It's Name that Movie Monday! Challenge #2.

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Welcome back to Name that Movie Monday! 

Here's installment Numero Two-o of our ongoing series.  The rules are simple:  try and identify this week's still.  If you think you know the film it's advertising, leave a comment below.  As the week progresses, if no one guesses correctly I'll begin adding hints.  Simple enough, right?  

Here ya' go -- good luck! 

UPDATE:

Congrats to Jonny Redman for correctly identifying this challenge's still as being from Silvio Amadio's Amuck! (1972), a sleazy, underrated giallo starring a Eurotrash beauty killer combo of Barbara Bouchet and Rosalba Neri.  Farley Granger's also in it, if that sort of thing matters to you.  It sat unreleased in the US until 1978, when Group 1 decided to give it a shot paired with Dr. Tarr's Torture Dungeon (their retitling of Juan Lopez Moctezuma's Mansion of Madness (1973)), later reissuing it under its less recognized moniker, Maniac Mansion (double-billed with Living Nightmare, their retitling of Mario Caiano's Nazi Love Camp #27 (1977)).  Keeping all that straight?  Its eventual VHS, like most Group 1 offerings, was issued through Catalina Home Video in an uncut but brutally cropped transfer.  However, in the '90s Something Weird Video released a true oddity:  they found and transferred a theatrical print under the previously unknown alternate title Leather and Whips.  The good news is that it retained the full 'scope 2.35:1 aspect ratio, the bad news is that it's been shorn of almost 20 minutes!  Of course it's way out-of-print now, so good luck finding a copy!

While no properly licensed DVD exists, bootleg outfit Eurovista did put one out sourced from the old Catalina release, and it's unfortunately the best game in town.  Supplements include brief interviews with Barbara and Rosalba and a stills collection.  (I don't think I've ever seen a trailer pop up on any compilations, but I know one exists -- I was outbid on eBay years back!)  Amuck! is screaming for a legit DVD; it'd be the perfect title for a company like Severin to tackle and do up right.  The rights are available, and the two lead actresses are obviously willing to discuss their involvement... so how 'bout it?

For a detailed comparison of the cut and uncut prints, click here.  (Careful: Spoilers Galore!)

The Maniac Mansion ad was stolen from Fred Adelman; be sure and visit his essential Critical Condition website.

For a look at last week's entry, click here.  More goodies coming soon!

© 2010 -- Bruce Holecheck. All Rights Reserved.

It's Name that Movie Monday! Challenge #1.

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A new feature I hope you'll enjoy:  it's Name that Movie Monday!

I'll be scanning a different promotional still every week; your job, should you choose to accept it, is simply try to identify the film it's advertising in the comment section below.  As the week progresses, I'll add a hint or two about its distribution history. 

If it proves popular, I'll see about digging out some goodies from the Archives to reward repeat winners.  I plan to keep things reasonably obscure; this place ain't called Cinema Arcana for nothin'!

Below is the first photo.  Good luck!

UPDATE:

Congrats to Will Wilson, who correctly identified William Dear & Thomas L. Dyke's Northville Cemetery Massacre (1976), a fun, offbeat made-in-Michigan biker epic whose various squib-filled shootouts play like Peckinpah-for-a-buck.  Starting life in the early '70s as Freedom R.I.P., the movie eventually saw theatrical release from The Cannon Group, Inc., who touted its "country music score" by ex-Monkee Michael Nesmith.  The still above is actually reversed from the way it screens in the film proper; I guess someone at Cannon thought it was more aesthetically pleasing this way.  On home video the title made its way to VHS through Paragon Video, and VCI put it back into circulation a few years ago with a nice DVD issue that contains several commentaries and other extras.  It's well worth picking up.

See you next Monday!

© 2010 -- Bruce Holecheck. All Rights Reserved. 

Odds & Arcana

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Been a while, no?

Thanks to everyone who has emailed or messaged, wondering if the ol' Arcana was dead in the water.  It's good to know at least some people are looking at this damn thing.  The truth is simple:  I've been a bit busy.  A few months back I was hard at work on a giant Charles B. Pierce retrospective, but then life got in the way before I ever wrapped it up.  I'm not even sure if it'd be relevant any more;  I would've liked to have done a tribute to David Durston as well, but run into a similar conundrum.

Since then, I've been trying to finish up a pair of featurettes for Synapse Films, prepping another pair for Troma Entertainment, and doing research for a pair of interviews for the next issue of Ultra Violent.  Free time's a little hard to come by, and it's Summer now, anyway.  Time for beer and cookouts.

Busy or not, the Upcoming Releases list is constantly updated;  I think it's the best of its type on the 'net.  I've also added a little sidebar letting you know what I've been watching, if you care.  I hope to start putting up past Top Ten DVD Round-Ups sometime soon; look for the 2008 edition sometime in the next week or two.  I also have a a few other goodies in the works, so keep an eye out.

My interview with Giovanni Lombardo Radice has finally seen the light of day on Blue Underground's essential City of the Living Dead release; it's a Blu-Ray only supplement, but that's a-okay by me.  The company did an excellent job with the disc, and I'm proud to be part of it.

Speaking of Eurotrash on Blu-Ray, Media Blasters have put a big smile on my face by announcing Zombie Holocaust for a September release with a low, low retail price.  Yup, Doc Butcher himself in hi-def.  A few years back I threw together a Top Ten List of Eurotrash Favorites for longtime pal David Zuzelo's Tomb it May Concern blog;  Dr. Butcher, M.D. was included.  They're also issuing Joe D'amato's crackpot sickie Beyond the Darkness on the format, along with Bill Hinzman's cheapjack (but fun as hell) Flesh Eater.  (Ah, to see that sneaky boob-grope in 1080p!)  According to the company, these will all be fresh high definition transfers; can Burial Ground be that far away?  (For the record, Burial Ground is pretty much the best movie ever.)

That's all for now!

© 2010 -- Bruce Holecheck. All Rights Reserved. 

Coming Soon to this Screen

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© 2010 -- Bruce Holecheck. All Rights Reserved.

Resurrecting the Pope -- Bob Murawski on the Restoration of Duke Mitchell's GONE WITH THE POPE (1975)

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It's here.  Can you believe it?

On Friday, March 12th, 2010, Duke Mitchell's never-released Gone with the Pope will finally have its world premiere at The Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.  Filmed in 1975, the film sat unfinished until ace editor and Grindhouse Releasing head honcho Bob Murawski decided to take a crack at it.  Little did he know just how long it would take...

Cinema Arcana:  When did you first get interested in the films of Duke Mitchell?

Bob Murawski:  Back in 1995, Bill Lustig and I watched the Video Gems VHS of The Executioner (aka Massacre Mafia Style).  I think Sage Stallone had given him a copy, but I hadn't met him yet.  We both thought it was one of the funniest, most off-the-wall and entertaining movies we had ever seen.

CA:  How did the finding and restoration of Gone with the Pope come about?  What did the restoration require?

BM:  After watching The Executioner, we said we've gotta find this guy Duke Mitchell and meet him.  Bill called around and discovered that Duke had died in 1981.  We were pretty saddened to find that out, but a couple of days later Bill called me and said he found Duke's son, Jeff.  He was living in an apartment in Hollywood only about two blocks from where Bill was living!  So I went over to Bill's place, met Sage for the first time, and the three of us went over to Jeff's place.  We told him we were big fans of his father and wanted to find his movie The Executioner and re-release it.  Jeff said he had no idea what happened to that movie, but said he had another feature that his Dad made after The Executioner that was shot but never finished.  He said he didn't think it had even been edited, and if we wanted to take it and try to do something with it then go ahead.  Of course, we said, "ABSOLUTELY!"

We went down to his parking garage and pulled a bunch of dusty old boxes out of his storage closet that had been there since Duke passed away.  Everything was there—the negative, sound tapes and work picture, along with some paperwork that helped us piece everything together.  There was no shooting script, per se, just a lot of scenes written out in notebooks, loose pieces of paper, and, in a couple of instances, backs of envelopes and cocktail napkins!  There was a very crude rough assembly of the movie, but it was long and nowhere near being finished.  17 reels and, of that, reels 9-13 were totally missing and never found.  We screened the reels and found it to be incredibly entertaining—totally different than The Executioner, but still a Duke Mitchell movie through and through.  However, since it was in such rough shape, we knew finishing would be a big job and would probably take a few years.  It ended up taking sixteen!  We started trying to fine cut the movie, working from the assembly, then going back to the trims and outtakes when necessary to smooth things out and make the scenes and story flow better.  For the reels that were totally missing, we carefully went through the original negative to determine what we didn't have, and made fresh work print of that material, which was then edited from scratch.  Two other friends helped me with the editing -- Paul Hart and Jody Fedele, both of whom had worked with me on a lot of other movies like Army of Darkness and Hard Target.  The whole thing was a giant jigsaw puzzle.  Very time consuming.  I worked on it whenever I had time between my real editing jobs over the past 15 years.

I finally finished the picture cut in the time I had between Spider-Man 2 and 3.  We then started the soundwork, which was just as difficult.  I hired the best soundpeople to do the work -- Paul Ottosson, who I had worked with on the Spidey movies and who had been nominated for an Academy Award; Robert Troy, the dialogue editor, and John Sanacore, the foley artist, both from The Hurt Locker; and Marti Humphrey and Brad Semanoff, who had done the sound mix on Drag Me to Hell.  There were numerous problems with the sound, but through the skill of the sound crew, who employed all the newest, most state-of-the-art digital technology, we created a great soundmix for the film last summer.  The final step was scanning all the original camera negative and doing full restoration at Fotokem Lab in Burbank.  Over 1000 hours were spent cleaning up the picture, removing dirt and camera scratches.  The color and density were graded by ace colorist Alastor Arnold over a period of 4 months.  Additional work was done at HTV/Illuminate to restore sharpness as much as possible to some out of focus shots.  Finally, about two weeks ago, we filmed out the negative and saw a complete 35mm print.

CA:  Gone with the Pope's premiere is the same week as the Academy Awards (Bob and his wife Chris Innis are nominated in the Best Editing category for their work on The Hurt Locker). Which one are you more excited about?

 

BM:  It's an honor to be nominated for an Academy Award after over 20 years working in the movie business, but I must admit I'm even more excited about the premiere of Gone with the Pope.  That movie was 35 years in the making!

 

CA:  What can fans expect from the DVD releases of Pope and Massacre Mafia Style?

 

BM:  The utmost in picture and sound quality as well as great packaging with all the exhaustive extras you have come to expect from Grindhouse Releasing.  However, we feel strongly about the theatrical experience, so we will be trying to book the movies in as many cities as possible.  Watch for them, coming soon to a theater near you!

 

CA:  Any other Grindhouse Releasing news worth discussing?

 

BM:  An American Hippie in Israel is coming up; we did a beautiful new HD transfer and have incredible, in-depth interviews with stars Asher Tzarfati and Schmuel Wolf that we shot in Tel Aviv earlier this year.

 

Thanks, Bob.  For more information on theatrical screenings of Gone with the Pope, check out its official website.  For more on Grindhouse Releasing, click here.

© 2010 -- Bruce Holecheck. All Rights Reserved.