|
Severin Films are seemingly the best friend a fan of Italian and European trash and sleaze cinema can possibly have. They are constantly putting out the best Blu-ray editions of the truly most wanted films in the genre from Jess Franco films, to Italian splatter cinema, and they do it with both an eye to the best possible presentation for the films, and also to pleasing the fans as well. This month they have unleashed 3 brilliant releases of some long-awaited Italian titles, such as the Lucio Fulci/Bruno Mattei directed Zombi 3, The Claudio Fragrasso directed Zombi 4: After Death, and the Aliens meet Terminator by way of Bruno Mattei Shocking Dark.
Zombi 3
Director: Lucio Fulci/Bruno Mattei (Uncredited)
Cast: Deran Sarafian;Beatrice Ring;Ottaviano Dell'Acqua
Country of Origin: Italy
Writer: Scott MacDonald
OK, so I guess a little background is in order, but I'm going to assume most people reading will know some of this. Dario Argento helped George A. Romero fund his Night of the Living Dead sequel Dawn of the Dead, in exchange for producing the film, Argento would get to recut the film for European audiences. His version which emphasized the action, over the characterization of the Romero version was titled "Zombie". As Zombie was a runaway success, producers in Italy decided to make their own version specifically Fabrizio De Angelis and Ugo Tucci decided to make a film that would be known as Zombi 2. This film would be helmed by director Lucio Fulci, and would become a genre classic for it's atmosphere, soundtrack, and scenes of extreme violence.
Zombi 2 like Zombie would also be a success, but Fulci rather than follow it up immediately would go on to make some of his greatest classics like House by the Cemetery, The Beyond, and City of the Living Dead. However, in 1988 he would be convinced to finally go back to his greatest undead triumph and make Zombi 3. Unfortunately, Fulci's health was already in decline, and after shooting an amount of footage which has long been debated, but probably about half of the film, he had to leave the set. The film was then taken over by Bruno Mattei and Claudio Fragrasso who had been making their mark in Italian horror throughout the early and mid-80's in a much different way then Fulci previously had.
The resulting film is tonally much different than Zombi 2, and in no way acts as a sequel to it. Rather, it is seemingly an mash-up of elements from recent undead success stories from such as Return of the Living Dead and Re-Animator back to George Romero's work like The Crazies and Day of the Dead. The film doesn't have much of a plot, but what there is involves a team of scientists who created a biological weapon known as "Death One". This was meant to be destroyed, but ended up getting stolen. When the thief gets infected, he is picked up and killed by the military (plus the entire motel he occupied), and is cremated by the military sending Death One into the air and creating a zombie outbreak over an entire island. Soldiers from the military are sent out to kill the infected, and anyone suspected to be infected, while various groups of survivors attempt to band together to escape both the crazed gun-happy military and the zombies.
Zombi 3 is a WEIRD film, and that's why I love it. There is no narrative through line hear like you might find in even Zombi 2, rather the film seems to have been shot hastily with a lot of the screen play left behind, either not shot at all, or left on the cutting room floor, as such we are left with a delirious greatest hits of Italian zombie cinema. Of course, this leaves one problem and that is the film doesn't have much of a flow to it. Individual parts are amazing to watch, but as a whole Zombi 3 feels at times clunky. Still I cannot help, but have an odd affection for this one, and most late 80's Italian trash-horror like it. Any film that chooses to have a zombie head fly out of a refrigerator and attack, or a zombie baby punch out of the womb and kill, is perfectly awesome in my book.
Severin presents Zombi 3 in what appears to a different and new transfer from the 88 Films version. It is presented 1:85:1 in a 1080p AVC encoded, and looks quite detailed, with a lush color scheme that represents the film quite well. There are moments of softness, but that is to be expected with this film. Extras include new and archival interviews with members of the cast and crew. We also get a commentary with Beatrice Ring and Doran Sarafian, and a theatrical trailer.
The Film (3.5/5)
Audio/Video (4/5)
Extras (4/5)
_________________________________________________________________________
Zombi 4
Director: Clyde Anderson (Claudio Fragrasso)
Cast: Jeff Stryker, Candice Daly, Massimo Vanni
Country of Origin: Italy
Writer: Scott MacDonald
I will have to admit unlike Zombi 3, Zombi 4 was a grower. There was a period at the beginning of my Italian horror fandom that I took the genre with a degree of seriousness, that I do believe it deserves, and deserved, but at the same time made watching the more absurd stuff especially from the early 80's onward sort of impossible. Fortunately I got over that, and my enjoyment of 80's Italian horror increased greatly. This allowed me to find enjoyment in films like Zombi 4 that I previously thought were lacking in any enjoyable qualities.
