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While the release of Dario Argento's The Bird with the Crystal Plumage gave rise to a glut of imitators, there was more to the giallo than just shameless copycats setting out to ape a rigid formula. This volume of Giallo Essentials celebrates the range and breadth of the genre with three lesser-seen films from its early 1970s heyday. In Silvio Amadio's Smile Before Death, familicide with a sprinkling of Oedipal love is the order of the day when teenager Nancy returns home to discover the apparent suicide of her mother, and quickly comes to suspect that her stepfather and his mistress are to blame. Next, Horny priests and self-flagellating nuns abound in Francesco Mazzei's The Weapon, the Hour, the Motive, as police commissioner Franco Boito investigates the brutal murder of a young clergyman, only to enter into an affair with the dead man's lover. Finally, in Giuseppe Bennati's The Killer Reserved Nine Seats, an assortment of wealthy degenerates - including Italian cult mainstays Andrea Scotti and Howard Ross - answer the summons of an eccentric nobleman and assemble in the theatre attached to his ancestral home, only to find themselves trapped in the decaying building while a savage killer picks them off Agatha Christie-style! With gory murders, wanton debauchery and left-field plot twists a-plenty, all three of these oft-overlooked gialli are restored in 2K from their original camera negatives - including brand-new, Arrow-exclusive restorations of Smile Before Death and The Weapon, the Hour, the Motive - alongside a range of in-depth bonus features.

Media

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Bonus Materials

• LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
• New 2K restorations from the original camera negatives of Smile Before Death and The Weapon, the Hour, the Motive
• 2K restoration from the original camera negative of The Killer Reserved Nine Seats
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentations of each film
• Original lossless mono Italian and English soundtracks on Smile Before Death and The Killer Reserved Nine Seats
• Original lossless mono Italian soundtrack on The Weapon, the Hour, the Motive
• English subtitles for the Italian soundtracks
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtracks
• Rigid box packaging with original artwork in a windowed Giallo Essentials Collection slipcover
• Reversible sleeves for each film featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Adam Rabalais, Peter Strain and Haunt Love
• DISC 1: SMILE BEFORE DEATH
• New commentary by authors and critics Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson
• Original Italian and English front and end titles
• Smile of the Hyena, new video interview with Stefano Amadio, film journalist and son of director Silvio Amadio
• Never-before-seen extended nude scenes, not used in the final film
• Image gallery
• DISC 2: THE WEAPON, THE HOUR, THE MOTIVE
• New commentary by author and critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
• A Man in Giallo, new video interview with actor Salvatore Puntillo
• Front and end titles for the lost English-language dub
• Image gallery
• DISC 3: THE KILLER RESERVED NINE SEATS
• New commentary by author and critic Kat Ellinger
• Hanging with Howard, video interview with actor Howard Ross
• Writing with Biagio, video interview with screenwriter Biagio Proietti
• Italian theatrical trailer (in Italian and English)
• Image gallery

Sales Points

• Three newly remastered blu-rays of top-notch but rarely seen Italian Murder Mysteries from the Golden Age of Gialli
• Special FX by three-time Oscar-Winner, Carlo Rimbaldi

Press Quotes

The heyday of the wonderful strain of Italian thriller known as the giallo is strewn with stylish little gems The Killer Reserved Nine Seatsnever shown in most English-speaking countries, and one prime example is the slick, nastily effective The Killer Reserved Nine Seats.

     —Nathaniel Thompson, Mondo Digital

Things build to a deliciously twisted finale [in Smile Before Death]

     —Andrew Pragasam, The Spinning Image

Recommended.

     —Jeffrey Kauffman, Blu-ray.com

If you enjoy the Giallo genre- this truly is a no-brainer release, which you need to pick up as soon as you can!

     —Roger Batty, Musique Machine

Giallo fans are going to be all in for this set, no doubt.

     —Jason Lockard, Classic Cinema Magazine