Trapped in Ashes (2006) Deaf Crocodile - 4K UHD / Blu-ray Region A

In the twisted tradition of classic anthology horror films such as TALES FROM THE CRYPT and CREEPSHOW, TRAPPED ASHES features four stories of the surreal, macabre and terrifying, helmed by five of Hollywood’s most unique directors: Joe Dante (GREMLINS, THE HOWLING), Ken Russell (ALTERED STATES, THE DEVILS), Monte Hellman (TWO-LANE BLACKTOP), Sean Cunningham (FRIDAY the 13th), and John Gaeta (Oscar winner for Visual F/X on THE MATRIX Trilogy).

TRAPPED ASHES, 2006, Deaf Crocodile, 105 min.  In the twisted tradition of classic anthology horror films such as TALES FROM THE CRYPT and CREEPSHOW, TRAPPED ASHES features four stories of the surreal, macabre and terrifying, helmed by five of Hollywood’s most unique directors: Joe Dante (GREMLINS, THE HOWLING), Ken Russell (ALTERED STATES, THE DEVILS), Monte Hellman (TWO-LANE BLACKTOP), Sean Cunningham (FRIDAY the 13th), and John Gaeta (Oscar winner for Visual F/X on THE MATRIX Trilogy).  Seven strangers (including legendary character actors John Saxon and Henry Gibson) are trapped inside an infamous Roger Corman/AIP-style House of Horrors during a Hollywood movie studio tour, and forced to confess their most disturbing personal memories to get out alive.  In Ken Russell’s  “The Girl With The Golden Breasts,” a struggling actress (Rachel Veltri) decides to get gel implants made from reprocessed human cadavers – with monstrous results for her and her boyfriend (Jayce Bartok).  In Sean Cunningham’s “Jibaku,” an unhappily-married woman (Lara Harris) and her architect husband (Scott Lowell) have a nightmarish encounter with a dead monk on a visit to Japan.  In Monte Hellman’s “Stanley’s Girlfriend,” , two ambitious young filmmakers become unlikely friends in 1950s Hollywood:  Leo (Tahmoh Penikett), writer of sadistic little B-pictures like “The Strangler,” and a soon-to-be-famous director named Stanley Kubrick (Tygh Runyan).  When they both fall in love with the same eerie, irresistible woman (Amelia Cooke), it unleashes a decades-long mystery involving desire and celluloid.  And in John Gaeta’s “My Twin The Worm,” a young Goth woman (Michele-Barbara Pelletier) reveals the horrific, Cronenberg-like tale of the inhuman “twin” that grew alongside her in her mother’s womb.  With marvelous visual F/X by multi-Academy Award winner Robert Skotak (TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY, ALIENS) and a superb, haunting soundtrack is by acclaimed Japanese composer Kenji Kawai (THE RING, GHOST IN THE SHELL), TRAPPED ASHES is a dark and surreal love letter to classic genre filmmakers like Mario Bava, to the phantoms (literal and figurative) of the film industry, and to the art of telling scary stories.  Newly restored in 2K for its first-ever U.S. Blu-ray release!

“Ran it just before Christmas on a dripping foggy night in London.  Perfect.  I just loved it.  The pitch was just right.  Well done.  More please.” -Mike Hodges, Director of GET CARTER, FLASH GORDON and CROUPIER

“The movie is a love letter to trashy, darkly humorous horror cinema from writer/producer Dennis Bartok, who has assembled a terrific lineup of old school talent to bring his nightmares to the screen.  In a wraparound story helmed by Gremlins and Howling director Joe Dante (who gives a brief, but welcome cameo to old friend Dick Miller), a motley group of tourists on a tour of a decrepit Hollywood movie studio find themselves trapped in an isolated room inside a supposedly-haunted mansion previously owned by a sadistic film producer … Directed with lunatic fervor by the legendary Ken Russell (The Lair of the White Worm, Altered States, Tommy, The Devils), ‘Golden Breasts’ is a fun romp with abundant nudity and gore, plus an impressive central performance by newcomer Rachel Veltri … The best episode, however, follows in the spectacular ‘Stanley’s Girlfriend’ directed by 70’s Hollywood legend Monte Hellman (Two-Lane Blacktop, China 9 Liberty 37) and told by horror vet John Saxon …” – Marc Walkow, FearNet.com