Severin Films revives the obscure with Oct. Blu-ray releases

Severin Films always delivers when it comes to must-have horror on Blu-ray. Here’s what to expect from their October releases.

Obscure films getting high-definition upgrades on Blu-ray is a high point of any year. We recently highlighted Vinegar Syndrome‘s upcoming Halloween offerings. Now, the ever-reliable folks at Severin Films have announced their October lineup.

There was a time back in the early 2000s, when the DVD release of a long-forgotten (or simply long-unavailable) horror film in its correct aspect ratio was a huge deal. When Anchor Bay started putting out titles by Lucio Fulci and Dario Argento, it was cause for celebration. Boutique labels like Shriek Show (part of the extensive Media Blasters banner) also tried their had at restoration, and after some early technical hiccups, came into their own, releasing noteworthy efforts like What Have You Done to Solange? and Fulci’s Murder Rock.

But Shriek Show no longer exists, and most of their DVD releases have been out of circulation for years. To this day, their titles often demand high prices at horror-con vendor tables.

So, in a case of “all that is old becoming new again,” companies like Severin have swooped in to rescue these films from out-of-print obscurity. For example, they recently produced an upgraded version of Fulci’s Demonia, an early Shriek Show release.

Severin’s October lineup is a mix of the little-seen, and freshened-up versions of the long-OOP:

• The Black Cat (1989)
• Patrick Still Lives (1980)
• Shock Treatment (1972)

This will be the first official Stateside release of Luigi Cozzi’s The Black Cat, and Shock Treatment (not to be confused with The Rocky Horror Picture Show sequel) looks like a properly bizarre bit of early-’70s psychedelia.

But I’m most interested in Patrick Still Lives, allegedly a very unauthorized sequel to the 1978 Australian film, Patrick. This one has a reputation for some scenes of nasty violence, and was previously available as a Shriek Show release. Coming from Mario Landi, director of the ultra-sleazy Giallo in Venice, I can’t say I’m surprised.

Severin’s website has some limited-edition bonuses for the Patrick Still Lives and Shock Treatment discs. You can find more details on these releases in the cheeky video below.

Have you seen any of the movies in the October lineup for Severin? Let us know in the comments.