Weekend Murders - Code Red (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy, 1970
Director: Michele Lupo
Writers: Sergio Donati, Massimo Felisatti, Fabio Pittorru
Cast: Anna Moffo, Ida Galli, Gastone Moschin, Peter Baldwin, Lance Percival, Giacomo Rossi-Stuart, Chris Chittell, Marisa Fabbri, Quinto Parmeggiani, Beryl Cunningham, Pauline Collins, Orchidea de Santis, Claudio Undari, Franco Borelli, Ballard Berkeley, Richard Caldicot, Harry Hutchinson

Release Date: April 17th, 2016
Approximate running time: 98 Minutes 5 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: R
Sound: DTS-HD Mono English
Subtitles: N/A
Region Coding: Region A
Retail Price: OOP

"A large English family meet at the family estate for the reading of their father's will. Each expects to be the recipient of a tidy sum. But apart from the local constable and a few other small awards to the help, the entire estate goes to the favorite daughter. No sooner than the will is read, murder is done. First the butler, then several members of the family! The local constable is joined by a Scotland Yard inspector, who sees it as an open and shut case. However, it does not turn out that way." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "Brand new 2015 HD master".

Weekend Murders comes on a 25 GB single layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 21.4 GB

Feature: 20.2 GB

The source used for this transfer is in great shape. Flesh tones and colors look crisp, image clarity and black levels are strong, compression is very good, and the image looks organic.

Audio: 4.25/5

This release comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD mono mix in English. This release continues Code Red’s trend of not including Italian-language tracks in Italian films that they have released. The audio sounds clean, clear, and balanced. Range-wise, ambient sounds are well-represented, and the score sounds robust. That said, there are a few minor sibilance-related issues.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a theatrical trailer (2 minutes 19 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an interview with actor Peter Baldwin (19 minutes 53 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), and an audio commentary with Peter Baldwin, filmmaker Scott Spiegel and moderated by Lee Christian.

Summary:

Directed by Michele Lupo, whose standout films include Man from Nowhere, Master Stroke, Seven Times Seven, and Escape from Death Row.

The narrative revolves around the greedy heirs of a wealthy English nobleman who have gathered at his estate to make claim to his fortune.

Though Weekend Murders is technically a giallo, a thriller made by Italians, The result is a film that actually owes more to the fiction of Agatha Christie than it does to the Giallo genre. Even its setting in the English countryside is another area where it aligns with Agatha Christie.

When you have watched a fair number of gialli, one thing that you can always count on is a spectacular opening that usually involves a corpse that sets the stage for what follows. The Weekend Murders opens with a stylish sequence on a golf course in which a body is uncovered when a character tries to hit a ball out of a standtrap.

Another element that you can always count on in the giallo genre is the score. And in the case of Weekend Murders, it features a most unusual version of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, which is used in an exaggerated way as gunshots are added for extra emphasis. That said, the rest of the score is in line with what one would expect from a giallo.

Weekend Murders has a solid cast that's filled with recognizable faces for anyone who's familiar with 1970s Eurocult cinema. Performance-wise, the cast is very good in their roles, especially Gastone Moschin (Milano Calibro 9) in the role of Sgt. Aloisius Thorpe, a dimwitted policeman who actually solves the murders in the end. Another performance of note is Anna Moffo in the role of Barbara Worth, the woman who inherits everything.

At just under 100 minutes in length, the narrative does a great job building momentum. There are several well-placed red herrings and a few deaths that turn out to be nothing more than a bad joke or someone who is actually sleeping and not dead. Also, all of the murders happen off camera and are virtually bloodless. That is not to say that Weekend Murders does not have a few stylish moments. Ultimately, Weekend Murders is a well-made thriller that does a superb job keeping the killer's identity a secret.

Weekend Murders gets an excellent release from Code Red that comes with a solid audio/video presentation and a pair of informative extras, recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer