People say this film is notable because it was the first shot-on-video horror movie for the Direct-to-video market.
Sledgehammer came out in 1983 and has it beat by two years.
Hmmm, what about Blood Beat (1982)? And I think a film named Boardinghouse was SOV too, but I'm not sure.
Why are you reading my signature?
Yeah, I have them all and they were before Blood Cult. Boarding House is going to be easier to find under the title Housegeust. It's not all that bad actually.
Yep, and Tim Ritter had a few movies out before BLOOD CULT came out.
In fact, I remember Tim telling me that BLOOD CULT always upset him with it's 'first' hype, and that it beat TRUTH OR DARE's release.
I'm not an expert and didn't do any research, but both the IMDb trivia section and the DVD cover say that "Blood Cult" was the first movie made for the home video market.
Could it be that the earlier straight-to-video films you mention were originally intended for a theatrical release but didn't make it due to quality or other reasons? In that case, "Blood Cult" would be the first movie made for the home video market, though not the first actual straight-to-video movie.
It isn't, per se.
BLOOD CULT was the first shot on video movie released directly to video to get national distribution, and make a pretty big profit. But there had been several movies like it before that, Tim Ritter's TWISTED ILLUSIONS, SLEDGE HAMMER, BOARDINGHOUSE (though that got a theatrical release, somehow).
It still makes my head spin Boardinghouse actually
got a theatrical release.Wonder if any other SOV films got theater showings int the 80s too.Boy they were a bizarre but great time,the 80s.
They probably all did. Most dtv movies actually manage to play a few theatres, especially in the towns they were filmed in. Some may even play across a few states (I think the first two Sleepaway Camp sequels did) but there is no "ultra-limited" category for theatrical films so they are still called direct to video.
Even "Ax 'Em" was shown in a theatre, and you can't get worse than "Ax 'Em"!
Well, now, yes. Intheaters, I mean... you just got the movie booked in theaters. The studios establishing chain theaters is what f---ed all that up.
Blood Cult, however, wasn't intended for a theatrical release.
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