Despite suffering from recurring nightmares involving an assailant and a sinister coffin, she’s suc- cessfully wooed by a charming but mysterious suitor, Chris (Rob- ert Ginnaven), whom she agrees to marry. There seems to be a skel- eton in her closet, thanks to her dad’s mysterious death years be- fore, and meanwhile a young woman nearby is hacked up in her home. Is she insane, or is there a more calculating force at work? No other decade could have possibly produced this film, which revels in dubious interior design and languorous love mon- tages set to sparkling pop mu- sic. The actual horror content is contained primarily to about 15m worth, but fortunately it’s vivid enough to compensate for the slow buildup and indifferent cin- ematography. The transfer here is a fresh one from 35mm and considerably better than the VHS, of course, but it’s still a pretty ratty-looking film, no matter how much technology


manages to help it. The only ex- tras (apart from the Maria host- ing segments) are trailers for BLOOD MANIA, CAGED MEN, and DEVIL’S EXPRESS. Originally sold directly online from Code Red as an exclusive title, the disc was withdrawn from sale following complaints about the scenes missing from THE SEVERED ARM (which neverthe- less had value as a genuine vari- ant release). It’s therefore hard to find, but worth seeking out by the curious.


THE THEATRE BIZARRE 2011, Image,


$27.97, 113m 37s, DVD By Heather Drain


The famed Grand Guignol, France’s own late 19th to 20th century stain on the world of hor- ror, has planted an assortment of grue-filled seeds in its wake. One of the latest is the anthology film THE THEATRE BIZARRE, featur- ing six stories woven together


with theater-themed interstitial bits, entitled “Theatre Guignol,” showcasing Udo Kier as the creepy automaton-like MC, Peg Poett. Peg introduces each seg- ment to the rapt fascination and growing horror of one Enola Penny (Virginia Newcomb). The first story is Richard Stanley’s “Mother of Toads,” with Shane Woodward as Martin, who is traveling in rural France in search of information about the fabled tome of evil, THE NECRONOMICON. His life is changed forever when he runs into a mysterious witch (THE BEYOND’s Catriona MacColl). Up next is Buddy Giovinazzo’s dark tale of marital co-dependence gone horribly awry, “I Love You.” Speaking of bad romance, Tom Savini’s especially twisted and dark humored “Wet Dreams” fol- lows, with castration fears abound- ing in a marriage gone abusively sour. After that is Douglas Buck’s “The Accident,” exploring the theme of death in a little girl’s universe. Death continues to


Dean Jagger plays the doting uncle of a neurotic young woman (Lori Saunders) plagued by nightmares in SO SAD ABOUT GLORIA.


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