"It’s only recently I have supervised my second major high definition transfer to Blu-ray. The first one was Pan’s Labyrinth and the second one was the transfer of The Devil’s Backbone, which I’m checking right now. Essentially they are piling up the same extras, just cramming them in. I think the Blu-ray format can allow for much more and we’re trying to explore it a little bit now with the Hellboy 2 Blu-ray edition. I think the format is incredibly generous. It allows for a lot of flexibility. "

So Hellboy II is coming to Blu-ray too, and it sounds like it's going to be a packed disc. And finally, could we be seeing further Del Toro titles in high definition?

"Hopefully, I’ll have time in the future to revisit things like Cronos and hopefully Mimic and make those changes." He told us.

While the packaging and perks make the Korean set a tempting purchase, it shouldn't be anyone's choice in terms of its transfer, which is much too dark and compares poorly with the look of the film as seen in the accompanying trailer. Asked about this edition, del Toro reported to VW "I had no control over the Korean transfer" - and it shows.

The 1.85:1 transfer here is a noticeable improvement, sharp and dramatically colorful with an improved DD 5.1 mix, but the density of blacks remain a problem. Last March, prior to the Region 1 disc's release, del Toro agreed with this assessment in correspondence: "The detail in the blacks in the UK transfer seemed a bit 'compacted,' but I did an HD transfer for them that I think is better. I admire Navarro's sense of light and was amazed - when I did the final color correction - by how much detail is in the blacks and how far I could push them. He has a great eye. In the same spirit, the Dolby mix in the R1 DVD has a 'scaled down,' fully atmospheric mix in which we try and reproduce the immersive quality of the mix for home theater. I believe the perfect transfer will be the Region 1 DVD."