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Lamberto Bava’s Delirium: Photo of Gioia Slated For Code Red Blu-Ray

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The Demons helmer’s 1987 thriller is set to hit HD disc from Bill Olsen’s frustrating boutique outfit.  

As juvenile it may be, the Facebook ramblings of Code Red’s permanently tetchy bossman, Bill Olsen, fascinate this writer. Apparently convinced that everyone with an interest in genre cinema is out to get him, Olsen’s myopic, paranoid rants are at once hilarious, frightening and deeply frustrating; the bottom line being that Scream Factory, Vinegar Syndrome and Arrow succeed because they make their extras-packed sets available to more people than just the five or six who manage to access Code Red’s haphazardly ran Big Cartel store.  A little glib? Perhaps, especially when the notorious postal xenophobe does occasionally let outlets such as Diabolik and Screen Archives Entertainment distribute his product worldwide. But as Scream Factory and the gang continue to prove, it’s a bountiful spread of supplements and excellent customer service that make a mark in the Blu-ray game; a statement that’ll surely ring true for anyone who’s been following 88 Films’ slide into the HD doldrums.

Over the last few months or so, there doesn’t seem to be a single piece either I or my esteemed fellow Hamster, Dave Wain, have wrote about the Leicester-based schlock peddlers that doesn’t at least touch upon their alarming dip in quality. From endless delays and poor tech QCing (their first pressings of Splatter University and SS Experiment Camp were both defective); to communicative silence and naughtily circumventing the BBFC with Nightmares In a Damaged Brain and Emanuelle & The Last Cannibals, 88 Films certainly aren’t who us Hamsters fell in love with this time last year. Regardless of such irksome behaviour, though, they’ve still got some of the very best and most hotly desired titles on the market; 88’s Slasher Classics and Italian Collections in particular a veritable buffet of goodies.

Indeed, with the latter, it’s hard to imagine any cult fans not being excited by a range that includes genuine, top-drawer favourites Night Train Murders and Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man, and boasts the uproarious 2019: After the Fall of New York and Ciro Ippolito’s showstopping crap-terpiece Alien 2: On Earth among its future offerings – even if they mostly are and will likely continue to be almost totally vanilla. However, the knock on effect of 88 Films’ successful spaghetti splatter shaboodle is what’s truly impressed, and Arrow and everyone else have been quick to follow suit in the acquisition stakes. This past week alone, for instance, has seen the thought out-for-the-count Shameless resurrect themselves by announcing the worldwide Blu-ray premiere of Michele Soavi’s The Sect, and Code Red responding to 88’s bitchy Ironmaster dig by unveiling Lamberto Bava’s wonderful DELIRIUM: PHOTO OF GIOIA in a typically deranged Olsen howl:

Code Red - Delirium

As usual, the whats and whens are yet to be revealed; Olsen – much like his latest sworn enemies, 88 – seemingly more interested in endlessly announcing stuff than actually bothering to put it out there. But, regardless of its anywhere between next month and next millennium release date, a 1080p spruce up of Delirium: Photo of Gioia is without doubt cause for celebration; this critic of the fierce belief that it’s second only to Demons in Bava’s terminally overlooked filmography.

A fascinating, immediate pre-cursor to the wave of trashy erotic thrillers that came in the wake of Paul Verhoeven’s blockbusting 90s hit Basic Instinct, Bava’s slick 1987 flick is a blissfully cheesy and lascivious murder mystery; a preposterous, occasionally surreal feast for the senses that grabs you in a headlock and rubs your face in its armpit, before kicking you back to the gutter with a well-placed stiletto to the groin. Cribbing here and there from his own father Mario’s trendsetting Blood & Black Lace, the junior Bava’s similarly fashion-based frightener is as equally delicious. The pneumatically chested Serena Grandi holds court as the eponymous, stalker-targeted Gioia, while Bava regulars George Eastman (Blastfighter) and David Brandon (The Changeling 2) add character colour as opulent as the filters that adorn the director’s garish and strikingly lit set pieces; all of which are soundtracked by Simon Boswell’s awesome, electro-rocking score.

Delirium poster


Follow Matty on Twitter @mattybudrewicz

The post Lamberto Bava’s Delirium: Photo of Gioia Slated For Code Red Blu-Ray appeared first on Zombie Hamster.


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