Shameless Screen Entertainment Releases

It seems like only yesterday that a series of armed police escorted the UK's most dangerous offender out of the country and back to its native Italy, so concerned were they of the effect this vicious criminal would have on UK residents they banned it ever to return. Twenty years later it was given the permission to return to the UK providing its message was heavily censored, having made a few limited appearances the results were less than pleasing. But in 2007 it was time to try again... Of course I'm not talking about a person I'm talking about Lucio Fulci's The New York Ripper, one of the original "video nasties" and although it still has been cut by 34 seconds the fact that this DVD is widely available on UK shelves is a breath of fresh air. It would seem pertinent then that when new DVD company Shameless were scheduled to launch their business in the UK they would pick one of the most iconic and revered titles they could.

In the 1970's a director best associated with comedies and musicals began making horror movies, that director was Lucio Fulci who was and still is one of the most influential men in shaping modern horror. His successful movies The Beyond, Zombi, House By The Cemetery, and City Of The Living Dead were landmark zombie movies. But not content to rest on his laurels Fulci was pushing into new styles of horror, his intention to make horror possible in a realistic sense. The result of this was The Black Cat, and New York Ripper both the sort of horror we could encounter every day.

New York Ripper (Lo Squatatore Di New York)begins as it means to continue, an elderly man throwing sticks for his beloved dog is rather mortified to discover his dog returns not with a stick but with a hand, luckily or unluckily for the owner the hand is not attached to anyone.

Lt. Fred Williams (Jack Hedley) is called in to solve the case, but then a cyclist is found murdered on the Statten Island Ferry, killed in the most brutal of ways. The chief of police (a cunning cameo from director Lucio Fulci) insists that Williams gets to the bottom of the killings sooner rather than later "We don't want another Atlanta!" he warns, and with that seemingly gives Williams the keys to the New York Police's bank account.

Having hired the best genius around to help him solve the crime Williams has to literally wait for the killer to strike again. But when he does there is not much to go on except that the killer talks like a duck. Meanwhile a sexually liberated woman tours New York's most seedy dives looking for sex, a well to do woman with a reputable husband her need for sexual gratification take her closer and closer to the killer.

To help you build up an image we have a killer that talks like a duck, and as we later discover has two digits missing from his right hand; nice image?
I cannot say that New York Ripper is a real high point in horror history, its rather seedy reputation is actually far stronger than the menace it delivers; before I saw the movie some 8 years ago the film to some degree was almost like a myth. When you looked on the internet you could find pictures of graphic razorblade torture and sexual activity; website realmofhorror.co.uk gave me the best insight in the form of the trailer, which allowed for a certain feel to the movie. Sadly my eagerness to see the movie was met with a kind of cold and unworthy story, that sexually is incredibly risky compared to other movies, especially when death often occurs by things being forced into a certain part of a woman's body. This is not a movie that overly inspired me, however having watched it yesterday in its slightly edited form (for the first time I may add, always seeing it uncut before) I kind of had a greater appreciation for the film. The aspects that annoyed me no longer did and the story, which at times before I felt jutted in and out of context seemed far more fluid.

Before I go on I should say if you find movies like Jeepers Creepers, Scream, or the Freddy or Jason movies a little bit scary or graphic even in a cut form this is not a movie you should be seeing. Although the effects are not always so special, when a razor blade strikes you see it enter, cut and exit. You also see a rather painful finger slicing that is incredibly plausible and believably realistic.

Shot on the hoof so to speak in New York, the movie shows a pretty accurate view of New York back in the early 80's. It shows the class differences, the devastation and almost wasteland as industry has left the city for more rural locations. There is nothing clean looking about the majority of the movies locations. In case you wonder about my on the hoof comment as was commonplace with Italian horror movies no permission was gained from the places they filmed, certainly when out of the UK.

Often filming took place by literally people jumping out of the car filming a few shots and then heading off before the police arrived; this is blatantly obvious here by the length of the outdoor scenes.

The cast is an interesting gathering Jack Hedley's name might ring a bell because not only was he in For Your Eyes Only, but he also played General Von Karzibrot in Allo Allo. Paulo Malco who plays Dr Paul Davis recently starred in the ITV's version of A Room With A View. While the movies toe pervert (you need to see it to believe it) is played by 24's Josh Cruze. Granted not names you might think "oh yeah I know" but certainly faces you will know.

About The DVD

The movie is presented in 16X9 Widescreen and the print is lovely and clear. I honestly can say that I never clearly identified where the 34 seconds of cuts took place but having examined the BBFC website I discover it's during a razor attack. One thing is for sure the cut does not have a detrimental effect on the end product; in the past some movies almost suffered due to the cuts.
There is a trailer for New York Ripper, which apparently shows a second of the edits from the movie. I will say this is a pretty sexy old trailer and likely to encourage the brown mac brigade to watch and purchase.

Other trailers on the disc include Baba Yaga, Manhattan Baby, The Black Cat, Phantom Of Death, and Torso.

The case is yellow (as is the plastic amaray case that the cover goes in) making the DVD's clearly distinctive. The kitsch look of the covers echoes the 1980's when the trend was to make video covers as strikingly horrific as they could. The cover is very detailed even noting a missing finger on the killers hand as he shows his control over New York, looming over the city like a black cloud. Looking at the back cover you could easily believe the movie should still be banned, photographs of dead bodies, throat slashings, knife attacks, and sado masochism illustrate the harshness of the movie.

Shameless' second DVD release a little known movie called The Phantom Of Death AKA Off Balance (Un Delitto Poco Comune as its known in its native Italy). Scarcely seen in the UK on its release back in 1988 to some degree this is the first proper release the movie has had in UK shores.

Piano virtuoso Robert Dominici (Michael York) is much loved and famous face in Italy, but when his girlfriend is murdered it seems that Robert turns recluse crumbling away from his public life. But as time goes on it seems that he may have been involved in the death of his girlfriend; furthermore this leads Police Inspector Datti (Donald Pleasance) to connect the murder with a Doctor, interestingly committed on the night of Dominici's final public appearance.
I guess you would classify The Phantom Of Death as Giallo, but unlike most its blatantly apparent whom the killer is in this movie. York as Dominici is a man troubled by a rare illness that causes him to age heavily and beyond his ears, so as the movie progresses we see him age from his mid thirties to a ninety year old man, obviously a little bit annoyed he takes his anger out on people that bother him; although beyond that there is not a great deal of explanation as to why he likes killing other than to get the upper hand when an illness gets him down. I made that seem a little more cut and dry than it actually is I guess, there are reasons but why move to the extremes of murder when you can have as much fun with revenge is beyond me. But then if this were just a revenge flick, there would be no blood and guts.

I'd like to say that Michael York turns out a crummy performance, sadly I can't for once he does not strike me as being another side to Julian Sands both of whom have the same sickening private education style characteristics. York is a convincing killer, and relatively good at playing a man older than his years, first gradual then sudden.

A man that needs little acting justification is the late great Donald Pleasance who turns out one of his best later performances, his role here reminds me to some degree of his character Colin Blythe from The Great Escape. Pleasance also looks incredibly young here and less frail than a lot of movies around this time, and to some extent beforehand too. There is a fairly funny scene in which Pleasance as Datti runs through the streets screaming obscenities as York's character evades detection again.

The third and final cast member worthy of a mention is Edwige Fenech, a familiar face in Euro cinema with movies like The Secret Vice Of Mrs. Wardh, Case Of The Bloody Iris, Five Dolls For An August Moon, and more recently Hostel 2. No overly fantastic acting from the actress, but you know she is there and seems to have aged little from her early 70's roles
The story is pretty good, fairly well structured with some nice double tracking 30 minutes into the movie, where you get to see the reasons for events during the movie's opening moments. The story lacks a little sparkle as a finale, but I guess it's the only realistic ending. Phantom Of Death is very similar to Phantom Of The Opera, you could almost say it's a modern day retelling except here our hero ages rather than is deformed, which funnily enough takes me back to Julian Sands (Dario Argento's Phantom Of The Opera). The story here is fairly understated, not over the top at all, which is a bit of a comedown from the usual Italian Giallo/horror fare.

The soundtrack despite the movies European origins is somewhat British, I guess this could be a reflection of the casting. But the score movies along at a brisk pace and is totally in keeping with the action onscreen.
Fans of the gore might be a little disappointed here; this is more of a thinking person's thriller than a "I'll rip out your intestines" type affair. This is harder to swallow when you discover that the movies director is Ruggero Deodato the man behind Cannibal Holocaust and Jungle Holocaust (AKA Lost Cannibal World). Neither is there the blatant use of eroticism that Deodato displayed in Waves Of Lost. But needless to say it's another landmark victory to see the DVD sat in a prime location on HMV shelves in with the other Shameless titles.

The Movies High Spot:

The first understanding of what is happening to York's character and some rather hasty looking work on his teeth, while at the same time York see's a child with the same disease.

The DVD

Shameless have done a lovely job with the DVD, firstly there is the case a distinctive yellow case allowing their products to stand out a mile, especially in the likes of HMV where you can skip through a sometimes arduous situation of searching for a title, now you can just look for the yellow boxes. Secondly are the covers themselves, I'm assuming Giallo inspired (Giallo meaning yellow in Italian but also yellow was the colour associated with the books, the modern vision of Giallo before moving from literary to cinematic). There is something else about the cover, and I'm teleported back 25 years or so when a video company VTC (Video Tape Centre) filled our video libraries with horror and cult classics, the covers are very VTC looking which is great bonus too.

On the rear of the box are some great details, an exact to the second runtime ideal for the most anal (meant in a nice way) fans. As well as the movies final status which in this case stated "Now Fully Uncut" other releases might say "Trimmed By The BBFC"; but this is new territory Vipco's titles often stated they were uncut but the releases were often cut before reaching the BBFC (British Board Of Film Classification) so the "UNCUT" releases referred to the fact that the BBFC had not made further cuts. What i'm saying in short is that with Shameless there are no lies, strictly truths only.

Onto the disc itself the DVD is released in Anamorphic Widescreen, and the print is in great condition, nice and clear with occasional (and deliberate) fogging during violent scenes, to replicate the likes of Argento or Fulci's look.
Sadly there are no special features on the disc, but this is only to be expected additional features for this sort of movie are often costly if available at all the obvious result of such cost is that that would be passed on to the buyer, however there are trailers for The Killer Nun, New York Ripper, Torso, Manhattan Baby, Baba Yaga, and The Black Cat; some of the trailers have seldom been seen in the UK, and certainly not in there uncut form. Finally in with the trailers is the little seen trailer for The Phantom Of Death, I'd not advise watching before the movie itself however as it gives a couple of things away.

The 3rd DVD release by Shameless films is the nunsploitation movie Killer Nun, and to start I need to quote Shameless' cover "If you ever watched La Dolce Vita wishing that Swedish sex siren Anita Ekberg would get out of the Trevi fountain, turn junkie, torture some pensioners and stalk young innocent nuns for kinky sex in a convent then Killer Nun is the film for you!"

Killer Nun tells the tale of Sister Gertrude (Anita Ekberg) a faithful daughter of God, but just prior to the movies beginning Sister Gertrude has been unwell, she had to undergo major brain surgery in order to aid a tumour. Now back at work Gertrude is not quite the same person, whereas before she was calm and serene now she flips out at the least thing; smashing false teeth and giving the elderly patients in her care heart attacks. Suddenly however her outbursts get worse, and the patients begin dying, can Sister Gertrude be controlled?

