The DVD "revolution" has been a boon for fans of Euro-horror. Almost Mario Bava's complete filmography is finally available uncut, remastered, and in its original aspect ratio, so finally this forgotten master of world cinema is getting his due. All but two of Dario Argento's filmography is now easily obtainable in pristine editions.
As we trickle down the list, we get uncut and remastered Lucio Fulci, Sergio Martino, Ruggero Deodato, Umberto Lenzi, and even bottom-feeders like Bruno Mattei and Joe D'Amato are getting decent releases. The Criterion Collection has released Georges Franju's poetic Eyes Without A Face. Even Jesus Franco, long mis-judged as the worst filmmaker in the world (and naturally, one of my absolute favourites) has dozens of his 150+ films out on nice DVD packages.
Even in Australasia we've got some surprising releases. Here are three of the latest, though hardly three of the best.
The Cat O' Nine Tails is Dario Argento's second movie as director. I've only been able to see this previously as a mega-grainy and much too dark pan & scan VHS with over 20 minutes cut out. In its full 2.35:1 ratio and with a clear transfer, it's like watching a different movie. Karl Malden plays a blind crossword puzzle creator and former journalist who gets drawn into a fiendish plot involving multiple murders and a medical clinic doing top-secret research.
It's a giallo, but an unusual one: the protagonist is male, as are most of the victims; there's no black leather gloves or raincoats; the psycho-sexual aspect of the story is downplayed; even most of the gore is relatively restrained, when compared with contemporary gialli like Sergio Martino's The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh or Mario Bava's Twitch of the Death Nerve. It's still good fun.
The DVD is in great shape (for the first time I could decipher what's happening during the credits sequence), though a bit light on extra features. It's released by Umbrella and it's got that same bloody "An Eye For Horror" doco that every other Argento movie they've released has - I've got five copies of the damned thing now. A few trailers etc. round things out, but the movie's the thing.
Manhattan Baby was available on VHS as Possessed locally years ago. Heavy on atmosphere and light on gore (and plot, as usual), it highlights a direction Lucio Fulci would probably have taken if his producers hadn't had a spaz over this movie. It's one of Fulci's least popular, so naturally it's always been one of my favourites.
An archaeologist is blinded by a mysterious laser beam in a pyramid in Egypt. His young daughter is given a scary amulet which slowly possesses her and allows her to travel to the Egyptian desert - and to transport unwary others there. Her brother is played by the same creepy kid from The House By the Cemetary. There are eye motifs everywhere (though not much eyeball violence for one). The music, by Fulci's then-regular composer Fabio Frizzi, largely seems to repeat the score from The Beyond.
The movie is rated R18 - contains graphic violence and sexual violence. This is absolute rubbish. There's no sexual violence, almost no violence of any kind, and I'd rate it M and let kids watch it if they wanted (though they'd probably be bored). The DVD is good quality, but almost extras-free.
The New York Ripper was made by Fulci around the same time as Manhattan Baby and is notorious as a misogynistic gore-fest giallo where a killer with a Donald Duck voice massacres "loose women". That pretty much sums it up. If you don't want to see razors put through nipples and eyeballs (even I squealed during that bit), avoid this movie.
It's well made, as far as that goes, with good special effects and photography, though the latter suffers from the absence of Fulci's then-regular cinematographer Sergio Salvati. Composer Fabio Frizzi is also missed. Some of the performances seem to be quite good, terrible dubbing aside.
Zora Kerova actually gets a more horrible death scene here than she did in Make Them Die Slowly, believe it or not. Daniela Doria, as usual, gets the worst treatment. I was unable to spot the gorgeous Barbara Cupisti (from Stage Fright, The Church, and Dellamorte Dellamore, among others) anywhere in the movie despite her credit.
I doubt I can recommend this DVD to anyone, but the transfer is first rate. Extras are a trailer and a few stills in a slideshow.
Both Manhattan Baby and The New York Ripper are released by Stomp Visual, a bit of a new kid on the block. They've also imported a number of prime Blue Underground dvds, including Snuff and Fight For Your Life, so they're clearly exploitation hounds after my own heart. I hope they stick around!
Posted by joey at May 30, 2006 2:46 PM