THE PAUL NASCHY COLLECTION II (Scream Factory Blu-ray Review)

THE PAUL NASCHY COLLECTION II (1973-1975)
5-Disc Blu-ray Set 

Label: Scream Factory

Region Code: A
Duration: 450 Minutes 
Rating: Unrated
Audio: Castilian DTS-HD MA Mono, English  DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles  
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1), Full Frame (1.33:1) 
Directors: León Klimovsky, Juan Bosch, Javier Aguirre 

Cast: Paul Naschy, Maria Perschy, Norma Sebre, Rosanna Yanni, María Kosty, Guillermo Bredeston

Synopsis: Paul Naschy (born Jacinto Molina Álvarez) was Spain's answer to Lon Chaney. He has portrayed many classic monsters – the Wolfman, Frankenstein's monster, Count Dracula, the Mummy and more. He was not only a terrific actor, but an accomplished writer, producer and director. This Blu-ray box set includes five stellar films from his long and distinguished career.

HUNCHBACK OF THE MORGUE (EL JOROBADO DE LA MORGUE)(1973)

Rating: Unrated 
Duration: 82 Minutes 
Audio: Castilian DTS-HD MA Mono, English  DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles  
Video: 1080p HD Full Frame (1.851) 
Director: Javier Aguirre
Cast: Paul Naschy, Rossana Yanni, Vic winner, Alberto Dalbes, Maria Perschy

In writer/director Javier Aguirre's (Count Dracula's Great Loves) Hunchback of the Morgue (1973) Spanish horror icon Paul Naschy plays Gotho, a hunchback who lives in a small German village working in the local hospital morgue for Dr. Orla (Alberto Dalbes, Cut-Throats Nine). The simpleton hunchback is tormented by the locals and obsessed with his beautiful friend Ilse (María Elena Arpón, Tombs of the Blind Dead), the two have been friends since childhood but she suffers from a respiratory illness that is killing her. While at a local pub Gotho is mercilessly picked on, afterward he follows one of the drunk tormentors home, witnessing the man fall down drunk and apparently die, but I thought it was sort of ambiguous if the man dies or was just dead-drunk, regardless Gotho carts his corpse back to the morgue and delights in severing the mans feet and hands, reveling in the thought of the man being dissected by medical students. 

Sadly Ilsa passes on and Gotho goes a bit mad when a pair of coroner desecrate her body, forcing the hunchback to murder both men and hide his beloved's body away in a catacomb of tunnels located beneath the hospital. Eventually Dr. Orla figures out that Gotho is behind the recent spate of murders/missing people in the area, but is willing to turn a blind eye to it if Gotho assists him with his own mad science project which requires fresh corpses, promising the hunchback he will re-animate his dead beloved. Meanwhile Gotho becomes infatuated with Orla's attractive assistant Elke (Rosanna Yanni, Sadist Erotica) who for some reason seems to fall for the disfigured murder, fully aware of his distasteful penchant for murder.

This Gothic slice of Spanish horror features a good turn from Naschy as the sympathetically loathsome Gotho, he's not all that unattractive here, more sad than ugly, but he does what's necessary to make you feel for him to a degree. However, why these Hammer-esque gorgeous women are falling for him is less successfully conveyed, must be that winning personality that makes him so desirable. There's some nice moments of bloody carnage here, we have some severed heads and appendages, flesh melting in a vat of acid, and an unfortunate real-life rat being set on fire, which was completely unnecessary. There's also a scene of Gotho throwing one of the coroners into an iron-maiden, which is an odd piece of lab equipment to have at a morgue, but there it is!  There's also a hideous single-celled monstrosity that Dr. Orla grows in his lab which becomes a flesh-eating monster which out anti-hero hunchback most contend with.

The movie is a fun watch, fans of Gothic horror with a Spanish flavor will love this early and bloody tale of obsessive/deformed love and mad science, it has plenty of atmosphere and a surprising amount of gore-gags. 
       

Audio/Video: Hunchback of the Morgue arrives on Blu-ray from Scream Factory from a master provided by Spanish licencor Victory who would not allow Scream access to the original elements, which is sad, but what can you do. what we get is sourced from the available HD master framed in 1.85:1 widescreen looking attractive, but perhaps not Blu-ray defining. There's some minor speckling and scratches evident throughout, but overall it's pleasing to the eye, fine details look good, it's not the most crisp image, but never having seen it before on any other format I was very pleased with it. There are two audio options, we have the original Castilian DTS-HD MA Mono, plus the option to watch with the English dub via a DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono track with optional English subtitles. Audio sounds good for both tracks, though there is some slight hiss but otherwise the mix is decent and the English dub is not awful, though Paul Naschy is dubbed as he is on all the English dubs on this set. 

Extras for this one includes a brand new audio commentary from the guys at the Naschycast podcast, Spanish title/credit sequences, theatrical trailers and an image gallery.   

