Full Moon Features
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Full Moon Features is a motion picture production and distribution company headed by B-movie veteran Charles Band. It is most known for the direct-to-video series Puppet Master and Subspecies, as well as the innovative VideoZone featurette at the end of films through 1991 to 2000.
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[edit] Full Moon Productions/Entertainment (1989-1995)
After the collapse of Band's previous film studio, Empire Pictures, he relocated to the United States and opened Full Moon Productions. Band's goal with Full Moon was to create low budget horror, sci-fi, and fantasy films while retaining a somewhat big budget look. In the United States, Full Moon teamed with Paramount Pictures and Pioneer Home Entertainment for direct-to-video releasing on VHS and Laserdisc, and the first release was the feature film directed by David Schmoeller, Puppet Master in 1989.
Puppet Master turned out to be a huge hit for Full Moon. However, at the end of the film was a featurette entitled No Strings Attached, which documents the making of Puppet Master. It featured interviews with cast and crew members, including actor Paul Le Mat and Charles Band himself. The next three releases - Shadowzone, Meridian: Kiss of the Beast, and Crash and Burn (changing to Full Moon Entertainment with the release of the latter) - all featured a making-of presentation after the film. Paramount, however, did not believe in the making-of concept, and forced Band to pay for all of the additional tape needed.
With the fifth Full Moon release, Puppet Master II, in 1991, Full Moon introduced VideoZone, a behind-the-scenes video magazine. The average VideoZone featured an introduction by Charles Band, the making-of of the "movie you just watched", an interview with someone involved in a future Full Moon release, merchandise (such as Full Moon t-shirts, posters, and other assorted goods), trailers, and contact information. VideoZone tied together the "comic book feel" that Band insisted with the Full Moon product.
Full Moon continued churning out releases throughout the early 90's (sometimes as many as 12 releases a year), and even branched off to include two more labels: Torchlight Entertainment, specializing in soft-core pornographic sci-fi comedies, and Moonbeam Entertainment, specializing in family orientated sci-fi and fantasy films; both labels founded in 1993. Torchlight's first release was the easy described Beach Babes From Beyond, and Moonbeam's was Prehysterisa!, which actually became a very high seller for distributor Paramount, and was one of the first Full Moon films to be sold as a sell-through product (most Full Moon features were sold as rental items, with prices upwards to $100 for each film on VHS for brand new editions).
During this time, Full Moon released two films on a very limited theatrical release: Shrunken Heads, a very comic book like tale of three kids murdered and brought back to life by a voodoo practitioner, and Oblivion, a sci-fi western. Both of these films did eventually make it to home video, including a VideoZone for Shrunken Heads, but not Oblivion. The sequel however, did get a VideoZone.
[edit] Full Moon Studios/Pictures (1995-2002)
In 1995, due to the Direct to Video market losing interest in the rental market, as well as internal issues, Full Moon Entertainment separated from distributor Paramount. Full Moon cited that their Halloween 1995 release, Castle Freak, was to be released unrated, and Paramount had a policy against that. However, Paramount had released films unrated before that, so Full Moon's legitimate reasoning for separating from Paramount is one that is still discussed amongst genre fans to this day.
After the releases of Castle Freak and Oblivion 2: Backlash, Band renamed Full Moon Entertainment as Full Moon Studios for the feature Vampire Journals, and the name Full Moon Pictures for the following film, Hideous!. Band continued to distribute all films on his own under then name of Amazing Fantasy Entertainment, until around 1999, when some of the films began being distributed by Kusher-Locke Entertainment.
With the release of Shrieker in 1998, Band enlisted the help of Ohio-based filmmaker and Tempe Entertainment founder J.R. Bookwalter, who recently moved to California. Bookwalter was commissioned by Band to begin editing features, including Curse of the Puppet Master. Curse of the Puppet Master is widely considered the worst of all of the Puppet Master films as the film reuses previous scenes and snippets to make a feature length film. However, Bookwalter's work got Full Moon noticed on Apple.com, as a story was published about how Bookwalter edited Curse of the Puppet Master on his iBook in a hotel room in Ohio.
Full Moon continued churning out releases, and even introduced more labels:
- Alchemy Entertainment/Big City Pictures - specializing in urban horror and sci-fi films.
- Surrender Cinema - replacing Torchlight Entertainment, specializing in the same soft-core sci-fi as Torchlight.
- Cult Video - mainly used to re-release old pre-Empire and Empire era Band films.
- Pulp Fantasy Productions - New films that don't fit the usual Full Moon mold.
- Pulsepounders - Replacing Moonbeam Entertainment, specializing in sci-fi and fantasy films for families.
Bookwalter would eventually get the chance to direct a Full Moon film with the sequel to Witchouse, Witchouse 2: Blood Coven. It was Bookwalter's first film on 35mm, and with it, opened a new door for Bookwalter's Tempe Entertainment.
Starting with HorrorVision, Tempe Entertainment was hired to produce Full Moon films for Band. All of these films were shot on DV, a first for Full Moon, and were mostly made for under $60,000 (with Witchouse 3: Demon Fire created for $26,000) and had ridiculous schedules, with films being shot in sometimes as little as nine days. While the negatives were amazingly high in every situation, it gave much needed exposure to Tempe, who were use to producing films on shoestring budgets, as well as gave Full Moon a cheap route to stay in business.
Once again, the industry was changing, and Band decided to end the Full Moon label with the 2002 release of Jigsaw.
During this era of Full Moon, Band secured a weekly television series on the Sci-Fi Channel called William Shatner's Full Moon Fright Night. Veteran actor Shatner hosted Full Moon films with wraparounds, as well as interviews with many of sci-fi's most notable personalities, including Stan Lee and Jeffery Combs. Tempe also received exposure here as HorrorVision was one of the films included in the short lived series. Full Moon has planned on releasing some of episodes on DVD as of July 2006.
With the release of 2000's The Dead Hate the Living!, Band dropped the VideoZone name and went with a generic behind-the-scenes featurette. Rumors once again circled amongst fans, with no clear reason ever being given on why the VideoZone was dropped.
[edit] Shadow Films/Entertainment and Wizard Video (2002-2004)
Blockbuster Entertainment, a long time supporter of the Full Moon brand, requested the company producer a slasher film, due to the late 90's resurgence thanks to Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer. However, Band wanted to keep the sanctity of the Full Moon name (no human-on-human killing, always a creature or puppet/doll), and with the help of an uncredited Tempe, produced Bleed, as well as picking up Keith Walley's Scared and renaming it Cut Throat.
Band only produced only two more films "officially" under the Shadow name (Birthrite, Delta Delta Die!) another another Keith Walley film, Speck, and William Shatner's DV opus Groom Lake, produced by J.R. Bookwalter, and one of the most expensive films of the modern era of Full Moon.
Band also decided around this time to bring back an old label used in the Empire names named Wizard Video, which distributed cult-like films. This modern rendition only saw the release of Tempe's Skinned Alive and Ozone (renamed Street Zombies for the Wizard release). However, due to low sales, another Tempe film, Bloodletting (which was also renamed: I've Killed Before), was never released under the Wizard label, and was dropped from the release schedule. In the case of Ozone, director J.R. Bookwalter stated his dissatisfaction with Full Moon renaming the film, saying "Okay let's kick things off by telling everyone this movie is not called fucking Street Zombies, for God's sakes, its called Ozone!"
[edit] The Return of Full Moon Pictures and Birth of Full Moon Features (2004-Present)
In late 2003, Band began work on his first 35mm film in years, Dr. Moreau's House of Pain. The film, released in January 2004, also marked the official return of the name Full Moon Pictures. However, the film's video releases all contain the name of Shadow Entertainment, but the film's trailer contains the Full Moon Pictures logo.
Quickly after the release of Dr. Moreau's House of Pain, Full Moon released Puppet Master: The Legacy, a "greatest hits" film that contained the best scenes from all (up to that point) seven Puppet Master films with about 20 minutes of a wrap around story and very bad puppet effects (strings can rods can be seen in almost every scene featuring the puppets). Once again, all video releases said Shadow Entertainment, but the trailer contained the Full Moon Pictures logo.
On the heels of Puppet Master: The Legacy, Band quickly cut together Tomb of Terror, Horrific, and Urban Evil. These three films, edited by HorrorVision director Danny Draven, were clip shows that showed off the best in Full Moon's library.
After the release of those above mentioned films, Band re-christened the Full Moon name to Full Moon Features. Full Moon Features intends to take more time making films, with considerably higher budgets and on 35mm film, and as of July 2006, has focused on that, with the exceptions of When Puppets and Dolls Attack!, Monsters Gone Wild!, and Aliens Gone Wild! (all clip shows).
In 2005, Band also embarked on a road show entitled Charles Band's Full Moon Horror Road Show, bringing along puppets and dolls from his films, including The Gingerdead Man and Doll Graveyard.
September of 2006 marks the beginning of Band's second Road Show tour. On the tour, talks from Band himself, appearances from the stars of his films, and exclusive merchandise will be made available. The tour also serves as promotion for the next upcomming Full Moon films, Evil Bong and Dead Man's Hand.
[edit] Notable Releases
- Puppet Master - Full Moon's first franchise, inspired from an earlier Empire film, Dolls, and United Artists' success with Child's Play the year prior. Spawned eight sequels, including one not produced by Full Moon: Puppet Master II, Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge, Puppet Master 4, and Puppet Master 5: The Final Chapter during the Full Moon Entertainment era, Curse of the Puppet Master and Retro Puppet Master during the Full Moon Pictures era, and Puppet Master: The Legacy during the second Full Moon Pictures run. A Sci-Fi Channel produced Puppet Master vs. Demonic Toys aired around Christmas 2004 and was released on DVD by Anchor Bay Entertainment in 2006.
- Subspecies - Full Moon's take on the Dracula story. It currently consists of Subspecies, Bloodstone: Subspecies II, Bloodlust: Subspecies III, and Subspecies 4: Bloodstorm (released during the Full Moon Pictures era). Fans of the series also consider Vampire Journals as an entry as well.
- Trancers - A carry over from Band's days at Empire, under the Full Moon name, he produced Trancers II, Trancers III, Trancers 4 & Trancers 5. Trancers 6 was created by Jay Woelfel's Young Wolf Productions and was distributed by Band under the Full Moon Pictures label.
- Doctor Mordrid - Originally going to be based on Marvel Comic's Doctor Strange, one of Full Moon's "flashier" films.
- Demonic Toys - a rip off of their own Puppet Master franchise, created a cross sequel called Dollman Vs. Demonic Toys featuring characters from Demonic Toys, Dollman, and Bad Channels.
- The Pit & The Pendulum - Directed by Re-Animator's Stuart Gordon, a retelling of the classic Edgar Allan Poe story.
- Prehysteria! - Family sci-fi film about mini dinosaurs that come to life.
- The Dead Hate the Living! - Full Moon's first zombie film, received notable coverage in various horror magazines.
- Groom Lake - William Shatner's show about a dying woman who receives a visit from aliens. Only notable given the name and the stories behind it, as the film received mostly negative reviews.
[edit] Trivia
- In 2000, Full Moon released the Puppet Master box set on DVD. However, Paramount still owned all rights to distribution, and sent a cease and desist letter to Full Moon. The box set is now very rare, and has gone up to $300 on eBay.
- In the late 90's, Full Moon started Full Moon Toys, and began releasing action figures from various franchises, including the puppets from Puppet Master and Radu from Subspecies. They are currently bringing the line back as Full Moon Playthings.
- It has been rumored that Intruder, a slasher film distributed by Paramount in the late 80's was the "gateway" for Paramount to pick up Full Moon. It was directed by Scott Spiegel and had cameos by Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi.
- To celebrate 10 years of business in 2000, Full Moon created a small three minute video called 10 Years of Madness showing clips from various Full Moon films. Interestingly, some of the films shown in this video Full Moon does not own the rights to, including Re-Animator, From Beyond, Dolls, Ghoulies. Band used a modified version of this video on the Charles Band's Full Moon Horror Road Show in 2005.
- Many people involved with Full Moon during the Full Moon Pictures era have much contempt for the company, but however, praise what Band did to promote the company during the Paramount years.
- Artisan Entertainment released Oblivion on DVD in 2002. The release did cite Full Moon Entertainment as the production company. Rumors circled that Full Moon sold a ton of rights to their films to Kusher-Locke, who ended up being purchased by Artisan, who is now owned by Lion's Gate. For some reason, the DVD has been discontinued.
- In the early 90's, Full Moon released soundtracks to several of their films on CD and cassette under the name Moonstone Records. Charles Band's brother Richard Band produced many of the soundtracks, but others were involved as well.
- More recently, several of Full Moon's well-known earlier films, such as the Trancers and Demonic Toys series have been released on DVD in Australia by a company called Kangaroo Films. Although ostensibly Australian discs, they are notably region-free and in NTSC rather than Australia's native PAL TV system, possibly to circumvent legal issues with Paramount, who forced discontinuation of the Puppet Master boxset.
- Full Moon was the model for "Full Eclipse" in the film Free Enterprise.
