A Hyena in the Safe – Celluloid Dreams (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy, 1968
Director: Cesare Canevari
Writers: Cesare Canevari, Alberto Penna
Cast: Dimitri Nabokov, Maria Luisa Geisberger, Ben Salvador, Sandro Pizzochero, Karina Kar, Stan O'Gadwin, Otto Tinard, Cristina Gaioni

Release Date: November 25th, 2025
Approximate Running Time: 92 Minutes 40 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono Italian
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region A
Retail Price: $34.95

"One safe. Six keys. Six robbers, each expecting their cut of a diamond heist when they finally meet to divide their spoils after months in hiding. But before they can open the safe that guards their glittering hoard, they are mysteriously killed, one by one. With fear and suspicion growing among the shrinking group of survivors, it becomes clear that one of them is trying to take all the diamonds for themselves!" - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5

Here’s the information provided about this release’s transfer, "This release's transfer was provided by Variety Distribution and R.T.I. Srl, Rome. It was scanned in 2021 at Cinelab Services, Rome, from the film's original camera negative.

All restoration and color grading was performed at Cinelab Services in Rome."

A Hyena in the Safe comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 45.1 GB

Feature: 23.4 GB

The source looks excellent; flesh tones look correct, colors are nicely saturated, image clarity, contrast, black levels, and compression are solid, and the image always looks organic.

Audio: 5/5

This release comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD mono mix in Italian with English subtitles (removable only via the main menu). It should be noted that there is some dialog in English, German, and French. The audio sounds excellent; dialogue always comes through clearly, and everything sounds balanced and robust when it should.

Extras:

Extras for this release include an image gallery (15 images - lobby cards/posters), a theatrical trailer (4 minutes 10 seconds, DTS-HD mono Italian with non-removable English subtitles), an archival featurette titled 7 Guests for a Massacre, featuring comments director Cesare Canevaro, actor Sandro Pizzochero, general organizer Ninì Della Misericordia, journalist Adriana Morlacchi and journalist/film critic Diego Pisati (51 minutes 10 seconds, DTS-HD stereo Italian with non-removable English subtitles), a video essay by Andy Marshall-Roberts titled Schrödinger's Diamonds: The Duplicitous Mystery of Hyena in the Safe (36 minutes 4 seconds, DTS-HD stereo English, no subtitles), a featurette with Francesco Pollanetti titled The Mysteries of Villa Toeplitz, he discusses A Hyena in the Safe (7 minutes 52 seconds, DTS-HD stereo Italian with non-removable English subtitles), an audio commentary with film critic Guido Henkel, an insert with information about the transfer, and reversible cover art.

Summary:

Cesare Canevari directed A Hyena in the Safe, whose notable films are A Man for Emmanuelle, Matalo! (Kill Him), The Nude Princess, and The Gestapo's Last Orgy.

Months after pulling off a daring bank heist, six thieves meet at a remote location to split up the diamonds. Each of them has a key, and all six keys are needed to open a safe that is lined with a radioactive layer, making it impossible to open any other way. Things go awry when one of them loses their key, and from there, tension rises and bodies start to pile up.

A Hyena in the Safe is a different giallo that has no other comparable film; it was made at the end of the 1960s before Dario Argento’s The Bird with the Crystal Plumage came along and forever changed the Italian thriller. The premise bears a strong resemblance to And Then There Were None, and just like in that story, characters are knocked off one by one until there is only one person left. That said, the finale offers one final twist that separates it from And Then There Were None.

A Hyena in the Safe is typical of low-budget Italian genre cinema; it places the bulk of its narrative in a central location with a small group of characters. The opening setup effectively establishes all the characters, and from that point, the narrative consistently captures your attention by creating tense moments that sustain and escalate the mounting tension. Additionally, the narrative skillfully utilizes red herrings as a strong storytelling element.

For most of the cast, A Hyena in the Safe was their first or only film. Notable cast members are Sandro Pizzochero (So Sweet, So Dead), who portrays Albert, a drug addict thief whose misplaced key sets the series of killings in motion, and Cristina Gaioni (The Facts of Murder), a Brigitte Bardot-looking actress who portrays Albert’s girlfriend, Jeanine. That said, all of the performances are solid; they exceed expectations.

Another area where A Hyena in the Safe excels is its visuals; the camera is constantly moving, creating stylish moments that heighten the mood. Gian Piero Reverberi delivers an exemplary mood-enhancing score that perfectly fuses with the visuals. He’s most known for Gnarls Barkley’s song Crazy, which samples his main theme from Django, Prepare a Coffin. Ultimately, A Hyena in the Safe is not so much a whodunit as a who’s next to die that throws in some psychedelic-inspired moments for good measure.

A Hyena in the Safe gets a definitive release from Celluloid Dreams. Highly recommended.

 

Written by Michael Den Boer