#Leszek Burzynski

[brody75]

Trapped Alive (1988)

[mariocki]

Trapped Alive (Trapped, 1988)

"Billy, have you ever been down in a mine?"

"Would it turn me on?"

[lyselkatzfandomluvs]

Joe Mazzello in Wooly Boys - Leszek Burzynski, 2001 (7/8)

[moviesandmania]

Trapped Alive - USA, 1988

Trapped Alive – USA, 1988

‘There’s evil underground…’

Trapped Alive is a 1988 American horror feature film directed by Leszek Burzynski from a screenplay co-written with Julian Weaver (Demon Possessed; The Inheritor). Christopher Webster (Severed Ties; Mindwarp; Children of the Night) was the producer. The movie stars Jay Leggett, Cameron Mitchell, Sullivan Hester and Laura Kallison.

Plot:

One wintry night, friends Robin…

[brokehorrorfan]

Trapped Alive (also known as Trapped) will be released on Blu-ray on May 21 via Arrow Video. Justin Osbourn designed the new cover art; the original poster will be on the reverse side.

The 1988 cannibal horror film is directed by Leszek Burzynski and produced by Christopher Webster (Hellraiser, Heathers). Alex Kubik, Randolph Powell, Elizabeth Kent, and Cameron Mitchell star.

Trapped Alive has been newly restored in 2K from the original camera negative and features the original mono audio. Special features are listed below.

Special features:

Audio commentary with director Leszek Burzynski (new)

Audio commentary with special effects artist Hank Carlson and horror writer Josh Hadley (new)

Audio commentary with The Hysteria Continues podcast (new)

There’s Evil Underground - Making-of documentary with director Leszek Burzynski, cinematographer Nancy Schreiber, production manager Alexandra Reed, and actors Alex Kubik and Sullivan Hester (new)

Upper Michigan Tonight - 1988 television documentary on Windsor Lake Studios, featuring footage from behind the scenes of Trapped Alive and  interviews with director Leszek Burzynski, producer Christopher Webster, and production designer Brian Savegar

Leszek Burzynski: The Early Years - Interview with director Leszek Burzynski

Booklet featuring new writing by Zach Carlson (first pressing only)

One wintry night, pals Robin and Monica are making their way to a Christmas party when they’re carjacked by a gang of crooks recently escaped from the local penitentiary. With the two young women taken as hostages, things take an even darker turn when their vehicle plummets down an abandoned mine shaft, trapping them underground with the dangerous crooks - and a mutant cannibal.

[lyselkatzfandomluvs]

Joe Mazzello in Wooly Boys - Leszek Burzynski, 2001 (3/8)

For @madamsledge

[lyselkatzfandomluvs]

Joe Mazzello in Wooly Boys - Leszek Burzynski, 2001 (5/8)

[lyselkatzfandomluvs]

Joe Mazzello in Wooly Boys - Leszek Burzynski, 2001 (4/8)

@madamsledge 😊

[lyselkatzfandomluvs]

Joe Mazzello in Wooly boys - Leszek Burzynski, 2001. (2/8)

For @warmommy

[lyselkatzfandomluvs]

Joe Mazzello in Wooly boys - Leszek Burzynski, 2001. (1/8)

For @warmommy 😉

Random still screencaps while the gifsets are in the making.

[brokehorrorfan]

Blu-ray Review: Blood Harvest

Tiny Tim made a name for himself as a musician in the late '60s with his unusual, high falsetto voice and accompanying vibrato. While his success as a novelty act was short-lived, modern horror fans ought to be familiar with at least one of his songs, perhaps unknowingly; his haunting rendition of "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" plays during a memorable scene in Insidious.

As his fame continued to wane throughout the '80s, Tiny Tim tried his hand at acting. Of his few screen credits, his lone leading role came in 1987 with Blood Harvest. Tim headlines the low budget horror film as a mentally unstable clown that calls himself The Marvolous Mervo. There's something inherently creepy about Tim, who's rather physically imposing, before he even puts on the clown makeup; he possesses all of the makings of a memorable horror character.

The problem is that Blood Harvest is not a killer clown movie. It's a standard slasher, for the most part, but Mervo is curiously not the one slicing and dicing teens. Instead, the killer dons a boring nylon stocking over his face. The story is set up as something of a murder-mystery at first, wherein the viewer presumes the crazy clown is responsible for the string of deaths, but there's little mystery once the killer - who is clearly not Tiny Tim - is shown onscreen.

Filmed in Wisconsin, the regional horror offering works the farmland into the plot. It centers around Jill (Itonia Salchek), who returns home from college to the rural farming community in which she grew up, only to discover her house vandalized and her parents missing. Her only ally is her ex-boyfriend, Gary (Dean West), who's brother is the aforementioned Marvolous Mervo. Peter Krause (Six Feet Under) makes his film debut as Jill's current beau.

Blood Harvest is directed by Bill Rebane, best remembered for silly sci-fi/horror B-movies from decades prior, like The Giant Spider Invasion, The Capture of Bigfoot, and Monster a Go-Go. Blood Harvest would have greatly benefited from some of the camp that was so prevalent in his earlier work, but the script - written by Ben Benson and producer Leszek Burzynski - takes itself too seriously and becomes much too sleazy.

Tiny Tim's singing is smartly worked into the film. Among the character's idiosyncrasies, the unhinged Marvo often sings ditties in his signature falsetto. Tim also croons the end title song, although he does so in his lesser-known baritone voice. The special effects are quite good for the budget, with Robert Johnson (Poltergeist III) serving as one of the artists, but the body count is low. There are long stretches in which nothing happens, usually interrupted by uncomfortable depictions of sexual assault.

Blood Harvest is available as a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack with reversible artwork from Vinegar Syndrome. Originally released straight to video, it has been restored in 4K from the 16mm camera negative. The discs feature an audio commentary from Burzynski, which is dry but provides a few anecdotes about working with Tim; and 71 minutes of Tim at the Great American Circus in 1987, including performance footage, behind-the-scenes video, and a candid interview. A booklet featuring writing about Blood Harvest from Justin Martell and Alanna Wray McDonald's 2016 Tim biography, Eternal Troubadour: The Improbable Life of Tiny Tim, is included.

If utilized properly, Tiny Tim could have been the poor man's Joe Spinell, as Blood Harvest shares some DNA with Maniac. Adding the clown angle, his Mervo character also evokes John Wayne Gacy. Unfortunately, the film's lone intriguing aspect is squandered. Once his brief role as a red herring is complete, Mervo serves as little more than an incidental character. Blood Harvest is a sleazy, regional slasher oddity with a missed opportunity looming over its head.

Blood Harvest is available on Blu-ray/DVD via Vinegar Syndrome.

[brokehorrorfan]

Blood Harvest will be released as a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack on October 30. Orders placed directly from Vinegar Syndrome ($24.49) will receive an embossed slipcover designed by Earl Kessler Jr., limited to 1,500.

The 1987 slasher film is directed by Bill Rebane (Monster a-Go Go). Musician Tiny Tim stars alongside Dean West, Itonia Salchek, Lori Minneti, and Peter Krause.

Blood Harvest has been restored in 4K from its 16mm original camera negative. It features reversible cover art. Special features are below.

Special features:

Audio commentary with producer/co-writer Leszek Burzynski (new)

Tiny Tim in Niagara Falls (September 3, 1987)

Booklet featuring essay by Tiny Tim biographer Justin A. Martell

Jill has just returned home from college to the rural farm community where she grew up, only to discover that her parents have mysteriously vanished. Learning that her father, a banker, has become the local pariah for overseeing land foreclosures on local farmers, Jill quickly becomes the victim of a series of strange and increasingly depraved assaults. With only her childhood friend and former lover, Gary, and his mentally unstable brother, Mervo (Tiny Tim), willing to believe her, Jill begins to fear for her life. All the while, a stocking-masked killer is abducting, torturing, and brutally killing those closest to Jill…

[ryanmoody]

Trapped Alive.....Cameron Mitchell at his sleepiest.

Trapped Alive (1988)