THE CASE OF THE BLOODY IRIS (1972) Blu-ray
Director: Giuliano Carnimeo
Shameless Screen Entertainment

Shameless Screen Entertainment finds the solution to "what are those strange drops of blood on Jennifer's body" while investigating THE CASE OF THE BLOODY IRIS on Blu-ray.

When a prostitute is knifed in the elevator of an apartment building on the twentieth floor, and none of the residents – war widow Mrs. Moss (Maria Tedeschi, PLOT OF FEAR), elderly musician Professor Isaacs (George Rigaud, HORROR EXPRESS), or nightclub performer Mizar Harrington (Carla Brait, TORSO) – claim to know her, the police have little to go on, least of all the identity of her client. When Mizar is subsequently murdered in her own bathtub, however, Detective Enci (Giampiero Albertini, FLIC STORY) and his assistant Reidi (Franco Agostini, TALES OF EROTICA) put the residents of the building under a microscope. Enci's attention turns to apartment building owner Andrea (George Hilton, DINNER WITH THE VAMPIRE) when he is discovered not only to have had dinner with Mizar – a model offered up to symbolized the "integrated" aspect of his building's amenities by photographer Arthur (Oreste Lionello, MR. KINKY) – but also moves models Jennifer (Edwige Fenech, PHANTOM OF DEATH) and Marilyn (Paola Quattrini, HERCULES) into the dead woman's apartment. When a masked and gloved assailant starts stalking Jennifer, she initially believes it is her ex-husband Adam (Ben Carra) who inducted her into a free love cult specifically because he was aroused by his own jealousy, and Jennifer may be the only person who thinks Andrea is innocent as the murders continue and she is repeatedly frightened into the tender care of the professor's lesbian daughter Sheena (Annabella Incontrera, SO SWEET SO DEAD).

A Hilton-Fenech pairing produced by Luciano Martino (THE GREAT ALLIGATOR) but not directed by Sergio Martino (THE CASE OF THE SCORPION'S TAIL), THE CASE OF THE BLOODY IRIS is diverting and eventful but pales next to those efforts. The only giallo of Giuliano Carnimeo – more so a jobbing director than Martino, although he had excelled in the western genre where he had previously directed Hilton for Luciano Martino in SARTANA'S HERE... TRADE YOUR PISTOL FOR A COFFIN – the film's giallo theatrics feature the usual eccentrics, including a gay photographer, a stamp-collecting detective, a widow with secrets, an eccentric musician, and a predatory lesbian while the script of Ernesto Gastaldi (LIBIDO) does retain his emphasis on logic; however, it feels like more of a first draft effort rehashing elements of the previous Sergio Martino gialli with less conviction. Fenech's heroine does terror and desire as well as in any other film, but Hilton's character lacks the wily nature of his other Martino leading roles, while the would-be kinkier aspects rehashed from THE STRANGE VICE OF SIGNORA WARDH (the past sadomasochistic relationship) and ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK (the cult) feel watered down. Giallo detectives are usually ineffectual but a little smarter in the Martino gialli since Hilton's heroes are usually more ambiguous, but Albertini's authority figure is so focused on Andrea that Jennifer accuses him of being more interested in closing the case than catching the killer, revealing the cop to be stupid rather than corrupt. The stalk and kill scenes are suspenseful, as is the vertiginous final confrontation with the killer, but neither Carnimeo nor cinematographer and later director Stelvio Massi could be said to have mastered the genre (as ARABELLA, THE BLACK ANGEL can attest to the latter).

Unreleased theatrically or on videotape in the United States – although it did play in the U.K. as EROTIC BLUE by Border Films – THE CASE OF THE BLOODY IRIS was released on DVD in the U.K. by Vipco in a cropped transfer which was soon superseded by an anamorphic transfer stateside from Anchor Bay exclusive to The Giallo Collection boxed set with THE BLOODSTAINED SHADOW, SHORT NIGHT OF THE GLASS DOLLS, and WHO SAW HER DIE. Shameless' 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen transfer boasts of being sourced from a new 2K scan. In most areas, it looks to be an improvement over the DVD but not quite the leap in definition expects, especially of a grainier 2-perf Techniscope production. Close-ups fair better than long shots (those that have not been filtered by on-screen diffusion, that is), and skin tones look slightly yellower than they did on DVD (in most cases, it is usually the opposite). The image is darker here to the film's advantage with the shadows blending into the black mattes with some crush while the lighter colors of walls and clothing do not look as washed out as they did on DVD. English and Italian tracks are offered in LPCM 2.0 mono, and the former is definitely preferable not only sounding louder and clearer but also in the scripting of the dialogue as revealed by the English subtitles for the Italian track (although we do learn that Jennifer's surname on the Italian track is Offermann). The credits are in Italian with the title PERCHÉ QUELLE STRANE GOCCE DI SANGUE SUL CORPO DI JENNIFER?

The Anchor Bay DVD offered only a trailer and a slightly different edit of the sidewalk stabbing scene as extras while Shameless and Freak-O-Rama have produced two new interviews. In "Flowers of Blood" (20:43), actor Hilton covers some familiar ground about starting in Italy in westerns and wanting to make a change, getting offered a supporting role in the giallo THE SWEET BODY OF DEBORAH produced by cousin Luciano Martino who asked him to introduce him to Fenech (who Hilton had met while he was shooting WAR FEVER and Fenech was in TOP SENSATION), and their subsequent pairings under Sergio Martino with CASE OF THE BLOODY IRIS not only being helmed by Carnimeo but also overturning expectations for viewers of WARDH and SCORPION'S TAIL. "Marilyn" (11:51) is an interview with actress Quattrini who discusses her stage work before being cast in Carnimeo's film, her over-the-top character, being afraid to keep her head under water for her character's prank scene, the nude photo shoot scene, and her final scene in the film. Like Hilton, she discusses her affection for the shooting location in Genoa and her memories of her co-stars. Neither the trailer nor the alternate stabbing scene have been carried over to Blu-ray but the disc does include start-up trailers for ALL THE COLOURS OF THE DARK and STRIP NUDE FOR YOUR KILLER. (Eric Cotenas)

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