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[KommissarX]

No love for this puppy? While I think Freda's overall capability as a director certainly should not be judged by his output in the 70s and thereafter, I still must say that I find his late films strangely entertaining. L'IGUANA DALLA LINGUA DI FUOCO, TRAGIC CEREMONY and MURDER OBSESSION are severely flawed, confusing and cheesy films, yet I find myself putting them on more often than they probably deserve. They all mingle in my mind and form an amusing trilogy of old-fashioned clichés and unashamedly cheap thrills which somehow appeal to the lover of low-end cinema in me. MURDER OBSESSION combines the giallo elements of L'IGUANA with the black mass set piece of TRAGIC CEREMONY and what we get is a messy horror/giallo hybrid with a Gothic undertone. Throw in some Laura Gemser nudity, ludicrous gore effects and a mind-boggling nightmare scene with a bare-breasted Silvia Dionisio screaming at rubber spiders and bats, and you have a film that may not be anywhere near great, but that should at least hold your interest.

The picture quality on the Raro disc is unfortunately pretty bad. The non-anamorphic transfer is obviously taken from an analogue tape master with the usual deficiencies you'd expect, including occasional line tearing. Also the composition sometimes seems compromised (see third screen grab). Does anybody know if the DeAgostini dvd uses the same source material? Almost as disappointing is the poorly synced English language track - a pity there are no English subs for the Italian track. The disc features a short interview with Sergio Stivaletti talking about his first special make-up job. Also included is a deleted scene (taken from a full frame vhs) that adds a few shots to the attempted murder in the bathtub.









I wonder if MURDER OBSESSION (and L'IGUANA for that matter) will ever surface on DVD in a better edition. I might be in the minority, but I would gladly upgrade them both.
 

[ecc]

The italian disc does not look very good.  It does feature some additional bits not in the English version.

I've got 3 tapes of this one.  The first is the Wizard Video US tape called FEAR which is cropped but looks quite nice.  Then there's THE WAILING which is a cut UK tape.  Then there's the Greek tape with the original export title UNCONSCIOUS (the cropping of the title suggests 1.66:1 would be a better aspect ratio).  There were actually 2 Greek tapes.  The other one was called SATAN'S ALTAR (I don't know if that was the onscreen title).

[slizwiz]

Oh there is love for this puppy. Murder Obsession is awesome.

[Johan Melle]

I love this film! It has its faults, for sure, but there are so many great things (the black mass with the giant spider, Anita Strindberg, the ending etc) that make it rewarding. I think it's a fitting end to Freda's career. I really hope for a better DVD, though, as the Raro release is extremely disappointing - especially compared to their earlier releases.

[ecc]

There's a copy of the other Greek tape titled SATAN'S ALTAR up at eBay right now:
[ebay]170524776915[/ebay]

[romantico]

I like this film and it has great atmosphere . Of course laura gemser is in it .

[ecc]

DVDBeaver comparison of MURDER OBSESSION.

I also reviewed it at DVD Drive-In which allowed for a bit more space to focus on the film analysis.

[Inspector Tanzi]

DVDBeaver comparison of MURDER OBSESSION.

I also reviewed it at DVD Drive-In which allowed for a bit more space to focus on the film analysis.

A vast improvement. From shit to stunning. I won't upgrade just yet though as the blu ray is out april/may time 

[Johan Melle]

Most certainly a great improvement. I do think it's a little disappointing that the Italian track isn't included, though. The Italian soundtrack is so different from the English one that it's almost like watching a different film. For fans of the film it would be very nice to have both versions!

[ecc]

Most certainly a great improvement. I do think it's a little disappointing that the Italian track isn't included, though. The Italian soundtrack is so different from the English one that it's almost like watching a different film. For fans of the film it would be very nice to have both versions!

The Italian track will be on the Blu-Ray version in April.  According to Raro, the electronic score on the English track was composed and performed by Keith Emerson.

[Scyther]

Apparently there have been problems with U.S. customers ordering this from Amazon? Has anyone encountered a problem thus far? Was thinking of ordering it, but am curious as to the issues.

http://www.amazon.com/Murder-Obsession-John-Richardson/dp/B005DKS20M/ref=sr_1_3?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1323912163&sr=1-3

[unclefred]

I had it on preorder and got it without a hitch. It was nice to see a decent copy of it, after all these years.

[Starski]

Watched this recently but wasn't quite sure what to make of it,kinda reminded me of Nude For Satan for some reason,no idea why-maybe the giant spider had something to do with it 
I guess i must of liked it,as i'm about to pre-order the Raro Blu-Ray that's due out in a few weeks,i think it warrants further viewing and what better way to do it than in HD 

I'd much prefer Raro put out Perfume Of The Lady In Black or The Secret Of Dorian Gray on Blu instead,but hey,can't have everything.

[ecc]

Blu caps added to DVDBeaver

[Ben Cobb]

Looks like a great upgrade from my Italian Raro disc. Count me in!