The Otherworld (A Richard Stanley Documentary on The Occult)

[Himmel]

Not content with the entertainment offerings in our native dimension, Severin Films is piercing the veil of reality and entering into The Otherworld with uncanny visionary Richard Stanley -the acclaimed writer/director of Hardware and Dust Devil, as well as catalyst for the hit documentary, Lost Soul – bringing his most outlandish film to DVD and Blu-ray on August 29th!.

For Stanley, the ultimate real-life horror may be just outside his door: Hidden deep within the French Pyrenees is an area known as ‘The Zone’, where a shocking convergence of ancient occult legacies may have formed a portal to other dimensions. Stanley explores this shadowland of unexplained phenomena via chilling history, disturbing interviews and unnerving footage of his own supernatural transmutation.

Severin Films presents The Director’s Cut of this award-winning documentary – featuring cinematography by Karim Hussein (We Are Still Here) and an original score by Simon Boswell (Santa Sangre) – now on disc for the first time ever.

Special Features include deleted scenes, a making-of featurette, and the trailer.

The first 2500 units include a strictly limited bonus DVD of Stanley’s previous documentaries (THE WHITE DARKNESS, THE SECRET GLORY, and VOICE OF THE MOON), complete with audio commentaries and brand new introductions! A very limited number of copies signed by Richard Stanley will also be available from Severin Films and DiabolikDVD directly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGpePD6tHBY

http://bloody-disgusting.com/home-vi...plores-occult/

[castor]

This looks intriguing. That reminds me, I never finished watching his previous 3 documentaries in the Dust Devil Collector's Edition DVD set.

[RodChester]

This looks interesting and I'll probably pick it up. Whatever happened to the blu release of Dust Devil? Is it ever coming out?

[bigshot]

This looks great. The documentaries on the DVD look great too... Voodoo and Nazis searching for the holy grail? I'm all over that like white on rice.

[bigshot]

I received Richard Stanley's The Otherworld yesterday- signed by Richard Stanley even! I only had time to watch about half of it last night, because I had an early wake up this morning. But what I saw was really good. The cinematography was beautifull... lush color, lots of detail, beatifully composed. The sound was great too. 5.1 mix did a good job of providing atmosphere. Stanley is a gifted storyteller. There are scenes where he sits in a dark room and speaks to the camera, and they're mesmerizing. It's clear that this film is very personal to him. I didn't get to the end, and all the pieces aren't together for me yet so I won't comment on the subject, but as a documentary film, it is wonderful. It reminds me a lot of Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams.

The blu-ray came with a DVD with three more Stanley documentaries. The White Darkness, The Secret Glory and Voice of the Moon. I'm excited to watch all of these now, especially the one on Voodoo.

The price is a little high, but considering that it came with a DVD full of extras, it's actually a bargain. I'm very glad that I bought this. I knew nothing about his documentaries before this.

Here is the link to the Severin page and the trailer: https://severin-films.com/shop/the-o...igned-blu-ray/

[bigshot]

I finished the main feature and dived into two of the extra documentaries. This guy is a madman! I can't believe the risks he takes to make these films. In Voice of the Moon he goes to Afghanistan and travels to the remotest possible spot hoping to find a place where people live untouched by the modern world. He sorta finds it but when he gets to a place with no electricity or technology he finds that one part of the modern world had found its way there- guns. His introduction is fascinating talking about being caught up in insurgent battles and how he shot with clockwork cameras hand cranked because he knew that he wouldn't be able to charge the cameras where he was going. The film itself is a little otherworldly itself with translations of Afghan poetry and amazing footage in places no westerner has ever been.

He did the same thing in The White Darkness- a documentary about Haitian voodoo. He shows the two sides- the light and the dark- and gets his camera into ceremonies like you've never seen before. In the middle of it, the American army invades Haiti on a "relief mission". The contrast between the military commanders talking about the manifest destiny of Christianity and the Haitians with their own concept of religion is stark and it's obvious from the start that it isn't going to end well.

I haven't watched the last film yet- The Secret Glory. But it sounds great too focusing on the Nazi's search for the Holy Grail. Richard Stanley is one amazing filmmaker.

[cropduster]

bigshot, thanks for the great words about this. I was gonna wait a few months to pick this release up a little cheaper, but **** it, this sounds too damn good to wait for a price drop.

[bigshot]

When the price drop comes, you won't get the DVD and that is better than the blu-ray actually. The documentaries on the DVD are pretty rough looking, but that is how they were shot. The Otherworld is beautiful.

Last night I watched The Secret Glory. I was expecting a Chariots of the Gods affair just with Nazis, but I was totally surprised. The film is much deeper than that. It tells the story of an archaeologist who discovers information on the pre-Christian church in France. His work catches the eye of the Nazis and they use him to prop up their theories of a new order and racial superiority. But he ends up getting devoured. The story is told through interviews with people who knew him and worked with him. It's actually the prequel to The Otherworld and in the introduction Stanley says he worked on it for eight years and it ended up being his life's work. He now lives at the site that the Nazi archaeologist studied, and it's the subject of the Otherworld. Those two films together pack a real one two punch. Now I want to go back and watch The Otherworld again knowing the back story from Secret Glory. I suspect I missed a lot of the importance of it the first time through because I wasn't taking it seriously at first.

Stanley is definitely an uncommon kind of man. Some might think his ideas are funny. But he isn't trivial or dumb. He knows what he's doing.

[cropduster]

I actually have the documentaries included on the Dust Devil dvd that Subversive Cinema released but never got around to watching them for some reason or other so I watched all 3 documentaries and just wow! There is so much amazing imagery in these films. The film quality actually adds to the haunting and surreal imagery.

