Severin Films today announced the forthcoming release of DANZA MACABRA VOLUME FIVE: THE SPANISH GOTHIC COLLECTION.
With their fifth installment of “an essential series of Euro-Gothic tastiness” (Mondo Digital), Severin returns to the cemeteries, catacombs and cobwebbed castles of Spanish cinema for an all-new exploration of Gothic Horror excellence with 4 uncut classics on 5 discs
In the North American Disc Premiere of 1964’s STRANGE VOYAGE, director Fernando Fernán Gómez crafts a macabre true-crime shocker featuring a poignant performance by none other than Jess Franco. The disturbing 1971 drama EXORCISM’S DAUGHTER is presented in its complete U.S. Version – now featuring the infamous orgy sequence – as well as the original Spanish Version LAS MELANCÓLICAS, both on disc for the first time ever.
THE DRACULA SAGA is 1973’s grisly reinvention of vampiric damnation from the legendary León Klimovsky, uncut in North America for the first time ever. And in 1985’s acclaimed THE TURN OF THE SCREW, controversial director Eloy de la Iglesia adapts Henry James’ classic novella with a startling psychosexual twist. Each film in this collection has been scanned from original camera negatives or archival 35mm prints, with 10+ combined hours of new audio commentaries, video essays, interview featurettes and more.
DANZA MACABRA VOLUME FIVE is now available for pre-order at The Severin Webstore.
In addition, all four previous volumes of DANZA MACABRA will be available for 50% off SRLP through June 8th.
Disc 1: STRANGE VOYAGE (1964)
In 1964, renowned novelist, playwright and actor Fernando Fernán Gómez directed his most controversial film, “a truly remarkable” (Cinemagavia) gothic horror black comedy based on a shocking true crime, condemned by government censors upon its release and featuring a surprisingly poignant performance by none other than Jess Franco: In an old dark house on the outskirts of a rural village, a matriarch cruelly bullies her two childlike adult siblings.
But when dread leads to murder, will repression and deceit bring about the most depraved acts of all? Carlos Larrañaga (THE PRIDE AND THE PASSION), Tota Alba (STRANGE LOVE OF THE VAMPIRES), Lina Canalejas (BLOOD HUNT) and María Luisa Ponte (EUGENIE) co-star in this “masterpiece of artistic subversion” (The Postmodern Pelican), now scanned in 2K from the original camera negative with over 2 hours of new Special Features.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary With Dr. Adrian Smith, Co-Author Of Norman J. Warren: Gentleman Of Terror
- A 'Rara Avis' Duo – Ángel Sala, Head Of Programming At The Sitges Film Festival, On Fernando Fernán Gómez & Jess Franco
- The Multifaceted Mind Of Fernando Fernán Gómez – Filmmaker Helena de Llanos On The Work And Legacy Of Her Grandfather
- Facing The Sun: STRANGE VOYAGE's Promise Of Broken Dreams – Video Essay By Andy Marshall-Roberts, Host Of The Nasty Pasty Podcast
- Trailer
Disc Specs:
Runtime: 92 mins
Audio: Spanish Mono
Subtitles: English
Region A/B/C
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Disc 2 – 3: EXORCISM’S DAUGHTER (1971)
What was deceptively marketed in North America as an EXORCIST rip-off is in fact one of Spain’s most unsettling genre films of the ‘70s: Driven to madness by a horrific childhood trauma, a young woman (Analía Gadé of IN THE EYE OF THE HURRICANE) is committed to a brutal insane asylum from which there may be no escape.
Francisco Rabal (SORCERER, DAGON), Espartaco Santoni (THE FEAST OF SATAN) and Helga Liné (THE VAMPIRES NIGHT ORGY) co-star in this “disturbing” (Mondo Digital) gothic drama written and directed by Rafael Moreno Alba (DREAM KISS), presented in its original Spanish Version LAS MELANCÓLICAS scanned in 4K from the original camera negative plus the complete U.S. Version (also known as THE HOUSE OF INSANE WOMEN) with additional footage – including the infamous inmate orgy sequence – now sourced from an archival 35mm print, with over 2 hours of new Special Features.