Special Features: 
- NEW Audio Commentary By Rod Barnett And Troy Guinn Of The Podcast, NaschyCast
- Spanish Title Sequence (2 min) HD 
- Spanish Credit Sequence (1 min) HD 
- Spanish Intertitles (1 min) HD 
- Theatrical Trailers (Spanish And English) (6 min) HD 
- Still Gallery (4 min) HD 

THE DEVIL'S POSSESSED (EL MARISCAL DEL INFIERNO)(1974) 

Rating:Unrated 
Duration: 89 Minutes  
Audio: Castilian DTS-HD MA Mono 2.0, English DTS-HD MA Mono 2.0  with Optional English Subtitles  
Video:  1080p HD Wiescreen (1.85:1) 
Director: Leon Klimovsky 
Cast: Paul Naschy, Norma Sebre, Guillermo Bredeston, Vidal Molina, Graciela Nilson  

This medieval film set in France is directed by Leon Klimovsky and scripted by Naschy, based on the true life story of 14th century knight and Lord Gilles de Rais, a notorious child serial killer who was also said to dabble in black magic, before being hung. Here we have Naschy portraying a similar character Gilles de Lancre, a Baron who once fought bravely for the French crown against England, but when he falls out of favor with the crown he turns his eye toward alchemy and mysticism, encouraged by his witchy wife Georgelle (Norma Sebre)and a sorcerer named Simon de Braqueville (Eduardo Calvo) to seek out The Philosopher's Stone, requiring blood drinking and ritual sacrifices. 

A french soldier named Captain Gaston de Malebranche (Guillermo Bredeston) learns firsthand of the Baron's madness and puts together a small ensemble of men to storm the castle and rid the realm of his evil ways. This one is slightly out of sync with the horror-theme of this set, a medieval tale of evil, sorcery and swordsmanship that is light on gore and nudity, but filled with plenty of action-adventure, including an eye-gouging joust, with some well choreographed swordplay and decent moments of dungeon torture, including setting a red-hot crown on the former King's head, ouch.

Naschy is in full beard mode here, which is always a good thing, looking badass with a patch over his eye, like a demented Snake Plisken from past, he does the role justice, his descent into madness and mysticism well played, there's a lot here to love, but it might be a hard sell for the hardcore horror fan who might be looking for some Spanish sleaze and gore, it's here in small amounts, but not enough to get a lot of love from the horror crowd, but if you love swashbuckling adventures this is a top-notch watch.  

Audio/Video: The Devil's Possessed (1975) arrives on Blu-ray from Scream Factory, again licensed from Victory who offer only the existing HD masters with no option to create a new master from the existing elements. Framed in 1.85:1 widescreen the image looks good, colors are nicely reproduced, fine detail is adequately resolved, black levels are decent, but not great. Grain is a more pronounced with this one, but there's not much to complain about in the way of artifacting or print damage other than some white speckling. There are two audio options, we have the original Castilian DTS-HD MA Mono, plus the option to watch with the English dub via a DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono track with optional English subtitles. Audio sounds decent for both tracks, though the English dub is anemic, seemingly missing effects sounds and score hear in the Spanish track, and the Spanish track has a repetitive thrum that shows up in the final third I found annoying, the the dialogue and mix is more nuanced with it, . The score from composer Carlos Viziello fairs well in the mix, which has some oddball electronic excursions for a Medieval set film. 

Onto the extras we get no commentary on this one, what we do get is the Spanish credit/title sequences, and a selection of trailers, pretty bare-bones, was hoping we would get something from the Naschycast crew or Troy Howarth, a missed opportunity. 

Special Features: 
- Theatrical Trailers (Spanish And English) (7 min) HD 
- Spanish Title Sequence (1 min) HD 
- Spanish Credit Sequence (1 min) 

THE WEREWOLF AND THE YETI (LA MALDICIÓN DE LA BESTIA)(1975)

Rating: Unrated 
Duration:  94 Minutes
Audio: Castilian DTS-HD MA Mono, English  DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles  
Video: 1080p HD Full Frame (1.33:1) 
Director: M.I. Bonns  
Cast: Paul Naschy, Grace Mills, Sylvia Solar, Luis Induni, Gil Vidal

In the wild and furry The Werewolf and the Yeti (1975) Naschy returns as Waldemar Daninsky, an anthropologist working alongside Professor Lacombe (Josep Castillo Escalona) and his lovely daughter Sylvia (Grace Mills) in Tibet on the trail of the mythical Yeti creature.  Against the advice of Lacombe, Waldemar hooks up with a mountain guide Joel (Víctor Israel) who says he'll take him through the mountains to the last known whereabouts of a colleague lost in the treacherous snowbound terrain the two become lost and Joel runs off on his own after hearing the howls of the mysthical devil's said to inhabit the area. Lost and alone Waldemar wanders until he comes upon a cave, inside he finds  a strange temple, he also meets a pair of sisters who live in the cave, the two gorgeous women seduce him, but it tuns out that these women are the fabled devils, and he glimpses them eating human remains, possibly those of Joel. As he attempts to escape the cave he is overrun by them women who reveal themselves to be werewolves. he manages to kill them but not before he is bitten, this being cursed by lycanthropy. 

Seeking a cure for himself Waldemar finds a monk who tells him how to rid himself of the curse, but he is then captured by a local warlord Sekkar Khan (Luis Induni) who has also captured the professor and Sylvia, intended for us by the warlord and the witchy  Wandessa (Silvia Solar), the pan is to peel their skin and use t for a bizarre skin treatment for the warlord. 

This is a crazy watch, it has werewolves, a yeti, blood rituals, skin-peeling, warlords, and cannibalism - there's a little bit of everything here for everyone, all mixed up in a goody stew of action and horror that never gets boring. Naschy is clean-shaven here for those keeping rack, in his eight film as the werewolf, and I love the look of the werewolf, Naschy's lycan is one of my favorites, I love the dark hair and enormous teeth, and he's very acrobatic in this one, leaping quite a bit as he stalks his human (and yeti) prey, especially great is the scene of him leaping from a large boulder onto a victim riding a horse.

Now onto the bad, for a film with yeti in the title the big-footed action is anemic at best, we get a scene of the hairy creature attacking the explorers and it ends with the titular fight, but the costuming looks horrendous and the creature is kept out of sight and understandably obscured for most of it, it's a real let down, but even that couldn't diminish the fun I had with this mythical mayhem.   

Audio/Video: The Werewolf and the Yeti arrives on Blu-ray in what I believe to be the full frame (1.33:1) open matte format, the image looks decent, the image quality fluctuates quite a bit, and there are what look to be some standard definition inserts from an inferior source that pop up very noticeably. Again, this is sourced from an existing HD master from the licensor with no option for a new scan from the original element.

There are two audio options, we have the original Castilian DTS-HD MA Mono, plus the option to watch with the English dub via a DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono track with optional English subtitles. Audio sounds good for both tracks, some slight hiss and pops are definitely audible, and the English dub has a stronger music cues, but otherwise the mix is decent. 

Onto the extras we get hardly anything for this intriguing film,  not even a commentary track. This title was a bonafide video nasty, it has a little bit of everything thrown into it and I would have loved a commentary from Troy Howarth or the Naschycast guys to walk me through it, surely there are some interesting facts I need to know about this crazy film. As it is we only get an image gallery for the movie, but there's a booklet with this release with notes on the film.  

Special Features: 
- Still Gallery (3 min) HD 

EXORCISM (EXORCISMO)(1975) 

Rating: Unrated 
Duration: 91 Minutes  
Audio: Castilian DTS-HD MA Mono, English  DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles  
Video: 1080p HD Full Frame (1.33:1)
Director: Juan Bosch 
Cast: Paul Naschy, Maria Perschy, Maria Kosti, Grace Mills 

Written by Paul Naschy and directed by Juan Boesch (The Killer Wore Gloves)this Spanish Exorcist knock-off finds Paul Naschy in unfamiliar territory - as the good guy! Naschy plays Father Adrian Dunning, a priest called in by the family of a young woman named Leila (Grace Mills, Night of the Howling Beast) who at the start of the film is partaking in a satanic blood-drinking ritual, it's a fun beach-side scene with 70's hipsters gathered around a fire sharing a joint, drinking blood and dropping their clothes. Afterward she and her boyfriend are involved in a car accident that sends them plummeting down a steep embankment, while in the hospital recuperating Leila begins acting strangely aggressive towards mother and family, apparently having been possessed by the spirit of her dead father who was sent to the asylum years earlier, where he died. Arriving home she gets worse, this is when Naschy's priest character is called in by the family.

Adding to the intrigue is a series of neck-snapping killings around
the home which may or may not be attributed to the young possessed woman, I'll leave that kernel of intrigue for you readers to watch for yourselves. Naschy appears here in full-on beard-mode, damn that man could grow some sweet facial hair! as the subdued, pipe-smoking priest he is reluctant to declare the  troubled girl possessed, attributing her derangement to a psychiatric persuasion, not demonic possession, but once the girl begins speaking in her father's voice he changes his attitude, and a proper exorcism finally gets underway. 

Naschy is good in the role of melancholic priest, smoking away thoughtfully on his pipe, but the role is perhaps a bit too subdued, particularly when the priest begins having hallucinations of a snake coming out of the water faucet, he doesn't seem too unnerved by it. Another shade against it is that the gore and special effects are toned down, we don't get much in the way of supernatural action till over an hour in, though the final twenty minutes are electrifying. Leila doesn't go full-on Linda Blair till late in the game but the transformation is well-done, discolored and torn skin, with unnerving marble colored contacts in her eyes, predating in similar visual in Lucio Fulci's The Beyond (1981). Despite Naschy claiming the script was written before The Exorcist hit the cinema it's hard to deny the final film bares a few knock-offs of the popular film, including the vomit-spewing (okay, maybe vomit-dribbling is more precise) and a tumble down the stairs in the final act, though there's a nice man's best friend spin at the end and an ambiguous ending that could go several ways.

