Severin Films

[Susan Foreman]

Originally Posted by Rob4

Coming in November!

Full Details:

'Danza Macabra Vol. Two: The Italian Gothic Collection' - 8-Disc 4K UHD + Blu-ray Box Set pre-order available from Severin Films direct - £80:00

Release date: December 12

"3 CLASSIC FILMS. 1 LANDMARK MINI-SERIES. Rediscovered. Restored. Reclaimed.

In this second collection of Italian Gothic shockers, you’re invited to grab your candelabra and enter cobweb-shrouded worlds of violence, madness and sexual deviance that remain unmatched in genre history: Gothic goddess Barbara Steele stars in Antonio Margheriti’s certified masterpiece CASTLE OF BLOOD and its Italian version DANZA MACABRA, both restored and scanned in 4K and presented in UHD for the first time ever. JEKYLL is 1969’s award-winning four-part RAI-TV sceneggiati from writer/director/star Giorgio Albertazzi that contemporizes the classic tale of man’s darkest impulses. Writer/director Corrado Farina reinvents the Dracula legend as a modern-day capitalist conspiracy with his startling and long out-of-print 1971 debut THEY HAVE CHANGED THEIR FACE. And a sizzling Rosalba Neri is seduced by Satan himself in 1972’s THE DEVIL’S LOVER, finally available restored and uncut. All four titles are now presented in their North American Premieres, newly mastered from the best available elements with over 13 collective hours of Special Features.

Discs 1-3: CASTLE OF BLOOD (1964)

It was begun by Sergio Corbucci (DJANGO), completed by Antonio Margheriti (THE LONG HAIR OF DEATH) and remains one of the true masterpieces of Gothic Horror. Now both versions – the Italian DANZA MACABRA and the U.S. release CASTLE OF BLOOD – can be experienced like never before: When a cynical journalist accepts a wager that he won’t survive the night in a haunted castle, it will unlock an odyssey of sexual torment, undead vengeance and a dark seductress (the legendary Barbara Steele) who surrenders the gravest of pleasures. Georges Rivière (THE VIRGIN OF NUREMBERG) co-stars in “a classic cornerstone of the EuroHorror Renaissance� (DVD Savant), scanned in 4k from the original negative and restored by Cinématographique Lyre in collaboration with Severin Films, with 3+ hours of new and archival Special Features that include a selected scene commentary by Steele.

Disc Specs:

• Runtime: 91 mins (DANZA MACABRA), 83 mins (CASTLE OF BLOOD)
• DANZA MACABRA Audio: Italian Mono, Partial English Mono / Optional English Subtitles, Closed Captions
• CASTLE OF BLOOD Audio: English Mono / Closed Captions
• Region A
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Disc 1: UHD (Film + Special Features)

• Audio Commentary With Rod Barnett Of NaschyCast And The Bloody Pit, And Adrian Smith
• Trailer
• TV Spot

Disc 2: Blu-ray (Film + Special Features)

• Audio Commentary With Rod Barnett Of NaschyCast And The Bloody Pit, And Adrian Smith
• Selected Scene Commentary With Actress Barbara Steele And Barbara Steele Archivist Russ Lanier
• Exploring The Castle Of Blood – Interview With Stephen Thrower, Author Of Books On Jess Franco And Lucio Fulci

Disc 3: Blu-ray (Special Features)

• The Director Who Didn't Like Blood – Interview With Edoardo Margheriti, Son Of Director Antonio Margheriti
• Enigmatic Elegance: Unveiling The Haunting Legacy Of Barbara Steele In The Italian Gothic – Video Essay By Rachael Nisbet, Film Critic And Co-Host Of Fragments Of Fear
• Return To The Castle – Location Featurette
• Antonio Margheriti Remembers CASTLE OF BLOOD And Barbara Steele
• Trailer
• TV Spot

Discs 4 & 5: JEKYLL (1969)

In 1969, Italian actor/writer/director Giorgio Albertazzi – best known to international audiences as the star of LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD – took Robert Louis Stevenson’s gothic novella and transformed it into a four-part contemporary allegory of duality, depravity and man’s darkest impulses: When a series of brutal attacks are committed by a lunatic named Edward Hyde, the investigation leads to molecular biologist Henry Jekyll. But have the doctor’s unorthodox experiments unlocked even greater horrors? Massimo Girotti (BARON BLOOD, LAST TANGO IN PARIS), Ursula Davis (AN ANGEL FOR SATAN) and Marina Berti (NIGHT TRAIN MURDERS) co-star in this award-winning sceneggiati featuring stark black & white cinematography by future Poliziottesci maestro Stelvio Massi, now presented from RAI-TV tape masters with new English subtitles for the first time ever.

Disc Specs:

• Runtime: 262 mins
• Audio: Italian Mono / Optional English Subtitles
• Region A/B/C
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1

Special Features:

• Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Albertazzi – Interview With Actor Giuliano Disperati
• Building The World Of JEKYLL – Interview With Set Designer Emanuele Taglietti
• The Double Spiral Staircase Of Jekyll And Hyde – Video Essay By Joseph Dwyer

Disc 6: THEY HAVE CHANGED THEIR FACE (1971)

Though he made only two feature films, writer/director/novelist Corrado Farina (BABA YAGA) rocked the Italian horror genre with his “astounding� (Taliesin Meets The Vampires) and long out-of-print 1971 debut: A mid-level automotive company employee is summoned to the mountain villa of owner Giovanni Nosferatu (Adolfo Celi of THUNDERBALL and DANGER: DIABOLIK fame) only to discover a glossy netherworld where capitalism is the new vampirism, consumers are its unwitting victims and escape may be impossible. Giuliano Disperati (VIOLENT ROME) and Geraldine Hooper (DEEP RED) co-star in this startling reinvention of the Dracula mythos co-written by Giulio Berruti (KILLER NUN) and influenced by Farina’s earlier career as an advertising executive, now scanned in 2K from the best-existing 35mm elements – approved by his son, RAI film critic and preservationist Alberto Farina – for the first time ever in America.

Disc Specs:

• Runtime: 96 mins
• Audio: Italian Mono / Optional English Subtitles
• Region A
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Special Features:

• Audio Commentary With Director Corrado Farina Moderated By Alberto Farina
• Audio Commentary With Kat Ellinger, Author of Daughters Of Darkness
• The Farina Method – Interview With Film Critic Alberto Farina, Son Of Director Corrado Farina
• Bloodsucking Capitalists – Interview With Actor Giuliano Disperati And Editor/Screenwriter Giulio Berruti
• Outtakes Of De Sade
• Short Films By Corrado Farina
• IL FIGLIO DI DRACULA (THE SON OF DRACULA)
• GIRO GIRO TONDO (RING AROUND THE ROSIE)
• IL CANTICO DELLE CREATURE (THE CANTICLE OF THE CREATURES)
• PRAISED BE MY LORD – Documentary Directed By Corrado Farina (84 mins)
• Commercials Directed By Corrado Farina

Disc 7: THE DEVIL’S LOVER (1972)

Previously available only in edited versions and poor-quality transfers, it remains one of the most obscure and bizarre Italian gothics of the ‘70s: When a trio of free-spirited young women – led by a smoldering Rosalba Neri of LADY FRANKENSTEIN fame – insist on spending the night in a castle rumored to be owned by the Devil himself, their cobweb-and-candelabra lark triggers a nightmare of lust, violence, vampirism and the ultimate ecstasy of Satanic seduction. Edmund Purdom (FRANKENSTEIN’S CASTLE OF FREAKS), Robert Woods (COUNTESS PERVERSE) and Carla Mancini (ERIKA) co-star in this unique shocker “taken from the theatrical work of the Grand Guignol� – also known as LUCIFERA: DEMON LOVER – written/directed by Paolo Lombardo (THE EMBALMER), produced by Dick Randall (PIECES) and featuring a soundtrack by Elvio Monti (CRISTIANA DEVIL NUN), now scanned uncut in 2K from the vault negative for the first time ever in America.

