CALTIKI: THE IMMORTAL MONSTER REVIEWED
“Caltiki: The Immortal Monster” is a Lovecraftian monster movie lens’d and secretly directed by Mario Bava. The film mimics aspects of The Thing and Bava’s later work. A group of archaeologists awaken an ancient God that slumbers underneath a hidden temple. As these learned explorers try to escape, Caltiki claims them one-by-one. So, why haven’t many of you heard of the film? Well, chalk that one up to the 1950s Drive-In circuit.
The earliest aspects of Italian gore are on display here with realistic corpse makeup. While the American distributors recut the film and changed titles, they couldn’t obscure the visual nightmare of Caltiki. The film plays at a short 76 minutes, so not a moment is wasted. Still, it plays super close to 1951’s “The Thing from Another World”. Was it a knock-off? No. There’s a ton of lateral thinking, but creatures lost to time and Man are older than time itself. Pick it up, as this one of the best new discoveries of 2017.
SPECIAL FEATURES
- Brand new 2K restoration of the film from the original camera negative
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations
- Original mono Italian and English soundtracks (lossless on the Blu-ray Disc)
- Newly translated English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack
- New audio commentary by Tim Lucas, author of Mario Bava: All the Colors of the Dark
- New audio commentary by Troy Howarth, author of The Haunted World of Mario Bava and So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years of Italian Giallo Films
- From Quatermass to Caltiki, a new discussion with author and critic Kim Newman on the influence of classic monster movies on Caltiki
- Riccardo Freda, Forgotten Master, an archival interview with critic Stefano Della Casa
- The Genesis of Caltiki, an archival interview with filmmaker Luigi Cozzi
- Archival introduction to the film by Stefano Della Casa
- Alternate opening titles for the US version
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
A/V STATS
- 1.66:1 1080p transfer
- LPCM MONO
