The Film Detective Tabs Nov. 26 As The Street Date For The 4K Film Restoration Of Arch Hall Sr.’s Eegah On DVD And Blu-ray

The Film Detective announced this past week that Nov. 26 will be the street date for both Blu-ray and DVD editions of a new 4K film restoration of director Arch Hall Sr.’s 1962 cult-status classic, Eegah.

You can’t really talk about Eegah until you preface it with The Choppers, which Hall had produced the previous year.   It starred his son, Arch Hall, Jr., as Jack 'Cruiser' Bryan, one of five delinquents who are making a fast buck by stripping cars and selling the stolen parts to a junkyard.

The film proved to be a financial success so Arch Hall Sr., who had been an actor since the late ‘30s, wanted to come up with a project that could showcase his son in a starring role.    Rock music, something a little offbeat and the next thing you know they are shooting Eegah, with Richard Kiel as a stone age giant in the title role.

The film may have started out as one thing, but along the way the hideous “creature” (Eegah) transforms from a grunting monster into a very sympathetic character, whose tragic death at the end of the film (come on, no spoilers here, as genre fans we’ve all seen the film) is actually kind of sad.

Kiel, who suffered from acromegaly, could have continued down the path of “rent-a-monster” as a film career (with his enormous 7 foot, 2 inch frame he would always stand out), but after his iconic performance as “Jaws” in the 1977 007 thriller, The Spy Who Love Me, he became something of a cultural icon (reprising his role as Jaws two years later in Mookraker).

The story here is fairly simple — yes, complete with rock music (three numbers performed by Arch Hall Jr. and the Archers (“Nobody Lives on the Brownsville Road,” “Valerie” and “Vickie”) — teen queen Roxy Miller (played by Marilyn Manning — The Sadist, What’s Up Front!) smacks into Eegah while out driving her roadster one dark night and when she tells of her experience hitting a “giant” to her boyfriend, Tom (Arch Hall Jr.) and her father (played by Arch Hall Sr.), they find her story just a little hard to swallow.  

Nevertheless, Roxy and dad head out to investigate and in no time they are held prisoner by the hairy monster in his hidden cave.   Roxy, soothes the savage beast, gives him a shave and a hair cut (seriously) and the dapper-looking Eegah takes a liking to her.   But things go south from there as her and her father are rescued by Tom in his dune buggy and they escape, only to have Eegah tragically follow the love of his life to his ultimate doom.

As to bonus goodies, the complete 1993 Mystery Science Theatre 3000 broadcast featuring Eegah is included here, plus there are two newly prepared video sessions … the first featuring Joel Hodgson, creator of MST3K, who gives his insights on the Hall family and the film itself, and the second features Arch Hall Jr., who shares his experiences on working with his father on the film and offers behind-the-scenes details.

Go ahead, grab your copy of Eegah off the shelf and pack it away (hard to toss those old treasures in the trash can … so many fond memories) as Nov. 26 brings this new 4K restoration to market on both Blu-ray (only 1,500 copies being produced) and DVD!  It is a must!!