If you're going to remake Hitchcock you're going to need to be on your cinematic toes, and taking on the Master's 1951 Strangers on a Train is really setting your sights high. But word is that with the 1971 The Designated Victim (La Vittima designata), director Maurizio Lucidi has done a most creditable job and created a genuinely tense thriller that was described over at Twitch as "a sublime and unique piece of work which has been criminally overlooked until now."

Stefano Argenti (Tomas Milian – Traffic, Amistad, JFK) needs to sort out his troublesome wife who is seriously cramping his future plans. A chance meeting with a wealthy Count Matteo (Pierre Clemente) leads to an extraordinary plan where both will do each other a murderous favour to free them from the people who ail them. The problem is Stefano treats this as a joke whilst Matteo is deadly serious and what he does drives Stefano to the edge of sanity in a gripping race against time. Shot in a mist-wreathed eerily beautiful Venice, this near dream-like melding of thriller with baroque giallo overtones has remained until now a hidden psychological gem.

The Designated Victim (cert. 18) will be released uncut in a brand new edit as a 'Fan Edition' DVD by Shameless Screen Entertainment on 27th October 2008 at the RRP of £12.99. The film will be presented remastered in 2.35:1 with optional English and Italian audio tracks and English subtitles. Also included on the disc will be a Shameless Fact Track by Stefan Novak, deleted scenes, Collector's Art Gallery, original theatrical trailer and a Shameless original trailer gallery.