Death Occurred Last Night: Limited Edition – Raro Video UK (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy/West Germany, 1970
Director: Duccio Tessari
Writers: Biagio Proietti, Duccio Tessari, Artur Brauner
Cast: Raf Vallone, Frank Wolff, Gabriele Tinti, Gillian Bray, Eva Renzi, Gigi Rizzi, Beryl Cunningham, Checco Rissone

Release Date: January 29th, 2024
Approximate running time: 97 Minutes 36 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: 15 (UK)
Sound: LPCM Mono Italian, LPCM Mono English
Subtitles: English, English SDH
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: £16.99 (UK)

"A lonely widower appeals to the police to find his missing daughter. The sceptical police officer picks up the case but it becomes murder when her body is recovered. Now they must find the culprit before the vengeful father does first." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4/5

Here’s the information provided about the transfer, “High Definition digital transfer from the original camera negative."

Death Occurred Last Night comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 32.4 GB

Feature: 29.1 GB

Though this release and Raro’s 2014 release come from the same source, the result is transfers that are like night and day. This release’s transfer is a noticeable improvement over Raro’s 2014 release, which was a VC-1 video transfer. In every area—image clarity, black levels, and compression—this transfer looks better than Raro’s 2014 release. That said, there are a few moments where image clarity is not as strong during darker moments. Another area where this new transfer is better is that it retains an organic look, whereas Raro’s 2014 release had some digital noise reduction.

Audio: Audio: 3.75/5 (LPCM Mono Italian), 3.5/5 (LPCM Mono English)

This release comes with two audio options, an LPCM mono mix in Italian and an LPCM mono mix in English. Both tracks are in very good shape; any background noise is minor. Dialog comes through clearly enough to follow, and everything sounds balanced. Range-wise, these two audio tracks are satisfactory. That said, the Italian-language track is the slightly stronger of these two audio tracks. That said, these two audio tracks are comparable to Raro's U.S. releases of audio tracks. Included are removable English subtitles for the Italian-language track and removable English SDH for the English-language track.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a theatrical trailer (2 minutes 39 seconds, LPCM mono English, no subtitles), an archival introduction by Fangoria editor Chris Alexander (7 minutes 13 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), an audio essay about Italian Noirs by Francesco Massaccesi and narrated by Howard S. Berger (11 minutes 6 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), reversible cover art, and a 12-page booklet (limited to 3000 copies) with cast & crew information, and an essay titled Death Occurred Many Times: The Thrillers of Duccio Tessari written by David Sodergren.

Summary:

Death Occurred Last Night is one of three exceptional gialli directed by Duccio Tessari. The other two films are Puzzle and The Bloodstained Butterfly. Other notable films that he directed include A Pistol for Ringo, The Return of Ringo, and Tony Arzenta. The screenplay for Death Occurred Last Night was adapted from a novel written by Giorgio Scerbanenco. Several of his novels were adapted by Fernando Di Leo into films, most notably Naked Violence and Milano Caliber 9.

The narrative revolves around a father who convinces a police inspector to take a special interest in finding his mentally challenged twenty-five-year-old daughter, who disappeared without a trace.

Structurally, Death Occurred Last Night is an interesting mixture of two of Italian cinema's most popular genres in the first half of the 1970s, namely giallo and poliziotteschi. Death Occurred Last Night leans more towards the latter of these two genres. Also, there are elements from both of these genres that crop up throughout Death Occurred Last Night. The result is a film unlike any that has come before or since it, making it a film that is in its own genre.

The initial set-up is pitch perfect, as characters motivations are always clearly defined. And one of Death Occurred Last Night’s greatest assets is how it introduces the distraught father and then subtly pushes him into the background while a pair of detectives and a low-life smuggler are blackmailed into helping them search for the father's missing daughter. Keeping the father away from the seedy investigation they are conducting ultimately makes his reemergence in the latter half of the narrative all the more potent, thus making his transformation from a grieving father into a man with a vendetta all the more believable.

Considering that the premise is about women being abducted and forced into a world of sex slaves, the content that lies within is handled in such a way that it is never exploitative. Also, though there are many women in various stages of dress, Death Occurred Last Night's portrayal of them is never vulgar, which ultimately humanizes them and gives them added dimensions that are often lacking in other similar-themed films. When it comes to despicable characters, Death Occurred Last Night retains that right for those who are responsible for abducting the mentally challenged young woman.

From a production standpoint, there is no area where Death Occurred Last Night does not excel. The visuals are outstanding as they reinforce the events that are unfolding onscreen. The narrative is perfectly paced, as each new revelation is given just the right amount of time to sink in before unveiling the next. And though there are many detractors of Death Occurred Last Night’s odd score, it has a jarring effect that complements that story really well.

The cast is superb in their respective roles, with the strongest performance coming from Frank Wolff (Cold Eyes of Fear) in the role of Duca Lamberti, the detective who, through persistence, uncovers the truth about the missing girl. While the most memorable performance comes from Raf Vallone's (The Godfather: Part III), in the role of Amanzio Berzaghi, the father of the missing disabled girl. Another performance of note is that of Gillian Bray's (Virgins of the Seven Seas) Donatella Berzaghi, the mentally challenged young woman who has been abducted. Ultimately, Death Occurred Last Night is an extraordinary film that firmly pulls you in and lingers in your mind long after its final reveal.

Raro Video UK gives Death Occurred Last Night its best home video release to date, recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer