Blu-ray Release: The Case of the Scorpion’s Tail

Blu-ray Release Date: July 17, 2018
Price: Blu-ray $28.71
Studio: Arrow/MVD

Arguably no other giallo captured the jet set life style of the Sixties and Seventies as vividly as 1971’s The Case of the Scorpion’s Tail, the second giallo by genre master Sergio Martino (Torso, The Suspicious Death of a Minor)

The film begins in London, where Lisa Baumer (Evelyn Stewart) learns that her husband has died in a freak plane accident. Summoned to Athens to collect his generous life insurance policy, she soon discovers that others besides herself are keen to get their hands on the money and are willing to kill for it. Meanwhile, private detective Peter Lynch (George Hilton) arrives to investigate irregularities in the insurance claim. Teaming up with a beautiful reporter, Cléo Dupont (Anita Strindberg), Lynch resolves to unearth the truth… before he too ends up on the wrong end of the murderer’s straight razor.

Notably less violent and gruesome than the era’s other prominent giallos, Scorpion’s Tail combines stunning views of Athens and the Greek coastline with manageable bursts of brutality, a typically tangled script by Ernesto Gastaldi (Death Walks on High Heels), and a cast of familiar Euro cult faces, including Alberto de Mendoza (A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin), Janine Reynaud (Jess Franco’s Succubus) and Luigi Pistilli (A Bay of Blood).

Arrow’s gorgeously packaged special edition Blu-ray of the thriller includes the following:

• Brand new 4K restoration of the film from the original camera negative
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• Original lossless mono Italian and English soundtracks
• Newly translated English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack
• Audio commentary with writer Ernesto Gastaldi, moderated by filmmaker Federico Caddeo (in Italian with English subtitles)
• New interview with star George Hilton
• New interview with director Sergio Martino
• New analysis Sergio Martino s films by Mikel J. Koven, author of La Dolce Morte: Vernacular Cinema and the Italian Giallo Film
• New video essay by Troy Howarth, author of So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years of Italian Giallo Films
• Theatrical trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Chris Malbon
• FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Rachael Nisbet and Howard Hughes, and a biography of star Anita Strindberg by Peter Jilmstad