Severin Films

[Lino]

I am curious what is disappointing about La Marge, the thought of Joe Dallesandro and Sylvia Kristel in a Borowczyk film sounds promising.

That's what I thought too and by right, it should have been a 70's cult classic. But sadly, it's very tepid and the choice of soundtrack didn't help either. Besides, Boro's keen eye for framing subjects and objects is nowhere to be seen here.

[sevenarts]

Just watched Severin's Private Collections last night, what an odd movie. Whoever got the idea to combine these three directors certainly must've been going for variety -- or else been totally unaware of the differences between them. Jaeckin's opening short is basically soft-porn, in style as well as content, right down to the soft-focus visuals, predictable "plot," and horrible acting. No merit there.

Terayama's "The Grass Labyrinth" is something else all together, and to be honest I'm not quite sure what to make of it except that I was absolutely hypnotized by everything going on on-screen. "Labyrinth" is an appropriate term for this, as from what I could make out it's weaving together dreams, magic, and memory into this bizarre maze of imagery. Really stunning visuals, with a poetic rhythm that drives along the film in the absence of an easily discernable narrative. I suspect that a few more viewings -- and I'm VERY eager to watch it again -- will allow me to untangle some threads of plot a bit more, but I'm already sold on it. I'm also very excited to check out more Terayama if this is any indication -- is any of his stuff available in good English-subbed editions?

Finally, in many ways Borowczyk's final segment, an adaptation of a Maupassant story, almost couldn't help but be disappointing placed after that masterwork. But it's a pretty good short in its own right, dealing subtly with the ethics of prostitution and confronting a rich client with the deromanticization of his beautiful companion.

Anyway, Severin's treatment of the film is great, as the image is just about perfect. Could've used more extras maybe, since the only one is a very short interview with the least interesting director, but I'm not complaining. I may wind up watching the interview anyway in the hopes that Jaeckin will try to intellectualize his piece of trash.

[ouatitw]

Also thanks for the review, I am looking forward to watching that.


(Edited) Misunderstandings of post has been clarified.

[sevenarts]

Yea, bad wording, I just meant the final segment of Private Collections.

It's actually the first Borowczyk I've encountered, though I will certainly be looking into some other films by him soon.

[Felix]

Terayama's "The Grass Labyrinth" is something else all together, and to be honest I'm not quite sure what to make of it except that I was absolutely hypnotized by everything going on on-screen. "Labyrinth" is an appropriate term for this, as from what I could make out it's weaving together dreams, magic, and memory into this bizarre maze of imagery. Really stunning visuals, with a poetic rhythm that drives along the film in the absence of an easily discernable narrative. I suspect that a few more viewings -- and I'm VERY eager to watch it again -- will allow me to untangle some threads of plot a bit more, but I'm already sold on it. I'm also very excited to check out more Terayama if this is any indication -- is any of his stuff available in good English-subbed editions?

Pretty much spot on with your call on all three segments. See the thread on Terayama on the Old Films (?) forum here, especially for his shorts (equally worthwhile visually). Fruits of Passion is available in the UK, not sure about R1 if that is where you are. E-bay can help, as can SuperHappyFun, who have a good subbed version of the stunning Pastoral:To Die In The Country, which you will love if you loved Grass Labyrinth. Farewell to the Ark is supposed to look gorgeous too, no subs but it is adapated from 100 Years of Solitude so it may be manageable.

[Cold Bishop]

I'm still waiting for the un-narrated single version of Glass Labyrinth. It certainly is both wonderful and perfectly watchable in Private Collections, but I couldn't help but be put off by the narration. But I guess it was a clever way at the time to get around dubbing or subbing.

[Felix]

If you don't have an issue with bootlegs then I am virtually certain the version from superhappyfun is subbed without the voiceover. I cannot be 100% because when I took out my copy to check it no longer plays, which is the drawback with DVD-Rs of course.

[ouatitw]

That's what I thought too and by right, it should have been a 70's cult classic. But sadly, it's very tepid and the choice of soundtrack didn't help either. Besides, Boro's keen eye for framing subjects and objects is nowhere to be seen here.

Off topic:

I watched La Marge earlier this week and I really, really loved it, one of my top 3 favorite Borowczyk's.

