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THE MUTILATOR

Release Date: 28th September 2015
Format: Dual Format Blu-ray & DVD
Starring: Matt Mitler, Ruth Martinez, Bill Hitchcock
Directed by: Buddy Cooper

BY SWORD. BY PICK. BY AXE. BYE BYE.

Although the slasher film was in decline by the mid-1980s, there were still some grisly delights to be had… and they don’t come much grislier than writer-director Buddy Cooper’s sickening stalk-and-slash classic The Mutilator!

When Ed receives a message from his father asking him to go and lock up the family’s beach condo for the winter, it seems like the perfect excuse for an alcohol-fuelled few days away with his friends. After all, his dad has forgiven him for accidentally blowing mom away with a shotgun several years ago… hasn’t he? But no sooner are the teens on the island than they find themselves stalked by a figure with an axe (and a hook, and an onboard motor) to grind…

Originally entitled Fall Break (watch out for the incongruous theme song of the same name!), The Mutilator has earned a reputation amongst horror fans as one of the ‘holy grails’ of 80s splatter mayhem due to its highly inventive (and not to say, decidedly gruesome) kill sequences, courtesy of FX wizard Mark Shostrom (Videodrome, Evil Dead II). Finally making its long-awaited bow in High-Definition, The Mutilator has returned to terrorise a whole new generation of horror fans!

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:

• Brand new 2K restoration from original vault materials of the R-rated and Unrated versions of the film
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations
• Original mono audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray)
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Brand new interviews with cast and crew
• The Mutilator locations visit
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly-commissioned artwork to be revealed
• Fully-illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film alongside archive articles from Fangoria magazine
• PLUS MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED!

DETAILS:

Region: Free
Rating: TBC
Cat No: FCD1149
Duration: TBC
Language: English
Subtitles: English SDH
Aspect Ratio: TBC
Audio: TBC
Discs: 2
Colour[/quote]

One of the hardest of the 80s slasher films to track down in decent quality, nevermind uncut. Great job, Arrow!

Also, I hesitate to say it, but I'm almost positive this was a title Code Red claimed to have in the works

I'm almost positive this was a title Code Red claimed to have in the works

A tale apparently hangs there. From what I've gleaned from Facebook, Bill @ Code Red deliberately sat on the title after an argument with the director, yet another one of his moronic, self-destructive acts. In a comments thread mentioning this, Arrow cheerily noted that an illuminating commentary with the director had been recorded yesterday. I'm sure I've missed nuances of the event, but given it's Bill I'm referring to how nuanced can the reality be? The man is a nightmare cartoon.

Well, after the long wait and its near impossible to find status before the Arrow release, I can weigh in that this is... a standard-issue, wholly representative 80s slasher, unremarkable in every way but a good look at the median experience of the genre (far more than the somewhat more interesting but outlying Blood Rage). I guess that's a recommendation?

I watched it last week and I enjoyed it a lot more than Blood Rage, mostly because I found the actors' performances in Blood Rage god-awful, while the ones in The Mutilator were at least average.

tenia wrote:I watched it last week and I enjoyed it a lot more than Blood Rage, mostly because I found the actors' performances in Blood Rage god-awful, while the ones in The Mutilator were at least average.

I love my cheese fests but Blood Rage was totally lacking in the charm that many of this type of film has IMO, none of the characters/actors had any sort of redeeming quality's even those who were slightly better known to the wider audience, I mean what on earth was Louise Lasser's conversation with the phone operator about..

If domino's assessment is correct, then I'm glad I've never delved deep into 80s slasher films, because this is as bad a film as I've ever seen. And I'm afraid my acting spectrograph isn't subtle enough to detect performances that are worse than the ones here!

Actually, I found it to be better than Blood Rage, which says a lot and not so much at the same time.
If what I've read is correct, you might want to stay far far away from Satan's Blade.

I just love the idea that zedz seems to have veered from watching A Brighter Summer Day to this!

I wish I lived in a world in which this movie was even remotely the worst-acted film I'd ever seen. I def liked it more than A Brighter Summer Day