STANLEY KUBRICK’S A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971) (WBHE 4K UHD Review)

STANLEY KUBRICK’S 

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971) 

Label: WBHE

Region Code: Region-Free

Rating: R 

Duration: 136 Minutes

Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround, Dolby Digital Mono 1.0 with Optional English Subtitles 

Video: 2160p UHD Widescreen (1.66:1), 1080p HD Widescreen (1.66:1)

Director: Stanley Kubrick 

Cast: Malcolm McDowell, Warren Clarke, James Marcus,  Michael Tarn, Patrick Magee, Michael Bates

I'm pretty sure I saw A Clockwork Orange on late-night cable TV as a kid  when I was definitely way too young to be seeing it, but too young tends to be the age that movies make the biggest impression on you, and it certainly did. From early on ans still today I count it as one of my most beloved films, sitting alongside

Ghostbusters and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. This here tale of youthful mayhem is set in a near-future dystopian England and follows the exploits of a charismatic and intelligent teen psychopath named Alex (Malcolm McDowell, If...) and his fellow "Droogs" who spend their nights at the Korova Milkbar getting buzzed on Milk++ before heading out into the city for a little of the old ultraviolence, indulging their wildest whims with fighting, theft, rape and murder. 

I remember when I first saw it I thought it was absolutely terrorizing, what I was seeing was something I'd never even thought of before, these were scary nihilistic teens embarking on theretofore unheard of destruction and law-breaking. At the time I was a pretty good kid, well, at least good within normal adolescence anyway. I couldn't make sense of why it was also steeped in black humor, the blackest, as the Droogs go about their violent business. Was it meant to be a comedy, and if so, why?  At that age I hadn't quite grasped onto the concepts of satire and parody, so it seemed to me the movie was celebrating the horror-show of it all, and It can still be argued that it is, but I think of it more as the film surrendering to the violence of Alex and the worl he lives in, more so than condoning it. Years later in my teens the movie felt like a rally cry for teen rebellion left unchecked and taken to comedic heights, it was just a kick-ass anti-hero flick, it never made me think that crime and violence were cool, but as a teen and beyond I appreciated the aggressive elements of it. 

The lines are not too well-defined to be honest, which is why the film is still rather provocational, even today in some circles When I was watching this UHD for the third time this week my wife was less than thrilled by it. She always seemed to walk-in during that scene of Alex giddily spouting "Singing in the Rain" during the rape scene - isn't that always the case - and would get irate about it, "WTF are you watching!?!". 

As the film progresses we see Alex break into a dance studio looking for some action, he ends up bludgeoning a dance instructor, the "Cat Lady", to death with a phallic sculpture, after which his own droogs, tired of his tyrannical leadership, turning on him by smashing a milk bottle across his face, which allows for the cops to apprehend him and charge him with murder. Afterward he is given a trial and sentenced to prison, where he eventually submits to a government sponsored behavior modification technique that will earn him his freedom. Returned to the world, now conditioned to abhor violence and sex after a torturous conditioning process, Alex becomes a defenseless victim of his prior victims, the tables have now turned, the teen is now the victim, as Kubrick toys with your sympathies. 

Kubrick's adaptation of Burgess's same-titled novel is an orgy of eye-popping dark delicacies, decorated with porcelain statues of naked women that dispense milk++ from their titties, there's tons of  phallic symbolism on dispay, including the sculpture used as a weapon of blunt-force murder, and music absolutely overwhelms the movie, whether it's the pulsing electronic score from  composer Wendy Carlos (The Shining) or the subverted  classical tunes from Ludwig van, and double-speed orgy set to Rossini's "William Tell Overture". It's made for shocking stuff when I was a kid, and it still packs a punch today. What's changed about for me is that I see it more for the comedy now and the violence and rape, its less shocking to me. Perhaps because after seeing Last House on the Left, Salo, Irreversible, and I Spit On Your Grave there's not much that actually shocks me these days. Now, what's the meaning of it all? Fuck if I know, I don't think that Kubrick set out or succeeds in making any sort of grand statement here, he just made a fucking cool slice of subversive cinema, and that's all I need. Now that we're in the age where turkey-baster rapists can be good daddy anti-heroes (Don't Breathe 2) I think we can enjoy this without needing a message shoved down out throats, so come viddy the ultra-violence guilt-free. 

Audio/Video: A Clockwork Orange arrives on 4K Ultra HD from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment in glorious 2160p UHD framed in 1.66:1 widescreen. This is a 4K restoration performed by Warner Bros.’ Motion Picture Imaging (MPI) with the invaluable aid of Kubrick’s former right-hand man Leon Vitali. The UHD offers a more lush and refined grain field with finer detail and textures. It also benefits from a new more natural looking HDR10 enhanced color-grading that is cooler and a not as warm or bright as the previous HD releases. The ugliness of the ultra-violence has never looked better mE brothers, you can now viddy this sinny like never before with a bit of the shiny new Ultra-HD-violence.

Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround with optional English subtitles, as well as the original mono, sadly presented in compressed Dolby Digital. The 5.1 option does have it's moments, it opens up the electronic score from  Wendy Carlos (The Shining) and Ludwig van  but it can sound forced to me in my opinio. I still prefer the lossy mono track which is more direct and sounds more authentic. I have to ask, why could we not get a Atmos upgrade or at least an uncompressed mono track for this?  The lossy mono track only appears on the UHD, not on the recycled Blu-ray. 

