Category Archives: Giallo
The Psychic | Lucio Fulci’s masterful 1970s murder mystery gets a 2k restored Blu-ray release
Lucio Fulci (17 June 1927 – 13 March 1996) is one of the greatest of marmite directors – you either love him or hate him. During his 50+ year career, his output ranged from astonishing to abysmal, but he certainly proved his worth with his Gates of Hell trilogy (City of the Living Dead, The Beyond, The House by the Cemetery) in the 1980s and with a handful of Giallo thrillers in the 1970s – namely The Psychic, which is now out on Blu-ray from Shameless in a 2K restored edition.
Sette note in nero (AKA Murder to the Tune of the Seven Black Notes) stars Jennifer O’Neill as Virginia, a wealthy English woman who marries handsome Italian playboy, Francesco (Gianni Garko), and while he’s away on business begins renovating his old palazzo. Having had second sight since childhood, Virginia is soon haunted by strange visions involving a broken mirror, a murdered woman, a magazine cover, a limping man, a hole in a wall and someone being bricked up in the dark. After getting little help from her parapsychologist friend Luca (Marc Porel), she tries to uncover the meaning of the visions herself only to discover they are premonitions of future deaths…
Written by Roberto Gianviti and Dardano Sacchetti, Sette note in nero was Fulci’s fourth giallo. It is a meticulously constructed murder mystery filled with powerful imagery (especially the room full of chintz furniture that Virginia sees in her visions), some Argento-esque touches by way of 1971’s Cat O’Nine Tails (which was also penned by Sacchetti) and 1975’s Deep Red, and a gravely elegant score from Franco Bixio, Fabio Frizzi and Vince Tempera. This includes those all-important ‘Seven Black Notes’ which (as a chime on a watch) become a crucial plot point. If the tune sounds familiar, that’s because Quentin Tarantino appropriated it for 2003’s Kill Bill. There’s also a fab opening theme song that’s worthy of ABBA.
The Shameless Restored Edition of The Psychic looks and sounds terrific – and you get the option of both the English or Italian audio. Plus, there are some super extras (my fave was Fabio Frizzi’s memories on composing the score). It’s also given me a chance to revisit Stephen Thrower’s definitive tome, Beyond Terror: The Films of Lucio Fulci, in which he explores how on this film Fulci proved himself to be a director of ‘skill and sophistication’.
SPECIAL FEATURES
• Extensively restored in 2k from a new scan
• English and alternative Italian audio (alternative LPCM & DTS-HD audio tracks)
• Revised English subtitles
• Touching Fate: new exclusive interview of Antonella Fulci
• Daddy Dearest: Antonella talks about her father Lucio Fulci
• Restoration process for The Psychic
• Escape from Doom: writer Dardano Sacchetti on working with Fulci
• Behind the Wall: composer Fabio Frizzi on scoring The Psychic
• Limited edition numbered O-Card (first 2,000 units)
Double Face | Riccardo Freda’s 1969 Euro thriller with a pyscho-delic bent
When his wealthy lesbian wife Helen (Margaret Lee) dies in a car crash, businessman John Alexander (Klaus Kinski) finds himself under a police investigation when they discover the car had been tampered with. But when he discovers a recently-shot pornographic movie which appears to feature Helen, her suspects she staged her own death and begins his own investigation. Can he get to the bottom of the mystery before police lock him in handcuffs?
In the post-war years, the proliferation of transnational European co-productions gave rise to a cross-pollination of film genres, with the same films sold in different markets as belonging to different movements. Among these, director Riccardo Freda’s Double Face from 1969 was marketed in West Germany as an Edgar Wallace ‘Krimi’, while in Italy it was sold as a Giallo.
It’s certainly a visually-atmospheric Giallo with a terrific score from Nora Orlandi (who also sings), and Kinski does give an uncharacteristically subtle performance. But it’s a bit too subtle at times. He moves from one gorgeously-lit scene to another just staring – but then so does the audience.
