The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave (Notte che Evelyn usć dalla tomba) (1971) (NTSC)

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General		Extras
Category	Horror	Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	1971
Running Time	101:07
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (67:54)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Emilio Miraglia
Studio Distributor	Beyond Home Entertainment	Starring	Anthony Steffen Marina Malfatti Erika Blanc Giacomo Rossi-Stuart Enzo Tarascio Umberto Raho Roberto Maldera Joan C. Davis Ettore Bevilacqua Maria Teresa Tofano Brizio Montinaro Paola Natale Bruno Nicolai
Case	Amaray Variant
RPI	?	Music	Bruno Nicolai

Video (NTSC)		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	480i (NTSC)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Lord Alan Cunningham (Anthony Steffen) has a violent appetite for large-breasted redheads way beyond his control. Prostitutes, strippers, he's not fussy in the slightest, nor is he modest in the money he promises; if he can lure them to his impressive, stately castle they're as good as gone. It's enough to make you pity his poor doctor, trying to treat his mental issues as best he can, while being fully aware (almost approving of) Lord Cunningham's murderous exploits. It seems our Lord Cunningham is suffering a deep mental trauma, brought about by haunting memories of the experience of seeing his late wife, Evelyn, romping sans-garments in the bushy courtyard with her young, muscular lover. No need to dwell too long on why she's 'late', as that is painfully obvious. Evelyn's brother, Albert, is also a resident in the castle and understandably miffed at his sister's 'disappearance'. Albert's well aware of the Lord's comings and goings and he's not shy in extorting money from the scoundrel, either.

    The truth is, while Cunningham castle may look impressive of an evening, in daylight it's pretty darn shabby to say the least. Rundown and unmaintained, it's an embarrassment to his family and well overdue for restoration. Lord Cunningham tries to straighten himself out, quits slaughtering gorgeous red-headed nymphs in his spare time (momentarily) and decides to inject some cash into the old castle's upkeep. He also acts upon his doctor's advice to settle down by getting married, on a complete and random whim, but hitched nonetheless, to a doting blonde, Gladys. Then things start to turn sour, as disapproving family members grow jealous of Gladys and bizarre murders begin occurring at the castle (like the numerous slaughtered red-haired girls earlier was an oversight). Who's behind the conspiracy to drive Lord Cunningham insane? More importantly, who footed the bill for those ridiculous wigs?

    Directed by Emilio Miraglia (Blood Feast), this is classic, old-school Italian horror at it's cheesy best - like Bold And The Beautiful goes to Sodom. The men are misogynistic and violent, the women are crooked sluts, semi-naked if not completely so. Absolutely nobody is likeable and the hammy performances are almost as hilarious as the dialogue. Motivation for these warped characters is impossible to decipher, so it's one of those experiences you can't fight- you can only go with it and enjoy the dodgy, kitsch-laced insanity of it all. You'll find extreme, torturous scenes of bloody violence, incestuous wheelchair makeout sessions, entrail-snacking caged foxes, rubber death-adder attacks, and a quick DIY on how to turn your backyard pool into hydrochloric acid. Missed that handy episode on Better Homes!

    So, is Evelyn a legitimate retro-horror-curio, or just tasteless titillation? You be the judge. It's great fun in my book, voyeuristic to the extreme and reminiscent of similar vintage directors such as Jess Franco, et al. Highly recommended for fans of the genre.

Video

    This NTSC video transfer is surprisingly good considering the age and relatively obscure nature of the film. The original Techinscope 2.35:1 aspect has been preserved and the DVD image is 16x9 enhanced. The opening titles are Italian, which suggests an uncut original print has been sourced for the transfer.

    The transfer is nice and sharp with no extreme issues relating to the source. The odd spec of dirt can be seen here or there, as well as a few very mild scratches in places, but as a whole this is a very nice, well restored transfer that probably looks a thousand times better than it was ever projected back in the day. Colours seem spot-on, particularly the deep greens and reds.

    No subtitles are included on the disc.

    The disc is RSDL formatted (DVD9). I did not notice any layer break during the feature on my equipment, so it must be well concealed.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The film's original mono soundtrack is the only audio option, presented in Dolby Digital 2.0.

    The English dialogue, although very poorly synced in post production, is always clear and easy to discern in the mix. Films of this ilk rarely contain believable audio-dialogue looping, so this is not at all surprising. Lip movements do appear to be English in this case, but the dubbing sync is pretty woeful all the same. This is no fault of the DVD transfer process.

    The soundtrack is in a similarly good condition to the video; I noted only a few crackles and pops here and there, around what I would presume to be reel changes. There's obviously no surround or subwoofer activity to report.

    The film's score is credited to Bruno Nicolai. It's jazzy, unpredictable and even a little discordant at times; complementing the chaotic nature of the film very well indeed. I loved the film's music in particular and found it reminiscent of Claudio Simonetti.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Theatrical Trailer (2:40)

    The film's US theatrical trailer, restored as nicely as the feature and suitably hip for its time.

    Another Region 1 edition on the 'No Shame' label lists the following extras:

• Remastered transfer presented in an 2.35:1 aspect (stills suggest this transfer is the same as ours)
• Introduction by actress Erika Blanc
• Featurette- The Whip & The Body (21 minutes)
• Featurette- Still Rising From The Grave (23 minutes)
• English & Italian Theatrical Trailers
• Poster & Still Galleries
• Easter Egg

    As an interesting reference point, the PAL Italian release contains only a trailer as an extra, but the disc itself is DVD5.

    Our local release seems to have a very good transfer, but if you're after extra material you may want to hunt the No Shame version down.

    The NTSC transfer is great.

    The extras are limited.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall