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Swedish company Atlantic Film are well known for releasing interesting films on dvd for an affordable price. When rumors started to circulate that they would release a Dario Argento box set with a whooping eight films and a documentary as a bonus I got more than curious. The dvd medium has been around now for some years and Argento's collected work is in terms of picture and sound quality constantly improving. Can a company like Atlantic Film with its relatively small market make a differerance to what has already been published? Let us dig deep in to the box and see what the conclusion will be…
The first thing that struck me some seconds after unpacking the box was that the art designer of this set should get a promotion. These are the most beautifully designed dvd covers I have seen on any Argento release! To boot, the nine dvd's rest in a nifty box with some stunning artwork. Full points to Atlantic Film for taking the effort of making something special on this department.
Since I'm a sucker for chronological order, let's check out each individual dvd in that way. |
BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE
SEDA SPETTACOLI ; ITALY
dvd specification
original year of release: 1969
approximate running time: 93 minutes
aspect ratio: anamorphic widescreen 2.35:1
system: PAL (colour)
rating: 15
sound: italian mono
dvd release: atlantic film
region: 2
region coding: 2
dvd extras
swedish and finnish subtitles
trailers
biographies |
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| video | | At first I thought that this transfer came from the Medusa dvd. The titles and credits are in italian. When I more carefully compared the two, it seems like this release comes from another source. There are some cigarette burns (small holes in the 35mm print that indicates for the machinist to change reel when the film is shown in the cinema) that are not evident on the Medusa version. The colors of the Atlantic dvd has a slightly washed out look when compared to Medusas release. This how ever is not a huge problem, the transfer is well detailed and sharp and rests easy on the eye. Like a lot of dvd's there is some problems with edge enhancement. This is especially to be noticed during the scene where Sam Dalmas is being followed on a misty street. Flesh tones look realistic and the reds show no bleeding. Considering the age of the movie I give Atlantic an overall more than OK verdict.
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| sound | | Here we actually have quite a problem! The dvd cover claims the audio to be in English, it is however in italian. This is something which is too clumsy to be forgiven. When will movie companies realize that they should know what they put on their own discs before unleashing them to the market? Surely this is not too much to ask? The ITALIAN Dolby Digital mono track sounds fine though. Minimum amounts of noise and no distortion, the dialogue is clean and easy to follow. |
| extras | | In the extra department we get a trailer taken from an English print in quite bad condition. There are biographies on Dario Argento, Suzy Kendall and Tony Musante which are lifted from the VCI dvd. |
| conclusion | The Bird With The Crystal Plumage was Argento's debut in the directors chair. Few directors get a start such as he did, the movie was a huge hit all over the world and topped many box office charts. What is unique is that even though not yet perfected Argento showcase a lot of his trademarks already here: close ups of eyes, black leather gloves, the token police officers, the artist being drawn into a murder mystery against his will, the use of architecture as part of the plot etc. These are subjects that more than thirty years later still fascinate Argento's audience and himself.
Atlantic has managed to release a dvd with a solid transfer and satisfying sound. The real annoyance is the mistake with the soundtrack! It is in ITALIAN so those of you not speaking italian or being able to follow the Swedish or Finnish subtitles should be aware of this fact. A small footnote is that the cover also claims that the dvd also has Norwegian and Danish subtitles, this is however once again not the case. |
CAT O'NINE TAILS
SEDA SPETTACOLI ; ITALY
dvd specification
original year of release: 1971
approximate running time: 106 minutes
aspect ratio: anamorphic widescreen 2.35:1
system: PAL (colour)
rating: 15
sound: english mono
dvd release: atlantic film
region: 2
region coding: 2
dvd extras
swedish and finnish subtitles
trailers
biographies |
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| video | | The opening credits are in English and seems to be taken from a print in very poor shape (some lines are indicating that they might even be taken from a VHS source), further more they are in 1.66:1 aspect. The opening scene where we are supposed to see Franco Arnold (Karl Malden) and Lori (Cinzia De Carolis) strolling down the street sports a big problem: The print is so dark and fuzzy that we can not see them at all! After the credits have rolled the film jumps to the proper 2.35:1 ratio. From this point on things brighten up. Even though the Atlantic transfer has strong colors and is decently sharp, when compared to Anchor Bay it lacks a lot in terms of detail. Once again there are some problems with edge enhancement in some scenes. When Carlo Giordano (James Franciscus) is looked up in the dark tomb this is especially evident creating something which looks like digital fogging. How ever, once again flesh tones are correct and no bleeding (except for from some of the victims then…) is to be seen. By the time the end credits start to roll Atlantic once again use another print! This time in a wider aspect ratio. The credits are in English.
