2) Anchor Bay Entertainment - Region 1 - NTSC SECOND

3) Grindhouse Releasing - Region 'A'- Blu-ray  THIRD

4) Arrow - Region FREE- Blu-ray  FOURTH

It is stated in text screens that "THE ORIGINAL, PAINTERLY, COLOUR CAMERA FOOTAGE, ONCE RESTORED, INSPIRED THIS NEW ALTERNATIVE RENDERING OF THE PROLOGUE - WHERE THE GOLDEN SEPIA TONE IS APPLIED TO THE COLOUR FOOTAGE -INSTEAD OF MOSTLY MONOCHROME SEPIA.  THESE ARE SOME OF CINEMATOGRAPHER SERGIO SALVATI'S COMMENTS WHICH INFORMED THIS EXPLORATORY PROCESS:
"WE FILMED IN COLOUR, IT HAD GREAT ATMOSPHERE BUT WE DECIDED TO TINT IT... I OPTED FOR THE SOFT YELLOW, ALMOST GOLDEN FILTER TO ENHANCE THE TORCHES, CAR LIGHTS ... AND THE BURNT LIME ON THE PAINTER'S FACE. I WANTED TO CREATE THE EFFECT OF AN OLD, YELLOWED PHOTOGRAPH TO ESTABLISH A GAP BETWEEN THE PROLOGUE AND THE PRESENT DAY AS THOUGH THEY WERE TWO SEPARATE FILMS.  I DISCARDED THE USUAL SEPIA, THE COLOUR OF MEMORIES, SINCE THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE CHARACTERS ISN'T BASED ON MEMORY; INSTEAD 'THE BEYOND' IS A HORROR WHICH LIES OUTSIDE TIME AND SPACE..."

SERGIO SALVATI, DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY, ON THE SPECIAL COLOUR OF THE PROLOGUE OF THE BEYOND': "WE FILMED IN COLOUR, IT HAD GREAT ATMOSPHERE BUT WE DECIDED TO TINT IT... INITIALLY, IT WAS TO HAVE BEEN FILMED IN B&W TO SIMPLIFY THE WHOLE OPERATION, BUT THEN I OPTED FOR THE SOFT YELLOW, ALMOST GOLDEN FILTER TO ENHANCE THE TORCHES, CAR LIGHTS ... AND THE BURNT LIME ON THE PAINTER'S FACE. I WANTED TO RECREATE THE EFFECT OF AN OLD, YELLOWED PHOTOGRAPH TO ESTABLISH A GAP BETWEEN THE PROLOGUE AND THE PRESENT DAY AS THOUGH THEY WERE TWO SEPARATE FILMS DIVIDED BY AN INFINITE ARC OF TIME ... IN THE DIMENSION OF THE AFTERWARDS.
I DISCARDED THE USUAL SEPIA, THE COLOUR OF MEMORIES, SINCE THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE CHARACTERS ISN'T BASED ON MEMORY; INSTEAD THE BEYOND' IS A HORROR WHICH LIES OUTSIDE TIME AND SPACE.- THE BEYOND PROLOGUE COMPARISON SHOWS: - 1) THE STANDARD 'SEPIA' APPLIED TO A MONOCHROME BASE - 2) THE B&W VERSION - 3) THE ORIGINAL CAMERA FOOTAGE IN COLOUR - 4) A NEW ALTERNATIVE WHERE THE SEPIA TONE IS APPLIED TO THE ORIGINAL COLOUR FOOTAGE INSTEAD OF THE PRIOR MONOCHROME RENDERING. "

It's great to have those seamlessly-branched options, I think the rest of the film looks the best of the 1080P transfer. The Shameless loses the yellow-ish hues and skin tones warm to appear more natural. I can only tell you that the image quality on my system was magnificent - plenty of depth, excellent contrast, deep, rich colors and black levels... this looked beautiful on my OLED.

Audio is given in the option of either Italian or English DTS-HD Master tracks (16-bit). The post DUB'ing will always be noticeable but I thought the track was clean and carried some depth in the exciting score by Fabio Frizzi, composer for Fulci's Zombie (1979)  and City of the Living Dead (1980) and Sergio Martino's The Scorpion with Two Tails (1982) to name a few. The Shameless feature has optional English subtitles and the Blu-ray disc is Region FREE.

NOTE: Reports are surfacing of some phasing issues in the audio - I didn't notice in the Italian track but will be double-checking the English track later today - stay tuned.

