Writer. Editor. Film Scholar. Script Consultant
I had the pleasure of doing a commentary with the brilliant Lindsay Hallam for the Radiance Films 4K restoration of Harry Kumel's exquisite Daughters of Darkness (1971), out now. More information on the Blu-ray on the Radiance Films website.
Honoured to have contributed a video essay, 'Material vampires and the defeat of science', to the limited edition 4K UHD and Blu-ray of Trouble Every Day, released by Eureka Entertainment. The essay was masterfully edited by Jonathan Zaurin, my thanks to him for doing such a wonderful job. More details on the Eureka website.
I have written an essay for the 88 Films release of Tatsumi Kumashiro's 1973 Woman Hell: Woods Are Wet, part of Nikkatsu's Roman Porno range. Thanks to Jasper Sharp for asking me to write about one of my favourite 1970s adaptations of the Marquis de Sade. For anyone interested in the book I am writing... Continue Reading →
I loved talking about Walerian Borowczyk's anarchic, playful, lustful Behind Convent Walls for Arrow's limited edition Blu-ray. Big thanks to Kat Ellinger for asking me and to Jonathan Zaurin for being a brilliant partner in crime as always. More info on the Arrow website.
It was such a pleasure to contribute a video essay on Coffin Joe and demonic surrealism to Arrow's superb limited edition blu-ray set. New restorations, ten films, archival material featuring José Mojica Marins and tons of extras from Stephen Thrower, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Jack Sargeant, Lindsay Hallam and Tim Lucas among others. Co-produced by Kat Ellinger... Continue Reading →
I contributed a video appreciation of Jean Rollin's The Shiver of the Vampires (1971) to Indicator/Powerhouse's beautiful 4K release. Available from the Powerhouse website.
I'm very happy to have contributed an introduction + a commentary alongside the brilliant Kat Ellinger to Radiance Films' release of A Woman Kills (La femme bourreau), directed by Jean-Denis Bonan, a one-time Jean Rollin associate, in 1968. Lost for 40 years, A Woman Kills is a radically odd serial killer story that was shot... Continue Reading →
I reviewed Mark Jenkin's follow-up to Bait for the Sight&Sound website in May 2022. The review was published in the Winter 22-23 issue of the Sight&Sound magazine. An oblique take on 1970s folk horror, Enys Men creates a genuinely haunting experience rooted in the Cornish landscape. Synopsis: A middle-aged woman (Mary Woodvine) lives alone on... Continue Reading →
I wrote an essay on Blind Beast (1969), Yasuzô Masumura's hallucinatory masterpiece of perverse eroticism, for the Arrow Video Blu-ray, released 23 August 2021.
I am currently working on a book on sado-masochistic themes in 1960s-70s cinema, looking at films such as La prisonnière, The Story of O, The Night Porter and In the Realm of the Senses as well as the work of Jess Franco and Alain Robbe-Grillet, and exploring the way they revisit the themes laid out... Continue Reading →
Virginie Sélavy 