The Arrow Video Blu-ray (originally released June 2019) includes the following special edition contents…
• 2K restoration of the full-length Italian version of the film from the original 35mm camera negative
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• Uncompressed mono 1.0 LPCM audio
• Original English and Italian soundtracks, titles and credits
• Newly translated English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack
• Optional English subtitles
• Audio commentary by author and critic Tim Lucas
• Interview with composer Nora Orlandi (This was my favourite extra, – Nora and her scores so deserve renewed appreciation)
• The Many Faces of Nora Orlandi, a new appreciation of the varied career of the film’s composer by musician and soundtrack collector Lovely Jon (this guy really knows his stuff)
• The Terrifying Dr Freda, Video essay on Riccardo Freda’s gialli by author and critic Amy Simmons (very informative and well worth checking out)
• Extensive image gallery from the collection of Christian Ostermeier, including the original German pressbook and lobby cards, and the complete Italian cineromanzo adaptation
• Original Italian and English theatrical trailers
• Reversible sleeve featuring original artwork by Graham Humphreys
• Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Neill Mitchell
Edge of the Axe & Deadly Manor | A double-dose of slice and dice chills from Jose Ramon Larraz on Blu-ray
Following Arrow Video’s release last year of a fantastic box-set of Jose Ramon Larraz’s early shockers (Whirpool, Vampyres, The Coming of Sin) now comes two slashers made at the very end of his film career on Blu-ray, restored and released in the UK for the first time, with a host of extras – Edge of the Axe (1988) and Deadly Manor (1990).
‘Seven killings in two weeks, this place stinks of death’
When the rural community of Paddock County is rocked by a series of vicious murders by an axe-wielding psychopath, officer Frank McIntosh (Fred Holliday) sets out to investigate. Meanwhile, Lillian (Christina Marie Lane), the daughter of a local tavern owner who is home from college, is starting up a tender friendship with computer geek Gerald (Barton Faulks) when she comes across the names of three women who have been killed.
Gerald explains that he enjoys making lists for fun, and Lillian believes him. She then confides in Gerald that her cousin Charlie has just been released from a mental hospital (having been placed there as a young boy following a head injury which Lillian caused), and suspects he might be responsible for the killings…
While set in California, this 1989 US/Spanish co-production (originally titled, Al filo del hacha) was primarily shot in Madrid (with the American scenes shot around Big Bare Lake in San Bernardino) and director José Ramón Larraz (going by the name Joseph Braunstein here) imbues his late entry hack-and slash thriller with some typical giallo trappings – some good, some excruciatingly bad.
The film’s primary colour palette – courtesy of cinematographer Tote Trenas – lends a Bava-esque meets comic-book sheen, Javier Elorrieta’s music is suitably weird (think Friday the 13th cross with country and western), and the special make-up effects are suitably gory. But the story (littered with trademark giallo twists, turns and red-herrings) is all over the place and the dialogue is downright hilariously bad. If it didn’t take it self so seriously, it could play as a spoof on the slasher genre. Oh and the computer technology looks really lame by today’s standards – but even so, the use of voice activation was a little ahead of its time.
Bizarrely, the violence is raw and rather nasty – which feels out of kilter in a slasher that’s loaded with unintentional laughs (incidentally, the UK video version was cut by 26 seconds to tone down the axe murders). And one scene that is guaranteed to make your sides ache is when genre legend Jack Taylor (playing a boozed-up local) is being driven home by one of the killer’s victims. He plays it so OTT it’s actually worth checking out the film just for this scene alone.
Another disturbing feature is the creepy smile that the actress playing Lillian sports for most of the film. I couldn’t work out if she was putting it on or whether that was her actual smile. I suspect it was the latter seeing this was her only screen role. If you do survive (all that laughig) for the climax, then you are in for some pure hysteria – but guess what? The nightmare isn’t over when those credits roll.
Edge of the Axe is out now on Blu-ray from Arrow Video.
