House of Psychotic Women: Rarities Collection Volume 2 [4-Disc Blu-ray Box Set]

“A NEW FEMINIST ESSENTIAL…
As more ‘Psychotic Women’ films are released, 
our understanding of what Kier-La Janisse intended 
to accomplish when she popularized that phrase must expand 
to include new depictions of female madness in cinema.”
Paste Magazine

RESTORED FROM ORIGINAL SOURCE ELEMENTS
WITH 10+ HOURS OF SPECIAL FEATURES

In this second collection inspired by her “groundbreaking” (Screen Anarchy) book that “forever changed the landscape of film analysis” (Bloody Disgusting), producer/curator Kier-La Janisse presents a new quartet of international classics – along with nearly 11 combined hours of Special Features – that explores startling depictions of female neurosis on screen: Amanda Plummer gives a searing performance as a disturbed drifter on a cross-country killing spree in BUTTERFLY KISS, the breakthrough debut from director Michael Winterbottom. Legendary Czech actress Iva Janžurová portrays a pair of rival sisters in Juraj Herz’ crazed gothic melodrama MORGIANA. In Ben Maddow, Sidney Meyers and Joseph Strick’s ‘dramatized documentary’ THE SAVAGE EYE, Barbara Baxley stars as a bitter divorcee adrift in Los Angeles’ dark underbelly. And with the landmark Spanish thriller THE GLASS CEILING starring Carmen Sevilla, writer/director Eloy de la Iglesia crafts an unsettling story of paranoia, madness and murder. All 4 films in HOUSE OF PSYCHOTIC WOMEN RARITIES COLLECTION VOLUME 2 have been scanned from their original camera negatives and are presented on Blu-ray for the first time ever in North America.

Disc 1: BUTTERFLY KISS (1994)

In his “breathtakingly original” (Variety) debut feature, writer/director Michael Winterbottom (24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE, THE KILLER INSIDE ME) shocked audiences with the startling drama The New York Times called “a twisted British answer to THELMA & LOUISE”: Amanda Plummer (PULP FICTION) delivers “a brave performance that sears itself permanently into the viewer's consciousness” (Austin Chronicle) as a disturbed drifter whose seduction of a lonely convenience store clerk (an equally daring Saskia Reeves of Slow Horses) triggers a cross-country odyssey of obsession, madness and murder. Ricky Tomlinson (RIFF-RAFF) co-stars in this “provocative masterpiece” (The Advocate) co-written by 2x BAFTA nominee Frank Cottrell-Boyce (WELCOME TO SARAJEVO) and featuring cinematography by 2x Oscar® nominee Seamus McGarvey (ATONEMENT), now scanned in 2K from the original camera negative by The British Film Institute and approved by Winterbottom and McGarvey.

Disc Specs:

Runtime: 88 mins
English Stereo | Closed Captions
Region Free
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Special Features:

• Introduction By Kier-La Janisse, Author Of House Of Psychotic Women
• Introduction By Writer Frank Cottrell-Boyce
• Audio Commentary With Film Historian Kat Ellinger
• Between Everyday And The Extreme – Michael Winterbottom On Directing BUTTERFLY KISS
• No Judgement – Amanda Plummer Remembers Portraying Eunice
• You're Not Judith – Saskia Reeves On Portraying Miriam
• Pestilence Through Petrol – Julie Baines On Producing BUTTERFLY KISS
• Front Light And Black Sky – Seamus McGarvey On Shooting BUTTERFLY KISS
• Trailer

Short Film

• PLEASURES OF WAR (Ruth Lingford, 1998)

Disc 2: MORGIANA (1972)

From internationally award-winning filmmaker Juraj Herz (THE CREMATOR, THE NINTH HEART) comes this “haunting” (Senses Of Cinema), “gorgeously baroque” (Starburst) and “deliriously exciting cult gem” (Culture Fix), considered to be the final film of the Czech New Wave: When their wealthy father dies, cruelly jealous Viktorie will lead her naïvely trusting sister Klára – both portrayed in “a frightening, stellar performance” (At The Mansion Of Madness) by legendary Czech actress Iva Janžurová – into a gothic nightmare of deception, blackmail and murder. Josef Abrhám (Václav Havel’s LEAVING) and Josef Somr (CLOSELY WATCHED TRAINS) co-star in this “terrific chamber piece that horror fans still haven't caught up to” (Mondo Digital), newly scanned in 4K from the original camera negative by The National Film Archive in Prague. 

