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If you have a news item you would like to see posted please e-mail it directly to me at almaric@usa.net/.Well guys, it's taken me a while, but I've finally got the message boards up and running. Do me a favor, check them out and let me know what you think.
New at B-Independent.com
Distribution: Blood for the Muse, Day of the Ax 2, Good Grief, Hardboiled Heroes, Hardcore Poisoned Eyes, Mondo Pagan, Shudder, Track 16, Violence is my Business.
Reviews: B-Reel, Cremain, Dead Stop, The Long Walk Home, Lost Faith, The Night Basement, and Track 16.
Articles: Director Ryan Cavalline on Day of the Ax 3.
OCTOBER 22, 2001
The fantastic underground documentarian, Jeff Krulik, has added a number of his films to his website, including Edward Norton's favorite movie, Heavy Metal Parking lot. I strongly suggest you download MR. BLASSIE GOES TO WASHINGTON. Simple, but amazing.
OCTOBER 18, 2001
DEMONIUM will celebrate its world premiere on the International Filmfest Mostra de Valencia in Spain this week-end.The movie will be screened 3 times :
- October 20
- October 21
- October 22
Director Andreas Schnaas and the main actors Claudia Abbate and Andrea Bruschi will be present.
OCTOBER 15, 2001
From 4th Floor Entertainment:DAY OF THE AX 3 -BLOODLETTING- will be available for sale on OCTOBER 30th. BIG BONUS: 4th Floor Pictures is having a huge release sale on DAY OF THE AX 3. For a limited time only, AX 3 will be on sale for the low price of $10.00 (plus shipping). This is for a limited time only dead heads so, get your copy while the sale is on. The sale will start on OCTOBER 30th. Check out the webpage:
Ax 3 is full of blood, guts, and . Computer generated effects that will blow your eye lids off of your head. Starring Shawn Meyer as J.R. Sorg With special cameos from TINA KRAUSE, PHIL HERMAN, LILITH STABS, AMY WATT, and MAX CERCHI. DotA3 was written by Dominic Guerieri and Ronald Damien Malfi (the writters of SHUDDER) from Tunnel Vision Entertainment.
4th Floor Pictures
Day of the Ax 3
***** From Tempe Video:
"WITCHOUSE 3" HITS THE STREETS, DVD IS TEMPE EXCLUSIVE
This Tuesday, October 16th is the street date for J.R. Bookwalter's WITCHOUSE 3: DEMON FIRE, the latest from Tempe and Full Moon Pictures. The letterboxed VHS version will be available at Hollywood Video and other fine retailers. The special edition DVD will follow in early November.
The most exciting news is that the WITCH 3 DVD has become the first official Tempe-branded digital release! Full Moon is allowing us to produce, manufacture and exclusively distribute this special edition DVD in the U.S. -- there are currently plans underway to ship the title wide in January, 2002 but you can pre-order yours now from our website at a discounted price.
Showing its commitment to the DVD format yet again, Tempe has loaded this dual-layer disc with a host of features, many of which fans haven't seen on our previous Full Moon Lunar Editions. In addition to a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround mix and 16:9-enhanced transfer (1.85 aspect ratio), there are THREE -- count 'em, THREE! -- running commentary tracks! The first features director J.R. Bookwalter and star Debbie Rochon; the second features cast members Tanya Dempsey, Paul Darrigo and Brinke Stevens; and the third features producer Tammi Sutton, director of photography Danny Draven and crewmember (and Tempe staple) Jeffrey W. "Spud" Scaduto.
Choosing to break from the mold of discs from the last year, Bookwalter and team have done away with the traditional "making of" featurette and in its place are a wide variety of home movies, cast interviews, filmographies, two still galleries, bloopers & outtakes and more. This disc even includes the rare first glimpse at Bookwalter's earliest short films (BURNING OF THE SALEM WITCHES, shot in 1979), complete with his wry commentary.
And before you think that could possibly be all, we've hidden a great little Easter egg somewhere on the disc! (If you can't find it, we'll give you instructions on the website in the near future.)
Pre-order your copy today at the Tempe Video online store for just $19.99 plus shipping. (The VHS version is also available online.) The first 100 copies are autographed by director J.R. Bookwalter and star Debbie Rochon! (DVD only)
WHAT HAPPENED TO "VENGEANCE OF THE DEAD"?
We've had a lot of pre-orders for our last announced release, VENGEANCE OF THE DEAD. The good news is, the title is manufactured and we're hopeful to start shipping orders in the next few weeks. Until the title officially ships, all pre-orders will include some special bonus gifts as our way of saying "thanks" for your patience! So get to the website and orders yours today for $19.99 plus shipping!
PRODUCTION NEWS (a.k.a. WHEN DO THESE PEOPLE SLEEP?)
KILLJOY 2: DELIVERANCE FROM EVIL is now completed and being prepped for a January 8th, 2002 release. Directed by Tammi Sutton, starring Charles Austin, Olimpia Fernandez and Debbie Rochon. Stay tuned to the site for more news as well as the official trailer!
We've shot a whole other feature since our last update! The as-yet-untitled zombie flick is the latest from HORRORVISION director Danny Draven, working from a script by line producer and Troma vet Trent Haaga (CITIZEN TOXIE, TERROR FIRMER). Shot in and around Los Angeles, the flick stars Debra Mayer, Tanya Dempsey, Stacey Scowley, Olimpia Fernandez and Sunny Lombardo as a group of models who face their fears for a new TV show called "Chill Challenge". Look for cameos by Joe Estevez, Brinke Stevens and many others! As soon as the official title is announced we'll have a teaser trailer online. All we can tell you is, this promises to be the goriest flick we've done since 1989's SKINNED ALIVE! Tempe has the exclusive DVD rights to the February release -- so while the Full Moon VHS edition will likely be cut for an MPAA R rating, the DVD will be the unrated director's special edition with a host of extras!
Finally, our next production rolls in Akron, Ohio on Oct. 30th! It's back to where it all started as DEAD & ROTTING marks the debut of makeup FX artist David Barton (THE DEAD NEXT DOOR, THE VAULT) and will feature a cast of past Tempe favorites like Barbara Katz-Norrod (THE SANDMAN), Tom Hoover (POLYMORPH) and James L. Edwards (BLOODLETTING), plus new faves like Debbie Rochon (WITCHOUSE 3) and Jeff Dylan Graham (CREMAINS)! Stay tuned for more on this March release which will also be a Tempe special edition DVD!
OCTOBER 13, 2001
From F&C Productions:Preorders of ODD NOGGINS will ship on Saturday, Oct. 6. Check out the cool cover to the right!! Now that sleeves are done, F&C Productions will begin plans for a premiere party. Director Joe Sherlock says, "I'm quite pleased with the way the whole thing came out - there are some great performances, some really cool FX shots and lots of blood...and pudding! I was sort of influenced by all of the extras that are coming on DVDs nowadays. While Odd Noggins is on VHS, I included a "making of" documentary, a bloopers reel, the "monster in my Car" short and some previews. I just moved to a new house (don't even ASK about how horrible the move was) and am still trying to get everything unpacked. RIght now I've got the Dark and Stormy tape done and am taking preorders for it and I'm in post-production on Zombie Love Slave. I've also got one more (unless we run behind) three-day shoot for Evilmaker 2 that will be scheduled for sometime in November. Somewhere in there I'll try to find time to breathe!"
Dark and Stormy, a collection of some of the custom videos that F&C Productions has been hired to do, is now completed. We are now taking pre-orders at the special price of $19.95 (+$3.95 s&h) (within USA only). This offer is only good until October 31, 2001. Be warned, this hour-long tape includes fetish elements and is only for those over 18.
OCTOBER 11, 2001
Scott Klien of Lights Out! Productions recently dropped me a line regarding a supernatural thrill he's recently completed titled THE RISEN. Below is the synopsis taken directly from the Lights Out! website.
THE YEAR: 1865
As the American Civil War drew to a close, the country mourned the loss of it's brother, husbands, fathers, and sons who died by each other's hands upon each other's land. It was a time of great sorrow and suffering.
In that same year, the world saw a phenomenon that had not occurred before or since in recorded history - a month without a full moon. While science saw it as merely a calendrical anomaly, two grieving wives saw hope, and turned in despiration to the power and promise of Black Magic to return their loved ones to them. The dark book held that on the fifthteenth day of the Moonless Month, with a sacrifice of the blood of the grieving, the restless dead would find power. They would rise again to find their peace and walk again with their beloved forever.
Today, 135 years later, gravedigger Auther Roth unknowingly stumbles upon these grounds with the opening of a new lot for the cemetary at which he works. But while Roth is unknowing, he is not innocent. He bears the burden of a horrible secret - one that his wife Adrian holds above his head and stands to bring crashing down upon him should she become aware of his mistress, Rebecca.
At the opening of the new lot, the exposure of Roth's infidelity and the revelation of his secret draw nearer, Roth's world is turned upside down. But as he will soon find out, he's not he only one with a secret, and while life can be the cause of misery, death can be just he beginning!
***** From Atomaton Entertainment:
"For those of you who have been closely following production on Stop Or I'll Shoot Vol. 3, you will be pleased to hear that the movie is progressing quite nicely. By quite nicely, we mean, not at all. Just kidding. The past few weeks have seen a flurry of activity on the film production front. Two major scenes have been shot in the past month, and our gratitude goes out to everyone who showed up at Brock University to help us shoot the lecture hall scene. We have posted some behind the scenes photos from both movie shoots on the official Stop Or I'll Shoot website.
"But more importantly... the first official trailer for Stop Or I'll Shoot Vol. 3 is now available for download! The trailer will be screening in theatres next month with the gripping new Travolta thriller "Domestic Disturbance". No it won't. It's about 3 minutes long, and we think you will enjoy it. It's kind of a spoof of the dramatic yet nonsensical trailers you often see in theatres. You know what we mean. Jay is also working on a second trailer at the moment.
"Stop Or I'll Shoot Vol. 3 is closing in on being approx. 75% completed. We're hoping that it will be ready sometime next month. There is a big screening party being planned for the premiere. It will take place at The Mindbomb, and it will probably also involve some live music, and lots of people drinking beer out of funnels.
OCTOBER 9, 2001
Rayn Cavalline says that his next film, DAY OF THE AX 3, will have it's official release on Oct 30. For more info on this film read Ryan's thoughts in the articles section.
***** After much delay, Stinky Pictures follow up to the hilarious WOW!, titled CHEERLEADER AUTOPSY, is finally available for purchase. Read the synopsis and then click the link below for a screencaps and a look at the downloadable trailer.
When a freak accident strikes down a busload of nubile competition bound cheerleaders, all hopes seem lost for the Fighting Beavers of Stinkwater High...until an Alzheimer-afflicted Mortician, his opportunistic college-dropout nephew and a simpering Night Janitor discover that one of the girls is still alive despite her indescribably gruesome disfigurements. The three men soon find themselves pitted against each other in a winner takes all face off for control of the last of the Beavers and the recipe for an astonishingly potent healing elixer.
***** Mark Pirro had the following updates concerning the upcoming DVD releases of two of his cult classics.
"All supplemental material for the DVDs of Polish Vampire and Queerwolf is complete. We got the legendary Forrest J. Ackerman to do the narration for the Polish Vampire documentary, "Behind The Fangs," and he certainly gives it a degree of class. Longtime Pirromount actor John McCafferty did the narration for the Queerwolf documentary, "Completely From Behind." The documentary features Kent Butler, Taylor Whitney, Forrest J Ackerman, and a few others."
***** All of the following is from the most recent Sub Rosa Studios newsletter.
Editing this weekend starts on our third all original "Red Files" episode, subtitled "Rocky Mount". A new episode starts shooting soon, subtitled "Angel of Death". Editing resumes soon on "The World vs. Sonny and Gino".
Sub Rosa Blue has completed 99% of the editing for "Attack of the 40FT Tall Incredibly Shrinking Women". It'll be finished this weekend and available soon after on VHS. "Virtual Voodoo" editing will continue this weekend, and "Battle of the Colossal Women" will start soon after.
Sub Rosa Extreme has wrapped production on their third movie. More news on that one soon. It has already been pre-sold to UK and other territories are pending.
Sub Rosa Midwest has wrapped production on its fifth movie, "Necro Sluts". Definitely sickening and disturbing. Look for a release in November or December. Meanwhile, editing begins on the first 2002 release, and pre-production has started on the second.
We have productions starting to roll with our two new divisions (names and studio heads to be announced soon). One division will work on spoofs/send-ups of Hollywood hit movies, the other will deliver quality family/kids movies and special interest videos on various topics.
Sub Rosa has cut a deal to get both "1-900" and "Steal Wheels" on DVD and into Kmart, Wal-Mart, Sam's Club and other major retailers. Our first four titles ("Cut Up, Urban Scream, Murder Men, Bang") should have check disc ready around mid-Oct. Eight more titles are lined up for similar deals.
"Inbred Rednecks" DVD will be available for sale on Netflix.com in a few days for a Nov. 1st release date.
SRDVD has delivered a check disc on Hellcats in High Heels and it's looking fantastic. The wait will be well worth it - this is the first DVD that we will be releasing that really reflects our vision for these releases. Very slick with a great sense of humor (and certainly as good as any Hollywood DVD you have seen). Work has started on DVD's for "Shatter Dead" and "Eight Legs to Love You". We should have a "shock reel" of sorts at Chiller profiling those titles and about 8 others that are planned, including "Meat Market", "Mutilation Man", "Creep", "Strawberry Estates", "Blind Target", "Vampire Blues" and others. Be certain to check it out!
SRMain has the VHS release of "Schusterman Levine" almost ready. Look for it late this month or early Nov. Works should wrap on the cover for the VHS release of "Violent Midget Wrestling" in about 1-2 weeks.
SRMW has just released "Slaughtered Starlets". It's selling fast - check it out!
SRX has wrapped editing on their second movie, "I Spit on Your Corpse, I Piss on Your Grave". If you thought "Ice from the Sun" or "Scrapbook" were shocking, you'll be blown away by "IPOYG". It's quite possibly the most brutal movie you will ever see.
SRBlue has "Attack of the 40Ft Tall Incredibly Shrinking Women" almost completed edit and hope to wrap up a cover in about another week. Look for a release in 1-2 weeks. Jess Franco's "Vampire Blues" VHS cover is off to the printers and should be available late this month. "Vampire's Curse" is also set for a new release before end of 2001.
SRCult has just released Ricardo Islas' "Headcrusher". Still planned our new releases of "Living a Zombie Dream" and "Stop, You're Killing Me".
Swing by our table at this next Chiller - we'll have Linnea Quigley and Kevin Collins there promoting "Eight Legs to Love You" and "Blind Target", Scooter McCrae and Stark Raven promoting "Shatter Dead" and possibly others. And of course Ron Bonk and others from Sub Rosa Studios will be there to promote "Strawberry Estates", "the vicious Sweet", "Stumped" and others.
OCTOBER 7, 2001
Horse Creek Productions, the filmmakers behind GENERATION AX and CRINOLINE HEAD, are set to begin shooting thier next prodution, FAMILY POSSESSIONS, in late 2001/early 2002.
***** Here is a sneak preview of Seduction Cinema's upcoming release of PLAYMATE OF THE APES. Click the image for more, racier images. By the way, if someone can break these down into small sized files, I would be greatly appreciative.
Seduction Cinema's biggest, boldest and hairiest film yet, began shooting in August. Playmate of the Apes, an epic and erotic parody of Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes remake as well as the 1968 classic starring Charlton "Guns Are Our Friends" Heston, will star Seduction Cinema beauty Misty Mundae, B-movie favorite Debbie Rochon, the luscious and irrepressible Darian Caine, SC's recent hot discovery, Anouska, an Eastern European beauty, a bevy of new, delectable, and exciting girls, and, yes, Kimbo the Gorilla. Currently in post-production, Playmate of the Apes will feature exciting action, uninhibited lesbian seductions, as well as original special makeup fx created by makeup artist Michael R. Thomas (Mistress Frankenstein, Titanic 2000). You can expect an early 2002 release for this monumental spoof.
OCTOBER 4, 2001
The program for BOO FEST 2001 has finally been selected. The festival will take place October 27, 2001 at 7 p.m. at Bentley College in Waltham, MA.The Official Lineup for BOO FEST 2001
(program subject to change)THE SANDY ROBOT NINJA HOOK LINGERIE BEACH HOUSE PARTY MASSACRE - WORLD PREMIERE!!
