Obscure Cinema

DVD review: This Film is Not Yet Rated

It's an oft-overused statement, but I'm going to say it anyway: This Film is Not Yet Rated is something that anyone with any interesting films, mainstream or independent, needs to see. The MPAA's decisions have such an impact on the viewing experiences of every filmgoer, regardless of whether or not they live in the US, that people really should be more aware of just how what they can or cannot see is decided. The documentary does suffer from a handful of oversights, and it doesn't even pretend to be unbiased, while the DVD itself is hardly a technical masterpiece, but don't let those provisos dissuade you from seeking it out.

I've reviewed the recent R1 release of This Film is Not Yet Rated, a documentary exposing the practices of the notoriously clandestine MPAA.

Delivery debacle

My copy of the Blu-ray release of Ridley Scott's director's cut of Kingdom of Heaven arrived today from DVD Pacific. At 194 minutes, this is one of the longest title to be released on either of the two HD formats, as far as I'm aware beaten only by the 198-minute Spartacus on HD DVD. Anyway, on DVD, this cut of Kingdom of Heaven came in a lavish four-disc set, splitting the film across the first two and showcasing a wealth of extras on discs three and four. For the Blu-ray release, all of the extras, barring the trailer, have been disposed of. And why? Would it really have been so hard for them to include an extra disc - even a standard DVD9 or two - including the extras? Was space on the BD50 really so scarce that they couldn't toss in the three audio commentaries at a low bit rate? The first question can be answered by simply stating that Fox are cheapskates and have already built up a reputation for diddling customers over when it comes to extras on their Blu-ray releases. The second question can also be answered by going down the "Fox are cheapskates" route: instead of licensing a more efficient codec, they chose to encode the movie using bloated old MPEG2, and in doing so ensured that the only element of the disc that's "Beyond High Definition" is the pop-up menu.

Anyway, what of the transfer itself? It's impressive, and in the upper echelon of Blu-ray efforts. No, it's not The Descent or Silent Hill, and it doesn't hold a candle to HD DVD greats like Serenity and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, or even almost-but-not-quite titles like King Kong and The Adventures of Robin Hood. It is very good, though: a solid 8/10 affair marred only by some artefacting in the opening snow-laden scenes (MPEG2, look at you!) and some mild but persistent edge enhancement. Obviously, I've not watched the entire film yet, so I may uncover some additional problems when I go through it with a fine toothcomb, but first impressions would put it more or less on a level with Constantine and Robin Hood Daffy.

My copy of the French collector's edition DVD release of Lucio Fulci's Beatrice Cenci also arrived today, from FNAC, along with the two most recent "Grande Collection" Asterix books (interesting that one, shipped on the final day of the last month from Amazon.fr, arrived on the same day as the other, shipped four days ago from FNAC). I've given it the once-over, and it appears to have a decent if unremarkable transfer (it's 1.85:1, which appears to be the intended aspect ratio, although some of the opening credits on the right-hand side are barely contained within the frame on a zero-overscan display), although the lack of English subtitles is going to be a bit of a pain. Still, at least my French (rudimentary) is better than my Italian (non-existent), so I suppose I can probably just about muddle through with the help of the subtitles.

Deep Red... the Musical?

Oh my...

The latest HD image quality rankings

Time for the latest high definition image rankings update. This one is particularly noteworthy because, thanks to a combination of buying various titles myself and renting a handful to give the once-over, I've been able to add Blu-ray releases to the list. (I would have liked also to have added Hostel and S.W.A.T. to the list, but some dumdum managed to render the rental copies I received unreadable by attacking the data surface with some sort of CD cleaner and a rather coarse rag.)

Of the new additions, there are a few surprises. Chiefly, it seems that once again my views on image quality are out of step with those of the bulk of the reviewing populace. Silent Hill was held up to be wildly inconsistent, with some moments of awful image quality, when in reality it is a stunning-looking disc. Fantastic Four and Tears of the Sun, meanwhile, both received charitable if not outright ecstatic reviews, when in actual fact it turns out that both have been subjects to a disturbing degree of digital manipulation. Of the two, Fantastic Four is the worse, but Tears of the Sun is not what I expect from HD either: edge enhanced and with a strangely "waxy" look to it (not to mention more compression artefacts than I've seen on any other Blu-ray title), it sums up the sort of excessive tinkering I hate to see in a transfer. Perhaps, though, these fake-looking, processed, edge enhanced titles are what people actually want? How else can you explain the rave reviews of the likes of Brokeback Mountain on HD DVD, and of standard definition titles like The Lord of the Rings, Final Destination 3 and the remake of The Hills Have Eyes? The same goes for the HD DVD of Batman Begins (which, along with some other titles, I also rented), which is the worst-looking Warner disc I've seen this side of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Far be it for me to say "Everybody's wrong except me", but sometimes that's genuinely how I feel.

