Marquis de Sade's Justine

"This typically florid (and atypically luxurious) adaptation of the Marquis de Sade's novel from Eurotrash auteur Jes?s Franco gets a loving treatment on DVD from the genre enthusiasts at Blue Underground. Presented in its uncut 124-minute form, Justine has been given a letterboxed transfer to disc in the widescreen aspect ratio of 1.66:1, which has been enhanced for anamorphic playback on 16 x 9 monitors. The transfer is superb, with the images looking rich, clear, and colorful from an exceptionally clean print, and it's doubtful the film ever looked this good in its grind-house engagements in the United States. The original monophonic audio mix for the film has been mastered in Dolby Digital Mono, and it sounds enjoyably crisp, making the most of Bruno Nicolai's score. As usual, Blue Underground has added several bonus features for fans, including a short subject on the making of the film (featuring very entertaining interviews with Franco and producer Harry Alan Towers), the film's French trailer, a gallery of production photos and advertising artwork, and finally a text biography of the director. Blue Underground wasted little time in establishing itself as one of the most quality-conscious outfits releasing classic genre cinema on DVD, and this superb-looking disc is a fine example of what they do so well -- it's an absolute treat for Franco fans."