Severin Films Announces Discoploitation – The lost disco movie genre finally restored in 4K DISCO ITALIANA BOX SET
The bizarre legacy of SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER lives on as Severin Films today announced pre-orders for the 4-Disc DISCO ITALIANA Collection featuring the Italian Discosploitation classics AMERICAN FEVER, GREASE ROCK and JOHN TRAVOLTO: THE FACE WITH 2 LEFT FEET with 5+ combined hours of new Special Features and Bonus Soundtrack CD, plus the 1979 UK hit THE MUSIC MACHINE starring singer Patti Boulaye OBE, Clarke Peters of The Wire and Academy Award® winner Brenda Fricker. THE MUSIC MACHINE and the DISCO ITALIANA Collection are available to pre-order now at www.SeverinFilms.com
From the country that brought us Sharksploitation, Nunsploitation and Indiana Jonesploitation comes the white jump-suited subgenre that stayed alive for less than 18 months. Severin Films is now proud to resurrect this trio of Italian Discosploitation classics, strutting onto disc for the first time ever: AMERICAN FEVER, starring Mircha Carven, Zora Kerova and co-written by George Eastman/Luigi Montefiori, boldly confronts a young man’s disco dreams. The deliriously cheesy GREASE ROCK fearlessly blends comedy, action, drama, surreal dance-offs and non-stop music. And in the now-restored Complete Version of JOHN TRAVOLTO: THE FACE WITH 2 LEFT FEET, Giuseppe Spezia– who bears an uncanny resemblance to the American star – goofily pursues disco DJ Ilona Staller (aka adult star/politician Cicciolina) with a little help from his friends. All three films in the collection have been scanned in 4K from their original camera negatives and include 5+ combined hours of Special Features plus a JOHN TRAVOLTO Bonus Soundtrack CD.
Disc 1: AMERICAN FEVER
“THE BEST-KNOWN ITALIAN DISCO FILM.”
Euro Fever
The very first Italian Discosploitation film is also the closest in tone to SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER, thanks in large part to its smart screenplay co-written by George Eastman/Luigi Montefiori (ANTHROPOPHAGOUS, ABSURD): Mircha Carven (SS EXPERIMENT LOVE CAMP, DEATH WILL HAVE YOUR EYES) stars as Tony, gas station attendant by day and king of the Rome discos at night. But Tony’s dreams of becoming a movie star in America are complicated by his best friend’s deepening debt to loan sharks, his growing relationship with an ambitious beauty (Zora Kerova of CANNIBAL FEROX and TERROR EXPRESS) and the cold-hearted realities of the Italian film industry. Gianni Medici (FANGS OF THE LIVING DEAD) co-stars in this surprisingly grim drama directed by Claudio Giorgi (A MAN FOR SALE), now scanned in 4K from the original camera negative for the first time ever.
Special Features:
· Audio Commentary With Film Historians Nathaniel Thompson And Howard S. Berger
· All About The Music: The Birth Of Disco And The Road To Italy’s AMERICAN FEVER – Interview
With Alan Jones, Author Of Discomania: Fantastic Beats And Where To Find Them
· Trailer
Disc Specs:
· Runtime: 91 mins
· Audio: English Mono, Italian Mono
· Subtitles: English SDH, English
· Region A
· Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Disc 2: GREASE ROCK
“A TERRIFICALLY ENJOYABLE EXPERIENCE.”
Euro Fever
In his first and only film, Monty Ray Garrison delivers a star-making performance as Robbie, a goofy yet charming rogue who loves his sidecar motorcycle, hair grease and disco. But when he meets a high-class American (Auretta Gay of ZOMBIE fame in her screen debut), he’ll pursue her through a polyester odyssey of tight outfits, insane dance-offs, rival gangs, car chases, J&B, a disco cover version of ‘Satisfaction’ and the big King & Queen of Rock Contest. Fiamma Maglione (EATEN ALIVE) and pop star Cecilia Buonocore co-star in this defiantly WTF? mash-up directed by Michele Massimo Tarantini (MASSACRE IN DINOSAUR VALLEY, A MAN CALLED MAGNUM) and featuring wall-to-wall music by Gianfranco Reverberi (THE REINCARNATION OF ISABEL, DELIRIUM), now scanned in 4K from the original camera negative for the first time ever.
