Original Productions

Enter the Clones of Bruce

Director: David Gregory | Producers: David Gregory, Carl Daft, Jeremy Kai Ping Cheung, Frank Djeng, Andrew Furtado, Michael Worth, Vivian Sau Man Wong

When Bruce Lee died in 1974 at the peak of his superstardom, he had completed only four feature films.  But within hours of his funeral, Hong Kong movie studios began to produce hundreds of unauthorized biopics, sequels, prequels, spin-offs, and rip-offs starring a competing series of Lee lookalikes. Over the next decade, fueled by both deception and demand, ‘Bruceploitation’ would become a staple of global cinema.
 
Director David Gregory – who’d previously explored film's transgressive edges in his award-winning documentaries LOST SOUL: THE DOOMED JOURNEY OF RICHARD STANLEY’S ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU and BLOOD & FLESH: THE REEL LIFE & GHASTLY DEATH OF AL ADAMSON – now examines this uniquely ‘70s phenomenon via interviews with Bruce Li, Bruce Le, Bruce Liang and Dragon Lee; martial arts movie legends that include Angela Mao, David Chiang, Phillip Ko, Casanova Wong, Yasuaki Kurata and Sammo Hung; and the producers, directors, distributors and experts – along with copious clips from the films themselves – that reveal for the first time the history, controversy and legacy behind one of the most bizarre and successful genres in movie history.

Official Selection: Tribeca Film Festival World Premiere

TO FIRE YOU COME AT LAST

Director: Sean Hogan | Producers: Evrim Ersoy, David Gregory, Carl Daft, Kier-La Janisse

In 17th century rural England, a group of men is hired to carry a coffin to the graveyard. Superstitions and fear surround the journey, but the promise of higher wages motivates them. As they walk, tensions rise, and it's revealed that two of them had wronged the deceased. Strange occurrences, including a spectral figure and a menacing hound, unsettle the group. They suspect a plot against them but are unsure of the culprits' identity. Survival until dawn becomes their desperate goal.

Official Selection: Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN)

WOODLANDS DARK AND DAYS BEWITCHED: A HISTORY OF FOLK HORROR, 2021

Director: Kier-La Janisse | Producer: David Gregory, Kier-La Janisse and Winnie Cheung

WOODLANDS DARK AND DAYS BEWITCHED explores the folk horror phenomenon from its beginnings in a trilogy of films – Michael Reeves’ WITCHFINDER GENERAL (1968), Piers Haggard’s BLOOD ON SATAN’S CLAW (1971) and Robin Hardy’s THE WICKER MAN (1973) – through its proliferation on British television in the 1970s and its culturally specific manifestations in American, Asian, Australian and European horror, to the genre’s revival over the last decade. Touching on over 200 films and featuring over 50 interviewees, WOODLANDS DARK AND DAYS BEWITCHED investigates the many ways that we alternately celebrate, conceal and manipulate our own histories in an attempt to find spiritual resonance in our surroundings.

Awards: Midnighters Audience Award, SXSW 2021 / Best Documentary, Fantasia International Film Festival 2021 / Best Graveyard Shift Feature, Nashville Film Festival 2021 / Best Documentary, Chattanooga Film Festival 2021 / Audience Award, Popcorn Frights 2021 / Best Documentary, Fangoria Chainsaw Awards 2021

See the film’s official website HERE

Buy the Blu-ray HERE

CREATION IS VIOLENT, 2021

Director: Josh Johnson | Producer: David Gregory, Carl Daft

Klaus Kinski’s reputation as a difficult and temperamental personality often overshadows all other aspects of his life and work. In CREATION IS VIOLENT, interviews with those who loved and loathed Kinski – along with candid archival footage of the man himself – create a nuanced portrait of the notorious actor’s final years. Kinski collaborators including Gabe Bartalos (SKINNED DEEP), Luigi Cozzi (THE BLACK CAT), Mario Caiano (NIGHTMARE CASTLE), and many others rise to the challenge of approaching with empathy a figure whose humanity has been obfuscated by a legacy of behavior as repulsive as his performances were compelling.

Streaming on Tubi, Google Play, Amazon Prime, Midnight Pulp

Available on the NOSFERATU IN VENICE Blu-ray HERE

TALES OF THE UNCANNY, 2020

Director: David Gregory | Producer: David Gregory, Kier-La Janisse and Michael Capone

What began as a modest Bonus Feature for the Special Edition Blu-ray of THE THEATRE BIZARRE became – when Covid hit – an international Zoom-enabled feature-length documentary on the evolution, challenges and all-time Top 5 greatest anthologies – and segments – in horror. Severin Films chief David Gregory and HOUSE OF PSYCHOTIC WOMEN author Kier-La Janisse query a global roster of more than 60 horror writers, directors and scholars that include Eli Roth, Joe Dante, Mark Hartley, Mick Garris, Ernest Dickerson, Joko Anwar, Ramsey Campbell, David DeCoteau, Kim Newman, Jovanka Vuckovic, Luigi Cozzi, Tom Savini, Jenn Wexler, Larry Fessenden, Richard Stanley, Brian Trenchard-Smith, Brian Yuzna, Gary Sherman, Rebekah McKendry and Peter Strickland in a candid discussion of the very best portmanteaus in fright film/TV history.

Official Selection: Fantasia / Fright Fest / Night Visions / Oldenburg FF / Motel X / Beyond Fest / Celluloid Screams 

Awards: Audience Award for Best Film / Abertoir Horror Festival 2020

Buy the Blu-ray HERE

BLOOD & FLESH: THE REEL LIFE & GHASTLY DEATH OF AL ADAMSON, 2019

Director: David Gregory | Producer: David Gregory, Nicole Mikuzis, Heather Buckley, Jim Kunz, Michael Capone

‘Horror Film Director Found Slain, Buried Under Floor’, screamed the 1995 headlines read around the world. But the truth behind the wild life of Al Adamson – including the production of such low budget classics as SATAN'S SADISTS, DRACULA VS. FRANKENSTEIN and THE NAUGHTY STEWARDESSES – and his grisly death reveals perhaps the most bizarre career in Hollywood history. Told through over 40 first- person recollections from friends, family, colleagues and historians – plus rare clips and archival interviews with Adamson himself – BLOOD & FLESH is the award-winning chronicle of bikers, go-go dancers, porn stars, aging actors, freak-out girls, Charles Manson, Colonel Sanders, alien conspiracies and homicidal contractors that House Of Mortal Cinema calls “brilliant stuff…a superb documentary and one of the top films of the year.”

Official Selection: Fantasia / Fright Fest / Night Visions / Oldenburg FF / Motel X / Beyond Fest / Brooklyn Horror Festival / L'Etrange

Buy the Blu-ray HERE

MASTER OF DARK SHADOWS, 2019

Director: David Gregory | Producer: David Gregory, Carl Daft, Jim Pierson, Todd Wieneke

Narrated by Ian McShane (DEADWOOD), MASTER OF DARK SHADOWS reveals the fascinating impact of the ground-breaking Gothic drama DARK SHADOWS with a compelling blend of rare footage and behind-the-scenes stories exploring the diverse talents of creator-producer-director Dan Curtis. Known as the "King of TV Horror," the filmmaker created iconic genre favorites including TRILOGY OF TERROR and BURNT OFFERINGS before earning accolades for the epic mini-series THE WINDS OF WAR and WAR AND REMEMBRANCE.

Official Selection: Fright Fest

LOST SOUL: THE DOOMED JOURNEY OF RICHARD STANLEY’S ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU, 2014

Director: David Gregory | Producer: David Gregory, Carl Daft

In 1995, visionary writer/director Richard Stanley (HARDWARE, DUST DEVIL) got the green light for his dream project: An epic adaptation of H.G. Wells’ ‘The Island Of Doctor Moreau’ starring Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer. But only days into production, an unprecedented storm of natural disasters, monstrous egos and disturbing imagery – along with chaos, insanity and witchcraft – would trigger perhaps the most infamous behind-the-scenes catastrophe in modern movie history. Now director/producer David Gregory (THE THEATRE BIZARRE, PLAGUE TOWN) reveals the untold story behind “one of the all-time greatest cinematic train wrecks” (Variety) in this “wonderfully weird and gripping” (Entertainment Weekly) documentary featuring never-before-seen footage, startling new interviews with actors Fairuza Balk, Marco Hofschneider and Rob Morrow, studio executives, crew members and – for the first time ever – the notoriously reclusive Stanley himself.

