DANZA MACABRA VOLUME 3: THE SPANISH GOTHIC COLLECTION (1971-1975)
New Box Set Features Worldwide Blu-ray Premieres of Four Horror Classics;
Coming June 4th! DANZA MACABRA VOLUME 3: THE SPANISH GOTHIC COLLECTION is the latest in our acclaimed series of Gothic Horror Blu-ray box sets and the first to focus on Spain’s tradition of Gothic Horror, which – particularly during the Franco dictatorship – was characterized by daring concepts, lush visuals, extreme sexuality, and a startling aesthetic all its own. These four classic shockers from the 1970s represent the genre at its most audacious:
In NECROPHAGOUS, the debut feature by writer/director Miguel Madrid, a fractured family in a crumbling castle conceals a grisly graveyard secret. The anthology film CAKE OF BLOOD – never previously available outside of Spain – presents a quartet of supernatural tales by four young filmmakers. Hammer Films director John Gilling brings his inimitable style to the occult thriller in CROSS OF THE DEVIL. And a terminally ill woman is enticed by eternal life in Leon Klimovsky’s vampire masterwork, NIGHT OF THE WALKING DEAD. Each film in this collection has been scanned from its original negative – with over 8 hours of Special Features – for the first time ever in America.
NECROPHAGEOUS (1971)
aka The Butcher of Binbrook
aka Graveyard of Horror
Label: Severin Films
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 87 Minutes 23 Seconds
Audio: English or Spanish DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual- Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Miguel Madrid
Cast: Bill Curran, Frank Braña, Victor Israel, Beatriz Elorrieta
First-up is the Spanish gothic shocker Necrophagous (1971), directed Miguel Madrid (Killer of Dolls) nobleman Michael Sherrington (Bill Curran, Jaguar Lives!) returns to his family estate after being away for business only to learn that his wife Elizabeth (Inés Morales, The Witches Mountain) has died during childbirth, and that their child was stillborn. Mysteries pile up quickly here, largely without answers, like why is her coffin empty, and what were the circumstances of her death? His creepy mother-in-law Barbara (Maria Paz Madrid) and two sisters-in-laws Pamela (Marisa Shiero), Lady Anne (Catharine Ellison) and Lilith (Titania Clement) are not want to come forth with any answers, only his niece Margaret (Beatriz Elorrieta) seems to be helpful, resulting in Michael having to search for answers on his own, losing the plot along the way and barely touching on other mysteries around the castle. We also have a scientist Dr Lexter (Frank Braña, Love Brides of the Blood Mummy) who has been performing experiments in the castle alongside Michael's brother Sir Robert (John Clark, Captain Apache) who has recently gone missing, which becomes the main mystery with the dead wife seemingly falling to the wayside. Along the way we have off character's in robes and masks roving the grounds of the cemetery, and an odd cemetery caretaker played by the very recognizable Victor Israel (Horror Express).
I won't lie, I was a bit befuddled by this Spanish Gothic set in
England with the rocky outcrops of mountainous Spain standing in for the English countryside. The initial mystery sort of dissolves away as were sucked into a spooky and gloomy graveyard and mad science monster weirdness full of icy characters and unknowable (or unexplained) mysteries that, but once the hideous green-skinned monster arises from it's blood-fed grve I went straight into a monster-kid delirium and all was forgiven.
Audio/Video: Necrophagous (1971) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Severin Films in 1080p HD widescreen (1.85:1) advertised as being "scanned in 4K from the recently discovered negative for the first time ever." Audio comes by way of English or Spanish DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono with optional English subtitles
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary With Andy Marshall-Roberts, Host Of The Nasty Pasty Podcast
- Something You've Never Seen – Appreciation By Ángel Sala, Head Of Programming At The Sitges Film Festival (8:06)
- The First Horror Film Festival In The World – Remembrance By Maria Pilar Rafáles, Daughter Of Sitges Film Festival Founder Antonio Rafáles (11:02)
- Audio Commentary With Andy Marshall-Roberts, Host Of The Nasty Pasty Podcast
- Something You've Never Seen – Appreciation By Ángel Sala, Head Of Programming At The Sitges Film Festival (8:06)
- The First Horror Film Festival In The World – Remembrance By Maria Pilar Rafáles, Daughter Of Sitges Film Festival Founder Antonio Rafáles (11:02)
- The Butcher of Binbrook Trailer (2:10)
- Graveyard of Horror Trailer (1:35)
- Graveyard of Horror Trailer (1:35)
CAKE OF BLOOD (1971)
aka Pastel de sangre
Label: Severin Films
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating:
Duration: 90 Minutes 24 Seconds
Audio: Spanish DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: José María Vallés, Francesc Bellmunt, Emilio Martínez-Lázaro
Cast: Julián Ugarte, Eusebio Poncela, Marisa Paredes, Luis Ciges
Next up is the Spanish Gothic anthology film Cake of Blood (1971) with segments directed by José María Vallés, Francesc Bellmunt, and Emilio Martínez-Lázaro, the four tales involve witches, ghosts, Frankenstein's monster, and ancient Christians versus Celtic vampires, but tackling the subject matter with an offbeat perspective and arthouse eye. Up first is "Tarot" directed by José María Vallés, starring Julián Ugarte (All the Colors of the Dark) as a knight during Middle Ages wandering the plague ridden lands, encountering robed cultists and a creepy kid who wears anachronistic masks.
The second story "Victor Frankenstein" directed by Emilio Martínez-Lázaro (The Other Side of the Bed) is a unique take on the Frankenstein story. in it Victor Frankenstein (Ángel Carmona Ristol) has created his monster (Eusebio Poncela, Cannibal Man), but in a twist he's no hideous stitched together monstrosity, but a gorgeous young man, who Frankenstein unleashes upon the world, telling it to return to Frankenstein's castle, where the creature imitating what it sees and what he is subjected to, so all he knows is sex and death, also starring the gorgeous Marisa Paredes (In a Glass Cage)
My favorite among the stories is "Terror Among the Christians" from director Francesc Bellmunt, a vampire tale set during Roman times when vampires set upon Roman soldiers after the death of Christ. Gorgeously lut and shot this is the most visually striking of the bunch with fog-drenched forests.
Last is "The Dance or Emotional Survivals" from director Jaime Chávarri (Co-writer of Jess Franco's Vampyros Lesbos) which has never before been available outside of Spain. A home evasion thriller that's also a haunting ghost story starring Luis Ciges (The Creature). About a vagrant who is recruited by a mysterious stranger to rob a woman alone in her rural estate, tying her up, this one has a pretty fantastic ghostly twist. The four tales offer s a solid mix of the Gothic and folkloric, I thought all four were quite fascinating, I liked the unusual approach tot he material, and the arty film school aesthetic.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary With Rod Barnett Of NaschyCast And The Bloody Pit, And Dr. Adrian Smith, Co-Author Of Norman J. Warren: Gentleman of Terror
- My Generation – Interview With Actress Marisa Paredes (4:31)
- I Just Wanted To Have Fun – Interview With Co-Director Jaime Chávarri (21:06)
- To Whoever Wants To Watch – Interview With Actor José Lifante (11:39)
- An Arthouse UFO – Appreciation By Ángel Sala, Head Of Programming At The Sitges Film Festival (11:00)
- Audio Commentary With Rod Barnett Of NaschyCast And The Bloody Pit, And Dr. Adrian Smith, Co-Author Of Norman J. Warren: Gentleman of Terror
- My Generation – Interview With Actress Marisa Paredes (4:31)
- I Just Wanted To Have Fun – Interview With Co-Director Jaime Chávarri (21:06)
- To Whoever Wants To Watch – Interview With Actor José Lifante (11:39)
- An Arthouse UFO – Appreciation By Ángel Sala, Head Of Programming At The Sitges Film Festival (11:00)
CROSS OF THE DEVIL (1975)
Label: Severin Films
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating:
Duration: 97 Minutes
Audio: Spanish DTS-HD MA Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: John Gilling
Cast: Ramiro Oliveros, Carmen Sevilla, Emma Cohen, Eduardo Fajardo