Special Features:
· Audio Commentary With Film Historians Nathaniel Thompson And Eugenio Ercolani
· Brillantina Is The Word – Interview With Alan Jones, Author Of Discomania: Fantastic Beats And
Where To Find Them
· Trailer
Disc Specs:
· Runtime: 91 mins
· Audio: English Mono, Italian Mono
· Subtitles: English SDH, English
· Region A
· Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Disc 3: JOHN TRAVOLTO: THE FACE WITH 2 LEFT FEET
“ENJOYABLY LUDICROUS AND COMICALLY INSANE…
From first frame to last, it will have you incredulously wide-eyed, mouth-gaped,
constantly thinking, ‘WHAT THE @#$%??’”
Cinema Headcheese
The most infamous Italian Discosploitation film of all is “everything you would imagine such a thing to be” (Dangerous Minds) and then some: In his sole leading role, Giuseppe Spezia stars as clumsy wallflower Gianni who spends his nights at ‘John’s Fever’ hopelessly in love with the club’s beautiful DJ (adult film star/Parliamentarian Ilona Staller, aka Cicciolina). But after his friends give him a complete makeover, Gianni becomes a dead-ringer for a certain American movie star who just might win the heart of a disco queen. Massimo Vanni (RATS: NIGHT OF TERROR), Sonia Viviani (NIGHTMARE CITY) and Angelo Infanti (THE GODFATHER) co-star in this “treasure of Travoltasploitation” (Cinetarium) directed by Neri Parenti (FRACCHIA VS. DRACULA) from a screenplay by Giovanni Simonelli (A CAT IN THE BRAIN, JUNGLE RAIDERS) and Oscar® nominee Massimo Franciosa (THE FOUR DAYS OF NAPLES, SPASMO), now scanned in 4K from the original negative for the first time ever with a Bonus Soundtrack CD.
Special Features:
· Audio Commentary With Film Historians Nathaniel Thompson, Eugenio Ercolani And Howard S.
Berger
· The Show Is Over: JOHN TRAVOLTO And The End Of The ‘Disco Film’ – Interview With Alan Jones,
Author Of Discomania: Fantastic Beats And Where To Find Them
· U.S. Trailer
· Italian Trailer
· Bonus Disc: Soundtrack CD
Disc Specs:
· Runtime: 100 mins
· Audio: English Mono, Italian Mono
· Subtitles: English SDH, English
· Region: A
· Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
MUSIC MACHINE
“CHEERFUL DISCOSPLOITATION WITH A RANGE OF SERIOUS BITS…
It has dancing, social realism and even registers the concept of moviemaking as a
perfect vehicle for the pop cultural phenomenon.”
The Spinning Image
Immediately after SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER swept the world, the discosploitation genre was born. And in the UK’s first polyester imitator, director Ian Sharp (THE FINAL OPTION) crafts a gritty time capsule of late ‘70s London in which an unemployed bloke (Gerry Sundquist of DON’T OPEN TILL CHRISTMAS) tries to win the big dance competition at Camden Town’s iconic club, The Music Machine. British-Nigerian singer Patti Boulaye, Clarke Peters (The Wire), Ferdy Mayne (THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS) and Academy Award® winner Brenda Fricker (MY LEFT FOOT) co-star in this “oddly likeable” (The Observer) discomania melodrama written by James Kenelm Clarke (HOUSE ON STRAW HILL) and produced by Brian Smedley-Aston (VAMPYRES) with cinematography by Phil Meheux (CASINO ROYALE), now scanned in 4K from a combination of the CRI and original camera negative for the first time ever.
Special Features:
· The Dance Partner – Interview With Actress Patti Boulaye
· Howard & Candy: The Music Machine Dance Rivals – Interviews With Actors David Easter And Mandy Perryment
· The Music Machine Mentor – Interview With Actor Clarke Peters
· The Dance Machine – Interview With Choreographer Anthony Van Laast
· The Music Of The Machine – Interview With Musician/Songwriter Les Hurdle
· Disco Maniacs – Interview With Mark Moore Of S’Express And Alan Jones, Author Of Discomania
· The Camden Locations Of THE MUSIC MACHINE – Locations Tour With Alan Jones
· Teaser Trailer
Disc Specs:
· Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
· Runtime: 91 mins
· Audio: English Mono
· Subtitles: English SDH
· Region: A/B/C
