While Fox is dropping the ball, horror and European film specialist Anchor Bay Entertainment is ready to pick it up right there. We have just gotten word from Anchor Bay directly that all future widescreen releases of the company will feature 16×9 enhanced widescreen transfers throughout. At a time when this particular issue is being heatedly discussed throughout the DVD community, this news could have come at no better time. Only the titles they licensed from the Disney library will be presented in standard letterboxed versions due to contractual obligations. Over the past months, Anchor Bay has pulled out serious big guns to prove their commitment to the DVD market and more importantly to the fans of their films.

Down those lines, all Dario Argento fans will be pleased to hear that the new transfer of “Inferno” has just been finished. According to Anchor Bay the transfer will simply blow away all fans. While it is clear that Argento’s films can never look like Hollywood films due to their European origins and the director’s taste, Anchor Bay’s vice president of product development, Jay Douglas was hard pressed to find a better looking European movie. He told us the transfer looks spectacular and with the newly remixed Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, this disc will rock the boat. Inferno will hit retail shelves somewhen in February 2000, together with Argento’s Deep Red and Mario Bava’s Shock.