Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		1.5

Angel of Death Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 18, 2021

M. Night Shyamalan often gets credited with being "king of the twist", but there may be another suitable candidate, albeit one who never made a film himself, even if several of his pieces were adapted for either television or movie life with some considerable success. But just consider for a moment the following films and how each in their own way deliver at least one shocking revelation of "that's what's going on?" wonderment: Rosemary's Baby, The Stepford Wives, and Deathtrap . Those were all of course the handiwork (in one way or the other) of Ira Levin, who also offered a couple of nice surprises in the lesser remembered Dr. Cook's Garden, which in its original play version was detailed in William Goldman's interesting if arguably problematic The Season, and which later became an ABC Movie of the Week. Levin's literary acumen wasn't always able to be successfully transferred to the screen, probably most noticeably in A Kiss Before Dying, simply because there's an artifice in Levin's original novelistic version that simply can't be totally overcome in the visual medium of film (and that's all I'll say so as to not post any spoilers). That same unavoidable visual element may also slightly spoil the central shock of The Boys from Brazil, but even before that denouement is reached, the film has already revealed that the notorious Josef Mengele is still alive and hiding out in some semi-tropical South American jungle, where he may be continuing with experiments he started during the Nazi era.

Even the back cover of this release makes no bones about stating that The Boys from Brazil obviously helped at least in part to spark Angel of Death, a film which resolutely eschews any attempts to provide surprises, not to mention other passing trifles like a coherent plot, continuity, and competent performances. Jess Franco contributed to the screenplay and reportedly to the direction as well, but this is in some ways almost curiously "chaste" for a Franco feature, even if it does feature the mad Dr. Mengele (Howard Vernon) experimenting on what the cover describes as "nubile virgins".

This is the sort of low grade outing that merits whatever attention it deserves simply because it's so gonzo and unintentionally funny. Among the hilarities on tap, at least for some jaded types, is a "new, improved" Nazi marketing insignia, as well as uniforms for the soldiers that often seem awfully like circa-80s street clothes with red arm bands applied. It's also kind of charming in its own demented way to see Fernando Rey on hand, evidently picking up a paycheck for a quasi-cameo as this film's version of The Boys from Brazil's own version of Simon Wiesenthal.

Angel of Death Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Angel of Death is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of "The Eurocine Collection" from Full Moon Features with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.67:1. There's no technical information that I could see on the cover of this release, but it's a surprisingly strong looking presentation quite a bit of the time, especially after the opening optically printed credits sequence. The palette is generally very nicely suffused, though there are noticeable variations in densities. These ebbs and flows don't seem to necessarily be dependent on lighting or even location, as some interior moments look quite vivid while some outdoor material can look relatively wan. Detail levels are again generally commendable, especially in close-ups, where some of Mengele's "handiwork" may provoke a bit of unintended laughter since fine detail on some of the "special effects makeup" may disclose budgetary deficits. There are some brief rough moments, including a very fast establishing shot of a fortress like location that I almost think might have been sourced from stock footage.

Angel of Death Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Angel of Death features lossy Dolby Digital tracks in 2.0 Mono and 5.1. The disc defaults to the original 2.0 Mono track, and for all intents and purposes it really suffices well enough. The surround track can occasionally open up elements like the score or some of the "action" sequences where gunfire is employed, and it at least doesn't add the kind of out of phase quality some of these rejiggered tracks do, even if its surround activity isn't especially impressive. Dialogue (such as it is) is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout, and perhaps surprisingly it looks like most of the principal cast were speaking English during the shoot.

Angel of Death Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Euro Cult Trailers includes:

  Barbed Wire Dolls (HD; 00:55)

  
  

  Naked Girl Murdered in the Park (HD; 1:28)

  
  

  Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun (HD; 2:37)

  
  

  Sexy Sisters (HD; 1:02) actually features the title Satanic Sisters in the trailer itself.

  
  

  Voodoo Passion (HD; 00:56)

  
  

  Women in Cellblock 9 (HD; 1:00)

Angel of Death Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It's kind of interesting to note that the novel Levin wrote to follow up Rosemary's Baby is the largely unremembered This Perfect Day, Levin's take on a dystopian future society which didn't really offer that much of a twist, at least not in the "traditional" Levin-ian sense, and which perhaps not so coincidentally didn't really receive the attention that many of Levin's other pieces did. That same lack of an overpowering whoah! moment probably also afflicted Sliver, the only other film culled from a pre-existing Levin piece. Those looking for inventive plots like Levin regularly came up with had best keep looking if they're considering Angel of Death to be a likely candidate. While kind of fascinating in the same way a train wreck is reported to be, the film is messy and often incoherent. The video presentation is perhaps surprisingly strong, but audio options are only lossy, for those who are considering making a purchase.