Re: Clásicos del terror
Aquí una crítica de la edición especial alemana de "El Jorobado de la Morgue" de Javier Aguirre. Buen provecho L)
Video 3.5/5
Anolis presents The Hunchback Of The Morgue is a very strong 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen presentation which, contrary to what the imdb states, appears to be the proper aspect ratio for the film. Though the picture has been color corrected the hues aren’t quite as strong as they might be otherwise, but that’s really the only complaint one can lodge against what is otherwise a very fine presentation.
There’s some grain present and some mild print damage that appears in the form of the odd speck here and there but otherwise the movie does look very good on this DVD and those who have only seen the film by way of the pan and scan VHS releases which have made the rounds are in for a treat as the cinematography does look really good and very atmospheric on this disc.
There’s a pretty nice level of both foreground and background detail to the image and very little digital transfer issues, meaning no mpeg compression artifacts to complain about and only a faint trace of aliasing in a scene or two.
Audio 3/5
Anolis has supplied three audio tracks for this release – English, Spanish and German – all of which are presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono with optional subtitles available in German only. For review purposes, the English track was used, and thankfully the voices match the performers fairly well in this better than average dubbed track. Quality wise things sound alright here, though there is some mild background hiss present throughout and once in a while you might pick up on some mild distortion in the higher end of the mix. None of it is particuarly detrimental to the experience, but it’s there. Also worth noting is that there is about two seconds of dialogue where some of the guys at the bar speak Spanish, not English, but again, it doesn’t really hurt anything. The quality of the Spanish and the German tracks sounded a little better with less hiss, but the lack of English subtitles for those options might make it difficult for some viewers.
Extras 5/5
The most important supplement on this release is the first ever Paul Nashcy audio commentary. The track is conducted in German but thankfully there are optional English subtitles available for it, making this a pretty essential release for Naschy fans. While there's a bit of dead air here and there it's great to finally hear Naschy talk about one of his films. He covers the shoot in a fair bit of detail and tells us about some real life ghost stories that he knows of, and he spends a fair bit of time detailing the motivations of his character in the film. While it would have been nice to hear more facts and more stories about the making of the movie rather than hearing his take on the way that the film plays out, this is still a great chance for fans to hear an interpretation of the movie from Naschy himself. He answers a few questions about the film including one relating to the infamous 'hunchback love' scene and he talks about various trims that were made to the movie. Naschy feels that the film has aged well, that some of the ideas are timeless and that some of the themes are still relevant, and in a sense he is correct.
Anolis has also supplied a fifty minute long documentary wherein Naschy is a guest at Buio Omega, a European genre film convention and festival held in Germany. While the fact that there are no English subtitles provided for this documentary makes it difficult to understand, even if you don't speak German you'll at least be able to check out some fun footage of Naschy fans enjoying themselves at the festival and of Naschy himself doing the question and answer thing up on stage.
One of the more interesting supplements on this release comes in the form of the Super 8mm version of the feature. Its presented in German without any subtitles but if you’ve watched the feature you can figure it out easily enough and it’s neat to see how the film was edited down to fit on the two fifteen minute reels that were released in the very early days of home theater! These aren’t in pristine shape but they do look surprisingly good on DVD, and Anolis also makes sure that we get a good look at the cover art and packaging for these obscurities as well.
Up next is a brief featurette in which Naschy and his family return to Feldkirch in Germany, over thirty years after the feature was made. There aren’t any subtitles for this one but it’s fun to see Naschy and his family enjoying themselves and basically ‘playing tourist.’
Rounding out the extra features are the German theatrical trailer, two nice still galleries which contain all manner of press materials, promotional art and photographs, a Paul Naschy filmography, DVD credits, and some very stylish and slick animated menus and chapter stop options. There’s also a brief two minute introduction from Naschy, in German, in which he walks into a room, pulls the 8mm version of Hunchback Of The Morgue off of a shelf, and fires up the projector – without subs it’s hard to understand what he’s saying, but it’s a nice touch regardless to see the man himself so actively involved in this release. Finally, there are alternate U.S. and Spanish credits sequences supplied that are only different in very minor ways but which are nice to see for the sake of completion.
It should also be noted that Anolis have done an exceptional job with the packaging for this release. The disc is housed inside a faux-leather book that, when opened, includes liner notes in German and in English along with a wealth of full color photographs and stills from the film. The English essay, from Mirek Lipinski of the Mark Of Naschy website, explain the reasons for the lack of female flesh on display in the film and give a nice history of the film and the details surrounding its origins.
Overall 4/5
Hunchback Of The Morgue is one that Naschy fans have been waiting a long time for, and it finally receives a proper presentation on DVD thanks to Anolis, who have truly gone the extra mile to deliver an exceptional package that should make his fans very happy indeed.
Want more info on this disc, which is limited to only 3000 copies? Check out the Anolis Entertainment website by clicking here! Or order yourself a copy from Xploited Cinema by clicking here!
