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Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973)
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973) poster

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973)

Horror, TV Movie • 1h 14m

Director: John Newland

Cast: Kim Darby, Jim Hutton, William Demarest, Barbara Anderson, Pedro Armendáriz Jr., Lesley Woods, Robert Cleaves, Sterling Swanson, Joel Lawrence, William Sylvester, Don Mallon, Celia Milius, Elizabeth St. Clair, Monika Henreid, Ted Swanson, Felix Silla, Tamara De Treaux, Patty Maloney

Vinegar Syndrome 4K Blu-ray

Best English-friendly & video release · updated 5 months ago

UHD tiers

Excellent
Vinegar Syndrome

Overview

A young couple inherits an old mansion inhabited by small demon-like creatures who are determined to make the wife one of their own.

Release details

Length
74 mins
Type
Movie
Alternative Titles
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

More from Vinegar Syndrome

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Director: Hal Needham

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Vinegar Syndrome 4K Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

2026 Vinegar Syndrome 4K Blu-ray, 2025 Umbrella 4K Blu-ray

Director: Trey Parker

Best English-Friendly & Video:

UK Refuse Films or US Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Both releases have two presentations: sourced from the original Betacam master tapes, and another that uses a filmout of the tapes.

Director: Simon Wincer

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Vinegar Syndrome 4K Blu-ray

Director: Keenen Ivory Wayans

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Vinegar Syndrome 4K Blu-ray

Director: William Friedkin

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Vinegar Syndrome 4K Blu-ray

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Vinegar Syndrome 4K Blu-ray see caps

For Blu-ray, UK Second Sight is better than Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Director: Joe Dante

4K · Excellent

Director: Abel Ferrara

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Vinegar Syndrome 4K Blu-ray in July

Director: Robert Downey Sr.

Best English-Friendly & Video:

UK Indicator Blu-ray or US Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

UK Indicator Blu-ray or US Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray no comparison available but both from the same Academy 4K restoration

Director: Rachel Talalay

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Vinegar Syndrome 4K Blu-ray

Director: Matthew Bright

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Vinegar Syndrome 4K Blu-ray

More Horror on Blu-ray

Director: Lewis Teague

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray 

Video Notes:

> disappointing US Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray / R1 Lionsgate DVD sounds best and has the original mono and the R1 Lionsgate DVD has a Dolby Stereo remix

Director: Alexandre Aja

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

US Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

US Lionsgate Limited, France ESC, or Germany Plaion 4K Blu-ray?

Video Notes:

Germany Plaion is reportedly better than UK Second Sight.

Not sure about the US Lionsgate or France ESC.

Director: Ryuhei Kitamura

Best English-Friendly:

Theatrical Cut: Austria NSM Blu-ray
Director's Cut: US Lionsgate Blu-ray

Best Video:

Theatrical Cut: Austria NSM Blu-ray
Director's Cut: France Metropolitan Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Metropolitan got better picture (higher bitrate + better grain + more detail) than Lionsgate

Best Audio:

Director's Cut: US Lionsgate Blu-ray

Director: Glen Morgan

Best English-Friendly:

2008 Canada TVA Films Blu-ray

Best Video:

2022 Germany Nameless Media 3-Disc Edition Blu-ray

Directors: Irving Pichel & Ernest B. Schoedsack

Best English-Friendly & Video:

UK MoC Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

MoC Blu-ray offers both restored and an unrestored tracks

Director: George Pavlou

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Germany Wicked Vision 4K Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray teased

Video Notes:

Germany Wicked Vision 4K Blu-ray better than US Kino Lorber?

Director: Roman Polanski

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray see caps. Much better contrast and grain exposure but the grade is a bit questionable as it skews heavily towards magenta in some caps and the encode looks low-pass filtered.

Lionsgate and the upcoming Imprint have the same discs.

Best Audio:

Atmos Remix: Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray
Original 5.1: Imprint Australia Blu-ray or StudioCanal Germany/France Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray encoded the "Original 5.1" as lossy Dolby Digital, which is very different from the AC3 on the original DVD.  This new "Original 5.1" may in fact be a downmix of the Atmos track.  FWIW, the original DVD AC3 still sounds very good.

Director: F. W. Murnau

Best English-Friendly & Video:

2006 Restoration: Eureka Blu-ray
1995 photochemical restoration: BFI Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Eureka with Murnau institute restoration featuring score based on original score, BFI uses Photoplay restoration with James Bernard score

Additional Info:

Both Eureka and BFI Blu-rays are worthy of owning. Each restoration has unique positives and extras. The James Bernard score on the BFI is outstanding and the image tinting is different to how the Murnau institute official restoration was done. The Eureka MoC Blu-ray is stuffed with extras and remains one of the best-made Blu-rays of all time. Whatever you do: AVOID THE Kino Lorber Blu-ray!!! It uses the same Murnau institute restoration but drops frames for the whole feature - thus it loses a significant portion of the film! This was never acknowledged or addressed. The Kino Lorber Blu-ray remains one of the worst Blu-rays of all time for this reason.

Director: Andy Muschietti

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Director: Mark Pellington

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

UK 88 Films 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

88 Films is FiM encoded

Germany Filmjuwelen 4K Blu-ray is disappointing with AI upscaling

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vanshady

· last reviewed 5 months ago

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