EATEN ALIVE! - 4K UHD / BD REVIEW

“When the cannibals attack, I want you to kill me!” exclaims Sheila, making a doom-laden proposition to her jungle guide, Mark. 

Although he is technically credited for launching the so-called ‘Italian cannibal film’ cycle with his gruesome if well-mounted jungle adventure THE MAN FROM DEEP RIVER(1972), director Umberto Lenzi’s film – despite featuring a brief, gory bit of anthropophagy – is simply a copy of Elliot Silverstein’s A MAN CALLED HORSE (1970) which transposes that film’s Native American setting over to Southeast Asia instead, and like the Silverstein film, most of the primary promotional materials for Lenzi’s unofficial ‘remake’ likewise centered on its grisly initiation rituals. However, it was the success (or infamy?) of Ruggero Deodato’s LAST CANNIBAL WORLD (a.k.a. JUNGLE HOLOCAUST, 1977) and his harrowing CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1979), which truly kicked-off this questionable ‘body horror’ subgenre into overdrive, resulting in a number of imitations, including Umberto Lenzi’s notorious CANNIBAL FEROX (a.k.a. MAKE THEM DIE SLOWLY, 1981) and the present EATEN ALIVE! (1980), one of the more shamelessly entertaining and completely bonkers films the genre had to offer, which even incorporated – and certainly tried to capitalize on – the notoriety of real-life fanatical cult leader Jim Jones and the tragic 1978 mass suicide / massacre he presided over in Jonestown, Guyana.

 

Following a series of baffling murders perpetrated by some low-level assassin by means of “tiny darts dipped in cobra venom” in both Niagara Falls and New York City, our blow-dart killer is, during a moment of panic, run-over by a garbage truck in midtown Manhattan. Soon after, Sheila Morris (Janet Agren), a “good ’ole Southern gal from Alabama”, is summoned to NYC because the police happen to find a canister of 8mm film in the murderer’s pocket (!) – yet another connection to CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST – featuring footage of Sheila’s sister Diana (Paola Senatore) participating in some sort of native ritual involving mondo-styled scenes of suspension piercing. More disconcerting still, though, is her involvement with Jonas (Ivan Rassimov), a “first-class nut”, who has set up camp somewhere in the wilds of New Guinea with his cult of worshippers, a bunch of “ecology freaks”. With the help of Professor Carter (a seriously slumming Mel Ferrer), Sheila heads to New Guinea, where she meets up with Mark (Robert Kerman / a.k.a. Richard Bolla), a Vietnam deserter, who begrudgingly agrees to help locate her sister and, in the midst of some shocking sights, promises the wide-eyed Sheila “you’ll see worse before this is over!” 

 

Unbelievably crass, but highly entertaining, Lenzi’s  cannibal film is a genre-hopping jungle romp, which features some form of indignity and/or gory set-piece every few minutes. However, unlike Deodato’s unforgivably harsh CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, Lenzi’s film is just so slapdash and preposterous that it’s hard to take seriously. Furthermore, Lenzi – rather brazenly – includes footage from a number of previous cannibal flicks, including Deodato’s aforementioned LAST CANNIBAL WORLD (a.k.a. JUNGLE HOLOCAUST, 1976), Sergio Martino’s upscale THE MOUNTAIN OF THE CANNIBAL GOD (a.k.a. SLAVE OF THE CANNIBAL GOD, 1978), and also from his very own THE MAN FROM DEEP RIVER, which was undoubtedly done to pad the film out with as much gore for a modicum of the cost. Minus some of the film’s obligatory animal cruelty, most of the gory makeup effects are of the “H.G. Lewis” school, but at the same time, it’s hard to deny the effectiveness – and nastiness – of shots showing cannibals slowly eating people alive during one of the film’s climactic sequences, which is done without the use of any music whatsoever and is accompanied by sounds of the natives hungrily chewing on raw flesh, the victims’ dying breaths and birds chirping in the background. It’s certainly a grisly, unforgettable tableau. For the most part though, this is an enjoyable, fast-moving film, which also affords prominent porn-star Kerman / Bolla another leading man role following his turn in CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, and who also gets to perform many of his own stunts; it’s too bad he wasn’t offered more non-adult roles over the course of his lengthy career. Usually cast as the heavy, veteran Eurocult star Ivan Rassimov really gets to chew on the scenery here as well, in what is undeniably, one of his more over-the-top roles as the Jim Jones-inspired (if that’s the right term!) Jonas, who is seen either barking orders, overseeing native sexual rituals or, in yet another one of the film’s more ‘notable’ eyebrow-raising scenes, gleefully participating in some ceremonial mumbo-jumbo involving a drugged Agren, who he seems to perceive as some sort of deity.  

 

Briefly released theatrically by Continental in 1985 as DOOMED TO DIE, which also flaunted a “Banned in 38 Countries” moniker (that’s a whopping 7 more countries than Lenzi’s MAKE THEM DIE SLOWLY!), Continental released it soon after on home video in 1986 as THE EMERALD JUNGLE (retitled once again to cash-in on John Boorman’s then-recent THE EMERALD FOREST [1985]), in a colourful, over-sized box, which housed an uncut copy of the film. In the early 2000s, a number of DVDs surfaced in Europe, but at the time, the best release came from Shriek Show in 2002, which included a solid transfer (albeit incorrectly framed at 1.78:1) of this low-budget film and a trio of interviews with Lenzi, Rassimov and Kerman. The film eventually surfaced on Blu-ray in 2018 thanks to Severin, and was most definitely a vast improvement, which included the film’s correct aspect ratio of 1.66:1 and a far more pleasing presentation. And despite the film’s low-budget origins, everything looked damn fine. Unbelievably, the DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono also included English, Italian and Spanish options, and in a nice surprise, English subtitles were even included for the Italian audio track, which differs slightly and makes for a highly welcome inclusion. Closed Captions were also included for the English audio.

