Joe Spinell cannot die. Yet he has been dead for almost fourteen years. The sweaty, pock-marked Maniac is a beloved figure in retro slasher history, but he did several movies that were essentially variations of the same figure. We’ve been blessed with Spinell popping up every few years in another long lost lumbering, muttering role.
The unclassy – okay, trashy revenger Savage Streets (1984) starring Linda Blair and Linnea Quigley is headed back to DVD via Code Red. Back? You may remember BCI previously released it, with extras produced by Code Red. But CR have the whole film now which means a new print, and word has it there may be some new or different extras. Here’s a screen from that new print:
Many more can be found on Code Red’s blog.
So much has been said about the involvement (or non-involvement) of Tom Savini on Nightmare that often others with definitive special FX contributions to the film are overlooked. Code Red are looking to change that with this late breaking extra for their Nightmare 2-disc set.
“Special effects make-up artist Edward French, Oscar Nominee and Emmy Winner, quickly gave CODE RED a last minute interview regarding the New York gore scene in NIGHTMARE!
French told us about his involvement in the effects, including who made the decapitated head, and who supervised it and who was there. Cleve Hall did the Florida scenes, but now we’ll all finally know who did the bloody final scene!
French also gave us some other wonderful stories regarding RIOT ON 42nd STREET, BLOOD RAGE, BREEDERS and DEADTIME STORIES. The insightful interview will hopefully be edited on time and be featured on the dvd!”
French was also responsible for the gruesome special effects in Sleepaway Camp (1983).
It was nice to come back from a little Retro Slashers holiday to discover Code Red have finally brought their website into the 21st century. Maybe that’s not breaking news, but it’s the first I’ve seen of it in an updated, fully-functioning condition, at least. The new site has catalogue listings of their DVDs, future releases and a handy Out Of Print list for collectors.
The company is continuing their commitment to retro horror, one of the promising future releases being The Witchmaker (1969), but slasher fans are of course hanging out for July 5th’s release of Nightmare. And it turns out Rituals actually is available now. Seems things are moving smoothly.
By Film, By VHS, By laserdisc, Bye Bye! Quick, release The Mutilator on DVD before we run out of cheesy puns. Okay, so the following which was posted on Code Red’s blog is more of a clarification than updating, but we’re betting much of it will be news to readers who haven’t been following the multi-year non-opus of giving The Mutilator a worthy DVD release.
There have been some 2nd hand statements and slanderous lies posted on few message boards regarding CODE RED and the motion picture THE MUTILATOR. Here is the truth once again to set the records straight.
(1) CODE RED has a valid contract with Buddy Cooper on the film.
(2) Mr. Cooper told us that he had the negative and prints in New York, but later we realized that the place was gone. Buddy used his assistant to search for it, only to come up empty handed.
(3) Buddy did find a 3/4 inch tape (I recall the R cut), but this is unusable for today’s standards for a DVD release. 3/4 will look worse than your old VHS Vestron Tape and most likely will not play since it has had a 15 year lifespan.
(4) A youtube video poped up with Buddy showing a storage shack with some 35mm cans in the background. I talked to Buddy and he told me it was empty. He did find some trims and some trailers which we sent to a Los Angeles lab (the one Something Weird used). The 35mm trailer was damaged due to poor storage/weather conditions after 25 years. If there had been a 35mm print inside, it would most likely also be damaged/beyond repair.
(5) Rumor circled around that Movielab New York had the negatives. Cliff MacMillan of BCI personally asked Mike Vraney of Something Weird and he didn’t have it. It was not at Movielab. Since then, many print collectors and film storage people were contacted. Nothing.
We can’t understand why so many people spew slanderous lies about us regarding this film. We have mentioned these facts countless times, but it seems we might have to put this bulletin out once a year. If Buddy has a 35mm usable print, he never told us or delivered it to us. This is the 2011 bulletin. Come back next year to probably see the same bulletin all over again. This is what we have on the table, nothing else.
Presenting the DVD cover for Code Red’s Nightmare DVD! Forgive the roughness of this post. My PC/laptop access is a little constrictive right now, but this couldn’t wait. Great to see the classic artwork, of course, and click that baby for stunning hi-res! Thoughts?
Code Red received quite a bashing from the genre DVD community for taking their own sweet time assembling a special edition of Nightmare (1981). Romano Scavolini’s film is a virtual camera lens inside the mind of a sweaty, mouth-foaming psychotic, and required special handling to bring this 2-Disc DVD to fruition. July 5th will see the sleazy slasher finally released onto the streets. Take a squiz at the details Code Red exclusively shared with Retro Slashers.
Due to overwhelming demand from horror fans, Code Red has acquired the 1981 Canadian slasher film Ghostkeeper.
A trio of friends on a snowmobile trip in the Canadian Rockies become lost after venturing up a trail during a bad snowstorm. They stumble upon a seemingly abandoned hotel lodge and decide to spend the night, unaware of the grave danger that they have put themselves in.
Internet columnist Amanda By Night says, “this Canadian horror film is slasher and monster lite, but has oodles of snow and deep synthesizer sounds to keep you going. Like ‘Madman’, or more appropriately, ‘The Prey’.”
Director Jim Makichuk is on hand to create extras for this lost slasher.
Street date TBA.
More longed-for rarities and hidden treasures are on the way to DVD next year! Code Red has inked an exclusive deal with VCX to release their back catalog titles of horror films. Here is the official press release, exclusive to Retro Slashers.
Release schedule for upcoming Code Red DVDs, via DVD Empire. It’s slim pickings for genre fans, though we’re particularly excited about The Being (1983), which we’ve not seen. Directed by Jackie Kong (Blood Diner), it’s about a toxic waste mutated boy killing residents of his small town.