On topic

I got through watching Private Collections and here is what I thought:

(Just Jaeckin, Segment 1): Kind of disappointing, but it did get better at the end 6/10

(Shuji Terayama, Segment 2): Wow, excellent film. This film has made me want to quickly explore more of this directors work. I actually got this compilation for Borow's segment but this one was amazing and easily the best one on the disk. This film was released later as a standalone in Japan, so there may be hope for a R1 Japanese release, but based on how little Terayama's work is available, I doubt it. 10/10

(Walerian Borowczyk, Segment 3): After Shuji's segment, I had to wait 1/2 hour before I watched this one. I did not want to try to compare the two. Borow as always makes a good film, but it was unfair to have to go after Shuji's masterpiece. 9/10

Overall I thought that the colors were a little washed out, especially on Shuji's segment, but the quality was good.

[patrick]

Evidently Severin's new disc of Lucio Fulci's The Psychic has been recalled due to sound issues, no word on if or how they'll be replacing discs that have already been purchased. The release date for the corrected version is December 3rd.

[Ashirg]

Severin is releasing Patrice Leconte's The Hairdresser's Husband and The Perfume of Yvonne on September 30.

Extras for The Hairdresser's Husband:

Leconte on Leconte Part 1 - Featurette with Director Patrice Leconte
The Hairdresser’s Recollections – Featurette with Star Anna Galiena

Extras on The Perfume of Yvonne:

Leconte on Leconte Part 2 - Featurette with Director Patrice Leconte

[railroaded]

Unusual move for Severin with all these Inglorious Bastards etc.

[colinr0380]

According to Tim Lucas, the original negative of the Barbara Steele film Amanti d'oltretomba or Nightmare Castle has been discovered.

[ecc]

My review of THE HAIRDRESSER'S HUSBAND at Lovelockandload: http://www.lovelockandload.net/forum/index.php?page=70

[Cosmic Bus]

According to Tim Lucas, the original negative of the Barbara Steele film Amanti d'oltretomba or Nightmare Castle has been discovered.

Nightmare Castle is out this Tuesday, the 19th:

• Featurette with star Barbara Steele
• Featurette with director Mario Caiano

Severin is also releasing Richard Stanley's Hardware in the fall on DVD and Blu-ray. =D>

[knives]

Been looking forward to a non Pan and Scan version of Hardware.

[Ashirg]

Patrice Leconte's Dogora is being released on DVD and Blu-ray by Severin on April 27.

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

Severin to release Santa Sangre. Everyone on this forum was saying it was MGM, but the rights must've diverted to someone else if Severin is releasing it. Have they reverted back to Jodorowsky?

[Cinephrenic]

Severin to release Santa Sangre. Everyone on this forum was saying it was MGM, but the rights must've diverted to someone else if Severin is releasing it. Have they reverted back to Jodorowsky?

Great news!

[Zumpano]

This looks like a shit-ton of fun.

[James]

Really? How are they going to stay around if they put films like that on Blu-ray?

[ccfixx]

Really? How are they going to stay around if they put films like that on Blu-ray?

Who else is going to release time capsule gems like this on blu-ray? I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only person around my age of 33 that spent day after day in the '80s watching "BMX Bandits" on HBO. I can't wait to finally see this in its correct aspect ratio, either. Now, I can only hope that Severin Films will be able to bring "Thrashin'" and "Rad" to blu-ray, as well.

At least, from the following two reviews it seems as if Severin Films has treated the film fairly on the high-def format.

Blu-ray.com Review

DVD Talk Review

[John Edmond]

Agreed, in Australia BMX Bandits is pure nostalgia bait. Obviously Severin now have to release the complete Monkey Magic.

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

Plus anything better than the old public domain version I got at the 99 Cents store will be better. The quality was almost like fifth-generation VHS with a ten minute intro for some patriotic country music CD that you could NOT skip. And then if you accidentally did hit chapter skip on the remote, you would have to watch the whole damn intro again. This is the release I'm actually most excited about for this month aside from the MoC Antonionis and Topsy-Turvy. Severin does pretty decent transfers too like their release of Inglorious Bastards and the fantastic and underrated Hardware.

[John Edmond]

Back to Santa Sangre, does anybody else think that the colours now look too dull? http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReview ... sangre.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;