IT'S NOT GOOD FOR A MAN TO BE ALONE
Color, 1973, 90 mins. 8 secs.
Directed by Pedro Olea
Starring Carmen Sevilla, José Luis López Vázquez, Máximo Valverde, Helga Liné, Eduardo Fajardo, Lola Merino

THE HOUSE WITHOUT FRONTIERS
Color, 1972, 95 mins. 42 secs.
Directed by Pedro Olea
Starring Tony Isbert, Geraldine Chaplin, Viveca Lindfors, Patty Shepard, Eusebio Poncela
Mondo Macabro (Blu-ray) (US R0 HD) / WS (2.35:1 / 1.66:1) (16:9)

Continuing its ongoing explorations of the wild side of Spanish cinema where the art film and exploitation often collided, Mondo Macabro turned in 2024 to writer-director Pedro Olea with a two-disc Blu-ray set of two significant entries woefully hard to see for years in Secrets and Mysteries: Films by Pedro Olea. Probably best known to genre fans for his eerie 1971 horror film The Ancines Woods (El Bosque del Lobo) and to the general public for acclaimed titles like The Fencing Master, he made numerous films during and after the Generalissimo Franco era but didn't quite seem to fall into one neat classification.

Disc one is devoted to the astonishing and disturbing psychodrama It's Not Good for a Man To Be Alone (No es bueno que el hombre esté solo), and the disc packaging is evasive about the central concept of the film. So consider yourself cautioned here if you're highly sensitive to spoilers of any kind, but it's revealed early on that this plays like a much more twisted ancestor to Lars and the Real Girl or the 1974 Michel Piccoli oddity Lifesize (Grandeur nature). Seemingly mild-mannered shipping engineer Martin (Carlos Saura regular José Luis López Vázquez) is married but doesn't ever bring his wife to the office or any public outings, leading everyone to think she's bedridden. Everyone including his secretary (Spanish horror favorite Liné) is curious, but things don't really get hazardous until he gets nosy new neighbors in an apartment next to his house: prostitute Lina (The Glass Ceiling's Sevilla) and her precocious daughter, Cati (Merino). They start to get too close to uncovering the true nature of Martin's wife-- that she's actually a life-sized doll he treats like a human companion. Things get even more complicated when Lina's pimp, Mauro (Tragic Ceremony's Valverde), starts butting in, setting the stage for drastic measures.

Though it mostly falls outside the horror genre at least in terms of tone, this one definitely qualifies in the final stretch with a startling climax you really have to see to believe. All of the performances here are excellent, with Vázquez and Sevilla in particular getting standout roles and composer Alfonso Santisteban (The Killer of Dolls) supplying a marvelous score that's only been released in tiny bits over the years. It's also an extremely atmospheric film with the office and seaside house settings nestled in the middle of one of Spain's oldest cities, Bilbao, making this an easy recommendation for fans of psychological thrillers or the modern-day side of Spanish horror. The Mondo Macabro transfer from the negative obviously doesn't have a lot of competition on home video for comparison, but it looks excellent with only some minor staining and other age-related damage popping up in a few spots. The scope framing is nicely replicated here along with the earthy color scheme, and the DTS-HD MA 2.0 Spanish mono audio is faultless with optional English subtitles provided. The extras kick off with a video interview with Olea (28m52s) about his discovery of the "morbidly fascinating" script for this film, the censorship issues at the time, the financial gambles he had to take on his films, and his attraction to the "diabolical" side of human nature. Then you get an interview with Valverde (38m20s) about his transition to acting in Madrid after studying law in Seville, the process of working his way up in '70s Spanish cinema, his side gig as a rookie bullfighter in his youth, and his positive memories of his fellow actors on this film. Finally the Olea short film Anabel (33m22s) from 1964 is presented in a pristine restoration and makes for a macabre little companion piece, also showing how loneliness (in this case a solitary grieving woman) can take strange turns.

Disc two is devoted to the more challenging 1972 dramatic thriller The House Without Frontiers (La casa sin fronteras), also shot around Bilbao and here involving a shadowy fascist organization that gives the film its title. Prone to torturous interrogation techniques and murder, they send new hire Daniel (Isbert) to track down a deserted member, Anabel (Chaplin), to whom he's been directed. He soon comes to believe he's being fed misleading information, all the more treacherous given his employer's habit of jamming stilettos into anyone they feel deserves it. By the time he figures out the truth about who's giving the orders and whether Anabel is on their hit list, it might be too late. Again this one features a strong roster of actors including Viveca Lindfors in a small but potent role as an organization bigwig, plus another Spanish horror cult figure, Patty Shepard, and an opening bit for Eusebio Poncela around the same period as Cannibal Man.

Somehow this has never gotten a legit home video release of any kind until now, and again the HD transfer from the negative looks solid with the original Spanish mono track and the English track (which may have never been heard anywhere before) also included in a very welcome gesture. Olea appears for another interview (19m35s), in this case talking about a family member who inspired his interest in horror, the iffy budgetary decision he made for this film, the casting process (including an attempt to get Malcolm McDowell), and the music scoring process. Also included are the English credits and theatrical trailer, plus another Olea short film, 1963's The Playground (16m18s), also restored. This one is an early adaptation of the very creepy Ray Bradbury story about a man whose nocturnal visit to an urban children's playground takes a very sinister turn; this was also semi-famously adapted in 1985 as an episode of The Ray Bradbury Theater with William Shatner. The limited edition also comes with a slipcover, reversible inner sleeves, eight art cards featuring poster art and lobby cards, and a 24-page insert booklet with an essay by Ismael Fernandez.

Reviewed on August 28, 2024.