Evil Eye Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Evil Eye Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov May 9, 2015

Mario Bava's "La ragazza che sapeva troppo" a.k.a. "The Girl Who Knew Too Much" (1963) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Video. The supplemental features on the disc include the AIP English language version of the film; two original theatrical trailers; and audio commentary by Tim Lucas. In English or Italian, with optional English subtitles for the Italian version of the film. Region-A "locked".

The girl

Nora Davis (Letícia Román, Fanny Hill) arrives in Rome hoping to have a good time, but her aunt dies shortly after she unpacks her bags. Nora then gets mugged on her way to a local hospital and witnesses the murder of a beautiful woman. She reports the murder to the local authorities, but they fail to discover the body and conclude that her mind might have played a trick on her.

During the funeral ceremony, Nora is approached by Laura Torrani (Valentina Cortese, Le Amiche, Day for Night), a friend of her aunt, who later on invites her to stay at her lavish home while she visits her husband in Bern, Switzerland. Nora accepts and when Laura leaves she discovers a box with newspaper clippings from local reports about the mysterious Alphabet Killer, who apparently attacked his victims in the same area where she witnessed the murder of the beautiful woman. Nora then receives a chilling phone call from a stranger.

Convinced that there is a connection between the missing body of the beautiful woman and the Alphabet Killer, Nora begins asking questions. Initially she is assisted only by Dr. Marcello Bassi (John Saxon, The Appaloosa), who took care of her aunt while she was alive, but later on investigative reporter Andrea Landini (Dante DiPaolo, Blood and Black Lace) also provides her with some valuable information.

This very influential thriller from the great Mario Bava which is frequently credited for the birth and proliferation of the giallo genre borrows elements from different films. As its title suggests, there is an obvious desire in it to imitate the style and atmosphere of Alfred Hitchcock’s films. (Anyone familiar with Hitchock’s work should quickly realize that Bava’s film does not borrow only from The Man Who Knew Too Much). The narrative construction and the lensing, and in particular the manner in which light and shadow are treated, also suggest that Bava was very much inspired by Fritz Lang’s films about Dr. Mabuse. (Compare the important roles Berlin and Rome have in Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse and The Girl Who Knew Too Much, how the sequences with the tape recorders redirect the two films, how the sense of paranoia in these films gradually becomes far more important than the puzzles their protagonists are trying to solve, etc).

Bava’s eye for detail, however, gives The Girl Who Knew Too Much a unique identity. Indeed, the manner in which the camera follows Nora and carefully observes the strange world around her creates and sustains a very special atmosphere that essentially places the film in that very attractive niche that exist between the real and the surreal. This very same niche will later on be frequently visited by the likes of Dario Argento, Sergio Martino, Umberto Lenzi, Luciano Ercoli, Massimo Dallamano, and Giuliano Carnimeo, amongst others.

Kino Video's release features two versions of Bava’s film: the original Italian version, The Girl Who Knew Too Much, and the re-edited American version, Evil Eye. The American version contains entirely new footage in different parts of the film that drastically changes its tone and atmosphere. It also replaces the original Italian score by Roberto Nicolosi (and removes Adriano Celentano’s opening song Furore) with a new original score by Les Baxter.

Evil Eye Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.67:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted 1080p transfers, Mario Bava's The Girl Who Knew Too Much and Evil Eye arrive on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Video.

The Girl Who Knew Too Much - The basic characteristics of the technical presentation are virtually identical to those of Arrow Video's presentation of the film. Indeed, depth and clarity are consistently pleasing, with the majority of the well-lit close-ups looking particularly good. Some of the most notable improvements, however, are during the darker footage where shadow definition is now a lot more convincing. Grain is retained and visible throughout the entire film. There are some density fluctuations where the grain can be temporarily over/underexposed, but image depth remains convincing (to see what type of fluctuations are present, compare screencaptures #5 and 12). The blacks, grays, and whites are well balanced -- there are no traces of problematic boosting. Edge-enhancement is not an issue of concern. This being said, the same minor scratches, damage marks and dirt specks that are present on the Region-B release are also visible here. The large line that splits the image during the opening credits is on this transfer as well. Some small stability and transition issues also remain. The encoding is very good.

Evil Eye - Once again, I could not see any major discrepancies to address in this review. The same small specks, scratches, and minor stability issues are visible here. Also, exactly the same minor stability and transition issues that are visible on the Region-B release are present here.

Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free Blu-ray player in order to access its content).

Evil Eye Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: Italian LPCM 2.0 (The Girl Who Knew Too Much) and English LPCM 2.0 (Evil Eye). Kino Video have provided optional English subtitles for The Girl Who Knew Too Much.

On the English track there is some light background hiss and a few tiny pops, but clarity and depth are good. The music is well balanced, but overall dynamic intensity is rather limited (this is a production limitation). There are no audio dropouts or distortions.

The Italian track is better balanced and free of the background hiss that is present on the English track. Depth and clarity are good. There is some minor unevenness in select areas where the music is used to further enhance the tense atmosphere and the overdubbing is added up, but the fluctuations are part of the film's original sound design. There are no audio dropouts or digital distortions.

Evil Eye Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original theatrical trailer for The Girl Who Knew Too Much. In Italian, with imposed English subtitles. (3 min, 1080p).

• Trailer - original theatrical trailer for Evil Eye. In English, not subtitled. (3 min, 1080p).

• Audio Commentary - in this audio commentary, Tim Lucas, author of Mario Bava: All the Colors of the Dark, discusses the production history of Mario Bava's film, the key differences between the Italian and English language versions, the different locations where some of the most atmospheric sequences from the film were shot, the framing and lighting techniques, some of the symbolism behind Letícia Román/Nora Davis and Valentina Cortese/Laura Craven-Torrani's names, the set decorations, etc.

Evil Eye Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It is easy to see why Mario Bava's film The Girl Who Knew Too Much had such a profound impact on a number of young Italian directors -- its atmosphere was drastically different. I think that it has aged quite well, though it is clearly not as well polished as some of Bava's later films. Kino Video's upcoming Blu-ray release also includes the re-edited and re-scored American version of the film, Evil Eye, but you should see it only after you have already experienced the Italian version. RECOMMENDED.