| The Beast |
  | Starring: Sirpa Lane, Lisbeth Hummel, Elisabeth Kaza Directed: Walerian Borowczyk Release Date: September 15, 2015 Run Time: 93 Minutes Format: Blu-Ray Color: Color Distributor: Arrow Video / MVDvisual | |
| Synopsis |
Originally turned down flat by the British Board of Film Censors and initially released exclusively in London in a version heavily cut by its nervous distributor, The Beast is Walerian Borowczyk’s most notorious film, although it’s much wittier and more playful than its subject matter might suggest.
Lucy Broadhurst (Lisbeth Hummel) is due to inherit a substantial fortune, but on condition that she marries the son of her late father’s best friend. But Mathurin de l’Espérance (Pierre Benedetti) seems more interested in his horses than in his bride-to-be, and when Lucy finds out about the story of his 18th-century ancestor Romilda (Sirpa Lane) and brings her to life in one of the most outrageous dream sequences in cinema history, we begin to realise just how bizarre Mathurin’s bloodline truly is.
Receiving its Blu-ray world premiere, this new high-definition restoration by Argos Films is supported by the original short-film version of The Beast, and Venus on the Half-Shell (1975), Borowczyk’s portrait of the painter Bona Tibertelli de Pisis and her erotic fusions of men, women and molluscs.- Arrow Video
| Audio/Video |
Audio Audio Language: French The Sound Quality sounds pretty good with no distortions, Dialogue is clear and being Mono I don’t think you can get any better. Rating: |
Picture Quality Disc Format: Blu-Ray The Picture Quality is really good, Sharp as in every detail is visible and colors are vibrant but the film still has that old movie feel which I like. Arrow does a good job with the 2k transfer. Wonder how good it would have been if it was filmed in 4k. Rating: |
Note: Equipment used to watch the film can be found below
| Theatrical release Date: January 20, 1975 (France) |
| DVD Disc release Date: September 15, 2015 (USA) |
| Extras |
- New high definition digital transfers of the feature and the shorts
- Uncompressed Mono 2.0 PCM Audio
- Optional English subtitles
- Introduction by film critic Peter Bradshaw
- Venus on the Half-Shell (1975)
- The Making of ‘The Beast’: camera operator Noël Véry provides a commentary on footage shot during the film’s production
- Frenzy of Ecstasy, a new visual essay on the evolution of Borowczyk’s beast and the sequel that never was, Motherhood
- Theatrical trailer
- Reversible sleeve featuring original poster design
- Booklet featuring new writing on the film by Daniel Bird and archive pieces by David Thompson and Craig Lapper, illustrated with original stills
| My Thoughts |
The Beast starts off crazy sexual which leads into how the film will handle it self when it comes to sex and nudity. Some may find the opening pretty disturbing as we get close up shots of male and female horse genitals before we are shown both horses mating at distant and close up shots….O my, Kids close your eyes we are in for a bumpy ride.
Here we have a film about bestiality which has been banned in a lot of places including the UK for over 25 years. Story wise the movie is small. Simple story with and ending that will get you thinking a bit about what you just seen that kind of puts things in perspective. I wont give it away but its pretty crazy and weird. Nudity wise we get a ton to the point it gets pornographic with scenes showing full nudity of male and female. Only insertion we get to see is at the start of the film with the two horses but we get a few sex scenes with humans a few masturbation scenes including where the lead female uses a rose and another female getting off while riding a bed’s headboard.
Now comes the crazy portion, A dream that the lead female has about a beast that is some what human but mostly all animal with a huge… always exploding … well I don’t want to get crazy graphic with words but lets say a foot job, hand job, and doggy style happens to this girl and beast. A few other scenes with a priest and these two boys seemed kind of odd and my man the Black butler who is trying to get it in several times in this film is interrupted by his boss before he can even finish off.
Overall the move is weird, its out there, its disturbing, its hot, its sexy, its WTF, and its a good watch if you want to feel these things. I felt them all and I feel those who are Arrow Film collectors, Disturbing movie watchers or those who want to get sick and or horny may want to check this movie out that is about as close to porno you can go before it’s not called a movie.
With that said I give this film a 3.5 out of 5. Some things weird-ed me out too much like the horse and the kids with priest scenes where they kiss. Mostly it has to do with story as its small and almost none existent especially the first half and if the story was just a tad more filled it would be a 4 out of 5. Also the film looks really good on Blu-Ray. Check it out sickos
| Rating – 5 Star System |
Film: PQ: Sound: |
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| Trailer |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnDkLYY16ts
| Buy Film |
| Blu-Ray | |||
| Prices are posted at time of review and most likely before release. Prices will or could have changed after this review. |
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This Film was Played on the listed Equipment below |
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