Filmmaker Patrick Summers Brings Lost Canadian Cult Zombie Classic CORPSE EATERS to Limited Edition VHS for the FIRST TIME EVER with VIDEO HOARDER! Exclusive Coverage with Details on How to VHSecure your Slab!
With a background in movie-making and some inspiration from a dear friend, nascent VHS label Video Hoarder main brain Patrick Summers is preparing to re-animate one of the rarest zombie flicks of all-time via slabs of Limited Edition analog. Corpse Eaters was the brainchild of Mr. Lawrence Zazelenchuk, the owner of a Canadian drive-in called The 69 Drive-In (!!!). Zazelenchuk served as writer, producer and make-up artist on the 1974 film, who created the movie to play at the 69 with intentions to invade a slew of other drive-in destinations. A bum distribution deal soured those plans, and Corpse Eaters has since fell into extreme obscurity with the only surviving print of the film being sold as a DVD-R from an entity called Encore Home Video. Now, Summers has secured the rights to bring Corpse Eaters to VHS for the first time ever, allowing Tapeheads to experience Zazelenchuk’s cult zombie madness through the power magnetic magic. Read on, my fellow Videovores, and get back to those nights at the 69 by revving up the rewind times and parking your caboose right in front of your VCR…
Aside from that, I’m also putting out my next documentary The Mighty BC (Which I directed and produced) on DVD through Video Hoarder. It’s about my old hip hop crew “The Beatcreatures”. I’ve also written a few scripts. One of them, Redneck The Ripper, is going to star Matt Jenkins and Neil Savedes of Douglas Schulze’s Hellmaster. I’m very excited!!
when it comes to presentation. I love the grain of it. I love watching a tape on a shitty TV. I love its imperfections.
. Also looking to have an Instagram and a Storenvy for Video Hoarder so stay tuned for that, too.
Anything else you wanna shout out to all the Tapeheads here in Lunchmeat Land?
Stay tuned for more rare, unreleased and original releases from Video Hoarder!
The VIDEO HOARDER logo. Dig that low-brow beat, mang.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your Videovore habits. What was the impetus to create Video Hoarder? I’m a 32 year-old native Floridian living in Portland, OR and I’m a lifelong fan of the horror genre. I started collecting black and white horror films on VHS when I was in 4th or 5th grade. I wasn’t allowed to rent the R-Rated stuff, hence why I stuck to the classics. I was hooked from then on. I went to school at Columbia College Chicago for Film and Video. After graduating, I was a PA on The Dark Knight and Wanted and after that, I produced the documentary Sharkula, Diarrhea Of A Madman. After the film’s premiere at the Chicago Black Harvest Fest, the director Joshua Conro, myself, and the executive producer Sam Khorshid, released the DVD independently. We distributed it to record shops and rental stores across the country and since then I toyed with the idea of starting some type of video releasing company. It wasn’t until my dog Biscuit died suddenly a little over a year ago that I really set things in motion. My wife and I were so devastated and, I know it sounds cliché, but I really started thinking about how short life is. I started thinking about how something so important can disappear in an instant and it really lit a fire under my ass to get things done. I started brainstorming with my buddy (and fellow collector) Matt Jenkins (aka Harsh Noise artist REDNECK) about script ideas. I started to finish editing my next Documentary The Mighty BC and began talking to Dennis Atkinson at Encore Home Video about a VHS Corpse Eaters release…and here we are!
A look at the full release from VIDEO HOARDER for CORPSE EATERS. Gim'me some.
Indeed, we are, mang!! Tell us about how you got hooked up with CORPSE EATERS. It's never had an official VHS release to my knowledge (or any widely distributed release for that matter) so this is pretty rad, man... I started emailing back and forth with Dennis Atkinson back in 2009 about Corpse Eaters. At first I wanted to do a documentary piece on the film’s producer/makeup artist, Lawrence Zazelenchuk, and it just evolved from there. As far as I know, aside from the DVD-R that Encore Home Video sells, it’s never had an official release. This will be the first time it’s ever been on VHS.
