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Shopping: The Vengeance of Dr. Mabuse...

1972 film by Jess Franco set for US Blu-ray release on 19th August 2025


Link Here15th June 2025
The Vengeance of Dr. Mabuse is a 1972 film by Jess Franco
Starring Fred Williams, Jack Taylor and Beni Cordoso
There are no censorship issues with this release.
US: Uncut and MPAA Unrated for:

Promotional Material

A criminal mastermind (Jack Taylor, Female Vampire) deploys poison gas and a beautiful whip-wielding assassin (Beni Cardoso) in a plot to steal government secrets in The Vengeance of Dr Mabuse (Dr. M schlägt zu). But his elaborate schemes risk unraveling when a small-town inspector (Fred Williams) stumbles into the scene. An unauthorized entry in the Dr. Mabuse cycle, the film makes no reference to Norbert Jacquess clairvoyant criminal (the M-word is carefully avoided). Instead, director Jess Franco used the project as a chance to revisit his own sci-fi thrillers (The Awful Dr. Orlof, The Diabolical Dr. Z). Fold in a disfigured henchman (Rocha), a striptease dancer (Ewa Strömberg, Vampyros Lesbos), and wrap it all in a feverish jazz score, and the result is a spicy cinematic melange that could only have been concocted in the demented mind of Jess Franco.

 

 

Shopping: Thoughts on Reality Killers...

2005 Italy horror by Alessandro Capone, Pablo Dammicco, Volfango De Biasi, recently banned by the BBFC, set for US Blu-ray release on 10th June 2025


Link Here10th March 2025
Reality Killers is a 2005 Italy horror by Alessandro Capone, Pablo Dammicco, Volfango De Biasi
Starring Valter D'Errico and Cristina Puccinelli BBFC link 2020 IMDb
Banned by the BBFC for 2024 video. The US release is uncut and MPA Unrated.

Summary Notes

We follow perverse serial killer 'The Sculptor' as he parades the viewer through his extensive collection of snuff videotapes. What follows is a series of candid vignettes of horrific intensity which will test the nerves of even the most hardened of horror fans.

Versions

uncut
uncut
run: 75m
pal: 72m
MPAA UnratedUS: Uncut and MPAA Unrated for:
banned
banned
run: 75m
pal: 72m
Rejected Pre 1970UK: Banned by BBFC
  • 2024 Treasured Films Limited Edition R0 Blu-ray

The BBFC commented:

Reality Killers is a horror film in which a man obsessed with violent snuff videos, featuring people being abused, tortured and killed, goes on to commit his own similar crimes.

Reality Killers consists of a series of short vignettes in which people, including women and children, are killed. In some cases, acts of sadistic violence follow or involve sexual behaviour and nudity. The protagonist acts as a narrator, relishing in the violence and endorsing the actions of the killers. Women, in particular, are portrayed as either sexual objects to be abused or as predatory killers themselves. Potentially harmful attitudes, such as the suggestion that victims and perpetrators enjoy violence, and that women are presented primarily as sex objects or predatory killers, are not clearly challenged, nor is there a narrative counterbalance to the sustained focus on sadism.

As a last resort, the BBFC may find content unsuitable for classification, in line with the objective of preventing non-trivial harm risks to potential viewers and, through their behaviour, to society. In our Classification Guidelines we state that this may occur where a central concept is unacceptable, such as a sustained focus on rape, other non-consensual sexually violent behaviour or sadistic violence. The guidelines also state that we consider whether the availability of the material to the age group concerned would run contrary to broad public opinion.

The BBFC considered whether the film's issues could be adequately addressed through intervention such as cuts. As Reality Killers consists almost entirely of scenes of sadistic violence and abuse, we determined that cuts would not effectively address these issues. The film, when taken as a whole, transgresses BBFC Classification Guidelines and policy, and we believe that its classification even at 18 would run contrary to broad public opinion. The BBFC therefore found Reality Killers to be unsuitable for classification. :

Mike Comments

Reality Killers has been made available in the UK via import from the US. I got mine today and watched it, so here are a few comments:

Most importantly, this is the tamest film the BBFC have rejected in a very long time. I'm struggling to remember a single shot which, on the face of it, would breach BBFC guidelines. Quite a lot of characters get killed but none of them in an especially gruesome way, and the special effects aren't up to much so it's hard to take seriously. The BBFC rejection statement mentions child killings, but there's only one and it's totally non-sexualised and non-sadistic. The killings of women have less effect than they might in that they're often shot in low light or with shaky camerawork, and usually we see the aftermath rather than the act itself.

One puzzling aspect is that several of the sexually-motivated killings are committed by women against men. The BBFC line on this has long been that such scenes don't pose a meaningful harm risk because there is no research evidence that such scenes are harmful to viewers, even if sexualised. The last time such a scene was cut was in Neighbour (2009). So we might have expected the BBFC to go easy on those scenes at least. Not so - the rejection statement says that women are presented primarily as sex objects or predatory killers. So even when women are committing murders the BBFC still condemns the filmmakers. Very strange.

