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

ADDITION: Second Run Blu-ray (February 2025): Second Run have transferred Piotr Szulkin's Golem to Blu-ray. It on a dual-layered disc with a max'ed out bitrate. Shot in a gritty, expressionist style, by Zygmunt Samosiuk (The Gorgon Case,) the sepia-toned visuals and greenish-yellow hues echo Tarkovsky's Stalker. The 1080P looks rich and authentic in its drab overtones via this HD presentation.

NOTE: We have added 44 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Second Run use a linear PCM dual-mono track (16-bit) in the original Polish language. Golem has few aggressive moments that come through with modest depth. The eerie score, with electronic tones and jagged rhythms, was by Zygmunt Konieczny (Pornografia) and Józef Skrzek (The Mill and the Cross) sounding clean with a low-fi vibe and consistent dialogue in the uncompressed transfer. Second Run offer optional English subtitles on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

The Second Run Blu-ray offers a new commentary by Polish film expert Michael Brooke. He's at his usual prepared, well-researched best making astute analysis and keen observations about the director, his other films and, especially, Golem. The Second Run Blu-ray includes a selection of Piotr Szulkin's early short film works; 1972's One, Two, Three (Raz, dwa, trzy) runs just over 7-minutes. "Everything" (Wszystko, 1972), a brief experimental piece that already hints at his fascination with the absurd. It’s less documented but often cited as a student work exploring existential fragmentation—vague by design, setting the tone for his offbeat lens. A Sketch in Six Parts (Szkic do sześciu części) runs 13-minutes and the 4-minute "Copyright Film Polski MCMLXXVI" (1976) is a standout short but potent. An apple gets crushed by a press, pulp swapped for a rotten one, all to two clashing versions of Handel’s “Hallelujah.” It’s Szulkin at his most allegorical—decay, pressure, and irony in one squeeze. Some call it his most emblematic short, a Camus-inspired nod to inevitable ruin. Included are Szulkin's annotated script/storyboard for Copyright Film Polski MCMLXXVI.

The following text precedes: "The film "Copyright Film Polski MCMLXXVI" directed by Piotr Szulkin, was produced in 1976 by The Warsaw Documentary Film Studio on behalf of the Animated Film Studio in Kraków.
In 2024, it was restored by the National Film Archive - Audiovisual Institute in 4K resolution.
The image source was the original camera negative, while the sound source was the final magnetic mix. As a reference vintage print from FINA's collection was used.
All materials belong to the FINA collection."

Piotr Szulkin’s Golem was his feature debut. It blends dystopian speculation, and a rich tapestry of themes with sharp social commentary. Scientists genetically engineer humans to “improve” the species loosely inspired by Gustav Meyrink’s novel and the Jewish Golem legend. The key themes include totalitarianism - where technology and authority dictate - humanity vs. artificiality - twisting the Golem myth, where a clay figure lacks a soul - and alienation under a desolate landscape of drab Soviet-bloc architecture infested with lunatics, deranged dentists, and sinister overseers. There are also questions of ethics and resistance. Golem is a dense, disorienting meditation. Its themes (control, identity, and resistance) hit hard in its Cold War cradle, but they echo today in debates over surveillance, biotech, AI and societal decay. This is wonderful time for cinephiles to immerse the,se;ves in this director. Radiance released three of Szulkin's apocalyptic tetralogy films to Blu-ray last year; Ga-ga: Glory to the Heroes, O-Bi, O-Ba: The End of Civilization and The War of the Worlds: Next Century. after their OOP boxset of the trifecta. I really enjoyed Golem on the Second Run Blu-ray with educational commentary and selection of shorts. Absolutely recommended.

Gary Tooze