Average Bitrate: 34.99 Mbps

Chapters 12
 

Blu-ray Release Date: April 3rd, 2018
Standard Blu-ray Case

Chapters 8

Firstly, the presentation starts with "this was scanned in 4K from the only known print of this version (The Sadist of Notre Dame). The element scanned was a 35mm exhibition print and although they restored some of the more egregious damage, this presentation does exhibit some signs of wear and tear. An element in superior condition is not known to exist." This is a newer, remade version with footage from Franco's 1975 Exorcism on Blu-ray from Redemption HERE.

It's a overwhelming leap over the Spanish DVD - as evidenced by the matched screen captures. This 1080P is on a dual-layered disc with a max'ed out bitrate. This transfer exports some very pleasing and consistent grain textures. The image is brighter, colors are richer and deeper, contrast improves and there is more information in the frame - on all 4 sides. Aside from the infrequent frame-specific/emulsion damage (see samples below) that still exists it looks quite strong in Blu-ray with the variances more to do with the production culling than the strong HD transfer.

Audio comes in three options - DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel (16-bit) tracks in Spanish, English or French. The first (Spanish) tends to sound the healthiest but still maintains some production limitations. Effects seem relegated to screams and they can tend to sound shrill. The score is by veteran Daniel White (Crimson, Zombie Lake, Daughter of Dracula, The Sadistic Baron von Klaus, The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein, The Man With the Severed Head) and it supports the film reasonably well. There are two subtitle options - English (for the translated Spanish/French and DUBtitles from the English DUB (see samples below). I will re-check but they don't seem SDH - as advertised. The Blu-ray disc is Region FREE playable worldwide.

Severin add four extras; The Gory Days Of Le Brady is a 31-minute documentary short on the legendary Parisian horror cinema - and it is interesting. I enjoyed Stephen Thrower on Sadist Of Notre Dame - a 28-minute interview with the author Of ‘Murderous Passions – The Delirious Cinema Of Jesus Franco’ and he gives his informed opinions on the evolution of the film, Franco and more. There is a visual essay by Robert Monell the webmaster of ‘I’m In A Jess Franco State Of Mind’ - it runs 6.5 minutes. Treblemakers: is a 5-minute interview with Alain Petit, author Of ‘Jess Franco Ou Les Prosperites Des Bis’ and he identifies the 3 version "three-headed Hydra" of Jess Franco's films. It is in French with yellow English subtitles.