The Complete Lenzi/Baker Collection – Severin – June 30, 2020

[drownsoda]

Severin Films has announced that it will release a six-disc box Blu-ray set with classic thrillers directed by Umberto Lenzi and starring Carroll Baker titled The Complete Lenzi/Baker Giallo Collection. The release will be available for purchase on June 30.

Label description: Italian writer/director Umberto Lenzi helmed popular peplums, created extreme poliziotteschi, and invented the Italian cannibal phenomenon. Hollywood actress Carroll Baker was the Golden Globe® winning/Academy Award® nominated star of BABY DOLL, GIANT and THE CARPETBAGGERS. Together in the late '60s/early '70s, they made four landmark films that changed the erotic thriller and giallo genres forever. For the first time, experience the complete Lenzi/Baker collaboration on six discs featuring restored uncensored versions, alternate edits, remastered soundtracks, exclusive Special Features and more.


Orgasmo (1969)

In their first startling collaboration, Carroll Baker stars as an American widow who arrives at her late husband's luxurious Italian estate and surrenders to an orgy of ménages à trois, madness, and murder. Writer/director Umberto Lenzi boldly fills the screen with bourgeois depravity, daring sexuality and unnerving twists for the worldwide hit At The Mountain Of Madness calls "so odd, disturbing and well-made, with that delirious giallo feel that's like a drug." Lou Castel (A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL), Colette Descombes (MONIKA) and Tino Carraro (THE CAT O' NINE TAILS) co-star in this landmark psychosexual thriller – released in the U.S. with extra nudity as PARANOIA and also included here – now scanned from the internegative of Lenzi's Director's Cut for the first time on Blu-ray.

Special Features and Technical Specs:
—NEW REMASTER OF THE DIRECTOR'S CUT OF THE FILM
— U.S. X-RATED VERSION OF THE FILM with optional English SDH subtitles
— Audio Commentary with Film Critic, Author & Academic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
— Audio Commentary with Mondo-Digital's Nathaniel Thompson & Troy Howarth, author of 'So Deadly So Perverse: 50 Years Of Italian Giallo Films'
— Giallo Fever: Interview with Director Umberto Lenzi
— US Trailer
— BONUS CD SOUNDTRACK: Orgasmo Remastered Soundtrack
— Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
— Audio: Italian mono on Italian cut, English mono on English cut
— Subtitles: Subtitles for Italian audio / SDH for English audio
— REGION-A "LOCKED"

So Sweet... So Perverse (1969)

Following the international success of ORGASMO, the second Umberto Lenzi/Carroll Baker collaboration is a kinky retelling of DIABOLIQUE featuring lush Paris locations, trippy flashbacks, a swinging score by Riz Ortolani (MONDO CANE, CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST) and an all-star EuroCult cast that includes Jean-Louis Trintignant (THE GREAT SILENCE, THE CONFORMIST), Erika Blanc (KILL, BABY…KILL!), Horst Frank (THE CAT O' NINE TAILS) and Helga Liné (NIGHTMARE CASTLE). Executive produced by Sergio Martino (THE STRANGE VICE OF MRS. WARDH) from a screenplay by Ernesto Gastaldi (ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK), this "full-blown classic giallo and one of Lenzi's best" (B-Mania) is now fully restored in a new 2k scan from the original negative.

Special Features and Technical Specs:
— NEW 2K RESTORATION OF THE FILM FROM THE ORIGINAL CAMERA NEGATIVE
— Audio Commentary with 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
— BONUS CD: So Sweet… So Perverse & A Quiet Place To Kill Remastered Soundtracks Plus Bonus Track: Knife Of Ice (Main Title Theme)
— Subtitles: Subtitles for Italian audio / SDH for English audio
— REGION-FREE

A Quiet Place to Kill (1970)

In her third collaboration with director Umberto Lenzi, Carroll Baker stars as a glamorous racecar driver entangled in a lurid affair with her ex-husband (Jean Sorel of BELLE DU JOUR and A LIZARD IN A WOMAN'S SKIN), his wealthy new wife, and a twisted web of lust, murder and deception. Luis Dávila (EAGLES OVER LONDON) co-stars in this 1970 Italian/French/Spanish co-production – released in Italy as PARANOIA, though not to be confused with the 1969 U.S. re-title of ORGASMO – featuring a taut screenplay co-written by Bruno Di Geronimo (WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO SOLANGE?) and Marcello Coscia (LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE), plus edgy cinematography by Guglielmo Mancori (WILD BEASTS) with Aristide Massaccesi/Joe D'Amato (ANTHROPOPHAGUS), now scanned from the original camera negative for the first time ever in America.

Special Features and Technical Specs:
— NEW REMASTER OF THE FILM
— Audio Commentary with Author & Critic Samm Deighan
— Sex and Conspiracy: Interview with Director Umberto Lenzi
— Alternate Credit Sequence
— Alternate Clothed Scene
— Short Deleted Scene
— Subtitles: Subtitles for Italian audio / SDH for English audio
— REGION-FREE

Knife of Ice (1972)

From its opening Edgar Allen Poe quote to the insane climactic twist, this fourth and final collaboration between co-writer/director Umberto Lenzi and Golden Globe winner/Academy Award® nominee Carroll Baker is "something quite unique" (Gore Girl), with Baker as a traumatized mute being stalked through the Spanish countryside by a black-gloved sex maniac who may be a member of a Satanic cult. Evelyn Stewart (THE SWEET BODY OF DEBORAH), Eduardo Fajardo (NIGHTMARE CITY), George Rigaud (HORROR EXPRESS, EYEBALL) and Silvia Monelli (YESTERDAY, TODAY & TOMORROW) co-star in this "offbeat and fascinating giallo thriller" (All Movie), now scanned in 2K from the original negative with all-new Special Features.

Special Features and Technical Specs:
— NEW 2K RESTORATION OF THE FILM FROM THE ORIGINAL CAMERA NEGATIVE
— 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
— Subtitles: Subtitles for Italian audio / SDH for English audio
REGION-A "LOCKED"

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Any input from fans on these films? I've only seen A Quiet to Place to Kill and recall liking it, but it's been while. I love Carroll Baker, though giallos can be hit-or-miss for my tastes. It is a bit disappointing to see that they didn't get interviews from her on any of the films—she did an audio interview for the Criterion release of Something Wild a few years ago, and it seems she still semi-regularly goes to revival screenings of her other more famous films. She is almost 90 years old and will likely not be here for much longer, so it would have been nice to get some more perspective on these films from her. In any case, Severin is selling it for $78 at their online store, which is not a bad deal. I am very tempted to get this.