Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

The Killer Reserved Nine Seats Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 27, 2022

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Giallo Essentials (Black Edition).

Some curmudgeons may want to quibble with the term "essentials", but Arrow is continuing its relatively recent tradition of offering three gialli collected together in a specially "colored" slipbox, so that this Black Edition joins the previously released Giallo Essentials (Red Edition), which included The Possessed, The Fifth Cord and The Pyjama Girl Case, and Giallo Essentials (Yellow Edition), which included What Have They Done to Your Daughters?, Torso and Strip Nude for Your Killer. While probably none of the six previously released or the three currently released (so far) films that Arrow has been offering with this kind of branding would probably jump to the top of anyone's list of "must see" gialli, they all have considerable style and often intriguing elements that make them interesting in their own ways. As usual, Arrow combines some nice packaging along with a copious supply of supplements to help sweeten the pot.

The back cover of this release touts an ostensible Agatha Christie angle, while commentator Kat Ellinger makes a case that The Killer Reserved Nine Seats might be most appropriately appreciated as a Gothic thriller, and those two differing "takes" on this material may point out that The Killer Reserved Nine Seats is at the very least a kind of weird combo platter of ideas, and in fact I'd even throw in some passing allusions to "haunted performance space" pieces like The Phantom of the Opera (in any of its many cinematic iterations) to further "clarify" things in terms of what the viewer may have in store.

The Agatha Christie connection comes courtesy of a plot that sees a group of people invited to a remote location where they suddenly start getting picked off one by one, but for anyone wanting the finesse of Christie's plotting in And Then There Were None will probably want to prepare themselves for a more florid, hyperbolic, and, well, at least slightly Gothic take on things which suggest there may be supernatural phenomena at play. In that regard, it's kind of interesting to note that a number of legendary mystery writers from Arthur Conan Doyle (The Hound of the Baskervilles) to Dame Agatha herself (The Pale Horse) often used ostensible paranormal activity which is later revealed to have a decidedly earthbound genesis, though as Kat Ellinger suggests in her commentary, The Killer Reserved Nine Seats kind of lovingly embraces the supernatural, even if it takes a while to actually get there.

Patrick Davenant (Chris Avram) is the "U.N. Owen" of this tale, and the fact that he's actually in the story may reveal just one way this is most definitely not a Christie enterprise. Davenant's family owns a long abandoned castle like building that houses a theater, and Davenant has invited what the back cover of this release describes as "an assortment of wealthy degenerates", though the fact that two of those "degenerates" are relatives of Patrick may indicate that everyone in this story has a somewhat iffy moral compass. But even right off the bat there's a weird supernatural air about things, even before the first murder, when a strange man meets them and insists he was at this same place exactly one hundred years ago.

Suffice it to say a number of interrelationships are detailed while the body count accrues, with The Killer Reserved Nine Seats kind of wanting to have its Agatha Christie and Gothic supernatural sensibilities together, as the finale of the film offers both "rational" and "irrational" moments of explanation as to what exactly has been going on. The performance style here is definitely aimed at the veritable second balcony, perhaps appropriate given the theatrical setting, but the plotting relies perhaps too much on various characters just suddenly running amok in an apparently not all that abandoned building, after moments of group scenes where they all calm down for a moment.

The Killer Reserved Nine Seats Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Killer Reserved Nine Seats is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following information on the restoration:

The Killer Reserved Nine Seats is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with Italian and English mono audio.

The film was restored in 2K resolution from the original 35mm camera negative by Movietime and Camera Obscura / Uber Productions. Additional grading and restoration work was completed by Arrow Films at R3Store Studios, London.

The audio synch will appear slightly loose against the picture, due to the fact that the dialogue was recorded entirely in post production, as per the production standards of the period.

All original materials used for the restoration were made available from Movietime.

While all three of the films in this set enjoyed 2K scans of their original camera negatives, there are noticeable quality variations between the three presentations, and I'd personally rate this as the least consistently pleasing looking transfer in Arrow's new set, though I'm assuming that unlike the other two transfers in this set, Arrow at least started with a master done for the Camera Obscura Blu-ray release of several years ago. The palette here seems a bit wan at times, and grain is considerably grittier and more mottled looking than in either of the other transfers, something that can probably add to at least the perception of a diminution in fine detail in some of the darkest moments, as can perhaps be made out in some of the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review. There's a kind of weird yellow-green cast to things, something that can give flesh tones in particular a somewhat "alien" look, and there are noticeable variations in color temperature throughout, sometimes in the same scene (on the same take), where you can make out the palette shifting from warmer to cooler and back again. This transfer also shows at least somewhat more (admittedly minor) damage than the others. Still, there's considerable pop in the more brightly lit moments, and close-ups offer good if not outstanding fine detail. My score is 3.25.

The Killer Reserved Nine Seats Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Killer Reserved Nine Seats features LPCM Mono tracks in either the original Italian or an English dub. I followed my standard operating procedure of toggling between the tracks as I watched, and I have to say I noticed little to no difference between them in terms of general amplitude and especially things like underscore (this is another film with a weirdly anachronistic but hugely enjoyable score, this one sounding rather like some of Paul Mauriat's memorable work from the sixties). There is just the slightest hint of crackle in some of the string cues, but I noticed no problems with regard to dialogue. The English track may have minimally more hiss than the Italian, and the Italian dialogue sounded dryer (i.e., less reverb) to my ears than the dialogue on the English language track. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Killer Reserved Nine Seats Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary by Kat Ellinger


• Hanging with Howard (HD; 8:23) is an archival interview with Howard Ross, who portrays Russell in the film, which was originally done for Camera Obscura in 2013. Subtitled in English.


• Writing with Biagio (HD; 28:38) is another 2013 opus originally done for Camera Obscura, featuring screenwriter Biagio Proietti. Subtitled in English.


• Theatrical Trailer (HD; 3:14) offers either Play in Italian or Play in English options.


• Image Gallery (HD)

The Killer Reserved Nine Seats Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Killer Reserved Nine Seats seems to have a bit of its own identity crisis in that it tries to be a "traditional" locked room murder mystery and a more florid, supernaturally tinged, Gothic thriller. I'm not sure it all is organically woven together, and after a point, some may be screaming at the movie not to have some character suddenly run screaming out of a room where everyone has safely congregated together, where she's more than apt to meet her fate in some gruesome manner. This presentation had the least pleasing video quality of the three in this set, but things are certainly watchable. Kat Ellinger's commentary is another plea from the analyst that an underappreciated film get some love, and the two interview featurettes are also enjoyable, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.