NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION; Carlotta - Region 'B' Blu-ray - May 2011: I adore this film and it was a pleasure to see it again in the glory of 1080P. It is a solid Blu-ray transfer from Carlotta in France. Comparative analysis can be revealing and now the DVD looks a tad boosted with some minor edge enhancement. It's fairly trivial dependant on your system but overall the SD noise is converted to grain on the high-def release that is just under 4 x the bitrate of its DVD counterpart and there is a lot of depth prevalent. Improvement may be subtle in the still captures - but it definitely exists.

I never realized the value of Matinee's audio until I listened through the lossless linear PCM track. The effects (rumble-rama, shrieks and screams, 'the bomb' etc.) have some notable depth - important to the suspension of disbelief for the theater experience of 'Mant!'. The Carlotta has only French subtitles (and DUB choice) which are optional (via remote not menu) on my Malata that identifies the disc as being region 'B'-locked.

There are some worthy extras on this Blu-ray - and all are in English with removable French subtitles. The best of which is the 16-minute "Mant!" (wish it was longer) with a 6-minute intro by director Joe Dante who discusses how the timelines of the creature-feature and Cold-War peak through the Cuban missile crisis don't really converge but they did a painstaking recreation of those flicks for Matinee with decent, if modestly produced, effects making them very reminiscent of the originals from the mid-to-late 50's. There is a standard Making-of for less than 5 minutes, a trailer and some gallery photos in a short slideshow.

NOTE: I missed another supplement - a 1/2 documentary/featurette with Dante entitled 'Paranoia ne Forumi Vision'. It is more about William Castle and the genre - it is very good.'

'Panic on Florida Beach' seems an odd choice of translated title for Matinee on Blu-ray. I think this is a fabulous film - a wonderful homage to William Castle, and creature-features like the original The Fly and Them!. I've watched it at least a half dozen times and I always enjoy it. Thanks to Carlotta for a great Blu-ray and Kudos to Joe Dante - a strongly recommended part of any digital library!

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ON THE DVD: Image Entertainment came out with a snapper-cased, non-anamorphic, DVD of Matinee in 1998 HERE - that is now out-of-print.

I feel like I am always referencing this film and watch it all the time so I guess it is time to review the newish, Universal, DVD.

It's a solid, dual-layered, progressive and anamorphically transferred - bare-bones- DVD. Bright colors (a lot of vibrant red in the film), minor noise and switches from black and white to color pretty seamlessly. There is no notable manipulation and the image very clean without speckles or damage. 

Audio is 2.0 channel stereo and likewise clean and clear without major flaw. There are optional English subtitles. Just like the 98' DVD - no extras - well, the older disc did have some text screen bios. 

Gary W. Tooze