Connection
Grindhouse Releasing
- Infos
- Best films
If you like this company, let us know!
Foundation date 1 january 1996
Grindhouse Releasing is a Hollywood-based independent cult film distribution company led by film editor Bob Murawski and co-founded by the late Sage Stallone. Grindhouse digitally remasters, restores, and produces bonus materials and video documentaries for cult film DVDs and Blu-rays which it distributes on the CAV label.
Grindhouse focuses on the distribution of rare and little-seen independent cult films. Releases have included The Swimmer, a surreal drama featuring Burt Lancaster; The Big Gundown, a spaghetti western with Lee Van Cleef; and Corruption, a British film starring Peter Cushing.
Grindhouse was the first company to digitally remaster and restore the stylish Italian horror films (giallo) from the 1970s and 1980s such as Cannibal Ferox (Make Them Die Slowly), Lucio Fulci's The Beyond (E tu vivrai nel terrore), as well as the notorious cult classic Cannibal Holocaust directed by Ruggero Deodato. The company also restored and coordinated a limited theatrical re-release of American filmmaker Sam Raimi's cult classic The Evil Dead.
The company has been called the "Criterion" of cult film distribution, employing the highest standards for quality and deluxe bonus materials on their Blu-ray and DVD releases. Coco Hames of the Nashville Scene says of the company: "A Grindhouse release has a rotgut seal of approval, whether it's the kind of gore epic that once played grimy 42nd Street cinemas (Ruggero Deodato's Cannibal Holocaust), an overlooked Hollywood rarity (Frank Perry's The Swimmer), or a long-lost movie by an obsessive auteur that never saw the light of day (Duke Mitchell's Gone with the Pope)".
Grindhouse Releasing was awarded the 2015 International Press Academy's Satellite Award for "Outstanding Overall Blu-Ray/DVD" for its Blu-ray release and restoration of Frank Perry's cult film, The Swimmer.
Filmography of Grindhouse Releasing (14 films)
Distribution
Add to a movie list
Gone with the Pope (2010)
Directed by Duke Mitchell
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy, Crime, Romance
Themes Mafia films, Gangster films
Actors Duke Mitchell
The movie tells the story of four ex-convicts who journey to Rome to attempt to kidnap the Pope, planning to charge a ransom of "a dollar from every Catholic in the world."
Vic (2006)
, 30minutesDirected by Sage Stallone
Origin USA
Genres Drama
Actors Clu Gulager, Tom Gulager, Miriam Byrd Nethery, Sage Stallone, Gregory Sierra, Carol Lynley
Clu Gulager plays a “down-on-his-luck” actor who gets a mysterious phone call. Haunted by memories of his former glory days, Vic struggles for a Hollywood comeback.
A Cat in the Brain (1990)
, 1h27Directed by Lucio Fulci
Genres Comedy, Horror, Slasher
Themes Films about animals, Films about films, Films about cats
Actors Brett Halsey, Lucio Fulci, Malisa Longo, Adriana Russo, Annie Belle, Paul Müller
Haunted by his own bloody horror film visions and with news of real life murders happening in Rome, splatter film director Lucio Fulci (playing himself) seeks the advice of a psychiatrist.
Pieces (1982)
, 1h27Origin Espagne
Genres Thriller, Horror, Slasher
Themes Serial killer films
Actors Christopher George, Lynda Day George, Frank Braña, Edmund Purdom, Paul L. Smith, Jack Taylor
In 1942, a 10-year-old boy named Timmy plays with a jigsaw puzzle of a nude woman when his mother walks in. She chastises him for it. The mother orders Timmy to get a plastic bag to "burn everything." Instead of her order, Timmy gruesomely murders her with an axe, then saws her body with a hacksaw.
Cannibal Ferox (1981)
, 1h33Directed by Umberto Lenzi
Origin Italie
Genres Adventure, Horror
Actors Zora Kerova, Robert Kerman, Lorraine De Selle, Venantino Venantini, John Bartha, Dominic Raacke
The film begins in New York City. A man buys heroin from his dealer, Mike. The man meets two mobsters who are also looking for Mike, because he owes them $100,000. The mobsters shoot the man and leave him for dead.