 

Extras included on Severin’s disc were also plentiful, and these began with Federico Caddeo’s Freak-O-Rama-produced Welcome to the Jungle (16m37s), an on-camera interview with the always enthusiastic Lenzi, who discusses one of his most popular and infamous phases in his long and varied career, beginning with THE MAN FROM DEEP RIVER and that film’s inception; apparently it was based on some of Emmanuelle Arsan’s first-hand experiences in Myanmar and Thailand where, according to Lenzi “the nature was wild!” Of course, he goes on to discuss his later films, as well as his dissatisfaction with star Kerman (“…we didn’t have a relationship”), and also Agren’s professionalism. The second, most-substantial extra, was Me Me Lai Bites Back: Resurrection of the Cannibal Queen (79m55s), a feature-length documentary originally included with 88 Films’ THE MAN FROM DEEP RIVER U.K. Blu-ray, which runs through her entire career while placing a particular emphasis on her Italian film work. In The Sect of the Purification (13m03s), yet another Freak-O-Rama production, veteran production / costume designer Massimo Antonello Geleng goes into detail about his time in Ceylon and his “instinctive” approach to his work, and how most of EATEN ALIVE!’s “raunchiest scenes” were filmed back at DEAR Studios in Rome. Culled from Shriek Show’s DVD, a pair of archive interviews (12m20s) with Kerman and Rassimov were also included, but were significantly improved upon thanks to some skilled editing. In the last extra, on September 21^st, 2013, Lenzi attended a Q&A at the Manchester Festival of Fantastic Films (23m43s), where he discussed much of the same topics from the previous interviews, including his dislike for these cannibal films, but because they continue to bring in the royalties, he has no choice but to modestly declare them “masterpieces!” The original English-language export trailer (3m13s) finished-off the extras, and in a nice gesture, Severin also included the film’s soundtrack CD (35m40s, 14 tracks) as a bonus.

 

Given the film’s rather patchwork nature and Severin Films’ already impressive Blu-ray set, this didn’t seem like a contender for a UHD upgrade, but their new 2-disc UHD / Blu-ray combo edition manages to wring even more detail out their new transfer with details looking even sharper thanks to the uptick in resolution. The film’s occasionally bold colours (highlighted by the surrounding jungle fauna and glistening viscera) also burst off the screen with a vivacity missing from other disc releases, and while many of the ‘borrowed scenes’ do fluctuate in terms of overall picture quality, the rest of the transfer looks mighty impressive indeed. As with their earlier Blu-ray, Severin once again includes DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono options in both English and Italian with optional English subtitles for the latter track along with SDH subtitles for the English audio. However, the previously included Spanish language track has been left off their new disc. 

 

Outside of the film’s soundtrack CD, Severin have thankfully ported over every extra from their excellent BD disc, but they have also included several new – and very worthy - special features beginning with an audio commentary by Troy Howarth (author of Make Them Die Slowly – The Kinetic Cinema of Umberto Lenzi [WK Books, 2022]) and Mondo Digital’s Nathaniel Thompson. From the very start, they are the first to admit that this picture is one of Lenzi’s “grubbiest films” but one that also has “major entertainment value,” which they consider a “big dividing line of Umberto Lenzi’s filmography.” Outside of discussing the film’s low-budget aesthetic, our commentators also touch on the film’s genesis and its producers Luciano Martino and Mino Loy (who also produced Lenzi’s CANNIBAL FEROX the following year), Lenzi’s “explosive temperament” on set, but a director who nonetheless always delivers a professional product, the large amount of borrowed stock footage from other cannibal films, the “pulpy quality” of the gore scenes, the condescending outlook of the “savage culture” portrayed in these films, and the film’s lively and exciting cast. Of course, they address Robert Kerman’s “dueling careers” between adult films and legit films, some of the other adult film actors who appear in the film such as Gerald Grant and Jack Teague, Me Me Lai’s fascinating career, the always “striking and intriguing” Janet Agren (“She’s one of the great ones!”), and Ivan Rassimov’s rather one-dimensional take of Jim Jones, who they usually regard as a very “compelling” actor. As can be deduced from the above description, this is another highly-entertaining and detailed listen, which nicely balances the minutiae related to the film itself, Lenzi’s long and varied career, and the rapidly changing Italian film industry at the time. It’s a great track and one that easily justifies a double-dip for those who already own Severin’s other Blu-ray.

 

Other extras include Deodato Meats Lenzi (13m33s), the only known interview where the two directors discuss their respective cannibal films. Recorded by Manlio Gomarasca in 2004 at the Joe D’Amato Horror Fest in Livorno, Italy, the two men discuss the trials and tribulations of working in genre cinema and how ANAC ((Associazione Nazionale Autori Cinematografici) favoured “so-called auteurs” while they essentially remained “freelancers” and underpaid with producers even blackmailing them into working for very little. Of course, they also discuss their cannibal pictures, beginning with “playboy” producer Giorgio Carlo Rossi and how THE MAN FROM DEEP RIVER came together, which eventually led to Deodato directing LAST CANNIBAL WORLD, and how journalists created much of the hype regarding their rivalry. As for the other extras, several minutes of alternate footage (4m15) have been uncovered, which contain a never-before-seen HOLOCAUST 2 title card, and quite a few alternate, and shortened scenes, which may have been prepared for less permissive markets. And if that weren’t enough, Severin have also commissioned Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies’ Claire Donner to pen Eaten Alive! – The Primal Screams of Umberto Lenzi, a sharply written essay included in the nicely-illustrated 17-page liner notes booklet where she discusses Lenzi’s extensive career with obvious emphasis on his notorious gut-munchers.

 

As long as physical media continues to thrive, Severin Films' new 2-disc 4K UHD + Booklet w/Exclusive Slipcover of EATEN ALIVE! will most certainly remain the ultimate edition of this Eurotrash classic. 

