CALTIKI THE IMMORTAL MONSTER (1959) (Blu-ray Review)

CALTIKI THE IMMORTAL MONSTER (1959) 

Label: Arrow Video
Region: A
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 76 Minutes
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.66:1)
Audio: Italian LPCM Mono 1.0, English LPCM Mono 1.0 with Optional English, Italian Subtitles 
Directors: Riccardo Freda, Mario Bava, Gérard Herter, John Merivale, Daniela Rocca,Didi Perego    
Cast: John Merivale, Didi Perego


Caltiki The Immortal Monster (1959) is an Italian knock-off of the American science-fiction film The Blob (1958), directed by Riccardo Freda (Murder Obsession) and lensed by Mario Bava (A Bay of Blood), who also completed the film when Freda walked off the project a few days before filming wrapped. Notably Bava also did the gooey special effects for the movie, which for '59 were mighty visceral. A nice touch is the addition of a Mayan back story involving a vengeful Mayan goddess Caltiki, who was ceremonially presented with human sacrifices by ancient Mayans. 

The film opens with a group of archaeologists investigating ancient Mayan ruins located deep in a cave, where they discover a underground pool with a statue of the deity Caltiki presiding over it. One of the archaeologists dons some scuba gear and heads into the pool of water in search of a missing fellow archeologist. In the depths of the water he discovers human skeletons scattered along the bottom of the underground lake, each adorned with golden artifacts from the Mayan era. He emerges from the water, not having found the missing archaeologist, he does however appear with a handful of rare artifacts, and his greed sends him back to the bottom in search of more loot, only to be attacked by a blob-creature which melts his face off, and it is really gooey for a 50's film! The blob-monster emerges from the pool and attacks the remaining archaeologists, with Max (Gérard Herter) losing his arm to the blob in the process, it envelops his hand with its fleshy mass, dissolving skin and muscle, leaving behind just the gruesome bones - another gooey special effect, courtesy of Bava. His colleague Dr. John Fielding (John Merivale) saves him, pulling him to safety and destroying the creature with a huge fireball explosion, he also manages save and isolate a piece of the creature, which he hopes to study, and to use it to save his friend Max, who while recovering in the hospital goes a bit mad, having been infected by the creature Max begins to go a bit mad, believing himself to have diabolical powers, overcome by greed and paranoia, he turns out to be a baddie in the film. 

All the while the seemingly dormant piece of the blob monster begins to reanimate when exposed to various amounts of radiation, and wouldn't you know it - a comet hurdling towards Earth's orbit is returning after several hundred years, bringing with it a radiation signature which ignites the blob into a massive spate of reproduction and intense growth, unleashing the blob in it's full force, leading to a showdown with the Italian military armed with flamethrowers, and it a makes for a fun 50's sci-fi horror stuff, for sure. 

In true 50's fashion we have some melodramatic drama that bogs down the otherwise well paced movie, for instance we have Max's suffering and ultimately doomed girlfriend Linda (Daniela Rocca), a nice girl who tries to nurse Max back to health, but she cannot do much for his burgeoning insanity, and she is helpless to find his heart when he pines away for Fielding's wife Ellen (Didi Perego). The melodramatic stuff is a bit of a yawner, but I do love this creature feature for the drive-in era fun and 50's schlockiness. As a knock-off I loved the creative special effects. Bava created the blob-mass by animating cow stomach (tripe), and it's effective stuff, coming off as a bit leathery, gooey and slimy looking, a pulsating mass of doom. The effects of the creature dissolving people are pretty great, the flesh is dissolved, revealing gooey skeletons and skulls beneath, as said before, it seems much more visceral than what I am used to seeing in 50's creature features. The creature and mythology itself has a strong Cthulhu/Lovecraft vibe, which I loved. 

The story is a fairly shallow monster movie, typical of the 50's, but what I thoroughly enjoyed about this is the deep noirish lensing from Mario Bava, it's shadowy and moody stuff, plus his wonderful special effects work, including some ingenious use of matte painting, forced perspective, miniatures and cow guts to create something weird and gooey, it may not be a great movie, but I think it's pretty awesome.

Audio/Video: Caltiki The Immortal Monster has been out of print on home video for awhile now, there was a No Shame DVD, but this is the debut on Blu-ray, and it looks great to see the film in HD! Framed at the correct 1.66:1 original widescreen aspect ratio the source looks great, the moody Mario Bava lensed noirish black and white cinematography looks solid, all things considered. The new 1080p transfer is sourced from a dupe negative, it was shot a bit dark - which is mentioned in the extras as perhaps a choice to mask certain seams in the special effects - however, despite that the image looks very nice with good contrast, a nice amount of fine detail and the grain is intact. The disc includes the original mono Italian track and an English-dubbed track, with optional English and Italian subtitles. Both tracks have okay fidelity, it does the job, but the English dub is pretty awful, adding more schlockiness to the b-movie than is actually there, the kid is the worst - reminded me of times of that kid Bob from Lucio Fulci's The House By The Cemetery! The Italian track is clean and reasonably crisp within the limits of the source.     

Arrow port over all the extras from the now out-of-print No Shame DVD including a very brief 21-second introduction from film critic  Stefano Della Casa (in Italian), a 21-min conversation with director Luigi Cozzi (Wax Museum) about Italian sci-fi and this film in particular, with some nice anecdotes about conversations he had with Freda, Bava, and others in respect to the movie, in Italian. Stefano Della Casa  shows up again for a 19-million conversation about the career of director Riccardo Freda, also in Italian. additionally we have the US trailer and the alternate US opening title sequence for the film. 

