"Actor: Luigi Antonio Guerra"

• Giallo Essentials | Blu Ray | (08/11/2021) from £34.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Alongside the spaghetti western, the giallo is one of the most famous Italian export genres: films steeped in mystery and intrigue, delivered with stylised violence and unforgettable musical themes. The Possessed (1965) masterfully combines noir, mystery and giallo tropes in a proto-giallo based on one of Italy's most notorious crimes. It tells the story of a depressed novelist (Peter Baldwin) in search of his old flame (Virna Lisi) who has disappeared under suspicious circumstances, prompting an investigation that finds him plunged into a disturbing drama of familial secrets, perversion, madness and murder. The Fifth Cord (1971) boasts a complex, Agatha Christie-esque plot of investigation into a series of brutal assaults. As the body count rises, whisky swilling journalist Andrea Bild (Franco Nero) finds himself under suspicion, making it all the more imperative he crack the case. The Pyjama Girl Case (1978), inspired by a real-life case that baffles to this day, takes us to Australia where former inspector Timpson comes out of retirement to crack the case of a young woman, found on the beach, shot in the head, burned to hide her identity and dressed in distinctive yellow pyjamas... In the first of a multi-volume series of Giallo Essentials these films feature a raft of talent in front and behind the camera with each film restored from the original camera negative and presented with a range of contextualising interviews and featurettes. Special Edition Features Brand new 2K restorations of the film from the original camera negative for The Possessed, The Fifth Cord and The Pyjama Girl Case High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentations of each film Original lossless mono Italian and English soundtracks Newly translated English subtitles for the Italian soundtracks Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtracks Rigid box packaging with newly designed artwork by Adam Rabalais in a windowed Giallo Essentials Collection slipcover The Possessed: New audio commentary by writer and critic Tim Lucas Richard Dyer on The Possessed, a newly filmed video appreciation by the cultural critic and academic Cat's Eyes, an interview with the film's makeup artist Giannetto De Rossi Two Days a Week, an interview with the film's award-winning assistant art director Dante Ferretti The Legacy of the Bazzoni Brothers, an interview with actor/director Francesco Barilli, a close friend of Luigi and Camillo Bazzoni Original trailers Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sean Phillips The Fifth Cord: New audio commentary by critic Travis Crawford Lines and Shadows, a new video essay on the film's use of architecture and space by critic Rachael Nisbet Whisky Giallore, a new video interview with author and critic Michael Mackenzie Black Day for Nero, a new video interview with actor Franco Nero The Rhythm Section, a new video interview with film editor Eugenio Alabiso Rare, previously unseen deleted sequence, restored from the original negative Original Italian and English theatrical trailers Image gallery Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Haunt Love The Pyjama Girl Case: New audio commentary by Troy Howarth, author of So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years of Italian Giallo Films New video interview with author and critic Michael Mackenzie on the internationalism of the giallo New video interview with actor Howard Ross New video interview with editor Alberto Tagliavia Archival interview with composer Riz Ortolani Image gallery Italian theatrical trailer Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Chris Malbo

