Reviewed by Jason LockardGiallo is Italian for yellow. The term was derived from a series of cheap paperback mystery novels with yellow covers that were popular in post-fascist Italy. Mario Bava more or less changed that with his films. Giallo films became known as mystery films that often contains slasher, thriller, horror, exploitation, sexploitation elements.
One of the Mario Bava's best horror mysteries is Blood and Black Lace. Now thanks to the good people at VCI Entertainment. This Mario Bava classic is coming to Blu-ray DVD combo pack.
The film takes place at the Cristian Haute Couture fashion house. It looks and sounds all proper, but underneath there is an unscrupulous business using the models for sexual favors, cocaine dealings and blackmail. Suddenly when violent death begin to happen and the death toll rises. Someone must stop this killer that is waiting in the shadows!
This film is a horror tour de force. The story is engaging and the acting is good. The colors are eye catching. No wonder in 2004, one of its sequences was voted No. 85 in "The 100 Scariest Movie Moments" by the Bravo TV network.
The film was been restored in 2K from the original camera negative and is presented in widescreen 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The audio option is the Italian and English soundtracks presented in original uncompressed mono PCM. The film is presented in HD on blu-ray and SD on DVD. It looks and sound remarkable! As if it wasn't enough to get this great little horror film on blu-ray VCI takes it to a whole other level by loading this release with bonus features.
The bonus features include, 2 Audio commentaries, A Video interview with Mary Dawn Areden (DVD), An archived interviews, Original Italian theatrical trailer, Extensive photo gallery, Alternate US Theatrical main titles, English and Spanish subtitles, Isolated music score by composer Carlo Rustichelli, Video comparisons American and Euro versions. There is also a very cool reversible cover art the blood red one shown above or a giallo yellow one. I love that!
Many times when you get a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack the DVD is more or less a throw away disc. But not with this. There is special features you can only find on the DVD and special features only on the blu-ray. I love that that did that! So cool!
While there is some violence in this film it's nothing over the top. There is no real sexual content at all! And little to no profanity in the film. This was a major plus for me. As I enjoy a good horror story without a lot of gore, profanity and nudity! So I really enjoyed this film.
So if your a fan of Mario Bava or good classic 60's horror. I can not recommend this one enough! And the bonus feature make this a slam dunk! Head over to MVDShop.com and get a copy for yourself today
Moral Rating: violence
Audience: teens and adults
Genre: mystery/horror
Length: 1 hour 28 minutes
Blu-ray/DVD Released: 2018
Blu-ray/DVD Rating: A
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