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Released by: Raro Video
Released on: May 8, 2012.
Director: Riccardo Freda
Cast: Laura Gemser, Stefano Patrizi, Silvia Dionisio, Anita Strindberg
Year: 1981
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The Movie:
The final film directed by Riccardo Freda, 1981's Murder Obsession begins with a fairly typical giallo set piece in which a killer stalks a beautiful woman (Laura Gemser) and murders her on screen. Fooled you! This is a movie within a movie, and once that scene has been shot, we meet leading man Michael Stanford (Stefano Patrizi), who is obviously starting to feel the pressure from his occupation taking its toll on him as he almost killed his poor co-star in that opening scene. As such, he decides to get away from it all and head off, with his girlfriend Deborah (Silvia Dionisio) in tow, to his old family home, a place he has been hesitant to return to for some time now. Why? Because apparently he murdered his own father there when he was a kid, something that's understandably left his mother, Glenda (Anita Strindberg) a bit of a mess all these years.
Things seem to be going well at first, despite some jealousy from dear old mom and some bizarre incestuous overtones on the part of Michael, but then members of the film crew show up looking for some locations to use. From here, things just start to get weird, as one of the female characters starts to have nightmares about a cult, some giant killer spiders and murder most foul!
A decidedly bizarre mix of standard giallo trappings and elements of more traditional gothic horror, Murder Obsession is a strange film to be sure, but despite a slow start after that attention grabbing opening set piece, by the time the film hits its middle part, it turns out to be a pretty entertaining genre mash-up. Freda cut his teeth on gothic horror, having directed films like The Horrible Doctor Hichcock and The Ghost before jumping on the giallo band wagon and offering up oddball entries like The Iguana With The Tongue Of Fire (which still needs a good domestic release on DVD). Here, as with a few of this other films, Freda seems more interested in combining the two genres he was best known for than in creating a story that makes a whole lot of sense, but you've got to give the guy points for trying something new here, even if it doesn't always work.
As fun a the movie is, and it is a blast once it picks up, the story jumps around. A lot. Logic is frequently thrown out the window and character motivations don't always make sense but it always looks great and features some slick cinematography and some memorable set pieces. On top of that, the film doesn't shy away from the sex and violence that seem like giallo prerequisites. Featuring early work from Sergio Stivaletti, there's a great 'death by chainsaw' scene and a few decent murder set pieces - and if that weren't enough, Gemser and Dionisio both spend a lot of time nude or at least scantily clad. You'll be scratching your head when the end credits roll, but at least you'll have fun with the film.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Raro offers up a nice AVC encoded 1.85.1 widescreen 1080p high definition transfer that walks all over the recent DVD release (which looked good) in terms of detail and texture. There's just a lot more to see here, especially in close up shots but also in the backgrounds of the various sets and locations used throughout the movie. This means that big goofy spider looks even bigger and goofier but it also means that skin looks more natural and that clothing looks more realistic. Color reproduction is very nice, with solid blacks and appropriately garish reds, and there are no issues with serious print damage to note. Contrast looks good, there aren't any heavy edge enhancement or noise reduction issues and all in all the movie looks very, very good on Blu-ray.
Also improved is the audio, now handled by way of a lossless DTS-HD 2.0 track in Italian with optional English subtitles. The score sounds a little stronger and more powerful here without feeling artificially pumped up while dialogue also benefits, sounding a little more natural here.
The main extra on this release is the inclusion of the alternate English version, also presented in 1080p HD in 1.85.1 and with an English language DTS-HD Mono track. It clocks in at about six minutes shorter than the uncut Italian version and the quality of the transfer is more or less the same, though there are some moments where clarity isn't quite as sharp and the image looks a little bit rougher - for the most part though, the differences are negligible. There isn't any hiss nor are there any distortion issues and things sound quite good. It's here more as a novelty than anything else but it's nice to see both cuts of the film preserved.
Raro have also included a few new interviews that weren't on the DVD release, the first of which is a twenty-two minute chat with Claudio Simonetti of Goblin fame who talks about the film for a while and discusses various aspects of the Italian horror movie industry of the 1980s. The second new interview sets Gabriele Albanesi in front of the camera to discuss the influence of various productions and to offer up his thoughts on this film and some of the people who worked on it, expressing some sincere admiration for Riccardo Freda. A quick 0:24 deleted scene is also included which, again, was not on the DVD release.
Additionally the Blu-ray release carries over the DVD's ten minute interview with special effects guru Sergio Stivaletti who talks about how his relationship with Lamberto Bava developed, what it was like working with Dario Argento, how he got into doing effects work and what it was like working on Murder Obsession, which was an early project for him. Inside the keepcase is a nice booklet of liner notes which detail the plot and provide some background information on the film and the people who worked on it in addition to some biographical information in its director. Aside from the alternate version of the film, all of the other extras on the disc are in standard definition.
The Final Word:
Murder Obsession is a bizarre and sleazy late period giallo that doesn't always make a whole lot of sense but which never fails to entertain. Raro's Blu-ray improves on the DVD release in a big way and is definitely the way to go with this one if you've got the hardware. Highly recommended for giallo enthusiasts and Euro-cult junkies alike.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
