Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

The Editor Blu-ray Movie Review

What a cut-up.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 4, 2015

A kind of interesting double feature could be built out of two homages to giallo which take almost diametrically opposed approaches to the genre. 2009’s Amer reinvented the giallo in a post- modern setting that saw tropes reimagined in inventive ways, while a more traditional giallo mood permeated the piece at the same time. By contrast, The Editor is something of a deadpan goof—a film that may never quite reach any great heights of hilarity, but which is obviously meant to gently (and sometimes not so gently) poke and prod at some of the more hyperbolic aspects of giallo while also luxuriating in the genre's pulpier aspects. The Editor also wants to luxuriate in some “meta” elements, especially with regard to a last minute revelation that makes the film play like something akin to a guy looking at a mirror image of himself in yet another mirror, creating an infinite loop (think The Lady from Shanghai's famous climactic scene), but along the way the anarchic creative crew of Astron-6 (Father's Day, Manborg) provide a winking take on giallo that will probably play like gangbusters to genre aficionados but leave others out in the veritable cold (with or without a gloved stranger about to slice open their neck).

The Editor’s titular film cutter is one Rey Ciso (Adam Brooks), a guy who was once considered a true artist, but who has devolved into something of a hack, at least part of which can be attributed to his unfortunate long ago injury where he lopped off several of his fingers with a film splicer (the entire film plays out in a retro environment where “Avid” would be an adjective, not a technology). That has relegated Rey to the use of wooden fingers on one of his hands (in a jokey reference to giallo gloves), something that makes picking up films and cutting and pasting together sequences something of a challenge.

Rey at least has the blandishments of a pretty acolyte appropriately named Bella (Samantha Hill), a young girl eager to learn the tricks of the editing trade. On the other side of the distaff situation is Rey’s unhappy wife Josephine (Paz de la Huerta), once one of Italy’s most popular actresses but a star who, very much like her husband in fact, has seen a precipitous decline in her fortunes.

When a series of gruesome murders starts picking off various cast and crew of the film Rey is attempting to edit, an amped up detective named Peter Porfiry (Matthew Kennedy) gets involved, training his intense eyes squarely on Rey, and not just because all of the victims have had their fingers severed from their hands. As in most giallo outings, there are red herrings galore, as well as a uniformly hyperbolic acting style where even a bit player is just as suspicious as one of the putative stars.

The Editor is just about pitch perfect in its send up of the giallo genre, but some of its funniest moments could actually be divorced from the Italian horror subgenre, and in fact play almost like the purely silly gags that infuse any given Zucker Brothers film. One of the best examples involves an actress who goes hysterically blind after having stumbled upon some of the victims. Simply keep your (hopefully seeing) eyes glued to the screen as she stumbles in and out of various sequences without saying a word. That’s effective comedy and may resonate more clearly with cynical millennials who might not know a Bava from an Argento.

Performances are appropriately wooden, and the Astron-6 guys evidently staged some scenes with actors mouthing dialogue (as evidenced by some of the deleted scenes included on this Blu-ray) so that they could (badly) dub them later. Never quite as funny as it probably should be, even for those who love giallo, the film is still hugely enjoyable and exceedingly well staged, perfectly mimicking giallo’s vivid color schemes and use of techniques like vertigo inducing zoom lenses.

The Editor Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Editor is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Scream Factory, an imprint of Shout! Factory, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.38:1. Shot digitally with both a Red One as well as a Canon EOS 7D, The Editor features a vivid palette that exploits the deep reds and blues (if ironically few yellows) that are often an element of the genre. Black levels are beautifully deep and contrast is also consistent and convincing. The filmmakers have intentionally tweaked a lot of the elements, including speckling the film within a film moments and adding digital grain that (perhaps intentionally?) clumps into the splotchiness that has sometimes afflicted other Shout! releases (see screenshot 9). While not incredibly sharp by contemporary standards, but evoking its circa 1970s-1980s era quite convincingly, The Editor offers suitable detail and well above average fine detail in close-ups.

The Editor Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Editor's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is quite vibrant at times, offering good support for a properly moody score and some great immersion, especially in the gory kill scenes. Dialogue is cleanly rendered, though there are occasional intentional sync issues (as alluded to above in the main body of the review). Fidelity is excellent and dynamic range is quite wide, including a few bursts of boisterous LFE.

The Editor Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Making Movies Used to be Fun (1080p; 51:03) has quite a bit of background information, including some enjoyable interviews with the Astron-6 crew.


• Hook Lab Interview (1080p; 7:49) features Norman Orenstein and Trevor Tuminski, who contributed to the film's score. One gets the feeling this might be yet another joke (and that's no joke).


• Brett Parson Poster Video (1080p; 5:35) is more tongue in cheek stuff.


• Astron 6 Film Festival Introduction (1080i; 1:57) is a faux screening video.


• Deleted Scenes:

  Nurses (1080p; 00:44)

  Fantori Nightmare (1080p; 1:29)

  Police Station (1080p; 2:05)

  Bridge Confrontation (1080p; 1:43)

• Commentary with Adam Brooks, Conor Sweeney and Matt Kennedy is a pretty raucous affair, as evidenced by what sounds like a loud belch that starts things off.

The Editor Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Fans of giallo will most likely love The Editor, while those who have never experienced the weirdnesses of Bava or Argento may be wondering what the frell is going on in this film. The Astron-6 consortium may be playing things a good deal smarter in The Editor than they did in some of their prior outings, but that very facet may mean that some aspects of this film may in fact zing over the heads of some potential audience members. Technical merits are generally great and some of the supplemental material is very enjoyable as well. Recommended.