The VHS Archives: Carlos Puerto's DON'T PANIC (1978)

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DON'T PANIC

Carlos Puerto's Escalofrio (1978)
 
The VHS Archives Factsheet
Label: Mogul Communications, Inc.
Catalog: MOG1039
Box Type: Clamshell
Year of Release: 1987
Runtime: 79:31
Print: 1.44:1 / English / No subs
Extras: None
 

About the Film

Director: Carlos Puerto
Year of Release: 1978
Country of Origin: Spain
Stars: Angel Aranda, Sandra Alberti, Marianna Karr, Jose Maria Guillen, Luis Barboo
AKAs: Satan's Blood

 

Verbatim Box Synopsis

Don't PANIC ... a terrifying journey into a forbidden world.

And for two young people it is a journey that will twist and scar their minds forever.

The powers of darkness gather, and nothing can stop the orgy of devastation they will unleash.

Evil satanic rites. Human sacrifice. The ancient secrets of the occult.

And as their fear reaches its shattering climax, the horrifying final blow is delivered.

Don't PANIC ... pure evil.

 

 U.S. Mogul Communications sleeve!

 

For alternate VHS covers, check out our Satans Blood listing!

 

(Above cover courtesy of VHS Wasteland.)

In one of their more outrageous bait and switch jobs, Mogul appropriated their entire ad campaign from Ruben Galindo, Jr's ouija board possession slasher Don't Panic (1987)!  I imagine they must've thought they had a deal set for the film, promoted and solicited it, and then run into a snag on the home stretch.  Rather than cancel the title, they simply dusted off their Satan's Blood master and video-burned a new title card.  Viola!  New product!  The real version of Don't Panic can be found on BCI Eclipse's great Mexploitation set, Crypt of Terror: Horror from South of the Border, Vol. 1. 

While not readily available on VHS, Puerto's Don't Panic has been issued on DVD twice as Satan's Blood, once by Mondo Macabro and later by Scorpion Releasing. Both use the same master, but the Mondo Macabro release has more supplements.

 
Investigate more titles with Project: MOGUL!
 
For a look at other labels, check out The VHS Archives!
 
© 2012 -- Bruce Holecheck. All Rights Reserved.

The VHS Archives: Carlos Puerto's SATANS BLOOD (1978)

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SATANS BLOOD 
Carlos Puerto's Escalofrio (1978)

The VHS Archives Factsheet
Label: All American Video
Catalog: AAV104
Box Type: Clamshell
Year of Release: ?
Runtime: 79:33
Print: 1.44:1 / English / No subs
Extras: None

About the Film
Director: Carlos Puerto
Year of Release: 1978
Country of Origin: Spain
Stars: Angel Aranda, Sandra Alberti, Marianna Karr, Jose Maria Guillen, Luis Barboo
AKAs: Satan's Blood, Don't Panic, Shivers

Verbatim Box Synopsis

Anna and Andres, a young innocent married couple are lured into the forbidden world of the occult ... without realizing it Anna and Andres find themselves participating in evil satanic rites.

The final terror awaits them just when they think they are safe.

U.S All American Video sleeve!

U.S. All American Video sales sheet, courtesy of Critical Condition!

For info on this release, check out our Don't Panic listing!

Spanish-language U.S. MGS Films, Inc. slip cover, courtesy of Mike Schack!  Be sure and check out his eBay auctions as GalleryOfTerror!

German Super Video sleeve, originally scanned by "Operazione Bianchi"!

Spanish Exclusiva 79 sleeve, originally scanned by "Tom Savini"!

Spanish RF Video sleeve (with key art cribbed from Vittorio Rambaldi's Primal Rage)!  (Does anyone have a better quality scan of this?)

French Sodisci sleeve!

Figuring no one on this side of the Atlantic would ever know, Mogul recycled the Satans Blood artwork from their 1984 UK pre-cert release of L. Scott Castillo Jr.'s Satan's Blade (1984)!  While Prism Entertainment adopted different (and pretty awful) artwork for their domestic VHS of the film, North American labels Trend and Galaxy appropriated this design, simply masking out Mogul's information and pasting in their own!  This led a lot of people to assume the companies were somehow related, but I'm pretty sure it was a simple case of theft.

While not readily available on VHS, Satan's Blood has been issued on DVD twice, once by Mondo Macabro and later by Scorpion Releasing.  Both use the same master, but the Mondo Macabro release has more supplements.

Investigate more titles with Project: MOGUL!

For a look at other labels, check out The VHS Archives!

© 2012 -- Bruce Holecheck. All Rights Reserved.

The VHS Archives: Michael J. Murphy's INVITATION TO HELL (1982)

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INVITATION TO HELL

Michael J. Murphy's Invitation to Hell (1982)

The VHS Archives Factsheet

Label: Mega

Catalog: WV5002
Box Type: Clamshell
Year of Release: ?
Runtime: 41:25
Print: 1.33:1 / English / No subs
Extras: None

About the Film

Director: Michael J. Murphy

Year of Release: 1982
Country of Origin: U.K.
Stars: Becky Simpson, Joseph Sheahan, Colin Efford
AKAs: ?

Verbatim Box Synopsis

A beautiful young girl accepts an invitation to a party of a former college friend held at an isolated house in the country.

Unbeknown to her a dark evil force is lurking with it's walls -- controlling the lives of the other inhabitants.

Lured into their satanic web she discovers that she is to become a virgin sacrifice to quench the eternal lustings of the evil being.

Alone and powerless against her tormentor, in a struggle to survive she stumbles across the key to the malevolent force.  Is it too late to use it and escape her Invitation To Hell?

U.S. Mega sleeve!

U.K. Scorpio Video sleeve! 

 U.K. Scorpio Video reverse sleeve!



DVD trailer, uploaded by Sarcophilous Films!

Looking for Invitation to Hell on VHS?  It's available on Amazon here, though the picture listed is actually the Videoline release.  Buyer beware!  Anyway, you're much better off grabbing the Sarcophilous Films DVD; it features a new transfer, some extras and it's paired with Murphy's The Last Night to replicate its original U.K. VHS release!

Investigate more titles with Project: MOGUL!

For a look at other labels, check out The VHS Archives!

© 2011 -- Bruce Holecheck. All Rights Reserved.

It's Name that Movie Monday! Challenge #16!

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Welcome back to Name that Movie Monday!

It's time for Challenge #16 here at the ol' Arcana! Can you identify this week's mystery photo, scanned direct from The Holecheck Archives? If you think you recognize it, post a comment below. As the week goes on, if no one guesses correctly I'll begin adding some pretty useless hints. Easy, right?

Here ya' go -- good luck!

UPDATE:

Thumbs up to Dave S., who recognized Norman J. Warren's Satan's Slave (1976) through the satin scribblings of the censor's Sharpie.  Apparently filmed as Evil Heritage, the story follows young Catherine, who, after watching her parents inexplicably blow up in a car crash, moves in with her uncle Alex (a ridiculously-mustached Michael Gough). Unfortunately for her, it seems ol' unc' is a closet cult leader and has one hell of a birthday party planned for his new tenant.

Receiving its belated Stateside release in 1979 courtesy of Crown International Pictures (who also issued Warren's later supernatural slashfest Terror the same year), the film surprisingly never garnered a domestic VHS issue (unless there's something I'm forgetting) and the curious were forced to seek out the Canadian tape (sometimes popping up in more well-stocked rental outlets) or one of the European imports.

Things became even more problematic in the digital age.  Satan's Slave didn't get a U.S. home video release proper until 2004 when Rhino included it as part of their Horrible Horrors Collection, Vol. 1.  While the disc was completely uncut, notably showing a harder psychosexual scissor-assault than found in some foreign versions, it was also badly cropped to fullframe from the original 2.35:1 framing. Shortly thereafter, Britain's Anchor Bay UK issued a nice, correctly-framed special edition as part of their Norman J. Warren Collection, and it was almost perfect; as expected, the aforementioned scissor bit wound up being replaced by a less explicit alternate version.  (The BBFC wouldn't even pass the complete sequence for inclusion as an extra.)  Hopes were briefly buoyed when BCI Eclipse announced their acquisition of the Crown catalog, and their 2008 disc (paired with Terror) sported a new transfer in the correct ratio, but was cut of multiple sex & violence highlights.  It was this censored edit that eventually made its way to Mill Creek's 2009 Gorehouse Greats set. 

So what's a fan to do?  Buy the Anchor Bay UK DVD for the print and supplements, and grab the old Rhino disc for the complete harder cut?  One can only hope eventually someone will come along and finally present the hard export version in its intended scope.

(Since this writing, Scorpion Releasing have announced they'll be issuing the full uncut version in its correct scope ratio.  You can find it on Amazon here.)

Poster courtesy of Wrong Side of the Art.  Newspaper ad taken from Serious Exploitation.

For a look at last week's entry, click here. And don't forget, our Upcoming Releases List (the best on the 'net) is constantly updated, so stop by and preorder some cool stuff!

 
© 2010 -- Bruce Holecheck. All Rights Reserved.