cllangkjaer

The Alchemist is a nice gem from back in the day. Directed by Charles Band in 1981 under the pseudonym "James Amante" This was just before he founded the company Empire Pictures. If memory serves me right, Empire was established then he was planning to make the movie Trancers, which he also directed and meant to be the self video distribution company for Charlie's direct to video movies. Sort of, Let's cut out the middleman. Due to the huge success of Trancers, the Empire name became the main label for future releases. The Alchemist was not released until 1986 in USA, under the Lightning Video label, this was two years after its European release. There might have been an earlier release under the Empire banner, but I have never come a cross one. Richard Band did the score to the movie and this was made back to back with the score to The House on sorority row. A CD is available with the music for both movies.

Ghost Town is a great movie that I fell fortune to have seen, because as I've heard, it was very close not to see the light of day. Ghost Town was made close to the collapse of Empire Pictures in 1988/89. At this time, Empire "an Italian/American based company" was in production with "Robot Jox" there must ambitious production jet. During the late 1980's, a sudden drop in economy forced the company into bankruptcy, leaving productions like Ghost town, Robot Jox, Catacombs and the infamous Puls Pounders stranded. The project must have been blessed with good fortune, because Ghost Town finished post-production, though no original movie score was made. Instead music from other Empire movies like, Crawlspace, Ghoulies II and From Beyond was used and the finished film was picked up by New World Pictures and released on VHS and Laserdisc. Rumour also has it, that Richard Governor walked of the set in anger toward the end of the shoot, due to difference of opinion, leaving DP Mac Ahlberg and the assistant director to finish the picture. I assume it must have been a terrible experience for him, because as far as I know, Mr. Governor never worked in the movie business again. I would like to point out, that I think he did good job and in my opinion there is no other movie quit like it.

In my opinion Dead Man's Hand is mostly made for the younger audience that are just getting started in the Horror genre. I have been following Director Charles Band since his Empire and ealier Full Moon days and growing up watching movies like Trancers and Dolls which are filled with charm in my opinion, then you know of the quality he can produce. But like I started out, this movie and the once he have directed and produced since 2000 are more or less made for a younger and newer audience. I'm sure I can follow his trail of thoughts, because as a director and producer, I could imagine you really needs to keep up with what is hot and what people what to see. It is a business after all. These Movies really need to be seen in the light that Full Moon is not as big as they were back in the day – due to the 2nd collapse of he's company in the late 90's these productions are made for under half of what the budget where on the pictures he made doing he's collaboration with Paramount Pictures. After reading a couple of reviews on Dead Man's Hand and a few of the movies Charlie has done lately. I think it is a shame that people keep comparing Full Moon today to what Full Moon use to be, Instead of looking at Charlies company in the light of today. A consistent felling all over is, that the films he makes today are to short. Dead Man's Hand has a 75 min running time. If you take a look, at his most loved films, like Dolls and Trancers, they not much longer than this. Dolls is a 77 min feature. Though I do agree that they are short, I still think that they work marvoulsly. I do think the idea of a haunted Casino is a really good idea and Dead Man's Hand does have some of the better special efx. compared to the movies, Full Moon has done lately. The story line is a little thin, but hey this is a horror movie right? Still it is an interesting little movie and I think Charlie managed to make it look well. About the DVD, it is nice to see that Charlie is back shooting on 35mm and the transfer is done nice and clean. The stereo sound is done well and set a good mood for jet another late night of horror. The DVD also includes a nice behind the scenes program and a trailer for the upcoming Decadent Evil II.