Writings > DVD Image Comparisons > Blood and Black Lace/Blutige Seide

Blood and Black Lace/Blutige Seide

Region 0 Special Edition (USA) - VCI
vs. Region 0 Unslashed Collectors' Edution (USA) - VCI
vs. Region 0 Limited Edition (Germany) - Hände Weg

Details

Bit Rate

R0 USA SE

R0 USA UCE

(R0 Germany LE bit rate unavailable, sorry!)

Screen Captures

Example 1

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R0 USA SE | R0 USA UCE | R0 Germany LE

Example 2

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R0 USA SE | R0 USA UCE | R0 Germany LE

Example 3

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R0 USA SE | R0 USA UCE | R0 Germany LE

Example 4

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R0 USA SE | R0 USA UCE | R0 Germany LE

Example 5

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R0 USA SE | R0 USA UCE | R0 Germany LE

Note identical print damage on German and new US transfers.

Example 6

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R0 USA SE | R0 USA UCE | R0 Germany LE

Note that, in this single example, no additional material is visible on German and new US releases, suggesting that this extended murder sequence, cut in some prints, was acquired from a different source.

Example 7

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R0 USA SE | R0 USA UCE | R0 Germany LE

Example 8

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R0 USA SE | R0 USA UCE | R0 Germany LE

Comments

It's not often that a re-release of a title looks considerably worse than its predecessor, but the more recent "Unslashed Collectors' Edition" from VCI is a disaster. The earlier Special Edition has its problems - a PAL to NTSC standards conversion, non-anamorphic, partially cropped, sometimes muted colours - but the new edition, which uses the German LE transfer as a source, worsens things tenfold. Now, more information is available on either side of the image, but the transfer is still a standards conversion, and detail levels are greatly worsened. Colours are also slightly more muted in comparison with the German version.

The German version is the way to go for image quality. It certainly has its flaws - there are some noticeable instances of print damage and compression artefacts, and at times I'm not entirely convinced that the colour scheme is correct (Example 2, for instance, looks a little sickly) - but, for being a properly progressive transfer in its native video format, and for showing more of the image (although it's still slightly cropped from its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1), it's ultimately the most satisfying presentation.

Unfortunately, the German release doesn't feature an English audio track. However, provided you can get the now out of print Limited Edition rather than the more recent bare-bones edition, you will at least have the choice of watching the film in Italian with optional English subtitles. The more recent US UCE release is an absolute travesty as far as audio is concerned, replacing the original mono English track with a clumsy 5.1 remix, which is also heavily desynchronised from the image. It also features extremely ugly yellow subtitles.

For English speakers, the US releases constitute superior options for bonus materials than the German release, with the UCE also adding a comparison between the cut and uncut versions of several key murder scenes (seemingly duplicated from the German release). For German speakers, however, their Limited Edition features several unique extras not available elsewhere.

Note that, because I only had access to the film portion of the German release, I have abstained from rating its extras.

Summary