Announcement
Collapse
No announcement yet.
Crimson
Collapse
X
Collapse
-
Crimson
Released by: Redemption
Released on: June 14th, 2016
Director: Juan Fortuny
Cast: Paul Naschy, Silvia Solar, Roberto Mauri
Year: 1973
Purchase from Amazon
The Movie
Director Juan Fortuny's Crimson, a.k.a. The Man with the Severed Head , exists as somewhat of a blight upon Spanish star Paul Naschy's otherwise enjoyable cult career; a movie which has now seen release on multiple formats, yet somehow never gets any more entertaining.
The film is a crime/horror hybrid of sorts, telling the tale of a bumbling group of jewel thieves whose getaway is spoiled by a shootout with police. Naschy plays one of the crooks who is shot in the head during the skirmish, and brought to an acquaintance of the group, a brain surgeon with wicked intentions of experimenting with synaptic transplants. This may sound like an entertaining premise on the outside, but the real problem is that Crimson grinds to a halt whenever Naschy isn't on screen, which is actually quite often for a bit of the film's running time.
Fortuny's direction is listless and his supporting cast dull as dishwater, doling out filler dialogue and expository information with very little passion or charisma. Even Naschy himself seems a little unhappy to be here, a flatness which shows in his performance, which is noticeably less engaging than most of his other work in the horror genre. Then again, this sort of shoddiness is bound to be expected from a Eurocine production, the French studio known for churning out bare bones productions from every conceivable genre, including the infamous Zombie Lake.
One main sticking point with previous editions of Crimson was the daft 'n dry English dub which accompanied the audio track. Redemption has gone the extra mile here on their Blu-Ray and included the longer, international cut of the film, which not only boasts a substantially less goofy French audio track, but also softcore sequences hemmed in to pad the running time and spice the film up for other markets. These scenes are about as subtle as a hammer, usually appearing out of nowhere, and serving only as to push the sexual envelope. They aren't quite as distracting as hardcore inserts, but don't add anything to make the film more enjoyable, either.
So we have an advertised Paul Naschy vehicle where the star disappears five minutes in and doesn't reappear in active duty until almost an hour into the plot. This leaves about thirty minutes for the titular man with the severed head, but it gets even worse, for once Naschy wakes up, he disappears AGAIN, so that we may enjoy some low level criminal antics, some mild nudity and terrible disco dancing from the passionless cast. Oh, and there's also an unrelated stage show which is never explained and features characters which never again appear in the film.
Sure, Naschy finally manages to roll out of bed during the last fifteen minutes or so as some sort of makeshift, sexually charged Frankenstein's Monster, but by that point it's too little, too late. Crimson is a total wash.
Video/Audio/Extras
Redemption's Blu-Ray for Crimson, presented in AVC encoded 1080p high definition, looks nice, easily trumping prior home video editions with some nicely saturated colors and solid looking skin tones. Some scenes jump out as a bit fuzzy and underwhelming compared to the print as a whole, but overall Crimson looks very good, even if the day for night filters are even more pronounced here in high definition.
The audio itself on both versions is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0. It sound quite good with regards to quality, with the French track featuring error free subtitles and the English dub non-intrusive to the onscreen action.
We mentioned the inclusion of the French cut of The Man with the Severed Head here, which is almost ten minutes longer than the English version, but Redemption also included a commentary track from film historian Richard Harland Smith. This track tackles the careers and history and everyone involved, with Smith coming across with ease as a prepared professional with a lot of insight.
The Final Word
Crimson is about as entertaining as an economics lecture, and should be avoided at all costs, unless you're seeking a cure for insomnia. The only positive aspect of this film is the cover art, and the informative audio commentary.
Posting comments is disabled.
