Severin Films

An exploration of the cinematic history of the folk horror, from its beginnings in the UK in the late sixties; through its proliferation on British television in the seventies and its many manifestations, culturally specific, in other countries; to its resurgence in the last decade.

A feature-length documentary film adaptation of the 1994 non-fiction book of the same name, chronicling the history of Mondo cinema and the "death film".

Down a seedy city street in her neighborhood, young Enola Penny is obsessed with what appears to be a long abandoned theatre. One night, she sees that the front door is slightly ajar and impulsively decides to sneak inside. But there in the dark, decrepit auditorium, a show unlike any other unfolds before her eyes. Its host is an eerie human puppet named Peg Poett who will introduce Penny to six tales of the bizarre: A couple traveling in a remote part of the French Pyrenees cross paths with a lustful witch; A paranoid lover faces the wrath of a partner who has been pushed to her limit; The Freudian dreams of an unfaithful husband blur the lines between fantasy and reality; The horrors of the real world are interpreted through the mind of a child; A woman addicted to other people's memories gets her fix through the vitreous fluid of her victims' eyeballs; And a perverse obsession with sweets turns sour for a couple in too deep.

The story of the insane scandals related to the remake of “Island of Dr. Moreau” —originally a novel by H. G. Wells—, which was brought to the big screen in 1996. How director Richard Stanley spent four years developing the project just to find an abrupt end to his work while leading actor Marlon Brando pulled the strings in the shadows. Now for the first time, the living key players recount what really happened and why it all went so spectacularly wrong.

A detailed look at the history of horror anthology films.

A tour of 'Dawn of the Dead's Monroeville mall with Michael Gornick, Tom Savini, Tom Dubensky and Taso Stavrakis. A 34 minute documentary included on the Second Sight boxset.

'Giallo' is Italian for 'yellow', the color of the lurid pulp novels that inspired one of the most intense, extreme and influential genres in movie history. In this unprecedented collection, experience the full chronological evolution of giallo with more than 100 rare and classic trailers from such masters as Mario Bava, Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci, Sergio Martino, Antonio Margheriti, Umberto Lenzi and many more. Then slip on black leather gloves and set the mood with a Bonus CD of legendary soundtrack music from composers that include Ennio Morricone, Riz Ortolani, Bruno Nicolai, Stelvio Cipriani and others, along with all-new featurettes that thrust even deeper into the genre. "But be warned," says Gizmodo.com, "Once you start going down the blood- slicked giallo rabbit hole, you may become dangerously obsessed."

Brought to life through archival material and the reflections of over 40 colleagues, friends and fans, BLOOD & FLESH is much more than the story of a moviemaking life most unusual. It beautifully captures the worlds of outsider filmmaker communities that existed in California in the ’70s, and the weird ways they intersected with Hollywood mainstream and union indies. On Adamson shoots, regular Orson Welles crew and cinematographers like Gary Graver, Vilmos Szigmond and Lazlo Kovaks worked alongside Bud Cardos — and at one point, Charles Manson! Director David Gregory (founder of Severin Films, director of LOST SOUL: THE DOOMED JOURNEY OF RICHARD STANLEY’S ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU) spent years making this film, speaking to everyone down to the cops who investigated Adamson’s murder, vividly encapsulating both a bold life and tragic demise, with alien conspiracies, go-go dancers and Colonel Sanders coming in along the way. If you’ve got even a passing interest in cinema, you want to see this

Get ready to play a game of death… and another… and another. This wild documentary dives into the Bruce Lee exploitation craze.

An American family visiting their Irish roots accidentally stumbles on a horde of bloodthirsty mutant children.

Before the advent of modern-day pornography, a vast and rapidly-paced world of smut peddling was the norm, complete with its own secret history. This documentary reveals the untold story of American cinema's gloriously sordid cinematic past. Starting in the 1920s, expert exploiteer David F. Friedman and Henenlotter navigate us through more than five salacious decades of skin flicks. It's the true story of dirty movies, traced in elegant detail from the bizarre locations where these nudie shorts were screened to the ongoing legal battles fought by their promoters. And of course there are the stories of the innovators themselves, people who often risked their own security and livelihood to make these films, believing in some way that what they were doing wasn't a 'bad' thing - and that it could rake in some dough.

A documentary about Suzzanna, "the Queen of Indonesian horror" - an actress who starred in many of the country's most iconic and beloved horror pictures.

Documentary taking a look at Mondo movies.

Franco's death in 1975 opened the doors to the possibility of uncensored cinema. After two years in which censorship was relaxed, in 1977 it was completely abolished, and the “S” classification was created to protect viewers from those films that could “hurt their sensitivity.” The “S” classification was granted when the content was especially violent, sexual or political, creating a mixed bag in which all types of unclassifiable films could fit. In force from 1978 to 1983, this classification turned out to be a great commercial attraction for a society that had suffered four decades of national-Catholic dictatorship and repression.

Documentary about the beginnings and the Channel 4 years of the Comic Strip.

Kier-La Janisse's documentary about the importance of advertisement for small theaters.

Bikers, Nazis, Mafiosi, and the FBI all clash in this wild and wooly exploitation picture from director Al Adamson. Mark Adams (John Gabriel) is an FBI agent who has been assigned to infiltrate an organized crime ring that has obtained a set of printing plates that will allow them to produce nearly perfect counterfeit 20-dollar bills. The plates were made in Germany during World War II, and were discovered by a radical right-wing group hoping to restore the Nazi Party to power. The American gangsters are in cahoots with a group of wealthy American neo-Nazis sympathetic to the new German cause, led by fugitive war criminal Count von Delberg (Kent Taylor); the count has in turn recruited a vicious motorcycle gang, the Bloody Devils, to do his dirty work.

Go back to the 1980s and discover the extraordinary true story of Cliff Twemlow! You’ve never heard of him… but polymath Twemlow was a nightclub bouncer, novelist, composer, singer, screenwriter, producer and actor who was the most prolific indie filmmaker in the UK for a decade! Witness how this 20th-century Renaissance man created his own innovative micro-film industry in Manchester. Shooting his feature films on clunky early pioneering video technology, G.B.H. (1983) was even branded a Video Nasty! A warmly hilarious portrait that will take you back to an era where literally anything could happen. And did!

After accidentally killing an opponent in the ring, a professional wrestler takes a job at a group home for youth offenders. But when a psychopath wearing a wrestling mask begins butchering the teenage residents, their rehabilitation will become a no-holds-barred battle for survival. Originally filmed in 1994 but completed in 2019.

A documentary which covers Splatterfest ’90, the notorious all-night horror festival held at London’s legendary Scala Cinema.