NO ONE HEARD THE SCREAM (1973)
Label: Severin Films
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 92 Minutes
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Audio: Spanish DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Director: Eloy de la Iglesia
Cast: Vicente Parra, Carmen Sevilla, María Asquerino, Antonio Casas
Director Eloy de la Iglesia followed up Cannibal Man with this tasty Spanish giallo entry wherein beautiful high-class escort Elisa (Carmen Sevilla, Glass Ceiling) spies her neighbor Miguel (Vincente Parra, Cannibal Man) disposing of his wife Nuria's (María Asquerino) corpse down the apartment buildings elevator shaft in their shared hallway. Realizing that he has been caught literally red-handed he does not kill her but instead forces her to play accomplice to his crime. Miguel pleasantly coerces her to assist him in wrapping-up his wife's body with a shower curtain and stuffing her into the trunk of Elisa's car. Afterward they drive to her lakeside vacation bungalow outside of Madrid and sink the body to the bottom of the lake. Along the way it becomes clear that Elisa is surprisingly game to help him with his wife-murdering cover-up, especially when she fails to alert the police during a traffic stop at the scene of a horrific bus accident, though she does briefly attempt to kill him when she pushes him overboard while out on the lake, where she half-heartedly tries to I Spit on Your Grave-style boat-murder him!
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Audio: Spanish DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Director: Eloy de la Iglesia
Cast: Vicente Parra, Carmen Sevilla, María Asquerino, Antonio Casas
Director Eloy de la Iglesia followed up Cannibal Man with this tasty Spanish giallo entry wherein beautiful high-class escort Elisa (Carmen Sevilla, Glass Ceiling) spies her neighbor Miguel (Vincente Parra, Cannibal Man) disposing of his wife Nuria's (María Asquerino) corpse down the apartment buildings elevator shaft in their shared hallway. Realizing that he has been caught literally red-handed he does not kill her but instead forces her to play accomplice to his crime. Miguel pleasantly coerces her to assist him in wrapping-up his wife's body with a shower curtain and stuffing her into the trunk of Elisa's car. Afterward they drive to her lakeside vacation bungalow outside of Madrid and sink the body to the bottom of the lake. Along the way it becomes clear that Elisa is surprisingly game to help him with his wife-murdering cover-up, especially when she fails to alert the police during a traffic stop at the scene of a horrific bus accident, though she does briefly attempt to kill him when she pushes him overboard while out on the lake, where she half-heartedly tries to I Spit on Your Grave-style boat-murder him!
The pair develop a strange bond that evolves into a sexual relationship but the relationship is put at risk when Elisa's young lover Tony (Tony Isbert, Inquisition) becomes jealous of her new guy, immediately suspecting something is not kosher. This is a very tasty Spanish giallo-style thriller with terrific performances from Vincente Parra as the charming wife-killer and Carmen Sevilla as his initially coerced, but strangely happy-to-help accomplice, and they have good chemistry together. It was also good fun to see Goyo Lebrero from Cannibal Man here in a small but fun role as a near-deaf apartment caretaker. The flick doesn't offer up much blood and gore but it's a fine melodramatic-tinged giallo with a solid shock-ending that is sure to please fans of European thrillers.
Audio/Video: No One Heard the Scream arrives on region-free Blu-ray, making it's U.S. premiere on disc in 1080p HD and framed in 1.85:1 widescreen. This is touted as a new HD scan from the original negative and it looks quite pleasing, with an organic layer of film grain. The rivalries have a nice richness to them, particularly the reds, blue and greens, plus skin tones looks good - everyone seems fit and tan. We get some nice texture and fine detail by way of the chic 70's fabrics and wallpaper seen throughout, as well as in the close-ups of actors faces and hair.
Audio comes by way of Spanish DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono with optional English subtitles. Like it's Italian counterparts the dialogue seems to be post-synced so it has a very Italian vibe in that respect, but it is clean and well-balanced and non-problematic. The score from Fernando García Morcillo
(Voodoo Black Exorcist) is pretty dang swanky and sounds terrific as well.
The sole extra is the 24-minute Truth 24 Times A Second 0 Eloy de la Iglesia And The Spanish Giallo with Film Scholar Dr. Andy Willis who gets into the string connection between the Italian and Spanish film industries 70's beginning when producer Samuel Bronstion brought his studio to Spain with huge production like El Cid and The Fall of the Roman Empire. When that collapsed we saw the Spaghetti Westerns became fashionable, followed by thrillers and gialli. Willis touches on multiple Spanish giallos like Seven Murders for Scotland Yard, Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll, and The Killer Wore Gloves and several Naschy entries. He talks about how a lot of Spanish gialli went out of there way to not draw attention to the fact they were shot in Spain, but that de la Iglesia made that a feature of the film, but that it's still hard to put a finger on what makes a Spanish giallo unique outside of the setting. Wilson also gets into de la Iglesis and his film, how the violence in his films is quite shocking and visceral, and the the voyeurism and male eroticism inherent to his filmmaking. He also gives some love to screenwriter Antonio Fos who collaborated with de la Iglesia (A Candle for the Devil).
The single-disc release arrives in a black keepcase with a one-sided sleeve of artwork featuring the original movie poster illustration, the same artwork is excerpted on the Blu-ray disc itself.
Special Features:
- Eloy de la Iglesia And The Spanish Giallo – An Interview with Film Scholar Dr. Andy Willis (25 min)
- Eloy de la Iglesia And The Spanish Giallo – An Interview with Film Scholar Dr. Andy Willis (25 min)
I am loving the recent spate of Eloy de la Iglesia films on Blu-ray coming from Severin Films; first we got Cannibal Man, now this, and next up is the teen delinquency Quinqui Collection trilogy, which I am right smack dab in the middle of watching. No One Heard The Scream is a cool stylish Spanish giallo that delivers de la Iglesia's trademark voyeurism as well as a light touch of subversive male eroticism, and Severin's Blu-ray offers a solid presentation that is sure to please fans and newcomers like myself of this tasty Eurocult thriller.
Screenshots from the Severin Blu-ray:
Extras:
