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
Sporting one of cinema’s most varied filmographies, American born Joseph Losey is one of the few blacklisted success stories of McCarthy’s witch hunt in the 1950s, who rose to significant international acclaim after fleeing to the UK. It wasn’t exactly a smooth transition, wherein Losey directed several titles under a pseudonym for the protection of actors who were afraid to be punished for starring in a Losey production. But by the end of the 1950s, Losey began to hone a more pronounced style across a variety of genres.
Like many auteurs, Losey had a flair for tinkering with gutting the mechanics of expected formulas, and such is the case with his 1961 crime thriller The Criminal, which seems to be less interested in its narrative than the sociological implications of its protagonist in this particular milieu.…...
Like many auteurs, Losey had a flair for tinkering with gutting the mechanics of expected formulas, and such is the case with his 1961 crime thriller The Criminal, which seems to be less interested in its narrative than the sociological implications of its protagonist in this particular milieu.…...
- 3/24/2020
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Gangland London, 1960: Expatriate director Joseph Losey gives the Brit crime film a boost with a brutal gangster tale starring the ultra-tough Stanley Baker — and seemingly every up & coming male actor on the casting books. A committed thief returns to his craft the moment he’s freed from prison, but the emphasis is on the nasty betrayals and squeeze-plays of the criminal underworld, that conspire to foil Baker’s plans.
The Criminal
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1960 / B&w / 1:66 widescreen / 98 min. / Street Date February 18, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Stanley Baker, Sam Wanamaker, Grégoire Aslan, Margit Saad, Jill Bennett, Rupert Davies, Laurence Naismith, John Van Eyssen, Noel Willman, Kenneth Warren, Patrick Magee, Kenneth Cope, Patrick Wymark, Paul Stassino, Tom Bell, Neil McCarthy, Nigel Green, Tom Gerard, Edward Judd.
Cinematography: Robert Krasker
Film Editor: Reginald Mills
Original Music: John Dankworth
Written by Alun Owen and Jimmy Sangster
Produced by Jack Greenwood...
The Criminal
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1960 / B&w / 1:66 widescreen / 98 min. / Street Date February 18, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Stanley Baker, Sam Wanamaker, Grégoire Aslan, Margit Saad, Jill Bennett, Rupert Davies, Laurence Naismith, John Van Eyssen, Noel Willman, Kenneth Warren, Patrick Magee, Kenneth Cope, Patrick Wymark, Paul Stassino, Tom Bell, Neil McCarthy, Nigel Green, Tom Gerard, Edward Judd.
Cinematography: Robert Krasker
Film Editor: Reginald Mills
Original Music: John Dankworth
Written by Alun Owen and Jimmy Sangster
Produced by Jack Greenwood...
- 2/8/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
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