The Living Dead Girl – Indicator Series (4k UHD)

                                

Theatrical Release Date: France, 1982
Director: Jean Rollin
Writer: Jean Rollin, Jacques Ralf, Gregory K. Heller
Cast: Marina Pierro, Françoise Blanchard, Mike Marshall, Carina Barone, Alain Petit

Release Date: April 27th, 2026 (UK), April 28th, 2026 (USA)
Approximate Running Time: 89 Minutes 49 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Widescreen / 2160 Progressive / HEVC / H.265 / Dolby Vision HDR10
Rating: 18 (UK), NR (USA)
Sound: DTS-HD Mono French
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: £24.99 (UK), $49.95 (USA)

"A spillage of toxic waste causes Catherine (Blanchard) to rise from the dead with an insatiable taste for blood. Returning to her family home, she is reacquainted with her childhood friend, Hélène (Pierro), who tries to understand Catherine’s predicament and becomes her accomplice, with tragic consequences." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5

Here’s the information provided about the transfer, “The Living Dead Girl was scanned, restored and color corrected in 4K HDR at Silver Salt Restoration, London, using original 35mm negative film materials. Phoenix image-processing tools were used to remove many thousands of instances of dirt, eliminate scratches and other imperfections, as well as repair damaged and missing frames. No grain management, edge enhancement or sharpening tools were employed to artificially alter the image in any way.”

The Living Dead Girl comes on a 100 GB triple layer 4K UHD.

Disc Size: 92.1 GB

Feature: 64 GB

The source used for this transfer looks exceptional. Image clarity, depth, contrast, black levels, and compression are solid. Flesh tones look healthy, colors are nicely saturated and at times vivid, and grain remains intact; the image always looks organic.

Audio: 4.5/5

This release comes with one audio option, a LPCM mono mix in French with removable English subtitles. This audio track is in great shape. Dialog always comes through clearly, and everything sounds balanced and robust when it should.

Extras:

Extras for this release include an image galleries: original promotional materials (72 images—stills/press book/home video art/posters) and behind the scenes (18 images), a theatrical trailer (3 minutes 23 seconds, Dolby Digital mono French with removable English subtitles), outtakes (1 minute 41 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an updated documentary on the now-lost English-language American cut of The Living Dead Girl titled Dead or Alive (15 minutes 33 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo French with removable English subtitles), a new edit of a 2012 documentary titled Benoît Lestang, 17 ans, featuring interviews with the young special-effects artist and Bouyxou (24 minutes 40 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo French with removable English subtitles), a new edit of a 2012 interview with the composer Philippe D’Aram titled The Music of The Living Dead Girl (14 minutes 47 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo French with removable English subtitles), a new edit of a 2005 interview with Philippe D’Aram titled Sound Bites (17 minutes 26 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo French with removable English subtitles), a new edit of a 2005 interview with actress Françoise Blanchard titled Delicate Delivers (18 minutes 39 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo French with removable English subtitles), selected scenes' audio commentary with Françoise Blanchard (25 minutes 59 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo French with removable English subtitles), an introduction by Françoise Blanchard (26 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo French with removable English subtitles), a new edit of a 2005 archival interview with Jean-Pierre Bouyxou titled Deliberately Absurd (24 minutes 47 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo French with removable English subtitles), Jean Rollin Introduces ‘The Living Dead Girl’ (1 minute 44 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), Jean Rollin on ‘The Living Dead Girl’, the director in conversation at Montreal’s Fantasia Film Festival (2 minutes 39 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English subtitles for French film clips), a new edit of a 2005 interview with Jean Rollin titled Blood Ties (11 minutes 46 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English subtitles for French film clips), Jean Rollin at Fantasia, an expansive documentary recording of Rollin’s time as a special guest at the festival (36 minutes 22 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo French with non-removable English subtitles), an archival featurette titled Souvenirs de la Mort Vivante (15 minutes 12 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo French with removable English subtitles), an interview with Stephen Thrower titled Conclusive Beauty (33 minutes 52 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English subtitles for French film clips), an archival audio commentary with Jean Rollin, an audio commentary with film historians Kevin Lyons and Jonathan Rigby, a German-language VHS release of The Living Dead Girl under the title Scare (89 minutes 39 seconds, standard definition, 1.66:1 aspect ratio, Dolby Digital mono German with removable English subtitles), and an 80-page book with cast & crew information, an essay titled Premature Burial written by Will Sloan, an extract from the film’s pressbook, an archival writing by Jean Rollin titled The Making of The Living Dead Girl, an interview with Jean Rollin titled The Eighties and Nineties conducted by Peter Blumenstock, and information about the restoration.

Summary:

Directed by Jean Rollin, a filmmaker whose career spanned five decades. His films are known for their fantasy and erotic elements. Notable films he directed are The Iron Rose, Lips of Blood, and The Night of the Hunted.

A toxic spill turns a dead heiress into a bloodthirsty fiend.

By the early 1980s, the cinema landscape in France had drastically changed. And filmmakers who had found a steady stream of work in the 1970’s suddenly discovered it harder to get financing for their films. Case in point: Jean Rollin, a filmmaker who directed over two dozen films in the 1970s. That said, Jean Rollin in the 1970s made two kinds of films, soft-core horror films and X-hardcore sex films. By the early 1980s, the popularity of soft-core horror films had declined, but X cinema remained robust. Having grown tired of X cinema, Jean Rollin would venture into the realm of fantasy with The Living Dead Girl.

The Living Dead Girl features many elements that are synonymous with Jean Rollin's cinema. The result is a film that stands apart from anything he has created before or since. This distinction is particularly evident in the pervasive melancholy tone that runs throughout the work. When it comes to elements that one expects from Jean Rollin films, The Living Dead Girl delivers in spades. There’s an ample amount of gory carnage, which includes eyes impaled by razor-sharp fingernails, gorged throats, and death by inferno. Of course, when it comes to nudity, Jean Rollin’s visuals exploit every inch of flesh.

Although most of the cast consists of minor characters with limited screen time, they all deliver strong performances in their respective roles. Notably, Françoise Blanchard shines as Catherine Valmont, the living dead girl, while Marina Pierro, known for her role in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osbourne, portrays Helene, Catherine’s best friend. Their characters share a childhood promise to always support one another, and the chemistry between the two actresses enhances the portrayal of their unbreakable bond.

From a production standpoint, there is not an area where The Living Dead Girl does not excel. The premise is exceptionally well-executed, featuring a deliberately paced narrative that allows key moments to resonate fully. Additionally, the tragic finale serves as a fitting coda to the events that have transpired. Not to be overlooked when discussing The Living Dead Girl is Philippe D’Aram’s remarkable score, which does an exemplary job underscoring the mood. Ultimately, The Living Dead Girl stands out as an extraordinary film, arguably representing Jean Rollin’s most poetic work.

The Living Dead Girl makes its way to 4K UHD via a definitive release from Powerhouse Films, highly recommended.

Note: This release is a limited edition of 10,000 numbered units (6,000 4K UHDs and 4,000 Blu-rays) for the UK and US.

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 MPC-HC player and lossless PNGs. 

Written by Michael Den Boer