Another classic-era Eurohorror title has surfaced on Blu-ray. Straight from the exploitation trenches of postwar Germany, this elusive opus jangles plenty of nerves with its tale of mad surgery and crazy transplants. Partly a girlie show — most every scene involves some form of disrobing — it’s nevertheless an intriguing horror cocktail with top production values. The capable cast is really into the melodramatic shocks — it may not be Georges Franju but it’s several cuts above other ‘severed head’ epics — an insane carnival of flesh confusion that’s technically tame but truly adults-only by 1959 standards.
Die Nackte und Der Satan (The Head)
Blu-ray
Anolis Entertainment
1959 / B&w / 1:66 widescreen; 1:33 flat full frame / 97 min. / Standard Edition Street Date September 9, 2022 / Available from Diabolik DVD / 26.99
Starring: Horst Frank, Karin Kernke, Michel Simon, Christiane Maybach, Dieter Eppler, Helmut Schmid, Barbara Valentin, Kurt Müller-Graf, Paul Dahlke, Maria Stadler.
Cinematography: Georg Krause
Production Designers: Bruno Monden,...
Die Nackte und Der Satan (The Head)
Blu-ray
Anolis Entertainment
1959 / B&w / 1:66 widescreen; 1:33 flat full frame / 97 min. / Standard Edition Street Date September 9, 2022 / Available from Diabolik DVD / 26.99
Starring: Horst Frank, Karin Kernke, Michel Simon, Christiane Maybach, Dieter Eppler, Helmut Schmid, Barbara Valentin, Kurt Müller-Graf, Paul Dahlke, Maria Stadler.
Cinematography: Georg Krause
Production Designers: Bruno Monden,...
- 10/25/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
When it comes to releasing unique and collectible Blu-ray box sets (such as their Al Adamson: The Masterpiece Collection), Severin Films has done an amazing job preserving horror history, and this summer they'll continue to do so with The Complete Lenzi Baker Giallo Collection, featuring Umberto Lenzi's collaborations with Carroll Baker:
"On June 30th, Severin Films is bringing together the complete collaborative works of two cult film legends with The Complete Lenzi Baker Giallo Collection, which includes superlative editions of Orgasmo, So Sweet… So Perverse, A Quiet Place To Kill, and Knife Of Ice.
Italian writer/director Umberto Lenzi helmed popular peplums, created extreme poliziotteschi, and invented the Italian cannibal phenomenon. Hollywood actress Carroll Baker was the Golden Globe® winning/Academy Award® nominated star of Baby Doll, Giant and The Carpetbaggers. Together in the late ‘60s/early ‘70s, they made four landmark films that changed the erotic thriller and giallo genres forever.
"On June 30th, Severin Films is bringing together the complete collaborative works of two cult film legends with The Complete Lenzi Baker Giallo Collection, which includes superlative editions of Orgasmo, So Sweet… So Perverse, A Quiet Place To Kill, and Knife Of Ice.
Italian writer/director Umberto Lenzi helmed popular peplums, created extreme poliziotteschi, and invented the Italian cannibal phenomenon. Hollywood actress Carroll Baker was the Golden Globe® winning/Academy Award® nominated star of Baby Doll, Giant and The Carpetbaggers. Together in the late ‘60s/early ‘70s, they made four landmark films that changed the erotic thriller and giallo genres forever.
- 5/1/2020
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
The Head
DVD – Region 2 Only – No English Audio or Subtitles
Delta Music & Entert. GmbH & Co. Kg
1959 / 1.33:1 / 97 min.
Starring Michel Simon, Horst Frank, Karin Kernke
Cinematography by Georg Krause
Directed by Victor Trivas
A scientist who operates out of a starkly Modernist laboratory of glass and steel, Dr. Ood comes from a long line of German crackpots with a flair for the theatrical. Rotwang, the bug-eyed inventor of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, springs to mind along with Dr. Gogol, the lovelorn psychopath of Karl Freund’s Mad Love. And not to forget the omniscient Dr. Mabuse. Each man had style to burn and was obsessed with possessing desirable – and controllable – women.
The protagonist of Victor Trivas’s The Head, Ood was the most hands-on of the bunch, satisfying his lust by transplanting the head of a beautiful but misshapen doctor’s assistant to the body of a burlesque queen. Trivas...
DVD – Region 2 Only – No English Audio or Subtitles
Delta Music & Entert. GmbH & Co. Kg
1959 / 1.33:1 / 97 min.
Starring Michel Simon, Horst Frank, Karin Kernke
Cinematography by Georg Krause
Directed by Victor Trivas
A scientist who operates out of a starkly Modernist laboratory of glass and steel, Dr. Ood comes from a long line of German crackpots with a flair for the theatrical. Rotwang, the bug-eyed inventor of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, springs to mind along with Dr. Gogol, the lovelorn psychopath of Karl Freund’s Mad Love. And not to forget the omniscient Dr. Mabuse. Each man had style to burn and was obsessed with possessing desirable – and controllable – women.
The protagonist of Victor Trivas’s The Head, Ood was the most hands-on of the bunch, satisfying his lust by transplanting the head of a beautiful but misshapen doctor’s assistant to the body of a burlesque queen. Trivas...
- 4/18/2020
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Dario Argento’s second murder whodunnit is less stylized but almost as enjoyable as his first, Bird with the Crystal Plumage. Reporter James Franciscus and blind ex-detective Karl Malden investigate killings at a fancy genetics institute, but everyone they interview turns up dead. Catherine Spaak is among the suspects in a crime spree with nine clues but no easy solution. Turin locations, a glossy widescreen image and Argento’s polished direction are the draw, along with some fine music cues by Ennio Morricone — who in 1971 scored 24 separate features!
The Cat O’ Nine Tails
Blu-ray
Arrow Video USA
1971 / Color / 1:78 anamorphic 16:9 (Techniscope)/ 112m. / Il Gatto a nove code / Street Date August 14, 2018 / Available from Arrow Video / 34.95
Starring: James Franciscus, Karl Malden, Catherine Spaak, Pier Paolo Capponi, Horst Frank, Rada Rassimov, Aldo Reggiani.
Cinematography: Erico Menczer
Film Editor: Franco Fraticelli
Production Designer: Carlo Leva
Original Music: Ennio Morricone
Written by Dario Argento,...
The Cat O’ Nine Tails
Blu-ray
Arrow Video USA
1971 / Color / 1:78 anamorphic 16:9 (Techniscope)/ 112m. / Il Gatto a nove code / Street Date August 14, 2018 / Available from Arrow Video / 34.95
Starring: James Franciscus, Karl Malden, Catherine Spaak, Pier Paolo Capponi, Horst Frank, Rada Rassimov, Aldo Reggiani.
Cinematography: Erico Menczer
Film Editor: Franco Fraticelli
Production Designer: Carlo Leva
Original Music: Ennio Morricone
Written by Dario Argento,...
- 8/10/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Review by Roger Carpenter
The spaghetti western subgenre is littered with series-headlining characters like Sabata, Sartana, and Ringo. But for sheer popularity as well as film volume, no one beats Django.
Director Sergio Corbucci introduced Django to an international audience in 1966. Starring Franco Nero as the titular character, the film was so immensely popular across the globe that it spawned at least 60 unofficial sequels with titles like Django the Bastard, Viva! Django, Django Kill…If You Live Shoot!, Django Kills Softly, and literally dozens of others. There was even a comedy western entitled Nude Django. The name continues to live on with Takashi Miike’s Sukiyaki Western Django (2007) and Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained (2012), which not only sports the original “Django” theme song but also a small part for Django himself, Franco Nero, as a bettor during a Mandingo fight.
The Italians are famous for jumping onto any cinematic bandwagon,...
The spaghetti western subgenre is littered with series-headlining characters like Sabata, Sartana, and Ringo. But for sheer popularity as well as film volume, no one beats Django.
Director Sergio Corbucci introduced Django to an international audience in 1966. Starring Franco Nero as the titular character, the film was so immensely popular across the globe that it spawned at least 60 unofficial sequels with titles like Django the Bastard, Viva! Django, Django Kill…If You Live Shoot!, Django Kills Softly, and literally dozens of others. There was even a comedy western entitled Nude Django. The name continues to live on with Takashi Miike’s Sukiyaki Western Django (2007) and Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained (2012), which not only sports the original “Django” theme song but also a small part for Django himself, Franco Nero, as a bettor during a Mandingo fight.
The Italians are famous for jumping onto any cinematic bandwagon,...
- 7/9/2017
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Django Prepare A Coffin
Stars: Terence Hill, Horst Frank, George Eastman | Written by Ferdinando Baldi, Franco Rossetti | Directed by Ferdinando Baldi
When Tarantino wrote “the D is silent, hillbilly” in his screenplay for Django Unchained I can only imagine he had the same rueful wish that Django Prepare A Coffin had been a silent picture instead of being as woefully dubbed as it is. The film’s a curious lesson in thievery: first and most obviously in its title character Django, first appearing in Sergio Curbucci’s Django as played by Franco Nero; and secondly in its frequent use and abuse of the techniques perfected by Sergio Leone in The Good, The Bad And The Ugly two years previous.
Perhaps I’m starting on a sour note. The premise of the film is actually rather promising: mysterious Django works as a hangman, executing framed criminals for the bad guy, except...
Stars: Terence Hill, Horst Frank, George Eastman | Written by Ferdinando Baldi, Franco Rossetti | Directed by Ferdinando Baldi
When Tarantino wrote “the D is silent, hillbilly” in his screenplay for Django Unchained I can only imagine he had the same rueful wish that Django Prepare A Coffin had been a silent picture instead of being as woefully dubbed as it is. The film’s a curious lesson in thievery: first and most obviously in its title character Django, first appearing in Sergio Curbucci’s Django as played by Franco Nero; and secondly in its frequent use and abuse of the techniques perfected by Sergio Leone in The Good, The Bad And The Ugly two years previous.
Perhaps I’m starting on a sour note. The premise of the film is actually rather promising: mysterious Django works as a hangman, executing framed criminals for the bad guy, except...
- 8/14/2013
- by Mark Allen
- Nerdly
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