Of course Arrow throw in some pretty substantial new extras for the film, beginning with two brand new audio commentaries, the first with Tim Lucas, author of Mario Bava: All the Colors of the Dark, another with Troy Howarth, author of The Haunted World of Mario Bava and So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years of Italian Giallo Films - and these are dense with Mario Bava-centric infor, combined these are like a masterclass in Italian cinema, and a must-listen for fans of Bava. As if that was not enough we also get a 18-min conversation with one of my favorite horror talking heads,  author and critic Kim Newman who goes into some depth about the influence of classic creature features on Caltiki. Also, not to be overlooked is a full aperture version of the film, the full frame image opens up the image with additional on the top and bottom of the image, some of the edges can be rough and there's a hair in there for a bit, but this version was interesting, it made it feel more like watching it on a Saturday horror matinee n TV as a kid. The release also features a sleeve of reversible artwork, plus a collector's booklet with new writing on the film by Kat Ellinger and Roberto Curti.

Special Features:
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations
- Original mono Italian and English soundtracks (lossless on the Blu-ray Disc)
- Newly translated English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack
- New audio commentary by Tim Lucas, author of Mario Bava: All the Colors of the Dark
- New audio commentary by Troy Howarth, author of The Haunted World of Mario Bava and So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years of Italian Giallo Films
- From Quatermass to Caltiki, a new discussion with author and critic Kim Newman on the influence of classic monster movies on Caltiki (18 min) HD 
- Riccardo Freda, Forgotten Master, an archival interview with critic Stefano Della Casa (19 min) 
- The Genesis of Caltiki, an archival interview with filmmaker Luigi Cozzi (21 min) 
- Archival introduction to the film by Stefano Della Casa (1 min) 
- Original English Theatrical Trailer (2 min) HD 
- Alternate opening titles for the US version (2 min) HD 
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
 - FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring  new writing by Kat Ellinger and Roberto Curti.

It is wonderful to have this Italian 50's creature feature in HD and packed with so many cool extras, this is a true treat for monster movie kids and fans of Mario Bava. Arrow have gone above and beyond yet again and knocked it out of the park with a superior release of a cult-classic.  3.5/5 

BLOOD AND BLACK LACE (1964) (Arrow Video Blu-ray Review)

BLOOD AND BLACK LACE (1964) 

Label: Arrow Video
Region Code: A,B,1,2
Rating: 18 Certificate
Duration: 89 Minutes
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen (1.66:1)
Audio: Italian/English Dolby Digital Mono and PCM with optional English SDH Subtitles
Director: Mario Bava
Cast: Cameron Mitchell, Eva Bartok, Thomas Reiner, Francesca Ungaro, Luciano Pigozzi,Claude Dantes, Mary Arden, Dante DiPaolo

Of all the releases announced by Arrow Video (US) it was Mario Bava's stylish whodunit Blood and Black Lace (1964) that most intrigued me, a  classic slice of Italian murder cinema bathed in vibrant primary colors and Euro-stylish set design with a fantastic bossanova lounge score and more than a few wonderfully staged murders. Bava set the tone for the Italian whodunit murder mysteries with the black and white The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963), a film that established many of the tropes we have come to enjoy from genre but it was Blood and Black Lace (1964) jut the year after that laid the foundation for the modern giallo with it's stylish blend of vivid set design, black-gloved murder, exotic scores, and drop-dead gorgeous women. It was a formula that would not be improved upon until Dario Argento's The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970). 

Gorgeous brunette fashion model Isabella (Francesca Ungaro) is murdered by a man in a trench coat with a faceless mask outside the the Cristian Haute Couture fashion house on a dark and windy night. Inspector Sylvester (Thomas Reiner) is assigned the case and interviews the co-managers of the salon, Max Marian (Cameron Mitchell) and the widowed Countess Cristina Como (Eva Bartok) but finds out very little about what could have lead to the murder of the fashion model. However, when it is discovered that Isabella kept a diary pretty much everyone at the fashion house begins to act like a cat caught with the bird in it's mouth. Apparently she had dirt on everyone scribbled into that book and someone is willing to murder every model in the place to get to it before the police do. 

The murderer has a classic look, a black trench coat and a faceless stocking mask with a brimmed hat, which looks quite a but like Rorschach from Watchmen without the ink blots. On his journey to recover the diary he will strangle, mangle, drown and burn his way through a series of gorgeous models, none of which are overly graphic or gory but they are certainly vicious. The killer mangles a woman's face with a clawed gauntlet, drowning one, smothering yet another and before tied-up and tortured before having her face pressed up against a red-hot furnace, and for a model I am sure that's a double negative, disfigurement and death. 

As you might expect of a film full of fashion models the women are completely glamorous and gorgeous without exception, particularly the short-cropped Tao-Li (Claude Dantes) who gets a fantastic drowning scene in a bathtub, those eyes are something special. It's worth noting that the bathtub murder would become a pretty standard Giallo trope afterward, as would the razor which the killer uses to stage her suicide after the fact.

There's no shortage of suspects in the movie, we have a police line-up featuring Max Marian (Cameron Mitchell years before his string of b-movies), a drug addled antique dealer named Franco (Dante DiPaolo) and employees of the fashion house, the pill-popping Marco (Massimo Righi) and the shifty-eyed Cesar (Luciano Pigozzi), the latter of whom reminded me just a little of the bug-eyed Peter Lorre. It could be any one of them or maybe none of them, but one thing's for sure, once the existence of that diary is revealed it becomes painfully clear that no one at the fashion house is without some damning secret of their own.

Keeping with the high visual standards we've come to expect from cinema master Mario Bava the film looks exquisite, the scenes of the killer stalking his prey in the darkness are bathed in shadow and atmospheric colored lighting, stylistically this is a visual feast and an obvious influence on the films of Dario Argento. A scene of the faceless murderer  pursuing Peggy (Mary Arden) through a shadowy antique shop is an obvious highlight, but there are loads of atmospheric scenes to enjoy.

