Well I must being this review with an honest admission. This is 4 films that share the same DNA but are completely different. Operation Titian is a cold war thriller of sorts. Portrait in Terror the recut and rescored version that is a horror obsession piece. Blood Bath becomes the vampire picture we have as the main feature. Finally after all was not liked by producer and film movie wide boy Roger Corman comes Track of the Vampire, another attempt at the vampires are coming to get them film, this time with more sun and far less of the thriller in the cold war.
My suggestion here is not for me to tell you all the convoluted histroy of this series of films and their life and times with Roger Corman. Nope I will not do that. I instead will tell you go to the amazing Tim Lucas documentary/ video essay and let a person with charm, wit and intellegence do taht job and let me do mine. That being to critically view the films, rate and translate that to you. The loyal fans want that. Not mine that is, I havent any…
Operation Titian for me is the gem in the crown. It is stunningly produced, directed with care and looks great, due to a careful transfer. It has also been reconstructed, remastered and genrally treated kindly and that makes its all the better. Campbell and Macgee could be said to be the heart of the piece. They make it worth while in so much as they have the range to pull it off. I found it well structured (as its body was them), a little agressive in its tourism brochure moments but worth the time. It is not a great thriller but I enjoyed it. Portrait in Terror is more or less the standard fare from the faces of AIP you expect. Campbell is more interesting in this (as he is edited to be) and is given the chance to be a little nasty. He does it well but I felt it was by the numbers in the final third. Macgee is the showman however and even with the edited footage, makes it more than an enjoyable ride. Watch it straight after Operation and you will delight in the…’I remember that from…’
Blood Bath is a different film in many ways. I could not really see why Corman shut down both Operation or Portrait. I could however see why Corman was a little hostile to this. It is a heavy and more sadistic piece but Hill is a talented genre film maker and I think was unfairly harmed by the pulling of the piece. It does however look great with Arrows tender touch. The archive interview is worth seeing before the film, as it enlighted and shows what is so great about Jack Hill. Track of the Vampire was the piece I least connected with. It feels heavy, dull and is waited by fumbled direction and average ideas in regard to story and composition. The film dragged. It felt longer than needed and I would say that it made sense to pull this over all the others but Corman was Corman and he is far better positioned then me. To Arrow however go the spoils and this is an amazing film boxset by film lovers and for film lovers….A sheer delight from film to film, booklet to booklet…
• 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