The BBFC have often had problems in the past with films which fail to include enough narrative to tie together their scenes of sexual and non-sexual violence. Films in which we just see the killer murdering people with no wider narrative, explanation of why they kill, whether they get punished for their crimes, etc. are often viewed with suspicion. (Hate Crime and Grotesque are good examples of that).

The problem that Reality Killers has is that it's a film almost without narrative. We assumed initially that it was directed by Alessandro Capone, but it turns out that although he did shoot one section, his role was basically as chaperone to some inexperienced young directors who were being given their first chance in the industry. So several people shot different parts of this film, and the only connection between them was that they featured snuff killers. Hence there is no single killer who commits all the murders. In many scenes it's not even clear which of the murderers we've met so far is doing the killing. The film's producer tried to introduce an element of continuity by filming some scenes with a fat man in a mask and interspersing them with the rest of the footage to make it look like he is the killer. But it doesn't really work, and there are just several killers none of whom we get to know. I think it's the lack of context and narrative that was the BBFC's main problem.

If you go in to this film having read that you're about to see a depraved snuff killer's home video collection and assume it must be like the August Underground Trilogy or Murder Set Pieces, you're going to be extremely disappointed.

 

 

Shopping: Nosferatu...

2024 US/UK/Hungary horror mystery by Robert Eggers set for UK 4K Blu-ray release on 7th April 2025


Link Here4th March 2025

Nosferatu is a 2024 US/UK/Hungary horror mystery by Robert Eggers
Starring Lily-Rose Depp, Nicholas Hoult and Bill Skarsgård BBFC link 2020 IMDb

Exists as a Theatrical Version and an Extended Version.

Summary Notes

A gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her, causing untold horror in its wake.

UK: The Theatrical Version is uncut and BBFC 15 rated for strong horror, injury detail, violence, sex:
  • 2025 Universal [Theatrical + Extended Versions] R0 4K Blu-ray at UK Amazon #ad released on 7th April 2025
  • 2025 Universal [Theatrical + Extended Versions] R0 Blu-ray at UK Amazon #ad released on 7th April 2025
  • 2025 Universal [Theatrical + Extended Versions] R2 DVD at UK Amazon #ad released on 7th April 2025

Promotional Material

Robert Egger's Nosferatu is a gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her, causing untold horror in its wake.

Starring Bill Skarsgård, Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin and Willem Dafoe.

Special Features

  • Deleted Scenes
  • Nosferatu: A Modern Masterpiece
  • Feature Commentary with Writer/director Robert Eggers

 

 

Updated: Slap the Monster on Page One...

1972 Italy/France mystery thriller by Marco Bellocchio, cut by the BBFC for UK Blu-ray release on 18th November 2024


Link Here20th October 2024
Slap the Monster on Page One is a 1972 Italy/France mystery thriller by Marco Bellocchio
Starring Gian Maria Volontè, Fabio Garriba and Carla Tatò BBFC link 2020 IMDb

BBFC cuts were required for a 15 rated Blu-ray release in 2024. The BBFC cited child protection issues.

UK: BBFC 15 rated for strong bloody violence, language, threat, injury detail after BBFC cuts:

The BBFC commented:

This film required a compulsory cut to a potentially indecent image of a child. Cuts were made in accordance with BBFC Guidelines, policy, and the Protection of Children Act 1978.

Thanks to Mike who reports on a discussion from another forum:

At one point in the film an investigative journalist goes to the house of the chief murder suspect and takes a look inside his closet. He sees a range of pictures of children and religious iconography of cherubs. These images are all perfectly innocent, but there is another composite image of a nude adult woman in a sexualised pose with the head of the underaged murder victim stuck on top of it.

As I understand it, this would be considered a pseudo-photograph under UK law, and indecent since it gives the impression of being an image of a child. If so, then I'm fairly sure it's the first indecent pseudo-photograph that the BBFC have ever cut..

Promotional Material

Days before a general election a young girl is raped and murdered. Bizanti (Gian Maria Volonté, The Working Class Goes to Heaven), the editor of a right-wing newspaper uses the story to help the conservative candidate his paper supports. The tumultuous time of Italy's 'Years of Lead' are captured in Marco Bellocchio's powerful political drama which directly addressed topics of its day and even prefigured the creation of the right-wing paper Il giornale, which came into being two years after this film. In an age of media manipulation Slap the Monster on Page One has never been more relevant and stands proudly alongside such Italian activist classics as We Still Kill the Old Way and The Mattei Affair.

LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES

  • 4K restoration of the film from the original negative by Cineteca di Bologna in collaboration with Surf Film and Kavac Film, under the supervision of director Marco Bellocchio
  • Uncompressed mono PCM audio
  • Archival interview with Marco Bellocchio (21 mins)
  • Newly filmed interview with critic and author Mario Sesti (2024, 25 mins)
  • Appreciation by filmmaker Alex Cox (2024, 10 mins)
  • Newly improved English subtitle translation
  • Reversible sleeve featuring designs based on original posters
  • Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Wesley Sharer



 


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