Jess Franco Blu-ray

[fatboyslim142]

From Twitter:

[Randy G]

Other Side of the Mirror pre-order popped up on Amazon. Can't wait to finally see it, held off on the other region releases and bootlegs.

[Matt H.]

Watched the Severin Blu-ray edition of FACELESS last night. Goddamn does it ever look good.

[Stephen]

interesting to know the version of 99 Women claiming to be the directors cut are not the directors cut (...) I do wish someone would release that German version though if it's the directors cut, or the Italian, whichever Franco preferred.

I'm not sure if it was already mentioned here, but the German version of 99 WOMEN got a release here in Germany last year:
https://www.amazon.de/hei%C3%9Fe-Kul.../dp/B096LMPPFT

Only on DVD, since it was compiled from different sources. But it runs 99 minutes (pal) and it's my preferred version of the film now.

[Ian Jane]

Standard edition coming 10/11/22.

[Randy G]

I'm a fan of a number of the sex-heavy Golden films. Just gave in and put im a preorder for Faceless but as it is the retail version via Amazon.ca won't get it for quite a while.

[Dark Horse 77]

Oddly never seen Faceless as I avoided post-70s Franco for quite a while and never felt like his later horror films held his interest like his sexploitation films but I loved the hell out of Bloody Moon so now I need to get this blu.

I don't think you'll be disappointed. It's a pretty slick effort and one of the (if not the) last great Franco films. After this came some Eurocine films that were ok but extremely low-budgeted and then a long period where he couldn't get financing. Then the Killer Barbys which is a decent if underwhelming film. Finally the video years...with the exception of Tender Flesh and Snakewoman I find them rest awful (that I've seen).

[Randy G]

Oddly never seen Faceless as I avoided post-70s Franco for quite a while and never felt like his later horror films held his interest like his sexploitation films but I loved the hell out of Bloody Moon so now I need to get this blu.

[Dark Horse 77]

Going by a post by Katja Beinart on facebook, she's being interviewed for a Franco DVD(s) for Severin. Good stuff to come...

[fatboyslim142]

New Severin sale title announcements:




One less DVD to get come the sale & a DVD I can now get rid of.

[Randy G]

The shipping from MM'S site for Canada is brutal so I'll have to make due with a retail copy.

[Ian Jane]

Coming soon from MM.

The Other Side of the Mirror (1973)

This will be available to purchase on June 30 at 9 AM Pacific Time (google what time that is where you live), only at mondomacabro.bigcartel.com!

DISC FEATURES

Region Free
Brand new digitally restored 4K scan of the film negative
Spanish audio with optional English subtitles
Brand new hour-long interview with author Stephen Thrower
Brand new audio commentary by Robert Monell and Rodney Barnett

LIMITED EDITION FEATURES

Reversible sleeve with brand new art by Justin Coffee on side A and original ad art on side B; 20 page full color booklet with brand new writing on the film by Francisco Cesari and Roberto Curti; 1200 numbered copies in the usual red case

[Ian Jane]

Vinegar Syndrome announced that they'll be releasing their first Jess Franco Blu-ray before the end of the year.

[fatboyslim142]

Fingers & toes crossed for 'Venus in Furs' and 'Necronomicon'...

If they do release Venu in Furs, in HD, then I hope they include multiple versions, especially the Italian one as that is reported to be closer/more faithful to what Jess Franco had originally intended.

The Italian version of the film (called "Paroxismus - Può una Morta Rivivere per Amore?") was edited by Italian filmmaker Bruno Mattei and is radically different from the US version. Apparently, it's also more faithful to what Jess Franco wanted to do. These are the main differences:

• This time the story is not narrated by the character of James Darren, as in the English version.
• The order of most scenes has changed compared to the US version.
• The effects with color filters and slow motion in some scenes of the US version, which infuriated Franco, have been removed. On the other hand, even more annoying filters and colorful effects were added in sex scenes and when Maria Rohm's character kills her victims.
• In the opening scene, right after Jimmy Logan finds Wanda Reed's corpse on the beach, there is a scene that shows Logan calling the police. A window is slamming driven by the wind, showing sometimes the protagonist, sometimes the sea.
• While the US version starts with the credits sequence, in the Italian version the credits appear after the scene of Logan calling the police, with a different soundtrack and the names of the actors and crew appearing over a freeze-frame of James Darren's eyes.
• Mentions of the protagonist's trip to Brazil were completely eliminated, as were the scenes showing Rio de Janeiro Carnival (which Franco had originally filmed for "The Girl from Rio").
• The first time Logan finds the resurrected Wanda in a nightclub, the scene of the protagonist going after her is interspersed with Barbara McNair singing "Venus in Furs" in the nightclub. In the US version, McNair appears singing only during the end credits.
• The party scene at Paul Muller's house, where Wanda meets Margaret Lee's character, is longer. Among other things, it includes a moment when a professor is talking about ghosts (at least in the Italian dub). When he sees Wanda, he says that the girl has a very strange aura.
• Margaret Lee's suicide scene is longer: she cuts her wrist with a razor blade three times, not just once as in the US version.
• The film ends with Logan playing his trumpet alone on the beach after finding Wanda's grave. The US version scene where he finds his own corpse at the sea and discovers he was dead all the time has been completely eliminated (Jess Franco allegedly hated this final scene/plot twist).

[BW Haggar]

Fingers & toes crossed for 'Venus in Furs' and 'Necronomicon'...