There’s no denying that Severin Films has been pumping out some seriously hard to find and downright rare films over the last few years. We’re not just talking about cult classics from the United States, either. Severin has been scouring the globe for forgotten tales of terror, bringing films from Mexico, the United Kingdom, Italy and plenty of other corners of the world to physical media.
Physical media hounds, you’re going to want to make some room on that shelf because Severin’s latest announcement is an absolute doozy.
MORBID PLEASURES: A COMPENDIUM OF GRAND GUIGNOL & THE GRAND GUIGNOLESQUE is the company’s most ambitious collection to date, bringing together more than 60 films across 12 Blu ray discs and spanning more than a century of gruesome entertainment.
The collection contains more than 80 hours of content, with films dating from 1895 through 2025, including numerous titles making their home video debut.
At the center of the collection is David Gregory’s award winning documentary THEATRE OF HORRORS: THE SORDID STORY OF PARIS’ GRAND GUIGNOL, exploring the infamous Paris theater and its influence on horror, gore and extreme entertainment.
The set also spotlights legendary figures including Paula Maxa, known as “The Most Assassinated Woman in the World,” along with filmmakers Fred Paul, Maurice Tourneur, Robert Hossein and Vernon Sewell.
The Grand Guignol’s influence eventually reached modern horror cinema, true crime and even heavy metal, with new interviews featuring Alice Cooper, GWAR and the W.A.S.P. Rack Girls.
Silent film fans also get plenty to dig into, with rare and rediscovered films featuring new musical scores and accompaniment from Steven Severin of Siouxsie and the Banshees, David J of Bauhaus and Love and Rockets, Tim Newman, Stephen Thrower of Coil, Michael D. Mortilla and Neil Brand.
Then there’s the book. The collection includes the 350 page, full color Blood, Sweat & Sperm: The Visceral Horrors of The Grand Guignol featuring writings from André Breton, Richard J. Hand, Aleister Crowley, André de Lorde, Alexandra Heller Nicholas, Alfred Binet, Maxa and others.
Collectors also get Disc 12, a strictly limited edition bonus disc featuring Herschell Gordon Lewis’ 1970 gore classic THE WIZARD OF GORE and Jeremy Kasten’s 2007 remake starring Brad Dourif, Bijou Phillips and Crispin Glover.
For horror collectors, this is exactly the kind of release that makes physical media so damn fun. Obscure films, rare discoveries, silent cinema, gore, Grand Guignol history and enough extras to keep the Blu ray player busy for quite a while.
