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Saturday, June 3, 2017

BLACKENSTEIN 1972 (SEVERIN) BLU-RAY

One of the most amazing blaxploitation films ever made comes to Blu-ray!!

A man who has had all four limbs blown off in Vietnam is taken to a Dr. Stein (John Hart) by his lovely girlfriend Dr. Winifred Walker (Ivory Stone).

Dr. Stein has been experimenting with DNA and is convinced he can help Eddie Turner (Joe De Sue) grow his limbs back. All seems to be going well until Dr. Stein's assistant Malcomb (Roosevelt Jackson) starts to fall for Walker. She spurns him and he exchanges the DNA of one patient for another to make sure Eddie will die and then maybe Walker will fall for him.

What this does is creates a square headed monster that stalks the night ripping people apart. Eddie has now become a monster that kills to get revenge of just for the sake of killing.

Seeing this monster is something one who views the film will ever forget. The acting in the film is passable and the low budget is obvious, but to me anyway, this is still a fun film.

The backstory of the films is even more interesting and it is included in the extras as we have an interview with producer Frank Saletri's sister June and the actual news story of Saletri's still unsolved murder as well as the original theatrical trailer and short interviews with Ken Osborne and Robert Dix, both me who also worked with and knew Saletri.

I was really surprised when this was announced as coming to Blu-ray. There are two versions of the film included here. The theatrical release version running at 78 min. and the Video release version running 87 min.

The Theatrical version is much tighter and is easily the recommended version. A very good release from my point of view and a hearty thanks to Severin for releasing it in a beautiful version.

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