Bakterion - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

During WWII, we learn from the film's opening narration, England had an ace up its sleeve in the event that the war went south and the Allies found themselves being overwhelmed by the Nazis and the other Axis forces. Their "Plan B," as it were, was developed in secret labs, a virus designed to wipe out Berlin and leave it uninhabitable. Nothing would survive. Thankfully, for the rest of the world, history didn't go that direction, and the virus wasn't needed, but they kept it, still, as a contingency. When has anyone ever had a doomsday device that they willingly surrendered without pressure?

Dr. Andrews, one of the country's top scientists, is exposed to the virus, and it turns him into a melted, violent monster with a mission for murder. He stalks the alleys and dark corners of the English countryside in search of blood, claiming victims at their most vulnerable, in various stages of undress. What's unclear to authorities is whether or not Dr. Andrews is contagious, because his victims don't ever live long enough to determine whether or not what he has is something that can be caught. Deciding that the gamble isn't worth it, an airstrike is called on the small town to wipe it out completely. Better that a thousand are killed all at once than millions, slowly and horribly, in a pandemic that may or may not be able to be contained.

It's up to Police Captain Kirk (no relation to the starship captain) to find and kill the diseased doctor before the city is reduced to smoldering rubble. Kirk is played by David Warbeck, a veteran of Italian splatter cinema classics like The Beyond. Bakterion, however, is no The Beyond. There are a handful of scenes, action setpieces set in a church and in a movie theater, that hint at what Bakterion may have been, had it been made with more vigor. The idea is there, a movie that melds the sensibilities between what England and Italy were respectively doing in their neck of the woods during this era of the late 70s/early 80s, but there's no passion there. It feels like a plot-by-the-numbers, fill-in-the-blank outing that doesn't even commit to its sordid exploitation intent. All around, in plotting, in realization, and in actualization, it feels like a half-measure. 

At its theoretical best, it feels like a Hammer Horror production, as directed by Lucio Fulci. In actual execution, it's one of the dullest police procedurals you'll ever see, with the fugitive man a goopy, melty monster. The thrills are generally nonexistent, and the gore is scant. There's plenty of nudity, though, so it does check that box of cheap thrills. If only it had the courage to back its conviction, it could have been the start to a fun English-Italian sub-genre. Alas, it wasn't meant to be...

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
Bakterion infects the home video market in a two-disc release, seeing the film on 4K and Blu-ray. The two discs are housed in a standard case with a reversible cover, both sides featuring appropriately disgusting cover artwork, with the infected doctor covered in slime and gore. If you order from Vinegar Syndrome you get to pick up an exclusive slipcover. 

Plotting and story issues aside, Bakterion does look fantastic. Lensed by legendary cinematographer Giovanni Bergamini (Cannibal Ferox, The Inglorious Bastards), it has a palpable sense of dread in those scenes where the infected doctor is stalking his prey. The film is rife with deep, dark, exaggerated shadows and a playful use of color, particularly in those splashes of red in its most violent moments. For its release on 4K UHD, Vinegar Syndrome restored the film from its original 16mm camera negatives and graded it in Dolby Vision HDR. It looks spectacular. Details are sharply rendered. Colors pop beautifully and vividly. And the presentation is overlaid by a fine layer of film grain. 

Bakterion has Italian and English language options for viewers, both 2.0 mono and encoded in lossless DTS-HD MA. This being an Italian production, whichever version you choose means someone is going to be dubbed, all actors on set speaking their own native tongue. Whichever option you choose is solidly fine. Sound effects in the film's most exciting moments sound muffled once they reach a certain decibel level, likely an issue of limited budget and recording equipment used at the time of the film's production. Still, it's not bad. Dialogue clarity is never an issue, and the musical score is allowed to reach climactic highs and crescendos without ever being over-loud. Splitting the mono mix to the front two stereo channels allows it to feel fuller and more robust.

As per Vinegar Syndrome's M.O., they've loaded Bakterion with a decent offering of new supplements, including audio commentaries, a featurette, and interviews. The commentary with Eugenio and Howarth is certainly a highlight of the set, as fans of the film and the genre will find enough here to keep them entertained for a good, long while and shed light on the film's production history.

4K Disc

• Audio Commentary - Film historians Eugenio Ercolani and Troy Howarth

Blu-ray Disc

• Audio Commentary - Film historians Eugenio Ercolani and Troy Howarth
• The Core of the Monster (HD 23:45)  - Interview with FX artist and actor Robero Ricci
• Latex Memories (HD 18:24) - Interview with make-up artist Adriano Carboni
• Monster Kids: The Heritage of Tonino Ricci and Rino Carboni (HD 25:54) - Featurette with Roberto Ricci and Adriano Carboni
• Alternate English Titles (HD 4:36)

Bakterion has a lot of individual elements that sound great on paper: An Italian-filmed, England-set horror story about a mutated killer on the loose, whose mere existence may mean the end of the country. It's a chilling lesson about suffering from your own consequences, to be hoisted by one's own petard. In actual practice, it's almost unbearably dull. Vinegar Syndrome's release, as a technical product, is awesome. The video transfer is exquisite, and the supplements are lovingly curated. For Italian genre completists, it's at the very least Worth a Look.