Terry Levene, the schlock showman who as the head of Aquarius Releasing was behind such films as Bruce Lee Fights Back From the Grave and Doctor Butcher, Medical Deviate, has died. He was 90.
Levene died Jan. 13 surrounded by his family in Englewood, New Jersey, Severin Films executive Josh Johnson announced.
Operating out of an office above the Selwyn Theatre on West 42nd Street in New York, Levene creatively marketed low-budget American features including Isaac Hayes: Black Moses of Soul (1973) and Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984).
For grindhouses and drive-ins, the onetime amateur boxer rebranded Lucio Fulci’s supernatural horror film The Beyond (1981) as Seven Doors of Death (1985) and Umberto Lenzi’s Italian shocker Cannibal Ferox (1981) as Make Them Die Slowly (1983), promoting the gory latter as “The Most Violent Film Ever! Banned in 31 Countries!”
Aquarius passed out barf bags to those paying to see Doctor Butcher, Medical Deviate (1983), which was a re-edited...
Levene died Jan. 13 surrounded by his family in Englewood, New Jersey, Severin Films executive Josh Johnson announced.
Operating out of an office above the Selwyn Theatre on West 42nd Street in New York, Levene creatively marketed low-budget American features including Isaac Hayes: Black Moses of Soul (1973) and Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984).
For grindhouses and drive-ins, the onetime amateur boxer rebranded Lucio Fulci’s supernatural horror film The Beyond (1981) as Seven Doors of Death (1985) and Umberto Lenzi’s Italian shocker Cannibal Ferox (1981) as Make Them Die Slowly (1983), promoting the gory latter as “The Most Violent Film Ever! Banned in 31 Countries!”
Aquarius passed out barf bags to those paying to see Doctor Butcher, Medical Deviate (1983), which was a re-edited...
- 2/12/2024
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Hello, dear readers! August 10th looks to be something of a quiet day for horror and sci-fi home media releases, but one of this writer’s favorite films of 2021 is arriving on Blu-ray and DVD this week—My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To—so that makes me incredibly happy. Cult genre fans will be excited about the opportunity to add The Frenchman’s Garden and Jess Franco’s Angel of Death to their personal media collections, and if you missed it in theaters, The House Next Door: Meet the Blacks 2 is headed home on Blu and DVD this Tuesday as well.
Other releases for August 10th include re-releases for Friday the 13th (1980), The Haunting (1999), Disintegration, Day of the Reaper, Prison of the Psychotic Damned, and Dark Stories.
The Frenchman’s Garden
"The Frenchman" was what locals called the man who ran the bar and restaurant in the...
Other releases for August 10th include re-releases for Friday the 13th (1980), The Haunting (1999), Disintegration, Day of the Reaper, Prison of the Psychotic Damned, and Dark Stories.
The Frenchman’s Garden
"The Frenchman" was what locals called the man who ran the bar and restaurant in the...
- 8/10/2021
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
aka Frauen Ohne Unschuld
Stars: Lina Romay, Nanda Van Bergen, Michael Maien, Esther Studer, Kurt Meinicke, Brigitte Meyer, Monica Swinn, Peggy Markoff, Peter Baumgartner, Dagmar Bürger | Written by Erwin C. Dietrich, Jesús Franco | Directed by Jess Franco
Lina Romay (Downtown, Barbed Wire Dolls) stars as Margarita, a young woman who is discovered by police naked amongst a scene of bloody carnage. Unable to speak due to the trauma, she is sent to a nearby all women asylum. Unfortunately for her, the staff aren’t exactly too interested in her well being or recovery. When they aren’t trying to seduce Margarita or the other patients, they’re trying to figure out Margarita’s dark secret. You see, Margarita was involved in what she believed to be a harmless love triangle with a well to do couple. Unbeknownst to her, they were using her for more than just her looks, they...