Categories
Collapse
article_tags
Collapse
- album review (218)
- album reviews (274)
- arrow video (271)
- blu-ray (3225)
- blu-ray review (4140)
- comic books (1392)
- comic reviews (872)
- comics (988)
- dark horse comics (484)
- dvd and blu-ray reviews a-f (1969)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews G-M (1711)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews N-S (1757)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews T-Z (878)
- dvd review (2512)
- idw publishing (216)
- image comics (207)
- kino lorber (385)
- movie news (260)
- review (318)
- scream factory (279)
- severin films (295)
- shout! factory (537)
- twilight time (269)
- twilight time releasing (231)
- vinegar syndrome (496)
Latest Articles
Collapse
-
Released by: Severin Films
Released on: April 30th, 2024.
Director: Lee Frost
Cast: Joseph Mascolo, Virginia Goodman, John Alderman
Year: 1969
Purchase From Amazon
Hot Spur – Movie Review:
Director Lee Frost and Producer Bob Cresse's film, Hot Spur, opens in Texas in 1869 with a scene where a pair of cowboys wanders into a bar where they call over a pretty Mexican waitress and coerce her into dancing for them. She obliges, but...-
Channel: Movies
03-22-2024, 11:53 AM -
-
Released by: Mondo Macabro
Released on: April 9th, 2024.
Director: Max Pecas
Cast: Thierry de Carbonnières, Jean-Marc Maurel, Denis Karvil, Lillemour Jonsson
Year: 1985
Purchase From Amazon
Death Squad – Movie Review:
Also known as Brigade Of Death, French sleaze auteur Max Pecas’ 1985 film, Death Squad, opens with a night time scene outside of Paris in the Bois de Boulogne Forest where cars pass by a small gang of transsexual...-
Channel: Movies
03-22-2024, 11:46 AM -
-
Released by: Quality X
Released on: February 28th, 2024.
Director: Chuck Vincent
Cast: Samantha Fox, Vernoica Hart, Kelly Nichols, Jerry Butler, Jamie Gillis
Year: 1982
Purchase From Amazon
Roommates – Movie Review:
Directed by Chuck Vincent and released in 1982, Roommates opens with a scene where a young woman named Joan Harmon (Veronica Hart) gets a hotel room with an older man named Ken (Don Peterson, credited as Phil Smith),...-
Channel: Movies
03-15-2024, 01:10 PM -
-
Released by: Blue Underground
Released on: March 26th, 2024.
Director: Jess Franco
Cast: Christopher Lee, Maria Rohm, Dennis Price
Year: 1970
Purchase From Amazon
Night Of The Blood Monster – Movie Review:
Directed by Jess Franco, The Bloody Judge (or, Night Of The Blood Monster, as it is going by on this new release from Blue Underground) isn't quite the salacious exercise in Eurotrash you might expect it to be, and while it...-
Channel: Movies
03-15-2024, 01:07 PM -
-
Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
Released on: March 26th, 2024.
Director: Saul Bass
Cast: Nigel Davenport, Michael Murphy, Lynne Frederick, Alan Gifford, Robert Henderson, Helen Horton
Year: 1974
Purchase From Amazon
Phase IV – Movie Review:
Saul Bass’ 1974 sci-fi/thriller Phase IV is an interesting blend of nature run amuck stereotypes and Natural Geographic style nature footage mixed into one delicious cocktail of suspense and...-
Channel: Movies
03-15-2024, 01:02 PM -
-
Released by: Radiance Films
Released on: March 26th, 2024.
Director: Shigehiro Ozawa, Eiichi Kudo
Cast: Tomisaburo Wakayama, Minoru Ôki, Arashi Kanjuro, Bin Amatsu, Chiezo Kataoka
Year: 1969-1972
Purchase From Amazon
The Bounty Hunter Trilogy – Movie Review:
Radiance Films gathers together the three films in Toie Studios’ Bounty Hunter Trilogy, starring the inimitable Tomisaburo Wakayama. Here’s how the three movies in this...-
Channel: Movies
03-13-2024, 11:30 AM -
That's the thing, I love Naschy, too, big time! That's why it's such a bummer.