ADDITION: (October 2014) Arrow Region 'B' - Blu-ray: The new Arrow Blu-ray starts with a Lionsgate logo and has a Cinematheque Quebecois restoration credit,  before the film starts - and the and MPAA card after the end credits. Obviously the big difference between the Image SD and the UK 1080P is the aspect ratios. Com position favors the 1.78:1 Blu-ray, with the DVD showing excessive space in the top of the frame. Blacks may be marginally crushed at times, but this is still vastly superior to the 1998 transfer improving upon the skin tones (orange on the SD) and overall colors. The video-like DVD does seems to show more detail at times, but I hardly think this flat, artefact-riddled image is accurate to the filmmaker's intent. The BD's textures are a big bonus and the visual inferiorities, inherent in the production limitations, are sometimes made more prominent by the higher resolution. It is an imperfect, but most-probably accurate, video rendering - dual-layered with a max'ed out bitrate (approaching 7X that of the DVD).

Arrow use a linear PCM mono track, faithfully replicating the original production audio. It sounds predictably flat with a shade of noticeable depth. Arrow offer optional English subtitles (see sample) but is a region 'B'-locked Blu-ray.

"Parasite Memories" is a brand new retrospective piece on the film produced by High Rising Productions with lively contribution from effects artist Joe Blasco (ILSA, HAREM KEEPER OF THE OIL SHEIKS), actresses Lynn Lowry and Barbara Steele, actor Allan Kolman, and Canadian critic Kier La-Janisse. Blasco recalls reading the script and thinking it sounded like a porno film but taking the job when he heard Barbara Steele was in it. He also describes how he created the effects (the shot of the parasite crawling across the grass was a test shot he did in Los Angeles which was not supposed to be used in the film), including inventing bladder effects here (using condoms and enema bags), and the film's influence on ALIEN (he reveals that Carlo Rambaldi asked him to work on the film but he had moved on to teaching as well as being the regular make-up artist for Carol Burnett and a number of other big performers during that period). Lowry and Steele offer somewhat differing portraits of Cronenberg on set but convey his enthusiasm and inexperience while Kolman discusses working under the make-up effects (Lowry also reveals that her participation in the pool climax was an afterthought that had the producers bringing her back to Montreal after her shooting had wrapped). La-Janisse provides context for the films of the period, distributor-turned-exploitation producer Cinepix, the tax shelter program, and the notoriety the film got due to the harsh Canadian criticism (which panned the film as part of an attack on the Canadian Film Development Corporation's public art funding policies).

The making-of featurette is actually another retrospective piece from the Canadian television series ON SCREEN! which intercuts new interviews with Lowry, Kolman, Blasco, line producer Ivan Reitman (GHOSTBUSTERS, executive producers Andre Link and John Dunning (MY BLOODY VALENTINE), producer Don Carmody (TERROR TRAIN), production manager Alfred Pariser (THE LITTLE GIRL WHO LIVES DOWN THE LANE, cinematographer Richard Saad (CANNIBAL GIRLS), as well as critics Jason Andrews and David Spanner, festival programmer Piers Handling, and Cronenberg scholars Peter Morris and Caelum Vatsndal, and film professor Bart Testa along with vintage 1979, 1982, and 1998 interview material from Cronenberg (the latter material of which is extracted from an interview with the director that was featured on the Anchor Bay VHS, Image Entertainment DVD, and presumably the last CFP Video release). The narrative is largely the same as the previous featurette but given more depth – including some more anecdotes like actress Susan Petrie asking Cronenberg to slap her around before each take in which she needed to cry (as well as Barbara Steele's reaction when she witnessed it without knowing the context) – especially the public and critical reception in Canada and abroad.

"From STEREO to VIDEO" is a visual essay by Vatsndal focusing on Cronenberg's early life in a Jewish intellectual household, his initial aspirations to be scientist or writer, enrolling in University of Toronto – where he saw the film "Winter Kept Us Warm" made by a UT alumnus and featuring familiar locations and people he knew – where he then embarked on a series of short films. His best known shorts were STEREO and CRIMES OF THE FUTURE which were shot on 35mm without sync sound and established themes that would inform his later works (the former was included on Criterion's release of SCANNERS -- the latter was included on Criterion's CLV laserdisc of DEAD RINGERS but not carried over to the DVD edition – while both films were included on the Blue Underground Blu-ray of FAST COMPANY). The essay then follows his early film career from SHIVERS through VIDEODROME noting how Cronenbergian elements are carried over from film-to-film (with the exception of FAST COMPANY which is more significant as the film in which the director first collaborated with regular cinematographer Mark Irwin and production designer Carol Spiere). The disc closes out with the film's SHIVERS theatrical trailer (sadly, we do not get ones for FRISSONS or THEY CAME FROM WITHIN) and a promotional gallery of international posters, lobby cards, and publicity stills.

Another stacked release from Arrow! Fans will delight in Cronenberg's unique variation on the, oft-told, Zombie theme. It has amateurish moments but still sparks of superior horror realization. The Blu-ray extras add more value and those keen should be pleased with a late Friday night viewing - perhaps for Halloween latter this month.  

 - Eric Cotenas and Gary Tooze