PERVERSION STORY (1969)
Label: Mondo Macabro
Duration: 108 minutes
Region: Region-FREE
Video: 1080P HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Audio: English & Italian DTS-HD MA with Optional English Subtitles
Director: Lucio Fulci
Cast: Jean Sorel, Marisa Mell, Elsa Martinelli, Alberto de Mendoza, John Ireland, Riccardo Cucciolla, Jorge Rigaud, Jean Sobieski
Lucio Fulci came into my cinema-life as the the Italian "Godfather of Gore" with horror classic like The Beyond (1981) and Zombie (1979), it was his macabre and grotesque gore film that drew me in like a moth to a flame. It wasn't until the aughts that like many I suppose, we were given the opportunity to watch his earlier works, among them stylish giallos, a violent spaghetti western, and thrillers that while not the nightmare fuel of his later works, we well-crafted genre films.
Which brings us to Perversion Story (a.k.a. One On Top Of The Other), a film I did not have opportunity to see until Severin Films released it on DVD in 2007. Watching it the first time I didn't really care for it a whole bunch, but subsequent viewings gave me a deeper appreciation for the erotically charged thriller, one that is often aligned with the stylish Italian whodunit series of giallo movies, but I consider it more of an sensual crime thriller than an actual giallo. It lacks the traditional black-gloved killer element, but it is stylish, and set in an urban metropolis, and at it's heart it is a multi-layered whodunit murder mystery with lots of intrigue, so I can see why it's considered a giallo.
Th film concerns handsome, young Dr. George Dumurrier (Jean Sorel, A Lizard In A Woman's Skin) who operates a struggling medical clinic in San Francisco. He's in a loveless marriage with wife Susan (Marisa Mell, Seven Blood-Stained Orchids) who is cold to him, he's carrying on an affair with pixie-ish fashion photographer Jane (Elsa Martinelli, (The 10th Victim). While away in Vegas with his lady friend he receives a call from his brother and business partner Henry (Alberto De Mendoza, Horror Express) informing him that his Susan has died suddenly, the victim of a severe asthma attack, a condition she was known to have.
George is surprised to find out that he's set to inherit a 2-million dollar life insurance policy claim, which make the authorities think he might have had something to do with his wife's death, and some of his actions as seen earlier come back to haunt him, setting in motion a series of events that could land George in the gas chamber at San Quentin prison!
Things become more complicated when George encounters a stripper named Monica Weston (Martinelli in a dual role) who bares an uncanny resemblance to his late wife, with him becoming increasingly obsessed with her, and he's not the only one. The authorities catch on to this lookalike, drawing their own suspicions of how she figures into the story, theorizing that perhaps Susan faked her own death to cash-in on the insurance policy, or perhaps this woman may have had something to do with George's plot to murder the wife.
The film is fun, stylish thriller with plenty of mystery and intrigue, not to mention copious amounts of nudity, so it has a lot going for it. The way it resolves is both fun, thrilling and preposterous, with a healthy dose of karmic comeuppance right there at the the end that I found very satisfying. Fucli was known to have a dark sense of humor, and I love the way a spurned lover comes back to set things right in this film.
The film is a bit of oddity as it's an American-set giallo shot in San Francisco, Fulci wisely makes full use of the scenic locations with gorgeous opening shots of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alactraz Prison in the San FRancisco Bay, lots of stylish cinematography from Alejandro Ulloa (The Devil's Honey) and a brassy, seductive score from Riz Ortoloni (Cannibal Holocaust). The film has touches of psychedelia, including a wonderful shot of a lovemaking scene from the POV of the bed their laying on through red satin sheets, and some fun use of split screen.
Audio/Video: Perversion Story (1969) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Mondo Macabro - cult-film lovers specializing in the wild side of world cinema. The film is presented in 1080p HD widescreen and framed in 1.85:1 widescreen, being from a scan from the original camera negative This is the longer 108-min extended European cut of the film, marketed as the long version available. It looks rock solid with a natural looking layer of grain, a few scenes looks thicker with grain than others, but overall it looks excellent and is free of unecassary digital tinkering. Colors are nicely saturated, those sixties fashions look terrific, and the textures and fine detail are at times modestly impressive.
Audio comes by way of English and Italian 1.0 Mono with optional English subtitles, being an Italian production from this era all the dialogue is post-dubbed, so there are the usual dubbing, sync issues you would associate with it, but nothing alarming. The sultry, jazz-inflected score from Riz Ortolani (Cannibal Holocaust) sounds amazing in the mix, I would have loved an isolated music track on this release, for those keeping track the 2007 DVD release from Severin included a bonus soundtrack CD.
Onto the extras we get a 38-minute appreciation from noted genre film author Stephen Thrower who discusses the film in context of the director's body of work, the shooting locations, and defending the perfromance from star Jean Sorel. Thrower is always a solid listen, whenever I see him listed on extras for a release it certainly pushes me towards a purchase, even when that purchase might me a double or triple-dip!
We also get a new 24-min interview with star Jean Sorel and a 10-min interview with actress Elsa Martinelli, both of these are in Italian with English subtitles. Sorel speaks about the politics of Italian cinema in the 60's and 70s while Martinelli speaks about workibg with Fulci, describing him as eccentric. Sorel's interview is in French while Martinellis is in Italian, bth have English subtitles.
The disc is buttoned-up with a 4-min trailer for the film and a swelection of Mondo Macabro trailers.
Special Features:
- Interview w. star Jean Sorel (30 min)
- Interview w. star Elsa Martinelli (10 min)
- Interview w. writer Stephen Thrower (38 min)
- Original Artwork by Justin Coffee.
- Original Trailer (4 min)
- Mondo Macabro Previews (11 min)
I really dig rediscovering these earlier films from Fulci when they come to Blu-ray, Mondo Macabro have given this erotic-thriller a spiffy looking HD upgrade with a nice array of extras, highly recommended for fans of stylish whodunits and fans of Fulci who are intrigued by his earlier pre-gore filmography.