THE HOUSES OF DOOM - BLU-RAY REVIEW

At the outset of the ’80s, Italian genre films continued to remain commercially viable, thanks more or less, to the gore-soaked living dead films initiated by the worldwide success of George A. Romero’s DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978). Films such as Lucio Fulci’s ZOMBIE (1979) and Umberto Lenzi’s CITY OF THE WALKING DEAD (a.k.a. NIGHTMARE CITY, 1980) garnered healthy profits from international markets, which continued to breathe life into what was essentially a dwindling industry. As with other previous genre cycles, directors such as Fulci, Lenzi, and many of their contemporaries were once again propelled to the forefront as they worked on post-apocalyptic action films, mythical strongman and barbarian clones, and of course, lots of gory horror films. However, this sudden surge of productivity was short-lived thanks to the increasing popularity of television and an influx of big budget U.S. productions, which not only captured a large share of the Italian market, but rendered many of these small-scale productions obsolete. In what was to become the last bastion of support for Italian genre films, many of these productions retreated to television where directors such as Lamberto Bava helmed several films for Italian TV giant Reteitalia and their horror series BRIVIDO GIALLO. In 1989, both Fulci and Lenzi were also commissioned by Reteitalia (and Luciano Martino’s Dania Film) to helm two films each for LA CASA MALEDETTE (a.k.a. THE HOUSES OF DOOM), yet another four-part horror series aimed for television, but in a cruel twist of fate, they were deemed too strong by the network, and later, unceremoniously dumped onto home video. Outside of hard-to-find foreign VHS tapes, these films remained quite elusive prior to the DVD era, and even then, lackluster transfers didn’t do them any favours whatsoever. Fortunately, thanks to the dedicated efforts of Cauldron films, who have taken a keen interest in releasing many late-breaking Italian pictures from the genre trenches such as Giuliano Carnimeo’s RAT MAN (1987) and Sergio Martino’s AMERICAN RICKSHAW (a.k.a. AMERICAN TIGER, 1989), the much-anticipated HOUSES OF DOOM series has finally made its auspicious Blu-ray debut in a lavish 4-disc box set that is sure to please fans of Italian horror. 

 

Beginning with disc one, Lucio Fulci’s THE HOUSE OF CLOCKS (1989) is, in all probability, one of the most recognized titles from this TV series, and is yet another variation on the dreamlike aesthetic found in his celebrated classics THE GATES OF HELL (a.k.a. CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD, 1980) and THE BEYOND (1981), both of which contained minimal characterization, little to no logic, and plenty of unforgettable horror set-pieces. In THE HOUSE OF CLOCKS, a large villa in the Italian countryside is home to Victor (Paolo Paoloni) and Sarah (Bettine Milne), an elderly couple who have a strange fascination with clocks (“My angels are behaving themselves well today.”), and an unhealthy aversion to anyone snooping around their house, which even includes their inquisitive maid (Carla Cassola) who is violently killed for her indiscretion. Later, when three delinquents (Karina Huff, Keith Van Hoven and Peter Hintz) storm the house in search of fast-cash and cheap thrills, an altercation ensues leaving Victor and Sarah dead, along with their jack-of-all-trades servant Peter (Al Cliver). And then all the clocks in the house begin to move backwards as does time itself…

 

Much like the elderly owners of the villa, THE HOUSE OF CLOCKS moves at a leisurely pace, which not only highlights the solemn nature of the entire film, but nicely generates a creeping aura of claustrophobia. Following a confoundingly cryptic opening involving a cellar and a couple of rotting corpses, the film remains strangely mesmerizing as it flirts with time, space and a detached parallel reality. Considering the film’s genesis, Fulci’s film is definitely one of the most violent, splatter-filled examples of horror on the small screen, which features numerous impalements, bloody shotgun blasts, and even some living dead. In direct contrast to the potent atmosphere and gleefully over-the-top acts of ultraviolence, most of the dramatic interplay between the cast is fairly disposable, but Vince Tempera’s often sombre score also contributes to the dominant tone of eerie unease, while DP Nino Celeste conjures up some evocative imagery, which only adds to its weird alternate reality. 

 

For the more dedicated collector, THE HOUSE OF CLOCKS was first legitimately available as a Japanese VHS videocassette via TCC Home Video, which was widescreen and in English with Japanese subtitles. In 2002, the film made its official U.S. home video debut on DVD thanks Shriek Show, which featured a solid transfer of the film that was presented in a customary 1.78:1 aspect ratio and included an English Dolby Digital 2.0 audio track. The minimal extras included on-camera interviews with actors Paolo Paoloni (5m23s) and Carla Cassola (9m32s, who would later turn up in Fulci’s DEMONIA [1990]), all of whom briefly discuss their experience of working with Fulci, and many of the film’s make-up effects, but while Paoloni praises Fulci’s professionalism on set, Cassola tells the complete opposite when she was buried alive for the film’s climax for the better part of half-an-hour! A super quick interview with Al Cliver (1m32s) is also included wherein he recounts a funny anecdote from the set of Fulci’s ZOMBIE. The film’s hastily put-together – and overlong – trailer (4m42s) is also included alongside trailers for some of Shriek Show’s other product of the time. 