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
• Brand new 2K restoration from the original camera negative
• English and Spanish language versions of the feature
• Original uncompressed mono audio
• Optional English subtitles
• Newly translated English subtitles for the Spanish soundtrack
• Brand new audio commentary with actor Barton Faulks
• Brand new audio commentary with The Hysteria Continues
• Newly-filmed interview with actor Barton Faulks
• The Pain in Spain: a newly-filmed interview with special effects and make-up artist Colin Arthur
• Image Gallery
• Reversible sleeve featuring original artwork by Justin Osbourn
• Collector’s booklet (first pressing only) featuring new writing by Amanda Reyes
‘People collect stamps, baseball cards, ancient Incan artifacts. No one collects scalps!’
Bound for a camping trip to the lake, six friends and a hitchhiker are forced to stop for the night when a storm hits, and find a seemingly abandoned mansion as the perfect place to chill. But there’s something decidedly not right with the place – there’s a bloodstained car wreck in the front garden hat’s been turned into a memorial, there’s coffins in the basement and scalps in a closet, and photographs of a beautiful woman are plastered on the walls all over the house. Of course the teens decide to stay only to be picked off one-by-one by a mystery killer…
Released on VHS in the US under the title Savage Lust, Larraz’s penultimate film of his career is frankly dire. The scenario is unimaginative, the acting tragic, there’s little in the way of suspense or horror, and nothing actually happens for ages (except lots of heavy petting). And when it does its an anti-climax. Even the kills are nothing to get excited about. And as for the disfigured face make-up – OMG! truly amateurish. The only redeeming feature is the creepy house used for the setting and maybe scream queen Jennifer Delora’s OTT performance (and her interview is a scream too), but frankly this Deadly Manor is a deadly bore.
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
• Brand new 2K restoration from original film elements
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• Original uncompressed mono audio
• Optional English subtitles
• Brand new audio commentary with Kat Ellinger and Samm Deighan
• Newly-filmed interview with actress Jennifer Delora
• Making a Killing: a newly-filmed interview with producer Brian Smedley-Aston
• Extract from an archival interview with Jose Larraz
• Original Savage Lust VHS trailer
• Image Gallery
• Original Script and Shooting Schedule (BD-ROM content)
• Reversible sleeve featuring original artwork by Adam Rabalais
• Collector’s booklet (first pressing only) featuring new writing on the film by author John Martin
The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire (1971) | Riccardo Freda’s luridly over-the-top giallo
Talky and torturous, with a totally nonsensical plot, Riccardo Freda’s The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire (aka L’iguana dalla lingua di fuoco) is one of several ‘animal-in-the-title’ giallo cash-ins released in the wake of Dario Argento’s The Bird with the Crystal Plumage and now heads to Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video.
Set in Dublin, it opens with an acid-throwing, razor-wielding maniac viciously slaying a young woman. When the victim’s butchered corpse is discovered in a limo owned by Ambassador Sobiesky (Anton Diffring), a police investigation is launched.
It turns out the murdered woman was the Ambassador’s lover, but Sobiesky refuses to cooperate with the police, claiming diplomatic immunity.
Troubled ex-cop, John Norton (Luigi Pistilli), is then brought in to assist, but as he starts up an affair with the Ambassador’s step-daughter, Helen (Dagmar Lassander), his own family are soon placed in danger as the maniac continues their killing spree…
Now I’m not sure whether director Riccardo Freda was just having an off-day when he was making this or whether he decided to say ‘to hell with it’, let’s play fast and furious with giallo convention and spoof the genre, but Iguana is a confusing mess of a film.
Shot with a tourists eye on Dublin’s iconic O’Connell Street and around the Cliffs of Moher in County Clare (acrophobiacs beware), and featuring overblown (vocal) performances from the likes of Valentina Cortese (who plays Sobiesky’s glamourous wife as if she were Gloria Swanson’s Norma Desmond), plus a rousing score by Stelvio Cipriani, Freda’s luridly over-the-top murder mystery is, bizarrely, also quite mesmerising.
I just got carried away by the visuals, the score and the rather disturbing death scenes. I particularly loved how Cipriani introduced crashing instrumental sounds every time there was a close-up of a pair of glasses or a cigarette lighter. Intentional or not, it’s quite hilarious in a Garth Marenghi kind of way – as is the explanation as to the film’s title (you have to hear it to believe it during a scene between Norton and a shrink).