No new extras but WBHE carry-over all the extras from the last few Blu-ray releases, which is appreciated as they are extensive and quite good. Among them is a very good commentary from Malcolm McDowell and the late Nick Redman of niche label Twilight Time, it's fantastic listen that covers a lot of ground There are also nearly two-hours worth of docs and featurettes, plus a trailer for the film. The UHD only carries the commentary, all other extras can be found on the accompanying Blu-ray disc which is predictably, but regrettably, not the new color-timed restoration, but a port of the previous Blu-ray. I appreciate the gorgeous UHD upgrade but I still feel WBHE are being lazy when they don't give us the Atmos upgrades and then recycle past Blu-rays instead of upgrading them, it just seems lazy to me. 

The 2-disc Blu-ray/UHD release arrives in a black Elite keepcase with a single-sides sleeve of artwork that brought to mind the psychedelic Jim Steranko artwork from thea particular issue of the Nick Fury Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. comic series, which is also featured on the slipcover that also has a 50th Anniversary sticker on it in the shape of the bowler hat/eyelash image I like the new artwork but this is a film with several iconic images associated with the original marketing campaign, and I think it was a mistake not to feature a reversible wrap and/or separate artwork on the slipcover. Inside there's a digital code for a 4K UHD digital copy of the film.  

Special Features:
- Audio Commentary by Malcolm McDowell and Nick Redman
- Still Tickin': The Return of Clockwork Orange [2000 Channel 4 Documentary] (44 min) 
- Great Bolshy Yarblockos! Making A Clockwork Orange (28 min) 
- Turning Like Clockwork (26 min) 
- Malcolm McDowell Looks Back (11 min) 

- Trailer (1 min) 

A Clockwork Orange was derided upon its release but has aged quite well, proving to be disturbingly prescient looking back at from these current times. The mash-up of violence and humor stills kicks ya in the yarbles, and the new UHD looks fantastic. 

 

ASYLUM (1972) (Second Sight Films Blu-ray Review)

ASYLUM (1972) 

Label: Second Sight Films 
Region Code: B
Duration: 88 Minutes 
Rating: Cert.15
Audio: English LPCM 1.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1) 
Director: Roy Ward Baker
Cast: Peter Cushing, Britt Ekland, Herbert Lom, Patrick Magee, Barry Morse, Robert Powell 

This Amicus produced horror anthology directed by Roy Ward Baker (And Now The Screaming Starts), and written by Robert Bloch (Torture Garden), is a very fine example of the classic portmanteau-film, a collection of chilling (and usually slightly hokey) short stories blended together with a unifying wrap around story. Amicus made a wonderful assortment of them in the 70's, and Asylum is a top-tier entry. I ike that the wrap-around story evolves into it's own vignette, beginning with Dr. Martin (Robert Powell, Harlequin) arriving at an asylum, interviewing for the lead physician position. He's greeted by a wheelchair bound Dr. Lionel Rutherford (Patrick Magee, Lucio Fulci's The Black Cat) who informs him that the job interview will be a bit unusual, with Dr. Martin having to interview four criminally insane inmates who are locked away on the secured second floor, deducing which of the nutters is actually the former head doctor of the asylum, he or she having had a violent mental breakdown themselves, and if he chooses correctly he will be considered for the position. That's our wrap-around story in a nutshell, with Dr. Martin touring the second floor of the facility with an orderly named Max (Geoffrey Bayldon, The House That Dripped Blood) escorting him and offering some wry commentary along the way.

The first of the stories proper is "Frozen Fear", a tale of a unhappily married man named Walter (Richard Todd, The Secret of Dorian Gray) who is desperate to be rid of his wife Ruth (Sylvia Syms, The Tamarind Seed), to that end he has planned to ax-murder her in the basement, as you do. However, her dabblings in the occult makes her murder and dismemberment one worth remembering, with her having vengeance from beyond the grave. This one starts things off briskly as the husband chops her up rather quickly after luring her to his basement/kill-room, wrapping her torso and severed head and limbs in brown deli-wrap paper and tidily binding it with string like a well-manicured cut of meat from the butcher's shop. Stowing her remains in basement freezer he begins planning a getaway with his new lover Bonnie (Barbara Parkins, The Mephisto Waltz) only to be interrupted by his ax-whacked wife whose surprisingly re-animated pieces have a go at him. I loved this one, it's a fun opening salvo that starts things off with a wink and a nod, light-hearted perfection, if you can call wife-murder light-hearted. 

Up next we have "The Weird Tailor" wherein a cash-strapped tailor named Bruno (Barry Morse, The Changeling) on the verge of being evicted from his home is approached by a seemingly wealthy patron named Mr. Smith (Peter Cushing, Corruption), tasked with stitching together a custom fitted suit with the odd instructions that it must only be sewn in the early morning hours after midnight and before dawn. Strange though the request may seem Bruno dutifully fulfills the order per the curious instructions, however, upon delivering the finished suit to his patron he finds that Mr. Smith not only doesn't have the promised money but has some weird occult resurrection in the works! Anything with Peter Cushing in it is gonna be worth a watch, but it's Barry Morse who steals the show this time around. I love his performance as the tailor, and the twist involving a store mannequin was pleasantly unexpected, if a bit goofy.  

Orderly Max next introduces Dr. Martin to a young woman named Barbara (Charlotte Rampling, Orca) in the segment "Lucy Comes To Stay", she relays to him the story of how she was formerly incarcerated at an asylum before being freed, released to her brother George (James Villiers, Otley) who sets her up at home under the supervision of a nurse named Miss Higgins (Megs Jenkins, The Innocents), but having the defacto babysitter watching over her frustrates her. When Barbara's friend, the prankster Lucy (Britt Ekland, What The Peeper Saw), shows up unexpectedly it cheers her up a bit, but when Lucy's pranks turn to murder most foul she blames Lucy, but there's a problem with that scenario we come to find out.

The last of the stories proper is "Mannikins of Horror" starring the always great (no matter how bad the film may be) Herbert Lom (Count Dracula) as a patient at the asylum who is working on some sort of soul-transference process, obsessed with the notion of sending his psyche into that of a tiny automaton, which looks for the most part like a cheap wind-up toy with a well-crafted likeness of his own head on it. Let's just not think about why a mental health facility would encourage such a thing and let him keep the damn toy in his room, but it has a decent payoff that works better than it should. Herbert Lom is fantastic, and the premise works better than the cheap looking robot would have had me believe, this one tying directly into the wrap-around story at the asylum, and then we finish-up with a fun (though not shocking) conclusion with orderly Max addressing us, the viewers, directly, as a new candidate arrives at the asylum for the same sort of interview.    

Audio/Video: Asylum (1972) arrives on region-B locked Blu-ray from Second Sight Films, this looks to be the same 2K scan as released by Severin Films as part of their The Amicus Collection. Framed in 1.85:1 widescreen the 1080p HD image is a bit on the soft side but acceptable given the source, looking to be a theatrical print, colors look good and the grain field is nicely managed for the most part, while looking overly abundant at times, it's not pristine but still a vast improvement over the Dark Sky Films DVD. The English DTS-HD MA 1.0 Mono audio exports the orchestral score from Douglas Gamely nicely,including his wonderfully bombastic rendition of "Night on Bald Mountain" which opens the film. Optional English subtitles are provided.  

Onto the extras we get the same set of extras from the U.S. Scream Factory release beginning with a lively vintage commentary with Director Roy Ward Baker and camera operator Neil Binney moderated by Marcus Hearn, many facets of the production are covered, good stuff. We then get a vintage on-set featurette by the BBC filmed during shooting of the film. New stuff begins with an appreciation of writer Robert Block (Psycho) by writer David J. Schow (Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III), plus a remembrance of Amicus' Milton Subotsky by his widow. The 20-min Inside The Fear Factory Featurette is a nice overview of Amicus Films as told by Directors Roy Ward Baker, Freddie Francis and Producer Max J. Rosenberg, if you're a fan of British horror and Amicus in particular this is a fun watch. The disc is finished up with two trailers for the film.

The single disc release comes housed in oversized black Blu-ray keepcase with a reversible sleeve of artwork, the a-side featuring new artwork from by artist Graham Humphreys, the b-side featuring the original illustrated artwork for the film, without the blemish of the ratings logo obscuring the front cover and the spine, with the Humphrey's artwork option also being featured on the disc itself.

Asylum (1972) was previously issued by Second Sight Films as a limited edition release with a rigid slipcase along with a 40-page booklet with new essays, and While that edition is now out-of-print the film has kindly been reissued by Second Sight as this attractive standard release. 

Special Features:
- Two’s A Company: 1972 On-set report from BBC featuring Interviews With Producer Milton Subotsky, Director Roy Ward Baker, Actors Charlotte Rampling, James Villiers, Megs Jenkins, Art Director Tony Curtis and Production Manager Teresa Bolland (18 min)  
- David J. Schow on Robert Bloch (21 min)  
- Fiona Subotsky Remembers Milton Subotsky – Featurette (10 min)
- Inside The Fear Factory Featurette with Directors Roy Ward Baker, Freddie Francis and Producer Max J. Rosenberg (20 min) 
- Audio Commentary with Director Roy Ward Baker and Camera Operator Neil Binney
- Theatrical Trailers (3 min) 

I have always loved the Amicus horror anthologies, the short-story format is appealing to me, and while there's usually a dud among the three or four stories I find that the occasional bad apple doesn't spoil the whole basket of vignetted-fruit. While none of the stories in Asylum (1972) are particularly horrifying or overly clever they all bring a smile to my face, even the wrap around story is great fun, plus we have an outstanding cast that includes Herbert Lom and Peter Cushing. A well-crafted and stylish series of vignettes that flow well, making this a classic slice of British anthology horror. Asylum gets a wonderful UK release from Second Sight Films, highly recommended to UK readers who have not imported the Scream Factory release. 

