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Forgotten Gialli: Volume Four (The Sister of Ursula/The Killer is Still Among Us/Arabella Black Angel) – Vinegar Syndrome (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Dates: Italy, 1978 (The Sister of Ursula), Italy, 1986 (The Killer is Still Among Us), Italy, 1989 (Arabella Black Angel)
Directors: Enzo Milioni (The Sister of Ursula), Camillo Teti (The Killer is Still Among Us), Stelvio Massi (Arabella Black Angel)
Cast: Barbara Magnolfi, Stefania D'Amario, Anna Zinnemann, Vanni Materassi, Yvonne Harlow, Marc Porel (The Sister of Ursula), Mariangela D'Abbraccio, Giovanni Visentin, Riccardo Parisio Perrotti, Luigi Mezzanotte, Yvonne D'Abbraccio (The Killer is Still Among Us), Tinì Cansino, Francesco Casale, Valentina Visconti, Carlo Mucari, Renato D'Amore, Giose Davi, David D'Ingeo, Rena Niehaus, Evelyn Stewart (Arabella Black Angel)

Release Date: January 25th, 2022
Approximate Running Times: 95 Minutes 10 Seconds (The Sister of Ursula), 83 Minutes 18 Seconds (The Killer is Still Among Us), 89 Minutes 8 Seconds (Arabella Black Angel)
Aspect Ratios: 1.66:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC (The Killer is Still Among Us), 1.85:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC (The Sister of Ursula), 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC (Arabella Black Angel)
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono Italian, Dolby Digital Mono English (Arabella Black Angel), DTS-HD Mono Italian (The Sister of Ursula, The Killer is Still Among Us)
Subtitles: English (All Films)
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $79.98

The Sister of Ursula: "Timid and reserved, though mildly psychotic, Ursula and her lusty sister Dagmar, along with Dagmar’s drug dealing friend Filippo, have arrived at a beautiful, seaside hotel in order to locate their estranged mother, to complete their obligations in regards to an inheritance. But shortly after their arrival, they become embroiled in a web of terror as a black clad mystery assailant begins murdering other guests with a most unusual weapon…" - synopsis provided by the distributor

The Killer is Still Among Us: "Christiana is a college student who is studying criminology. After becoming intrigued by a vicious murder and mutilation of a young couple on a secluded lover’s lane, Christiana begins her own investigation into the slayings. As she gathers clues that she hopes might lead to the killer’s identity, she begins to find strange parallels between her unassuming boyfriend. And when the killer strikes again, Christiana becomes increasingly afraid that she is, in fact, living with a depraved sex killer…" - synopsis provided by the distributor

Arabella Black Angel: "Beautiful Arabella is an insatiable nymphomaniac with a crippled writer husband, Francesco, who is unable to pleasure her. Instead, Arabella searches for lovers in elicit dens of debauchery, bedding an endless array of men. However when her husband discovers her having sex with a stranger in their shed, Arabella panics and kills the man, only to discover that her sudden act of violence arouses creative inspiration in her Francesco. Covering up the crime, Francesco asks his wife to further explore her sexual fantasies and report back on her experiences. Unfortunately, Arabella’s lovers are subsequently visited by someone else…a vengeful murderer who violently castrates them…" - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4/5 (The Sister of Ursula), 4.25/5 (The Killer is Still Among Us, Arabella Black Angel)

Here’s the information given about the The Sister of Ursula transfer, “Newly scanned & restored in 4K from its 35mm original camera negative.”

The Sister of Ursula comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 33.9 GB

Feature: 25.8 GB

The source used for this transfer looks very good, and any print debris, which crops up throughout, is minimal. Colors are nicely saturated, image clarity and black levels are strong throughout, and the grain looks organic. That said, when compared to the Severin Films DVD release, this new transfer is a noticeable improvement.

Here’s the information given about the The Killer is Still Among Us transfer, “Newly scanned & restored in 4K from its 35mm original camera negative.”

The Killer is Still Among Us comes on a 25 GB single layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 23.1 GB

Feature: 22.4 GB

The source used for this transfer is in great shape. Color saturation, image clarity, and black levels are strong throughout, and the grain looks organic.

Here’s the information given about the Arabella Black Angel transfer, “Newly scanned & restored in 2K from its 35mm original camera negative.”

Arabella Black Angel comes on a 25 GB single layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 22.8 GB

Feature: 21.8 GB

Outside a few very minor instances of print debris, the source used for this transfer looks excellent. Colors and flesh tones look correct, the image looks crisp, the black levels are solid, and the grain looks organic.

Audio: 4/5 (DTS-HD Mono Italian tracks), 3.25/5 (Dolby Digital Mono English)

Both The Sisters of Ursula and The Killer is Still Among Us each come with one audio option, a DTS-HD mono mix in Italian, and both films come with removable English subtitles. Both the audio mixes are in very good shape; the dialog comes through clearly and everything sounds balanced. Range-wise, though both audio mixes sound limited at times, the ambient sounds and the scores for each film sound appropriately robust.

Arabella Black Angel comes with two audio options: a DTS-HD mono mix in Italian and a Dolby Digital mono mix in English. Both audio mixes sound clean, clear, and balanced. The Italian language track sounds noticeably fuller than the English language track. Included with this film are removable English subtitles for the Italian language track and removable English SDH subtitles for the English language track.

Extras:

Extras for The Sister of Ursula include a theatrical trailer (3 minutes 44 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Italian with removable English subtitles), an archival interview with director Enzo Milioni titled Father of Ursula (30 minutes 43 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles) and an audio commentary with author and film critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas.