• Years of Lead: Five Classic Italian Crime Thrillers 1973-1977 | Blu Ray | (13/12/2021) from £29.85   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  The 1970s were a time of intense uncertainty and instability in Italy. Political corruption and widespread acts of left and right-wing terrorism, alongside a breakdown in social cohesion and a loss of trust in public institutions such as the government and police, created a febrile atmosphere of cynicism, paranoia and unexploded rage. Throughout this period, these sentiments found expression in a series of brutal, often morally ambiguous crime thrillers which tapped into the atmosphere of violence and instability that defined the so-called Years of Lead. This box set gathers five films from the heyday of the poliziotteschi the umbrella term used to describe this diverse body of films. In Vittorio Salerno's Savage Three (1975) and Mario Imperoli's Like Rabid Dogs (1976), random acts of violence committed by vicious young sociopaths threaten the fragile fabric of respectable society. In Massimo Dallamano's Colt 38 Special Squad (1976) and Stelvio Massi's Highway Racer (1977), renegade cops battling against red tape and political corruption turn to new and morally dubious methods to dispense justice. Finally, class dynamics are explored in Salerno's No, the Case is Happily Resolved (1973) as an innocent man finds himself under suspicion for a savage crime committed by a highly respected member of society. Decried by critics for their supposedly fascistic overtones, the poliziotteschi were in fact more ideologically varied and often considerably more nuanced than such superficial readings would suggest, and proved a huge hit with theatregoers, who responded to their articulation of present day social concerns. Featuring an impressive line-up of Euro-cult stars, including Joe Dallesandro (The Climber), Ivan Rassimov (Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key), Maurizio Merli (Violent City) and Enrico Maria Salerno (The Bird with the Crystal Plumage), this collection of stylish, hard-hitting Euro-crime thrillers showcases the range and breadth of the genre and is a must-have for newcomers and grizzled veterans alike. Special Features High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentations of all five films, restored from the original camera negatives Original lossless mono Italian audio on all five films Original lossless mono English audio on Colt 38 Special Squad and Savage Three English subtitles for the Italian soundtracks Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack on Colt 38 Special Squad and Savage Three Poliziotteschi: Violence and Justice in the Years of Lead, a visual essay by critic Will Webb exploring the recurring traits and themes of the genre Rat Eat Rat, an interview with writer/director Vittorio Salerno and actress Martine Brochard on Savage Three The Savage One, an interview with actor Joe Dallesandro on Savage Three When a Murderer Dies, an interview with cinematographer Romano Albani and film historian Fabio Melelli on Like Rabid Dogs It's Not a Time for Tears, an interview with assistant director Claudio Bernabei on Like Rabid Dogs Music sampler for Like Rabid Dogs Always the Same Ol' 7 Notes, an interview with composer Stelvio Cipriani on Colt 38 Special Squad A Tough Guy, an interview with editor Antonio Siciliano on Colt 38 Special Squad Archival introduction to Colt 38 Special Squad by Stelvio Cipriani Faster Than a Bullet, an interview with film historian Roberto Curti on Highway Racer Mother Justice, an interview with writer/director Vittorio Salerno on No, the Case is Happily Resolved Alternate ending to No, the Case is Happily Resolved Original trailers for Like Rabid Dogs, Colt 38 Special Squad and No, the Case is Happily Resolved Poster galleries Reversible sleeves featuring original artwork for all five films

• Nude For Satan | DVD | (16/06/2014) from £7.99   |  Saving you £7.00 (116.86%)   |  RRP £12.99

  While driving through the countryside late at night Dr. Benson finds a crashed car with a woman hanging out of it. The doctor puts the girl in his car drives for help to the nearest house which turns out to be a mysterious castle. When he knocks on the door he is greeted by a woman who looks exactly the same as the injured woman. This woman invites them both to stay for the night and the doctor soon discovers that his host is not the only one in the castle and that this beautiful woman is concealing a terrible secret... This is Italian gothic at its most demented with lashings of 1970s-style sex whippings Satanism lesbianism nudity dubious haircuts and a lust-crazed arachnid with a taste for sadomasochism and women in stockings. A truly extraordinary film!

• Nude For Satan | DVD | (26/07/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  In Nude for Satan, director Luigi Batzella deftly combines weirdly stylised horror and out-and-out exploitation (scenes of bondage, torture, unmotivated sex and an orgy are sprinkled throughout) for a film dripping in eerie mood and nightmare imagery. Two strangers who wreck their cars on a rural highway during a storm take refuge in a mansion. A doctor (James Harris), who has left an unconscious woman, Susan (the striking Rita Calderoni), in his car walks in to discover depravities behind every door when Susan suddenly appears, dressed in a flowing gown and acting as if they were old friends. The next morning, Susan wakes up in his car and enters the mansion to find a leering aristocrat, his snaggle-toothed servant, and the doctor dressed as a count and acting like a decadent dilettante. It's as if the two exist in parallel universes, confronted with ghost versions of one another in a portal to the past controlled by a devilish hedonist. The doppelganger story of split psyches doesn't always make sense, and a few clumsily executed scenes are laughably silly (a hoary papier mâché and pipe-cleaner spider is the worst offender), but the handsome production is unexpectedly compelling and unsettling. --Sean Axmaker

• What Have They Done To Your Daughters? | DVD | (24/01/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

• Partner | DVD | (08/06/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A Mumbai City "date doctor" tries to work his magic on the one woman he truly loves in this new comedy.