Caligula – The Imperial Edition (Image Entertainment Blu-ray w/ Bonus DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: B- Extras: C+ Film: C+
After a
successful reissue on DVD with more extras than ever unearthed from the
Penthouse archives now that Bob Guccione lost control of the company he
founded, the film has arrived on Blu-ray.
For al the details on the film and more, you can see our coverage of the
3-DVD set at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6075/Caligula+–+The+Imperial+Edition+(3
Well, the
film continues to be the one-of-a-kind, over the top would-be epic that keeps
selling. The 1080p 2.00 X 1 digital High
Definition image keeps the odd aspect ratio of the DVD, has some improved color
and detail, but where there are improvements, you can sadly also see flaws in
the print that are not the fault of the transfer. This was often shot with a “porn diffusion”
in mind, but the original materials need some work, are luck to survive and
were only stores so well, so they are suffering from some neglect. That is unfortunate, so this is better than
the DVD, but very marginally and stills in DVD-ROM section of the bonus DVD
give you a better idea of how this looked when first issued.
What is
improved is the sound, here in a DTS HD Master Audio (MA) lossless 5.0 track
that brings out more of what worked in the 1990 re-release digital sound
remaster. That makes up for the lack of
picture improvements and except for some rough spots, this is an improvement,
though sloppiness in the original recording and other flaws will always
remain. The extras are the same and the
Blu-ray case has a liner notes booklet.
That makes the Blu-ray edition superior to the DVD set and it takes up
less space. If you must own a copy, go
for this one.
- Nicholas Sheffo