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| sound | | This time the sound is actually in English like stated on the cover. Dialogue is easy to follow, though the "S" sounds have quite a lot of hiss to them and the music sounds too sharp. The Anchor Bay dvd does not have that problem and sounds less sharp. |
| extras | | Here we get biographies on Argento, Karl Malden and James Franciscus (lifted from the Anchor Bay dvd)
and the USA and European trailers. |
| conclusion | After just having seen Do You Like Hitchcock? It is clear that the nickname that still haunts Argento (The italian Hitchcock) comes from The Cat O' Nine Tails. It is the most linear Argento script to this date and the most impersonal movie he ever directed. That a side it is still an interesting murder mystery with excellent acting especially from Cinzia De Carolis and Karl Malden and some unique clothing courtesy of Carlo Leva.
Atlantics version of Dario Argento's least flamboyant movie The Cat O' Nine Tails leaves a lot to wish for. By no means a bad release but it can not compete with the Anchor Bay version. The main problem is the use of different aspect ratios during opening, main movie and end credits, which gives a some what confusing impression. A side note is that once again the cover states Norwegian and Danish subtitles. Not true! We only get Swedish and Finnish subs.
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SUSPIRIA
SEDA SPETTACOLI ; ITALY
dvd specification
original year of release: 1977
approximate running time: 104 minutes
aspect ratio: anamorphic widescreen 2.35:1
system: PAL (colour)
rating: 15
sound: italian mono
dvd release: atlantic film
region: 2
region coding: 2
dvd extras
swedish and finnish subtitles
trailers
biographies
daemonia music video
radio spots |
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| video | To make a good transfer of Suspiria must be more than a bit tricky, with its surreal color schemes achieved by Dario Argento and director of photography Luciano Tovoli. Atlantic uses a transfer which I have not seen before. Previous to the well known Salvatore Argento Presents there is a logo which says Dan Film, a company I am not familiar with.
The transfer is a very fine one, with well defined sharpness and lots of detail. When compared to the Anchor Bay some things become evident: Atlantics version is a bit more natural in the color scheme, witch (sorry couldn't help myself…) in this case is an advantage and a curse. In daylight scenes such as the conversation between Suzy Banyon (Jessica Harper) and Professor Milius outside the BMW headquarters I prefer this transfer. It looks like a not so magical place, while the Anchor Bay transfer has the greens screaming at you WITCH even during these scenes. The Anchor Bay version works much better as soon as we are within the hallucinating world of the dance academy. The Atlantic dvd does for sure look good but it lacks a bit of the "in your face" colors that we want in these scenes.
Furthermore the Anchor Bay is a bit calmer when it comes to shimmering. During the first murder there is a metallic net in the background, during this scene this net looks like its being lit by a stroboscope. There are some more scenes where this is evident but those times to a lesser level of annoyance.
I have to say that so far while plowing through this beautiful box set this transfer is the strongest of them!
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| sound | Suspiria is not only Dario Argento's most stunning visual work ever, it also comes with the nightmarish, stomach revolting soundtrack from Goblin. To great extent Argento uses this spine chilling music to guide your emotions as he leads you through the maze of riddles which is Suspiria. It is therefore very important that the audio of this movie is presented in a way that the music can fully benefit the experience of seeing Suspiria. This is in my opinion not the case this time. Technically speaking there is nothing wrong with the Dolby Digital mono soundtrack.
It is very clear and there's no hiss or cracks to be heard, but it makes the music sound flat and one dimensional. Like with a lot of mono tracks it also lacks a lot of low end bass. Bearing in mind that Argento by using a four track magnetic surround soundtrack really understood the importance of the soundtrack, even for the purist a mono track will not do justice for Suspiria. |
| extras | | This time we get a port over from the Anchor Bay dvd. Three quite amusing radio spots (Suuuuuhhhspiiriahhhhaahhh, anyone?) The USA and international trailer (the international trailer being a beautiful collage of still pictures and the USA being a cheap looking Halloween ad…) We also get the before seen Daemonia video in which Claudio Simonetti and his band makes a completely unnecessary version of the main theme. Furthermore there are biographies on Dario Argento and Jessica Harper.
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| conclusion | What is interesting with Suspiria is not only the unique look of the film and the shear terror it unleashes on it's audience but also the fact that it is loved not only by genre fans but by a wide audience. It seems to be appealing to most people on this earth even though the plot is very thin and sometimes a bit confusing, even though the dialogue of the young adults are on the level of children, even though it moves forward in a slow way until the Grande finale.
I think it has such a wide audience because it is a movie that is told in the universal language of nightmares, without logic and reason. It hits us right in the heart and soul and there is nothing we can do about it! It is a pure cinematographic adventure that any movie fan should see at least once in their lifetime!
While having a fine transfer with lots of detail and sharpness this version falls short especially on the audio department.
The extras are a welcome addition even though the material has been seen before! A side note is that once again the cover states Norwegian and Danish subtitles. Not true! We only get Swedish and Finnish subs.
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TENEBRE
SYGMA CINEMATOGRAFIA ; ITALY
dvd specification
original year of release: 1982
approximate running time: 97 minutes
aspect ratio: anamorphic widescreen 1.85:1
system: PAL (colour)
rating: 15
sound: english mono
dvd release: atlantic film
region: 2
region coding: 2
dvd extras
swedish and finnish subtitles
biographies |
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| video | Argento's murder mystery has so far had a bumpy road while being presented on the dvd medium. Most versions have been missing some footage so the question is if this is one of the few complete versions on the market? The first thing I noticed was that before the credits we see Bernard Daumont Presente which led me to believe that this is the same transfer as the Dutch dvd (with all the missing scenes intact). To my surprise the credits are in English, the same out of focus, low resolution fuzzy deal as we previously have seen on the USA, UK and italian dvd's. Not a good start! However when Peter Neal (Anthony Franciosa) is seen biking towards the airport the transfer seems to be much better then the above mentioned ones. A fast skip to the scenes that are normally missing gives me yet another surprise: all scenes are intact. Bullmer's (John Saxon) fate on the square is running longer, Anne (Daria Niccolodi) actually puts down her books, the woman on the beach (Eva Robins) gets stabbed a few times more and Jane (Veronica Lario) does take out not one but two shoes! The end credits are oddly enough in English.
So is this a completely new transfer? After some more investigations (luckily with out having razorblade wheeling maniacs in my living room…) I noticed that the Dutch dvd has print damage (scratches etc) on exactly the same places. This leads me to believe that what we have here is actually the same transfer as the Dutch A-Film dvd with credits taken from the Anchor Bay dvd. I have no clue to what made Atlantic take that decision as the opening credits are in pretty bad shape.
Apart from said sequence the rest of the movie is presented with a very solid transfer. Luciano Tovoli's excellent photography is just as cold and menacing as he intended it to be, with a very muted color scheme. Most actors look like they are made from plastic, cold and distanced. I have to say that apart from the credits I am very pleased to see that Atlantic took care of the missing scenes which are most of the times ignored and that the transfer is as good as it is!
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| sound | | Unfortunately Tenebre is once again being given the mono treatment. While not being crammed with sound effects it would greatly benefit the excellent Simonetti/Pignatelli/Morante score which is one of my absolute favorites. However the Dolby Digital mono track is satisfying with a nice addition of low end bass giving the music a little bit of thump. Dialogue is free from distortion and is easy to follow. |
| extras | | Nothing fancy, a short biography on Dario Argento and Anthony Franciosa. A side note is that once again the cover states Norwegian and Danish subtitles. Not true! We only get Swedish and Finnish subs.
