Import Corner: Inner Sanctum II (Panorama Entertainment) Blu-ray Review + Screenshots + Packaging Shots

The sequel to one of the better erotic thrillers has made it's way to Blu-ray. Is it worth picking up?

Studio: Panorama Entertainment
Release Date: November 30th, 1994 (video premiere) / ???? (blu-ray)
Run Time:
Region Code: FREE

Disc Count: 1 (1 BD-25)
Picture: 1080p (1.33:1 aspect ratio)
Sound: English Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles: None
Slipcover: No
Starring: Michael Nouri, Tracy Brooks Swope, Sandahl Bergman, David Warner, Jennifer Ciesar, Margaux Hemingway
Written by Fred Olen Ray, Steve Armogida
Directed by Fred Olen Ray
Rating: Unrated (a few prolonged sex scenes, violence, and lanuage)

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Poster

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What's It About?

After a traumatized woman kills her wealthy husband in self-defense, her family and friends appear to secure an inheritance for her, even if it means driving the poor woman insane - or worse.

This is translated through Google Translate and it sticks to the film pretty well. It's weird because the other imports that Makeflix has offered lately have had kind of weird descriptions but this one doesn't. It stays to the film and doesn't offer anything outside of that. Although, it does include to "X"'s at the beginning of the description, which you would think they would have deleted.

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Video/Audio

I have to say, INNER SANCTUM II looks decent. It is an upscale, like all of the other import titles of recent available at Makeflix, but the upscaling isn't too bad. There are still the obvious signs this is an upscale. I mean, look at the bushes in some of those screenshots along with the table that looks like it was painted on to the screen. The stuff that isn't in the background looks ok. Detail can be high but it's too high. This film was released in 1994 and was shot on film. There should be even the tiniest amount of film grain but there really isn't any because this is upscaled from a video source. It's a perfectly watchable release.

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Extras/Packaging

As with the other recent imports, the menu is crap and there are no special features.

The film is divided into 10 chapter selections that happen every five minutes.

Packaging wise, this thing is a bit better than usual. The front cover features a shot from the film that looks like it has some AI stuff done to it. The back features random shots from the film. The disc features the same art from the front just zoomed in a bit. There is also a post card featuring the artwork from the film's 1994 VHS release. When I spoke about the post cards included in the other imports, I said I wished they had used the original artwork from the VHS releases as it seemed pointless to reuse artwork multiple times in a release. This time, they actually did use the VHS artwork and this makes me happy.

The disc is REGION FREE

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Overall

INNER SANCTUM II is a pretty good straight-to-video erotic thriller/horror film. It isn't nearly as good as the first film, which was released in 1991 but it is worth a watch. You got Sandahl Bergman and Margaux Hemingway being awesome and David Warner, of all people, making an appearance. The erotic aspect of the film is well done, but you can tell the erotic thriller bubble is about to burst. The quality has dropped a bit and the film feels cheaper than the first film did. It is well worth a watch, though. Its fun and sexy and that's really all you want from an erotic thriller.

The Blu-ray is good but I know there are those who are going to have a problem with it. It's an upscale through and through but if you are ok with that then you'll like this release. If not, then stay far away from this one. I personally don't have too much of a problem with it because we will never (probably) get another release of this film so we have to take what we can get. It'll be fine for most of you. I bought it to add to my Fred Olen Ray collection and don't regret it.

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BD Info