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

ADDITION: VCI Blu-ray (October 2025): VCI have transferred Jack Hill's Mondo Keyhole to Blu-ray. It features a 2K restoration sourced from the original 35mm camera negative. Curious techniques abound, including Dutch angles that skew perspectives to convey disorientation and inner turmoil, particularly in erotic and violent encounters like the junkyard assault scene. The overall 1080P look is stylishly moody yet crude, with kinetic camera effects that elevate the film's sexploitation roots into something more... experimental - foreshadowing Hill's later cult works. There are inconsistencies - all sorts of weird damage + cue blips (see below) and a few instances of chroma while the textures are less grainy and more soft and waxy. VCI have done worse digitizations but this is boosted - probably the best Mondo Keyhole will look for a long while. In the larger scale of Blu-ray capabilities this would be considered 'poor' to 'very poor'.

NOTE: We have added 78 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, VCI use a linear PCM mono track (16-bit) in the original English language. Evidence suggests the film was shot largely without synchronous sound, relying on post-production dubbing and voiceover to build its narrative. Sound design overall is sparse but purposeful, ambient noises - footsteps echoing on streets, party chatter, or the rustle of heroin preparation - heighten the film's realism and unease, while the music swells during hallucinatory peaks to create a disorienting auditory collage that aligns with the visual psychedelia. The score, composed by The Psychedelic Psymphonette, is a standout feature, infusing the film with a funky, groovy vibe that borders on dance music at times, enhancing the strange, otherworldly atmosphere of the surreal sequences. Original tracks like "Don’t Be Afraid" punctuate moments of tension and ecstasy, blending psychedelic rock influences with exploitative undertones to mirror the era's countercultural edge. The uncompressed transfer results in a soundscape that feels both rudimentary and innovative, contributing to the film's cult appeal as a time capsule of 1960s grindhouse audio aesthetics. VCI offer optional English (SDH) subtitles on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

The VCI Blu-ray extras package is robust for a cult title, headlined by two audio commentaries: a new 2025 track by noted film historian, podcaster, and artist Rob Kelly (creator of The Fire and Water Podcast Network), who dives into the roughie genre's history, production curiosities, and artistic elements with engaging enthusiasm; and an archival commentary featuring director Jack Hill alongside Elijah Drenner (American Grindhouse,) offering firsthand insights into the film's creation, challenges in exploitation cinema, and details like restoring nudity for the uncut version. Complementing these is a 'Psychotronica Photo Gallery', which includes promotional materials, stills, and references of other films (nothing for Mondo Keyhole,) providing broader context for 1960s underground cinema. Included is a second disc DVD - but with a 2025 date - updated from VCI's 2008 SD that is a Double Feature with The Raw Ones.

Jack Hill's Mondo Keyhole was retitled (from The Worst Crime of All) to capitalize on the "mondo" film trend inspired by 1962's Mondo Cane, though it deviates from documentary-style sensationalism into a more narrative-driven, surreal exploration of depravity. It features Hill as writer, cinematographer, and editor. It is a more obscure entry in Hill's filmography, which later included classics like Spider Baby (1967), Foxy Brown (1974), and Switchblade Sisters (1975). The narrative centers on Howard Thorne (Nick Moriarty), a seemingly unremarkable Los Angeles-based pornographer who runs a mail-order operation dealing in fetish magazines, films, and records. By day, Howard maintains a facade of normalcy, but he is plagued by violent impulses: he stalks, terrifies, and assaults women he encounters at work, parties, or on the streets. At its core, Mondo Keyhole is a psychological portrait of a fractured mind, delving into themes of sexual violence, addiction, misogyny, and the commodification of desire within the pornography industry. Howard's internal monologue - voiced in part by cult actress Luana Anders (Dementia 13, Greaser's Palace, The Killing Kind, The Pit and the Pendulum) - exposes his delusions of dominance and denial, portraying him as an avatar of compulsion rather than a charismatic villain. This Freudian descent critiques the hidden darkness in everyday men, blurring fantasy and reality to mirror societal repression and the era's underground sex trade. The film avoids glorifying its subject, instead exposing the banality of evil through Howard's ordinariness, forcing viewers into a complicit voyeuristic position akin to Michael Powell's Peeping Tom. The narrative ambitiously critiques ego, denial, and the American underbelly, walking a tightrope between smut and artistry. Its depiction of drug abuse, misogyny and assault remains uncomfortable. Upon release, Mondo Keyhole was an adults-only oddity, largely forgotten until cult revivals via VHS (Something Weird Video) and now high-definition restorations. It's brutally exploitative yet artistically ambitious. VCI's Blu-ray release of Mondo Keyhole stands as a dive into cinematic sleaze that's both trashy and transcendent. The commentaries add essential value.

Gary Tooze