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

Cult Epics bring the "Dutch Sex Wave" film Blue Movie to Blu-ray in a "new HD restoration and transfer by Eye Film Institute". It's on a single-layered disc with a modest bitrate. Unfortunately, the image has a heavy teal leaning. It is fairly prevalent as the screen captures will attest. So Blue Movie looks quite blue. It was shot on 35mm and the overall image is quite thick with softness and a few crisper sequences notable in close-ups. It's hard to know how much the restoration improved the image in terms of detail but there are almost no major damage marks or speckles. This is transferred in 1080P in the original 1.37:1 aspect ratio and the HD presentation is not the height of the format but probably as good as this film will get on digital.  

The audio transfer is DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel mono (24-bit) and is about the same level of quality as the video. No aggressive effects - some moans and the film features a of-its-time score by Jürgen Drews (more known as an actor on TV and in Short Night of the Glass Dolls). The dialogue is flat and audible. There are optional English (SDH) subtitles on this Region FREE Blu-ray.

Epic Films include a few supplements. There is an 11-minute interview with director Wim Verstappen from 1971 - interesting to see the attitude of the time of production. There is a 17-minute new interview with producer Pim de la Parra at the Dutch Sex Wave festival - Cinematheque Francais, discussing the genre as well as a 10-minute new interview with Hugo Metsers Jr. - son of the actor who played Michael in the film. It was shot in Paris in 2018. There is also a 7-minute featurette on the Eye Film Institute - the Dutch archive and museum in Amsterdam that preserves and presents both Dutch and foreign films screened in the Netherlands. There is a poster and photo video gallery and some original Scorpio Films trailers including one for Blue Movie.

This is better than I expected but has a small niche of people who might be interested. It has some 70s style, free love, eroticism and a thought-provoking plot.  The Blu-ray transfer from a restored source giving it some historical archival value, although the teal is very evident, and, as a positive there is some effort put in to the extras. To each his own.

Gary Tooze