Written by Spanish horror icon Jacinto Molina (aka Paul Naschy, Panic Beats), based on stories by Spanish poet/writer Gustavo Adolfo Becquer, and directed by former Hammer Films ex-pat John Gilling (The Plague of the Zombies), which would be his last film), what we have here is in a Knights Templar tale very much in the vein of The Tombs of the Blind Dead. In it the hashish-smoking Brit-writer Alfred Dawson (Ramiro Oliveros, The Pyjama Girl Case), an author living in London, is the subject of recurring nightmares about a marauding cult of undead medieval Knights Templars on horseback tormenting a woman in white, which could be the product of hashish-fueled nightmares or perhaps something else. When he is summonsed to Spain by his sister Justine (Mónica Randall, The Witches Mountain) where she lives with her husband Enrique Carrillo (Eduardo Fajardo, Knife of Ice). He travels there only to find out that she has been murdered, attempting to slueth who murdered her, eventually this leads to an ancient occult order, and a mysterious woman named Beatriz (Emma Cohen, Horror Rises from the Tomb) who is the woman from his recurring nightmares. He eventually ends up in the eerie Devil's Cross region and in the crumbling ruins of a Templars' castle, where 'natch he finds the undead Knights Templar and a magical sword. I found this to have a hypnotic pace about it, meaning it's quite slow at times, but it never grinds to a halt, I just wish we got more of the supernatural Knight Templar stuff happening, but even still I was pretty absorbed by the at atmospheric 70s-ish of it all, it's well-acted and well-made, if you dig a slow-burn murder mystery/supernatural cinema that is comfortably predictable but still engrossing this will fit the bill.
Audio/Video: Cross of the Devil (1974) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Severin Films in 1080p HD widescreen (1.85:1) advertised as "now scanned in 4K from the negative with English subtitles for the first time ever.". Audio comes by way of Spanish DTS-HD MA Mono with optional English subtitles.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary With Kim Newman, Author Of Anno Dracula, And Barry Forshaw, Author Of Brit Noir
- Fascinated By Bécquer – Interview With Screenwriter Juan José Porto (11:26)
- The Real Templar Knights Movie – Appreciation By Ángel Sala, Head Of Programming At The Sitges Film Festival (8:55)
- Fantasy And Imagination: The Legacy Of Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer - Video Essay By Xavier Aldana Reyes, Author Of Spanish Gothic: National Identity, Collaboration And Cultural Adaptation (12:53)
THE NIGHT OF THE WALKING DEAD (1975)
aka Strange Love of the Vampires
aka El Extraño Amor De Los Vampiros
Label: Severin Films
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 88 Minutes 13 Seconds
Audio: English or Spanish DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: León Klimovsky
Cast: Emma Cohen, José Ramón Larraz. Barta Barri, José Lifante
collaborations with Spanish horror star Jacinto Molina/Paul Naschy. This 1975 gothic tale is set in as 19th century village ruled by superstition and chock full of vampires. where a pretty girl named Miriam (Amparo Climent) is sickly, dying from what the doc diagnoses as anemia but what everyone else knows to be the early stages of vampirism. She "dies" and is buried at the village cemetery, where we discover the local custom of staking corpses through the face, to prevent them from rising from the grave as bloodsuckers. Well, this neat trick sort of works, but when the the local vampire Lord Rudolph de Winberg (Carlos Ballesteros) has his minions visit her grave and they pulls out the stake she comes around, ready to live the vampire life. Winberg next sets his sights on Miriam's vulnerable sister Catherine (Emma Cohen, Horror Rises from the Tomb), whois terminally ill. Rudolph at first does not reveal his true-self to her, and attempts to seduce her, before she succumbs to her disease. Along the way we learn that he is a pretty thoughtful vampire, we get some of his back story and how he was turned, and how he still lives at his former, now decrepit castle, but tat vampires are able to enter a pocket dimension of sorts in order to evade human hunters who would drive a stake through their hearts. This is quite an intriguing take on the vampire tale, and it includes a scene that will be quite familiar to anyone who saw the later-made Salem's Lot (or the Stephen King novel which came out the same year as this flick), a scene of Catherine's sister visiting her outside a window and trying to get her sister to let her into the house, it's a terrific fog-shrouded scenes, and the way she is warded off with a crucifix scratched into the window pane is just a cool idea. It also defied my expectations at the end, showcasing the introspective nature of the vampire Winberg, and his seemingly deep affection for the afflicted Catherine. There;s also plenty of nudity, some arthouse style, and some special effects as the stakes are nailed into the faces of the recently deceased.
