Bell from Hell

Truely a classic of the Spanish 70's cinema, but the new dvd has been sourced from a cut print and is missing three scenes and part of a fourth. Be advised that the complete film was released in the UK, but that VHS release is out of print.
The framing is indeed off...off centered to the left and overmatted top and bottom. LBX scenes from the Spanish print included in the extras confirm this.
Very sloppy work from Pathfinder. Worth a rental if you've never seen it.

I've read mixed reviews about "A Bell From Hell" for years, but I've never had a chance to actually see the film, so my expectations were in check. However, after watching the new Lions Gate DVD I'm happy to say it's one of the best 60's-70's Spanish horror films I've ever seen, and I would easily stick it right up there with The House That Screamed, In A Glass Cage, and Blood Spattered Bride.

Basically it's a simple revenge story, about a young man who's recently been released from a mental institution, and is eager to teach a lesson to those were responsible for committing him. His vehicle for retribution is a series of vaguely cruel and humiliating "practical-jokes" that gain in severity until they become harrowingly grotesque.

Although it has a lot in common with the Italian "Giallos" of the time, A Bell From Hell also displays a level poetry and surrealism that's ultimately more lush and dreamy. Director Claudio Guerín Hill, doesn't appear all that hung up on logic, exposition, or the conventions of a linear plot, but he is a master-stylist capable of composing highly effective scenes that are breathtaking as they veer from beauty to brutality. In fact his use of artfully shot and edited slaughterhouse footage to foreshadow future events, will undoubtedly put some viewers off, but it's inclusion doesn't have the sleazy gratuitous feel that it does in the "mondo" & Italian Cannibal films of the 70's, and I would argue for the validity of it's inclusion.

The cast is attractive, both male and female, and Bell also has the added bonus of featuring the always fascinating, Viveca Lindfors in a substantial part.

Sadly, it appears on the last day of shooting, the Director was killed when he fell (or jumped) from the bell-tower featured in film. Had he lived he probably would have made some remarkable films.

This 1973 Euro ArtHouse Gothic-Horror movie has been compared to works by Bunuel, Polanski, and Bava, so if you happen to like films of that sort, this may appeal to you. It has elements of horror mixed with elements of social commentary. I gave it a try but wasn't too keen on it myself. The story line is simple. A young man returns to his childhood home after being kept at a mental asylum for several years. He has been the victim of his aunt and her 3 daughters who schemed to cheat him out of his inheritance. Now he's back to wreak vengeance on all of them. After his release, he goes to work at a slaughterhouse to learn how to kill cattle (stun them, string them up, cut them open and let them bleed to death). He intends the same fate for his treacherous relatives. All smiles, he lures them into his house of horror. After setting a swarm of bees onto his wheelchair-bound aunt, he manages to get his 3 pretty cousins down to the cellar where he strings them up like meat at the slaughterhouse (the scene that gained this film its notoriety). Unfortunately he doesn't have the nerve to cut them open and the tables are turned against him. In a scene reminiscent of Edgar Allan Poe, he is entombed behind a brick wall with a noose round his neck, set to hang with the next tolling of the church bell.

The horror angle is intermixed with social satire about youthful alienation, the hypocrisy of the petite bourgeoisie and oblique comments on Spanish politics.

There is little in the way of shock-horror or gore, unless you think documentary style footage of cows being slaughtered and gutted is gory. There is also little nudity or sex (in the slaughterhouse scene, we only get to see the girls from the back, just like on the DVD cover). Remember that this film was shot when Spain was still under the puritanical reign of General Francisco Franco. Apparently much of what was censored was footage of cows being killed. :)

The runtime for this movie is controversial. IMdB has a Spanish version clocking in at 106mins. This DVD version goes for just over 92mins. That's a 14min difference. On the DVD, mention is made of the "rumored" longer cut which no one seems to have seen. However if it's just more scenes of dying cows, I'm not too aggrieved.

This Spanish/French co-production was shot with an English speaking cast. It was subsequently dubbed into Spanish and French for local consumption. Unfortunately even the English version we have here is dubbed, with uneven lip-synching throughout. The sound is 2.0 mono. It also comes with alternate Spanish and French soundtracks.

The DVD transfer is pretty good for a film of its vintage. IMdB has the Original Theathrical Aspect Ratio at 2.35:1. Pathfinder's DVD is transferred in 1.85:1 (enhanced for widescreen TV). The opening credits are cut off at the edges. Otherwise visual composition looks OK. The film source is very clean with almost no dirt, debris or damage. Colors are natural with good skintones. Film grain is evident throughout. Black levels are just a tad short of that last ounce of inky blackness but quite good nonetheless. Overall a pretty good effort save for the questionable aspect ratio.

This Special Edition comes with a pretty scholarly commentary by Chris D of American Cinematheque. There is an alternate "clothed version" of one scene taken from the sanitized Spanish release, and alternate Opening and Closing credits in Spanish (La Campana del Infierno). There are also biographies of the cast and crew and a collection of stills. There are trailers for other horror films by Pathfinder but none of the film itself. No insert is included.

This is not a Hollywood type horror movie. If you're into ArtHouse-Horror, this may be for you. But take into account the missing 14mins and the questionable aspect ratio.