Touch of Death Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Touch of Death Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov August 15, 2019

Lucio Fulci's "Touch of Death" a.k.a. "Quando Alice ruppe lo specchio" (1988) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors 88 Films. The only bonus feature on the disc is a documentary about the director's style and the conception of Touch of Death. In English or Italian, with optional English subtitles. Region-Free.

The seducer

Lucio Fulci’s biggest admires are the ones that believe that his best films are his most graphic ones. It is just difficult to argue otherwise because there are too many of them and during the years their vocal support has been chiefly responsible for having his horror films placed on various prestigious lists that rank important genre films. But are they right? Well, if the same people also fit the ‘horror aficionados’ description, the answer is most certainly yes. Fulci’s horror films absolutely have style and character of their own, even the bad ones, and back in the days of the mom-and-pop video stores many of them pushed the boundaries of graphic horror pretty much as far as it was legally possible. What a lot of people are unaware of is that Fulci did some equally interesting and unique films outside of the horror genre and that some of them are actually far better than his ‘cult classics’. The Maniacs for instance is a very impressive piece of satire that hits its targets with the same effectiveness and authority that one can expect from Mario Mario Monicelli and Dino Risi’s best films. The Eroticist a.k.a. The Senator Likes Women is another very witty Fulci comedy that has the depth of Lina Wertmuller’s multi-layered films. And the exuberant style of Two Escape From Sing Sing certainly reminds of the many quality films that the great Pietro Germi scripted and directed.

Touch of Death is a very small film that Fulci made for TV towards the end of his career, but it actually reminds of his early efforts as a satirist. In fact, excluding the graphic murders, which are essentially smart inserts to capture the interest of his vocal admirers, the film has the classic identity of an early Fulci sexy comedy.

The main protagonist is a middle-aged lunatic (Brett Halsey) with some very serious gambling debts who thinks that he has figured out a brilliant plan to solve his financial problems -- and so does the heavy voice in his head that he listens to. So the man routinely studies the singles column of his local newspaper and then meets wealthy lonely ladies who assume that he is a sophisticated gentleman whose heart is also aching for old-fashioned romance. However, instead of unforgettable intimate experiences the ladies typically get a special cocktail that instantly knocks them out and then moments later they end up in a plastic bag. From time to time tiny piece of their bodies, usually prepped as juicy stakes, end up on the man’s plate, but only when he is absolutely convinced that there was a truly unique connection between him and his latest victim. For a while the plan works as intended, but after a wild encounter with an aggressive dame with an intimidating amount of facial hair his life abruptly spins out of control.

Just like in The Maniacs here Fulci plays with the viewer’s expectations and during the most awkward scenes pulls off some pretty effective surprises. A woman getting her face disfigured in an oven is not exactly proper comedy material, but with Fulci’s wild imagination it very quickly becomes perfect comedy material. The entire segment where the man has to kiss the woman with the ugly lip is also off-putting yet in a way incredibly funny.

It is pretty easy to tell that the film was shot with a modest budget. Some of the set arrangements are pretty basic and the editing is also a bit choppy. For a project of this caliber, however, it is the attitude that always matters the most.

Touch of Death Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.33:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Lucio Fulci's Touch of Death arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Raro Video.

The release appears to have been sourced from the Italian master that 88 Films used to produce this release of Touch of Death for the UK market. What this means that the same light filtering that was highlighted in our review of the Region-B release is retained here. This said, I really do not think that the film looks very problematic in high-definition. The effects of the filtering are most obvious during wider shots where depth clearly isn't optimal, but there is plenty of other footage where delineation improves and the effects of the filtering are minimized. Also, the color grading is good, so there are no additional anomalies in the darker footage where this type of filtering usually creates bigger problems. (I refer to the overall dynamic range of the film, which usually suffers in darker footage but here remains decent). There are no traces of problematic sharpening adjustments. Overall image stability is very good. My score is 3.25/5.00.

Touch of Death Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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.

The lossless English track, which I used to view the film, is very good. It was almost certainly remastered because stability and clarity are excellent. There is some dynamic unevenness, but this is a common limitation on English tracks/dubs that were produced for Italian genre films from the same period.

Touch of Death Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Reflections in a Broken Mirror - this featurette takes a closer look at the evolution of Lucio Fulci's genre films, some of the themes that most prominent in them, and the conception and style of Touch of Death. Included in it are clips from interviews with composer Carlo Maria Cordio, actress Zora Kerowa, director/actor Davide Pulici, and actor Al Cliver, amongst others. In Italian, with optional English subtitles. 20 min, 1080p).

• Booklet - 8-page booklet featuring an essay on the film and technical credits.

Touch of Death Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Some of Lucio Fulci's best work comes from his early days as a satirist and I think that Touch of Death, which he made towards the end of his career, is a very good reminder that he had a special sense of humor. In fact, I think that some of the films that Fulci directed during the late 1960s and early 1970s are every bit as effective as the classic films that the likes of Mario Monicelli, Dino Risi, and Alberto Lattuada are remembered for. Raro Video's overall technical presentation of Touch of Death is decent enough to recommend the Blu-ray release. RECOMMENDED.