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"Anti-Christ" is in English.

"The Last Metro" also has a French one. Ain't the first, as others have said. I do wish that Criterion would do some more alternate language commentaries. The commentary by Kaneto Shindo on the Japan/UK "Onibaba" was excellent, and for some reason not included on the Criterion.

Day one purchase. It looks like they're attempting some continuity between the Cronos and Devil's Backbone cover (similar fonts and visual style). A very promising package!

Who writes the tortuous prose for these item descriptions? Seriously, read that first line again and you'll have read it twice as much as whoever wrote it!

Has Mark Kermode ever done writing or appeared in features for Criterion before, or is this a first?

Presumably Korseky?

Finch wrote:Day one purchase. It looks like they're attempting some continuity between the Cronos and Devil's Backbone cover (similar fonts and visual style). A very promising package!

Mignola does have a very distinct style.

EddieLarkin wrote:Has Mark Kermode ever done writing or appeared in features for Criterion before, or is this a first?

The introductory documentary he presented for the first UK television showing of Salo on Film4 turned up as a feature when that film was reissued. I guess Kermode is a natural choice for the essay on this since he is a very big fan of Guillermo del Toro's films.

Unless its hidden in one of the interviews (or even an easter egg), we're not getting the sequel to the Bleak House Tour? That was one of the best supplements in recent years from Criterion, and I'd love to see the "rain room" or the other additions he's made to the place. Didn't he even confirm that an update to the tour was made/in the works?

No surprise that this title is spine number 666?

So it seems the other commentary from the 2002 DVD is not carried over, and it's strange the thumbnail sketches are going to be blu-ray only when it was included on the 2004 DVD.

manicsounds wrote:No surprise that this title is spine number 666?

The best jokes are the ones where you know the punchline two months in advance. Also this.

manicsounds wrote:So it seems the other commentary from the 2002 DVD is not carried over, and it's strange the thumbnail sketches are going to be blu-ray only when it was included on the 2004 DVD.

I emailed Mulvaney in February about including both commentaries, never received a response. I just sent them another email requesting they add the 2002 commentary to their features.

manicsounds wrote: So it seems the other commentary from the 2002 DVD is not carried over, and it's strange the thumbnail sketches are going to be blu-ray only when it was included on the 2004 DVD.

Just to clarify, it's the old Guillermo del Toro and Guillermo Navarro commentary that you're referring to here as having been left off this edition, rather then another del Toro only commentary? I only ask as the one I have on the UK DVD mentions Pan's Labyrinth as having been made but Criterion's commentary seems to come from 2004, 2 years before it was released. Is this the one included here or was there also another del Toro only commentary produced?

Criterion's commentary comes from the 2004 Sony SE DVD, an English commentary, while the 2002 commentary is from the 2002 Sony DVD, also in English. So the UK one is different from those? I know the Del Toro introduction (both on the Criterion and Optimum) talks about Pan's Labyrinth, but does he also mention it in the UK commentary?

manicsounds wrote:Criterion's commentary comes from the 2004 Sony SE DVD, an English commentary, while the 2002 commentary is from the 2002 Sony DVD, also in English. So the UK one is different from those? I know the Del Toro introduction (both on the Criterion and Optimum) talks about Pan's Labyrinth, but does he also mention it in the UK commentary?

Yeah, the one I have here begins with him saying the commentary is "for the UK edition of The Devil's Backbone". He then mentions how he made this after having been brutally raped in Hollywood (presumably referring to his experiences on 'Mimic'). He then goes on to point out the rhyming structure both in the movie and with Pan's Labyrinth. It's unclear from his phrasing whether it has actually been released at the time he is speaking but he seems to imply the DVD is being released to coincide with the release of Pan's Labyrinth.

So, along with the original DVD's del Toro and Navarro commentary, there seem to be at least 3 separate commentaries he has done for this movie? Interesting.

manicsounds wrote:DVDBeaver

Those caps look quite a lot better than the UK blu-ray in detail, color, and contrast. Might be worth a double dip

I actually picked this up today. Does anyone know why this in the stores before the stated release date of 7/30? I was surprised to see it next to Babette's Feast at BN today. Or is this a mistake on BN's part?

B&N exclusively had it a week early.

That explains it, thanks!

picked this up yesterday as well at B&N.. nice package, thin booklet, but great artwork.
I noticed a bit of blocky artifacting though in the beginning when Carlos first sees the ghost through the door.

Not sure if others are seeing this, great flick though and the rest of it looks great!

The storyboards are unusually, encoded as a subtitle track, and not as a picture-in-picture, so if you want to see the storyboards and have English subtitles, you're out of luck. Why didn't Criterion opt for a PiP track instead? It's a basic thing that many blu-rays have, and Criterion have never used it for some reason.

Carlos Gimenez is a famous Spanish comic author. Espinazo's story board is based on his real experiences in immediately post war in the SP catholic largers for children, yes, for children (dreadful stories, real life terror).

He didn't work with Del Toro in Laberinto del fauno.

Just google "Paracuellos imágenes cómic" (not Paracuellos war crimes, that's other)

Just saw Cronos for the first time ever; the Criterion BD is excellent, and it's definitely one of the better '90's horror flicks I've seen. Has shades of other horror flicks (Hellraiser, as was mentioned), but also quite unique - the Cronos device was quite bizzare & horrific, and many of the other items/statues in the antique store were both unusual & menacing. Very solid film, especially considering it was GDT's first feature.

The only thing I found off-putting about the film is how some of the characters would switch back & forth from Spanish to English; though the antique dealer spoke no English in the film, other characters were speaking to him in that language as if they thought he understood it - and, it wasn't clear if he did or not. I don't mind seeing films that are 100% subtitled, and wouldn't have minded it if the film were all in Spanish. The film was evidently targeted towards an English-speaking audience....

I was wondering if the selected on-screen presentation of thumbnails are the same as what is shown the 12 minute featurette, or are there more thumbnails in the onscreen version?