The movie has some pacing issues, it hints at some sordid goings on, some psychic/incestuous sexuality, and we get some minor nudity and gore, but this one doesn't have broad appeal, even for a Naschy film, but it's a good watch, those final 20-minutes make-up for it's previous shortcomings I think. 
            
Audio/Video: Exorcism arrives on Blu-ray in what I believe to be the full frame (1.33:1) open matte format, despite being advertised on the box as 1.78:1 widescreen. It looks good, colors are solid, print damage is minimal and contrast is decent throughout, it's not reference quality by any means, and it looks slightly waxy to my eyes. For the two full frame presentations on this set think it would have been cool if Scream Factory could have offered a matted widescreen presentation in addition to keeping the open matte format, if that's indeed what we're seeing here. Audio comes by way of both Castilian DTS-HD MA Mono 2.0, and an English dub via a DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono track with optional English subtitles. Audio sounds good for both tracks, some slight hiss discernible, and I noticed some additional music cues on the English track not heard on the Castilian version otherwise the mix is decent and the English dub is not awful. 

Extras on this one include a good commentary track from Try Howarth, it's scene specific in addition to offering up some scholarly insight into he film and Naschy's career, also pointing out that the English dub versions of Naschy's film's were done by actor Jack Taylor (Pieces). If you're looking for an additional commentary I would point you in the direction of the Naschycast podcast, the guys over there offer up one for this one and Hunchback of the Morgue on their feed.  The disc is finished up with alternate clothed versions of the racier scenes intended for release in span during the oppressive Franco regime, theatrical trailers, and English credit sequence, and an image gallery. 

Special Features: 
- NEW Audio Commentary By Author Troy Howarth
- Alternate “Clothed” Versions Of The Nude Scenes For The Original Spanish Release (6 min) HD 
- Theatrical Trailers (Spanish And English)(5 min) HD 
- English Credit Sequence
- Still Gallery (4 min) HD 

A DRAGONFLY FOR EACH CORPSE (UNA LIBÉLULA PARA CADA MUERTO)(1975) 

Rating: Unrated 
Duration: 89 Minutes  
Audio: Castilian DTS-HD MA Mono, English  DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles  
Video:  1080p HD Full Frame (1.85:1) 
Director: Leon Klimovsy
Cast: Paul Naschy, Erika Blanc, Angel Aranda, Maria Kosti, Ricardo Merin

The Spanish/Italian co-production A Dragonfly for Each Corpse (1975) was again written by star Paul Naschy and directed by Leon Klimovsy (The Devil's Possessed), a stylish Spanish giallo with a nicely evocative insect themed title, which was par for the course in the early 70's, along the line of Argento's Four Flies on Grey Velvet. This time around Naschy (once again playing against type as a good guy) is the superbly mustached Paolo Scaporella, a cigar-chomping detective with a tarnished reputation assigned to investigate a string of recent murders. A killer is cleaning up the streets of Milan, murdering a counter-culture dropout scum, beginning with a dope fiend before moving on to a hooker and then a trio of swinging hippies who are doped-up after some apparently strenuous group-sex! 

Assisting Paolo is the pre-requisite amateur sleuth we so often see in these Italian-style whodunits, this time embodied by red-haired Italian cult-icon Erika Blanc (The Devil's Nightmare) as the detective's wife Sylvia, a woman unafraid to drop her clothes whenever called upon, and there's a great scene here of her laying in bed looking through crime scene pics with a magnifying glass, completely nude of course.

The killer is black-gloved and features a face obscured by fabric, not unlike that of the killer in Mario Bava's seminal giallo Blood and Black Lace (1964), using an arsenal randing from a long bladed knife, to a small hatchet and a secretly-bladed umbrella! In standard giallo fashion there are numerous red-herrings, a veritable smorgasborg of suspects spanning the spectrum from lowlifers to high-society types, and in a very Argento-esque way it also features a stereotypically gay character, though treated with a bit more care than Argento normally did, but still just as flamboyantly, and we get not one but two transvestite characters. The clues include a missing button and a birthmark, but can out murder-solving power couple put the pieces together before it too late? 

I have not watched too many Spanish giallo films, so this was a notable entry, very stylish and with many of the hallmarks of a true Italian whodunit, including some well staged cinematography, a groovy score and black-gloved tropes, including some perverse sexuality and twisted psychology. It's clear that Naschy had a firm understanding of the genre, I'm curious to seek out more of his films and see if there are other giallo-flavored whodunits, this was pretty great.        

