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

ADDITION: Shout! Factory Blu-ray (March 2022): Shout! Factory have transferred Roger Corman's Day the World Ended to Blu-ray. Shout! Factory are selling it on their site as 'exclusive, limited to 1,500 units.' It is cited as being from a "NEW 2K Scan Of A Fine Grain Film Element". Where the Lions Gate DVD was in, and around, the 2.35:1 aspect ratio, the Shout! Blu-ray was in the proper SuperScope ratio of 2.0:1. You can see that some information is removed on the Blu-ray - mostly on the left edge as compared to the 2006 DVD. There is a shade more information on the bottom of the frame. The 1080P is an obvious leap in terms of image quality with layered contrast and beautiful fine grain. It does still have some, more than occasional, vertical surface scratches. Despite that this HD presentation looks very appealing.

NOTE: We have added 60 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Shout! Factory use a DTS-HD Master dual-mono track (24-bit) in the original English language. Day the World Ended has minor aggressive moments, with the irradiated 3-eyed creature, that come through with, predictably, modest depth. There is a brooding score by AIP regular Ronald Stein who has done more than his share of this genre (Attack of the Crab Monsters, Dinosaurus, Journey to the Seventh Planet, Queen of Blood, She Creature, It Conquered the World, Not of This Earth, Dementai 13, Spider Baby etc.) It does add some suspense and excitement sounding effective via the lossless transfer. This music includes the S.F. Blues solo by Pete Candoli for Adele Jergens' (Ruby) attempt at seductive dancing. Shout! Factory offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Shout! Factory Blu-ray offers a commentary by film historian Tom Weaver (author of A Sci-Fi Swarm and Horror Horde: Interviews with 62 Filmmakers). He's always very informative and fun with plenty of fascinating details. Tom discusses scenes scripted for, but not in the film Day the World Ended as well as censored sequences. He has included recreation voices of quotes taken from his in-person interviews from way back or biography tidbits. These recreations include actress Lori Nelson, producer Alex Gordon, actor Mike Connors and others. David Schecter comes on to discuss details of the music in the film for about 10-minutes. He discuses the career of Ronald Stein and fine details on the score including the use of a theremin. It's an exceptionally well-prepared commentary that is, unfortunately, not mentioned on the Shout! Factory webpage at the writing of this review. Included as the new (2012) 'Roger Corman Godfather of the 'A's' directed by Constantine Nasr. It fills in many details of the impresario's notable efforts running just shy of 40-minutes. Lastly is a theatrical trailer and the package has an exclusive 18" X 24" folded poster (the first film poster shown above). It now hangs on my wall.  

Roger Corman's Day the World Ended is pure schlocky fun. I'm always up for a black-and-white apocalyptic plot with the conflicts of a handful of survivors - see Panic in Year Zero! and The Last Man on Earth. This has a lesser-seen 'creature' - a victim of the atomic radiation from an unspoken nuclear tragedy. This is more addictive Roger Corman pragmatic fun - his first sci-fi film direction. Unlike Shout's Blu-ray of The Brain Eaters this has some excellent supplements including the commentary, documentary and poster. It still seems pricey but true fans will indulge with its AIP lovable appeal. The limited edition Shout! Factory Blu-ray can only be bought from their website at present. A keeper for me - taking me back to my innocent childhood and Saturday afternoon matinees on the tube. To each his own.

Gary Tooze