{"id":11737,"date":"2015-07-03T02:50:25","date_gmt":"2015-07-03T06:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=11737"},"modified":"2015-07-03T02:50:25","modified_gmt":"2015-07-03T06:50:25","slug":"dvd-spine-1986","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=11737","title":{"rendered":"DVD: Spine (1986)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Spine1986_s\"<\/a>Film<\/strong>: Weak<\/p>\n

Transfer<\/strong>: \u00a0Very Good<\/p>\n

Extras<\/strong>: Very Good<\/p>\n

Label:\u00a0<\/strong>Massacre Video<\/a><\/p>\n

Region:<\/strong>\u00a00 (NTSC)<\/p>\n

Released:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0April 14, 2015<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong>\u00a0 Slasher \/ Fetish \/ SOV<\/p>\n

Synopsis:<\/strong>\u00a0A serial killer abducts, strangles, stabs and removes the spines of pretty nurses.<\/p>\n

Special Features:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Audio Commentary with co-director Justin Simmonds, actor R. Eric Huxley, and home video producers Louis C. Justin and Joe Rubin \/ Interview with co-director Justin Simmonds (32:19) \/ Interview with actor R. Eric Huxley (10:44) \/ Stills Gallery (2:00) with music cues \/ Reversible sleeve art.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Review:<\/strong><\/p>\n

As the story goes, two associates with a background in amateur fetish videos decided to take a gamble and enter the feature film world by concocting a slasher film shot on video (SOV), using broadcast ENG cameras to keep their project within a $20,000 budget.<\/p>\n

Filmed in 1984,\u00a0Spine<\/b>\u00a0ultimately required a set of reshoots when co-director \/ cinematographer \/ producer Justin Simmonds realized the final edit clocked in at 45 mins., far short of the desired 70 mins. that was more or less mandatory for feature film consideration. Co-director John Howard\u2019s script, reportedly a riff on Brian DePalma\u2019s\u00a0Dressed to Kill<\/b>\u00a0(1980), needed more material, so a year later Simmonds wrote and shot a detective storyline that was interpolated into the existing lunatic-on-the-loose edit.<\/p>\n

Most of that material was filmed at a commercial complex nearing completion and owned by the same wealthy figure who generously loaned out his snazzy house where the two heroines live and become quite fettered.<\/p>\n

Howard\u2019s story is a little loose and loopy \u2013 serial killer Lawrence Ashton (R. Eric Huxley) is snatching, tying up, stabbing, and extracting spines of nurses due to a caregiver named Linda, responsible for his mother\u2019s death \u2013 whereas Simmond\u2019s new material has two detectives sort of vying for power as they investigate the crimes that eventually lead them to the heroines (Janus Blyth, Lise Romanoff).<\/p>\n

While the film was supposed to have boobery and gore, the actresses talked the filmmakers down from exposing unnecessary skin, and the filmmakers may well have been intimidated by the\u00a0Meese Commission<\/a>\u00a0which, at the time, was coming down hard on the adult and home video industry for making movies that had the potential to turn kiddies and adults alike into a mass of lethal perverts \u2013 a paranoid witch hunt helmed by the government akin to Britain\u2019s insane\u00a0Video Nasties<\/a>\u00a0paranoia.<\/p>\n

End result in\u00a0Spine<\/b>: a slight flash of skin, and some decent blood makeup, but no actual scene where a spine is removed from a living or dead bodkin. The lack of gore isn\u2019t the film\u2019s biggest issue when the story and characters are as compelling as a standard porn production. With a tight schedule and director Howard going \u2018method\u2019 during the first stages of filming, a few crucial scenes were never filmed, robbing the ending of its logic.<\/p>\n

Even odder is the sudden recasting of a detective when an argument had him quit during shooting. A crewman was drafted to assume the role because he too possessed a beard \u2013 a recasting coup and unexpected homage to\u00a0Plan 9 from Outer Space<\/b>\u00a0(1958), in which the tall, crew-cut psychiatrist of director Ed Wood. Jr., was hired to replace short, very old (and very dead) Bela Lugosi.<\/p>\n

Spine<\/b>\u00a0isn\u2019t inept, but it doesn\u2019t live up to its potential in being anything more than a fairly amateurish poke at the slasher genre with a cast of unknowns or associates from the directors\u2019 \u201ctie-up\u201d films, although the casting of horror actress Blyth (The Hills Have Eyes Part II<\/b>) was a genuine coup, giving the little film some marquee value.<\/p>\n

Co-director Howard crafted the striking box art campaign and ad copy (\u201cHe\u2019s Looking for Linda\u2026 And that could be Anybody\u201d), and ultimately found distribution for\u00a0Spine\u00a0<\/b>with an adult company called 4-Play Video who seemed interested in starting a secondary line featuring horror films. The directors were also smart in cutting their losses by packing the film with fetish content that could be highlighted in an alternate edit for the specialty adult market, should the movie tank on VHS.<\/p>\n

Although the 72 minute film was distributed in 1986, Simmonds and Howard\u2019s effort to move from moonlighting filmmakers to the feature film world didn\u2019t pan out when 4-Play was sold to another adult company, and efforts to get a second slasher fell apart, which is kind of a shame given there\u2019s a weird tone to their seminal foray into more commercial home video. Some of the film\u2019s content is a bit too risqu\u00e9 for even indie mainstream labels – Blyth\u2019s Carrie Lonegan is ultimately assaulted and hacked up in a scene that\u2019s visual tepid but tonally dark – but that scene is also buffered by pretty dreadful dialogue and weak performances, neutering its shock value.<\/p>\n

For some there is genuine allure in watching mistakes and lo-fi production values shot on good old \u00be\u201d U-Matic videotape using a pair of professional Ikegami cameras. This is undoubtedly a fully qualified entry in the SOV genre, and the film\u2019s original big box tape edition, typical of adult and, er, Disney video releases, is apparently a rare commodity.<\/p>\n

The film\u2019s first DVD release was a supposedly grey market edition via Substance, and Massacre Video\u2019s DVD marks\u00a0Spine<\/b>\u2019s first legit release with contextual extras that include a steady commentary track with co-director Simmonds and co-star Huxley. The pair cover every aspect of the film\u2019s lifespan, and although most of the questions by Massacre Video\u2019s Louis C. Justin and Vinegar Syndrome\u2019s Joe Rubin are barely miked, it\u2019s a lively amusing revisitation of what was undoubtedly an adventure for the participants.<\/p>\n

Simmonds and Huxley also appear in separate on-camera interviews, with the former elaborating a bit more on his moonlighting gig as fetish filmmaker. (Simmonds reportedly shot 8 of 10 productions manned by Howard. Most of the shorts were filmed on weekends while Simmonds kept his day job at a computer company, which appears as a location in the film\u2019s detective sequences.)<\/p>\n

Massacre’s video source is okay \u2013 stills from the Substance DVD<\/a> infer a sharper picture, perhaps due to some edge enhancement \u2013 but their transfer is a little softer, and has slight colour hazing typical of S-VHS and U-Matic recordings. The first few seconds of the source tape has some damage but the issues never recur. The audio is fine, and as much as Simmonds loathed Don Chilcott\u2019s synth score, it kind of works for the film, adding a grungy feel to the already lo-fi production.<\/p>\n

There aren\u2019t many details on life after\u00a0Spine<\/b>\u00a0for the cast & crew, although Howard did direct around 5 shorts between 1986-1987, most co-starring Huxley. Co-stars Romanoff went into effects work, producing, and publicity, whereas Blyth –\u00a0Drive In Massacre\u00a0<\/b>(1977),\u00a0Eaten Alive<\/b>\u00a0(1977),\u00a0The Incredible Melting Man<\/b>\u00a0(1977),\u00a0Eaten Alive<\/b>\u00a0(1977),\u00a0The Hills Have Eyes Part II\u00a0<\/b>(1984)\u00a0–<\/b>\u00a0appeared in TV shows before apparently retiring after the low-budget Gil Gerard (TV\u2019s\u00a0Buck Rogers<\/b>) actioner\u00a0Soldier\u2019s Fortune<\/b>\u00a0(1991).<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2015 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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External References:<\/strong>
\nEditor’s Blog<\/a> — IMDB<\/a>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nVendor Search Links:<\/strong>
\nAmazon.ca<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the story goes, two associates with a background in amateur fetish videos decided to take a gamble and enter the feature film world by concocting a slasher film shot on video (SOV), using broadcast ENG cameras to keep their project within a $20,000 budget…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[3755,3754,3750,3751,3753,3752,3749],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-33j","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11737"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11737"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11747,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11737\/revisions\/11747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}