Schlock-Wire: Severin Teams Up With Intervision To Revive Infamous SOV Horror Flick SLEDGEHAMMER
The cult of shot-on-video horror will take its next step into the cult DVD world with a reissue of Sledgehammer. This infamous brain-melter was the work of David Prior, who would become a prolific director of direct-to-video fare during the 1980's, and is considered to be the first shot-on-video horror film made for the horror market (video horror pioneer Boarding House was actually transferred to film for theatrical screenings). It's also worth nothing that this release teams Intervision Picture Corp. with Severin Film for reasons explained below. Read on for all the accidentally surreal horror schlock details...
SEVERIN FILMS TO HANDLE PRODUCTION/MARKETING
FOR DVD LABEL INTERVISION
Company promises ‘outsider cinema from a world all its own’;
Premiere DVD release to be rare ’80s shocker SLEDGEHAMMER
LOS ANGELES, CA, April x, 201 – Severin Films today announced an agreement with the estate of Larry Gold, Sr. to handle all future production and marketing for Intervision Picture Corporation. The arrangement commences with the 5/10 release of 1983’s SLEDGEHAMMER, notorious as the first shot-on-tape ‘slasher’ thriller for the then-exploding home video market. Gold, a pioneer of ‘70s film distribution and ‘80s genre VHS, died in March following a massive coronary at his home in Thailand. Severin’s Evan Husney will supervise all production and marketing for the label. Intervision product will continue to be distributed in the United States by CAV Distributing Corporation.Intervision was reactivated in January 2011 with the DVD releases of recent Goya Award Winner Jess Franco’s 1973 rarity SINISTER EYES OF DR. ORLOFF and his acclaimed 2010 ‘audio-visual experience’ PAULA-PAULA. The 5/10 release of SLEDGEHAMMER marks the return of director David A. Prior’s bizarre video shocker, which was celebrated as part of Los Angeles’ Cinefamily ‘Homemade Horror’ series and will be screened on street-date at Austin’s Alamo Drafthouse. Future Intervision releases include the 1989 ‘Canuxploitaion’ oddity THINGS and 1993’s disturbing THE SECRET LIFE: JEFFREY DAHMER.“Either by way of budget constraints or warped vision,” says Intervision marketing director Evan Husney, “each release will represent a piece of a cinematic underbelly from a universe all its own. Buried in obscurity and ripe for reintroduction, the films in Intervision's new cult canon assure top-shelf bizarro derangement, gonzo action, transcendental fever dreams and beyond.”“From the days of plastic clamshell VHS through the rise of Blu-ray, Intervision has been dedicated to everything fascinating and extraordinary about obscure genre works,” says Carl Daft, co-founder and CEO of Severin Films. “We are proud to carry on this commitment to rare and unique genre films under the Intervision banner, as well as its new website launching soon at www.IntervisionPictureCorp.com.”Severin Films, founded in 2006 with offices in Los Angeles and London, has been called “well on its way to becoming the greatest indie label of all time” by BlogCritics.org. Their DVD and Blu-ray releases include Alejandro Jodorowsky’s SANTA SANGRE, Jess Franco’s MACUMBA SEXUAL and BLOODY MOON, Walerian Borowczyk’s IMMORAL WOMEN, the unrated Director’s Cut of Just Jaeckin’s GWENDOLINE, Richard Stanley’s restored HARDWARE, Enzo Castellari’s original INGLORIOUS BASTARDS, Oscar®-nominee Patrice Leconte’s THE HAIRDRESSER’S HUSBAND, Don Sharp’s PSYCHOMANIA and Roman Polanski’s WHAT? Severin’s upcoming HD restorations include Ted Post’s THE BABY, Eugenio Martín’s HORROR EXPRESS and Peter Duffell’s THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD. The company’s theatrical releases include BIRDEMIC, DEVOLVED, and the forthcoming horror anthology THE THEATRE BIZARRE.SLEDGEHAMMER Release Date: 5/10/11List Price: $19.95Distributed by: CAV Distributing Corp.COLOR / 85 mins / 1983Intervision is proud to present the return of the first shot-on-tape slasher movie for the home video market as well as one of the rarest genre films of all! The plot is familiar: A group of friends comes to party at a backwoods house where a legacy of brutality awaits. But within this minimalist '80s mélange of food fights, feathered hair and abusive slow-motion lurks a relentless synth score, bizarre sexual subtexts and a disturbing shape-shifting behemoth killer. The result is 85 minutes of fever-dream depravity, now loaded with brand-new Bonus Features that put it all in skull-shattering perspective. Former Playgirl centerfold Ted Prior (RAW NERVE, DEADLY PREY) stars in this nightmare-logic shocker from writer/ director David A. Prior (KILLER WORKOUT) where the lines between twisted horror and historic gore are pounded to a pulp...by SLEDGEHAMMER.Extras:
- Audio Commentary With Director David A. Prior
- Audio Commentary With Bleeding Skull Creators Joseph A. Ziemba And Dan Budnik
- Hammertime: Featurette With Destroy All Movies!!! Author Zack Carlson
- SledgehammerLand: Featurette With Cinefamily Programmers Hadrian Belove And Tom Fitzgerald
- Interview With Director David A. Prior.
SLEDGEHAMMER (1983) Excerpt - "Behemoth Rising" from Severin Films on Vimeo.