6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.9 |
An erotic horror tale about a vixen vampiress seducing and killing women to appease her insatiable thirst for female blood.
Starring: Soledad Miranda, Ewa Strömberg, Dennis Price (I), Heidrun Kussin, José Martínez BlancoHorror | 100% |
Foreign | 53% |
Erotic | 25% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
German: LPCM 2.0
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Jess Franco's "Vampyros Lesbos" (1971) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films. The supplemental features on the disc include the alternative Spanish language version of the film, "Las Vampiras"; original German trailer for the film; archival interview with Jess Franco, video interview with author Stephen Thrower; and more. In German, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.
Countess Nadine Carody
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.66:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Jess Franco's Vampyros Lesbos arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films.
If you have seen any of Ascot Elite's Golden Goya Collection releases (Jack the Ripper, Ilsa - The Mad Butcher, Downtown), then you should have a pretty good idea what type of work has been done for Vampyros Lesbos. Generally speaking, detail and clarity range from satisfying to decent to occasionally good. Depth fluctuates as well -- either because of production limitations or because there is footage from an inferior source -- but the fluctuations never become distracting. Grain is visible, but there are traces of extremely light denoising corrections. As a result, select sequences could look a bit flat (see screencaptures #5, 18, 19), while some sequences could even convey borderline smearing effects (see screencapture #16). Because the encoding has not been optimized, it appears that some of the high-frequencies are also partially clipped. This further exacerbates the softness and also introduces some light artifacts (see screencapture #2). Colors are stable and natural, but saturation could be better. Finally, there are a few uneven transitions, but overall image stability is good. All in all, despite the issues mentioned above this is a decent presentation of Vampyros Lesbos. However, more often than not it is very easy to see that there is plenty of room for substantial improvements. My score is 3.25/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your Blu-ray player regardless of your geographical location).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: German LPCM 2.0. Optional English subtitles have been provided for the main feature.
The fantastic psychedelic soundtrack benefits the most from the lossless treatment. And with the music having such an important role in the film, there really are some quite dramatic improvements (listen to "The Lions & The Cucumber" and you will know exactly what I mean). The dialog is stable and easy to follow, but occasionally some extremely light background hiss sneaks in. Interestingly enough, however, during the music themes it almost completely disappears. There are no audio dropouts or digital distortions to report in this review. The English translation is very good.
Blu-ray
Vampyros Lesbos is certainly one of cult Spanish director Jess Franco's very best films. It is very atmospheric, unusually well lensed, and complimented by what many consider to be one of the top psychedelic soundtracks from the '70s. The preferred by Franco German language version of the film has been recently remastered. It looks fine in high-definition, but it should have looked more convincing. RECOMMENDED.
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