Anchor Bay

Region 1 - NTSC

Demons and Demons 2 are sold on Blu-ray from Arrow as a Limited Edition Steelbook package together:

1.65:1 Original Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 5.29 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.

Anchor Bay

Arrow Video Blu-ray

LPCM Audio English 1536 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit
* LPCM Audio English 1536 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit
* LPCM Audio English 1536 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit
LPCM Audio Italian 1536 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 1.65:1

Edition Details:
• Audio Commentary with director Lamberto Bava, effects artist Sergio Stivaletti, and journalist Loris Curci
• Theatrical Trailer (16:9; 2:55)
• Trailers for DEMONS, PHENOMENA, TENEBRE, RE-ANIMATOR, and PHANTASM

DVD Release Date: September 25, 2007
Amaray

Chapters 16
 

1080P Single-layered Blu-ray
Disc Size: 19,013,980,093 bytes
Feature: 16,453,933,056 bytes
Video Bitrate: 15.90 Mbps
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
 

ADDITION: Arrow - Region 'B' Blu-ray - May 2012: I can't speak to the colors - I have no idea what Demons 2 looked like theatrically. But the 1080P transfer improves in a number of areas including (human) skin tones and background details. Is that one brown-eyed zombie's face originally reddish pink or green? Some colors on the 1.66:1 framed Blu-ray look faded - but, again, I plead ignorance. You are free to make up your own minds. However, information lost in the dark background of the Anchor Bay is now highly visible with the brighter Arrow Blu-ray. I should note that the 1080P is a tad cropped on the right edge although it is advertised as being 'Restored from the original camera negative by Cineteca di Bologna'. The DVD definitely looks to have some black boosting and looks video-like. The Arrow HD is single-layered with a modest bitrate (3x that of the SD) but I thought it looked good in-motion and it gave me a decent presentation.

Audio gives lossless 2.0 channels options for both English and Italian - no 5.1. I thought it sounded quite good with crisp screams and punchy effects. There are optional subtitles on the region 'B' Blu-ray disc.

Supplements include the same audio as found on the DVD - recollections of director Lamberto Bava, Mechanical Creations & Transformation Artist Sergio Stivaletti and Journalist Loris Curci. There is also a 20-minute interview with Sergio Stivaletti entitled - Creating Creature Carnage covering a lot of details of his craft and the film. Bava to Bava is 17-minutes of Luigi Cozzi tracking the history of the Italian horror film; from Riccardo Freda and Mario Bava to the end of the golden age with Michele Soavi and Lamberto Bava as well as considering recent Italian horror films - in Italian with English subtitles. The Arrow packaging itself is impressive - described as 'Four option reversible sleeve with original poster and video artwork with additional fifth artwork panel featuring all-new Jeff Zornow artwork'.

If possible this holds even more intensity than Demons and a little more cheese too. I had fun with this - you, honestly, get caught up in it and Bava fans will get a lot out of this complete Arrow Blu-ray edition.   

 - Gary Tooze

***

ON THE DVD: DEMONS 2 was first released on VHS in the US by Imperial Home Entertainment in an MPAA-snipped mono version (the film did poorly on its initial US playdates and never went wide theatrically stateside). The uncut export version - with Dolby Stereo track intact - was released on VHS and laserdisc in Japan. The Roan Group laserdisc was the first domestic release of the uncut version, and featured a Chace Surround remix (also in AC3). Anchor Bay's 1999 DVD featured the same non-anamorphic transfer (with audio in Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 surround). In 2007, Anchor Bay reissued a couple of its Dario Argento Collection titles in 16:9. PHENOMENA and TENEBRE looked like poor upscales, but DEMONS and DEMONS 2 were new transfers. Their single-layer transfer of DEMONS 2 looks the better of the two, despite some serious image jittering during a couple exterior scenes (this is a fault of the original cinematography as it appears on the cassette releases). Carried over from the Roan laser and 1999 DVD is an audio commentary with director Lamberto Bava and effects artist Sergio Stivaletti moderated by Lori Curci (Bava's son Roy is present on the track to help out with his father's English). The film's trailer and some start-up trailers are the only other extras.

 - Eric Cotenas

2) Arrow Video - Region 'B' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM