The Vampires Night Orgy (DVD/ Blu-ray Comparison)

Why do I love pitting Mill Creek against Code Red so much? I think because you know there's going to be a really sizable difference, and that's always fun. This isn't one of those, "no, if you magnify the actress's hair to 300%, you can see the compression is slightly better in the shadows" situations. I mean, those are worth doing, too, if you're trying to decide between two recent releases, and I already know I've got some close call blu-ray vs. blu-ray comparisons coming up. But tonight I'm looking for some drastic. Tonight I'm looking at Code Red's brand new HD transfer of The Vampires Night Orgy versus Mill Creek's release included in their Pure Terror 50(!) movie DVD pack.

Don't let the title fool you; there's no orgy in this movie. It's not a campy movie, it's not a softcore sex movie, and it's light-years away from Nudist Colony Of the Dead or any of those similarly outrageously titled flicks. It's actually an earnest, serious, genuinely creepy and atmospheric horror movie. You can't blame shady American distributors for saddling it with an inappropriate cash-in title, though; it's a direct translation of the film's original Spanish title, La orgía nocturna de los vampiros. But it's actually a fairly smart, subtle film. It's not full of gore or special effects at all, but it's still tightly paced and thoroughly engaging. The dubbing doesn't do it any favors, but the best performances still shine through, and the story itself pulls off being both scary and fun as a group of tourists find out the small village they're staying in is populated entirely by vampires.

Vampires Night is another film by Leon Klimovsky, a film he made in 1974, shortly before The People Who Own the Dark, so it makes sense that Code Red is currently selling the two blus as part of the same bundle of brand new releases. Code Red had previously released it on DVD in 2013 as a double bill with another Klimovsky film, Dr. Jekyll vs. the Werewolf. Before that, it been languishing in unenforced copyright hell on tons of public domain DVD releases, including of course, Mill Creek's.

2010 Mill Creek DVD on top; 2015 Code Red blu-ray bottom.

Give Mill Creek credit; they preserved the film's 2.35:1 aspect ratio. That's a pleasant surprise. But before we get carried away, it's non-anamorphic and looks like mud. Also the colors are washed, and it has a little less picture on all four sides. Code Red's blu is infinitely crisper, more colorful and detailed. On Mill Creek's blu, it's hard to tell what's happening in the night scenes, which is rough because creeping around at night is more than half of this picture. But now on Code Red's blu you really appreciate how well lit the night scenes are; it's actually very impressive.

Code Red's mono track is clear and robust for the most part, but the music suffers and breaks up at high volume points. I'm not sure if this is down to Code Red or if the film always had its music sourced from questionable quality recordings, but either way the music definitely takes a hit here.

Extras-wise, there's nothing here but the theatrical trailer, but it's kind of a fun one, so worth I'm glad they included it. Mill Creek, of course, has nothing.

One last point is that while there's no orgy in this film, there are a few bits of nudity. Apparently, there is an alternate version where those scenes were re-shot with clothing, so they could sell it in different markets. So fans always want to know, is this the clothed or unclothed version of the film? Well, I'm happy to report the Code Red blu, and even the Mill Creek DVD, has the nude scenes.

Correction 12/25/15: As has been pointed out to me in the comments, the Mill Creek DVD is not actually the unclothed one, though the Code Red certainly is. I was thrown off, because even the clothed version has a bit of nudity in it (the peeping tom scene at about the 37 minute mark). So when I saw that on both the Mill Creek and Code Red discs, I thought great, they're both uncut! But, while both versions have that moment of nudity, the unclothed version actually has more. I made the visual comparison above to show how the another scene was shot twice, with and without clothes, for the two different versions of the film (and yes, if you're wondering, the frame does dip to show actual R-rated nudity a few frames later). Those two shots occur at the same point in the movie, they're the same moment in the story, just shot two different ways. And just to reiterate, Mill Creek has the softer, clothed version, and Code Red has the naughtier unclothed version.

Ultimately, I'd recommend this one to pretty much anyone. I'd always passed over the film because of its title and it didn't seem to have many people speaking up for it. I was half expecting some kind of cheapo Wrestling Women Vs. The Aztec Mummy piece of junk, but it's actually a quite well-crafted traditional horror movie with some surprises, fantastic locations and fun moments. The way the townspeople swarm on a victim is sometimes almost like a zombie movie. And Code Red has definitely just come up with the best edition of the film to date, so this is a great one to roll the dice on and blind buy.