Blood Bath (Blu-ray)
Starring William Campbell, Patrick Magee, Sid Haig, Marissa Mathes
Directed by Jack Hill, Stephanie Rothman
Distributed by Arrow Video
Barring some notable injuries, warring egos, or an Act of God the histories of most film productions are fairly standard. On rare occasions, however, the story behind the camera is more enticing than what eventually hit screens. This is sometimes true of the early works of producer Roger Corman, who is as famous for his extensive filmography as he is infamous for his frugal moviemaking ways. Tales of his ambition to maximize budget and sets are legendary. Filming wrapped under budget? That money can be used to fund another picture! Filming wrapped early? Better use those sets to shoot something else! The quality of these pictures was often equal-or-secondary to marketing them. Corman was also known for funding unfinished and foreign films, sending over his own stock players to assist for a later release stateside. One such film is Blood Bath (1966), owning the dubious honor of having one of the most convoluted production histories of all time.
Looking to expand into the international market, Corman decided to invest some money in a Polish production, Operation: Titian (1963), a spy thriller that was not exactly within his wheelhouse. To ensure the film would work just as well for American audiences, he installed two of his stalwart actors, William Campbell and Patrick Magee, in the cast. Additionally, Corman himself oversaw writing as script supervisor. Still, despite these inclusions the final film wasn’t to Corman’s satisfaction and he was unconvinced it could be successfully released. That film is included here on Disc One, presented with a new reconstruction that pieces it back together via original film materials and SD inserts.
Portrait in Terror spawned from the first cut of Operation: Titian, though slightly reworked, reedited, and redubbed, making its debut on television. Some of the excess found in Titian was removed to streamline the picture, though a couple of additional scenes were filmed to pad out the run time, resulting in variations in film quality – and even actors – and in the process injecting the film with some unintended cheese. Neither of these two cuts made much of an impact stateside.
Not one to let a potential theatrical payday vanish, Corman enlisted veteran director Jack Hill to direct new scenes to be added to Titian, so it could yet again be reworked and released under the more eye-catching title of Blood Bath. Eschewing the spy concept, Hill’s film switches gears to horror, focusing on a deranged artist, Antonio Sordi (William Campbell), who kills his models and dunks their bodies into a vat of boiling wax before turning them into sculptures. Hill regulars Sid Haig and Jonathan Haze joined the cast as part of a beatnik group that features prominently into the new storyline. The beat scene had been used by Corman before, most famously in his 1959 cult hit A Bucket of Blood. Much of Titian was jettisoned (only around thirty minutes were retained), partly explaining why this new feature runs a scant 62 minutes. Also complicating the filmmaking process was Hill’s departure, which left Corman looking for yet another director to step in and finish off the film.
Enter director Stephanie Rothman. Most of Hill’s footage was kept in the picture but a major change was made: Sordi would now be a vampire. Complicating matters was Campbell’s unwillingness to return for additional shooting, meaning the film had to come up with a creative way to explain why Vampire Sordi looks nothing like Human Sordi. The answer? Sordi changes his appearance when in vampire form. Oy vey. Because Blood Bath wasn’t close to the network television running time minimum of 90 minutes, chunks of the original Titian cut were dropped in and redubbed, and additional footage of a foot chase was also added. Having fun keeping up?
What a mess. Who can even say how many directors and editors had their way with Titian, trying to salvage a doomed ship? Individually, none of these edits are interesting enough to be anything more than a quick way to kill a lazy afternoon. Presented together, however, allows for curious B-movie aficionados to watch each cut in subsequent order and study the odd inclusions, exclusions, editorial decisions, and acting inconsistencies. In some ways it’s the cinematic equivalent of the ship of Theseus, though Corman had no real intentions of maintaining the integrity of the original film. Arrow Video’s lavish set is an unexpected treat for fans of any of these four disparate cuts, since great care has gone into presenting each as complete as possible.
The booklet included in this set goes into precise technical detail on how each transfer was achieved – and I highly suggest tech nerds give it a read – but here’s the skinny: Portrait…, Blood Bath, and Track… are presented with new 2K restorations in 1080p, in their original 1.66:1 aspect ratio. Film elements for these three cuts vary, however, and there are variances in quality depending on scene. In general, the image clean and stable, with natural film grain and good contrast for the black & white image. Definition can vary from clearly-HD to barely-above-DVD, though some of these issues can be chalked up to the source. Titian has been reconstructed using a handful of elements – among them standard definition video – and as a result looks the weakest of the bunch.
Audio is presented in English with an LPCM 1.0 mono track. There is a slight crackling to the dialogue and words can occasionally sound a bit muffled. Hissing is not uncommon across all four features, too. Range is extremely limited (not unexpectedly). Considering the vintage and available elements what is presented here works perfectly fine. Subtitles are available in English.
The big bonus feature here is Video Watchdog’s Tim Lucas’ “The Trouble with Titian Revisited”, which runs for over an hour. Lucas, who has vivid memories of seeing differing cuts of Titian as a child, spent years doing detective work – long before the internet – to uncover the connections between all four versions. His research goes deep and he presents a ton of factual information here… but, unfortunately, he’s also very dry and this piece drags a bit for that very reason. Still, this is the perfect complement to the cuts provided here and it should definitely be watched after consuming every version.
“Bathing in Blood” is a brief interview with actor Sid Haig, discussing how he got involved once Hill came on board as well as covering some of the reshoots.
“Jack Hill on Blood Bath” is an archival interview with the director, who is diplomatic in his discussion of a clear failure.
A stills gallery is also included.
Additionally, this attractive little package includes a 40-page booklet filled with essays, information, and photographs, reversible cover art (dig that old-school AIP key art!), and a double-sided poster, all housed inside a cardboard slipcase.
Special Features:
- Limited Edition collection of the complete Blood Bath
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of four versions of the film: Operation Titian, Portrait in Terror, Blood Bath and Track of the Vampire
- Brand new 2K restorations of Portrait in Terror, Blood Bath and Track of the Vampire from original film materials
- Brand new reconstruction of Operation Titian using original film materials and standard definition inserts
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing on all four versions
- The Trouble with Titian Revisited – a brand new visual essay in which Tim Lucas returns to (and updates) his three-part Video Watchdog feature to examine the convoluted production history of Blood Bath and its multiple versions
- Bathing in Blood with Sid Haig – a new interview with the actor, recorded exclusively for this release
- Archive interview with producer-director Jack Hill
- Stills gallery
- Double-sided fold-out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artworks
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Dan Mumford
- Limited edition booklet containing new writing on the film and its cast by Anthony Nield, Vic Pratt, Cullen Gallagher and Peter Beckman
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Blood Bath
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Special Features
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