Arrow have meticulously restored the film from the original camera negative which is presented here in its original, uncut Italian version running eighty-nine minutes.  The screenshot comparisons below speak for themselves in respect to the quality of the restoration. The screenshots are sourced from the new 2K restoration from the Arrow Video DVD (sorry, no Blu-ray drive on the PC) compared to the 2008 DVD release from VCI Entertainment. Clearly there is no comparison when it comes to image quality with the Arrow offering more detail, clarity and depth all the way around.

SCREEN GRABS

ARROW VIDEO (2015) TOP

VCI (2008) BOTTOM

THE ARROW VIDEO RESTORATION 

MENU SCREEN GRABS 

SPECIAL FEATURES 

 Panel discussion on Mario Bava featuring Dario Argento, Lamberto Bava and Steve Della Casa, recorded at the 2014 Courmayeur Film Festival (11 Mins)

 The alternative US opening titles, sourced from Joe Dante’s private print and scanned in 2K especially for this release (2 Mins)

 Original theatrical trailer (3 Mins)

 Gender and Giallo – a visual essay by Michael Mackenzie exploring the giallo’s relationship with the social upheavals of the 1960s and 70s (38 Mins)

Psycho Analysis – a new documentary on Blood and Black Lace and the origins of the giallo genre featuring interviews with directors Dario Argento (Suspiria) and Lamberto Bava (Demons), screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi (All the Colors of the Dark) critics Roberto Curti and Steve Della Casa, and crime novelists Sandrone Dazieri and Carlo Lucarelli (55 Mins)

  

The Sinister Image: Cameron Mitchell – an episode of David Del Valle’s television series, devoted to the star of Blood and Black Lace and presented in full (56 Mins)

An appreciation by Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani, the creative duo behind Amer and The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears (11 Mins)

40-Page Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Howard Hughes, author of Cinema Italiano and Mario Bava: Destination Terror, an interview with Joe Dante, David Del Valle on Cameron Mitchell and more, all illustrated with archive stills and posters

- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys

Yellow – the much-acclaimed neo-giallo by Ryan Haysom and Jon Britt (Blu-ray exclusive)

Arrow Video have breathed new life into this classic slice of Italian whodunit cinema with a brand-new and gorgeous 2K restoration that is by quite a stretch the best this film has ever looked on home video. No self-respecting horror fan or Mario Bava completest should be without this on their movie shelf, an essential and seminal slice of whodunit. 

THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1963) (Arrow Video Blu-ray Review)

THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1963) 

Label: Arrow Video
Region: B/2
Rating: 12 Certificate
Duration: 86/92 Minutes
Audio: English, Italian PCM 2.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: Widescreen(1.66:1), (1.78:1)
Audio: 2.0 Mono
Cast: Letícia Román, John Saxon, Valentina Cortese, Titti Tomaino, Luigi Bonos
Director: Mario Bava

Mario Bava was a master craftsmen and superb cinema technician who dabbled throughout his career in so many genres, from early Viking adventure films to the Gothic horror he came to be recognized for in the years to come. However, it is arguably this Hitchockican thriller from 1963 that inspired a string of stylish Italian murder mysteries  in the 1970s, it's influence can definitely be felt in the work of Dario Argento. What would become known as giallo films were really just crime thrillers with a few notable characteristics that set them apart. They would typically feature an a tourist in a foreign place who is somehow caught up in a string of gruesome murders, their amateur sleuthing putting themselves and their loved ones in danger. The films would also feature threatening phone calls made by the killer whom would usually wear a pair of black gloves while committing the murders, we do get the phone call in this film but black gloved murders would not appear until Bava's stylish thriller Blood and Black Lace just a few years later. 

Gialli are also noted for their stylish cinematography and gorgeous set pieces and scenic locations, plus abnormal psychological themes with the protagonist either questioning their own sanity of suspecting someone of madness. The actual term "giallo" means "yellow" in Italian, the genre having coined it's name from a series of popular paperback murder-mystery novels beginning in the 1940s featuring yellow covers.

All this brings us to Mario Bava's The Girl who Knew Too much (1963), widely considered one of the earliest examples of a giallo murder mysteries, if not the first. We have an American traveller Nora Davis (Letícia Román) arriving in Rome via jetliner from New York. She is there to visit her elderly aunt who is quite it, so ill in fact that she dies in her bed that very same night. The death unnerves Nora who is alone, her fear enhanced by spooky cat and a thunderstorm. She leaves the home during a rainstorm walking through the scenic Piazza di Spagna, on her way to the hospital to notify her aunt's physician of her death.  En route she is mugged and knocked to the ground unconscious, coming to a few moments later she witness the murder of a woman who has been stabbed in the back with a kitchen knife. A man emerges from the darkness and removes the knife as Nora collapses. The next morning she is found unconscious by the police, she tells them of the murder she witnessed but with no body or evidence to corroborate the account they attribute the story to either hysterics or drunkenness. Afterward Nora and her aunt's physician Dr. Marcello Bassi (John Saxon) strike up friendship while touring the sites of Rome which blossoms into a romance. 

Soon after while at the cemetery Nora meets her late aunt's neighbor Laura (Valentina Cortese) who invites her to stay at her home for the duration of her visit. While there she learns that Laura's sister was the third victim of a serial killer dubbed the Alphabet Killer who murdered three women with surnames that followed the alphabet. Alone in the home Nora receives a threatening phone call stating that "D is for death" and that she will be the next victim. Scared for her life Nora nonetheless begins to amateur slueth the identity of the murder which puts her on the trail of a crime reporter named Landini (Dante DiPaolo) which not unsurprisingly leads to more even questions and a feverish finale with the murderer revealing all!

The plot at times caused me to scratch my head quite a bit as the film does not always make sense, but I would argue that some of the most enjoyable Giallo films rarely do. It's matter of tension, aesthetic and style and I would say that The Girl Who Knew Too Much falls into that category. 

