By WILLIAM J. WRIGHT
In celebration of FAB Press’ expanded tenth-anniversary edition of acclaimed author and director Kier-La Janisse‘s (Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror) pioneering horror memoir House of Psychotic Women, Severin Films has announced HOUSE OF PSYCHOTIC WOMEN: RARITIES COLLECTION. Scheduled for an August 30 release, this five-disc Blu-ray set features four rare films curated by Janisse. Included in the collection are Identikit (aka The Driver’s Seat), a 1974 thriller from director Giuseppe Patroni Griffi that stars Elizabeth Taylor as a disturbed woman who experiences a series of bizarre encounters in Rome; Grzegorz Warchol’s 1986 gothic black comedy I Like Bats, scanned in 2K from the only 35mm print known to exist; Both the U.S. and Italian cuts of Footprints, a criminally underseen 1970s giallo starring Florinda Bolkan (A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin) as a translator who awakens a mysterious three-day gap in her memory; and The Other Side of the Underneath, radical theater icon Jane Arden’s 1972 adaptation of her multimedia stage production A New Communion for Freaks, Prophets and Witches described as “a nightmarish exploration of reason, chaos and [Arden’s] own battles with mental illness unlike anything audiences have seen before or since.”
In addition to superior transfers of the films, the HOUSE OF PSYCHOTIC WOMEN: RARITIES COLLECTION is packed with thirteen hours of special features, including exclusive interviews, video essays, trailers, audio commentaries and special introductions by author Kier-La Janisse. Severin Films is now accepting pre-orders. Exclusive bundles are also available directly from www.severinfilms.com, including signed copies of the House of Psychotic Women book, a tote bag, an Identikit Scarf, an I Like Bats reproduction Czech poster, and a Footprints-inspired sleep mask.
Check out the trailer below for a tantalizing taste of woman-centric madness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsHPb5hPLVU
