THE PROFANE EXHIBIT (2013)
Label: Unearthed Films
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 109 Minutes 52 Seconds
Audio: English, Italian, German, Spanish 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen
Directors: Uwe Boll, Ruggero Deodato, Sergio Stivaletti, Ryan Nicholson, Yoshihiro Nishimura, Nacho Vigalondo, Marian Dora, Michael Todd Schneider, Jeremy Kasten Anthony DiBlasi
Cast:
The Profane Exhibit (2013) is an extreme horror-anthology
featuring 10 directors from around the world, many of them quite nicely filmed and chock full of utterly grotesque imagery and deep-seated psychological fucked-uppery. The anthology doesn't so much have a wraparound story holding it all together as it does some visually interesting interstitials which I believe were shot by Jeremy Kasten (The Attic Expeditions) and appear to artfully show the process of turning a man into sausage links!
First on the chopping block is "Mother May I" directed by Anthony DiBlasi (Last Shift, Malum), a brief tale of two girls at a Catholic School who are treated poorly by a strict headmistress. There's some sexuality and gruesome devotional self-flagellation on display but then it wraps-up before it ever really gets going. That's the way with some of these anthology vignettes though, sometimes they only hint at a larger story and then like a whisp if smoke they are gone. I liked the set-up, it looks terrifically atmospheric, but a bit unsatisfying.
Onto the next we have a Japanese entry by way of "The Hell-Chef", directed by Yoshihiro Nishimura (Tokyo Gore Police), another visually dazzling short, heavy on the gore, this one tells the tale of a young woman who has just killed her boyfriend when a Mary Poppins-esque demonic chef shows up to help her dispose of the body with some creative recipe ideas. Lots of body part chopping happening here, including some junk-trauma, and sure to be a crowd-pleaser for the gore-hounds, and is the most vivid of the shorts.
Third up is "Basement", directed by Uwe Boll (House of the Dead) has a cool cast, we get Clint Howard (Evil Speak) and Caroline Munroe (Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2) as seemingly all-American suburban couple with a white picket fence and a well-manicured lawn who just happen to keep their adult daughter imprisoned in the basement where dear ol' daddy visits here and has the sex with her. It's quite a sight to see Clint Howard's bare-ass humping away in this one, it's also a bit disturbing - I wonder what his brother Ron Howard thought about this one? This is a brief one, it does what it does and then it's gone. I will say that this is my favorite thing I've seen from Boll.
The late Ruggero Deodato (Live Like A Cop, Die Like A Man) directs "Bridge", an Italian language entry, which proved to be his last film. I would just warn do not expect top-tier Deodato, this is a tale about a suicide from a bridge and some wicked children who hang out in the area. There's some nice scenery and locations, but the story was quite a let down for me.
Perhaps the biggest surprise for me here was the other Italian entry "Tophet Quorom", directed by Sergio Stivaletti (Wax Mask), who didn;t direct much in the past but did special effects on a number of great late-era Italian terrors including Phenomena, Demons, Demons 2, Opera, The Church, The Spider Labyrinth and Cemetery Man. There are some great locations here that add loads of production value, the story about a woman who gives birth to twins, one of which her husband tells her was stillborn, only to discover a secret subterranean lair and a cult trying to create a feral species of wolf people. The gore in this one is off the charts, plenty of ripping flesh and diabolical surgeries, icky fingernail pulling. This was my favorite from the whole shebang, easily, I could go for a fleshed-out feature-length version of this one.
Up next, "Goodwife" from the late director Ryan Nicholson (Collar, Hangar) which is just as fucked-up as you might imagine from Nicholson. Opening with a serial killer torturing a prostitute dangling from the ceiling with meat hooks before pissing on her corpse. Yup, it's a vile one. From there we see his fucked-up home life, and then he kidnaps a woman stranded on the side of the road only to have his wife invade his kill room because she wants to share in the experience with him which does not end well. If you're fan of Nicholson's brand of gruesome torture you know what to expect here, there's some real stomach churning stuff here, including two heads being destroyed by a mallet.
