DS-ICON

Like many exploita­tion film fans who grew up dur­ing the 1980’s, Your Humble Reviewer loves flicks that blend post-apocalyptic themes and car-chase movie action.  This forth­com­ing release from Shout! Factory dishes up a pair of flicks in this vein.  Deathsport is a mix of car stunts and futur­is­tic pulp that teams David Carradine with b-movie god­dess Claudia Jennings while Battletruck is a New Zealand excur­sion into Road Warrior ter­ri­tory.  Read on for all the post-apocalyptic specs…

A PAIR OF ROGER CORMAN ROGUE SCIFI CLASSICS

ON ONE COLLECTOR’S EDITION DVD COMING THIS AUGUST 2010

SHOUT! FACTORY PRESENTS


DEATHSPORT/ BATTLETRUCK

DOUBLE-FEATURE COLLECTOR’S EDITION DVD

fea­tur­ing the long-out-of-print cult favorite DEATHSPORT in widescreen

and the long-awaited debut of BATTLETRUCK on dvd

Slammin’ into Stores Nationwide August 3, 2010

From Shout! Factory

Brace your­self for twice the fun, twice the adren­a­line rush, and twice the trac­tion, as Shout! Factory, in asso­ci­a­tion with New Horizons Picture Corporation, set to release a dynamic duo of Roger Corman clas­sics on one double-feature collector’s edi­tion DVD. August 3, 2010 will see the release of Deathsport/BattleTruck Collector’s Edition, which marks the first time Deathsport being pre­sented in a widescreen for­mat, as well as the first-ever DVD release of BattleTruck (released the­atri­cally as Warlords of the 21st Century). This double-barreled dose of high-octane excite­ment deci­sively marks the lat­est sum­mer install­ment from fan favorite Roger Corman’s Cult Classics home enter­tain­ment series.

Deathsport/ BattleTruck Collector’s Edition boasts a stel­lar selec­tion of new bonus con­tent includ­ing all-new cast and crew inter­views, com­men­taries, vin­tage trail­ers and more. A must-have for Roger Corman fans and col­lec­tors, own two of Roger Corman’s pop­u­lar cult hits at an attrac­tive price of $19.93 SRP.

The world­wide suc­cess of Death Race 2000 fueled Corman’s desire to make Deathsport, which also stars Emmy Award® and four-time Golden Globe® nom­i­nee David Carradine (Kill Bill: Vol. 1 and 2, TV’s Kung Fu). It was not a direct sequel but cer­tainly a the­matic follow-up.

Set 1,000 years in the future, fol­low­ing the Great Neutron Wars, the world is divided into desert wastes and iso­lated city-states. Lord Zirpola (David McLean, Kingdom of the Spiders) cap­tures the noto­ri­ous “Desert Ranger” Kaz Oshay (Carradine) and forces him to fight to the death in his game, Deathsport. Now Kaz must face his past and fight to save him­self, his city and the future from the war that Lord Zirpola is about to wage.

Executive pro­duced by Roger Corman, Deathsport is directed by Henry Suso and Allan Arkush. Co-starring in the film are beau­ti­ful B-movie star­let and 1970 Playboy Playmate of the Year Claudia Jennings, Jesse Vint (Forbidden World) and peren­ni­ally pop­u­lar big-screen bad guy Richard Lynch (Invasion USA, Bad Dreams, The Sword and the Sorcerer).

Inspired by the suc­cess of The Road Warrior, Corman acquired the award-winning New Zealand-made action blowout BattleTruck for dis­tri­b­u­tion, rechris­tened it Warlords of the 21st Century and released it to screens in 1982. The film earned an enthu­si­as­tic cult audi­ence and has not been avail­able on home video for more than 20 years until now.

After the Oil Wars have rav­aged the Earth’s land­scape, gaso­line has become a pre­cious com­mod­ity. On his maraud­ing search to com­man­deer all of the oil in exis­tence to fuel his mas­sive, heavily-armored bat­tle truck, Col. Straker (James Wainwright, The Survivors) rav­ages a peace­ful com­mune. Riding to their res­cue is a mys­te­ri­ous man on a motor­cy­cle (Michael Beck, The Warriors, Megaforce), who becomes their only hope when he decides to bring the fight to Straker, aided and abet­ted by Straker’s run­away daugh­ter, Corlie (Annie McEnroe, Beetlejuice, Wall Street). It’s a mech­a­nized, motor­ized ver­sion of the story of David and Goliath, and only one can survive.

The action-packed Battletruck also stars Bruno Lawrence ( Smash Palace, The Quiet Earth) and two-time Emmy® nom­i­nee John Ratzenberger (Up, Toy Story 1, 2 and 3, TV’s Cheers). Cinematographer Chris Menges would go on to win Academy Awards® for The Killing Fields and The Mission and become an acclaimed direc­tor in his own right.

For her per­for­mance as Corlie, McEnroe won the Clavell de Plata Award as Best Actress from the Sitges — Catalonian International Film Festival.

DEATHSPORT/ BATTLETRUCK DOUBLE-FEATURE

COLLECTOR’S EDITION BONUS CONTENT:

DEATHSPORT SPECIAL FEATURES

  • New anamor­phic widescreen pre­sen­ta­tion (1.78:1)
  • Audio com­men­tary with co-director Allan Arkush and edi­tor Larry Bock
  • Interviews with actor Jesse Vint
  • Original the­atri­cal trailers
  • Still gallery
  • Trailer and TV spots

BATTLETRUCK SPECIAL FEATURES

  • Audio com­men­tary with direc­tor Harley Cokliss
  • Trailers


To learn more about Shout! Factory’s line of Roger Corman Cult Classics on DVD and Blu-Ray, click on this button:


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