(NEW) Synapse Titles: Embodiment Of Evil, Dorm That Dripped Blood, Frat House Massacre (1 Viewer)

[SWFF]

FANGORIA: Two of the most-awaited titles on the upcoming slate of genre-disc company Synapse Films now have dates and special-features info to announce, and another fright flick has been added to the lineup. Click past the jump for the details on EMBODIMENT OF EVIL (pictured), THE DORM THAT DRIPPED BLOOD and FRAT HOUSE MASSACRE, plus the EMBODIMENT cover art.






EMBODIMENT OF EVIL, the latest film from José Mojica Marins featuring his notorious Coffin Joe character, will arrive February 8 in a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack. “Our transfer is far superior to the master used for the UK disc,” Synapse’s Don May Jr. tells Fango; the Blu-ray will feature a high-definition anamorphic 1.85:1 transfer derived directly from a 2K scan of the film negative, not the HDCAM that was the source for previous versions, with uncompressed DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio. The DVD will contain a standard-definition version, and special-features-wise, “We’ve got the North American premiere footage from the Fantasia film festival, a making-of featurette and the original theatrical trailer,” May says. Retail price is $29.95.


A month later, Synapse has the 1982 slasher opus THE DORM THAT DRIPPED BLOOD, which we first reported about [COLOR= #cc0000]here[/COLOR], on tap. “That one’s currently scheduled for March 8; we’re in the middle of authoring it right now,” says May, who also gave us the scoop on the contents. “That will also be a Blu-ray/DVD combo for $29.95. It’s the uncut director’s cut in anamorphic widescreen, with footage that no one has ever seen before; we put back as much as we possibly could, including additional sequences of both gore and dialogue, and restored the film to most complete version possible. It’ll have an audio commentary by the two directors, Jeffrey Obrow and Stephen Carpenter; featurettes that Michael Felsher of Red Shirt Pictures did for us about composer Christopher Young and makeup FX artist Matthew Mungle, for whom DORM was their first feature; and the original theatrical trailer.”


The new pickup FRAT HOUSE MASSACRE, a slaughter flick of more recent vintage, is currently undated, but Synapse already has a slew of extras planned for that eventual disc as well. Directed by Alex Pucci and boasting a score by Italian maestro Claudio Simonetti, the movie is set in 1979 and delves into the twisted and murderous underbelly of campus life. “We’ll be releasing the 117-minute director’s cut of that movie,” May reveals, “and we’ve got commentaries by the cast and filmmakers, deleted scenes, a behind-the-scenes documentary and more.” We’ll bring you further details and art as we get it, and you can find out more about Synapse’s product at its [COLOR= #cc0000]official website[/COLOR], which has been completely redesigned and newly relaunched with a blog, Facebook and Twitter feeds, etc.

 

[cineMANIAC]

Just "Dorm" for me. Not too crazy about the newer stuff, never saw any of the Coffin Joe flicks. Personally, it's always a cause for celebration any time they reconstruct one of these old slasher movies to their longest possible lengths. Those were the bad old days when distributors saw fit to cut up movies any way they pleased but thankfully some of this stuff is being unearthed and cleaned up.

 

[SWFF]

I'm not much of a slasher fan, but I have always liked that title, THE DORM THAT DRIPPED BLOOD, it reminds me of THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD. Is it any good? I'm currently on the fence about that one. The others don't interest me either.

 

[MattFini]

The Dorm that Dripped Blood isn't a great slasher flick by any means, but I'm anxiously waiting for this one too.

 

[SWFF]

Over at AV Maniacs Don May, Jr., has revealed cover art for THE DORM THAT DRIPPED BLOOD. Here's what he had to say in his post: "Here are the covers for our BLU/DVD COMBO of THE DORM THAT DRIPPED BLOOD. The white art will be on one side, and the alternate "PRANKS" art will be on the other. Fans can decide which one they want to display."

 

[Jeff Robertson]

Any non-horror releases coming to Blu from Synapse? A Better Place?


Vincent?!?

 

[SWFF]

Here's some interesting behind-the-scenes info Don May posted over at AV Maniacs about DORM's restoration. I may be rather ambivalent about this movie and its release, (honestly, I've never seen it), but I applaud Don and his company for rescuing it and restoring it:


The film was shot on 16mm, but composed to be blown up to 35mm at some point. It actually works better at 1.66:1, so that's the aspect ratio we all chose to transfer in. Our transfer actually has more info, even at 1.66:1, on the side of the image than on the old video transfers. Oh, and the extra gore, extra scenes, etc.

Some folks have asked us exactly what this version is, so I'll tell ya.

Basically, what this is, is the first FIRST version of the film that Obrow and Carpenter made, under the original DEATH DORM title. It's the first 16mm-35mm blow up they did (maybe even a test version because the audio wasn't final on the print and sounded so bad you couldn't hear anything).

We pulled the print out of curiosity because it had an alternate title on the boxes and all of us were surprised when we found it contained the extra material. At one point, when talking with Jeffrey Obrow when we first started the project, he even told me there was nothing extra in the film... so to find the uncut version of the film was a bit of a shock to us all.

We really wanted to use this for the transfer, obviously, but we couldn't find the original audio stems to match the uncut print. They weren't anywhere and probably got lost or cut down to make the final version we all are familiar with, with the extra bits thrown out long ago.

As I said before, the audio on the uncut print was non-existent... it was SO bad that dialogue was muted, noisy and so low you could barely make out what anyone was saying, if at all. It sounded like the audio was recorded at low volume through a staticy short wave radio speaker.

