Shadow of Death – Mondo Macabro (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Spain/Italy, 1969
Director: Javier Setó
Writers: Santiago Moncada, Javier Setó, Gianfranco Clerici
Cast: Larry Ward, Teresa Gimpera, Giacomo Rossi Stuart, Fernando Sánchez Polack, Eugenio Navarro, Javier de Rivera, José Bastida, Silvana Venturelli

Release Date: November 14th, 2023
Approximate running time: 92 Minutes 16 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: NR
Sound: LPCM Mono Spanish, LPCM Mono English
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $29.95

"Former showgirl Denise (Teresa Gimpera) lives in a small northern Spanish town with her husband, John, and his twin brother Peter. Tired of life with her rich but boring husband, she has begun an affair with Peter. The two of them want to remove John from the picture and get their hands on his money. But they don’t know how to achieve their goal.

Gert Muller, a dangerous figure from Denise’s past life, turns up out of the blue. He is on his uppers and needs cash fast. He discovers what is going on with Denise and Peter and decides to blackmail them. However, his scheme goes seriously wrong when the cheating lovers forge a plan to use Gert himself to achieve their goal. They embark on a devious scheme to drive John insane and fit him up for Gert’s murder." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.25/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "digitally restored from 35mm negative".

Shadow of Death comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 35.2 GB

Feature: 27.3 GB

It should be noted that this release by Mondo Macabro is three minutes and 27 seconds longer than Cineploit’s 2021 Blu-ray release. Mondo Macabro’s release is the Spanish language version, while Cineploit’s release is the Italian language version. Also, Mondo Macabro’s release presents the film in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, while Cineploit’s release presents the film in a 1.66:1 aspect ratio.

The source used for this transfer is in great shape; any source imperfections are minor and minimal. When it comes to source imperfections, most of them are in the opening credits. Also, where Cineploit’s release has noticeable source damage in the last ten minutes, Mondo Macabro’s release does not. Flesh tones look healthy, colors are nicely saturated, image clarity and black levels are strong throughout, and compression is very good.

Audio: 4/5 (LPCM Mono Spanish, LPCM Mono English)

This release comes with two audio options, an LPCM mono mix in Italian and an LPCM mono mix in English. The Italian-language track sounds clean, clear, and balanced. Though the English track is also in very good shape, there is one scene around the 30-minute mark where the background hiss is noticeable. It should be noted that the English-language track for Cineploit’s Blu-ray release has background music throughout. Range-wise, when it comes to ambient sounds and the score, these two audio tracks sound very good. Included are removable English subtitles for the Spanish language track and a second removable English subtitle track for one scene that is in Spanish when watching with the English language track.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a Mondo Macabro preview reel, a theatrical trailer (2 minutes 32 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), Italian language credits (2 minutes 52 seconds, Dolby Digital mono with text in Italian, no subtitles), two alternate scenes with text information about these scenes (6 minutes 33 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), and an interview with Ángel Sala, director of the Sitges International Film Festival titled Javier Setó A Pioneer of Spanish Fantaterror (20 minutes 13 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Spanish with removable English subtitles).

Summary:

Though Mario Bava and Dario Argento’s gialli are the films from which the best gialli are ultimately judged. The truth is that not all gialli are equal, not only when it comes to overall quality, but when it comes to country of origin.

In the 1960’s and into the 1970’s Italian cinema was known for its co-productions, most notably with Spain. And though there were gialli that were Spanish co-productions, if the film leaned more towards the Spanish side, there’s a clear distinction between Spanish made/co-productions and Italian made gialli.

Case in point Shadow of Death, a Spanish/Italian co-production that’s better described as a psychological thriller than a black gloved gialli body count film. In many ways, Shadow of Death owes more to Umberto Lenzi’s late 1960’s gialli than its does Mario Bava and Dario Argento’s gialli.

Content wise, Shadow of Death has most of the core elements that have become synonymous with the thriller genre. The premise revolves around two lovers who’ve come up  with a scheme to secure the husband's money by making him seem insane. And to complicate things a blackmailer enters the picture looking for their own payday.

Though the score is credited to Franco Micalizzi (Beyond the Door, The Tough Ones). From the moments you hear the first notes of the score there’s a familiarity to them. Reportedly, Ennio Morricone is the composer of the score. Some of his music from Wake Up and Die gets recycled for Shadow of Death's score.

From its opening moments Shadow of Death does a great job setting a menacing tone and there are an ample amount of moments of misdirection, that make the finale all the more potent. And though Shadow of Death lacks the bloodshed and sleaze that giallo cinema’s most celebrated films have in spades. The result is a solid thriller that fans of giallo cinema should thoroughly enjoy.

Shadow of Death gets a strong audio/video presentation from Mondo Macabro, recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer