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

ADDITION: Arrow Blu-ray (August 2023): Arrow have transferred John Mackenzie's Unman, Wittering and Zigo to Blu-ray. It is on a dual-layered disc with a high bitrate. The image quality is strong; blemish-free with consistent textures, true colors and some occasional depth. It looks just fine in 1080P - Arrow's usual high quality. We hope the screen captures below can give you an idea.

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

On their Blu-ray, Arrow use a linear PCM mono track (24-bit) in the original English language. Unman, Wittering and Zigo has a few aggressive moments although the film builds with suspense situation-ally and there is an atmospheric score by Michael J. Lewis (The Legacy, ffolkes, The Medusa Touch, 11 Harrowhouse, Julius Caesar) adding to the film's creepiness supported adeptly by the lossless transfer. It has clean with consistent dialogue. Arrow offer optional English (SDH) subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Arrow Blu-ray offers a new commentary by Sean Hogan (author of England's Screaming) and Kim Newman (author of Something More than Night.) They discuss this as an adaptation of the 1958 radio play by the Anglo-Irish playwright Giles Cooper - and the 1967 stage play as well as it being part of Kim's curriculum for GCSE and Standard Grade English coursework in the United Kingdom. They talk about Hemmings, Carolyn Seymour, the first feature film roles of both Michael Kitchen (Dracula AD 1972 and 'Tanner' in a couple of Bond films) and Michael Cashman (EastEnders) as well as comments on the director John Mackenzie and the, at times, purposely ambiguous story. It is very informative exporting the nooks and crannies of the production. There is also a new 26-minute appreciation by critic, broadcaster and cultural historian Matthew Sweet, and a video featurette with Michael Howe, Michael Cashman, James Wardroper and Carolyn Seymour who played, respectively, Unman, Terhew, Lipstrob and Mrs. Ebony, looking back at the production for over 1/2 hour. Arrow include the original 1958 recording of Giles Cooper’s radio play (audio only) that runs 1 1/4 hours, an original trailer and an image gallery of promotion material and stills. The package sports a double sided fold-out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork (see above) by Eric Adrian Lee, a reversible sleeve and an illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Kevin Lyons and Oliver Wake.

John Mackenzie's Unman, Wittering and Zigo is an idiosyncratic 'psychological intimidation' thriller. The title comes from last three students on the class roll-call (although 'Zigo' is always absent.) There is a cult-appeal to interpret the film's oddness in the final 1/4 as it, pretty much, ignores an undeniable attempted group rape. There is also something investigate-able to the student's entendre-ish names; Blisterine, Aggeridge, Borby, Bungabine, Cloistermouth, Cuthbun, Lipstrob etc. as well as teacher 'Ebony'. Themes touch on paranoia and homosexuality with horror elements like the boys acting collectively-evil not unlike Village of the Damned. Unman, Wittering and Zigo has been forgotten about without a decent digital release until now. The stacked Arrow Blu-ray is a definite keeper for an intriguing film offering so much open interpretation. It's a wonderful curiosity. Strongly recommended!

Gary Tooze