 

It goes without saying the Cauldron’s Blu-ray, which features a new 2K restoration taken from the original camera negative, stands head and shoulders above any other previous release with an overall sharper and consistently impressive image; a small miracle given the “soft focus lenses” used throughout most of the filming. The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 audio tracks are included in both English and Italian (the latter with English subtitles) and sound very clean, which helps better appreciate some of Fulci’s characteristic sound effects.Cauldron has gone all out on disc one with several interesting extra features beginning with a solid, in-depth audio commentary from Splintered Visions author Troy Howarth, film historian and Darkening the Italian Screen author Eugenio Ercolani, and Mondo Digital’s Nathaniel Thompson where they discuss not only the film itself in great detail, but Fulci’s entire career as well. Howarth proclaims THE HOUSE OF CLOCKS to be Fulci’s “most polished piece of work from the time”, while Ercolani praises the “visual panache” of Celeste’s work on the film. They go on to discuss how the film “plays into a lot of thematic elements and personal obsessions” such as “fate, time, and death” and how it fits alongside some of his other work such as THE BEYOND, which also deals heavily with “temporal” and “location displacement.” Throughout the track, the three men frequently talk about Fulci’s importance as a “provocateur” throughout his career, how he was first and foremost a comedy director, his fearless ability to add erotic elements into his films, and how he was a “mass of contradictions.” Lastly, they touch on Vince Tempera’s “untapped talent” as a solo composer, the late assistant director Michele De Angelis and his impact on home video, Fulci’s relationship with Dario Argento, and their brief working period during the pre-production stages of WAX MASK (1997) before he passed away. It goes without saying that the three men work very well together, and deliver a seemingly endless source of information about the film, Fulci’s lengthy career, and so much more; it easily ranks as one of the best commentaries of recent memory. 

 

In Lighting the House of Time (25m45s), Nino Celeste is interviewed wherein he talks about his start in sword-and-sandal films with DP Giulio Albonico, his assertion that “trash-films” saved Italian cinema because there is no “intellectual commitment” to enjoy the films, his idols within the industry, and his relationship with Fulci (“We tuned-in rather soon.”), and how the director was “monstrous when it came time to dealing with actors.” In Time and Music (28m26s), composer Vince Tempera talks about his “prolific partnership” with Franco Bixio and Fabio Frizzi, and how they began to venture away from “symphonic aspects” of film music. He also discusses the fast turnaround of said films, and the popularity of his score for Lucio Fulci’s THE PSYCHIC (1977). The aforementioned Michele De Angelis talks about his time working with Fulci in Working with a Master (23m56s) beginning on the “Lucio Fulci presents” series of films, his first meeting with the director (“He was looking weirdly at me!”) and the similar interests they had such as art, movies, and football. That is, until he got on set where Fulci “was screaming at me all the time!” He also discusses the downfall of the Italian film industry and the shuttering of the “2^nd and 3^rd grade moviehouses,” and the current legacy about Fulci. In Time with Fulci (19m18s), set technician Elio Terribili talks about the business during the early ’80s, the hierarchy on set, and of course, his time working with Fulci who was frequently “gruff and unkempt,” but despite his reputation, he worked with him peacefully. Outside of the bonus trailers, all of the extras from Shriek Show’s DVD are also included. 

 

Based upon a story by Fulci, THE SWEET HOUSE OF HORRORS (1989) takes its cue from some of his earlier films such as THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY (1981), and to a lesser extent MANHATTAN BABY (1982), both of which also placed children in key roles. After returning home from a late-night dinner, a couple (Lubka Cibulova and Pascal Persiano) is startled to find a masked intruder in their house. As they try to fend off their attacker, he gets the upper hand and violently bashes the husband’s head against a wall, and then pummels the wife’s face into a bloody mess. Their orphaned children, Mark (Giuliano Gensini) and Sarah (Ilary Blasi), are then put in the care of their Aunt Marcia (Cinzia Monreale) and Uncle Carlo (Jean-Christophe Brétignière), and promptly move back into the house from the opening where the kids begin to communicate with their ghostly parents…

 

Virtually every scene in THE SWEET HOUSE OF HORRORS unfolds within the suffocating corridors, bedrooms or darkened attics of the title edifice that helps generate some suspense thanks to Nino Celeste’s good-looking camerawork, which is rendered even more eloquent by Vince Tempera’s rather pensive score. In fact, during its rather slow build-up, Fulci tries to pass the film off as an honest-to-goodness haunted house film, but the hoary plot devices (i.e., disembodied candle flames representing spirits) are stretched to infinity by interminable ‘cute’ kids, with horror elements serving only as a catalyst for the sentimental plot, which is to reunite the murdered parents with their grieving bambini. Even less appealing is the film’s often exceedingly awful English dubbing, which perhaps makes the acting appear worse than it is; the kids suffer the worst and sound like some bored moonlighting cartoon characters. However, in keeping with some of Fulci’s usual themes of the time such as loss, bereavement, and the mysteries of the afterlife, THE SWEET HOUSE OF HORRORS definitely has that uniquely personal touch of late-era Fulci, which some viewers will undoubtedly appreciate, and for all of the film’s issues, it’s still a lot easier to swallow than Fulci’s own SODOMA’S GHOSTS (1988).

 

Like Fulci’s above-discussed companion film, THE SWEET HOUSE OF HORRORS (1989) was also released on Japanese VHS videocassette, this time through Tokuma Japan Entertainment in what was a solid widescreen edition in English with Japanese subtitles. In 2002, Shriek Show also released the film on DVD, which was a very nice, and much-needed upgrade. Extras included a few brief interviews segments with co-screenwriter Gigliola Battaglini (3m05s), and actors Jean-Christophe Brétignière (3m48s) Pascal Persiano (3m45s) and Lino Salemme (10m55s), in which they discuss their time working with Fulci, the “very stormy relationship” some of them endured, the locations, the make-up effects, and their thoughts on the film itself.

 

Cauldron’s new 2K restoration taken from the OCN handily improves over all previous releases with greater detail and more noticeable depth, which is again impressive given the film’s inherently soft look. The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 audio tracks are included in both English and Italian (the latter with English subtitles), and once again sound clean and consistent, and for anyone irritated by the film’s sub-par English dubbing, the Italian track adds a measure of refinement to the entire production. Ercolani and Howarth return for another audio commentary, and given the film’s rather divisive stature among fans of Fulci’s work, this is a terrific listen, which goes a long way to develop a greater appreciation for the film. They go on to discuss this “bittersweet movie” and its main themes of “loss and abandonment” and how it’s lavish by comparison to Fulci’s other titles from this point in his career, and how part of the film’s “poetic quality” is also due to Nino Celeste’s photography, which helps “bring out the best of the meagre production design.” Eugenio also goes on to talk extensively about the history of Reteitalia, a “monster company”, whose vast amount of productions may be the reason why these TV movies “fell through the cracks.” Of course, they discuss many of the film’s actors including the surprise appearance of Vernon Dobtcheff, future TV presenter and showgirl Ilary Blasi, and familiar Italian character actor Franco Diogene, whose appeared in everything from Alan Parker’s MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (1978), Andrea Bianchi’s STRIP NUDE FOR YOUR KILLER (1975), and Alfonso Brescia’s THE NEW GODFATHERS (1979), to name but a few. As they finally point out, much of Fulci’s obsessions, both physical and emotional were “crystalized during this point in his career”, which definitely come out in the film. Loaded with tons of facts and keen observations, this is another highly rewarding listen, which should help viewers gain a better perspective of this misunderstood film. Myself included. 

 

All of the extras for Shriek Show’s disc have been included on Cauldron’s disc, but several new extras have been commissioned as well, which include a trio of featurettes courtesy of Eugenio Ercolani beginning with Fulci House of Horrors (16m42s), an on-camera interview with production designer Massimo Antonello Geleng who talks about Fulci’s “rough and grouchy” demeanor, but at the same time, praises the man’s work. He also goes on record about BEATRICE CENCI (1969), which is his favourite Fulci film. In Sweet Muse of Horror (28m55s), actor Cinzia Monreale sits down for a lengthy interview wherein she reflects on her many first roles and working alongside popular comedian actors such as Carlo Giuffrè and Renzo Montagnani, how she met Fulci through the suggestion of writer/director Steno (a.k.a. Stefano Vanzina), the preparation she undertook for her role in THE BEYOND, which she considers her “professional highpoint” and the professionalism of the child actors in said film. Finally, editor Alberto Moriani sits down for a chat in Editing for the Masters (18m05s), who fondly reminiscences working for producers Luciano Martino and Mino Loy, his large body of work cutting films in a wide variety of genres, his on and off relationship with Fulci, and his time on Fulci’s troubled production ZOMBI 3 (1988). Other extras include an archival interview with Monreale (6m48s), and a fascinating reel of auditions (71m25s), which includes a number of familiar faces such as Virginia Bryant, Lino Salemme, and Saverio Vallone. 

 

Highly reminiscent of Umberto Lenzi’s own GHOSTHOUSE (1988) from a year earlier, THE HOUSE OF WITCHCRAFT (1989) is another engrossing and consistently entertaining horror picture enriched with many interesting touches. Opening on a lively note, Luke (Andy J. Forest) is tormented by a recurring nightmare, which involves an isolated villa, an old witch (Maria Cumani Quasimodo), and his severed head boiling in a huge cauldron. Elsa (Susanna Martinkova), his therapist and sister-in-law (!), reasons he is simply exhausted and overworked, but she also probes into his marriage to Martha (Sonia Petrovna) who is “obsessed with occult sciences.” In the hopes of saving their fragmented marriage, Martha rents an old residential home in the Italian countryside, which turns out to be the very same house from his nightmares…

 

Given the film’s cost-conscious means, THE HOUSE OF WITCHCRAFT is competently executed across the boards and possesses several rather striking moments not usually seen in such low-budget affairs. With its cheap-but-endearing effects work (including an appropriately gruesome, EC Comics-styled cackling witch) and haunted house setting, Lenzi handles the story with complete confidence, heightening the ominous mood that pervades the entirety of the film, which also includes a highly-stylized sequence involving a serene snowfall inside the house. Further adding to Luke’s disorientation, Paul Muller appears as Mr. Mason, the blind owner of the house, and provides possible ties between Luke’s nightmares and the inexorable forces at work behind the normal façade of this holiday getaway (“This house goes on forever!”). But with the arrival of Mr. Mason’s daughter Sharon (Marina Giuliana Cavalli), things become even more complicated as the two of them dig ever deeper into a confounding tangle of dead bodies, otherworldly manifestations, madness, and a neat twist revelation. 

 

Never released on home video in the U.S., THE HOUSE OF WITCHCRAFT was difficult to track down, but it was eventually released on U.K. DVD thanks to Vipco (or Video Instant Picture Company) as part of their Screamtime Collection in 2003, and later re-released in 2009 via Beyond Terror. As with the other films in this set, this new 2K restoration taken from the OCN is another huge improvement, which does wonders with the film’s previously unseen colour palette and Giancarlo Ferrando’s notable camerawork, rendering it quite literally picture perfect. The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 audio tracks are once again included in both English and Italian (the latter with English subtitles), and sound clean and free of any issues with Claudio Simonetti’s (credited herein as Claude King) electronic score adding plenty of vitality to the film. As for extras, Thompson, Ercolani and Howarth (who also authored Make Them Die Slowly: The Kinetic Cinema of Umberto Lenzi) return yet again for another very welcome and comprehensive audio commentary where they discuss everything from the film’s location (the film was shot in Tuscany at the villa of Daria Nicolodi’s uncle), the chronology of this series and the two films from director Marcello Avallone which were eventually nixed by the producers (for the record, they were going to be “The House of the Deformed Dwarf” and “The House of the Doll with Growing Hair”), more about Reteitalia and “how it shaped the landscape both in television and cinema in the ’80s, the film’s “strange fairy tale quality” and how it is a “supernatural slasher film at heart”, the film’s nihilism, Lenzi’s “highly-competitive streak”, which didn’t endear him to many people in the industry, and most of the actors who appear in the film including a nice cameo from frequent Lenzi character actor Tom Felleghy. As usual, this is another excellent, well-prepared commentary, which should not be missed!

 

In Artisan of Mayhem (19m26s), Elio Terribili returns for another on-camera interview, in which he talks about the ins and outs of being an effects artist, and the preparations and planning on set with a particular focus on cinematic weaponry. He also speaks affectionately about his many idols in the business such Riccardo Petruzzi, Franco Fantasia, and Franco Ukmar, who were a big influence on his career and the “simplicity of special effects on earlier films.” Nino Celeste also returns for another interview in The House of Professionals(18m35s), which covers some of the same material from the earlier interview, but he also goes on to praise the many “second-rate” directors he worked with over the years, whom he regards as “incredible professionals.” And he also has more funny anecdotes regarding Fulci and his Jekyll and Hyde-like personality.

 

Rounding out this box set is Umberto Lenzi’s THE HOUSE OF LOST SOULS (1989), which once again takes its cue from GHOSTHOUSE, and those who are even slightly interested by the trashier horror movies of the late ’80s will find plenty to enjoy here. Driving through the Lombardia region of northern Italy, a group of geology students returning from a dig are suddenly sidetracked when the road is blocked by a landslide. Taking refuge at a nearby – and seemingly abandoned – motel, strange occurrences begin to besiege our unwelcome guests including several malevolent spirits…

 

Despite many implausible moments and more than a few gaping plot holes, THE HOUSE OF LOST SOULS is professionally constructed and still scores as a very entertaining late-entry Italo horror film. Although Lenzi himself proclaimed it “downright crap” in interviews, he seems to be enjoying himself nonetheless. In one scene, the film’s token child actor (Costantino Meloni) is gorily decapitated via a possessed washing machine (!), and in a less audacious, but no less enjoyable segment, one of the geologists has his head sawed off via a ghostly chainsaw after getting his leg caught in a conveniently placed beartrap. Defying all logic, just like the far-fetched and far-stretched plot, the film even jumbles together elements from Stanley Kubrick’s THE SHINING (1980) and Tobe Hooper’s POLTERGEIST (1982) for added measure in this reshuffled mishmash of enjoyable horror tropes, which even includes several re-purposed music cues from Claudio Simonetti’s work on Lamberto Bava’s DEMONS (1986) and Dario Argento’s OPERA (1987). 

 

As with THE HOUSE OF WITCHCRAFT, this follow-up film was also released on U.K. DVD thanks Vipco, which was tolerable enough, but Cauldron’s new Blu-ray (again featuring a new 2K restoration taken from the film’s OCN) easily outdoes any previous editions with an altogether sharper and balanced picture, and while some images still present an inherent softness, this is a huge improvement in every way. The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 audio tracks are once again included in both English and Italian (the latter with English subtitles), and sound fine without any discernible issues, which is put to the test during the film’s lively finale. In a welcome surprise, Cauldron offers the choice of two audio commentaries beginning with author and film historian Samm Deighan wherein she focuses primarily on Umberto Lenzi’s lengthy, genre-hopping career who she believes “deserves more of a critical reappraisal” and her enthusiasm for Lenzi as he revisits and re-examines some of these “beloved genre tropes” in a film that is “divorced from reality as to feel surreal at times.” She goes on to talk about the confusing nature of the entire LA CASA films in Italy, the core cast and their many other films, and some of similarities and/or influences to Stuart Rosenberg’s THE AMITYVILLE HORROR (1979). A solid listen that is up to her usual high standard. In the second audio commentary, film historians Adrian Smith and Rod Barnett (of Naschycast) have their take on the film with a particular focus on its history and Lenzi himself who “went where the winds guided him” as far as genres were concerned, even if, he was best known for his notorious gore films. They go on to discuss the film’s dreary location and its fascinating history, which Lenzi should have better utilized for a far more interesting and effective story, all of the actors and their “fruitful careers” outside of working in films (including familiar character actor Yamaouchi Harahiko who appeared in tons of Italian genre product with a specific preference for post-apocalyptic actioners such as Aristide Massaccesi’s 2020 TEXAS GLADIATORS [1983]), the various re-purposed music cues, Lenzi’s anarchist attitude, which “lurks beneath the surface of his films, and some interesting parallels to Norman J. Warren’s BLOODY NEW YEAR (1987). This is another highly informative listen full of wonderful historical tidbits, cinema anecdotes, and various other bits of minutia related to the film. Great stuff!

 

Special effects technician Elio Terribili returns for a third interview in Working with Umberto (18m37s), which includes some overlap from the aforementioned Time with Fulciinterview, but also includes his take of working on film sets in the past compared to the current modes of production, and how directors had to be much more “vigilant.” He also notes Lenzi’s generally “easy going and affable” attitude, but then relates a fairly hostile altercation on the set of said film in regards to the absurdity of the possessed washing machine. In House of Rock (14m21s), ex-Goblin maestro Claudio Simonetti sits down for a brief but informative chat about his time with Goblin and the “difficult time of the Seventies”, his solo career beginning in 1978 as a “disco and dance composer”, and how some directors are completely hands off in regards to the scoring of their films, such as Lenzi, whom he never met. Lastly, in Eugenio Ercolani’s Il cinema kriminal di Umberto Lenzi (52m13s), Umberto Lenzi sits down for an exhaustive interview wherein he discusses every facet of his career from sword-and-sandal films, war films, Italocrime, and everything else in between, which turns out to be a very fitting conclusion to this disc. 

 

Sparing no expense, this exhaustive box set also includes two previously unreleased CD soundtracks for THE HOUSE OF CLOCKS and THE SWEET HOUSE OF HORRORS(featuring artwork by Alexandros Pyromallis), and foldout posters for each film from artists Matthew Therrien and Eric Lee, all of which is packaged in a beautifully designed rigid outer box. Oft-neglected and lesser-appreciated, these small-scale Italo horror pictures finally get the respect they deserve thanks to Cauldron Films’ highly-welcome Blu-ray collection, which of course comes highly recommended! 

