Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Santa Sangre Coming To DVD In America Thanks To Severin Films

Thanks to the fine folk over at Severin Films, they are bringing us a forgotten gem from 1989 from a master of the bizarre, Alejandro Jodorowsky himself. The film is Santa Sangre, a wonderfully surreal horror film. Here’s the synopsis:

A young man is confined in a mental hospital. Through a flashback we see that he was traumatized as a child, when he and his family were circus performers: he saw his father cut off the arms of his mother, a religious fanatic and leader of the heretical church of Santa Sangre (“Holy Blood”), and then commit suicide. Back in the present, he escapes and rejoins his surviving and armless mother. Against his will, he “becomes her arms” and the two undertake a grisly campaign of murder and revenge.

Santa Sangre was to be a future For Criterion Consideration, but when Severin Films sent over their press release for the film, I was flabbergasted.

Bonus features on the UNCUT and UNCENSORED Blu-ray and two-disc DVD include:

DISC 1:

• Feature Audio Commentary w Jodorowsky & Journalist Alan Jones
• Deleted scenes w Jodorowsky commentary
• Theatrical Trailer
• Japanese Trailer

DISC 2:

• FORGET EVERYTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN: THE WORLD OF SANTA SANGRE (90MINS): Exclusive Feature Length Making-of Documentary Featuring All-New Interviews with Cast and Crew.
• For One Night Only: Alejandro Jodorowsky – Channel X UK 1990 Documentary Featuring Interviews with Jodorowsky, Dennis Hopper, Mobieus, Marcel Marceau, Omar Sharif, and others
• Goyo Cárdenas Spree Killer: Documentary on the real life inspiration for SANTA SANGRE
• On Stage Q&A with Jodorowsky
• Jodorowsky 2003 interview
• Composer Simon Boswell Interviews Jodorowsky
• Blink Jodorowsky Short by Simon Boswell
• “Close Your Eyes” Music Video by Simon Boswell
• Echeck – Adan Jodorowsky Short Film with Optional Commentary
• US and Japanese Trailer
• English, Italian and Spanish Language Tracks
• Closed Captions for the Hearing Impaired

That blows away most home releases in general, especially of an under seen classic. Back in the tape trading days was when I first glanced at this film and have been wanting an American release on DVD. Finally, on January 25th, 2011, we can finally get a taste of a film that Roger Ebert called “a wild kaleidoscope of images and outrages, a collision between Freud and Fellini.”

Now if only we could get a copy of Jodorowsky’s The Rainbow Thief. One film at a time, I guess.