 Lucio Ercoli may not be the first name
that comes to mind with the giallo genre. He didn’t
make many films, let alone ones that fell into genre limitations.
Of these, though, two similarly titled films certainly deserve
mention, two films which NoShame has collected into a neat
little package called Lucio Ercoli’s Death Box
Set.
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The first of the two, Death
Walks On High Heels, is actually pretty removed from
what one might come to expect from the genre. It has more
in common with Psycho or, even more appropriately,
with any number of mystery films. The plot revolves around
a strip-tease artist, Nicole
(Susan Scott), who is questioned in the death of a thief on
a train – a thief who just so happens to be Nicole’s
father. Soon, she is visited by a masked man in the night,
threatening to do very bad things to her involving very sharp
objects if she doesn’t tell where her father had jewels
hidden. Frightened for her life, she runs away with a rich
patron who constantly sees her shows. And bad things get even
worse for Nicole. The killer tracks her down to the villa
in which she is hiding and… well, bad things happen,
and no one knows what is truly going on. The finale of the
film is the WTF (“What the fuck!?”) moment to
end all WTF moments, the moment of revelation the most bizarre,
and long, sequence I have seen in any giallo film.
The second of the two features is titled Death Walks
At Midnight, but it could just have as easily been
called Reefer Madness 2. Susan Scott returns
as our heroine, this time a fashion model named Valentina.
Valentina is extremely sassy, but not at all street smart.
You see, she agrees to take a hallucinogen for a photo shoot,
buying into lines like, “Don’t worry, no one will
recognize you with this” when she is handed a blindfold.
While under the influence of this drug, she witnesses another
girl get the gray matter splattered out of her head from the
loft across the way. Is it a delusion, or did it really happen?
She'll find out soon enough when her life begins to spiral
out of control. Her career is over when photos of her on the
drug hit the tabloids and the police won’t believe her
story. But things go from bad to worse as she starts both
hunting, and being hunted by, the killer.
This picture is exceptionally gorier than High Heels.
Blood goes everywhere, including the camera lens. This is helped
out by the  murderer’s
weapon of choice, a metal glove with four four-inch spikes attached
to them. As far as cool murder weapons go, this is certainly
one of the more memorable in Italian cinema and Christ does it get a workout here. A very respectable body count is
racked up indeed. A good time for the whole dysfunctional family!
I understand the pairing of these two films, as they are
Ercoli’s only giallo films, both similarly titled and
sharing much of the same cast. But what is really cool is
how both films are very much different in both look and feel. Death Walks on High Heels almost paces itself
outside of the genre with its low body count and mystery-based
plot. The true giallo gore only becomes prominent at the end.
In Midnight, though, the blood and gore is
unrestrained. Both films do what they do correctly, and they
do it well. So while I think High Heels is
the superior of the two films in technique, the casual viewer
will undoubtedly have more fun with Midnight,
which has a brisk pace and a good deal of silliness.
At this point most of Sergio Martino’s giallo catalog
has been released. Nearly all of Argento’s important
works are on DVD from one label or another. There aren’t
a lot of high profile releases left that are widespread and
well-known (yes, everyone wants Four Flies On Gray
Velvet, so shut it), so it is nice to see studios
working on less popular films and giving them a great treatment.
With the release of this Luciano Ercoli two-fer, another chapter
is sadly closed in the giallo film release race, but at least
it was a kick ass chapter. I can’t wait to see what
is in store next in the genre circuit from NoShame.
 Presentation
Awesome beyond belief is the only accurate way to describe
the beautiful transfers both of these films receive. Both
presented in their original 2.35:1 aspect ratio and are anamorphically
enhanced. And boy do they look great. If you find a blemish
you are too close to your television. These look like brand
new movies. They sound excellent too; both titles are extremely
crisp and clear and sound completely fantastic. I did not
check the English dubs on this release as I am adamantly against
them, but they are included for those who require them. Subtitles
are available in English as well so American blowhards like
myself can remain pretentious despite not knowing a lick of
Italian outside of what we learned from The Godfather series.
And The Extras Are?
I have to say, the extras here are different from the average
NoShame release, which is both good and bad. I like the different
part, but I miss the noticeably absent interview/documentary
feature. Was no one contactable?
Death Walks In High Heels - Original
Italian Theatrical Trailer – (2:47)
Death Walks In High Heels - Original English Theatrical
Trailer – (2:48)
Here are your two standard marketing trailers for the first
of our two features. They both do the job and are interesting
to see. I would like to have seen one for Death Walks
At Midnight though.
Death Walks In High Heels –
Poster and Still Gallery – (0:29)
Death Walks At Midnight – Poster and Still Gallery – (0:29)
You get the pictures, you get the posters, and you get some
tasty theme music. You know the drill. Good stuff, while it
lasts.
Death Walks At Midnight –
TV version – (1:45:39) This version runs a few
minutes longer than the theatrical cut, but to be honest with
the poor video quality I had a hard time watching it, so I
can’t determine exactly what those few minutes are comprised
of. It’s like watching a poor VHS tape, complete with
scan lines. It certainly isn’t gore shots so I don’t
believe you would be missing anything with the regular version.
 As
always, NoShame’s booklet is among the best in the industry.
This time it provides us with liner notes by Chris D. (The
Pinky Violence Collection, A
Man Called Magnum). Additionally, we get bios for Luciano
Ercoli himself, and actors Susan Scott, Luciano Rossi and
Frank Wolff. It closes with the track listing for the songs
on the CD, which is priceless information, and there are some
contact sheets of stills from Midnight as
well. It is also far and away the sexiest book that NoShame
has released.
Compact Disc – The Sound
of Love and Death: The Very Best of Stelvio Cipriani.
Unlike the CD included with The
Last Round, this disc is jam packed with tracks directly
from the original motion picture scores. But there is nothing
from either of the two movies? What the Hell? Still, this
is a fantastic CD full of great pieces and is worth spinning
multiple times.
Fine
For two similarly titled films, they share little in common
in their execution. This is a good thing though, as both films
are very strong in their own right and fun. High Heels is more Psycho/Sherlock Holmes detective
driven, whereas Midnight is a strong giallo.
Is Luciano Ercoli going to become your new favorite genre
director, replacing Argento, Martino and Fulci? Probably not,
but they are definitely vital films for any giallo fan to
see and see again!
Strong films + Strong transfers +
Strong music = Buy it.
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