It’s rare that a film set captures my attention from the moment the main menu arrives on the screen. But, in a stark black and white state, a nude woman steps into frame and proceeds down a staircase to a basement of terrors. This opening short which could best be described as Marcel Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase brought to life by David Lynch is a 3-minute introductory sequence by the filmmakers of Wicked Pixel—the production company collective that are responsible for the compellation—and it virtually defines what the viewer is about to witness in this collection.

VOMIRE is everything you’d expect from a new millennium experimental film, it’s unabashedly packed with jarring sexual imagery set against a backdrop of Christian symbolism and slaughterhouse footage. It watches like post-modern porn replete with blood-soaked lovers climaxing in juxposition to a cow in the throes of death. This is what critics call pretentious crap, the French call Le Petite Morte and I call a good way to start off your DVD!

Director Eric Stanze (SCRAPBOOK) gives us the music video FAITH IN NOTHING—set to the ambient sounds of Analogue Satellite. Essentially this is an extended striptease, as an attractive blond writhes across several sets in various stages of undress whilst contemplating the memory of her lover. The film definitely drags and the subplot of the previous/current/future boyfriend lends the viewer the feeling that there is more to the journey than meets the eye. Unfortunately we never get a satisfying conclusion to the tale and eventually like the song, the film simple fades to black.

Up next, SATISFACTION is a tough sell. It’s inarguably the most unflinching film of the set. The story of a pair of college lovers unfurls against increasingly feverish flashback sequences depicting the lead actresses rape. As the pair engage in progressively kinky sexual play, the film picks up pace against the backstory until the entire production is speeding like an out of control locomotive toward it’s inevitable conclusion. Moving over the course of 20-odd minutes from playful and soft to painfully heated and violent, the film is powerful in its conclusion but uncomfortable in the overt sexual displays that precede it—often lingering too long on the acts of pleasure for a film that is not of a softcore nature. SATISFACTION is thematically the best short of the set.

The second music video of the disc—UNWANTED, comes from Todd Tevlin and features the music of Purple Screwdriver. This is teen angst taken to the extreme as the lead actors impulses of uncontrollable rage manifest themselves with escalating fury, ultimately leading to his own suicide. The music is fast and furious and the camera work follows suit. It’s over before you know what hit you but the final images of an unknown man holding a gun to the protagonists head, pull back to establish a very effective reveal—hammering home the short films message in no uncertain terms.

Director Jason Christ’s entry VICTIM is interesting in that it plays out the final act of a horror film in a grainy black and white setting. Effectively, Christ has forsaken the set up, story arc and subplots and boiled the modern slasher film down to it’s most indelible moment—the twist ending. The beauty of this approach is that in the 5-minutes that see the screen, the audience is able to virtually envision what occurred in the previous “missing” footage. So, the twist comes as an unsurprising but satisfying conclusion to a story that genre fans already know all too well. VICTIM might just be the simplest and most effective deconstruction of horror cinema to come along in ages.

With the entry SEDGEWICK, the momentum behind THE SEVERED HEAD NETWORK takes a decidedly left turn. The film, directed by Stephen Lashly and Quinn Botthof is also the longest of the set, clocking in at 22 minutes. The plot is more straightforward than any of the other productions. It follows an elderly gentleman—Sedgewick—as he travels to the grocery store on an errand for his wife. Along the way, Sedgewick is catapulted into various hallucinogenic scenarios based on the realities of radio call-in show patrons that populate the film’s soundtrack. The film manages to be slightly whimsical while addressing the very serious nature of senility. It is well shot with some excellent stylized imagery and only runs a bit too long during a final chase sequence. SEDGEWICK is the film that shows that the Severed Head crew can construct a strong narrative without sacrificing their visual flair. Its placement in this set is only off-putting due to content over concept.

LIONTOWN is an entirely different animal. Featuring actors cast as various beasts, this musical production speaks of a utopian society run by lions that endeavors to attract downtrodden residents to it’s gated palatial lands for nefarious purposes that one can easily assume are coming. The short features a none-to-catch tune and an exorbitant amount of cartoon violence, turning the entire proceedings into Warner Brother’s worst nightmare. It’s a fun ride, but even the scant 10-minute running time feels too long for an inevitable conclusion.

The final official entry into the set is Jason Christ’s award winning music video CURVEBALL: PILE OF JUNK. This film was shot on 8mm and 16mm and has all the trappings of heavy metal imagery, mining a vein of films shot for bands like Testament, Nine Inch Nails and Tool. It’s a great looking film, featuring some solid visuals, including an impressive shot of the protagonist running down a deserted freeway toward the desolate overpasses ahead. CURVEBALL rounds out the set by showing us that this gang of young, and talented filmmakers, are far from one-note pan-flashes. It’s not the best music video you’ve ever seen, but it would easily hold it’s own running late at night on The Headbanger’s Ball.

Also included on the disc are a ton of special features, including a pair of introductory short films that preceded the original two-volume release of the Severed Head Network (in 2000 and 2002 from Sub Rosa). These feature the gangs standard naked women, chains, blood, coffins and in the case of the second prologue, that severed-head that the title alludes to. Another six, one-minute short films are included as well, along with trailers from several other features from Wicked Pixel.