Arrow Video (or the current distributor) has done near-miraculous work with this 1979 oddity. The Blu-ray transfer scrubs away the murky VHS-era grime, revealing Guccione’s lavish, purpose-built sets and Giuseppe Rotunno’s opulent cinematography (yes, Fellini’s DP shot this). McDowell’s wild-eyed “I am alive! I am alive!” scene finally looks like film, not a bootleg.
This Blu-ray presents the film in its original, uncut director’s cut (Italian: Caligola ), preserving the startling blend of high-brow period drama, graphic violence, and unsimulated sexual content that made the film a worldwide sensation and a censorship battleground. caligula 1979 blu ray
To understand the value of the , you have to understand the war that created the film. Director Tinto Brass (an Italian auteur known for his erotic-political visions) wanted to create a savage indictment of fascism and absolute power, using the Roman emperor Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (Caligula) as a vessel. Arrow Video (or the current distributor) has done
Experience the most controversial epic ever made in stunning high definition. Directed by Tinto Brass, produced by Penthouse founder Bob Guccione, and starring Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren, Peter O’Toole, and John Gielgud, Caligula charts the brutal ascent and depraved reign of Rome’s most infamous emperor. I am alive
Caligula (1979) will never be a comfortable movie. It is an assault on the senses. However, the new Blu-ray release finally treats it like the big-budget, high-art, disaster-piece that it is.