Extras for The Killer is Still Among Us include a theatrical trailer (2 minutes 40 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Italian with removable English subtitles) and an audio commentary with author and film critic Rachael Nisbet.

Extras for Arabella Black Angel include alternate English opening and closing titles (3 minutes 44 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles) and an audio essay by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas (18 minutes 24 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles).

It should be noted that, unlike the other Forgotten Gialli releases, this latest collection does not come with reversible cover art.

Summary:

The Sister of Ursula: By the late 1970’s when The Sister of Ursula was released, the Giallo genre had become a shell of its former self with its many transformations. Giallo films from the 1960s, such as Mario Bava's Blood and Black Lace or Dario Argento's Animal Trilogy from the early 1970s, had more depth and texture than the majority of Giallo films that followed. The genre upped the ante when it came to sex and violence with each film, almost to the point that latter-day Giallo's like The Sister of Ursula get a bad rap for straying far away from the genre's origins. This is not to say that some Giallo's, like Giallo a Venezia, made in the latter part of the 1970’s and beyond, aren’t turkeys.

The Sister of Ursula is the brainchild of writer/director Enzo Milioni, who worked as an assistant director on the Sergio Grieco film Beast with a Gun before making his directorial debut with this film. The Sisters of Ursula is a colorful film that makes strong use of its location, and it also doesn’t hurt that it features one of the genre's most unusual weapons. The story is nothing new and pretty much by the numbers as the victims pile up to an unbelievable ending that trumps everything that comes before it. The film does start to lag about half way through before finishing up strong. One of the film's strongest assets is its throbbing score, which was composed by Mimi Uva.

Outside of actor Marc Porel, the rest of the cast is merely adequate. He gives a solid performance that eerily resembles some demons that he battled in his personal life up until his tragic death. All the actresses are very attractive, and then there is Stefania D'Amario, who looks absolutely stunning. The various murder scenes are not that violent, with more implied and the end result shown later when the police have arrived. The choice of using a large phallus as the killers’ murder weapon is a very clever and inspired decision. Ultimately, The Sister of Ursula is a far cry from classic Dario Argento Giallo, but for those who don't take these films seriously, The Sister of Ursula, despite its flaws, is a delightfully trashy take on the Giallo genre.

The Killer is Still Among Us: When discussing the Giallo genre, one thing you can always count on are stylish murder set pieces. And The Killer is Still Among Us delivers in spades when it comes to its murder set pieces. With its opening sequence, The murder set piece does a superb job of setting the tone.

Though Giallo killers have used a variety of weapons, most notably knives or other deadly objects, The killer in The Killer is Still Among Us uses a gun as his weapon of choice, which he uses to kill lovers making out in their cars. And after he’s killed them, he then mutilates the female victims' genitals.

One thing about the Giallo genre is that most of its plots are filled with moments that require a leap of faith due to their impossibility. And in the case of The Killer is Still Among Us, it has an all-too-convenient relationship between the protagonist and a forensic pathologist who works at the morgue. Though their initial interaction is a chance encounter due to her inquiring about the murder victims, The evolution of their relationship is not convincing.

The performances range from adequate to good. The strongest performance was Mariangela D'Abbraccio’s portrayal of Christiana Marelli, who’s writing a thesis that’s tied to the recent killings.

The premise is well-executed and the narrative does a good job of balancing exposition and murder set pieces with a very clever open-ended finale. Also, the score at times is reminiscent of Pino Donaggio’s scores from the 1980’s. Ultimately, The Killer is Still Among Us is a very effective Giallo that takes full advantage of its resources.

Arabella Black Angel: By the mid-1980's, the Giallo genre morphed into something that barely resembled the type of Giallo that were inspired by the Giallo directed by Dario Argento in the 1970’s. And though the core elements remain, most notably an unseen killer who often wears black gloves and/or a hat, Tone-wise, it's like night and day when comparing 1970’s Giallo with 1980’s Giallo.

A film like Arabella Black Angel, whose content at times is reminiscent of softcore erotica like The Red Shoes Diaries, is a case in point. From its opening moments, Arabella Black Angel makes it clear that erotica is going to play a significant role in the story at hand. It opens with a wild sequence where the protagonist goes to a sex club at an isolated location where everyone is in various stages of undress or wearing fetish clothing. And this sequence culminates with a police officer who has his way with the protagonist before he lets her evade any charges related to prostitution.

Arabella Black Angel was directed by Stelvio Massi, a filmmaker who’s most known for his contributions to Poliziotteschi cinema. Besides directing, he also worked as a cinematographer. And Arabella Black Angel is a beautifully photographed film that has all the visual flare that's synonymous with the Giallo genre.

The performances are best described as serviceable. with the most memorable being Tin Cansino (Nightmare in Venice) in the role of the protagonist. Psychically, she more than fulfills the role of an object of desire. The most notable cast member is Evelyn Stewart (The Bloodstained Butterfly), in the role of the protagonist's mother-in-law.

From a production standpoint, there’s not an area where Arabella Black Angel comes up short. The narrative does a great job of building momentum to a very satisfying twist ending. The well-executed murder set pieces have all the elements that one would expect from a Giallo. Ultimately, Arabella Black Angel is a satisfying mix of sleaze and carnage that fans of the Giallo genre should thoroughly enjoy.

Vinegar Syndrome add another exemplary release to their Forgotten Gialli series, highly recommended.