Audio/Video: This Spanish-Italian Giallo arrives on Blu-ray from an existing HD master framed in 1.85:1 and looking very nice, this is perhaps the most stylish of films on the set, attractively shot by cinematographer Miguel Fernández Mila (The Return of the Evil Dead), colors are robust, fine detail is decent, but there is a brief insert from an inferior source that mars it  a bit, but overall this is a very pleasing image that looks clean. Audio comes by way of both Castilian DTS-HD MA Mono 2.0, and an English dub via a DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono track with optional English subtitles. The score is pretty swanky, too, with loads of fuzzed-out guitar and a good groove, not on par with Argento's Goblin or Morricone scores but pretty great just the same. 

Again we have another fine commentary from author Troy Howarth, who does a great job filling in some details about Naschy and the film, how it relates to the Italian giallo films, and humorously apologizing for his admiration of Erika Blanc's nude scenes. We also get the Spanish title/credit sequences and an image gallery.

Special Features: 
- NEW Audio Commentary By Author Troy Howarth
- Still Gallery (2 min) HD 
- Theatrical Trailer (No Audio)(3 min) HD 
- Spanish title Sequence (1 min) HD 
- Spanish Credit Sequence (1 min) HD 
- 24-Page Collector's Booklet by author Mirek Lipinski.

This 5-disc Blu-ray set comes housed in an flipper-style Blu-ray keepcase, each film presented on it's own disc, with a sleeve of artwork by illustrator Joel Robinson who's been ding some great work for Scream Factory. The reverse side features cast and crew info. The discs themselves do not feature any notable artwork, and there's a 24-page booklet with extensive writing on each film from author Mark Lipinski, making up in part for a lack of extras on the discs, particularly for The Devil's Possessed and The Werewolf and the Yeti. The booklet also contains stills, lobby cards, and poster artwork for each film. This release also includes a slipcase featuring the same artwork. 

The Paul Naschy Collection II 5-disc set from Scream Factory is fantastic stuff, it's great to see Naschy getting more love in HD from a another U.S. distributor. The Spanish horror icon has quite a legion of cult-followers, hopefully that will only grow with this release. I myself have only had a cursory introduction to the icon's body of work, so I appreciate this five-film deep dive into his filmography. While I do wish it had been possible to strike new HD transfers fir these and that we had more extras from fans and the surviving cast and crew I'm actually very content with what we get here. Here's hoping there's a third volume of Naschy goodness coming our way!     

THE BLOOD OF FU MANCHU (1968 ) / THE CASTLE OF FU MANCHU (1969) (Blu-ray Review)

THE BLOOD OF FU MANCHU (1968) / THE CASTLE OF FU MANCHU (1969)

Label: Blue Underground
Region Code: Region-FREE
Duration: 94 Minutes/94 Minutes 
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Mono with Optional English subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.66:1)
Director: Jess Franco
Cast: Christopher Lee, Tsai Chin, Shirley Eaton,Richard Greene, Maria Rohm, Maria Perschy,  Rosalba Neri
 
In the 60's producer Harry Alan Towers bought the rights to British author Sax Rohmer's series of yellow-peril novels about a maniacal Asian supervillain bent on world domination, Fu Manchu, the character had appeared in numerous TV, movie and novel incarnations, but it was nefarious producer Towers who would go into revive the character in the 60's after three decades of inactivity, in a series of five film starring horror icon Christopher Lee (The Creeping Flesh) as the titular Fu Manchu. The criminal "yellow-peril" character is patently offensive to Asians, make no mistake, and Lee's makeup appliances which give him the Asian-styled eyelids was surely poorly advised, but apparently cinema goers went for it in the 60s, and the franchise was a huge success... that is until Towers recruited decided to forgo his usual English directors like Don Sharp (Psychomania) and brought in Spanish Eurosleaze auteur Jess Franco (She Killed In Ecstasy) for what would turn out to be the last two entries in the 60's series, The Blood of Fu Manchu (1968) and The Castle of Fu Manchu (1969), the latter of which effectively killed off the character for quite some time, with only one revival I'm aware of, the send-up The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu (1980) by comedy-legend Peter Sellers (The Pink Panther), which I've never seen. Towers must have liked Franco though, these were the first of several team-up the pair collaborated on.

The Blood of Fu Manchu (1968)opens deep in the Amazon jungle, we find the nefarious Fu Manchu and his loyal daughter/assassin Lin Tang (Tsai Chin, You Only Live Twice), in their cave lair where they have rediscovered an ancient poison secreted by a particular snake, a venom that is only deadly to men, first causing blindness and then a painful death a few weeks later. He devises a evil plan for world domination, to lace ten women he has kidnapped with the venom by having the snake bite them, and since the poison only works on men, he will send them out into the world laced with his "kiss of death", under some form of mind control, to spread his poisonous kiss of death to his intended enemies and world leaders, and if his ransom demands are not met, they will all die, oh how devious! 

