Mubi's retrospective The Many Sins of Walerian Borowczyk is showing February 12 - June 18, 2017 in the United States and in many other countries around the world.The late 1970s marks a stylistic departure for Walerian Borowczyk, as the Polish director moved away from a controlled, painterly style and toward a ‘corporeal’ style, wherein changes in aesthetic choices allowed him to explore the human body in greater depth than in his previous films. While the liberal portrayal of sex and sexuality (lending itself to the liberal portrayal of bodies, human or otherwise) is present in Borowczyk’s live-action films as early as his anthology Immoral Tales from 1973, the preoccupation with the body specifically comes to the fore with the films Behind Convent Walls (1978), Immoral Women (1979), L’armoire (1979), Lulu (1980), and The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Miss Osbourne (1981). It is in this four-year period that the viewer will notice Borowczyk's moving away...

Close-Up is a column that spotlights films now playing on Mubi. The retrospective The Many Sins of Walerian Borowczyk is showing February 12 - June 18, 2017 in the United States and in many other countries around the world.As the reverberation of horses fervently neighing and clomping their hooves begins to permeate the opening credit soundtrack of The Beast, one may recall the similarly orchestrated donkey brays that introduce Robert Bresson’s Au hasard Balthazar (1966). Or, given its title, and the very basic concept of a young woman becoming enamored with an savage creature, one may be tempted to compare this 1975 feature to the many variations of Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve’s classic fairy tale, La belle et la bête. One would be more than a little confounded, however, by making either inadequate association. If Walerian Borowczyk’s semi-porn-semi-art-semi-monster movie bears any resemblance to another film or story, it would be...

Daniel Bird: “What is your opinion of Walerian Borowczyk’s work?”Andrzej Żuławski: “Borowczyk? Oh, he lost himself, I think, it’s a pity because he was quite a talent.” One radical filmmaker laments another radical. With one sentence, Żuławski encapsulates the conventional arc of Borowczyk, or as he calls himself in Mr. and Mrs. Kabal's Theatre (1967), Boro’s career. He was a great animator working with Jan Lenica in Poland and, when moving to France, Chris Marker[1]. His shorts influenced Jan Švankmajer, Terry Gilliam, and the Quay Brothers, and were praised by critics like Amos Vogel and Raymond Durgnat. With his first two live-action feature-films, Goto, Island of Love (1968) and Blanche (1971), critics hailed Boro as part of the major league—an auteur. He’s the next Bresson! He’s the next Buñuel! Then he made Immoral Tales (1974), a blemish in his body of work at this point in his career.

Sneak Peek director Douglas Hickox' 1979 action adventure "Zulu Dawn", prequel to the classic feature "Zulu", now available in a re-mastered HD Blu Ray/DVD Combo Pack from Severin Films.

The film stars stars Burt Lancaster, Peter O’Toole, Simon Ward, Bob Hoskins and Sir John Mills :

"...the shocking true story events of 'The Battle of Isandlwana', started January 1879, when arrogant officials of the British colony of Natal, Africa issued a list of unauthorized ultimatums to the 'Zulu Nation'.

"When the 'Zulu King' refused their demands, the Empire declared war.

"And in a series of grave tactical blunders, a garrison of 1,500 British soldiers faced an army of 25,000 enraged Zulu warriors in what would become the most horrifying disaster in British military history..."

Special features include short films with Zulu War expert Ian knight, the film's historical advisor Midge Carter, a visit to the actual locations of the battle of...

Shooting wrapped yesterday on a new anthology film with some heavy genre names to its credit. The film is being co-produced by Severin Films. No word yet on a release date.

Severin Films and France’s Metaluna Productions today announced their international co-production of The Theatre Bizarre, a modern horror anthology inspired by the over-the-top shocks of Paris’ early 20th century ‘Theatre du Grand Guignol’. The feature will be comprised of six films by six cutting-edge genre directors enlisted from around the world and granted total creative freedom. The Theater Bizarre is executive produced by Daryl J. Tucker, and produced by Severin’s Carl Daft, David Gregory and John Cregan, Metaluna’s Fabrice Lambot, and Michael Ruggiero of Nightscape Entertainment. Production on Richard Stanley’s (Hardware) segment ‘The Mother Of Toads’ began 10/10/10 in Montségur in the French Pyrenees.