Now, you can experience Iguana yourself with Arrow Video’s new Blu-ray release, which features some excellent extras. My personal favourite was Lovely Jon’s featurette on Cipriani, which has spurred me in tracking down the composer’s other scores (there’s quite a few) iincluding this film’s score which Arrow are releasing on purple vinyl; while I had to laugh that even academic Richard Dyer found the film as messed up as I did.
SPECIAL FEATURES
• New 2K restoration from the original 35mm camera negative
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• Uncompressed mono 1.0 LPCM audio
• Original English and Italian soundtracks, titles and credits
• Newly translated English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack
• Optional English subtitles for the English soundtrack
• New audio commentary by giallo connoisseurs Adrian J Smith and David Flint
• Of Chameleons and Iguanas: video appreciation by the cultural critic Richard Dyer
• Considering Cipriani: appreciation of composer Stelvio Cipriani by DJ and soundtrack collector Lovely Jon
• The Cutting Game: new interview with Iguana’s assistant editor Bruno Micheli
• The Red Queen of Hearts: interview with the actress Dagmar Lassander
• Original Italian and international theatrical trailers
• Image gallery
• Reversible sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
• Collector’s booklet (First pressing only)
Opera (1987) | CultFilms unleashes Dario Argento’s Grand Guignol horror in a new director-guided 2k restoration
Italy’s master of horror Dario Argento ushers in 2019 with this new restoration of his violent 1987 horror Opera, courtesy of CultFilms – the folks who brought us the stunning 4k restoration release of Suspiria.
When young understudy Betty (Cristina Marsillach) takes the lead role in a new operatic production of Verdi’s Macbeth, she soon attracts the attention of a knife-wielding psycho who forces her to watch – with eyes pinned open – as he brutally despatches her friends and colleagues with sadistic delight. Can Betty free herself from this unending nightmare or does a more terrifying fate await?
Co-starring Ian Charleson (Chariots of Fire) and Daria Nicolodi (Deep Red), Opera is a ravishing return to the giallo style Argento made his name with, awash with lavish bloodletting, black-gloved killers, soaring cinematography, and the director’s expressionistic Grand Guignol excess. Plus, an unforgettable score from Brian Eno, Bill Wyman, Claudio Simonetti and even opera legend Maria Callas herself.
CultFilms is proud to present Argento’s gore-soaked terror in a stunning 2K restoration, with colour regrading carried out under instruction from the maestro himself and in reference to his own, preferred, original cinema print. Opera is out now in a Region B/2 Dual Format edition (Blu-ray & DVD) with numbered vinyl case and on VOD from CultFilms.
SPECIAL FEATURES
• Aria of Fear: a brand new candid interview with director Dario Argento, revisiting his work from a fresh viewpoint
• Opera Backstage: a unique behind the scenes documentary about Dario Argento directing Opera
• Restoration featurette: from raw scan to the regraded, restored and reframed final vision
Order direct from CultFilms: bit.ly/2Aj8v2J
iTunes: apple.co/2QXlwUD
The Case of the Bloody Iris (1972) | The cult giallo slices its way onto DVD and Blu-ray
First they brought you The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh and then All the Colours of the Dark. Now, Shameless proudly presents giallo’s own royalty, the iconic Edwige Fenech-George Hilton dream team, in their third sensuous outing: The Case of the Bloody Iris (aka Perché quelle strane gocce di sangue sul corpo di Jennifer?).
After two beautiful women are murdered in an apartment block, Jennifer (Edwige Fenech) and Marilyn (Paola Quattrini) move into the flat of one of the slaughtered girls. But before long, the unknown predatory pervert soon turns his salacious attentions to the gorgeous Jennifer. The list of suspects includes a woman and her deformed son, a crazy lesbian and even Jennifer’ s own lover.
Serenaded with Bruno Nicolai’s enrapturing score and featuring lush cinematography from Stelvio Massi, this long-sought-after 70s sleaze gem, directed by Giuliano Carnimeo (Ratman), is now available for your delectation. You are invited to solve The Case of the Bloody Iris, on Shameless Blu-ray in this 2K restored special edition for the first time ever.
