Jess Franco Blu-ray

[BW Haggar]

This will do me nicely, I can live without all the bells and whistles of the Severin version.

Oddly, I'm kind of in the opposite position on this one; I'm absolutely not bothered about upgrading this basically-quite-half-arsed film to UHD... but I'd be very interested to check out the documentary and other new features on Severin's extra disc.

[agent999]

This will do me nicely, I can live without all the bells and whistles of the Severin version. Interesting to note that on the latest Severin podcast they admit that they were probably lied to and supplied with an upscale for their old Blu Ray version.

[Ian Jane]

From the 88 Films FB page.

"After 18 months in the restoration pipeline, we are now very, very close to finishing our 4K UHD Dolby Vision master of the great Jess Franco’s Count Dracula from the original, original negatives that were located Indiana Jones style in a temple of doom somewhere near Bucharest….. probably….. Once we’d cleaned all the blood off, the quality was startling! In fact so good, we decided it doesn’t need many extras so welcome to our amazing, budget friendly 1 disc edition, coming to very soon to DVD!"

[Ian Jane]

Just announced by Severin.

****NEW RELEASE ANNOUNCEMENT****

COUNT DRACULA UHD 4-DISC SET

THE WORLDWIDE UHD PREMIERE RESTORED FROM THE ORIGINAL NEGATIVE WITH 5+ HOURS OF SPECIAL FEATURES INCLUDING THE DOCUMENTARY DRÁCULA BARCELONA PLUS BRUNO NICOLAI SOUNDTRACK CD AND MORE!

“A WORLD OF NIGHTMARE MADE FLESH… Jess Franco’s Dracula is a moody blend of dark passion and mystery. His creative stamp is apparent in every frame.” SexGoreMutants
In early 2023, a Madrid film archivist made a startling discovery: the uncut camera negative of COUNT DRACULA, in pristine condition and untouched for over 50 years. This gothic masterpiece from writer/director Jess Franco can now be experienced like never before, from its brilliant performances by Christopher Lee as the Count, Herbert Lom as Van Helsing, Soledad Miranda as Lucy, Maria Rohm as Mina and Klaus Kinski as Renfield to its sumptuously unnerving cinematography and eerie Bruno Nicolai score. COUNT DRACULA is newly scanned in 4K with over five total hours of Special Features, including the U.S. Premiere of Carles Prats’ 2017 documentary DRÁCULA BARCELONA, which chronicles the simultaneous filming of CUADECUC VAMPIR by Pere Portabella and Franco’s horror classic.

Disc 1: UHD (Feature + Special Features)

• Audio Commentary With Horror Historian David Del Valle And Actress Maria Rohm
• Trailer

Disc 2: Blu-ray (Feature + Special Features)

• Audio Commentary With Horror Historian David Del Valle And Actress Maria Rohm
• Illustrated 1973 Christopher Lee Audio Interview With Filmmaker Donald Glut
• Beloved Count – Interview With Director Jess Franco
• Handsome Harker – Interview With Actor Fred Williams
• An Interview With Actor Jack Taylor
• Stake Holders – An Appreciation By Filmmaker Christophe Gans
• Trailer

Disc 3: Blu-ray (Special Features)

• DRÁCULA BARCELONA – 2017 Documentary (90 mins)
• Jess Franco's BRAM STOKER’S COUNT DRACULA – Stephen Thrower On COUNT DRACULA
• In The Land Of Franco Bonus Sequence With Alain Petit And Stephen Thrower
• Alternate Title Sequences

Disc 4: Soundtrack CD

Disc Specs:

• Reversible Slipcover
• Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
• Audio: English Mono, Spanish Mono
• Closed Captions
• Regions: A/B/C
• Run Time: 97 Mins

https://severinfilms.com/products/co...hd-w-slipcover

[agent999]

Not seen this one but, to me, Orloff only works in black and white. I think Franco got most of his movies right the first time, the many revisits and remakes are usually inferior. Unless they contain really gratuitous Lina Romay nudity.

[BW Haggar]

So, having never seen this one, I looked it up in Stephen Thrower's book after Mondo first announced it.... and sad to say, he rates it as an absolute stinker, finding it crap and disappointing in pretty much every respect, which doesn't exactly encourage me to take a chance.

The trailer looks like a lot of fun though, so I'd be interested to hear the opinions of any other Franco fans who are familiar with it...

[Ian Jane]

The Sinister Dr. Orolff
1 Blu-ray disc
Label: Mondo Macabro
Preorder: 10/10/23 Release: 11/14/23
MSRP: $29.95
UPC: 843276028299
Catalogue #: MDO282
Genre: Horror
Color
87 minutes in Spanish with English subtitles
MPAA Rating: NR
Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1
Dolby Digital Mono
Region code: All
Production year: 1984 in Spain
Director: Jess Franco
Cast: Antonio Mayans, Howard Vernon, Tony Skios, Rocio Freixas, Raf Smog, Juan Cozar, Teo Santander

With his 1962 film THE AWFUL DR ORLOF, director Jess Franco laid the ground work for the Spanish horror boom that was to follow later in that decade. The film’s mixture of sex, surgery and gothic horror was a game changer in many ways. Twenty years on, he revisited his classic to create this chilling and macabre follow up. THE SINISTER DR. ORLOFF features the original doctor, played by Howard Vernon, with Antonio Mayans as his son, Alfred.

