Naked Violence - Raro Video (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy, 1969
Director: Fernando Di Leo
Writers: Fernando Di Leo, Nino Latino, Andrea Maggiore
Cast: Pier Paolo Capponi, Nieves Navarro, Marzio Margine, Renato Lupi, Enzo Liberti, Giuliano Manetti, Danika La Loggia, Anna Maria La Rovere, Michel Bardinet, Françoise Prévost

Release Date: July 30th, 2013
Approximate running time: 98 minutes 58 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / VC-1 Video
Rating: NR
Sound: LPCM Mono Italian, LPCM Mono English
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $49.95 (Naked Violence is part of Fernando Di Leo: The Italian Crime Collection: Volume 2)

"Naked violence is about how a teacher of an evening school for youngsters with social problems is brutally raped and murdered right in her classroom. The only suspects are the kids and the police are surprised to find them all quietly in their homes instead of having escaped. There is a reason. Each kid declares that he did not participate in the brutality but was forced to watch. The police officer Lamberti has reasons to believe that someone, an adult, has orchestrated the kids whose name they are too afraid to mention.." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 2.5/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "New HD transfer digitally restored."

Naked Violence comes on a 25 GB single layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 22.4 GB

Feature: 20 GB

The source used for this transfer is in good shape; there is still some minor print debris and other imperfections. Flesh tones are inconsistent, colors generally look good, black levels and image clarity are not convincing, and it is clear that digital noise reduction has been applied to this transfer.

Audio: 3.5/5

This release comes with two audio options: a LPCM Mono mix in English and a LPCM Mono mix in Italian. Both audio mixes sound clean, clear, and balanced throughout. Though the range is rather limited at times, the more action-oriented and ambient aspects of the soundtrack fare really well. Included with this release are removable English subtitles.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a segment titled ‘Fernando Di Leo at the Cinematheque Francaise’ (15 minutes 13 seconds, LPCM stereo French with removable English subtitles), and a featurette titled Those Goodfellas (18 minutes 49 seconds, LPCM stereo Italian with removable English subtitles).

Naked Violence is part of Fernando Di Leo: The Italian Crime Collection: Volume 2. This box set also contains The Kidnap Syndicate and Shoot First, Die Later. This box set comes with a twenty-four page booklet that comes with cast and crew information for Kidnap Syndicate, Naked Violence, and Shoot First, Die Later; brief essays for Kidnap Syndicate and Naked Violence; and an essay about Shoot First, Die Later that’s broken down into six sections: Introduction, The Production, The Cast, The Director of Action, The Soundtrack, and The Melville Mystery; and a bio for Fernando Di Leo.

Summary:

Directed by Fernando Di Leo, a filmmaker who is most known for his work in the Poliziotteschi genre. Notable films he directed are To Be Twenty, Slaughter Hotel, and Caliber 9. Naked Violence would also mark the first of Di Leo’s many adaptations of novels written by Giorgio Scerbanenco.

The witnesses to the brutal rape and murder of a school teacher also happen to be the police's only suspects, her students.

The Giallo and the Poliziotteschi genres were two of the most popular genres in 1970s Italian cinema. Anyone familiar with these two genres knows that they have elements that overlap. There are a few films that straddle a line between the Giallo and the Poliziotteschi genres, notably What Have They Done to Your Daughters?. Another solid example of mixing these two genres is Naked Violence.

Though the majority of Fernando Di Leo’s films are known for their explosive opening sequences, one would be hard-pressed to find an Italian thriller with a more intense opening credit sequence than the opening credit sequence in Naked Violence. It is during these few opening minutes that the crime for which the remainder of Naked Violence hangs on takes place. That said, the most surprising aspect of Naked Violence is how firmly it holds your attention—not much more than the words the characters are saying.

As mentioned before, this is a character-driven film, though it is not as visually flashy as some of Fernando Di Leo’s later epic crime films. That is not to say that he does not take full advantage of the few moments he does have an opportunity to let the visuals flourish. Most notably the scenes leading up to the finale and the revealing of the killers’ identities.

Performance wise the entire cast are very good, especially the younger actors portraying the delinquent youths. Another performance of note is Nieves Navarro (Death Walks at Midnight) in the role of a social worker who joins the investigation at the request of the lead inspector. Ultimately, Naked Violence is yet another exceptional example of Fernando Di Leo’s effortlessly ability to make engaging cinema that is entertaining and resonates with you long after its final resolution.

Raro Video’s Naked Violence Blu-ray release has a mediocre transfer that leaves a lot of room for improvement.

Written by Michael Den Boer