Killer Nun was one of the original video nasties, banned in the UK in 1984 when scum newspaper The Daily Mail decided to be the voice of the people and force government to impose radical censorship on over 70 movies (this was just the start). In the 1990's the ban on the movie was lifted, but the movie was released in an edited form. Now however and for the first time ever the movie is released fully uncut in the UK.

Surprisingly enough, and something quite unusual in any horror movie or exploitation piece of this type the movie is based on true events surrounding a German Nun who killed patients, and stole their worldly possessions, selling them so she could lead a less than conventional life, again all caused after an operation on the brain, this time though due to a metal plate being installed. Many of the incidents portrayed on screen did actually occur.

Killer Nun is also a surprisingly good film; I would go as far as to say a damn near excellent piece of Italian cinema. The story has great motion to it, none of the ridiculous sidetracking that occurs during a lot of Italian horror movies. Also having now watched it in its uncut I can honestly say i'm not sure what all the fuss was about, why did this movie get banned and for so long? I guess all I can put it down to is the references to the church, maybe the Daily Mail's vigilance started at the church with this movie.

Anita Ekberg is exceptional in the role, obviously a little older than in La Dolce Vita, all the movie you feel sorrier for her character than you do any animosity. Deeply troubled by her warped world, and her often skewered views Ekberg plays the role of the mad woman incredibly well. Other supporting cast include Warhole favourite Joe Dellasandrio, sex siren Poala Morra, Cassandra Crossing star Lou Castel and horror veteran Alida Valli.

The movie has a nice clean print, the downfall of its editing however that is has mixed language; as was the case with all Italian movies of this time period (the 70's) Killer Nun has been dubbed into English, however when the movie was restored it was impossible to gather the same vocal artists again so rather than dubbing the movie slips into Italian with English subtitles.
I saw Killer Nun back in the 90'swhen the ban was lifted and to be fair I was not overly impressed, however watching it this time round I found it a far more enjoyable experience, so much so that I have to say it is one of the more enjoyable Italian offerings I have seen for a considerable amount of time. The fact that the story is more thriller than horror, and there is no over the top sexual reference as is often the case with these nunsploitation films. Killer Nun is an enjoyable movie, with a rather clever final twist worthy of any blockbuster movie.

The movies soundtrack is a real winner by guitarist and vocalist Alessandro Alessandroni, not a name I was overly familiar with but one I'll be looking into now. The main theme is highly addictive, in fact so much so I find it difficult to get out of my head, despite its nun like simplicity.

The movie was directed by Giulio Berruti and sadly at least according to the internet movie database this seems to be the last work of the director's career, while his work was more varied than some there were few highlights other than assisting Mario Bava on the movie Baba Yaga.

About the DVD

Shameless have opted to continue their giallo (yellow) theme mimicking the 80's video covers. The pictures they use on the rear obviously inspired to get a certain response, however for those not seeing the movie before one of the pictures gives away the ending which I personally feel is a little clumsy.

The DVD itself has trailers for Phantom Of Death, New York Ripper, Torso, Venus In Furs, and The Black Cat all available or due to become available on the Shameless label.

The DVD rather unusually comes with an interview with Anita Ekberg in which she tells the true life version of events as well as how thrilled she was to be invited to act in such a role, after frequently being cast as a movie sex siren.

The DVD is obviously sourced from the US Blue Underground print rather than the old redemption print, which would have been cut anyway. The re-edited sequences fit seamlessly in rather that hastily inserted as is often the case when scenes get re-added.

Shameless Films 5th DVD release is the little seen (nowadays anyway) Venus In Furs, not to be confused with the 1969 Jess Franco edition currently available on the redemption label. This version from director Massimo Dallamano is based more accurately upon the novel by Leopold Sacher-Masoch who's name believe it or not is where the word masochism originates from. The story here is delivered into modern times, well if you classify 1969 as modern.

Venus In Furs tells a story about fetishist Severin (Regis Vallee) a man who likes to watch people making love, and has done since being a child. While living his life in a sort of holiday camp by a beautiful lake his attention is drawn towards a young woman called Wanda (Laura Antonelli) a artists model who has decided to take vacation there. Luckily Severin is residing in the room next to Wanda and able to watch through the wall as she carries out sexual acts upon herself as well others.

After a few days Severin builds up the strength to approach Wanda "I would like to go to bed with you!" he boasts, Wanda plays coy but quickly takes him up on his offer. What neither knows is they both share certain fetishes, and more importantly that Wanda was aware that Severin was watching through the wall all along. A match made in heaven Severin encourages Wanda to offer herself to others on the condition that he can watch. After a whirlwind romance, and a lot of additional partners the two marry. But like any marriage made in heaven something's got to give.

Despite its cover, and its subject matter Venus In Furs by today's standard is a pretty innocent affair. Made in 1969 but not released until 1970 the movie has an incredibly 60's feel about it. Great use of colour, swinging 60's music, and fantastic set locations that make you want to up sticks and move to a foreign climb immediately. Venus In Furs is an Italian/Swiss/German co-production tailor made for German audiences, of course it was not long before these sort of movies were appreciated outside Germany which was when the big cash came in.

I noted on the innocence and this needs to be highlighted more, this is a movie about sexual liberation, bondage, and other masochistic acts, but all the while incredibly tastefully done. While there is full nudity on the female form, there is no up close shots, the male body seemingly sacred seems more or less clothed for the films entirety (phew!). You'll see nothing here you won't in a lot of TV drama nowadays in fact. There are lots of shady slightly shrouded shots, lots of seeing things through the perspective of others eyes.

The story itself is not exactly a gripping one in honesty, you could explain the plot in a couple of short sentences, and some will argue if such a plot actually exists. But this is not the movies magic; I personally watched it for its style. If you ever knew anybody who wanted a feel for the 60's outside the UK or US then this should be the DVD to get them. Fashion plays a key part in the movie, with the character of Wanda wearing some of the most sensationally hot outfits, and I'm not talking in a state of undress. While Wanda walks around the holiday location she is fully dressed, but it's a fashion of extreme sexuality, if ever there was an example of sex inspiring clothing then this is it. From her mustard woollen dress, to her white dress and overly long cardigan a lot of work was obviously put into wardrobe here. The movies sets also seem to have been given a lot of attention, ultra-modern to some degree even by today's standards, it's great to see some ideas that never properly took off; Ikea lovers will get no end of inspiration from this movie.

Laura Antonelli is an actress whose beauty is met by very few nowadays, this is a natural beauty; she could be a Nun or a prostitute and always look on top of the world. As I rack my brains trying to think of a modern day actress that bares the same beautiful looks as Antonelli I find myself up against a brick wall, she was most definitely one in a million, better still she was a 70's soft porn style actress who actually could act. I'm teleported back to the days of 70's catalogue models where certain criteria were always met, before the days where they allowed different size models to be considered.

Regis Vallee from a male perspective has little to offer, though maybe women will find something about him. His acting is fairly animated, but the look each time he gets a whipping or a slap is one difficult to forget. For a dubbed actor he does not have the wooden appearance often generated during these sorts of films.

Bondage plays a strong part of the movie, and what is interesting is that although delivered bountifully throughout the movie it is very clear that this was a slightly taboo subject. You never see the person delivering the beating, and the impact in the same shot. In one scene Severin is laid on the floor with Wanda behind a wall, the only part you can see of Wanda is her arm swinging a riding crop down on what you assume to be Severin's back, however you don't know because you can't see Severin at all. It's actually quite a hysterical thing to see this arm swaying around hitting what in reality would be nothing.

There is some real sex involved in the movie, but this is between a pair of horses; but this comes with an education as to who horses are bred in order to get the best performance from the foal.

About The DVD

Shameless again blow the viewer away with a striking cover. Again in Yellow to represent Giallo roots to the range, and with a hint of old VHS and Betamax company the VTC about the cover to make you feel like your buying a product from the 80's. There is lots of information on the cover about the movie as well as some of the cast and crew previous works. The correct running time of 82 minutes and 3 seconds is displayed and the movie is delivered in widescreen format. Sadly the movie is in a cut form, but Shameless Films don't try to hide this on the back it clearly states "Trimmed by the BBFC". What does surprise me however is that Shameless do not seem to have re-presented the work to the BBFC, in fact it was last presented in 1993, unless of course an omission to the website has been forgotten. I have not seen a fully uncut version, but suspect from what I have seen in this DVD there to be little to offend. The cuts are obviously very subtle as I cannot see where they might come from, some edited movies are very obviously and often badly cut.

The picture quality and sound are just sublime, although there is no stereo sound (not to be expected really) the sound is very crisp and clear. A quick adjustment of my cinema sound system and it sounds pretty good. But it's print of the film and in particular the colours that stand out. The use of colour in the 60's was so much more obvious then than it is now, a new invention to many movies the 60's were an experimental decade with colour; this is lovingly restored and obvious here.

There are no special features on the DVD, however there are a total of seven trailers, Flavia The Heretic (a trailer I had never seen before), Ratman, The Black Cat, The Frightened Woman (this looks amazingly 60's cant wait), Night Train Murders, and Killer Nun. The seventh trailer is for the movie Venus In Furs and its wonderfully clear.

Shameless' 6th DVD release is Lucio Fulci's 1981 movie The Black Cat, a slightly advanced variation of Edgar Allen Poe's novel of the same name starring horror legends Patrick Magee and David Warbeck.

Made just after Fulci's four most successful movies (The Beyond, Zombie Flesh Eaters AKA Zombi, City Of The Living Dead, and House By The Cemetery) this was the last clearly legible movie of the talented directors history. Although I'm not stating the movie is 100% fluid, with some fairly odd and disjointed story arcs, it stays faithful to the concepts that made Lucio Fulci a legend in his native Italy and France.

Set in England (and clearly so without permission) The Black Cat follows events in a small village just off the River Thames. For many moons things have been going peacefully in this country idyll; but nutty professor Robert Miles (nothing to do with music) played by Patrick Magee has started trying to communicate with the recent dead, much to the distress of his little black cat. But this is no petty feline, it seems that this cat is playing an active part in the string of recent deaths that have occurred in the village. As dashing police inspector Gorley (David Warbeck) arrives, things take a downward spiral further, and despite his claims nobody will believe Professor Miles that the cat is the one to blame.

The Black Cat is possibly the most beautifully shot of all of Fulci's movies, coming in neck and neck with his paedophile thriller Don't Torture A Duckling. The movies colours are so warm and vibrant, its locations despite the fact that they were shot on the fly so to speak have been given a lot of thought and attention, this is no normal British village; few in the UK have this natural beauty about them. Its setting creates a less alien feel to me being a UK resident, and I guess this is a fact that warms the movie to me. Many of Fulci's other settings often shot in Italy in ultra modern often space age environments, or again on the fly in America's deep south.

Like most of Fulci's work this is not a conventional horror in the sense that we are all usually forced to endure. Any Italian horror movie is a rather unique experience, its harsh intensity only hampered by its poor dubbing; which less qualified eyes often accuse of being poor acting. While some find the first encounter of an Italian horror movie quite funny, others are horrified by what they see and often make it their last venture into this highly refined genre. I have been recently showing these Italian classics to a work colleague who says she finds them most refreshing, and considerably more entertaining than Hollywood horror. Rather like old episodes of Doctor Who special effects are a lot more "individual" little money available to refine these effects often meant a very hit and miss affair, but I'm pleased to report that The Black Cat's effects all work rather well, from the effects of oxygen depravity, impalement, and death by fire.

The story itself as I indicated at the start of the review is a one of the last clear ones of the director's career, in his later works he spent a lot of time experimenting with more unconventional horror, and new special effects over story matter. Here however the story makes perfect sense and despite the unbelievable elements, and in that I mean a cat that can open doors, and remove keys from doors etc; the story is fairly paced, and incredibly well delivered.

Cast as often was the case in a Fulci film pays little matter here, you could have a bit of a debate over whom the movies star is. Patrick Magee is certainly first billed, but I feel that this is more in line with a sale perspective the actor best known for movies A Clockwork Orange, Zulu and Cromwell. Second billed actor, actress Mimsy Farmer only spends about eleven minutes on screen. And David Warbeck (The Beyond, Razor Blade Smile) is just kind of there. I guess if anyone is the star it's the nameless cat whose name is never known both in the movie and real offscreen life. The fact that the movie has no star does not seem to bother the movie too much, it carries on accepting whomever is onscreen at that particular time.

As is often the case with directors Lucio Fulci and Dario Argento, the movie has a killer musical score, here orchestrated by Pino Donaggio, who has delivered the scores for numerous Italian movies but also for the films Don't Look Now, Dressed To Kill and Blow Out. Here he delivers an almost traditional British horror score taking a firm nod from Hammer in its large orchestral sound. However the murderous cat has his own beautifully charming score that while works wonderfully in the movie is not necessarily in keeping with the cats' general nature. Indeed the cats theme is actually the first thing I ever consider when I give the movie a thought, it's one of those things that once you have heard it, it's difficult to forget.

If I have one criticism of the movie it is that the character of Professor Miles and his "I must talk to the dead" mission is given far too much attention, somehow this kind of cheapens what would be a sterling all-round piece without it. The professors insistence that "The cat wants to kill me" kind of annoys after a while, and I remember thinking half way through let the damn thing kill him then.

About The Shameless Release:-

Shameless have again put a great amount of care in the release of this movie, rather than purchasing the old Redemption print they appear (though I may be wrong) to have gone to Anchor Bay US and used their greatly restored print, which appears crisp and clean with only a few glitches as reel join points, but to some degree this adds to the charm. Also the print here is in widescreen, and not a fake widescreen as was often the case especially when widescreen became interesting to the public. The disc itself has no special features as such but does include trailers for New York Ripper, The Night Train Murders, Ratman, Flavia The Heretic, Venus In Furs, Manhattan Baby as well as the trailer for The Black Cat.

The case is given greater consideration, in its now familiar yellow case and background layout for the cover, which is oh so reminiscent of 80's Video releases (specifically VTC replacing their gold for yellow) and of course a term familiar to the genre Giallo, which is Italian for yellow, but also the term referred to their unique breed of thriller. The case tells you lots of information other DVD companies might not including a brief background on the cast and crew, in respect of previous works. An accurate runtime of the movie down to the second, as well as its status; in this case UNCUT. The trouble with these sort of movies is that they have terrible difficulties at the British Board Of Film Classification, Shameless have the decency to inform you if any of their movies have been censored. The fun does not stop there however, as well as Shameless' own cover idea; their own unique artwork in this case a cat in attack mode, on the reverse of the cover is the more traditionally associated cover with the movie given the Shameless treatment of course.

The 7th Shameless films release is the highly controversial but little discussed Flavia The Heretic. Launched onto DVD for the first time in the UK, and in a rather bizarre state of affairs released uncut.

Set in early in the 15th century the story begins with young Flavia Gaetani enjoying time with her father in the fields of Trani, Italy. Seemingly from nowhere an army appear and behead her father before her very eyes. Without choice Flavia is forced into a convent where she seemingly accepts the word of God. But when the Tarantula Cult invade the convent, Flavia is forced to question her life and her devotion to God. Surrounding events see her only real friend tortured to death for having "impure" thoughts. As the so called Christians exorcise their own law of the land, Flavia and her friend Sister Agatha welcome an incoming invasion by Muslims; time has come for a change.

Flavia The Heretic is a familiar title to me but not one that normally I would pursue, I find the European exploitation approach to historical events often a little difficult to swallow, and I guess to some degree often a bit too crude. But being as I have vowed to support new DVD company Shameless I was kind of forced to watch the movie by my own words. In fairness from the trailer that accompanied a few of the Shameless DVD collections Flavia seemed to look like not a bad movie.

I'm sat on the fence in respect of this movie; I liked the focused historical telling, but was left cold by the need director Gianfranco Mingozzi to almost follow the path of Ken Russells Devils. While the first hour of the movie steers quite clear from being exploitive, the last portion seems over abundant in gross sexual reference, seemingly persuading the audience that this is a very different "Nun" story the last portion is fair game. Personally up until that point I had really enjoyed the film, I found it quite interesting and ultimately incredibly believable. While some might accuse me of being "unfaithful to the genre" I can't help but feel let down by this movie; its final use of nudity and harsh sex neither particularly relevant, and for those that might get off on the subject matter arousing; well it certainly never did anything for me.

I almost questioned the reason for this movies banning in the UK, I put it down simply to gross religious reference other than anything else. Then of course there were the rape scenes, the intact horse castration, and a nasty skinning scene that made me realise exactly why the movie was given such criticism.

Creatively speaking it's a masterpiece Night Porter cinematographer Alfio Contini delivers at times a sumptuous vision, while other times something as graphically repellent that even Salo fans might think "Yuk". Nicola Piovani presents an interesting musical score blending traditional religious themes with something a bit more cutting edge and modern, the main theme being both memorable and incredibly bleak.

Don't Torture A Duckling star Florinda Bolkan plays the role of Flavia an actress who has an eternal knack of playing characters who seem to not have control over their own mind. I can only assume that when casting the movie the producers having seen the horrific assault on the actress in the aforementioned Duckling, decided that she would be the best actress to give multiple beatings too, luckily unlike Duckling she stands a better chance with the odds here. I loved the look of Bolkan here, and much as I hate to keep drawing reference to Duckling she is almost unrecognisable here, as Flavia goes on a journey so does Bolkan.

As I said earlier I'm undecided by this movie as to whether in my view it is any good or not, I'd say it's a film I'm glad that I saw, but it's not something I would watch again in a hurry. It has some fantastic moments, but also times where I feel that maybe I could be doing something better, most of this being after the one hour mark.

About The DVD

Shameless have given Flavia The Heretic the dual cover approach they previously offered Fulci's Black Cat. With their own Giallo inspired cover, focusing on the garishness, with a blunt attempt at humour as the main cover; or if you prefer the more traditionally familiar cover on the reverse colour blocked with the now traditional Shameless yellow colours.

The DVD has trailers for Manhattan Baby, The Frightened Woman, Killer Nun, Venus In Furs, and a advert for Argent films series of Nunsploitation movies.

There is of course the original trailer for Flavia The Heretic included also.

The movie is presented in a clean Widescreen format with an uncut running time of 96.02.

Shameless films 9th release is one of the original "Video Nasties" banned back in 1984, when the department of public prosecutions with help from scum newspapers The Daily Mail & Daily Express decided to act as the voice of the people (controversially the same scum newspapers have been at it again this last weekend).

Having received some well deserved acclaim for Who Saw Her Die? Italian director Aldo Lado embarked on his next movie. Night Train Murders (AKA Second House On The Left, La Bête tue de sang-froid, Le Dernier train de la nuit, Don't Ride on Late Night Trains etc. etc.) turned out to be a much bigger movie for Lado; unfortunately the marvellous work he had done in the past, was about to be buried under something far more controversial.

Roberto Infascelli had been to America and had seen a movie by Wes Craven (Scream, Nightmare On Elm Street) called Last House On The Left, a brutal tale about revenge. Like many writers/producers working in Italy at that time he stole the idea taking it to Italy to be reproduced as an entirely new work. Infascelli approached the now highly bankable Director Aldo Lado, who had not seen or heard of Last House On The Left; to make the picture. Lado dutifully accepted this invitation and created the movie more or less from scratch; without any prior knowledge of Last House On The Left,and without even seeing it Lado managed to create a movie that could easily be classified as a re-make or a sequel.

Two schoolgirls head home from Austria to Italy by train to spend the Christmas vacation with their family, a lengthy but normally very safe journey. While on the train they catch the eye of a couple of thugs who have robbed and beaten their way to be on the train. Initially the two girls and the thugs manage to strike up a friendship, but then a lady passenger also catches the eye of the thugs and engages in an impromptu sex session with one of the men in the toilet. While the man not involved in the sex session causes a fight with the train conductor the two girls make their escape from the thugs.
Having had chance to compose their thoughts the two girls begin to enjoy their relatively quiet journey, sharing a picnic version of a Christmas dinner by candlelight. But their joy is soon interrupted when the two thugs make an alarming return, this time with the other woman in toe. While initially nothing more than an uncomfortable menace, the conversations turn to sex and the invading threesome decide it's time to see how much experience our young travellers have had. The resulting effect cause one girl to commit suicide while the other dies.

At this point you're probably thinking "I don't want to know anything more about this movie!" But that would be a bit of a mistake, where as Last House On The left went out of its way to shock and appal, almost encouraging sexual violence; Night Train Murders goes out of its way to create a message that violence is wrong. As the movie starts in the Austrian markets, you are shown an image of a beautiful life; Demi Roussos sings a charming ballad to accompany this scene. My initial thought was "I wish I was there"; and even though a bit of thugery with our two treacherous leads occurs; it's still a positive image. Having committed the offences on the train in which the lady passenger (never addressed by any name), the two thugs, and a peeping tom, are given a period of time to reflect on their actions, and for two of these characters the guilt hangs heavy on their mind. While the two girls are being raped and tortured you are shown the girls family, engaging in a happy caring and carefree existence, and actively awaiting the return of the girls. However when no return comes about, we live the horror of what happened to the girls through their eyes; and bombarded with the question "What would you do?" All the time the psychology of the story is well addressed making a profound moral statement.

Aldo Lado is a man who focuses on the slightest details, bringing them all together to create the right feel for a movie. He colour blocks to create claustrophobia throughout the movie, as day turns to night all the fashions, lights, and other colours all turn to blue. In the wake of the incident and the light of a new day the colour blocking movies to a greyish brown.

Lado strongly addresses emotions, and creates a movie that does tend to sicken, without being overly graphic. Nudity is tastefully handled in the sense that in knowing characters are nude he lets you see nothing; whereas a lot of other movies thrust sexual organs in your face. The violence is also tastefully handled; you never really see any act of violence; however your imagination lets you think you have seen something far worse than you have. And that takes a really masterful storyteller to perform such a trick on the viewing audience.

Oscar winning Ennio Morricone's musical score is very subtle, choosing to use just one musical instrument; the harmonica throughout the majority of the movie. Here he overlaps various scores in order to give a haunting sound. This general theme seems to dominate the movies entirety except during the Roussos ballad that closes the movies start and end. This ballad cannot be understated, because it takes you into the movie with hope, and helps you to exit the movie with a feeling of hope.

The performances in the movie are nicely handled Flavio Bucci plays "Blackie", the one you consider to be the lead thug; having spent years on the Italian stage he was given a proper movie outing, Bucci had a tendency to over act like many stage actors do when making the transformation between mediums. Next up is Macha Meril a popular Italian actress who has worked on successful movies such as Deep Red (Profondo Rosso, one of the most successful Italian movies of this genre) and Bolero. The main star of the movie was Enrico Maria Salerno the then Italian equivalent of Rock Hudson but without the scandal, Salerno had starred in well over 100 movies at the time of making this one, and a popular face in Italian limelight; here he played the father of one of the girls Lisa. Finally Irene Miracle star of Midnight Express turned out a cavalier role as Margaret the stronger minded of the two girl victims.

A real interest in the movie to me is the lack of introduction to the characters, With the exception of Giulio, Lisa and after her death Margaret nobody is addressed by a name during the whole movie; I find this fascinating. Some of the main characters never go beyond the name to describe their character in the cast listings for example: Lady on The train, or perverted train passenger (played by Franco Fibrosis a massive Italian star who was best friends with Bernardo Bertolluci). All the time however you are fully aware of whom everyone is and the relationships they have with each other.

Night Train Murders is a more positive movie than Last House On The Left; and its sad that it never received more acclaim than the aforementioned movie. Tragically from one point of view it did receive more acclaim. The movie released in the UK as Late Night Trains (Or Don't Ride On Late Night trains) was banned in 1984, and until this year remained banned. The movie had to be heavily edited although there was little to be seen to gain a release in other countries and continues to remain banned in Australia, Poland, and most of the far eastern countries; the edits confuse me because as I stated earlier there is little to see, it's all suggestion for the most part.

The big achievement with this Shameless DVD release is not only is the movie now getting seen in the UK for the first time in 24 years (that's a ban longer than The Exorcist, and the self imposed ban Kubrick put on A Clockwork Orange) its actually being released fully uncut. It's actually fair to say that there are few films in the UK banned for such a long time, although about 15 of the original "Video Nasties" are still banned, and a few are available in a heavily edited form.

About The DVD

I had previously thought that many of Shameless' DVD releases were borrowed from the same source as US company Blue Underground; however that is certainly not the case here. There are strengths and weaknesses with this release. The print of the movie is at times far clearer than the Blue Underground release, especially at the start. The weakeness is that at a couple of points the movie originally recorded in Italian then dubbed into English has small portions still in its native tongue, firstly when the two thugs attack a Santa and secondly when they enter the carriage that the two girls are in.

The DVD contains the original theatrical trailer as was seen in the UK to promote the movie, creating an almost melodramatic view. It's worth adding that this is not the same trailer used by Shameless to promote the DVD as a forthcoming release, so collectors of the Shameless DVD's who enjoy the trailers as much as the movies are treated to two separate trailers. The trailer featured here is actually over 4 minutes long.

The DVD has trailers for other Shameless releases: The incoming Frightened Woman, My Dear Killer, Ratman, and Baba Yaga are joined by two existing Shameless releases Phantom Of Death and The Black Cat.

The DVD case is in the now familiar bold yellow, sitting firmly in a yellow amaray case. The cover is given that typical shameless approach with the tagline "Whore Aboard" I only hope this refers to the lady and not the two innocent victims. For those old enough to remember the video company VTC, Shameless covers literally stink (metaphor) of this old label. But wait what's this? Take the cover out and on the reverse is the original Italian cover art used to promote the movie, along with a change of movie title to Late Night Trains as it was originally known in the UK. Both sides feature the same spine (with change of title) which as collectors will now be able to tell is beginning to spell the word Shameless.

I'm wonderfully impressed by Shameless Films latest release The Frightened Woman (aka Femina Ridens/The Laughing Woman) a movie from 1969 that is totally contrasting from original expectation, charming, thrilling, and visually one of the most stunning movies to have come from Italian shores. While until 3 months ago I had never heard of the movie the very afternoon I wrote this review the movie has burned a hole in my heart.

The Frightened Woman as I understand it is a kind of landmark movie, seldom seen in the UK, and never seen uncut, it has been strangely missing from UK shores for many years. After months of hard work and an awful lot of finger crossing Shameless with help of movie aficionado Marc Morris have restored this long lost movie to its original glory, tracking down cut scenes making this the most complete print ever released; and prompting the movies director to declare this the best version of his 1969 movie. The finger crossing involved the time the movie spent at the British Board Of Film Classification, where all involved, and an avid forum of Shameless fans waited with baited breath in the hope that the movie was released uncut.

Hard businessman Dr. Sayer (Philippe Leroy) has a strange vice, he loves to dominate women and treat them as his slaves. But it goes beyond this and enters a much more sick terrain; Dr. Sayer on the odd occasion that he has sex likes to kill his partner at the very moment of climax. Into Sayer's world comes Maria played by the legendary Dagmar Lassander, a woman whose inquisitive questioning brings her to Sayer's home , where Sayer plans to trap her, dominate her, and finally murder her; but can Maria's beautiful heart win through Sayer's icy exterior?

Upon the movie's opening I was overwhelmed by the beautiful sometimes bizarre settings, this is a magnificently huge scale movie that I can only compare visually to the likes of The Prisoner, The Avengers, and the early horror offerings of Dario Argento. Whether the shot is of a magnificent fresco wall decor, an ultra modern looking home, or the most unusual art installation featuring an even more interesting doorway; everything about how the movie looks is so magnificent it looks good enough to eat. The movie is a testament to the changing interests of the Italian people, having gone from a lifestyle that looked almost previous century, to this ultra cool and ultra modern style chic, that to a certain level the British population has not caught up with almost 40 years on.

Initially looking like it was going to be some sort of 60's depiction of modern day torture porn style viewing, The Frightened Woman is a movie you could not fairly categorize as one thing or another. It starts in the most frank and brutal way and then somehow transforms into almost a beautiful romance, although you know that at any time the movie is going to turn fundamentally nasty again. I was won over by both the nastiness of the piece as well as the beauty of the romance, it was at times hard to believe that effectively this tale of great beauty was effectively outlawed, of course I was awoken by the movies attempt at a shock climax, I say attempt because back in 1969 this was not the normal thing, 2008 however sees things differently.

There are moments of the movie that cinematically should go down in history, the jazz band on the back of a train give the movie an artistic look, while the use of the popular Amphicar (if you know what I'm talking about then you're really old) gives further spin to the view of change in Italian cinema. The wonderful response to the couple at a seaside castle from the employees provides some last minute humour, that really takes the movie into a third dimension.

If there is one thing that lets The Frightened Woman down its the rather annoying Scooby Doo style ending where the motives for the big surrounding story are exposed, but one slip up in 90 minutes of exceptional and classic film-making is something that can be accepted.

The cast perform incredibly well especially considering what at the time was harsh subject matter and effectively a two hander of a movie, two handed movies are rare now but back then practically unheard of, and to carry out such a wide range of contrasting emotions shows the quality of an actor.

The movies main theme song "Femina Ridens" is an incredibly dated, but difficult to forget piece of 60's pop by De Mutiis, it has a most interesting set of lyrics.

It's hard to believe looking back now that there are elements of this movie that once would have called offence; I find it incredibly hard to understand why it got a release with an 18 certificate, because it's certainly one of the most tame and charming of the movies I have seen from Italian shores, even with its viper like final kick, and frank opening scenes.

About The DVD

Shameless precede the movie with a statement asking the buyer to forgive the occasional varying quality of the film stock, explaining the rare nature of some of the footage. And while the quality does sink in a couple of places, you would have to be the most anal of movie viewers for this in any way to affect your viewing. Shameless then finish up the statement by saying that they fell in love with the movie, and hope that you (meaning the viewer) does too, and if ever a statement has been more accurate it's here, I fully understand what they mean, and suspect if you give the movie a chance you will too.

The movie is presented in 16.9 anamorphic widescreen, with a remastered score and English dub, which is so bang on its hard to accept that the movie is of foreign origin. The movie has a running time of 86.03 which is the longest available cut, and certainly the most sequentially complete. The movie looks beautiful with for 99% of the time a wonderful sunny warm crisp imagery.

As is traditional now Shameless off the cover with a nice bold yellow background, and eyecatching yellow case. The movie has a reversible cover one side almost Austin Powers inspired with Dagmar Lassander meditating, while images of Phillippe Leroy kaleidoscope here, in a flower 60's style. On the reverse is a more sinister offering with Leroy looking onto a headless body (obviously Lassander's)who's arms bare a scorpion movement, something of great reference to the movie. The reverse cover also offers the feature under the title Femina Ridens.

Special features are lacking, and lets be real what do you expect of a movie nearly 40 years old. What Shameless do offer however are a series of trailers for the movies My Dear Killer, What Have They Done To Your Daughters? Baba Yaga, Venus In Furs, Ratman, and The Black Cat which also stars Dagmar Lassander; all the trailers are for existing or forthcoming Shameless DVD features. Also included is the wonderfully hip trailer for The Frightened Movie, a stylish offering that looks like something Andy Warhole could have produced, but actually good.

The 11th Shameless DVD release is My Dear Killer, a movie being seen uncut for the first time in the UK, and I suspect probably not being seen in any format in the UK for over 25 years.

To some degree My Dear Killer is a movie out on its own in the now renowned Shameless movie catalogue, I guess this could be the reason why the release is much more muted. My Dear Killer is very much like a traditional Agatha Christie style thriller movie, with a large number of death, that except for the first one are very standard stuff, and certainly not deserving the movies 18 certificate, or the disappearance from Britain over the last 2 and a half decades.

The story begins with a murder that leads Inspector Luca Peretti (George Hilton) to uncover a series of other murders, all of which are seemingly linked together. The story is full of traditional Christie elements of pieces of a puzzle, like a picture, a mirror, and the impact of items on a slope that all pieced together solve the murder. It's all pretty clever stuff, but way out of the ordinary for the Italian thriller genre known as Giallo. The movie has loads of red herrings thrown in to distract, and some red herrings that turn out to be integral pieces of the bigger picture.

I guess the biggest influence on the altered Giallo storytelling is down to the movies director Tonino Valerii, who well known for his spaghetti westerns broke into the exciting new Giallo genre to literally try his hand. Where other leaders like Dario Argento, Aldo Lado, Umberto Lenzi, and Lucio Fulci, featured high levels of often graphic violence and gore, Valerii almost shied away from this sort of storytelling, although keeping the traditional black leather gloved hands always in vision to add that level of terror. I confess I kept expecting at any time to see someone's head cut off, or at least incredibly diced, especially if you look at all the releases across the world all featuring the same image of a buzz saw being used on a screaming woman. Sadly for me, but in other ways this is certainly not the case. Although death by buzz saw does occur it's pretty tame going and almost an anti climax.

The movie progresses fairly well but commits the ultimate no no, in my book; and this is what I call the Scooby Doo ending, in which our detective or crime solver gathers all the potential killers together in a room only to expose one as the killer, yes if your 10 years old this is perfectly acceptable storytelling; but this movie was always designed for an adult audience.

I love the bizarre relationship with Peretti and his girlfriend, who's name escapes me, this relationship is almost sad masochistic in its development, both continuously shouting at each other and showing a major discontent. While he is trying to woo her, she is trying to indicate that her ovaries are potentially drying up "If we don't have a family soon it will be too late!" and almost indicating if he is not up for the job she'll go off and find someone who can. The relationship is a stark contrast compared to Peretti's at work stance in which he listens to everyone, pays close attention, and is essentially a rock of support.

