BLOOD OF GHASTLY HORROR: Uh, it's not that bad!

[Chris K.]

The plot: A green-faced zombie kills some people and a local police inspector tries to figure out the case. He then get's a package that contains a severed head and a note that reads 'All will die for Corey'. He then remembers that their was a Joe Corey who robbed a jewelry store, but that Corey was dead for two years after his body was shipped back from Vietnam. Corey's body was revived by a Dr. Vanard and because of the electronic process Corey became a psycho-killer and was later killed. Yet, Corey's father is still alive and is practicing vooddo for his revenge upon Corey's death.

BLOOD OF GHASTLY HORROR is, in an essance, a two-films-in-one patchjob. The history stems back in 1964, when Al Adamson made his first film TWO TICKETS TO TERROR, which he would end up retitling to ECHO OF TERROR. The film, shot in the Italian 2.35:1 scope process Techniscope, was basically a crime/thriller/drama with absolutely no horror in it whatsoever. When Adamson presented the film to producer/distributor Samuel M. Sherman, ECHO OF TERROR impressed Sherman yet the film was unreleaseable as it left the title to be desired. So in 1965, Adamson and Sherman hired John Carradine, shot some new footage involving electronic brains and the dead being revived, mild-gore murders, and some go-go dancing and ECHO OF TERROR became PSYCHO A GO-GO! Released by Hemisphere Pictures, the PSYCHO A GO-GO version didn't do to well and the film was shelved for a few years. Then in 1971, Adamson and Sherman hired Kent Taylor, Regina Carroll, and ex-Disney star Tommy Kirk and shot additional footage involing a mad vooddo doctor and a killer zombie and was titled BLOOD OF GHASTLY HORROR. However, due to the Techniscope cameras being discontinued in the United States the film was shot on regular 35mm Full Frame 1.33:1 format and was then going to be converted to the 2.35:1 Techniscope process, but because Techniscope was not being used Sherman had the film converted to a regular 2.35:1 Panavision scope and calling the process "Chill-o-Rama". Yet at the same time, Allied Artists needed a film to release on television so Sherman had the 2.35:1 image converted to 1.33:1 Pan-Scan format, cut out the violence, and called it THE MAN WITH THE SYNTHETIC BRAIN! So while the film was shown on television as THE MAN WITH THE SYNTHETIC BRAIN, Sherman released it in theatres as BLOOD OF GHASTLY HORROR.

By reading about the film's sorted history, one would think that BLOOD OF GHASTLY HORROR is a incohearnt mess. It's really not. Granted, the film is a bit choppy and cannot make up it's mind as to being a horror, sci-fi, or crime film. Yet, the mix is wild and fun to watch. And by looking at the ECHO OF TERROR/PSYCHO A GO-GO sequences, the original film looked like it was quite promising. The "new" footage is okay, yet Tommy Kirk seems to be pushing his acting a bit far up than what he normaly did. Regina Carroll is as busty as ever and does a good job. Kent Taylor is just nuts as the mad vooddo doctor. And John Carradine is, well John Carradine: Shakespearian in his performance as always.

Troma Video's DVD presentation of BLOOD OF GHASTLY HORROR is so-so. The film was shown in 2.35:1 widescreen in theatres, yet it's shown in Pan-Scan 1.33:1 on the DVD. I asked Sam Sherman as to why this is and he told me that Troma was not interested in having the film shown in widescreen, so Sherman used an old master that was used for the old Super Video label. Because of being in Pan-Scan, the grain is quite noticeable, the color is somewhat faded and very distracting at times. Yet, the transfer is quite good and looks better than the old video versions.

Extras on the disk are the film's trailer for BLOOD OF GHASTLY HORROR. Here is where the decision of not showing the film in 2.35:1 really bugs me. The trailer is in widescreen and the color looks quite better! Very little grain is visible and the color is quite vibrant! The narration is also great in that old school exploitation way. Up next is the MAN WITH THE SYNTHETIC BRAIN television trailer and let me tell you that when you see this trailer, it will bring back those old television memories back. The trailer is very grainy and gives you an example as to how this film looked when it first premered on the tube. It's pretty much the same as the BLOOD OF GHASTLY HORROR trailer, except the violence is removed and the narration is cut short.

Sam Sherman steps in and provides an audio commentary and 15 minute documentary called 'Producing Schlock'. Sherman's audio commentary is quite informative and full of fun info; 'Producing Schlock' also gives some insight on how Independent-International came about and such.

BLOOD OF GHASTLY HORROR is not that bad, but I am really interested in seeing the PSYCHO A GO-GO version. And just recently, I asked Sam Sherman as to if PSYCHO A GO-GO is ever going to see the light of day on DVD. He told me that he has plans on releasing it, so I am really excited.

[Dunners]

Wow I can actually smell the cheese from over here :)

[The Burgomaster]

I thought this was one of the greatest film messes of all time. The plot and characters switch back and forth so many times it makes your head spin. An exploitation classic!

Bring back the drive-ins!

[kriegerg69]

Chris K. wrote:
 
> By reading about the film's sorted history, one would think
> that BLOOD OF GHASTLY HORROR is a incohearnt mess. It's really
> not. Granted, the film is a bit choppy and cannot make up it's
> mind as to being a horror, sci-fi, or crime film. Yet, the mix
> is wild and fun to watch.

It is actually a bit incoherent (sp), but that's part of the fun....I enjoy it for the pure cheesiness. BOGH truly does have a very long and sordid (sp) history.

