Inquisition: Limited Red Case Edition – Mondo Macabro (4k UHD)

Theatrical Release Date: Spain, 1978
Director: Paul Naschy
Writer: Paul Naschy
Cast: Paul Naschy, Daniela Giordano, Mónica Randall, Ricardo Merino, Tony Isbert, Julia Saly, Antonio Iranzo, Juan Luis Galiardo, Eduardo Calvo, Tota Alba

Release Date: March 24th, 2026
Approximate Running Time: 89 Minutes 54 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 2160 Progressive / HEVC / H.265
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono Spanish, DTS-HD Mono English
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $35.00

"In 16th century France, Inquisitor and magistrate Bernard de Fossey (Paul Naschy) travels to the plague-ridden region of Peyriac in search of witches and devil worshipers. Local beauty Catherine (Daniela Giordano) quickly catches his eye, tormenting him with impure thoughts, although her affections lie with her handsome fiancé Jean. Meanwhile, embittered one-eyed manservant Rénover (Antonio Iranzo) presents Bernard with his first group of torture victims when he accuses several sexy young things who spurned his advances of being witches responsible for the plague.

One by one beautiful women are tortured on the rack then burned at the stake. No-one seems able to halt the Inquisition's reign of terror or the baseless accusations that cause so many innocent deaths. When Jean dies in mysterious circumstances, Catherine allies herself with Satan to get revenge on her enemies - foremost among them, De Fossey himself." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5

Here’s the information provided about the transfer, “2160p presentation taken from a new 4K restoration of the original camera negative."

Inquisition comes on a 66 GB dual layer 4K UHD

Disc Size: 56.2 GB

Feature: 48.1 GB

When compared to Mondo Macabro’s 2017 Blu-ray, this new release is a marked improvement. The most notable area of improvement is its organic appearance, where its predecessor had issues with digital noise reduction.

Audio: 4.5/5 (DTS-HD Mono Spanish), 4.25/5 (DTS-HD Mono English)

This release comes with two audio options, a DTS-HD mono mix in English and a DTS-HD mono mix in Spanish. With this release are removable English subtitles. Both tracks sound clean, clear, and balanced throughout. The main difference between these two audio mixes is the quality of their translations. The Spanish track does a better job reinforcing the subject matter at hand.

Extras:

Extras for this release include an introduction with actor/director Paul Naschy (7 minutes 36 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Spanish with removable English subtitles), an interview with actress Daniela Giordano (14 minutes 22 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with English subtitles), an interview with Paul Naschy’s son Sergio Molina (21 minutes 39 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Spanish with removable English subtitles), an interview with actress Loreta Tovar (19 minutes 30 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Spanish with removable English subtitles), an audio commentary with Rod Barnett and Troy Guinn (the Naschycast), reversible cover art, and a slipcover.

Summary:

Inquisition marked Paul Naschy's debut as director. Besides casting himself in the lead role, he also wrote this film's screenplay. No name has become more synonymous with Spanish horror cinema than Paul Naschy, who, as an actor, portrayed wolf men, a hunchback, vampires, and other monsters. Although he is most remembered for his films that had classic horror cinema monsters, his diverse filmography includes films like Inquisition that take horror to another level. Inquisition’s narrative takes place during mediaeval evil times, and the result is a film that is one of the best examples of the panic and destruction caused by inquisitions.

A witchfinder general falls in love with a woman who’s made a pact with the devil.

The opening step up does a phenomenal job setting the tone and the stage for the events that follow. The well-crafted narrative builds momentum with a series of tense moments that build upon each other and culminate with an exemplary finale that serves as a perfect coda. Another strength of the narrative is how well it blends exposition and explanation elements. 

All around, the cast are great in their roles, especially Daniela Giordano (Four Times That Night) in the role of Catherine, a young woman who professes her loyalty to Satan after the man she loved gets murdered. Other performances of note are Mónica Randall (My Dear Killer) in the role of Madeleine, the woman who introduces Catherine to black magic and Antonio Iranzo (Cut-Throats Nine) in the role of Rénover, a disfigured servant who lusts after Catherine’s sister. Of course, Paul Naschy (Curse of the Devil) delivers another solid performance in the dual roles of a witch-finder named Bernard de Fossey and Satan.

While carnage is a given for a horror film, when it comes to the cinema of Paul Naschy, his films tend to lean into the sleaze, and Inquisition takes full advantage of its female cast members' alluring attributes. Another area where Inquisition stands out is its torture scenes, most of which are not for the faint of heart. Ultimately, Inquisition is an unflinching account of the power given to those who expose witches and other heretics.

Inquisition gets an excellent release from Mondo Macabro that comes with a solid audio/video presentation and informative extras. Highly recommended.

Note: This edition is limited to 1200 copies.

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 MPC-HC player and lossless PNGs.

Written by Michael Den Boer