Beatrice Cenci Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Beatrice Cenci Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov November 21, 2019

Lucio Fulci's "Beatrice Cenci" (1969) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of 88 Films. The supplemental features on the disc include exclusive new video interviews with actor Antonio Casagrande and author and critic Stephen Thrower as well as new audio commentary by critic Troy Howarth. In English or Italian, with optional English and English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

If you were collecting films during the DVD era you probably know well that Lucio Fulci’s Beatrice Cenci (also known as The Conspiracy of Torture) was difficult to track down. In the United States there were no official releases of this film, so if you wanted to see it, you actually had to look for it overseas. But even there for a long time the film remained rather elusive.

In early 2007, I was finally able to acquire a decent DVD release from New Entertainment World, which I believe was sold simultaneously in Austria and Germany. It came with English and Italian tracks, plus a German dub that was useless to me. I thought that at the time the people that put the release together did the best they could with the materials they were able to access. (You have to keep in mind that in those days scanning and remastering was not as easy as it is now, and while films were being remastered the financial cost was huge. This type of work is a lot cheaper now, and access to the technical equipment that is needed to do it is much easier). So, I was quite pleased to finally add a copy of Beatrice Cenci to my library.

The film turned out to be exactly what I expected -- a period piece that uses a true story to deliver a fair amount of graphic torture. By modern standards it was definitely not a shocker, but there was passion and energy in it that decades earlier were rightfully considered ‘uncommon’. (By the way, this is precisely the reason why the Catholic Church did not like it all and Fulci became a target. And it was all by design because the noise actually made the film appear a lot bigger and authoritative than it really was, so the more Fulci and his were critiqued, the more they benefitted). So, I could definitely see why it rubbed some people the wrong way.

I think that the blueprint for Beatrice Cenci actually comes from another ‘difficult’ film from the same era, Witchfinder General. Michael Reeves completed Witchfinder General a year before Beatrice Cenci and the manner in which his film justifies the presence of graphic torture in its story is practically the same. The historical facts, which are all over the place, are just a façade that protects its integrity. In Beatrice Cenci Fulci is perhaps slightly more restrained, but ultimately his film delivers the same type of thrills.

The production qualities of Beatrice Cenci are rather good, but it is easy to tell that Fulci worked with a modest budget. Some of the mass sequences for instance -- like the one where the fat man tries to evade the horsemen but gets cornered in the river -- were likely single takes that were later on just edited as best as possible. The footage with the graphic tortures is where Fulci and cinematographer Erico Menczer are much more effective and succeed in producing an atmosphere that has legit period qualities.

The main characters are played by familiar genre actors: Tomas Milian, Georges Wilson, Ignazio Spalla, Raymond Pellegrin, Antonio Casagrande, and Massimo Sarchielli. The title character is played by a very young Adrienne Larussa.

Beatrice Cenci Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Beatrice Cenci arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of 88 Films.

Any way you look at it the new 2K remaster that was prepare for this release is quite the stunner. I have this Austrian DVD release of the film and was able to do some quick comparisons and I can confirm that there are solid upgrades literally everywhere -- from the framing to basic qualities like density, delineation, and depth. When projected, Beatrice Cenci actually looks like film now, and there are a lot of background details, especially during darker footage, that are completely unrecognizable on the DVD release. Some density fluctuations remain, and a few a pretty significant, but they are inherited. The color scheme is convincing, though this is another area where you will notice some minor shifts in tonal values. However, these fluctuations also exist on the DVD release, in some cases with much bigger and even completely different drops in saturation. There are no traces of problematic digital corrections. Also, the film looks very healthy. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your Blu-ray player regardless of your geographical location).

Beatrice Cenci Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English: LPCM 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit) and Italian: LPCM 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit). Optional English and English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

I viewed the film with the English track. Predictably, it is vastly superior to the one from the Australian DVD release that I referenced in the video section. And it is not only the elimination of the PAL-distortion that make a huge difference; the clarity, stability and balance are much better. Also, there are no traces of age-related anomalies in the upper register. As it is always the case with English dubs on genre Italian films, expect to hear some minor sporadic dynamic fluctuations.

Beatrice Cenci Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary - in this exclusive new audio commentary, author and critic Troy Howarth discusses in great detail the history of Beatrice Cenci, its placement in Lucio Fulci's body of work, some of the more unusual qualities of its period appearance, the true story that inspired it, etc.

• Interview with Antonio Casagrande - in this new video interview, actor Antonio Casagrande, who plays the character of Don Giacomo Cenci, explains how he entered the film business, and discusses his involvement with Beatrice Cenci and work under Lucio Fulci's direction. In Italian, with optional English subtitles. (29 min, 1080p).

• Interview with Stephen Thrower - in this new video interview, author and critic Stephen Thrower discusses the particular period in which Beatrice Cenci emerged, the story that inspired it and the film's stylistic appearance, and the evolution of Lucio Fulci's work. In English, not subtitled. (34 min, 1080p).

• Cover - reversible cover with vintage poster art.

Beatrice Cenci Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I don't side with those who have argued that Beatrice Cenci is Lucio Fulci's most serious film because there is a degree of intensity in it that pushes it awfully close to being an exploitation project. On the other hand, the true story it recreates actually does justify a lot of the 'difficult' material that is present in it. I've always suspected that Beatrice Cenci was inspired by Witchfinder General, and was the film that made Fulci comfortable delivering the type of thrills and chills that he is now famous for. I could be wrong, but after this film Fulci's style began its irreversible transformation. 88 Films' new release is sourced from a very solid new 2K remaster. Honestly, I think that these guys did a tremendous favor to Fulci completists because Beatrice Cenci had an awful history on the home video market, and for many years was quite simply impossible to see. Well done. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.