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Released by: Deimos Films/BCI Eclipse
Released on: 8/17/2007
Director: Amando De Ossorio
Cast: Maria Kosti, Simon Andreu, Kali Hansa, Barbara Rey, Jack Taylor, Jose Thelman
Year: 1973
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The Movie:
Arguably the best known directorial effort of Amando De Ossario outside of his four Blind Dead films, Night Of The Sorcerers has been a popular title on the bootleg circuit for years but only know finally finds a decent release on DVD thanks to Deimos' Spanish horror line. While the film is a far cry from the deadly serious gothic atmosphere and creeping ambience of the Blind Dead movies, that doesn't mean it's any less enjoyable.
The film begins in Africa in the early 1900s where a tribe of voodoo practicing natives abducts a Christian missionary worker (Barbara Rey). These savages waste no time raping her only to cut off her head and reattach it so that she can be reborn as a crazed vampire woman! Shortly after a group of soldiers show up and exterminate the tribes people and the world is safe once more… or so it seems. Cut to the present day (or at least the present day as it was in 1973!) and a team or scientists are on safari to research the wildlife in the very area where the sacrifice/vampire ceremony took place years ago. Lead by Professor Grant (Jack Taylor) and a big game hunter named Rod Carter (Simon Andreau) who are joined by three lovely ladies - Elisabeth (Maria Kosti), Carol (Loli Tovar) and Tunikia (Kali Hansa) - the group soon find themselves deeper in the thick wilds of the jungle than they thought.
Far removed from the most remote traces of civilization, our team soon bares witness to some strange events, not the least of which is the re-emergence of the ancient tribe who are once again bound and determined to turn the lovely ladies into crazed vampire women. Despite the warnings of a local man named Tomunga (Joseph Thelman), the group stays, determined to finish their task but this will prove to be a night they will never forget!
Filled with all manner of sadism and completely gratuitous nudity (its only real purpose seemingly to exploit the curvy starlets of its cast), Night Of The Sorcerers is a pretty trashy affair but if you keep your expectations in check, it's a completely rewarding one. Granted, the story doesn't make a whole lot of sense but the movie does have campy style to spare and some great location shooting. The cinematography is slick and the cast of buxom lovelies goes a long way towards ensuring that there is certainly no shortage of eye candy. Add to that some fairly strong gore and the odd whipping here and there and it's easy to see how this one has developed a fairly rabid cult following over the years.
The opening scene containing the first of the voodoo ceremonies portrayed in the film is quite strong. It's shot very well and it is actually quite tense. Blending some perverse innuendo with the eventual violence makes for an interesting juxtaposition and these early moments set the picture up nicely. From there, however, goofy plot devices and some genuinely bizarre slow-motion-fur-bikini-crazy-vampire-lady action eventually start to poke holes in the film. The end result is a campy picture with an eccentric soundtrack and a few fun performances with plenty of sleaze appeal and no shortage of decapitations!
Until recently, the easiest way to see Night Of The Sorcerers was by way of Midnight Video's gray market DVD-R, which was sourced from the Japanese VHS release, regarded as the most complete version released on home video. With burned in Japanese subtitles, this was hardly ideal. Fans got their hopes up when the short lived Mondo Crash line from Crash Cinema announced that they were going to release the title, but that obviously didn't happen and it's only know with Deimos' DVD that fans can finally see the movie in a properly restored presentation.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Presented in its original fullframe aspect ratio (and looking like an open matte presentation), the BCI/Deimos release of Night Of The Sorcerers looks great on DVD. Taken from the film's original negative the picture is quite strong with fantastic color reproduction and only slight print damage. Grain is present but never overpowering and although there are some really minor compression artifacts in a couple of the darker scenes you really have to look for them to notice. Fine detail in both the foreground and the background of the picture is quite satisfying and seeing the film in a properly restored presentation really makes it easier to appreciate the film's bizarre look and pop-art color palette.
Two different sound mixes are provided, both in Dolby Digital Mono format - English dubbed and Spanish with optional subtitles are provided in English. Both tracks are fine although attentive viewers might notice the English track suffers from a few moments of wonky synching. Aside from that, things are fine and there aren't any problems with hiss or distortion and the levels are all balanced nicely. The score in particular sounds quite good.
The most interesting supplement on the disc is a section of alternate scenes from the Spanish language clothed version of the film. While the uncut footage contained in the feature version of the film is preferable, it's interesting to see how the filmmaker's covered up the naughty bits in a few key scenes from the movie including the voodoo dance and the opening sequence. Also included here is some footage culled from the aforementioned Japanese tape, which shows how optical fogging was used to cover frontal nudity for the Japanese market.
Aside from the alternate scenes, Deimos has also included the English language theatrical trailer, the Spanish language opening and closing credits sequences, and a fairly extensive collection of posters, video releases and promotional materials in still gallery form. Animated menus and chapter selection options are also included.
Inside the keepcase is another set of liner notes from Mirek Lipinski which provide some welcome background information on the film's director and on the film's rather scattered release history in North America and other markets.
The Final Word:
It seems like Euro-cult enthusiasts have been waiting ages for a proper presentation of Night Of The Sorcerers and thankfully Deimos' DVD does not disappoint. The transfer is great, the audio is decent and the extras, while a little lighter than some of us may have hoped for, provide some interesting background on the movie and it's different versions. The film remains a lot of good, trashy fun and it's loaded with style and strange atmosphere - definitely recommended.