Mario Bava was a master cinematographer and his use of black and white in this film is stunning throughout, the use of light and shadow is a thing of true beauty. Notably this would be Mario Bava's last film to be shot in black and white which is almost a crime, thankfully his use of color was just as breathtaking, in fact he shot the Gothic The Whip and the Body right before this one.

John Saxon and Leticia Roman are pretty great in their roles, the wide-eyed blond does fine as the sympathetic woman caught up in a murder mystery, and John Saxon is always a pleasure onscreen, he was quite a handsome man and adds an element of humor to the film. There's actually quite a bit of mischievous humor to be found throughout which is not surprising seeing as how the film was intended to be a romantic comedy of sorts. Honestly, there might be a few too many scenes of Saxon and Roman traipsing around Rome for my taste, a few of these scenes to drag the film down from time to time. 

The film is hugely influential as noted previously and set the standard for gialli to come for a decade, some might say that Mario Bava may have ignited the genre but that Dario Argento fans the flames to perfection with his films The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970) and Deep Red (1975), the former which borrows quite a bit from this gem, which I won't go into for fear of spoiling the revelation. 

If youre love of Italian murder mysteries begins and ends with Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci you might be a bit disappointed with the lack of blood, gore and sex - this is a pretty chaste film - but you will get the stylish cinematography and other earmarks - minus the black leather gloves - of the films you have come to love from the seventies. 

Blu-ray: The Blu-ray from Arrow Video is quite a treat, Mario Bava's black and white cinematography is gorgeous is sumptuous HD! We are treated to both the Italian version framed in 1.66;1 widescreen and the Us version which was re-scored and re-cut by American International Pictures, framed in 1.78;1 widescreen. The US version was re scored by composer Les Baxter, added a few additional scenes of humor, tagged on a new ending and removed references to marijuana, and it replaced the male narration with that of Nora, which I think worked quite well. Aside from the slight aspect ratio adjustment, the new score and the re-cut there are some differences in the image quality as well. The Italian version is darker and granier while the US version is a few shades lighter, losing some of the shadow detail but it does offer up more fine detail overall. It's a toss-up in my opinion but I think I prefer the image quality of the US in addition to . 

Onto the other features we have an introduction from by writer and critic Alan Jones, a new documentary All About the Girl directed by Calum Waddell It features interviews with directors Luigi Cozzi (The Killer Must Kill Again) and Richard Stanley (Dust Devil), plus authors Alan Jones (Profondo Argento) and Mikel Koven (La Dolce Morte) whom reflect fondly and directly on Mario Bava’s classic giallo. I was quite pleased to see the inclusion of Richard Stanley on the set, this guy needs to make more movies!

Carried over from the previous Anchor Bay release we have an  audio commentary by Mario Bava’s biographer Tim Lucas, author of Mario Bava - All the Colors of the dark. At times it can sound like he's reading straight from his book but it jam-packed with information and trivia including the differences between the two versions of the film. Another carry-over is the interview with star John Saxon who reflects on his career at the time and experiences on the film, mentioning reason why Mario Bava may not have cared for him. 

This is a pretty great set with excellent picture quality, I love that Arrow Video are lavishing Mario Bava with definitive editions the very same way they did Dario Argento in years past, these are the must-own Mario Bava releases, and those Kino releases here in the US do not even come close to matching what Arrow have assembled - these are truly some serious labors of love. 

Special Edition
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of two versions of the film: The Girl Who Knew Too Much – the original Italian version; and Evil Eye – the re-edited and re-scored US version prepared by American International Pictures
- Original uncompressed 2.0 mono PCM audio for both versions
- Optional English subtitles for The Girl Who Knew Too Much
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for Evil Eye
- Audio commentary by Mario Bava’s biographer Tim Lucas
- Introduction by writer and critic Alan Jones (4 Minutes)
- All About the Girl – Filmmakers Luigi Cozzi (The Killer Must Kill Again) and Richard Stanley (Dust Devil), alongside authors Alan Jones (Profondo Argento) and Mikel Koven (La Dolce Morte) reflect on Mario Bava’s classic giallo (22 Minutes)
- International trailer (4 Minutes) 
- John Saxon Interview (10 Minutes)
- US trailer (2 Minutes) 
- 2 DVDs containing the Italian and US version of the film
- Reversible Sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
- Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Kier-La Janisse

Verdict: The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963) is really the film that sparked the Giallo craze of the 1970's, begun by Mario Bava here and polished with Blood and Black Lace (1964) before being perfected by Argento a few years later. Considered by many a minor Mario Bava film it should not be overlooked by fans of whodunit murder mysteries and the Italian gialli, this is a classy piece of cinema and a top-notch thriller.

Mario Bava's THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH on UK Blu-ray 11/17 from ARROW VIDEO

DUAL-FORMAT BD/DVD RELEASE – NOVEMBER 17th 2014

Arrow Video is thrilled to announce the UK Blu-ray and DVD release of Mario Bava’s The Girl Who Knew Too Much, complete with a stunning new restoration, the new disc arrives in the UK on 17th November. This new deluxe release will include both The Girl Who Knew Too Much, Bava’s original version and Evil Eye, the re-edited, re-dubbed and re-titled US version.

The Girl Who Knew Too Much is the latest addition to Arrow Video’s ever-growing series of Mario Bava following Black Sunday, Black Sabbath, Lisa and the Devil, Bay of Blood, Baron Bloodand the recently-reconstructed Rabid Dogs.

Arrow Video have worked from the original pre-print film elements to present The Girl Who Knew Too Much in a brand-new digitally remastered edition. As with previous Bava titles, this set contains both versions/cuts of the film, in this case the US re-edit Evil Eye, in high definition.

