ORGY OF THE LIVING DEAD (1973)
AKA THE HANGING WOMAN
Label: Full Moon Features
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: R
Duration: 98 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mon0 (No Subtitles)
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Jose Luis Merino
Cast: Paul Naschy, Stelvio Rosi, Maria Pia Conte, Dyanik Zuakowska, Aurora de Alba, Gerard Tichy
The Spanish/Italian co-production Orgy of the Living Dead (1973) also known as The Hanging Woman is an erotic slice of Euro-cult from director Jose Luis Merino that is chock full of European beauties, oodles of atmosphere and a finale that is bursting at the seams with the murderous undead. The film opens with the arrival of Londoner Serge Chekov (Stelvio Rosi, Something Creeping in the Dark) by train to the village of Skopji, for the reading of the late Count Mihajli's last will testament. Arriving at dusk he finds the village eerily desolate, and with no other transportation he heads out on foot on a cemetery road, where he is shocked to discovers the body of the Count's daughter (Aurora de Alba, Frankenstein's Bloody Terror) hanging from a tree!
Her death is at first thought to be a suicide, but the autopsy indicates she was murdered and then hung from the tree, but for what purpose? Serge finds himself among the lists of potential suspects, however the Count's younger widow Nadia (Maria Pia Conte, Spasmo) invites him to stay at her home. Also living with Nadia are Professor Leon Droila (Gerard Tichy, Pieces) and his sexy blonde daughter Doris (Dyanik Zurakowska, The Vampires Night Orgy), as well as a creepy gravedigger named Igor (Spanish horror icon Paul Naschy, Panic Beats), and a butler named Ivan (Carlos Quiney, Scream of the Demon Lover).
During the contentious reading of the will it is revealed that Serge is set to inherit most of the Count's wealth, deeply upsetting his widow. As the story plays out Serge sets out to sleuth the mystery of his cousin's murder with the help of a pipe-smoking detective. It turns out that Professor Droila is re-animating the dead with electricity down in his lab, while the not-so-grieving widow Nadia is revealed to be a horny practitioner of black magic, and the gravedigger Igor is a not-so-secret necrophile with penchant for digging up the graves of freshly dead women for a bit of non-consensual undead loving.
The flick starts off as a bit of a slow burn but it has atmosphere aplenty, so I didn't mind the slow beginnings, and once things get a proper head of steam the flick improves greatly with plenty of nude eye candy, gore and some cool-looking undead. We also get some great set-pieces like a séance that summons the dead uncle, creepy cobwebbed catacombs that run under the mansion, and the eerie tombs of the dead.
I thought that leading man Stelvio Rosi was a bit on the bland side to be honest, but keep in mind that he is not terrible, just not a terribly exciting man of action. It helped that everything happening to and around him was actually quite intriguing and well-shot, so again it didn't ruin anything for me. Much more interesting a character is Paul Naschy's demented negrophilic gravedigger. The Spanish horror icon managing to steal every scene he appears in, even though he is only a guest star here, despite the wrap for the film advertises "Paul Naschy in Orgy of The Living Dead", it's not truly a Naschy starring vehicle.
European beauties Dyanik Zuakowska and Maria Pia Conte are both gorgeous women and they turn in solid performances, Zuakowska as a chaste love interest for the lead, and Conte as the black-magic practicing seducer, it also does not hurt that both disrobe. The moody location and sets look great, giving the film a wonderful Gothic charm with underground tombs, a labyrinth of catacombs, and some crumbling stone masonry buildings that set a tone, time and place that pulls you right into the story.
Audio/Video: Orgy of the Living Dead (1973) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Full Moon Features in 1080p HD framed in 1.85:1 Widescreen, advertised as being remastered from the original 35mm negative. Overall the source elements are clean and in good shape, though the HD image can be a tad soft in spots, perhaps due to the cinematography, which can lean on the soft focus a bit. The color scheme is a bit drab with an abundance of earthy brown, tan and grays throughout, but occasionally we do get a pleasing splash of red blood, green fauna or a purple fabric that livens things up a bit. Unfortunately the digital noise reduction has been applied a tad heavy, scrubbing away an appreciable amount of fine detail and texture of certain scenes, leaving behind occasionally plasticine facial features. Additionally, I see compression artifacts that smear grain structures and black crush that saps the black levels. It's not ruinous by any means but it is noticeable if you're sensitive to such things.
The lone audio option is a lossy English-dubbed Dolby Digital 2.0 mono track without the benefit of subtitles. The track is flat sounding but dialogue is discernible and the track is free of hiss and distortion. I do wish we had the option to view it n the original Spanish language though. The wonderfully dramatic and moody score from Francesco De Masi (The Inglorious Bastards) sounds quite good, but not as good as an uncompressed track would have offered.
The single-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with a single sided sleeve of artwork. Full Moon are not known for their reversible artwork options but it would have been cool to have the alternate The Hanging Woman artwork as an option, or the Spanish title La Orgia de la Muertos. The Blu-ray disc itself features an excerpt of the same key artwork found on the wrap.
The only extras on the disc are ten-minute of Full Moon trailers for the film under the title Orgy of the Dead, as well as a handful of other delectable Eurocult titles; Barbed Wire Dolls, Da Frauenhaus, Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun, Satanic Sisters, Voodoo Passion, and Women In Cell Block 9. Troma had released this film on DVD back in 2009 with the alternate The Hanging Woman (1973) title. That release included a director's audio commentary plus a handful of interviews from the director, Naschy, and more. Unfortunately this Blu-ray does not carry-over any of those goodies so be advised to so hold onto that DVD release if you value extras.
Special Features:
- Trailers: Orgy of the Dead (1 min), Barbed Wire Dolls (1 min), Da Frauenhaus (2 min), Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun (3 min), Satanic Sisters (1 min), Voodoo Passion (1 min), Women In Cell Block 9 ( 1 min)
Orgy of the Living Dead (1973) is a terrific bit of sleazy fun for fans of Euro-cult, it has more than enough nudity, gore and Gothic atmosphere to give it a whole-hearted recommendation. It looks like Full Moon will be releasing a handful of 70's Eurocult titles in the coming months, and as a fan I do hope they will offers better encodes with uncompressed audio, and multi-language audio and subtitle options going forward, in addition to offering a few archival and/or new extras. A solid Gothic thriller with a pleasing amount nudity and some demented Euro-cult sci-fi elements that I absolutely loved, well worth checking out, especially right now when you can snag it for $15 on Amazon.
More screenshots from the Blu-ray:
MENUS & TRAILERS
