Rating summary

Movie		1.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		1.0

Emanuelle's Perverse Outburst Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 30, 2023

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Severin's The Sensual World of Black Emanuelle release.

Kier-la Janisse gave film fans one of the most outstanding boxed sets of the last few years with All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror, a late 2021 release that ended up making my Best of 2022 list. Janisse is back now with another gigantic boxed set, one that's even bigger than the folk horror compendium, and one that may appeal to a certain niche audience who may not have been especially interested in that earlier set. Those who may remember the rating system of days of yore will probably recall the "M" designation, which meant "for mature audiences only", and if I may be permitted an orthographic joke that is admittedly a bit arcane, some might argue that Emanuelle gave up one of her "m"'s in favor of three x's, at least with regard to some cuts of the many Black Emanuelle films. For those not conversant with the history of this perceived franchise, and who may be scratching their heads at my "joke" (what else is new?), Black Emanuelle was a pretty blatant attempt to cash in on Emmanuelle, and in order to avoid any potential legal hassles one of those original "m"'s in the title character's name got dropped. Furthermore, as supplements on many of the discs included in this set offer, there were hardcore XXX inserts (in more ways than one) that at least some of the Black Emanuelle productions offered. Joke explained, hopefully. Perhaps even more comedically than my fitful attempt at humor, the Black Emanuelle series ended up offering many more films than its perceived progenitor, and 24 of them (with additional cuts) are aggregated in this at times overwhelming collection. This is a collection where the quality of the films may be highly debatable, though it's salient to note that the supplements both overtly reference and are in and of themselves examples of perhaps unexpected critical scrutiny this franchise has engendered, and anyone interested in this kind of bizarre franchise mash up of what might be called porno, mondo and gonzo will most likely find this an amazing set to dive into.

Note: If our Forum is any indication, some may encounter difficulties getting this film to load properly. There are some helpful hints for various players offered by Members in the Forum, and below in the video section, I'll offer a brief workaround I discovered for those who may have PlayStations.

Even more than Porno Esotic Love, its disc mate in the immense Black Emanuelle set, Emanuelle's Perverse Outburst (which had even more alternate titles than many of the films in this set) is something of a "clip show", comprised virtually entirely of snippets from Black Cobra, Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals, Emanuelle and the White Slave Trade, Sesso nero and, somewhat hilariously, Porno Esotic Love itself. Is there a plot? Sure, as much as there is a "plot" in any of the Black Emanuelle films, in this case involving Emanuelle in kind of quasi-spy like activities. The fact that this was cobbled together from so many sources should probably indicate in and of itself how haphazard the "narrative" is.

Emanuelle's Perverse Outburst Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Emanuelle's Perverse Outburst is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Severin's almost overwhelming book The Black Emanuelle Bible included with this set offers a brief description of the transfer, as follows:

Source: Assembled from best available elements, mostly original camera negative and dupe negative.

That "original camera negative" may be a bit misleading here, since this is culled from snippets from all of the films listed above, and so probably unavoidably has a "dupey" appearance a lot of the time, something that is only exacerbated by moments culled from the dupe negative. There's a really wide variance in just about all the elements we typically address in reviews, including clarity, palette reproduction, density, grain structure and age related wear and tear. In its best moments this probably gets toward the 3.5 level, but there are other moments that can ebb down probably pretty close to 2.5 or even 2.0 territory.

Note: I experienced the same issue that evidently several other people have had trying to get this film to load on my standalone player (weirdly, it did just fine in my PC drive). For those with PlayStations, the following worked for me: during the boot disc process, hit "Display" on your remote and then navigate to the Title field (in the bottom black bar). Set that number to 1, press enter, and the film should hopefully start for you.

Emanuelle's Perverse Outburst Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Adding to the "casserole" feeling of this film, the soundtrack is actually in French this time, delivered via DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono. As with the video side of things, there's a kind of "dupey" quality to the audio as well, with an overall somewhat thin sound and without some of the punch for the music that is present in other offerings in this set. Dialogue is rendered cleanly enough for the most part. Optional English subtitles are available.

Emanuelle's Perverse Outburst Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Author Bryan Connolly ( Emmanuelle, Emanuelle, A Manual - Forthcoming) and Amber Adams of the Seattle Erotica Cinema Society

Emanuelle's Perverse Outburst Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you've slogged your way through all the other films in this set, Emanuelle's Perverse Outburst will probably seem like an afterthought. Technical merits are pretty variant, but the audio commentary is quite interesting.