This is something Hammer fans have been waiting a long, long time since the new owners of the studio started releasing some amazing 4K editions. They have finally has announced the next title getting their all-star treatment is none other than The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), the film that really put them in the big league. While they started to get attention with their two Quatermass films, once Curse hit the theaters, including the US, it just exploded. And now, the wait is over. Sort of.
I thought I knew what a “krimi film” was and had seen a couple of them over the years. Turns out, in fact, I knew very little about them. I thought they were just a little off shoot to the Italian giallo films but made in Germany, which they kind of were, but so different. Kind of like saying all pasta is the same as spaghetti! The term krimi is slang for Kriminalfilme, or Crime Film, that was shortened to just krimi. This moniker was created after a series of films based on the works of British author Edgar Wallace and his son Bryan Edgar Wallace, mainly starting by the films made by the West Germany company Rialto Films between 1959 and 1972, but also a series of films by Artur Brauner with the Central Cinema Company (CCC), that he founded in 1946. Brauner was also the one to bring back the criminal mastermind, Dr. Mabuse, back to the screen with a series of films. But that’s for another review!
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Fans of Spanish horror are going to love this latest box set from Severin Films. They still just blow me away with the titles they are releasing. This set has 2 films that I’ve never even heard of, and that is coming from a huge fan of Spanish horror! Not to mention the fact that they’ve never been released over here in the states. In fact, 3 out of the 4 titles have never legitimately been released over here! Plus, as usual with Severin’s releases, these are just packed full of extras, from commentaries to interviews, and much more.
PLUS, 3 of the titles are scanned in 4K from original negatives, while the last one is scanned in 2K from the negative. Keep in mind, the last time I saw Cross of the Devil was from about a 10 generation VHS tape. This was a rare title that was written by Paul Naschy and directed by John Gilling. So going from that to a 4K print!?!?! What a time to be alive!
Here’s a breakdown of the films and what extras each of them has:
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