His first victim is his longtime arch nemesis, Scotland Yard Detective Nayland Smith (Richard Greene, Tales from the Crypt), a young woman shows up on his doorstep, forces herself on him with a deep kiss, and while at first he seems slightly amused by the intrusion he is quickly stricken by blindness, his longtime sidekick, the older Dr. Petrie (Howard Marion Crawford), the Watson to his Holmes, jumps into action and runs after the girl but she is struck down by a passing motorist. With little other choice, Petrie and the blind Smith head for the Amazon jungle in search of a cure and to apprehend the diabolical Fu Manchu, with the aid of a guide/adventurer Carl Jansen (Götz George), plus a pretty nurse named Ursula (Maria Rohm, 99 Women).

They face many perils in the jungle, including capture and torture at the hands of Fu Manchu and Lin Tang, but the mighty Manchu also enlists the aid of a Mexican bandit named Sancho (Ricardo Palacios, The People Who Own the Dark), who himself is mistaken for an agent of Nayland Smith, his group of bandits are slaughtered by Lin tang, he is then tortured by Fu Manchu on the iron maiden before aiding the Asian menace in his diabolical plans. 

It all comes to a head in Fu Manchu;s jungle lair, there's a shit ton of goofy, poorly coordinated violence, kitschy bloodshed, women in chains, women in peril, and then there's a hilarious dummy thrown over a waterfall, and a weird cameo from  Shirley Eaton (Goldfinger) apparently lifted straight from Franco's The Girl from Rio! 

The movie is a bit of a hot mess to be honest, but par for the course for one of Harry Alan Towers action-adventure movies, loaded with low-budget jungle action and the racist trappings of yellow peril exploitation, but way overstuffed with busy subplots that don't pay off. Lee is a stoic menace for sure, the role is beneath him, but ever the consummate professional he always did his best, living his mantra that “Every actor has to make terrible films from time to time, but the trick is never to be terrible in them”, and sure enough he soldiers on in his Asian eye makeup doing his damndest. However, it's actor Palacios who steals all the scenes, the guy is comedic and fun, and a welcome relief, giving his scenes a sort of spaghetti western comedy feel, good stuff. 

The movie is a bit reigned in by the usual Jess Franco standards, we still get some topless women in chains being tortured, it's just toned down, but it is still a blast in a weird 60's action-adventure sort of way with some great looking exotic jungle locations and a slightly kitschy lair carved in stone, it's good stuff for Lee and Franco fans looking for some good, cheesy fun, with a swanky score from composer Daniel White (The Hot Night of Linda). 

Just a year later Jess Franco and Christopher Lee returned to Fu Manchu series with the fifth and final entry, the near universally loathed The Castle of Fu Manchu (1960). Also returning are the villainous daughter Lin Tang (Tsai Chin) and his nemesis Nayland Smith (Richard Greene) and his sidekick  Dr. Petrie (Howard Marion Crawford). As promised at the end of the last film, despite his lair having been blown sky high, he returned, with a new diabolical plan. This time he's figured out a way to transform bodies of water into ice, which he uses to threaten travel and commerce throughout the world. It begins with a demonstration of his new found toy, causing an iceberg to appear and sink a luxury cruiser in the Caribbean! The plot is not too far removed from a fiendish 007 story I guess, but the execution is hackneyed, not only does it have scenes from the previous film peppered throughout, but it also used no less that footage from two other films, including a lengthy blue-tinted scene from the Titanic opus A Night to Remember (1958)!

Again we have an overly busy series of sub plots involving an opium dealer, a professor, and his sexy assistant (Maria Perschy, Night of the Seagulls), there's also a heart transplant and of course Nayland Smith and Dr. Petrie are again hot on the trail of the diabolical Fu Manchu's to put a stop to his fiendish plot for world domination. While the movie is seriously weak sauce it does have a few fun moments, particularly for fans of Franco with some attractive lensing with cool colored lighting, some okay atmosphere, and more of the generally poorly choreographed fighting including some rubbery bayonet action!

Franco himself shows up as an inspector, and there's a cool female assassin for hire played by the Rosalba Neri (The Girl in Room 2A) that help pass the time but it is not a surprise that this ramshackle effort was the last of the Towers produced Fu Manchu films. Again, Lee is an imposing figure, he does what he can with the material, he certainly elevates it to a degree, but as the saying goes, you cannot polish a turd, but apparently you can wrap in in the low-budget trappings of a yellow-peril action/adventure film... this is probably one of the worst films in  Christopher Lee's filmography, but the same cannot be said for Franco, while I love a lot of his stuff he definitely made worse movies than this throughout his storied career. Not helping is that it is absent any nudity and the sleaze is toned way down, plus the score is considerably less swanky this time around!  Again the film ends with Fu Manchu possibly dying in an explosion but again uttering the words "the world shall hear from me again", but nope, that didn't happen folks. 

Audio/Video: The Blood of Fu Manchu and The Castle of Fu Manchu arrive on a double-feature Blu-ray from Blue Underground, whom have previously issued both as stand alone DVD editions in the past. Both are presented in 1080p HD Widescreen (1.66:1) and look slightly degrained, fine detail is smeared the image is a bit soft, it's a slight step in picture quality over the previous DVD editions, but only by a hair. To my eyes The Castle of Fu Manchu has the more attractive of the transfers. The lossless mono audio is fairly flat but clean without any distortion, optional English subtitles are provided for both films. 


