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Killing Spree DVD

Posted : 1 year ago on 16 December 2007 12:29 (A review of Killing Spree [1987])

This is a review for the Killing Spree DVD released by Camp Motion Pictures.
DVD Features:
BLINDED BY THE BLOOD - a 60 minute behind-the-scenes documentary. This was a fairly interesting documentary. There's some informative bits about the video market in the '80s (since I grew up as a horror fan during the '80s video boom, I like hearing about stuff from this era); there's also some local news segments from 1987 concerning casting calls for the movie; and there's some humorous behind-the-scenes antics.
KILLING SPREE INVESTOR REEL - 3 minutes - This was some footage from director Tim Ritter's previous film, 'Truth or Dare?-A Critical Madness', put together with narration and sent to possible investors in order to secure financing for 'Killing Spree'.
KILLING SPREE VIDEO TEST SHOOT - 20 minutes - Footage featuring some key scenes shot on video to see how the scenes would work before wasting valuable 16mm film stock.
CAMP MOTION PICTURES TRAILER REEL - A collection of trailers for current and future releases from Camp Motion Pictures: Cannibal Campout, Woodchipper Massacre, Ghoul School, Video Violence, Beauty Queen Butcher, Splatter Beach, Zombie Bloodbath, and Killing Spree.
GET THE CATALOG - A still shot add for ordering the Alternative Cinema catalog.
COMMENTARY TRACK #1 - by writer/producer/director Tim Ritter.
COMMENTARY TRACK #2 - by Asbestos Felt, Joel Wynkoop, and R.M. Hoopes.
Killing Spree was also released on DVD in the US in 2000 (on the Tapeworm label) and again in 2003 by Sub Rosa Studios. I haven't seen these versions, so I can't compare them, but the image on this DVD looks like it was "cleaned up". It was shot on 16mm film, so this is the best it's probably going to look. There's some grain here and there, but that's natural with 16mm stock (and the fact that it's 20 years old now). Colors are not as brilliant as 35mm film would be, and this is most apparent in the scenes with prominent colored gel lighting, but this is also the nature of 16mm film and not a fault of the DVD mastering. The audio is mono and it sounds clean and clear with no distortion. Overall, a good looking disc with generous extras and it's fairly low-priced.

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Atmospheric Italian classic

Posted : 1 year, 1 month ago on 3 December 2007 10:45 (A review of Mill Of The Stone Women)

A classic example of gothic Italian horror from the '60s. This was originally released in 1960, which would prove to be a seminal year for Italian horror. Mario Bava's directorial debut, Black Sunday, was also released this year. Mill Of The Stone Women was directed by Giorgio Ferroni, who would go on to direct one other horror film in 1972, Night Of The Devils. He was more well known for his "peplum" (Italian heroic fantasy movies) and westerns. The story concerns a young researcher named Hans who travels to a remote village (in 1890's era Holland) in search of a strange tourist attraction - The Carousel of Stone Women. The "carousel" is a large mechanical device featuring life-sized moving statues of famous and notorious female historical figures; and the whole attraction is housed within a windmill, owned and operated by an eccentric art professor named Gregorius Wahl. Wahl welcomes the young researcher, giving him a tour of the mill and allowing him access to diagrams of the machine, which his father had built. Wahl gives Hans five days to study the machine, after which time he must leave the mill. It turns out Wahl has a daughter, Elfy, who ends up becoming attached to Hans. Hans realizes Elfy may be mentally disturbed or perhaps something else altogether. I won't go into anymore of the plot for those who haven't seen it, but it's a movie worth seeking out, especially for those who like the atmospheric gothic films of Mario Bava, Riccardo Freda, and Antonio Margheriti. It was shot in Technicolor, and it makes good use of the process with some great visual set pieces. I haven't seen Ferroni's other horror film that I mentioned above, Night of the Devils, but apparently it's based on Russian writer Aleksei Tolstoy's novelette Sem'ya Vurdalaka, which also provided the basis for "The Wurdalak" segment of Mario Bava's Black Sabbath.

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