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

ADDITION: Imprint Blu-ray (November 2024): Imprint have transferred three US "TV Movies Of The Week" from the 70's to Blu-ray. We reviewed the Kino Blu-ray of Scream, Pretty Peggy in 2021 HERE and have compared captures below. The Deadly Dream and Baffled! are advertised as being from "NEW 2K scans of the original 35mm elements by Imprint." As for Scream, Pretty Peggy goes it looks very similar to the Kino 1080P - perhaps a shade brighter and gives the perception of being sharper. The other two look strong as well - shot on film - high bitrates - but The Deadly Dream has a few speckles and frame-specific marks. Baffled! is offered in a 1.33:1 transfer as well as a, more robust, extended 1.66:1 cut rendering (shown theatrically in Britain.) Nothing untoward about the image quality(s) - bright, decent color depth and contrast.

NOTE: We have added 120 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Imprint use linear PCM dual-mono tracks (24-bit) in the original English language for all three films. The score for The Deadly Dream was by Jazz-pianist Dave Grusin (Three Days of the Condor, The Midnight Man, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, ...And Justice For All, Candy, The Front.) The energetic score for Baffled! was by Richard Hill (To Kill a Clown.) On Scream, Pretty Peggy it's a fairly passive score by Robert Prince (Columbo, Newman's Law, and many TV credits including Peppard's Banacek.) The audio is clean with consistent dialogue in the uncompressed transfers. Imprint offer optional English (SDH) subtitles (not on the 1.33:1 Baffled!) on their Region FREE Blu-rays.

On The Deadly Dream there is a new audio commentary by Amanda Reyes (Made for TV Mayhem,) Dan Budnick (Bleeding Skull) and Nathan Johnson from the “Made for TV Mayhem Show” podcast. Baffled! has a new audio commentary by restorer Jonathan Wood and ITC historian Rick Davy. Scream, Pretty Peggy is a new audio commentary by Film Historians Steve Mitchell and Howard Berger (Making Monsters: Behind the Screams With Hollywood’s Mad Scientists.) Aside from a TV Spot for Scream, Pretty Peggy the rest of the supplements are mostly dedicated to Baffled! and on that dual-layered Blu-ray. Psychic Restoration is new and runs 8-minutes - it is a look at the challenges overcome in the grading and restoration of this new Imprint edition. Baffling Durations is a new 8-minute featurette on the Baffled!’s runtime anomalies. Also new is Which Ratio? - a short featurette on the aspect ratio options concluding that it was meant as a pilot and/ was shown theatrically in Britain. You can also hear Richard Hill's funky Baffled! theme for 2-minutres to sequences form the film, plus a theatrical trailer and a lengthy photo gallery for Baffled!.

The Deadly Dream is kind of a unique made-for-television thriller-drama. It has former A-listers Lloyd Bridges (The Whistle at Eaton Falls, Trapped, Three Steps North, High Noon) and Janet Leigh (Psycho, Jet Pilot, Grand Slam, My Sister Eileen). But the 50's and 60s are in the rear view mirror and the 'star' marquee has shifted environments and many actors appeared in one or more TV Movies of the Week including Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Myrna Loy, Bette Davis, Dennis Weaver, Earl Holliman, Leonard Nimoy (Baffled! was NBC,) Robert Culp, Barbara Eden, Larry Hagman, Elizabeth Montgomery (The Victim,) Donna Mills etc.. The Deadly Dream is appealing in a pulpy way with themes of mind control and sci-fi / horror / fantasy tropes. It might be the best films of the three if leaving the viewing rather wanting. Baffled! , with both UK and US versions, has Leonard Nimoy (Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Brain Eaters and, of course, Star Trek TOS), Vera Miles (The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Back Street, The Wrong Man, Hellfighters), Susan Hampshire (Houdini, Night Must Fall) and Rachel Roberts. It is part of the occult detective subgenre (echoing Kolchak: The Night Stalker.) It kinda shows its age... and 70's fashion but there is certainly nostalgic appeal. Scream, Pretty Peggy probably doesn't rate the nasty Hagsploitation moniker (or softer 'Grande Dame Guignol') although it does have icon Bette Davis (Now, Voyager, The Letter, Beyond the Forest, Dark Victory, Another Man's Poison) commanding the scenes she's in - only 65 at the time and always seen wearing a nightgown with bright red lipstick. This wasn't horrible and Bette is definitely part of the appeal. Short, shocking and modestly entertaining depending on your mood. The Imprint Blu-rays have strong a/v and the commentaries and extras are excellent. Recommended - more to Bette Davis, Janet Leigh, Leonard Nimoy, Lloyd Bridges, and Vera Miles fans and those who nostalgically appreciate 70's genre flics!

Gary Tooze