The CORPSE EATERS VHS from VIDEO HOARDER fanned out and ready to party. Bitchin beard to boot.
For those who haven't seen this movie, tell us a little about it. What made you want to go after this flick? I had read about Corpse Eaters in several zombie film books. Caelum Vatnsdal’s book, They Came From Within: A History Of Canadian Horror Cinema, has a detailed passage on the film that really sparked my interest. I bought the DVD-R and fell in love. It’s truly a little gem and one of, if not the first, flesh eating Canadian zombie films. Alongside The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue (which also came out in 1974) it fills the void in the years between Night of the Living Dead (1968) and Dawn of the Dead (1978). Zazelenchuk’s zombie makeup designs are undeniably Fulci-esque, a full 6 years before Zombie hit the screen. Corpse Eaters was without question ahead of its time. Who knows what would have happened if the film had gotten a distribution deal as opposed to its local run at Zazelenchuk’s own “69 Drive-in”. I truly envy those Sudbury, Ontario locals who got to see it on the big screen!
A still from the CORPSE EATERS featuring some groovy gore. That's GOTTA HURT!
When will it be available, and what are the specs on the run? Where can we grab our slab? Corpse Eaters VHS comes in old school Thorn EMI style clamshells. It’s a transfer from the last known print in existence. It’s a small run of 12. There is a “Corpse Blue” tape thrown randomly into the mix, as well. All tapes come with stickers and a mini poster and they’ll hopefully be available when this interview drops. We have a Facebook page and hopefully an Instagram and a Storenvy by then as well!
Another still featuring Zazelenchuk's ghoul make-up. Orville? Is that you, man?
You've got some other fresh VHS plans in the works, including some Carl J. Sukenick mind-melters. Tell us about what you're cooking up for your next analog installment and beyond, mang... I had heard about Carl J. Sukenick in the “Horror VHS Collectors Unite” Facebook group and was instantly fascinated. At the time I was Facebook chatting with David Rock Nelson about buying some of his films and I saw he had a YouTube video where he reads a letter from Mr. Sukenick. I asked if he could put me in touch with him. He did and we’ve been writing letters back and forth ever since. He’s prolific! I originally just wanted him to dub a copy of Alien Beasts for me. But then I became interested in putting out one of his films. He sent me one tape to release. One turned into three. Three turned into twelve and now I have a stack of masters from him. Snuff TV is the first of several we plan to put out. Next Sukenick release will be Killer Video… then maybe Sex Strangler or Lesbian Beasts… I don’t know… Not sure yet!
Here's that HELLMASTER tape, man. Image courtesy of the radical Video Sanctum.
Why do you want to put movies on tape? What is it about the format that really does it for you, duder? VHS is a very nostalgic thing for me. It was the gateway to so many of my favorite films growing up. Wondering the aisles of my local chain “16,000 Movies” is one of my fondest memories. I’ll also never forget running home after school to watch the copy of Die Hard I taped off cable when I was little. It’s comforting. There’s something so aesthetically pleasing about VHS. It looks fantastic lined up on a shelf. I love DVDs and Blu-Ray, but there’s no comparison
An alternate piece of art for CORPSE EATERS. This just RULES.
Where can we keep up with you, dude? How do we stay updated on all your rewind reanimation to come? The Video Hoarder Facebook page or just message me directlyYou know we will, mang! But for now, be sure to groove on over to the Official Video Hoarder Facebook page, give ‘em a like, and stay tuned for updates on the Official Store launch (happening VERY SOON!) so you can grab this Limited Edition slab of cult Canadian zombie awesomeness. There aren’t many being made, so if you miss out, it’s gonna bite the big one, Tapeheads! I’m just hoping for that rewind radical Corpse Blue color variant. My VCR is hungry for some bodacious blue plastic filled with 70s era zombie insanity, indeed.
Groove and Groove and Get Back to The Drive-In.
Josh Schafer