Review: Death Has Blue Eyes
Blu-ray: Death Has Blue Eyes (1976)
Writer/director Nico Mastorakis (Island of Death) once again takes the viewer on a wild cinematic ride in Greece.
Local gigolo Chess (Chris Nomikos) meets his friend Bob (Peter Winter) at Athens airport before the pair of them begin an adventure together that involves sex, scams, some more sex, booze, a bit more sex, and accidentally getting involved into becoming bodyguards for a telepathic woman whose controlling mother is not whom she first seems to be…then they have sex again.
At almost 2 hours long Death Has Blue Eyes does outstay its welcome at times, but Mastorakis uncanny skill of throwing in shootouts/explosions/car chases/helicopter attacks/motorcycle chases/nudity to grab the viewers attention once again is all present and correct in this Arrow Films blu-ray, presented for the very first time in a new HD master in both widescreen and full-frame versions..
With a narrative thread that very often forgets where the hell it’s going, some laughable “acting”, toe curling sex scenes, and editing that often leaves you confused as to what actually happened, Death Has Blue Eyes may well sound like you’d spend most of it fast forwarding or even switching it off…and a lot of people might just do that.
However, for everyone else who knows what they are getting into with a Nico Mastorakis movie and enjoy the wilder lower budget end of cinema, this goes from one ridiculous/hilarious/cringe inducing scene to another, culminating in a classic “WTF!?” moment.
Another for the “beers and mates” evening viewings.
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
- Brand new restoration from the original camera negative approved by the director
- High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
- Two versions of the film: the widescreen 1.85:1 version and the full-frame 1.33:1 version
- Original mono audio
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Exclusive new interview featurette with Nico Mastorakis
- Exclusive new interview with actress Maria Aliferi
- Dancing with Death: tracks from the Death Has Blue Eyes original soundtrack
- Original theatrical trailers
- Image gallery
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collectors’ booklet featuring new writing by Julian Grainger.
Review by Dave from a disc kindly supplied by Arrow Films via Fetch Publicity.