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| conclusion | The sharpness of the photography has always posed a problem for the previous dvd releases of Tenebre, here we get close to the original vision of Dario Argento and photographer Luciano Tovoli. The result is a cold and artificial look, still it is Argentos brightest movie with most scenes indoor and outdoor bathing in bright light showing the very muted, almost plastic looking skin tones of the actors. The whole movie comes across as very sterile and the use of modern architecture further ads to the loveless, impersonal imagery that Argento seems to have strived for. Oddly enough there's a lot of humoristic scenes in the film, John Saxon's character Bulmer and his monk eying around with his hat, Ann's talk about "getting you a feather pillow", the "you look like turkey at Christmas time!" pick up line etc. Tenebre remains one of Argento's most dazzling murder mysteries in his oeuvre in the best Gather Christie Who Dunn it? tradition.
Apart from the bizarre decision to use a different print for the opening sequence this is a fine version of Tenebre!
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PHENOMENA
DAC FILM ; ITALY
dvd specification
original year of release: 1984
approximate running time: 105 minutes
aspect ratio: anamorphic widescreen 1.66:1
system: PAL (colour)
rating: 15
sound: italian mono
dvd release: atlantic film
region: 2
region coding: 2
dvd extras
swedish and finnish subtitles
biographies |
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| video | | The transfer used for this dvd seems to come from the Dutch A-film version. Together with said version it is the best version that I have seen of Dario Argento's somewhat childish roller coaster ride of entomological detectives and mutated killer dwarfs. There are very small amounts of scratches and no evident print damage, sharpness and amount of detail is very solid. Nothing to complain about here for once and the 1.66:1 aspect ratio is kept through the whole movie.
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| sound | | Once again, a Dolby Digital mono track. It does work and all dialogue comes through loud and clear with out any hiss or cracks. Like I said before, the thunderous soundtrack by a heap of artists (and I DO like Iron Maiden, Power Slave IS a great album!) does sound a bit flat and a stereo track would have been a welcome addition. |
| extras | | While Inga might be an ape, the extra department is nothing to go ape about. Biographies on Dario Argento and Jennifer Connelly is what is being offered. A side note is that once again the cover states Norwegian and Danish subtitles. Not true! We only get Swedish and Finnish subs (By know I have started to copy and paste this sentence! When will they learn?)
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| conclusion | | If you want to see this movie with a friend that has never seen an Argento flick before and they ask you what it is about, here's a tip: Keep your mouth shut! Surely you'll end up watching something far more commercial. The plot is the most ludicrous ever constructed by Argento and I love it! We get a razorblade equipped chimpanzee, a paralyzed entomologist (Donald Pleasance pretending his dialogue is not nonsense at all…) a genetically screwed up little person and a girl who has the ability to have telepathic communication with insects… The unusual choose of having wall to wall arena metal from Iron Maiden and Motör Head only makes it more wild. This movie calls for an open mind and the willingness to sit down and giggle about the insane things that goes on. For sure not the most mature movie from the italian master of color but one of his most amusing. |
THE STENDHAL SYNDROME
MEDUSA FILM ; ITALY
dvd specification
original year of release: 1996
approximate running time: 114 minutes
aspect ratio: anamorphic widescreen 1.66:1
system: PAL (colour)
rating: 15
sound: english stereo
dvd release: atlantic film
region: 2
region coding: 2
dvd extras
swedish, finnish, norwegian and danish subtitles
biographies
picture gallery
trailer |
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| video | The Stendhal Syndrome is Argento's most pitch-black movie to date, completely lacking any irony or humor. Anna Mannis slow descent into darkness deserves a good presentation. Just like Tenebre, The Stendhal Syndrome (based on the novel with the same name written by Graziella Magherini) has been plagued by mediocre dvd releases. Last year this changed when Medusa released a very fine two disc set of this powerful piece of celluloid. So how will Atlantic stand up in the competition?
Sadly not at all… This is a port over from the Dutch dvd that was released around five years ago. When I reviewed that for Dark Dreams I was very satisfied. Times have now changed and we know that we can and SHOULD demand more! The image is suffering from low resolution (looks like it is taken from a BETA tape), blurry and too dark colors, an incorrect aspect ratio (the right and left side has been somewhat matted) and with a scary amount of digital ghosting that would make the Ghost Busters run for their lives! Do I have to add that I am not impressed at all? |
| sound | | Even here Atlantic gets it wrong. The cover states mono but the film is however presented in stereo. The sound has a lot of noise and sounds too bright, it lacks bottom. To my annoyance we also get the English dub which is by all accounts a horrible one.
