Just spotchecked this one and I'll definately set aside the time to watch this one again. This is a two disc set. The main feature is both letterboxed at 1.66:1 and anamorphically enhanced (with pillar-boxing on the side). Some scenes look a tad darker than the Image disc but the blacks are incredibly deep. The Italian and English tracks are available in both mono and 5.1 but there are only Italian subtitles. Being the Italian version, this one begins with "una produzione GALATEA - JOLLY FILM" and "realizzata de MASSIMO DE RITA" before the pre-credits sequence (where there is only a black screen and the start of the music in the export version). It also contains the missing scene with Asa and her father. A note on the film in the second disc reveals that the scene was improperly placed in the original Italian version and the main feature places the scene correctly just before the interior scene with Asa playing the piano (it originally interrupted the scene in the barn in the original Italian release). This scene plays in Italian on all four tracks.

The 5.1 mixes sound great when audited through my 2-channel stero speakers. It reveals additional instrumentation usually buried in the mono mix, making Nicolosi's score sound more complex and less bombastic. The sound effects are also subtly remixed in the scenes I looked at (the crinkling of the fireplace under the piano music in the first scene inside the castle).

The second disc contains a hommage by Carlo Mastrocinque to the film as well as some clapboard footage scored with the piano theme. There is also an interview with Barbara Steele who speaks in Italian (only Italian subtitles are offered) as well as the MARIO BAVA: MAESTRO OF THE MACABRE featurette for British TV. There are Italian subtitles but most of the participants speak English (the Italians are overdubbed). Unlike the rest of the immaculate package, this featurette looks poor in the sense that it seems to have been converted to PAL from an NTSC version (or something like that). Pans are blurry and the ending credit scrawl is all but impossible to read because of this blurring.

An essential purchase even without the informative commentary track of the Image disc.

Now, if someone would just get around to releasing Lamberto's "remake"... I've never seen it but the reviews all sound intriguing.

Looks like a double dip for me, if only for that extra scene. Is dvd.it the way to go for this Americano and his practically worthless dollar? I'll be looking for that upcoming release of "Curse of the Crimson Altar" as well.

-Dean