Plot: What’s it about?
Dr. Bannister is an aging woman with the best years of her life behind her, not to mention a not too bright future ahead of her. As if her advancing age wasn’t enough, her face has been scarred and as such, she has little to be optimistic about. She’s old, she looks like a freak, and as time passes, she becomes more and more desperate for a solution. A potential answer is found in Madrid, where a professor has been doing work on animals, to regenerate lost cells and to this point, his success rate has been high. But his experiments have been limited to animals and no human tests are planned, as he feels further tests are needed. This is because his serum not only regenerates cells, but it causes violent streaks in the test subjects. So the animals are healed, but at the cost of vicious, aggressive dispositions. When Dr. Bannister offers to be the first human test subject, the professor refuses and informs her of the undesired traits also caused by the serum. This upsets her greatly, as she has no other options and as such, she makes a most crucial decision. She is so desperate for the serum, she kills the professor and consumes the formula without hesitation. It turns out the serum works on humans, as she is transformed into a gorgeous young woman. But whenever anyone gets close to her secret, the violent side emerges and unleashes. Will anyone discover the truth about her new self, or will she get away with murder?
I am always interested in new European sleaze cinema discs, so I was pleased to see Retromedia’s release of Satanik. As based on dark comics, Satanik is all about a beautiful woman and her vicious nature, which is a good start. The premise here is excellent, a once scarred woman ingests s serum that makes her gorgeous, but at the cost of a lethal, violent temper that is impossible to control. So we have the potential for some action scenes, violent battles, and of course, ample naked women. And while the latter comes in solid frequency, the lack of resources holds back this production to no end. You don’t need a ton of movie to make a good movie of this, as Danger: Diabolik was by no means a high end production, but it seems as if either funds were too thin here, or they were misused at some point. This is because the entire picture seems low end, especially whenever action is needed, like stunts or chases. So these scenes come off as poorly crafted, which lessens the entertainment value more than a little. I do like the Satanik character, from the costume to the actress, but the premise is mishandled in this picture. If the action scenes could have been reworked though, this might have been a solid movie. But if you’re a diehard eurosleaze buff, then you might want to give Satanik a shot.
Video: How does it look?
Satanik is presented in full screen, which doesn’t seem to be the original aspect ratio. I can’t be sure, but the visuals seem cramped in this edition, as if this were a cropped treatment, perhaps even from a 2.35:1 intended presentation. This is because some scenes have information on the sides that seems halved or worse, which is a shame. I’m sure Retromedia used the best sources they could find, but even so, the lack of a widescreen option is a let down. The image is decent for a low profile, low budget film of this kind, but that still means grain, soft visuals, and other signs of wear & tear on the elements. This version is watchable and probably the best available home video edition, but it is a soft, flawed visual effort.
Audio: How does it sound?
A clean, not too dated audio track is what I wanted here and in the end, that’s what this disc provides. As I figured, the track offers little in terms of dynamics or depth, but that’s fine and this movie doesn’t need those elements. The music has some spots where it sounds a tad distorted, but nothing serious, so no worries there. As is the case with the sound effects, which are decent in scope, but due to the age & nature of the material, never get to shine. The dialogue is easy to understand and never harsh, with an English language version presented here. I am also scoring this on a curve, given the age & nature of the movie involved.
Supplements: What are the extras?
This disc includes a selection of Satanik themed artwork, most of which seems to be magazine covers and the like.