Official Selection: Fantastic Fest / Fright Fest / L'Etrange Festival / Oldenburg / Gerardmer

Awards: Director Award, Morbido / Best Documentary, Monster Fest / Best Documentary, Sitges

Buy the Blu-ray HERE

FORGET EVERYTHING YOU’VE EVER SEEN: THE WORLD OF SANTA SANGRE, 2011

Director: David Gregory | Producers: David Gregory, Carl Daft

A verbal and visual journey with master surrealist filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky (EL TOPO, THE HOLY MOUNTAIN) through his creative process on the production of arguably his greatest cinematic work, 1989’s Santa Sangre. A story of working in the streets of Mexico City among clowns, trans beauty queens, tattoo artists, tightrope and street walkers, mimes, mothers and elephants, with supporting insight from producer Claudio Argento, co-screenwriter Roberto Leoni, composer Simon Boswell, stars Blanca Guerra, Cristobal Axel Jodorowsky, Adan Jodorowsky, Sabrina Dennison and the remarkable showgirl legend Thelma Tixou.

Streaming on Tubi, Kanopy

Buy the Blu-ray HERE

THE THEATRE BIZARRE, 2011

Director: Buddy Giovinazzo, Richard Stanley, David Gregory, Karim Hussain, Tom Savini, Douglas Buck, Jeremy Kasten | Producer: David Gregory, Fabrice Lambot, Daryl J. Tucker

The concept was unprecedented: Enlist seven of horror’s most transgressive filmmakers – Douglas Buck (FAMILY PORTRAITS), Buddy Giovinazzo (COMBAT SHOCK), David Gregory (PLAGUE TOWN), Karim Hussain (SUBCONSCIOUS CRUELTY), Jeremy Kasten (THE ATTIC EXPEDITIONS), splatter FX legend Tom Savini and Richard Stanley (HARDWARE) – and give them total creative freedom to create their own short films inspired by the Grand Guignol. The result – starring genre icons like Udo Kier (FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN), Catriona MacColl (THE BEYOND), Lynn Lowry (THE CRAZIES) and Debbie Rochon (AMERICAN NIGHTMARE) – has been called “wildly unique” (Dread Central), “hilarious, grotesque and scary” (Bloody Disgusting) and “one of the best horror anthologies of all time” (Paste).

Official Selection: Fantasia / Fright Fest / L'Etrange / Sitges / Oldenburg / Lund / Lincoln Center Horror Festival

Buy the Blu-ray HERE

TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE: THE SHOCKING TRUTH, 2000

Director: David Gregory | Producers: David Gregory, Jake Shaw, Carl Daft

For the first time ever, the cast and crew reveal the truth behind the grueling production and troubled distribution of the most notorious horror movie of all time. Discover the untold stories of scorching heat, rotting flesh, mobster threats, pain, screams and hysteria in the creation of the iconic shocker as told by director Tobe Hooper, Leatherface actor Gunnar Hansen, pioneering ‘final girl’ Marilyn Burns and many more who lived through that fateful summer shoot.

In 2019, Severin’s David Gregory also co-produced the award-winning HP Lovecraft adaptation COLOR OUT OF SPACE starring Nicolas Cage and Joely Richardson.


Select featurettes made for Severin’s Blu-ray releases have been Official Selections at international film festivals including Kier-La Janisse’s BLOOD IN THE STREETS: THE QUINQUI FILM PHENOMENON (Sitges Film Festival, 2021), David Gregory’s BAN THE SADIST VIDEOS! (London Fright Fest, 2005) and Gregory’s multi-part travelogue series through Jess Franco’s sensual cinema IN THE LAND OF FRANCO (Sitges Film Festival, 2021).