ADDITION: LionsGate (Director's Cut) - Region FREE - Blu-ray - October 2010: This is a pretty healthy leap in video quality for the dual-layered Blu-ray of Highlander. The DVDs are both quite noisy by comparison and the 1080P VC-1 encoded transfer brings out detail to a higher degree. Colors certainly shift and while I can't state with any certainty that the brighter Blu-ray is more authentic to theatrical - the colors sure are tighter and generally much richer (reds notable). Speaking of which - contrast doesn't always exhibit pitch blacks - it can look fainter than I might have expected considering it being HD. It is not a perfect transfer but it is certainly a big improvement over SD - and seems to show more information in the frame as well.

Audio is given a reasonably potent lossless DTS-HD Master 5.1 at 2842 kbps. Highlander. has plenty of effect noises beyond clashing, sparky, swords and there is some notable depth with a few subtitles making it to the rear speakers. There is a Spanish DUB and English/French/Spanish subtitle options and my Momitsu has verified it as being a region FREE disc playable on Blu-ray machines worldwide.

Extras consist of 6 sound-less minutes of deleted scenes in HD - found when preparing the Blu-ray transfer and the commentary by Director Russell Mulcahy, Producers Peter S. Davis and William N. Panzer found on the 2002 Anchor Bay DVD.

NOTE: Ronnie tells us in email: "A slight correction regarding the commentary track on the Lionsgate BD, it is not the same commentary by Mulcahy, Panzer and Davis as heard on the previous US DVD releases but a commentary done solely with Mulcahy for the StudioCanal/Universal DVD releases a few years back and subsequent StudioCanal/Universal BDs (Kinowelt mysteriously dropped that but retained an exclusive fourth part of the making of documentary instead)." - Thanks Ronnie!

Fans of the film will surely appreciate the bump in a/v and you can't argue with the price - very reasonable. Thumbs up!

****

ON THE DVDs: Firstly we realize that there is an 'Immortal Edition' in region 1 with a 2nd disc of extras and it is housed in a metal slipcase - it is also by Anchor Bay but we have no real plans for comparing it. We understand the transfer is the same on this NTSC edition. From Amazon - "Highlander was originally thrown onto the marketplace in a Republic DVD release that was one of the worst DVDs ever released. A restored director's cut version was later produced which added about ten minutes of footage to the film, and then came an improved re-mastered version. Previous (to 2002) Anchor Bay releases have been discontinued. This new edition features an Anamorphic widescreen presentation which is superior to former editions." There are some huge fans of this film and I won't pretend to be one of them - hence I hope our comparison doesn't miss any salient points.

There are pluses and minuses to both here in regards to image quality - the Kinowelt transfer is marginally better with less artifacts, slightly smoother, possibly a bit sharper and brighter with no visible manipulations. The Anchor Bay appears to have had some black boosting and although slightly darker I don't see a huge difference in colors between the two. The Anchor Bay has a shade more information in the frame - notably on both side edges. The Kinowelt might display a few more speckles and the PAL edition has a black border circumventing the frame slightly limiting horizontal resolution. Bottom line is you would have to be very keen on the film to be put off but in my opinion the Kinowelt looks a bit superior. Frankly, the film was not on a gigantic budget and although neither image is pristine - it may be as good as it can look.

Audio-wise the Anchor Bay sports a 5.1 EX track with options for 2.0 English or a French DUB. The Kinowelt has a solid 5.1 and a German DUB. The Anchor Bay has no subtitles but the Kinowelt offers German or Turkish. I can't say too much about the audio - they both sounded fairly good to my ear but possibly the Kinowelt was a bit more dynamic and consistent. I found it another 6 of one - half dozen of the other but admittedly audio reviewing is not my strong suit.

Where the Anchor Bay vaults ahead is with the supplemental commentary by Director Russell Mulcahy, Producers Peter S. Davis and William N. Panzer. It is certainly not the best commentary I have ever heard as it is fairly off the cuff but directly from the horses mouth - so to speak. I had the feeling that they could have related a lot more - had they the time or inclination. The Kinowelt has about 2 hours of 'Making Off...' that is very good - highly informative about the production process - hurdles and how obstacles were resolved. I did gain a modicum of respect for this film - that hadn't really occurred to me before. There is a Christopher Lambert interview on the PAL disc but it is only in French (with optional German subs).

Bottom line - unless the image quality becomes a huge concern - for instance if you are projecting on a large home theatre screen - I might say just to purchase the edition that is easiest for you to obtain. The metal case of the Kinowelt is very nice and if that is a selling point you may wish to lean in that direction. The PAL edition seems much more professionally and competently produced.   

Gary W. Tooze