Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.0

Scream of the Demon Lover Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 25, 2023

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Severin's Danza Macabra: Volume One — The Italian Gothic Collection.

Severin has fired up its trusty candelabra and gone exploring in another bunch of nooks and crannies in whatever castle it keeps it stash of Italian Gothic horror films, and come up with this interesting quartet of offerings, two from the mid-sixties and two from the early seventies, though rather interestingly given this set's title of Danza Macabre, there's no inclusion of Castle of Blood, which, as of the writing of this review, is available only as a bonus feature on Severin's release of Nightmare Castle. While the films themselves in this set may be hit and/or miss for some (maybe even many), they all have moodiness and even style on occasion, and as usual, Severin has aggregated some really interesting supplemental features to help sweeten the pot (cauldron?). The fact that this collection has been branded with a noticeable Volume One probably suggests more exploring in dim, dusty, cobweb laden corners may be in store, though wearing sheer negligees may be optional, based on your own preferences with regard to apparel.

About as close as the Danza Macabra set comes to offering a film with a tether to that particular title is this film, which like many Italian offerings saw releases with a number of alternate monikers, including Killers of the Castle of Blood, which of course was probably meant to evoke mysteries of the Barbara Steele outing mentioned above. Adding to this titular hilarity is the fact that Scream of the Demon Lover evidently had at least video releases under the titles Blood Castle and, yes, you guessed it, Castle of Blood, though when all is said and done this story actually plays like a mashup between Jane Eyre, Madame Curie and any given marauding monster flick, and, no, that isn't a typo.

Ivanna Rakowsky (Erna Schurer, billed as Jennifer Hartley) is a 19th century biochemist (take that, Marie) who goes to work for dashing scientist Janos Dalmar (Carlos Quiney). Ivanna starts having nightmares almost as soon as she arrives at Dalmar's castle involving a misshapen, horribly disfigured individual, and ultimately a connection to some Dalmar family history is disclosed. This is a rather interesting outing despite some unintentionally comic aspects that offers a kind of proto-feminist heroine who is not a traditional "damsel in distress". Dalmar's "mad doctor" proclivities turn out to have at least a reasonably noble motive, but there's also a psychosexual element to the proceedings that is kind of like the Italian Gothic version of New Cinema, seventies style.

Scream of the Demon Lover Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Scream of the Demon Lover is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.86:1. The back cover of this release touts that this is the film's "North American Blu-ray premiere" and that this was "scanned in 4K from the negative for the first time ever". That said, before videophiles get their hopes up, a disclaimer text card at the opening of this presentation states: Scream of the Demon Lover, with the Killers in the Castle of Blood title card, was sourced from the original 16mm single strand negative. The element has deteriorated over the years and while we were able to do a significant amount of restoration work on it there is still some damage evident in this presentation. I'm frankly a little confused as to whether this was shot on 16mm or the element was simply a 16mm duplicate negative, but one way or the other this is a case where a "4K scan" can only cull so much in terms of detail, though the palette is still rather nicely suffused a lot of the time. As should be expected given the smaller format source, grain can be quite heavy, and only close-ups can offer substantial amounts of fine detail. I'd almost joke that some wider framings offer whatever the opposite of deep focus is, where virtually the entire frame can simply be moving blobs of color (see screenshot 4). While some age related wear and tear can be relatively minor (see the blemish on Schurer's cheek in the first screenshot I've uploaded to accompany this review), there is also some pretty significant damage on display, as the disclaimer probably alludes to, including quite a few scratches and nicks and one major tear in an interrogation scene. My score is 3.25.

Scream of the Demon Lover Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Scream of the Demon Lover features Italian and English language options in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono. Toggling between the two tracks discloses a much more noticeably bright and tinny sound in the English track, and I personally found the Italian track to offer a more convincing midrange and nicer, more mellow high end. There's some very minor crackling and distortion that can be discerned in some of the music. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Scream of the Demon Lover Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Rod Barnett, Film Historian and Co-Host of Naschycast, and Robert Monell, Writer and Editor of I'm in a Jess Franco State of Mind


• Scream Erna Scream! (HD; 19:18) is an interview with actress Erna Schurer. Subtitled in English.


• In the Castle of Blood (HD; 38:59) is a video essay by typically knowledgeable Stephen Thrower, author of books on Jess Franco and Lucio Fulci.


• Trailer (HD; 2:53)

Scream of the Demon Lover Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There are provocative aspects to this story that might have been exploited by someone like, say, Jess Franco to even more prurient extremes, but one way or the other Scream of the Demon Lover is a bit more on the smarmy, tawdry side than some of its siblings in the Danza Macabre collection. Color is the strongest point of this video transfer, but audio is generally fine and the supplements are extremely well done, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.