10/10

• Corpse Bride (Warner, USA, HD DVD)
• Serenity (Universal, UK, HD DVD)
• Serenity (Universal, USA, HD DVD)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Warner, UK, HD DVD)
• The Descent (Lions Gate, USA, Blu-ray)

9/10

• Looney Tunes: Rabbit Hood (Warner, USA, HD DVD)*
• King Kong (Universal, UK, HD DVD)
• The Bourne Supremacy (Universal, USA, HD DVD)
• The Adventures of Robin Hood (Warner, USA)
• Miami Vice (Universal, USA, HD DVD)
• Silent Hill (Sony Pictures, USA, Blu-ray)
• Doom (Universal, UK, HD DVD)
• Casablanca (Warner, USA, HD DVD)
• Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Warner, UK, HD DVD)

8/10

• Unleashed (Universal, USA, HD DVD)
• Red Dragon (Universal, USA, HD DVD)
• Constantine (Warner, USA, HD DVD)
• Looney Tunes: Robin Hood Daffy (Warner, USA, HD DVD)*
• Land of the Dead (Universal, USA, HD DVD)
• V for Vendetta (Warner, USA, HD DVD)
• The Machinist (Toshiba, Japan, HD DVD)
• Sleepy Hollow (Paramount, USA, HD DVD)
• Million Dollar Baby (Warner, USA, HD DVD)
• Batman Begins (Warner, UK, HD DVD)
• Van Helsing (Universal, UK, HD DVD)

7/10

• Wolf Creek (The Weinstein Company, USA, HD DVD)
• The Exorcism of Emily Rose (Sony Pictures, UK, Blu-ray)
• Tears of the Sun (Sony Pictures, UK, Blu-ray)
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Universal, USA, HD DVD)
• The Mummy Returns (Universal, USA, HD DVD)
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Warner, USA, HD DVD)
• Enemy of the State (Buena Vista, USA, Blu-ray)

6/10

• Fantastic Four (20th Century Fox, UK, Blu-ray)
• Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (Paramount, USA, HD DVD)
• An American Werewolf in London (Universal, USA, HD DVD)
• Brokeback Mountain (Universal, USA, HD DVD)
• Basic Instinct (Studio Canal, France, HD DVD)

* Found on the The Adventures of Robin Hood HD DVD.

So much to see, so little time

It looks as if this is going to be quite a busy month for me as far as reviews are concerned. In addition to Brokeback Mountain (HD DVD) and Waking the Dead: Series 4 (DVD), which are hold-overs from January that I still need to complete (and I really should also do a write-up on last year's Waking the Dead: Series 3, for the sake of completeness), I've also put in reservations for this month's upcoming releases of Lucio Fulci's Perversion Story (personally, I prefer its more literal translation title of One on Top of the Other), and Dario Argento's episode for the second season of Masters of Horror, Pelts. Having already seen both, albeit not in the most ideal form, I'm expecting to lavish praise on the former and deliver a more lukewarm appraisal to the latter, although I am looking forward to seeing them both again.

I've also managed to snag a chance to review Paramount's upcoming (February 20th) HD DVD of Babel, the latest film by Alejandro González Iñárritu, whose previous film, 21 Grams, I thought was excellent. Incidentally, it's nice to see Paramount finally releasing something in high definition, even if its arrival does little more than to highlight how threadbare their slate of titles is: barring this, Failure to Launch and Payback are the only titles they have announced for 2007 so far. Oh, and interestingly enough, for Babel they would appear to have abandoned VC-1 as their HD DVD codec in favour of AVC (the Blu-ray variant is MPEG2, because Sony handles their HD release on the Blu front).

Oh, and I finally got fed up waiting for Amazon.fr to ship my copy of Beatrice Cenci, and ordered it instead from Fnac, who actually have it in stock. In the past, I've found Amazon (.fr, .co.uk, .com - you name it) to be irritatingly slow for deliveries. Basically, unless it says "Usually dispatched within 24 hours", it's more or less a foregone conclusion that it won't actually ship for weeks, if at all. The same is true of the recently released Grande Collection edition of Asterix and the Goths, which I also cancelled from Amazon and ordered from Fnac (its partner in the February release schedule, Asterix and Obelix All at Sea, did, however, leave Amazon in a reasonably timely fashion). Amazon.co.uk did, however, dispatch my copy of the score to The Iron Giant, which I ordered last night, in less than 12 hours. Luckily, I should be able to afford all these expenses, given that I punted my Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on to a friend for £130 today.

More high-def movie madness

I've pre-ordered the upcoming HD DVD release of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (due out on April 24th) from Amazon.com. This is one of the few HD DVD titles announced with a definite release date that I'm actually interested in, which is sad to say the least - particularly given the impressive momentum that team HD DVD had last Autumn.

In the meantime, there are a few Blu-ray titles due out between now and Summer that I'm definitely interested in picking up. I've already got Casino Royale on pre-order, and I'll also be picking up American Pyscho (February 6th), Hannibal and The Silence of the Lambs (both April 3rd), Cars (June 5th) and The Rock (June 8th). Whichever way you look at it, it's not the most stellar line-up ever announced, but Lyris has also got Flightplan and Chicago on the way, and hopefully Warner and Universal will provide some definite HD DVD release dates before too long, so with any luck we won't be left completely high and dry.

