Gothic Fantastico: Four Italian Tales Of Terror [Limited Edition]

[Jaymole]

I have now watched all 4 films and The Witch is by far my favorite. I had never seen it before and the boxset was worth it just for that film.

[Hammerlover]

Originally Posted by Jaymole

I have now watched all 4 films and The Witch is by far my favorite. I had never seen it before and the boxset was worth it just for that film.

It's my favorite too; a dark and dazzling gem of a movie.

[ravenus]

Over the weekend I watch a couple of the films from this set:

Lady Morgan's Vengeance
The first half is a play on Gaslight. A wealthy Scottish heiress whose betrothed is lost at sea and feared dead, is married to another suitor posing as an extremely sympathetic gentleman. But his true colors emerge after the marriage. He gets rid of all her faithful servants and replaces them with his own confederates, including a lady's maid (Erika Blanc) who practices hypnotism on the heiress. Together they plot to prove the woman insane and cause her death.The second act goes into the supernatural, for Lady Morgan's restless spirit returns from the grave and extracts revenge on her murderers.
This was rather decent as these things go with some nice visual imagery, although not as kinetic as a Bava may have done with the material. Blanc is suitably creepy as the scheming maid, and the actor that plays the evil butler goes amusingly overwrought when the tables turn.
The opening outdoor scene show some noticeable print damage, but the video is otherwise generally in good shape. There is only an Italian mono track with optional subs. Extras include a commentary and several featurettes including cast & crew interviews.

The Third Eye
Within the first couple of scenes, you realize that this is a rejig of Psycho. A young Franco Nero plays a neurotic mama's boy who now wants to be a man to his girlfriend...and he makes a hobby of taxidermy. But this is a nice bit of reworking of a modern Freudian story into a much more pronounced gothic form. Apart from the domineering mama who does not approve of her son's girl, there's the faithful maid that feels her services should be rewarded by her marrying into the family. In keeping with the Hitchocock homage a phallic knife makes an important appearance; there's even a bit of Vertigo twist.
Erika Blanc features again, and she is the main star of this show. While not exactly subtle Nero does well enough as the psychological tormented man under his mother's thumb and later on haunted by a different obsession. Gioia Pascal who has apparently worked in only 2 films (IMDB) is also quite good as the maid with a mission. Technical values are very sound, with special mention for the luminous cinematography with some very sinuous camera moves.
The blu-ray image is quite handsome with excellent contrast. There's a choice of Italian and English audio, I went for the former and have no specific complaints about it. Extras include feature commentary, an interview with Erika Blanc and some video essays.

So at least at half-ways in, this is shaping up as a nice set I am happy to have in my collection.

[ravenus]

Last night I saw The Blancheville Monster.

The movie riffs a great deal from Roger Corman's film of The House of Usher, with a dash of "The thing in the cellar" monster archetype. A 19th century Scottish lady is visiting her ancestral home after a long while, bringing in tow her Irish friends (a brother and sister). After her father's death, her brother, who is now Lord of the castle, seems a nervous melancholic type. She also finds that all the old servants have been replaced by some rather suspicious looking characters, including a doctor who drops in so often you wonder if he sees any other patients. Soon mysterious events happen around our girl and her friends, including sleepwalking under a malign influence and the presence of a horribly disfigured man in the castle tower. It appears there's a family curse that the female descendant upon adulthood will cause the end of the line, and someone seems determined to kill her before that happens.

While Corman's film was a masterpiece of mood with some bravura baroque performances, the proceedings of The Blancheville Monster are too absurd to take seriously. The revelation of the mystery is both predictable and pedestrian. This is still a rather good looking film. The miniature work is not as impressive as a Mario Bava would have achieved (rather obvious model castle with artificial rain at the beginning), but the shadowy gothic mood is well realized in setting and the cinematography. The score is also too overwrought, trying to sound foreboding even for perfectly ordinary scenes - it gets tiresome fast.

Video quality is pretty damn good on the disc, with solid contrast, well-resolved grain and nicely graded grayscale. I can't recall any gross instances of damage or instability. The sound (on the Italian mono track) is limited by the technology of the time, plus its obviously done in post. There is an English audio track as well, and a bunch of extras including a feature commentary, and several featurettes, which I have yet to see.

[Video Ghoul]

I finished the set last night. Visually, the set is incredible and none of the movies were duds. Completely worth the money. The movies in order of my enjoyment:

1. Lady Morgan's Vengeance
2. The Third Eye
3. The Blancheville Monster
4. The Witch

[ravenus]

I already posted this review of The Witch / La Strega in Amore in the Arrow Video threads, but for completion's sake I will quote myself in the individual thread for the box as well:

The last entry for me in Arrow's Gothico Fantastico set is Damiano Damiani's The Witch (the Italian title transliterates as The Witch in Love). The title may be regarded as a bit of a spoiler (the original idea was to call it Aura, like the source novel).

Richard Johnson (known to horror fans as the driven doctor in Fulci's Zombi 2) is a dashing writer in urban Rome that leads a colorful lifestyle, shifting between girlfriends and shying away from any long term commitments. Intrigued by an old woman he thinks is stalking him, he follows her to her address, a labyrinthine mansion that seems a world away from its urban neighborhood. He thinks she is looking for a toy boy, but she claims to only want to hire him as a librarian to catalog her husband's writings, especially a series of erotic memoirs. Richard is about to walk away when the woman drinks a strange brew and falls comatose. From the shadows emerges a young beautiful woman (Rosanna Schiaffino), who claims to be the old lady's daughter and calls herself Aura. Johnson is instantly smitten by the girl's beauty and her utterly uninhibited manner with him, and agrees to stay on as the new librarian. The only hitch in the ointment is that the previous librarian is still in the house (a young Gian Maria Volonte), and not willing to leave. In an impressive performance Volonte is a curious mixture of bravado and pitiable despair, and Aura seems to keep shifting sides between him and Johnson in a manner that should ring warning bells. But Johnson is determined to stay in Aura's company, even if it means grappling with increasingly strange situations.

As it unfolds The Witch reveals itself as a brilliant modern take on a dark fairy tale of seduction. The film's impact heavily relies on the chemistry between Feretti's domineering old woman and Schiaffino's Aura and they are in gorgeous sync (echoes of Ingmar Bergman's Persona by way of Mario Bava's florid Gothic style). Some parts of this film would seem to foreshadow Anna Biller's IMO underrated 2016 horror-satire Love Witch. The climax is jarring, coming across as a sudden and crude closure to the otherwise sophisticated and sinuous turns the plot took until then. But The Witch still comes recommended as a fine watch for fans looking for a stylish modern take on the Gothic tale.

Video-wise, I think this was my personal favorite in the whole set, the image revealing fine texture and a nuanced contrast. The Italian mono audio is fine (taking into account dubbing in post) - the film has an excellent score that underlines its strangeness and this comes across strongly. The extras show clips of the English version, and I personally thought the English dub sounds very awkward compared to the Italian.

Extras include a short introduction and 2 video pieces - one that focuses on the history of witches from a feminist perspective, and another that looks at the film and its place in Damiani's career. There's also a Kat Ellinger commentary which is very good, if you like her style - I do, she takes a lot of trouble to analyze and give context with some genuine scholarship, not just picking trivia off IMDB.

[T4ffer]

Does anyone know what is this Massimo Pupillo movie Sa jana or Sajana that he talks fondly about in the audio interview? It's from 1981.

It is on IMDB https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0126649/ without much info, and not even on TMDB, Letterboxd or this site I guess.

[T4ffer]

Lady Morgan's Vengeance
The Blancheville Monster
The Third Eye
The Witch ½

[Ky-Fi]

Huh, must have missed this when it was released, but I picked it up last week.

Just watched Lady Morgan's Vengeance last night, and I enjoyed it. I definitely prefer Italian Gothic horror in the 60s, when the films were more atmospheric and less gory than a lot of the later ones.

[russweiss1]

Originally Posted by Ky-Fi

Huh, must have missed this when it was released, but I picked it up last week.

Just watched Lady Morgan's Vengeance last night, and I enjoyed it. I definitely prefer Italian Gothic horror in the 60s, when the films were more atmospheric and less gory than a lot of the later ones.

You may want to check out Mondo Macabro's House of Terrors. Japanese gothic from the 60's.

[Ky-Fi]

Originally Posted by russweiss1

You may want to check out Mondo Macabro's House of Terrors. Japanese gothic from the 60's.

Ah, thanks for the recommendation. I was not familiar with that, but looking it up, I think it's right up my alley! I enjoyed that director's Goke: Body Snatchers From Hell--and I also have the Bloodthirsty Trilogy set.

[edmonddantes]

wow, the witch is truly a gem, I was thoroughly fascinated and engaged by the story and performances, Sarah Ferrati was exceptional

It also feels extremely modern and multi layered, and has that baroque, malicious, unpredictable component that I love in my italian and hispanic movies. Haven't been a fan of Carlos Fuentes, but I think he had some brilliant ideas, as you can see in this story.

It instantly becomes one of my favorite italian movies, loved it and looks fantastic in the arrow presentation.

[joshinminn]

Arrow has this on sale this weekend for $40. It isn't the limited edition, which I see had a poster for sure, but I can't tell if there is also a booklet that isn't included in the non-limited version. Anyone know?

[JupiterMission]

Originally Posted by joshinminn

Arrow has this on sale this weekend for $40. It isn't the limited edition, which I see had a poster for sure, but I can't tell if there is also a booklet that isn't included in the non-limited version. Anyone know?

Going by the site's description, the version on sale doesn't have the booklet. The page for the limited edition version mentions the booklet in the product description, but the product description for the $40 version has mention of that and the poster removed.

[deadheadbill]

Finally got around to watching my set. The only film I didn't care for was The Blancheville Monster. I agree with others that The Witch is amazing and worth the price of the set alone. My order would be.

1. The Witch
2. The Third Eye
3. Lady Morgan's Vengeance
and then to be honest, pretty far down would be
4. The Blancheville Monster.

[deadheadbill]

Originally Posted by joshinminn

Arrow has this on sale this weekend for $40. It isn't the limited edition, which I see had a poster for sure, but I can't tell if there is also a booklet that isn't included in the non-limited version. Anyone know?

I know this is a necro post. But if you're still looking for it Barnes and Noble has it for 50 bucks in the ltd packaging with the book and poster. You just have to be careful and because they have 2 listings and one is the standard. Just look in the "details" section and get the one with the older release date and it's the collectors edition.

[Kenneth M]

Originally Posted by deadheadbill

I know this is a necro post. But if you're still looking for it Barnes and Noble has it for 50 bucks in the ltd packaging with the book and poster. You just have to be careful and because they have 2 listings and one is the standard. Just look in the "details" section and get the one with the older release date and it's the collectors edition.

Excellent post, thx!

Was able to snag this for 3rd Eye as this is considered a giallo, thus was needed for my gialli collection.

[deadheadbill]

Originally Posted by Kenneth M

Excellent post, thx!

Was able to snag this for 3rd Eye as this is considered a giallo, thus was needed for my gialli collection.

Third Eye is great. Be sure to check out The Witch too.

[Hammerlover]

I wish Arrow would do a followup volume.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by Hammerlover

I wish Arrow would do a followup volume.

I second that. Or maybe Radiance could as an Italian counterpart to their Daiei Gothic.