Released by: Vinegar Syndrome Delirium: Photo Of Gioia – Movie Review: Directed by Lamberto Bava with a story credit given to Luciano Martino, Delirium (or, Delirium: Photo Of Gioia, if you prefer) opens with a sexy photo shoot for Pussycat magazine, an adult publication run by a former model named Gloria (played by Serena Grandi and named Gioia in the Italian version, thus explaining the alternate title) left to her by her late husband. Things seem fine in Gloria's life - she doesn't want for money, her business is quite successful, and she's as beautiful as she is popular. And then the murders start. The first to go is a blonde model, taken out with a pitchfork and left dead, floating in Gloria's pool. The cops come and investigate but there aren't many clues. The young man next door (Karl Zinni), bound to a wheelchair, say something - he tells the cops that the culprit was a blonde. The next day, Gloria receives photos of the victim's corpse posed in front of a giant blow up photo of Gloria herself. After that, a model named Sabrina (played by Italian pop star Sabrina Salerno), sleeps with Gloria's brother (David Brandon), who also works as her photographer. When he can't get it up, he gets angry, but she encourages him to just laugh it off and ensures him that she'll take care of him. Shortly after, as she struts about her apartment in the nude, someone lets a horde of killer bees into the room and she turns out to be victim number two. The next day, her office manager Evelyn (Daria Nicolodi) hands her an envelope with another set of pictures in it. While this is going on, Gloria tries to rekindle what she once had with an actor named Alex (George Eastman). Someone clearly has a grudge against Gloria - but who? And why? Sleazy even by the standards of the Italian Giallo films, Delirium is never the less very stylish and quite engaging. The murder set pieces are over the top in the best possible way and the film has more female flesh on display than you can shake a stick at. At times the move comes pretty close to softcore territory, leaving little to the imagination. Ms. Grandi herself, never one to be described as bashful, is genuinely good in the role. She's not only incredibly fetching but has a decent screen presence here. She looks the part and she plays it well. Karl Zinny is fun as the pervy neighbor, always spying on Gloria through his telescope, while David Brandon is great as the brother. Throw in a supporting role from an underused Daria Nicolodi and another supporting role from an oversexed George Eastman and this one winds up with a strong cast.
Released on: September 9th, 2024.
Director: Lamberto Bava
Cast: Serena Grandi, Daria Nicolodi, Vanni Corbellini, George Eastman, Karl Vinny, David Brandon
Year: 1987
Purchase From Amazon
The plot comes second to the visuals, however, and there are times where it's clear that maybe this didn't have quite the budget it should have had. Bava makes sure that everything looks good though - the compositions are strong and the use of color in the film is impressive (as are the strange sequences when we see the victims as aliens or insects through the eyes of the killer!). The film also features a great, if completely quirky, score from composer Simon Boswell. If the story is a bit on the predictable side, so be it, as everything else works well enough to easily hold our attention.
Delirium: Photo Of Gioia – UHD/Blu-ray Review:
Vinegar Syndrome brings Delirium: Photo Of Gioia to UHD in an HEVC encoded 2160p ultra-high definition 4k transfer framed at 1.85.1 widescreen with HDR10 “newly scanned & restored in 4K from its 35mm original camera negative.” Picture quality is rock solid, offering impressive detail, depth and texture throughout with excellent color reproduction, nice, strong black levels and accurate looking skin tones. There are no problems with any noticeable noise reduction or edge enhancement and compression artifacts are never an issue, with the picture always retaining a film-like look throughout. The image is also quite clean, showing the natural grain that you’d expect but not much at all in the way of actual print damage.
Audio options are provided in Italian and English language options, each track in 24-bit DTS-HD 2.0 Mono, with optional subtitles available in English only for each track. No problems to note with the audio quality, both tracks are nicely balanced, quite clean and free of any hiss or distortion. The score has a decent amount of depth to it and the sound effects have an appropriate amount of punch to them when the movie calls for it.
Extras start off with a commentary track with film historians Eugenio Ercolani and Troy Howarth that goes over Bava's career and where it was at during this period, Simon Boswell's score, what sets this movie apart from other giallo pictures that were made, why this is more of a Serena Grandi film than a Lamberto Bava film, details on the leading lady's career and insane popularity around the time the movie was made, details on the rest of the cast including Daria Nicolodi, thoughts on the murder set pieces, why Lamberto Bava considered the movie to be a family reunion of sorts, how the movie did at the box office, what Bava thought of the film, possible influences that have worked their way into the movie and quite a bit more.
