Cauldron Films, with sales and distribution support provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has scored a major genre find with the news this past week that Eloy de la Iglesia’s 1973 (domestic 1975 theatrical release) sci-fi/serial killer gem, Murder in a Blue World.
The street for this gorgeous Blu-ray edition will Nov. 22.
This is a new 2K film restoration of the Spanish producer’s cut (35mm camera negative) and the film can be enjoyed with either the original Spanish-language audio track, with English subtitles, or the 1975 English-dubbed theatrical release audio track (with also features optional English subtitles).
As near as we can document, Televista released a DVD version (sources report it was a straight knock-off of the UK VHS release) back in 2009. If that’s in your film library, it can be retired on Nov. 22.
Following in the footsteps of Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, we have three inter-connected storylines that take place in a “future” metro area (very pastel and hip in nature). The first features a lovely nurse by the name of Ana Vernia (played by Sue Lyon — as Lolita in Kubrick’s Lolita … and such films as Tony Rome, Four Rode Out, Evel Knievel, Crash!, The Astral Factor), who, we shall soon learn is a seductive serial killer.
The second storyline introduces us to Dr. Victor Sender (Jean Sorel — Belle de Jour, A Lizard in a Woman's Skin, The Day of the Jackal), who is a mad scientist operating under the cloak of authority … and assisted by Ana. They have something of a “relationship,” but it’s more “professional” than amorous.
In any case, Dr. Sender is in charge of rehabilitating criminals … he experiments on the likes of Malcolm McDowell’s Alex character from A Clockwork Orange, only in a more extreme fashion. He is indeed a mad scientist and he has human lab rats to indulge his fetishes — he will cure them, or else!!
And finally, the third leg of this sci-fi/thriller comes in the form of gang-banger “David” (just David), played by Christopher Mitchum (Chisum, Rio Lobo and Big Jake, and then off to Europe), who leads a group of thugs who like to smash up cars and do home-invasion “mischief.”
David, during one of his “nights out,” discovers Ana’s little secret. She picks up men, seduces them and then kills them. And that discovery brings the three storylines together … who will be the cat and who will be the mouse in this futuristic “utopia!”
Bonus goodies include commentary from film historian Kat Ellinger (Editor-in-Chief at Diabolique Magazine), a newly-edited “vintage” video session with Chris Mitchum, the featurette titled “Dubbing in a Blue World” and an extensive stills gallery.
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