2000 NEWS ARCHIVE
OLD NEWS IS STILL GOOD NEWS, SO PICK YOUR YEAR: 2003 • 2002 • 2001 • 1999 • 1998 • 1997
| "HORRORVISION" WRAPS, "STITCHES" IN PRODUCTION (9/30/2000): As we reported last month, our first Tempe-branded production since 1997's BLOODLETTING is HORRORVISION, coming from Full Moon Pictures in January, 2001. This effort from debut director Danny Draven recently wrapped production and is on the fast track in post-production. Look for the official website, going online in the next few weeks! Meanwhile, two weeks after the HORRORVISION wrap, the Tempe team moved into production on STITCHES, the feature directorial debut of Neal Marshall Stevens from a screenplay by Benjamin Carr. The tale of a little old lady who steals the souls of the residents of a 1920's-era boarding house is being lensed by Brad Rushing (SHRIEKER) and will make its home video debut in February, 2001. The same producing team of J.R. Bookwalter, Chuck Williams and Ariauna Albright have returned for this show, which stars Elizabeth Ince, Debra Mayer (BLOOD DOLLS), Robert Donovan and a featured role by WITCHOUSE 2's Kaycee Shank. David Barton's Modus EFX are again at the helm of the creepy special effects. "WITCHOUSE 2" HITS THE STREETS (9/26/2000): Tempe fans lamenting the absence of product from our company can rest easy as Full Moon Pictures' WITCHOUSE 2: BLOOD COVEN hits stores today on VHS and special edition DVD (available for purchase on this very site). Check out FANGORIA #197 for a preview of the film in the Monster Invasion column, or zap over to fandom.com for John Thonen's interview with director J.R. Bookwalter. And the reviews are starting to come in! Check out what everyone is saying about our first 35mm feature in our special WITCHOUSE 2 section. "SANDMAN" ACTOR TERRY J. LIPKO DEAD AT AGE 37 (9/18/2000): According to the Akron Beacon Journal, law enforcement officers found the body of Terry J. Lipko, 37, on Sunday September 17 in his overturned pickup truck off U.S. 224 in Deerfield Township, Ohio — just a stone's throw from the former Tempe headquarters in Mogadore. Lipko, who portrayed the whacky sidekick "Bud" in THE SANDMAN, was pronounced dead at the accident scene in a heavily wooded area where the body was concealed for six days. J.R. Bookwalter, who directed the actor in SANDMAN, calls Lipko's death "a damn shame. Terry was a very gifted guy, full of a lot of talent and energy and he really brought some great humor to his role. He will be missed by everyone who participated in that show." The full details of the accident will not be known for about four weeks, pending the results of an autopsy. In the years since his involvement with Tempe, Lipko had moved to Orlando, Florida where he continued to pursue his acting career and had only recently moved back to Boardman, a small town outside of Youngstown, Ohio where much of SANDMAN had been filmed. "ST. FRANCISVILLE" CONTROVERSY FOCUSES ON TEMPE (9/1/2000): The plot thickens! In the latest issue of FANGORIA #196, writer Don Kaye gets into the nuts and bolts of the BLAIR WITCH knockoff THE ST. FRANCISVILLE EXPERIMENT, featuring a lengthy interview with (among others) our own J.R. Bookwalter. That's right...our own Fat Cat Post contributed sound sweetening, titles and online work to this Kushner-Locke production, recently acquired by Trimark in a reported seven-figure deal. J.R. dances around the subject of Full Moon's suspected involvement with the film, and had this to say for Tempe fans on the subject: "The irony of ST. FRANCISVILLE is that my name was not even supposed to be involved in it. I had been out of town when the end credits were finalized and Kushner-Locke used my name against my suggestion. So what happened next is that FANGO editor Tony Timpone saw the film at the American Film Market and didn't recognize anyone's name...but mine. The truth of