The VHS Archives: Javier Seto's MACABRE (1969)

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MACABRE

Javier Seto's Viaje al vacio (1969)

The VHS Archives Factsheet

Label: Mogul Communications, Inc.

Catalog: MOG1003

Box Type: Clamshell
Year of Release: ?
Runtime: 85:13
Print: 1.33:1 / English / No subs
Extras: None

About the Film
Director: Javier Seto
Year of Release: 1969
Country of Origin: Spain / Italy
Stars: Larry Ward, Teresa Gimpera, Silvana Venturelli, Giacomo Rossi-Stuart
AKAs: Shadow of Death, Invisible Assassin, The Emptiness All Around 

Verbatim Box Synopsis

The beautiful and cunning Denise hates her husband and wants him dead...

She falls in love with her husband's twin brother and together they plot the fiendish, chilling murder.

A story of lust, evil and hate!

U.S. Mogul Communications sleeve! 

U.S. Mogul Communications sales sheet, courtesy of Bill Knight! Check out his rare VHS auctions!

Italian Cinehollywood sleeve, originally scanned by "jungle killer"!

Dutch Sunrise Tapes sleeve, courtesy of Daniel Liljefors!

Bonus fan trailer, put together by our pals at Exhumed 'Zine!

Looking for Macabre on VHS?  It's available on Amazon here.

Investigate more titles with Project: MOGUL!

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

© 2011 -- Bruce Holecheck. All Rights Reserved.

The VHS Archives: Francisco Rodriguez Gordillo's THE ICEBOX MURDERS (1982)

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THE ICEBOX MURDERS

Francisco Rodriguez Gordillo's El cepo (1982)

The VHS Archives Factsheet
Label: Mogul Communications, Inc.
Catalog: MOG1013
Box Type: Clamshell
Year of Release: ?

Runtime: 83:18

Print: 1.78:1 / English / No subs

Extras: None

About the Film
Director: Francisco Rodriguez Gordillo
Year of Release: 1982
Country of Origin: Spain

Stars: Jack Taylor, Mirta Miller, Claudia Gravy

AKAs: ?

Verbatim Box Synopsis

A young woman runs through long dark corridors trying desperately to escape... Nothing will stop the killer from reaching her neck in a deadly and violent grip.

Will she be the sixth woman to meet a violent and mysterious death?

There is no escape from the insane killer and his macabre web.  A blood curdling chiller... Will she become just another body in the icebox?

 U.S. Mogul Communications sleeve!

U.S. Mogul Communications sales sheet, courtesy of Bill Knight! Check out his rare VHS auctions!

Looking for The Icebox Murders on VHS? It's available on Amazon here.

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 #22!

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Welcome back to Name that Movie Monday!

It's time for Challenge #22 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:

Congrats to Hysteria Lives' Justin Kerswell for naming Norman J. Warren's Terror (1978) as the mystery film of this week's challenge. Admittedly influenced by Argento's Suspiria, this supernatural-tinged slasher / giallo is one of the director's most enjoyable efforts, albeit a bit nonsensical. A confused tale of a film crew whose talent is getting ruthlessly slaughtered by an unseen assailant who may or may not have something to do with a longstanding family curse, it's basically nothing more than a set up for multiple gory setpieces, all stylishly lit and shot like all your favorite Italian horrors. And really, what the hell more do you want? Oh yeah, it's got nudity, too.

Released to U.S. theaters in 1979 by Crown International Pictures, the film made its way to home video in the '80s courtesy of VCI Entertainment and was later reissued by their United arm, both of which served the film pretty well. Crown's tape master was reused in 2004 for the film's digital debut from Rhino as part of their Horrible Horrors set, but shortly thereafter Terror hit U.K. DVD as part of Anchor Bay's recommended Norman Warren Collection. This version featured a new anamorphic transfer and a slew of supplements; the whole set is well worth seeking out if you're a fan of the director. In the U.S., the film was acquired by BCI Eclipse as part of their deal with Crown, who proceeded to release a nice print of it twice: once in 2006 paired with the shortened domestic print of Land of the Minotaur, and again in 2008 sharing space with a cut edit of Warren's Satan's Slave! Once the label folded, their catalog seeped over to Mill Creek, who stuffed the film into their Gorehouse Greats compendium in 2009. If all you're looking for is the film, this is a good and cheap alternative to the import set; copies can be picked up for peanuts nowadays! Though it's not a likely candidate, I'd love to see the film get upgraded to Blu Ray; its colorful palette would really be a pleasure to see in hi-def!

 

(Since this post was originally written, Scorpion Releasing have reissued Terror on DVD with some of the UK release's supplements, paired with an uncut version of The Devil's Men / Land of the Minotaur.  It can be purchased from Amazon here.)

Newspaper ad courtesy of Fred Adelman's essential Critical Condition.

 

For a look at our last entry, click here.  For the unbeatable Challenge #20, unsolved since December(!), click here.  We also have quite a few unidentified Grab Bag photos, if you really want to show your stuff. And don't forget, our Upcoming Releases List (the best on the 'net) is constantly updated, so stop by and preorder some cool stuff!

© 2011 -- Bruce Holecheck. All Rights Reserved.

Project Mogul: Juan Bosch's ON THE EDGE (1974)

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ON THE EDGE

Juan Bosch's Los mil ojos del asesino (1974)

The VHS Archives Factsheet

Label: Mogul Communications, Inc.

Catalog: MOG1009

Box Type: Clamshell

Year of Release: ?

Runtime: 82:11

Print: 1.33:1 / English / No subs

Extras: None

About the Film

Director: Juan Bosch

Year of Release: 1974

Country of Origin: Spain / Italy

Stars: Anthony Steffen, Maria Kosty, Eduardo Fajardo, Britt Nichols, Julio Perez Tabernero

AKAs: The Killer with a Thousand Eyes

Verbatim Box Synopsis

ON THE EDGE, a hard hitting, high tension super action thriller is the story of Mike Lawrence, an international anti-narcotics agent and his fight against evil.

The net slowly tightens around Costa, a clever and powerful wealthy Brazilian and a bloody massacre follows.  ON THE EDGE.....explosive action filled... ...violent and loaded with suspense.

 U.S. Mogul Communications sleeve!

Greek Master Home Video sleeve, originally scanned by "Giallohunter"!

Canadian Mastro Entertainment Corp. sleeve, also scanned by "Giallohunter"!

Spanish Soho Video sleeve, courtesy of Jose Antonio Diego Bogajo! Check out his new Spanish-language 'zine, Exhumed Movies.

Investigate more titles with Project: MOGUL!

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

© 2011 -- Bruce Holecheck. All Rights Reserved.

Project Mogul: Jose Maria Forque's AUTOPSY (1973)

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AUTOPSY

Jose Maria Forque's Tarot (1973)

The VHS Archives Factsheet

Label:  Mogul Communications, Inc.

Catalog:  MOG1027

Box Type:  Clamshell

Year of Release: 1987

Runtime:

Print:  1.33:1 / English / No subs

Extras:  None

About the Film

Director:  Jose Maria Forque

Year of Release:  1973

Country of Origin:  Spain

Stars:  Fernando Rey, Sue Lyon, Gloria Grahame, Christian Hay

AKAs: Tarot

Verbatim Box Synopsis 

A chilling story of intrigue, violence and murder.

A weird millionaire who believes he can buy anything with money, seduces and falls in love with an attractive young woman.  Even though she becomes his wife, she has an affair with her husband's right hand man.

Blackmail, motivated by jealousy, hatred and greed leads to murder as the movie races to it's climax.

U.S. sleeve!



For those who can't find the tape, it looks like there's a booted JEF Films disc available.

Investigate more titles with Project: MOGUL!

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




© 2011 -- Bruce Holecheck. All Rights Reserved.

The Return of Name that Movie Monday! Challenge #19!

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Welcome back to Name that Movie Monday!

It's time for Challenge #19 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:

The Swedish shinobi strikes again!  Fred Anderson (Ninja Dixon) plucks his second win by identifying Umberto Lenzi's Eyeball (1975).  Unjustly maligned by most, I think the film serves as one of the director's most enjoyable romps; it's a sleazy, slash-happy giallo concerning a ragtag group of tourists -- a lesbian photographer, a shady priest, a cheating wife, a slutty schoolgirl, and more! -- having their numbers trimmed by an ocular-obsessed psycho in a red rain slicker.  And, of course, it's all set to an infectious Bruno Nicolai score.  What's not to like?  Snobs, I tell you.  

Eyeball received its belated Stateside release in 1978 courtesy of exploitation magnates Joseph Brenner Associates, Inc., who saw fit (as usual) to rework the title sequence and speed up the tempo by deleting some extraneous investigation footage.  It was a badly cropped version of this edit that hit the VHS scene in 1985, adorned with some of the most boring cover art you're likely to see, from JBA's usual standby, Prism Entertainment.  (My first knowledge of the film actually came from the cross-promo inclusion of its awesomely trashy trailer on the Prism tape of Pete Walker's Frightmare II.) 

 

 

The earliest DVD on the scene was the 2002 Labyrinth des Schreckens (Labyrinth of Fright) disc from Germany's Marketing Film, which featured an anamorphic transfer of the original European version in its full 2.35:1 ratio, along with some stills and a trailer.  (Seeing the film properly presented definitely boosts one's opinion!)  This print was later recycled for the 2004 rerelease from X-Rated Kult Video.  There's also a 2007 Italian disc from Pulp Video, though I'm unsure if this offers an upgrade or not.  For some inexcusable reason, there hasn't been a domestic DVD release to date, a situation that desperately needs to be remedied. (Severin? Midnight Legacy? Synapse? Anybody?!  Somebody start a petition!)

As always, the poster image comes courtesy of Wrong Side of the Art.  The newspaper ad was swiped from Fred Adelman's highly recommended Critical Condition.

For a look at our last 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.

It's Name that Movie Monday! Challenge #18!

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Welcome back to Name that Movie Monday!

It's time for Challenge #18 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:

And Chris Poggiali (Temple of Schlock) takes the lead, scoring four by naming Lucio Fulci's The Psychic (1977), a supernatural-tinged giallo whose U.S. retitling and tagline kind of give away some of its worthy surprises.  After receiving visions of a vicious murder, a woman uncovers a skeleton at her husband's family estate.  Believing his cries of innocence, it's up to her to piece together the mystery of the images she saw, before it's too late...

Originally titled Seven Notes in Black, this transitional film for Fulci (smack dab in the middle of his earlier, more traditional thrillers like A Lizard in Woman's Skin and Don't Torture a Duckling and his later, legendary gore romps) is easily one of his best.  Its compelling script peels away its layers carefully, and the director is constantly aided by a wonderful score and nice photography by frequent collaborators Fabio Frizzi and Sergio Salvati, respectively.  While usually overlooked in favor of Lucio's more graphic endeavors, The Psychic has at least found itself memorable enough to be paid tribute in some unexpected places: there's an awesomely daft Bollywood remake named 100 Days, and a soundtrack cue popped up during an especially inspired sequence in Kill Bill, Vol. 1.

Group 1 released the film to domestic theaters in 1979, attempting to wring some name value out of former Cover Girl model and descending actress Jennifer O'Neill.  Like most of their holdings, it hit VHS care of Catalina Home Video, and was later reissued by Lightning Video.  (There's apparently a Video Treasures tape, too, but I never had it.)  DVD-era rumors circulated that the title was slated for re-release from Quentin Tarantino's Rolling Thunder Pictures--a clip was even included in one of his introductory wraparounds--but it was never to be.  Image Entertainment had their hands on it for a time, but that never materialized, either.

Finally, Severin Films gave The Psychic its English-friendly digital debut in 2007 (discounting the Alfa Digital bootleg that married the French DVD's video with an old VHS' audio track), containing a good-looking transfer of the full European version (the U.S. prints were all missing some credit footage and other minor bits), Group 1's preview and a half-hour featurette with writer Dardano Sacchetti and others.  (I contacted Jennifer O'Neill's reps requesting an interview for the disc; I never heard back...)  (And screw Fed Ex for losing my 35mm trailer on its way to Severin!)  A nice package for a highly recommended film.

Television ad swiped from Fred Adelman's magnificent Critical Condition, of course.

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.

It's Name that Movie Monday! Challenge #14!

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Welcome back to Name that Movie Monday!

It's time for Challenge #14 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?

(And forgive the lack of non-Challenge posts lately; I had one lined up for the weekend, but Blogger was kinda being a dick. Fear not, there'll be posts aplenty soon enough; I currently have four interviews in the works, two random articles, a few top ten lists and some rare behind-the-scenes stuff I think you guys will dig.  Stay tuned!)

Anyway, here ya' go -- good luck! (And could my still get any more beat up?)

UPDATE:

Kudos to Chris Poggiali (Temple of Schlock) for making it a hat trick (our first!) by identifying William L. Rose's Girl in Room 2A (1973). Ostensibly a giallo following the demented goings-on at a way-out boardinghouse, it's usually derided for being slow or nonsensical, but when has that ever bothered us?  For the less-demanding viewer, there's plenty of fun to be found here.

Girl in Room 2A is probably most notable for its oddball mutt pedigree.  Filmed in Italy with an Italian crew, the director is actually an American known to Something Weird followers for his '60s New York-based roughie work like Rent-A-Girl and the Olga series. Production duties were shared with notorious exploitation producer Dick Randall. The cast is a hodgepodge of Eurotrash perennials, including Daniela Giordano, Brad Harris, Karin Schubert and even a small role for Rosalba Neri!

Joseph Brenner Associates, Inc. gave the film a domestic theatrical release in 1975, and, like most of their holdings, it was issued to VHS by Prism Entertainment in 1985. Unfortunately for fans, that's pretty much it.  It hit theatres in Italy under its original handle La Casa della Paura, but I don't think this version ever made it to video.  There are clips on Youtube containing Japanese subtitles, but I've never come across that edition (nor seen a cover scan!) and I'm not sure if it's any different than what JBA presented Stateside. I was hoping Mondo Macabro would issue it on DVD as part of their Dick Randall Collection, but was told Spectacular Trading doesn't hold the US rights. I guess all is we can do is wait and hope that someday everything will get sorted and we'll get a proper release!

Here's the trailer, not exactly safe for work. (Did Brenner's crew make the best trailers or what?  Eyeball, Beyond Erotica, Torso, Because of the Cats... someone needs to make a custom comp of these suckers!)

(Since this post was originally written, Mondo Macabro did sort out Girl in Room 2A for DVD.  It can be purchased from Amazon here.)

Poster art courtesy of Wrong Side of the Art.  The newspaper ad, as usual, was swiped from Fred Adelman's excellent Critical Condition.  I should probably start paying these guys royalties.

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.

It's Name that Movie Monday! Challenge #7!

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Welcome back to Name that Movie Monday!

It's time for Challenge #7 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:

Congrats go out to the man, the myth, Marty McKee, for identifying this week's challenge in a half-hour flat, smashing our prior record!  The still above is indeed from Alberto De Martino's Strange Shadows in an Empty Room (1976), a surprising little gem with a killer cast (including Stuart Whitman, Tisa Farrow, John Saxon and Martin Landau) that doesn't get nearly the attention it deserves.  Known to the rest of the world as Blazing Magnum, this poliziotteschi (with some giallo trappings) features, as AIP's pressbook states, "one of the most breathtaking and destructive car chases ever seen on the screen," as well as, "a crashing helicopter, a transvestite crushed in a cement mixer, fights and falls from a skyscraper, and all sorts of shootings." 

American International Pictures issued it theatrically in 1977, oddly playing up the thriller elements more than the action.  (To be fair, their publicity did devote some space to Whitman's stuntwork, along with his exercise regimen of handball and horseback riding...)  On VHS the title found release in the '80s from Vestron Video, whose onscreen title dropped the word "Strange." 

Unfortunately, the film is still lacking a proper DVD release; an unlicensed version turned up as part of VideoAsia's Grindhouse Experience, Vol. 2 set, but it's a crummy transfer a few generations removed from VHS.  We can only hope that one of the boutique labels will roll the dice and give it a shot.

I couldn't find the trailer online (even though I know I have it on a compilation somewhere; perhaps one of the Something Weird tapes?), but plenty of folks have uploaded the car chase! 

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.