Delirium Home Video Unleashes Euro Exploitation and Global Horror on Blu-ray, Kicking Off With a Jess Franco Cult Favorite
The Delirium magazine crew is unleashing Delirium Home Video, a Blu-ray label reviving European exploitation and international horror. First out of the crypt: a Jess Franco film.
Delirium magazine has been knee-deep in cult, horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and exploitation for years, so it was probably only a matter of time before they spun up a label to put this stuff on your shelf. That day is here: Delirium Home Video is launching, and they are not shy about what they plan to release.
The label
Delirium editor-in-chief Chris Alexander is curating the line, and the mission statement is very Delirium: everything from both hard and softcore erotica to bizarre, bloody European exploitation; operatic, international horror; obscure dark fantasy; and whatever other gloriously disreputable gems fit the vibe. Every title is slated for HD and will come with newly produced extras.
Launch title: Jess Franco's Doriana Gray (1976)
They are kicking things off with Jess Franco's Doriana Gray, finally hitting Blu-ray in North America for the first time. It is Franco doing a surreal, sexually explicit riff on Oscar Wilde, anchored by his muse Lina Romay (Rolls Royce Baby) in one of her rawest turns. Romay plays Doriana, a vampiric aristocrat and fluid-drinking succubus psychically linked to her sexually voracious twin. The hook: when one sister gets aroused, the other feels every sensation, which Franco illustrates in graphic detail when a young reporter shows up.
Two editions are on tap: a standard Blu-ray with a double-sided wrap, and a limited hardback sleeve run of 100 featuring art by Spanish painter Suspiria Vilchez.
- On-disc extras: a soft cut of the film in German with English subtitles; an audio commentary by author and film historian Troy Howarth; interviews with Jess Franco, producer Erwin C. Dietrich, and star Lina Romay; plus an Erwin C. Dietrich trailer.
How releases will roll out
Delirium Home Video sits under the OCN/Vinegar Syndrome/Melusine umbrella of boutique labels. Distribution runs through OCN, with copies also available directly from the Delirium Home Video site in limited quantities. The plan: two releases in February, then a new title every month after that.
What the label boss says
"When the concept to create Delirium Home Video first took shape, I knew that the best possible people to partner with were our friends at OCN/Vinegar Syndrome. OCN/VS has been breaking ground by nurturing new partner labels that stay true to their central mission statement, that of digging up rare and wild international horror, cult, sexploitation and exploitation cinema and ensuring they meet a standard of excellence that titles of this nature normally would not get anywhere else. And with that, I think fans are going to be very impressed by the quality of each and every release. Not just the stunning, rare, salacious and shocking movies we have picked to be part of this line, but the gorgeous packaging, the supplemental material, the original and newly commissioned art... all of it. Delirium magazine has always focused on the eccentric, the erotic, the strange and the beautiful aspects of the genre and Delirium Home Video is simply an extension of that. Expect great things in the year to come!"
If your shelves already lean toward wild Euro oddities and deep-cut horror, this sounds like catnip. Are you tracking Delirium Home Video from day one, and is Doriana Gray getting a spot in your collection?