Death Carries a Cane 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		0.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Death Carries a Cane 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov November 16, 2025

Maurizio Pradeaux's "Death Carries a Cane" a.k.a. "Tormentor" (1973) arrives on 4K Blu-ray courtesy of Indicator/Powerhouse Films. The supplemental features on the release include new program with film music historian Pierpaolo De Sanctis; archival program with editor Eugenio Alabiso; new program with critic Eugenio Ercolani; vintage promotional materials; and more. In English or Italian, with optional English and English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

He had a cane

For approximately seventy minutes, Death Carries a Cane produces curveballs of the kind that make the gialli attractive genre films -- the Italian gialli in particular. However, during the same seventy minutes, Death Carries a Cane struggles to produce the crucial atmosphere that is supposed to sell these curveballs to its audience the right way. To be clear, it is not completely devoid of this crucial atmosphere, but it frequently feels like director Maurizio Pradeaux is struggling to figure out how to craft it properly as the killer goes about his business.

The easiest explanation for this problem would be to declare that the screenplay Pradeaux worked with was not ideal, which is true. However, the real, bigger reason is different. (Many brilliant gialli have been done with average screenplays). Death Carries a Cane is an Italian-Spanish co-production, and a lot of the people who made it were clearly not on the same page with Pradeaux. For example, Jorge Martin’s character, Inspector Merughi, is strikingly incompatible with the efforts to create a proper atmosphere. The same is true about Susan Scott’s character, Kitty, but only because Pradeaux cannot manage her intense performance. In other words, the screenplay, whether average or not, is not what makes Death Carries a Cane an imperfect genre film. It is Pradeaux’s inability to take control and impose his vision on Death Carries a Cane that does.

Unfortunately, it could very well be that Pradeaux never really had a chance to direct Death Carries a Cane as he had envisioned. Apparently, the screenplay was tweaked by multiple people, and while it was based on an original story that Pradeaux had penned with Arpad DeRiso, its final draft was undoubtedly a compromise of different ideas, likely legitimized by its Italian and Spanish producers. This was a very common issue with numerous gialli that were funded by multiple producers from different countries and with different expectations during the same period Death Carries a Cane was greenlighted.

The existing version of Death Carries a Cane, presented over the years with original English and Italian audio tracks, has obvious good and bad moments. In a public park, Kitty (Scott), while waiting for her boyfriend (Robert Hoffman) to appear, accidentally witnesses a murder through a coin-operated telescope. Later, the two are questioned by Inspector Merughi, but the only helpful detail Kitty shares is that the killer had carried a cane. While Inspector Merughi and his men begin studying the murder scene and digging for better information, the killer strikes again and silences a possible witness. It is not too long before the killer also kills a dancer performing in a stage production Kitty’s boyfriend is involved with. Because Kitty’s boyfriend has a sprained ankle, he becomes the main suspect, but Inspector Merughi is not convinced that he is the elusive killer.

The narrative is choppy. For every effective sequence, there are three times as many average ones, and the best thrills are concentrated in the final act. However, when the killer strikes, the camera shows a bit more than it probably should, which is the biggest excuse to see Death Carries a Cane.

The biggest surprise comes from composer Roberto Pregadio’s soundtrack, which provides excellent harmonies that are essential for the bits of good atmosphere that emerge after the hunt for the killer begins.

Death Carries a Cane 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Indicator/Powerhouse Films' 4K Blu-ray release of Death Carries a Cane does not have a Blu-ray copy of the film. If you need one, you should consider acquiring this Blu-ray release.

Please note that all screencaptures included with this article are taken from the 4K Blu-ray disc and downscaled to 1080p. Therefore, they do not accurately reflect the quality of the 4K content on the 4K Blu-ray disc.

The release introduces an exclusive new 4K restoration of Death Carries a Cane, which can be viewed with Dolby Vision and HDR grades. I chose to view it with HDR.

I like how this film looks in native 4K a lot. All of its visuals have a very healthy, very attractive appearance, and the party that graded its makeover did a terrific job setting all primaries and supporting nuances where they need to be. There are a few darker areas where I feel that select nuances become a tad too thick, but there are no troubling anomalies, so there is still plenty of good detail to see. (I suspect that the 1080p presentation on the Blu-ray handles the same areas a little bit better, but I do not have a copy to confirm). There are no traces of any problematic digital corrections. Occasionally, grain can appear slightly overexposed or slightly underexposed, but these fluctuations are part of the original cinematography. The light/shadow effects looked very good on my system. Image stability is excellent. The surface of the visuals is spotless as well.

Death Carries a Cane 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 and Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0. Optional English SDH (for the English track) and English (for the Italian track) subtitles are provided.

I viewed the entire film with the English track. However, the Italian track is probably just as effective because, like the English track, it is overdubbed. The quality of the dubbing work is impossible to praise because most of the time it leaves the impression that the dubbers are not interested in the events on the screen. However, this is how English and Italian tracks were created for many of these smaller genre films during the 1970s. I did not encounter any distracting age-related anomalies to report in our review.

Death Carries a Cane 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Eugenio Alabiso: A Life in the Suite - in this recent program, editor Eugenio Alabiso discusses his career in the Italian film industry and important relationships he had with producers Mino Loy (So Sweet... So Perverse, The Tough Ones) and Luciano Martino (Slave of the Cannibal God), and Umberto Lenzi and Sergio Leone. Alabiso also discusses the "racier" versions of genre films he was asked to prepare for different international markets. The program was created by Eugenio Ercolani for Vinegar Syndrome in 2024. In Italian, with optional English subtitles. (22 min).

• The Devil Wears Pradeaux - in this new program, critic Eugenio Ercolani discusses Death Carries a Cane. In English, not subtitled. (16 min).

• De Sanctis on Pregadio: Symphonies of Sleaze - in this new program, Pierpaolo De Sanctis discusses the life and legacy of composer Roberto Pregadio. In Italian, with English subtitles. (17 min).

• VHS Opening Titles - in the United States, Death Carries a Cane was distributed on VHS and DVD with the alternative title Tormentor. Presented here are opening titles for Tormentor, sourced from a VHS. In English, not subtitled. (4 min).

• Trailer - presented here is an original German theatrical trailer for Death Carries a Cane, which promotes it as The Night of the Rolling Heads. In German, with English subtitles. (3 min).

• Image Gallery - presented here is a collection of original promotional materials for Death Carries a Cane.

• Commentary - this audio commentary was recorded by critics Eugenio Ercolani, Troy Howarth, and Nathaniel Thompson.

• Book - an 80-page book with new essay by Roberto Curti, archival interviews with Nieves Navarro, Susan Scott, and George Martín, as well as technical credtis.

Death Carries a Cane 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

All the proper thrills a giallo fan would require are present, and so is a bit of the crucial atmosphere that needs to go along with them. However, it does not take long to realize that Maurizio Pradeaux is struggling to deliver an appropriately good, coherent film, likely because the Italian and Spanish producers of Death Carries a Cane had different expectations for it. I was not surprised by this development because it was a common issue with numerous such co-productions during the 1970s. This said, I would still recommend Death Carries a Cane to fans of older European genre films because it is far more effective than any of the new European and American genre films they can see at the nearest movie theater. It looks great on 4K Blu-ray, too. RECOMMENDED.