Onto the extras Blue Underground have ported over all the non-text based extras, this includes the 2-part The Rise of Fu Manchu featurettes with Jess Franco, Harry Alan Towers, and stars Christopher Lee, Tsai Chin, and Shirley Eaton. Franco begins by speaking of his love of the novels by Sax Rohmer, he also compliments Towers on his screenwriting prowess, believing him to be a well-read and literary man with a gift for screenwriting. The director also speaks humorously about getting the call to do the first time, believing it to be a hoax by his friends as it seemed to legit to be true!  For her part Eaton shows up to speak unfavorably of how her scenes from The Girl from Rio (1968) ended up in The Blood of Fu Manchu without any compensation, Franco disputes that fact, but Towers more or less says that if that's what she says it is probably so. Tsai Chin speaks of appearing in films that were biased and racist, the silly plot devices of the series, and how the hero is always a white man, and she recalls Lee complaining a lot about his makeup and some of the misogyny of the movies.  Lee himself shows up to speak about why he stopped playing Dracula, working with Franco and Towers, and how he was puzzled by the fact that Towers bought the right to all of Rohmer's novels but then proceeded to write his own script stories, plus his aggravation at the eye makeup, and how in hindsight they should have stopped after the first film, that there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. There are also trailers for each film, plus two expanded image galleries with over 240 images of posters, lobby cards, home video releases, stills and press books from various territories.

The Blood of Fu Manchu Special Features:
- The Rise of Fu Manchu - Interviews with Director Jess Franco, Producer Harry Alan Towers, and Stars Christopher Lee, Tsai Chin, and Shirley Eaton (15 min) 
- Theatrical Trailers (2 min) HD 
- Poster and Still Gallery (127 images) HD

The Castle of Fu Manchu Special Features:
- The Fall of Fu Manchu - Interviews with Director Jess Franco, Producer Harry Alan Towers, and Stars Christopher Lee and Tsai Chin (14 min) 
- Theatrical Trailer (2 min) HD 
- Poster and Still Gallery (110 images) HD

Neither of these Fu Manchu films rise to the level of anywhere near the best work that star Christopher Lee or director Jess Franco did, there's good reason that Mystery Science Theater 3000 dedicated an episode to The Castle of Fu Manchu, these are bad movies! However, together this makes for a fun, trashy action-adventure double-feature for fans of sketchy 60s exploitation cinema. Thankfully this can be picked up for pretty cheap, definitely worth a purchase for cult cinema fans, lovers of bad cinema, and those looking to fill in the gaps of their Christopher Lee and Jess Franco Blu-ray collections.  

MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE (1971) / THE DUNWICH HORROR (1970) (Blu-ray Review)

MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE (1971) / THE DUNWICH HORROR (1970) 

MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE (1971) 

Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 99 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 1.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1) 
Director: Gordon Hessler 
Cast: Christine Kaufmann, Herbert Lom, Jason Robards, Lilli Palmer, Maria Perschy, Michael Dunn, Adolfo Celi

Synopsis: Your first frightening film is 1971's Murders in the Rue Morgue. In early 20th-century Paris, a theatrical company with a specialty in Grand Guignol undertakes their most gruesome production yet. But when a madman with an axe to grind arrives on the scene, the stage is set for real mayhem and murder most foul. Will the backstage bloodshed be quelled – or is it curtains for the cast? Jason Robards and Herbert Lom star in this marvelously macabre mystery.

To say that this adaptation is loosely based on Edgar Allen Poe's Murders in the Rue Morgue is a bit like saying that Donnie Darko is loosely based on The Evil Dead because the movie appears within it. The movie takes place during the Victorian era in Paris where members of a theatre troupe lead by director Cesar Charron (Jason Robards, Something Wicked This Way Comes) begin to die off in a series of acid murders. The crimes would seem to indicate the culprit is a dead man, stage actor Rene Marot (Herbert Lom, Mark of the Devil) who died years earlier after being disfigured during a production of Edgar Allen Poe's Murders in the Rue Morgue after being doused with sulfuric acid. 

At the same time Charron's wife Madeline (Christine Kaufmann) is plagued by nightmares of an axe-murderer, in reality her own mother was killed by an ax murder, a death which has been attributed to Marot, who returns as a disfigured ghost of vengeance throughout the movie, which seems to owe more to The Phantom of the Opera than to Edgar Allen Poe's original short story, which is only featured in the fringes of the movie, though those scenes are some of my favorites. 

This one has always proven very hard for me to make it through, which I attribute to the underplayed performance from Jason Robards, a fine actor but just not right for the role of Charron, the man has no chemistry with his love interest whatsoever. Originally Vincent Price was slated in the role and I can only imagine that Price would have more suited to the role in my opinion, there wasn't much that Price couldn't make better. In my opinion the best parts of this movie are the Grand Guignol stage performances of Murders in the Rue Morgue, and Madeline's surreal ax-murderer nightmares, but this one is still a bit of a snoozer. 

