Last House on Dead End Street DVD?

[Latte Thunder]

Was thinking about this movie the other day and remembered Roger Watkins posting here briefly. I started looking for a DVD copy of the movie but there seems to be a copy by a company called Barrel, but I've seen Watkins pan that version of the disc and explicitly tell people not to buy it.

Is there another version available and how "cut" is this version?

[shawn]

shit... The disc is amazing. Roger is an idiot, and he is lucky someone bothered to polish his turd. No one else would have done the bang up job that Barrel did for such a low rent toilet bowl scum of a movie. Buy the disc its uncut and an amazing release for a less-than-amazing film directed by someone that should have stayed on drugs.

[Latte Thunder]

I ordered it not long after I posted this. I've always wanted to see it, so I should stop fucking around.

[Chris Slack]

Yeah, it's a killer disk, I got mine when it first came out. Watkins is pissed because Barrel is supposedly exporting it outside the US when they only had US rights.

[Latte Thunder]

So is it a good movie? I know very little about it, just what I read in Killing For Culture.

[shawn]

Yeah, it's a killer disk, I got mine when it first came out. Watkins is pissed because Barrel is supposedly exporting it outside the US when they only had US rights.

What Watkins can't seem to grasp is that if Barrel wholesales the disc to, lets say Diabolik DVD for example, then there is no way to stop Diabolik from selling it overseas. This is out of Barrel's control. It happens every day with every foreign and domestic release. I buy over seas dvd's every month and none of them are supposed to be sold in the US. It happens, its not Barrel's fault, and Watkins is clueless. Just because Watkins sees the DVD's are being sold in Europe it doesn't mean that Barrel is behind it. The guys at Barrel are a couple of cool fans. They are honest and trustworthy and did a bang up job on the Dead End Street release. They do not deserve the harassment that Watkins has been dishing out. Shit, the packaging is better than the fucking movie.

[Chris Slack]

What Watkins can't seem to grasp is that if Barrel wholesales the disc to, lets say Diabolik DVD for example, then there is no way to stop Diabolik from selling it overseas. This is out of Barrel's control. It happens every day with every foreign and domestic release. I buy over seas dvd's every month and none of them are supposed to be sold in the US. It happens, its not Barrel's fault, and Watkins is clueless. Just because Watkins sees the DVD's are being sold in Europe it doesn't mean that Barrel is behind it. The guys at Barrel are a couple of cool fans. They are honest and trustworthy and did a bang up job on the Dead End Street release. They do not deserve the harassment that Watkins has been dishing out. Shit, the packaging is better than the fucking movie.

That's why I said supposedly. It is a bogus situation.

[shawn]

VanBebber started the same shit with Don May when here heard the Dead Beat DVD was available in Europe. Same situation. Clueless.

[Chris Slack]

So is it a good movie? I know very little about it, just what I read in Killing For Culture.

Good might be a little generous of a term. Some parts tend to drag but the more brutal sequences make the ride worthwhile, it's a very realistic and fucked up film. If you've ever done acid or other hallucinogens you'll appreciate it more than if you have not Regardless I think it's a must own for anyone into violent low-budget cinema.

[DylanDog]

I seem to remember thinking that long stretches of it were quite boring but it did have it's pay off moments and an overall sleazy tone. When I read that there was a longer cut, I was thinking that the film should be shorter, not longer. Ok, but not one that I would pay any serious money for.

But the real question for me is....is Barrel still gonna be releasing Der Todesking???

[Kimberly]

So is it a good movie? I know very little about it, just what I read in Killing For Culture.

I think this movie is crap...

I've tried to watch it so many times... only to turn it off... I just can't seem to make it thru it... PU!!

[MrFulci]

This isn't a great film, though it has a few moments which explain it's reputation. It is a bit boring, the only scenes in this movie I recall pretty clearly involve someone being sliced up outside and being filmed, and a scene involving someone tied to a table being sliced up. The main character and the voice overs didn't do much for me.

Chris, about drugs and this movie, I doubt it would make much difference unless it allowed a person to tune out for a while. I've had that happen when I watched The Shining. There was a big jump from the meeting at the hotel, to the scene in the bar where the drink is spilled, then the very end where a picture on the wall is shown. Though, similar jumps in time could add to Last House on Dead-End Street, to suddenly have the movie over.

A moviie I recall as being good eye candy while bent is Shockwaves. The first time I saw this movie I was somewhere else. I recall being not terribly entertained, but I couldn't recall where the zombies came from. I must have tuned out the dialogue that explained them.

Psychadelic drugs and movies don't mesh too well with me, my mind tends to keep me pretty busy. A lto fot he times I'd rather being moving around than stationary.

[Latte Thunder]

I got my copy today and promptly popped it in after work. What everyone has said here is pretty accurate. A lot of slow parts but the fucked up scenes really work.

I love the overall look of the movie. Everything is constantly over or under exposed and the colors are completely washed out. This lends to the bleakness of the movie. Watkins as Hawkins is really quite creepy and for a guy with no acting experience, he really sells the psycho routine. Anyone else would have pushed the raving lunatic act way over the top, and while this is certainly very hammy, it never feels excessive. Some of the wild eyed closeups of Watkins are unsettling to watch.

Also, for a movie with a reported budget between $800 and $3000 (though Watkins claims he spent nothing on it and between 800 and 3000 on speed during the filming), the disemboweling scene is quite nasty. Also, sourcing that scene from VHS may have worked to Barrel's advantage as the entire movie seems like a bad acid trip anyway, the restored disembowelment seems even more intense when the video switches from shitty 16 to shitty 16 processed through ancient VHS.

Also, the deer hoof blowjob was plenty fucked up to watch, probably the most severe scene in the entire movie.

All in all, I can say that I liked it and am glad I bought the disc. I still can't say if I liked the movie, just parts of it. But like it or not, its reputation is well deserved and I'm glad that I own a movie that up until a few years ago, was shrouded in mystery.

Any way that Watkins thread is archived anywhere, Chris? I'd love to go back and read it now that I've seen the movie.

[Chris Slack]

I swear it was in the archives but can't find it anywhere... grrr.