The Devil's Game – Severin Films (Blu-ray)

Release Date: Italy, 1981
Directors: Giulio Questi, Mario Bava, Lamberto Bava, Piero Nelli, Marcello Aliprandi, Tomaso Sherman, Giovanna Gagliardo
Cast: Barbara Pilavin, Mario Feliciani, Daria Nicolodi, Marc Porel, Adriana Innocenti, Francesco Di Federico, Rada Rassimov, William Berger, Franco Ressel, Gabriele Ferzetti, Veronica Lario, Massimo Boldi, Ugo Bologna, Stefano Sabelli, Dino Mele, Alfredo Pea, Stefano Madia, José Quaglio

Release Date: November 25th, 2022
Approximate Running Times: 79 Minutes 55 Seconds (The Sandman), 63 Minutes 26 Seconds (The Venus of Ille), 78 Minutes 50 Seconds (The Perfect Presence), 77 Minutes 43 Seconds (The Possessed Hand), 88 Minutes 2 Seconds (The Bottle Imp), 59 Minutes 33 Seconds (The Dream of Another)
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono Italian
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $34.95

"In 1981, RAI-TV presented six hour-long films based on stories by 19th century horror/fantasy authors from such directors as Giulio Questi (Django Kill), Marcello Aliprandi (A Whisper in the Dark) and Giovanna Gagliardo (Street of Mirrors), starring actors that included Veronica Lario (Tenebre), Saverio Vallone (Antropophagus) and Stefano Madia (The Devil's Honey). But it was the mini-series’ second episode that remains its most celebrated: The final work of legendary director Mario Bava – and the debut of his son Lamberto Bava as co-director – LA VENERE D’ILLE/THE VENUS OF ILLE stars Daria Nicolodi (Deep Red) and Marc Porel (Don’t Torture a Duckling) in an elegantly chilling tale of supernatural love." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 3.5/5 (The Venus of Ille), 3/5 (The Sandman, The Perfect Presence), 2.5/5 (The Bottle Imp, The Dream of Another), 2/5 (The Possessed Hand)

Here’s the information provided about The Venus of Ille's transfer, "The following presentation is sourced from a 16mm protection print, scanned in 2K. All film elements were presumed lost until this print was recently discovered and accessed in Italy by film preservationists Simone Starace and the late Michele De Angelis."

Here's the information provided about the other five episodes transfers, "The following presentation was transferred from the RAI TV vault standard definition broadcast master. No film element is known to exist."

The six episodes are spread over two discs.

The Sandman, The Venus of Ille and The Perfect Presence come on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 45.2 GB

Features: 12.9 GB (The Sandman), 17.3 GB (The Venus of Ille), 12.7 GB (The Perfect Presence)

The Possessed Hand, The Bottle Imp and The Dream of Another come on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 42.3 GB

Features: 14.4 GB (The Possessed Hand), 16.7 GB (The Bottle Imp), 10.4 GB (The Dream of Another)

The sources for this episode series are all over the place. There is print damage, faded colors, and instances where the contrast appears too strong. Image clarity looks good in brighter scenes; in darker scenes, image clarity is mediocre, and black levels are never convincing. That said, Mario Bava’s episode "The Venus of Ille" is the best-looking of the six. The Sandman and the Perfect Presence are somewhere in the middle. They appear to have been shot on film, whereas The Possessed Hand, The Bottle Imp, and The Dream of Another were definitely shot on video, and they are the weakest-looking episodes. It should be noted that the tape-related defects and damage are so noticeable on The Possessed Hand that they are distracting.

Audio: 3/5 (The Sandman, The Venus of Ille, The Perfect Presence, The Bottle Imp, The Dream of Another), 2.5/5 (The Possessed Hand)

Each episode comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD mono mix in Italian with removable English subtitles. though the dialog comes through clearly enough to follow. There is a noticeable background hiss that varies in degree and some sibilance issues. Also, range-wise, all of the audio tracks are limited.

Extras:

Extras for this release include an audio commentary for The Venus of Ille with Tim Lucas, author of Mario Bava: All The Colors Of The Dark, an interview with The Venus of Ille screenwriter/co-director Lamberto Bava titled Venus In Love (21 minutes 14 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), and an interview with The Venus of Ille cinematographer Nino Celeste titled Nemo Propheta In Patria (12 minutes 56 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles).

All of the extras are on the first Blu-ray disc, which has these episodes: The Sandman, The Venus of Ille, and The Perfect Presence.

Summary:

The Sandman (L'uomo della sabbia): A tale about a man's descent into madness that is linked to a childhood trauma of a nighttime intruder who steals children's eyes.

The Venus of Ille (La Venere d'Ille): A landowner finds a statue that slowly comes to life and starts to look like his daughter-in-law.

The Perfect Presence (La presenza perfetta): A specter from a woman's past who committed suicide comes back to resolve unfinished business.

The Possessed Hand (La mano indemoniata): A man shows off a severed hand to his guests and fills them in on the origins of the hand.

The Bottle Imp (Il diavolo nella bottiglia): A man obtains a bottle with an imp inside who grants wishes, albeit at a cost of eternal damnation.

The Dream of Another (Il sogno dell'altro): An aging and wealthy man makes an agreement with a medical student to become his heir.

Though the six episodes of The Devil's Game (I giochi del diavolo) have an underlying theme that connects, it is obvious that the six episodes were not made around the same time. with Mario Bava’s The Venus of Ille (La Venere d'Ille) being shot two years before the series aired on television. Besides sharing a theme, all of the episodes are period-set stories that take place before the twentieth century. Most of the stories take place in the 19th century. Content-wise, these episodes have elements of the macabre and supernatural, with a healthy dose of melodrama thrown in for good measure.

Behind the scenes, The Devil's Game (I giochi del diavolo) had a lot of notable talent that are recognizable names to fans of 1960s and 1970s Italian cinema. Notably, directors Mario Bava (Black Sunday), Lamberto Bava (Macabre), Giulio Questi (Death Laid an Egg), and Marcello Aliprandi (A Whisper in the Dark) were joined by cinematographer Blasco Giurato (Cinema Paradiso), composers Luis Bacalov (Django), Pino Donaggio (Don't Look Now), and Stelvio Cipriani (What Have They Done to Your Daughters?). Also, several of the stories are adapted from literary sources.

I was struck by how drawn out all of the narratives are in The Devil's Game (I giochi del diavolo). Four of the six episodes are seventy-seven minutes or longer. It is clear that all of these episodes would have benefited from some trimming of their narratives. A running time of forty to fifty minutes would be more suitable. That said, it is not surprising that the two strongest episodes, The Venus of Ille (La Venere d'Ille) and The Dream of Another (Il sogno dell'altro), have the shortest running times.

The other thing that you notice while watching The Devil's Game (I giochi del diavolo) is how different the first three episodes are when compared to the latter three episodes. The first three episodes are more expansive in their scope, as they have many moments shot on location, while the last three episodes were entirely shot on soundstages, giving them an artificial look and making them feel more like a theater production.

The Devil's Game (I giochi del diavolo) would have been forgotten if Mario Bava's The Venus of Ille (La Venere d'Ille) had not been included. Most of the episodes are forgettable except The Venus of Ille (La Venere d'Ille). The only other episode that leaves any lasting impression is The Dream of Another (Il sogno dell'altro).

Mario Bava’s final directorial effort finally arrives on an English-friendly Blu-ray from Severin Films that comes with a trio of informative extras. only suitable for Mario Bava completists.

Written by Michael Den Boer