Yeah, I've been around the Neapolitan thriller-horrors block a few times and then some. I have many favorites, but this is the ONE -- The Night Evelyn Came Out of Her Grave for you U. S. folks -- that warms the 'ol UHF-to-VHS cockles to 10 stars.
Once again, the red-wigged and skull-faced Evelyn sashays around a crumbly castle in her flowing nightie as part of Arrow Video's 4th box set from their "Giallo Essentials" collection (Red, Black, Yellow, and White) -- with Evelyn's now crisp and restored exploits as part of the "White" collection. Until Arrow released these 2022-2023 DVD packs (as well as other boutique imprints, such as Severin; but Sinema Diable and Sinister Cinema offer their own restores on Evelyn), horror connoisseurs were unable to watch these Neapolitan thriller-horrors in their original, pristine state -- free of the heartless butchering imposed by '70s American drive-in distributors and '90s cheap jack, 50-film public domain box sets (that issued worn-out UHF-TV versions).
Yeah, yeah, I know. Giallo films make no sense -- more so when Gothic-cum-supernatual elements are in the mix -- but it's all just an amped-up '40s-to-'50s film noir with a little Henry James's Turn of the Screw gaslighting. Yes, "gaslighting" your lover -- overly graphic gaslighting -- is the key element in a giallo.
So the British Hammer-Amicus overtones of this tale concerns a psychologically-troubled British aristocrat recently released from an asylum: he's haunted -- read: obsessed -- by the death of his cheating first wife: the red-maned Evelyn. To assuage the "haunting," he seduces red-heads in the local taverns -- who he subsequently tortures and kills in his kinky dungeon (kink is an important Gialli element; religion, too). Then he meets Gladys: she digs his kinks. Oh, yes, that triggers the Mario Bava-Twitch of the Death Nerve-styled deaths at Lord Cunningham's crumbly, remote estate -- backed by great music and lush sets. Stream it and enjoy the implausible twists brought on by characters that deserve to be screwed.
If you'd like to know more about Italian Gialli, check out my "Exploring: Italian Giallo Films of the 1960s through the 1970s" feature at B&S About Movies.
Once again, the red-wigged and skull-faced Evelyn sashays around a crumbly castle in her flowing nightie as part of Arrow Video's 4th box set from their "Giallo Essentials" collection (Red, Black, Yellow, and White) -- with Evelyn's now crisp and restored exploits as part of the "White" collection. Until Arrow released these 2022-2023 DVD packs (as well as other boutique imprints, such as Severin; but Sinema Diable and Sinister Cinema offer their own restores on Evelyn), horror connoisseurs were unable to watch these Neapolitan thriller-horrors in their original, pristine state -- free of the heartless butchering imposed by '70s American drive-in distributors and '90s cheap jack, 50-film public domain box sets (that issued worn-out UHF-TV versions).
Yeah, yeah, I know. Giallo films make no sense -- more so when Gothic-cum-supernatual elements are in the mix -- but it's all just an amped-up '40s-to-'50s film noir with a little Henry James's Turn of the Screw gaslighting. Yes, "gaslighting" your lover -- overly graphic gaslighting -- is the key element in a giallo.
So the British Hammer-Amicus overtones of this tale concerns a psychologically-troubled British aristocrat recently released from an asylum: he's haunted -- read: obsessed -- by the death of his cheating first wife: the red-maned Evelyn. To assuage the "haunting," he seduces red-heads in the local taverns -- who he subsequently tortures and kills in his kinky dungeon (kink is an important Gialli element; religion, too). Then he meets Gladys: she digs his kinks. Oh, yes, that triggers the Mario Bava-Twitch of the Death Nerve-styled deaths at Lord Cunningham's crumbly, remote estate -- backed by great music and lush sets. Stream it and enjoy the implausible twists brought on by characters that deserve to be screwed.
If you'd like to know more about Italian Gialli, check out my "Exploring: Italian Giallo Films of the 1960s through the 1970s" feature at B&S About Movies.