Requiescant aka "Kill and Pray" [Blu-ray]
(Carlo Lizzani, 1967)
Review by Gary Tooze
Production: Theatrical: Istituto Luce Video: Ar row Video
Disc: Region: FREE (as verified by the Oppo Blu-ray player) Runtime: 1:46:42.354 Disc Size: 38,574,721,162 bytes Feature Size: 33,253,832,640 bytes Video Bitrate: 34.99 Mbps Chapters: 12 Case: Standard Blu-ray case Release date: October 12th-13th, 2015
Video: Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Audio: LPCM Audio Italian 1152 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1152 kbps / 24-bit LPCM Audio English 1152 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1152 kbps / 24-bit
Subtitles: Newly translated English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack / Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack , none
Extras: • An all-new interview with Lou Castel, recorded exclusively for this release (13:39)• Archive interview with director Carlo Lizzani (27:43) • Theatrical Trailer (2:59) • Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx Illustrated collector's booklet containing new writing on the film by Pasquale Iannones. NTSC DVD in the package
Bitrate:
Description: Directed by Carlo Lizzani (Wake Up and Kill,
The Hills Run Red) and with a superb soundtrack by
Riz Ortolani (Day
of Anger,
Cannibal Holocaust), Requiescant -
Latin for Rest in Peace - ranks among the finest
Spaghetti Westerns. Alex Cox named it the one film to prove
that the Italian Western was not solely Sergio Leone's.
The Film:
A religious figure that turns to violence? Sounds like a fine spaghetti
western concept for me! Actually Kill and Pray is one of the best
of the "forgotten" spaghetti westerns I have come across. By "forgotten"
I mean not easily obtainable in the home video market and since it is so
rare to find not many people have seen the damn thing. Hell the DVD I
have from Wild East Entertainment is even out of print and I recently
saw a copy sell for over $140. Yikes! That's a shocker especially since
I obtained mine for only $20 three or four years ago. If you’re into the operatic Spaghetti Westerns of Sergio Leone, Carlo Lizzani’s trashy and fun western probably won’t be your cup o’ tea. Still, the first 15 minutes is more than entertaining, mixing both the best and the worst of what an Italian western can be, while the film as whole is an entertaining, interesting and truly individual oddity. Excerpt from A Wasted Life located HEREImage : NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.
This is the another Arrow Blu-ray release that is being simultaneously released in both region 'A' (US) and 'B' (UK). It is the exact same package on both sides of the pond to the best of our knowledge.
NOTE: As Michael Brooke informs us on Facebook in regards to Day of Anger: 'As the producer of Arrow's release, I can confirm first hand that the UK and US discs are absolutely identical: we only paid for one master, so there's no doubt about this at all! Which means that no matter which package you buy, the discs will play in any Region A or B setup (or Region 1 or 2 for DVD - and in the latter case the video standard is NTSC, to maximise compatibility). The booklets are also identical, but there are minor cosmetic differences on the disc labels and sleeve to do with differing copyright info and barcodes, and the US release doesn't have BBFC logos.' We presume Requiescant to be the same situation.
Requiescant gets an impressive transfer to Blu-ray from Arrow. It is dual-layered with a max'ed out bitrate for the 1 3/4 hour feature. Colors are rich and there is some wonderfully consistent textures supporting the presentation as film-like. The 1080P reproduces solid contrast exhibiting healthy, black levels and some pleasing depth in the 1.85:1 frame. It's very clean with a few light surface scratches. This Blu-ray probably looks like exactly the theatrical version of the film. It provides an impressive video viewing.
CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Audio :Audio is transferred via a faithful linear PCM mono track at 1152 kbps in the original Italian and an English option. I didn't notice any dramatic out-of-sync post dubbing, although preferred the Italian-language option. There are plenty of aggressive effects - mostly in the form of gunfire that export notable depth. The score by Riz Ortolani (Il Sorpasso, Woman Times Seven, Cannibal Holocaust, The Voyeur, Mondo Cane) can be a little 'scratchy' not supporting the high-end with distinction - this is probably accurate to the original theatrical presentation though. It's a pretty decent 'pasta western' score - not Morricone, but I liked it. There are optional English subtitles for both Italian and English audio versions. My Oppo has identified it as being a region 'A' + 'B'.
Extras : Arrow provide an all-new, 13-minute, interview with Lou Castel, looking pretty weathered. It is in French with English subtitles. There is also a 1/2 hour archival interview with director Carlo Lizzani about the film (Italian with Eng. subs). It has some interesting comments. Lastly, we get a theatrical trailer and the package has a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx and an illustrated collector's booklet containing new writing on the film by Pasquale Iannones. A DVD is also included (NTSC for both packages) signifying it as 'Dual-Format'.
BOTTOM LINE: Gary Tooze October 5th, 2015
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About the Reviewer: Hello, fellow Beavers! I have been interested in film since I viewed a Chaplin festival on PBS when I was around 9 years old. I credit DVD with expanding my horizons to fill an almost ravenous desire to seek out new film experiences. I currently own approximately 9500 DVDs and have reviewed over 5000 myself. I appreciate my discussion Listserv for furthering my film education and inspiring me to continue running DVDBeaver. Plus a healthy thanks to those who donate and use our Amazon links.
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