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Death Has Blue Eyes (Blu-ray Review)

REVIEW OVERVIEW

The Film
The Video
The Audio
The Supplements
Overall

SUMMARY

Mid-1970s sexploitation horror that finds two womanizing friends caught up in intrigue protecting a gorgeous telepath in Greece offers little beyond the skin and sin to recommend it, but genre fans may enjoy it.

In this softcore porn horror exploitation flick, Death has Blue Eyes, the debut feature from Niko Mastorakis, a local playboy Chess (Chris Nomikos) meets up with vacationing friend Bob Kovalski (Peter Winter) at Athens airport and the buddies proceed to embark on a series of prurient, softcore porn dalliances before being coerced by wealthy older woman Geraldine Steinwetz (Jessica Dublin), and her beautiful daughter Christine (Maria Aliferi) into acting as protection for her and her daughter. The two soon find out that there is much more to Christine than simply being beautiful and glamorous. She is a telepath and has many people after her. Cue multiple car, bike, and helicopter chases, lots of beautiful women with guns, and all the usual, juicy exploitation tropes one can imagine. This film is basically just a hard to follow titillation of sex, violence, and oddball paranormal activity. Unlike a Tinto Brass feature, this one lacks the lavish cinematography and glamourous sets that often accompany the camp and skin.

The Video

Death Has Blue Eyes is a brand-new restoration from the original camera negative approved by the director that appears in an AVC 1080p encodement on Blu-ray. Both the OAR 1.85:1 and full-frame 1.33:1 versions are included on the disc. Given the vintage and budget constraints for this film, this new restoration looks about as good as at can. There are some minor source damage issues like hints of tramlines or scratches, but it is basically clean and has vibrant colors. There is film softness, but there is more than enough detail to show up the tan lines and skin texture on the naked bodies and clothing.

The Audio

An English mono LPCM 2.0 track is included. There isn’t much dynamic range in this original monaural track, but the midrange is punchy and dialogue and music, but there is a bit of a veiled sound and some hiss with the slightest bit of crackle.

The Supplements

A two new interviews plus both widescreen and full-frame versions of the film make this a decent if not overabundant collection of bonus features.

  • Original 1.85:1 theatrical aspect ratio and full frame 1.33:1 version included
  • An Interview with Maria Aliferi (1080p; 00:17:49) – In this exclusive new interview, actress Maria Aliferi looks back at her role in Death Has Blue Eyes.
  • Nico Mastorakis (In His Own Words) (1080p; 00:24:43) – An exclusive interview-featurette with Nico Mastorakis.
  • Dancing with Death (1080p; 00:42:03) – A selection of original tracks from the film by Nikos Lavranos.
  • Trailers (1080p)
    • Theatrical Trailer
    • Extended Theatrical Trailer
  • Image Gallery (1080p)
  • Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
  • FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collectors’ booklet featuring new writing by Julian Grainger

The Final Assessment

This one is sort of funny and may make for an interesting look back at what was going in the world of sexploitation in the mid-1970s. Apart from that, this is strictly for genre fans.


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Death Has Blue Eyes is out on Blu-ray April 6, 2021 from Arrow Video


  • Studios & Distributors: Taurus Film | Arrow Video
  • Director: Nico Mastorakis
  • Written By: Nico Mastorakis
  • Run Time: 77 Mins.
  • Street Date: 6 April 2021
  • Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 (OAR) | 1.33:1 (Full-Frame Version)
  • Video Format: AVC 1080p
  • Primary Audio: English LPCM Mono
  • Subtitles: English SDH
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Mid-1970s sexploitation horror that finds two womanizing friends caught up in intrigue protecting a gorgeous telepath in Greece offers little beyond the skin and sin to recommend it, but genre fans may enjoy it.Death Has Blue Eyes (Blu-ray Review)