The Beyond (1981)
, 1h27Directed by Lucio Fulci
Origin Italie
Genres Horror
Themes Medical-themed films, Ghost films, Zombie films, Films about viral outbreaks, Disaster films
Actors Catriona MacColl, David Warbeck, Veronica Lazăr, Cinzia Monreale, Antoine Saint-John, Al Cliver
In Louisiana's Seven Doors Hotel in 1927, a lynch mob murders an artist named Schweick, whom they believe to be a warlock. This opens one of the Seven Doors of Death, allowing the dead to cross into the world of the living. Several decades later, Liza, a young woman from New York, inherits the hotel and plans to re-open it. Her renovation work activates the hell portal, and she contends with increasingly strange incidents. A plumber named Joe investigates flooding in the cellar and a demonic hand gouges out his eye. His body and another are later discovered by a hotel maid, Martha.
Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
, 1h38Directed by Ruggero Deodato
Origin Italie
Genres Drama, Adventure, Horror
Themes Films about sexuality, Rape in fiction, Rape and revenge films
Actors Robert Kerman, Carl Gabriel Yorke, Shelley Duvall, Francesca Ciardi, Luca Barbareschi, Ruggero Deodato
An American film crew has gone missing in the Amazon rainforest while on an expedition to film a documentary about indigenous cannibal tribes. The team consists of Alan Yates, the director; Faye Daniels, his girlfriend and script girl; and two cameramen, Jack Anders and Mark Tomaso. Harold Monroe, an anthropologist at New York University, agrees to lead a rescue team in hopes of finding the missing filmmakers alive. In anticipation of his arrival, the military conducts a raid on a local tribe known as the Yacumo and takes a young Yacumo male hostage in order to help negotiate with the natives. Monroe flies in via floatplane and is introduced to his guides, Chaco and his assistant, Miguel.
Massacre Mafia Style (1974)
, 1h22Directed by Duke Mitchell
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Action, Crime
Themes Films about immigration, Mafia films, Seafaring films, Transport films, Gangster films
Actors Duke Mitchell, George Buck Flower
The film opens with an over-the-top violent sequence depicting the massacre of an entire office building's worth of inhabitants to the tune of one of Duke Mitchell’s upbeat Italian-American songs, executed so merrily, that it was used as the film’s theatrical trailer. Duke Mitchell plays Mimi Miceli, the son of a high-powered mafia don Mimi, a first generation Italian-American who has been exiled back to Sicily for his crimes in America. The don’s son Mimi Jr. wants to get back into the family business and transplant it from New York to the streets of Hollywood, the place of his childhood dreams. Mimi heads to Hollywood where he looks up his old Mafioso buddy, Jolly (Vic Caesar) who he finds tending bar. Jolly doesn’t need much convincing to join Mimi back in a life of crime. Mimi tells Jolly his plan to kidnap one of the West Coast Mafia bosses, Chucky Tripoli (Louis Zito) and hold him for ransom, much-needed cash flow to start Mimi’s takeover. Tripoli is kidnapped and Mimi sends proof (Tripoli’s finger in a jewelry box) to Tripoli’s son and wife (played by Duke Mitchell’s real-life wife, Jo Mitchell). Mimi is back in the life and makes a visit to Tripoli’s daughter’s wedding, giving a toast in the name of Sicily and on behalf of his mafia family. It seems that Mimi’s plan is working as he is tolerated within the West Coast clan, even when he hits on their dates. Mimi goes home with one of the women at the wedding (Cara Salerno) who goes along for the ride. With the blessing of the clan, Mimi attempts to takedown a big time West Coast pimp by the name of Superspook (Jimmy Williams) who runs a hustle with “40 women” in the prime real estate between Hollywood and Beverly Hills. Superspook turns out to not be so easy to take down, as the old ways of Mimi don’t have the same effect on the new hippie generation.
An American Hippie in Israel (1972)
, 1h35Origin Israel
Genres Science fiction, Comedy, Action
Young American hippie and war veteran, Mike (Asher Tzarfati), travels to Israel shortly after his involvement in Vietnam. Hitchhiking and "bumming around" Hippie Mike meets up with three Israelis along his journey — stage actress Elizabeth (Lily Avidan), another female hippie friend (Tzila Karney), and her Hebrew-speaking boyfriend Komo (Shmuel Wolf). They join a larger group of hippies and decide to form an isolated community on a deserted island, where they can live in peace "without clothes, without government, and without borders."
I Drink Your Blood (1971)
, 1h23Directed by David E. Durston
Origin USA
Genres Horror
Themes Medical-themed films, Films about viral outbreaks, Disaster films
Actors Lynn Lowry, Baskar
A Manson Family style cult conduct a bizarre Satanic ritual in the woods at night. A member notices a local girl, Sylvia, furtively watching the event. She had befriended a member, Andy, who invited her to watch. The angered group leader Horace Bones leads an assault on the girl.
The Ice House (1969)
, 1h25Directed by Stuart E. McGowan
Origin USA
Genres Thriller, Horror
Actors Jim Davis, Sabrina, Scott Brady, Nancy Dow, John C. Holmes
Ric Martin (Robert Story), a disgraced and long-fired cop, hits on Ice House dancer Venus De Marco (Sabrina) and is struck with a beer bottle for his efforts. Angered, he stalks the dancer, and when she again raises a bottle in a defensive manner, he strangles her. He is thwarted in efforts to hide the body at a local lover's lane, and ends up hiding it at The Ice House, where he works in the menial position of attendant. Other women become his victims and their bodies are stored there as well. His identical twin brother Fred Martin (David Story), himself a cop and investigating the disappearances, cannot understand why his brother is acting oddly. In trying to slow down the hunt for the serial killer, Ric kills Fred and takes his place in the investigation.
The Swimmer (1968)
, 1h34Directed by Sydney Pollack, Frank Perry
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Romance
Themes Sports films
Actors Burt Lancaster, Janice Rule, Marge Champion, Kim Hunter, Bernie Hamilton, Charles Drake
On a sunny day in an affluent suburb in Connecticut, a fit and tanned middle-aged man in a bathing suit, Ned Merrill (Burt Lancaster), drops by a pool party being held by friends. They offer him a cocktail while nursing hangovers from the night before. As they share stories, Ned realizes that there is a series of swimming pools that form a "river" to his house, making it possible for him to "swim" his way home. Ned dives into the pool, emerging at the other end and beginning his journey. Ned's behavior perplexes his friends, who know things about his recent past he seems to have forgotten.
Corruption (1968)
, 1h31Directed by Robert Hartford-Davis
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Horror
Actors Peter Cushing, Sue Lloyd, Kate O'Mara, Anthony Booth, David Lodge, Billy Murray
Cushing plays Sir John Rowan, a plastic surgeon whose young fashion model and fiancée’s face (Sue Lloyd) is badly disfigured in an accident, caused in part by a jealous rage of his. Rowan pledges to reverse Lynn's disfigurement, experimenting with laser technology to revive her skin, eventually coming up with a cure-all, a Frankensteinian transplantation of glands. Driven by combination of guilt and love, Rowan goes on a murder spree, killing young women in order to use their glands to restore his fiancée’s beauty. The couple goes off on holiday to a seaside cottage and all is fine until her face starts to show signs of deterioration. In need of more surgery and a new "donor" the couple tries to entice a young girl (Wendy Varnals) who they meet at the beach and take back to their cottage. Complications ensue, first because Rowan doesn't want to commit another murder, and then because this girl isn't what she seems to be.
The Big Gundown (1967)
, 1h31Directed by Sergio Sollima
Origin Italie
Genres Drama, Western
Themes Buddy films
Actors Lee Van Cleef, Tomás Milián, Luisa Rivelli, Gérard Herter, Nieves Navarro, Fernando Sancho
Possessing a reputation for bringing criminals to justice, ready-to-retire bounty hunter Jonathan Corbett (Lee Van Cleef) is summoned to a party by a Texas railroad tycoon by the name of Brockston (Walter Barnes), whose daughter is getting married. Brockston plants the seed that Corbett should consider a run for the Senate, but not before doing one last bounty hunt.