Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Byleth - The Demon Of Incest (Severin Films) Blu-ray Review

Collapse
X
Collapse
  •  
    Ian Jane
    Administrator

  • Byleth - The Demon Of Incest (Severin Films) Blu-ray Review



    Released by: Severin Films
    Released on: November 5th, 2019.
    Director: Leopoldo Savona
    Cast: Mark Damon, Claudia Gravy, Aldo Bufi Landi, Silvana Pompili, Marzia Damon, Fernando Cerulli
    Year: 1972
    Purchase From Severin Films

    Byleth - The Demon Of Incest - Movie Review:

    Lionello, the Duke of Shadwell (Mark Damon), has always seemed a little bit off, ever since he was a kid. His mental state, when the film begins, is less than sturdy and he suffers a nervous breakdown around the same time that a prostitute named Delores (an uncredited Karin Lorson of Joe Sarno's Bibi) is found murdered in close proximity to his abode. The Duke's also got strange views on sex, this much is made clear quite early in the film.

    His outlook changes completely when he learns that his admittedly beautiful sister, Barbara (Claudia Gravy) is to return home to The Duke's massive - and very empty - home. Her new husband, Giordano (Aldo Bufi Landi), is in tow and it doesn't take long before Giordano ascertains the obvious: The Duke is not a fan. Unsure why his new brother-in-law is so standoffish and cold to him, Giordano does what he can to fix the situation, but Barbara is well-aware of the real reason her brother has such strong disdain for her husband.

    When The Duke sees his sister making love to her husband one night, he decides that he's had enough. He knows that his father, he left the country to avoid being persecuted as a warlock, has left some of his old stuff lying around. Soon enough, The Duke finds an occult book - this won't end well. At the same time, Gisella (Caterina Chiani), who is employed as Barbara's maid, tries to get sweet with The Duke after he busts her fooling around with a man in the stable. Soon enough, she's been murdered in a way that is uncannily similar to the murder of the prostitute. Barbara presumes her brother's innocence but it isn't enough to stop the local magistrate (Alessandro Perrella) from snooping around. A doctor (Fernando Cerulli) examines both bodies and pronounces that the wounds resemble those inflicted by a demon named Byleth! Shortly after, Giordano's sister Floriana (Silvana Pompili) arrives, and things get even more complicated for all involved.

    Sleazier than it is scary, Byleth - The Demon Of Incest does manage to conjure up some decent gothic atmosphere here and there. It isn't on the level of the best horror gothic horror pictures to come out of Italy but it's a mildly entertaining picture and an interesting, if frequently silly, diversion. The cinematography from Giovanni Crisci, is often times soft looking but it is quite stylish and nicely put together. The score from Vasili Kojucharov, who seems to have specialized in spaghetti westerns and Nazisploitation pictures, is also pretty decent. Leopoldo Savona paces the film fairly well, things move at a good pace - when we aren't focusing on the murder or the demonology aspect, we get frequent nudity with attractive women. Speaking of this, there are some pretty obvious inserts slipped into the picture, presumably in an effort to spice things up a bit more. They do tend to stand out more than you might want them to, but hey, props to Severin for giving us the full-strength version of the movie.

    The story is all over the place, but Mark Damon doesn't do a bad job at all as the lead. His Duke Lionello is clearly a very troubled man and that comes through in his performance. Aldo Bufi Landi is fine, if pretty disposable, as his foil while Claudia Gravy, Karin Lorson, Caterina Chiani and Silvana Pompili all provide some welcome eye candy.

    Byleth - The Demon Of Incest - Blu-ray Review:

    Byleth - The Demon Of Incest arrives on Blu-ray in an AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer framed at 1.85.1 taken from a 2k “from negative elements recently discovered in a Madrid lab vault.” The transfer on this disc uses a German title card reading 'Trio der Lust' and it looks pretty solid. Despite a disclaimer at the beginning noting print damage, which is visible in the first 15-20 minutes of the movie, once you get past that part the picture is pretty clean. Detail is solid, but compression is less than ideal as there are some noticeable artifacts in the darker scenes. Colors look pretty good, black levels are fine and skin tones, of which there are plenty on display, appear nice and natural. The image is free of noticeable noise reduction or edge enhancement, the transfer is quite film-like.

    There are German and Italian language DTS-HD 2.0 Mono tracks provided here, with subtitles available in English only, translating each track separately which is a nice touch. There are spots where the Italian track kicks out and switches over to German, so you're probably just better of going with the German track to start with as it looks like everyone was dubbed here anyway. Sounds quality on the German track is fine. It's a little flat but the dialogue is up front in the mix where it should be and the score sounds good, no real issues with any hiss or distortion here to note.

    Outside of a menu and chapter selection options there are no extra features on the disc.

    Byleth - The Demon Of Incest - The Final Word:

    Byleth - The Demon Of Incest is far from the best of the Italian gothics but it offers up some decent murder set pieces and some genuinely impressive atmosphere to complement a fun performance from Damon and a bevy of beautiful Euro-babes. Severin's disc is devoid of any extras but the presentation is pretty good. Fans of Italian sleaze from the seventies should definitely appreciate this one.

    Click on the images below for full sized Byleth - The Demon Of Incest Blu-ray screen caps!







































      Posting comments is disabled.

    Latest Articles

    Collapse

    • Hot Spur (Severin Films) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      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
      ...
      03-22-2024, 11:53 AM
    • Death Squad (Mondo Macabro) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      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
      ...
      03-22-2024, 11:46 AM
    • Roommates (Quality X) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      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),
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:10 PM
    • Night Of The Blood Monster (Blue Underground) UHD/Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      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
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:07 PM
    • Phase IV (Vinegar Syndrome) UHD/Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      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
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:02 PM
    • The Bounty Hunter Trilogy (Radiance Films) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      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
      ...
      03-13-2024, 11:30 AM
    Working...
    X