The performers all deliver well, if you're familiar with Italian movies all the cast look vaguely familiar, although few names spring to mind. George Hilton one time Italian leading man really dominates every scene practically appearing in every single scene.

To sum up the feature as a whole if you're into your dark and gritty type of Giallo/Thriller then My Dear Killer is most definitely not for you, especially if you're really into your Dario Argento Giallo. If you like a really good story and a bit of a mystery enjoying Agatha Christie novels and the like then this movie will be right up your street. I quite enjoyed the movie, but being a bit sick would have liked a little more guts to the piece.

About The DVD

My Dear Killer is presented in 16.9 widescreen format; it has been digitally remastered with English audio. It's the first time the movie has been seen in the UK uncut with a running time of 94.22 minutes.

The Cover is the now typical 80's inspired one, with yellow border and yellow case. The cover shows a woman being attacked by a hand drill, with saw attachment. On the reverse is the less hostile cover used to promote the movie back in the day with the movies star George Hilton looking in a stern way to a woman sat opposite. The back of the case has the amusing "Sorry my digger slipped!" comment in reference to an incident that occurs prior to the movies opening titles.

The DVD has trailers for the following Shameless releases: What Have They Done To Your Daughter, Night Train Murders, Torso, Baba Yaga, Ratman, and The Black Cat. As is usual the DVD also includes the trailer for the feature itself in this case My Dear Killer.

There is something ultra-special about Shameless Films 12th release Ratman that has left me wanting it months before its release. Back in the day when you could get to see Ratman (Aka Quelle Villa In Fondo Al Parco) via dodgy video's and when I never knew my arse from my elbow I avoided movies like Ratman instead favouring the latest Friday The 13th or Nightmare On Elm Street. Then in the late 1990's when my appreciations of horror widened I came to think of Ratman rather affectionately and strived to get hold of it, regardless of whether it was any good or not; I'm sure fans of the genre will be in similar situations. Now 20 years after you could last see the film Shameless pulls a blinder by releasing the movie for the first time in the UK.

Ratman is set on a Caribbean island is the story of a part human part rat creature whole its scientific father, for want of a better term calls Mousey (odd considering it's a Rat hybrid). The reason for creating this "hybrid" is to enhance science. The day prior to showing Mousey to the great scientific public, he escapes his birdcage home, which he can hardly fit in. Being an un-socialised individual Mousey heads for the beach where he quickly massacres a man. Later Mousey strikes again attacking a young woman, causing the shock to make her die of a heart attack. Through mistaken identity Terry (Janet Agren) is called to the island, believing the dead woman is her missing sister. Hitching up with crime novel writer Fred Williams (David Warbeck), the pair becomes amateur sleuths desperate to hunt down the killer and discover the reason behind the rat like claw marks and bites on the bodies.

I love the work the guys over at Shameless put into releasing a DVD, they are already fighting a losing battle to some degree because in the UK those into horror from this generation will more often than not opt to watch the latest pile of dogs mess that passes as a horror movie, they might even say something really dirty like "The Tripper by David Arquette is a really good film!" Not only are they naive in there horror tastes, but they also deserve a good slap round the face. Sadly this time round while Ratman is a great DVD for a horror enthusiast to own, falls very much into the Manhatan Baby camp of Italian horror movies you must own, but probably will never watch again.

Ratman is abysmal, it's drawn out and boring, padded out with bits of nudity and humour in times that may or may not mean to be horror. Our little killer a real life small person the late Nelson De La Rosa, (who many might know best from the 1996 version of Island Of Dr Moreau staring Val Kilmer and Marlon Brando) but be more like a rat than he appears because he manages to manipulate himself in and out of a toilet to attack his prey. While I can understand the logic of this, and I'm kind of justifying this manipulation in my own head because it's never said that's how he does it; the sad reality is that regardless of how small he is he wouldn't even get his head through the U-bend. In fairness you could have hours of fun just trying to figure out how he does it, but don't go expecting a cast iron answer.

I was a bit disappointed with the movie because of that whole anticipation thing. Not only did the plot seem reasonable, and the cheesy trailer lure me in the fact that it had two Italian legends in the form of New Zealander David Warbeck, and 70's horror legend Janet Agren (the pair reunited after last working on the far superior 1976 movie Panic), to bolster reasons to watch.

While Warbeck does reasonably well, with dreadful dubbing heseems strangely missing for most of the movie, while Agren bothers the hell out of me, "For God sake kill her!" I was shouting inside; as she vaguely looked into the screen, you know that look that you give a sick relative?

The horror is not well paced, you sit for ages waiting for something to happen and you get several things happen at the same time, not much of a surprise that its director Giulano Carnimeo was nearing the end of his career, with one final turkey to spew out after this. The only joy I really got from the movie was bit of a laugh at the end, obviously meant to inspire fear; one thing this horror offering could not do even if you're the most weakened to the world of horror.

What annoyed me a lot was the musical score, which was not only incredibly repetitive but sounded an awful lot like Guido and Maurizio De Angelis' score for Lambert Bava's A Blade In The Dark. It's almost like composer Stefano Mainetti had been so impressed with Blade's score that he would drag it kicking and screaming into another movie, making the odd change here and there in the hope that nobody would notice; believe me listen to the two scores separately from the movies and you'd have difficulty placing which score belonged with which movie. Bizarrely Mainetti has the dubious honour of being the only composer to have written for both horror maestro Lucio Fulci, and Pope John Paul the second, nice combo.

As I said i'm glad I saw it, and chances are any genuine horror movie fan will feel the same, but it's not a movie I'd ever watch again. But with Shameless turning out such high calibre stuff, two Turkeys in a collection of 12 titles so far is a forgivable mistake. Technically speaking though, to achieve such a feat as to bring this title to DVD regardless of how bad it is hardly a mistake anyway, so forgive them all the same.

About the DVD:

The movie itself is of varying quality, the reason for this being to preserve the performance of the legendary late actor David Warbeck, although this version is presented with an awful dub for the actor; sad because Warbeck's native language is English. I personally am happy to accept a print of varying standards in order to get a more complete vision, and if we are to be honest I'm not saying the print quality is that bad either, it just goes hazy ever so occasionally, a bit like soft porn.

Shameless cover takes a big nudge and a wink from Spielberg's Jaws, with the shark being replaced by a giant rat (teeth still however exposed), and a woman bare breasted floating on the water's surface; the rather bizarre but explained "He's The Critter From The Shi**er" tagline in a prominent place on the cover. The now all too familiar Giallo (Yellow) colours of a Shameless release adorn the cover as its backdrop. I know I've said it before but each time I see a Shameless DVD I'm transported back to the days when VTC was a popular if not obscure video company that's titles filled video libraries across the country, VTC have to be my all-time bad taste company, and the prime reason why I was drawn to Shameless titles before I knew more about the company. Shameless draw attention the too fact that the running time is 78:08 minutes long, though due to various versions across the passage of time I'm not sure if this is fully uncut, or whether it's as much footage as they could get their grubby little hands on. Shameless state that it's the most complete version ever deserved. It's certainly longer than other releases overseas in the past. Whichever the case, I'm pretty sure the BBFC in fact 100% so never made any cuts to the movie. On the reverse of the cover is the original poster art, showing a dead woman and a giant spirit like hand coming from the base of a house, presumably to add a further dimension of terror.

The DVD comes with a few trailers for current and future releases such as: The Frightened Woman, My Dear Killer, Baba Yaga, The Black Cat, New York Ripper, and Manhattan Baby. There is also the trailer for Ratman, which I believe is a mix of old style trailer and Shameless's own personal touch, presumably because of foreign influence in the trailer (i.e. Italian titles).

Last month I watched the movie What Have They Done To Your Daughters on Redemptions Salvation label. My viewing was disturbed or rather ruined by the poor quality film stock, and soundtrack. Redemption had literally just thrust a dodgy old VHS print on the DVD format, the whole thing was a fairly unimpressive affair. And in a strange case of film quality actually affecting the viewing I was left less than impressed by the movie as a result. As my movie review came to a close in the writing process I discovered that Shameless Films, a small euro cult DVD company were bringing the movie to DVD with a cleaned up print. So what difference if any has a month made?

Having started with one of the most horrendous musical scores in Italian movie history, (you really need to hear this to believe it); you are given a series of facts about unexplained activity of kids. Moving into the heart of the story and a police inspector Valentini (Mario Adolf) is seen entering an apartment where a young girl is hanging from the ceiling. Initially considered suicide, another dimension opens and Valentini and Assistant District Attorney Vittoria Stori (Giovanni Ralli) realise that there is more to this than meets the eye. Calling in Inspector Silvestri (Claudio Cassinelli) as expert help, the three investigators are sent deeper and deeper into a disturbing vice and a series of horrible murders to coincide.

The cleaned up image that Shameless deliver is infinitely clearer than the Redemption edition, so much so that for the most part the movie looks dramatically different. I soon realised also that the razor sharp edges, smog free film, and enhanced quality soundtrack was affecting my viewing also in a much more positive way.

Loosely related to director Massimo Dallamano's earlier movie What Have You Done To Solonge AKA La Polizia Chiede Aiuto, The Police Want To Help and The Coed Murders, the movie looks at a sinister underground vice racket in which school girls of teenage years are effectively hired out to various men to carry out unorthodox sexual practises, all of which spoken about in great detail but thankfully never seen. As a result this becomes one of Italy's more gritty and harsh thrillers from the 1970's; while most areas were covered in Italy's warped movie world paedophilia, which effectively this movie covers was something only occasionally touched upon. Only the movie Don't Torture A Duckling and the aforementioned Solange spring to mind as similar movie topics. I guess being as the girls ages are kind of blurry, this does also allow for a grey area.

Where What Have They Done To Your Daughters will fail is in the area that most looking at Italian horror and thrillers have grown accustomed to a much increased pace on the whole over US and UK movies, this movie however is slowed right down and unusually focussing more on the substance of the movie rather than trying to put you off your dinner. There are massive expanses in the movie where we follow our crime fighting trio actually investigating the strange underground vice ring. As long as 30 minutes pass at one point where there is nothing other than simple detective work going on, as Silvestri, Stori, and Valentini frantically look for clues in a world where all the doors are locked.

This all being said, there is some of the graphic stuff that Italian movie fans are familiar with, a hacked up body reassembled like a jigsaw, a hand being chopped off, and a great head attack with the most unconvincing spray of blood in Italian movie history.

As a thriller movie this is a film that really works, keeping you guessing right until the very end as to who the killer might be. It's great to see the slow gathering of all the pieces of the puzzles, from discoveries in hidden vents to old film footage exposing things unexpected. The whole aspect of the vice ring cleverly exposed by the discovery of some audio tapes.

With criticism of the "plop plop" opening music score Stelvio Cipriani delivers a most phenomenal score to accompany the movie, it's one of those soundtracks you could happily enjoy separated from the movie, and unlike music from a couple of other Dallamano films fits perfectly well with the movies subject matter.

Quite unusually the movie features a strong Italian cast, many movies of the time having their sales boosted by the inclusion of a British or American actor in a leading role, the movie went it alone and succeeded, quite an unusual feat.