By the way, with all this high definition fun and excitement, I forgot to mention that the DVD of This Film is Not Yet Rated arrived last Thursday (February 1st). If you have any interest in films, Hollywood or otherwise, this is a must-watch, as it delves into the very heart of the Motion Picture Association of America, one of the most clandestine bodies in America, revealing just how messed-up the whole industry is. Weary, battle-scarred veterans, who have had their tussles with the sinister MPAA, bravely appear on camera to recount the hypocrisy, prejudice and pettiness with which they were faced in the process of trying to get their work certified. Particularly revealing are side by side comparisons of R-rated heterosexual and NC17-rated homosexual sex scenes, which clearly highlight the organisation's anti-gay bias, while the most excitement comes in the form of private investigator Becky Altringer's efforts to dig up dirt on the organisation and uncover the secret identities of its nameless, faceless raters. There are certainly some areas in which I felt it could have gone into more detail - perhaps, for example, discussing the ins and outs of a movie industry in which a rating which bars children from seeing a film is such a kiss of death, or indeed debating whether or not children should be allowed to see films such as Se7en and The Passion of the Christ in the first place, with or without parent supervision - but on the whole I found this to be an enlightening, and often shocking, look at the whole process. Now, I just wish someone would make a similar documentary on the (admittedly more accountable) BBFC...

Update, February 4th, 2007 11:50 PM: I pre-ordered American Psycho from DVD Pacific.

DVDs I bought or received in the month of January

• Brokeback Mountain (R0 USA, HD DVD/SD DVD combo)
• The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire (R0 Germany, SD DVD)
• A Lizard in a Woman's Skin: Remastered Edition (R1 USA, SD DVD)
• The Mephisto Waltz (R2 Spain, SD DVD)
• Waking the Dead: Series 4 (R2 UK, SD DVD)

DVD and HD DVD purchases this month were somewhat overshadowed by the ordering of a Playstation 3 and some Blu-ray discs to play on it. Look for impressions on these some time in early February.

Updated HD DVD image quality rankings

Lyris' recent purchase of a 40" 1080p-capable display has caused me to re-evaluate a few titles. By and large, not much has changed, although Corpse Bride has emerged as the closest to being technically "perfect" (personally, I prefer the grainy aesthetic of Serenity, though).

10/10

• Corpse Bride (Warner, USA)
• Serenity (Universal, UK)
• Serenity (Universal, USA)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Warner, UK)

9/10

• The Bourne Supremacy (Universal, USA)
• The Adventures of Robin Hood (Warner, USA)
• Miami Vice (Universal, USA)
• Unleashed (Universal, USA)
• Casablanca (Warner, USA)
• Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Warner, UK)

8/10

• Red Dragon (Universal, USA)
• Constantine (Warner, USA)
• Land of the Dead (Universal, USA)
• V for Vendetta (Warner, USA)
• The Machinist (Toshiba, Japan)
• Sleepy Hollow (Paramount, USA)
• Million Dollar Baby (Warner, USA)

7/10

• Wolf Creek (The Weinstein Company, USA)
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Universal, USA)
• The Mummy Returns (Universal, USA)
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Warner, USA)

6/10

• Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (Paramount, USA)
• An American Werewolf in London (Universal, USA)
• Brokeback Mountain (Universal, USA)
• Basic Instinct (Studio Canal, France)

I'll continue to post this list, with updates, at regular intervals (probably around once a month). Also, expect Blu-ray titles to begin to be added starting with the next major update.

Slaughter Hotel

Italy: Fernando Di Leo, 1971

A hooded assassin armed with an axe is trawling the corridors of a mental asylum for troubled (not to mention oversexed) women located somewhere in the countryside. It's the sort of asylum that's run by the shifty-eyed Klaus Kinski and stocked will all manner of medieval weaponry. The sort of asylum where the curvaceous inmates sleep in the nude with their bedroom doors wide open and the lights on full blast - in other words, the usual kind. Who could it be? (Hint: it's not Klaus Kinski.)

There are some interesting colour-tinted opening titles which introduce the key cast members. These remind me somewhat od the opening titles for Zimmer 13, and manage to be quite atmospheric, suggesting that the film which follows them will be of a similar standard. Unfortunately, Slaughter Hotel turns out to be a flatly shot and annoyingly ludicrous affair, combining elements of the giallo with soft-core (and even, at times, borderline hard-core) pornography, neither to good effect. With its theme of insanity and its attempts to marry the modernism of the giallo with a gothic aesthetic, it recalls Emilio Miraglia's considerably more effective (although still deeply flawed) The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave, but here any attempts to develop an engaging plot fail miserably and are jettisoned in favour of scene after scene of sex and/or bloodletting.

What's surprising is that all of this could have been pretty entertaining in a "so bad it's good way", but the film kills any potential for this by moving at a snail's pace and generally dragging out each scene well after its limited potential has been exhausted. There's nothing particularly appealing about an ineptly-staged lesbian scene between two uncomfortable-looking actresses going on for minute after minute. The characters themselves are not particularly interesting, although the various "cures" suggested for the inmates' "ailments" should raise an eyebrow or two - Rosalba Neri's character, committed, it would seem, because she likes having sex, is immediately ordered to take a shower, an act which has the effect of causing her to writhe about orgasmically and rub herself against the walls (this particular act is set to some amusingly sinister music courtesy of Silvano Spadaccino, whose score is, for the most part, dull and uninteresting).

