Ser Supremo (o no Ser, esa es la cuestión): The Living Dead Girl aka La morte vivante (1982)

Una oscura tragedia de una dama que en el umbral de la muerte vislumbra la posibilidad de ser inmortal a costa de la sangre y vida de otros congéneres. La desesperada y amarga búsqueda, será el propio castigo que conlleva su destino. Cuerpos desnudos bañados en sangre que ignoran su propia existencia.

Release Information: Studio: Encore Entertainment
Video: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.78:1

Audio: French, German

Subtitles: English, Nederlands, Deutsch, Italiano, Espanol, Portugues, Suomi, Dansk, Norsk, Svenska, Polski

Product Code: LA 99MFJ87

Edition Details:
• Introduction by Françoise Blanchard (in French with English subtitles - 0:28)
• Theatrical Trailer (1:27)
Disc Two:
• Introduction by Jean Rollin (in English - 13:11)
• Selected Scenes Commentary by Françoise Blanchard ( in French with English subtitles - 26:55)
• Interview with Françoise Blanchard (in French with English subtitles - 22:00)
• Interview with Jean-Pierre Bouyxou (in French with English subtitles - 30:14)
• Interview with composer Philippe d'Aram (in French with English subtitles - 15:38)
• Alternate scenes (3:17 min)
Disc Three:
• Soundtrack CD (7 tracks - 15:45)
• 64 page booklet

DVD Release Date: 30 November 2005
Digipack in Sleeve

Like the earlier releases, “The Living Dead Girl” is a 3-disc set, packaged in a quality foldout digi-pack, which is placed in a cardboard slipcase. Along with the discs there´s a 64-page book in English. This time the “Disc 3” is actually a soundtrack CD.

Disc 1
The first disc has the film in Anamorphic 1.78:1. Before the film you can watch a brief “Introduction” -featurette from the actress Françoise Blanchard, which run 28 seconds (it´s in French, and with optional English subtitles). The disc has also the original French Theatrical trailer(1.28 min), which is actually a very good one (don´t watch it before the film though).

Disc 2
The second disc starts with an “Introduction” -featurette from Jean Rollin, which runs 13:11 minutes (it´s in English, and no subtitles). Rollin tells how he (and also the producers) wanted to do something different, a more horror-orientated film, and he also revels how afraid he was confronting the lead actresses at first, since they were real professional actresses this time. He also tells about the story and special make-up effects.
Audio commentary by actress Françoise Blanchard with moderator (recorded in May, 2005) is next, and it´s in French and with optional English subtitles. The commentary covers only 26:55 minutes of the film, roughly 10 scenes from it. Blanchard is relaxed and funny, telling about Rollin and giving some background of certain scenes. She e.g. reveals that the other body in the coffin at the opening scene is the wife of the producer, and that her co-actress Marina Pierro was dubbed in the French version by the other actress, since her French wasn´t very good (she was Italian). She also talks about her method not to blink her eyes, and is keen to point out all the amateur actors in the film. She tells about her tetanic fits during the ending scene, and she also talks about the “American ending” that they shot (too bad that it´s not included in this release as an extra). There are some gaps in the commentary, so in the end we don´t get that much information, but it´s interesting to hear that she still likes to talk about the film such a good way.
Next we have the first of three interviews on the disc, and we get the interview -featurette with, surprise, the actress Françoise Blanchard (in French, with optional English subtitles). This time the still beautiful actress speaks about her acting career, and how she worked with such a legendary cult directors like Rollin and Jess Franco, and she also tells about the times in “Eurocine” (which was the successful production house of the low budget European horror and erotic films at the time). She also tells about the special make-up effects, and how she had to cope with those issues during certain scenes. Based on her, many of those scenes were also improvised. Blanchard is honest and has a witty personality; who obviously isn´t in the least bit embarrassed by her involvement in these more low budget movies (and why should she be?). Interview was conducted in Amsterdam, May 2005, and it runs 22:00 minutes.
Then there´s an interview -featurette with Jean-Pierre Bouyxou, which was done in Paris, August 2005, and it runs 30:14 minutes (it´s in French, with optional English subtitles). Bouyxou has been part of several films by Rollin, as an actor, assistant director, and “general assistant” (probably also uncredited sometimes, not sure), and he has also been working with Jess Franco. He´s clearly enthusiastic about working with Rollin (he calls Rollin a “poet and visionary”) and seems to love the low budget and exploitation -movies generally. He´s a bit too much of a “french intellectual” at times, but you can´t help but find this interview interesting and warm. He has also some funny stories about the “Train spécial pour SS AKA Love Train for SS (1977)”-film, which is truly what some of the “Z-films” are all about.
Last interview -featurette is with composer Philippe d' Aram, recorded in Paris, October 2005. It runs 15:38 minutes, and is again in French, with optional English subtitles. He talks about his background and his history as a film composer, and of course his relationship with Rollin. Like many others who have worked with Jean Rollin, d' Aram is also saying many very nice things about the director, and Rollin liked the way that in some cases d' Aram could start to compose the music based on the screenplay. He also tells that he played most of the instruments by himself in the score of “The Living Dead Girl”. On a side note, there were some audio dropouts during the interview, but nothing major.
Next we have a little vague and random collection of -alternate scenes presented anamorphically, which are bundled together and run 3:17 minutes. This section includes 3 scenes, which don´t offer that much for me at least. No, “alternate American ending” is not included, but we have a scene from the dance at the village near the end, where the American couple have a conversation; then we have a scene of the real estate woman on the phone, this time speaking in broken English; and last we have a B&W scene where the real estate woman and two American clients are looking at the mansion (which ends in color by the way). A brief text introduction to these scenes would´ve been nice, but I guess these are just random “alternate scenes”, with no special meaning. Obviously this addition doesn´t hurt.
Photo gallery is included (4:09 min), which has the score in the background, and which includes some stills and behind the scenes-photos.

Disc 3
Last disc is actually a soundtrack CD, which includes the “Original musical score by Philippe d' Aram” as follows:
1. La Morte Vivante (3:18 min)
2. La Découverte Des Caveaux (2:53 min)
3. La Boite à Musique (1:28 min)
4. Frottements (1:31 min)
5. Dans La Crypte (1:19 min)
6. Le Bal – Slow (3:24 min)
7. Le Suicide (1:45 min)
Total running time is only 15:45 minutes, but the subtle and sad music by d' Aram on a proper CD is a very welcome addition to the disc, even if the CD is very short (maybe next time they could dig deeper, and add “alternate takes” of the soundtrack etc).

64-page book in English is also included, which includes mainly color photos, and an essay from Jean Rollin (October 2005), where he tells about the production and actors. The quality of the book is again high, and it´s always nice to read stories from the man himself.