Dallamano delivered some great movies in his short time as a director; sadly his life was cut short in a horrific car crash. The movies lead Claudio Cassinelli too met with an untimely death, this time in a helicopter crash while filming in 1986, Cassinelli was set to become one of Italy's biggest stars.

THE DVD

The print is magnificent looking clean and crisp, Shameless have sourced a small amount of missing footage from the movie meaning it is now seen in the UK in its longest ever uncut form. The downside of finding missing footage is that often Italian movies are dubbed, while the missing footage never saw the new vocals; the result is that suddenly the vocals shift from English to Italian, with subtitles in English to let us understand what's going on. This in my view actually adds a little charm to the movie. The movies running time is 86 minutes 59 seconds, and is presented in anamorphic widescreen.

As is customary thereare no special features however there are trailers for My Dear Killer, Night Train Murders, Torso, Phantom Of Death, and The Black Cat all currently available on the Shameless label. A future release trailer is Baba Yaga, a movie that will eventually see the light of die when Shameless have finished restoring it, given the last print I saw of this movie was pretty bad Shameless have their work cut out on this one.

There is also a trailer for What Have They Done To Your Daughters.

Onto the cover of the DVD, this features a motor cycle helmeted killer and a girl pulling her skirt down flashing her underwear, Shameless obviously trying (and justifiably so) to increase their sales by using the old adage that sex sells. Also however believing in personal choice, the company have put an alternate cover on the other side, this is of an old Italian poster to promote the movie. Both sides are framed in the now familiar yellow frame that harks back to the 1980's series of pre-certificate movies released on VHS.

If you have never ventured into the world of Italian thrillers, this is a great place to start, and if you have seen the movie in the past but were left unimpressed maybe it's time for a second look.

I absolutely adore Italian cult movies; I also rather enjoy the movies that UK based Shameless Screen Entertainment release, but imagine my delight when I discover that one of my all-time Italian thrillers Who Saw Her Die? Is getting a long overdue UK release, not just with a glossy print but with some long missing footage reinserted. It is like one of my greatest dreams come true, and luckily for me those nice guys over at Shameless sent me a copy of the movie to watch prior to its release on the 25th August, enough to tide me over until the movie is out to buy.

Made all the way back in 1972 Who Saw Her Die? Starts with one of the most disturbing openings I have ever seen, nestled in the beautiful snow filled French mountains you see a young girl enjoying herself with her nanny and her sledge. From out of the trees looms a figure of a woman with a veil covering her face. Grabbing the young girl, the woman proceeds to smash her skull in with a stone before burying her rather carelessly under the snow. Moving forward 20 years, we are teleported to Venice in the 1970's; and the arrival of Roberta (Nicoletta Elmi) who has come to stay with her father Franco (George Lazenby) is about to cause history to repeat itself.

The movie is a product of the great Aldo Lado the mastermind behind Night Train Murders, and The Short Night Of The Glass Dolls, Lado is not necessarily the best know of the Italian directors especially to the casual Italian movie viewer, but familiar or not you'd certainly agree Lado's movies have a certain style about them. Here Lado shows a side of Venice that the Italian tourist board would not like you to see, looking dowdy and dirty you can almost smell the dirty Venetian water, add to this a vision of darkness, rain, fog, and cloud cover that you do not think of when Venice enters your mind. Everything about Lado's outlook of Venice is dark and sinister and not the image you get with movies like The Talented Mr. Ripley or Nicholas Roeg's Don't Look Now even though this is hardly sun filled; on the subject of the Roeg masterpiece I'd go as far as to say that I suspect that Roeg took a little inspiration from this movie as you can easily spot similarities between the two movies, while Roeg painted a harsh image of Venice, Lado's version is far more extreme and explicit. Now don't get me wrong, Lado's vision is not all dark, there are some most beautiful scenes in the movie, for those with a passion for travel, history, and architecture this movie will make you want to visit Venice even more, what is carefully delivered however is the thought "be careful what you cannot see".

Lado scored well with his leading man acquiring the services of George Lazenby (former James Bond) for a song due to his incredibly high debts (caused due to his dramatic over the top spending while filming On Her Majesties Secret Service), and while Lazenby was criticised for his poor acting on Bond and his lack of sex appeal, he was still a big enough name to ensure that Who Saw Her Die? Got a few more bums on seats in cinemas across the world. I should add that if you thought Lazenby lacked sex appeal before, seeing him naked here is not going to improve your views. Sex appeal or not, this movie does prove that the world was wrong about Lazenby and certainly here he proves himself to be a very capable actor. There is a little more Bond-age here in the casting of Adolfo Celi who starred as Emile Largo in the James Bond movie Thunderball. Celi or rather his character of Serafian a sort of Mafioso boss manages to dominate the entire movie, as a shadowy and untouchable criminal mastermind, a man with fingers in many pies. Fear not ladies it's not a male dominated piece and the casting of enchanting Swedish actress Anita Strindberg with her devastatingly striking looks finishes the lead cast off perfectly, an actress who young in her career had already starred in two very successful Italian movies Lucio Fulci's A Lizard In A Woman's Skin, and Sergio Martino's The Case Of The Scorpions Tail; few actresses have the powerful look of this actress, let alone the very capable acting skill as she plays a woman in mourning.

I have now seen Who Saw Her Die? A dozen times, and reviewed it now for the third time; what I love about the picture is that there is a wonderful power that the movie has, forget the horrible story of a child killer, and the further sideline of a depraved group of perverts; the movies great talent is that by the time I watch the movie again I have completely forgotten who the killer is, making Who Saw Her Die? A movie that you can watch again, and again. How many movies do you know that feel fresh with each repeated watching? And how many movies grow in power with repeated viewings? I won't deny the first time I saw this movie I could take it or leave it, but now it makes its way to the top of my list for all-time favourite movies. From its gruelling story, its impressive visual delight by its director Aldo Lado, onto its rather impressive score by Ennio Morricone, this is an all round winner.

About The DVD

Shameless have again gone out of their way to preserve the movie well, it's in my view a far superior print to the US Anchor Bay edition released some years ago, and greatly improved by the additional seconds of footage, and English subtitles over a couple of scenes previously un-dubbed and without text translation. At last I get to see what it is the creepy kids are singing about in an Italian variant of "Ring A Roses".
As you progress through the movie there are a few things I had not noticed before, aided by what appears to be better framing. The movie boasts a 2.0 soundtrack, and a frame ratio of 2.35:1.

The cover features a front image of a hand holding a knife above a corpse the cover text reading "Before Don't Look Now Came... Who Saw Her Die? But Who Will Survive To Tell The Tale?" As has become tradition with Shameless Screen Entertainment releases there is an alternate reverse cover featuring a child like picture with a photo of the character Roberta superimposed on it.

There are some trailers on the disc starting with The Designated Victim a release due on the 8th of September and a movie that has never been seen in the UK before. Strip Nude For Your Killer is a classic Giallo thriller by the director of The Nights Of Terror, another future release is Umberto Lenzi's long unseen Oasis Of Fear also due out with the other two titles in September. As well as a look at the future there are trailers for Night Train Murders, What Have They Done To Your Daughters, and The Black Cat. There is also a trailer for Who Saw Her Die? That captures perfectly the magic of this spectacular film.
Of all the releases from Shameless this is by far my favourite, despite my love of The Frightened Woman, congratulations Shameless on bringing one of my all time favourites to DVD in the UK.

It's been a long two months, but the end of October spells the launch of the next Shameless Screen Entertainment movie: Strip Nude For Your Killer (Nude per l'assassino). Made back in 1975 this movie has been sadly elusive in the UK, while overseas it has been an incredibly popular purchase for collectors of the Italian thriller genre otherwise known as Giallo!

My first encounter with the movie occurred two years ago, when against advice I purchased the German X-Rated edition. The movie was quite literally chucked onto the DVD, its imagery sometimes so dark it was hard to see, but most importantly a soundtrack so distorted and poor that thirty odd minutes in I turned my back on the movie. The events so disturbed me that I wrote the movie off as a lost cause, and even ignored a following purchase of US Blue Underground disc. I had to buy it I'm a completist. Upon inserting the Shameless disc I was overjoyed to see the level of preservation that the team had gone to, the lengths of achieving (it's this preservation process that sees such a large gap between the companies releases) something that looks near on perfect. Even when compared to the Blue Underground disc (who have far deeper pockets than Shameless) the preservation is amazing, the sound is near on modern day movie quality perfect. If there is any real flaw it's in the dark scenes where the movies age is more obvious with some blue tints to what should be black.

As the movie begins we see a young woman on a doctors table, this is a typical case of the back street abortionist, but not so typical is the sudden death of the woman. The dodgy Doc is straight on the phone for help, and we see two men (one of which being the doctor) lowering the girl's body into a bath in an attempt to make the death look like an accident. Thinking all is well the Doctor is not expecting to be brutally murdered while entering his home.

A month on and as the petty dramas of the Albatross modelling agency unfold, one of the photographers (a very good Quentin Crisp lookalike) while minding his own business, is disturbed by a visitor. While clearly knowing his visitor, things turn nasty; "You're spilling my whisky!" he cries, but death and a rather nasty anal assault await our photographer, are the two murders connected? But this is just the beginning, and as the bodies mount up it's up to newly united couple Magda (Edwige Fenech) and Carlo (Nino Castelnuovo) to crack the mystery.

I'm not going to plead all is good here; to be honest with you the movie does not feature the best of stories, it's very "Scooby Doo" structured and for the most part leaning in the direction of what I would call bobbins. However, if you love the Italian horror and Giallo movies then of course this is too much of an opportunity to let slip you buy, after all you are talking about the opportunity, to see this movie freely available in uncut form in the UK for the very first time.

The story bounces about a bit, one minute being completely fluid, the next not so much; there is not much development here in its' storyline or the characters, the characters are so thinly written that you do not really get to the heart of any of the characters. The movies big hero is one minute a little likeable the next minute coming off like a complete psycho, throttling Magda for no apparent rhyme or reason. Magda the movies leading lady, is sadly a little dim and annoying. Then there is the police, the biggest sham of a police force you have ever seen in a movie; when a crime occurs it seems the whole police force pile into a crime scene, nobody stays outside, and certainly none of the police can run.

Unlike a lot of Italian movies Strip Nude For Your Killer was shot entirely in Italian, this needs explaining I guess; frequently in Italian movies the cast are global, in many movies the cast spoke in their own language, or were forced to speak in English, then often dubbed into whatever language was appropriate for the movies audience. The result is that for those a little on the picky side, it's obvious that this movie has been dubbed into English. The reason for mentioning this is that the person dubbing the character of Carlo has a few issues when saying certain words specifically corpuscles.

For the movies director Andrea Bianchi, this movie is somewhat a masterpiece his career varied from gross out movies to hardcore pornography, here he manages a partial synergy by delivering a pretty gory thriller, with enough nudity and semi-clothed stars to keep his more hardcore adult movie fans happy. It seems that the director was trying to harness a new genre, and while other movies before and after have tried, this is one of the more illicit of the Italian sex thrillers. I mentioned earlier the sort of mish-mash of storytelling and style, for those familiar with the Italian movies Bianchi's work includes The Nights Of Terror AKA The Zombie Dead, Zombi 3; a movie that touches on the "It's so bad it's good" style, similar could be said about this offering.

