Giallo Essentials Collection (Yellow Edition) – Arrow Video (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Dates: Italy, 1973 (Torso), Italy, 1974 (What Have They Done to Your Daughters?), Italy, 1975 (Strip Nude for Your Killer)
Directors: Sergio Martino (Torso), Massimo Dallamano (What Have They Done to Your Daughters?), Andrea Bianchi (Strip Nude for Your Killer)
Cast: Suzy Kendall, Tina Aumont, Luc Merenda, John Richardson, Roberto Bisacco (Torso), Giovanna Ralli, Claudio Cassinelli, Mario Adorf, Franco Fabrizi, Farley Granger (What Have They Done to Your Daughters?), Edwige Fenech, Nino Castelnuovo, Femi Benussi (Strip Nude for Your Killer)

Release Date: December 21st, 2021
Approximate Running Times: 93 Minutes 36 Seconds (Torso Italian Version, English/Italian Hybrid Version), 90 Minutes 12 Seconds (Carnal Violence, Torso), 90 Minutes 50 Seconds (What Have They Done to Your Daughters?), 97 Minutes 59 Seconds (Strip Nude for Your Killer)
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC (Torso), 2.35:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC (What Have They Done to Your Daughters?, Strip Nude for Your Killer)
Rating: NR
Sound: LPCM Mono Italian, LPCM Mono English (All Films), LPCM Mono English/Italian Hybrid (Torso)
Subtitles: English, English SDH (All Films)
Region Coding: Region A
Retail Price: $99.95

"Arrow Video continues its exploration of Italian cult cinema with this volume of Giallo Essentials, bringing together three more suspense-filled exemplars of the genre!

In Massimo Dallamano’s What Have They Done to Your Daughters? (1974), hot-headed Inspector Silvestri (Claudio Cassinelli, The Suspicious Death of a Minor) and rookie Assistant District Attorney Vittoria Stori (Giovanna Ralli, Cold Eyes of Fear) investigate the apparent suicide of a teenage girl, leading them to a sordid prostitution ring whose abusers occupy the highest echelons of Italian society. Sergio Martino’s Torso (1973) helped lay the groundwork for the American Slasher Movie: when a ruthless killer begins to target the female university students of Perugia, Jane (Suzy Kendall, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage) and her friends flee for the peace of the countryside, only to discover that the threat isn’t far behind. Andrea Bianchi’s Strip Nude for Your Killer (1975) delivers depravity in droves as ambitious photographer Magda (Edwige Fenech, Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key) and her on-off boyfriend, love rat Carlo (Nino Castelnuovo, The English Patient), team up to solve the spate of highly sexualized murders that are rocking a prestigious Milanese fashion house." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5 (Torso, What Have They Done to Your Daughters?, Strip Nude for Your Killer)

Here’s the information provided about Torso and Strip Nude for Your Killer's transfers, " The original 35mm camera negative was scanned in 2K resolution on a pin-registered Arriscan. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, picture instability and other instances of film wear were repaired or removed through a combination of digital restoration tools and techniques."

Here’s the information provided about What Have They Done to Your Daughters? transfer, "The restored HD master was provided by Camera Obscura."

Torso comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 45.7 GB

Feature: 25.5 GB 

What Have They Done to Your Daughters? comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 45.3 GB

Feature: 28 GB

Strip Nude for Your Killer comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 46.2 GB

Feature: 23 GB

The sources used for these films’ transfers are all in great shape. Colors are nicely saturated, image clarity and black levels look solid throughout, and grain remains intact. These transfers are direct ports of Arrow Video's earlier releases for these films.

It should be noted that there are four ways to view Torso: the Italian theatrical version, an English/Italian language hybrid, the U.S. theatrical version under the title Carnal Violence, and the U.S. theatrical version under the title Torso.

Audio: 4.25/5 (Torso, What Have They Done to Your Daughters?, Strip Nude for Your Killer)

What Have They Done to Your Daughters? and Strip Nude for Your Killer comes with two audio options: an English LPCM mono mix and an Italian LPCM mono mix.Torso has four audio options: a LPCM mono mix in Italian and a LPCM mono English/Italian hybrid for the ninety-four minute version, and a LPCM mono mix in Italian and a LPCM mono mix in English for the ninety-minute version. All the audio mixes sound clean, clear, and balanced. Range-wise, the Italian language mix is the more robust of these two audio mixes. There are two subtitle options for this release. English SDH subtitles for the English language track and English subtitles for the Italian language track.

Extras:

Extras for Torso include reversible cover art, English language trailer under the title Carnal Violence (3 minutes 6 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), Italian theatrical trailer (3 minutes 8 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Italian with removable English subtitles), a Q&A with Sergio Martino from the 2017 Abertoir International Horror Festival (47 minutes, Dolby Digital stereo English and Italian with English translation for the Italian), an interview with Mikel J. Koven, author of La Dolce Morte: Vernacular Cinema and the Italian Giallo Film titled Saturating the Screen (25 minutes 4 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with filmmaker Federica Martino, daughter of Sergio Martino titled Women in Blood (24 minutes 59 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi titled Dial S for Suspense (29 minutes 16 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with actor Luc Merenda titled The Discreet Charm of the Genre (34 minutes 52 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with co-screenwriter/director Sergio Martino titled All Colors of Terror (34 minutes 2 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles) and an audio commentary with Kat Ellinger, author of All the Colors of Sergio Martino.

Extras not carried over from Arrow Video's 2018 Torso Blu-ray release is a thirty-two-page booklet with cast & crew information, an essay titled Violence Brings in the Bucks’: Joseph Brenner the Forgotten Hero of 42nd Street written by Adrian Smith, an essay titled Songs for Europe: The Music of Guido and Maurizio De Angelis written by Howard Hughes and information about the restoration/transfer.

Extras for What Have They Done to Your Daughters? include reversible cover art, Italian theatrical trailer (3 minutes 55 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Italian with removable English subtitles), an image gallery (posters/lobby cards/other promotional materials), English language opening and closing credits (3 minutes 8 seconds, Dolby Digital mono), unused hardcore footage (5 minutes 5 seconds, this extra has no sound), a featurette is titled Eternal Melody (49 minutes 39 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), a featurette titled Dallamano’s Touch (22 minutes 22 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), a new video essay by Kat Ellinger, author and editor-in-chief of Diabolique Magazine titled Masters and Slaves: Power, Corruption & Decadence in the Cinema of Massimo Dallamano (19 minutes 44 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles) and an audio commentary with Troy Howarth, author of So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years of Italian Giallo Films.

Extras not carried over from Arrow Video's 2018 What Have They Done to Your Daughters? Blu-ray release is a twenty-four page booklet with cast & crew information, an essay titled What Have They Done to Society? written by Michael Mackenzie and information about the restoration/transfer.

Extras for Strip Nude for Your Killer include reversible cover art, an image gallery (posters/lobby cards/stills), Italian theatrical trailer (3 minutes 41 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Italian with removable English subtitles), English language trailer (3 minutes 41 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an interview with actor and production manager Tino Polenghi titled Jack of All Trades (21 minutes 50 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with assistant director Daniele Sangiorgi titled The Art of Helping (44 minutes 18 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with actress Erna Schurer titled The Blonde Salamander (18 minutes 30 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with actor Nino Castelnuovo titled A Good Man for the Murders (14 minutes 31 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), a video essay by author and film critic Kat Ellinger titled Sex and Death with a Smile (23 minutes 2 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles) and an audio commentary with Adrian J. Smith and David Flint.

Extras not carried over from Arrow Video's 2019 Strip Nude for Your Killer Blu-ray release is a twenty-four-page booklet with cast & crew information, an essay titled Strip Nude for Your Voyeur: Sex and Voyeurism in Andrea Bianchi’s Strip Nude for Your Killer written by Rachael Nisbet and information about the restoration/transfer.

Other extras include a rigid box packaging with newly designed artwork by Haunt Love in a windowed Giallo Essentials Collection slipcover.

Summary:

Torso: Torso like Sergio Martino’s other Giallo’s is well made film that features stylish cinematography, inventive murder set pieces and a bevy of beautiful women in various stages of undress. Torso is Sergio Martino’s most graphic Giallo. And the scene where the killer stalks a woman in the woods is Torso’s most memorable death scene.

The narrative is well-constructed, the red herrings are well-executed and there is an ample amount of tension. Torso hits its stride once the four girls arrive at a secluded villa. And nowhere is this clearer, than how this isolated-location reinforces the mounting tension.

Torso features a strong cast and they are all very good in their respective roles. With this film’s most memorable performance being Suzy Kendall (The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Spasmo) in the role of Jane. Other notable cast members include, Tina Aumont (The Howl, Lifespan), Luc Merenda (The Violent Professionals, A Man Called Magnum) and John Richardson (Eyeball, Nine Guests for a Crime). Ultimately Torso is a well-made thriller that perfectly exploits the Giallo genres most celebrated elements.

What Have They Done to Your Daughters?: What Have They Done to Your Daughters? is more of a crime thriller then a Giallo like its predecessor. What Have You Done to Your Daughters? is a sequel to Massimo Dallamano’s hugely successful Giallo What Have They Done to Solange?.

