PopHorror Let's Get Scared
The Profane Exhibit received a limited release at film festivals way back in 2013. Unless you were among the fortunate few who saw it at one of those, it was not available for viewing anywhere else. Until now. Unearthed Films is releasing this incredible anthology on Blu-ray September 24, 2024. And I could not be more excited to snag my very own copy.
The Profane Exhibit is an extreme horror anthology film featuring some of the most influential directors of horror cinema from around the world. Rather than attempting to write a coherent paragraph about all of the directors, I’m going to just give you a list of the segments and their respective directors.
- Mother May I – directed by Anthony Diblasi
- Hell Chef – directed by Yoshihiro Nishimura
- Basement – directed by Uwe Boll
- Bridge – directed by Ruggero Deodato
- Tophet Quorum – directed by Sergio Stivaletti
- Goodwife – directed by Ryan Nicholson
- Mors In Tabula – directed by Marian Dora
- Sins Of The Father – directed by Nacho Vigalando
- Manna – directed by Michael Todd Schneider
And the wraparound piece, playing out in reverse between segments:
- Amuse Bouche – directed by Jeremy Kasten
I’m not going to speak about each segment specifically, as most are quite short, and I feel like I’ll run into spoiler territory too easily if I were to do that. So I’m going to do my best to speak about the film as a whole as much as possible.
The Profane Exhibit is a masterclass in extreme horror cinema. If extreme horror films are not for you, I would definitely suggest you skip this one. Every segment goes HARD with the gore and extremely disturbing content. It is not for the faint-hearted. If there is anything you find triggering, I can virtually guarantee that it can be found somewhere within this film.
The Profane Exhibit centers around a story by Amanda Manuel exploring the nature of corruption and all of the many forms corruption can take. With corruption as the main theme, it is no surprise that every segment of this anthology evokes visceral reactions. I am a hardened gorehound, and I still found myself cringing and even gagging at times. And yet, it was the two least gory segments that I had the strongest reactions to. Those two were Mors In Tabula and Sins Of The Father. Both were psychologically scarring, emotional rollercoaster rides.
Much of The Profane Exhibit is very highly stylized and somewhat abstract. While some segments give a very full, detailed story, others do not. I am not altogether sure that I understood all of the individual segments, but I still enjoyed them all. If “enjoy” is even the proper word to use for something as deeply unsettling as this film.
The Profane Exhibit officially releases on Blu-ray on September 24, 2024, and is currently available for pre-order from Unearthed Films. If you are a collector, or just a lover of physical media, order yours now. The Blu-ray is worth getting just for the special features alone. The audio commentary track with Amanda Manuel and Todd Michael Schneider was very enlightening and entertaining to listen to. The special features even include four interviews done by PopHorror’s own Tiffany Blem!