 

AND NOW THE SCREAMING STARTS (1973) (Severin Films Blu-ray Review)

AND NOW THE SCREAMING STARTS (1973) 

Label: Severin Films
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 91 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Mono 2.0, Spanish Dolby Digital Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1) 
Director: Roy Ward Baker
Cast: Peter Cushing, Herbert Lom, Patrick Magee, Stephanie Beacham

Gothic shocker And Now The Screaming Starts (1973) was directed by Roy Ward Baker (Asylum) and was a bit of a stylistic departure for Amicus in that it was not an anthology film and it's a Gothic period piece, which was first and only for them. Set in the 1700's we have Charles Fengriffin (Ian Ogilvy, The Witchfinder General) bringing his gorgeous new bride Catherine (Stephanie Beacham, Schizo) back to his ancestral home, there she is almost immediately spooked by a portrait hanging on the wall, one of Charles grandfather Sir Henry Fengriffin (Herbert Lom, 99 Women). She gets woozy at the sight of it and imagines a bloodied hand erupting from the painting... and that's when the screaming starts. When it turns out to be nothing her doting husband chalks it up to newlywed nerves and as they settle in for the night, when Charles steps out of the room for just a moment she is attacked in bed by a disembodied hand, and once again there's no proof of what frightened her and they move on as though nothing had happened.   

Elsewhere on the sprawling  property lives a woodsman (Geoffrey Whitehead) who lives rent free, telling Catherine that his grandfather was bequeathed the small property by Sir Henry Fengriffin himself, when she inquires to Charles about why the woodsman's family was gifted the land he refuses to say, but it has something to do with a dark family secret, which is revealed in flashback during the latter half of the movie, and boy is it terrible stuff. This might be one of Herbert Lom's most despicable characters, and that's saying something as he also starred in Jess Franco's 99 Women and Mark of the Devil!

Charles doesn't seem to believe his new bride's frightful visions are real - including an eyeless phantom who looks a lot like the woodsman - but nonetheless he calls in Doctor Whittle (Patrick Magee, Lucio Fulci's Black Cat) to assess the situation, but when he dies her must call in yet another doc, Doctor Pope (Peter Cushing, Frankenstein Created Woman) who both begin to look into the root cause of his new bride's frightful visions - and of course it all goes back to Sir Henry's debauchery fifty years earlier. . 

And Now The S Creaming Starts is reported to have been Amicus's most expensive production and it shows, this is the only Gothic period piece they did and they went all out, trying to out-Hammer Hammer with lush visuals, from the painterly rural locations to the atmospheric wafts of morning fog drifting across the property, this thing is dripping with Victorian melodrama and Gothic chills in every frame. The pace is a bit languid by Amicus standards which might be why this one is sort of relegated to lower-tier Amicus appreciation status in my opinion, it's just not a film I think gets it's due when one thinks of Gothic British horror. 

The direction from Roy Ward Baker (The Vampire Lovers) is top notch as usual, reuniting him with actors Peter Cushing, Partrick Magee and Herbert Lom who also appeared together in Baker's Amicus anthology Asylum (1972). I won't get anymore spoilery that I already have but Herbert Lom's character is absolutely the worst human being, he's the key to the curse that haunts the Fengriffin family and the comeuppance at the end is twistedly wonderful, I love the ending of this one and how it all comes full circle.  
   
Audio/Video: And Now The Screaming Starts (1973) arrives on Blu-ray from Severin Film remastered in 4K, and looking to have been sourced from a quality print, easily surpassing Ayslum (1973) in terms of picture quality. The grain is better managed, colors are more robust and the image density more uniform, with some scenes showcasing some very fine detail. There's some minor print damage by way of small scratches, white speckling and at least one cigarette burn I noticed, nut overall this is a very pleasing HD upgrade of this Amicus Gothic chiller. 

Audio on the disc comes by way of an English language DTS-HD MA Mono track, capably exporting dialogue without issue, the score from Douglas Gamley sounds great, the lush arrangements complimenting the Gothic visuals nicely. Also included is the option to watch the film with a Spanish-dub track presented in Dolby Digital mono, which is expectedly a much flatter audio presentation without the depth and separation of the DTS-HD audio. 

Onto the extras Severin have carried over the theatrical trailer and a pair of audio commentaries from the previous Dark Sky Films release, the first with Director Roy Ward Baker and Actress Stephanie Beacham moderated by  director Marcus Hearn (Marcus Hearn, Hammer Horror: The Warner Bros. Years) and a second with Star Ian Ogilvy moderated by film archivist Darren Gross. 

Onto the new stuff, the 15-min Haunting of Oakley Court is a look at the iconic filming location known as Oakley Court, a Victorian mansion used in literally hundreds of films ranging from Brides of Dracula, to Girly and the cult-classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show, one look at it and you will recognize it from multiple movies and television appearances, even if you cannot place the film you will know the unmistakable facade. The tour is a walk about the grounds with authors Allan Bryce and David Flint, walking and talking as clips from various movies made there play out, along the way they offer a history of the location, which was favorited by both Amicus and Hammer through the years. There's also a 12-min audio interview with Actor Peter Cushing By Denis Meikle that touches on his work with director Freddie Francis, Christopher Lee, and working with both Amicus and Hammer Films. Journalist Denis Meikle shows up for a brief 4-min dress-down of the film, he doesn't have a high opinion of it, speaking about the oddity of an Amicus Gothic production at a time when such things were on the down turn, as was the British film industry, also speaking a bit about Cushing's fragile state of mind following his wife's death. 

The single-disc release comes housed in a nifty black Blu-ray case with a single-sided sleeve of artwork, which looks to be the original VHS artwork, the disc features an excerpt of the same artwork. If I could have my everything I do wish we had a reversible option featuring the original movie poster illustration of a hand pulling back bed sheets, which Dark Sky used on their previous DVD edition. 