Together with both versions, the disc contains a newly translated English subtitle track, alongside an audio commentary with Mario Bava biographer Tim Lucas. Also present are the featurette All About the Girl, in which filmmakers Luigi Cozzi (The Killer Must Kill Again) and Richard Stanley (Dust Devil), alongside authors Alan Jones (Profondo Argento) and Mikel Koven (La Dolce Morte) reflect on Mario Bava’s classic giallo, plus by Jones, the international and US trailers and a collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Kier-La Janisse, encased in a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys.

SYNOPSIS
With a nod to Hitchcock and a wink in the direction of Agatha Christie, The Girl Who Knew Too Much inadvertently created a genre that would dominate Italian cinema for years to come: the giallo.

A young American secretary with a taste for lurid paperbacks witnesses a murder whilst visiting Rome – or does she? Nobody will believe her, but she appears to have stumbled upon the work of a serial killer active ten years earlier. The victims’ surnames began A, B and C… and hers begins with the letter D!

Starring the striking Letícia Román and John Saxon (Enter the Dragon, Tenebrae, A Nightmare on Elm Street), The Girl Who Knew Too Much is presented in both its original Italian version and the longer US cut, entitled Evil Eye, that was re-edited and re-scored by American International Pictures.

SPECIAL FEATURES
· High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of two versions of the film: The Girl Who Knew Too Much – the original Italian version; and Evil Eye – the re-edited and re-scored US version prepared by American International Pictures
· Original uncompressed 2.0 mono PCM audio for both versions
· Optional English subtitles for The Girl Who Knew Too Much
· Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for Evil Eye
· Audio commentary by Mario Bava’s biographer Tim Lucas
· Introduction by writer and critic Alan Jones
· All About the Girl – Filmmakers Luigi Cozzi (The Killer Must Kill Again) and Richard Stanley (Dust Devil), alongside authors Alan Jones (Profondo Argento) and Mikel Koven (La Dolce Morte) reflect on Mario Bava’s classic giallo
· International trailer
· US trailer
· Reversible Sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
· Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Kier-La Janisse

SPECS
Release Date : Monday 17th November 2014
Certificate : 12
Formats: Blu-ray and DVD
Language: Italian/English
Running Time: 86/92 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Audio: 2.0 Mono
Colour: B&W

ARROW VIDEO 2014 PREVIEW

As 2013 winds down we look forward to what's coming in the new year from our favorite genre film distributors here at the Mausoleum. UK-based distributor Arrow Video have for years assembled quality titles with sweet transfers, new artwork and interesting special features. They've celebrated the careers of Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci, George A. Romero, Mario Bava and Brian DePalma just to name a notable few, plus rescued many an obscure and scuzzy b-movie from the dirty vaults of horror cinema, they've always been a class act.

I must admit that since the inception of Shout! Factory's horror imprint Scream Factory here in the US I've been hard-pressed for cash to purchase import titles from Arrow and others (Second Sight, Shameless) and my import collection has suffered for it. Unfortunately the sad truth is I only have so much in the budget for movies, somehow I have to feed the mouths and keep the lights on and something had to give. However, I do love Arrow Video, in fact they are the only reason I went region-free a few years back and they continue to be one of my favorite distributors, and 2014 looks to be a great year once again. 

It's great to see Arrow continue their brilliant series of Mario Bava and Brian DePalma Blu-rays in 2014. Arrow have been on a DePalma jag this past year the way that Scream Factory have championed John Carpenter , it's just fantastic stuff. 2014 will also see the release of some euro-eroticism from Tinto Brass, Jack Hill's Pit Stop (1969), Larry Cohen's The Stuff (1985) and the Southwest thriller White of the Eye (1987) which are among my most anticipated titles going into the new year, check out the sweet steelbook editions of Phantom of the Paradise (1974) and White of the Eyes (1987) - wow.

Read on and check out the releases through March 2014 with street dates, artwork and special features plus Amazon pre-order links... 

HELLGATE (1989) 

Release Date: January 27th 2014
Format: Dual Format Blu-ray + DVD

Cast: Ron Palillo, Abigail Wolcott, Carel Trichardt
Director: William A. Levey

BEYOND THE DARKNESS TERROR LIVES FOREVER

SYNOPSIS: Legends abound of ‘The Hellgate Hitchhiker’. So the story goes, a beautiful young woman was once brutally defiled and murdered by a biker gang. Now, returned from the dead, she wanders the roadside luring unsuspecting motorists to their doom…

Refusing to heed the warnings of locals, a group of college friends set out on a cross-country road trip looking for fun and frolics. But they get much more than they bargained for when they wind up in the abandoned mining town of Hellgate and hemmed in by hordes of the undead!

Providing gore and gags in equal measure, Hellgate recalls the good old days of early 90s fright flicks and challenges other gleefully twisted flicks such as Re-animator and Return of the Living Dead for sheer grisly delirium!
SPECIAL FEATURES:
-Limited edition Blu-ray [1000 Copies]
-High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of the main feature
-Road to Perdition, B-Movie Style: An extensive interview with Hellgate director William A. Levey
-Alien Invasion, Blaxploitation and Ghost-Busting Mayhem: Scholar, Filmmaker and fan Howard S. Berger reflects on the intriguing film career of William A. Levey
-Video Nasty: Kenneth Hall, writer of the Puppet Master series, speaks about the direct-to-video horror boom that allowed Hellgate to become a classic of the cassette rental era
-Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
-Collector’s booklet featuring writing on the film by Lee Gambin, illustrated with original artwork and stills

DETAILS:
Region: B/2
Rating: 18
Cat No: FCD850
Duration: 91 mins
Language: English
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audio: Mono
Colour: Colour

HELL COMES TO FROGTOWN (1988)

Release Date January 27th 2014

Format: Dual Format Blu-ray + DVD
Cast: Julius LeFlore, RCB, Roddy Piper
Director: Donald G. Jackson, R.J. Kizer

SYNOPSIS: With the 20th Century drawing to a close, nuclear war has wiped out civilization as we know it. The embattled human race’s last remaining hope lies with one man and his loaded weapon.

