USA, 1976
84m
35mm film, colour, 1.66:1
mono, English
Reviewed at The EOFFTV Review
An American horror film directed by Constantine S. Gochis.
Plot Summary
Six former classmates attend a mysterious class reunion and fall prey to The Redeemer, a sinister figure who picks them off one by one.
Credits
Crew
Director: Constantine S. Gochis
© MCMLXXVI [1976] MLTD Limited Partnership
A Trattner/Tromberg production
Executive Producer: Stephen Trattner
Producer: Sheldon Tromberg
Original Screenplay by: William Vernick
Director of Photographer: John Michael Beymer
Editor: Jack Foster
Music by: Phil Gallo and Clem Vicari
Sound: D.H. Sperling
Wardrobe: Melissa Nicole
Key Makeup: Mary Robinson
Hair Stylist: Barbara Davis
Special Effects: Jack Thompson
Art and Set Direction: John Allee
Cast
Damien Knight (John [Sinclair])
Jeannetta Arnette (Cindy)
Nick Carter (Terry)
Nikki Barthen (Jane)
Michael Hollingsworth (Roger)
Gyr Patterson (Kirsten)
T.G. Finkbinder (The Redeemer)
Christopher Flint (Christopher)
Richard Timmins (George Hanrahan)
Jessica Bein (Maisie Hanrahan)
Eric Kjoenes (school janitor)
Rosa Arift (gypsy)
Larry Mooney (Bible salesman)
Daniel Elliot (choirboy jokester)
First Baptist Church (choir)
Carla Ness (legal secretary)
Layne E. Leffler Sr (Mr Pitts)
Jacqueline Moreno (bar waitress)
Jon Crispin|Ron Des Vous (disc jockey)
Lauren Rouse (dancer)
Alternative Titles
L’Ange du mal – France
Class Reunion Massacre – USA (video)
Most Likely to Die – working title
Paholaisen poika – Finland
The Redeemer – UK (video)
Production Notes
Post-production
A legal action brought by Martin and Diane Sterenbuch in 1991 revealed some information about the film’s delayed release (it was shot in 1976 but not released until 1978). The Sterenbuchs, partners in MLTD Limited Partnership, the film’s copyright holders, petitioned for “deductions for depreciation with respect to the Partnership’s investment in a movie film under the “income forecast method” 1Legal documents filed 3 October 1991, the right to raise an issue that a deduction is allowable due to the abandonment of the movie film in 1978″ and the right “to an investment tax credit with respect to petitioner’s share of the Partnership’s investment in the movie film; and […] whether petitioners are liable for increased interest under section 6621(c)” In the legal documents it was revealed that the film, written under the title Most Likely to Die was filmed in October 1976 by TNT Productions, Inc. and “the Partnership acquired it for a cash down payment of $240,000 and a nonrecourse interest-bearing note due December 31, 1986, of $960,000.”
On 23 December 1976 MLTD Limited Partnership signed a deal with Dimension Pictures who, in early 1977, demanded that the film be “refilmed and reedited.” It was shown at a trade screening in Autumn 1977 but was not released by Dimension until May 1978. When Dimension ran into financial difficulties, the film’s release was “curtailed” after taking “$1 million” at the box office though the MLTD saw none of the money.
References
Periodicals
- Shock Cinema no.16 (2000) p.33 – review (Film flotsam by Andrew M. Copp)
Books
- Educational Institutions in Horror Film: A History of Mad Professors, Student Bodies, and Final Exams by Andrew L. Grunzke pp.100-102, 128, 186, 187, 194
- Horror and Science Fiction Films II by Donald C. Willis p.325
- The Pocket Essential Slasher Movies by Mark Whitehead p.85
- Regional Horror Films, 1958-1990 by Brian Albright p.313
- The World of Fantasy Films by Richard Myers p.31
