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Released by: Sinema Diabla
Released on: 9/23/2003
Director: Emilio P. Miraglia
Cast: Anthony De Teffe, Erica Blanc, Marina Malfatti, Joan C. Davis, Giacomo Rossi
Year: 1971
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The Movie:
Antonio De Teffe (of Django The Bastard, and credited here as Anthony Steffen) plays Lord Alan Cunningham, a wealthy man with a penchant for torturing and killing buxom red haired prostitutes. It seems he was driven to madness when he found former wife, Evelyn, in the arms of another man. Eventually, she died during childbirth and he went a little squirrelly.
One night he takes a lovely stripper named Susie (Euro Horror favorite Erica Blanc, best known as the star of The Devil's Nightmare and tons of other films) back to his place after seeing her do a fancy strip tease out of a coffin one night at a nightclub. When she thinks that they are about to get it on, he surprises her by whipping her and just as he's about to kill her, she escapes and runs around naked for a while until she escapes the massive dilapidated mansion in which he lives.
When his cousin George (Roberto Maldera) and his Doctor, Richard (Giacomo Rossi-Stuart of The Fighting Fists Of Shanghai Joe) encourage him to go out and find a new woman, he eventually hooks up with the smoking hot Gladys (Marina Malfatti). He takes an instant liking to her and after taking her home and introducing her to his wheel chair bound Aunt Agatha (Joan C. Davis), the two are soon wed. Eventually though, Cunningham starts seeing his late wife again in visions and things get a little crazy as some of the local-yocals end up dead.
The Night Evelyn Came Out Of The Grave drags on in a few spots and probably would have been better if it had been trimmed of about ten minutes or so but overall it's a pretty satisfying Euro-Sleaze experience. There are a few scenes that are a bit too talky but the copious nudity and spots of violence make up for it, and if you pay close attention and watch it with the lights off, there are even one or two scenes that are a wee bit creepy.
It's far from a perfect film - the English dubbing takes away from it a lot and the story feels padded a few times, meandering here and there between horrific elements and soap opera clichés but it's worth watching even if it's only for the lovely Miss Blanc's performance in her birthday suit. But there is more to it than that that makes it worth checking out and this DVD does appear to be fully uncut at least as far as the sex and violence goes (there are a few jumpy scenes that could be due to print damage?).
Video/Audio/Extras:
The film was composed for a 2.35.1 presentation. The back of the keepcase states that this is a letterboxed version and that it is a 'gorgeous digital presentation.' Well, it is letterboxed, but that's hardly enough to save it and it's certainly not at all a gorgeous presentation. Thought it is enhanced for 16x9 sets, the image is still stretched and there appears to be picture information missing from both sides, most noticeable during the opening credits where entire letters are missing. Colors, for the most part, are faded and worn looking and there is constant print damage popping up during the entire film which does prove to be distracting. A grayish matte bar also appears at the top of the image and stays there for the entire duration.
The audio is presented in a hissy, poor sounding Dolby Digital Mono English dub.
The disc is completely barebones and there are no extra features.
The Final Word:
While the movie holds up well, the transfer is terrible, the audio is below average, and there are no extras at all on this disc. It's a shame that there, as of yet, hasn't been a proper DVD release of this title.