6.3 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
A young hippie kills a man and seeks refuge at the lakeside house of three beautiful sisters, who seem to be hiding a dark secret.
Starring: Ray Lovelock, Haydée Politoff, Silvia Monti, Evelyn Stewart, Gianni SantuccioHorror | 100% |
Foreign | 97% |
Fantasy | Insignificant |
Video 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, 16-bit)
Italian: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 16-bit)
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Tonino Cervi's "Queens of Evil" a.k.a. "La Regine" (1970) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Mondo Macabro. The supplemental features on the disc include archival interview with Ray Lovelock; new audio commentary by critics Kat Ellinger and Samm Deighan; alternate scenes; and more. In English or Italian, with optional English subtitles. Region-A "locked".
The curious hippie
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Queens of Evil arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Mondo Macabro.
The release is sourced from a very solid organic 4K master. There are a couple of inserts from a standard definition source -- apparently, the best available source -- but I thought that the reconstruction work was excellent and the density levels surprisingly strong. The original cinematography introduces some minor fluctuations in terms of clarity as well, but as you will find out they serve a purpose. There are no traces of problematic digital work. Color balance is convincing. There are a few areas where perhaps saturation levels can be better, but on my system the primaries and supporting nuances looked very strong. There are no stability issues. The entire film looks very healthy as well. (Note: This a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).
There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the Italian track.
I viewed the film with English tracks, which should be considered the original track. It is a bit uneven at times, but this is a very common limitation on Italian genre films from the '70s (and '60s and '80s) that feature overdubbing. Clarity is good and the high-frequencies are stable. However, the music can sound a tad 'thin' at times.
During the '70s and early '80s, many Italian directors (and some French as well) produced a wide range of experimental films and nowadays quite a few of them are considered genre classics. What these films usually did was a lot of blending work, and when it worked, they were capable of delivering some truly unforgettable thrills. Queens of Evil is that kind of an experimental film that borrows from psychedelica, gothic horror, and erotica to produce something new. I don't think it does because it chooses to remain civilized and wastes some of its time with meaningless political chatter, but it has a pretty good atmosphere. I enjoyed it. Mondo Macabro's release is sourced from a solid 4K master and features a very nice archival interview with Ray Lovelock. RECOMMENDED.
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