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Stars: Gaylen Ross, Tony Fish, Harriet Bass, Seth Jones, Jan Claire, Alexander Murphy Jr., Tom Candela, Frederick Neumann, Michael Sullivan, Paul Ehlers, Tom Veilleux, Stephen Clark, Vicki Kenneally, Shelley Mathes, Lori Mathes | Written and Directed by Joe Giannone

Urban Legends and camp-fires are the perfect way to start a horror film. Point to an old abandoned house and say that a crazy old man still lives there, you must not shout his name or he’ll come and get you. Perfect start to a slasher right? This is the basic plot for Madman, an early 80s genre flick which has had the Arrow Video Blu-ray treatment.

When a group of camp counsellors are telling scary stories around a campfire, they are warned not to say the name of Madman Marz, a crazy old farmer who is still said to haunt the woods around his abandoned home, conveniently close to the camp.

April’s horror and sci-fi home media releases are ending in a big way, as we have a lot of genre goodness to look forward to with this week’s 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD offerings. In terms of new titles, Roland Emmerich’s Moonfall is arriving this Tuesday on a variety of formats, and both Gia Elliott’s psychological thriller Take Back the Night and Dead by Midnight Y2Kill are headed to DVD as well.

Arrow Video is giving Terry Gilliam’s 12 Monkeys the 4K treatment this week, and Vinegar Syndrome has several titles headed to 4K this week, too, including Scanner Cop, Scanner Cop II: The Showdown, Madman, and a Schizoid/X-Ray double feature. Severin Films is showing some love to the Ozploitation flick Stone with a Special Edition release, and Agfa/Bleeding Skull are putting out Emily Hagins’ Pathogen on Blu-ray, too.

Other titles headed home on...

Exclusive: Cast has been set for Rally Caps, a baseball themed family feature from writer-director Lee Cipolla (The Shift).

Oscar-nominee Judd Hirsch (Uncut Gems), Amy Smart (Star Girl) and Carson Minniear (Palmer) have all signed up. The film is based on the novel written by father-daughter team Stephen J. Cutler and Jodi Michelle Cutler. Also starring are Curtis Pride, his children Noelle Pride, Colten Pride, and Tim Kurkjian.

It follows a youth baseball player who has his dreams of pitching for a Little League travel team derailed by a devastating injury on the field. After a long recovery process, he goes off to away camp with his older brother where he befriends a deaf catcher and his sister. Based on their own experiences living with a disability, they help him overcome his anxiety and fear of returning to the mound.

Producers are Katherine Borda, Amy Williams, Gary Sales and William Garcia.

By Todd Garbarini

When I was a teenager, the Boy Scout troop that I was a member of consisted of nearly 25 scouts. We had a few older scouts whom the rest of the younger scouts looked up to, and during our weekend camping trips the seniors made every effort to scare the beejezus out of us youngsters with ludicrous tales of ghosts or killers hiding out in the woods. These stories were often woven around a campfire in the late hours of the evening when we were all seemingly vulnerable. During the summer of 1980, Sean Cunningham’s Friday the 13th was doing well at the box office, so I was already aware of these “murderers in the woods”-themed films. This didn’t make it any easier for us to go on camping trips! The success of Friday the 13th gave birth to countless carbon copies of young adults-being-stalked-in-the-woods films.

We're sticking with the summer camp theme for the latest installment in our ongoing slasher series; last week we visited the 1981 cult fave The Burning (which is about to receive glorious Blu-ray treatment; check out the details here), and today we're headed back to the forest to face another mangled maniac – this time the undead redneck behemoth known as “Madman Marz” – the title nemesis of Madman, released one year after The Burning at the peak of the slasher cycle. Conceived by producer Gary Sales and director Joe Giannone, Madman is actually loosely based on the same urban myth that inspired The Burning: the story of “Cropsey,” an inhuman killer who – as many a campfire tale would have it – stalks New York's Staten Island, seeking symbolic revenge for his own death and/or disfigurement. The films share much of Cropsey's DNA, all the way down to a lively retelling of...

Blood Oath David Buchert is the director behind the recently released slasher film Blood Oath starring legendary scream queen Tiffany Shepis (Night of the Demons). Blood Oath deals with a group of friends on a weekend camping trip who decide to investigate a local urban legend. Unaware of just how true this urban legend is, they are forced into a fight for survival against a horrific monster who roams the woods feasting on the bodies of who ever enters his domain. With Blood Oath, director David Buchert was able to capture the nostalgia of the slasher films of yesteryear that horror fans grew up watching such as Friday the 13th, The Forest, Madman, etc. He showed an ability to play up the inherent spookiness of sitting around a camp fire telling urban legends to one another. He showed an ability with Blood Oath to remind slasher fans why they so...

Nothing says October like a horror convention, and Creation's Weekend of Horrors, returning to the Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Airport Hotel this October 15-17, is shaping up to be one you don't want to miss. Take a look at the new names that have recently been added to the guest list.

Joe Pilato - "Captain Rhodes" in Day of the Dead (all three days)

Greg Nicotero - The FX master of the modern zombie himself (Saturday only)

Joe Bob Briggs - B-movie gourmand and host (all three days)

Gary Sales - Producer of Madman (Friday and Saturday)

Paul Ehlers - Star of Madman (Friday and Saturday)

Fred Williamson - From Dusk Till Dawn, That Man Bolt, Black Caesar (days Tba)

John Saxon - Nightmare on Elm Street series; Battle Beyond the Stars; Blood Beach; Silent Night, Evil Night; Queen of Outer Space (Saturday and Sunday)

Sybil Danning - Battle Beyond the Stars,...

We reported early last month that Code Red Films was planning a new special edition of the long out of print (and long sought after) early 80's "slasher" cult favorite Madman . While we knew they'd be carting over the special features from the previous Anchor Bay release, very little is know (at least at this stage) in terms of what new features this edition will boast. Well, according to the boys over at Deadpit Radio, you can be a part of the new special features. The on-line talk show hosts got the following message from actor Paul Ehlers, aka Madman Marz himself: "I found out from Gary Sales who was the owner and original producer of Madman that he had struck a deal with Code Red films to put out a new edition- a re-issue... So, we are going to be coming...

If you missed out on the classic Eighties slasher Madman and are having a bitch of a time finding the original Anchor Bay DVD, then sit tight! Help is on the way and a new edition is in the works!

Uncle Bill of Deadpit Radio dropped us a line with some really good news!

This week on Deadpit Radio the legendary Paul Ehlers (interview here) (Madman Marz himself) made a special announcement about an upcoming DVD re-release of the seminal 1982 slasher flick "Madman".

The bombastic axe-wielder told the Deadpit crew:

"I found out from Gary Sales who was the owner and original producer of 'Madman' that he had struck a deal with Code Red films to put out a new edition- a re-issue ... So, we are going to be coming out with the original film on a re-issue DVD". Ehlers goes on to say, "We are going to...

Madman Marz fans be on the look out because production company Code Red DVD is in the early stages of prepping a new special edition of the early 80's "slasher" cult classic Madman. Anchor Bay Entertainment initially put out the DVD back in 2001 but has been out of print and hard to find, that is about to change...

While the new features for this edition are still being worked out, we do know that the original commentary track with writer/director Joe Giannone, writer/producer Gary Sales and stars Tony Fish and Paul "Madman Marz" Ehlers will be carted over from the Anchor Bay release. (Sadly, Giannone and Fish are no longer with us.)

Early word has it the disc will sport new interviews with some of the cast, as well as a featurette visiting the original shooting locations with Madman Marz himself, Paul Ehlers.

Madman pre-dated the original Friday The 13th...

We've learned that Code Red DVD is in the early stages of prepping a new special edition of the early 80's "slasher" cult classic Madman . Anchor Bay Entertainment initially put out the DVD back in 2001 which has long since been out of print. While the new features for this edition are still being worked out, we do know that the original commentary track with writer/director Joe Giannone, writer/producer Gary Sales and stars Tony Fish and Paul "Madman Marz" Ehlers will be carted over from the Anchor Bay release. (Sadly, Giannone and Fish are no longer with us.) Early word has it the disc will sport new interviews with some of the cast, as well as a featurette visiting the original shooting locations with Madman Marz himself, Paul Ehlers. Madman...

I set out to create a list of the most memorable horror songs, which slowly morphed into a collection of the most memorable end credit horror songs. And now I suppose it’s a list of the ten most memorable 80s end credit horror songs. But I didn’t set out with that as a guideline. It just sort of happened that way. In looking over this list now, I’m left to wonder why nobody puts much effort into the end credits music these days. Since it’s the last impression the viewer has of a film, why not make it memorable?

That’s what these songs have in common.

Some are genuinely cool while others are downright baffling, but I’ve never forgotten them. Even the head scratchers. For your listening pleasure, I’ve included links to all the songs should you need a refresher. And, as always,...

Recently, I had the sincere pleasure of speaking with Madman producer/co-writer Gary Sales and star Paul Ehlers who played The Madman himself – Marz, a yeti-looking maniac swinging an axe at every jugular in sight, who I – at 7 years old – imagined trudging up the stairs in my house in the middle of the night. I had the same problem with Chewbacca. Hey, what can I say? Hairy giants were terrifying to me. Guillermo del Toro still makes me pee my pants a little. But I digress… While a hairy giant he may be, Madman Marz was not the only one mixing things up and accumulating bodies in cinematic summer camp romps. In 1980, the first Friday the 13th hit theaters, giving us an iconic horror villain, 11...