Overview: While Mario Bava remains the best-known purveyor of Italian Gothic horror, many other filmmakers tried their hand at the form throughout the 1960s.

Gothic Fantastico presents four titles from this classic period, all of which demonstrate Italy’s ability to expand genre beyond the classic literary monsters that dominated elsewhere.

Gaslighting abounds in Massimo Pupillo’s Lady Morgan’s Vengeance – a tale of romance and mystery sprinkled with sadism and the supernatural – as newlywed Sir Harold Morgan tries to destroy his bride with help from his sinister maid.

Meanwhile, the perverse influence of Poe is used to great effect in Alberto De Martino’s The Blancheville Monster – a tale of family curses and madmen in the attic, as Emilie de Blancheville returns home to her brother Roderic and finds her own family out for her blood.

Mino Guerrini’s The Third Eye features an early role for Italian cult icon Franco Nero and a plot that borrows elements from Hitchcock, layered with a whiff of necrophilia.

Finally, Damiano Damiani’s The Witch takes a more avant-garde approach, when a young historian is lured to work for an ageing woman, only to be held captive when he becomes obsessed with her beautiful daughter. Madness, obsession and messed up families are the order of the day in these four lesser-known monochrome gems from Italy’s peak Gothic period, restored in 2K from their original negatives for the first time alongside an array of in-depth extras. Verdict: We begin on Lady Morgan’s Vengeance (1965), where a young woman is killed by her treacherous husband and returns as a vengeful ghost. Starting well, the tale is set up, but admittedly it does seem to take a while to inform us of the terrible tale that will eventually unfold.

But, once it does, wow, we are truly off and running as once our fair lady of the piece has departed, her spirit remains for the main bulk of the film in the form of a ghost acting out her vengeance on her murderous husband, as and when it pleases her.

Much like, and truly akin to the beloved US TV sitcom Bewitched, this film comes with its very own puffs of smoke, comedic falling about and appearances and disappearances galore!

Oh yeah, and Barbara Nelli and Erica Blanc are stunning throughout (if a little over dressed) and there are also some decent scenes that really get developed as the movie continues onward.

Next up is The Blancheville Monster (1963), where the beautiful young daughter of a crazed count fears that she will fall victim to the family curse - to be sacrificed to fulfill an ancient family legend.

A terror movie with chills, thrills, creepy scenes and plot twists, The Blancheville Monster has an interesting script with Giovanni Grimaldi, Bruno Corbucci, Natividad Zaro all being freely inspired on Edgar Allan Poe novels; if not wholly with The fall of the House of Usher.

The plot has plenty of surprises, terror moments, and comes with a ghastly atmosphere complete with thunder and lightning, and an abundance of glorious twists and turns (not all seen coming, trust me!).

One of the first Italian horrors, this time in co-production with Spain, hence the reason why there are so many Spanish actors in it - such as Leo Anchoriz, Iran Eory, Gerard Tichy, Paco Moran, and Helga Line - while the Italian ones are the unknown Ombrella Colli (here under the pseudonym Joan Hills) and Matterasi as John Taylor.

Then we get The Third Eye (1966), where a young count who lives with his dominant and jealous mother, begins in a downward spiral into madness after his fiancée dies in an accident - or it was it not an accident?

Mainly inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (the overtly dominant mother, the count likes to prepare dead animals, hints on necrophilia), this sinister thriller was also the inspiration for Aristide Massacesi’s best horror film Buio Omega (1979).

Filmed in black and white, it boosts an uncomfortable atmosphere throughout, and even though it’s not very graphic, there are some unpleasantly violent scenes (especially a stabbing towards the end of the movie).

This film is full of bizarre and brutal images, from Nero bringing a sexy dancer home only for her to wander his creepy mansion (no film from this era could exist without one!), to the very brutal stabbing of a main character (who survives to drag themselves around the house!), to the terror of Blanc’s twin sister suffering at the hands of a psycho and a bizarre rape on a beach, The Third Eye is full of crazy imagery and basically paves the way for the no holds barred films we would be subject to in the seventies!

There is also a squirm inducing sequence when the count eviscerates a dead bird to prepare it. The only thing with the movie that is annoying are the credits for almost all people involved are credited with phony English aliases!

And lastly we get The Witch (1966), where an historian goes to a castle library to translate some ancient erotic literature. While there he discovers what he believes to be supernatural forces at work.

Not perfect, but at times startling and even disturbing, this is a fine 1966 b/w film from the versatile director, Damiano Damiani, who made the very different, A Bullet For The General, the same year and later several crime films, including, How To Kill a Judge.

Apparently Bunuel at one point considered making this, based upon the book by Carlos Fuentes, and he would no doubt have made it a little more sinister and a little less hysterical.

Anyhow, here we have the lovely Rosanna Schiaffino, who would appear in the colorful and equally strange, Check to the Queen a couple of years later. Here she is the love/sex interest, although like her worrying elderly mistress, also takes a turn at the frighteningly weird when she becomes stressed.

You will have never seen anything quite like this, trust me, despite the seeming familiar theme of possession, and should definitely check it out (as you should all the classic movies in this quite wondrous new collection from MVD Visual). These are all Full Screen (1:33.1) Presentations adapted for 16x9 TVs and come with the Special Features of:

New 2K restorations from the original negatives
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentations
Original Italian and English front and end titles on The Blancheville Monster, The Third Eye and The Witch
Original lossless mono Italian soundtracks
Original lossless mono English soundtracks on The Blancheville Monster, The Third Eye and The Witch
Optional English subtitles for the Italian soundtracks
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtracks
New video introductions to each film by Italian film devotee Mark Thompson Ashworth
Image galleries
Limited edition 80-page book featuring new writing by Roberto Curti, Rob Talbot, Jerome Reuter, Rod Barnett and Kimberly Lindbergs
Fold-out double-sided poster
Limited edition packaging with reversible sleeves featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Colin Murdoch

DISC 1: LADY MORGAN’S VENGEANCE:
New commentary by author / critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
New video essay by author / producer Kat Ellinger
New video interview with actress Erika Blanc
Newly edited video interview with actor Paul Muller
Newly edited audio interview with director Massimo Pupillo
The complete original cineromanzo, published in Suspense in April 1971
Trailer

DISC 2: THE BLANCHEVILLE MONSTER:
New commentary by filmmaker / film historian Paul Anthony Nelson
New video essay by writer / pop culture historian Keith Allison
New video interview with author / filmmaker Antonio Tentori
Opening credits for the US release of the film
Trailer

DISC 3: THE THIRD EYE:
New commentary by author / critic Rachael Nisbet
New video essay by author / filmmaker Lindsay Hallam
Newly edited video interview with actress Erika Blanc

DISC 4: THE WITCH:
New commentary by author / producer Kat Ellinger
New video essay by author Miranda Corcoran
New interview with author Antonio Tentori

The Blancheville Monster Original Trailer (Alberto De Martino, 1963)

www.arrowvideo.com