6.1 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
The spirit of a comatose teenage girl possesses the body of a newcomer to her girls boarding school to enact bloody revenge against the elitist, lingerie-clad coeds responsible for her condition.
Starring: Jared Martin, Ulli Reinthaler, Lara Lamberti, Sophie d'Aulan, Jennifer NaudHorror | 100% |
Thriller | 3% |
Romance | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
Italian: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English, English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
One of the talking heads assembled for some appealing supplemental material included on the Blu-ray disc of Aenigma makes a joke about how pointless it is to decry any Italian film for being “derivative”, something that's perhaps especially true when discussing any given Lucio Fulci film. In that regard, however, it’s probably unavoidably ironic that other talking heads included both on screen and courtesy of a commentary track on the disc make any number of references to other films that Aenigma reminds them of. This list includes everything from Carrie to Suspiria to Phenomena, and so those unfamiliar with this 1988 horror outing might want to consider what blending that particular trio of offerings together might end up looking like. Aenigma at its core is a revenge fantasy, one that involves a young boarding school girl named Kathy (Milijana Zirojevic), who is tricked into going on a date with the school’s gym teacher Fred Vernon (Riccardo Acerbi), which right off the bat catapults the story into unseemly territory. It turns out that a gaggle of kids and Vernon are in on this prank, and when the homely Kathy responds to Vernon’s supposed seductive moves in a car, she’s suddenly surrounded by laughing teenagers in a scene that does in fact play very much like certain elements in Carrie. Kathy responds predictably, by freaking out and running away, where she’s promptly hit by a car and transported to a local hospital badly injured and in a comatose state. The film then segues to the arrival of a new student named Eva Gordon (Lara Naszinski), though an almost subliminal interstitial suggests Eva is under the telepathic sway of the supposedly comatose Kathy.
Aenigma is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. The back cover of this release states "scanned in 4K from the original negative for the first time ever in America". This is another release from Severin, somewhat like the recently reviewed The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, where that "scanned in 4K" verbiage may raise expectations to unsustainable heights. The element in this particular instance certainly doesn't have the same sort of damage seen in the Sergio Martino film, and the palette looks much more accurate in this version than in the kind of green tinted Blu-ray from 88 Films that came out a few years ago in Region B. On the minus side, there are some pretty rough looking patches here that could arguably have been at least ameliorated with a tighter encode. I've documented some of these moments in screenshots 15 through 19.
Aenigma features DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono tracks in either English or Italian. Since you're going to be getting some dubbing in either version, this probably boils down to whether or not you object to reading subtitles. Otherwise, while the mixes are more or less the same in terms of overall amplitude, the Italian track sounded a bit more forceful to my ears in the midrange. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly in both tracks. Optional English subtitles for both languages are available.
Lucio Fulci's life and career were not exactly problem free, as is alluded to in some of the supplements included on this release. Often hampered by less than fulsome budgets, and at least occasionally beset with personal problems, Fulci seemed to soldier on, even when others would have probably surrendered to the vagaries of fate and/or show business. Aenigma is obviously, um, reminiscent of some other films (I'm struggling not to say "derivative"), but it does feature occasionally goofy and memorably imagery. Video encounters a few rough patches, but audio is fine, and Severin has included some appealing supplements, for those who are considering a purchase.
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