With Black Friday over for another year, it feels as it Xmas is coming quicker and quicker to our doors. With Arrow’s new Western boxset about to hits shelves, we thought it time to get you in on the set and why you should buy!
First, for this time only arrow… ‘Maniacal outlaws thirsting for blood! Corrupt capitalists profiting from the suffering of the common folk! Desperate people pushed to violent revenge! The Italian western has never been grittier than in this quartet of later-period cult classics, in which the trademark cynicism of the genre escalates into the radical pessimism of the late 1960s / early 1970s world.’ Wait Simon, why aren’t you writing? Well it is due to the Fulci fanboys that I will be avoiding spilling out lots of details and avoid too much confrontation please.
The set is excellent. Lets start with Paolo Bianchini’s I WANT HIM DEAD (1968). It is a little weaker than the other three films on the set. It tells the story of Craig Hill as an ex-Confederate soldier at the end of the Civil War. The solider vows revenge after his sister is gang raped and then murdered. Simple set up and very rewarding pay off. Next, is Edoardo Mulargia’s rip roaring EL PURO (1969). This is a swaggering gem of a western. Robert Woods rolls out with guns and fists, to take down bounty hunters who killed a barmaid (Rosalba Neri) who he loved. Brilliant and if you like Westerns like Eastwood’s or the vengeance films of the bigger Western film brands, this is it. Mario Camus WRATH OF THE WIND (1970), should be seen as the superstar film of the set. Terence Hill, yes that man, plays an assassin. He finds himself compromised. Kill or think with his conscience. He is told to deal with his brother (Mario Pardo) and hired by a ruthless landholder (Fernando Rey). Its more political that any of the other films here but it lags in the later portions. Finally, Fabio Testi and Tomas Milian, two solid stars, are given the chance to appear in Lucio Fulci’s FOUR OF THE APOCLAYPSE (1975). Its a bold, building story of the effects of one on another. A quartet of misfits go from sharing the same jail cell to a savage odyssey. Torture, murder, rape, blood and cannibalism are all here. The reason is a ruthless bandit has eyes on them and so the foursome fight for their lives and revenge. Brilliant and about what you expect from Fulci.
There are three points here to really talk about. First the transfer. EL PURO is exemplary. This deserves an outing on the big screen. It has shook the tree and found a bushel of kites falling out. A nice way of saying, crisp, rupture free image await you. FOUR OF THE APOCLAYPSE then looks nice. It has a little wash out but its very minimal. 
WRATH OF THE WIND is flat but it serves the film as a whole quite well. Deflating the image but cleaning up the grease and grime. I WANT HIM DEAD has nice texture, tone in the most. I feel it was lit softly in the main by the DOP. This possibly has come to light after restoration. Second, the extra. Paolo Bianchini interview is short but gleans a lot of the man as a film maker. He talks film and his working process in a way that is uplifting. Two versions of the EL PURO can be watched separately and enjoyed as different film. Not a majorly different film but the 108 minute version has an issue with being too much for me at least. Its a well worth examination. Audio commentary by author and critic Howard Hughes on WRATH OF WIND, is detailed, slow, maybe monotonal but valuable. Audio commentary by author and producer Kat Ellinger on FOUR OF THE APOCLAYPSE is the best extra in the set. Kat is value for money on most things. Her working knowledge of Fulci, cinema and the things we don’t often see, is to some, priceless. Here it is.
Finally, the box itself. Gilles Vranckx is beautiful. Buy it alone for this…
Product Features
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentations of all four films
- 2K restorations of all four films from the original 35mm camera negatives, with El Puro newly restored by Arrow Films for this release
- Italian and English front and end titles on all four films
- Restored original lossless mono Italian and English soundtracks on all four films
- English subtitles for the Italian soundtracks
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtracks
- Brand new introductions to each film by journalist and critic Fabio Melelli
- Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the films by author and critic Howard Hughes
- Fold-out double-sided poster featuring newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx
- Limited edition packaging with reversible sleeves featuring original artwork and a slipcover featuring newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx
DISC 1 – I WANT HIM DEAD
- Brand new audio commentary by critics Adrian J. Smith and David Flint
- The Man Who Hated Violence – brand new interview with director Paolo Bianchini
- Cut and Shot – brand new interview with editor Eugenio Alabiso
- Nico Unchained – archival interview with composer Nico Fidenco
- English theatrical trailer
- Image gallery
DISC 2 – EL PURO
- Two versions of the film: the 98-minute cut, presented in Italian and English, and the longer, 108-minute version, assembled from the original camera negative and an archival print and presented in both Italian and a newly created hybrid English/Italian mix*
- Brand new audio commentary by critics Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson
- Brand new interview with actor Robert Woods
- Brand new, in-depth appreciation of the soundtrack and its composer, Alessandro Alessandroni, by musician and disc collector Lovely Jon
DISC 3 – WRATH OF THE WIND
- Alternate, 106-minute Spanish-language version of the film, featuring additional and extended scenes not found in the Italian or English versions
- Brand new audio commentary by author and critic Howard Hughes
- The Days of Wrath – brand new interview with camera operator Roberto D’Ettorre Piazzoli
- They Call It… Red Cemetery! – a short film from 2022 by filmmaker Francisco Lacerda, serving as a love letter to the spaghetti western genre
- Alternate “Revenge of Trinity” opening titles, newly restored for this release
- Image gallery
DISC 4 – FOUR OF THE APOCALYPSE
- Brand new audio commentary by author and producer Kat Ellinger
- It Takes Four – previously unreleased interview with production manager Roberto Sbarigia
- Brand new, in-depth appreciation of the film by author, critic and Lucio Fulci scholar Stephen Thrower
- Brand new, in-depth appreciation of the soundtrack and its composers, Franco Bixio, Fabio Frizzi and Vince Tempera, by musician and disc collector Lovely Jon
- Newly restored theatrical trailer
- Image gallery