Murders in the Rue Morgue arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Scream Factory, the sub par movie benefits from the HD bump with nicely managed grain, transferred from a good source with only the most minor of film flaws. The DTS-HD MA Mono 1.0 audio sounds good, with everything nicely balanced and clean. Scream have brought over the Stage Tricks and Screen Frights Featurette with director Gordon Hesseler and trailer from the MGM disc plus added an informative commentary from  author and film historian Steve Haberman.

Special Features: 
- NEW Audio Commentary With Author And Film Historian Steve Haberman
- Stage Tricks and Screen Frights Featurette (12 Mins) 
- Theatrical Trailer (3 Mins) 

THE DUNWICH HORROR (1970) 

Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 88 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 1.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1) 
Director: Daniel Haller 
Cast: Dean Stockwell, Ed Begley, Lloyd Bochner, Sam Jaffe, Sandra Dee, Talia Shire

Synopsis: From the City of Lights (and frights), our tour of terror moves on to a small New England town in 1970's The Dunwich Horror. When a beautiful student named Nancy catches the eye of the weird Wilbur Whateley, it's up to her professor, the good doctor and occult expert Dr. Henry Armitage, to warn her that no good will come of it. But as Armitage digs deeper into the Whateley family history, he uncovers a buried secret – and a plot intended to call forth an evil beyond imagination. A cult favorite that proves that The Old Ones are good ones, The Dunwich Horror stars Dean Stockwell, Ed Begley, and Sandra Dee.

The Dunwich Horror stars a very young Dean Stockwell (Blue Velvet) as the odd Wilbur Whateley, the descendant of a man who once tried to summon The Old Ones into this world. The elder Whateley was accused of sacrificing a young local girl during a pagan ritual at the time and was hanged afterward during an act of vigilante justice by local villagers. 


We meet Wilbur while he is attending a lecture at Miskatonic University in Arkham, Massachusetts where Dr. Henry Armitage (Ed Begley) has spoken about some weird local history, including the Whateley family. In his possession is the ancient book of the dead, the infamous Necronomicon, which after the lecture he gives to his student Nancy Wagner (Sandra Dee) to return to the school museum. Wilbur follows Nancy to the museum and introduces himself, asking to have a closer look at the ancient book, which she reluctantly obliges. He is interrupted by Dr. Armitage who puts the book away, afterward Wilbur and Nancy get to chatting with Nancy offering to give weirdo Wilbur a ride home to his home in Dunwich. 

Nancy and Wilbur strike up a friendly flirtation and he convinces her to stay the weekend at the Whateley home, the two become close, but Dr. Armitage begins to worry about her safety and drives out to the country to check on her, despite his warning to stay away from Wilbur she stays on. Of course Wilbur is up to no good, he has been drugging Nancy's tea, and it seems that he has plans to continue his grandfather's pagan rituals, to bring forth The Old Ones, through a ceremony that calls for human sacrifice, which is where young naive Nancy comes into play. 

The story strays quite a bit from the source material with numerous changes in character and story, but the main arc of it remains intact. Dean Stockwell is super creepy with his corduroy jacket, moustache and tight perm, plus he has the crazy eyes, as if he is a magician attempting to hypnotize you - which is equal parts funny and eerie. Sandra Dee is decent as the naive Nancy who falls under the spell of Wilbur, only to be put on the altar of sacrifice during the final moments, raped by  some creature kept in the closet for the duration of the movie, which is a thing of b-movie nuttiness. Sandra also experiences some hallucinogenic nightmares which are fun stuff, AIP were definitely gong for a bit of a drug-movie with this one I think, forgoing the usual acid trips for weird Lovecraftian nightmares achieved through cheap optical effects. .

The Dunwich Horror arrives on Blu-ray from Scream Factory looking appropriately grainy, maybe a bit thick at times but a definite improvement over the MGM Midnite Movies disc, offering the usual advancement in fine detail, sharpness and clarity. The source material does have some minor white speckling but that is about all I can complain about. The English DTS-HD MA Mono 1.0 audio does the job quite nicely, the dialogue is clean and clear, the awesome Les Baxter score comes through quite nicely, this is one Baxter's AIP scores I would love to own. Extras on the disc include a new commentary from author and film Historian Steve Haberman, plus a theatrical trailer, not a lot of bonus material but the commentary is top notch. 

Special Features: 
- NEW Audio Commentary With Author And Film Historian Steve Haberman
- Theatrical Trailer

Scream Factory have once again raided the MGM vaults to plunder more of these American International Pictures  b-movie goodies from the seventies, this time emerging with a double fisted helping of H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allen Poe, the results are varied but this double-feature is worth a watch for fans of '70 horror who don't mind scraping near and around the bottom of the cinema barrel, for semi-tasty morsels of cinema fromage . 3/5