Disc 2: Spanish Version + Special Feature
- Trailer
Disc Specs:
Runtime: 111 mins
Audio: Spanish Mono
Subtitles: English
Region A/B/C
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Disc 3: U.S. Version + Special Features
- Audio Commentary With Matt Rogerson, Author Of The Vatican Versus Horror Movies And Fulci’s Inferno: Faith In The Films Of A Horror And Giallo Auteur
- A Film That Stands Apart – An Appreciation By Ángel Sala, Head Of Programming At The Sitges Film Festival
- Madwoman In The Attic: EXORCISM'S DAUGHTER And The Female Gothic – Video Essay By Kat Ellinger, Author Of Daughters Of Darkness
Disc Specs:
Runtime: 96 mins
Audio: English Mono
Subtitles: English SDH
Region A/B/C
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Disc 4: THE DRACULA SAGA (1973)
From famed director León Klimovsky (THE NIGHT OF THE WALKING DEAD, THE PEOPLE WHO OWN THE DARK) comes the daring gothic shocker hailed as “one of the most original vampire films in Spanish horror cinema” (Cine Maldito): When Dracula’s pregnant granddaughter (Tina Sáinz) and her upstanding husband (Tony Isbert of TRAGIC CEREMONY) arrive at the Count’s castle, it will birth a nightmare of profane seduction, ancestral damnation and inconceivable vampiric carnage.
Helga Liné (THE LORELEY’S GRASP), María Kosty (NIGHT OF THE SEAGULLS) and Narciso Ibáñez Menta (THE BEAST MUST DIE) co-star in this “bizarre Spanish gem” (Bloody Pit of Horror) co-written by Emilio Martínez Lázaro (CAKE OF BLOOD) and Juan Tébar (THE LEGEND OF BLOOD CASTLE), now scanned in 2K from the original camera negative with over 2 hours of new Special Features.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary With Rod Barnett And Troy Guinn, Film Historians/Co-Hosts Of NaschyCast
- Klimovsky's Vampires – An Appreciation By Ángel Sala, Head Of Programming At The Sitges Film Festival
- The Spanish Hammer: The Rise And Fall Of Profilmes – Interview With Profilmes Production and Sales Executive Lluís Ferrando
- Inheritance As Horror: Blood, Tradition And The Gothic In THE DRACULA SAGA – Video Essay By Kat Ellinger, Author Of Daughters Of Darkness
- Trailer
Disc Specs:
Runtime: 92 mins
Audio: English Mono, Spanish Mono
Subtitles: English SDH, English
Region A/B/C
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Disc 5: THE TURN OF THE SCREW (1985)
From Eloy de la Iglesia – writer/director of such controversial classics as CANNIBAL MAN, THE GLASS CEILING, NO ONE HEARD THE SCREAM, NAVAJEROS and EL PICO – comes the startling 1985 adaptation of Henry James’ classic novella of gothic horror: After dropping out of seminary, a spiritually conflicted young man (Pedro Mari Sánchez of CREATION OF THE DAMNED) is hired to teach a pair of wealthy orphans in their remote seaside mansion.
But when he begins to believe that the estate is haunted by the ghost of the previous cruel caretaker, it will unlock an ordeal of lost innocence, forbidden desire and immoral terror. Queta Claver (THE PRIEST) co-stars in this provocative shocker – “a thoughtful drama with shades of SALÒ” (Beyond Boundaries) – now scanned in 4K from the original camera negative with over 3 hours of new Special Features.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary With Matt Rogerson, Author Of The Vatican Versus Horror Movies And Fulci’s Inferno: Faith In The Films Of A Horror And Giallo Auteur
- Repression And Tragedy – An Appreciation By Ángel Sala, Head Of Programming At The Sitges Film Festival
- One In Four Hundred – Interview With Actor Asier Hernández
- The Role Of My Dreams – Interview With Actress Cristina Goyanes
- Head Full Of Phantoms – Video Essay By Xavier Aldana Reyes, Author Of Spanish Gothic: National Identity, Collaboration And Cultural Adaptation
-Trailer
Disc Specs:
Runtime: 118 mins
Audio: Spanish/Basque Mono
Subtitles: English
Region A/B/C
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Available to Pre-Order from The Severin Webstore
