5.9 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
A mad scientist creates a monster called "Mosaico," who breaks out of the laboratory to hunt down and kill beautiful women.
Starring: John Richardson, Gordon Mitchell, Renato Romano, Xiro Papas, Dalila Di LazzaroVideo codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
Italian: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: 2005 kbps, Italian: 2019 kbps
English, English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 1.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
The producers of Frankenstein '80 (1972) likely didn't have a sufficient budget to demonstrate the full process of re-animating corpses in the laboratory of Dr. Otto Frankenstein (Gordon Mitchell), but the implication is that the titular pathological anatomist is performing that very procedure with Mosaico (Xiro Papas), his experimental subject. Frankenstein works in a clinic with Professor Rudolph Schwarz (Bob Fiz), a scientist patenting “Schwartz serum,” a custom formula that avoids rejection of recently-transplanted organs. Karl Schein (John Richardson), a local crime beat reporter, is visiting the clinic to sign papers authorizing Prof. Schwarz to try the serum on his sister (an uncredited Gaby Verusky), who's in dire need of a heart or kidney transplant. But Frankenstein gets a key to the professor's private wing and filches the serum from the refrigerator before it can be applied to her. Frankenstein continually implants additional organs from dead bodies into Mosaico. The problem is the unsavory anatomist has a difficult time controlling his patched-up creation, who embarks on a murderous spree against mostly pretty ladies. Inspector Schneider (Renato Romano) is justifiably petulant and impatient with his detectives for the snail's pace in which they move in following up leads. After the unfortunate fate of his sister, Schein conducts his own investigation (at a faster clip, I might add) and gets involved with Dr. Frankenstein's niece, Sonia (Dalila Di Lazzaro).
Come with me, Mosaico.
Earlier this spring, Cauldron Films released a "Limited Edition" Blu-ray that comes with a with a slipcase, booklet, and fold-out, double-sided poster featuring new artwork by Putrid Matt and Justin Coffee. This new release is the "Standard Edition" Blu-ray, which drops those packaged items. Frankenstein '80 receives a 2K restoration from the uncensored negative. The picture appears in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this MPEG-4 AVC-encoded BD-50 (disc size: 33.6 GB). I would place a safe bet that the image looks as good as it originally did on the release prints. Grain is omnipresent and well-balanced. There is minimal debris. Colors and flesh tones look accurate. The only negative is some black crush I noticed in the opening reel (see Screenshot #20). Cauldron has encoded the feature at a mean video bitrate of 34451 kbps. My video score is 4.75/5.00. The disc is region free.
Ten chapters accompany the 85-minute film.
Cauldron has supplied an Italian DTS-HD Master Audio Dual Mono mix (2019 kbps, 24-bit) and an English DTS-HD Master Audio Dual Mono mix (2005 kbps, 24-bit). For purposes of this review, I mainly concentrated on the Italian track. Frankenstein '80 features a cast of mostly Italian actors but some dubbing (apparently by other actors) was done anyway in their native tongue. Cauldron has done a great job of cleaning up the sound track which has only faint traces of hiss. Pops, crackles, and scratches are non-existent. The original music is by Daniele Patucchi, who wrote a groovy score that is supposed to counterpoint the onscreen menace but works to the opposite effect. Patucchi also composed some suspense-based underscore but it isn't nearly suspenseful to be effective.
Cauldron has provided regular English subtitles for the dubbed Italian audio mix and English SDH for the English-language track (also a dub). On the disc's menu, there's also an option to select the English audio without any subtitles.
Cauldron has recorded all-new extras. The interview and video essay are both in Italian with yellow English subtitles. If your player has a subtitle position setting, I would recommend using it. Cauldron displays white titles to identify movies, actors, and filmmakers, which usually appear towards the bottom half of the screen. Sometimes, the translated subs appear over the white lettering. On my player, I was able to manually shift the optional subs almost to the middle of my screen, which left room for the identificatory titles below them. The overlapping titles don't appear too often, but it helps if your player is flexible.
The only reason I could justify watching Frankenstein '80 is to see the luscious Dalila Di Lazzaro. Of the considerable number of features I've seen with a Frankenstein in them, this one has to rank on the lower rung. Cauldron Films has delivered a deluxe edition, which will no doubt please hardcore fans. The movie looks and sounds vastly better than it ever has on home video, particularly the shoddy Pan & Scan versions. I would argue that the supplements easily advance past the film (by a mile). Frankenstein '80 is not a good film at all but I am RECOMMENDING THIS DISC, which is FOR FANS ONLY.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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