THE
BLOODY DEAD was a movie I became
involved with around 1987 as a direct result of
doing a project for Tim Ferrante of FANGORIA
magazine. I met Sam Sherman, President of
Independent-International Pictures, through
Murry Dietchwald, and Sam knew Tim Ferrante, who
was a contributing writer for FANGORIA and who
worked at ABC TV in NYC. Tim wanted to do a
documentary on the history of drive-in movies
called DRIVE-IN MADNESS. Tim had groups all over
the counrty shooting interviews for him with
famous genre people like Forry Ackerman, George
Romero, Tom Savini, Linnea Quigley, John Russo
and others for this documentary. Sam suggested
me to Tim as someone who could shoot
Sam's own interview at his New Brunswick,
NJ office. We did the shoot and my film
crew worked like real pros; they began
on time and ended exactly on time to the minute.
Sam was impressed. A few weeks later I got a
call from Sam about shooting footage for THE
BLOODY DEAD.
Sam
sent his new 15 minute script to me, with frame
captures from the movie, so we could find ( or
make) matching clothes and rebuild the asylum
sets in a studio in East Orange that effects
artist Gene Reynolds, another friend of mine,
knew of. Gene actually designed and built the
matching asylum sets, with Tony Annunziata and
myself helping him.
I
went with Sam to the city to meet and cut a deal
with special effects artist Ed French. Ed's home
and artist's loft were filled with movie and TV
related castings and props. The huge wooden
indian from CREEPSHOW 2 was impressive, so were
various monsters from CHUD, the TALES FROM THE
DARKSIDE George Romero TV show, lifecasts of all
the famous stars he created makeup appliances
for. As Sam talked money and finalized the deal,
I explored the treasures.
The
shoot was going to be one day. In the month
prior we had built the sets, managed to find
period nurses' uniforms and asylum security
guard clothes to match the German footage.
Sam
had hired Ed for effects, (who acted in the
movie too), and actress Denise Coward. I
supplied the security guard actors played by
Ruben Santiago and Al Vega, and one of the
killer cannibals played by Bob Gutowsky. I also
supplied all the film equipment - camera,
lights, sound, etc, and a crew to operate them.
We
all got paid for the day's work but nobody,
including Sam, Ed French and Denise Coward, got
screen credit, which all went to the German
filmmakers. It wasn't until the IMAGE
ENTERTAINMENT DVD release that I finally got
credit for the work I had done on the movie via
Sam Sherman's commentary track and DVD text:
"Sam
needed to punch up the film with some gore to
make the picture more appealing to modern-day
audiences. That meant new scenes would have to
be filmed. With a lucrative video distribution
deal already on the table, Sam went to work and
brought in associate Warren Disbrow to re-create
the German asylum sets at his facilities in New
Jersey. Hannibal Lector's SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
institution cell recreation for 2002's THE RED
DRAGON has been hailed for it's precision, but
Sherman and Disbrow's attempt at duplicating
Dr.Mangrove's asylum, where most of the newly
shot footage was intended to expand upon, is no
less impressive. It is actually difficult to
tell the difference between the two sets" -
said Jim Arena, in his liner notes on the IMAGE
ENTERTAINMENT DVD.
Sam
actually saw the sets for the very first time
when he came to the studio the day of the shoot.
My
father took it upon himself to re-create the
armoured steal clawed glove the killer wore.
Remaking the killer's claw wasn't in the
contract, so Sam wasn't expecting to have
the claw to shoot with and was happy to have it.
My father made it out of cardboard with plastic
retractible knives as fingers. It was Freddy
Kruger's bladed glove years before the first
NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET was made. We still have
that prop claw and recently Sam and my father
posed for pictures with it.
Ed
French did the gore effects. My father had his
neck sliced open by Ed, another volunteer had
his ribcage ripped open, etc. My father's neck
slice went smoothly but the other guy had a
funny accident. Blood was suppose to splurt from
the slash made by the clawed glove but instead
there was no blood when we started the camera. The
blood filled his underwear instead, staining his
skin red.
After
Sam got all the scenes he wanted based on his
script, he told me to feel free to shoot any
other shots I could think of myself. I'm happy
to say most of what I came up with got used in
the final movie.
I
really enjoyed working with Sam and there was
talk over the years about doing other movies
together but I guess it just wasn't meant to be.
BLOODY
DEAD was released on VHS by a company called
VERY STRANGE VIDEO/ EPI in CA. Very recently it
got re-released in a special collector's edition
DVD by IMAGE ENTERTAINMENT which contains
the complete original German version called
CREATURE WITH THE BLUE HAND and the Americanized
version Sam and I made, THE BLOODY DEAD. You can
buy the DVD at places like BORDERS and BEST BUY,
and of course the internet DVD shops too.
As
a side note in movie history, the original story
for THE BLOODY DEAD was written by KING KONG
author Edgar Wallace, starred international
movie star Klaus Kinski and was one of Roger
Corman's first feature releases for his new
company NEW WORLD PICTURES. It's nice that
I got the chance to contribute to this
particular movie's history too.
