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mid-1970s, filmmaker Eloy de la Iglesia had built a reputation as a reliable purveyor of twisted thrillers with 
the likes of Cannibal Man, No One Heard the Scream, Murder in a Blue World, and the sadly underseen Glass Ceiling. With the demise of Generalissimo Francisco Franco and his fascist rule over Spain, Iglesia was one of the first really seize on the relaxed censorship that followed and delivered a string of controversial studies in the spectrum of human sexuality, morphing eventually into his 1980s quinqui cycle of teen crime dramas. Two of the key films in that post-1975 shift, initially released in the U.S. in the 1980s to ride the wave of Pedro Almodóvar's success, have finally been revived for an English-friendly Blu-ray release from Altered Innocence under the peculiar title Uranian Dreams: Two Homosexual Films by Eloy de la Igelsia, and both are excellent depictions of a society whose political demons and peccadilloes were very deeply intertwined.
religious 
hypocrisy in all matters of the flesh, El sacerdote). During an afternoon cruising attempt in front of a motorcycle shop he ends up forming a friendship and develops an unrequited crush on the young, lower class Miguel (Fuentes), who's juggling his bed time with girlfriend Carmen (Rossat) and older housewife neighbor Rosa (López). What emerges is a snapshot of the time including a home invasion gay bashing, a visit to a flamboyant nightclub, casual bigotry, the necessities of staying in the closet at work, and the tricky intersection of money and sexual orientation.
transfer, good optional English subtitles, and a clean DTS-HD 1.0 Spanish mono track, this is a radical improvement over 
the fuzzy old VHS transfer. The video essay "Smiling at the Door" (14m35s) by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas looks at the film's place in the director's filmography and the broader spectrum of groundbreaking '70s Spanish cinema.
Shot during the real turbulence of Spain's years-long shift to democracy, this film is a fiery and often uncomfortable 
viewing experience with its beady-eyed schemers, easily bribed male prostitutes, and conflicted, sad-eyed central character making for an intriguing snapshot of the filmmaker's mindset at the time. Iglesia's own gravitation to socialism and young men makes it tempting to read this as a manifesto of sorts, something that threads through many of his later films with even more tragic ramifications. This one was also picked up by Cinevsita for stateside distribution in the late '80s, though it never hit Spanish Blu-ray (and only got a DVD release there in 2004). The Altered Innocence release is a very welcome one, finally presenting this film in a good-looking edition with far more legible subtitles than the burned-in ones seen on the old VHS. Again the Spanish track is in excellent shape and much better than what we've had before. In addition to the Spanish trailer (the good U.S. trailers for both films are MIA here), "Sex Post-Franco: The Queer Sensibility of Eloy de la Iglesia" (11m34s) is a new video essay by Lee Gambin examining the flourishing in gay themes and imagery in the director's work after the demise of Franco, which still nevertheless bucked against the restrictions of forces like the Catholic Church. He also goes into parallels with other filmmakers like Vicente Aranda who were forging different ground in the same era. This one is chock full of spoilers, so don't watch until you've seen both films. Bonus trailers are also included for Pals, Dressed in Blue, The Hole in the Fence, and Altered Innocence Vol. 2.