Thanks to the good folks at Grindhouse Releasing, cannibals are on the loose this Halloween and cult film fanatics have another classic to add to their DVD collection.
On October 25th, Grindhouse will release the Collector’s Edition DVD of CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, a release that almost didn’t happen due to some major fiascos.
No less than eight different printers refused to handle the artwork for Grindhouse’s 25th Anniversary Collector’s Edition of CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST during the final stages of the project. The company encountered further resistance from numerous binderies who likewise turned down the job of putting together the elaborate DVD package due to the inner sleeve design, which features an image of a nude woman impaled on a stake.
The stonewalling by printers caused a nerve-wracking last-minute delay in Grindhouse’s production schedule, and ultimately cost the disc producers thousands of dollars in added expenses. “It was a real nightmare. We almost didn’t make our street date because of these problems,” says Murawski. “For a while, it seemed like nobody was going to take on the job. We had a similar problem years ago with our release of CANNIBAL FEROX, where we actually did make some changes in the artwork that we felt were appropriate. But we would never change our design to suit a printer’s sensibilities. We put too much hard work into the project to back down.”
The producers have faced many other obstacles bringing the DVD to market in recent months. A well-known film magazine refused to run an ad for CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, denying Grindhouse the opportunity to submit an alternate design; the same publication promptly killed a story on the movie after seeing the ad. Major retailers such as Blockbuster have passed on the DVD, citing content issues.
“With all the uncensored horror product in the marketplace, it is amazing that CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST is still a lightning rod for First Amendment issues decades after it was made,” says Grindhouse’s head of theatrical distribution David Szulkin, who served as Associate Producer of the DVD.
All 11,111 copies of the limited edition 2-disc set had to be hand-assembled, as the “offending” artwork was printed in a different facility than the rest of the DVD box. Based on the impressive advance orders, distributor Rykodisc predicts that the entire run will be sell out in record time.
CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST arrives in stores on October 25, 2005. “This is the mother of all DVDs, period,” says Ryko’s Jay Douglas, the first to view the finished product. “With CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, Grindhouse has raised the bar for everyone.”
For the film trailer and additional info, visit the Cannibal Holocaust website.
