It’s a Paul Naschy werewolf movie, of course, but don’t overlook Julia Saly’s uncanny performance as the resurrected Elizabeth Bathory in THE NIGHT OF THE WEREWOLF.
and still believing that Allen is the culprit. The feature’s tagline (“There’s more than one way to lose your life to a killer”) becomes deeply ironic when one realizes that one such way to lose your life would be to get falsely ac- cused of terrible crimes in a ma- jor Hollywood movie. While many people will leave ZODIAC assum- ing that Arthur Leigh Allen was the Zodiac, the truth is that many of those currently studying the case do not believe this to be so. The lengthy ZODIAC has been given 27 chapters, just like the earlier release, but the 2.35:1 transfer is an improvement. Not only does it look great, but the English 5.1 surround sound is great too. The Director’s Cut has dropped the equivalent French track that was found on the ear- lier release, but it does have French, English (quite thorough) and Spanish subtitles, which are thankfully carried over to the spe- cial features. An HD- DVD 2-Disc Director’s Cut is also available, retailing for $39.99, although
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both it and the DVD version can be found for less than the outra- geously overpriced widescreen and fullscreen editions that were initially released, the only extra found on them being a promo for this 2-Disc Director’s Cut.
HD/Blu-ray
THE NIGHT OF THE WEREWOLF / VENGEANCE OF THE ZOMBIES
El retorno del Hombre Lobo / La Rebelion de las Muertas “The Return of the Werewolf” / “The Revolution of the Dead” 1981/1972, BCI Eclipse, DD-5.1 & 2.0/MA/ST/+, $19.95, 92m 3s/88m 43s, BR DVD
By Tim Lucas
Previously issued separately as standard definition issues by Deimos Entertainment/BCI [reviewed VW 131:57-60], this
two-disc set marks the arrival of Spanish horror legend Paul Naschy on Blu-ray. Both films look no- ticeably prettier than the earlier releases, but their enhancement isn’t always beneficial.
The more recent of the two
films, THE NIGHT OF THE WEREWOLF (mistakenly dated 1980 on the packaging), was photographed by Alejandro Ulloa in a manner that was fashionable at the time: bright, with lots of diffusion. Seen in Blu-ray, the cin- ematography gains quite a bit of detail, at times looking so sharp that you can guess how much water has been added to a bottle of whiskey that’s being passed around or how long Julia Saly, as Elizabeth Bathory, had to hold stage blood in her mouth prior to biting someone, diluting the mixture with her saliva. In the more diffuse shots, brightly lit whites generate mild haloing, while some scenes shot in rela- tive darkness yield a fair amount of grain as the lens struggles for light; these are not faults of the
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