Blu-ray Movie Reviews

The masters of modern horror - George Romero and Dario Argento - bring you an unprecedented pair of shockers inspired by the tales of Edgar Allan Poe. In Romero's "The Facts In The Case Of Mr. Valdemar," a conniving wife and her lover use a hypnotic trance to embezzle a fortune from her dying husband, only to receive some chilling surprises from beyond the grave. Then in Argento's "The Black Cat," a deranged crime scene photographer is driven to brutal acts of madness and murder by his girlfriend's new pet. But will this cunning feline deliver a final sickening twist of its own?

A nice double feature of two short films by horror masters Romero and Argento. Both are pretty creepy, but slightly dated. The stories remind me of something that would have been included in the Creepshow films back in the day. I enjoyed both but Argento’s The Black Cat was my favorite of the pair.

Blue Underground delivers a surprisingly good HD presentation here. I was really impressed with how well the film print stood up. Detail is outstanding and the natural grain structure of the film print is left intact. The image has plenty of depth and dimension and colors have a vivid quality that isn’t typical of an older film like this. I only wish most catalog titles could look this good!

The soundtrack is presented in your choice of DTS-HD Master Audio or Dolby TrueHD. Both mixes are 7.1 and both sounded about the same to my ear. There is a big issue though, when dialogue pans into the left or right main channel, there is a delay effect that sounds like some kind of funky reverb. It only affects dialogue though and not the normal ambiance or sound effects. This happens quite a few times with both mixes but thankfully most of the dialogue is delivered from the center channel. Surrounds do a nice job of lending to the atmosphere and there are some directional cues now and again. Spatial design isn’t bad but this isn’t a very dynamic or open mix and its age does show on occasion.

Extras include interviews with the legendary directors along with the producers of the film (including Argento’s daughter Asia). You also get a look at Tom Savini’s great make-up work for the film and a tour of his house, a real treat for fans of the legend of make-up effects! The trailer and an interview with 80’s horror icon Adrienne Barbeau are also included.

I was surprised I had never heard of this collection of short films given the talent involved. Again, they reminded me a lot of the short films in the Creepshow collection and were great if you’re into that sort of thing. The HD transfers are outstanding but the audio has its issues. Easily worth a rental though for fans of the genre and directors.