SPECIAL FEATURES
• A new candid chat with the amazing George Hilton
• A new scintillating chat with star Paola Quattrini
Out now on Blu-ray & DVD
The Pyjama Girl Case (1977) | Flavio Mogherini’s Down Under-set Italian giallo is a mixed bag of treats
From Arrow Video comes a new 2k restoration on Blu-ray of director Flavio Mogherini’s Italian-made 1970s thriller The Pyjama Girl Case, starring veteran Hollywood star Ray Milland.
When the burnt body of a young woman is found on a Sydney beach, former Canadian Inspector Thompson (Ray Milland) comes out of retirement to help local homicide detectives crack the case. Treading where the ‘real’ detectives can’t, he doggedly pieces together the tragic story of Dutch immigrant Glenda Blythe (Dalila Di Lazzaro) and the unhappy chain of events which led to her grisly demise…
In between dodging fearsome felines in The Uncanny (filmed in Canada) and facing a Cruise into Terror (off the California coast), Ray Milland headed Down Under to appear in this offbeat Italian-made thriller that comes from the tail under of the giallo boom period. Inspired by a real-life case which baffled the Australian police back-up in the 1930s, The Pyjama Girl Case is a mixed bag of treats.
There’s a memorably melancholic score by veteran composer Riz Ortolani, but the disco tracks featuring the fabulous Amanda Lear feel quite incongrous to the sun-drenched setting: a lunchtime riverboat cruise filled with families and pensioners. It’s great seeing Milland get all sweary, but he seems out of place (like he should be in another movie). And indeed that’s what happens after he makes his ‘dramatic’ exit (no I won’t reveal that), when events involving Dalilia’s Glenda take a turn for the sordid, forcing us ‘the viewer’ to become voyeurs on her sex life (a hotel scene involving sweaty fat men is quite the stomach churner).
Interestingly Mogherini ditches the postcard approach to show a different side of Sydney, with lots of shots of 1970s shopping arcades (Gene Wilder’s Silver Streak was showing at Plaza Cinemas at the time), and people playing bowls and hockey (which certainly reminded me of my Australian heritage, as did those shopping centres). But the one image that will remain with me forever is of the burnt corpse placed in a case and put on display. It’s quite disturbing, but so are the people getting their jollies out of viewing it.
The Arrow Video Blu-ray release features a brand-new 2k restoration of the film from the original camera negative, newly translated English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack and optional English subtitles, plus the following special features…
• New audio commentary by Troy Howarth, author of So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years of Italian Giallo Films
• New video interview with author and critic Michael Mackenzie on the internationalism of the giallo and on how this film may have inspired Dario Argento’s Sleepless
• New video interview with actor Howard Ross
• New video interview with editor Alberto Tagliavia
• Archival interview with composer Riz Ortolani (I loved this)
• Image gallery
• Italian theatrical trailer
• Original and newly commissioned artwork by Chris Malbon
• Collector’s booklet (first pressing only) featuring new writing by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
Death Smiles on a Murderer (1973) | The beguiling Italian Gothic horror gets a 2k reanimation
With its enticing mix of black magic, bad science, vengeful ghost, murder, incest and voyeurism tied to a story inspired by Sheridan La Fanu’s Carmilla and the dark imaginings of Edgar Allan Poe, 1973’s Death Smiles on a Murderer (aka La morte ha sorriso all’assassino) is a beguiling Italian Gothic horror that owes as much to its mesmerising musical score as it does to its surreal, dreamlike imagery. But its also a twisted supernatural puzzle that will leave most viewers (including myself) scratching their heads.
