Black Sunday Arrow Blu-ray Release 01/28/13

[X-human]

From Amazon.co.uk:

STARE INTO THESE EYES... discover deep within them the unspeakable terrifying secret of BLACK SUNDAY... it will paralyze you with fright!

Legendary Scream Queen Barbara Steele (Shivers, Caged Heat) stars in this classic slice of gothic terror from the father of fantastic Italian cinema Mario Bava (Lisa & the Devil).

A beautiful witch is sentenced to death for her evil deeds by her own brother, condemned to die by having a metal mask hammered onto her face before being burnt at the stake. As she passes, she puts a terrible curse on all her future descendants as the spikes of the death mask pierce her flesh... But when two unwitting travellers discover her final resting place and worse, drip blood on her resting corpse, they unleash her once again in all her stunningly beautiful, terrifying glory....

Banned in the UK on its release, Black Sunday is a groundbreaking film that opened the door for Spaghetti horror in all its gory glory.

•High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of two versions of the film; The Mask of Satan the European version with score by Roberto Nicolosi & Black Sunday the re-edited and re-dubbed AIP version with Les Baxter score, on home video for the first time
•Three audio versions: Optional Italian, European English and AIP English re-dub and re-score
•English SDH subtitles for both English versions and a new English subtitle translation of the Italian audio
•Audio Commentary with Bava biographer and expert Tim Lucas
•Introduction to the film by author and critic Alan Jones
•Interview with star and horror icon Barbara Steele
•Deleted Scene from the Italian version with notes by Tim Lucas
•International Trailer
•US Trailer
•Italian Trailer
•TV Spot
•I Vampiri (1956) Italy's first sound horror film directed by Riccardo Freda and Mario Bava
•US I Vampiri Trailer The Devil s Commandment
•Trailer reel trailers of all the major works by Mario Bava including rarities from the early part of his career
•Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
•Collector s booklet featuring new writing on the films by Matt Bailey and Alan Jones, illustrated with original archive stills and posters

Looks like it'll include both the European and AIP US version in HD. There's some controversy over the Kino HD transfer so I'll be interesting what we get here (probably the same one with even more tampering as Arrow is known to do). I Vampiri will probably be in SD so I didn't toss that into the topic.

[dave13]

this is cool. the inclusion of I Vampiri has me sold, even if it is just SD - I never got around to picking that one up. The only Kino Bava title I got was Hatchet for the Honeymoon. But I love Arrow's packaging, so unless they really bugger up the transfer, I'll be grabbing this.

As much as I love Black Sunday, what I really want is Black Sabbath in HD. With the English audio track.

[JGrendel]

This sounds like a good release to keep my eye on, anyone know if Arrow is releasing region free?

[russweiss]

While I tend to really like Arrows packaging most reviews say the U.S. transfers are better quality so I'll stick with the domestic release.

[X-human]

Arrow's releases are usually Region B, and since Kino has them as well I highly suspect that it will be region locked.

Originally Posted by dave13

As much as I love Black Sunday, what I really want is Black Sabbath in HD. With the English audio track.

Yes, Black Sabbath with Karloff's voice is a must. It's bizarre to see him talking without it.

[JGrendel]

Yeah but Kino's version doesn't have I Vampiri does it?

[Katatonia]

Originally Posted by X-human

Yes, Black Sabbath with Karloff's voice is a must. It's bizarre to see him talking without it.

Yeah, I hate hearing Karloff in Italian. And the English version is basically a very different film in many ways beyond the language. Totally different music score, different editing and the stories are also arranged differently.


Intrada just released a CD with Les Baxter's original score of the English version of the film, so here's hoping...

Originally Posted by JGrendel

Yeah but Kino's version doesn't have I Vampiri does it?

Kino's version is labelled as the full Italian cut, but the audio is only in English. Same running time as the old Anchor Bay DVD.

[Undeadcow]

Will both versions be in 1080p? The wording of the release seems vague.

Originally Posted by JGrendel

This sounds like a good release to keep my eye on, anyone know if Arrow is releasing region free?

Even if not region free, and it likely will be, Arrow DVD content is usually in PAL format not compatible with US players. The inclusion of a movie DVD suggests to me that might be the case. Getting both versions of Black Sunday and I Vampiri in 1080p on region free would be too insane.

[deepred]

Originally Posted by Undeadcow

Will both versions be in 1080p? The wording of the release seems vague. Even if not region free, and it likely will be, Arrow DVD content is usually in PAL format not compatible with US players. The inclusion of a movie DVD suggests to me that might be the case. Getting both versions of Black Sunday and I Vampiri in 1080p on region free would be too insane.

This will be Region-B locked.

Source
http://www.cult-labs.com/forums/curr...uncements.html

[MorallySound]

DVDBeaver review and comparison: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCom...lacksunday.htm

[spawningblue]

It sucks that this release is region locked as the Arrow seems to be the one to get.