Repackaged December 9th, 2013

Arrow Video

Region 2 - PAL

Region FREE - Blu-ray 

1.85:1 Original Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 6.23 mb/s
PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s

1.82:1 Original Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 4.78 mb/s
NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Arrow Video

Anchor Bay

Arrow Blu-ray

Blue Underground Blu-ray

English Dolby Digital 5.1; English Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 1.85:1

Edition Details:
• DISC 1:
• Introduction by Daria Nicolodi (16:9; 0:15 - Italian with English subtitles)
• Dario's Inferno - interview with Dario Argento (16:9; 15:39 - Italian with English subtitles)
• Acting in Hot Water - Daria Nicolodi remembers INFERNO (16:9; 18:21 - Italian with English subtitles
• The Other Mother - Luigi Cozzi on THE BLACK CAT (16:9; 15:19 - Italian with English subtitles)
• Easter Egg: Argento Remembers Bava (16:9; 5:15 - English)
• DISC 2:
• Dario Argento - An Eye for Horror (16:9; 56:48)
• Dario Argento and Lamberto Bava on INFERNO (16:9; 8:54)
• Dario Argento Trailer Gallery (16:9; 39:24)
• Spanish Theatrical Trailer (16:9; 3:25 - In Spanish with English subtitles)
• International Trailer (16:9; 3:23)
• 4 alternate covers and 6 poster art cards
• Double sided folded poster insert (newly created art and original art)
• Liner Notes Booklet

DVD Release Date: 13 September 2010
Amaray

Chapters 12

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 1.82:1

Edition Details:
• interview with Dario Argento and Lamberto Bava (16:9; 8:20)
• Theatrical Trailer (16:9; 3:25)
• Still Gallery
• Talent Bios
 

Chapters 20

Chapters 12

Chapters 20

ADDITION: Blue Underground Region - FREE - Blu-ray - March  2011: The Blue Underground looks great - with some different colors - more notable in some scenes (see last capture - bathtub) than in others. It is bolder, darker but seems to retain the same detail. I can't comment on which is more, theatrically, correct but the Arrow did seem a shade pale to me and some have reported DNR on the UK disc - although I didn't find this softness overly distracting - many might. It shouldn't have occurred and it appears as though the B.U. has no such manipulations.

So if I give the video appearance to Blue Underground - I might lean to the Arrow for audio - the B.U. has one more option but the lossless is less robust although the 7.1 may have better, or at least more notable, range. I sampled the EX 5.1 and it was pretty lively too. Both Blu-rays offer the original Italian mono (Bravo!).

Extras are not as stacked as the Arrow but offer some good stuff, regardless - Art and Alchemy is an interview with star Leigh McCloskey for 15-minutes while Reflections of Rose talks with star Irene Miracle for a little less - both are in HD. The 'Dario Argento and Lamberto Bava on INFERNO' piece is less than 10-minutes but is good with yellow English subtitles. There is also a Theatrical Trailer in HD.

With the superior video - we strongly suggest the Blue Underground - it is the best visual presentation!  

***

ADDITION: Arrow Region - FREE - Blu-ray - September 2010: First-off, amazing package by Arrow Films - they, along with Blue Underground in the US, continue to raise the bar - making both companies the dominant DVD/Blu-ray production venues for this brand of horror films (ex. see our reviews of Romero's Day of the Dead, and Fulci's City of the Living Dead).

As far as the image goes - it's an upgrade in most areas - marginally brighter (than the Arrow DVD), a shade pale (orangey/red skin tones) - and, some DNR with less noise. It is consistent throughout.  

The Arrow Blu-ray is £4 more than the same company's DVD - and I think - at this stage - it is worth the upgrade despite the weaknesses - if only for the impressive lossless audio - a DTS-HD Master 5.1 at a strong 4155 kbps. It's a solid mix focusing on the aggressiveness as well as the subtleties. The same subtitle options are available and my Momitsu has identified it as being a region FREE disc playable on Blu-ray machines worldwide.

Eric has discussed the extensive extras below and they are duplicated (1/2 hour Inferno Q+A with Irene Miracle and composer Keith Emerson appears to be added on Blu-ray feature disc) but, the good news in regards to the Blu-ray, they all play in a region 'A'-locked player. The 2nd disc DVD however is PAL but also region FREE. The 4 alternate covers, 6 poster art cards and double sided folded poster are still there.

If you are a Blu-ray adopter and Argento fan - this is an easy purchase. We anxiously await Arrow's future HD output of this master director. As for this package - it is certainly recommended.

Depending on your preference for the video - we have two excellent releases. I really enjoyed the Blue Underground transfer - it gave me a great presentation - and I watched the film only 6 months previous. Yes - Inferno keeps getting better!

Gary W. Tooze

****

Arrow Video's Blu-ray (available HERE) and DVD are sourced from the same HD master (it is likely that upcoming French Wild Side DVD/Blu-ray and German Camera Obscura DVD/Blu-ray upcoming releases will also use this master; Blue Underground has announced the title for a 2011 Blu-ray release). The HD-mastered Arrow disc is quite an improvement over the Anchor Bay disc. Some colors are not as saturated as on the older transfer but there are plenty of shots where the reds and blues are wonderfully vibrant and likely true to the source (this presentation also makes one aware of the uses of green and violet lighting throughout). The Arrow transfer also features additional slivers of picture information on the right, left, and top over the Anchor Bay release. There is evidence of edge enhancement but it is not as severe as on caps of the Fox Italy DVD suggesting that it was utilized in the HD master (Arrow reportedly had some additional work done on the HD master). In the first few notes of the score on the 5.1 track there is a slight warbling but that was also evident on the 5.1 track of the Anchor Bay disc and may be a flaw in the music and effects track elements that appeared after the original stereo English and Italian mono mixes were done because it is not present on those track. English dubtitles are provided for the English audio tracks and English subtitles are provided for the Italian track (the English track is truer to the film as most of the actors performed in English; Eleonora Giorgi seems to be dubbing herself as her voice sounds the same as it does in the English sync-sound shot Liliana Cavani film BEYOND OBSESSION).

For a long time, the single-layer Anchor Bay's release of INFERNO was the only game in town (Blue Underground's release is a port of the Anchor Bay transfer) until Fox in Italy released their HD-mastered disc. The AB Dolby 2.0 Surround mix is not the original mix but a downconversion of the 5.1 track. The BluRay edition replaces the Dolby Digital 5.1 track with a DTS Master Audio 5.1 mix and retains the Dolby Digital encodes of the original English stereo and Italian mono mixes. Extras are divided between newly-produced extras on disc 1 (including an Easter Egg on the main menu) and older extras on disc 2 included the informative EYE FOR HORROR TV special (previously released separately as well as an extra on the R4 discs of CAT O'NINE TAILS, SUSPIRIA, TENEBRE, PHENOMENA, and PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, the Anchor Bay UK disc of TWO EVIL EYES, the UK disc of SLEEPLESS, and the Danish and Australian discs of DEEP RED), the Dario Argento trailer reel (available on other Arrow Argento discs), the Argento/Lamberto Bava interview from the Anchor Bay US edition, and the Spanish and English theatrical trailers. My check discs did not come with them but the usual array of Arrow alternate covers, poster cards, folded poster reproduction insert, and liner notes booklet are listed in the official specs.

 - Eric Cotenas

2) Anchor Bay - Region 1 - NTSC - SECOND