Altered Innocence, distributors dedicated to edgy, artistic, queer and foreign cinema, are back with a brand new 2K restoration of the underseen 1970 French giallo, The Strangler from Paul Vecchiali who passed away earlier this year.
Known in its native French as L’Etrangleur, The Strangler was originally a selection of the 23rd Cannes Film Festival’s Directors’ Fortnight section, and has been praised as a “complex, melancholic meditation on isolation as well as a portrait of collective hysteria.” A press release tells us more:
An unconventional French giallo released before the sub-genre’s popularity boom resulting from filmmakers like Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci, THE STRANGLER is regarded as Vecchiali’s most ambitious work, his first foray into genre, and a highlight of his overarching filmography. The film centers on Emile (Jacques Perrin, The Young Girls of Rochefort), a handsome young man targeting women he believes are too depressed to go on living. As multiple women fall to Emile’s suffocating white scarf, inspector Simon Dangret, the detective assigned to track down the killer, resorts to seriously unorthodox and even unethical methods to get his man with the assistance of Anna, a beautiful woman who believes herself to be a potential victim.
Altered Innocent’s gorgeous new restoration will screen at Fantastic Fest later this month (if you’re lucky enough to be there, check out the FF website for more info!), and New York Film Festival after that.
Keep an eye on Altered Innocent’s site where you can find updates on further releases, and enjoy our exclusive clip of this stunning restoration below:
