Night of the Blood Monster (The Bloody Judge) – Blue Underground (4k UHD/Blu-ray Combo)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy/West Germany/Spain/Liechtenstein, 1970
Director: Jesús Franco
Writers: Enrico Colombo, Jesús Franco, Michael Haller, Harry Alan Towers, Anthony Scott Veitch
Cast: Christopher Lee, Maria Schell, Leo Genn, Hans Hass Jr., Maria Rohm, Margaret Lee, Peter Martell, Howard Vernon, Milo Quesada, Diana Lorys

Release Date: March 26th, 2024
Approximate Running Time: 102 Minutes 41 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen / 2160 Progressive / HEVC / H.265 / Dolby Vision HDR10
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono English
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish, English for German
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $49.95

"Christopher Lee (The Wicker Man) gives one of his most unforgettable performances as Judge Jeffreys, the infamous 17th Century witchfinder whose unholy obsession with a luscious wench (Maria Rohm of Eugenie) fuels a jaw-dropping spree of torture, brutality and flesh-ripping perversion." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5 (4K UHD, Blu-ray)

Here’s the information provided about the transfer: "a brand-new 2023 Dolby Vision HDR 4K master, painstakingly restored from various European vault elements featuring additional nudity, bloodshed, and what Christopher Lee himself calls "scenes of extraordinary depravity!"

Night of the Blood Monster (The Bloody Judge) comes on a 66 GB dual layer 4K UHD

Disc Size: 56.8 GB

Feature: 54 GB

This is an exceptional transfer by Blue Underground; the source looks excellent. Flesh tones look healthy, colors look vibrant, image clarity, contrast, black levels, and compression are solid, and the image always looks organic. That said, this is easily the best Night of the Blood Monster (The Bloody Judge) has ever looked on home video.

Night of the Blood Monster (The Bloody Judge) comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 44 GB

Feature: 24.8 GB 

This Blu-ray uses the same master that is used for the 4K UHD disc.

Audio: 5/5

This release comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD mono mix in English. The audio is in excellent shape. Dialog comes through clearly, everything sounds balanced, ambient sounds are well-represented, and range-wise, this track sounds robust when it should. Included are removable English SDH, removable French subtitles, and removable Spanish subtitles. This version of Night of the Blood Monster (The Bloody Judge) has four moments that are in German; no English was recorded for these moments. There are removable English subtitles for these moments in German.

Extras:

Extras on the 4K UHD disc include an audio commentary with film historians Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson, an audio commentary with film historians Kim Newman and Barry Forshaw and an audio commentary with film historians David Flint and Adrian Smith.

Extras on the Blu-ray disc include stills galleries: posters (12 images), advertising materials (9 images), lobby cards (30 images), black and white stills (155 images), color stills (57 images), and video & soundtrack art (13 images), U.S. combo TV spot for Night of the Blood Monster and Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb (34 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), U.S. combo theatrical trailer for Night of the Blood Monster and Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb (1 minute 53 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), a theatrical trailer under the title Night of the Blood Monster (56 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), a deleted scene: Mary’s Grief (5 minutes 45 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Italian with removable English subtitles), alternate scenes: clothed love scene (1 minute 15 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), Jeffery’s nightmare (46 seconds, Dolby Digital mono), Mary’s release from dungeon (1 minute 22 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), Bloody Judge main titles (2 minutes, Dolby Digital mono), Der Hexentöter von Blackmoor main titles (2 minutes 15 seconds, Dolby Digital mono, German text with removable English subtitles) and ending from German version (1 minute 41 seconds, Dolby Digital mono German with removable English subtitles), an archival interview with director Jess Franco and actor Christopher Lee titled Bloody Jess (24 minutes 15 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English and French with removable English subtitles for French), an interview with Stephen Thrower, author of Murderous Passions: The Delirious Cinema of Jesus Franco titled Judgement Day (33 minutes 32 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with filmmaker Alan Birkinshaw and Stephen Thrower on Harry Alan Towers titled In The Shadows (24 minutes 15 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an audio commentary with Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson, an audio commentary with Kim Newman and Barry Forshaw and an audio commentary with David Flint and Adrian Smith.

Other extras include a slipcover (limited to the first pressing).

Summary:

When The Bloody Judge was originally released in the U.S., it was under the alternate title Night of the Blood Monster. Producer Harry Alan Towers had a good eye for finding and exploiting whatever was trending. And The Bloody Judge was made in response to films like Michael Reeves The Witchfinder General.

The Bloody Judge was Harry Alan Towers' eighth of nine collaborations with Jess Franco. And though most of these films are more restrained than Jess Franco’s post-Harry Alan Towers films, there are still many flourishes throughout these nine films that are undeniably Jess Franco.

The Bloody Judge is loosely based on Lord Jefferies, the Lord Chief Justice of seventeenth-century England. He used his position to further his political and sexual desires by condemning women as witches, when they were often not witches.

Christopher Lee (The Whip and the Body) is cast in the role of Lord Jefferies. This is the type of character that Christopher Lee excelled at portraying. He delivers a diabolical performance in which he fully immerses himself. Other notable cast members include Maria Schell (99 Women) in the role of a blind witch named Mother Rosa, Howard Vernon (The Other Side of the Mirror) in the role of the executioner, and Maria Rohm (Venus in Furs) in the role of Mary Gray, a woman who is falsely accused of being a witch by Lord Jefferies.

From a production standpoint, there are no areas where The Bloody Judge is lacking. The premise is well-executed, the narrative does a great job building tension, and the production design and costume design are first-rate. Also, there is an abundance of naked flesh and brutal moments of torture. Another area that excels is composer Bruno Nicolai’s exceptional score, which perfectly reinforces the mood. Ultimately, The Bloody Judge is a satisfying mix of sadism and historical melodrama.

Night of the Blood Monster (The Bloody Judge) gets a definitive release from Blue Underground, highly recommended.

Note about the 4K screenshots: It is not possible to make Dolby Vision or HDR10 screenshots that faithfully match the experience of watching a film in motion on a TV. Instead of not having any screenshots, all of the 4K screenshots are m2ts taken with a VLC player and lossless PNGs.

Written by Michael Den Boer