Legion of the Dead: Collectors Limited Edition – Unearthed Films (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Germany, 2001
Director: Olaf Ittenbach
Writer: Olaf Ittenbach
Cast: Michael Carr, Russell Friedenberg, Kimberly Liebe, Hank Stone, Harvey J. Alperin, Matthias Hues, Christopher Kriesa, Darren Shahlavi, Birgit Stauber

Release Date: July 14th, 2026
Approximate Running Times: 92 Minutes 27 Seconds (Producer's Cut), 108 Minutes 39 Seconds (Director's Cut)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC (Both Versions)
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD 5.1 English (Both Versions), LPCM Stereo English (Producer's Cut), Dolby Stereo English (Director's Cut)
Subtitles: English (Both Versions)
Region Coding: Region A
Retail Price: $44.95

"William and his sidekick Luke have just started a relaxing trip through the beautiful California desert when they stumble onto a small town where, unbeknownst to them, a mysterious tall blond man and his sadistic henchmen are killing people to create a Legion of the Dead!" - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4/5 (Both Versions)

Here’s the information provided about the producer’s cuts transfer, "The original US DVD release was butchered for an R rating.

This version was sourced from the original 35mm festival version of the film. This was the best master provided to us by the licensor.” 

Legion of the Dead, the producer's cut, comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 36.5 GB

Feature: 26.9 GB

Here’s the information provided about the director’s cuts transfer, "This version was created by Olaf Ittenbach for the Austrian market in 2007.

It contains dialog that switches from English to German language during added and altered scenes.

English subtitles will appear during those scenes.”

Legion of the Dead, the director's cut, comes on a 25 GB single layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 22.1 GB

Feature: 21.9 GB

The sources for each version look comparable; they are in excellent shape, free of any debris or imperfections. The transfers faithfully recreate the film’s intended look. Image clarity is generally strong, black levels fare well, and there are no issues with compression or digital noise reduction.

Audio: 5/5 (DTS-HD 5.1 English - Both Versions, LPCM Stereo English - Producer's Cut), 4/5 (Dolby Stereo English - Director's Cut)

The producer's cut comes with two audio options, a DTS-HD 5.1 mix in English and a LPCM stereo mix in English. The director’s cut comes with two audio options, a DTS-HD 5.1 mix in English/German and a Dolby Digital stereo mix in English/German. All of the tracks sound clear, balanced, and robust when they should. Both versions come with removable English subtitles for all dialogue and the director’s cut comes with a second English subtitle track just for German dialogue.

Extras:

Extras on disc one include a photo gallery with music from the film playing in the background, the original trailer (2 minutes 14 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), an alternate trailer (2 minutes 27 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), a US trailer (1 minute 9 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), outtakes (15 minutes 37 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), deleted scenes (9 minutes 16 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), festival premieres (9 minutes 17 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), a featurette titled Making of Legion of the Dead (21 minutes 43 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), and an audio commentary with director Olaf Ittenbach.

There are no extras on disc two.

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

Summary:

Olaf Ittenbach directed Legion of the Dead. He’s known for The Burning Moon, Premutos: The Fallen Angel, Beyond the Limits, and Garden of Love.

Traveling through the California desert, two friends end up in a small town where everyone is dying at an alarming rate and coming back to life as a legion of walking-dead soldiers.

Legion of the Dead is an apocalyptic-themed zombie horror film about an antichrist-like character named Tagayo who’s assembling a legion of living dead soldiers. While the main thrust of the narrative revolves around Tagayo’s quest, there are several subplots that incorporate characters whose stories stand on their own before all coming together for the finale. Besides Tagayo and his two henchmen, who are creating a legion of living dead, there is a cast of other colorful characters, like a serial killer who picks up hitchhikers.

Although the narrative's opening setup does an excellent job fleshing out the key characters, from there it is mostly a series of moments of excessive gory carnage. An area where Legion of the Dead excels the most is its use of subversive humor. Other strengths are the cast's enthusiastic performances and visually, Legion of the Dead is Olaf Ittenbach’s best-looking film. There are two versions of Legion of the Dead, and the director’s cut plays much better than the inferior producer’s cut. Ultimately, Legion of the Dead is a wall-to-wall splatterfest that can be a lot of fun if you're in the right frame of mind.

Legion of the Dead gets an excellent release from Unearthed Films that comes with a strong audio/video presentation, an alternate version of Legion of the Dead, and a pair of informative extras. Recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer