The Film Detective's 4K Film Restoration Of Director Frank Howard's The Other Side Of Madness Will Be Available On Blu-ray And DVD On Nov. 10

The Film Detective announced this past week that a new 4K transfer from the original 35mm camera negation of director Frank Howard’s 1971 shocker, The Other Side of Madness, will be available on Nov. 10 as a limited-edition Blu-ray release … as well as a stand-alone DVD selection.

Quentin Tarantino delivered Once Upon a Time in … Hollywood and the infamous “Helter Skelter” murders got a new twist.   And, of course, director Tom Gries gave us the 1976 mini-series, Helter Skelter, starring Steve Railsback as Manson (Gries was nominated for an Emmy).   Both are excellent touchstones on Manson, his cult followers and their heinous crimes.

But, The Other Side of Madness is a film that goes far beyond the “recaps” and gets right into the middle of it.   Indeed, if producer Wade Williams didn’t take the steps that he did in 1969 and 1970 you would be left to wonder if this film even existed … if you didn’t know the story, it might seem as something that was made up years later as an exploitation flick.  

That’s not the case, not only was The Other Side of Madness filmed during the course of the trail, and at the Spahn Ranch (the only Manson-themed film to actually be shot on the actual location … by the time Helter Skelter arrived as a two-part mini-series event,  much of Spahn Ranch had burned in a wild fire), but Williams had direct contact with Charles Manson during the production.

Even with the film completed, it wasn’t done.   Legal battles, the MPAA slapping an “X” rating on the film (punishment?) and the actual use of the names of those involved in the killings had to be altered — all the footage is still there, but the defendants; the participants in the murders are nameless.   Indeed, only the repeated use of “Charlie” remains of the actual characters.   We know from history that those on trail are Manson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten.

But that is plenty … Williams even secured rights to some of Manson’s music and that remains in the film.   In fact, the events depicted in The Other Side of Madness are about as close to the real thing as you are going to see … and, remember, this is a contemporary production, filmed immediately after the events and during the trail.   The Tate murders are graphic, there are scenes of the trial (including all of that nonsense chanting about “Charlie”) … and the film ends with Manson and his followers arriving at the LaBianca home.

This is a one-of-a-kind film.   Of that there is no debate.  

As to bonus goodies, there are two presentations of the film, The Other Side of Madness and the 1976 re-release version, The Helter Skelter Murders.  Additionally, there are the documentary narrated by producer Wade Williams titled The Other Side of Manson: An Interview with Producer Wade Williams, the featurette “Mechanical Man: Wade Williams Meets Manson,” the original theatrical trailers and a bonus CD featuring Charles Manson’s "Mechanical Man" and "Garbage Dump” reproduced exactly as they were released from the original 7” vinyl soundtrack.

 

 

 

 

 

MVD Entertainment Group Bestows "Rewind" Status On Director Tamra Davis' Guncrazy For Release As DVD And Blu-ray Editions On Dec. 15

MVD Entertainment Group announced this past week that the latest entry in the company’s popular “MVD Rewind” label will be both DVD and Blu-ray editions of director Tamra Davis’ 1992/1993 film, Guncrazy, starring Drew Barrymore and James LeGros.    The street date will be Dec. 15.

The “accidental” cult classic.   That’s the only way to look at.   Guncrazy was shot on a limited budget over a three-week period in Los Angeles in November of 1991, went into post production and was ready for a look-see screening at the Cannes Film Festival in May of 1992.  

Hmmm?   Cannes Film Festival, isn’t that for arthouse and prestigious film rollouts?   Sure, but it is also a place to shop films, looking for both foreign and domestic distribution … maybe even an out-right sale of the film.

The snooty buyers that year at Cannes said no.   No sale, not interested. 

Here’s where Guncrazy gets lost and then found.   A small VHS company, long since gone, offered cash for VHS rights and Showtime said they put up some money for a cable premiere … but the producers, while saying yes to these deals, continued to screen the film in festival settings (Toronto International Film Festival, San Sebastián Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, etc.).   People started to take notice.