When not trying to titillate, the movie really goes for the gross out factor, the movies killer likes to undress their victims and tries to mutilate them in some way, one has a breast sheared off, another their testicles, while another makes off lightly just losing their ears, although lightly is a bit tame as the victim still dies. While the cutting is not pictured onscreen the after effects are, and while not being particularly realistic it's still pretty mean to look at.

Of the movies cast Edwige Fenech always makes for good viewing, the actress was incredibly popular during the 60's, 70's and 80's making a recent return in big screen horror offering Hostel 2. Fenech here is sporting an unusually cropped haircut, and looking almost boyish. Bianchi had little time for actors and Fenech is never given any real chance to shine, though still rather nice to look at. I skip over Nino Castelnuovo because you cannot judge his role fairly due to the pitfalls of the characters development, I cannot remember a time I so venomously disliked a movie lead, this is more a criticism of the character than the actor. Who was nice to see however was Franco Diogene as the aging virgin Maurizio, Diogene is possibly best known as the crooked lawyer Yesil in Midnight Express, unfortunately you get to see a little too much of this character.

Of the movies big plus points, the big draw is that you will not ever guess who the killer is, I was on the right lines but 100 miles from the target, and this is the resounding benefit of the movie, it's great to have a mystery and if nothing else the film delivers that.

Special Features:-

I'm at this time uncertain if the movie will come with a reversible cover as recent releases have, there seems to be no mention of it with the material I received, but in fairness it's a great buy with or without the cover. The movie has been remastered in 2.35:1 with a 2.0 soundtrack.

But it's the trailers that really impress here, alongside trailers for existing releases Torso (AKA Carnal Violence), and New York Ripper come trailers for upcoming titles. The Designated Victim is the next due release, a loose remake of Hitchcock's Strangers On A Train the movie will be seen by UK audiences for the first time, and unusually for Shameless releases according to the new trailer will come with special features including an English and Italian soundtrack, fact-track, deleted scenes, and art gallery; they are calling this the Fan Edition. Oasis Of Fear looks simply swinging with a glimpse of Flash Gordon's Ornella Mutti in the altogether, well almost. Something that really pleased me was the first concrete evidence of the movie Watch Me When I Kill about to appear on the scene. While Shameless also promise Baba Yaga: Reloaded, a special 35th anniversary edition re-edited by the movies director after it was harshly edited upon release. Of course the trailer for Strip Nude For Your Killer is also included.

While personally it's not my favourite of the Shameless releases, I'm thrilled that their releases has at last allowed me to see the movie, and that they have put so much hard work in the release.

As well versed as I am in the Italian Horror and Thriller movies, the news that Shameless were to release the movie The Designated Victim gave me a bit of a thrill; not only had I not heard of the movie before (at least I think I had not) but from the trailer that popped up on their coming soon section of previous DVD releases, really gave me the need to see the movie. Shameless Screen Entertainment have again outdone themselves with this amazing release of a movie in a highly preserved form, and something that is almost unheard of in the world of Shameless DVD's, a disc with special features.

Known in its native Italian tongue as La Designata Vittimia, The Designated Victim to use a modern term is "A Re-imagining" of Alfred Hitchcocks' Strangers On A Train. Stefano Argenti (Thomas Millian) is a businessman who is looking for an escape, far from owning a struggling business things are in fact booming, a buyer is offering substantially more than the business is worth, at least to Stefano. If he can sell the business he can escape Italy, most importantly with the one he loves Fabienne (Katia Christine); one little issue stands in his way, his wife Luisa (Marisa Bartoli), and she is in no mood to sell the business.

While on a romantic retreat with Fabienne, Stefano has a number of strange encounters with Count Matteo Tiepolo (Pierre Climenti). A strange friendship forms between the two men and after several encounters, Matteo makes Stefano a bizarre offer; if he kills Matteo's brother, then in return he will kill Luisa. While Stefano jokes the situation off, it seems Matteo has no such plans, and when he decides to execute them, Stefano is slowly cornered into fulfilling his end of an un-agreed deal.

Like so many movies for reasons best known to the movies producers, it seems in the best interest of the audience to go at it with some scissors. This is exactly what happened with The Designated Victim, hacked up like one of Cropsy's (The Burning) victims, the movie then went into a sort of omission from the movie industry. The guys at Shameless with movie historian/author/preservationist/all round movie nut Marc Morris went to the painful detail of restoring this long lost 1971 movie. Sourcing all the missing bits from here there and everywhere, they have created the most preserved release the world has seen for some considerable time. While a sterling job has been done a few short scenes (totalling no more than a minute combined) are of far lesser quality than the rest of movies beautiful print. I'm a firm believer that people want, nay need to see the movie as its director intended you to see it, regardless of the overall cost, anyone who would not want this is not a movie lover, but someone simply passing the time, with this in mind I feel the weaker quality is a sacrifice worth making.

Onto the movie itself, and familiar Shameless viewers will perhaps be underwhelmed by the incredibly low body count of this movie, no abundance of deaths here, for the most part we are talking just one in fact. With The Designated Victim it's all about the story and what a great rollercoaster of a movie this is, although for me it was all about the highs. The movie rocks along really nicely, it's up and down for the duration, with a hell of a lot of character development along the way. A big asset for the movie is that unlike a lot of Italian thrillers, there is no real mystery here; you know who is what and what they do, yet it still manages to keep you glued to the screen.

Italian films get a lot of stick, among people with little vision, but only a fool would dispute that this movie has all the attributes of the big Hollywood offerings. So many movies go straight for the kill, quite literally in some cases, but director Maurizio Lucidi (with a variety of help including the legendary Aldo Lado) is in no hurry to kill his cast giving you the ultimate understanding of the relationships, and the temperament of the initial victim.

Matteo leers up like the most eloquent of predators, lots of smiles and friendly caresses for his new found friend Stefano. This enigmatic character seems an awful lot like the Prince of Darkness himself, but this is never really focused upon. As the movie continued and I watched Pierre Clementi deliver this rather interesting role, a strange thought popped into my mind, "I have seen this character before!" but not in the body of Clementi.

Matteo is flamboyant with almost an Edwardian gentleman style appearance, with a little punk rocker thrown in. There is this long curly hair, and an heir of femininity that makes you wonder what the true sexual orientation of this character is. Then there are these strange meditational style poses, particularly after in a little tiff where Stefano throws Matteo into a pool of water "I feel cold please take me in the house" before delivering a praying style familiar pose. And then there is this throwaway view of sexual relationships and women in general. I cannot help but wonder if modern day celebrity Russell Brand once stumbled upon this character when deciding on his public image.

Thomas Milian a pretty popular face in the world of Italian cinema does a great job of both endearing and alienating himself with the viewer, one minute you feel sorry for him, and the terrible situation he has got himself in the next you feel total annoyance towards both the actor and the character he plays. There are few Italian actors that can do this well, only Milian and his good friend Ray Lovelock spring to mind.

It's nice to view The Designated Victim alongside Aldo Lado's Who Saw Her Die?, both movies have input from Lado and both are for the most part filmed in Venice. The difference between the movies is that while Who Saw Her Die shows you the aspects of the City that most Italians would not want you to see, perhaps even the true side of Venice; The Designated Victim on the other hand shows you the side that the Italian tourist board would clearly like you to see. Here we see a misty city by early morning and night, while being clear and sunny during the day.

In Who Saw Her Die? The city could have been built at any time; in The Designated Victim you get a feel for the history of this unique location.

The movie has a very unique soundtrack by Luis Enriquez Bacalov, it's a great combination of modern (well 70's) and the classical, the movies main theme sticks in your mind and lasts beyond the confounds of the movie, when you think about it how many films do this?

I really enjoyed The Designated Victim, it shoots to a high point in the reputation of Shameless, for these guys to put so much hard work into a movie few of heard of, and worse still if they had heard of it they would not have been able to have seen it (without great expense anyway); is something I think will never truly be appreciated, and this is really sad. The cast perform well in the movie; the director frames everything perfectly, while the story is simply... To die for!

Special Features:

Where to start.... Let's start with the all familiar Shameless trailers, included here are trailers for The Phantom Of Death, New York Ripper, Oasis Of Fear, Strip Nude For Your Killer, Who Saw Her Die, Night Train Murders and of course The Designated Victim.

There are 9 deleted scenes all taken from an Italian video tape, the source of much preservation for the movie.

A great addition is the fact track, put together by Stefan Novak this contains a series of usual facts that appear (rather like VH1's Pop Up Video) in text form throughout the movie. There is a wealth of information on the actors, director, and associated movies.

Baring in mind that this is an Italian movie, typically dubbed into English you can take the option of hearing the movie dubbed, or in its native Italian tongue. You can also choose to see subtitles in English if you're a purist and want to not only hear the Italian soundtrack, but understand it too.

Finally a photo gallery shows different covers and posters for the movie across the passage of time.

The DVD case has a reversible cover, both pretty stylish but I confess I prefer the reverse sleeve.

One thing confuses me about the movie, and that's the 18 certificate imposed by the BBFC, there is little here to warrant a 15 certificate let alone an 18.

The work of Italian director Umberto Lenzi has always been an unusual mixed bag best known for his movies Cannibal Ferox, Ghosthouse, Eaten Alive and Nightmare City; while the directors agenda of intense thrills bought him a certain amount of acclaim, nay notoriety his story telling has always been the subject of much debate, with many asking "where was the story?" one of his last works (he's not dead!) Black Demons, consisted of a plot that involved Zombies that just happened to be black, end of story. Having little genuine respect for Lenzi, I was however intrigued by Shameless Screen Entertainments latest offering, Oasis Of Fear (AKA Diry Pictures, An Ideal Place To Kill, Un Posto Ideale Per Uccidere), a movie that journeys back to the directors early career.

Made and set in 1971, Oasis Of Fear is a like a leftover product of the 1960's, its message during the opening moments is one of peace and love. The opening credits show young lovers Dick Butler (Ray Lovelock here credited as Raymond Lovelock) and Ingrid Sjoman (Ornella Muti) as they travel their way through Europe in an ultra extended holiday, in order to pay for this trip they peddle pornography in the form of mucky pictures, records containing the sounds of sex, and dirty magazines. Offering peace and love to all they encounter that comes across as a form of cookie sarcasm, the two frequently find that they are on the rough end of the law, often for the wrong reasons. After a period of luck and certain fortune, the couple find themselves broke, then robbed; and as often is the case bad luck comes in threes and they end up on the run from the law. As the two run out of fuel, they stumble upon a house in the middle of nowhere. In search of fuel the two stumble across something far more serious than they have ever been involved in before.

This is a curious little movie, a real oddity in the history of the Italian thriller genre. It's a proper mixed bag, a mongrel of a movie if you will; because it starts as one thing then evolves into something very different. The history of Dick and Ingrid is told in about the first ten minutes, bringing you up to speed with whom they are and exactly what they are all about. When the movie starts proper arriving at the isolated house, referred to by Ingrid as an Oasis, it becomes a very much three handed piece with the arrival of lonely housewife Barbara Slater (Irene Papas). The three bounce off each other exposing secrets, lies, and unlocking sexual passions. Those looking for hard edged action or horror are bound to be disappointed by this movie, while death is on the agenda it's in very short supply.

You do have to ask what happened to Lenzi, because he is very clearly telling a story here, and it's a slow burning tale that's in no big hurry to get to its point, instead you have a slow meandering through a conflicting series of encounters (instigated by Barbara), while all the time you're asking "what's the secret?" As explained at the beginning in future movies Lenzi was never quite so hot on the story telling aspect of his movies, opting instead to focus on the gross out gore instead.