> The film was shown in 2.35:1 widescreen in theatres, yet
> it's shown in Pan-Scan 1.33:1 on the DVD. I asked Sam Sherman
> as to why this is and he told me that Troma was not interested
> in having the film shown in widescreen, so Sherman used an old
> master that was used for the old Super Video label. Because of
> being in Pan-Scan, the grain is quite noticeable, the color is
> somewhat faded and very distracting at times. Yet, the transfer
> is quite good and looks better than the old video versions.

Sam told me awhile back when I first started communications with him for my Al Adamson site (linked below) that the reason they didn't do a widescreen DVD was that they didn't have a wide master readily available, and being the first film he was getting out in the deal with Troma, they didn't have time to properly do a digital widescreen master, and simply wanted to get the movie out in the DVD format. I do agree that it looks much better than any previous video release....possibly because some digital mastering was done for the DVD mastering, and also most likely because of the inherent higher-quality of the format itself. Actually, here's what he told me:

"BLOOD OF GHASTLY HORROR was released on TROMA (DVD, VHS) from center scan
due to budgetary reasons and cost being too high to re-do this in Letterbox,
based on projected sales."

> Extras on the disk are the film's trailer for BLOOD OF GHASTLY
> HORROR. Here is where the decision of not showing the film in
> 2.35:1 really bugs me. The trailer is in widescreen and the
> color looks quite better! Very little grain is visible and the
> color is quite vibrant!

...and there's a good reason for that: It's not because the quality or print of the trailer itself is any better....it's because you're looking at a smaller, compressed image as opposed to one which has been panned-and-scanned and blown up, which naturally causes more grain to appear and often colors become faded, since the pixels are being spread out. Recently, in the BOGH section on my site, I added a comparison page showing the same frames from both the Troma dvd and the widescreen trailer, so people can see the difference.
 
> Sam Sherman steps in and provides an audio commentary and 15
> minute documentary called 'Producing Schlock'. Sherman's audio
> commentary is quite informative and full of fun info;
> 'Producing Schlock' also gives some insight on how
> Independent-International came about and such.

On the DVD in the Sam Sherman "Producing Schlock" featurette, Sam himself even says "Sure, it had blood, it had horror....it was ghastly" (perhaps his own indication of his own awareness of what a mess BOGH turned out to be).

> BLOOD OF GHASTLY HORROR is not that bad, but I am really
> interested in seeing the PSYCHO A GO-GO version. And just
> recently, I asked Sam Sherman as to if PSYCHO A GO-GO is ever
> going to see the light of day on DVD. He told me that he has
> plans on releasing it, so I am really excited.

Same told me the same thing a few months ago:

"We are now putting out the full PSYCHO A GO-GO on DVD from Troma,
so the complete film and the story behind it (told in my commentary track)
will be available."





Post Edited (08-12-03 09:24)

[Chris K.]

kriegerg69 wrote:
>
> Sam told me awhile back when I first started communications
> with him for my Al Adamson site (linked below) that the reason
> they didn't do a widescreen DVD was that they didn't have a
> wide master readily available, and being the first film he was
> getting out in the deal with Troma, they didn't have time to
> properly do a digital widescreen master, and simply wanted to
> get the movie out in the DVD format. I do agree that it looks
> much better than any previous video release....possibly because
> some digital mastering was done for the DVD mastering, and also
> most likely because of the inherent higher-quality of the
> format itself. Actually, here's what he told me:
>
> "BLOOD OF GHASTLY HORROR was released on TROMA (DVD, VHS)
> from center scan
> due to budgetary reasons and cost being too high to re-do this
> in Letterbox,
> based on projected sales."

Well kriegerg69, I remember Sam telling me that the Pan-Scan release was due to Troma not interested in a widescreen release. But then, with the additional info you supplied the story seems to be interesting now and maybe Sam wasn't too clear on the explination when I e-mailed him last.

Of course, I never held the whole thing against Sam at all. As a student in the exploitation film studies, I consider Sam Sherman to be the king of all drive-in classics right next to Herschell Gordon Lewis. But I do wish that Sam will someday re-release BLOOD OF GHASTLY HORROR in it's original 2.35:1 scope. And I am excited on the upcoming PSYCHO A GO-GO release.

Thanks for clarifying.

[The Burgomaster]

The big problem that I have with the pan & scan on this film, is that there ISN'T any panning or scanning. Therefore, the 1.33 aspect ratio leaves characters completely out of the frame (or partially out of the frame) during many scenes. Sometimes, all you see is a nose or part of a face. At the end, when Regina Carroll is on the operating table, her head is completely offscreen most of the time. All you can see are her breasts and her torso . . .

Well, maybe it isn't so bad after all.

[kriegerg69]

Chris K. wrote:

> But I do wish that Sam will someday
> re-release BLOOD OF GHASTLY HORROR in it's original 2.35:1
> scope. And I am excited on the upcoming PSYCHO A GO-GO release.
>
> Thanks for clarifying.

You're welcome, sir! Sam had mentioned to me awhile back that it was possible they might eventually release a widescreen BOGH, but I guess that would depend on how the interest and sales were for the full-frame release.

I've always thought it strange that not ONE Al Adamson or IIP film has been released in a widescreen DVD, although the upcoming CINDERELLA 2000 from Seduction Cinema will supposedly be released in its 2.35:1 ratio (so Sam has told me).

[kriegerg69]

The Burgomaster wrote:

> The big problem that I have with the pan & scan on this film,
> is that there ISN'T any panning or scanning. Therefore, the
> 1.33 aspect ratio leaves characters completely out of the frame
> (or partially out of the frame) during many scenes. Sometimes,
> all you see is a nose or part of a face.

Sam Sherman has told me, when I asked him about BOGH, he referred to it as a "center scan"....which would mean the same thing you said, Burgo: There isn't any "panning and scanning"....it's simply centered on the scope frame.