The film is set amongst the bright neon lights and gaudy tourist attractions of Alicante, on Spain’s Costa Blanca. Alfred Orloff cruises the bustling night-time streets, seeking out women, whom he takes back to his empty apartment. There he drugs them and has his blind brother, Andros, carry them off to a secret laboratory where Orloff has created a bizarre mind transference machine, hoping to transplant the consciousness of the captive women into the body of his comatose mother. Orloff’s father becomes aware that his son is starting to enjoy these murderous night games and decides that he must stop the deadly experiments that are being conducted in his name. But when Inspector Tanner’s wife becomes the next victim, events take a tragic and unexpected turn.

This is the film’s first ever US release and a world premiere on Blu-ray.

Special Features:
Brand new 4k transfer from film negative, digitally restored.
Interview with actor Antonio Mayans.
Interview with writer Stephen Thrower.
Audio commentary from Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson.
Optional English subtitles.

[Ian Jane]

Press release for The Girl From Rio UHD.

On September 26th, Blue Underground is releasing Jess Franco’s sexy action thriller THE GIRL FROM RIO on 4K UHD + Blu-ray, presented in a brand-new restoration from the original camera negative, totally uncut and uncensored in all its Grindhouse glory in Dolby Vision HDR.

The only thing super-villain vixen Sumuru (Shirley Eaton, Goldfinger) lusts for above all else is the power to control men. Her plan to dominate the male species – and the world – with an army of superhuman women is foolproof. Or so one thinks. Sumuru didn’t count on Jeff Sutton (Richard Wyler, The Bounty Killer) and the $10 million he stole from crime boss Sir Masius (Academy Award winner George Sanders, All About Eve) as being the perfect recipe for disaster. In the tradition of Danger Diabolik, Our Man Flint, The Wrecking Crew and other Swinging 60’s Mod classics, THE GIRL FROM RIO is everything you’d expect from notorious director Jess Franco – the sex, the adventure, the fun!

The 4K UHD special features include an all-new audio commentary with film historians Nathaniel Thompson and Troy Howarth; Rocking in Rio – an all-new interview with Stephen Thrower, Author of “Murderous Passions: The Delirious Cinema of Jesus Franco;” Rolling in Rio – interviews with director Jess Franco, producer Harry Alan Towers and star Shirley Eaton; all-new additional scenes from the German version; a Trim Reel; a Poster & Still Gallery; and newly included is the RiffTrax Edition – THE GIRL FROM RIO Riffed by Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett & Kevin Murphy.

[Randy G]

Franco's hardcore stuff is massively underrepresented (regardless of its perceived quality). I'm not talking about his films that were spiced up with inserts, but films that were hardcore projects from inception. I'm not sure that Severin would put out a box of just porn, but it would be nice to see a mix in any box set.

They included some Steckler porn in his boxset.

[agent999]

Franco's hardcore stuff is massively underrepresented (regardless of its perceived quality). I'm not talking about his films that were spiced up with inserts, but films that were hardcore projects from inception. I'm not sure that Severin would put out a box of just porn, but it would be nice to see a mix in any box set.

[Ignatius]

The reference to digging up new films from a vault in Spain makes me suspect they may have tracked down some of the unreleased titles Franco churned out for Golden Films in the early '80s, and quite a few of the films Franco made around that time under his own Manacoa Films company are still in limbo as well. The holy grail would be if the original festival cut of Fall of the House of Usher but I'm not holding out hope for it. The cynical part of me says they're rounding up a whole bunch of the less interesting '80s titles into a boxset because they're less likely to sell as well individually, but any Franco is welcome to be honest.

[s.chivers]

I also wondered if they might be referring to the One Shot productions, but it’s hard to see how such a set could be a contender for home video release of the year. There are still plenty of Robert DeNesle films that haven’t had a digital release, and I’d certainly welcome some of those. The real coup would be if they’ve managed to unearth something like Sex Charade or Julietta ‘69.

[BW Haggar]

Intriguing news, but, thinking about it, I'm reluctant to get my hopes up too much.

I'd love to be proved wrong, but my impression is that most of the key '60s/'70s Franco films which still remain AWOL on blu-ray must be subject to intractable problems with either rights or elements, and Severin have already harvested much of the best stuff from the '80s via their individual releases, which would make it strange for them to suddenly switch to collecting whatever's left as a box.

Looking at remaining big batches of titles which could be licenced for a box set, I'd suspect that maybe, a) they've got the US rights to the Erwin Deitrich films, or b) a box set of the One Shot/SOV productions (god help us all).

Still though -- who knows! If they have unearthed elements for some of the more obscure/lost '70s films.... some incredible possibilities there.

[Randy G]

What movies are likely to be in such a set?

[fatboyslim142]

Someone in the El Franconomicon Facebook group mentioned the following (release of the year):

Severin have a podcast, and they talked about the Franco boxset (forthcoming) for about a minute in the last one or the one before that. This was something like a month ago. This was after they'd already spent a lot of the show talking about the just released EMANUELLE box, which is enormous and has something like 15 discs in it or more. They said the Franco box set was going to be the home video release of the year - not just release of the year from them, but the overall home video release of the year, presumably based on size and ambition and contents. There are still many Franco titles that have never had a remastered DVD release, let alone a Blu-Ray, and a number of other Franco titles that have barely had a decent home video release anywhere, and a few Franco titles that have been lost for years, and commentary a year or so ago that the vaults in Spain have turned up a couple of Franco titles no-one had ever heard of. Severin has all the big Franco experts already working for them, and knows all the above, and is currently going through a phase where their box sets are big and ultra ambitious, and they say the Franco box will be the home video release of the year. It's can't be too big or comprehensive else no one will be able to buy it, but I'm expecting a pleasantly chunky release - + book, with many extras - that finally gives us a good new look at much Franco that has never been served well on video, possibly a couple of old favourites, + maybe some surprises. It's releasing within the next few months so I'd say an announcement will be within the next month or two.