Order it from Cauldron Films or DiabolikDVD. 

THE TOUGH ONES - BLU-RAY REVIEW

One year previous, Maurizio Merli had starred in “Franco Martinelli”/Marino Girolami’s highly-profitable Italocrime meller VIOLENT ROME (1975), but despite his immediate popularity with audiences in such films, his initial casting was solely based on his similar-looking appearance to Franco Nero from Enzo G. Castellari’s (Marino Girolami’s son Enzo) HIGH CRIME (1973), one of the trailblazers of the entire Italocrime genre. In their review of the present film from April 1976, Variety reported: “The market in Italy is being partially glutted with crimeland action pix where either a tough but honest police commissioner takes justice into his own hands or the private citizen does.” While Umberto Lenzi had already explored gritty urban settings with a quartet of modern-day, film-noir-inspired films—GANG WAR IN MILAN (1973), ALMOST HUMAN ([1974] featuring a truly scene-stealing role for its star, Tomas Milian), MANHUNT IN THE CITY (1975) and SYNDICATE SADISTS (1975)—it was the director’s THE TOUGH ONES (released in Italy under the memorably defiant title ROMA A MANO ARMATA / trans: “Rome Armed to the Teeth” [1976]) that really solidified his reputation as a master of the genre. Following their initial press announcement from what seems like a decade ago, Grindhouse Releasing at long last released this Italocrime classic earlier this year in a staggering 3-disc Deluxe Edition, which was obviously well worth the wait. 

In the wake of his career-defining role as Inspector Betti in Girolami’s aforementioned VIOLENT ROME, Merli this time stars as Inspector Leonardo “Leo” Tanzi, a virtually interchangeable hot-headed, no-nonsense cop, who is once again frustrated by the current sorry state of affairs within the criminal justice system (“If we stick to the book, we’ve had it!”). Tanzi, who is part of the Anti-Gang Squad, is obsessed with capturing Ferender, an exceptionally elusive French criminal mastermind, who controls most of the Eternal City’s underworld, and with the help of Sgt. Pogliana (Aldo Barberito) and his trusted, far-more-composed partner, Caputo (Giampiero Albertini), they attempt to arrest—in the process even going so far as to break the law themselves!—some heavyweight associates of his, including Savelli (Biagio Pelligra), who’s been involved in a number of violent bank robberies, and Vincenzo “The Hunchback” Moretto (Tomas Milian), a belligerent, smart-assed gangster (unforgettably dubbed in the English version by veteran voice-actor, Frank von Kuegelgen), who, after numerous highly-colourful interrogations, vows revenge (“He’s gonna crap in his long-johns before I kill him!”) as he precipitously rises among the criminal ranks. 

As with most of Lenzi’s successive Italocrimers, the crux of the film is offset with a number of intermittent, almost cursory set-pieces involving a tight-knit group of bank robbers; an illegal gambling-den; purse-snatching teenagers; a rather disturbing gang-rape (“Hey boys, how ‘bout a big wooden dildo?!”); and a protracted scene involving Tony Parenzo (Ivan Rassimov), a heartless drug pusher who injects his girlfriend (Gabriella Lepori) with a lethal overdose of heroin; all of which illustrate the far-reaching span of the underworld’s Octopus-like tentacles. Swiftly-paced and culminating with an extensive, elaborately-choreographed car chase involving a stolen ambulance, Lenzi’s film rarely lets up, and whenever it does, Tanzi is seen (and heard!) angrily voicing his opposition to the impossible odds he is facing (“They make us sweat to bring ’em in, but before the ink’s dry, some idiot says they can go!”), anger which is mostly directed at his CO, Police Commissioner Ruini (Arthur Kennedy), who merely reaffirms that “The Law is the Law!” 

While Merli is his usual laconic best in a typecast role he continued to play virtually verbatim for the better part of his career, it’s Tomas Milian as the hunchbacked Moretto – known as il Gobbo on Italian prints – who steals every scene in which he appears. Beyond his frequent appearances as Nico Giraldi in a number of latter-day – and increasingly comedic – polizieschi, the ‘hunchback’ is one of Milian’s most eccentric, over-the-top characters to ever grace an Italocrime film. So much so that Lenzi and Milian both returned for BROTHERS TILL WE DIE (1977), an unrelated follow-up, which featured a dual role for the actor where he also played Monnezza (trans: “Trash”), yet another recurring (and incredibly popular) character. First seen gutting a large steer at a slaughterhouse, Moretto’s smart-ass rhetoric is quickly silenced when he’s unfairly kicked in the balls courtesy of the impatient Tanzi (“It ain’t enough I’m a hunchback, you ruin my eggs as well!”), who, adding insult to injury, plants some smack in his shiny lime-green Porsche. It’s here, back at police headquarters, that Moretto’s true psychosis manifests itself (“Miserable sons-of-bitches! I piss on you! I piss on you! Pigs! Pigs! Pigs!!!You sons-of-whores!”) as he angrily slashes his own wrist to avoid further interrogation. Looking for payback, Moretto has a couple of his ‘men’ (stuntman extraordinaire Riccardo Petrazzi and veteran character actor Luciano Pigozzi) abduct and scare the hell out of his girlfriend Anna (Maria Rosaria Omaggio), a government social worker who is the film’s sole politically left-leaning character and who becomes the constant victim of Tanzi’s sociopathic scorn.  

Perhaps even surpassing the established sounds of Guido and Maurizio De Angelis’ energetic scores for both HIGH CRIME and VIOLENT ROME, Franco Micalizzi’s tremendous score here is surely one of the film’s many highlights: a dynamic, brass-infused work of dazzling intensity, which not only underscores the fast-paced, turbulent mean streets of Rome, but became – as did most of Micalizzi’s subsequent polizieschi scores – synonymous with Italocrime in general. 

