Severin Films have long been a EuroCult fanatics dream label. Their dedication to the cinema of Jess Franco alone should certainly endear fans of EuroCult cinema to the label. This time around the label have unleashed 8 titles for fans to pick up 6 new releases and 2 re-releases. One of which is Blood on Satan’s Claw back from the dead after it’s Black Friday release in 2019, and a re-release of The Beast Must Die with a much improved transfer. The other 6 titles include the documentary Fulci for Fake, Jess Franco’s Shining Sex and Bahia Blanca. There is also 2 Fulci directed films Demonia and Aenigma, and the SOV Franky and his Pals.
Demonia
Director- Lucio Fulci
Cast- Brett Halsey, Meg Register
Country of Origin: Italy
Writer: Scott MacDonald
I remember first hearing about Demonia in the early days of my Fulci fandom. It was described by one gore scene where a dude gets nailed by his tongue to a tree-stump. I was 16, and I needed to see this right away. Oddly, I came away from the film disappointed at the time. I was just discovering Italian and European horror cinema, and the sheer volume of mind-blowing films tended to make anything less than great seem bad. It has been 20 years now, and Severin’s Blu-ray has given me a great excuse to revisit Demonia.
Demonia stars Liza (Meg Register), a young woman on her first archaelogical dig. The dig is at a site that was previously used for the crufixition and stoning of 5 nuns. Liza is now having visions of that events. As time passes Liza becomes more drawn into the ruins, and the mystery surrounding them.
OK, so on revisting this one. It appears more in line with the Fulci cannon as I know it now. Is it on par with the early 80’s zombie shockers? No. But it is one of his better late career entries, and a lot of fun. It has that trademark Fulci atmosphere, some solid splatter, and a decent atmospheric score.
Severin Films presents Demonia in a 4k scan from the original negative in a 1080p AVC encoded transfer. This film like Fulci’s Conquest is a harder one to rate, it has some low light moments that make the transfer harder to grade. Overall things look solid here, detail is nice, colors pop. Audio is handled by 2.0 HD mono tracks in English and Italian. Both sound crisp, clear, and wihtout issue. Extras include interviews with A.D. Antonio Tentori, an archival interview with Fulci himself, camera operator Sandro Grossi. There is also a commentary by Stephen Thrower and a trailer.
Aenigma
Director- Lucio Fulci
Cast- Jared Martin, Lara Lamberti
Country of Origin: Italy
Writer: Scott MacDonald
Aenigma is a film I came to much later in my Fulci fandom. I actually only saw it for the first time around 3-4 years ago during one of the monthly “Movie Party Crew” live tweets hosted by myself, and Richard Glenn Schmidt of Doomed Moviethon. Over the years I had heard the film was Fulci’s generic version of Carrie, and not one of his best. Since I’d already seen some bad Fulci, I skipped it. I was wrong to Aenigma is a blast.
The film begins when a young girl Kathy is bullied, and then promptly hit by a car. A few weeks go by and a new girl Eva takes her place at an all-girls prep school. Eva, of course, is not herself, but is possessed by the comatose Kathy who is out for revenge on the girls who did her wrong.
Aenigma is basically what happens when Fulci decides to do a psychotronic mash-up of Carrie, Patrick and Phenomena, and just goes totally off the rails in the way only he could. I mean, I’m sorry to spoil for those that haven’t seen it, but this film has a death by SNAILS. Now the Beyond had spiders, which I know are more traditionally creepy, but watching snails take someone out. THAT IS WILD.
Severin Films presents Aengima in a 1080p AVC encoded transfer from a 4k scan. Everything here looks quite solid, the image is crisp , clean, and well-detailed with very stable colors. Audio is presented in English and Italian 2.0 mono which comes through quite clearly. Extra include a commentary with Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson, an interview with screenwriter Girgio Mariuzzo, and appraisal of the film. There is also a CD soundtrack.
Fulci for Fake
Director- Simone Scafidi
Cast- Camilla Fulci, Fabio Frizzi
Country of Origin: Italy
Writer: Scott MacDonald
When the trailers for Fulci for Fake started showing up, I had oddly assumed we were in for the documentary version of Fulci’s the Cat in the Brain. I was definitely wrong in that assessment. What we have here is something I will call oddly necessary, and a definitive documentary about the life of Lucio Fulci.
The film “stars” Nicola Nocella as an actor who has been cast to play Fulci. He is unfamiliar with the director, and decides to interview those closest to him to figure out how to play the part. This is essentially a clever wraparound segment that takes Nicola from family members of Fulci to those who worked closely with him.
The film actually finds its star in Fulci’s oldest daughter Camilla who expands on her relationship with her Father in a very deep, and very heartfelt manner. His other daughter Antonella who has always been more of a public face of her Father appears toward the end of the film for a brief moment, in between we have interviews with associates and collaborators of Fulci who piece together a nicely comprehensive picture of the filmmaker.
Severin presents Fulci for Fake in a 1080p HD transfer with Italian HD audio. The film is from 2019, so it looks and sounds crisp, clear, and without much in the way of issues. Extras include Interview outtakes, a complete interview with Camilla Fulci, home movies, and so much more.
The Beast Must Die
Director- Paul Annett
Cast- Calvin Lockhart, Peter Cushing
Country of Origin: U.K.
Writer: Scott MacDonald
The Beast Must Die is a bizarre one for Amicus. It wants to be an Agatha Christie style murder mystery, and actually states it’s intention somewhat with an opening narration that puts the question of “Who is the werewolf?” right on the viewer. We are told that toward the end of the film there will be a werewolf break, and we, the viewer, will be made to guess who the “Beast” of the title is. It’s a goofy idea, but it’s fun, and Amicus, like AIP, never shot down a gimmick.
The film takes place on the estate of Tom Newcliffe (Calvin Lockhart) who has just installed a vast camera based security system on his property to track down a WEREWOLF! He has invited 6 friends plus his wife over to get the wolf, knowing one of them is the creature. As bodies begin to pile up, the pressure to find the creature among them begins to grow before others die.
The Beast Must Die is a fun time, but for those expecting more of a horror experience Amicus plays this closer to a mystery film than a werewolf film. This is actually to their benefit, because this is a very low budget affair, and the werewolf and violent FX in the film are not the best, and sort of downright silly.
The Beast Must Die was previously released by Severin as part of their Amicus Collection in a less than stellar transfer taken from a film print. The transfer here is from a 4k scan, and is a large improvement all around. Detail is excellent, blacks are inky and deep, colors are nice and stable. Audio is presented in English 2.0 mono, and comes through nice and clear. Extras include a commentary track, audio essay, an interview with Paul Annett, an interview with Milton Subotsky, an interview with Max J. Rosenberg and an orignal trailer with optional commentary by Kim Newman, and David Flint.
Shining Sex
Director- Jess Franco
Cast- Lina Roma, Monica Swinn
Country of Origin: Italy, France, Belgium, Switzerland
Writer: Scott MacDonald
…And now we reach the Jess Franco portion of our program. Also known as my favorite part. It’s rare Severin goes a stretch without releasing a Jess Franco film, and with over 200 films to his credit, they can make it quite a while still before they run out. During this sale they are unleashing 2 fine works by Franco, I flipped a coin, and will start with Shining Sex.
Shining Sex stars Lina Romay as a stripper named Cynthia who is seduced by a being from another dimension “Alpha” who rubs a strange lotion on Cynthia’s genitals, turning this stripper into her personal SEX ASSASSIN! Now Alpha controls Cynthia, and uses her to sleep with, and thus kill her enemies.
Shining Sex is pretty amazing. The film is channeling both sides of Franco, it’s pulpy, largely coherent, over the top sexual and plain out fun to watch. In sections it reminded of films like Venus in Furs, The Diabolical Dr. Z, but most specifically BLUE RITA, which is an absolute favorite. It also plays to the jazza, freewheeling Franco as well, the film just tends to flow from one moment to the next feeling very dreamy and free flowing. This is a top-tier Franco film and one that is definitely worth the immediate purchase.
Severin presents Shining Sex in a 1080p AVC encoded transfer. Everything here is bright, well-detailed, and very sharp looking. Audio is handled with an English 2.0 track, and sounds fine and without much in the way of issues. Extras include a Daniel White soundtrack CD, part 3 of In the Land of Franco with Stephen Thrower, an interview with Stephen Thrower, an interview with Franco’s sound editor. Christoph Gans on Franco, and an excellent commentary by Robert Monell and Rod Barnett. There are also NSFW outtakes and a trailer.
Bahia Blanca
Director- Jess Franco
Cast- Lina Romay, Eva Leon
Country of Origin: Spain
Writer: Scott MacDonald
Bahia Blanca surprised, one because I had no idea this was Severin’s mystery title, and two, because as a Jess Franco film I’d never seen I was not expecting something quite like this. It’s odd there is an outsider consensus that Jess made his best films in the 1970’s, but the more I see of Franco’s 80’s output, and especially that from the early 1980’s the more I quickly push that notion from my head.
The film opens with the body of a fisherman washing to shore. The first assumption is murder, but it is later labeled a drowing accident. This event triggers a series of events surrounding crime, revenge…and a wedding. The film is largely a community picture with a large cast of characters including Lina Romay and Eva Leon as sisters who own a bar/whore house on the beachside.
The film is a largely melancholic and mature affair from Franco. It features gorgeous and lush cinematography, and from the first frame I was taken in by the gorgeous colors of the film. Aside from that the power of the performances and drama really sucked me and really hit this one home.
Severin presents Bahia Blanca in a 1080p AVC encoded transfer that is STUNNING. Seriously, I wasn’t even expecting to get this film on Blu-ray, and here it is, looking this gorgeous. Audio is Spanish mono with English subs, and sounds quite clear and fine. Extras include In the Land of Franco Part 4 and Bay of Jess an interview with Stephen Thrower.
Franky and his Pals
Director- Gerald Cormier
Cast- Eric Weathersless, Jerry Cormier Jr.
Country of Origin: U.S.
Writer: Scott MacDonald
Earlier tonight after I had put on Franky and his Pals I messaged my friend Richard Glenn Schmidt of Doomed Moviethon and messaged that I was watching this film. He responded “Oh, is that the fart movie?”. I didn’t know how to respond, howeve, about 15 minute later, I was able to confirm that this was indeed “the fart movie”.
The film is a pretty straight forward and silly premise. Outside the town of French Gulch a group of monsters including Dracula, Frankenstein, the Mummy, the Hunchback, etc have been trapped in a cave after an avalanche. They end up escaping with a treasure map, and head into town to follow the map to buried GOLD!
There is a secondary plot, about needing to raise money to save the town, and the monsters using the gold to help do that, but honestly this is an over the top, trash/comedy/horror fest with fart jokes, and over the top sexual humor, and I couldn’t have it any other way.
Severin presents the film in a 1:33:1 transfer taken from the original VHS release (no other source was available), it looks…well like a VHS tape on DVD. It sounds alright, no minds will be blown, except by the weird and wacky film itself. Extras include interview with the cast, crew, and party band!