This is ultimately the sort of giallo that makes Strip Nude For Your Killer look well-made and intelligently scripted. As a murder mystery it fails to work, and as a slice of cult sleaze it's hardly any more effective. I'm just slightly surprised that such a sexually explicit giallo was made as early as 1971 - I'd previously assumed that this particular trend didn't emerge until closer to the middle of the decade. In the end, it's all very silly but also rather boring. Deep Red this ain't. 2/10

Footprints on the Moon

Italy: Luigi Bazzoni, 1975

Some films are so completely nutty that the only way of understanding just how nutty they are is to see them for yourself. This is certainly the case with Footprints on the Moon, which also goes by the names of Primal Impulse or just Footprints (its original Italian title is Le Orme, which translates as "the tracks", i.e. footprints). This 1975 piece was made by Luigi Bazzoni and his regular cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, who in 1971 had collaborated on a giallo called The Fifth Cord, which was very impressive to look at but rather inremarkable in the script department. Footprints on the Moon is generally referred to as Bazzoni's "other giallo", but in truth I think that label is somewhat tenuous. The word "giallo" conjures up different things for different people, but I think it's fairly self-evident that anyone expecting the usual black-gloved serial killer affair, as popularised by Dario Argento, will be slightly disappointed by this film. Likewise, even those whose definition of the giallo is broader will probably find the content of the film a bit surprising. The nearest point of comparison I can think of is The Perfume of the Lady in Black, another Italian thriller from the same period which dealt with the similar subject matter of a woman whose sanity is crumbling.

Florinda Bolkan (A Lizard in a Woman's Skin, Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion) stars as Alice, a translator being haunted by nightmares of a rather creepy black and white sci-fi film starring Klaus Kinski as the sinister Blackmann. She believes she remembers seeing the film once, but the dreams are incredibly vivid and seem almost real. Following one of these dreams, Alice awakens to discover that she has forgotten the events of the past three days. Initially led to believe that she has actually been asleep for this duration of time, she becomes suspicious when various clues lead her to the Turkish island of Garma, where various locals clearly remember her having visited only a few days ago - an event of which Alice has no recollection. Even more strangely, they all address her as Nicole.

Footprints on the Moon is considerably more avant-garde than its predecessor. While The Fifth Cord was essentially the work of an experimental crew saddled with a conventional script, this one makes absolutely no attempt to be "normal". Right from the start something seems to be off: there is a sense of distance and artificiality, conveyed by the careful camerawork and set dressing. The washed-out pan and scan transfer of my copy makes it difficult to appreciate the cinematography, but even so Bazzoni and Storaro's fascinating use of angles and geometric architecture is readily evident. Likewise, there use of primary colours recalls their work on The Fifth Cord, with night scenes where the entire screen is bathed in blue and a slow motion climax with pumped contrasts and heavy colour tinting. As befits a film in which the protagonist's mental faculties are being called into question, we're never quite sure whether what we're seeing or hearing is real or all in her head.

There's a sense at times that the imagery is just a little too crazy to be entirely successful: the use of the aforementioned sci-fi movie is, to an extent, explained at the end, but it doesn't exactly fit the tone of the rest of the film, and much of it tends to be a little on the cheesy side. I'm also not sure I'd call the film as good as The Fifth Cord - its narrative is certainly considerably more imaginative, but it does at times overstep the mark and end up simply being weird for the sake of weirdness. In balance, The Fifth Cord was more successful because it was less ambitious in its intentions. Still, Footprints on the Moon is a unique, atmospheric, and visually arresting film that really needs a legitimate DVD release so that these qualities can be fully appreciated. 8/10

The year's most prestigious popularity contest

Put on your best frock: the nominations for the 2007 Academy Awards are in. As usual, I've seen virtually none of the films in the list, including none of those in the Best Picture, Acting, and Directing categories. Of the ones that I have seen, I don't think there can be any doubt that Cars deserves the Animated Feature Film award, while the nomination of Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan for - wait for it - Writing (Adapted Screenplay) only serves to make me wonder if the people who put these lists together actually understand the concept of writing (for those who don't know, Borat, although based on a general outline, is largely comprised of improvised, unscripted encounters with real people). Meanwhile, the fact that Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest can now claim four nominations to its name simply serves to highlight something I pointed out last year: not all Oscars are created equal, but it seems absolutely ridiculous that this dumb and overlong popcorn flick can actually claim to have received more nominations than something like, say, Gangs of New York (2002), whose nominations were in categories that actually matter, like Best Picture and Best Director.

Of the films listed, the one that has racked up the largest number of nominations is Guillermo Del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth, with an impressive six categories to its name. I've not seen the film yet, but I really want to - the stills I've seen look absolutely amazing. Warner owns the rights in the US, so I'm going to wait patiently in the hope that it sees an HD DVD release before the year is out.

The iguana with the tongue of VHS noise

My copies of The Mephisto Waltz and The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire arrived from Xploited Cinema this morning. The Mephisto Waltz is actually the Spanish release of the film, rather than the French version I'd assumed it to be, but it makes no difference, given that the disc itself features English audio, menus and subtitles, in addition to a variety of other languages. A quick glance at the transfer suggests that it's pretty good: like many of Fox's recent releases, it's soft and a little noise reduced, but actually fairly attractive overall, and, needless to say, a massive improvement on my VHS dupe.

The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire, meanwhile, is a big disappointment, partly because the image quality is very poor (it's in widescreen, but I suspect that the source is a VHS tape), but mainly because it's a very weak giallo. This is actually the first Riccardo Freda film that I've seen, and I gather that his standard is usually somewhat better than this; the fact that he signed the film under the pseudonym of "Willy Pareto" suggests that he didn't regard it particularly highly either. Even through the grime and haze of the poor transfer, it's fairly easy to see that the visuals aren't all that hot, while the plot itself, not to mention the characters, fail to be even remotely engaging. It lacks a strong protagonist, while the killer's identity is a non-event and his/her motive non-existent, and the somewhat unusual Dublin location is never really exploited to its full potential. This is definitely close to the bottom of the barrel, as far as I'm concerned, although you might get a kick or two out of lines like "Well now, me fleet-footed filly, are we going to have it off in the bushes or on the bike?"

DVD review: A Lizard in a Woman's Skin

All in all, Media Blasters have put together an excellent DVD, and one which more than makes up for their previous release of the film. It would, of course, be wrong to say that the disc is perfect: the bonus features are incomplete, the image quality variable and a brief snippet of footage still missing. The first problem could easily have been solved by simply including all of the extras from the previous Media Blasters release (I suppose this gives us a reason to hang on to both versions). The other two were probably unavoidable. It's looking increasingly likely that the extended shot of Strindberg kneeling before Bolkan and then standing simply cannot be sourced from any known print, while the variable image quality is down to the condition of the available materials. Tim Lucas believes Studio Canal to be in control of the original negative, but it seems that they are unwilling to surrender it to a third party, and, in any event, there's no telling what state it is in, or how complete. It is entirely possible that this new composite DVD contains material no longer present in the original negative, and, as such, I think we should be thankful that we now have, on DVD, a cut of the film considerably more complete than any other version commercially available.

Described by the DVD producer himself as "the most vocal critic" of Media Blasters' previous substandard release of A Lizard in a Woman's Skin, I've been rewarded for his moaning with a sneak peek of the remastered edition due out in March...

Review at DVD Times.

More Italian delights for 2007

It looks as if 2007 is going to be a truly great year for Lucio Fulci fans. In March, Media Blasters will be delivering the almost definitive version of A Lizard in a Woman's Skin, and Severin Films will be unleashing his long-lost first giallo, One on Top of the Other (a.k.a. Perversion Story), in February. Before either of these are released, however, we have another Fulci treat to look forward to: the French distributor Neo Publishing are, on January 22nd, releasing his period drama Beatrice Cenci, considered by the maestro himself to be his best film. This film has never before been released on DVD, and it's one that I've wanted to see ever since I read about it in Stephen Thrower's book Beyond Terror: The Films of Lucio Fulci. As with most Neo Publishing releases, I'm not expecting it to be English-friendly, but, provided it has French subtitles (which I'm guessing will be the case), I can probably muddle through it. I've placed my pre-order with Amazon.fr.

Also doing their bit to keep up the Roman side, Dark Sky Films, the company responsible for last year's Ultimate Edition of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, are releasing DVDs of both Mario Bava's highly-regarded Kill Baby Kill and Riccardo Freda's little-seen horror film Tragic Ceremony (known to some by the amusingly convoluted title of Estratto Dagli Archivi Segreti della Polizia di una Capitale Europea). It's the latter, starring the talented Camille Keaton (of What Have You Done to Solange? and I Spit on Your Grave fame), that interests me the most, and I'm going to try to get my hands on a review copy, although I'll probably also pick up Kill Baby Kill, due out on March 27th. Click here for more details on Tragic Ceremony, and here for Kill Baby Kill.

A lizard in a pristine new skin

(See my previous posts on this release: 1, 2, 3, 4)

My sample copy of the new US release of A Lizard in a Woman's Skin arrived this morning, direct from Media Blasters (thanks, Richard). As "the most vocal critic" (thanks again, Richard!) of the label's previous, substandard release of the film, I'm sure you all want to know what I think of their second attempt at this title. The short version: it's excellent - pre-order your copy immediately. The long version: read on.

First, a little history lesson. Media Blasters first released A Lizard in a Woman's Skin on DVD back in February 2005 after a lengthy period of delay during which they had tried and failed to get their hands on an uncut film element. Rather than hold the title back indefinitely, they chose to release a compromised edition, putting out a two-disc set containing two versions of the film. The first was a film-sourced, widescreen presentation of the cut US release from American International Pictures, known in some circles as Schizoid. In addition to removing a handful of key dialogue scenes, it also omitted the now-notorious "eviscerated dogs" sequence, as well as making substantial trims to the film's violence, nudity and sex scenes. The second was a fullscreen presentation of the Italian theatrical release, standards converted from a PAL VHS tape and presented in Italian with English subtitles. This version was substantially more complete than the AIP version, but the quality was, unsurprisingly, poor, and it too was missing some brief material (which, ironically enough, was present and correct in the AIP version). Fan reaction to this release was rather mixed. Some praised Media Blasters' efforts to do the best they had with the limited materials available to them; others (myself included), were suspicious that corners had been cut and lambasted the DVD makers, finding it hard to believe the claim that these were the best materials available.

The position of the latter was somewhat vindicated in July 2006 when the Italian label Federal Video put out a new DVD, featuring (broadly speaking) the Italian cut of the film, in film-sourced widescreen throughout. Evidently an actual print source of the Italian version had materialised, albeit one in something of a state of disrepair, and this, in conjunction with the same AIP print used by Media Blasters, was used to fashion a new version of the film. As good as this release was, however, it was plagued by a few problems. In particular, it featured the same two cuts by the Italian censor that also affected the second disc of Media Blasters' release, while the film's second dream sequence, which features the murder of Julia Durer (Anita Strindberg), was botched, featuring a combination of the American version, which was slightly cut and included a "ripple" effect of the entire image in order to obscure some full frontal nudity, and the Italian version, which was unrippled. A couple of dodgy splices also resulted in some abrupt audio cuts, and even a scene in which the same piece of footage appeared twice. More fundamentally, however, this version was presented in Italian only - a major problem, and not only for non-Italian speakers, given that this London-based film, which features the actual speaking voices of co-stars Stanley Baker and Leo Genn, not to mention excellent post-dubbing all round, plays much better in English than it does in Italian. This version did, however, contain a brief dialogue scene between Jean Sorel, Silvia Monti and Ely Galleani not seen in either of the versions provided in Media Blasters' release.

Media Blasters' new "remastered" version, due for release on March 13th, is the third release of the film in as many years, and I am happy to report that they have well and truly done their homework with this version. Mindful of past criticisms, they have put together yet another new version of the film, using the same elements uncovered for the Federal Video release. However, they have been careful to avoid Federal's pitfalls, resulting in a version that contains almost every snippet of footage known to exist. There is nothing on this DVD that has not been present in a previous release in some form, but this is certainly the first time that all of this material has been assembled into a single cut, and, in the case of the second dream sequence, this is the first DVD to present it completely unrippled and in widecreen. Unfortunately, there are still a few seconds missing here: a comparison between this release and Disc 2 of the previous Media Blasters release reveals that, in the earlier VHS-sourced version, the shot of Anita Strindberg kneeling at Florinda Bolkan's feet lasts several seconds longer, continuing to follow her as she slowly stands up, running her hands up the inside of Bolkan's coat as she does so. (On the VHS version, this shot lasts 22 seconds; in every other release, it runs for a mere 8 seconds.) This piece of footage is mentioned by Professor Paolo Albiero in his discussion of the film's censorship (see below) as being removed at the demands of the Italian censor, so the question is perhaps not why it isn't present in this release (or on Federal Video's DVD) but rather how it ended up on the Italian VHS in the first place. Either way, I believe Media Blasters when they state that they went to great lengths to make this DVD as complete as possible, so I suspect that, in this particular case, the shot in question is simply not obtainable. The whole film can be watched in English or in Italian with English subtitles (although three dialogue scenes for which English audio either never existed or was not obtainable are presented in subtitled Italian on the English track).

As far as image quality goes, Tim Lucas noted that this new disc had a rather oversaturated look, and it is true that the colours are more punchy, but only in relation to the Italian DVD: a comparison between this new release and Media Blasters' previous disc reveals identical colours. As I stated in my comparison between the first two releases, the Italian release has more naturalistic colours and also looks slightly sharper. This remains true, and the rather distracting blue-tinting problem that occurs during the middle of the film is still present (the Italian release, in comparison, has a rather desaturated but far more natural look during these scenes). Federal Video's handling of the portions sourced from the AIP print, therefore, remains superior to that of Media Blasters. On the flipside, though, the material culled from the battered Italian print is treated far better by Media Blasters, who have eschewed the heavy noise reduction techniques employed by Federal. This means that the material has a harsher look with more noticeable print damage, but it is vastly preferable to the smudged look seen on Federal Video's DVD. On the whole, therefore, I would say that the relative strengths and weaknesses of the 2006 and 2007 releases cancel each other out, and I can't say that I prefer one over the other.

As with the previous Media Blasters release, English audio comes in both 2.0 monaural (incorrectly labelled as stereo in the previous release but here correctly identified as mono) and 5.1 surround variants. The latter showcases some rather impressive sound design, combining stereo stems of Ennio Morricone's music score with 5.1 sound effects. However, it is not a faithful representation of Lucio Fulci's intentions: the foley track is comprised entirely of newly-sourced, "modern" effects, which feel out of place in comparison to the more strained vocal track, and at times drown out the score and dialogue. As such, the mono version is definitely the way to go, although curiosity-seekers may also wish to give the Italian track a look. Bear in mind, though, that the English version is vastly superior in every way.

A few brief notes on the extras are also in order. These are taken almost entirely from the Federal Video release and presented, for the first time, with English subtitles. These include the original Italian opening credits, and two interviews with Fulci expert Paolo Albiero, in which he discusses the film itself and its censorship, for a total running time of 36 minutes. Both of these interviews are highly enlightening, although it's a shame Media Blasters opted not to port over Kit Gavin's documentary, Shedding the Skin, from their 2004 release. A Fulci trailer reel is also included, showcasing a variety of the director's films, from Lizard to Zombie to Murder Rock.

All in all, Media Blasters have put together an excellent DVD, and one which more than makes up for their previous release of the film. It would, of course, be wrong to say that the disc is perfect: the bonus features are incomplete, the image quality variable and a brief snippet of footage still missing. The first problem could easily have been solved by simply including all of the extras from the previous Media Blasters release (I suppose this gives us a reason to hang on to both versions). The other two were probably unavoidable. It's looking increasingly likely that the extended shot of Strindberg kneeling before Bolkan and then standing simply cannot be sourced from any known print, while the variable image quality is down to the condition of the available materials. Tim Lucas believes Studio Canal to be in control of the original negative, but it seems that they are unwilling to surrender it to a third party, and, in any event, there's no telling what state it is in, or how complete. It is entirely possible that this new composite DVD contains material no longer present in the original negative, and, as such, I think we should be thankful that we now have, on DVD, a cut of the film considerably more complete than any other version commercially available.

