Somewhere after the end of the world, somewhere in France, Calpet (Jean-Claude Dreyfus), the landlord, murders and slices up his victims to sell as meat to his hungry tenants. A clown named Louison (Dominique Pinon) answers the latest help wanted ad that brings in bodies, but he’s such a good worker that no one wants to kill him. He’s also fallen in love with Calpet’s daughter, Julie (Marie-Laure Dougnac).

She loves him so much that to save him, she works with the Troglodistes, vegetarian underground soldiers who are trying to make the world safe and maybe a little less cannibalistic. Instead of Louison, they rescue Mademoiselle Plusse (Karin Viard), who, like every tenant, wants the clown to die so that they can stay well-fed.

The directors would go on to make City of Lost Children together, and Jeunet also directed Amélie and Alien Resurrection. When the Troglodistes initially appear in this, he claims it is his tribute to the original Alien and how the xenomorph is revealed.

Presented in the U.S. by Terry Gilliam, this film feels like something exists to be discovered in every frame. It’s childlike while also frightening in what it depicts. And Jess Franco vet Howard Vernon is in it!

I’m so glad to have this new Severin release. I’d never seen anything like it before, and now I want to watch each moment again and again.

The Severin 4K UHD and Blu-Ray release of Delicatessan includes a commentary by co-director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, an interview with Jeunet and co-director Marc Caro, a making-of, an interview with Terry Gilliam, a trailer, interviews with nearly everyone in the cast and crew, a short by the directors called Le Bunker De La Dernière Rafale, Jean-Pierre Jeunet archives and an exclusive book by Claire Donner of The Miskatonic Institute Of Horror Studies. You can get it from Severin.