Torso, Sergio Martinos Trailblazing 1973 Slasher Film, Set For 4K Release in Septembe

An early cornerstone of the slasher movie genre is coming to 4K Ultra HD.

On September 17, physical media distributor Arrow Films will release Sergio Martino’s 1973 film “Torso” in a limited edition box set featuring a brand-new 4K restoration from the original camera negative. Both versions of the film — the 94-minute Italian cut and the 90-minute English-language export — will be presented for the first time in Dolby Vision, with restored lossless Italian and English mono soundtracks.

Though slightly less well-known to horror fans than contemporaries like Mario Bava, Dario Argento or Lucio Fulci, Martino’s impact on the genre remains indisputable. His work in giallo films, the Italian murder-mystery subgenre that drew many of its foundational elements from the structure and style of films like Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 classic “Psycho,” not only led to some of the most colorful titles in cinema history (including “So Sweet… So Perverse” and “Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key”) but evolutions to the genre’s tropes that have since become horror boilerplate. “Torso” is a defining example of giallo formulas that manages to still feel as fresh as the hundreds of films, from “Halloween” to “Friday the 13th” to “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” that followed in its footsteps.

The limited edition release, its first ever worldwide in 4K, not only features interviews with Martino but many of his collaborators, as well as contemporary horror experts and scholars to contextualize the film’s creation and legacy. Arrow Video’s pedigree with physical media releases, particularly cult and horror titles, is well-established; they previously released three other Martino films in a box set, and have collected giallo titles in three (and counting) box sets, offering hardcore fans and newcomers to the genre opportunities to experience standard-bearers alongside less well known entries.

The limited edition “Torso” set is currently available for pre-sale on the Arrow Video website and at a variety of online retailers.

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Jenniffer Sheldon

Update: 2024-09-14

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