Disc Specs:

• Runtime: 78 mins
• Audio: Italian Mono / Optional English Subtitles
• Region A
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Special Features:

• Audio Commentary With Annie Rose Malamet, Film Scholar And Host Of Girls, Guts, Giallo
• Lady Of The Night: The Feminism Of Rosalba Neri – Video Essay By Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
• Out Of The Woods – Interview With Actor Robert Woods

Disc 8: THE DEVIL’S LOVER Soundtrack CD

[Susan Foreman]

'SPIDER LABYRINTH' (1988) - 4K UHD / Blu-ray / CD 3-Disc Set

"For more than three decades, the remarkable debut feature – and sole horror film – by award-winning director Gianfranco Giagni has been one of the most elusive Italian horror titles in home video history…until now:

When an American professor is sent to Budapest to complete a mysterious research project, he’ll become ensnared in a mind-bending web of sexual provocation, occult carnage and arachnidian havoc.

Roland Wybenga, William Berger (FIVE DOLLS FOR AN AUGUST MOON) and Stéphane Audran (FACELESS) star in this “invaluable contribution to ‘80s Italian Horrorâ€� (Screen Rant) featuring unnerving special effects by Sergio Stivaletti (CEMETERY MAN) and an outstanding score by Franco Piersanti (TERRAFERMA), now scanned in 4K from the original vault negative at CinecittÃ* with a remastered soundtrack and over 4 hours of new Special Features for the first time ever."

SPECIAL FEATURES and SPECS

• Webstore Exclusive Slipcover
• Audio Commentary With Dr. Will Dodson, Professor Of Rhetoric And Media Studies, And Ryan Verrill, Host Of The Disc Connected
• Caught In A Web – Interview With Director Gianfranco Giagni
• Arachne – Interview With Screenwriter Gianfranco Manfredi
• All The Colors Of A Spider – Interview With Cinematographer Nino Celeste
• Smile Of The Spider Woman – Interview With Actress Paola Rinaldi
• Death In Stop Motion – Interview With Special FX Artist Sergio Stivaletti
• Web Of The Weird – Placing SPIDER LABYRINTH In The Weird Genre With Dr. Will Dodson, Ryan Verrill And Erica Shultz, Author Of The Sweetest Taboo: An Unapologetic Guide To Child Kills In Film
• Trailer
• BONUS DISC: SOUNDTRACK CD
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Audio: English Stereo, Italian Stereo
• Closed Captions: English SDH
• Region: A/B/C

[Susan Foreman]

'The Unscarred' (2000) - Blu-ray

"UNSCARRED: For his third feature film – and first outside his native Staten Island – writer/director Buddy Giovinazzo (COMBAT SHOCK, NO WAY HOME) delivered an intense new take on alienation, desperation and retribution: In 1979, a shocking accident rocked the student exchange program at Stanford University and forever changed the trajectory of four young lives. Twenty years later, an impromptu reunion in Berlin will turn the sins of the past into an explosion of lust, deception, dark secrets and cold-blooded murder. James Russo (DONNIE BRASCO), Steven Waddington (SLEEPY HOLLOW), Heino Ferch (DOWNFALL) and Ornella Muti (LEONOR) star in this extreme neo-noir, now scanned in 2K from pre-print German vault elements with 2 hours of new Special Features for the first time ever in America."

SPECIAL FEATURES and SPECS

• Audio Commentary With Director Buddy Giovinazzo, Moderated By Severin Films' David Gregory
• Once Upon A Time In East Berlin – Interview With Actor James Russo
• Run Johann Run – Interview With Actor Heino Ferch
• Trailer
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Audio: English 5.1, English Stereo
• Closed Captions: English SDH
• Region: A/B/C

[Susan Foreman]

'Stir' (1980) - Blu-ray

"In 1974, the cruel treatment of inmates at Bathurst Prison in New South Wales, Australia led to violent riots, savage reprisals and a still-controversial official inquiry.

Six years later, this “furious, foul-mouthed, open wound of a film� (Bob Ellis, Nation Review) – the feature directorial debut by Stephen Wallace (PRISONERS OF THE SUN) from a screenplay by Bathurst inmate Bob Jewson – dared to tell the inside story:

When career criminal China Jackson (Bryan Brown) is returned to prison after exposing abuses by guards, tensions between inmates and officers begin to boil until they explode in rage, defiance and shocking carnage.

Max Phipps (THE ROAD WARRIOR, THIRST) co-stars in this “intense and authentic account of a brutal system� (Cinephilia) – nominated for 13 AFI Awards including Best Film, Best Direction, Best Screenplay and Best Actor – scanned in 2K from the 35mm interpositive at The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia."

