Unearthed Films has unleashed a new Blu-ray edition of the 2013 arcane anthology The Profane Exhibit, so yours cruelly has decided to dive into this putrid pool and tell you all what’s what (and provide some of that wonderful color commentary that has had you clicking off this site for years)!
First up we get Anthony DiBlasi’s Mother May I, a quick yarn involving the goings on at a Catholic girl’s academy run by the strict Sister Sylvia (Ellen Greene)… a woman that abides none of the hanky or the panky.
Of course, some of the students go right on ahead with their horny hoopla much to the chagrin of the Sister, but her secrets make the students pale in comparison.
Blasphemous and sadistic is definitely the way to kick off horror biz such as this, and this lil’ sinister slice from the man behind 2014’s Satanic shocker Last Shift, offers a solid start to the affairs… plus the “creature” make-up in this one was awesome, if only seen fleetingly.
Next comes Hell Chef by mad genius Yoshihiro Nishimura (Tokyo Gore Police, Machine Girl)…
A masked school girl (Maki Mizui) with a penchant for self-harm, seeks companionship from… well, anyone actually… but she ends up with a rapey asshole (Hiroaki Murakami) whom she dispatches.
Enter: Hell Chef (Audition’s Eihi Shiina), a demon who can make murder into a main course (served with noodles and green onion)… this all gets completely out of control, and nothing is as it seems… and when it is, you won’t believe it…
Insane fever-dream images explode across the screen coupled with gore, a magic-laser emitting skeleton, and singing soup.
That’s going to be tough to beat as my predicted favorite of these stories…
Uwe Boll’s Basement presents us with a delightfully suburban family consisting of parents Bob (the legendary Clint Howard, seen most recently (as of this writing) in the bloody blockbuster, Terrifier 3) and Lucy (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2’s Caroline Williams, a beloved Scream Queen indeed… ) and their daughter (Tara Cardinal).
About that daughter… they keep her imprisoned in the basement, and she’s Bob’s sexual plaything.
This one was unpleasant, gross, and completely at home among the cinematic madness at hand… it was repulsive to watch… and that’s exactly the point! A sickening success indeed!
A quick rinse of Clorox to the eyes, and we move on to Ruggero Deodato’s Bridge…
A woman crosses a bridge to a castle where something sinister happened to her when she was young.
Upon arriving at that dreaded dwelling she finds the memories of her past can haunt her still… literally.
Bridge is a fantastic dark neo-fairy tale snippet… a quick journey across the veil from the living to the dead. Totally unexpected from the man that brought us Cannibal Holocaust (and yes, I know he’s directed a wide variety of films across multiple genres… but at least some of you thought it, right?)!
Next up is Italian special effects maestro Sergio Stivaletti’s (Demons and Demons 2) Tophet Quorom…
A woman goes in search of answers to the death of her child and discovers something so bananas that I don’t want to spoil it here…
Stivaletti’s segment (written by Carlo Baldacci Carli) is both incredibly gorgeous visually and ‘70s occult paperback crazy… and if that doesn’t hook you, it also has fangtastic practical special effects and gore!
If we are keeping track at home, this one is (so far) is my second favorite of the bunch…
On to Ryan Nicholson’s Goodwife…
A sadist gets off on torturing/killing women, and his wife approves.
What can I say, this isn’t really my type of thing, but I give it credit for it being shocking, daring, and disgusting (which is totally on brand here)… as well as eliciting a strong reaction from the viewer, which makes it a success.
Next comes Mors in Tabula from Marian Dora (Melancholie der Engel, Das Verlangen der Maria D.), which concerns a disabled child getting horrible medical procedures performed upon… things get rougher for those involved from there.
Again, not my cup of tea, but goddamn if Dora’s piece wasn’t powerful, disturbing, and in a real curve ball… absolutely dazzling visually.
Next comes the jaw-dropping Sins of the Father from Nacho Vigalondo (Timecrimes)…
When I first watched this charming tale of a man getting revenge on the father that sexually assaulted him as a child, I thought “Damn, that’s both wrong and completely unsettling… “… but, the longer I thought about it, the absolutely ridiculous and elaborate way the protagonist enacts his revenge made the proceedings go from gross to still gross, but morbidly hilarious!
Finally comes Manna from Michael Todd Schneider (August Underground’s Mordum) which tells the devilish tale of a Goth club which doubles as a place of Satanic ritual and torture.
I dug what Schneider (along with writer/anthology producer Amanda Manuel) achieved here; it’s ultra-gory, psychotronic, and plays around with horror tropes a bit. A very strong finale!
As for special features to accompany the above, Unearthed have included: an audio commentary featuring Schneider, Producer Manuel, and Ultra Violent magazine’s Art Ettinger, footage from the film’s World Premier (in the form of a Q&A and an interview), a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at Stivaletti’s segment, an amazingly unhinged 10 year retrospective of Mors in Tabula, an introspective talk with Schneider, interviews with Manuel, Boll, Schneider, and the director of the film’s wrap-around, Amuse-Bouche, Jeremy Kasten (The Theatre Bizarre, 2007’s Wizard of Gore remake), a photo gallery, and the film’s trailer.
The Profane Exhibit features something to offend (almost) everyone, and that’s a devilishly delightful thing for an extreme horror anthology to achieve!
