I was wandering, what happened to this movie, and has anybody seen it ?
It was apparently produced in 1974, but only releeased, according to some sources, in January 1977. Co-directed by no less than three directors, Edward Collins, Peter S. Traynor and Larry Spiegel, it was about a little town whose residents are virtual monsters, wantonly killing to help Dr. Shagetz (Dean Jagger) in his experiments to keep them all eternally young. The movie, as originally released, was a wonderful niche of old characters actors : co-starring with Jagger were James Keach, Robert Walker Jr., Lurene Tuttle, Regis Toomey and Dabbs Greer.
Unfortunately, it was never seen by the majority of horror films fans, as it disappeared very soon from the screen, and in 1984 re-surfaced in an ignomignious "new version", padded with sequences shot by Mardi Rustam and starring no-talents like Lynda Wiesmeier, Jillian Kessner, etc. The new scenes filmed by Rustam also included a pair of sadistic garage mechanics, remarkably similar to two characters who appear in the producer's equally awful "Evils of the Night". As you can imagine the 1984 scenes are badly inserted in the 1974 footage and the new characters never meet the old ones. This new version, called EVIL TOWN, is unfortunately the only one presently available.
I'm not arguing that the original version was a better movie, or simply a good movie. I just think that movies must be seen exactly as they were made, and this kind of patchwork is repulsive. So - the question is: has anybody ever seen the original movie, or do you know where I could get it ?
It was apparently produced in 1974, but only releeased, according to some sources, in January 1977. Co-directed by no less than three directors, Edward Collins, Peter S. Traynor and Larry Spiegel, it was about a little town whose residents are virtual monsters, wantonly killing to help Dr. Shagetz (Dean Jagger) in his experiments to keep them all eternally young. The movie, as originally released, was a wonderful niche of old characters actors : co-starring with Jagger were James Keach, Robert Walker Jr., Lurene Tuttle, Regis Toomey and Dabbs Greer.
Unfortunately, it was never seen by the majority of horror films fans, as it disappeared very soon from the screen, and in 1984 re-surfaced in an ignomignious "new version", padded with sequences shot by Mardi Rustam and starring no-talents like Lynda Wiesmeier, Jillian Kessner, etc. The new scenes filmed by Rustam also included a pair of sadistic garage mechanics, remarkably similar to two characters who appear in the producer's equally awful "Evils of the Night". As you can imagine the 1984 scenes are badly inserted in the 1974 footage and the new characters never meet the old ones. This new version, called EVIL TOWN, is unfortunately the only one presently available.
I'm not arguing that the original version was a better movie, or simply a good movie. I just think that movies must be seen exactly as they were made, and this kind of patchwork is repulsive. So - the question is: has anybody ever seen the original movie, or do you know where I could get it ?
