Does anyone know when Armando Crispino's film THE DEAD ARE ALIVE aka THE ETRUSCAN KILLS AGAIN was released in France? I've never seen the film in English but I have a SECAM tape titled OVERTIME. The score is credited to Riz Ortolani and I didn't recognize the title track as being recycled but, other than the opera tracks, the rest of the film (at least in French) is rescored with Fabio Frizzi tracks from THE BEYOND! Not just that, but the end credits are scored with Walter Rizzati's end title theme for HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY!

Both of these films were made after the Crispino film and these cues appear on their respective soundtracks so its impossible that Crispino and Ortolani recycled them and even though Ortolani has recycled his own work in other films (VIRGIN OF NUREMBERG in SEVEN DEATHS IN THE CAT'S EYE; SO SWEET SO PERVERSE in SEVEN BLOODSTAINED ORCHIDS) I doubt those are Ortolani cues recycled in Fulci films.

Did THE ETRUSCAN KILLS AGAIN have a delayed release in France theatrically or on video with the music and effects tracks being unavailable for the dub. The film was an Italian-German-Spanish co-production (the end credits even list screenwriting collaborators for the German and Spanish versions which makes me wonder if that was for quota purposes or if there are some expository footage differences in those versions) so a French version would not necessarily have been prepared right away (the French print on tape has Italian credits).

What are people's opinions on the film itself? The tape is cropped to 1.75:1 (probably squeezed to so it would probably correctly measure out to 1.85:1 or so from the Techniscope 2.35:1 original). Even in this compromised form its an attractive looking film (despite John Marley's eye-straining white suit). The flashes of the face on the Etruscan wall painting that precede the murders is very effective. On the other hand, I thought having red herring security guard torment insects with matches to draw suspicion was rather needless. Samantha Eggar looks quite good in this one though Alex Cord is a rather uninteresting hero (though that may be the dubbing) who manages to crash his Volkswagen bug off a cliff just to delay his rescue of Eggar (by apparently a couple minutes).

SPOILER (though not really)






Very much like the ending of Crispino's AUTOPSY, despite the survival of the protagonists, the ending is still downbeat with a twinge of sympathy for the killer.

I don't know the answer to your interesting question, sorry, (though like you, I wonder if the film had a French release in synch with the other ones or if it only came later, or came to video via a circuitous route), but it may be worth noting that Italian sources don't mention Spain as a coproducer. The production's listed as Italian, German, and Yugoslavian. A.N.I.C.A. (pretty official in reflecting the paperwork presented to them by the producers, one would think) even makes the primary title the Yugo one: Ubica dolazi iz groba. Curious...

You're right, its Yugoslavian. I checked the end credits again. I'm not sure why I wrote Spanish (perhaps it just seemed more likely).

Have no DVD companies shown interest in this film or is there some rights issue?

How's the German edition that's part of the BRYAN EDGAR WALLACE #3 set? I know it has no subs or English dubbing and is probably the German cut of the film (a review of the English verison mentioned that the German version was cut differently).

The German edition has both versions, the German cut and the longer Italian (=international?) cut. They made a new transfer from Italian materials in 2,35:1 anamorphic. The picture quality is very good, but unfortunately there is only a German audio track.