Zombi 4 opens with a group of scientists and explorers getting cursed by the wife of a voodoo priest. This event causes the dead to rise, and give chase to the group who seemingly all get massacred by the living dead, except for the daughter of two of the people on this trek who is given a necklace and escapes to a nearby river to safety. 20 years later "Jenny" comes back to the island to find out what happened to her parents with a group of friends, and ends up meeting with another group of explorers who are investigating caves in the area. Of course, the group end up reviving the curse, and in the process becoming death-fodder for the returning zombies.
OK, so while I am a pretty staunch defender of Zombi 3, this one is a bit harder to defend. That being said I do enjoy it quite a bit. Zombi 4 has a pretty effective opening sequence that gets things going at a pretty fast pace, and is sure to get most fans of the genre immediately interested. The film then slows back down to establish Jenny, and other second group of characters lead by Chuck (Jeff Stryker). However, like Zombi 3 the film tends to not have a cohesive through line, and once the setup is out of the way viewers are treated to some reasonably atmospheric zombie mayhem. Fragrasso is not a director known for his style, but he does manage to bring some interesting visuals to this film at certain parts that help to elevate it beyond its low budget, and no fan should be dissatisfied with the amount of splatter present. Couple that with Al Festa's amazing theme song, and fans will be treated to a great cheesy Italian zombie horror package.
Severin presents Zombie 4: After Death in a very solid 1:85:1 1080p AVC encoded transfer that presents the film in a manner that is an upgrade all around. Everything here makes Zombi 4 look better than ever before. Audio is handled by a mono track in English that brings the soundtrack, dialogue, and ambient background sound come out clearer and better then ever before. Extras include BTS footage, a trailer, and interviews with the cast and crew.
The Film (3/5)
Audio/Video (4/5)
Extras (3/5)
_________________________________________________________________________
Shocking Dark
Director: Bruno Mattei
Cast: Christopher Ahrens, Geretta Geretta
Country of Origin: Italy
Writer: Scott MacDonald
If I could end this review now, and just say to run out and buy Severin's Blu-ray of Shocking Dark I would. It's how much I love this film, and how happy I am this Blu-ray of it exist. I am fairly certain if you look at Severin's Facebook page you can see my personal request (possibly multiple) for this title, as it is one that I have wanted on a physical disc format for a very very long time, as it has not had a physical release since VHS, and a film this mind-blowingly entertaining does not deserve to languish in VHS obscurity.
The film is essentially a mashup of Aliens and Terminator, it concerns a future Venice which has become uninhabitable due to a toxic cloud over the city. There are a few guards and scientists left in a research facility, but they are attacked and send out a distress call. A team of marines, and a scientist are sent in to figure out what happened and discover mutated alien creatures that begin to pick off the marines one by one. It also turns out that there is another villain in their midst.
Shocking Dark is absurd, it totally rips off Terminator and Aliens, and it does so unapologetic ally, and yet like Bruno Mattei's other films it is so much fun it is impossible to care. The characters are basically stand-ins for the ones people are most familar with from Aliens, but cast in cheap-apocalyptic costumes, and dubbed accordingly. The film itself is paced extremely well, we get introduced to the characters and situation, and things get crazy fast, and they don't let up.
Audio is presented with DTS-HD mono in English but also Dolby Digital in a variety of other languages. I stuck to the HD audio option and that sounded quite solid for the most part. The transfer is a 1080p AVC encoded transfer that look great, well detailed, with solid blacks, and well reproduced colors. There was minor damage from the source material, but overall it was beyond my expectations for the film. Extras include a 13 minute interview with Claudio Fragrasso and Rossella Drudi. We also get an interview with Geretta Geretta. The disc is rounded off by the alternate Terminator 2 titles, and a Japanese trailer for the film.
All 3 films are amazing slices of campy Italian horror, and for all 3 films Severin Films lavished considerable excellent work from beautiful audio/video work to excellent extras. If you are a fan of Italian horror and cult cinema, these are an absolute must buy.
The Film (5/5)
Audio/Video (4/5)
Extras (3/5)
|
