ADDITION Code Red Blu-ray (June 2018) - The Code Red 1080P transfer is the English version of the film - with the English-language title. It is described as being 'HD Mastered from 35mm IP'. It looks very dark - much darker than the DVD but has more information in the frame. There are some horizontal surface scratches visible but overall this looks adequate in-motion.

Code Red use a DTS-HD Master 2.0 (16-bit) in the English language. There are a few effects in the film and an another Giallo-esque score by Stelvio Cipriani (Nightmare City, The Blood Stained Shadow, Killer Cop, Rabid Dogs, Baron Blood, A Bay of Blood) and it sounds buoyant with some impacting depth adding to the film's darker themes. There are no subtitles and the Blu-ray disc is Region FREE.

Extras include a 9-minute interview with Joanna Cassidy about the film and her career - working with Massimo Dallamano. There is also the gimmicky Katarina’s Bucket List Theater piece running about 6-minutes.

The Night Child is a reasonably developed horror with some definite Giallio-related style conventions. It didn't quite come-off for myself but I do see some value for fans of the genre, director (What Have You Done to Solange?, A Black Veil for Lisa) or performers. Right now I would lean to the Arrow DVD with both versions and more extras - if you can still get it. Let's hope they do a Blu-ray soon...  

***

ON THE DVDs: Arrow's dual-layer, anamorphic transfer is likely derived from the same master as the Italian disc from 01 Distribution (which took advantage of producer Fulvio Lucisano's HD remaster struck for exhibition at the Venice Film Festival in 2005).

The English and Italian versions feature different title sequences, slightly different ordering of some scenes, exclusive footage, sound effects, and placement of music cues; for instance, the US version superimposes Emily's sleeping face over her first nightmare scene to emphasize that it is a dream while the Italian version merely seamlessly segues into the dream (on the other hand, a scene of Emily studying some statues in the park triggers a nightmarish flashback featuring a village mob in the Italian version but not in the English version) so the running times of the PAL and NTSC discs do not reflect the usual timing differences of the differing framerates.

Code Red's out-of-print interlaced DVD is also HD-mastered, but it is derived from the American CRI negatives, which exhibits some faint damage and slightly different shadings. For some reason, the final shot (nearly a minute and a half) is framed at 1.54:1. It's admirable that Code Red did their own transfer but it lacks the vibrancy of the Italian master; however, because of these variations in the English version, the Code Red release is certainly well worth tracking down for the film's fans.

While the Italian disc featured only the Italian track with optional English subtitles and the Code Red featured only the English dub track (including the real voices of Johnson and Cassidy), Arrow has synchronized the English track to the Italian cut (in addition to including the Italian track and English subtitles). The Italian mono track is a little cleaner than the English track (which can distort at the high end during the passages dominated by the music score).

The Italian disc's only substantial extra is the film's Italian trailer (and trailers for other Luciscano IIF productions). Code Red undeservingly consigned the film to their "Septic Cinema" line and the Richard Johnson interview is actually ported over from their special edition of BEYOND THE DOOR. The film's US trailer is the only other extra of substance.

Arrow's disc includes the US and Italian trailers, as well as the featurette "Exorcism: Italian-Style" which traces the sub-genre back before THE EXORCIST to ROSEMARY'S BABY and features commentary by director Luigi Cozzi, screenwriter Antonio Tentori, and critic Paolo Zelati. Besides THE NIGHT CHILD, the featurette also includes discussion of Italian EXORCIST spin-offs BEYOND THE DOOR, THE ANTICHRIST (THE TEMPTER), as well as Mario Bava's LISA AND THE DEVIL (and it's heavily re-edited/reshot version HOUSE OF EXORCISM) and SHOCK (BEYOND THE DOOR II). A liner notes booklet by Calum Waddel features an overview of Dallamano's directorial career, as well as comparison screenshots between the different English and Italian title sequences.
 

 - Eric Cotenas