Deadbeat at Dawn

Discuss releases from Arrow and the films on them.

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domino harvey
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Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Deadbeat at Dawn

#1 Post by domino harvey » Fri Jul 27, 2018 10:40 am

Image

Jim VanBebber’s notorious, blood-drenched cult classic Deadbeat at Dawn rises again on the advent of its 30th anniversary, newly restored for the first time on Blu-ray. Locked and loaded with a raft of new extras, see Deadbeat as you’ve never seen it before – in all its head-busting, bone-crushing glory!

Written by, directed by and starring VanBebber, Deadbeat follows the story of Goose – a gang leader whose girlfriend is brutally slaughtered when he attempts to leave the thug life behind. Pulled back into the gang, who’ve now formed an uneasy alliance with the thugs that butchered his girl, Goose sees an opportunity to exact his brutal, deadly revenge.

The very definition of DIY, independent filmmaking (VanBebber quit film school after his first year and used his student loan to fund the movie), Deadbeat at Dawn surpasses its low-budget origins to create a revenge movie that delivers more thrills and bloody spills than all of Chuck Norris’ films combined.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
• Brand new 2K restoration from original film elements by Arrow Films, supervised and approved by writer-director Jim VanBebber
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• Original uncompressed PCM mono audio
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Brand new free-wheeling audio commentary with Jim VanBebber (’Goose’, The Ravens’ Gang Leader), actor Paul Harper (’Danny Carmodi’, The Spyders’ Gang Leader) and guest Cody Lee Hardin, moderated by filmmaker Victor Bonacore (Diary of a Deadbeat: The Story of Jim VanBebber)
• Jim VanBebber, Deadbeat Forever! – a brand new retrospective documentary on VanBebber and the Deadbeat legacy by Filmmaker Victor Bonacore, featuring first-time interviews, super-rare footage, VanBebber’s college films and much, much more!
• Archival 1986 behind-the-scenes documentary – Nate Pennington’s VHS documentary on a failed Deadbeat shoot
• Outtakes, newly transferred in HD
• Four newly-restored VanBebber short films – Into the Black (1983, 34 mins), My Sweet Satan (1993, 19 mins), Roadkill: The Last Days of John Martin (1994, 14 mins) and Gator Green (2013, 16 mins)
• Jim VanBebber Music Video Collection, featuring never-before-seen Director’s Cuts
• Chunkblower – promotional trailer for an unfinished Gary Blair Smith-produced gore-soaked feature film
• Extensive Image Gallery – Never-Before-Seen Stills!
• Reversible sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork by Peter Strain
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Collector’s booklet featuring new writing by Scott Gabbey and Graham Rae

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domino harvey
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Re: Deadbeat at Dawn

#2 Post by domino harvey » Fri Jul 27, 2018 11:03 am

Deadbeat at Dawn surpasses its low-budget origins to create a revenge movie that delivers more thrills and bloody spills than all of Chuck Norris’ films combined.
Is this supposed to make someone want to watch this?

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Big Ben
Joined: Mon Feb 08, 2016 12:54 pm
Location: Great Falls, Montana

Re: Deadbeat at Dawn

#3 Post by Big Ben » Fri Jul 27, 2018 12:07 pm

domino harvey wrote:
Fri Jul 27, 2018 11:03 am
Deadbeat at Dawn surpasses its low-budget origins to create a revenge movie that delivers more thrills and bloody spills than all of Chuck Norris’ films combined.
Is this supposed to make someone want to watch this?
If this film can top this scene in Forest Warrior in which Norris stops a chainsaw's blade with his bare hand then I would say yes.

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colinr0380
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK

Re: Deadbeat at Dawn

#4 Post by colinr0380 » Fri Jul 27, 2018 2:28 pm

This one is very surprising as I seem to remember the ill fated Exploited video label run by David Gregory trying to release it in the late 90s at the tail end of the VHS era, only to be met with outright rejection by the BBFC! (They also tried to put The Texas Chain Saw Massacre through as well, which was also rejected, only to be released uncut on DVD by a different label only a year later). Here are some brief comments about that on the Melon Farmers website (NSFW)

So of course I imported the early 2000s Synapse disc from the US, which also had My Sweet Satan on it. You can already tell that the director has a pretty well developed interest in the Manson family with some of the goings on here, even before he went on to make his own actual Manson Family film over a decade later.

While it is not really as well known a name, Arrow getting this released uncut in the UK is as big a deal to me as Nekromantik! How times change!

M Sanderson
Joined: Sat Oct 22, 2016 3:43 am

Re: Deadbeat at Dawn

#5 Post by M Sanderson » Mon Jul 30, 2018 3:02 pm

I love the freshness and grittiness. And the way Van Bebber made a genuine horror movie in the martial arts genre. There’s a weird undercurrent, almost dark magic or supernatural. I really like this, and Manson Family. Both plunge you into feverish horror images and try to justify them with dubious social commentary, which I find kind of amusing or endearing.

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colinr0380
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK

Re: Deadbeat at Dawn

#6 Post by colinr0380 » Fri Oct 12, 2018 1:21 am


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InfiniteZero
Joined: Thu May 19, 2016 2:54 pm
Location: Cronenberg-Land

Re: Deadbeat at Dawn

#7 Post by InfiniteZero » Mon Nov 05, 2018 4:26 pm

A lot of cult film fans have been gushing over MANDY and this film is proto-MANDY.

M Sanderson
Joined: Sat Oct 22, 2016 3:43 am

Re: Deadbeat at Dawn

#8 Post by M Sanderson » Fri Nov 09, 2018 3:36 am

Although Van Bebber likes to put in social commentary and anti violence statements, which of course feel hypocritical in a horror beat ‘em up, I find it kind of endearing. I don’t think he needs to do this anyway because he is so good not only choreographing the mayhem, but also showing the misguided anger, the self destructive behaviour, the stupidity - and the emotional and physical pain that the characters have to go through. Contrast Goose’s prowess at one to one combat, with his rapid spiral into destitution and attempted suicide. One thing I always liked was that the first fight between Goose and Danny was about the same length of the scene in which Goose’s girlfriend gives him stitches as he’s screaming in the bathtub.

This one would make a great double header with Buddy Giovinazzo’s equally terrific, art-exploitation, urban horror film, Combat Shock.

Oh, Deadbeat’s looking excellent on Blu ray.

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