 STARCRASH:
SPECIAL EDITION
Available on DVD and BLU-RAY Sept 16 from Shout
Factory!
- Reviews/featured
articles on the Star Crash DVD
After thirty years, ROGER CORMAN’S CULT CLASSICS
series presents the definitive video release of Luigi’s
Cozzi’s notorious Italian STAR WARS/BARBARELLA
mash-up, the one-and-only holy grail of “high
class” exploitation films, STARCRASH! Stephen
Romano is the co-producer of this lavish TWO DISC SPECIAL
EDITION, featuring an all new high definition digital
transfer of the film from the vaulted negative and a
Dolby 5.1 soundtrack to rock your home speakers, re-mastered
from the film’s original 4-track Dolby Stereo
sound masters. Romano is a known authority on STARCRASH,
having written the definitive “making of”
book about the film (which was ultimately never published
due to legal problems), and he brings his great wealth
of knowledge and rare memorabilia to this special edition
DVD set.
As a result, the special features section is exhaustive
and all-inclusive, including rare behind-the-scenes
footage, interviews, production art and designs, an
all-new 30-minute feature on the remarkable in-camera
miniatures and stop motion sequences, created expressly
for this release by the film’s effects director
himself . . . plus international trailers, TV and radio
spots, and commentary by Joe Dante, Eli Roth and Stephen
Romano, detailing the remarkable history of the film’s
production. “This project is something very near
and dear to my cold black heart,” says Romano.
“I’m really honored to be elected the official
spokesperson for this historic video release.
Over the years I have collected enormous amounts of
STARCRASH stuff, including some really rare original
artwork from Drew Struzan, who was originally set to
be the film’s poster designer. That’s all
in the disc, along with a ton of other stuff. I wrote
the book, you know—literally—so I do TWO
full length commentaries on the film itself, in which
I reveal some juicy gossip and little-known facts, all
basically drawn from my research on the film. STARCRASH
is one of my five favorite movies of all time. I saw
it as a kid when it first came out and was just blown
away. It’s aged into the future as a classic in
camp, and there’s certainly no denying that it’s
a very tongue-in-cheek affair. I mean, I laugh out loud
along with everyone else, that’s part of the film’s
appeal. But what people have never been able to take
away from the experience of watching STARCRASH until
now is that it’s actually a pretty classy affair.
When you stack it alongside other lower budget sci-fi
efforts of the day, it’s got a LOT going for it
in terms of style and visual elegance.
The people who worked on this movie were Oscar winners,
man! They even got John Barry for the score! The inferior
video transfers from the old tape versions of the eighties
have betrayed a lot of that elegance . . . but now you
get to see it in crystal clear focus for the first time
since it was in theatres, with all the wild colors and
great sets in sharp focus, and the sound is better than
ever. They released this film in Dolby back in 1979,
which was very unusual for a Roger Corman title. So
it’s gonna blow you away, I promise. Our goal
with this release was to preserve a moment in history
and pay this film the respect it deserves. We’ve
given it a two-disc treatment which is just as reverent
and jam-packed as any “Criterion” edition
you can name. That’s because classics come in
all shapes and sizes, man . . . and STARCRASH rocks!”
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