This release is also available as part of Severin's 4-disc limited edition of The Amicus Collection which also features the anthology Asylum (1972), the werewolf whodunit The Beast Must Die (1974), as well as a bonus disc stuffed with a complete set of Amicus trailers, TV commercials, rare interviews and more. The Beast Must Die and the bonus disc are exclusive to the limited edition set (of 3500) which is now sold out on the Severin site but still available for about $60 at various online retailers right now, so act quickly on this one if you want the 4-disc set, it's worth it, I'm glad I ordered mine the day that set went live at the Severin site!  

  Special Features:
- The Haunting Of Oakley Court – Featurette with Allan Bryce, Author of “Amicus: The Friendly Face Of Fear”, and David Flint, Author of “Ten Years Of Terror”, visit the classic horror film location (15 min) HD 
- Audio Commentary with Director Roy Ward Baker and Actress Stephanie Beacham
- Audio Commentary with Star Ian Ogilvy
- Archive Audio Interview with Actor Peter Cushing By Denis Meikle (12 min) 
- Horror Journalist Denis Meikle Recalls And Now The Screaming Starts – Featurette (4 min) HD
- Theatrical Trailer (1 min) HD
- Radio Spot (1 min) HD

And Now The Screaming Starts (1973) is an overlooked gem of British horror, a creaky Gothic tale of debauchery and ancestral revenge that is worth re-evaluating if you've passed it by previously, Lord know I have through the years. Maybe because I've acquired a taste for slow-burning Gothic chillers as I've grown older this played gangbusters for me, right up to the shocker finale that features a fevered desiccated corpse desecration. The new Blu-ray from Severin is the best this has ever looked on home video by a Gothic mile, so have no fear, this is worth the upgrade and some serious re-evaluation. 

ASYLUM (1972) (Severin Films Blu-ray Review)

ASYLUM (1972) 

Label: Severin Films
Region Code: Region-FREE
Duration: 88 Minutes 
Rating: PG
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1) 
Director: Roy Ward Baker
Cast: Peter Cushing, Britt Ekland, Herbert Lom, Patrick Magee, Barry Morse, Robert Powell 

This Amicus produced horror anthology directed by Roy Ward Baker (The Vault of Horror) and written by Robert Bloch (Psycho) is a very fine example of the classic portmanteau-film, a collection of chilling (and usually slightly hokey) short stories blended together with a unifying wrap around story. Hammer's arch-rival Amicus made a wonderfully robust amount of them in the 70's, and Asylum is one of the best of the bunch. The wrap-around story - which evolves into it's own vignette - begins with Dr. Martin (Robert Powell, The Asphyx) arriving at an asylum for a job interview for the lead physician position. He's greeted by a wheelchair bound  Dr. Lionel Rutherford (Patrick Magee, A Clockwork Orange) who informs him that his job interview will be a rather unusual one, he will have to interview four criminally insane inmates kept locked away on the secured second floor and deduce which is actually the former head doctor of the asylum, he or she having had a violent mental breakdown, if he chooses correctly he will be considered for the position. That's our wrap-around story in a nutshell, with Dr. Martin touring the second floor of the facility with an orderly named Max (Geoffrey Bayldon, Tales from the Crypt) escorting him and offering some wry commentary along the way.

The first of the stories proper is "Frozen Fear", a tale of a unhappily married man named Walter (Richard Todd, Bloodbath) who is desperate to be rid of his wife Ruth (Sylvia Syms, The Tamarind Seed), to that end he has planned to ax-murder her in the basement, as you do. However, her dabbling in the occult makes her brutal dismemberment one worth remembering, she having her vengeance from beyond the grave. This one starts things off briskly as the husband chops her up rather quickly after luring her to his basement/kill-room, wrapping her torso and severed head and limbs in brown deli-wrap paper and tidily binding it with string like a well-manicured choice cut of meat fresh from the local butcher's shop. Stowing her remains in freezer he begins planning a getaway with his new lover Bonnie (Barbara Parkins, The Mephisto Waltz) only to be interrupted by his ax-whacked wife whose surprisingly re-animated pieces have a go at him. I loved this one, it's a fun opening salvo that starts things off with a wink and a nod, light-hearted perfection, if you can call wife-murder light-hearted. 

Up next we have "The Weird Tailor" wherein a cash-strapped tailor named Bruno (Barry Morse, Funeral Home) on the verge of being evicted is approached by a seemingly wealthy patron named Mr. Smith (Peter Cushing, Corruption), tasked with stitching together a custom fitted suit with the odd instructions that it must only be sewn in the early morning hours after midnight and before dawn. Strange though the request may be Bruno dutifully fulfills the order per the instructions,  however, upon delivering the finished suit to his patron he finds that Mr. Smith not only doesn't have the promised money but has some weird occult resurrection in the works! Anything with Peter Cushing in it is gonna be worth a watch, and this segment is no different, but it's Barry Morse who steals the show this time around, I love his performance as the tailor, and the twist at the end involving a store mannequin at his shop was rather unexpected, and a bit goofy.  

Orderly Max next introduced Dr. Martin to a young woman named 
Barbara (Charlotte Rampling, The Night Porter) in the segment "Lucy Comes To Stay", she relays to him the story of how she was formerly incarcerated at an asylum before being freed, released to her brother George (James Villiers, Otley) who sets her up at home under the supervision of a kindly older nurse named Miss Higgins (Megs Jenkins, The Innocents), which frustrates her. When her friend prankster Lucy (Brit Ekland, What The Peeper Saw) shows up unexpectedly it cheers her up a bit, but when Lucy's pranks turn to murder most foul she blames Lucy, but there's a problem with that scenario we come to find out.

The last of the stories proper is "Mannikins of Horror" starring the always great (no matter how bad the film may be) Herbert Lom (And Now The Screaming Starts) as a patient at the asylum who is working on some sort of soul-transference process, obsessed with the notion of sending his psyche into that of a tiny automaton, which looks for the most part like a cheap wind-up toy with a well-crafted likeness of his own head on it. Let's just not think about why a mental health facility would encourage such a thing and let him keep the damn toy in his room, but it has a decent payoff that works better than it should. Herbert Lom is fantastic, and the premise works better than the cheap looking robot would have had me believe, this one tying directly into the wrap-around story at the asylum, and then we finish-up with a fun (though not shocking) conclusion with orderly Max addressing us, the viewers, directly, as a new candidate arrives at the asylum for the same sort of interview.    

Audio/Video: Asylum (1972) arrives on Blu-ray from Severin Films, this is a film that hasn't had an update on home video since Dark Sky Films gave it a special edition DVD polish years ago, so this is a welcome HD upgrade, sourced from a new 2K scan of "vault elements" which judging by the image was a good quality theatrical print. Framed in 1.78:1 widescreen the 1080p HD image is a bit on the soft side but acceptable given the source, colors look good and the grain field is nicely managed for the most part, while looking overly abundant at times, it's not pristine but it's the best we've had on home video so far. The English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono audio exports the orchestral score from Douglas Gamely nicely, dialogue is clean and clear, everything well-balanced without distortion. A Spanish-dub track is also included as an audio option. 

Onto the extras we get a nice selection, beginning with a lively vintage commentary with Director Roy Ward Baker and camera operator Neil Binney moderated by Marcus Hearn, many facets of the production are covered, good stuff. We then get a vintage on-set featurette by the BBC filmed during shooting of the film. New stuff begins with an appreciation of writer Robert Block (Psycho) by writer David J. Schow (Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III), plus a remembrance of Amicus' Milton Subotsky by his widow. The 20-min Inside The Fear Factory Featurette is a nice overview of Amicus Films as told by Directors Roy Ward Baker, Freddie Francis and Producer Max J. Rosenberg, if you're a fan of British horror and Amicus in particular this is a fun watch. The disc is finished up with two trailers for the film.

The single-disc release comes housed in a nifty black Blu-ray case with a reversible sleeve of artwork, of which I preferred the b-side. The disc features an excerpt of the a-side artwork.

Reversible Artwork 

This release is also available as part of Severin's 4-disc limited edition of The Amicus Collection which also features the Gothic-shocker And Now the Screaming Starts (1973), the werewolf whodunit The Beast Must Die (1974), as well as a bonus disc stuffed with a complete set of Amicus trailers, TV commercials, rare interviews and more. The limited edition set (of 3500) copies is now sold out on the Severin site but still available for under $60 at various online retailers, so act quickly on this one if you want the 4-disc set, I'm glad I ordered mine the day that set went live at the Severin site!  

Special Features:
- Two’s A Company: 1972 On-set report from BBC featuring Interviews With Producer Milton Subotsky, Director Roy Ward Baker, Actors Charlotte Rampling, James Villiers, Megs Jenkins, Art Director Tony Curtis and Production Manager Teresa Bolland (18 min) HD 
- David J. Schow on Robert Bloch – Featurette (21 min) HD 
- Fiona Subotsky Remembers Milton Subotsky – Featurette (10 min) HD 
- Inside The Fear Factory Featurette with Directors Roy Ward Baker, Freddie Francis and Producer Max J. Rosenberg (20 min) 
- Audio Commentary with Director Roy Ward Baker and Camera Operator Neil Binney
- Theatrical Trailers (3 min) 

I love the Amicus horror anthologies, in fact I watch them a lot more than I do the Hammer Films truth be told, the short-story format is appealing to me, while there's usually a dud in the three or four stories I find that the occasional bad apple doesn't spoil the whole basket of vignetted-fruit. While none of the stories in Asylum (1972) are particularly scary or overly clever they all wok for me as a whole, even the wrap around story is great, plus we have an outstanding cast that includes Herbert Lom and Peter Cushing. That the film doesn't culminate with the usual 'they're already dead' trope we've seen several times from Amicus is a bonus, but even this twist here is nothing all that original, it's just a well-crafted and stylish series of vignettes that flow well, making this a classic slice of British horror. 

EDGAR ALLEN POE'S BLACK CATS: TWO ADAPTATIONS BY SERGIO MARTINO & LUCIO FULCI (BLU-RAY REVIEW)

EDGAR ALLEN POE'S BLACK CATS: TWO ADAPTATIONS BY SERGIO MARTINO AND LUCIO FULCI 

THE BLACK CAT (1981) 

Label: Arrow Video
Region Code: Region Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 91 Minutes
Audio: Uncompressed LPCM Mono English, LPCM Mono Italian with Optional English SDH Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Lucio Fulci
Cast: David Warbeck, Patrick Magee, Mimsy Farmer, Dagmar Lassander, Al Cliver


Director Lucio Fulci takes a step back from the graphic gore of City of the Living Dead (1980) for The Black Cat, his variation on the Edgar Allen Poe short story of the same name. The movie begins with a man driving through a quiet English village when an ominous black cat appears in the backseat of his car, the man stares into the cat's eyes and falls into a trance, before veering into a parked car and erupting into flames. A short time later a pair of young lovers are making out in a boat on the river, looking for a more private place they make their way to a nearby boathouse where they lock themselves into a airtight storage room. The mysterious black cat again appears, supernaturally causing the A/C to shut down before making off with the only key to the door, the young lovers are trapped inside and suffocate to death, their whereabouts remain unknown for some days. 

