The latest BCI Naschy remasters are out already here and there, and though BLUE EYES OF THE BROKEN DOLL is a long awaited pickup for me, I've read little about HUMAN BEASTS and DRACULA SAGA, the other two titles. Are these any good? Any thoughts are appreciated and if the word is good I might go the whole hog and get all three. Notations about the quantity of sleaze and violence present are also welcome. Thank you.

Well, DRACULA'S SAGA is not Naschy, though it's directed by his sometimes partner in crime, Leon Klimovsky. It's an offbeat vampire tale, about a young woman visiting her relatives who happen to be vampires, who are concerned about continuing their family line. There is some blood and some nudity ( Helga Line stands out in that dept. ), nothing over the top. If you like vampires, this is worth a look.
HUMAN BEASTS is an atypical Naschy, he's a ganster involved with a Japanese gang, who gets into trouble with them and ends up hiding out at the estate of a very strange family. This one should satisfy on the sex, sleaze and kink side and has enough violence to keep things lively. There is a twist ending as well, so the less you know going in the better the pay off.
Neither are classics along the lines of BLUE EYES... but they are better than a few of the other releases in this series.

I like THE DRACULA SAGA a lot; the king vampire in the film is the father of the writer-director of WHO CAN KILL A CHILD? Actually, the movie is chockablock with familiar Spanish horror faces, including Elsa Zabala (the Spanish Harriet White), Maria Kosti and Luis Ciges... who also turns up in HUMAN BEASTS, in a Superman costume!

HUMAN BEASTS was one of two Japanese co-productions (the other being BEAST AND THE MAGIC SWORD) produced by Naschy and actress Julia Saly. It is beautifully shot by Alejandro Ulloa mostly in Spain in a much-used Naschy location house. Two of the actresses (Silvia Aguilar and Azucena Hernandez) were also in NIGHT OF THE WEREWOLF/THE CRAVING.

DRACULA SAGA is one of three Leon Klimovsky vampire films including VAMPIRES NIGHT ORGY and NIGHT OF THE WALKING DEAD (this one needs a widescreen release). DP Francesco Sanchez is credited with "color effects" which I assume means the vaseline lens filter and a bit of matting for a decapitation effect (I haven't seen the BCI disc yet so I have no idea if this effect is clearer on that transfer). Daniel White provides additional music (most of the music is Bach harpsichord compositions).

Thanks for the good info, fellows. The Latarnia forum notes that BCI have HD remastered (with Spanish tracks and subs) CURSE OF THE DEVIL and WEREWOLF SHADOW discs out in June. I just hope that they get to DRAGONFLY FOR EACH CORPSE and HUNCHBACK OF THE MORGUE while they're able. Jeez, even PEOPLE WHO OWN THE DARK, if they could get the rights to it.

Pretty sure it was said there that the elements for WEREWOLF SHADOW didn't allow for HD pre-mastering. However, I kinda got the impression that they were discussing the WEREWOLF VS THE VAMPIRE WOMAN variant specifically, and that there would be 2 discrete presentations on the disc(s)? I was left a bit confused, only having been exposed to AB's prior release of SHADOW, and having assumed to this point that the differences were mainly music cues (and perhaps the entire vocal track), and not extending to the cutting assembly.


If that's *not* the case, and it's one transfer we're talking about, I'm afraid it's not HD sourced.

There has been an HD broadcast of WEREWOLF SHADOW. There were screencaps up at one of the forums (I think the complaint was that whoever did the transfer of that version went overboard on the tints or saturation).

Apparently they're discrete transfers, Per consultant Mirek Lipinski:

The Monsters HD version was overly dark as I recall and did not look good. Hopefully this is a new HD transfer that corrects the issues with that one from a couple years ago.

DRACULA SAGA's transfer is so clear that you can see the mesh used in front of the lens in a couple scenes (this was not evident on my old Sunrise tape) and a matte effect is clearer (more apparent, not necessarily faker) here than on the older transfer.

HUMAN BEASTS has the original Spanish title sequence. The English credits on the All Seasons tape replaced them (or English equivalents) with video burned titles over stills of the Bruegel backgrounds. It seems like the filmmaker's added tolling bells to Ennio Morricone's "Dies Irae Psicedelico" theme.

BLUE EYES OF THE BROKEN DOLL is the best I've seen it looking. Its just too bad that BCI didn't ask Sam Sherman to participate. It would have been interesting to hear how he picked up and marketed this film (along with other Eurohorror pickups like HORROR OF THE ZOMBIES and THEY'RE COMING TO GET YOU) given his commentary on the FRANKENSTEIN'S BLOODY TERROR disc.

DVD Drive-In has reveiwed the three most recent BCI releases, BLUE EYES OF THE BROKEN DOLL, HUMAN BEASTS and THE DRACULA SAGA.

http://www.dvddrive-in.com/

I've ordered six different titles from the BCI series, about half are listed as anamophic 1.78:1, but the rest as open-matted full-frame transfers. I've only received EXORCISMO so far, which is 1.33:1, yet some reviews say it was released at 1.78:1 for theatrical presentation and note that by zooming the your monitor, the image is much more pleasing (and closer to the theatrical presentation).

http://www.mondo-digital.com/jekyllvs.html

Query: If many of the reviewers keep stating that these films should be presented matted at 1.78:1, 1.85:1, etc., anyone care to hazard a guess why some of the transfers are being released as 1.78:1 anamorphic and others as 1.33:1 unmatted full-frame.

Dunno, but I wish they'd quit it.

Any opinion on the Ghosting Issue?

Mine's on the way from Netflix.

FRANKENSTEIN'S BLOODY TERROR came early on in the days of Independent-International, when Sherman was hustling to build a catalog of titles. Later acquisitions like HORROR OF THE ZOMBIES and THEY'RE COMING TO GET YOU were released when he had more films than he could handle (something like 30 movies in circulation in 1976), so he probably doesn't have much to say about a lot of these movies.