MPAA in the doghouse

Source: Variety

After 85 years of clandestine operation, the American film censorship body, the MPAA, is finally being forced to become more accountable. The reason for this, it would seem, is a little documentary by filmmaker Kirby Dick, entitled This Film is Not Yet Rated. Released on DVD on January 23rd (I've got my copy pre-ordered), it is a shocking exposé into the goings-on behind closed doors at the notoriously secretive organisation, revealing many interesting factoids that the MPAA would rather remained secret, including its anti-gay bias, hostility towards independent filmmakers, lack of accountability of its examiners, and seemingly arbitrary classification process.

The result? The MPAA have been dragged kicking and screaming into the public's eye, and are now being forced to grow up a bit. From now on, the organisation will publish detailed criteria for each classification, filmmakers will be allowed to cite precedents set by previous classification decisions during the appeals process, more will be done to ensure that indie directors are given a voice, and more effort will be made to educate and train examiners before they are allowed to make ratings decisions. Obviously, given the MPAA's long history of opression, inequity and abuse of power, it's unrealistic to expect the situation to improve overnight, but it just goes to show that a guy with a camera can force an organisation that prides itself on unaccountability to fess up and sort out their act. Now I just need to see the film for myself...

Waltzing iguanas

It's been a while since I picked up a new giallo on DVD - Lucio Fulci's Murder Rock, in July, seems to have been the last one. Giallo DVD releases have certainly slowed of late, although there are still dozens, if not hundreds, of titles that have yet to see the light of day on the shiny disc format. Recently, however, a German company called New Entertainment World released a DVD of Riccardo Freda's The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire, a giallo I've wanted to see ever since I first heard its delightfully ridiculous name. Released under the title of Die Bestie mit dem Feurigen Atem ("the beast with the fiery breath"), its image quality is, by the sound of it, not particularly good, but I've been starved for good spaghetti slashers lately, and I'm pretty sure I own worse discs (the initial German release of Death Carries a Cane, for example).

As I was placing my order at Xploited Cinema, I happened to glance down at the "Customers who bought this product also purchased..." section, and my lid nearly flipped when I saw that a DVD had been released of The Mephisto Waltz. This is a rather derivative 70s horror movie designed to cash in on the success of the likes of Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist, but it has a special place in my heart because, back when I caught it on TV on late night in the early 1990s, it was one of the first "proper" horror films I ever saw. My memories of it are so fond that, last year, I bought a VHS dupe of the film on eBay. I never thought 20th Century Fox would ever release this on DVD, but it appears that, in France, they have done just that, under the title of Satan Mon Amour (which probably explains why I wasn't aware of its existence until now). Of course, I added it to the order.

Nocturnal wanderings

I can't remember precisely when I first enthused about the impending release of Nocturna, a delightfully twisted-looking nightmarish animated feature from Spain, but I have a feeling it was pretty close to when I first launched this site in 2001. Anyway, it's been put back and put back, but it seems that it might finally be coming out. A new trailer has surfaced on YouTube, boasting a release date of Summer 2007. Judging by the colour scheme and line style, it's taken on something of a Les Triplettes de Belleville influence since the last publicly available footage was released, but it still seems to have enough of its own flavour. In any event, it's great to see more traditionally animated features in the pipeline, and I for one hope this gets a theatrical release here instead of going straight to DVD (or, more likely for me, HD DVD, given that Filmax is an HD DVD partner).

You can find more information (and pictures) at the official web site.

Update, January 15, 2007 02:12 PM: There's another trailer here. You can also see artwork from directors Victor Maldonato and Adrian García's next project, Monsieur Collieu, here, and a trailer, here.

This year's HD DVD releases

Source: HD DVD Promotion Group

Here is a partial list of some of the 300 new titles we can expect to see on HD DVD this year in the US. Note that I've omitted concert, nature show and "screensaver"-type releases to concentrate on films and the odd TV show. I also haven't included titles that already have a street date.