Moki the Robot Ninja is a big hit with the kids in Japan, and now he's coming to America in Foo's First B-movie!! A bevy of bodacious beauties don their underthings - and little else - for an annual lingerie party, but this year's event is really "off the hook" when Moki joins the festivities! Join April Santo, Dan Gorgone, and newcomers Sheri DeMauro and Pamela Browne for this loving, comedic send-up of classic Z-grade cinema!MARIONETTES
As a ferocious winter blizzard hits a small New England town, a young boy is reported missing in the woods. His chances of survival rests on the shoulders of an experienced tracker and his team of local volunteers. The boy's parents, however, are unable to help: his father is overcome with emotion and the mother is the catatonic victim of a past car accident. As the storm intensifies, the search continues deeper into the woods, but the members of the search party soon realize they are now in a fight for their own lives. As mysterious obstacles continue to fall into their path, who will survive?STUBBLE JUDGE
A mystery writer settles into his home one evening to write his next novel. Eventually, he needs a break and finds a radio station playing a catchy song by the name of "Stubble Judge." The station plays it a second time, then a third. Soon, the writer discovers that the radio isn't the only thing infected with the song. His entire home seems to be haunted! Can he find a way to escape it... or will this song be stuck in his head FOREVER?AGAIN
Jack is a comedian whose jokes don't always find their audience, and when he and his new wife Lauren visit her old college pals Greg and Anetra, it seems he's entered a tough room. Jack is soon faced with an unshakable feeling that he has been in the house before, and even more strangely, that he has met their hosts before. As the night goes on, tension begins to mount between Jack and the others who wonder why he's acting in such an odd way. They think he's joking about his unstoppable deja vu, but he isn't... and soon, events he believes have happened before become reality. Will Jack discover the secret of his visions before his premonitions become worse?
OCTOBER 3, 2001
Tonight will be the second week* of a four week run for the third episode of Sub Rosa Studios new public access TV show - " Red Files".
The third episode, an edited down version of the 100 min feature movie "Strawberry Estates", deals with an SU professor leading an expedition into the supposedly haunted grounds of the Smith Garrett Building (nicknamed "Strawberry Estates"). It stars Jason Reed, Chrissy Frick, Bob Fullenbaum and Lisa Chelenza. It was produced by Jerry O'Sullivan and Ron Bonk and was written and directed by Ron Bonk.
On Oct. 24th, a brand-new episode sub-titled "Rocky Mount" will begin airing. It'll revolve around out first semi-reoccurring character Taylor Bach, a psychic who aids law enforcement with difficult cases. This particular case deals with some brutal murders and the possibility that it may be a werewolf. It stars Natasha Kay, Robert Licata, Tom Minion, Ed Mastin, Frank Tropepi, and Justin Busch. It was produced by Carlo Pastore and Ron Bonk and written and directed by Ron Bonk.
It plays every Wednesday night at 10pm on Syracuse Time Warner Cable Channel 3 in the city and 14 in the suburbs.
OCTOBER 1, 2001
OBITUARIES, thanks to www.BMonster.com
Samuel Z. Arkoff
Garrulous, cigar-chomping B-movie Producer Samuel Z. Arkoff has died at a hospital in Burbank, Calif. He was 83. The cause of death was not immediately given. A prime purveyor of exploitation pictures for over a third of a century, the Iowa-born Arkoff co-founded American International Pictures with his partner James H. Nicholson in 1954. Under the aegis of Nicholson and Arkoff, the company survived in a constricting industry by catering to the whims of the teenage trade. AIP's long (350-plus) roster of kitsch classics, running the gamut from horror to rock 'n 'roll, from juvenile delinquency to Italian musclemen, and from Edgar Allan Poe to Annette Funicello, have formed their own unique niche in film history.American International Pictures released some of the best known and best liked horror and sci-fi films of the 1950s ("I Was A Teenage Werewolf," "Beast With a Million Eyes," "Invasion of the Saucer Men") and helped launch the careers of actors such as Michael Landon, Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Charles Bronson, Barbara Hershey, Peter Fonda and Mike "Touch" Connors. Among the directors who got their start at AIP were Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Brian De Palma and Peter Bogdanovich. After Nicholson's 1971 resignation, Arkoff assumed full control of the company and remained in charge until the 1979 merger with Filmways prompted his own departure. At the time of his death, he headed up Arkoff International Pictures.
Producer Louis M. "Deke" Heyward offers these memories of Arkoff and AIP: "I worked for and with Sam Arkoff for many years, eleven plus. They were not all bright or pleasant, because I found Sam to be a man of wavering loyalties. I tried to do my job as Managing Director of AIP London/Chief of Foreign Production more than to the best of my abilities. Sam, because he was not completely familiar with the arts and crafts of picture making, was frequently in an annoying back-up situation with me, a sort of second guessing of any given situation. I loved the job, loved being in Europe, making deals and pictures, had fun with Sam on his twice-yearly visits, and was proud of most every picture I made. I will miss Sam. I still miss Jim Nicholson."
Julie Bishop
Actress Julie Bishop, who began her acting career using her birth name, Jacqueline Wells, died Aug. 30, her 87th birthday. She had pneumonia. Bishop appeared in more than 80 films beginning in the silent era in a range of roles that spanned every genre and budget. She appeared opposite such stars as Humphrey Bogart ("Action in the North Atlantic"), John Wayne ("Sands of Iwo Jima"), W.C. Fields ("Tillie and Gus"), and Errol Flynn ("Northern Pursuit"). Her first roles were as a child in silent films featuring the likes of Clara Bow and Mary Pickford. She retained her original name through several adult roles, but was asked by Warner Brothers to change it to Julie Bishop in 1940.Her busy acting schedule included appearances in westerns opposite Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, suspense potboilers ("Escape from Crime," "Behind Prison Gates," "I Was Framed"), and "A" features including "Westward the Women," "The High and the Mighty" and "The Big Land," her final film produced in 1957. Genre-film devotees will remember her roles in "Tarzan the Fearless," starring Buster Crabbe as the ape man, a pair of Laurel and Hardy features, "Any Old Port" and "The Bohemian Girl," and director Victor "White Zombie" Halperin's weird cheapie, "Torture Ship." She is perhaps best known as the ingenue in the 1934 horror classic, "The Black Cat." The stylish thriller, directed by Edgar G. Ulmer, was the first screen pairing of Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, and is hailed by horror-film enthusiasts as one of the best, not to mention one of the most unusual, films in the genre.
Troy Donahue
Actor and 1950s and 60s teen heartthrob Troy Donahue died at a hospital in Santa Monica, Calif., following a heart attack. He was 65. Donahue skyrocketed to stardom as Sandra Dee's lover in the 1959 hit "A Summer Place." Following the film's success, he was cast in a string of teen-oriented dramas such as "Parrish," "Rome Adventure" and "Palm Springs Weekend." Cult-film fans may recall Donahue's supporting role in "Monster on the Campus." He also had roles in two popular early '60s television series, "Surfside Six" and "Hawaiian Eye." By the mid-1960s, teen romance films had fallen from fashion. His career went into decline. and Donahue began abusing drugs and alcohol. He spent one summer homeless in Central Park. "I realized that I was going to die," Donahue told the AP. By the early 1980s, he was clean and sober. He began acting again, mostly in low-budget exploitation films, and attracted some critical notice when cult-movie director John Waters cast him in 1990's "Cry-Baby."John Chambers
Special makeup effects innovator John Chambers is dead at 78. The cause of death was not immediately known. Chambers' groundbreaking makeup creations for the 1968 "Planet of the Apes" won an Oscar. Chambers had to train and oversee an army of makeup artists to realize his Academy Award-winning vision. He began working with prosthetics during WWII, creating medical appliances for veterans who had been wounded. He moved to Los Angeles in 1953 and landed a job in NBC's makeup department. Chambers made the jump from television to movies when he joined the Universal staff in 1960, working under department head Bud Westmore, creating makeups for feature films such as "The List of Adrian Messenger." His creations were also featured prominently in "The Munsters" television series. By the mid-60s, his reputation allowed him to freelance, and he created makeups for such TV series as "I Spy," "Mission: Impossible," "The Outer Limits" and "Star Trek," creating Leonard Nimoy's "Spock ears." He retired in the 1980s, one of only two makeup artists given an honorary Oscar, and one of three to have a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.