The project’s six filmmakers have all made at least one modestly...

Severin Films has been one of those companies for the past five years that have been releasing some great flicks on DVD and Blu-Ray. Now, they announce that they will be handling all future production and marketing for Intervision Picture Corporation. It’s a match made in heaven if you ask me. Severin puts out quality releases and with them behind the wheel of Intervision product, that definitely puts a smile to my face. Their first release, the 1983 shot-on-video slasher called Sledgehammer. Read on for the official press release.

From the Press Release:

Los Angeles, CA, April 26, 2011 – Severin Films today announced an agreement with the estate of Larry Gold, Sr. to handle all future production and marketing for Intervision Picture Corporation. The arrangement commences with the 5/10 release of 1983’s Sledgehammer, notorious as the first shot-on-tape ‘slasher’ thriller for the then-exploding home video market. Gold, a pioneer of ‘70s film distribution and ‘80s genre VHS,...

One of the formative events in my journey toward cinephilia was finding a copy of Cathal Tohill and Pete Tombs' invaluable text on European art film and sexploitation, Immoral Tales.  I would open it randomly to a page almost daily and find some of the most interesting sounding films at my fingertips.  I haven't yet managed to watch all of them, I man never manage that, but it gave me a point of departure for exploring the very specific type of of film really only made in Europe in the late 50's through the 70's.  The auteurs given greatest attention in the boook have turned out to be some of my favorites, the kind of people who could make a sexy horror or fantasy film that felt like a work of art.  Sure, some of them were trashy, many of them were over the top, and some even were pornographic,...

A new anthology is on its way that's attracting not only a lot of indie talent but also a segment from none other than Richard Stanley (Hardware) and Tom Savini. Interested? We thought you would be. Dig on the details and early artwork.

From the Press Release

Severin Films and France's Metaluna Productions today announced their international co-production of The Theatre Bizarre, a modern horror anthology inspired by the over-the-top shocks of Paris' early 20th century 'Theatre du Grand Guignol'. The feature will be comprised of six films by six cutting-edge genre directors enlisted from around the world and granted total creative freedom. The Theater Bizarre is executive produced by Daryl J. Tucker, and produced by Severin's Carl Daft, David Gregory and John Cregan, Metaluna's Fabrice Lambot, and Michael Ruggiero of Nightscape Entertainment. Production on Richard Stanley's (Hardware) segment 'The Mother Of Toads' began 10/10/10 in Montségur in the French Pyrenees.

Since its release in 1989 Alejandro Jodorowsky's Santa Sangre has been pretty hard to come by on home video. Especially uncut. That's about to change, however, just in time to kick off the new year!

From their Website

Severin Films today announced the 1/25/2011 release of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s internationally acclaimed Santa Sangre. The 1989 production, rarely seen since its U.S. theatrical release, comes to Blu-ray and DVD featuring a restored print of the film’s European version as well as over 5 hours of Bonus Material. In addition, Jodorowsky will be honored by The Museum of Art & Design with his first-ever American retrospective. The series, called ‘Blood into Gold: the Cinematic Alchemy of Alejandro Jodorowsky’, runs from September 23rd thru October 8th and will feature the 81-year-old Chilean-born filmmaker/playwright/graphic artist/shaman in attendance to conduct a rare master class on his films and philosophy.

Jodorowsky exploded onto the international...

God bless the good folk at Severin, where they're not only finding and releasing an impressive slate of cult classics they're also releasing them well. And coming soon - January of 2011, to be precise - they'll be bringing legendary cult director Alejandro Jodorowsky's Santa Sangre, complete and uncut, to both DVD and BluRay.

Severin To Release 'Santa Sangre' Uncut On Blu-ray & DVD For First Time Ever In America

Events For 1/25/2011 Release Of Alejandro Jodorowsky's Modern Masterpiece Include 5 Hours Of Extras, Retrospective At NYC's Museum Of Art & Design

Los Angeles, CA, September 20, 2010 - Severin Films today announced the 1/25/2011 release of Alejandro Jodorowsky's internationally acclaimed Santa Sangre. The 1989 production, rarely seen since its U.S. theatrical release, comes to Blu-ray and DVD featuring a restored print of the film's European version as well as over 5 hours of Bonus Material.  In addition, Jodorowsky will by honored by The...