• 2001: A Space Odyssey (Warner)
• The 40 Year Old Virgin (Universal)
• Above the Law (Warner)
• American Pie Presents: The Naked Mile (Universal)
• American Pie: Unrated (Universal)
• The American President (Warner)
• Angels in America (HBO)
• Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (New Line)
• The Aviator (Universal)
• Awake (The Weinstein Company)
• Band of Brothers (HBO)
• Battlestar Galactica (Universal)
• The Black Dahlia (Universal)
• Blade (New Line)
• Blade Runner (Warner)
• Blood Diamond (Warner)
• The Blues Brothers (Universal)
• The Bourne Identity (Universal)
• Braveheart (Paramount)
• Breaking and Entering (The Weinstein Company)
• Bruce Almighty (Universal)
• Bubble (Magnolia)
• Bullitt (Warner)
• Catwoman (Warner)
• A Clockwork Orange (Warner)
• Coach Carter (Paramount)
• Conan the Barbarian (Universal)
• Contact (Warner)
• Cowboy Bebop (Bandai)
• Dante's Peak (Universal)
• Dark City (New Line)
• Dawn of the Dead [remake] (Universal)
• Deadwood: Season 1 (HBO)
• Decameron (The Weinstein Company)
• The Dirty Harry Collection (Warner)
• DOA: Dead or Alive (The Weinstein Company)
• Elizabethtown (Paramount)
• Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (Magnolia)
• Eraser (Warner)
• Executive Decision (Warner)
• The Exorcist (Warner)
• Eyes Wide Shut (Warner)
• Face/Off (Paramount)
• Flags of Our Fathers (Paramount)
• Forest Gump (Paramount)
• Friday (New Line)
• Friends: Season 1 (Warner)
• From the Earth to the Moon (HBO)
• Galaxina (BCI)
• The Getaway (Warner)
• Ghost (Paramount)
• Ghost in the Shell (Bandai)
• Golgo 13 (BCI)
• The Good Shepherd (Universal)
• The Goonies (Warner)
• Gothika (Warner)
• Grease (Paramount)
• The Green Mile (Warner)
• Grindhouse (The Weinstein Company)
• Hannibal Rising (The Weinstein Company)
• Hard to Kill (Warner)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Warner)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Warner)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Warner)
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Warner)
• Idlewind (Universal)
• Inside Man (Universal)
• Killshot (The Weinstein Company)
• Last Legion (The Weinstein Company)
• The Lemon Drop Kid (BCI)
• Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (Paramount)
• The Libertine (The Weinstein Company)
• The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (New Line)
• The Maltese Falcon (Warner)
• The Mask (New Line)
• The Matrix (Warner)
• The Matrix Reloaded (Warner)
• The Matrix Revolutions (Warner)
• Maverick (Warner)
• Mission: Impossible (Paramount)
• Mission: Impossible 2 (Paramount)
• Mrs. Henderson Presents (The Weinstein Company)
• The Music Man (Warner)
• Mystic River (Warner)
• Natural Born Killers (Warner)
• Next of Kin (Warner)
• Night of the Werewolf (BCI)
• North by Northwest (Warner)
• Ocean's Eleven (Warner)
• Ocean's Thirteen (Warner)
• Ocean's Twelve (Warner)
• One Last Thing (Magnolia)
• Passenger 57 (Warner)
• The Player (New Line)
• Pride & Prejudice (Universal)
• Red Planet (Warner)
• The Return (Universal)
• Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (Warner)
• Rush Hour (New Line)
• Save the Last Dance (Paramount)
• Scarface (Universal)
• School for Scoundrels (The Weinstein Company)
• School of Rock (Paramount)
• Scoop (Universal)
• Se7en (New Line)
• The Shawshank Redemption (Warner)
• The Shining (Warner)
• Sin City 2 (The Weinstein Company)
• Singing' in the Rain (Warner)
• Sister Street Fighter (BCI)
• Soldier (Warner)
• Son of Paleface (BCI)
• The Sopranos [various seasons, it would seem] (HBO)
• Spawn (New Line)
• The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (Paramount)
• Star Trek: First Contact (Paramount)
• Star Trek: The Original Series (Paramount)
• Superman: Ultimate Collector's Edition (Warner)
• That's the Way of the World (BCI)
• Transamerica (The Weinstein Company)
• Twister (Warner)
• The Ultimate Star Trek Movie Collection (Paramount)
• US Marshals (Warner)
• Vanilla Sky (Paramount)
• Vengeance of the Zombies (BCI)
• The War at Home (Magnolia)
• The War Within (Magnolia)
• The West Wing: Season 7 (Warner)
• Wild Wild West (Warner)
• The Wizard of Oz (Warner)

Obviously this is not a concrete list - we can probably expect to see considerably more titles from Universal than are included here - but there are many, many titles in that list that I will definitely be picking up.

Tim Lucas on the new Lizard

I'm expecting my own sample copy to arrive at some point very soon, at which point I'll offer my own opinions, but it would seem that the redoubtable Tim Lucas has beaten everyone to it, posting his impressions of Media Blasters' new integral release of Lucio Fulci's A Lizard in a Woman's Skin on his Video WatchBlog.

Shriek Show is hoping to make good for their earlier release by issuing a new and improved single-disc remaster of Fulci's classic psycho-thriller that, they hope, will provide the best of all possible Lucertoli for the film's admirers. Having been given a first look at the new disc, I can attest that this new version is -- like the Federal presentation -- a unique cut of the film that was likely never shown in any theater anywhere in the world. It runs a full minute longer than Federal's earlier composite and is certainly the most complete version of the film likely to surface on DVD.

Visit Lucas' site for a full rundown of his findings: it certainly seems like this release is as complete as humanly possible, although a handful of his references to footage missing from various versions is inaccurate (for example, the Federal Video DVD was missing some Sapphic canoodling during the opening dream sequence, not the footage of Florinda Bolkan writhing around as referred to by Lucas), so there is still room for doubt in a couple of instances. In any event, you can expect a full rundown of what is and (hopefully not) isn't on the new DVD when my copy arrives, as well as a full-blown review at DVD Times. Preliminary observations, however, would suggest that Media Blasters have come up with a winner.

Stay tuned!