Murderock: Standard Edition – Scorpion Releasing (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy, 1984
Director: Lucio Fulci
Writers: Gianfranco Clerici, Vincenzo Mannino, Roberto Gianviti, Lucio Fulci
Cast: Olga Karlatos, Ray Lovelock, Claudio Cassinelli, Cosimo Cinieri

Release Date: July 16th, 2019
Approximate running time: 92 Minutes 57 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono Italian, DTS-HD Mono English
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region A
Retail Price: $32.95

"The world of dance is brutal. . . the rehearsals are grueling. . . the competition is fierce. At the Arts for Living Center in New York City, the best of the best are dying for a part in a major production, but only a select few will be chosen. Now the contenders are being narrowed down at the hands of a killer who uses a deadly hatpin to pierce women’s hearts through their bare breasts. Ambition and jealousy appear to be motives, which makes everyone a suspect!" - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "Brand New 2018 Master!".

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

Disc Size: 33.1 GB

Feature: 23.4 GB

The source used for this transfer is in great shape. Colors and flesh tones look correct, black levels remain strong throughout, details look crisp, and there are no issues with compression. When compared to previous home video releases, this new transfer is a noticeable upgrade in every way.

Audio: 4.25/5 (DTS-HD Mono Italian), 4/5 (DTS-HD Mono English)

This release comes with two audio options, a DTS-HD mono mix in Italian and a DTS-HD mono mix in English. For this release, Scorpion Releasing has done extensive work on the English audio mix. And the result is a strong track that sounds clean, clear, and balanced throughout. Range-wise, the ambient sounds are well-represented, and the score sounds robust. The Italian audio mix is in good shape; the dialog comes through clearly, and everything sounds balanced. Included with this release are removable English subtitles for the Italian language track.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a theatrical traile (2 minutes 37 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an interview with actress Geretta Geretta (25 minutes 11 seconds, DTS-HD stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with make-up effects artist Franco Casagni titled Pins Through the Heart (13 minutes 40 seconds, DTS-HD stereo Italian with non-removable English subtitles) and and an audio commentary with film historian Troy Howarth.

Other extras include trailers for The Psychic, The Church, Opera, The Devil Within Her, and The Gates of Hell (City of the Living Dead).

Summary:

Lucio Fulci had a long and varied career as a director. He wasn’t afraid to take chances, and he worked in just about every genre. In the mid 1980s, after the release of Manhattan Baby, Lucio Fulci was in the most transitional period of his career. where he would make two less-than-stellar sci-fi films, Conquest and The New Gladiators. With Murderrock, Lucio Fulci would return to the thriller genre for the first time since his nihilistic masterpiece, The New York Ripper.

Besides returning to the thriller genre with Murderock, Lucio Fulci would also return to New York City, the setting of his previous thriller. Murderock would also feature a more restrained style of violence from Lucio Fulci, who just years before had pushed the boundaries of gore and sadism. And like many Italian films from this era, Murderock would draw inspiration from what was popular in Hollywood. Two obvious influences would be Flash Dance and Fame. There’s even a nightclub in which one of the girls gets drenched by water while dancing on the stage, which is almost exactly like a scene from Flash Dance.

Lucio Fulci pulls out all the tricks for Murderock; it’s a film filled with dazzling camera work that’s enhanced by breath-taking use of light and dark. Giuseppe Pinoli’s cinematography for Murderock is flawless. Every inch of each frame is given the utmost care and attention. Two standout scenes visually are a dream sequence where a man who’s holding the same weapon as the killer stalks the director of the dance school and a scene where a girl in a wheelchair captures the killer’s identity with her camera while the killer murders her babysitter.

When discussing Murderock, one must not overlook composer Keith Emerson’s infectious score for the film, which is highlighted by a song titled Paranoia. Murderrock is a truly unique score that perfectly captures the film's abundance of eye candy. This score is similar to his earlier scores for films like Nighthawks and Dario Argento's Inferno.

Murderock has an ample amount of tension and suspense, and despite its lack of gory set pieces, Murderock actually succeeds because of Lucio Fulci’s excellent direction. Needless to say, going into a film that opens with leotards and break dancing, I initially had my doubts that Lucio Fulci could pull off a solid thriller. Fortunately, Lucio Fucli proves that you don’t have to show every death in graphic detail to write an effective thriller.

Murderock gets a first-rate release from Scorpion Releasing that comes with a solid audio/video presentation and a trio of informative extras, recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer