'Requiescant'
(Lucio Battistrada, Andrew Baxter, et al / 2-Disc Blu ray / NR / (1967) 2015 / MVD)
Overview: The son of a Mexican bandit comes upon a village that is under the thumb of a deranged former Confederate officer, who is--among other things--stealing land from the locals with phony land grants.
Blu ray Verdict: Newly re-mastered in HD and from the original negative, in truth, the opening scene of 'Requiescant' promise that this will be a revenge spaghetti western akin to something like the Lee Van Cleef movie 'Death Rides A Horse'. Surprisingly, that is not what happens, at least for a long time. For the remaining first half of the movie, the movie completely forgets everything revenge-related.
Eventually, the title character does remember what happened in the past and plots his revenge, but again the movie does not go quite how we predict. For one thing, there isn't a terrible amount of action on display here; only towards the end do things get gritty.
I'm not sure how to sum up this movie for potential viewers. The movie is slow and meandering, and as I said earlier, it lacks action. On the other hand, the movie is so atypical at times that it kept my interest up; there are some genuine good moments here and there. After a lot of thought, here's my summary of the movie: If you are looking for a gritty and action-packed revenge western, watch something like 'Death Rides A Horse' instead. However, if you have seen more than your share of spaghetti westerns (like me), and want something a little different for variety's sake, 'Requiescant' may be interesting enough for you. This is a Full Screen Presentation (1.33:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and comes with the Special Features of:
Brand new 2K restoration of the film from the original camera negative
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations
Optional English and Italian soundtracks in uncompressed PCM mono audio
Newly translated English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack
An all-new interview with Lou Castel, recorded exclusively for this release
Archive interview with director Carlo Lizzani
Theatrical Trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx
Illustrated collector s booklet containing new writing on the film by Pasquale Iannone
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