Sam Hell may be an ex-con, but he also happens to be one of the last surviving fertile men on the planet. Now, under the custody of a group of feisty female fighters, Sam finds himself enlisted on a mission to impregnate a harem of beauties. Sounds cushy enough, but the ladies in question are prisoners of Frogtown – home to a gang of mutant (and ill-mannered) amphibians!

Starring wrestler-turned-actor Rowdy Roddy Piper, known to John Carpenter enthusiasts for his body-slamming and bubblegum-chewing antics in They Live, Hell Comes to Frogtown is unashamedly a B-movie through and through with more guns and girls than you can shake a frog’s leg at.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
-Limited Edition Blu-ray [1000 copies]
-High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation
-Original uncompressed stereo 2.0 PCM audio
-Grappling with Green Gargantuans: Wrestling icon "Rowdy" Roddy Piper speaks about his leading man turn in Hell Comes to Frogtown
-Amphibian Armageddon: Actor Brian Frank remembers his role as Commander Toty
-Creature Feature Creator: Effects wizard Steve Wang reveals the secrets behind Hell Comes to Frogtown's mutant manifestations
-Extended Scene
-Original Trailer
-Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Jeff Zornow
-Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by author and critic Calum Waddell

Region: B/2
Rating: 15
Cat No: FCD849
Duration: 87 mins
Language: English
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audio: 2.0 PCM
Colour: Colour

FRIVOLOUS LOLA (1998) 

Release Date: February 10th 2014
Format: Dual Format Blu-ray + DVD
Cast: Anna Ammirati, Patrick Mower, Max Parodi
Director: Tinto Brass

SYNOPSIS: One of the sunniest of Tinto Brass’s erotic comedies, this sets its breezy tone from the opening scene in which Lola (Anna Ammirati) cycles around a small Po Valley town in a flapping skirt that leaves nothing to the imagination.

But it’s the 1950s, and her baker fiancée Masetto (Max Parodi) is determined that Lola remains a virgin until their wedding night. However, she is equally set on establishing whether or not he’s a good lover before they tie the knot. His dough-kneading technique seems promising, but how can she be sure without an expert to compare him with? In short, can Masetto live up to the erotic ideals professed by Lola’s mother’s lover (Patrick Mower)?

Fortunately, the outwardly innocent town turns out to be a hotbed of licentiousness, with opportunities for voyeurism and maybe more around every corner – all in the interests of self-improving research, of course.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
- New High Definition digital transfer
- Newly commissioned artwork
- Collector’s booklet
More to be announced!

DETAILS:
Region: B/2
Rating: 18
Duration: TBC
Language: English
Subtitles: TBC
Aspect Ratio: TBC
Audio: TBC
Colour: Color

CHEEKY (2003) 

Release Date: February 10th 2014
Format: Dual Format Blu-ray + DVD
Cast: Yuliya Mayarchuk, Jarno Berardi, Francesca Nunzi
Director: Tinto Brass

SYNOPSIS: When free-spirited beauty Carla (Yuliya Mayarchuk) moves to London, her search for a flat leads to a lesbian seduction by estate agent Moira (Francesca Nunzi), much to the horror of Carla’s boyfriend Matteo (Jarno Berardi) still stuck in their native Venice. And then he discovers a cache of letters from an ex-boyfriend, accompanied by a highly revealing and very public photograph of her…

Ravishingly shot in two of the world’s great cities, bouncily scored by Pino Donaggio, and crammed with wall-to-wall nudity and casual sexual flings, Cheeky is as lighthearted as its title suggests, but it’s subtler and more philosophical than the average sex romp.

In particular, it’s a genuinely moving look at problems arising when a desire to remain scrupulously faithful collides with the lure of baser instincts. Carla genuinely loves Matteo, but how can she reassure him when he spots temptation around every corner?
SPECIAL FEATURES:
-High Definition Blu-ray and Standard Definition DVD presentation of the film uncut and in widescreen for the first time!
-Optional English and Italian audio
-Newly translated English subtitles for the Italian audio
-Featurette on the film with director Tinto Brass
-Original Trailer
-Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly designed artwork by -The Red Dress
-Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic and author Maitland McDonagh, illustrated with original
archive stills.

Region: B/2
Rating: 18
Cat No: FCD761
Duration: 91 mins
Language: English/Italian
Subtitles: English/English SDH
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 (16x9)
Audio: 2.0 mono
Colour: Colour

PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE (1974) 

Release Date: February 7th 2014
Format: Blu-ray
Cast: Paul Williams, William Finley, Jessica Harper
Director: Brian De Palma

SYNOPSIS: Brian De Palma’s inspired rock’n’roll fusion of Faust, The Phantom of the Opera and The Picture of Dorian Gray boasts an Oscar-nominated score by Paul Williams, who also stars as an evil record producer who not only steals the work of composer/performer Winslow Leach (William Finley) but gets him locked up in Sing Sing – and that’s not the worst that happens to him along the way.

Few revenge scenarios have ever been so amply justified, but the film is also constantly aware of the satirical possibilities offered by the 1970s music industry, exemplified by Gerrit Graham’s hilariously camp glam-rock star. Jessica Harper (Suspiria) appears in her first major role as the naïve but ambitious singer, on whom Winslow secretly dotes.

STEELBOOK EDITION 

Prodigiously inventive both musically and visually, this is one of De Palma’s most entertaining romps, not least because it was so clearly a labour of love.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
The edition feature a bumper crop of extras but it will also include a very special newly filmed 70 minute interview where renowned director Guillermo del Toro interviews Paul Williams! See the full specs below and pre-order your copy on SteelBook: http://bit.ly/1h9LhtM or Blu-ray: http://bit.ly/1h9Lb5k now!