More than anything else Oasis Of Fear is a cultural education, lots of throwbacks to the seventies, while almost debunking the aspect that some European countries offered a much more sexually liberating lifestyle than our own. After all, the couple made their way from country to country selling pornography to the masses, and its far from being the hardcore end of the business. It's curious that even the sound of a couple having sex, would be enough to make the wealthy put their hands in their pockets.

Oasis Of Fear is a bizarre offering, a little fraught sexual tension, some pretty risqué (for the day) sex scenes and some completely off the wall almost comic book humour. It does show that Lenzi has the ability to deliver something, trouble being to be fair after a reasonable 50 minutes the story slows right down and almost trudges along at a snail's pace, this is not something that the action fan will really get, but as a cultural piece of Italian movie heritage it's a pretty enjoyable nights viewing.

I recently saw an interview with Ray Lovelock who said "When I was beautiful!" get over yourself I thought, in the movies I had seen the star in Last House On The Beach, to Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue and Murder Rock to name a handfull, he certainly never offered anything that I was jealous of. But the star I'm assuming meant that you needed to go further back, and I guess in 1971 you'd regard the actor as a pretty boy, in a kind of oddball confused Scooby Doo style way. Dick Butler (Lovelock's character) seems like a fun kinda guy to hang around with, if you're into simple. You can't help but laugh at Lovelock's great nightclub dance scene, are later scene with Papas, in which his body seems to belong to someone very different.
Bringing up a great supporting role is Ornella Muti, not a name that is common to those out of Italy but is best known as Princess Aura (Daughter of Ming The Merciless) in the 1980 Flash Gordon movie. Incredibly sexy, in a wrong sort of way (she was barely 16 when Oasis Of Fear was made); her character is the mature lynchpin of the relationship, aged mentally way beyond her years. And Muti as an actress despite her young age delivers this maturity rather well.
I should of course draw attention to Irene Papas as the despicable Barbara Slater, who between throwing her kit off, addresses the correct acting "standard" of treachery and all-round pretty unreasonable behaviour, not a woman to trust with your aging mother in law, or indeed your mother, she's sell their legs for a quick buck. Papas to me is most memorable for her role in Don't Torture a Duckling, this is one role I'll also now remember the actress for.
It seems even Umberto Raho deserves a mention, twice in fact; because as the movies credits roll at the beginning he is mentioned twice.

It's a rather interesting journey that Shameless Films have taken us on as volume one (hopefully a second will emerge) of their movie offerings is drawing towards an ever closer finale (apparently 20 movies will be the limit). Beginning with some pretty notorious and bloody offerings, they have widened the viewer's recognition of horror and thriller movies from the Italian movie stable, as soon as the 10th volume was out of the way, these obscure little numbers started to appear, many enjoying their first DVD appearances, and a lot of credit should go to the guys for that. 30 odd years after many of the movies were made Shameless are broadening the viewing horizons of a whole new generation of Italian cinema lovers, and bloody good for them too.
I never saw Oasis Of Fear before, but apparently the DVD offers a restored series of sequences, according a sex scene with Papas and Lovelock, obviously these additional scenes were better preserved than some other Shameless releases additional footage because the join marks are not even obvious, a true masterwork of splicing.

Onto the DVD itself:-

The DVD's front cover shows Dick Butler dressed in his nice Union Jack shirt, while the reverse looks like a steamy Mills and Boone cover (Shameless always double side their more recent DVD releases).

There are the usual host of trailers from other Shameless DVD releases, Strip Nude For Your Killer looks and sounds like the ultimate in soft core pornography. Future release Baba Yaga not only gets a trailer but a little story telling. While Watch Me When I Kill gets a pretty action packed looking trailer, offering a fairly action packed sequence of nastiness. Finally Torso AKA Carnal Violence, The Frightened Woman, and The Designated Victim also get a mention. I should of not forget the ultra funky Oasis Of Fear trailer, you'll be singing your head off.

Like The Designated Victim, this DVD offers a fact track that plays as text at the bottom of the screen (should you so wish it) sadly, and I mean no offense when I say this, it's just a little too much. With Victim you could watch the movie and enjoy the quirky bites of trivia as the movie went along, the Wilson Brothers offering for my liking was just too much, rather than sticking to the point they engage in their (and probably mine to be fair) sense of humour, but it's annoying not being able to tell where the good stuff and the nonsense are divided as a result it's impossible to enjoy the movie and the facts together, worse still for me was that the rambling they went off on was often exactly what I was thinking, rather sad to discover aspects of your humour are not unique.

Few people really understand the influence of Italian cult cinema upon the world of the popular movie, many do not even realise there was a time that Italy knocked out hundreds of movies a year; I recently enlightened a mind when I explained the term Spaghetti Western, leaving the person in question quite surprised as to the roots of this often used phrase. While the movies of Italy focused on what was popular inAmerican cinema and copied it, seldom do you hear the reverse. America however frequently borrows heavily from Italy, Quentin Tarentino reaches into Italian cinema history to steal aspects for his movies, I think I can draw some reference for everyone of his movies that stems from Italy. So inspired is the director that this year we will see a remake of the Italian classic Inglorious Bastards, a movie he frequently raves about. Also this year we will see another Italian classic get the re-make treatment in Suspiria, originally directed by Dario Argento. The Italians realise talent when they see it, and the need to copy ideas that work; this brings me to the latest Shameless release Watch Me When I Kill (Aka il Gatto dagli oochi di giada, The Cats Victims, The Cat With Jade Eyes), this movies writer/director Antonio Bido was clearly so inspired by the Dario Argento movie Deep Red (Profondo Rosso) that the movie mimics it.

Watch Me When I Kill is a rare delight; it's one of those seldom seen movies that is often discussed by fans of the Italian thriller genre. The trouble being that those lesser seen or less popular movies suffer terribly without careful preservation. Apparently the movie rather surprisingly was one of the highest grossing Italian movies of the 70's, but unlike movies like the aforementioned Deep Red was not kept alive by the fans. Shameless Films struggled for months to hunt down the best source material, and get specialists in the field to give the movie some new life. I think this needs some praise as it's a common thought that companies that buy movies to sell on their independent labels are assumed to be literally chucking movies onto discs willy nilly with little thought about quality. It was all the way back last summer that my contact at Shameless told me they were trying to get some better footage... If you want to be taken seriously in the world of DVD production then look to these guys on how to do a job properly, imagine spending half a year preserving a movie before you even know how it will be received?

Onto the movie, about time I hear you cry. What you have here is an effective little thriller, clearly shot on the hoof but with a reasonable amount of time piecing the story together. With Watch Me When I Kill the movie surrounds a shared secret, something that happened in the past that connects a group of seamlessly un-associated characters. The whole series of events begins with the murder of an old pharmacist one day while working in his store. Nightclub performer Mara (Paola Tedesco) stumbles across the scene of the crime, and by association puts herself in the line of danger. When old flame Lukas (the late Corrado Pani) comes into the picture, he starts to connect all the pieces of the puzzle.

Watch Me When I kill is like a typical blueprint whodunit style thriller (this specific type of Italian thriller has become known as Giallo), lots of random murders, and a whole bucket load of red herrings along the way to keep you guessing the movies killer until the very end.

The movie has dated far more than any Italian thriller I can think of, and I'm not referring to the print quality. It's clear to anyone with the slightest knowledge of Italian thrillers that director Bido is trying to replicate the power of Argento. What Argento is clever to do though is hide tell tale signs that give indication to the movies age, so that with the exclusion iof fashion his movies could have been made anytime. Bido on the other hand throws ever bit of 1977 culture, and technology he can into the movie, meaning that by 1980 the movie already would have looked quite dated. This is not a digging criticism in fact it gives the movie a little charm, anyone researching late 70's lifestyles would have a field day here; it's really quite delightful to watch. When not focusing on the culture aspects Bido rushes around Padua, Tivoli, and Rome like you're a tourist on a 24 hour break, I wonder how much the landscape will have changed.

There are not any real scares, or moments of fright in the movie; however this does not stop the movie from at times being quite disturbing. Using "state of the art" 1977 technology in one rather long scene Lukas takes his neighbour Giovanni Bozzi to a recording studio to dissect a tape recording of noises played down the telephone to the neighbour. The recording is not too pleasant on its own, but when the various aspects are broken down it gets a little more eerie. A movie could have been concocted off the back of this recording alone, and had you shown any signs of flagging on this movie then this would certainly alert your senses.

The story is pieced together quite nicely, with a good flow of action, mystery and a scattering of romance. For those who love those gritty moments of death, there is quite a healthy body count to keep you amused.

This is not a movie that should have been dubbed into English, it does somehow cheapen the movie, making all the actors come off as being a bit cheesy and just plain wrong, for the time you had a collection of reasonably respected actors and public celebrities, who now seem like amateurs due to rather lax dubbing techniques. Early on in the movie Mara drops in rather casually that someone had tried to kill her, the dubbing artists emotionless words make it sound more like she forgot the sugar. This is not a flaw on the side of Shameless but of the producers of the movies that ordered the dubbed version. It's worth adding that few Italian movies would make sense in their native tongues, as cast members were often plucked from around the globe with no understanding of Italian, using the much mentioned now Deep Red, British actor David Hemmings was dubbed into Italian, but because vast portions of the original soundtrack were scrapped he was then dubbed back into English; in recent years as more of that movie has been recovered the issues of this have become far more obvious.

Sticking with Deep Red, there is this series of scenes that literally copy the movie with new eyes; shadowed figures, a table of totally random items, and false jumps. Just in case you were starting to think it was all copied, Bido curveballs you with a connection to another Argento movie, Suspiria. Musicians Trans Europa Express burst in with a Suspiria inspired soundtrack. The group did not only rip off Goblin/Argento hits, after the initial smack in the face of obviousness you get something far more subdued, almost dreamy, even beautiful.

Watch Me When I Kill is not necessarily a movie that you watch and become an immediate fan of, it can at times be fairly hard going. I chose to watch the movie twice, and knowing the movies hidden secrets the second time round I was more alert, more involved, and as a result I enjoyed it all the more; what went from pretty average rose a few levels in my opinion.

Special Features:

On Watch Me When I kill you get something quite unusual on a Shameless release, and that's a very frank conversation with Antonio Bido as he talks about the movie in detail, and allows you through his words to see the movie through his eyes. The director is quick to try and put a halt to any Argento comparisons saying these are coincidental, and that if he copied anyone he was following Alfred Hitchcock. Bido also explains about the impact of the movie on Italian Cinema history, the failure of the stereo soundtrack, and the reason the print quality (now pretty well restored by Shameless) has not lasted well with time. On a nice touch the director also addresses his failures and his regrets.

After their previous commentary track, experts on all things Giallo "The Wilson Brothers" have put together a far more relaxed commentary track allowing you to enjoy move the movie and the text that accompanies it, still however managing to retain their unique sense of humour.

There are two trailers for the movie, both the American and International versions.

An alternate opening credits sequence gives an interesting spin on the movie.

There is a pictue gallery and trailers for other Shameless movies including Strip Nude For Your Killer, Baba Yaga, Torso, Oasis Of Fear, The Designated Victim, and The Phantom Of Death.