DVD REVIEW: THE SISTER OF URSULA
DVD REVIEW: SEVERIN FILMS [ 2008 ] 94'
DVD REVIEW: AVG. BITRATE: 4.48 Mb/sec
WTFFILM RATING:

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Severin Films, having provided the world with fine releases of the excellent Lucio Fulci films THE PSYCHIC and THE EROTICIST last year, continues to surprise. WTFFILM had never heard of THE SISTER OF URSULA (LA SORELLA DI URSULA; 1978) until Severin announced its upcoming release. Fans of Severin's releases so far should not be disappointed.

The film itself is a late entry into the giallo genre that revolves around two sisters, one a fun-loving gal and the other a nut job who might be psychic, visiting a resort hotel. After their arrival a number of grisly murders take place that have the local police, junkies, and hotel staff in a furor. But the patrons of the hotel won't let a few murders get in the way of their propensity for sexual shenanigans.

Directed by Enzo Milioni, THE SISTER OF URSULA is hardly the brainiest of films - it is harmless and well executed exploitation fare, however, and miles above anything that came from the likes of Joe D'Amato, et al.

THE FEATURE PRESENTATION:

Severin Films presents THE SISTER OF URSULA in a beautiful new progressive (an improvement in authoring over the previous release I've seen from them) and anamorphic widescreen transfer - aspect ratio is aproximately 1.81:1 - from the original vault materials. It's important to note that, upon its release in Italy, a number of hardcore shots filmed on poor quality stock were inserted into the film without the director's authorization. The version present here is the director's original cut, which contains no hardcore footage. Color and detail are both right where they should be this late along in the DVD game - WTFFILM is astounded that the encode is as solid as it is at such a low bitrate. Minor print damage and speckling can be sighted on occasion, none of which is overly distracting and none of which cannot be accounted for by the age and rarity of the source at hand.

The only available language is Italian, presented in Dolby Digital monophonic. The track is in as good a shape as the film itself and, while not up to modern recording standards (you won't be showing off your home theater with this title), provides a perfectly good listen. Optional English subtitles are provided that are easily legible and well translated (take note, Classic Media!). All in all, this is a solid and satisfying feature presentation for such an obscure title.

THE EXTRAS:

Extras seem a bit limited at first glance, and include only the original Italian trailer for the film (with optional English subtitles as well) and an interview with director Enzo Milioni. The trailer is in as good a condition as could be expected for its age and is presented in anamorphic widescreen. Making sure to touch base with practically every sex scene present in the film, the trailer plays down the giallo storyline in lieu of the rampant naked flesh present.

The interview with Enzo Milioni, a man I was completely unaware of until this DVD release came about, runs for just over 30 minutes and is quite interesting. In it the director goes over various production details, discusses the cast at great length (touching, in particular, upon the early death of Marc Porel, of DON'T TORTURE A DUCKLING fame), and even presents viewers with the murder weapon from the film - a wood carving of a monk in prayer that, when turned just so, looks like an enormous penis. It's apparently been a family heirloom for quite some time . . . who'd have thunk it?

While not quite as much as I'd like to have seen for the film, the extras presented here are still quite satisfying to behold.

THE OVERALL PRESENTATION:

THE SISTER OF URSULA comes housed in a standard Amaray style DVD case with an attractive and appropriately sleazy insert that suits the release just fine. The menus are well designed and, again, fit well with the film at hand. While there may not be anything terribly spectacular in regards to the overall presentation for the title, there is certainly nothing of which to complain about either, and that's more than enough for me.

THE VERDICT:

Severin Films is quickly becoming one of the preeminent suppliers of euro-trash on US DVD - while Anchor Bay and Blue Underground busy themselves re-releasing the same set of titles over and over again, Severin is seeing fit to present audiences with titles previously entirely unavailable in the US market. WTFFILM can't wait for their upcoming special release of THE INGLORIOUS BASTARDS (a title that's taken its sweet time coming to DVD). This disc is highly recommended to fans of the film, though first takers should probably give it a trial run first as the film will definitely not be everyone's cup of tea.