Night Of The Werewolf/Vengeance
Of The Zombies (Blu-ray Double Feature Set)
Picture: B- Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Films: C+
BCI
Eclipse originally issued these Paul Naschy Horror vehicles, Night Of The Werewolf (1980) and Vengeance Of The Zombies (1973) separately
on DVD, but we reviewed them together because they were issued on the same
date, had most of the same producing participants and were to be issued in
HD-DVD and Blu-ray. Here is our original
review:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5334/Night+Of+The+Werewolf+++Vengean
Now, they
have arrived in Blu-ray and we were immediately curious as to whether the HD
transfers looked better in this format and the 1080p playback in both cases
definitely shows improvements over the DVD versions. Werewolf
is 1.85 X 1 and shows the expected jump in color, richness and (to a lesser
extent) detail and depth. Metals look
distinct and flesh tones are warmer. Zombie is 1.33 X 1 (the first such case
outside of a couple of classics from Warner Bros. in either HD format) and is
even cleaner with more detail, depth, natural look and why the older film (by
seven years) looks better is a still a mystery.
Also,
since our last review, we have not uncovered any more information on how Zombie was supposedly blown-up into
70mm prints or why it has been sometimes credited as being made in
Techniscope. Maybe by the time the
HD-DVD arrives, we’ll get an answer from somewhere.
Sound and
extras are exactly the same as the DVDs, but the picture improvements are more
than enough to make this Blu-ray set a solid successor to the low def
DVDs. We’ll see if BCI issues more
Naschy titles this way and if this set arrives on HD-DVD.
- Nicholas Sheffo