SPECIAL FEATURES and SPECS

• Audio Commentary With Producer Richard Brennan, Director Stephen Wallace, Cinematographer Geoff Burton And Actor Bryan Brown, Moderated By Mark Hartley, Director Of NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD
• Audio Commentary With Crime Film And Literature Historian Andrew Nette
• Tales From The Inside – Archival Making-Of Documentary By Mark Hartley
• A Career On The Fringe – A Tribute To Actor Phil Motherwell Featuring Australian Theater Historian Robert Reid And Film Critic Paul Harris
• Director Stephen Wallace Introduces THE LOVE LETTERS FROM TERALBA ROAD
• THE LOVE LETTERS FROM TERALBA ROAD (50 mins)
• Trailer
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Audio: English 5.1, English Stereo
• Closed Captions: English SDH
• Region: A/B/C

[peter alex]

it looks like Severin are releasing nightmare in a damaged brain 4k+Blu-Ray in the UK on the 12th February so it looks 88films no longer as the rights to it in the UK.

[Trashforcash]

I'd love to see Severin in the uk. Their crazy shipping prices mean I've never ordered direct from the US. They have some great titles, but I couldn't see the BBFC passing some of their stuff- Black Emmanuelle etc.

They've done a lot of partnership work with UK outfits (Don't Go in the House w Arrow, Mardi Gras and Night of the Demon with 88), so it makes sense.

I think Severin are great, but they've suffered reputational damage this year with the Four Flies debacle, and their outlandish prices. I'm hoping they have a big 2024 and succeed in the uk.

Having said that, I can't see any evidence that they are koving to the uk!!!

[Rob4]

Originally Posted by Trashforcash

I'd love to see Severin in the uk. Their crazy shipping prices mean I've never ordered direct from the US. They have some great titles, but I couldn't see the BBFC passing some of their stuff- Black Emmanuelle etc.

They've done a lot of partnership work with UK outfits (Don't Go in the House w Arrow, Mardi Gras and Night of the Demon with 88), so it makes sense.

I think Severin are great, but they've suffered reputational damage this year with the Four Flies debacle, and their outlandish prices. I'm hoping they have a big 2024 and succeed in the uk.

Having said that, I can't see any evidence that they are koving to the uk!!!

Hey Trash, Severin do two sales per year when you can get their older stuff at a well discounted price, so it is quite economical, especially if you stick to standard editions (Price example I checked at the time of writing: Patrick Still Lives would be around $15 dollars in the sale which would make it £11.80 at the present exchange rate). They ship direct to the UK and the shipping costs are very reasonable (I think I paid around $23 for my last shipment - 16 discs). With the exchange rate the price usually comes in at around £13 per disc. More expensive obviously than buying in the UK but worth it for titles that might not get a release in the UK.

I've gotten into a routine of saving up for the sales and I do the same for Mondo Macabro and VS as well who also post direct to the UK so you don't need to bother with mail forwarding companies. These companies are releasing far more interesting stuff than say Arrow.

[Nuno_Miranda]

There is always the option of ordering from within the EU, not quite tax-free because Brexit, but maybe a little cheaper.

Metaluna, in Paris, they have a lot of the Severin catalog: https://metalunastore.fr/collections/severin-films

Also other publisshers: https://metalunastore.fr/collections

I've ordered from them several times already and there was never any problem, even occasionally accomodating more unusual shipments.

[Trashforcash]

Thanks for the advice! I think my problem is that the VS and Severin sales always clash and VS are the best in the business and hoover up all my cash before Severin get a look in.

Will look at older titles, but when you're looking at $55 for Cemetry Man new it seems pretty crazy to me. Especially as my Shameless edition is decent enough.

I do love Severin though and have about 5-10 titles in all. David Gregory in particular seems like a really good guy who cares a lot about physical media and putting out a quality product.

[Nuno_Miranda]

Originally Posted by Trashforcash

I do love Severin though and have about 5-10 titles in all. David Gregory in particular seems like a really good guy who cares a lot about physical media and putting out a quality product.

I only have two titles, the Cushing Curiosities boxed set and And Now the Screaming Starts, but I can honesty say that they're both extremely well done releases. I hope they do more.