Set in early 1900s Austria, and told in flashback, it centres on the enigmatic Greta (played by Swedish startlet Ewa Aulin of Candy fame), who dies in childbirth by her lover, Dr von Ravensbrück (Giacomo Rossi Stuart) and is then reanimated by her hunchback brother Franz (Luciano Rossi). Killing Franz, who subjected her to years of sexual abuse, Greta inveigles her way into the home of Ravensbrück’s son Walter (Sergio Doria) and his wife Eva (Angelo Bo), where she uses her charisma and beauty to win their hearts before seeking her revenge…
Now that all sounds simple enough, but I haven’t mentioned all the other sub-plots taking place, including the very odd presence of Klaus Kinski, who plays a perverted physician experimenting on a secret formula to bring the dead back to life – who suddenly gets killed off mid-way through. Frankly, his scenes are a bit of an obstruction to the haunting tale which was co-written and lensed by its director, Aristide Massaccesi (aka Italy’s legendary horror and sleaze exponent, Joe D’Amato).
The surreal nature of the narrative might be disorientating, but Massaccesi uses that to effectively capture the dread and terror of his source material, and these all play out in scenes which reference Poe’s The Black Cat, The Cask of Amontillado, Ligeia and The Masque of the Red Death, as well as La Fanu’s Carmilla.
Massaccesi also has great fun with the genre. Not only does he pay homage to Roger Corman’s Poe chillers (Walter’s attire is so Vincent Price), Hammer horror, and Mario Bava’s Kill, Baby Kill! (which also starred Giacamo Rossi Stuart); he adds in lots of softcore sex (more than Hammer were attempting at the time), hints of giallo and some pre-splatter OTT gore (just witness Franz’s very bloody, very long death scene where he gets his eyes gouged out by a cat). But what will haunt me forever is composer Bert Pisano’s hypnotic score, that’s mournful and playful in equal measures. I just can’t get it out of my head.
Arrow’s 2K restoration is simply gorgeous and contains an illuminating audio commentary from Tim Lucas, whose research and indepth knowledge really pays off, as he puts all the pieces of Massaccesi’s Gothic horror puzzle together with a shot-by-shot appreciation and analysis. The other must-sees are Kat Ellinger’s excellent video essay which covers the full breadth of the director’s work (and its truly mind-boggling how much he has done) and the 40minute-plus interview with Ewa Aulin. Thanks Arrow for another keeper…
SPECIAL FEATURES
• Brand new 2K restoration from the original camera negative
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• Original Italian and English soundtracks
• Uncompressed Mono 1.0 PCM audio
• Newly translated English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack
• Optional English subtitles for the English soundtrack
• New audio commentary by Tim Lucas
• D’Amato Smiles on Death: archival interview with the director
• All About Ewa: Newly-filmed interview with the Swedish star
• Smiling on the Taboo: Sex, Death and Transgression in the horror films of Joe D’Amato, new video essay by critic Kat Ellinger
• Original trailers
• Stills and collections gallery
• Reversible sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx
• Collector’s booklet featuring new writing by critic Stephen Thrower and film historian Roberto Curti
Pre-order in the UK via Arrow: http://bit.ly/2FiLyxd
Pre-order in the US via DiabilikDVD: http://bit.ly/2BLUKdL
The Cat o’Nine Tails (1971) | Dario Argento’s stylish American-styled giallo gets a 4K upgrade
While I already have Arrow’s previous Blu-ray of Dario Argento’s 1971 giallo Cat o’Nine Tales (aka il gatto nove code), I couldn’t resist upgrading to this 4K restoration, which also includes newly translated English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack. Now all I need is a 4k smart TV and Blu-ray player to see it properly. But having looked at it on my current HD system, it looks and sounds terrific.
As for the extras, well they are all brand-new with none crossing over from the previous Arrow release. Here’s the low-down…
First up is the audio commentary from Alan Jones and Kim Newman. Jones, of course, is Argento’s number one fan who has become a close friend and written the definitive book(s) on the director, while Newman’s comprehensive film knowledge is truly enviable.
It’s fun and very insightful (film nerds like me will lap up the trivia, especially those related to the Turin film locations); and you’ll see Catherine Spaak’s costumes in a whole different light after listening to Jones views on Luca Sabetelli’s outré surreal outfits.
As for the featurettes, Nine Lives, comprises an exclusive 2017 interview with Dario Argento, who confirms Jones’ comments that the film was the least favourite of his canon, as he felt it ‘too American’.
