Shadow Films/Shadow Entertainment and Wizard Video (2002-2004)
Blockbuster Entertainment, a longtime supporter of the Full Moon brand, requested the company produce a slasher film, due to the late '90s resurgence of this subgenre thanks to Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer. With the help of an uncredited Tempe Entertainment, Band produced Bleed, and acquired Keith Walley's Scared, renaming it Cut Throat.
Band produced only two more films "officially" under the Shadow name: (Birthrite, Delta Delta Die!). Another Keith Walley film, Speck, was acquired. William Shatner's DV science-fiction movie, Groom Lake, produced by J.R. Bookwalter, became notorious as 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 era named Wizard Video, which distributed cult-like films. This modern rendition 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 dropped from the release schedule.
In 2003, Charles Band entered into a deal with 20th Century Fox to produce a low budget horror movie. Fox would distribute the movie, and Band would retain copyrights. The film was directed by J.R. Bookwalter, and named Deadly Stingers. In the tradition of the giant killer bug movies, Deadly Stingers was about giant scorpions taking over a town. However, after the film was completed, it was shelved due to a decline in the industry, and low sales of another similar project at Fox (excluding Full Moon) entitled Dark Wolf. The film was shown at the Frightvision Horror Festival in 2003, but has yet to see release on DVD, Blu-ray, or VOD. A teaser trailer for the film does exist on J.R. Bookwalter's Tempe Entertainment web site.
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Famous quotes containing the words shadow, films, wizard and/or video:
“The shadow of your sorrow hath destroyed
The shadow of your face.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Science fiction films are not about science. They are about disaster, which is one of the oldest subjects of art.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)
“The obvious parallels between Star Wars and The Wizard of Oz have frequently been noted: in both there is the orphan hero who is raised on a farm by an aunt and uncle and yearns to escape to adventure. Obi-wan Kenobi resembles the Wizard; the loyal, plucky little robot R2D2 is Toto; C3PO is the Tin Man; and Chewbacca is the Cowardly Lion. Darth Vader replaces the Wicked Witch: this is a patriarchy rather than a matriarchy.”
—Andrew Gordon, U.S. educator, critic. “The Inescapable Family in American Science Fiction and Fantasy Films,” Journal of Popular Film and Television (Summer 1992)
“It is among the ranks of school-age children, those six- to twelve-year-olds who once avidly filled their free moments with childhood play, that the greatest change is evident. In the place of traditional, sometimes ancient childhood games that were still popular a generation ago, in the place of fantasy and make- believe play . . . today’s children have substituted television viewing and, most recently, video games.”
—Marie Winn (20th century)