It turns out that the ominous black cat belongs the aged Professor Robert Miles (Patrick Magee, A Clockwork Orange), a mean-spirited old cuss who spends his free time making audio recordings at the nearby graveyard, hoping to record the voices of the newly dead. It is implied that the professor possesses some form of hypnotic power, and might possibly be using his abilities to guide the black cat on it's murderous spree. The mother of one of the missing lovers from the boathouse, Lillian Gayson (Dagmar Lassander, The House by the Cemetery), worries about her daughter, notifying local constable Sergeant Wilson (Al Cliver, Zombi) who in turn places a call to Scotland Yard, Inspector Gorley (David Warbeck, The Beyond). Gorley arrives on motorcycle, in one of Warbecks more proactive and bad ass roles in Italian cinema, tearing into town on a the motorbike is a memorable entrance. After his arrival more death follow the appearance of the malicious cat with  suspicion beginning to fall on Professor Miles, Patrick Magee is just brings a lot of creepy menace and gravitas to the role, a strange character for sure. 

The story is only weakly linked to the Poe origins, basically we have the black cat and a victim bricked-up behind a wall at the finale, the latter of which Fulci has already explored with his movie The Psychic (1977), a superior movie with a similar tone. Fulci's Black Cat is a sort of montage of disparate elements, with Poe's story being just one component alongside other Poe-centic ideas, with a strong reference to David Cronenberg's The Brood (1977) and a shoe-horned nod to The Exorcist (1973), all wrapped up in the Gothic trappings of a rural English village with  loads of atmospheric touches including eerie fog shrouded woodland and cemetery scenes. 

Here Fulci relies more on a slow-building atmosphere than gruesome gore, there's no eye-trauma on display, just a few vicious cat scratches when the venomous feline draws blood, plus a mild scene of decomposing, rat-gnawn bodies, but for the duration of the film Fulci keeps it firmly in the Gothic horror vein, more akin to a Fulci/Hammer horror than a gruesome gore-soaked nightmare. It's worth noting Fulci made quite a few atmospheric whodunits before he came around to the favored gore entries in the early to mid-eighties, and this is a nice return to his roots, more along the lines of Don't Torture a Ducking or the aforementioned The Psychic. 

Audio/Video: Arrow Video bring Lucio Fulci's Gothic shocker to Blu-ray, sourcing the brand new 2K transfer straight from the original camera negative. The result are fantastic, well advancing over previous releases in all areas with improved clarity, depth and he overall crispness of the image. Colors are reproduced faithfully with natural looking skin tones, this is top-notch HD upgrade all around. Audio comes by way of  an uncompressed  LPCM Mono English or Italian with optional  English SDH subtitles. The evocative score from Pino Donaggio is nicely balanced with the dialogue and effects, nothing is overpowered, everything is crisp and free of distortion. 

Arrow blows away previous releases with not just a gorgeous brand-new 2K transfer, but with a variety of informative value-added extras, beginning with an audio commentary from former Fangoria editor, and movie maker in his own right, Chris Alexander. he comes across as a huge fan of Eurocult and Fulci in particular, maybe not the most insightful commentary in an academic sense, but fun, breezy and he comes off as a well-informed super-fan. Not to trash the commentary but I would have preferred a commentary with author and horror historian Stephen Thrower. 

No worries, Stephen Thrower is well represented with two new features, the 20-minute overview of the movie 'Poe into Fulci: The Spirit of Perverseness', and the 8-minute 'In the Paw-Prints of the Black Cat', the latter with Thrower touring the original Black Cat filming locations, even recreating a few of the iconic tracking shots. Thrower is always a wealth of knowledge, mixing anecdotal asides with his own wry views and well-versed horror history, these are the best of the extras on the set in my opinion. There's also have a 20-minute interview with actress Dagmar Lassander who goes into some great detail about her storied career in Italian cinema. David Warbeck, who dies in 1997, is featured in a 70-minute video interview conducted by Thrower, the interview covers most of Warbeck's body of  Italian cinema. Lastly we have a HD trailer for the movie. 

Special Features: 
- Brand new audio commentary by filmmaker and Fangoria editor Chris Alexander
- Poe into Fulci: The Spirit of Perverseness – film historian Stephen Thrower on Fulci’s Poe-tinged classic(26 Mins) HD 
- In the Paw-Prints of the Black Cat – a look at the original Black Cat locations (8 Mins) HD 
- Frightened Dagmar – a brand new career interview with actress Dagmar Lassander (20 Mins) HD 
- At Home with David Warbeck – an archive interview with The Black Cat star (70 Mins) HD
- Original Theatrical Trailer (3 Mins) 
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matthew Griffin

Lucio Fulci's The Black Cat (1981) is a sorely under appreciated entry from the Italian master of phantasmagorical gore, maybe because it relies more on tone and atmosphere and strays from the more typical fantasy-based gore he was known for at the time, having been bookended by City of the Living dead and The Beyond, I can see how this Gothic chiller might get lost between to iconic slices of Italian cinema, but I highly recommend you check out this overlooked gem of Gothic cinema, a movie with great performances from the venerable Patrick Magee and Eurocult regular David Warbeck. 

