NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

Arrow Video present director Teruo Ishii's triptych of debauchery, "Orgies of Edo" on a dual-layered Blu-ray. The 2.35:1 image is maintained by a nicely maxed out bitrate. The image quality here is satisfactory, with Arrow stating that this is a 2k scan from "original film and audio elements." Such lack of specificity could be slightly telling, as this doesn't seem to be from the original negative. Grain is present but not overwhelming, with a typical filmic look. Detail is not too fine as to be overly impressive, what with some scenes seeming to have been filmed with different lenses (or perhaps film stock), resulting in this fluctuation of detail in the image. Colors look healthy, though there is certainly a muted Autumnal (gold/yellow/orange/brown/puce) leaning palette. Whether or not that is intentional is up for debate. Contrast levels are strong, with a wide spectrum of blacks.

The "Orgies of Edo" Blu-ray presents the film with the original uncompressed, linear PCM 1.0 Japanese mono track. The audio here is decent with only the occasional hiss. Dialogue is clear, with as much separation as you could hope for in a mono track. The strange and fascinating score is thanks to Yagi Masao, a Japanese jazz pianist who started out covering Thelonious Monk tunes. There are optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing on this Region A Blu-ray.

There are two extras on this disc, the main one being "Orgies of Ishii", a newly filmed interview with author Patrick Maccias. The only other extra here is the film's trailer. Though an audio commentary or longer documentary would have been nice, the 16-minute piece with Maccias is quite illuminating and well worth your time.

"Orgies of Edo" is not at all what I would have expected, given the context of late 60's cinema, Japanese or otherwise. The film is absurdly dark and twisted, almost reveling in the salacious. Arrow present the film with a modest transfer, and the 16-minute extra with author Patrick Maccias is very welcome. Though this film is certainly not for everyone, I would recommend this Blu-ray to the more adventurous viewer.

Colin Zavitz