Heavy Metal Magazine Fan Page - Movies

Basic Information

Release Date - September 20, 1973 in Theaters (In Italy) by Jumbo Cinematografica, titled "Baba Yaga, The Devil Witch"
1987 VHS by King Of Video, titled "Kiss Me Kill Me"
2001 poor quality full frame DVD by Diamond Entertainment, titled "Kiss Me, Kill Me"
May 27, 2003 DVD by Blue Underground, titled "Baba Yaga"
April 27, 2009 Re-edited Director's Cut DVD by Shameless Screen Entertainment, titled "Baba Yaga; The Final Cut"
February 28, 2012 Blu-ray by Blue Underground, titled "Baba Yaga"
October, 2020 Redux, re-edited and uncensored Director's Cut limited edition Blu-ray by Shameless Screen Entertainment, titled "Baba Yaga, The Devil Witch"

Running Time - 1hr. 29min. (Redux) or 1hr. 22min.

BBFC Rating - 18 (contains strong nudity, sex and implied sexual violence), not rated in America

Production Studio - 14 Luglio Cinematografica and Simone Allouche Productions

Links:
The Internet Movie Database

Blu-ray Features

Region 0 (Redux by Shameless):
- Audio: English (LPCM 2.0), Italian (LPCM 2.0 with English subtitles), and Audio Commentary by Kat Ellinger (author, editor, and critic on Redux version)
- 1.85:1 16/9
- Redux version with 6 minutes of cuts restored. Just before the premiere, the movie producers cut nearly 20 minutes out of the film which destroyed some of the negatives. It was re-edited as much as possible, but then censored before release. This Redux restoration is from poor quality copies, in the original Italian, subtitled in English. The added scenes sometimes have a very noticeable change in quality from the rest of the film. But it is shown re-edited closer to the way the Director Corrado Farina intended.
- Theatrical version without the extra 6 minutes
- The Final Cut: An Interview With Director Corrado Farina
- Comic-Strip Freud: Documentary on Guido Crepax
- Comic-Strip Phobia: Documentary on children and comics
- Fact Track: By The Inimitable Wilson Bros.: Text commentary
- Start-up Shameless Trailers
- 200 Limited Numbered Edition

Credits

Main Crew:
Director - Corrado Farina
Writer - Guido Crepax, Corrado Farina, and François de Lannurien
Executive Producer - Pino De Martino
Director Of Photography - Aiace Parolin
Editor - Giulio Berruti

Main Cast:
- Carroll Baker - Baba Yaga
- Isabelle De Funès - Valentina Rosselli
- George Eastman - Arno Treves
- Ely Galleani - Annette

Music - Score:
Composer - Piero Umiliani

Additional Information

This movie wasn't made by Heavy Metal, but it is loosely based on the story, "Valentina" by Guido Crepax. The "Baba Yaga" episode wasn't published in Heavy Metal, but Valentina was published in many issues from 1980 to 1988.

Lostboy's Review

(Redux version)

I think it takes a certain person to enjoy a movie such as this. Someone who appreciates the genre of a giallo, B movie, art film, cult film, or underground film. Unfortunately, I just couldn't get into this mystery-horror movie.

This movie was made a few years before Heavy Metal magazine came out. However, it was based on the Valentina comic that was to eventually be printed in Heavy Metal.

The first thing that turned me off this movie was the audio. There were a lot of highs/lows and some scenes were muted and hard to hear. The dubbing was also inconsistent. Sometimes the sync was perfect (it looks like it was filmed in English), and sometimes it was noticeably off (which was probably scenes filmed in Italian), which made it distracting. The voice acting also wasn't very good. On top of that, the score is rather forgettable.

The next thing I became aware of early on is that I didn't like most of the characters in the movie. Who annoyed me most was Valentina's anti-establishment pseudo intellectual friends. They just all seemed fake to me, and I'm still not sure if that was on purpose or not. I understand that topics of politics and art would have been popular with these 1973 characters, but it still felt dull and under thought. The Baba Yaga and Valentina characters were ok, but they didn't have as much personality as they could have had. I just was bored with most of the dialogue throughout the movie. This may have something to do with all the original cuts done to the film.

However, about 2/3rds into the movie, I was surprised to actually find myself interested in the movie. I was anxious to know what was going to happen next, and how the story was going to end. When the anti-climatic ending came, it had no surprises, and so that little bit of built up suspense was for nothing.

I tried to like the movie, and at one point I thought I might. But, I just couldn't enjoy it. There just wasn't any part of the movie to save it. The action didn't have much action. The dialogue wasn't very interesting. The plot was very minimal. The horror was nearly nonexistent. The suspense was almost there, but not enough. And even though it wasn't a very good movie, it's still not so bad to make it an enjoyable bad movie.

The extra few minutes that were added to the Redux version did fill out the movie a little more. Originally, just before the premiere, the movie producers cut nearly 20 minutes out of the film which destroyed some of the negatives. It was re-edited as much as possible, but then censored before release. This version is closer to the way the Director Corrado Farina intended.

Description On The Back Cover - For the first time on Blu-ray with the previously cut scenes that director Farina himself reinserted especially for Shameless (improved for this edition). This extended, redux, HD release finally does justice to the filmmaker's original vision. Farina's adaptation fo the epoch-making 'Valentina' comics by Guido Crepax, whilst keeping the central oneiric sexiness of the heroine's adventures, is cerebral yet sparkling with intelligent gentle irony and sophisticated eroticism. Set against the seismic changes of sexual and societal revolutions of the times, this is High Pop-fiction meets stream-of-consciousness storytelling! Beautiful Valentina is a famous trendy photographer, one night she's nearly run over by an enigmatic older woman, Baba Yaga (Carroll Baker), who it turns out is not only the devil witch... but a sapphic predatory witch who must possess her! Pursued by the sensuous seduction of a now obsessed Baba Yaga, Valentina must either submit to her carnal S&M lust or escape what appears to have become a waking nightmare of perverted realities!

(images from the DVD)