Audio/Video: The Night of the Walking Dead arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Severin Films in 1080p HD widescreen (1.85:1) advertised as being "scanned in 2K from the negative for the first time ever." Audio comes by way of English or Spanish DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo with Optional English subtitles.
Special Features
- Audio Commentary With Kat Ellinger, Author Of Daughters Of Darkness
- A Deadly Invitation To Another Dimension – Appreciation By Ángel Sala, Head Of Programming At The Sitges Film Festival (10:03)
- Leo's Signature – Interview With Writer Juan José Porto (8:08).
- Dead Man Walking – Interview With Actor José Lifante (18:32)
- Spain's Cinematic Vampires – Video Essay By Xavier Aldana Reyes, Author Of Spanish Gothic: National Identity, Collaboration And Cultural Adaptation (24:39)
- Alternate Spanish Credit Sequence (1:32)
All four films are making their U.S. Blu-ray debuts with new widescreen scans that look terrific, with uncompressed audio, both Night of the Walking Dead and Necrophagous have both English and Spanish audio, while Cake of Blood and Cross of the Devil are Spanish only.
There are also over 8-hours of extras on this set! We get audio commentaries for each film; Necrophagous gets an
Audio Commentary With Andy Marshall-Roberts, Host Of The Nasty Pasty Podcast; Cake of Blood has an Audio Commentary With Rod Barnett Of NaschyCast And The Bloody Pit, And Dr. Adrian Smith, Co-Author Of Norman J. Warren: Gentleman of Terror; Cross of the Devil gets an Audio Commentary With Kim Newman, Author Of Anno Dracula, And Barry Forshaw, Author Of Brit Noir, while The Night of the Walking Dead gets a Audio Commentary With Kat Ellinger, Author Of Daughters Of Darkness. There are also interviews and trailers, but my favorite extras are the Appreciation by Ángel Sala, Head Of Programming At The Sitges Film Festival.
The four-film 4-disc Blu-ray set arrives in a top-loading hardbox as did the first two sets. The artwork on this set is fantastic, an image of a Gothic monster holding an incapacitated woman in its arms, it certainly smacks of the iconic Frankenstein motif with a twist, the red-theme really catches the eye. Both spines features the title of the set and each of the films. Inside the box films are each presented in their own Viva Elite black keepcases with a single-sided sleeve of artwork featuring illustrated artworks, which look to be new illustrations, not original poster artwork, but I could be wrong about that. Whatever the case, they are probably my favorite artworks on any of the Danza Macabra sets from Severin; offering bold, vibrant illustration that really capture the vibe of each of the films.
Severin's Danza Macabra Volume Three: The Italian Gothic Collection is a fun Spanish detour for the series, offering four films that explore Spanish cinema's own brand of cobwebbed Gothic frights, all making their worldwide Blu-ray debuts with brands new scans from the original camera negatives. Of course it's chock full of over eight hours of tasty extras and features gorgeous packaging as well, making this a wonderful delight of the phantasmagoric fantasy. Severin are as passionate as ever about these dusty genre gems, I absolutely love the Danza Macabra box sets and I hope there's enough interest in these Gothics from around the world to keep Severin dusting of these cobwebbed gems with new transfers and extras for at least three more sets!
Buy it!