' performances could simply be too much to bear, and even I might have preferred them a little more subtle.

Paramount released Daisy Miller on DVD in 2003 as part of their rather generic "Widescreen Collection," but it was actually a rather fit special edition.  Still, twenty years later, it's been well past time for it to enter the HD era, and Carlotta Films has finally brought it across the finish line this summer.  I've got their fancy, 2022 limited (spine #20) collector's edition BD/ combo pack that comes in a hard box with a lot of swag, but they've also released separate DVD and BD releases for the more budget conscious viewers who perhaps didn't feel quite as compelled to celebrate over this blu-ray debut as I did.  Or you could've waited until 2024, when Kino released it on BD in the US with an all new 4k scan and new special features.

1) 2003 Paramount DVD; 2) 2022 Carlotta DVD; 3) 2022 Carlotta BD.

So we seem to be looking at the same root master for the first two releases; it's got identical framing and color-timing, etc.  Although, while the framing is identical, the aspect ratio is not - shifting from 1.77:1 to 1.85:1, with Carlotta matting just a tiny bit because it's also slightly adjusting the film's geometry in a way which I assume is correct, though it's hard to really judge since the distinction is so subtle.  Anyway, the old disc was anamorphic and properly progressive, so not too shabby, but there appears to be some slight edge enhancement on the old DVD that Carlotta corrects; you can even see the difference between the two DVDs.  Grain is now super finely rendered, almost suspiciously so, thanks to a fine encode on a dual-layered 1080p disc (the Carlotta DVD is naturally PAL, however).  You'll notice fine detail, particularly in the first set of shots, is only now discernible, like the pattern on the table legs, even when comparing the blu to the newer DVD, so it is a genuine HD boost.

And now we've got the 4k, scanned from the original 35mm negative.  It's still 1.85, revealing very slight slivers of extra information.  Grain is actually softer, substantially so at times (look at Cybil's face), compared to the French blu, and I'm not sure we're getting much additional detail for the double-dip.  But, before you get too disappointed, I have to say the colors are an improvement.  The first thing you probably noticed is that it's brighter, but it also feels more natural and separated, plus a bit cooler.  I do prefer this color-timing and I think I'd give Kino the edge overall (it's the first time the sky looks blue instead of purple in that first set of shots), but it's a very close and subjective call.  It's a shame Kino didn't give us a UHD option to reap the benefits of their new scan.

Audio-wise, the original mono track has been boosted to DTS-HD on both blus.  Carlotta's also included a French dub, in DTS-HD as well, and unforced (yay!) French subtitles.  The menu does try to pressure you, only showing options for English with French subs or French with no subs, but you can easily swap between audio and subtitle options as the film plays with no interference.  If you needed English subtitles, though, the US DVD and Kino blu do have them, so that definitely gives Kino more of an edge here.  And there's still more to come.

Extras are interesting because the Paramount release already did a pretty fine job.  It includes an "introduction" by Peter Bogdanovich, which is a solid thirteen minutes long and thoroughly spoils the ending, so I'd consider it a proper interview rather than an intro.  Then he also provides an audio commentary, and man, Bogdanovich is great at commentaries.  He has a lot of memories and insights, treads the line between technical and anecdotal, and provides a strong defense for his work while still being rather candid about its troubles.  It's even a bit emotional.

Carlotta preserves the "introduction" but sadly loses the commentary.  The intro does cover some of the same ground and gives you most of the fundamentals, but there's a lot of great stuff in the commentary that's a shame to lose.  I suppose they figured French audiences wouldn't be keen on a commentary they'd have to play in full subtitles, but if that's true, I daresay they've underestimated their audience.  They did cook up a brand new featurette, which is a 23-minute interview with a French critic, but it isn't English-friendly.  They also added the original theatrical trailer that the original DVD had overlooked.  And, if you bought the combo-pack, there's all this swag [left].  It's a digibook in a nice, thick box with a fold-out poster, a reproduction of the pressbook (yes, in English), eight lobby cards and six press photos.

Kino's disc doesn't have all that swag - though it comes in an attractive slipcover - but it has more and better special features.  Well first, crucially, yes it brings back Bogdanovich's commentary and still has his introduction, plus the trailer.  Then Kino has come up with a new, expert commentary by critic Peter Tonguette, which is quite informative and enjoyable.  The real jewel in the crown, though, is that Kino got Cybil Shepherd to come in for a proper interview.  This is the kind of get the major studios usually only got during DVD's heyday.  They also threw on a couple bonus trailers.

So I'm happy.  This is a film I'd been eagerly awaiting a long time for, and now we finally have quality options.  Kino's is the champion for now, though their crown could be easily snatched in another region wanted to give this film a real UHD.

