Other Releases Available:

Releases Reviewed:

The Bat has a number of DVD options available though fortunately not so many that it will drive you batty.

There are a few DVD options including several full-frame and a widescreen release or two with one of those being "restored." There's also a 2 pack with House on Haunted Hill also presented in widescreen. There are a variety of other multi-packs including a Blu set.

I got mine in a pack of 50 “Horror Classics.”

Video:

1.33: The ratio is the TV standard. The image is very grainy and is generally low quality, but it doesn't have much in the way of trash or other blemishes. Not that it's completely devoid of such elements, but it's far cleaner than many old movies like this.

Audio:

1.0 mono: The audio has some persistent white noise, but it's otherwise fairly clear and easily understandable.

Packaging:

This particular disc is housed in a cardboard sleeve contained in a Velcro-fastened box. You can read about the set as a whole in great detail in the Horror Classics (50 pack) guide.

Extras:

There are no extras of any kind.

Other Editions:

The full-frame releases are a dime a dozen. There's nothing special about any of them that I could see.

The first widescreen version offers a 1.85 ratio. It doesn't mention being remastered.

The restored Film Chest version offers 1.77 widescreen touted to be restored from HD elements. It does not list the audio specs or mention any extras.

The 2 pack, also listed as “Horror Classics, Vol. 3,” offers the same ratio and doesn't mention any remastering.

The Old Dark House Blu collection seems to be part of a slowly growing trend (or perhaps attempt at a trend) of using Blu's storage capacity to fit a lot of movies on a single disc. 23 public domain films (some very common, some fairly rare) reside on a single disc in standard 480i definition (no HD here). The best I can say for these is that they seem to occasionally present the original image ratios and may be very slightly improved quality over some of the cheaper DVD budget packs. Otherwise they offer nothing special aside from being exceptionally self-space friendly. They offer no extras and can be somewhat hard to find. The other multi-packs don't mention the ratio or any other offerings that stand out. None mention any extras.

Final Thoughts:

The Film Chest DVD sounds like the best bet as far as quality goes, but even the unrestored version in the 50 budget pack is relatively clean compared to a lot of these old movies. The Blu collection has a some good offerings, but don't expect Blu quality. Other than that, go with whatever good deal you find.