October of 1992 comes and the film is broadcast on Showtime.   That makes it a 1992 direct to video film (for statistical purposes).   Wait, wait, wait.   This Drew Barrymore kid, who was making the move from child actress (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Firestarter, Cat's Eye) to more adult roles, really registered as Anita Minteer, high school slut, rape victim, murderer and all-around corruptor of poor Howard (James LeGros — as Mark in the Ally McBeal television series, plus such films as Drugstore Cowboy, Certain Woman, The Last Winter, etc.).

Even though it has a distribution date for the VHS release in February of 1993, they suddenly decide to take the film out theatrically with the few 35mm prints that were struck (Cleveland, Dallas … few other places) and it’s a hit, but too late for a big rollout.

Oh, it gets better.   Are you sitting down?   Drew Barrymore, because this was a cable movie, is nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television!!

So, you can easily see why MVD Entertainment Group has made this Drew Barrymore gem a “MVD Rewind” entry.   Teenage tramp … enjoy!!

As to bonus goodies, these are limited to the Blu-ray SKU (DVD is movie-only) … they include commentary featuring Drew Barrymore and director Tamra Davis (Billy Madison, Crossroads), five behind-the-scenes clips, a newly-prepared, feature-length making-of documentary and a featurette titled “Portrait of a Director: Tamra Davis.”

 

 

 

Paramount Home Media Targets Dec. 01 For The Blu-ray Release Of Director Robert Altman's Popeye: 40th Anniversary Edition

Paramount Home Media is prepping a 40^th Anniversary edition of auteur director Robert Altman’s Popeye, starring Robin Williams and Shelly Duvall, for the Blu-ray debut (with Digital Copy) on Dec. 1.

One of the legends of Hollywood, the late Robert Evans, who, during his time as the head of Paramount produced such films as Rosemary’s Baby, True Grit, Love Story, Godfather, Godfather: Part II, Chinatown and more, noticed one day — as legend has it — that the theme song spawned by the Popeye cartoons, earned a lot money each year in royalties.    Hmmmm.   Why not make a live-action movie and take advantage of all that interest??

So, he approached King Features, which owned the Popeye character, and cut a deal for the movie rights.    During the next two years just about every director that had worked at Paramount, including Hal Ashby (Harold and Maude) and Mike Nichols (Catch-22) were considered for the film, but it ultimately went to Robert Altman, whose Nashville in 1975 (also at Paramount) had been nominated for Best Picture and Altman for Best Director.

Parallel to this search for the director, were the trade reports that various actors were being considered for the parts of Popeye and Olive Oyl.   Lilly Tomlin (from Altman’s Nashville) was a strong contender and Dustin Hoffman was recruited for the lead, but he had a dispute with Robert Evans over the script and was let go. 

Hot on ABC television at the time was the Emmy-nominated comedy show, Mork & Mindy (also a Paramount production), which starred a stand-up comedian by the name of Robin Williams.   Inspired casting … Robin Williams as Popeye!!

Oops, Lilly Tomlin walks … there goes Olive Oyl.   Gilda Radnor was recruited, but conflicts with her Saturday Night Live schedule caused her to drop … there goes another Olive Oyl!!   The problem was solved when Shelly Duvall (also of Altman’s Nashville) got the gig.  

You’ve got the cast, the director and now shooting the film.   It was going to be too expensive to film it in the United States, so Altman found the Island of Malta to be the perfect spot.   An elaborate set — the town of “Sweethaven” — was built, which was saved and is now a popular tourist attraction on Malta.

The rest, as they say, is history!!

As to bonus goodies, there are four featurettes included — “Return to Sweethaven: A Look Back with Robin and the Altmans,” “The Popeye Company Players,” “Popeye’s Premiere” and “The Sailor Man Medleys.”

Also added to the release calendar this week from Paramount Home Media is the DVD debut of writer/director Brian Duffield’s film adaptation of Aaron Starmer’s whimsical coming-of-age novel, Spontaneous, which will be available on Nov. 10.

Strange, high school has never been quite like the one that Mara Carlyle (Katherine Langford — Knives Out) attends.   Right in the middle of class, BOMB, a fellow student explodes!!  

How does one date, explore a possible relationship with a fellow student, in this case, Dylan (Charlie Plummer — Boardwalk Empire, All the Money in the World), if he could explode at any moment?   Students are popping here and there … oops, there goes another. 

Students are rounded up, hauled off to be examined.   The school is shutdown, classes canceled.   No senior prom.   But it’s high school and life has to go on.

Spontaneous is a wild comedy ride, filled with social commentary and certainly it is like no other high school “coming-of-age” film ever made.  Period!!   Nov. 10, be sure to check it out when it arrives on DVD from Paramount Home Media.

 

 

 

Documentary Filmmaker Jerri Sher's Quiet Explosions: Healing The Brain On DVD From Cinema Libre On Nov. 10

Cinema Libre announced this past week that Nov. 10 will be the DVD debut date for documentary filmmaker Jerri Sher’s Quiet Explosions: Healing the Brain.

The issue of traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the subject of Sher’s film, which begins with the obvious point of impact, combat vets, and key that is the experiences of former Special Forces Green Beret and explosives expert Andrew Marr, who returned home from his last deployment in Afghanistan suffering from the effects of countless explosions and head trauma.  

The pattern set in, drugs — at one point 13 different drugs — and drinking just to cope; just to get through the day.   Marr was in a hopeless situation, a place where a lot of combat vets end up, keep going with this pattern … or kill themselves.    And then he got help.

Sher explores the over two million head-traumas that occur annually, not just combat veterans, but in sports — Super Bowl MVD Mark Rypien relates his experiences — and, of course, traumatic accidents; first responders … it’s a long list.   What can be done?   Well, as it turns, much is being done to treat TBI that doesn’t involve pain killers.

Enter the likes of Dr. Bob Sammons, the chief medical officer for TMS Solutions, and Dr. Mark Gordon, who are interviewed in Sher’s film, and who have explored cutting solutions to the problem.    Andrew Marr, for example, went from the verge of taking his own life, a life dependent on drugs and alcohol, to being “normal” and functional once again … he got his life back thanks to the research of these researchers.

Quiet Explosions: Healing the Brain from Cinema Libre on Nov. 10 is a DVD release that offers hope and direction; insights in the issue of TBI …

Bonus features include extended interview sessions with Dr. Gordon and Andrew Marr and separate video sessions with filmmaker Jerri Sher and Jerri Sher with Dr. H. William Song. 

 

 

 

 

Mill Creek Entertainment Picks Nov. 03 For The DVD Debut Of Director Chris Ethridge's Haven's End

Mill Creek Entertainment will be bringing director Chris Ethridge’s sci-fi/horror thriller, Haven’s End, to the DVD marketplace on Nov. 3.   And that can’t come soon enough.

If you like chillers, things that go bump in the night and haunted house thrillers (set in the spooky woods), then you are absolutely going to love Chris Etheridge’s Haven’s End.   He reels you in, introduces the character, the set-up, the retreat to safety and then, at about the mid-point, when you are totally invested in what “might” be going on, he brings the horror hammer down!!

OK, let’s start with the set-up.   Out of the blue, cities start exploding, not like nuclear explosives, but more like random “Mother of All Bombs” (MOABs) going off.   The action begins in Atlanta, wham, downtown in a fireball, and another, and another … the same thing is happening all over the country.   What’s going on … that’s a mystery.