Up next is a forty-one minute making-of documentary titled Nightmare Delirium which includes interviews with director Lamberto Bava, actor George Eastman, art director Antonello Geleng and cinematographer Gianlorenzo Battaglia. Bava shares his feelings on the film, explaining why he has a love/hate relationship with it, while Eastman talks about how much he enjoyed working with Grandi on the film even if he thinks she was a terrible actress. We learn how she came to be cast in the film, where some of the ideas for certain scenes came from, some of the effects work featured in the movie, thoughts on the editing of the picture, locations that were used for the shoot, memories of shooting specific scenes, what it was like on set, why Eastman considers Lamberta Bava to be half a man, what Nicolodi was like to work with, the inspiration of Iron Maiden on a key scene, Simon Boswell's score and loads more.
Meet The Photographer is a sixteen minute featurette with actor David Brandon. He talks about doing theater and film work around the time that this movie was made, how he came to be cast in the film, thoughts on his character, what it was like working with Serena Grandi at the peak of her success, recollections of filming certain scenes, getting along with Lamberto Bava on this and other productions and how he feels about the movie in hindsight.
Actor Karl Zinny is up next in the seventeen minute Peeping Karl, which goes over how he got his start in the film business and some of the early roles he took on, some of the different people that he collaborated with during this time, the state of the Italian film business in the eighties, how he came to first work with Bava on Demons and how much fun that was, how the film business has changed in the last few decades, his passion for music and interacting with his fans online.
Two Meters Of Fear is a seventeen minute interview with actor Luigi Montefiori (aka George Eastman) who, in his typically outspoken manner, talks about how he got into acting and his early training, getting typecast in westerns early on, the origin of the George Eastman alias, doing his own stunts, getting denied the roles he wanted due to his physical size, getting into script writing, his work with Joe D'Amato, some of the co-stars he worked with over the years including some American performers, working with both Mario and Lamberto Bava and the differences between their projects and why he feels that a lot of the horror films that he made were "idiotic!"
Those Who Bite And Those Who Don't is a twenty-three minute interview with first assistant director Roberto Palmerini, who lights up a smoke before going on to discuss how he got his start in the film business as a runner and worked his way up, some of the interesting early projects he had a part in working on, some of the great actors and directors that he's worked with over the years, friendships that he made along the way, connecting with and working with Lamberto Bava, the importance of Serena Grandi's presence in Delirium despite not being a great actress (though reportedly a very lovely person), getting along with Daria Nicolodi, bringing an American style of filmmaking to the film and how the Italian film industry has changed so much since the eighties.
Costume designer Nicoletta Ercole gets her moment in front of the camera with the twenty-one minute Dressing Gioia. She talks about getting her start doing costume work, being overworked during this period, working specifically with Grandi on her costumes on this and earlier films, taking the work on Delirium beceuse she liked the cast and crew, how her love of Mario Bava's films led to her working with Lamberto, trying to ensure that the movie would appeal to international audiences, getting along well with the "inconsistent" Nicolodi, why she is attracted to misunderstood people, how costumes can so easily date a film and why she feels contemporary cinema has been ruined.
There is also a selection of archival interviews here, starting with Inside Delirium, a thirteen minute interview with art director Antonello Geleng. He talks about why, from an art direction point of view, he doesn't find the movie satisfying because so much of it took place at the single villa location, what went into the set decoration for the feature, a bit of history of the villa location, thoughts on the effects featured in the movie and how he feels about the film overall.
We also get an eighteen-minute piece called Snapshots Of A Murder wherein Lamberto is interviewed about directing the film. He talks about working with the different cast and crew members and his thoughts on the movie overall. Eastman shows up in the nine-minute Stories From A Bathtub featurette where literally just trashes the film and pretty much everyone who worked on it. It's pretty funny. In the eight-minute Murders In The Red featurette, cinematographer Gianlorenzo Battaglia speaks about working with Bava, what it was like on set and how he feels about the movie. The last of the new interviews is the thirteen-minute Inside Delirium piece with art director Massimo Antonello Geleg. He speaks about what he did on set and what he was responsible, some of the people he worked with and his thoughts on the movie.
Carried over from the old DVD release are some vintage interviews with both Lamberto Bava and David Brandon. Each of these runs roughly twelve-minutes each and if you haven't seen them before they're definitely worth checking out. Also carried over is the eight-minute interview with Eastman where he talks about working with Bava and offers some memories from the shoot.
Note that this release also comes packaged with some reversible cover sleeve art and, if purchased directly from the Vinegar Syndrome website, a limited edition spot varnish slipcover featuring newly created artwork from Suspiria Vilchez and limited to 5,000 copies.
Delirium: Photo Of Gioia - The Final Word:
Delirium isn't a top tier giallo but it is a seriously stylish and sleazy eighties entry in the cannon and it's strange enough to stand out from the pack. Bava keeps the movie going at a good pace, Boswell's score is awesome and the lovely Ms. Grandi carries the movie well. The UHD edition from Vinegar Syndrome is a keeper, with the feature given a gorgeous presentation on a disc stacked with extras.