The Writer o’ Many Tails has screenwriter Dardano Sacchetti discuss his career (over 34 minutes) which included an infamous row between him and Argento over the credit for the screenplay.
Child Star is another Arrow exclusive, an interview with the film’s Cinzia De Carolis, who played Karl Malden’s niece Lori and is today a well-respected voice dubber.
Being a huge fan of film locations, Giallo In Turin was the one that I watched first. Disappointingly, we don’t get the guided tour that I had imagined, instead production manager Angelo Iacono discusses his first meeting with Argento, before recalling his memories of the cast and crew.
A huge bonus is the inclusion of the Original Ending, in which the fates of Anna (Spaak) and Lori (De Carolis) are revealed. But wait! As the footage is now lost, we only get a visual storyboard alongside the English version of the last couple of pages of the script. But the money shot is a single German lobby card containing an actual still of the final scene. Yeah!
Now, as I have the rare movie tie-in novelisation (one of only two written by Paul J Gillette – the other was Play Misty for Me), I had hoped it would contain this version. Unfortunately, it deviates totally from both the original ending and the final cut ending.
With stylish new artwork by Candace Tripp, a limited edition booklet, lobby card repros and fold-out poster also included, this latest Argento release from Arrow is a keeper. Now, I just need that 4K kit.
If you want to see my thoughts on Arrow’s previous of the film… READ IT HERE
The Cat O’Nine Tails (1971) | Dario Argento’s purr-fectly stylish whodunit
Following the success of his film debut The Bird With the Crystal Plumage, Dario Argento directed another puzzling-titled whodunit, The Cat O’ Nine Tails, starring Karl Malden (The Streets of San Francisco) and James Franciscus (Beneath the Planet of the Apes), which had its debut in West German cinemas on 15 July 1971.
Malden plays blind crossword puzzle expert Cookie, while Franciscus is wily reporter Carlo Giordani. The unlikely pair becomes amateur sleuths following a break-in at a pharmaceutical institute in Rome.
When doctors attached to the development of a revolutionary new drug start getting bumped off, Cookie and Giordani must solve nine leads (hence the film’s title) in order to unmask the killer. But their nosing around turns personal for Cookie, when the killer kidnaps his young niece.
While not one of Argento’s personal favourites, there’s much to enjoy thanks to Arrow’s new HD transfer. Retro fans will swoon over the production design (the marble hall of the lab and the rooftop bar are big highlights, and Franciscus’ wardrobe is so cool); while the colour and lighting is trademark Argento, all deep rich tones – like a chiaroscuro painting brought to life. Meanwhile, Ennio Morricone supplies another superb score, this time featuring a catchy discordant melody.
The story is classic murder mystery – but with a modern (read 1970s) twist. Instead of the beautiful blonde being fought over (although there is a beauty present in the shapely form of French star Catherine Spaak), it’s a male gigolo who takes centre stage when one of the doctors becomes a suspect. And it’s this gay storyline as much as the violence (the strangulation scene is particularly nasty) that originally got 20-minutes cut from earlier versions of the film. But here it is uncut and ready for a new audience, and you really don’t have to be dedicated to Argento to love this Cat.
Arrow Video released the film in 2012 on DVD and on Limited Edition Blu-ray featuring a new HD transfer of the film in 2013.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
- Brand new High Definition transfer of the film (1080p)
- Optional English & Italian Audio
- Original uncompressed Mono Audio
- Optional English subtitles
- Dario’s Murderous Moggy: Dario Argento Remembers The Cat O’ Nine Tails (1080p)
- Luigi Cozzi: Cat O’ Nine Tails in Reflection (1080p)
- Sergio Martino: The Art and Arteries of the Giallo (1080p)
- Original Italian Trailer
- Reversible sleeve with original Artwork by Rick Melton
NOTE: If you want to hear the English audio, select it first as the release defaults to the original Italian audio. Also, don’t watch the special features until you have seen the movie, as they give away the surprise ending (actually so does the cover art, but its still the coolest scene of the movie).
Kultguy's Keep 