Luckily, we did find the original mag tracks that matched the final R rated DORM version, and they sounded pretty good.... but this posed an interesting problem... how do we make the audio of the shorter version match our version that was longer? Well, we pulled out all the stops and created new sound effects, foley and remixed the longer sequences. In one scene of the lead actress putting down a notebook, I even had to go into a sound booth and make the same sound to put it in to the movie. Footsteps, outside ambiance, etc... we had to create new sounds and then "make" them fit into the mix so they didn't sound like 2010 sound effects put into an 80s movie. It was a bitch, but we pulled it off (kudos to Spencer Hall at HD STUDIOS who worked with me on this). It was LOADS of fun putting in the additional noises for the extra skull drilling and spiked bat hits.

I was a bit worried as we were working because, what would we do if there were extra scenes of DIALOGUE? Sure, replacing music and creating footstep noises and doors opening, etc. are ONE thing... but what if someone talks? How would we ever get the dialogue? Well, luckily, there is only ONE brief (only a few seconds) transitional scene of the cast members talking at a table in the distance that we didn't have audio for. It appears right after the killer smashes up the dinner table and cuts to the cop coming in to talk to them. You couldn't even tell what they were saying in the uncut print and the audio was mixed so badly it sounded like static (which may be why it was originally cut out in the first place). I didn't want to cut the scene out (the scene is obviously missing in the released version), so we left it in and used some music to create a faded transition to the cop who walks in to question the kids.

This was quite an undertaking for us at Synapse. It was exciting, frustrating and challenging and, in the end, I'm thrilled we were able to put out a version of THE DORM THAT DRIPPED BLOOD that no one, not even the filmmakers themselves, has seen in 30 years. This is a totally different version of the film... it has additional/alternate scenes (the spiked bat sequence no longer has the club coming down towards the camera... it has the guy getting hit in the face 8+ more times!), a couple longer (and gorier) kills, etc.

 

[Michael Elliott]

That write up is better than ANYTHING in the actual film.


I am interested in the Coffin Joe film. Will probably rent FRAT HOUSE at some point.


Synapse needs to bring out some more Franco or perhaps a deluxe version of EXORCISM.

 

[SWFF]

THE KINDRED has been in their cross hairs for some time, but it's currently entangled in some serious red tape in the court system, but, I think, if that ever gets resolved Don wants to acquire it and put it out. I hope that happens within my lifetime. I recall seeing it in a theater when it first came out, and Synapse would do that puppy up right.

 

[Vincent_P]

Don already even did the HD transfer for THE KINDRED and told me it looks great. Hopefully the rights issues get ironed out and it can see the light of day.


Vincent

 

[SWFF]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vincent_P Don already even did the HD transfer for THE KINDRED and told me it looks great.

Oh, shit, Vincent! I didn't know this! Sweet holy hell! He's already made an HD transfer!? This makes me feel all warm inside, like when I down a glass of egg nog. Mother's milk, I call it. Damn court system. That movie's gonna look sweet! I love it when someone hits me with some good movie news I knew nothing about.

 

[SWFF]

HorrorBid (never heard of them until I found news of this on AV Maniacs) did a phone interview with Don May, Jr. Haven't had a chance to listen to it yet. Will today, but I thought this was definitely worth mentioning, especially since HorrorBid mentions he found a ton of unused footage from HALLOWEEN! What?!


[COLOR= #b22222][SIZE= 20px]CLICK HERE[/COLOR][/SIZE]

 

[TravisR]

I'm reviving a thread here but Synapse is releasing Intruder on Blu-ray on December 13. Copying and pasting from Fangoria http://fangoria.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5760:complete-final-specsart-synapses-intruder-blu-ray&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=167

Coming December 13, the two-disc set from Synapse Films presents Spiegel’s saga of the murderous night that befalls the night crew of the Walnut Lake Supermarket completely uncut in anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen, with DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono sound. As we first revealed here, it comes with a grocery bag full of extras, and Synapse gave Fango the final lineup: • Audio commentary by Spiegel and producer Lawrence Bender • “Slashed Prices: The Making of INTRUDER” featurette, including interviews with Spiegel, Bender, the KNB EFX team, actors Bruce Campbell, Ted Raimi, Elizabeth Cox, Danny Hicks and others • Never-before-seen extended murder sequences from the original workprint • Outtakes from NIGHT CREW short film • Interview featurette with filmmaker/fan Vincent Pereira on INTRUDER and GOREZONE magazine • Cast audition tapes • Behind-the-scenes still gallery • Original theatrical trailer Retail price is $29.95.

 

[TravisR]

A friend is getting me the Blu-ray of Intruder for Christmas (nothing says Xmas like a guy getting his head cut in half by a bandsaw) so I haven't seen the disc yet but I wanted to bump this thread for the horror fans out there. If you've never seen Intruder, give it a rent. It's got KNB's first effects work as a company, has some really clever camera work and has appearances from Ted Raimi, Sam Raimi and a near cameo by Bruce Campbell. It's been 20 some years but I still remember reading an issue of Gorezone where they did a story on Intruder and showed all these really violent effects shots, talked about how hard it was achieve them on a low budget and that they'd be on the video release. Then a couple issues later, they did a story (I think it was a Video Watchdog column before that morphed into its own wonderful mag) about how the movie was edited for an R on video and detailed all the cuts. I guess I can thank Intruder and Gorezone for letting me that movies were edited by people other than the folks who made them and the importance of keeping to what the creators wanted.