Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		2.0

The Other Hell Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 27, 2017

Have you ever seen Ken Russell’s notorious 1971 film The Devils? If so, which version? The Devils was so controversial in its day that it was outright banned in many countries and others only got a highly expurgated version of it. It has yet to be released on Blu-ray anywhere in the world that I’ve been able to determine, and the film is still relatively hard to find even on older formats like DVD, and in fact this film’s history on DVD is rather fascinating in and of itself, with major labels like Warner first announcing it and then pulling it without explanation, and other labels claiming they have the unedited version (or, perhaps more accurately, one of the unedited versions) when in reality they don’t. The Devils, as hyperbolically Russell-ian as this particular director’s efforts typically were, was supposedly based on a real life incidence of shenanigans (I’m trying to be at least a little discreet) involving a 17th century French priest and several nuns, with swirling accusations of witchcraft and all sorts of hedonistic activities that one wouldn’t normally associate with men (and women) of the cloth. Russell’s takedown of the Catholic Church didn’t win him any friends in various censorship roles, and the result has been the (to use a religious term of art) heavily redacted versions most folks are familiar with, if they’ve even been able to stumble across those. Ten years after Russell’s film caused international outrage (and maybe just a glimmer of salacious interest from more than a few), The Other Hell appeared and plied at least some of the same territory as The Devils, albeit not in the quasi-historical setting that Russell’s entry supposedly depicted. Now seen through the prism of the so-called nunsploitation subgenre, The Other Hell was fashioned to be, in the words of co- writer and co-director Claudio Fragasso, “Carrie in a convent”, and as such it tends to exploit more of an outright horror ambience and is less concerned with roiling psyches. It’s an often pretty sleazy enterprise, but for certain fans of seventies Italian horror fare, that may only up its allure.

What is it with nuns, underground lairs and Severin Films, anyway? I just got through reviewing Severin’s release of Dark Waters, a patently odd but also strangely compelling film that features an isolated convent with a whole array of catacombs where all sorts of nefarious activities take place. The Other Hell has this same plot point, and in fact the film begins with several dark and hazy shots of catacombs stuffed to their veritable gills with bones and detritus of long ago believers (the intermittently interesting commentary track by Fragasso on this Blu-ray details that actual real life catacombs were utilized for at least some of the shots). In a kind of gonzo Grand Guignol opening, mayhem ensues, followed by a probably unintentionally funny line that has a “true believer” intoning about all of the evil associated with genitalia. This kicks off The Other Hell in grandly over the top fashion, but unfortunately the film is unable to sustain this level of either lunacy or drama (depending on how you personally react to it).

When deaths begin accruing at this particular convent, Mother Superior Vincenza (Franca Stoppi) calls in an investigator named Inardo (Andrea Aureli) to figure out what’s going on. Unfortunately, the hunter soon becomes the prey, and Vincenza now has yet another death on her hands. That said, it’s at least become apparent that there’s evidently some kind of supernatural force at work which is wreaking havoc at the convent, though it’s not initially clear where this force is emanating from. That ultimately leads to the involvement of Father Valerio (Carlo de Mejo), a rather suave and unabashedly attractive priest whose presence seems to perk up at least some of the nuns in a perhaps inappropriate way. Valerio’s character is at least a bit reminiscent of another incredibly handsome investigator poking around a religious institution where evil seems to have held sway, the monk named William of Baskerville (played by the unabashedly attractive Sean Connery) in Umberto Eco’s inimitable The Name of the Rose.

The Other Hell does mimic at least one salient plot point that’s also central to The Devils, namely the fact that suppressing normal human urges like sexuality can lead to all sorts of problems. The obvious attraction between Father Valerio and the nuns also is at least somewhat reminiscent of the Russell film. But ultimately neither Fragasso, who claims he shot about 80% of the film, or credited director Bruno Mattei (working under the pseudonym Stefan Oblowsky) know who to properly shape the material, especially once it starts getting into Rosemary's Baby territory. The film kind of lurches uneasily between some of its horror aspects and other, often pretty turgid, dialogue scenes that are hobbled both by over length and some not quite ready for prime time performances. At least somewhat similarly to the aforementioned Dark Waters, The Other Hell has a palpable mood, one that has at least occasional flourishes of style, but which ultimately never amounts to anything truly disquieting.

The Other Hell Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Other Hell is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.67:1 culled from "newly discovered" elements which Severin's probably cheeky verbiage on the back cover suggests were unearthed behind a hidden convent wall. While Fragasso's commentary seems to suggest this was shot on both 16mm and 35mm (at least if I'm understanding correctly, which I may not be), this entire transfer has the look of 16mm to me, with pretty hazy clarity levels and some rather heavy grain throughout. Detail levels are fairly minimal in wide range shots and even some midrange shots, while they perk up at least somewhat in close-ups. Grain resolution and overall compression is variable, with some sections looking organic and others struggling with chunkiness and chroma like anomalies (see screenshots 12 and 13 and compare to some others, especially those in brighter lighting). Because of the smaller format and the all encompassing darkness of many sequences, detail levels are often minimal and in some of the very darkest sequences, virtually nonexistent. Whatever element which was utilized still has fairly recurrent signs of damage, with scratches, flecks and other relatively minor issues intruding. The palette comes through rather strongly, however, at least in better lit sections, which are frankly not that numerous (most of this film takes place in downright shrouded environments, as can be seen in several of the screenshots accompanying this review).

The Other Hell Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Other Hell features LPCM 2.0 mono tracks in English, French and Italian, with no real discernable difference between them in terms of overall mix and fidelity, though all of course show signs of the Italian tradition of post looping, meaning synch can seem awfully loose at times. The film has a rather enjoyable if dated sounding score that is obviously aping some of the elements of Mike Oldfield's iconic "Tubular Bells" for The Exorcist, and that element resonates with good clarity and some decent fullness in the lower frequencies. Dialogue, while obviously not always (and some might joke rarely) matching lip movements, is rendered decently, if narrowly, and is well prioritized.

The Other Hell Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary features Co-Director/Co-Writer Claudio Fragasso moderated by Freak-O-Rama's Federico Caddeo. In Italian with English subtitles.


• Sister Franca (1080p; 13:13) is an interview with actress Franca Stoppi.


• To Hell and Back (1080p; 11:22) offers archival interviews with director Bruno Mattei and actor Carlo De Mejo.


• The Other Hell Trailer (1080p; 3:34)

The Other Hell Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Other Hell doesn't have the visceral intensity of The Devils, despite having at least potentially more exploitation ambitions, though it does combine a number of pretty hoary horror tropes culled from at least a few other iconic films in an unusual fashion. Probably best reserved for genre (or in this case subgenre) aficionados, who should be generally well pleased with the technical merits here, at least within the context of a low budget shoot on 16mm. As usual with this label, Severin has also provided some interesting supplements.