Those even slightly entertained by the genre will have a hard time containing their excitement with Grindhouse Releasing’s exhaustive Blu-ray set, which is as much a celebration of Umberto Lenzi’s four-decades-long career as it is of the present film. Spread out over two Blu-rays, disc one includes a stunning 4K scan of the film itself, an incredible bit of restoration that is sure to leave you gobsmacked after suffering through International Video Entertainment (IVE)’s long out-of-print Betamax/VHS videocassette (released under the auspices of Sybil Danning’s popular ‘Adventure Video’ series), which was edited, grainy and heavily-cropped. Retaining its original – and absolutely integral – 2-perf scope compositions, Grindhouse’s flawless transfer is well-defined and surprisingly vibrant. Of course, as with the immaculate visuals, the DTS-HD mono audio also sounds right-on-target in both the English and Italian versions, and while it’s no surprise that the Italian version is a more accurate representation of the vernacular (which once again features Tomas Milian’s Italian voice actor of choice, Ferruccio Amendola), the English version is, as demonstrated by the quotations above, likewise undeniably entertaining. 

The comprehensive extras begin with a feature-length audio commentary from Mike Malloy, director of the essential doc, EUROCRIME! THE ITALIAN COP AND GANGSTER FILM THAT RULED THE ’70s, who commends the (quote) “Eurocrime triumvirate” of Lenzi, Merli and Micalizzi, and for the uninitiated, he gives a brief overview of the genre’s history; how Merli (quote) “pounded his fist on a lot of desks” during his career; and just how many of these films were directly or indirectly interconnected through their various characters, follow-ups and sequels, which he believes could even use a handy (quote) “flow-chart”. After listening to his enthusiastic, well-informed commentary, you’ll want to check-out or even revisit a number of the genre’s key titles. The other significant extra on disc one is Calum Waddell’s All Eyes on Lenzi – The Life and Times of the Italian Exploitation Titan (84m04s), which covers the late director’s career from the late-’Sixties onwards via archival interviews with Lenzi himself, as well as a number of new interviews with contemporary film critics and historians (who pay special attention to many of his giallo and horror titles), but the doc also includes some choice bits about this (quote) “cinematic chameleon’s” Italocrime career too. In Murder for Mayhem (33m12s), an on-camera interview recorded on July 26^th, 2010, Lenzi and Micalizzi reminiscence about their extensive collaborations, which is, as expected, a wonderful listen. In the archival Full-Frontal City: The Urban Geography of Rome Armed to the Teeth (22m01s), many of the film’s locations are revisited for the purposes of ‘then-and-now’ comparison. An extensive collection of trailers for all of Grindhouse Releasing’s current and upcoming product finishes-off disc one’s extras.

Packed-to-the-hilt with even more substantial extras, disc two begins with Freak-O-Rama’s Umberto (55m31s), yet another overview of Lenzi’s wide-ranging career, which compliments the doc from disc one rather nicely, as it focuses a lot on Lenzi’s early beginnings. In the exhaustive Tomas Milian: The Rebel Within (88m50s), Milian discusses his entire career, including his early, complicated life in Cuba before immigrating to the U.S., getting his start at the famed The Actor’s Studio, and eventually making his way to Italy, where he remained for the better part of his career before returning back to the U.S. and (quote) “starting all over again”. Inspirational and funny, yet at times quite melancholic, this is an utterly fascinating, must-see interview. In the archival doc The Merli Connection (44m39s), his son and a number of actors and directors who knew and worked with him talk about Maurizio Merli’s career and huge influence on the genre; in the short Back Story (5m54s), Milian once again discusses his outrageous Gobbo / Hunchback character. For the remaining interviews, Federico Caddeo and his production company Freak-O-Rama Productions truly outdo themselves with a number of terrific interview segments, including: Beauty and the Beasts (29m31s), in which Maria Rosaria Omaggio talks about both her start in the business and Lenzi’s (quote) “sweet Tuscan toughness”; in the lengthy Corrado Armed to the Teeth (45m17s), character actor Corrado Solari talks about his impromptu audition for Lenzi’s aforementioned MANHUNT IN THE CITY, as well as his excellent working relationship with Milian and how Lenzi was (quote) “distrustful, cautious and careful”; the once-popular Maria Rosaria Riuzzi turns up in Brutal City (14m12s) to discuss her career, with a particular emphasis on Dino Risi’s PROFUMO DI DONNA (1974); in The Rebel and the Bourgeois (19m05s), costume designer and sometime actor Sandra Cardini talks about her time working on the film; and then prolific screenwriter Dardano Sacchetti gets his turn in front of the camera in Vodka, Cigarettes and Burroughs (39m31s), and also discusses his collaboration with Lenzi; plus, in The Godfather of Rhythm (36m14s), famed composer Franco Micalizzi also goes into details about his lengthy career. Of course, the disc also comes with a few Easter Eggs, which are well searching out.

In addition to packaging this impressive BD set in an eye-catching slipcover, Grindhouse have also seen fit to include a wonderful 12-page booklet (whose cover reproduces the film’s U.S. one-sheet poster, retitled BRUTAL JUSTICE [which screams, “Inspector Tanzi makes Dirty Harry look like Mr. Clean!”]), containing a superb, nicely-illustrated, in-depth essay from genre expert Roberto Curti. As an added bonus, the package also includes the film’s entire soundtrack CD, and for those still lucky enough to locate a copy, the first 2500 copies even come with a collectible ‘bullet-pen’! An absolutely incredible release, Grindhouse Releasing’s extraordinarily thorough Blu-ray is not only a perfect introduction to the addictive pleasures of the Italocrime genre, but is, hands-down, absolutely one of the finest releases of the year. Order it from DiabolikDVD.