Giallo starlet Edwige Fenech plays Jennifer in Anthony Ascott’s (nee Giuliano Carnimeo) The Case of the Bloody Iris, or sometimes known as Why Those Strange Drops of Blood on Jennifer’s Body with its native Italian translation. Written by screenwriter workhorse Ernesto Gastaldi, the 1972 giallo focuses on an apartment building where multiple murders of young women have taken place, all of them involved in the sex trade in some form. Eventually, Jennifer also moves into the apartment building – vacated due to said murderer! – and experiences hauntings from a man dressed a trenchcoat, hat, and tan gloves. In true mystery fashion, The Case of the Bloody Iris offers up a number of red herrings and suspects throughout its run, including familiar (handsome) face George Hilton as shady architect Andrea Antinori.
The Case of the Bloody Iris adheres pretty heavily to the traditional format, even adopting a very similar visual style to Bava’s killer in Blood and Black Lace; that sometimes could sound like a criticism, but the film is actually an excellent example of the most successful elements of the subgenre. Ascott’s direction is swift and the plot never lags, actively engaging the viewer in both the investigation led by the ineptitude of police detectives Enci (Giampiero Albertini) and Renzi (Franco Agostini) as well as the paranoia and terror following Jennifer throughout her life in the apartment building. The number of characters is not overwhelming but does offer a suitable amount of suspects, even going so far as to insinuate that it could even have been the little old lady next door! The bloody iris of the film’s title is actually swept out the door fairly quickly, but does add a surreal sexual experience between Jennifer and her previous husband Adam (Ben Carrá) to promote the film’s themes of promiscuity and liberated sexuality; this idea eventually fosters further when we meet Sheila (Annabella Incontrera), Jennifer’s feisty lesbian apartment neighbor who lives with her violin-playing father.
Like many gialli, The Case of the Bloody Iris‘ killer reveal is rooted in conservative ideology, namely that sexual freedom can and has “corrupted” poor Sheila into her lesbian lifestyle, and those women involved in sex-based careers should pay the price for that sin. Ascott plays it close to the vest, and it’s not apparent who the tan-gloved murderer is until late into the movie; but the pieces are all there to put together, including a nice touch of violin music softly stealing into Jennifer’s apartment much like a murder-obsessed maniac. The movie also benefits from its relatively small amount of settings, relegated mainly to the apartment building to keep a sense of claustrophobia throughout.
Cinematographer Stelvio Massi’s often artistic and unconventional framing styles help add to that mood. A few shots are expertly crafted, including a few wide-angle scenes to open up various environments and make the apartment seem even more cramped in comparison. An intriguing viewpoint frames the two police commissioners above a lifeless body on the floor; and perhaps the film’s most effective scene happens during the climax, when the killer’s body falls down the apartment stairwell and lands on the floor where the camera captures the damp thud, all while the tan-gloved hand lands just in the foreground. While The Case of the Bloody Iris follows most of the giallo rules, it sets itself outside of those bounds with its unique cinematography.
This is one of the more compelling films of the subgenre from this period, and purist fans of gialli will certainly find a lot to love about The Case of the Bloody Iris, from its bold sexuality and nudity to its variety of slayings. In a wide sea of similar films, this one manages to impress despite its reliance on familiar tropes.
4K UHD
Celluloid Dreams makes The Case of the Bloody Iris its debut with a two-disc UHD/Blu-ray combo release. The film gets a 4K restoration from the original camera negative and is presented in its 2.35:1 original aspect ratio; the package also comes with an insert documenting scanning and restoration information, including the fact that thousands of instances of damage were digitally removed for this release. The final transfer certainly show the results of the time spent; the film looks excellent in 4K, featuring a filmic grain scale that resolves especially nicely on the UHD version. The overall quality is fantastic, with detail readily apparent (notice multiple instances of signs readable in the background); skin textures are supple, and the clothing and apartment wallpaper show their full contours. The film does employ a number of soft focus shots, but not a fault of the transfer. The UHD version contains HDR 10 and shows a wide range of colors, including vaguely teal hues used for backlit scenes and even a couple of purple-lit moments. Unlike some Italian transfers from the same period, skin tone grading does not suffer from a “tanned” effect here, especially of import considering Fenech’s alabaster paleness. The HDR also improves some of the exceptionally dark lighting in this film, which, while intentionally veiling a lot of onscreen detail, does not appear overly crushed and showcases some nice lighting highlights. Overall, this is an impressive first showing for Celluloid Dreams, and giallo fans should be ecstatic with this transfer of the film. Unfortunately, we do not have the previous Shameless Blu-ray to compare.
For sound, Celluloid Dreams includes both a DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 Italian and English track, and the user’s selection of either track will dictate the film’s branching to either Italian or English sequences (a nice feature on this disc!). Both of the tracks sound excellent, with strong dialogue volume and a bombastic jazzy score from Bruno Nicolai; I did find that the Italian option had a bit more depth to its design, with the English soundtrack sounding a bit flatter and with occasionally heightened hiss during quiet moments. English subtitles are included, both for the Italian translations as well as the English soundtrack (also branched depending on options chosen at the menu).
For extras, Celluloid Dreams has partnered with Freak-o-Rama for a few new extras; these are included on both the UHD and Blu-ray. The first is an interview with writer Ernesto Gastaldi and director Giuliano Carnimeo that runs about a half hour. This is in Italian with English subtitles, and truthfully Gastaldi takes up the bulk of it talking about his days writing gialli and western scripts; Carnimeo only gives a few minutes of this interview. This release also presents two features that were included on Shameless’ 2018 Blu-ray, including a 20 minute interview with George Hilton and a 12 minute conversation with Paola Quattrini.
Also new to this release is an audio commentary with Guido Henkel, a video game developer and film preservationist; this is a well-scripted, lovingly crafted guide throughout the film that comments on various scene staging, actor context, and themes, even remarking on Fenech wearing various mens’ ties throughout the movie. It’s a very engaging listen and pairs nicely with the film.
Also included on the discs are an outtake reel, image gallery, and both English and Italian trailers in 4K (on the UHD, 1080p on the Blu-ray). For packaging, the aforementioned insert of transfer information is provided as well as reversible cover artwork.
Extra Features
- NEW 4K transfer and full restoration
- HDR-10
- NEW Commentary Track by film critic Guido Henkel
- NEW “Drops of Giallo” Featurette with writer Ernesto Gastaldi and director Giuliano Carnimeo (1080p; 29:26)
- “Flowers of Blood” Featurette with actor George Hilton (1080p; 20:43)
- “Marylin” Featurette with actress Paola Quattrini (1080p; 11:50)
- NEW Outtake Reel (1080p; 1:44)
- Image Gallery (chapter breaks; 5:16)
- NEW Italian Trailer in 4K resolution (2160p; 2:54)
- English Trailer in 4K resolution (2160p; 2:54)
Disc 2 (Blu-ray)
- NEW transfer from 4K master and full restoration
- NEW Commentary Track by film critic Guido Henkel
- NEW “Drops of Giallo” Featurette with writer Ernesto Gastaldi and director Giuliano Carnimeo (1080p; 29:26)
- “Flowers of Blood” Featurette with actor George Hilton (1080p; 20:43)
- “Marylin” Featurette with actress Paola Quattrini (1080p; 11:50)
- NEW Outtake Reel (1080p; 1:44)
- Image Gallery (chapter breaks; 5:16)
- NEW Italian Trailer (1080p; 2:54)
- English Trailer (1080p; 2:54)
Verdict
This first release from Celluloid Dreams is an excellent debut; The Case of the Bloody Iris looks beautiful with this new 4K transfer, and a number of extras give ample supplemental features for the giallo fan. Recommended.
