Anthony Thorne
Supporting Actor
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2000
- Messages
- 529
Dave Szulkin of Grindhouse Releasing (the cool DVD company run by Sage Stallone and Bob Murawski) has confirmed on another forum that their long-in-the-works Region 1 DVD of Ruggero Deodato's CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST will be released on October 25th. A full announcement (with the final word on extras and packaging) is due in the next few weeks. For folks who haven't seen the movie, CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST is a hard-to-forget Italian horror film from 1980 with some exceedingly grim imagery. The film tangentially covers the disappearance of a film expedition travelling through the Amazon and the later discovery of their (faux cinema-verite 'snuff' scenes included) footage at a later date. THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT has a lot of visual, structural and dramatic similarities to HOLOCAUST, and a number of genre critics (Tim Lucas in his Video Watchdog review of the former, in particular) have remarked on them. HOLOCAUST includes full-frontal nudity, gore (including some authentic animal cruelty) and a lot of other confronting bits and pieces. I like the movie a lot (the cinema verite stuff is well done, and a deluxe softcover book about the film deservedly came out a few years back) but I'm aware it's a likely turn-off for many other people, so it might be hard to suggest it as a blind-buy to anyone not predisposed to enjoying strong horror content.
Grindhouse Releasing will also apparently have a new website up at some unspecified future date (likely very soon). They just put out a press-release today related to some censorship that the forthcoming disc has recently fallen afoul of, and while posting the above I thought it might be of interest. Apologies in advance but I can't remember if posting this reprinted section below contravenes specifc HTF guidelines. I've included it here as I think some people may find it worth reading (the incident below seems to have just happened recently so I don't know if it will actually lead to any delays with the disc) and because the DVD itself is quite long-awaited by horror fans. (The only other Region 1 horror release I can think of that was/has been in the pipeline for so long is Image's KILL BABY KILL, and I gather that's currently dead in the water). Bear in mind that, perversely, the censorship snafu below evidently relates to the packaging and not to the content of the movie itself.
"GRINDHOUSE RELEASING FIGHTS CENSORSHIP OF "CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST" ARTWORK
Sage Stallone and Bob Murawski of retro-horror film company Grindhouse Releasing have met with yet another controversy due to the "graphic and offensive" packaging of the notorious Italian horror movie CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST.
With scant months remaining before the release of Grindhouse's long-anticipated CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST DVD, two major printers have refused to handle artwork for the disc. While the DVD is set for nationwide distribution through Rykodisc, the printing obstacle is causing last-minute panic for Grindhouse in light of the DVD's October 25, 2005 street date.
The artwork in question is not featured on the outer sleeve of the CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST DVD. In fact, Grindhouse deliberately designed the DVD¡¯s display packaging to shield sensitive eyes from the potentially disturbing imagery within.
"Simply put, everything we came up with was deemed too offensive or something that would cause us to automatically forfeit precious retail shelf space at this moment in time when chain stores are being busted for selling violent video games," says Murawski. "The real cover, the one that compromises in no way shape or form, is the cover of the DELUXE SIGNATURE CASE within the sleeve. A cover with an image that no other release of CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST has had the guts to use. And this is the cover that no printer in this supposedly free country will print."
The first indication of trouble arrived in August, 2005 from a printer who arbitrarily decided not to handle any artwork associated with CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST -- including the deliberately ¡°inoffensive¡± outer slipcase which simply depicts a screaming face captured within a camera lens. When Murawski suggested that the cover image was "tame", especially by comparison to other DVD titles handled by the same printing facility, a printer¡¯s representative refused to discuss the reason behind the ban.
Rushing the artwork to a second printer, Murawski met with a similar response. Management reviewed the ¡°offensive¡± images and refused to print the CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST art unless Grindhouse revised the graphic design. No specific notes were submitted with the refusal, but objections most likely centered on the inner-sleeve reproduction of a central scene in the film: a woman¡¯s body impaled on a wooden stake.
