Kriminal 4K UHD Review

Cult Epics

4K UHD Release: September 22, 2026

Video: 2.40:1/2160p (HDR10)/Color 

Audio: English and Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono

Subtitles: English

Run Time: 99:26

Director: Umberto Lenzi

Kriminal, the king of thieves – a cunning criminal mastermind responsible for some of the greatest heists ever committed. Working alone and remaining one step ahead of the law, he moves through a colorful world of deception, danger, and swinging 1960s style, proving deadly to anyone who obstructs his plans. (From Cult Epics’ official synopsis)

Post-WWII, Italian pop cinema was marked by a series of pulpy genre fads that saturated the market and burned themselves out quickly. Following the pepla/sword-and-sandal pictures of the 1950s, the biggest fad waves were seen during ‘60s and ‘70s, including spaghetti westerns, gialli, poliziotteschi, and Eurospy crazes. At the same time, a new genre of comic books was emerging in the region. Starring sociopathic criminals, violent anti-heroes, and marked by sex, violence, and other ‘adult themes,’ these fumetti neri (black comics) inevitably found their way to the big screen. 

The most popular and enduring fumetto on the newsstand was Angela & Luciana Giussani’s Diabolik (initially published in 1962), which inspired a 1968 French/Italian co-adaptation from mogul producer Dino De Laurentiis, directed by Mario Bava and shot back-to-back with Roger Vadim’s Barbarella (also 1968). But the industry worked quickly and there was plenty of time for enterprising Italian filmmakers to beat Diabolik (known outside of Italy as Danger: Diabolik) to theaters with their own official and less-than-official fumetti, including Dino Tavella’s proto-giallo The Embalmer (Italian: Il Mostro di Venezia, 1965), Massimo Pupillo’s Gothic S&M-fest Bloody Pit of Horror (Italian: Il boia scarlatto, 1965), and the subject of this review, Umberto Lenzi’s Kriminal (1966).

According to an interview conducted by Luigi Cozzi for Horror magazine (no. 12, November 1970), Lenzi specifically wanted to make a Diabolik movie and had to settle for the prominent knock-off created by Magnus (Roberto Raviola) and Max Bunker (Luciano Massimiliano Secchi), and first published in 1964. Both the titular Kriminal and Diabolik belong to a pantheon of fictional super-thieves, alongside earlier pulp antiheroes Fantômas (created by Marcel Allain & Pierre Souvestre) and Arsène Lupin (created by Maurice Leblanc). In the fumetti neri tradition, both men are a bit more psychotic and devious than their gentlemanly French counterparts.

Whereas Bava’s Diabolik drew from comic books and campy counterculturalism of the Batman television series (1966) and Piero Vivarelli’s Satanik (1968) plays out like a trashy, gender reversal of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Kriminal derives many of its themes and images from the Eurospy craze that hit Italy, France, and Spain during the early days of the James Bond franchise. This approach was reportedly a point of contention for some of original fans, who expected the film to match the grim, sardonic cruelty and violence of its controversial source material, thus proving that a certain contingency of comic enthusiasts always have and will always resent any creative liberties taken with their favorite properties*. 

These days, Lenzi is mostly remembered as the guy that made Cannibal Ferox (1981), but he was a vital component of the fad cycle machine from the 1960s through early ‘80s. Before beating Bava to the fumetti well, he wrote & directed adventure movies and had an early Italian Eurospy hit in 008: Operation Exterminate (Italian: A 008, operazione Sterminio, 1965). After Kriminal, he helped establish giallo as the next fad with Orgasmo (aka: Paranoia, 1969), set the Italian cannibal template with Man From Deep River (Italian: Il paese del sesso selvaggio, 1972), and eventually found himself at the forefront of the poliziotteschi fad.

Lenzi rarely made bad movies, but his style definitely loosened during the 1980s, when the distribution model changed to video and graphic violence was all the rage. Those that only know him for Cannibal Ferox and Nightmare City (Italian: Incubo sulla città contaminata, 1980) might be surprised by Kriminal’s slick formalism. He was an extremely flexible filmmaker, able to disappear into flashy swashbucklers, psychedelic, counterculture gialli, and the grittiest poliziotteschi this side of Fernando Di Leo. He was also pretty good at aping original Bond director Terrence Young, as he demonstrates here (including some of Young’s shortcomings in regards to pacing).

Kriminal made enough money to justify an official sequel the next year. Entitled The Mark of Kriminal (Italian: Il marchio di Kriminal, 1967), it was directed by veteran Fernando Cerchio, known for B-historical epics and a popular series of movies starring beloved comedian Totò. Despite being made quickly on a lower budget, some fans prefer it to Lenzi’s film for being closer to the source material. Magnus & Max Bunker quickly built on the success of Kriminal with Satanik (published in 1964 and, as mentioned, adapted by Piero Vivarelli in 1968), Maxmagnus (1968), and Alan Ford (1969), which Bunker himself adapted to film as Alan Ford and the TNT Group vs. Superciuk in 1981.