With What Have They Done to Your Daughters? Massimo Dallamano takes the violence up a notch as he expands on ideas and themes he explored earlier in What Have They Done to Solange?. Thematically What Have They Done to Your Daughters? tackles some controversial issues like birth control, underage sex and abortion.

What Have They Done to Your Daughters? moves a brisker pace then its predecessor What Have They Done to Solange? and Massimo Dallamano many years as a cinematographer is clear as every frame are interesting compositions that add to the films dark undertones. One of my favorite moments in the film is when the killer stalks assistant district attorney Vittoria Stori in a parking garage. The Film Noir like lighting sets the mood as tension filled game of cat and mouse ensues with Vittoria narrowly escaping the killers’ meat cleaver on more than one occasion. Massimo Dallamano uses this shadow like lighting to great effect many times throughout the film.

Stelvio Cipriani’s has composed several classic scores like Rabid Dogs, Twitch of the Death Nerve, The Frightened Woman and Execution Squad. Stelvio Cipriani’s score for What Have They Done to Your Daughters? is one of his best scores as a composer. And the main theme is the closest I have heard anyone come to mimicking Ennio Morricone.

What Have They Done to Your Daughters? feature’s a strong cast of euro regulars Giovanna Ralli (Cold Eyes of Fear, The Mercenary), Claudio Cassinelli (Flavia the Heretic, The Suspicious Death of a Minor) and Mario Adorf (The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Short Night of the Glass Dolls).

Farley Granger (Amuck!) has a cameo in What Have You Done to Your Daughters?. He is best remembered for his portrayal of Guy Haines in Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train. Farley Granger’s role is all to brief and he is never given enough screen time to make his character nothing more than a plot device that furthers the story.

Content wise, What Have They Done to Your Daughters? has everything one would expect from a Giallo. It has a black gloved killer dressed in biker gear and the paring of a male and female who are throw together to solve the mystery. Another strength of this film is how it perfectly fuses the Giallo and the Polizioteschi genre’s.

Though What Have They Done to Your Daughters? is a complete departure from its predecessor What Have You Done to Solange?, I still found it too be just as engaging and in many ways more disturbing. Massimo Dallamano only made a handful of films before his untimely death due to a car accident, still it is clear in every film that he directed or worked on as a cinematographer that he was a gifted filmmaker.

Strip Nude for Your Killer: Giallo’s are known for their exotic and strange titles, as much as they’re remembered for their violent set pieces and excessive amounts of naked flesh on display. Strip Nude for Your Killer is more than just some suggestive title thrown together by a producer. Director Andrea Bianchi (Cry of a Prostitute, Burial Ground) has the actors do just what the title suggests “Strip Nude for Your Killer”, as victim after victim is murder with little or no clothes on.

Strip Nude for your Killer is sleazy and has more full-frontal nudity then any Giallo I have seen so far. Strip Nude for Your Killer is not as bad as Mario Landi’s sleaze classic Giallo a Venezia and in many ways it is similar to another Edwige Fenech Giallo The Case of The Bloody Iris.

Performance wise the cast are not much more than objects that are strategically placed throughout. There are an ample number of attractive women who all take their clothes off at some point. Most notably Edwige Fenech, the main attraction of Strip Nude for Your Killer. Other notable cast members include, Femi Benussi (A Hatchet for the Honeymoon, So Sweet, So Dead) and Nino Castelnuovo (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Camille 2000).

Surprisingly Andrea Bianchi’s Strip Nude for Your Killer is well crafted film that exhibits some inspired moments like, when the obese Maurizo tries to seduce one of the models Doris and he at one point threatens to hit her with a vase before she agrees to have sex with him. Only when he can get it up Doris leaves him alone and in his frustration he starts talking to a deflated blow up doll ‘You are the only one for me’, before the killers puts him out of his misery.

While I am not going to call Strip Nude for Your Killer a masterpiece. It certainly is far from one of the worst example’s the Giallo genre has to offer. There are several murder scenes that rival some of the most violent Giallo’s ever released. Another aspect of this genre that has long been one of its strongest selling points is nudity and there is plenty of it on display in this film. And though, Strip Nude for Your Killer’s plot is not its strongest asset, there is enough going on that there is never a dull moment. Overall Strip Nude for Your Killer has enough sleaze and nudity to enchant even the most dedicated Giallo fan.

Arrow Video continues their Giallo Essentials Collection with the yellow box that contains three films that they originally released separately. All three films in the Giallo Essentials Collection come with solid audio and video presentations and a wealth of extra content. That said, the only content new to this release is the box that houses the three films and a slipcover for the box. Though most Giallo fans already own Arrow Video’s original releases for these three films, The Giallo Essentials Collection is a convenient way for anyone who has not already purchased Arrow Video’s original releases to add more Gialli to their collections.

Written by Michael Den Boer