THE CASE OF THE BLOODY IRIS (1972)
aka Perché quelle strane gocce di sangue sul corpo di Jennifer? / What Are Those Strange Drops of Blood Doing on Jennifer's Body?
4KUltra HD + Blu-ray Set
Label: Celluloid Dreams
Region Code: Region-Free (UHD), Region A (Blu-ray)
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 94 Minutes 57 Seconds
Audio: English or Italian DTS-HD MA 1.O Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: HDR10 2160p Ultra HD Widescreen (2.35:1), 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Giuliano Carnimeo
Cast: George Hilton, Edwige Fenech, Paola Quattrini, Giampiero Albertini, Oreste Lionello, George Rigaud, Carla Mancini, Annabella Incontrera, Ben Carra, Carla Brait
The gruesome murders of two young women send a shockwave of fear through a high-rise apartment building, that the premise for the Italian giallo thriller The Case of the Bloody Iris aka What Are Those Strange Drops of Blood Doing on Jennifer's Body?. The flick starts off with young prostitute (Evi Farinelli) arriving at a highrise apartment and boarding an elevator where she is stabbed to death by a black-clad, masked, gloved-killer. Her body is soon discovered by three residents of the building, a black stripper named Mizar (Carla Brait, Escape from the Bronx), Professor Isaacs (Jorge Riguard, Eyeball) and spinster Mrs. Moss (Maria Tedeschi, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage). Cops Commissioner Enci (Giampiero Albertini, The Tough Ones) and Assistant Commissioner Renzi (Franco Agostini, Raise Your Hands, Dead Man, You're Under Arrest) arrive on the scene to investigate but find very little to go on. The next day the stripper is attacked inside her apartment by the same masked killer who drowns her in the bathtub, now it seems that someone is targeting the women of the building, but to what end and for what reason?
We then catch up with the architect who designed the apartment buildings, Mr. Andrea Antinori (George Hilton, The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh) as he attends a photo shoot with photographer friend, the seemingly prerequisite giallo trope of the effeminate homosexual man, Arthur (Oreste Lionello, Four Flies on Grey Velvet), who is helping him create a promotional campaign to promote the building. It's there that he encounters models Jennifer Lansbury (Edwige Fenech, Strip Nude for Your Killer) and Marilyn Ricci (Paola Quattrini, City Under Siege), who are shooting a titillating painted-on clothing advert. Andrea is quite attracted to Jennifer, and hoping to get her and Marilyn to star in his new advertising campaign invites them to stay at the high-rise where there's a new vacancy, thanks to unfortunate murder of Mizar.
After moving into the apartment pad Jennifer encounters the masked killer in her bedroom while she is sleeping, the masked-killer attempts to strangle her but is scared off by her screams, however, her roomate Marilyn just assumes was just a bad dream stemming from living in the murder apartment. Red-herrings abound at the high-rise, we get plenty of could-be culprits by way of the spinster Mrs. Moss who we curiously discover enjoys reading macabre horror tale rags, and a secretive lesbian neighbor Sheila (Annabella Incontrera, Black Belly of the Tarantula), who is the daughter of the Professor, it is revealed that she was a lover of the second victim, or could it be the deformed peeping-tom son of one of the residents who keep him hidden away in a closet, and of course there's also Jennifer obsessive ex Adam (Ben Carra, Tales of Erotica), who is the leader of a sex-cult that she use to belong to, it seems that anyone could be the depraved killer, and the cops are pretty much clueless. It's only when poor Marilyn is later stabbed to death outside of the building and bloodily falls into the lap of Andrea that he becomes the prime suspect, and it certainly doesn't help his case that he flees the scene, though an earlier shot of him nearly fainting at the sight of blood would seemingly eliminate him from any list of potential suspects.
As the thriller rolls on the list if suspects is thinned down as more bodies begin piling up, a couple of potential suspects among them, with poor Sheila scalded to death by blast of steam from a basement boiler, and wouldn't you know it, Andrea just happens to be on the scene at another death, further incriminating himself.
I've always thought this this was quite a fantastic giallo thriller, chock full of stylish murder set-pieces, interesting characters, beautiful women, wild plot twists, and a delicious psycho-sexual motivation for the killer that just makes for a top-notch Italian whodunit. On top of that we have a very cool score from Bruno Nicolai (All the Colors of the Dark), attractive lensing by Stelvio Massi (the director of Convoy Busters), and a tasty script by Italian screenwriting legend Ernesto Gastaldi (Almost Human), and assured direction by Giuliano Carnimeo (The Exterminators of the Year 3000) who is better known for his spaghetti westerns than gialli. Another element I quite liked was the humor, mostly by way of the doomed Marilyn, who morbidly lampoon's Mizar's murderous downing death in the very same bathtub where she was murdered; earning her a slap across the face from a none too pleased Andrea. More comedy comes by way of goofball commissioners Enci and Renzi who each have their own peccadillos, one collects stamps by stealing them from active crime scenes and the other is an ineffective fool who fumbles with a salami stuffed baguette while on a stakeout. This is an Italian whodunit that's firing on all-cylinders, you've got the enthralling Edwige Fenech starring and filling nearly every scene with her wide-eyed beauty, a twisty plot, colorful characters, interesting kills and plenty of psycho-sexual underpinning to keep things moving along briskly, this comes highly recommended.
Audio/Video: The Case of the Bloody Iris (1972) arrives on region-free 4K UHD and region A locked Blu-ray from newcomer Celluloid Dreams, presented in 2160p UHD framed in 2.35:1 widescreen, restored in 4K from the original camera negatives, with the benefit of HDR10 color-grading, with the Perché quelle strane gocce di sangue sul corpo di Jennifer? title card. For their innaugural release Celluloid Dreams steps up to the plate confidently and knocks it right out of the park their first time at bat, the film has never looked so gorgeous as it does here, probably not even when it was first showing at the cinema. The source in in wonderful shape, there are only a few blink-and-you-will-miss-it moments of blemish that I noticed, otherwise this is an outstanding restoration. Film grain is intact and quite lovely, maintaining it's organic filmic textures with wonderful fine detail the close-ups of various clothing and facial features, especially those peering into Edwige Fenech's supremely expressive eyes. The HDR10 color-grading is quite tasteful, not over baked at all, colors look natural and are not unnaturally garish or oversaturated, but primaries look fantastic, and the black levels are rock solid, offering deep inky blacks, but also nuanced enough that details in the shadow detail during the numerous darker nighttime scenes impress. Skin tones also appear quite lifelike and pleasing throughout.
Audio comes by way of Italian or English dubs in DTS-HD MA 1.0 Mono with optional English subtitles, offering dedicated subtitles for both the Italian and English versions, with both versions offering some slightly different translations of the dialogue. Both options are strong with crisp line delivery, neither option having any problematic hiss or distortion that I detected. The track is well-balanced and has a modest depth to it, but sounds terrific, the biggest benefactor of the uncompressed audio is certainly the score from Bruno Nicolai (Night of the Blood Monster) which has some psychedelic pop touches as well as lush avant-garde arrangements.
Beyond the stellar A/V presentation this debut release from Celluloid Dreams continues to impress with it's array of supplemental material. First up is a brand new Audio Commentary by Guido Henkel from Celluloid Dreams, the track is well-researched and brings a lot to the table, plenty of information about the cast and crew, shooting locations, the use of color and camerawork and appreciation for the script and score, as well as the creative non-traditional use of sound design, it's a terrific track.
Next up is a new Drops of Gialloâ: Interview Featurette with Ernesto Gastaldo and Giuliano Carnimeo that runs about a half-hour, Gastaldo and Carnimeo interviewed, with the bulk of it going to the former, who talks at length about the film and the challenge of coming up with new ideas for the gialli flicks which were quite popular at the time.
There's also a selection of archival interviews that were included on the UK release of the film from Shameless. these include the 21-min Flowers of Blood - Interview Featurette with George Hilton, and the 12-min Marylinâ - Interview Featurette with Paola Quattrini. Hilton talks about getting his big break from Sergio Martino, his work in westerns, and his friendship with Fenech, and remembrances of other cast members. Quattrini speaks about shooting her bathtub death scenes, what it was like shooting in Genoa, nudity on film, and remembrances of her co-stars. Disc extras are buttoned-up with a 2-min Outtake Reel; 5-min Image Gallery, plus the 3-min English Trailer and Italian Trailer.
Looking at the packaging, this is the standard release version, the 2-disc UHD/BD arrives in a dual-tray black keepcase with a Reversible Wrap featuring the same original illustrated movie poster artwork, one side featuring the English title the other the Italian titles, the Italian title translating to What Are Those Strange Drops of Blood Doing on Jennifer's Body?, on both the front cover and the spine. Inside the two disc sit on separate hubs.
Special Features:
- NEW! Audio Commentary by Guido Henkel from Celluloid Dreams
- NEW! Drops of Gialloâ: Interview Featurette with Ernesto Gastaldo and Giuliano Carnimeo (29:36)
- Flowers of Blood - Interview Featurette with George Hilton (20:43)
- Marylinâ - Interview Featurette with Paola Quattrini (11:50)
- Outtake Reel (1:44)
- Image Gallery (5:16)
- English Trailer (2:54)
- Italian Trailer (2:54)
Celluloid Dreams 4K UHD/BD release of The Case of the Bloody Iris (1972) is fantastic, we get a gorgeous 4K restoration that maintains the filmic beauty of the production, and top-notch extras to go along with it. It's hard to believe this is the first release from the start-up outfit, they have really set the bar high for their sophomore release, which I believe will be The Black Belly of the Tarantula, another tasty giallo gem!
Screenshots from the Celluloid Dreams Blu-ray:
Buy it!