The Case Of The Bloody Iris — The Case Of The Bloody Iris( Blu Ray)
From the early 1970s, The Case Of The Bloody Iris is a fairly cliched, though entertaining enough Giallo. It features the king & queen of the genre Edwige Fenech & George Hilton, a handful of murders carried out by gloved/ black masked killer, a splattering of female nudity, and a score by Bruno Nicolai- which shifts between the memorable bounding and eerier. Here from Celluloid Dreams is a double-disc UHD/Blu-Ray disc of the release of the film. Featuring a nicely bold & clean 4k scan, a commentary track, and a few other extras.
The Case of the Bloody Iris( Perché quelle strane gocce di sangue sul corpo di Jennifer? ,What Are Those Strange Drops of Blood Doing on Jennifer's Body?, Erotic Blue) is from the year 1972. It was directed by Bari, Puglia born Giuliano Carnimeo. Between the late 50’s and late 80’s, he had thirty feature credits to his name- moving across a fair few genres. Such as spaghetti western The Moment to Kill (1968), hard-boiled poliziotteschi Anna: The Pleasure, the Torment( 1973), action comedy Convoy Buddies (1975), Mad Max rip off The Exterminators of the Year 3000(1983), and bad taste/ sleazy euro slasher Rat Man (1988).
The film opens with a woman making a phone call in a busy ‘n’ bustling city centre- then heading for an apartment block, and jumping in a lift. At first, it’s packed- but as the floors tick by there is only her & one other person. Said person puts on yellow latex gloves- and pulls out a blade- to stab the woman multiple times in her guts- he leaves the lift sending it up to the top floor. Fairly soon after we get a second murder in the apartment block- as an acrobatic erotic dancer is knocked out, striped, hog-tied, and drowned in her bath.
Fairly soon we meet our two leads- photo model Jennifer Lansbury(Edwige Fenech), and architecture Andrea Antinori(George Hilton). They meet each other when Andrea has dropped into a shoot, and fairly soon he’s moved Jennifer & her bubbly-blond friend Marylin (Paola Quattrini) into the apartment block where the two murders have occurred- moving them into the room where the drowned hogtied body was found.
Brought to solve the murders we have bulky, flushed, and postage stamp collecting Commissioner Enci( Giampiero Albertini). And his not-so-smart & moustached partner Renzi(Franco Agostini).
We of course have a set of suspects taking in the sleekly charming, if slightly creepy architect Andrea. Jennifer’s stubbly & irrational ex-boyfriend she used to be in a sex cult with. And various neighbours in the apartment block.
The killer largely follows the typical Giallo tropes- wearing a black stocking face mask, a black trench coat, and a black fedora. Though the tight-fitting yellow latex gloves add a more creepy edge to proceedings. The kills are large knife-bound & these are done well enough, we get a few neat nighttime stalking scenes, and to be honest I was fairly surprised by the killer's identity.
We get a few bits of nudity from Ms Fenech & other members of the female cast- though it’s not particularly high or on a sleazed level. The whole film romps by well enough- running just right at the one hour and thirty-four-minute mark. Sure, there is nothing terribly unequal or creative about The Case Of The Bloody Iris- but as a largely entertaining & engaging Giallo it’s fine, and it’s always nice to see Fenech and Hilton working together again.
This new Blu-Ray release from Celluloid Dreams is region A locked disc. It features a really crystal clear & bold 4k scan, which looks great throughout.
On the extras, we get a good selection of things. On the new side, we get a commentary track from film critic Guido Henkel- this is excellent- been wonderfully observed & informed. He starts off by talking about how the killer's first victim only had a few other roles, going on to work as a production manager in the 80’s & 90’s. He discusses how the opening scene was filmed on an open set/ street, and it was filmed in January of 1972. We find out that the apartment building in the film has barely changed since the filming- with the same coat buttons shop still underneath it. He talks about how the director adds interesting elements to every scene. We find out the film was originally going to be called A Strange Orchid With Five Drops Of Blood On It, but changed it after they found out Umberto Lenzi’s was going to release Seven Blood-Stained Orchids. He talks about how the film was shot in three main locations. He discusses how Edwige Fenech manages to carry the film and gives her bio. Later on, he gives a bio of Ernesto Gastaldi- the films screenwriter. He talks about the Giallo in its novel form, and of course much more. I’ll be returning to this in the future for a replay.
Otherwise, there is Drops of Giallo (29.26) which is a new interview with both the films director Giuliano Carnimeo and screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi. This largely focuses on Gastaldi, but we get a good insight into both men’s career & how they made the film to hand.
On the archive side Flowers of Blood (20.43) Interview with actor George Hilton, Marylin (11.50) Interview with actress Paola Quattri. There’s an outtake reel( 1.44), English & Italian trailers, and a stills gallery.
It is marvellous to see this new reissue of The Case Of The Bloody Iris- with its classy ‘n’ crisp scan, and a good selection of new & archive extras. So most certainly one for fans of the Giallo.