Crazy Nights Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

Crazy Nights Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 20, 2022

Joe D'Amato's "Crazy Nights" (1978) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Full Moon Features. The only bonus feature on the disc is a collection of promotional trailers. In English, without optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

If you do not detect Joe D’Amato’s wild sense of humor in the first fifteen or so minutes, eject Crazy Nights from your player and find another film to end your day with. To be honest, I am unsure if it is actually possible to miss it as the first two segments in Crazy Nights are beyond hilarious, but you never know. One more thing. If you are one of those individuals who constantly made discoveries that offend them, don’t even consider viewing Crazy Nights. It is not for you, trust me.

D'Amato made Crazy Nights at the peak of the disco era while imitating the style of the classic Cinerama travelogues from the 1950s and 1960s. He did use a bit of authentic footage in it, but all interviews and performances are staged. Well, sort of. The interviews are fake and meaningless, but some of the acts are done by real professional artists and performers who were pretty good at what they did. Also, instead of having a good old-fashioned guide, Crazy Nights has Amanda Lear, the provocative international star who earned quite a reputation during the disco era.

Crazy Nights is broken into multiple segments that highlight some of the strangest ways in which open-minded grownups used to entertain each other in the most popular cities across the world. Lear introduces each city and then offers an unforgettable sample of the fun. For example, in a posh nightclub in Las Vegas, a horny young man wins an adult game whose top prize is the right to participate in a live sex act with a beautiful performer. He gets on the stage, drops his pants, and approaches the performer, who is on the opposite side of a giant cardboard curtain. Moments after the fireworks begin, however, the winner makes a shocking discovery.

Elsewhere in a private ceremony, a dozen ‘monks’ wearing big black masks surround a young fully naked couple and their leader orders that they begin making love. They do, but then the ‘monks’ engage each other in the wildest way possible.

In France, a very, very talented magician proves that he can borrow the intimate parts of a man and a woman and then successfully arrange them in some unexpected ways. His audience loves the act. Of course, at the end of it, the magician moves the parts back to their original locations and the man and the woman get off the stage looking perfectly normal.

The darkest footage comes from a secret brothel in Germany, where a very curious ‘reporter’ and her cameraman are allowed to temporarily observe middle-aged men engaging in sadomasochistic and other related acts. While one of the men behaves like a spoiled kid, the old lady cleaning the brothel reveals to the reporter that the acts and the acting are simply horrible.

In a different corner of the world, a diverse crowd of aging customers is treated with another very, very special act involving a different kind of magician. A beautiful young girl uses her hands to move objects from a distance, raise the fake hair of a slightly drunk customer, and force members of the audience to have instant erections. An old-timer with a large grin on his face volunteers to test the girl’s magic hands, and she exceeds his wildest expectations.

The most explicit footage comes from Scandinavia, where another very curious reporter interviews a couple of adult performers who do most of their work at home. While being shown a segment from their latest film, however, the reporter realizes that the man is extremely shy.

D’Amato wraps up Crazy Nights with Lear performing in front of a rather suspiciously enthusiastic crowd and declaring “I am a mystery”. Touche.

Crazy Nights 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, Crazy Nights arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Full Moon Features.

The release is sourced from an exclusive master that was apparently struck from the original camera negative. Unfortunately, this master reveals traces of filtering adjustments that were entirely unnecessary. Detail and depth are not dramatically compromised, but it is very easy to tell that both could have been a lot better if the adjustments were avoided. So, most visuals tend to look rather flat and anemic and in darker footage shadow definition isn't convincing. The filtering adjustments have impacted the fluidity of the visuals as well, so if you view your films on a larger screen whenever the camera moves you will notice light smearing. Color balance is good. The entire film is spotless as well. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location).

Crazy Nights Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English Dolby Digital 5.1 and English Dolby Digital 2.0. Optional English subtitles are not provided for the main feature.

I viewed the film with the 2.0 track and only did a few random tests with the 5.1 track. To be honest, I don't think it matters much which track you choose to view the film with. The entire film was overdubbed in English and even though clarity and sharpness are pretty decent, dynamic intensity is average at best. But this is precisely how this original English track was done. I don't think that a lossless track would have made a notable difference either.

Crazy Nights Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailers - trailers for other titles from Full Moon Features' Euro Cult Collection.

Crazy Nights Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Crazy Nights is a hilarious pseudo-documentary that was clearly modeled after the classic Cinerama travelogues from the 1950s and 1960s. It is true that in the current socio-cultural environment some people will inevitably find it quite tasteless, perhaps even offensive, but I think that Joe D'Amato's sense of humor was pretty great. I used to have a very average VHS release of Crazy Nights with an Italian audio track, not the English audio track that is present on this Blu-ray release, but after it died I removed it from my library. I am grateful that the folks at Full Moon Features restored the film, but some of the digital work that was done on the new master was entirely unnecessary. If you wish to pick up Crazy Nights for your library, do so only when you find it heavily discounted.