Paul Naschy Collection II
Director- Various
Cast- Paul Naschy, Various
Country of Origin- Spain
Discs- 5
Distributor- Scream Factory
Reviewer- Scott MacDonald
Date- 11/20/2017
The Films (3.5/5)
Paul Naschy is one of the true greats of late 20th century European horror cinema. During his career starting in the late 1960's, and carrying through to the last years of his life, he became known as Spain's answer to Lon Chaney, which is an apt description of the actor, director, and screenwriter who played almost every conceivable sort of monster during his career. Some like his Waldemar Daninsky/werewolf character he played multiple times as part of a series.
For such a popular and well loved actor as Paul Naschy his work has trickled on to the Blu-ray format in the U.S. He received 1-2 releases from Code Red (sigh), early in the formats life cycle, and then, a release of Crimson from Redemption/Kino, but Scream Factory have really knocked their Naschy titles out of the park, and done this legend a service by releasing 10 of his films now over 2 box sets (and we hope there is at least a third in the works). This time putting a variety of Naschy works from lots of different genres, allowing fans and non-fans alike to get a true sampling of his work.
The first disc in the set opens with what can be considered a true Naschy classic Hunchback of the Morgue. Hunchback of the Morgue sees Naschy playing Gortho, the titular hunchback of the film. Gortho, has fallen in love with a sickly woman who has shown him much friendship and appreciation in her final days. After she dies he goes into a rage, and begins to work with a mad scientist to bring her back from the dead. Of course, this scientist being mad requires dead bodies, which Gortho retrieves with the promise of bringing his love back to life. This film has a lot going for it. An interesting central performance from Naschy himself, some decent kill scenes, and wonderful set designs. The film is never really slow, and has a nice grim, yet tragic atmosphere to it's Hunchback meets Frankenstein-esque story.
The second film of the set might be my favorite, and it's also where I get to inject a bit of controversy into the review. A Dragonfly for Each Corpse is another of Naschy's entries into the giallo genre. The first Scream Factory Naschy Collection contained the more popular and classic Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll (aka House of Psychotic Women), which is understandable as that film is considered one of Naschy's truly great films. However, A Dragonfly for Each Corpse took me by surprise. It is a more traditional giallo film, with a black gloved and masked killer,. Between Blue Eyes, and Dragonfly, I ended up preferring Dragonfly immensely. The film stars Naschy as Inspector Paolo Scaporella, a police detective who ends up working on a murder case involving a man who is killing "deviants" around the city, and leaving their corpses with a blood-soaked dragonfly.
This one won't win awards for originality, it is definitely a by the numbers giallo. However, as far as typical gialli go this one is great. It opens with a really great bloody opening number, and though nothing after really compares, this film still has great atmospherics and a nice air of suspense throughout. Naschy plays more of a straight police role in this one, and handles it quite well.
The third disc in the set contains The Devil's Possessed. Recently, I have started to just put movie into my player that I haven't heard of without any bit of research into them, just to let myself be a bit surprised. This lack of expectations has allowed me to be rewarded more times than not, and to say I was surprised by this entry into the Naschy filmography would be an understatement.
With a title like The Devil's Possessed I expected something akin to a 70's supernatural thriller (something Disc 4 would provide), Instead what I got was a medieval film where Naschy plays the lord of a castle obsessed with conquering the country, and to do that he needs money. So he hires an alchemist to turn lead into gold. To do this he needs sacrifices, which inevitably do not work. This turns Naschy's Baron Gilles into more and more of a tyrant, and causes a rebellion against him.
Though elements of the film are horror, this film is more of a medieval drama with elements of action, horror, and drama. As such it is the true odd man out in the set. Naschy does a great villainous turn here, and I actually really enjoyed the film once I caught on to it's wavelength (some of Naschy's other horror films begin in medievel settings, so I was caught off board). The film did feel a tad over long by the end, but it is a minor complaint, and if an open minded viewer goes in with checked expectations they should have a fun time with this one.
With the success of William Friedkin's The Exorcist in the early 70's the European genre filmmakers of the time were quick to turn around and make their own variations on the theme (to be fair to them, American studios also turned around and started cashing in). Disc 4 of the set contains Exorcism, which stars Naschy as a priest who is brought in to "exorcise" a young girl who is possessed by the spirit of her Father, causing her to act out in monstrous ways.
The film starts out slow, but as the running time goes on it picks up and by the last half reaches absolute gonzo territory. Naschy here is again more like the straight man akin to A Dragonfly for Each Corpse, the the restrain he shows is fitting to the material. I have only ever complained about one Exorcist knock off in my life (House of Exorcism, which ruins a better film), so I tend to enjoy these films, and this one is no different.
The fifth film in the set is the underrepresented on digital formats Werewolf and the Yeti. This one gives it pretty much all away on the title, but that's fine. It is a truly bizarre and wonderful film experience. Naschy plays his famed Waldemar Daninsky character as an explorer going into the Himalaya's to look for the Yeti. Instead he finds 2 nymphets who turn him into a werewolf, and get tangled up in local politics when a local warlord kidnaps him and his love. The pair fight back to get out, and yes. Waldemar as the wolf does fight a yeti.
This is probably the most bizarre film in the set, and it is a blast. I loved every second of of the film, and while there are 13 Daninsky films, this one won't rate as the best, it's still an amazing good time, with nymphets, a sorceress, a yeti, and a werewolf all in a pseudo-Asian setting. It's bloody and fun, and one of the highlights of the second Scream Factory Naschy Collection.
Audio/Video (3.5/5)
Scream didn't have full access to the materials for these films, but they did what they could, and for the ones I have seen definitely are severe improvements over their DVD counterparts. Some of them have lesser materials to fill in moments to make their unrated cuts, and that is understood with the complexity of the situations these films are in. The first 3 films in the set are provided to viewers in 1:85:1 1080p transfers, Exorcism is 1:78:1 and Werewolf and the Yeti is 1:33:1. Everything for the most part looks pretty good and filmlike. The films are far from perfect, but for long time viewers of Naschy's work they are definite upgrades. Detail is solid, and all the transfers offer film like textures. There is minor bits of damage from the source material across each, and as suggested earlier there are some bits used to make the uncut versions that come from lesser sources, and those moments stand out, but overall the presentations are quite solid.
The audio tracks presented are either DTS-HD mono Castilian or DTS-HD English dub mono. All the tracks are quite audible and clear for the most part, with some instances of hiss and crackling on some of the films.
Extras (3/5)
As with the first set extras are limited, but we get some nice ones where they are applied. Hunchback of the Morgue gets another excellent and informative commentary track by Rod Barnett and Troy Guinn of the famed (if you're a Eurohorror nerd) NaschyCast. Hunchback also has a trailer and still gallery. A Dragonfly for Each Corpse and Exorcism gets a pair of in depth commentary tracks from Paul Naschy biographer Troy Howarth. Exorcism comes with a clothed version of nude scenes, trailers, an English credit sequence, and a still gallery. The rest of the discs have either trailers or Still galleries. There is also a booklet of liner notes by Mirek Lipinski.
Overall
Scream Factory have assembled another brilliant collection of Paul Naschy's works. The audio/video work here is quite solid, and the extras are a nice touch. I hope this is not the end of the Scream Factory/Paul Naschy relationship because these sets belong on every Eurohorror fans shelf. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
