The Psychic – Severin Films (4k UHD/Blu-ray/CD Combo)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy, 1977
Director: Lucio Fulci
Writers: Lucio Fulci, Roberto Gianviti, Dardano Sacchetti
Cast: Jennifer O’Neill, Gabriele Ferzetti, Marc Porel, Gianni Garko, Evelyn Stewart

Release Date: August 29th, 2023
Approximate Running Time: 97 Minutes 22 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 2160 Progressive / HEVC / H.265 / Dolby Vision HDR10
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono Italian, DTS-HD Mono English
Subtitles: English, English SDH
Region Coding: Region Free (4K UHD), Region A (Blu-ray)
Retail Price: $55.00

"Jennifer O’Neill (SCANNERS) stars as a woman tormented by violent visions of past slayings. Or are they premonitions of murders still to come?" - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.75/5 (4K UHD), 4.5/5 (Blu-ray)

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "now scanned in 4K from the original negative."

Here is additional information about the transfer, "The following presentation was scanned from the original camera negative. The element was not pristine, having suffered age- and storage-related damage over the years, so significant restoration was required. Unfortunately, some of the damage could not be completely removed without compromising the film. We hope this does not hamper your enjoyment of The Psychic."

The Psychic comes on a 66 GB dual layer 4K UHD.

Disc Size: 60.8 GB

Feature: 58.7 GB

The above disclaimer gives a good idea of what Severin Films had to work with to make the master used for this transfer. And the result is something that far exceeds expectations; it is easily the best The Psychic has ever looked at on home video. Flesh tones look healthy, colors look correct, contrast, black levels, and compression are solid, and the image always looks organic. Also, The Psychic’s visuals employ a soft-focus look, which is not to say that image clarity is not excellent. That said, it is hard to imagine that The Psychic can look any better than it does here, considering the condition of the original camera negative.

The Psychic comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 41.8 GB

Feature: 29 GB

The Blu-ray uses the same source as the 4K UHD does for its transfer.

Audio: 4/5 (DTS-HD Mono Italian), 4.25/5 (DTS-HD Mono English)

This release comes with two audio options, a DTS-HD mono mix in Italian and a DTS-HD mono mix in English. Both audio mixes sound clean, clear, and balanced. That said, the English-language track sounds fuller than the Italian-language track. Also, when compared to Scorpion Releasing Blu-rays in English, Severin Films English-language track appears to have had some additional work. Included are removable English subtitles for the Italian language track, removable English SDH for the English language track, and a second removable English subtitle track for Italian signs and text when watching with the English language track.

Extras:

Extras on the 4K UHD disc include a theatrical trailer (1 minute 6 seconds, DTS-HD mono English, no subtitles).

Extras on the Blu-ray disc 1 include  a theatrical trailer (1 minute 6 seconds, DTS-HD mono English, no subtitles), an audio interview with editor Bruno Micheli titled Cutting Moments (11 minutes 25 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an audio interview with costume designer Massimo Lentini titled Elegant Ladies (9 minutes 18 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an audio interview with camera operator Franco Bruni titled Close Up on the Eyes (2 minutes 31 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with screenwriter Dardano Sacchetti with contributions from director Lucio Fulci titled Doom and Gloom (50 minutes 12 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), and selected scene audio commentary with cinematographer Sergio Salvati and Freak-O-Rama's Federico Caddeo (19 minutes 18 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles).

Extras on Blu-ray disc 2 include a documentary by Antonietta De Lillo featuring an extended interview with Lucio Fulci titled Fulci Talks (83 minutes 41 seconds, DTS-HD stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with actress Ida Galli titled Sophisticated (14 minutes 55 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with actor Gianni Garko titled Maker of His Own Fortune (33 minutes 14 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with cinematographer Sergio Salvati titled In Love With the Movie Set (24 minutes 51 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with composer Fabio Frizzi titled Seven Notes For a Trio (24 minutes 51 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with composer Franco Bixio titled Lucky Number Seven (31 minutes 49 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with composer Vince Tempera titled Notes on a Wall  (31 minutes 49 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), and Frizzi 2 Fulci a live studio session performance of The Psychic suite (7 minutes 16 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo).

Disc 4 is a CD with The Physic’s 22-song score.

Other extras include reversible cover art, a slipcase, and a 36-page booklet with an essay titled Chimes at Midnight written by Stephen Thrower, cast & crew information, and a track listing for The Psychic’s score.

Summary:

Though The Psychic is widely regarded as a giallo, the look and feel of the film are more in line with supernatural and Gothic horror films made in Italy in the 1960s. And out of the five giallo films that Lucio Fulci directed, The Psychic most resembles his first giallo, Perversion Story (One on Top of the Other).

Early on, Lucio Fulci builds tension as Virginia drives through a series of tunnels on her way home after dropping her husband off at the airport. In this scene, Virginia's visions foreshadow events that are about to occur.

Without a doubt, The Psychic's weakest link is its special effects. In the opening moments, there’s an obvious mannequin that falls off a cliff. Lucio Fulci attempted this same effect in Don’t Torture a Duckling. This shot is hampered by the fact that Lucio Fulci insists on showing us up close the damage done to the body rather than taking a wider shot and hiding some of the limitations of these special effects.

The Psychic’s score was composed by the trio of Franco Bixio, Fabio Frizzi, and Vince Tempera. And, aside from the opening credits theme, it sounds like a cross between ABBA and The Carpenters. The rest of The Psychic’s score sounds like the type of music that could have been in Lucio Fulci’s horror films that he directed in the early 1980s. Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill Volume 1 would feature a musical cue from The Psychic.

Casting wise, The Psychic has a strong cast that’s led by Jennifer O’Neill (Summer of ’42) in the role of Virginia Ducci and Marc Porel (Don’t Torture a Duckling) in the role of a psychiatrist named Luca Fattori. Other cast members of note include Gianni Garko (Night of the Devils) in the role of Virginia’s husband and Gabriele Ferzetti (Once Upon a Time in the West) in the role of Emilio Rospini, who holds the key to the answers Virginia seeks.

Whether intentional or unintentional The Psychic has one connection to Dario Argento. The Psychic’s protagonist, Virginia, searches an abandoned house that has a corpse hidden in the way. And this scene bears a strong resemblance to a scene from Dario Argento’s Deep Red.

The Psychic is another meticulously composed piece by Lucio Fulci, who specialized in creating foreboding visuals. Another strength of The Psychic is how effectively it uses soft-focus cinematography. And the screenplay does a superb job weaving a web of deceit that saves its most haunting moment for the climax.

Severin Films gives The Psychic a fully loaded release that comes with over 5 hours of extra content, and The Psychic has never looked or sounded better, making this release from Severin Films a definitive presentation and highly recommended.

Note about the 4K screenshots: It is not possible to make Dolby Vision or HDR10 screenshots that faithfully match the experience of watching a film in motion on a TV. Instead of not having any screenshots, all of the 4K screenshots are m2ts taken with a VLC player and lossless PNGs.

Written by Michael Den Boer