The Film (5/5)

   When No Shame released the DVD of Mariano Baino's Dark Waters I was just finishing up with college, and of course too broke to buy elaborate DVD special editions of films I had little knowledge about. I was quite surprised to see the reaction to its release, as to my knowledge Italian horror aside from the occasional film like Michele Soavi's Dellamorte Dellamore had all but disappeared from the cinematic map by 1993, so needless to say once Severin Films announced their Blu-ray of the film I was excited to see a film that has been recommended to me in the years since by both fans of Italian horror and H.P. Lovecraft.

   Dark Waters stars Louise Salter (Interview With the Vampire) as Elizabeth, a young woman who was born on a strange island many years before the main story takes place. Her Father has just died, and she was told explicitly by him as he passed to not return to that island, even though he has been sending them money, her entire life.  She,  being young and curious, decides to eschew his request and straight away heads for the island which is home to a convent where she is to stay with a friend of hers, Theresa. Of course upon arrival her friend is not there. So she is put in the care of Sister Sarah (Venera Simmons). Who takes care of her, but also encourages her to leave the island, because the more Elizabeth finds out about her past, the more she finds herself in harms way.

   Dark Waters is truly an unsung treasure of Italian horror. The film is a wonderfully dark supernatural horror affair, which takes takes visual queues from earlier Italian horror luminaries such as Dario Argento and Mario Bava mixes it with the world of 70's religious horror and the dark cosmic terror of H.P. Lovecraft to create something utterly spectacular.  Like the best Eurohorror the film has a tendency to meander instead of keep a straight narrative course, and relies primarily on its strong visual sensibilities to get by. Some of these are dark dreams that is Elizabeth has over the course of the film, but as time goes on dreams and reality begin to blend as she begins to find out more about the island, and of her origin.

   Dark Waters is the debut film from director Baino, and it absolutely does not show. He comes into this film with a distinct vision and carries it through to the end.  The film has loads of unique and memorable images that will burn their way into viewers brains for days after seeing this one.  The location for the film is perfect, and helps set a certain tone for the film. Performances are excellent especially Louise Salter as Elizabeth and Mariya Kapnist as the Mother Superior of the convent.

Audio/Video (3/5)

    Severin Films presents Dark Waters in a solid, but slightly problematic 1:85:1 1080p AVC encoded transfer. First, the positives. Colors here are well reproduced and really pop, as they should. The black levels are nice and deep, and detail is for the most part excellent. The master is of the director's cut version No Shame released in 2006. As far as the negatives go, has some softness throughout, and there are instances where some sort of scanner noise appears to show up.

   The audio, and I have to wonder if this was an encoding error was presented Dolby Digital 2.0. It sounded fine, and everything was audible, but one was to wonder if this was the intent to present it this way.

Extras (4/5)

    This release is absolutely stacked. We get a director's commentary by Mariano Baino, and also a silent blooper reel with his commentary. There are multiple featurettes detailing the making of the film from various perspectives. Severin also treats viewers to an intro by the director, deleted scenes, and a selection of short films by the director.

Overall

    Dark Waters is an absolute obscure Italian horror treasure. The Blu-ray from an A/V perspective has some minor issues, but is loaded with extras. RECOMMENDED.