The Film (4/5)

I have been a fan of Lucio Fulci and his works for over 20 years at this point. When I first saw my first 2 (New York Ripper and Zombi 2) they blew my mind, because his films were not safe, bad things happened, and I was able to see every detail.  From the eyeball puncturing in Zombi 2, to the intestinal vomiting in City of the Living Dead, and beyond. These films were gory and uncompromising, willing to show things that the more popular horror films at the time were unable to show.

     Not only did he show great scenes of blood and gore, but he could direct, and create wonderfully atmospheric worlds to commit his cinematic atrocities.  Perversion Story (One on Top of the Other, Una Sull'altra) is one of his least gory films, but one of the director's finest efforts.  Fulci creates a Hitch-cocking suspense thriller set in late 60's psychedelic San Francisco.  We call Dario Argento the “Italian Hitchcock,” but Fulci with this film created a amazing companion piece to Hitchcock's Vertigo. 

The film stars Jean Sorel (Short Night of Glass Dolls!!) as Dr. George Dumurrier.  George is unhappily married to his wife, Susan (Marisa Mell, Danger: Diabolik), and is in love with his mistress Jane.  When Susan suddenly dies from complications due to her asthma.  He begins to feel guilty about his infidelity.   One night while on a date with Jane, he enters a strip club where a stripper named Monica Weston is performing.  Monica is the spitting image of Susan, and George becomes totally enamored by her.  He begins cheating on Jane with Monica, and begins to arouse suspicion from both Jane, and the insurance investigators currently following his case.

Audio/Video (4/5)

    Mondo Macabro does their usual brilliant work in bringing Perversion Story to Blu-ray. The film is presented 1:85:1 in a 1080p AVC encoded transfer. Everything here looks spectacular. Colors pop, detail is excellent, and blacks are inky and deep. The Severin DVD was very nice 10 years ago, but this definitely brings this solidly into the realm of Blu-ray. 

    Audio is handled with both English and Italian audio tracks which come through crisp and clean with no apparent issues.

Extras (3.5/5)

    Extras include a 30 minute interview with Jean Sorel, a 10 minute piece with Elsa Martinelli, and a nearly 40 minute analysis by the always fantastic Stephen Thrower.

Overall

    Mondo Macabro brings Lucio Fulci's debut gialli Perversion Story to Blu-ray with stunning results. There are some fine extras, in addition to the excellent video and sound restoration, so of course this is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.