NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: 88 Films (UK) Blu-ray (August 2024): 88 Films have transferred Umberto Lenzi's Orgasmo to Blu-ray. Like the region 'A' Severin 1080P this can look quite weak - almost as if from a video source. It's quite soft and the textures are unnatural. It's watchable but far from ideal for the format. I suspect that this, available, source is compromised or later generation. Those sensitive should be aware. This could very well be intentional though - as Bill Landis wrote, "The photography seems filmed through a shot glass.... extremely effective in reproducing the state of being slowly overdosed on liquor and prescription pills."

The US Cut seems almost exactly the same in terms of the HD image - perhaps a shade poorer (with a lower bitrate), lossy audio and no subtitle options.

NOTE: We have added 60 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, (Director's Cut) 88 Films (UK) offer the option of linear PCM mono tracks (24-bit) in both English and Italian languages. Orgasmo has few aggressive moments that come through with modest depth and score by Piero Umiliani (Lady Morgan's Vengeance, The Fourth Victim, Roy Colt and Winchester Jack, Baba Yaga, and Bava's Five Dolls for an August Moon among others. There is also Fate Had Planned It So sung by Lydia MacDonald and Just Tell Me performed by Wesley Johnson (as Wess and The Airedales) sounding, perhaps, a notch better than the video. 88 Films (UK) offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'B'-locked Blu-ray.

The 88 Films (UK) Blu-ray offers two commentary tracks for the Director's Cut. The first is by Troy Howarth (So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years of Italian Giallo Films), Nathaniel Thompson and Eugenio Ercolani. I enjoyed their collaborative commentary on The Horrible Dr Hichcock. Here they focus on Lenzi, giallo, Baker leaving very few stones unturned discussing this being an international hit, Troy's book Make Them Die Slowly: The Kinetic Cinema of Umberto Lenzi, the director's diverse career including notorious cannibal + crime films, costume dramas, peplum and gialli. The second commentary has Kim Newman (Nightmare Movies: Horror on Screen Since the 1960s) and Stephen Thrower (Beyond Terror: The Films of Lucio Fulci.) They have more than enough details to fill the running time addressing the title, filmmaker, crew and similar films. Excellent. Editing for Umberto is a 23-minute interview with Eugenio Alabiso (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) and The Cinephile Director spends 36-minutes with Lenzi himself. This interview was put together by the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia (CSC), the prestigious school from which Umberto Lenzi graduated in 1956. It was shot in 2015. Baker’s Dozen is a dozen-minute visual essay by Mike Foster who addresses Caroll Baker's thirteen Italian films (1967 to1976.) Also included is an English “Paranoia” trailer  (reconstruction) and a US X-Rated “Paranoia” trailer. The package offers a reversible sleeve featuring original poster and a booklet featuring 'The Satirical Class - Society, Satire and Guilt in Umberto Lenzi’s Orgasmo' by Francesco Massaccesi (Asian Fever Cinema) and 'Orgasmic Pleasures' by Mia Boffey. 

The first phase of Carroll Baker's remarkable acting cycle included Elia Kazan adaptation of Tennessee Williams Baby Doll, George Stevens' Giant, her husband, Jack Garfein's, controversial independent film Something Wild, a few highly acclaimed westerns; The Big Country, How the West Was Won, Cheyenne Autumn etc. plus films like The Carpetbaggers (initiating her "sex symbol" status) and the panned Harlow. Along with Romolo Guerrieri's The Sweet Body of Deborah - Umberto Lenzi's Orgasmo was pivotal in launching a new 'Italian production' phase to Carroll Baker's career that included Corrado Farina's Baba Yaga, The Fourth Victim, A Quiet Place to Kill (like Orgamso - confusingly also known as "Paranoia".) Some may know that she also played 'Ilsa' in David Fincher's The Game and is still with us today at 93-years of age. Back to Orgasmo, it's premium Giallo; twisted, perverse, dark, sensational, Argento-hinting, and erotic with a ménage à trois evoking Henri-Georges Clouzot's murder-infused Les Diaboliques or Alfonso Cuarón's sexy Y Tu Mamá También. The 88 Films (UK) Blu-ray is utterly complete with both versions, two expert commentaries, interviews, visual essay, booklet and more. Umberto Lenzi's Orgasmo is a must-own for Giallo lovers.

Gary Tooze