Blu-ray Review: Enter the Video Store: Empire Of Screams

Blu-ray Reviews, Reviews, Top Story

During the glory days of VHS in the ’80s, there were two types of people who would show up at mom and pop videostores. The first craved the latest big studio Hollywood blockbuster. Those tapes were hot rentals for two or three weeks before going extremely cold. The second batch of clients looked for the latest from more fringy studios and distributors. Those tapes would rent for months or years as new fans of the studio latest title would seek them out when they went from “new” shelves to “oldies” section. Empire International Pictures was one of those studios.

The studio was created in the early ’80s by Charles Band (Parasite & Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn) when he wanted to have more control over his movies. The home video boom was allowing low budget films to be rather profitable as they sold thousands of mom and pop shops and mini-chains bought up videos for $100 a pop. A compelling videotape box could make a small film as popular as a massive theatrical hit. He focused the output of Empire on horror films with grotesque creatures using special effects that look so much better than the budget. He wasn’t giving people the cheesy monsters found in early AIP flick and other Corman-esque movies that played on the Creature Double Feature. Empire quickly found an audience eager to rent the tapes and see the weirdness. They also had films play theaters. Starting in 1984, Empire went into overdrive with the success of Ghoulies and H.P. Lovecraft’s Re-Animator. Band bought a castle and Dino De Laurentiis’s studio in Italy to help make even more movies that had budgets around a million bucks. The glory days didn’t last too long. The studio went bankrupt in the middle of 1988 after they had released over 70 films. Don’t get too weepy since Band immediately formed Full Moon that released the Puppet Master series. Enter the Video Store: Empire Of Screams is a boxset with five classic Empire titles you might have rented when Video Plaza had it’s rent 5 titles for a week special.

The Dungeonmaster (1984 – 73 minutes) is a science fiction fantasy film that features three different cuts. First there’s the theatrical version that did play in theaters. Ragewar is the pre-release version 78 minutes. This version has the challenges in the same order as found in the final credits. It also has a lot less wardrobe for a few characters Finally there’s Ragewar International Edition that lasts 77 minutes and cuts back on the unclothed character moments. All three films are about the same thing. Paul Bradford (Star Trek’s Jeffery Bryron) is a computer programmer who has developed a super computer named X-CaliBR8 that seems to run off an early version of AI. What he doesn’t realize is there’s more to the system as him and his girlfriend Gwen Rogers (High School Musical‘s Leslie Wing) get sucked inside the computer and meet a wizard character named Mestema (Night Court‘s Richard Moll). He views Paul as a worthy opponent and gives him seven challenges to prove it. If he fails, him and Gwen will suffer the consequences. Charles Band set up the film so that each challenge is directed by a different person (including Dave Allen, Charles Band, John Carl Buechler, Steven Ford, Peter Manoogian, Ted Nicolaou & Rosemarie Turko). This gives a slight change to each challenge in approach and tone. The arrangement also allowed Band to get a sense of how the directors worked so he might hire them for a future production. Beside the fantasy and computer elements, we’re treated to a women’s aerobics class in full spandex. The movie was very future oriented as it predicted Google Glass except Paul’s version of the spectacles work better. Of the three cuts, the longest feels the best.

Dolls (1987 – 77:29) reminds people how dangerous family road trips were in the ’80s before smartphones. Little Judy (Carrie Lorraine) is traveling with her dad David (Ian Patrick Williams) and stepmom Rosemary (Carolyn Purdy-Gordon) when they get lost in the English countryside during a nasty storm. The car gets stuck in the mud and they must take shelter at a nearby house that seems abandoned. Rosemary isn’t thrilled at taking Judy on her vacation. She takes out her anger by tossing Judy’s teddy bear into the woods. Lucy imagines her teddy bear returning as a monster that attacks Rosemary, but it is just a fantasy. When they get inside the abandoned house, they discover there are people living inside and they have a very creepy collection of dolls. The couple are dollmakers although he realizes he’s being phased out by mass production. Nobody wants a one of a kind doll anymore. Judy sense the dolls are secretly alive. When two punk rocker girls and a goofy American also seek shelter in the house, bizarre things start to happen to those taking refuge from the storm. Dolls gets the creepy dolls just right. They’re frightening when they’re still and nightmarish when they move. It appears the effects crew did various things to animate them during the attacks. Director Stuart Gordon gets convincing performances from his guests so you can feel their fear when the dolls get blood thirsty. Anyone who rented the film was ready to tell their pals that they needed to get the VHS to see the diminutive and gory action.