Update Megaweek, Day 6: Unleashing the Ultimate Sect

Oh, man.  How many years has it been since Code Red first announced their special edition of Michele Soavi's The Sect on blu?  Since that time, it's come out as a perfectly respectable edition in the UK from the fine folks at Shameless, Germany from Koch and Japan from Happinet, then switched hands to Scorpion Releasing, and come out as a budget single disc edition.  But I kept the faith and resisted all of those releases, holding out for the ultimate 2-disc special edition that was always just around the corner.  And now it's finally here!

Update 3/27/18 - 4/27/26: It's Update Megaweek and we're finally adding Severin's 2023 4k Ultra HD release of The Sect to this page.  And, at the same time, we're doing The Church, too - big Soavi day!

Now, I'm going to hold off official, final judgement until all four of Soavi's "main" films get proper, special edition blus to really lock in an official decision.  But most of my life, I've always been in the minority, holding up The Sect as my favorite.  Stage Fright certainly has the style to set it apart from the bulk of the genre, but still plays too much like a generic slasher to top my list.  The Church is a blast, but a bit sloppy, and unluckily stands in The Demons' shadow.  Dellamorte Dellamore was my favorite when I was young, but since then feels a little too comic bookish (fair enough, because it's based on a comic, of course; but still not my ideal sensibility).

So they're all great films, but The Sect winds up nestled in that sweet spot for me, still a more adult horror movie, full of atmosphere and completely wild imagery.  It feels more unrestrained, free to go where ever it wants, as opposed to his previous films, where he pushed against the envelope.  The Sect doesn't have an envelope.  It's just whatever Soavi wants it to be at any given moment.  Is Satan a hippy?  Is your face a lock that needs to be opened with a key of giant scary hooks?  Will a rabbit lead you down a hole that contaminates your drinking water with blue alien slime?  Will a bug crawl into your brain and make you dream about turning into a giant before a crucified bird monster pecks you to death?  Sure, all that can happen in The Sect!

With all of that said, I can just as easily see why this is some fans' least favorite film.  If you want a coherent, logical plot, you're out of luck.  It's confusing, seemingly arbitrarily weird, a little too reminiscent of Rosemary's Baby, and let's face it, the Alice In Wonderland theme is obvious and heavy-handed, and for all it's creative imagery, it can get pretty talky.  But even if it's at the bottom of your list, I think you have to admit it's still got a lot going for it.  There are undeniably cool scenes, and Soavi's camera is always crawling around, hunting out exotic new angles.  We get a pretty nifty performance from Herbert "Inspector Dreyfus" Lom from The Pink Panther movies.  And Pino Donaggio's score pumps the film full of cool energy.  At worst, it's a fascinating failure, which is still more than you can say for most movies.

So, like I said, I've held off on buying the previous blu-rays of this film, but I do have the original 2002 Cecchi Gori DVD from Italy, which until recently was the definitive release of this film for fans around the world.  So we've got that, Scorpion;s limited edition (to 3000, mine's #1892) 2-disc set that came out a few months after the 2018 single disc release.  The difference isn't just that second disc.  And then we've got Severin's 2024 BD/UHD set, which follows up their 2023 limited edition, where the difference is just swag.

1) 2002 Italian Cecchi Gori DVD; 2) 2018 US Scorpion BD;
3) 2023 US Severin BD; 4) 2023 US Severin UHD.

The Cecchi Gori DVD was pretty sweet it its day: uncut, anamorphic widescreen, with both English and Italian audio.  What more could you want?  Well, in this new era of HD, we want more.  Like for instance, not a soft, splotchy mess.  There's a weird kind of noise to the whole image, not interlacing, but this kind of pattern like you're watching the film through a screen door.  I remember the first edition of the Upstairs Downstairs DVDs looked like that too, until they corrected it with the remastered 40th Anniversary boxed set.  Or here, I've actually got an example of it already on the site with I, Claudius.  Look closely at the old screenshots from the original Image DVD.  All part of the ride in the olden days of DVD.

Anyway, both CG and Scorpion present the film in 1.78:1, although the DVD has a bit of feathered edging around all four sides and despite the DVD case claiming 1.66:1.  Even though they have the same AR though, we see Scorpion has unveiled a healthy amount of information around all four sides.  The case tells us that this is a brand new 2017 2k scan (so a fresher one than even the 2016 blus?) with over 45 hours of color correction.  And that color work really pays off, because it's beautiful.  I mean, it's clearly superior to the blander DVD, but even on its own terms as a contemporary blu, it's an attractive image.

1) 2002 Italian Cecchi Gori DVD; 2) 2018 US Scorpion BD;
3) 2023 US Severin BD; 4) 2023 US Severin UHD.

Now, the Severin discs are 1.85:1, which is basically Severin's framing just matted a little tighter.  This is a 4k scan of the original camera negative, and the boosted resolution shows, with tiny detail easier to make out than ever.  Grain is actually still a little splotchy at points, but it's better captured and rendered here than ever before.  But I do have a complaint: their BD looks decidelyy pale, with faded colors and light contrast.  Fortunately, their UHD, with Dolby Vision HDR, looks much better, with stronger contrast and lusher colors.  So, I think it's an issue, but honestly, I don't really care about redundant transfers on lower gen discs of a set, so I'm not really bothered about that.  But anyone just buying this for the 1080p version, take note.  Besides that, I only have one, far more iffy concern.  It looks like some portions of the film might be missing a blue night filter?  Look at those second and third set of shots, they're totally different.  But the BD's aforementioned washed colors must shoulder some of the blame; and maybe this really is the correct color timing, and Severin took the liberty in their color correction?  It's interesting to note that Severin credits their Church transfer as Soavi approved, but not this one.  Anyway, I can't call it for sure, but the longer I look at it, the more my opinion shifts from Scorpion's side to Severin.

And if Zeder had you worried, here's a shot of Scorpion's subtitles.  They're perfect, and no they're not dubtitles.  And that's the first big distinction between this 2-disc release and Scorpion's single disc that came out last month.  That version didn't have subtitles, only the English audio.  Scorpion's disc gives you the full language options with both the original Italian and English mono tracks in DTS-HD 2.0.  And this is a film where you want the Italian audio option; it has the better performances.  Try comparing the scene where Lom collapses in Kelly Curtis's house and she starts shouting for help.  In English, she sounds like a disaffected high schooler reading Shakespeare in a classroom.  In Italian, it's a convincing performance.  Admittedly, Tomas Arana's part is better in English; but overall, the Italian rules the day.

Cecchi Gori had both audio tracks, too (in fact, they have both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 options for the Italian track), but it only has Italian subtitles.  So we English speakers had to stick to the dub.  I should also point out that there is some hiss to Scorpion's audio tracks.  It's not bad; and shouldn't bother you at all once you've grown accustomed to it.  The nearly wall to wall soundtrack covers up most of it.  But it's there and you won't exactly need to be wearing high frequency headphones to pick up on it.  And the old DVD doesn't seem to have it.  It's fine, though.  I guess Scorpion decided it would be more destructive or revisionist to run it through some noise filtering.  Cecchi Gori was happy to remix the whole thing into 5.1's after all, so they're hardly being true to the original mix like the blu is.

Now, Severin also has both 2.0 tracks in DTS-HD - yes, with the same hiss - and also with optional English sub and dubtitles.

But language options aren't the only difference between the two Scorpion blus!  There's a whole wealth of new extras.  Now the old DVD just had the trailer and a negligible stills gallery (and a cool looking insert).  Scorpion already topped that with their single disc edition, which included on-camera interviews with Soavi and Arana, plus the trailer and some bonus trailers.  Well, that stuff's carried over, of course, but we also get an audio commentary by Troy Howarth, who did an excellent job on Arrow's Phenonema disc, and an on-camera interview with Dario Argento.  As you can see, while this is definitively a Scorpion release now, Code Red still gets credit for the extras they created, including an intro with Arana and Banana Man.  And these aren't cheap, no frills interviews.  They're well shot in HD, cleanly subtitled (as opposed to the mess on that Zeder disc) and thoughtfully edited with clips from the film.

And that's just the first disc!  The second disc gives us two and a half hour's worth of additional interviews with cinematographer Raffaele Mertes, set designer Massino Geleng, screenwriter Gianni Romoli, Pino Donaggio, Giovanni Lombardo Radice and film historian Fabrizio Spurio.  And yes, these are all the same high quality as the ones on the first disc.  The only difference is the subtitles are removable here, but burned in on disc 1 (the extras, not the movie!).  Just something I noticed.  Anyway, this 2-disc set comes in a nice slipcover and features reversible artwork, utilizing the same poster image you see on the Cecchi Gori cover.

And just like with The Church, Severin has carried over most, but not all of those extras, and also come up with a bunch of new stuff.  This time, the loss is a little less disappointing, too.  They've dropped the commentary, the Arana interview, and the Banana Man intro.  The Arana interview is no big deal, because Severin has conducted their own talk with Tomas.  And they've created new interviews with effects maestro Sergio Stivaletti, expert Alan Jones and a fun featurette where Soavi takes us on a tour of a creepy basement on his family's property, which inspired the one in the film.  The initial limited edition also included a booklet, slipcover and soundtrack CD.  They also sold a t-shirt and a pendant of the film's spiral seal that you could order in a bundle directly from their site.

Scorpion clearly set their sites on the very top A-list releases by companies like Arrow and Criterion when they released these Italian titles.  And the result is Soavi's films finally got the treatment they've always deserved.  I mean, it's amazing The Sect never even got a standard Anchor Bay DVD back in the day.  It took until 2018, but we finally gotten The Sect release we've always wanted. Better yet, we have options!  You can spring for Severin's fancy 4k or stick with Scorpion's blu - either way, Sect appreciators are winning for the first time in a long time.