By MICHAEL GINGOLD
From cult favorites to a practically lost film, this collection runs the gamut.
Severin Films has announced its March 28 release of DANZA MACABRA–Volume One, a four-Blu-ray boxed set that gathers together four vintage Italian chillers: 1964’s THE MONSTER OF THE OPERA, director Renato Polselli and scripter Ernesto Gastaldi’s follow-up to the better-known THE VAMPIRE AND THE BALLERINA, in which a fiend stalks a theatrical troupe; 1965’s THE SEVENTH GRAVE, from director Garibaldi Serra Caracciolo, a heretofore barely seen mix of murder mystery, mad doctors, giallo-esque killings and more; 1970’s SCREAM OF THE DEMON LOVER (pictured above), writer/director José Luis Merino’s perverse variation on the old-dark-castle genre; and 1971’s LADY FRANKENSTEIN, co-produced by Roger Corman and directed by his regular actor Mel Welles (LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS), a twisted variation on the Mary Shelley standard.
All the films have been fully restored from the original negatives and will be presented in their original aspect ratios (1.66:1 on MONSTER and GRAVE, 1.85:1 on SCREAM and 1.78:1 on FRANKENSTEIN); MONSTER, GRAVE and FRANKENSTEIN were scanned in 2K and SCREAM was scanned in 4K. The copious special features are:
THE MONSTER OF THE OPERA
- Audio commentary by Kat Ellinger, author of Daughters of Darkness
- Terror At The Opera: Interview with screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi
- Capodimonte Gothic: Interview with Italian film devotee Mark Thompson-Ashworth
- Radio Polselli: Archival audio interview with director Renato Polselli
- French trailer
THE SEVENTH GRAVE
- Audio commentary by Rachael Nisbet, film critic and co-host of Fragments of Fear
- Seven Graves and a Mystery: Interview with film historian Fabio Melelli
- English Aesthetic With Giallo Blood: Video essay by Gothic scholar and author Rachel Knightly
SCREAM OF THE DEMON LOVER
- Audio commentary by Rod Barnett, film historian and co-host of NaschyCast, ad Robert Monell, writer and editor of I’m in a Jess Franco State of Mind
- Scream Erna Scream!: Interview with actress Erna Schurer
- In the Castle of Blood: Video essay by Stephen Thrower, author of books on Jess Franco and Lucio Fulci
- Trailer
LADY FRANKENSTEIN
- Audio commentary by Kat Ellinger, author of Daughters of Darkness, and Annie Rose Malamet, film scholar and host of Girls, Guts, Giallo
- Audio commentary by Alan Jones, author of Dario Argento: The Man, The Myths & The Magic, and Kim Newman, author of Nightmare Movies
- Meet The Baroness: Featurette with actress Rosalba Neri and film historian Fabio Melelli
- Piecing Together LADY FRANKENSTEIN
- The Lady And The Orgy: Documentary short on director Mel Welles
- The Truth About LADY FRANKENSTEIN (2007): German TV documentary
- Clothed insert shots
- Video short illustrating BBFC censorship cuts
- Italian opening credits
- Bigfilm Magazine (1971): Italian LADY FRANKENSTEIN photo novel
- Extensive image gallery
- Home video gallery
- Radio spots
- TV spot
- Trailers
Retail price is $99.95, but the set can be pre-ordered from the Severin Films website for $75.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eso_8mIBDbc&t=4s