SPECIAL FEATURES:
-High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the feature, available in the UK for the first time!
-Uncompressed Stereo PCM / 4.0 DTS-HD Master Audio options
-Isolated Music and Effects soundtrack
-Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired
-Paradise Regained: A 50-minute documentary on the making of the film featuring director Brian De Palma, producer Edward R. Pressman, the late star William Finley, star and composer Paul Williams, co-stars Jessica Harper and Gerrit Graham and more!
-All new 72-minute interview with Paul Williams by Guillermo del Toro
-The Swan Song Fiasco: A new video piece exploring the changes made to the film in post production
-Archive interview with costume designer Rosanna Norton
William Finley on the Phantom doll!
-Paradise Lost and Found: Alternate takes and bloopers from the cutting room floor
-Original Trailers
-Radio Spots
-Gallery of rare stills including behind-the-scenes images by photographer Randy Black
-Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by The Red Dress [Amaray release only]
-Limited Edition SteelBook™ packaging featuring original artwork [ SteelBook only]
-Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by festival programmer Michael Blyth and an exploration of the film’s troubled marketing history by Ari Kahan, curator of SwanArchives.org, illustrated with original stills and promotional material.

Region: B
Rating: 15
Duration: 92 mins
Language: English
Subtitles: English SDH
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: 2.0 PCM Stereo, 4.0 DTS HD Master Audio
Colour: Colour

RABID DOGS / KIDNAPPED (1974) 

Release Date: February 24th 2014
Format: Dual Format Blu-ray + DVD
Cast: Lea Lander, George Eastman, Riccardo Cucciolla
Director: Mario Bava

SYNOPSIS: Following difficulties in his career Mario Bava happened across an idea that would enable him to compete with the younger directors lighting up the Italian box office such as Dario Argento and Sergio Martino.

Rabid Dogs begins as $70,000 of wages are being transferred when the Ajaccio gang hit. With a hail of bullets in a quick raid they speed off in their waiting getaway car. Tough, violent and realistic, Bava’s film ramps up the tension and doesn’t stop as hostages are added and the film builds to its dizzying finale.

Unfolding in real time, a rare device seen only in earlier films such as High Noon and 12 Angry Men yet totally unheard of in Italian cinema at the time, Rabid Dogs is a singular film in Bava’s filmography and one of the greatest crime films of the period.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of two versions of the film; ‘Rabid Dogs’ – Bava’s original version posthumously completed from his notes & ‘Kidnapped’ – the re-edited, re-dubbed and re-scored version, supervised by Bava’s son and assistant Lamberto Bava and producer Alfredo Leone
- Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing on both versions
- Audio Commentary with Bava biographer and expert Tim Lucas
- End of the Road: The Making of Rabid Dogs – A documentary featurette including interviews with Lamberto Bava, Alfredo Leone and star Lea Lander
- Original Trailer
- Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Stephen Thrower, a history of the multiple versions of the film from Semaforo Rosso to Rabid Dogs to Kidnapped by Peter Blumenstock, illustrated with original stills and posters
Much more to be announced!

DETAILS:
Rating: 18
Duration: TBC
Language: TBC
Subtitles: TBC
Aspect Ratio: TBC
Audio: TBC
Colour: Color

THE STUFF (1985) 

Release Date: March 10th 2014
Format: Dual Format Blu-ray + DVD
Cast: Michael Moriarty, Andrea Marcovicci, Garrett Morris
Director: Larry Cohen

Are you eating it …or is it eating you?

SYNOPSIS: The Stuff is the new dessert taking supermarket shelves by storm. It’s delicious, low in calories and – better still – doesn’t stain the family carpet… What’s not to like?! Well, for a start it has a life of its own, and we’re not talking friendly live bacteria…

Young Jason seems to be the only one who doesn’t love The Stuff – in fact he won’t go anywhere near it, after having seen the pudding crawling around the fridge one night. What’s more, everyone who eats The Stuff has started acting really weird… Now, teaming up with wise-cracking industrial saboteur “Mo”, Jason must put a stop to The Stuff and the organisation behind it or face a gooey, gloopy demise.

Coming courtesy of horror auteur Larry Cohen (director of the It’s Alive series and scribe behind the Maniac Cop trilogy), The Stuff is a titillating treat for the taste-buds which blends elements of films such as Street Trash with the straight-up B-movie flavour of The Blob. So grab a spoon and dig on into The Stuff – the taste that delivers… much more than you bargained for!

SPECIAL FEATURES:
- New High Definition digital transfer
- Newly commissioned artwork
- Collector’s booklet
More to be announced!

DETAILS:
Rating: 15
Duration: TBC
Language: English
Subtitles: TBC
Aspect Ratio: TBC
Audio: TBC
Colour: Color

BLIND WOMAN'S CURSE 

Release Date: March 17th 2014
Format: Dual Format Blu-ray + DVD
Cast: Meiko Kaji, Hoki Tokuda, Makoto Satô
Director: Teruo Ishii

Synopsis: From Teruo Ishii “The King of Cult”, Blind Woman’s Curse (also known as Black Cat’s Revenge) is a thrilling Yakuza film featuring eye-popping visuals, sensational fight sequences and the gorgeous Meiko Kaji (Lady Snowblood, Stray Cat Rock), in her first major role.

Akemi (Kaji) is a dragon tattooed leader of the Tachibana Yakuza clan. In a duel with a rival gang Akemi slashes the eyes of an opponent and a black cat appears, to lap the blood from the gushing wound. The cat along with the eye-victim go on to pursue Akemi’s gang in revenge, leaving a trail of dead Yakuza girls, their dragon tattoos skinned from their bodies.

A bizarre blend of the female Yakuza film and traditional Japanese ghost story, with a strong dash of grotesque-erotica (the same movement was a sensibility of Edogawa Rampo whose works were adapted by Ishii in Horrors of Malformed Men), Blind Woman’s Curse is a delirious mash-up of classic genre tropes, of which Ishii was no stranger, having directed everything from Super Giant films to Biker movies!