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| extras | The extras are exactly the same as on the old Dutch disc, but with one BIG difference: the World Of Horror documentary is not there! There are biographies on Dario Argento, Asia Argento and Sergio Stivaletti. These biographies are filled with clumsy mistakes that could have been avoided. For example it states that Five Days Of Milan is a TV drama (it s in fact a cinema movie and a comedy). Since the Dutch version was released around five years ago the last projects from Argento are not listed. They also manage to miss the fact that Asia has become a director herself and quite a successful one to! I get irritated when companies just seem to slam something together!
Why do they not hire someone who knows something about genre movies if they want to release them? Furthermore we get the trailer which shows some snippets not included in the final cut.
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| conclusion | | This disc is not a very welcome addition in any fans of Argento's collection! The image quality is so low that it is inviting to give anyone who watches it a Stendhal Syndrome of their own, the sound is bad, the biographies are badly written and this for me is a sign of little respect for this very underrated movie. |
THE WAX MASK
CINE 2000 & FRANCE FILM INTERNATIONAL ; ITALY
dvd specification
original year of release: 1997
approximate running time: 95 minutes
aspect ratio: anamorphic widescreen 1.85:1
system: PAL (colour)
rating: 15
sound: english and italian stereo
dvd release: atlantic film
region: 2
region coding: 2
dvd extras
swedish and finnish subtitles
biographies
picture gallery
trailer
featurette |
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| video | After being shocked by the appalling video quality of The Stendhal Syndrome I thought things could only get better. Boy was I wrong! The Wax Mask features the most repulsive non anamorphic transfer that I have ever seen! It seems to be taken from a VHS tape, there are video lines all over the place. Digital fogging is constantly present. It looks like the camera crew are chain smoking behind at the sets. The whites are more of a greenish hue. The focus is not to be seen at all, making all edges actually double. The cheap looking video credits are crawling around like an angry stack of ants.
When the main title WAX MASK pops up in true Hamer Horror fashion on the screen the reds are bleeding so much I am actually considering to get some band aid for my dvd player. The by Video Film Express released Dutch dvd (which came out some eight years ago!) really kicks Atlantics dvd to Uranus and then some. It should be mentioned that the Dutch dvd by all accounts is quite a poor one.
This is not an acceptable release at all and I can't imagine that Atlantic did put any big efforts into finding better source material.
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| sound | To perfectly match a horrible transfer what do we need? That's right: very, very poor sound, and guess what? That's what we get! When italian International Film Presents shows up on the screen there is so much noise that I had to turn down the treble on my amplifier. Maybe it will get better when the movie starts? OK, I guess not… It actually gets worse. Maurizio Abeni's well written pompous celebration of old style horror soundtracks sounds weak and thin.
One thing which is good when it comes to the soundtrack is that we get both the horrible English dubbing prepared hastily before the Cannes film festival and the equally bad italian dubbing.
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| extras | | The extra material consists of a featurette which in reality is more of a long trailer, a regular trailer, a photo gallery and biographies over Dario Argento and Robert Hossein.
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| conclusion | Once again the subtitles are in Swedish and Finnish, the Norwegian and Danish subtitles that are according to the cover supposed to included are nowhere to be found.
The Wax Mask is a guilty pleasure with strong echoes from old style horror a'la Hamer Horror with campy acting and stilted dialogue to such a great extent that Sergio Stivaletti's highy detailed set pieces actually becomes the biggest star of the movie. The Atlantic release leaves more than a little bit to wish for and by no means does it help The Wax Mask to become anything more than a curiosity for horror aficionados, posing the main question: What IF Lucio Fulci would have directed it?
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THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
CINE 2000 & MEDUSA FILM ; ITALY
dvd specification
original year of release: 1998
approximate running time: 100 minutes
aspect ratio: anamorphic widescreen 1.78:1
system: PAL (colour)
rating: 15
sound: english dolby digital 5.1
dvd release: atlantic film
region: 2
region coding: 2
dvd extras
swedish, finnish, norwegian and danish subtitles
biographies
picture gallery
trailer
featurette
interview |
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| video | | Oddly enough The Phantom Of The Opera which seems to be the least liked movie from Dario Argento has always looked good on dvd. This is no exception. I suspect that the transfer is directly taken from the Medusa dvd as all titles are in italian. The anamorphic widescreen image is stunning with a very high level of details and virtually no grain or scratches. It seems to have been mastered without the addition of edge enhancement and is therefore very calm. If only all dvd's from the italian maestro would look like this! Atlantic gets a big bravo for this dvd!
