Arriving just in time for 4/20, Severin Films has announced a dedicated Blu-ray box set to iconic genre filmmaker Al Adamson with the Al Adamson: The Masterpiece Collection.
The set will feature 31 remastered films on 14 discs, plus trailers, audio commentaries, a 126-page book, and the 2019 documentary feature Blood & Flesh: The Reel Life & Ghastly Death of Al Adamson. The late Adamson’s directorial credits included the 1969 biker flick Satan’s Sadists, the same year’s action extravaganza The Female Bunch, the 1971 horror film Dracula vs. Frankenstein, the 1974 comedy The Naughty Stewardesses, the 1977 blaxploitation movie Black Samurai, and the 1981 family feature Carnival Magic — all of which are included in the box set. The Al Adamson: The Masterpiece Collection Blu-ray box set will be available to purchase starting April 21, 2020.
Severin Films released a 7-minute trailer, breaking down many of the films and touting the bevy of bonus content and recent restorations. Check it out below:
Adamson’s work ranged from horror and exploitation to westerns and family films. He knew how to pinch a penny to get the most on the screen for very little (usually through targeting younger audiences at drive-ins). Many of his films have brought him cult status but until recently his looming legacy was a tragic one. Adamson was murdered in 1995. Buried beneath the concrete and tile-covered floor where his hot tub once sat at his home in Indio, California. It would seem like a tragic end suited for one of Adamson’s own films. Thanks to Severin though, perhaps Adamson’s new legacy will be his body of films, which are truly a treasure trove of drive-in sleaze worthy of movie history’s list of maverick filmmakers.
“Al Adamson worked best on the fringes of Hollywood,” says Severin president and Blood & Flesh director David Gregory in a statement. “When considering the golden age of drive-in and grindhouse films, he’s truly in a category all his own. It’s an unprecedented legacy that lends itself to what we believe to be the most absurdly compendious box set not only in genre history and — other than Criterion’s Ingmar Bergman Collection — quite possibly the annals of home video itself.”
Al Adamson: The Masterpiece Collection is only set to feature 2,000 units, with exclusive Ghastly Bundles purchased from Severin Films’ official website also including signed posters, Carnival Magic T-shirts, reproduction Dracula Vs. Frankenstein fangs, Satan’s Sadits patches, an authentic repressing of the 7-inch 45 rpm single from the theatrical release of The Female Bunch and more!
Below is a complete breakdown of the box set’s features directly from Severin Films official site:
Disc 1: Blood & Flesh: The Reel Life & Ghastly Death of Al Adamson/The Female Bunch
Blood & Flesh: The Reel Life & Ghastly Death of Al Adamson Special Features:
The Female Bunch Special Features:
Disc 2: Psycho A Go-Go/Fiend with the Electronic Brain/Blood of Ghastly Horror
Psycho A Go-Go Special Features:
- Trailer
Fiend with the Electronic Brain Special Features:
- Alternate Title Sequence: Man with the Synthetic Brain
- Trailer
Blood of Ghastly Horror Special Features:
- Archival Audio Commentary with Producer Samuel M. Sherman
- Trailer
Disc 3: Halfway to Hell/Five Bloody Graves
Five Bloody Graves Special Features:
- Outside of Tucson: Interview with Actor/Screenwriter Robert Dix
- Partial Archival Audio Commentary with Producer/Distributor Samuel M. Sherman
- Alternate Title Sequence: Five Bloody Days to Tombstone
- Radio Spots
- Trailer
Disc 4: Blood of Dracula’s Castle (Both Theatrical and TV cuts)/Horror of the Blood Monsters
Blood of Dracula’s Castle Special Features:
- Partial Audio Commentary with Expert Brian Albright
- Audio Interview Excerpt with Alex D’Arcy
- Trailer
Horror of the Blood Monsters Special Features:
- Partial Archival Audio Commentary with Producer/Distributor Samuel M. Sherman
- Alternate Title Sequence: Space Mission of the Lost Planet
- Trailers
- TV Spots
- Radio Spot
Disc 5: Smashing the Crime Syndicate (a.k.a The Fakers)/Hell’s Bloody Devils
Smashing The Crime Syndicate Special Features:
- Alternate Title Sequence: The Fakers (Original Title)
Hell’s Bloody Devils Special Features:
- Archival Audio Commentary with Producer/Distributor Samuel M. Sherman
- Sam Sherman Interviews Actor John Gabriel
- Trailer
- TV Spots
Disc 6: Dracula vs. Frankenstein/Brain of Blood
Dracula vs. Frankenstein Special Features:
- Zandor and Friends: Interview with Cast & Crew
- Archival Audio Commentary with Producer/Distributor Samuel M. Sherman
- Feed Your Head! Lose Your Head!: An Appreciation by Cult Film Historian Howard S. Berger
- Monster Protest Home Movie Footage
- Sam Sherman Interviews Forry Ackerman
- Outtakes
- Trailer
- TV Spot
- Audio Spots Including Triple Feature of Dracula vs. Frankenstein, Frankenstein’s Bloody Terror, and Horror of the Blood Monsters
Brain of Blood Special Features:
- Partial Archival Audio Commentary with Producer/Distributor Samuel M. Sherman
- Memories of Blood: Interviews with Director Al Adamson, Producer Samuel M. Sherman, Actor Zandor Vorkov and More
- Trailer
- Radio Spots
Disc 7: Satan’s Sadists/Angel’s Wild Women
Satan’s Sadists Special Features:
- Archival Audio Commentary with Producer/Distributor Samuel M. Sherman
- TV Spots
- Outtakes
- Radio Spots
- Trailers
Angel’s Wild Women Special Features:
- Archival Audio Commentary with Producer/Distributor Samuel M. Sherman
- TV Spot
- Radio Spots
- Trailer
Disc 8: The Naughty Stewardesses/Blazing Stewardesses
The Naughty Stewardesses Special Features:
- Archival Audio Commentary with Producer/Distributor Samuel M. Sherman
- Fly Girls: The Stewardess as Lifestyle Icon in The Golden Age of Exploitation
- TV Spot
- Radio Spots
- Trailer
Blazing Stewardesses Special Features:
- Archival Audio Commentary with Producer/Distributor Samuel M. Sherman
- Alternate Title Sequence: The Great Truck Robbery
- Trailer
- TV Spot
- Combo TV Spot
- Bedroom Stewardesses (Adamson-Directed Scenes Only)
- Radio Spots
Disc 9: Girls For Rent/Jessi’s Girls/Nurses For Sale
Girls For Rent Special Features:
- Archival Audio Commentary with Producer/Distributor Samuel M. Sherman
- Alternate Title Sequence: I Spit On Your Corpse
- Trailer
- Radio Spot
Jessi’s Girls Special Features:
- Trailer
Nurses For Sale Special Features:
- TV Spot
Disc 10: Black Heat/The Dynamite Brothers
Black Heat Special Features:
- Partial Archival Audio Commentary by Producer/Distributor Samuel M. Sherman
- Alternate Title Sequence: Girls Hotel
- Alternate Title Sequence: The Murder Gang
- Trailers
The Dynamite Brothers Special Features:
- TV Spots
Disc 11: Mean Mother/Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Mean Mother Special Features:
- Partial Archival Audio Commentary with Producer/Distributor Samuel M. Sherman
- The Joy of Marilyn Joi: Interview with Actress Marilyn Joi
- Trailer
Uncle Tom’s Cabin Special Features:
- TV Spots
- Radio Spots
Disc 12: Black Samurai/Death Dimension
Black Samurai Special Features:
- Trailer
Disc 13: Sunset Cove/Cinderella 2000/Nurse Sherri
Sunset Cove Special Features:
- Sunset Toolbox: Interview with Producer Tony DiDio
- TV Spot
- Trailers
Cinderella 2000 Special Features:
- Partial Audio Commentary with Producer/Distributor Samuel M. Sherman
- Trailer
- Radio Spots
Nurse Sherri Special Features:
- Dr. Dracula: Selected Scenes Directed by Al Adamson
- TV Spot
- Radio Spot
- Trailer
Disc 14: Carnival Magic/LOST
Carnival Magic Special Features:
LOST Special Features:
PLEASE NOTE: THIS BOX SET IS REGION A EXCEPT FOR DISCS 1, 12, AND 14 WHICH ARE REGION FREE.
The Al Adamson: The Masterpiece Collection Blu-ray box set is set for a street date of April 21, 2020.
Source: Severin Films
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