Disc Specs:

Runtime: 101 mins
Czech Mono | English Subtitles
Region Free
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1

Special Features:

• Introduction By Kier-La Janisse, Author Of House Of Psychotic Women
• Audio Commentary With Stranger With My Face Festival Director Briony Kidd And Cerise Howard, Co-Founder Of The Czech And Slovak Film Festival Of Australia
• Little Drop Of Poison – Actress Iva Janžurová Remembers MORGIANA
• The Stone Forest – Newly Commissioned Short Film On Shooting Location Pobiti Kamani, Animated By Leslie Supnet And Narrated By Kier-La Janisse
• NIGHTMARES – Juraj Herz' 1970 Vampire Rock Musical Made For Czech TV

Short Film

• REST IN PEACE (Rachel Amodeo, 1998) New 2K Scan Of This Cult Favorite By Rachel Amodeo And Dame Darcy

Disc 3: THE SAVAGE EYE (1959)

In 1959, a trio of outsider filmmakers – formerly blacklisted screenwriter Ben Maddow (THE ASPHALT JUNGLE), Oscar® nominated editor/director Sidney Meyers (THE QUIET ONE) and future Oscar® winning director Joseph Strick (INTERVIEWS WITH MY LAI VETERANS) – wrote, produced, edited and directed the ‘dramatized documentary’ that San Francisco Cinematheque calls “a masterpiece of verité cinema”:  Adrift and bitter after her recent divorce, a woman (Barbara Baxley of NORMA RAE and NASHVILLE) confronts the grim realities of existence amongst the poetic grotesqueries of urban Los Angeles. The voice of Gary Merrill (ALL ABOUT EVE) co-stars in this “unique and unusual must-see” (FilmFanatic) – filmed on location by a team of cinematographers that included 2x Academy Award® winner Haskell Wexler (MEDIUM COOL) – now scanned in 4K by Severin Films from the original camera negative provided by the Academy Film Archive.

Disc Specs:

Runtime: 67 mins
English Mono | Closed Captions
Region Free
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Special Features:

• Audio Commentary With Film Curator/Historian Elizabeth Purchell
• Judith X – Locations Video Essay By Esotouric's Kim Cooper
• Archival Interview With Co-Director Joseph Strick
• Trailer
• Trailers From Hell Commentary By Kier-La Janisse, Author Of House Of Psychotic Women

Short Films

• INTERVIEWS WITH MY LAI VETERANS (Joseph Strick, 1970)
• Archival Interview With Director Joseph Strick On INTERVIEWS WITH MY LAI VETERANS
• MISS CANDACE HILLIGOSS' FLICKERING HALO (Vincenzo Core And Fabio Scacchioli, 2011)

Disc 4: THE GLASS CEILING (1971)

In his landmark 1971 feature, writer/director Eloy de la Iglesia – who would go on to create such subversively disturbing films as CANNIBAL MAN, THE CREATURE and the Quinqui classics NAVAJEROS and EL PICO 1 & 2 – brought an unnerving new perspective to female madness: When her husband leaves on a business trip, a frustrated housewife – an award-winning performance by Carmen Sevilla, star of CROSS OF THE DEVIL and NO ONE HEARD THE SCREAM – begins to obsess over unfamiliar noises in their apartment building and suspects that an upstairs neighbor has committed murder. Dean Selmier (THE BLOOD SPATTERED BRIDE), Patty Shepard (CRYPT OF THE LIVING DEAD), Fernando Cebrián (TRISTANA) and Emma Cohen (HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB) co-star in this milestone Spanish thriller, now scanned in 4K from the original camera negative.

Disc Specs:

Runtime: 95 mins
English Mono, Spanish Mono | Closed Captions, English Subtitles
Region Free
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Special Features:

• Introduction By Kier-La Janisse, Author Of House Of Psychotic Women
• Audio Commentary With Shelagh Rowan-Legg, Author Of A Forthcoming Monograph On Director Eloy De La Iglesia, And Faculty of Horror's Alexandra West
• Connected At The Soul – Patty Shepard As Remembered By Her Sister, Judith Chapman
• Alternate Scenes From The TV Version
• Trailer

Short Film

• ANTA MUJER (Agustí Villaronga, 1976)

Box Set Credits:

Curation, Art Direction and Special Features Production: Kier-La Janisse 

Outer Box Design - Hauntlove
Wrap Design - David Levine
Special Features Head Editor - Stuart Linver

Special Thanks
Julie Baines
Harvey Fenton
Gil Garagnon
Juraj Machálek
Leoš Morávek
Jayne Pilling
Amanda Reyes
Alberto Sedano
Betsy Strick