TEAM SEVERIN PICKS THEIR TOP 5 RELEASES OF 2025!

Andrew, Amy, David and Zach's top 5s were revealed and discussed on the podcast but how did the rest of the Sev team vote?

Kier-La Janisse (Acquisitions / Producer)

These are in no particular order — and I think it's inevitable I picked almost all releases I produced, largely because I'm so invested in them! Sorry!!
THE PICK-UP — My first job for Severin was editing extras for some Bob Cresse/Lee Frost films and I ended up diving into that world pretty hard, emerging with a few favourites, among them The Pick-Up. This noir-ish roughie has some experimental static frame elements and even a rare appearance by singer-songwriter Jim Sullivan, most famous for disappearing in the desert in the '70s, presumed abducted by aliens.
THE SAVAGE EYE — Maybe the classiest film in the Severin catalogue? When I was a programmer for the Alamo Drafthouse in the early aughts we always played vintage 35mm trailers before everything, and the trailer for The Savage Eye was on high rotation. But it was only years later that I finally saw the film itself, and it's as angry and venomous as the trailer promises. Essentially a travelogue through a Los Angeles that largely doesn't exist anymore (meaning, you may have seen clips from this in Thom Anderson's Los Angeles Plays Itself), guided by internal dialogue between a recent divorcee and the accusing voice in her head, it transforms sunny LA into a terrain that is hostile and apocalyptic.
ENTERTAINING MR. SLOANE — This one was so fun to work on. Not only due to the gleeful wit and silliness of the movie itself, but also just to spend some time in the world of playwright Joe Orton, the language of the UK's gay subculture (I don't think I knew what Polari was before doing the research for this) and discovering actress Beryl Reid's role in that subculture. And the fact that the original UK quad poster had that "dick and balls" design that we reproduced for our slipcase. I think many people were surprised to learn that was actually the original poster and not just a saucy Severin concoction!
EXORCISMO: THE TRANSGRESSIVE LEGACY OF CLASSIFICADA "S" — This is the only one I picked that I didn't work on! But having curated and produced a number of Quinqui films for Severin (see the Eloy de la Iglesia Quinqui Collection we released in 2021) I am pretty invested in the Transition era of Spanish Cinema, and how the end of the dictatorship ushered in a new age of permissiveness in film that was equally celebrated and derided. And Alberto Sedano's original feature-length documentary is an exhaustive look at the craziest films of that period that will have you frantically scribbling down titles - luckily a bunch of them are available in the Exorcismo box set we released to coincide with the doc!
NORTH SEA IS DEATH SEA — A huge coup for me that we got this film - a late '70s juvenile delinquent drama directed by Fassbinder alum Hark Bohm and starring his two adopted sons as two young teens initially at odds who decide to run away together. It's not as harsh as some JD films of the era - it's more Little Darlings than Out of the Blue - but that also ensured that it became a staple of German youth of a certain age (including a young Jorg Buttgereit!), aided in no small part by the music from German superstar Udo Lindenberg.

Gary Hertz (OG Creative / Marketing Guru)

(In no particular order)
BASKIN UHD — I first worked on packaging this title with Nicole and Todd at MPI/Dark Sky nearly a decade ago, and it kicked my ass. Now in UHD, I find it more startling than ever.
UNKNOWN WORLD — A very un-Severin title on the surface, yet the deeper you go (see what I did there?) it’s clearly the kind of significant socio-cultural artifact that exemplifies what we do and how we do it. Plus it's vital to recognize that another HUAC scenario — complete with government control over what we see and hear — is now in motion in America.
BAY OF BLOOD UHD — Seminal genre film. Definitive Severin presentation.
EXORCISMO: THE TRANSGRESSIVE LEGACY OF CLASIFICADA ’S’ — An essential exploration of how history can be defined by genre and vice versa. Cinema is revolution.
GHOST UHD — From discovery to restoration to presentation — including Venice FF — it’s an achievement we should all be proud of.

Ethan Hull (Regional Warrior)