Stars: Lina Romay, Nanda Van Bergen, Michael Maien, Esther Studer, Kurt Meinicke, Brigitte Meyer, Monica Swinn, Peggy Markoff, Peter Baumgartner, Dagmar Bürger | Written by Erwin C. Dietrich, Jesús Franco | Directed by Jess Franco
Lina Romay (Downtown, Barbed Wire Dolls) stars as Margarita, a young woman who is discovered by police naked amongst a scene of bloody carnage. Unable to speak due to the trauma, she is sent to a nearby all women asylum. Unfortunately for her, the staff aren’t exactly too interested in her well being or recovery. When they aren’t trying to seduce Margarita or the other patients, they’re trying to figure out Margarita’s dark secret. You see, Margarita was involved in what she believed to be a harmless love triangle with a well to do couple. Unbeknownst to her, they were using her for more than just her looks, they...
- 2/9/2015
- by Mondo Squallido
- Nerdly
Jess Franco (99 Women, Vampyros Lesbos) stars as Al Pereia, a private detective who is down on his luck and waiting for that next big job. Thankfully for him, he gets a job from a glamorous young woman by the name of Cynthia, played by the ever lovely Lina Romay (Female Vampire, Lorna the Exorcist). She wants him to photograph her husband Carlos Rivas, a nightclub owner played by Erik Falk (Barbed Wire Dolls) who has an eye for the ladies. Good old Al accepts and begins his newest assignment. Unfortunately, things get a little complicated when Carlos is found dead. Al becomes the prime suspect and on his quest to clear his name, discovers that Cynthia isn’t actually the wife of Carlos. It turns out that she and her lover Lola played by Martine Stedil (Women Behind Bars) are working for Carlos’s real wife Olga, played by Monica Swinn...
- 10/7/2014
- by Mondo Squallido
- Nerdly
There are women in prison movies and then there’s Barbed Wire Dolls aka Frauengefangnis from Jess Franco. For most of the move you’re not entirely sure if there is a narrative going on save for the subtle relationship building activities of a group of imprisoned women who feel the need to walk around naked, pantless or, if clothed at all, still showing their entire body somehow. Most women in prison films seem to have common elements and Barbed Wire Dolls clearly shares those elements, but there is also a unique element to this particular entry. It is rather gorgeous. It’s pretty prison. Not necessarily clean, but it is filled with stunning beauties who are arranged in cells that are perfect for physical education.
Synopsis from Ascot Elite:
Franco exploitation at it’s finest!! Sadistic torture and perversion are only a small taste of what poor Maria (Lina Romay...
Synopsis from Ascot Elite:
Franco exploitation at it’s finest!! Sadistic torture and perversion are only a small taste of what poor Maria (Lina Romay...
- 6/8/2014
- by Jimmy Terror
- The Liberal Dead
Jess Franco has tackled many of the classic subgenres and stories especially during the mid-70’s while he always put his own unique sexually explicit, tongue dropping sense of seduction on each movie he makes, he seems to rely on classic tales and great stories of historical fiction with a hint of the fantastic. Never is this truer than in Jack the Ripper from 1976 featuring Klaus Kinski. Franco invents true evil in the form of a well meaning bad guy with a very dark side in his interpretation of this classic White Chapel bound tale. While nobody knows how Jack was for sure that only helps Franco to create his own dark world. It’s got prostitutes in various stages of murder, dismember and clothing as well as a few stragglers along the way who fall victims to homicides of necessity. Ascot Elite offers us the chance to enjoy Jack the Ripper...
- 6/7/2014
- by Jimmy Terror
- The Liberal Dead
Spanish director dies following a stroke: Best known for his nearly two hundred underground, "exploitation" films "I think I was born because my father and my mother had sex ... ." Nope, that has nothing to do with the anti-censorship lectured delivered by Oz the Great and Powerful and Interior. Leather Bar's James Franco online. The words above were uttered by another Franco, a Spaniard. No, not the foaming-at-the-mouth right-wing military ruler Francisco Franco, but multitasking filmmaker Jesús Franco, aka Jess Franco aka dozens of other aliases, including those in honor of jazz performers Clifford Brown and James P. Johnson. His oeuvre included about 200 films, among them The White Slave, The Sexual History of O, Macumba Sexual, , Emmanuelle Exposed, Vampyros Lesbos, The Mistresses of Dr. Jekyll, and White Cannibal Queen. The director died today in Malaga, a city in southern Spain, after suffering a stroke. According to reports, he had never truly...
- 4/3/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Editors Note: Welcome to the first of instalment of Mondo Squallido, which is a fantastic series of sleazy film reviews from a great YouTuber, and new member of the Blogomatic3000 team, called Pete (aka Mattei of the Dead – which Btw is a fantastic nickname!). You can check out more of Pete’s videos at: http://www.youtube.com/MatteioftheDead
So my fellow sleazeballs, we finally get Mondo Squallido rolling, in all it’s sleazy, scuzzy glory. I figured for the first episode I would ease it in and just slowly titillate and tease your senses of what you can expect from the series…. it was either this or a Japanese girl being taken by a dog with a strapon…. yeah…. Anyways!
This episode we look at a film by one of the most prolific and notorious directors, Jess Franco (Barbed Wire Dolls, Venus In Furs, Succubus) who will probably appear...
So my fellow sleazeballs, we finally get Mondo Squallido rolling, in all it’s sleazy, scuzzy glory. I figured for the first episode I would ease it in and just slowly titillate and tease your senses of what you can expect from the series…. it was either this or a Japanese girl being taken by a dog with a strapon…. yeah…. Anyways!
This episode we look at a film by one of the most prolific and notorious directors, Jess Franco (Barbed Wire Dolls, Venus In Furs, Succubus) who will probably appear...
- 4/13/2012
- by Guest
- Nerdly
I first discovered the captivating allure of Lina Romay 30 years ago in the early days of VHS when I rented a tape called The Loves Of Irena on the old Private Screenings label. It was Spanish director Jess Franco’s erotic 1973 twist on the vampire legend also known as (among other titles) Female Vampire, The Bare Breasted Countess, and Erotikill. Romay spends most of her screen time almost completely nude, strolling about in the fog wearing nothing but a cape and big wide black boots and I was immediately smitten. I sought out more films with the actress and found out she was Franco’s common-law wife and would perform in over 100 films from the prolific cult director including such gems as Barbed Wire Dolls, Jack The Ripper, and Wanda The Wicked Warden (with Dyanne Thorne, it was later retitled and sold as an Ilsa sequel). Romay and Franco had...
- 2/24/2012
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Actress Lina Romay, Jess Franco's life partner and muse, who enlivened many of the Spanish director's exploitation films -- including Female Vampire, a.k.a. The Bare Breasted Countess (pictured above), and Barbed Wire Dolls -- with her particular brand of sensuality, has passed away at the age of 57. Details after the jump. According to the Alt Film Guide, Romay "died of cancer on February 15. She was 57... Born Rosa María Almirall Martínez in Barcelona on June 25, 1954, Romay began her film career while in her late teens. The source for her artistic name was another Lina Romay, a singer with Xavier Cugat's band who had featured roles in movies such as Love Laughs at Andy Hardy and Joe Palooka...
- 2/24/2012
- FEARnet
Well, three weeks into January and the DVD and Blu-ray releases are heating up, with some of last summers biggest movies finally hitting the home formats, and some classic re-releases… Here’s the weeks highlights:
Grown Ups (DVD & Blu-ray)
In the tradition of The Big Chill, five childhood friends (Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade and Rob Schneider) reunite after 30 years to attend the funeral of their beloved youth basketball coach over the Fourth of July weekend. They all stay at the late coach’s lake house with their families in tow. Comedy ensues as they relive old times, tease each other, and try to show their kids how to have fun the old fashion way. The hilarious reunion shows them not only how different their lives have become, but how much they still have in common.
The Switch (DVD & Blu-ray)
Seven years after the birth of his son,...
Grown Ups (DVD & Blu-ray)
In the tradition of The Big Chill, five childhood friends (Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade and Rob Schneider) reunite after 30 years to attend the funeral of their beloved youth basketball coach over the Fourth of July weekend. They all stay at the late coach’s lake house with their families in tow. Comedy ensues as they relive old times, tease each other, and try to show their kids how to have fun the old fashion way. The hilarious reunion shows them not only how different their lives have become, but how much they still have in common.
The Switch (DVD & Blu-ray)
Seven years after the birth of his son,...
- 1/17/2011
- by Phil
- Nerdly
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