Cellar Dweller (1988 – 77:36) is the dangers of being a comic book artist. Colin Childress (Re-Animator‘s Jeffrey Combs) is working on his latest issue when he gets a bit of character inspiration from a rather ominous illustrated book. He draws a demonic like character and goes down into the basement only to find the creature and a helpless victim. Colin must resort to a drastic measure to stop this beast with Satanic symbols. Years later, Whitney Taylor (Son of the Pink Panther‘s Debrah Farentino) arrives at the house that’s been turned into an art institute run by Mrs. Briggs (The Munsters‘ Yvonne De Carlo). Whitney is obsessed with Colin’s work and begins to poke around to find his major inspirations and finish his final comic book. This leads to the return of the demonic beast. Can she do better than Colin? This is a rather small set horror that director John Carl Buechler uses to his advantage. Things don’t get bogged down when the demon jumps off the page. The script was by Don Mancini who would go on to write Child’s Play.

Arena (1988 – 97:20) is more science fiction than horror although it features nightmare inducing aliens. Steve Armstrong (Creep Show 2‘s Paul Satterfield) is working at a diner on a spaceship. He’s having a bad enough night when a customer doesn’t like the food and wants to beat him up. Instead of being torn apart, Steve kicks the alien’s ass. Turns out the alien was a fighter in The Areana which is like intergalactic Mixed Martial Arts. The fighter’s manager Quinn (Babylon 5’s Claudia Christian) offers to represent Steve in the combat sport. This is a big thing since a human hasn’t fought in over 50 years. Steve s reluctant. Since he doesn’t have any other job offers, he gets into The Arena and learns the dirty truth about the fight gang. Jack Carter (Alligator) plays the announcer of the future. The costumes for the alien fighters are creative and colorful. You might want to lay a bet on the final fight.

Robot Jox (1990 – 84:27) wasn’t supposed to be Stuart Gordon’s next film. He was lined up to direct Honey, I Shrunk the Kids at Disney. Before the film went into production, Gordon had a health issue and was replaced. He did receive a “story by” credit and Ed Naha, the screenwriter of Dolls was given co-credit for the family friendly script. Gordon came back to Empire to make what appears to have been the final Empire film in Robot Jox. The film takes place 50 years after the nuclear holocaust which ended with the USA and USSR each controlling half the world. Instead of regular wars, all conflicts were now fought using giant robots that had human controllers inside them. There’s a battle between USA’s Achillies (Alien Nation‘s Gary Graham) and the USSR’s Alexander (The Omega Man‘s Paul Koslo) is for Alaska. While the fight is fierce something rather tragic happens in the stadium that leads the referee to stop the fight and declare they have to stage a rematch. Afterwards, Achillies declares he’s retiring and someone else can get inside the robot. Athena (In The Heat of the Night‘s Anne-Marie Johnson) is chosen to be the first female Robot Jox. But is this the right fight for a rookie debut? Can Achillies really not care about losing Alaska? Robot Jox once more shows that Empire delivered on the special effects. What they pulled off on a small budget is as impressive as Pacific Rim with 30 times the money to make their fighting robot effects. Stuart Gordon admitted that he was inspired by Transformers toys and he made a film that’s more engrossing than any of Michael Bay’s bloated officially licensed flicks. It stinks that Stuart Gordon missed out on his Disney movie, but he gave us a fine robot film.

Enter the Video Store: Empire Of Screams brings back warm memories of picking through the boxes of the more obscure VHS releases. Empire Pictures might have lasted only 4 years, but the indie studio did a lot during that time. They created quite a bit of cult contents with plots and effects that made you want to tell your friends and co-workers about it. Whether it be a demonic monster, alien fighters, vicious dolls, fighting giant robots or Bull from Night Court with hair, you kept renting their movies to see what else Empire could deliver. Now you can bring the videostore home with the movies with Enter the Video Store: Empire Of Screams.

Video for all five films is 1.85:1 anamorphic. All are presented in 1080p from the original negative or interpostive except Arena is from the last remaining 35mm elements. Audio is LPCM stereo on all the films except The Dungeonmaster which is in mono. The soundtracks sound much better than the VHS tapes you rented at Video Bar. The movies are subtitled.

LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS

Limited edition packaging featuring newly commissioned artwork by Laurie Greasley

Reversible sleeves featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Ilan Sheady

Double sided posters for each film featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Ilan Sheady

15 postcard-sized reproduction artcards

Arrow Video store “membership card”

80-page perfect bound book featuring new writing on the films by Lee Gambin, Dave Jay, Megan Navarro, and John Harrison plus select archival material

DISC ONE – THE DUNGEONMASTER

Audio Commentary with star Jeffrey Byron, moderated by film critics Matty Budrewicz and Dave Wain. The two are fans of the film and have plenty of questions for Byron. The actor compares Charles Band to Roger Corman. He mentions how after wrapping Metalstorm at 11 p.m. on Friday, he showed up early Saturday morning for a haircut, shave and his first scene.

I Reject Your Reality and Substitute My Own (15:07) is a recent interview with star Jeffrey Byron. He is grateful for Charles Band giving him the lead roles in both Metalstorm and The Dungeon Master. He wrapped Metalstorm on a Friday night and started The Dungeon Master the next morning. The crew stuck around for the second movie. Band let him write one of the segments and hired his brother to shoot a segment. They shot in his apartment. He even brought along many of his fellow students from his acting class. Bryon’s godfather is the director John Ford.

Trailer Gallery includes Theatrical Trailer (1:57) and Alternate Trailer (3:02) give a sense of adventure and science fiction in the movie. The alternate is when the film was called Ragewar. “You are a worthy opponent,” Richard Bull declares.

Image gallery has 8 press photo stills, an English VHS box (as Ragewar), the movie poster and artwork.

DISC TWO – DOLLS

New audio commentary by David Decoteau, Empire alumnus, friend of Stuart Gordon and director of Creepozoids. He met Gordon after seeing Re-Animator. He refers to Gordon as an A-list director. He gets into the end of Empire Pictures. He was making the movie Dr. Alien and had a few production days left. Charles Band told him to keep shooting and ignore the bank foreclosing on the company. This worked out well since Paramount released the video for his film afterward.

Archive audio commentary with director Stuart Gordon and writer Ed Naha. Gordon shot From Beyond and Dolls back to back at Band’s studio in Rome using the same sets for cost saving. The two discuss how the film was a fairytale which took Naha back since he didn’t read them as a kid. Gordon talks about how real fairytales are scary with bad things happening to the characters. Naha claims this is based on his family vacations. Gordon passed away in the Spring of 2020.

Archive audio commentary with cast members Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, Stephen Lee, Carrie Lorraine, and Ian Patrick Williams. They joke about residuals. Carolyn Purdy-Gordon was Stuart Gordon’s wife. They talk about working with the older couple.

Assembling Dolls (17:01) is a new interview with Lee Percy, editor of Dolls, Re-Animator and From Beyond for Stuart Gordon. He started out as an actor, but wanted more. He worked on the notorious movie Roar (about Lions). The editors realized there was over a million feet of film and they had Percy step up to join them as an editor since he’d gone to film school. He learned as he went on the movie about Tippi Hendren and big cats that attacked the crew. He met Stuart Gordon at the Orgamic Theater. Back in Los Angeles, he was asked to edit a film for a first time director that turned out to be Stuart. 

Toys of Terror: The Making of Dolls (38:31) is an archive featurette with Gordon, Yuzna, Purdy-Gordon, Williams, Charles Band and Gabe Bartalos. There’s talk about the scary nature of dolls with staring eyes. Stuart discovered that the movies that had the best chance of being produced were horror films and that was so true of his career. Gordon first got involved with Charles Band with Re-Animator and the two teamed up for more. The movies weren’t theatrical hits, but did amazingly well in video sales. 

Film-to-storyboard comparison (8:30) includes Teddy’s Revenge, Rosemary Takes A Dive and Punch’s Little Secret. They run the film big and have the lower corner with the art of how they wanted the frame to look during the shoot.

Trailer Gallery includes Theatrical Trailer (2:34), Alternate Trailer (1:24) and UK Video Trailer (1:35). They focus on the creepy moment when the dolls come alive. There’s mention of coming to a theater soon in the theatrical teasers.

Image gallery has over 50 posters, artwork, press photos, 

DISC THREE – CELLAR DWELLER

Audio commentary by special make-up effects artist Michael Deak who inhabited the Cellar Dweller creature suit, moderated by film critics Matty Budrewicz and Dave Wain. He gets into what it took to wear such a hairy suit under the hot lights.

Grabbed by the Ghoulies (16:03) a new appreciation of John Carl Buechler, special make-up effects artist of many Empire Pictures films and director of Cellar Dweller, by film critics Matty Budrewicz and Dave Wain. They talk about all the Empire International films that Buechler contributed with his special effects before taking over the director’s chair. They have pure praise for the man who contributed so much to the most memorable films from the studio. He also contributed to Jason of Star Command. He worked for Rick Baker before doing effects for Roger Corman. The led him to working for Charles Band since the producer would let him direct. He made his debut with Troll. John Carl Buechler passed away from prostate cancer in 2019.

Inside the Cellar (16:30) has make-up effects artist Michael Deak talk about getting inspired by Forbidden Planet by Corman. Later he met John Carl Buechler on the set of Ghoulies. Eventually he was hired to work in the effects department with no real experience. He got to get inside the monster costume for Cellar Dweller.

Original sales sheet includes the front and back that Charles Band used to get presales.

Original production notes are all 15 pages from the press kit.

VHS trailer (1:15) is a touch fuzzy from standard video. They tease us with showering.

Empire Pictures trailer reel (11:23) includes Ghoulies, Ghoulies II, Breeders, Eliminators, Crawlspace, From Beyond and Prison.

More Empire Pictures Trailers in VHS Mode (17:01) also includes TerrorVision, Troll, Enemy Territory, Catacombs and Ghost Town.

Image Galleries includes Behind the Scenes (1:40) and Artwork & Stills (over 40 examples) from the collection of special make-up effects artist Michael Deak

DISC FOUR – ARENA

New audio commentary with director Peter Manoogian, moderated by film critics Matty Budrewicz and Dave Wain gets into the Arena and the end of Empire Pictures. Peter gives his background and how he eventually found himself working with Charles Band. He points out how they didn’t make this film with CGI so there’s so many special effects tricks used to support his low budget. He talks about working in low budget films during the VHS era. There’s also discussion of his dad’s role at NYU’s film school and a certain legend that was a family friend.

Alternative full frame presentation (97:15) allows you to see the film as you might remember from renting the VHS at The Video Bar.

Not His Arena (14:44) a new interview with co-screenwriter Danny Bilson. He was not a fan of horror, but ended up being a camera assistant on Empire Pictures productions. He ended up getting hooked up as a writer on Ghoulies. He and his screenwriting partner Paul De Meo became regular studio staff writers for a while. Band took posters to various film markets and the ones that got interest were shown to writers who were told to come up with a script. Their version of Arena didn’t quite make it on the screen. After the demise of Empire, Danny and Paul wrote The Rocketeer at Disney. He goes into how Charles Band operated. He explains why he didn’t make an audio commentary track.

Empire of Creatures (16:21) has special make-up effects artist Michael Deak talking about being excited at not only building the creatures, but he acted inside one of them. He believes this was the biggest production done by Empire Pictures. He gets into how hard it was to fight with the mask blocking and obscuring his vision. He also points out the robot side of his suit hurt when he fell that way.

Theatrical trailer (1:40) is presented in both 16:9 and 4:3. They tease us with all the action of creatures from distance worlds beating each other up in the ring.Image gallery includes Behind the Scenes photos (1:06) that shows off how they made the special effects and Posters and Stills that has over two dozen photos and the VHS cover.

DISC FIVE – ROBOT JOX

Archive audio commentary with director Stuart Gordon. He explains the first scene in the film was shot by Dave Allen to help sell the movie. He talks about how he was a fan of the Transformers toys. He kept wondering when a major studio would make a film about large robots and when nothing was on the horizon, he made his own at Empire Pictures. He talks about working in Italy at Band’s studio.

Archive audio commentary features associate effects director Paul Gentry, mechanical effects artist Mark Rappaport, and stop-motion animator Paul Jessell. They get to talk about how the made the robots move. They give us plenty of tales about Dave Allen.

Crash and Burn (17:09) gets actor Gary Graham to remember his time inside the 100 ft tall robot. He views his character as someone who just wants to accomplish his job or winning the robot fights. He goes into his co-stars. He had an issue with the boots that were picked out by wardrobe since they didn’t help during the fight scenes.

Her Name is Athena (13:25) has actor Anne-Marie Johnson remember getting the part while making What’s Happening Now. She felt the script didn’t dumb down her character. She gets into the fight scenes and how the uniforms were heavy. She got a few bruises from the stunt fights. She was able to use the Italian she learned in college to save her life. There’s also talk about what fans say to her in person.

The Scale of Battle: David Allen and the FX of Robot Jox (26:35) gets into the work of stop motion animator David Allen by fellow visual effects artists Steve Burg, Yancy Calzeda, Paul Gentry and others. They show off the models that Allen worked to bring the fights to life. There’s more behind the scenes footage from Allen’s work on Empire Pictures.

Looking Back (10:24) an archival interview with actor Paul Koslo about playing Alexander. Koslo feels the movie was ahead of its time. He meets a lot of younger people who loved the film when they were growing up. He mentions meeting up with Stuart Gordon for a special screening of Robot Jox before the interview. It was the first time the film had been shown on a big screen since it had gone straight to video originally.

Original sales sheet is the front and the back handed out to sell the film in various territories. 

Original production notes are the 10 pages sent out to the press.

Theatrical trailer (1:25) shows off the giant fighting robots and the humans that control them. 

Salvaged From the Wreckage (8:19) includes models and behind the scenes stills courtesy of associate effects director Paul Gentry.

Image Galleries includes Behind the Scenes (9:14) and over 100 Posters and Stills.

Arrow Video presents Enter the Video Store: Empire Of Screams. Directed by Stuart Gordon, John Carl Buechler, Peter Manoogian and Charles Band. Starring: Jeffrey Byron, Richard Moll, Leslie Wing, Blackie Lawless, Stephen Lee, Guy Rolfe, Hilary Mason, Debrah Farentino, Brian Robbins, Yvonne De Carlo, Paul Satterfield, Claudia Chrisitan, Jack Carter, Jeffery Combs, Anne-Marie Johnson and Gary Graham. Boxset Contents: 5 movies on 5 Blu-rays. Rating: Rated R. Release Date: June 27, 2023.

Joe Corey is the writer and director of "Danger! Health Films" currently streaming on Night Flight and Amazon Prime. He's the author of "The Seven Secrets of Great Walmart People Greeters." This is the last how to get a job book you'll ever need. He was Associate Producer of the documentary "Moving Midway." He's worked as local crew on several reality shows including Candid Camera, American's Most Wanted, Extreme Makeover Home Edition and ESPN's Gaters. He's been featured on The Today Show and CBS's 48 Hours. Dom DeLuise once said, "Joe, you look like an axe murderer." He was in charge of research and programming at the Moving Image Archive.