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| sound | | As Phantom has always looked good in terms of picture quality it has also sounded good. Once again, it does this time around also. The heavy, aggressive soundtrack with thunderclaps and rat chasing mobiles and what not sounds big and solid. Ennio Morricones very well written score (which is sadly the best part of this whole ordeal…) sounds very good on this Dolby Digital 5.1 track.
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| extras | | We get the same extras as on for example the A-Pix dvd. We get the cheesy trailer, the Julian Sands interview, a photo gallery and biographies on Dario and Asia Argento and Julian Sands and a few minutes behind the scenes segment. Nothing new is added to this extra material but nevertheless it is included and that is something I greatly appreciate.
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| conclusion | The Phantom Of The Opera is an odd little flick, it's not very scary, it's above all not very well acted: Julian Sands performance of the ugly from the inside Phantom is so wooden that it makes Leigh McCloskey from Inferno look like a genius. However I can't stop myself from liking this kitsch party. My guess is that Argento intended it to have a very strong sense of B movie. It is not supposed to be really scary, it's supposed to be a colorful ride on the ghost train at the local Tivoli. If viewed in this way it does serve its purpose. But to say that it's anything more than an expensive and well produced joyride is to tell a lie.
The dvd does deliver the goods in terms of picture and sound quality and has from here on taken over the price of best transfer and audio of this box set!
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AN EYE FOR HORROR
CREATVY LTD, WESTBROOK FILMS LTD ; ENGLAND
dvd specification
original year of release: 2000
approximate running time: 57 minutes
aspect ratio: anamorphic widescreen 1.66:1
system: PAL (colour)
rating: 15
sound: english stereo
dvd release: atlantic film
region: 2
region coding: 2 |
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| video | | Shot on dvd this excellent documentary looks like what it is, a DV documentary. The main interviews are well defined and sharp and leaves nothing to wish for. |
| sound | | The sound is presented via a Dolby Digital stereo track and just like the video quality it works just fine. The main interviews are easy to follow and that is all we should ask for. |
| conclusion | | An Eye For Horror is a well written and researched documentary that any fan of cinema in general should try to see. We get informative interviews with a big amount of Argento key players including lengthy portions with the man himself talking surprisingly open about his work. Even though this documentary has been seen on quite some releases it is a welcome bonus in the Atlantic Film Argento box set. The side note is like on quite a lot of the movies in this set that the subtitles included are in Swedish and Finnish only, the cover states subtitles in Norwegian and Danish as well.
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Box set conclusion:
Atlantic Film's box set is a beautifully packaged deal. It costs around 70 Euros and considering the amount of films that they include this has to be considered a very good deal. When it comes to the presentation it is a mind bending cacophony of confusion. On top of the game we have The Phantom Of The Opera followed by Suspiria, Phenomena and Tenebre. These transfers range from fantastic, to very good, to more than OK. The problem is the rest of box, Bird With The Crystal Plumage has the problem with the audio, Cat O'Nine Tails is presented in a whooping three aspect ratios (though sporting an OK transfer for the main movie) with the horrible addition of very poor to horrible transfers for Stendhal Syndrome and The Wax Mask. It seems like that the times we do get good transfers are more of an accident than a result of hard work in order to find as good prints or transfers for this hefty release.
A company as established such as Atlantic Film should not settle for the horrible versions of The Stendhal Syndrome and The Wax Mask. Furthermore they should not mislead their customers into believing that the dvd they just bought includes a certain subtitle when it does not or that it is spoken in English when it is infact spoken in italian. I do appreciate that Dario Argento's work is finally being released in Scandinavia, but there are too many clumsy mistakes here for me not to get very annoyed by them. Companies that release genre movies should do more research and hire people for a project like this that KNOWS the genre. Only then can mistakes such as the above mentioned ones be eliminated.
For people who are curious to see some of Argento's film I can recommend this box set. For the diehard fan and or collector I advice you to seek out the best version of each film instead.
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| reviewed by Mattias Borgh |
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