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ADDITION: Arrow - Region FREE - Blu-ray April 2015: Firstly, Mario Bava's Blood and Black Lace has been exclusively restored for this release by Arrow Films. The original camera negative was scanned in 2K resolution on a pin-registered Arriscan at Immagine Ritrovata, Bolgna. The film was graded on the Baselight grading system at Deluxe Restoration, London. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris and scratches were removed through a combination of digital restoration tools. Image stability was also improved. The film's mono soundtrack was transferred from the original negative and audio issues such as pops, clicks and audible buzz were repaired, minimized or removed. The restoration of Blood and Black Lace was graded with the participation of Tim Lucas and was completed in 2K resolution. The project was supervised by James White on behalf of Arrow Films, with all work after scanning carried out at Deluxe Restoration, London.

The 1080P transfer is on a dual-layered Blu-ray disc with a max'ed out bitrate. The artifacts of all three SDs become more readily apparent beside the HD which, is slightly cropped but looks significantly more film-like with rich, deep even colors, and as very smooth, impressive in-motion presentation. Truly an amazing improvement. Ditto for the audio - I sampled both Italian and English tracks and they both sounded far superior to what I have ever heard before on digital. Arrow have included optional English subtitles (sample below). The Blu-ray disc is region 'A' + 'B' (to me that means 'FREE' as I have never seen a 'C'-locked Blu-ray !)

 A huge bonus for this release is a brand new audio commentary by Mario Bava's biographer Tim Lucas - who is in fine form and always a treat to listen to. Psycho Analysis is a wonderful new, 55-minute, documentary on Blood and Black Lace and the origins of the Giallo genre featuring interviews with directors Dario Argento (Suspiria) and Lamberto Bava (Demons), screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi (All the Colors of the Dark) critics Roberto Curti and Steve Della Casa, crime novelist Carlo Lucarelli and others. We get a 11-minute appreciation by Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani, the creative duo behind Amer and The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears. We get Yellow the much-acclaimed 26-minute neo- Giallo by Ryan Hansom & Jon Britt. Gender and Giallo is an excellent and thorough 38-minute visual essay by Michael Mackenzie exploring the Giallo's relationship with the social upheavals of the 1960s and 70s. Also included is a 11-minute panel discussion on Mario Bava featuring Dario Argento, Lamberto Bava and Steve Della Casa, recorded at the 2014 Courmayeur Film Festival. Cameron Mitchell is interviewed on a 2-part, 56-minute episode of David Del Valle's television series The Sinister Image, devoted to the star of Blood and Black Lace. We can see the 2-minutes-worth of alternative US opening titles, sourced from Joe Dante's private print and scanned in 2K especially for this release and there is a 3.5 minute original theatrical trailer. The case has a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys and a liner notes booklet featuring new writing on the film by Howard Hughes, author of Cinema Italiano and Mario Bava: Destination Terror, and an interview with Joe Dante, David Del Valle on Cameron Mitchell and more, all illustrated with archive stills and posters. There are two region 1+2 DVD discs included with the release - one of the film and a second of the supplements.

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German disc is much superior image wise and has nice extras, but you need to speak German (or Italian, an interview with the composer Carlo Rustichelli is in Italian) to understand it. VCI disc features an excellent commentary by Tim Lucas, so I'll give them an edge for extras. VCI disc was transferred from PAL source into NTSC. German disc includes only German and Italian soundtracks (the whole film was post-dubbed, so there's no original language), but provides English subtitles. Both versions use German source and include a few seconds missing from US laserdisc. The menus and packaging is also superior for German disc.

- Gregory Meshman