Just watched the new disc last night, never had the Image.

I had only seen this once, at about the age of 7 or 8 on TV. I remember being rather scared and impressed by it at the time, and for years after recalled it as being "bloody".

Now I can see why - besides the really "messed up" monster, it IS bloody for its time - the blood bank scene and the woman in the car still have some good shock value I think.

I think this holds up very well - it's so rare and fun to have the experience of seeing a film that left a little psychic scar over 40 years ago - sort of like a recovered repressed memory!

This has a rather grainy, cold feeling especially blown up to 1:85, and that enhances the film. It does have an almost documentary feel in places, and while there's a ton of stock footage at the beginning, I think they worked it in really well.

All in all these Gordon films really are little gems. Highly recommended.

SAM33

PS - I just read some of the thread on the whole box over at the DVD topic - I think the art and design of this package are TERRIFIC! I love the style and all the extras are great. Priny quality on this one was a bit grainy, but fine. Haven't watched any of the others. Got it on the Criterion sale at Deep Discount, so the price was fair at around 12 bucks a film.