Stallone and Murawski steadfastly refuse to censor the artwork or compromise the disc in any way. Grindhouse has been working on the CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST DVD for over five years, battling many obstacles from bootleggers illegally selling inferior copies of the movie, to the threatened seizure of a 35mm film print by town officials in Lexington, Kentucky.
"Despite the cowardly and hypocritical actions of these censors, we will not back down," says Stallone. "This latest incident only confirms the power of CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST to disturb and shock audiences. We believe the public should have the right to view this DVD in its uncensored form with the deluxe packaging intact. A couple of hyper-sensitive printers are not going to stop us from realizing our vision and giving consumers the best possible product."
Grindhouse Releasing will also apparently have a new website up at some unspecified future date (likely very soon). They just put out a press-release today related to some censorship that the forthcoming disc has recently fallen afoul of, and while posting the above I thought it might be of interest. Apologies in advance but I can't remember if posting this reprinted section below contravenes specifc HTF guidelines. I've included it here as I think some people may find it worth reading (the incident below seems to have just happened recently so I don't know if it will actually lead to any delays with the disc) and because the DVD itself is quite long-awaited by horror fans. (The only other Region 1 horror release I can think of that was/has been in the pipeline for so long is Image's KILL BABY KILL, and I gather that's currently dead in the water). Bear in mind that, perversely, the censorship snafu below evidently relates to the packaging and not to the content of the movie itself.
"GRINDHOUSE RELEASING FIGHTS CENSORSHIP OF "CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST" ARTWORK
Sage Stallone and Bob Murawski of retro-horror film company Grindhouse Releasing have met with yet another controversy due to the "graphic and offensive" packaging of the notorious Italian horror movie CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST.
With scant months remaining before the release of Grindhouse's long-anticipated CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST DVD, two major printers have refused to handle artwork for the disc. While the DVD is set for nationwide distribution through Rykodisc, the printing obstacle is causing last-minute panic for Grindhouse in light of the DVD's October 25, 2005 street date.
The artwork in question is not featured on the outer sleeve of the CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST DVD. In fact, Grindhouse deliberately designed the DVD¡¯s display packaging to shield sensitive eyes from the potentially disturbing imagery within.
"Simply put, everything we came up with was deemed too offensive or something that would cause us to automatically forfeit precious retail shelf space at this moment in time when chain stores are being busted for selling violent video games," says Murawski. "The real cover, the one that compromises in no way shape or form, is the cover of the DELUXE SIGNATURE CASE within the sleeve. A cover with an image that no other release of CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST has had the guts to use. And this is the cover that no printer in this supposedly free country will print."
The first indication of trouble arrived in August, 2005 from a printer who arbitrarily decided not to handle any artwork associated with CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST -- including the deliberately ¡°inoffensive¡± outer slipcase which simply depicts a screaming face captured within a camera lens. When Murawski suggested that the cover image was "tame", especially by comparison to other DVD titles handled by the same printing facility, a printer¡¯s representative refused to discuss the reason behind the ban.
Rushing the artwork to a second printer, Murawski met with a similar response. Management reviewed the ¡°offensive¡± images and refused to print the CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST art unless Grindhouse revised the graphic design. No specific notes were submitted with the refusal, but objections most likely centered on the inner-sleeve reproduction of a central scene in the film: a woman¡¯s body impaled on a wooden stake.
Stallone and Murawski steadfastly refuse to censor the artwork or compromise the disc in any way. Grindhouse has been working on the CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST DVD for over five years, battling many obstacles from bootleggers illegally selling inferior copies of the movie, to the threatened seizure of a 35mm film print by town officials in Lexington, Kentucky.
"Despite the cowardly and hypocritical actions of these censors, we will not back down," says Stallone. "This latest incident only confirms the power of CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST to disturb and shock audiences. We believe the public should have the right to view this DVD in its uncensored form with the deluxe packaging intact. A couple of hyper-sensitive printers are not going to stop us from realizing our vision and giving consumers the best possible product."
