Absurd – Severin Films (4k UHD/Blu-ray Combo)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy, 1981
Director: Joe D’Amato (Aristide Massaccesi)
Writer: George Eastman
Cast: George Eastman, Annie Belle, Charles Borromel, Katya Berger, Kasimir Berger, Hanja Kochansky, Ian Danby, Ted Rusoff, Edmund Purdom, Carolyn De Fonseca, Cindy Leadbetter, Lucia Ramirez, Mark Shannon, Michele Soavi, Martin Sorrentino, Goffredo Unger

Release Date: September 29th, 2026
Approximate Running Times: 88 Minutes 43 Seconds (Rosso Sangue), 94 Minutes 2 Seconds (Absurd)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 2160 Progressive / HEVC / H.265 HDR10 (Both Versions)
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono Italian (Both Versions), DTS-HD Mono English (Both Versions)
Subtitles: English (Both Versions), English SDH (Both Versions)
Region Coding: Region Free (4K UHD), Region Free (Blu-ray)
Retail Price: $44.95

"Joe D’Amato’s “top-notch gruesome” (Morbidly Beautiful) follow-up to ANTHROPOPHAGOUS in UHD for the first time ever in North America: Borrowing heavily from HALLOWEEN, D’Amato unleashes a gut-spewing boogeyman (screenwriter Luigi Montefiori/George Eastman) into suburban America for an “incredibly vicious and unforgiving” (A Slash Above) saga of doomed nurses, butchered babysitters, bio-chemical clergy and some of the most insane splatter scenes in Italian exploitation history." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5 (4K UHD), 4.5/5 (Blu-ray)

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "both its English and Italian Versions, scanned in 4K from the original camera negative."

Absurd comes on a 66 GB dual layer 4K UHD.

Disc Size: 65.8 GB

Feature: 62.8 GB

This release uses seamless branching for the two versions. The source looks excellent; flesh tones look healthy, colors are nicely saturated, image clarity and black levels are solid, and there are no issues with compression or digital noise reduction.

Absurd comes on a 50 GB single layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 42.7 GB

Feature: 27.6 GB

This release uses seamless branching for the two versions. This Blu-ray uses the same master that is used for the 4K UHD disc.

Audio: 4.5/5 (Both Audio Tracks)

There are two versions of Absurd and each comes with two audio options, a DTS-HD mono mix in Italian and a DTS-HD mono mix in English. Both tracks sound clean, clear, and balanced. The differences between the tracks are minimal. Included are removable English subtitles for the Italian-language track and removable English SDH for the English-language track.

Extras:

Extras of the 4K UHD disc include a theatrical trailer (2 minutes 44 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles).

Extras of the Blu-ray disc include a theatrical trailer (2 minutes 44 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an interview with editor Vanio Amici titled Building with Images (12 minutes 12 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with composer Carlo Maria Cordio titled My Absurd Film Music (10 minutes 43 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with actor/assistant director Michele Soavi A Biker (Uncredited) (17 minutes 47 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with non-removable English subtitles), an archival interview with director Joe D'Amato titled D'Amato on Video (19 minutes 43 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with non-removable English subtitles), an archival interview with Joe D'Amato titled As Red as Blood (9 minutes 55 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), and an interview with actor Luigi Montefiori titled The Return of The Grim Reaper (30 minutes 49 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles).

Summary:

Absurd was directed by Joe D’Amato (Emanuelle in America), a prolific filmmaker who has just under two hundred films attributed to him as a director. Besides his extensive filmography as a director, he also worked extensively as a cinematographer, most notably on films like The Antichrist and What Have You Done to Solange?. 

While Absurd is an indirect sequel of sorts to Anthropophagus, its only connection to Anthropophagus is that they both feature George Eastman (Rabid Dogs) in similar-type roles. Alternate titles for Absurd include Anthropophagous 2, Rosso Sangue (Red Blood), and Horrible.

A priest is in pursuit of a living dead madman who possesses an unusual ability to heal himself when injured.

The narrative is simple: George Eastman is cast in the role of Nikos Karamanlis, a man with a rare blood disease that allows him to heal his wounds quickly. Nikos escapes from a laboratory in Greece where a priest had taken care of him. Somehow Nikos boards a plane and flies to America, where he then proceeds to raise hell, ripping to shreds anyone who crosses his path. The priest enlists the help of local law enforcement to track down Nikos, who is becoming more demented with each new injury from which he heals himself. In many ways, the Nikos character is like the Frankenstein monster, and the priest is his creator, who is now forced to kill the thing he helped bring to life.

Of course, the best part of Absurd is watching George Eastman go bonkers. All of the kill scenes are entertaining and on par with other kill scenes from similar Italian horror films from this era. Some of the deaths include a drill bit through the temple, a meat-cutting saw to the head, and a woman being forced into a blazing hot oven.

Besides George Eastman, the cast also features two other familiar faces in prominent roles: Edmund Purdom (Pieces) in the role of the priest and Annie Belle (House on the Edge of the Park) in the role of a nurse named Emily. Other notable cast members are a cameo from Michele Soavi (Cemetery Man) and Mark Shannon, whose appearance in Absurd is taken from another film that he also did with Joe D’Amato. Ultimately, Absurd is a crazy film that sticks to its strengths—blood and guts.

Absurd makes its way to 4K UHD via a solid release that ports over the extras from Severin Films 2018 Blu-ray release. Highly recommended.

Note about the 4K screenshots: It is not possible to make Dolby Vision or HDR10 screenshots that faithfully match the experience of watching a film in motion on a TV. Instead of not having any screenshots, all of the 4K screenshots are m2ts taken with a MPC-HC player and lossless PNGs.

Written by Michael Den Boer