Extras include the, previously used, fun commentary with David Warbeck and Catriona McCall as well as a second with Director of Photography, Sergio Salvati dissecting the production and talking about specific scenes - it is in Italian with optional English subtitles. There is also a new, 17-minute, interview with actress Cinzia Monreale entitled "Emily's Eyes" in Italian with English subtitles. She talks about her first experience working with Lucio Fulci. There is a new 1/2 hour interview with actor Michele Mirabella entitled "Arachnophobia". It is in Italian and he discusses artists in film, his starts as a radio broadcaster and much more. Fulci banter on set runs less than 2-minutes. We also get a new, unique, 13-minute, interview with scriptwriter Mariuzzo on working with Fulci entitled "Murder, They Wrote". He is colorful talking about working with Fuci on a commercial and how he was asked to stay on, clips are used (the spider) to illustrate points, he talks about how inventive Fulci was - this is in Italian with English subtitles. Shameless include a 7-minute video piece; The Beyond Prologue 4-way Comparison: Original colour, B&W, Standard (monochrome) sepia, the new 4th-way: for the 1st time the golden version of toning over the original colour footage.

For many, this may be the best package yet - new extras, a great a/v and the option of the four prologues. I never seem to tire of this film. Probably my favorite Fulci. Fans will want this!

***

ADDITION: Arrow - Region FREE Blu-ray - January 2017 - The original Arrow Steelbook is out-of-print and fetching high prices - I presume that this is the same transfer (after recall) and what I can only guess that the Blu-rays are from different sources despite many looking very similar. The Arrow is in 2.35:1 where the Grindhouse is in 2.4:1. But I think the Arrow shows a shade more in the frame. The major differences are in the tinting sequences and a few on the Arrow are significantly superior in detail and sharpness (compare seeing-eye dog in road captures.) These scenes also having framing differences (cropping.)

Eric says: "The Italian technicians turned the sepia opening to black and white on the master Arrow received and they put it out that way. After complaints, they did a replacement program. I believe they digitally turned the black and white to sepia rather than having another scan done." (Thanks Eric!)

Arrow offer a DTS-HD Master in 5.1 surround bump, in English, that sounds solid at 3765 kbps (24-bit) pounding the film's aggression through the floorboards. Also offered, for the purists, are an English mono track in lossless and a similarly robust Italian mono track (both 24-bit). There are English subtitles for both the Italian or English options although I couldn't distinguish much difference. The wonderful score by Fabio Frizzi, composer for Fulci's Zombie (1979)  and City of the Living Dead (1980) and Sergio Martino's The Scorpion with Two Tails (1982) to name a few - sounds excellent in the lossless significantly adding to the atmosphere. The Arrow Blu-ray is Region FREE.

Arrow include the audio commentaries from their 2011 DVD - the first with Antonella Fulci and Calum Waddell and a second with David Warbeck and Catriona MacColl. Also repeated from the latter SD are the 25-minute AKA Sarah Keller: Cinzia Monreale remembers The Beyond in an interview as well as the 20-minute Catriona MacColl Q&A from the Glasgow Film Theater. There is a short introduction by star Cinzia Monreale. Surprisingly, Arrow's supplements are both less than the Grindhouse and even less than their earlier 2-disc DVD set.

Still one of THE zombie-esque flics to see in your life - a film that never stops giving. The gore is brilliant in 1080P and represents a must-own for horror and Giallo fans.

***

ADDITION: Grindhouse Releasing - Region 'A' Blu-ray - April 2015 - WOW - what an incredible release! The improvement in the image quality is quite evident in the screen captures comparisons with brighter visuals showing more detail via the 1080P. There are some color-shifts which I can't address (see re-colored yellow tint on the pre-credit sequence), but presume they reflect a more accurate representation of the original - or as close as was possible. You can still see some damage under the surface - it is mostly hidden - but it is mostly in the opening 15-minutes or so. For the most part the Blu-ray presentation in-motion is very crisp showcasing some pleasing textures. Colors are richer than the SD relates and through most of the latter half - it can look almost brand new. This was better than I was anticipating and I found it impressive. Bravo.

Eric says: "I prefer the darker Anchor Bay image. I'm only guessing that the Grindhouse utilizes the same HD master as the Arrow (Grindhouse's master was approved by the cinematographer and presumably Grindhouse tweaked the HD master which was prepared by the Italian owners). If that is so, then they also had to recolor the prologue (which was shot in color and meant to be tinted not black and white like the Italian master)."

Grindhouse Releasing offer a number of audio options for watching The Beyond, a 5.1 surround Remix - DTS-HD Master at a whopping 4202 kbps in English that really packs a punch with deeply exported effects and the wonderful score by Fabio Frizzi, composer for Fulci's Zombie (1979)  and City of the Living Dead (1980) and Sergio Martino's The Scorpion with Two Tails (1982) to name a few. There is also a simply Dolby 2.0 channel stereo Remix also in English, the original 1.0 channel mono via a lossless DTS-HD Master at 1141 kbps - also the English version and, lastly a simply Dolby monaural with the Italian-dialogue. Purists should have no complaints with the original track (s) included but the surround significantly impacted in uncompressed. The sync is moderately off but it is something you get used to very quickly - and there are optional English subtitles and the Blu-ray disc is region 'A'.