Full Moon Studios/Full Moon Pictures (1995-2002)
In 1995, due to the Direct to Video market losing interest and financial ground with the rental market, in addition to internal issues, Full Moon Entertainment separated from distributor Paramount. Full Moon's Halloween 1995 production, Castle Freak, was released on video unrated.
After the releases of Castle Freak and Oblivion 2: Backlash, Band renamed Full Moon Entertainment Full Moon Studios for the feature Vampire Journals, and used 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 were distributed by The Kushner-Locke Company.
With the release of Shrieker in 1998, Band enlisted the help of Ohio-based filmmaker and Tempe Entertainment founder J.R. Bookwalter, who had recently relocated to California. Bookwalter was commissioned by Band to begin editing features, including Curse of the Puppet Master. Curse of the Puppet Master, created due to demand from video retailers for a new installment of the Puppet Master franchise, is not held in high regards with fans of the genre. To conserve costs (as most Full Moon features were being made for much less than the Paramount-distributed films), the film was put together using footage from the first five Puppet Master files, as well as some new footage. However, Bookwalter's work got Full Moon noticed on Apple.com, where a story was published about Bookwalter's editing of Curse of the Puppet Master on his iBook in a hotel room in Ohio.
Over the next several years, Full Moon continued its releases and even introduced more labels:
- Alchemy Entertainment/Big City Pictures - specializing in urban horror and science fiction films.
- Surrender Cinema - replacing Torchlight Entertainment, specializing in the same soft-core science fiction 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 science fiction 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 Horror Vision, Tempe Entertainment was hired to produce several Full Moon films for Band. All of these films were shot on DV, a first for Full Moon, and were primarily made for under $60,000 (with Witchouse 3: Demon Fire completed for $26,000). The films were produced under very tight schedules, some being shot in as little as nine days. While the production drawbacks were high in each situation, this opportunity gave new exposure to Bookwalter and Tempe, who was used to producing films on shoestring budgets.
Once again, the industry changed, 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 William Shatner hosted Full Moon films with wraparounds, as well as interviews with many of sci-fi's most notable personalities, including Stan Lee and Jeffrey Combs. Tempe also received exposure here as HorrorVision was included in this short-lived series.
With the release of 2000's The Dead Hate the Living!, Band dropped the VideoZone name and produced behind-the-scenes featurettes without a masthead.
Read more about this topic: Full Moon Features
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