WATCH ME WHEN I KILL (1977) (Synapse Films Blu-ray Review)

WATCH ME WHEN I KILL (1977) 

Label: Synapse Films

Region Code: Region-FREE

Rating: R

Duration: 96 Minutes 

Audio: English & Italian DTS-HD MA with Optional English Subtitles

Video: 1080P HD Widescreen (1.85:1) 

Director: Antonio Bido

Cast: Corrado Pani, Paola Tedesco, Franco Citti, Fernando Cerulli

Antono Bido's Argento-inflected whodunit Watch Me When I Kill (aka Il gatto dagli occhi di giada) opens with nightclub dancer Mara (Paola Tedesco, Battle of the Amazons) visiting a pharmacy to pick up a prescription where she unknowingly has a close encounter with a killer hidden away behind the closed door of the pharmacy who refuses her admittance, having just murdered the pharmacist who is laying dead on the floor inside. Later she becomes the victim of a stalker who breaks into her apartment and then later attacks her in her car inside a parking garage. 

She and her boyfriend Lukas (Corrado Pani, Interrabang) begin to believe that the killer thinks she might be able to identify him and has set his sights on eliminating her. In proper giallo fashion boyfriend Lukas becomes an amateur sleuth investigating the crimes when the local cops prove typically useless, looking into a seemingly connected string of murders, hoping to identify the culprit before his girlfriend becomes the next victim.

Watch Me When I Kill has some interesting elements throughout, we get a strange series of phone calls, the prerequisite gloved killer, some oddball cabaret sequences, a sub-plot involving an escaped murderer, plus a few memorable murder set-pieces, including a frail old man strangled in a bathtub, and a woman having her face brutally shoved into a scalding pot of stew, so there's some good loony giallo elements. For my own tastes though the film lacks the style and electric kills of the Argento giallos that I crave, having been introduced to the genre with both Argento's Deep Red (1975) and The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970), films that kind of spoiled me early on when it comes to these giallo entries that are a bit tamer by comparison.  What it has going for it though is a killer with an interesting personal motive, it's not of the usual psycho-sexual variety, which I thought was actually quite fascinating. 

While it's not as artfully shot as the Argento stylish whodunits it is still a handsome looking film with lots of splashes of color and solid lensing, plus it has a terrific score from prog-rockers Trans-Europa Express that gives it a Goblin-esque feel.     

Audio/Video: Watch Me When I Kill (1977) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Synapse Films with a 4K scan of the original camera negative framed in 1.85:1 widescreen in 1080p HD. This is apparently the same 4K scan used by 88 Films for their UK Blu-ray with the The Cat's Victim title card, but with a brand new color correction performed by Synapse themselves, and they did a bang-up job on it. The image is quite wonderful, the grain structure is velvety throughout with crisp details and vibrant splashes of color. Textures in clothing and details in the close-ups of faces look fantastic, with warm skin tones and pleasing black levels. The screenshots in this review are sourced directly from the Blu-ray. 

Audio comes by way of both English and Italian DTS-HD MA Mono 2.0 with optional English subtitles. It's a crisp sounding presentation with good fidelity within the confines of a original mono dubbed presentation. The score from prog-rockers Trans-Europa Express is fantastic and can be enjoyed as an isolated music score in DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono or on the accompanying Blu-ray exclusive CD soundtrack. 

Extras on the disc include an 11-min interview with Academic Mikel Koven who gives a passionate defense of the film, highlighting the unusual motive of the killer and applauding it for actually giving clues to who the killer could be for a change, this is a carry-over from the 88 Films release. We also get a new commentary for the film from Nathaniel Thompson who gives his usually excellent observation and historical deep dive into the film and the giallo genre. 

Extras are finished-up with a trailer, TV spots, radio spot, 8-min alternate opening title sequence, plus three short films from director Antonio Bido. There's the aforementioned CD soundtrack containing the Trans-Europa Express score, and the option to watch the films with the isolated music score in DTS-HD MA.  

Reversible Italian Artwork Option

The 2-disc Blu-ray/CD combo special edition release comes housed in a sleek looking black Blu-ray keepcase with a reversible sleeve of artwork featuring both the domestic U.S. and Italian release artworks, I prefer the Italian option. The Blu-ray disc features a scene from the film on it while the CD soundtrack features an excerpt of the U.S. artwork. 

Special Features:

- U.S. Opening Title Sequence (8 min)

- Isolated Music-Only Track (DTS-HD MA)

- Original Theatrical Trailer (4 min) 

- TV Spot (1 min) 

- Radio Spots (1 min) 

- Audio Commentary by Film Historian and Author, Nathaniel Thompson

- Interview with Academic Mikel Koven on Watch Me When I Kill (11 min) 

- Three short films from director Antonio Bido: Danza Macabra (14 min), Mendelssohn Im Judischen Museum (7 min), Berlin and Marche Funebre D’une Marionette (12 min)

- Bonus CD Soundtrack by Trans-Europa Express (Blu-ray Exclusive)

Watch Me When I Kill (1977) is a minor gem of a giallo, while it lacks the more stylish lensing and visceral kills of it's Argento kin the mystery elements at it's heart are strong with some solid moments of suspense throughout. Synapse Film's special edition Blu-ray looks and sounds fantastic, with the extras adding even more value to package, making this a desirable release for euro-cult and giallo fanatics.  

THE 88 ITALIAN LINE SERVES UP MORE SPAGHETTI CINEMA SICKIES!

More sweet Eurocult goodness on the way from 88 FILMS in the UK with the announcements of NIGHT TRAIN MURDERS, BLOODSTAINED SHADOW and SPASMO following recent announcements of shockers ZOMBIE HOLOCAUST and BURIAL GROUND!

THREE TASTY ITALIAN TERROR TREATS

THE 88 ITALIAN LINE SERVES UP MORE SPAGHETTI CINEMA SICKIES!

AN EX-VIDEO NASTY AND TWO GIALLO GEMS MAKE THEIR UK HD BOW!

Horror has a home at 88 Films.

This is why we launched our ‘Slasher Classics Collection’ and our ’88 Italian’ lines – to make sure that shock-cinema buffs could anticipate some masterfully macabre motion picture pot-boilers filleting their way onto UK Blu-ray in genre-specific packaging. And we are thrilled, following our announcement of ZOMBI HOLOCAUST and BURIAL GROUND, to confirm that 88 Italian just gets bigger and better with the acquisition of a trio of fresh fear-flick favourites!

First up is NIGHT TRAIN MURDERS!

Originally banned in the UK as a 'video nasty', under its VHS-era title of DON'T RIDE ON LATE NIGHT TRAINS, this tense thriller is a malevolent mix of hair-raising Hitchcockian suspense and contemporary splatter movie shocks. Released in 1975 to a suitably disorientated audience, NIGHT TRAIN MURDERS tells of two young female travellers, including Irene Miracle from INFERNO, who are kidnapped and tormented by a gang of thugs (led by an older matriarch with murderous desires). Indeed, the horror and humiliation which takes place during their journey is the stuff of nightmares... but a final twist leads the criminals into the hands of one girl's pistol-packing parents! Also inspired by Wes Craven's legendary masterpiece, THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, and directed by giallo expert Aldo Lado (THE SHORT NIGHT OF THE GLASS DOLLS), this gritty and garish stomach-churner - which includes an iconic Ennio Morricone soundtrack - is finally unleashed in the UK in all of its HD gory glory!

Also debuting on 88 Italian is an underrated outing from the ever-stylish Antonio Bido (WATCH ME WHEN I KILL) - with 1978's BLOODSTAINED SHADOW making its worldwide BluRay debut courtesy of 88 Films. Never before released in the UK, this magnificent mystery-horror stars SUSPIRIA's Stefania Casini as an unassuming, and alluring, antiques dealer who gets caught up in a series of slasher-killings that may or may not point a finger towards someone she already knows. Beautifully shot, and as colourfully produced as any of the finest examples of the genre, this cat-and-mouse creeper is an underrated Italian classic that is packed full of inventive splatter set pieces, erotic allure and atmospheric intensity. Zip up your black gloves and groove to this prime HD presentation of a seventies Euro-shock sizzler!

Finally, we give you… SPASMO! Only the legendary Umberto Lenzi (CANNIBAL FEROX/ THE MAN FROM DEEP RIVER) could have made a giallo as intriguing, and esoteric, as this mind-boggling, avant-garde, continental curio! With a cast bursting at the seams with genre legends - including Suzy Kendall (THIS BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE/ TORSO) and the late, great Ivan Rassimov (LAST CANNIBAL WORLD) - SPASMO is an unfortunately under-seen, but nonetheless highly regarded, giallo jaunt that cranks up the psychological terror and aims for a more sophisticated arthouse vibe. More akin to the early work of Dario Argento and Mario Bava, than Lenzi's later gut-crunching gore-fests, SPASMO contains one of Ennio Morricone's most menacing soundtrack scores, whilst its plot - of sex, corpses and a surreal mystery involving a killer with a fetish for mannequin dolls - is the sort of trippy-hippy brilliance that only ‘alternative’ Italian cinema in the seventies could achieve!

Making its UK bow, in a stunning BluRay remaster, SPASMO is a must-have for fans of Italian cult, and Lenzi's vast cinematic CV, alike!

All three new additions to the 88 Films family will come with their original Italian language track, English subtitles, and – of course – English language versions too! Thrilled by the new 88 Italian announcements? Spread the word and support our love for classic grindhouse greats!