contributed by James Bialkowski

Just got ahold of the new re-releases from Japan, and thought I would spread the word to those of you who may be think of picking them up. What you will find here is a comparision between the old pressing by NIKKATSU VIDEO to the new pressings by AMUSE.

EL TOPO(NIKKATSU): Cover art is of EL TOPO and his son riding throught the desert. Title credits are filled in with a shot of Jodorowsky's eyes. Back sleeve art contains various stills from the film. New version uses the same artwork but the EL T lettering is bolder and has no underlining visuals. Both titles have the Japanese title in Kanji lettering down the left hand side of the sleeve.

THE HOLY MOUNTAIN(NIKKATSU): Cover art is the theatrical poster released by ABCKO. Sleeve is white with about 15 differant color shots. The AMUSE print uses a large shot of Jodorowsky in a diamond shape cut with the famous crucified goat art underneath his head. Background is a reddish brown marble. Without question the old disc cover is better. Kanji is above the english titles.

Side by side comparsions reveal only this, piture quality is only slightly clearer on the new AMUSE discs. However the films original mono sound has been improved now that the discs have digital audio. The old LD's were not. The main differences are listed below.

Both discs open with a nice looking and sounding AMUSE VIDEO logo followed by a still of film, with the English and Japanese titles over the graphic. The old pressings went right into the film after the NIKKATSU logo.

Side breaks are in different spots on both versions.

Both EL TOPO and the HOLY MOUNTAIN have been re-subtitled in Japanese.

HOLY MOUNTAIN is presented in 2,35:1 in both versions, but it has been framed to the middle of the screen in the AMUSE print. There was an establishing Japanese subtitle that appeared after the opening credits in the NIKKATSU disc. I have no idea what it said but AMUSE chose to remove it.

Both the AMUSE and NIKKATSU contain the theatrical trailers in ENGLISH. However the first released had Kanji over a blue background before the trailers commenced. The AMUSE trailers just get rolling after the end credits.

The trailers found in the AMUSE VIDEO version are found at chapter two on side three on EL TOPO and side two on the HOLY MOUNTAIN. The films themselves are not chapter encoded though. "I wish HM was so I could cue up that GOLDEN POOP scene for my Mom quicker"!!

Genitial destortion is found in both pressings.

Besides the kinda clunky sleeve art for HOLY MOUNTAIN, I can't see why anyone would strive to obtain the way out of print NIKKATSU discs. I piked mine up from a pal who lives in Japan and saved a bunch of dough. Comparsions between a few internet mail order stores has found the new discs at about $75, and $85 for EL T. All and all pick em' and play them when you want your family to leave!!! Take care.

Sources

EL TOPO LD CAT # NDH107 out of print
THE HOLY MOUNTAIN LD CAT# NDH108 out of print

EL TOPO LD CAT# AML-0045
HOLY MOUNTAIN #AML-0046