Manos Returns?

As if the release of Manos: The Hands of Fate from a newly restored master on blu-ray weren't enough, we just got word that original Manos cast member Jackey Raye Neyman Jones is launching a KickStarter campaign to fund a sequel, Manos Returns.

Here's the skinny from the press release:

Jackey Raye Neyman Jones, who played the little girl “Debbie” in the classic B-movie “MANOS - The Hands of Fate” is launching a Kickstarter campaign January 30th to fund filming of a sequel: MANOS Returns. To receive funding, the project must reach its goal of $20,000 by March 1st. 

MANOS Returns is a tongue-in-cheek return to Valley Lodge. It follows a group of young would-be filmmakers who learn their favorite movie, “MANOS - The Hands of Fate,” was based on a true story. They set out to visit the site of the events that inspired the original and of course they find more than they bargained for. 

Jones is producing the project, which will be directed by award-winning Seattle filmmaker Tonjia Atomic (Plain Devil, Hobo with a Trashcan). If the Kickstarter campaign is successful, MANOS Returns will be finished in time for the 50th anniversary of MANOS, November 15, 2016. The bulk of filming will take place in Oregon this summer. 

Cult classic film “MANOS - The Hands of Fate” was immortalized by Mystery Science Theatre 3000 and is considered by many to be the worst movie of all time. The Kickstarter launch date for MANOS Returns is the same date MANOS premiered on MST3K: January 30th. 

Fundraising for MANOS Returns began with a successful t-shirt campaign last October, aimed at procuring start up costs and, most importantly, funds to film scenes with Tom Neyman, The Master from the original MANOS, and Jones’ father. 

“The 50th anniversary is coming up this year and that milestone was both a spur and a warning,” said Jones. “We’re none of us getting any younger. If any of the principle players from the original production are going to get a chance to enjoy the incredible pop culture phenomenon this has turned into, and I think they deserve to, it needs to happen now.” 

The production aims to involve as many people from the original movie as possible: Jones and Neyman; Diane Mahree, who played Maggie; and Nicki Mathis, the vocalist from the MANOS soundtrack. 

“The soundtrack is many people’s favorite part of MANOS. So, I feel really lucky that we found Nicki and that she wanted to come onboard,” said Jones. “MANOS has a way of bringing the right people together.” 

Project backers pledging at the very accessible $5 level will be treated to a digital download of a brand new recording of “Forgetting You” by Mathis.  Backers also have the opportunity to simply pre-order a digital download or DVD of MANOS Returns. Or they can donate at higher levels for a variety of other perks, including a walk-on part in MANOS Returns and dinner with Jones and Atomic. 

Other core MANOS Returns staff are talented B-movie crew veterans: Tallahassee-based writer/editor Steve Foley, and DP Joe Sherlock of Oregon’s Skullface Astronaut. Cult-movie favorite George Stover (Female Trouble, Alien Factor) and puppeteer Rachel Jackson of MANOS - The Hands of Felt fame will also have small roles.

Speaking of Hands of Felt, the puppets-only retelling of Manos was released on DVD and via digital download back in 2014.

Trailer of the Week: The Dead Next Door (1989)

Ohio producer/director J.R. Bookwalter has launched an Indiegogo pre-ordering campaign for an upcoming "25th Anniversary Ultimate Edition" bluray of his first feature, the shot-on-Super 8 zombie epic (and namesake of this blog) The Dead Next Door.

The 3-disc set will launch whether or not he reaches his campaign goal, but if you're willing to pledge you can get early access to the limited edition release. The set will include four (!) unrated versions of the film, two of them created from a brand-new 2K restoration using original film elements. The remastered version will be offered in both the original 4:3 aspect ration and in a new 16:9 cropped widescreen option. the two previous VHS and DVD versions will also be included (along with all of the original extras).

The set will also include some a new commentary track, a new trailer, and a CD that includes the original soundtrack and some previously unreleased tracks from the film.

Check out the Indiegogo trailer below:

Trailer of the Week: Twisted Illusions (1985)

This very early direct-to-video horror anthology from Tim Ritter and Co. led to Ritter's most infamous project, Truth or Dare? And there's a sequel!

