Evil Judgment – Vinegar Syndrome (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Canada, 1984
Director: Claudio Castravelli
Writers: Victor Montesano, Claudio Castravelli
Cast: Pamela Collyer, Jack Langedijk, Walter Massey, Nanette Workman, Roland Nincheri, Suzanne DeLaurentiis, Sam Stone, Septimiu Sever, Jérôme Tiberghien, Richard Zeman, Gerald Iles, Nettie Harris, Irene Kessler, Joanne Morency, Lynda Premerl

Release Date: September 26th, 2023
Approximate Running Time: 93 Minutes 33 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: R
Sound: DTS-HD Mono English
Subtitles: English SDH
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $42.98

"Aspiring young dancer Janet is desperate to leave her dead-end waitressing job - so, after a fight with her sleazy boyfriend Dino, and with the encouragement of her friend April, she decides to try her hand at prostitution. The two women set off to spend the night with one of April’s regular clients, a strange older man named Ron who lives in a vast, secluded old mansion. But before proceedings can get underway, the house is plunged into darkness and a razor-wielding assailant brutally slashes the throats of both Ron and April. Waking up the next day in a hospital bed, Janet attempts to relate the horrific events to grizzled Detective Armstrong, who dismisses her story as a drug-induced hallucination. However, as the mutilated corpses continue to pile up - and Armstrong continues to ignore the obvious - Janet and Dino attempt to uncover the truth, only to find themselves thrust into a nightmarish maze of murder, madness, and diabolical conspiracies." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "Newly scanned & restored in 4K from its 35mm original camera negative."

Evil Judgment comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 35.4 GB

Feature: 25.8 GB

The source used for this transfer looks excellent. Flesh tones look correct, colors are nicely saturated, image clarity, contrast, black levels, and compression are solid, and the image looks organic.

Audio: 4.5/5

This release comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD mono mix in English with removable English SDH. The audio is in great shape; it sounds clear, balanced, and robust when it should.

Extras:

Extras for this release include an interview with director/producer/co-writer Claudio Castravelli titled The Executioner (17 minutes 35 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English SDH), an interview with production manager/associate producer Pietro L. Serapiglia titled Getting It Done (8 minutes 26 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English SDH), an interview with composer Corky Laing titled It's About Vibes (17 minutes 1 second, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English SDH), an interview with writer and filmmaker Caelum Vatnsdal on Evil Judgment and the influence of the giallo genre on Canadian exploitation cinema titled Canadian Giallo (21 minutes 24 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English SDH), an audio commentary with Claudio Castravelli, Pietro L. Serapiglia and screenwriter Victor Montesano, an audio commentary with The Hysteria Continues!, reversible cover art, and a spot gloss slipcover limited to 6,000 units.

Summary:

Evil Judgment is a Canadian film that has all of the hallmarks that one associates with the giallo genre. Notably, when it comes to Evil Judgement’s stylish visuals, an amateur sleuth is forced to solve the case, and the way in which the killer's identity is obscured, That said, it is also easy to see how the slasher film influenced a film like Evil Judgement, since the slasher film and the giallo share many of the same traits.

The whodunit narrative does a great job keeping the killers’ true identities a secret. Pacing is never an issue; there is an ample amount of tension, and a solid twist ending perfectly brings everything that preceded together.

Though most of the characters are morally corrupt, which makes it hard to sympathize with them, the performances are, for the most part, very good, especially Pamela Collyer in the role of Janet, the woman who becomes the target of a psychopath. Most of the narrative is about her character trying to convince other characters that some madman is trying to kill her, and no one believes her. That said, she does a great job capturing her character's state of mind.

From a production standpoint, Evil Judgement is a slickly put-together film that fully exploits all of its resources. The jump scares are well-timed, and the throat-slashing kills are gory. That said, the most surprising aspect of Evil Judgement is Claudio Castravelli’s direction. Ultimately, Evil Judgement is a solid body count film that fans of the Giallo and Slasher films should thoroughly enjoy.

Evil Judgment gets an excellent release from Vinegar Syndrome that comes with a solid audio/video presentation and a wealth of insightful extras, recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer