5) Blue Underground - Region FREE - Blu-ray - RIGHT

ADDITION: Blue Underground - Region FREE - Blu-ray - October 11': By looking at the matched frame comparison captures what we are seeing is the evolution of digital home theater presentation. The Blue Underground may not be a pristinely sharp image but it is easily the best ever release for Fulci's iconic 'Zombie'. I expect that any of the minor softness is inherent in the production and no fault of the, essentially, single-layered 1080P transfer. It looks quite good in-motion, still fairly flat but most colors perk-up and become more vibrant - or at least more true. I don't see any manipulation ad there is some fine grain noticeable in the background. It is far from Blue Underground best looking release but as a replication of the original I trust this is as authentic as we are likely to get.

Audio is competent with some strength via a modestly separated DTS-HD 7.1 at 2071 kbps. Blue Underground are diligent in adding the Italian track - also in uncompressed and surround plus Dolby stereo options. The 7.1 seems to support the film very well - nothing overly dynamic but crisp enough to connote the improvement. A host of English (both for English and Italian tracks) and many foreign language subtitle options signifying the disc as Region FREE - playable on Blu-ray machines worldwide.

Blue Underground have really gone-to-town with the supplements in an obvious labor of love for the production. The feature disc sports an audio Commentary with star Ian McCulloch and Diabolik Magazine Editor Jason J. Slater. It is fairly relaxed and enjoyable - reminiscences and factoids fill the 1.5 hours. Sharing the first disc are theatrical trailers, TV and Radio Spots, a poster & stills Gallery plus you get the opetion of a brief intro by Guillermo del Toro.

Disc 2 is also a Blu-ray with about 1-hour 40-minutes worth of interviews - all produced by RedShirt/Blue Underground and all in 1080P (with English subs where Italian language). We get "Zombie Wasteland" - chatting with stars Ian McCulloch, Richard Johnson & Al Cliver, and Actor/Stuntman Ottaviano Dell'Acqua for about 22-minutes with the backdrop of a genre convention, then "Flesh Eaters on Film" an interview with Co-Producer Fabrizio De Angelis for about 10-minutes, "Deadtime Stories" - talks with Co-Writers Elisa Briganti and (Uncredited) Dardano Sacchetti for shy of 15-minutes, "World of the Dead" hangs with cinematographer Sergio Salvati and Production & Costume Designer Walter Patriarca for more than 15-minutes, "Zombi Italiano" is an interview with Special Make-Up Effects Artists Gianetto De Rossi & Maurizio Trani and Special Effects Artist Gino De Rossi also for 15-minutes. There is more - "Notes on a Headstone" is an interview with Composer Fabio Frizzi for 7.5-minutes, "All in the Family" is Antonella Fulci's turn for 6-minutes and finally "Zombie Lover" has a spoiler warning and Guillermo del Toro extols one of his favorite films for just under 10-minutes. Whew.

Blue Underground continue to impress and Fulci fans won't want to miss out on this as both the best a/v available for the film and the most abundant and complete extras with the commentary and multitude of interviews. Strongly recommended for the genre fans!

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ADDITION: Media Blasters (Aug -04) - Colors appear most vibrant in the new Media Blasters edition although skin tones tend to look a little orange and the image may be overly bright. Sharpness looks quite comparable to the Blue Underground addition - perhaps a notch below.  This addition, like the Blue Underground, offers English Dolby Digital 5.1, English Dolby Digital stereo surround, English Dolby Digital Mono, Italian Dolby Digital 5.1, Italian Dolby Digital stereo surround and Italian Dolby Digital Mono and removable Eng. subtitles. It is significantly stacked in the Extras dept. with a few more than the BU and the commentary.

- Gary + Michael

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The Anchor Bay and Italian Shock captures are in their native resolution and the BU is scaled down.

The old Anchor Bay has a pretty high amount of dirt, white speckles, digital artifacts and even a few blue dead pixels. The Blue Underground is much sharper and a very nice clean print, but we have doubts about BU's colours - Sadomania (which they offer replacement for) and Contraband had some night scenes transferred as day, this "day for night" stuff seems also here in capture 5+6 - but which one is correct here, we have no idea. Contraband and Venom has a greenish tint which also is noticeable here. Also look at the stripes on the wall in capture 2: they are blue, yellow and pink! Again, we have really no idea which one is most accurate

The Blue Underground and Italian Shock are longer versions than the Anchor Bay, we haven't compared what the differences are, but it should be additional footage and different framing in a few scenes plus a possible different opening.

The Blue Underground is the best release right now, but we suggest to wait buying until the Media Blasters is released, we will add the DVD to this comparison as soon we have a copy.

 - Ole, Gregory and Pieter