German entry "Mors in Tabula", directed by Marian Dora (Cannibal). Set during WWII this one concerns a doctor who arrives at a rural farm to treat an injured boy, performing a surgery on him. All the while we hear one of Hitler's speeches on the family radio, and after the surgery the doctor learns that the boy is "retarded" with physical disabilities, and suddenly his bedside manor turns deadly. Not a gruesome entry aside from some rudimentary surgery, but quite emotionally and morally challenging just the same, to see the doctor betray his Hippocratic oath. This is a gorgeously shot entry, the misty morning scenery was quite lovely, in stark contrast to the evil on disaply.
Number eight is "Sins of the Fathers" directed by Nacho Vigalondo (Timecrimes), it's an odd one, also quite disturbing. It features an old man who seems to be experiencing dementia, naked, sitting on the lower bunk of a bunkbed as someone narrates a story, trying to get him to recall and re-enact a time he molested his own son many years earlier. So fucked up, and then the now grown son enters the room annoyed that his father no longer remembers the molestation, and then things take a very strange turn indeed. Not gory or bloody, but we do get some old guy dick in it, and that's plenty scary,
"Manna", directed by Michael Todd Schneider (August Underground's Mordum) takes place in an underground club where there are rooms with people fucking, then being tortured and mutilated. Not much of a story but a visually interesting entry with loads of gore, including some wince-inducing genital mutilation that I could see being quite nauseating to the those with more delicate sensibilities. I did like the red surgical gowned torturers that brought to mind David Cronenberg's Dead Ringers.
This is definitely the sickest horror anthology I've ever laid eye on, a mix of depraved, demented and straight-up vile stories about the the darker side of human nature that at times even I found hard to stomach. While I thought the Deodato entry was a serious let down overall I thought this was fairly cohesive in it's exploration of the more extreme, graphic and gruesome horror tales, and they all looked really good, executed with an artful eye, which I appreciated. If you're a fan of the darker and gorier side of horror this is a must-see collection, and I am glad to see it's finally landed on disc from Unearthed Films, making it easy to indulge your dark hearts, a definite recommend for all the sick-fuck cinema fans out there.
Audio/Video: The Profane Exhibit (2013) makes its long-awaited worldwide Blu-ray debut from Unearthed Films, presenting the film in 1008p HD widescreen. Like most anthologies the look and style of the shorts vary in quality but overall this is an impressively sharp and crisp looking image with solid looking color and black levels. On the audio front we get a mix of English, Italian, German, Spanish 2.0 with optional English subtitles. The audio tracks are clean and well-balanced; dialogue is always intelligible, the scores and sometimes gruesome sound effects are impactful.
The disc is well-stocked with extras, we get an Audio Commentary by Director Michael Todd Schneider and Producer Amanda Manuel and Ultra Violent Magazine's Art Ettinger; a 13-min World Premiere Interview with Director Michael Todd Schneider and Producer Amanda Manuel; a 34-min World Premiere Q & A; 15-min A Mini Documentary 'Ten Years Later' by Marian Dora; the 14-min Sergio Stivaletti's Tophet Quorum offering a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the segment, plus the 24-min Awakening Manna a longer and different edit of the "Manna" segment with introduction and follow-up discussion. We also get
the 13-min Tiffany Blem Interviews Michael Todd Schneider, the 12-min Tiffany Blem Interviews Uwe Boll; 11-min Tiffany Blem Interviews Amanda Manuel; and the 20-min Tiffany Blem Interviews Jeremy Kasten, plus 12-min of
Galleries; and the 2-min Trailer. The single-disc Blu-ray release arrives in a standard keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary by Director Michael Todd Schneider and Producer Amanda Manuel and Ultra Violent Magazine's Art Ettinger
- World Premiere Interview (13:29) with Director Michael Todd Schneider and Producer Amanda Manuel
- World Premiere Q & A (34:28)
- A Mini Documentary 'Ten Years Later' by Marian Dora (14:58)
- Sergio Stivaletti's Tophet Quorum (14:25)
- Awakened Manna (23:51)
- Tiffany Blem Interviews Michael Todd Schneider (13:01)
- Tiffany Blem Interviews Uwe Boll (12:01)
- Tiffany Blem Interviews Amanda Manuel (10:52)
- Tiffany Blem Interviews Jeremy Kasten (20:48)
- Galleries (12:08)
- Trailer (1:51)
Screenshots from the Unearthed Films Blu-ray:
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