Horror Movie News and Reviews - Horror Express.com

GRINDHOUSE GETS OUR HOPES UP AGAIN

I've said it before and I'll say it again - the Horror Express fans who live outside of North America are very lucky. They have had Ruggero Deodato's cult classic CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST for some time now, even if finding a completely uncut version has been a bit of a minefield. In Region 1 however, we have had Grindhouse. Now, these are nice guys and they did a fantastic job restoring CANNIBAL FEROX and Lucio Fulci's THE BEYOND. But they have been promising a definitive version of CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST for years. And when I say years, I'm talking since the beginning of the century. We've heard updates here and there about an incredible restoration and tons of extras that have been scavaged from film vaults around the globe. But people had just about given up hope on ever seeing a CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST DVD. But now, they say it's for real.

Fangoria reports that if Grindhouse's Bob Murawski has his way, North American consumers will be able to pick up the CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST Special Edition in early 2005.

"It's going to be a two-disc super-deluxe set for the movie's 25th anniversary," Murawski enthusiastically told Fango before running down the specs. "It's going to have a 16x9-enhanced digital transfer, plus we’ve remixed the movie with all the original stereo music, plus the original mono track will be there for the purists. We've got audio commentary by Deodato and the star, Robert Kerman (a.k.a. Golden Age porn star R. Bolla), a lot of interviews with Deodato, Kerman and many of the cast and crew, plus the usual trailers and still galleries and other great stuff, and liner notes by Chas Balun."

As has been speculated in various forums around the net, Murawski's commitments to a certain webslinger has kept him busy. He is the editor of both SPIDER-MAN and SPIDER-MAN 2. He threw himself into working on Sam Raimi's long delayed SPIDER-MAN film (which also featured a cameo by Robert Kerman, not to mention a shot from Grindhouse's remastered THE BEYOND). Just when things seemed to quiet down enough, SPIDER-MAN 2 was rushed into production.

"For the last couple of months on the sequel, it was seven days a week, so there wasn’t a lot of time," Murawski says, "And on CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST we had a lot of technical problems, like getting the proper elements from Rome, dealing with the labs and getting prints that were sufficient, and there were difficulties with the sound as well, getting the separate dialogue, music and effects tracks to do the mix. Before I started SPIDER-MAN 2 I was probably 80 percent done with CANNIBAL, but it was impossible to do both at the same time."

"It's good to be finally getting this thing out," Murawski says. We're all looking forward to it, thanks. Now make sure you actually release it this time.

Grindhouse is also working on restorations of the chainsaw film PIECES and Fulci's CAT IN THE BRAIN.

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