ADDITION: Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray October 17': Kino's new Blu-ray transfer of Mario Bava's Kill, Baby... Kill hasn't had the color correction of the Arrow and the overall 1080P image is more green. There is a slight shift to the right but has some pleasing grain textures and looks super in-motion on a dual-layered disc with a max'ed out bitrate.

NOTE: Like the Arrow, this has the 'fallen on spikes' title card (see above).

Audio also offer both English-language and Italian tracks but the former is linear PCM - only 16-bit - and the latter is lossy Dolby. It, therefore, loses to the Arrow, but also offer optional English subtitle. The Blu-ray disc is Region 'A'-locked.

Kino include the new audio commentary by Tim Lucas, author of Mario Bava All the Colors of the Dark , the 25-minute "Kill, Bava, Kill" interview with Lamberto, the international theatrical trailer, German-language opening sequences, the 10-minute interview with Erika Blano and 3 American TV Spots. No liner notes.

The Arrow is the way to go with superior a/v and supplements but this Kino Blu-ray still has plenty of value with the commentary and a 1080P video.

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ADDITION: Arrow - Region FREE - Blu-ray September 17': Arrow's new Blu-ray transfer of Mario Bava's Kill, Baby... Kill is very similar to the Koch Media 1080P released earlier this year. Both are on dual-layered disc with max'ed out bitrates. Thee are some color shifts and the Arrow looks best to me with superior contrast and the UK rendering shows more information in the frame - mostly on the right edge. It still has the grain support but colors are superior - if, at time, having a slight blue-leaning. I like the overall image the best of the two BDs.

NOTE: This has the lady on the fallen-on-spikes 'Title sequence' opening.

Arrow also advance in the audio with linear PCM, mono, tracks, in both English and Italian, but 24-bit as opposed to 16. Carlo Rustichelli's (Seduced and Abandoned, Divorce - Italian Style, 1974's Ten Little Indians and tons more) score, reminiscent of his compositions for Bava's The Whip and the Body, maintain a mysterious atmosphere throughout sounding quite eerie and haunting, with more depth via the Arrow uncompressed transfer. Arrow have optional English (SDH) subtitles and their Blu-ray disc is Region FREE!.

Tonight I will tuck-into the new audio commentary by Tim Lucas, author of Mario Bava All the Colors of the Dark - I am excited and don't want any distractions. The Arrow also has the brief introduction to the film by Erika Blanc. We get a new video essay - and it's wonderfully insightful - entitled The Devil s Daughter: Mario Bava and the Gothic Child, by critic Kat Ellinger running shy of 22-minutes. Kill, Bava, Kill!, is a 25-minute interview with assistant director Lamberto Bava about his father. There is a 2014 Erika Blanc interview plus we get Yellow, Semih Tareen's short film homage to the cinema of Mario Bava. There is the German opening and title sequence as an extras, an international trailer, photocomic, image gallery and the package has a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys. The first pressings get a collector's booklet featuring new writing by critic Travis Crawford.

As anticipated - the Arrow Blu-ray all the way - a superior package with the better a/v, English subtitle, new extra including new commentary by Tim Lucas. Nirvana!! Buy with confidence.

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ADDITION: Koch Media - Region 'B' - Blu-ray May 17': Koch have created a real gem here. Bava's Kill, Baby... Kill! gets a dual-layered, maxed out bitrate, 1080P, transfer that is rich and grainy - I've never seen the film look better. Skin tones cool and normalize, there is more information in the frame. It looks so heavy and film-like in-motion. Contrast gains layers and the SD artifacts are no where in sight. A shade blue leaning, and brittle but so appreciated to enhance the film's naturally expressionistic look! Gorgeous...

Koch add audio for three language tracks - all in 2.0 channel liner PCM (16-bit) being German, Italian and English.  There are optional German subtitles and the audio tracks do NOT force the subtitles.

BIG extra is a Tim Lucas commentary (author of Mario Bava : All the Colors of the Dark), of course in English, but with optional German subtitles. I believe it was on a rare 2007 DVD (and a German DVD?) - but I have never heard it and it's wonderful to have it accessible, now. It's fabulous, filled with knowledge and discussion on the performers, story, Bava, the music, the limited budget and much more... full of value! There are also trailers, TV Spots and a photo gallery of posters on the Blu-ray. The package contains two DVD discs. A second of the film, without the Lucas commentary (but all audio options) and a third of extras - all in Italian with German subtitles. They include Freak-O_Rama productions Kill Bava Kill! running 11-minutes, Erika in Angst - a 10-minute interview with Erika Blanc, Melissa Geist 30-minutes and another 1/2 hour with Erika Blanc in what looks to be an older interview. The handsome hardcover package contains a liner notes booklet with pictures and German text. It appears to be an essay about Bava.

Bava's Gothic Giallo masterpiece goes 1080P and fans should celebrate. What a great Blu-ray package! We WILL compare to the eventual Kino - but this is strongly recommended at this stage!

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ADDITION: Anchor Bay - April 07': Anchor Bay release is a vast improvement over previous public domain and VCI releases. The quality is similar to German disc, but Anchor Bay includes English audio and original Italian soundtrack with English subtitles. Unfortunately, Tim Lucas commentary is not included on this disc (it's owned by Dark Sky Films which cancelled their release at the last minute).

 - Gregory Meshman

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VCI disc is out of print now. There are several public domain releases of this film, but the VCI disc is said to be the best quality. It was transferred from 16mm print, so it doesn't show the whole frame. There're no extras on the disc, so there's no reason to keep this mediocre release. Mario Bava biographer Tim Lucas recorded a commentary for this film to be released by Image Entertainment, but that release never happened. Hopefully, some other studio does this film some justice. German release has excellent colors, but alas it's only in German with no subtitles. There was an earlier German release from Anolis Entertainment under the title Die toten Augen des Dr. Dracula. That disc also includes a 20-minute interview with Erika Blanc in German only, but the picture quality is the same as the disc reviewed here.

 - Gregory Meshman