Blood and Black Lace: Limited Edition – Arrow Video (4k UHD)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy/France/West Germany, 1964
Director: Mario Bava
Writers: Marcello Fondato, Giuseppe Barilla, Mario Bava
Cast: Cameron Mitchell, Eva Bartok, Arianna Gorini, Mary Arden, Franco Ressel, Claude Dantes, Luciano Pigozzi, Lea Lander, Massimo Righi, Giuliano Raffaelli, Harriet Medin

Release Date: September 18th, 2023
Approximate Running Time: 88 Minutes 39 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 2160 Progressive / HEVC / H.265 / Dolby Vision HDR10
Rating: 18 (UK)
Sound: LPCM Mono Italian, LPCM Mono English
Subtitles: English, English SDH
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: £34.99 (UK)

"SIX MODELS. SIX VICTIMS FOR A CRAZED MASKED KILLER.

The Christian Haute Couture fashion house is a home to models… and backstabbing… and blackmail… and drug deals… and MURDER." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, “Blood and Black Lace (Sei donne per l'assassino) is presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio with Italian and English mono sound and has been exclusively restored for this release by Arrow Films.

The original 35mm camera negative was scanned and restored in 4K resolution at L’Immagine Ritrovata, Bologna. The film was graded in SDR, HDR10 and Dolby Vision at Silver Salt Restoration, London. 

The soundtracks were sourced from the original optical sound negatives. The Italian mono soundtrack was remastered at L’Immagine Ritrovata. The English mono soundtrack was remastered by Bad Princess Productions.

All materials sourced for this restoration were made available by Movietime.”

Blood and Black Lace comes on a 100 GB triple layer 4K UHD

Disc Size: 79.7 GB

Feature: 64.6 GB

The source used for this transfer looks immaculate. Flesh tones look healthy, colors look vivid, contrast, black levels, and compression are solid, and the image always looks organic. Also, this is another solid encode from Fidelity in Motion.

Audio: 5/5 (LPCM Mono Italian, LPCM Mono English)

This release comes with two audio options, an LPCM mono mix in Italian and an LPCM mono mix in English. Both audio tracks sound excellent. Dialog always comes through clearly, and everything sounds balanced. Range-wise, both tracks do a superb job with ambient sounds, and the score sounds robust. Included are removable English subtitles for the Italian language track and removable English SDH for the English language track. It should be noted that there is also an English subtitle track that just translates Italian text when watching with the English language track.

Extras:

Extras for this release include image galleries: posters (7 images), lobby cards (8 images), stills (8 images), US pressbook (4 images), German Pressbook (16 images), and miscellaneous (3 images), a theatrical trailer (3 minutes 24 seconds, LPCM mono Italian with removable English subtitles), US opening credits (1 minute 54 seconds, LPCM mono), an episode of David Del Valle’s television series titled The Sinister Image: Cameron Mitchell part one (27 minutes 31 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an episode of David Del Valle’s television series titled The Sinister Image: Cameron Mitchell part two (28 minutes 54 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a panel discussion on Mario Bava featuring Dario Argento, Lamberto Bava and Steve Della Casa, recorded at the 2014 Courmayeur Film Festival titled Blood and Bava (11 minutes 20 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), a visual essay by Michael Mackenzie exploring the giallo’s relationship with the social upheavals of the 1960s and 70s titled Gender and Giallo (38 minutes 1 second, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), An appreciation by filmmakers Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani, the creative duo behind Amer and The Strange Colour of Your Body’s Tears (10 minutes 35 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo French with removable English subtitles), a documentary titled Psycho Analysis on Blood and Black Lace and the origins of the giallo genre featuring interviews with directors Dario Argento (Suspiria) and Lamberto Bava (Demons), screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi (All the Colors of the Dark), critics Roberto Curti and Steve Della Casa, and crime novelists Sandrone Dazieri and Carlo Lucarelli (55 minutes 7 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English and Italian with removable English subtitles for Italian), an audio commentary with Time Lucas, author of Mario Bava – All the Colors of the Dark, reversible cover art, Six double-sided collector’s postcards, a fold-out double-sided poster, a slipcover, and a 60-page perfect bound book with cast & crew information, an essay titled The Glamour House of Horror written by Howard Hughes, Whodunnit? The Unusual Suspects written by Howard Hughes, an essay titled Majestic in Ruin: Mario Bava, Sadism, and the Gothic Giallo written by Kat Ellinger, an essay titled Fashion House of Death: Costuming in Blood and Black Lace written by Rachael Nisbet, an essay titled Joe Dante Remembers the Genius of Mario Bava written by Alan Jones, an essay titled Bava’s Avenger written by David Del Valle, and information about the restoration.

Summary:

Directed by Mario Bava, whose other notable films include Black Sunday, Black Sabbath, Danger: Diabolik, and Rabid Dogs.

The narrative revolves around a masked psychopath looking for a dairy that has incriminating evidence against them.

The thing that immediately grabs you while watching Blood and Black Lace is its spectacular use of color. And this extraordinary use of color continues throughout as he uses colors to evoke the mood of what is unfolding onscreen. The murder set pieces are a prime example of just how potent colors can be in the grand scheme of things.

It should not come as a surprise that one of Blood and Black Lace’s most durable assets are its murder set pieces, which, for their time, were considered extremely brutal. With one death in particular taking center stage, that death would be the scene where the killer presses Peggy, one of the models, against a scolding hot furnace.

If the narrative gives you a feeling of Déjà vu, that is because it would lay the groundwork for what is now known as a body count film. And from a pacing standpoint, there is never an issue, as Blood and Black Lace does a superb job letting the moment of terror settle in before unveiling another shocking revelation. Also, when it comes to Red Herrings, this film is arguably one of the best examples of keeping the killer's identity under wraps for as long as possible.

Performance-wise, the cast is all good in their respective roles, with the most surprising performance coming from Cameron Mitchell (The Toolbox Murders, Silent Scream) in the role of Max Marian, the manager of the fashion house where the initial murder takes place. He gives an understated performance that perfectly suits the character he is portraying. Another performance of note is Eva Bartok (The Crimson Pirate) in the role of Contessa Cristina Como, who is the co-manager of the fashion house and Marian’s lover. She gives a superb performance that is in direct contrast to Mitchell’s performance. Also, the cast features several recognizable faces, like Mary Arden (Kriminal), Lea Lander (Rabid Dogs), and Dante DiPaolo (The Girl Who Knew Too Much).

Mario Bava’s previous giallo, The Girl Who Knew Too Much, helped usher in a new era in regards to Italian-made thrillers. With his next giallo, Blood and Black Lace, he would make such a quantum leap that there have been very few giallo’s that have even come close to scratching the surface of what this film was able to achieve.

Blood and Black Lace gets a definitive release from Arrow Video, highly recommended.

Note about the 4K screenshots: It is not possible to make Dolby Vision or HDR10 screenshots that faithfully match the experience of watching a film in motion on a TV. Instead of not having any screenshots, all of the 4K screenshots are m2ts taken with a VLC player and lossless PNGs.

Written by Michael Den Boer