Next, the characters.   We have Alison (played by talented voice actress Catherine Taber, whose last on-screen film was also by Chris Ethridge back in 2014, Attack of the Morningside Monster), she’s a doctor, who is engaged to a combat vet by the name of Derek (Anthony Nguyen) and she also has her good friend Jessi (Megan Hayes).  

They decide to flee Atlanta before a MOAB falls on them … they are hurried along by things spiraling rapidly out of control.   That leads them to her friend Harry’s place (Robert Pralgo — Avengers: Endgame, Avengers: Infinity War, American Made, Unravelled), who is a little edgy.   Pretty soon looters arrive, Jessi is shot and it’s time to go.

As it turns out, Alison has “family” property somewhere in rural Georgia (filming took place in Appling, about 15 miles from Augusta) and so they head there and before you can say, “hello,” Harry is shot by Hannah (Hannah Fierman — Evil Little Things, The Secret Garden, American Hell), the sketchy girlfriend of Alison’s next-to-worthless brother, Kevin (Alex Zuko), who has already set up shop.

Harry will succumb to his wounds, tension will grow … and then the real horror begins.   There are creepy things in the wood.  Tension grows.  The things get closer.   And then … not so fast.   Nov. 3, Haven’s End (with Digital Copy) on DVD from Mill Creek Entertainment to find out.

 

 

 

The Adventures Of Modern Art On DVD From Icarus Films On Nov. 10

Now that’s cool.   You get a lot of movie release announcements each week for the home entertainment package media marketplace — all sorts, genre, classic foreign language — so it is always a treat when there is something unique that comes along.  

Such is the case this week with the latest announcement from Icarus Films.   The perfect holiday gift for art lovers, The Adventures of Modern Art, will be available on Nov. 10 as double-disc DVD presentation.  

Produced by France’s Silex Films and backed by a $3.3 million production budget, three documentary filmmakers joined forces for this six-part series using Dan Franck’s book anthology, “Bohemes: Les Aventures de l’Art,”as the backbone for the presentation … a look at the lives and the work of the artists living in Paris during the first half of the 20^th Century.

Filmmakers Amélie Harrault (Kiki of Montparnasse), Pauline Gaillard and Valérie Loiseleux (the latter two are both César Awards-winning film editors) blend animation and archival footage to present the world, works and influences of the Picasso, Max Jacob, Stein, Apollinaire, Hemingway, Matisse, and Cocteau.  

We even get a glimpse of the art world from a dealer’s prospective — the commercial aspects.   And, without saying, the various influences from Fauvism, Cubism, Dadaism to Surrealism that defined the Parisian world of Modern Art.

The Adventures of Modern Art is presented in a combination of French, German and English, with English subtitles … narration is by Amira Casar (Call Me by Your Name, The Last Summer of the Rich, Saint Laurent, etc.).

 

 

 

 

Cleopatra Entertainment Targets Nov. 06 For The Release Of Blu-ray And DVD Editions Of Mean Man: The Story Of Chris Holmes

Cleopatra Entertainment, with sales and distribution support from MVD Entertainment Group, has selected Friday, Nov. 6, as the street date for both DVD and Blu-ray editions of the documentary filmmaking team of Antoine De Montremy and Laurent Hart’s Mean Man: The Story of Chris Holmes.

Heavy metal rocker Chris Holmes, who was lead and rhythm guitarist for W.A.S.P. during their glory years in the 1980s, gets a career retrospective from French filmmaker Antoine De Montremy when he asked Holmes if he’d be interested while working on music videos in Cannes … Holmes said, sure, why not and here we are.

Beginning with the footage filmed in France of Holmes current concerts and then combining archival footage and wide-ranging interviews that include former band members, music pros and family members, Montremy and Hart have assembled a thorough look at Holmes’ career.   It’s not always pretty.

Bonus features include behind-the-scenes footage, a slide show … and more (still in the works)!!

For fans, especially heavy metal and W.A.S.P. fans, be sure to tune in on Nov. 6 for Cleopatra’s Mean Man: The Story of Chris Holmes.