YOUR VICE IS A LOCKED ROOM AND ONLY I HAVE THE KEY (1972) 

Label: Arrow Video 

Region Code: Region Free

Rating: Unrated

Duration: 96 Minutes 

Audio: Uncompressed LPCM Mono English, LPCM Mono Italian with Optional  English SDH Subtitles 

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1) 

Director: Sergio Martino

Cast: Edwige Fenech, Anita Strindberg, Luigi Pistilli, Ivan Rassimov, Franco Nebbia 

The second half of Arrow's Poe adaptation double feature is a classic Italian whodunit from noted director Sergio Martino, Your vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key, which is a title that references his previous whodunnut The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, also starring Eurocult icon Edwige Fenech. This lurid slice of Italian cinema begins with waning novel writer Oliviero Rouvigny (Luigi Pistilli, A Bay of Blood), the sadistic husband of Irina (Anita Strindberg, The Case of the Scorpion's Tale). Oliviero is obsessed with his dead mother, a quirk which emerges when he becomes a bit too turned on when his wife and various lovers dress in her vintage gowns. His strange sexual proclivities make him the subject of a murder investigation, when his former student and current lover turns up dead. After being questioned by the police the already wrecked man begins to spiral out of control, pushed even further when his maid turns up dead in his home, worried that he will be blamed for her death both he and his wife hide the body in the home and create a story about having to fire her. 

Soon after they receive word that Irina's niece will be visiting, a sex kitten named Floriana (Edwige Fenech, Blade of the Ripper), a manipulative nymph who seduces not only Oliviero but her own aunt, the red-haired Irina, whom as played by Strindberg is still quite a blossom, even when compared to Fenech. The stylish whodunit sets itself apart from many of it's contemporaries by eschewing many of the whodunit norms, there's no black-gloved killer for starters, but there's plenty of paranoia and no shortage of suspects, which makes it hard to get your footing at times. 

Fenech's turn as a villainous woman is fun, usually cast as the victim, and while she suffers at the hands of her abusive husband she's not angel, nope. As this is part of the Black Cat double-feature from Arrow there must be a connection to Edgar Allen Poe's short story, again we have black cat, named Satan which belonged to Oliviero's now dead mother, Irina cannot stand the cat and goes after ti several times with knife. Additionally theres the bricked-up wall which reveals a secret when the wailing cat draws suspicion from the police at the last moment, again, a tenuous link to the Poe story to be sure, but it's there. Italian cult-cinema fans will be pleased to see Eurocult staple Ivan Rassimov (Spasmo) who appears as, what else, a nefarious character who may or may not be complicit in the crimes.

Audio/Video: Like Fulci's The Black Cat this new 2K HD transfer was sourced from the original camera negative, but lacks the depth and clarity of Fulci's entry, there's some grit to it, it lacks the crispness and fine detail of the former, but looks significantly better that any version I have viewed before, it's a definite upgrade.  Audio again come by way of a crisp and clean uncompressed LPCM Mono English or Italian with optional  English SDH subtitles. 

Onto the bonus content we have a brand new interview with Sergio Martino himself in Italian with English subtitles as the director looks back upon his career and the influence of Edgar Allen Poe. Carried over from the No shame DVD from a few years back is a 23-minute making of retrospective featuring Martino, Edwige Fenech and screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi. Michael Mackenzie offers up a half-hour visual essay covering all of Martinos whodunits, film historian Justin Harries waxes poetic over Fenech for the half-hour career retrospective, and director Eli Roth offers a 9-minute appreciation of the movie and of the director, citing Martino as a direct influence on Hostel II, in addition to casting Fenech in the movie as well.

Special Features: 

- Through the Keyhole – a brand new interview with director Sergio Martino (35 Mins) HD
- Unveiling the Vice – making-of retrospective featuring interviews with Martino, star Edwige Fenech and screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi (23 Mins)
- Dolls of Flesh and Blood: The Gialli of Sergio Martino – a visual essay by Michael Mackenzie exploring the director’s unique contributions to the giallo genre (29 Mins) HD
- The Strange Vices of Ms. Fenech – film historian Justin Harries on the Your Vice actress’ prolific career (30 Mins) 

-  Eli Roth on Your Vice and the genius of Martino (9 Mins) HD
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matthew Griffin

- Limited Edition 80-page booklet containing new articles on the films, Lucio Fulci’s last ever interview and a reprint of Edgar Allen Poe’s original story.

Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key gets a nice upgrade from Arrow with a sweet array of newly produced supplemental material. of the pair of movies I liked it less than I did the Fulci entry but I have always favored Fulci, maybe to a fault. Martino's entry is solid, a deeply psycho-sexual whodunit ripe with sadism, misogyny and multi-faceted betrayal, while not may favorite of the Martino whodunits this is still a high recommend. Arrow's Edgar Allan Poe’s Black Cats: Two Adaptations by Sergio Martino and  Lucio Fulci is a classy release, the new HD transfers are the best either movies have ever appeared on home video, and the value-added extras make this one of my favorite releases of the year.