Italian thrillers The Counsellor & Weapons of Death on StudioCanal UHD, Blu-ray & Digital in July
The StudioCanal Cult Classics collection invites you to rediscover two Italian thrillers making their worldwide 4K UHD debuts in July. From director Alberto De Martino and starring Italian film legend Tomas Milian, The Counsellor is a slam-bang action thriller packed with shootouts and betrayals on the streets of San Francisco. Releasing on the same day is Mario Caiano’s Weapons of Death, starring Italian genre superstar Leonard Mann in perhaps his finest Eurocrime film performance. Both titles release on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and Digital on 20 July.
THE COUNSELLOR [IL CONSIGLIORI] (Italy / Spain 1973)
4K UHD | Blu-ray | DVD | 20 July 2026
From director Alberto De Martino (Blazing Magnum), the 1973 crime thriller The Counsellor [Il consigliori], making its worldwide UHD debut on 20 July as part of StudioCanal’s Cult Classics range, with a brand new 4K restoration, new special features and a booklet.
Starring Italian crime film legend Tomas Milian (Face to Face) as the title character, superbly interplaying with the great Martin Baslam (Confessions of a Police Captain) as a big bad mob boss, and Dagmar Lassander (Black Emanuelle) as Milian’s girlfriend, The Counsellor is a slam-bang action thriller packed with shootouts and betrayals on the streets of San Francisco.
Following a stint in prison, Accardo (Tomas Milian), the counsellor to San Francisco’s crime lord Don Antonio (Martin Balsam), requests to leave the family in order to lead a normal life. Don Antonio reluctantly agrees and in doing so breaks the mafia code that no one can leave the business until they drop dead. As the resulting gang war escalates in violence and increasingly brings Don Antonio’s life under threat, Accardo returns to once again defend and serve his godfather…
Memorably scored by Riz Ortolani (Don’t Torture a Duckling), The Counsellor riffs on Coppola’s The Godfather but at just over 100 minutes this is a faster blast of all-out Mafia mayhem, that looks outstanding in the new 4K restoration.
UHD, BLU-RAY & DVD SPECIAL FEATURES:
- NEW: Il Consigliori: Tradition vs Modernity: a video essay by Will Webb
- NEW: Audio Commentary with filmmaker/historian Steve Mitchell and historian Troy Howarth
- Intro by Jean-Baptiste Thoret
- Stills gallery
- Original Trailer
- 12 page booklet featuring a new essay on the film (UHD and Blu-ray only)
WEAPONS OF DEATH [NAPOLI SPARA!] (Italy 1977)
4K UHD | Blu-ray | DVD | 20 July 2026
From director Mario Caiano (Violent Milan), the outstanding 1977 action thriller Weapons of Death [Napoli Spara] makes its worldwide UHD debut on 20th July as part of StudioCanal’s Cult Classics range.
Regarded as a high water mark in the Italian poliziotteschi genre, Naples-set Weapons of Death stars Italian genre superstar Leonard Mann (Death Steps in the Dark) in perhaps his finest Eurocrime film performance, up against Henry Silva (The Boss) as a ruthless Mafia boss, and also features Ida Galli (The Night Child), and Jeff Blynn (Giallo in Venice).
In Naples, Commissioner Belli (Leonard Mann) desperately hunts down the dangerous Santoro (Henry Silva), a notorious gangster whose reckless crimes soak the city in blood.
A breathless ride into the murky depths of a city beset by crime, the film doesn’t stint on the action and gory violence (including a particularly nasty beating given to a particularly unsavoury character), not surprising considering it is written by Gianfranco Clerici (Cannibal Holocaust) and Vincenzo Mannino (The New York Ripper); and it delivers superior car chases and stunts, and features a terrific score by Francesco De Masi (Kill Them All and Come Back Alone).
Described by the Grindhouse Cinema Database as “pure Italian action entertainment”, Weapons of Death is a must watch for Eurocrime fans who will never have seen the film look this spectacular.
UHD, BLU-RAY & DVD SPECIAL FEATURES:
- NEW: Napoli Spara! The Brutal World of the Poliziotteschi: a video essay by Will Webb
- NEW: Audio Commentary with Filmmaker/Historian Steve Mitchell, Historian Troy Howarth and Mondo Digital’s Nathaniel Thompson
- Leonard Mann: Napoli Spara! Revisited
- Naples Under Fire: An Archive Interview with Mario Caiano
- Intro by Jean-Baptiste Thoret
- Stills Gallery
- Original Trailer
- 12 page booklet featuring a new essay on the film (UHD and Blu-ray only)