Code Red DVD has cut a deal with Producer, Gary Sales to put out a new release of his 80's, cult slasher hit, MADMAN.
Plans are underway for shooting a whole bucket of new extras to put on the DVD, including interviews with original MADMAN, Paul Ehlers, Producer, Gary Sales and other members of the cast and production team including never-before-seen behind the scenes photos.
To be first on line for the new DVD release follow CODE RED at:
http://codereddvdblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/rip-tony-fish.html
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Sunday, June 7, 2009
MADMAN MARZ - Some history before the remake
I found my inspiration in the blood-chilling tales I'd heard around the campfires of childhood summer camps in the Catskill Mountains of New York. I believed the ancient ritual of grisly tales told around a crackling campfire had timeless, worldwide appeal and that one dark and fearful legend in particular would strike a chord with audiences everywhere.
Along with my late partner, director, Joe Giannone, (who, sadly left this world in December 2006 to direct on a higher plane), I pitched our campfire-tale, horror-movie idea to investors and it didn’t take long before one who believed in the vision and business plan bankrolled us into production.
With Joe and a small crew, I produced the movie in 35mm for $350,000 in the fall of 1980 and it launched my career as a key player in the production of numerous features, TV shows, commercials and music videos totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.
No good plan shall go unmessed with:
To remind myself and readers of the vagaries of trying to make anything based on a public domain legend-- halfway through casting and only four weeks before principal photography it came to our attention that the "Kropsy legend, " the tale we were telling, was already in production up in Buffalo. A couple of unknown guys ; ) (Harvey and Bob Weinstein) were producing it. (These are the facts, my friends.) They called their version of it, "The Burning," and we somehow got a copy of their script and did a marathon 48 hour re-write on ours, to avoid any duplications.
The rest is history and we went on to shoot our, now legendary, SIX WEEKS OF ALL NIGHTS PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY and got the picture in the can by December 8, 1980. It was a day of mixed emotions for me because I also remember waking up to the news on the radio that our beloved, John Lennon, had been shot and killed by a real life MADMAN.
I brought MADMAN to the 1981 AFM where it was picked up by master TV marketers, Jensen-Farley Pictures, who gave it a regional release with $millions in saturation TV ad buys.
(Note: For the two weeks before MADMAN opened in a region, TV & Radio spots appeared on every commercial break on all local channels. Madman was already inescapable.)
MADMAN was released in early '82, right behind infamous slasher hits like the original Halloween and Friday the 13th.
Audiences filled the theaters and MADMAN became a cult favorite hitting Variety’s Top 50 Grossers on seven occasions and reaching as high as #10, just below Steven Spielberg’s, hit, ET at #9.
It’s important to note that MADMAN’s 80’s domestic theatrical box office gross when adjusted to 2009 dollars is equivalent to more than $11,000,000.
Joe Bob Briggs, a Dallas reporter and horror film pundit to this day, called MADMAN “one of the all time drive-in movie classics” and another reviewer called it “a little gem.” Trade mag praise and the love of the fans caused MADMAN to be nominated for Best Low Budget Horror Film by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror.
The fan-love, critical praise and millions of ad dollars created a nationwide MADMAN brand for the movie and it’s main, gruesome character, MADMAN MARZ, (Paul Ehlers, a horror star of the old school variety).
41 years after its release and without the aid of a sequel or a remake, MADMAN MARZ, still gets invited to Horror Fan conventions like, Chiller Theatre Expo in New Jersey and Texas Fear Fest, to name only two.
His fans, young and old love him and regularly send elaborate gifts in the form of Madman Marz sculptures, dolls, paintings and drawings.
And, of course, MADMAN's female energy-- the iconic, Gaylen Ross, (aka Alexis Dubin) who played our female lead, Betsy, has remained a fixture in the horror genre for her work in George Romero's, Dawn Of The Dead, franchise before she joined us to make MADMAN.
Adam Rockoff’s popular book on the genre, “Going To Pieces-The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film,”. Covered MADMAN in the same breath as horror hits, Friday the 13th, Nightmare On Elm Street and Halloween. In addition, MADMAN clips were licensed to Showtime for its documentary production and the DVD based on it.
Today, over four decades after its release, the MADMAN legend lives on via the web and streams all around the globe through Indie Rights since 2011. His legend lives on on 4K video through respected genre distributor, Vinegar Syndrome, since who are also publishing his tale as a graphic novel. Loyal, older fans and young, new ones continue to rave, criticize and post about the movie, it’s characters, FX, storyline and music. YouTube and horror sites still get 1000’s of hits for MADMAN.
MADMAN’s electronic music score, (a horror genre first), by grammy composer Steve Horelick, still sounds fresh even today. Its gut wrenching suspense still puts viewers on the edge of their seats. And yes, like all 80’s slashers it has it’s share of cheese.
Heavy metal bands like, CKY (Camp Kill Yourself) and NY rapper RA the Rugged Man, love the movie and have produced song and rhyme based on its characters and storyline.
Due to classic its campfire-tale roots, an ancient story-telling genre enjoyed around the world the MADMAN story was, and is, easily understood in foreign territories. That includes countries as diverse as Japan and Pakistan.
The title MADMAN and the character named MADMAN MARZ also readily translates for audiences across all borders. The film played well in foreign, especially for Village Road-Show in Australia, breaking box office records in many theaters.
The MADMAN home video release in the mid 80’s was, unfortunately, interrupted by the bankruptcy of Thorn-EMI and the passage of the “video nasties laws” in the UK. Regardless, MADMAN still had “legs” and in 1999 the movie was licensed by Anchor Bay for a place in their prestigious DVD horror library. In spite of its earlier home video release issues, and due to the picture’s loyal fan base, MADMAN total DVD sales have topped 100,000 units.
MADMAN is a favorite of Quentin Tarantino, who featured the cult classic, at his mid-nite screen-fests in San Antonio, Texas in the late 90s.
In 2004 MADMAN was licensed to VOOM for its “Monsters” all HD channel and when that company lost its footing MADMAN was re-licensed as a successful horror title by the Independent Film Channel (IFC).
For a time, on the early stages of internet movie-play, MADMAN could be found on FearNet.com and Hulu.com, where it’s racked up over 50,000 hits. In addition, MADMAN still pulls 1000’s of hits on YouTube.
MADMAN MARZ himself continues to remain the subject of numerous interviews and articles on the net and in print horror mags such as Fangoria and Horror Hound.
FearNet.com, before its demise, published an extensive interview with myself and MADMAN MARZ, (actor, Paul Ehlers), alongside their coverage of the remake of Friday the 13th which did $46 million in its opening weekend and will soon pass $100,000,000 worldwide gross.
In addition, another slasher whose profile is very similar to MADMAN is, My Bloody Valentine, whose own box office smash remake topped over $75,000,000 worldwide-- more proof that the genre is alive and thriving and it continues to be smart business to redo a classic 80s horror movie.
I've always believed that MADMAN had the right ingredients to break wide and to build an ongoing global franchise. MADMAN is ready to stalk, once again, and terrify audiences around the globe. Just "Don't say his name."
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