Body
Of Crime
(1970 aka El
Cuerpazo del Delito/VCI
Blu-ray*)/Eleven
Days Eleven Nights 2 4K
(1991 aka Web
Of Desire/4K
Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray*/**)/Helter
Skelter
(2012/*/**)/The
Key 4K
(1983/Tinto Brass/Cult Epics 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray)/Sakuran
(2007/**all 88 Films/*all MVD)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B+ Picture: B-/B/B/B/B Sound: C+/C+/B/C+/B-
Extras: C-/B-/B-/B-/B- Films: C+/C+/B-/B-/B-
Up
next are the occasional erotic films that actually manage to
sometimes be so and even have something to say, show or tell worth
the time of mature, grown adults...
Body
Of Crime
(1970 aka El
Cuerpazo del Delito)
is an erotic anthology from Spain including a twisted voyeur tale
(Insatiable)
about a guy interested in spying on his neighbor, who wants him for
other reasons, a gal kidnapped for ransom by a gang and the briefcase
that alters all that happens (La
Rebelde)
and a gal cons men out of money to help out a female friend (La
Seductora)
only to get sick of the repetitiveness of all that and betrays a
lover of little means for someone who might have more. Or does he?
To
the advantage of the makers, the crimes are as interesting as the
nudity and anything else sexual in equal measures and not just a weak
set of stories for the sake of sex and the like. Even if it is not
always successful, the trilogy of shorts is very watchable for what
does work and its sad we have not seen enough adult anthologies this
ambitious over the years.
A
Making Of featurette is the only extra.
Joe
D'Amato's Eleven
Days Eleven Nights 2 4K
(1991, aka Web
Of Desire)
has poor Sarah (Kristine Rose) as the sudden executor or the estate
of an ex-lover and all the potential recipients happen to be men.
She gets to decide who gets what of the estate and tests them all,
which means sleeping with all of them! Does not take place in the
pre-AIDS era, but when the film was issued.
Well
some moments are sexy, others are not and thanks to a so-so director,
some moments are unintentionally funny when they should not be and
you'll have to see for yourself what works best. Enjoy how such films
not from the U.S. at this time exist as if VD never happens and AIDS
never happened, but this is well shot and sometimes well made.
Extras
include
SLIPCASE WITH ART BY SEAN LONGMORE
BOOKLET
WITH NOTES FROM CALUM WADDELL AND RACHAEL NISBET
Audio
Commentary by Italian Cinema Experts Eugenio Ercolani and Nanni
Cobretti
Filmirage:
From Dawn Till Dusk:
An Interview with Dubbing Director Mark Thompson Ashworth
Seven
Notes, Eleven Nights:
An Interview with Composer Piero Motanari
Eros
in the Plastic Age:
An Interview with Music Historian Pierpaolo De Sanctis
and
Italian Opening and Closing titles.
Mike
Ninagawa's
Helter
Skelter
(2012) has zero to do with The Beatles classic song or infamous
Manson murder case, but here, a big model starts to have a nervous
breakdown when she keeps having plastic surgery to keep sexy, et al.
There is enough nudity and eroticness to add it to these films and
despite the horror, does not shy away from sex in the way Hollywood
variants (especially of late) otherwise would and have. I'll give it
points for boldness in that respect, even if it can be mixed.
Extras
include...
AUDIO
COMMENTARY BY TORI POTENZA AND AMBER T.
INTERVIEWS
WITH ERIKA SAWAJI AND DIRECTOR MIKA NINAGAWA
BEHIND
THE SCENES FOOTAGE OF THE MAKING OF HELTER SKELTER
PRODUCTION
SITE PRESS CONFERENCE
JAPANESE
PREMIERE STAGE GREETING
OPENING
DAY STAGE GREETING
TAIPEI
FILM FESTIVAL INTRODUCTION BY MIKA NINAGAWA
STILLS
GALLERY
TEASERS
AND TRAILERS
BOOKLET
ESSAY BY VIOLET BURNS
and
an ORIGINAL AND NEWLY COMMISSIONED ARTWORK BY LUKE INSECT.