Trailer of the Week: Igor and the Lunatics (1985)

Here's a Troma release from NYU film school grad and award winning playwright Jocelyn Beard. Director Billy Parolini is producing a documentary, A Man Called God, about actor Christopher St. John and cult leader Sai Baba.

Trailer of the Week: Attack of the Beast Creatures (1985)

Possibly my favorite Connecticut horror film about killer troll dolls. Here's a fan-made trailer, and some clips.

Trailer of the Week: Super Soul Brother (1979)

Delighted to see that the next round of Vinegar Syndrome releases includes this oddball sci-fi superhero blaxploitation comedy from Miami, Wildman Steve's Super Soul Brother, direct from the Austin American Genre Film Archive (AGFA). No trailer online, but plenty of not-safe-for-work clips.

Trailer of the Week: Terror in the Swamp (1985)

Producer Martin Folse occasionally airs this film on his own Louisiana TV station.

Trailer of the Week: Blood Cult (1985)

Hard to believe it's been 30 years since this debuted on video...

Trailer of the Week: Curse of the Blue Lights (1988)

I overlooked this one when I published the book, but Code Red released this Pueblo, Colorado-based film on disc a few years back. Local filmmaker John Henry Johnson was at the helm, and the film is periodically screened in Pueblo by the Southeastern Colorado Heritage Center.

I can't actually find a trailer online (although one was included on the DVD), so here's the whole movie, thanks to a YouTube poster.

Feeling a Little Crabby

I'll be reviewing the Blu-ray release of Island Claws for an upcoming issue of SCREEM magazine, a piece that will include comments from two of the film's stars. In advance of that, I thought I'd share a few images from the film's various marketing campaigns that I stumbled across.

First up is the VHS cover art, which was re-used for the new Scorpion Blu-ray.

Then there's this poster image, which appears to be for the overseas, Spanish-language video release.

And finally, this mysterious image that I found in a chat room that may have been from some pre-release promotional material, sporting a completely different title.

My Island Claws coverage will be in the spring issue of SCREEM.

Trailer of the Week: Where Evil Lives (1991)

To answer the question, "Did Claude Akins ever appear in a regional horror film?" we present this Florida obscurity that was finally released on DVD in 2012 by Troma. Shot in Stuart, Fla., on 16mm as Trilogy of Fear, this horror anthology failed to find a distributor during the dark days of the early 1990s when the fright film market bottomed out.

You can read more about it here and here. Watch the original promo below, along with Troma's revamped trailer.

I'm Dreaming of a White Yeti

A highlight of the most recent "snowpocalypse" coverage (for me, at least) was the image of a local prankster wandering the streets of Somerville in a Yeti costume during the storm. You can read The Boston Yeti's Twitter feed here.

I don't know if The Boston Yeti is related to his Massachusetts neighbors, Winterbeast or Sasqua, but he bares more than a passing resemblance to some of our other favorite regional horror cryptids. See below.

Trailer of the Week: NATAS: The Reflection (1983)

This weird western from Arizona is the one and only directing credit for bit player Jack Dunlap. I used to see it on video store shelves pretty frequently back in the VHS days, but it has since dropped off the map. There's another trailer, for the Elvira-hosted edition of the tape on Thriller Video, here.

Regional Flicks on Disc

I've been neglecting the blog for awhile, but hope to get back on track in the new year. Since some of you may have some Christmas money burning a hole in your pocket, I thought I'd start by catching up on some recent and upcoming DVD and blu-ray releases.

Code Red's release strategy and distribution methods have gotten increasingly erratic and confusing over the past couple of years, but for the time being over at the Big Cartel store, you can pick up the loopy, Florida-lensed and incredibly amateurish kung-fu/blaxploitation flick The Guy From Harlem (on a double feature with Force Four). They also a released a (now sold out) three pack of Andy Milligan films on blu-ray that included Bloodthirsty Butchers, The Man with 2 Heads, and Torture Dungeon.

You can also get the Arkansas film Psycho From Texas on a six-pack set with a bunch of non-horror titles.