Voice of the Moon feels like an older Werner Herzog documentary that was unearthed from another time. It has a silent film feel to it, probably due to the cameras used. I love the image of the kid's face exhaling cigarette smoke. And the images of the two airplanes that were carved/drawn into a rock. Those villagers probably never saw an airplane before and drew them on the rocks for future generations to wonder about and tell stories. Also the scenes with the guys fishing with bombs is gold, as well as the images of Afghan/Soviet billboards/posters. I wish this film was longer, but under the circumstances, we're lucky to even have this film. One of Richard's friends got hit with shrapnel from a bomb and Richard had to drop his camera and bag with diary and passport to carry his friend to receive medical attention in Pakistan. And then some mysterious do-gooder from the battlefield actually picked up Richard's camera and bag and brought it to him in Pakistan! So whoever brought Richard's film back to him, THANK YOU!

The White Darkness has great footage of voodoo practitioners being possessed on film. It was informative to hear the Haitian people define voodoo under their terms and describe its history and what it means to them. It was crazy when the US military arrived and a kind of spiritual warfare broke out between Haitians and the US military, who considered themselves Christian and missionaries, not an occupying army, and considered voodoo as being Satanic. One of my favorite scenes is near the end where hundreds of people are gathered under waterfalls as possessions are going on and one man is playing a trumpet under the waterfall.

One of my favorite topics to read about is the occult influences and practices of the Nazis and The Secret Glory hit the spot. The story of Otto Rahn and his search for the Holy Grail, him writing a book on the subject, which caught the eye of Himmler, and his rise and fall within the Nazi SS, is one I was not familiar with, but glad to know now. I love the fact that this film uses actual interviews and testimonials of people intimately associated with Rahn, as well as the dramatic reenactments being filmed in the style of the film, Haxan. The talk of the Thule Society and other secret societies hunting for the grail added to the mystery of what Rahn was searching for, possibly not an object at all but some type of book or work that contained hidden information. I loved the idea that the holy grail could in fact be a meteorite that contains pure iron and "bleeds" when two rocks are rubbed together. Himmler liked Rahn's work enough to recruit him into the Nazi SS, but we don't really learn what Himmler wanted to use him for since much of the info is lost or considered top secret so I hope The Otherworld expands on this relationship and why Himmler sent Rahn to Iceland and other countries and what were they looking for and what, if anything, they found. I'm glad these documentaries are back in print with this blu-ray release to give everyone a chance to check these out.

I gotta say the interviews with Richard Stanley are just as amazing as the films. He is so knowledgeable on so many topics, especially the esoteric, and doesn't stutter or lose his train of thought and just blew me away with what he discussed. Like the Masonic connections to voodoo that could have come about from members of European secret societies teaching slaves of the time certain rituals that found their way into modern voodoo. Or one of his colleagues shooting Voice of the Moon that was allegedly killed by the CIA after staying on in the middle east and covering what was going on over there pre-9/11. And maybe the reason why Haitians get possessed has something to due with their physiology or genetics, there may be something in their genetic makeup that opens them up to some kind of schizophrenic energy seizure that other people don't have direct access to. There's so many other things I'm forgetting. Basically you can just point a camera at Richard and let him talk about whatever for hours and I would be glued to the screen listening to everything he has to say!

[cropduster]

The White Darkness - YouTube

[OLMEC]

I have the Dust Devil limited edition that had the three documentaries included on the limited bonus disc of this Blu-ray edition of The Otherworld. It says that these bonus disc documentaries have a new introduction by Richard Stanley. My question is, do they have a new audio commentary track or do they have the same audio commentary track from the Dust Devil set. Also, how long are the all new introductions? I'm asking because I have already purchased the DVD version of The Otherworld thinking that I already have the bonus documentaries but depending on the new material I may also seek out the limited edition Blu-ray edition.

[bigshot]

Otherworld is shot beautifully. It's worth getting on blu-ray for itself. The intros to the three documentaries are just a few minutes of Stanley introducing the films and talking about making them. It's not a full commentary.

[CelestialAgent]

Originally Posted by bigshot

Otherworld is shot beautifully. It's worth getting on blu-ray for itself. The intros to the three documentaries are just a few minutes of Stanley introducing the films and talking about making them. It's not a full commentary.

The press release and review mentions optional commentaries AND introductions though?

DVDCompare says they're the same commentaries as before

So the only reason to get the 5 disc German release of Dust Devil is for the soundtrack and box, as the slimmed down version is much more affordable

[bigshot]

Are they still including the bonus disc of the three documentaries with the regular edition? I thought that was just a bonus for when the film was first released. By the way, it was a burned DVD I think, if that makes a difference to you.

[CelestialAgent]

Originally Posted by bigshot

Are they still including the bonus disc of the three documentaries with the regular edition? I thought that was just a bonus for when the film was first released. By the way, it was a burned DVD I think, if that makes a difference to you.

Doesn't sound like a very big seller

https://severin-films.com/shop/the-otherworld-bluray/

[bigshot]

It's a niche title, but for those who like documentaries about extreme subjects, it's a bargain even at full price.

[TwentySmallCigars]

Originally Posted by bigshot

Are they still including the bonus disc of the three documentaries with the regular edition? I thought that was just a bonus for when the film was first released. By the way, it was a burned DVD I think, if that makes a difference to you.

I bought this just a few months ago and it came with the extra DVD - not burned but a proper silver one.

However, it also had the sticker that said it was a limited edition of 2500 copies so I'm not sure if it has since been manufactured without the extra disc.