Tinto
Brass'
The
Key 4K
(1983/aka
La
chiave)
has been upgraded to 4K and is especially a jump from the older
import DVD we covered in a Brass box set a good while ago. As noted
then, the film casts legitimate actor Frank Finlay (Lifeforce,
Shaft
In Africa,
Cromwell)
as Nino, a man who is losing his lust for life and... lust. As a
result, his wife Teresa (Stefania Sandrelli) is having an affair with
another man (Franco Branciarolli), but Nino is reading her diaries
and things are about to shake up.
One
of Brass' better films, in part because it has something closer to a
narrative, he was still in top form when he made this and had
survived the collapse of the XXX business into videotape and a glut
(not even considering AIDS and the end of the counterculture) and it
is definitely worth a good look.
Extras
include a
Feature Length Audio Commentary by film historians Eugenio Ercolani &
Marcus Stiglegger
Brass'
Talisman:
An Interview with actor Franco Branciaroli
Keyhole
Venice:
A look at the Venetian locations of the film
Sensuous
Morricone:
A special on Ennio Morricone and Tinto Brass
Isolated
Score by Ennio Morricone
Archival
Interview with Tinto Brass (2001)
Outtakes
of The Key: Venice
The
Key
Poster Gallery
Tinto
Brass Photo Gallery
Tinto
Brass 4K Trailers
Dual-layered
Disc
Slipcase
Reversible
Sleeve w/Original Italian Poster Art
and
a 20-Page illustrated Booklet w/Essay by Eugenio Ercolani.
Mike
Ninagawa's
Sakuran
(2007) is an earlier erotic work by the director, his first, about a
gal named Kiyoha (Anna Tsuchiya) who has been sold into an infamous
brothel and is so hot and pretty, the other gals are jealous of her
and have issues with such strong competition. Ever defiant, a rare
chance for romance surfaces, but will all the toxicity around her
stop this?
Again,
the film looks good and has some interesting ad vivd moments, if not
holding up throughout and all the way. It works more than it does
not and is also worth a good look. It is actually based on a manga,
so you can read the book before seeing the movie, but I was surprised
here too at how much this did work. Now you can see for yourself.
Extras
includes an...
AUDIO
COMMENTARY BY JOSH SLATER-WILLIAMS
BRAND
NEW FILMED INTRODUCTION BY AMBER T.
STILLS
GALLERY
TRAILERS
BOOKLET
ESSAYS BY JASPER SHARP
and
ORIGINAL AND NEWLY COMMISSIONED ARTWORK BY LUKE INSECT.
Now
for playback performance. The 2160p HEVC/H.265, 1.66 X 1, Dolby
Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition
image on Eleven
Days Eleven Nights 2 4K
looks really good, soft shots and all, making it one of the
best-looking releases here as expected. Its a pleasant viewing, even
when it does not work, while the
1080p 1.66 X 1
regular Blu-ray is much softer and a bit weaker than expected by
comparison for whatever reason. Both have the same soundtracks and
the
Italian PCM 2.0 Mono is better than the English 2.0 Mono dub without
question is better than the English dub. Too bad it is more aged
than I would have liked.
The
2160p HEVC/H.265, 1.66 X 1, Dolby Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD
Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image on The
Key 4K
is also looking impressive throughout and far superior to the old
import PAL DVD and even the also-included 1080p 1.66 X 1
regular Blu-ray, which is fine for what it is, but no match for the
4K. The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mix on both
versions is also better than the older, lossy PAL DVD Dolby Digital
sound, but sadly is more sonically limited than I would have liked.
Especially since Ennio Morricone did the music score for it.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 black & white digital High Definition image
transfer on Body
Of Crime
(can show
the age of the materials used, but has been as restored as possible,
but the
lossy Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono mix should/could have been
lossless and that would have been nicer. Otherwise, interesting to
see.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition images on Helter
Skelter
and
Sakuran
are very clear, vivid, colorful and impressive for the format
throughout, including some nice demo moments in both cases, while the
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 and 2.0 Stereo lossless mixes do what
they can with the older theatrical sound. Skelter
fares better than Sakuran
in this case, but they are the best two sounding releases here.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