SPECIAL FEATURES:
- New High Definition digital transfer
- Newly commissioned artwork
- Collector’s booklet
More to be announced!

DETAILS:
Region: B/2
Rating: TBC
Duration: TBC
Language: Japanese
Subtitles: English
Aspect Ratio: TBC
Audio: TBC
Colour: Colour

PIT STOP (1969) 

Release Date: March 31st 2014
Format: Dual Format Blu-ray + DVD
Cast: Brian Donlevy, Richard Davalos, Ellen Burstyn
Director: Jack Hill

RAW GUTS FOR GLORY! FLESH AGAINST STEEL!

SYNOPSIS: The most dangerous game ever devised, to pit man against man, flesh against steel – the figure-8 race! Jack Hill (Coffy, Foxy Brown) follows up Spider Baby, once again teaming up with Sid Haig (House of 1000 Corpses) in one of his greatest roles for this action-spectacular crash-o-rama!

Richard Davalos (East of Eden) stars as Rick Bowman, a street punk who winds up in jail after a street race goes wrong. Bailed out by race promoter Grant Willard, Davalos is put in the deadly track where he comes up against Haig’s maniacal winner Hawk Sidney. Featuring an outstanding supporting cast including Brian Donlevy (The Quatermass Xperiment) in his last film appearance, Ellen Burstyn, billed as Ellen McRae (The Exorcist) and Beverly Washburn (Spider Baby) Pit Stop is one of Hill’s lesser known films but arguably his greatest.

Filmed on a real figure-8 track, Hill and his crew were able to capture gripping real-life car wreck scenes lending the film a brilliant sense of realism. You’ve never seen a motion picture like this before – can you take it?

SPECIAL FEATURES:
- New High Definition digital transfer
- Newly commissioned artwork
- Collector’s booklet
More to be announced!

DETAILS:
Region: B/2
Rating: TBC
Duration: TBC
Language: English
Subtitles: TBC
Aspect Ratio: TBC
Audio: TBC
Colour: Color

SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS (1941)  

Release Date: March 17th 2014
Format: Blu-ray 
Cast: Joel McCrea, Veronica Lake, Robert Warwick
Director: Preston Sturges

VERONICA LAKE’S ON THE TAKE

SYNOPSIS: Director John L. Sullivan (Joel McCrea) is one of Hollywood’s hottest talents, with an uncanny gift for getting audiences rolling in the aisles. But he’s dissatisfied: he wants to abandon comedy for Serious Statements, and buys the rights to celebrated social-realist novel ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’

To make his masterpiece as realistic as possible, Sullivan naturally has to understand how the book’s downtrodden characters must have felt, so he takes to the road as a hobo, is taken under the wing of a failed actress (Veronica Lake), and learns several valuable home truths about the importance of not patronising his audience.

Writer-director Preston Sturges had an inspired run in the 1940s, turning out some of the funniest American comedies ever made (The Lady Eve, The Palm Beach Story, The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek). Sullivan’s Travels is one of his best: not just hilarious but also truly wise.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
- -New high definition digital transfer
- Newly commissioned artwork
- Collector’s booklet
More to be announced!

DETAILS:
Region: B
Duration: TBC
Language: English
Subtitles: TBC
Aspect Ratio: TBC
Audio: 2.0/5.1
Colour: B+W

WHITE OF THE EYE (1987) 

Release Date: March 24th 2014
Format: Dual Format Blu-ray + DVD
Cast: David Keith, Cathy Moriarty, Alan Rosenberg
Director: Donald Cammell

THE ONLY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A HUNTER AND A KILLER …IS HIS PREY

SYNOPSIS: A serial killer is on the loose in and around the small community of Globe, Arizona, and housewife Joan White (Cathy Moriarty) gradually comes to suspect that her opera-loving hi-fi engineer husband Paul (David Keith) might know more than he’s letting on…

So far so familiar, but in the hands of British visionary Donald Cammell (who wrote and co-directed Performance with Nicolas Roeg), the film becomes a dazzling kaleidoscope of images and ideas, spanning everything from Apache folklore, desert landscapes and stylish murder set-pieces that recall Dario Argento to a painfully vivid dissection of the emotional fissures undermining a modern marriage. It’s all set to an equally eclectic score co-written by Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason.

Described by the distinguished critic David Thomson as “one of the great secret works in cinema”, White of the Eye is one of the most bizarre and unforgettable thrillers ever made.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
- New High Definition digital transfer
- Newly commissioned artwork
- Collector’s booklet
More to be announced!

DETAILS:
Region: B/2

THE KILLERS (1964)

Release Date: February 24th 2014
Format: Blu-ray
Cast: Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson, John Cassavetes
Director: Don Siegel
THERE IS MORE THAN ONE WAY TO KILL A MAN…

“I gotta find out what makes a man decide not to run. Why all of a sudden he’d rather die.”

SYNOPSIS: So muses hitman Charlie (Lee Marvin) after his high-priced victim Johnny North (John Cassavetes) gives in without a fight. Obsessed with the answer, Charlie and his hot-headed associate Lee (Clu Gulager) track down Johnny’s associates, and uncover a complex web of crime and deceit involving his femme fatale girlfriend Sheila (Angie Dickinson) and ruthless mob boss Jack Browning (Ronald Reagan in his last screen role).

Loosely inspired by the Ernest Hemingway story, and directed by Don Siegel (whose many other taut, efficient thrillers include Dirty Harry and the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers), The Killers was commissioned as the very first ‘TV movie’, but was given a cinema release because of its violence – although a cast like that really belonged on the big screen in the first place.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
- New High Definition digital transfer
- Newly commissioned artwork
- Collector’s booklet
More to be announced!

DETAILS:
Region: B