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

ADDITION: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray (April 2020): Vinegar Syndrome have transferred three 70's Giallo films to their own Blu-ray disc in their Forgotten Gialli Volume 1 boxset. They are the Spanish Gialli Trauma (1978), and The Killer Is One of 13 (1973), as well as the Italian genre film The Police Are Blundering in the Dark from 1975. They are all cited as being "newly restored in 2K from their original camera negatives".

Two points - I didn't have high expectations for these films as relevant parts of the Giallo genre - but I was wrong (again!) and was very pleasantly surprised that they exceeded my misconceptions. I think those that appreciate Giallo will enjoy these three 70's efforts. The other point is about the image appearance - again, I didn't have a high level of anticipation for the quality - as I know some of the previous DVDs have been bad-to-horrid - but the 1080P presentations were pleasing. The image quality isn't dynamic but Vinegar Syndrome provide consistent, reasonably clean (a few speckles and some very infrequent damage on Trauma - see below), but otherwise, no major complaints. There is supported grain texture for each 1.85:1 aspect ratio HD presentations, some minor color depth and high bitrates for the three films on their own single-layered Blu-ray disc. Generally I found a flatness on indoor shots but no noise or compression issues.  

NOTE: We have added 63 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Vinegar Syndrome use DTS-HD Master mono tracks (24-bit) in the original language - Spanish for Trauma + The Killer Is One of 13 and Italian for The Police Are Blundering in the Dark. The score for Trauma is by Ángel Arteaga (Naschy's The Devil Incarnate and Frankenstein's Bloody Terror) - Alfonso Santisteban did the score for The Killer Is One of 13 and Aldo Saitto (his only film credit) for The Police Are Blundering in the Dark. While, like the video, these is not top-shelf productions but even as modest budgeted films they satisfy with the ability to hear the film exporting some depth in the effects and atmospheric music and no egregious flaws. Vinegar Syndrome offer optional English subtitles on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

The Vinegar Syndrome Blu-rays offer supplements for each film. For Trauma there is a 'historical' commentary track with European cult cinema author Troy Howarth who talks about the Goblin-esque score, how the film has some Psycho tropes, he is reminded at one point of Fawlty Towers, he addresses the exploitation-like, and at times un-erotic, nudity in spots before he admits that there isn't a lot of background information available on Trauma and discusses the Giallo genre and some of the notable names. He is, as always, fun and informative. There is also a 'Promotional image gallery' on that disc - as there is for all three films. For The Killer is One of 13 we get a Kat Ellinger commentary. She dives right in talking about Spanish attitude towards horror films, Spanish Euro-cult films in general, the color-saturated existing Spanish DVD of the film, and of course, Paul Naschy - who only has a small role, Patty Shepard - kind of an icon of Spanish genre cinema and much more. It was great to hear Kat's voice filling the film's running time with relevant and interesting analysis. The Police Are Blundering in the Dark has a 1/4 hour audio essay with film historian and critic Rachael Nisbet who talks about this low-budget thriller, the cast, crew and other details. 

I appreciated the highly nuanced 'homosexual' angle in Trauma. It is certainly the best film of the three, kudos to Ágata Lys. I also saw value in the The Killer Is One of 13 with its rampant sexual activity including maids, butlers and guests plus the cloaked identity of the murderer. Patty Shepard is excellent carrying much of the film and has a kind of Barbara Steele thing going for her. The Police Are Blundering in the Dark is the weakest of the three but there is a decent mystery angle and some heavy-handed murder sequences. So, while I would have preferred Argento or Bava films - I have seen most of them and these were all new to me. 'Forgotten' is the appropriate word and I will reiterate that I enjoyed the experience of all three films. I think this Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray boxset with commentaries and audio essay have some significant appeal to lovers of the Giallo genre.  If you can get a copy (VS will re-open soon) - in its handsome packaging - I suspect you will be pleased. For those sensitive - there is a fair amount of blood and plenty of nudity. Recommended to the right crowd!

Gary Tooze