Schlock-Wire: Full Specs For Severin's KIDNAPPED COED And AXE Double Feature Blu-Ray Special Edition
If you're into the kind of films that Stephen Thrower covered in his classic tome Nightmare U.S.A., this might be the best home video news of the year. In December, Severin Films will be releasing a two-disc blu-ray special edition collecting the films of regional filmmaker Frederick Friedel, Axe and Kidnapped Coed. These two deep-catalog cult faves will have new 2K transfers, an array of newly-produced extras and Bloody Brothers, a hybrid film that was cut together from the two features. A single-disc DVD version will also be available. Read on for all the North Carolina nightmare details, including a full rundown of the bonus features...
Full Specs For Severin Films’ Massive AXE / KIDNAPPED COED Blu-Ray
70s Drive-In Classics Unearthed and Restored for December 8th Release
In the mid-1970s, writer/producer/director/actor Frederick R. Friedel went to North Carolina to film a pair of enigmatic yet startling low-budget thrillers – AXE and KIDNAPPED CO-ED – only to see them both presumed lost to shady dealings, sudden tragedies, moral outrage and drive-in oblivion. In AXE, depraved killers on the run hold a young woman and her invalid grandfather hostage in an isolated farmhouse. In KIDNAPPED CO-ED, the teenage daughter of a wealthy family forms a perverse relationship with her abductor. Once thought doomed to drive-in obscurity, fans and grindhouse historians have begun to compare Freidel’s films to those of David Lynch and Terrence Malick, and now the complete story behind this strange journey can finally be told. Severin Films is proud to present both features restored from their original negatives — plus Friedel's recut of the two features as one twisted crime epic called BLOODY BROTHERS — and loaded with exclusive Bonus Features that reveal the startling saga behind the casts, crews and surprising rediscovery of these nearly forgotten grindhouse/arthouse classics – the ultimate look at one of the most fascinating sagas in indie exploitation history! 
Blu-Ray AXE feature, new 2k transfer from Original NegativeEnglish & German Audio TracksAudio Commentary with Writer/Director Frederick R. Friedel, Production Manager Phil Smoot, Makeup Artist Worth Keeter & PA Richard W. HelmsKIDNAPPED COED feature, new 2k transfer from Original NegativeEnglish & German Audio TracksAudio Commentary with Writer/Director Frederick R. Friedel, Production Manager Phil Smoot & Makeup Artist Worth KeeterBLOODY BROTHERS feature, conformed from new transfers of hybrid featureAudio Commentary with “Nightmare USA” Author Stephen ThrowerAt Last… Total Terror! - The Incredible True Story of AXE & KIDNAPPED COED (61 mins.)Moose Magic - Soundtrack Composers George Newman Shaw & John Willhelm Featurette (38 mins)"Nightmare USA Author" Stephen Thrower on AXE & KIDNAPPED COED (10 mins)Trailers, TV Spots & Radio Spots Special Limited 2 Disc Edition comes with Audio CD of the first ever release of AXE & KIDNAPPED COED Original Motion Picture Soundtracks. Plus Bonus Tracks By Soundtrack Composers George Newman Shaw & John Willhelm At the www.severin-films.com store the Blu-rays will come signed by Director Frederick R. Friedel and we will also be offering a bundle with Original One Sheet AXE Posters (not reproductions, folded) signed by Friedel. These posters are very limited, recently unearthed in the late Harry Novak’s store room (see attached pic). There will also be a single DVD version with specs as follows: DVD Axe featureAudio Commentary with Writer/Director Frederick R. Friedel, Production Manager Phil Smoot, Makeup Artist Worth Keeter & PA Richard W. HelmsKidnapped Coed featureAudio Commentary with Writer/Director Frederick R. Friedel, Production Manager Phil Smoot & Makeup Artist Worth KeeterAt Last… Total Terror! - The Making of AXE & KIDNAPPED COED (61 mins)Stephen Thrower on AXE & KIDNAPPED COED (10 mins)Trailers, TV Spots & Radio Spots
Axe Trailer from Severin Films on Vimeo.