Vinegar Syndrome, meanwhile, released a DVD/blu-ray combo of Lewis Jackson's Christmas Evil, and a limited edition (now sold out) DVD of the lost Alan Ormsby film Murder on the Emerald Seas. They've also got downloads available of Silent Night, Bloody Night, Guru the Mad Monk, and Fleshpot on 42nd Street.

Scream Factory/Shout Factory continues to impress, with From a Whisper to a Scream (The Offspring) coming in March, along with a special edition Blu-ray of Scarecrows. They join an already strong slate of releases that includes Sleepaway Camp, The Burning, Squirm, and The Town that Dreaded Sundown.

Fred Olen Ray announced that his Retromedia imprint would unleash an Andy Milligan triple feature in March, with Guru the Mad Monk, The Ghastly Ones, and The Body Beneath, in widescreen with extras.

Finally, Synapse has announced that it will be releasing the HD restoration of Manos, the Hands of Fate (see more here) later this year, along with one of our faves, The Creature From Black Lake.

Trailer of the Week: The Offspring (From a Whisper to a Scream, 1987)

Ohio-born director Jeff Burr made this fun anthology in Georgia, and secured the services of Vincent Price for the wraparound segments (one of his last genre performances) by cold calling him at his house, showing up uninvited with the script and a bottle of wine. Scream Factory will deliver the film on Blu-ray in March.

Trailer of the Week: Zontar: The Thing From Venus

Fred Olen Ray has dug into his vault and made another 50 or so copies of his RetroMedia Beast Collection DVD set available on Amazon (get 'em while you can). The set is a cornucopia of regional horror flicks, including Ed Adlum's Shriek of the Mutilated, Bill Rebane's Capture of Bigfoot, Sasquatch: The Legend of Bigfoot, Larry Buchanan's The Eye Creatures, and the subject of our trailer of the week, Zontar: The Thing From Venus. Since Zontar was originally a made for TV project, we've posted a series of homemade trailers below that range from sublime to ridiculous.

Trailer of the Week: Scarecrows (1988)

I was happy to hear that one of my favorite Florida films, William Wesley's Scarecrows, will be getting the special edition blu-ray treatment from Scream Factory later this year. Unlike the bare-bones MGM disc, there should be a number of extras (effects guy Norman Cabrera is involved, at least), and a new transfer. Originally announced as one half of a double feature, Scarecrows will now be released as a two-disc set in March.

I still can't find an English-language trailer, but here's one in Spanish.

Satan's Children Cast Reunion This Week

With all of the other peculiar things that happen regularly in Florida, you might have missed this: The cast and crew of the obscure Tampa-lensed shocker Satan's Children will reunite for a 40th anniversary screening this Saturday (Nov. 15) at the Tampa Theatre.

Appearing for a Q&A after the screening are Stephen White (Bobby), Rosemary Orlando (Monica), John Edwards (Joshua), John Mocsary (make-up effects artist), and Bill Dudley (sound recordist).

According to the promo below, Florida-based actor/director/Tim Ritter collaborator Joel D. Wynkoop will host the proceedings. You can read more about the film's director, the late Joel Wiezycki, here.

Trailer of the Week: In Search of Bigfoot (1975)

Before he made the insane faux-bigfoot horror film Blood Stalkers (1978), Robert W. Morgan had already established himself as a well-known (and a bit eccentric) bigfoot expert. This documentary follows Morgan and his team as they hunt for the Sasquatch in the Pacific Northwest. Portions of the film were later re-purposed in the very similar Bigfoot: Man or Beast film released by director Lawrence Crowley which includes additional, un-related footage.

Vinegar Syndrome has released the film on a double-bill with Cry Wilderness (1986), a family-friendly bigfoot flick.

Regional Horrors Invade Country Living Magazine

I try to spread the regional horror gospel wherever I can, and earlier this month Country Living magazine (which is published by a local power co-op here in Columbus, Ohio) asked me to write an article covering some of the best/weirdest Ohio-made horrors.

You can see the article here, topped by a very large photo from Thankskilling. Other titles covered in the piece include Jay Woelfel's Beyond Dream's Door (1989), Homebodies (1974), The Wednesday Children (1973), Killer Nerd (1991), The Rage (2007), Axe Giant: The Wrath of Paul Bunyan ... and The Dead Next Door (1989).