Alejandro Jodorowsky Screen Comparisons — ABKCO vs Anchor Bay

This article contains several comparisons contrasting new ABKCO Blu-ray transfers with prior DVD and Blu-ray editions. The frames aren’t necessarily exact matches, but should give a solid indication of the visual differences.

Last week, ABKCO Films and Arrow Video released their deluxe Alejandro Jodorowsky Blu-ray set spanning four Blu-rays and two audio CDs, giving fans a definitive edition of these films mastered from new 4K transfers. Being a big Jodorowsky fan myself, I thought why not break down every US based edition and compare them, because naturally that’s what an obsessive media collector like myself would do. So here’s my breakdown spanning 2007’s Anchor Bay release, the 2014 Anchor Bay Blu-rays and the most recent offering from ABKCO Films set with new transfers approved by the director himself.

After culling through these sets, its easy to see ABKCO and Arrow have definitely delivered on their promise of a definitive edition of these films. While Fando Y Liz is the most dramatic of the upgrades here on the set, since all that existed previously was a badly framed DVD, both El Topo and The Holy Mountain have definitely been improved upon as well, with a more natural color palette and less DNR than the previous releases.

But don’t simply take my word for it, check out the screenshots below.

Fando Y Liz — Comparisons

El Topo— Comparisons

The Holy Mountain — Comparisons