* For whatever reason, unlike modern superhero adaptations, European masked antihero and super criminal movies tended not to be origin stories, going all the way back to Louis Feuillade’s Fantômas serials (1913). In the cases of both Kriminal and Diabolik, the titular characters have already established their reputations with the authorities and general public.

Bibliography:

• Cinafumetto (Bizarre Cinema Archive) by Stefano Piselli, Antonio Bruschini, and Riccardo Morrocchi (Gingko Press, 2009)

• The Diabolikal Super-Kriminal (2007) directed by Ss-Sunda

Video

As far as I can tell, Kriminal has never been issued officially on North American home video prior to this release. Fumetti and Lenzi fans could either import that 2002 PAL DVD from Italian company Pulp Video or, more likely, find a bootleg rip of that disc on the internet (I also found evidence of an HD Italian TV rip with no subtitles). Cult Epics got their hands on a new 4K restoration of the original negative for the film’s UHD and Blu-ray debut. I’ve included screencaps from the provided 1080p Blu-ray for illustrative purposes.

The 2.40:1, 2610p transfer is very natural with plenty of texture and fine grain (the grain is, at times, intensified whenever Lenzi is shooting outdoors in the elements), minor, built-in artifacts, and a rich, eclectic, though not overly vivid palette. Lenzi and cinematographer Angelo Lotti really want to use the entire scope frame here, so the bulk of the film plays out in wide-angles and medium shots, which is all in keeping with the Eurospy style. As a result, details are moderately sharp. Color separation and black clarity gets a nice boost from the HDR, but the overall look isn’t too different from what you see on this page. Skin tones do skew a bit brown or yellow, but I’m pretty sure that’s all the bronzer everyone’s caked in, not a grading mistake.

Audio

Kriminal comes fitted with original Italian and English dubs, both in uncompressed DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono. As per usual, the film was shot without sound and with international casts, so all language options are dubbed and lip sync will always be off. In this case, the supporting cast is mostly Italian, star Glenn Saxson is Dutch, actress Helga Liné is German, and actress Mary Arden is American. It appears that the leads were performing in English (I think Liné might be dubbing her own performance).

The English track is a bit crisper than its Italian counterpart, but the difference is minimal, so I’m going to recommend going with the English dub for what I think is a slightly superior performance quality (I like that the dubbers use English, French, and Spanish accents) and general lip sync. Composer Romano Mussolini’s (son of the deposed and executed Benito) score is a big plus, giving the film a swingin’ ‘60s vibe with infectious lounge and bebop cues, and marking Kriminal’s globetrotting adventures with parodies of traditional music from the various regions.

Extras

Disc 1 (4K UHD)

• Commentary with Eugenio Ercolani and Troy Howarth – The authors of Darkening the Italian Screen: Interviews with Genre and Exploitation Directors Who Debuted in the 1950s and 1960s (McFarland, 2019) and So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years of Italian Giallo Films (Midnight Marquee, 2015) combine to explore Lenzi’s career, the making of the film, the history of fumetti neri on the page and screen, how contemporary politics affected comics and movies, locations, and the wider careers of the cast & crew.

• Theatrical trailer

Disc 2 (Blu-ray)

• Commentary with Eugenio Ercolani and Troy Howarth

• Armed to the Teeth: The Cinema of Umberto Lenzi (88:40, HD) – A new, career-spanning documentary directed and hosted by Ercolani, made up of vintage and original interview clips with the director (the newer ones are labeled as being shot in 2015), producer/director Ovidio G. Assonitis, producer Ugo Tucci, screenwriter/director Ernesto Gastaldi, editor Eugenio Alabiso, composer Franco Micalizzi, cinematographer Nino Celeste, daughter/assistant director Alessandra Lenzi, and actors Martine Brochard and Corrado Solari.

• Camera Nostalgia (37:34, HD) – Star Glenn Saxson (real name Roel Bos) reflects on his career, moving to Italy, where he worked as a model and actor, and the various motion pictures he made there (including Kriminal).

• The Sound of Krime (24:48, HD) – Music historian Pierpaolo De Sanctis breaks down the life and career of composer Romano Mussolini and his contributions to Kriminal.

• Complete soundtrack (50:58, 28 tracks)

• Alternate Italian credits (2:55, HD)

• Theatrical trailer

• Promotional gallery

• Cult Epics trailer reel – The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (Japanese: Toki o Kakeru Shōjo, 1983), The Key (1983), P.O. Box Tinto Brass (1995), and Don't Play With Fire (aka: Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind, 1980).

The images on this page are taken from Cult Epics’ 4K restoration Blu-ray – NOT the 4K UHD – and sized for the page. Larger versions can be viewed by right/cmd-clicking each side of the sliders. Note that there will be some JPG compression.