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Umberto Lenzi giallo collection coming on Severin Blu-rays; details, art and trailer

Thursday, April 30, 2020 | Blu-ray/DVD, News

By MICHAEL GINGOLD

Perennial Italian genre director Umberto Lenzi helmed a series of shocking, sexy thrillers with American actress Carroll Baker, and now they’re all coming in a Blu-ray boxed set.

Severin Films has announced the June 30 release of THE COMPLETE LENZI BAKER GIALLO COLLECTION, a limited edition (4,000 units) containing four films and plenty of supplements on six discs. The movies are: ORGASMO (1969), scanned from the internegative of Lenzi’s director’s cut for the first time on Blu-ray; SO SWEET…SO PERVERSE (1969), executive-produced by Sergio Martino from a script by Ernesto Gastaldi, fully restored in a new 2K scan from the original negative; A QUIET PLACE TO KILL (1970), scanned from the original camera negative for the first time ever in America; and KNIFE OF ICE (pictured, 1972), scanned in 2K from the original negative. The films are all presented at 2.35:1 with Italian and English soundtracks; the special features are:

ORGASMO:

  • Audio commentary by film critic, author and academic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
  • U.S. X-rated version PARANOIA + SDH subtitles
  • Audio commentary by Mondo Digital’s Nathaniel Thompson and Troy Howarth, Author of SO DEADLY, SO PERVERSE: 50 YEARS OF ITALIAN GIALLO FILMS
  • “Giallo Fever”: Interview with director Umberto Lenzi
  • U.S. trailer

SO SWEET…SO PERVERSE:

  • Audio commentary by Kat Ellinger, author of ALL THE COLORS OF SERGIO MARTINO
  • “Lenzi’s Lenses”: Backstage chat with the director at the 1999 Nocturno Film Festival
  • “Equilateral Triangle”: Screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi on Lenzi
  • Trailers
  • Alternate Credit sequence

A QUIET PLACE TO KILL

  • Audio commentary by author and critic Samm Deighan
  • “Sex and Conspiracy”: Interview with director Umberto Lenzi
  • Alternate credit sequence
  • Alternate clothed scene
  • Short deleted scene

KNIFE OF ICE

  • “Carroll and Umberto’s Final Stab”: Interview with Stephen Thrower, author of NIGHTMARE USA
  • “Until the Silence Screams”: Interview with director Umberto Lenzi
  • Trailer
  • Alternate credit sequence

Also included are two remastered soundtrack CDs: ORGASMO and SO SWEET…SO PERVERSE & A QUIET PLACE TO KILL, the latter with the KNIFE OF ICE main title theme. The set is also available from the Severin webstore in a bundle with a PARANOIA T-shirt; the first 1,000 orders from the store will come with four postcards of the individual movie key arts.

Michael Gingold
Michael Gingold (RUE MORGUE's Head Writer) has been covering the world of horror cinema for over three decades, and in addition to his work for RUE MORGUE, he has been a longtime writer and editor for FANGORIA magazine and its website. He has also written for BIRTH.MOVIES.DEATH, SCREAM, IndieWire.com, TIME OUT, DELIRIUM, MOVIEMAKER and others. He is the author of the AD NAUSEAM books (1984 Publishing) and THE FRIGHTFEST GUIDE TO MONSTER MOVIES (FAB Press), and he has contributed documentaries, featurettes and liner notes to numerous Blu-rays, including the award-winning feature-length doc TWISTED TALE: THE UNMAKING OF "SPOOKIES" (Vinegar Syndrome).