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

Garden of Love: Collectors Limited Edition – Unearthed Films (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Germany, 2003
Director: Olaf Ittenbach
Writers: Thomas Reitmair, Olaf Ittenbach
Cast: Natacza Boon, Rebecca Verlaine, James Matthews-Pyecka, Daryl Jackson, Bela B., Donald Stewart, Alexandra Thom-Heinrich, Jean-Luc Julien

Release Date: February 3rd, 2026
Approximate Running Time: 89 Minutes 16 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD 5.1 English, LPCM Stereo English
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region A
Retail Price: $39.95

"The story of a young woman tormented by bloody visions of a past she can't really remember. All she knows is that all of her family was slaughtered when she was very young. Now, the spirits of the dead lusts for vengeance and they want Rebecca to guide those responsible to them. Rebecca reluctantly agrees and bloodspurting chaos ensues." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5

Garden of Love comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 40.3 GB

Feature: 26 GB

The source looks excellent; colors look correct, image clarity and black levels are solid, and there are no issues with compression.

Audio: 5/5 (DTS-HD 5.1 English, LPCM Stereo English)

This release comes with two audio options, a DTS-HD 5.1 mix in English and a LPCM stereo mix in English. Both audio tracks are in excellent shape; dialog always comes through clearly, and everything sounds balanced and robust when it should. Included are removable English subtitles.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a photo gallery with music from the film playing in the background, a trailer (2 minutes 2 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), original intro (6 minutes 47 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), outtakes (32 minutes 18 seconds, no sound), an archival featurette titled A Look behind Garden of Love (18 minutes 14 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo German with removable English subtitles), an archival featurette titled Making of Garden of Love (22 minutes 41 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo German with removable English subtitles), and a slipcover (limited to the first pressing).

Summary:

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

A woman returns to the source of her childhood trauma when her father's malevolent ghost forces her to help bring the killers to justice.

The opening credits/scene does a phenomenal job setting the tone; it is a prototype slasher film stalking sequence where the camera glides through the room of the house while the killers viciously annihilate their victims. While there are several other moments that match this scene's ferocity, once the narrative settles, there is a dramatic tonal shift. The lone survivor of that night was in a coma for two years, and she remembers nothing. Besides her lack of memories, she also struggles with mental health, and things get worse when she starts seeing people no one else can see.

Garden of Love is a blend of several genres: slasher film, psychological thriller, and supernatural horror. Of these three, it is the latter that most dominates, as the source of most of the carnage comes from malevolent ghosts who can’t rest in peace until they achieve their vengeance. That said, the narrative does a superb job holding your attention with a few well-executed twists that expose characters who have ulterior motives.

The main draw for most viewers is Garden of Love’s use of practical special effects for its gory moments of carnage. When it comes to the kills, they involve characters being viciously stabbed, heads crushed, and limbs being ripped. While the gory special effects excel, unfortunately the performances fail to measure up. Ultimately, Garden of Love is a film that fans of Olaf Ittenbach are sure to enjoy, while someone going into his films for the first time might not appreciate his cinematic style.

Unearthed Films gives Garden of Love an excellent release that comes with a solid audio/video presentation and a pair of informative extras. Recommended.

 

Written by Michael Den Boer

Premutos: The Fallen Angel 2-disc Extended Director's Cut – Unearthed Films (Blu-ray/CD Combo)

Theatrical Release Date: Germany, 1997
Director: Olaf Ittenbach
Writer: Olaf Ittenbach
Cast: André Stryi, Christopher Stacey, Ella Wellmann, Anke Fabré, Fidelis Atuma, Olaf Ittenbach

Release Date: December 28th, 2021
Approximate Running Time: 115 Minutes 44 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD 5.1 German, LPCM Stereo German
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region A
Retail Price: $39.95

"Premutos is the first of the fallen Angels, even before Lucifer. His goal is to rule the living and the dead. His son should pave the way for him to return. A young man begins to suffer from visionary flashbacks - of the past lives he lived. On his father's birthday, a case containing an old book is found in their garden, which was hidden by a Warlock in 1943. When the young man touches with the book, he mutates into a monster and awakens an army of zombies, ready to bring back the fallen Angel Premutos." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.25/5

Premutos: The Fallen Angel comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 36.5 GB

Feature: 24.6 GB

Shot on 16mm, the source used for this transfer looks great. Colors look correct, image clarity and black levels are strong throughout. That said, when compared to previous home video releases of this film, including the original version, which is included as part of this release as an extra. This new transfer is a noticeable upgrade in every way.

Audio: 4/5

This release comes with two audio options: a DTS-HD 5.1 mix in German and a LPCM stereo mix in German. Both the audio mixes are clean, clear, and balanced, and range-wise they sound robust when they should. Included with this release are removable English subtitles.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a photo gallery (74 images), theatrical trailer (2 minutes 17 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo), a documentary titled Olaf Ittenbach - The Early Years (72 minutes 41 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo German with removable English subtitles), a featurette titled Making of Premutos (50 minutes 23 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo German, Dolby Digital stereo English dubbed), the original version of Premutos: The Fallen Angel (106 minutes 7 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo German with removable English subtitles, Dolby Digital stereo English), a slipcover and a CD with Premutos: The Fallen Angel’s soundtrack.

Summary:

Premutos: The Fallen Angel continues German cinema’s long tradition of splatter horror cinema that began with filmmakers like Jörg Buttgereit (Nekromantik) and continues to this day with filmmakers like Marian Dora (Cannibal). 

That said, though, most German splatter films skim when it comes to narrative. This is easy to overlook since they more than make up for this with intense gore sequences that are not for the squeamish. And in this regard, Premutos: The Fallen Angel delivers in spades.

Most special effects have moved into the digital realm. And yet, Premutos: The Fallen Angel’s use of practical special effects is its greatest asset. There’s something about practical special effects that CGI is unable to recreate.

At just under two hours in length, Premutos: The Fallen Angel is an ambitious film that archives everything it set out to do. Whether it be for its absurd premise, which is superbly realized, or its copious amounts of gore, And most importantly, there’s not a dull moment.

Premutos: The Fallen Angel gets an excellent release from Unearthed Films that comes with a strong audio/video presentation, an alternate version of Premutos: The Fallen Angel, and a pair of insightful extras, highly recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer