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(aka "Cursed Medallion" or "Night Child (US title)" or "Emilie, l'Enfant des Tenebres")
directed by Massimo Dallamano
Italy 1975
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BBC documentary filmmaker
Michael Williams (Richard Johnson) is doing a film on the
devil in art. He is intrigued by a slide of a painting
depicting a Boschian mob pursuing a little girl in white
under a falling angel (which reminds him of the death of his
wife in a fire) and the devil himself lording over the
scene. With his daughter Emily (Nicoletta Elmi), who was
traumatized by witnessing her mother's death, her nanny Jill
(Evelyn Stewart), and a spunky American producer Joanna
(Joanna Cassidy), Williams travels to Spoletto to film the
documentary. The psychically-inclined countess (Lila
Kedrova)who provided him with slides of the local artwork
warns him not to use the painting which she believes to be
cursed. Having found the abandoned villa where the painting
hangs, Williams goes ahead with the filming while his
daughter's behavior becomes more erratic and possessive.
After a ghostly flaw on the film necessitates reshoots,
Williams discovers a medallion that looks exactly like the
one his daughter wears and the countess uncovers startling
information about the little girl in the painting (and her
tragic death) who may be reincarnated in Emily who has
exhibited dangerous animosity towards Joanna and Jill who
both have romantic interests in her father. |
Posters
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Theatrical Release: March (1976) - USA
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
DVD Review: 01 Distribution (Mostra del Cinema Di Venezia 2005) - Region 2 - PAL
Big thanks to Eric Cotenas for the Review!
| DVD Box Cover |
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CLICK to order from:
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| Distribution |
01 Distribution Region 2 - PAL |
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| Runtime | 1:27:40 (4% PAL speedup) | |
| Video |
1.85:1 Original Aspect Ratio
16X9 enhanced |
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NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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| Bitrate |
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| Audio | Italian (Dolby Digital 2.0 mono) | |
| Subtitles | English, Italian, none | |
| Features |
Release Information: Studio: 01 Distribution Aspect Ratio:
Edition Details: Chapters 24 |
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| Comments: |
One of several high-definition remasters of Italian International Film (the Italian offshoot of American International Pictures during and after it was doing coproductions in Italy before moving on to England), the transfer is flawless. Having seen this film on English-language Canadian tape and French-language SECAM tape (both of which have different title sequence backgrounds than the Italian version), one can see the massive improvement of this transfer. The naturalistic color palette (the film was shot in Spoletto) is so delicate that previous video transfers have looked simply drab. The high bitrate infuses the more muted colors with life while keeping the saturated reds under control. The mono soundtrack is also very detailed and full-bodied (the credits mention stereophonic sound effects and they certainly have presence in the final mono mix). The optional English subtitles are rather small but readable.
Unlike 01 Distribution's disc of the
I.I.F. production
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO SOLANGE?, the English track has not been
included on this disc. Like the Italian version of PLANET OF THE
VAMPIRES, the Italian version of this film apparently has enough
minute differences that the English track could not be conformed to this
edit (I have not done a direct comparison) which is regrettable because
Richard Johnson and Joanna Cassidy dubbed themselves on the
well-synchronized English track. |
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| DVD Box Cover |
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CLICK to order from:
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| Distribution |
01 Distribution Region 2 - PAL |
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