NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Shout! Factory Blu-ray (December 2019): Shout! Factory have transferred the five films of The Fly 'franchise' to one 5-disc Blu-ray. package. These include The Fly (1958), Return of the Fly (1959), Curse of the Fly (1965), The Fly (1986) and The Fly II (1989). Ala 'The Dude', I'm into the whole brevity thing and while we have done extensive comparisons and these transfers are, obviously, ahead of the SD counterparts (and may even notch ahead of the two Blu-ray editions compared  - the 1958 and 1986 The Fly's), I'm not crazy about the image appearance in the first 3 early films. All 5 are on dual-layered discs and all but The Fly II have max'ed out bitrates. I was more keen on those initial entries and while I saw some grain texture - I couldn't help but be a shade underwhelmed and, if peering under the magnifying glass - saw some excessive processing (those flat line bitrate graphs are a bad sign). I would guess that most will be quite happy with the HD presentations - especially in their advancement over DVD (where they generally look brighter with cooler skin tones). The last two look very adept although never overwhelming - more, I suspect, an issue with production and the lackluster 80's stock.

On their Blu-ray, Shout! Factory use DTS-HD Master tracks (all 24-bit) in the original English language. 1958's The Fly gets 4.0 channel like the 2013 Fox Blu-ray. It's as solid as that older transfer - exporting the score by Paul Sawtell (Lost City of the Jungle, 5 Steps to Danger, A Game of Death, Inferno, Silver City, The Fly, Denver and Rio Grande, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea etc.) who joins Bert Shefter (5 Steps to Danger, teaming again with Sawtell on The Bubble, She-Devil and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea) on The Return of the Fly (2.0 channel lossless) - which is a dramatic score that I really liked and there are some deep resounding effects.  Shefter alone does The Curse of the Fly (also 2.0 channel lossless). Fan favorite, Cronenberg's 1986 The Fly has a score by frequent collaborator Howard Shore (Cronenberg's The Brood, Maps to the Stars, Scanners and Dead Ringers, Tim Burton's Ed Wood, Fincher's The Game and Se7en etc.) with the film's audio in the options of 5.1 surround or 2.0 channel stereo - as does the last entry (to date) The Fly II we have Christopher Young (The Dark Half, Flowers in the Attic, Hellraiser,  Rounders,  Species)    sounding quite clean with some adroit separations and a healthy bass in the creature-feature sequences. Shout! Factory offer optional English (SDH) subtitles (not crazy about the bold yellow) on their five separate Region 'A' Blu-rays in the set.

Even if I only focused on the 'new' supplements in this Shout! Factory Blu-ray package - they, alone, are extensive. Highlights are the commentaries (5 new and 4 'old') - loved Steve Haberman and Constantine Nasr's insights on the first and third, Tom Weaver's on The Return and William Beard on Cronenberg's 86' Fly. There are plenty of featurettes and interviews with the likes of Mary Manson, Renee Glynee, Producers Mel Brooks and Stuart Cornfeld, Cinematographer Mark Irwin, Composers Howard Shore and Christopher Young etc. etc. They seem endless on the last two films - repeating many of the EPK content already available. No one can deny the overwhelming value here. No booklet is included.

This seems like Shout! Factory's marquee release of the year - well, one of them anyway. I like what they are doing with 'Hammer' titles and the commentaries included in this set are worth the price alone. Certainly the advancement over SD should be very appealing for many. I am pleased to have it on my possession - especially Return and Curse. who carry some nostalgic flavor as well as their camp appeal - aside considered by many as 'decent horrors' by themselves. Fans will be happy with this five Blu-ray set and be able to access the supplements up until and even after Christmas. Go for it.

Gary Tooze