Potent and poetic, mischievous and macabre,
Borowczyk’s film shows how many imaginative worlds the horror movie can open up
when the right artist holds the keys.
Nigel
Andrews, Financial Times
Following unanimous critical acclaim
for their 2014 Walerian Borowczyk retrospective collection, Arrow Video is
thrilled to announce the world premiere Blu-ray release of Borowczyk’s The
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Miss Osbourne, released on dual-format
Blu-ray and DVD from 11th May 2015, marking the first time the film has
been made available commercially since the VHS and Laserdisc era.
Often regarded as Borowczyk’s last
great film, and his only out-and-out horror film, The Strange Case of
Dr Jekyll and Miss Osbourne features his most culty cast including Udo
Kier, Patrick Magee and Howard Vernon. The disc will be presented with both the
French and English versions of the film, the latter featuring Patrick Magee’s
own voice.
This new release will feature a
restored high definition transfer, an introduction by critic and long-term
Borowczyk fan Michael Brooke and a new audio commentary featuring archival
interviews with Walerian Borowczyk, and new interviews with cinematographer
Noël Véry, editor Khadicha Bariha, assistant Michael Levy and filmmaker Noël
Simsolo, moderated by Daniel Bird.
This new disc will also feature Himorogi (2012),
a short film by Marina and Alessio Pierro, made in homage to Borowczyk,
alongside interviews with Marina Pierro, artist and filmmaker Alessio Pierro
and a video essay by Adrian Martin and Cristina Alvarez Lopez.
Alongside this, the new edition will
also include Eyes That Listen, a featurette on Borowczyk’s collaborations
with electro-acoustic composer Bernard Parmegiani and Happy Toy (1979),
a short film by Borowczyk based on Charles-Émile Reynaud’s praxinoscope. An
introduction to Happy Toy by production assistant Sarah
Mallinson will also be included.
Rounding off the Blu-ray, a new
featurette by Daniel Bird, Returning to Return: Borowczyk and Early
Cinema will also be included, along with the reversible sleeve with
artwork based on Borowczyk’s own poster design. The booklet will include new
writing on the film by Daniel Bird and archive materials, illustrated with rare
stills
Synopsis
It’s the engagement party for
brilliant young Dr Henry Jekyll (Udo Kier) and his fiancée, the beautiful Fanny
Osbourne (Marina Pierro), attended by various pillars of Victorian society,
including the astonishing Patrick Magee in one of his final roles. But when
people are found raped and murdered outside and ultimately inside the house, it
becomes clear that a madman has broken in to disrupt the festivities – but who
is he? And why does Dr Jekyll keep sneaking off to his laboratory?
We know the answer, of course, but
Walerian Borowczyk’s visually stunning adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s
much-filmed tale is crammed with wildly imaginative and outrageously perverse
touches characteristic of the man who scandalised audiences with Immoral
Tales and The Beast, not least the explicitly sexualised
nature of Mr Hyde’s primal urges.
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
- Brand new 2K restoration, scanned from the original camera negative and supervised by cinematographer Noël Véry
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of the film, released on both formats for the first time anywhere in the world
- English and French soundtracks in LPCM 1.0
- Optional English and English SDH subtitles
- Appreciation by critic and long-term Borowczyk fan Michael Brooke
- Audio commentary featuring an archival interview with Walerian Borowczyk and new interviews with cinematographer Noël Véry, editor Khadicha Bariha, assistant Michael Levy and filmmaker Noël Simsolo, moderated by Daniel Bird
- Brand new interviews with Udo Kier and Marina Pierro
- Himorogi (2012), a short film by Marina and Alessio Pierro, made in homage to Borowczyk
- Interview with artist and filmmaker Alessio Pierro
- Phantasmagoria of the Interior, a video essay on Borowczyk’s Dr Jekyll by Adrian Martin and Cristina Álvarez López
- Eyes That Listen, a featurette on Borowczyk’s collaborations with electro-acoustic composer Bernard Parmegiani
- Happy Toy (1979), a short film by Borowczyk inspired by Charles-Émile Reynaud’s praxinoscope
- Interview with Sarah Mallinson, former assistant to Borowczyk and fellow animator Peter Foldes
- Return to Méliès: Borowczyk and Early Cinema, a featurette by Daniel Bird
- Theatrical trailer with optional commentary by editor Khadicha Bariha
- Reversible sleeve with artwork based on Borowczyk’s own poster design
- Illustrated booklet with new writing on the film by Daniel Bird and archive pieces by Walerian Borowczyk and André Pieyre de Mandiargues.
No comments:
Post a Comment