SEVERIN FILMS’ RESTORATION OF LO SPETTRO/THE GHOST TO PREMIERE AT 82ND VENICE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
4K of Riccardo Freda’s Horror Masterpiece Premieres Worldwide at Venice Classic Section & Opens Sitges Film Festival Seven Chances Selection 2025
Los Angeles, CA (July 16th, 2025) In one of the most prestigious events in company history, Severin Films proudly announces that their restoration of Riccardo Freda’s landmark 1963 horror thriller LO SPETTRO/THE GHOST starring Barbara Steele has been selected to premiere in the Venice Classics section of the 82nd Venice International Film Festival in September and open for the Seven Chances section of the 58th Sitges Film Festival in October.
Hailed as “Riccardo Freda’s masterpiece” (At the Mansion of Madness), LO SPETTRO/THE GHOST resets the bar for Italian horror history with a screenplay by Freda and Oreste Biancoli (BICYCLE THIEVES), and featuring a career-best performance by the supernaturally beautiful Steele. But after 50-plus years of tattered prints and murky transfers, Severin’s global sleuths finally located the thought-lost original camera negative in a storage facility near Cinecittà, only to discover the moldy element had suffered significant age-related damage. Severin was able to replace several shots from a positive print courtesy of The Jon Davison Collection at The Academy Film Archive prior to its 4K scan, then – in association with Minerva Pictures – worked closely with Augustus Color of Rome over several months of meticulous digital restoration.
Schedules permitting, Severin Films co-founder/CEO David Gregory and iconic star Barbara Steele will attend the World Premiere program, whose line-up also features restorations of Stanley Kubrick’s LOLITA, Pedro Almodóvar’s MATADOR and Masaki Kobayashi’s KWAIDAN. Full details can be found at https://www.labiennale.org/en/news/venice-classics-restored-films-82nd-venice-film-festival
David Gregory will also be in attendance for the 58th Sitges Film Festival in October where LO SPETTRO/THE GHOST will open the festival’s Seven Chances section, which features non-current films whose singularity sets them apart from the official canon of their genre’s history. Severin’s restoration will be accompanied in the program by Óscar Aibar’s ATOLLADERO, Nobuo Nakagawa’s JIGOKU and Stuart Gordon’s RE-ANIMATOR. More information can be found at https://sitgesfilmfestival.com/en/noticies/alpha-julia-ducournau-open-58th-edition-sitges-international-fantastic-film-festival