the matter is, Fat Cat did the final online edit, titles and sound sweetening. And that's that." The plot thickens indeed. And stay tuned for FANGORIA #197 featuring a look at WITCHOUSE 2: BLOOD COVEN – on sale Sept. 12th! "TWICE THE FUN" GETS DVD PREMIERE (8/12/2000): You may remember some time ago we announced that our own Lance Randas had directed & edited a 35-minute featurette called TWICE THE FUN for the foreign version of Surrender Cinema's LOLIDA 2000. It appeared that it would never get a release in this country...until now! We are happy to announce that TWICE THE FUN is making its debut on the special edition DVD of Surrender's NOANGELS.COM, coming September 26th (not-so-ironically, the same day as our WITCHOUSE: BLOOD COVEN!). Tempe fans will be able to order the disc from us soon, which stars Chuck Williams (HORRORVISION co-producer) and Brandy Davis (PLEASURECRAFT) as well as loads of cameos from pals like Don Adams & Harry James Picardi (SLEEPWALKER), Gabriel Shayne (LIP SERVICE) and Scott Phillips (DRIVE screenwriter). Also look for a special cameo from the old HUMANOIDS FROM ATLANTIS mask...'nuff said! Get yours soon at fine stores everywhere! "HORRORVISION" GOES INTO PRODUCTION (8/10/2000): There is very exciting news to announce! Tempe Entertainment has just entered into an exclusive production deal with Full Moon Releasing! On August 23rd, we begin principal photography on HORRORVISION, a stylish "cyber-noir" horror thriller directed by newcomer Danny Draven in and around Los Angeles. The film is being produced by J.R. Bookwalter, Chuck Williams (SOULTAKER) and Ariauna Albright (BLOODLETTING). But it doesn't stop there! This flick stars Tempe staples like James Black (OZONE, SOLDIER) and the aforementioned Ms. Albright and is being shot by legendary director of photography Mac Ahlberg (RE-ANIMATOR, INNOCENT BLOOD) from a screenplay by Scott Phillips (DRIVE). HORRORVISION is slated for a January, 2001 release everywhere from Full Moon and this all-Tempe production will get the deluxe special edition DVD treatment in addition to its VHS release. Now that we've whetted your appetite, stay tuned for more details! "WITCHOUSE 2" WRAPS (8/6/2000): Our apologies for the long delay since our last update, but the good news is that director J.R. Bookwalter's Full Moon debut, WITCHOUSE 2: BLOOD COVEN, is now completed! Visit our special section on this exciting release coming to VHS and special edition DVD on September 26th, 2000 for more details, and check out the official trailer now online! J.R. BOOKWALTER FEATURED GUEST ON B+ MOVIEMAKING THIS WEDNESDAY (6/26/2000): As if your time isn't valuable as it is...this Wednesday, June 28th, 2000 at 4 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, Tempe founder J.R. Bookwalter is the featured guest for one full hour on B+ Moviemaking, a new radio show on www.AdrenalineRadio.com. He'll be hyping Full Moon's WITCHOUSE 2: BLOOD COVEN as well as talking about Tempe's 15 years of low-budget cinematic endeavors, including plenty of how-to chat. And how can our dear Tempe friends hear this blessed event? Why, using their computer and RealVideo Player, of course! If you don't have RealPlayer installed on your system, download it now free of charge. Then tune in to Adrenaline Radio this Wednesday and hear J.R. grilled for the whole world to hear! "TEMPE THEMES" PRICE DROP; ALSO AVAILABLE AS FREE MP3s! (6/6/2000): As part of Tempe's ongoing commitment to the Internet, we're lowering prices on all of our CD soundtracks, beginning with TEMPE THEMES — now available at the low low price of just $9.99 ($4.99 cassette, while supplies last). If that's still too much for you to part with, you can now download free stereo MP3 files of each and every track on the CD (MP3s are 22k stereo; the CD is 44k stereo). Are we crazy? Probably...so get downloading before we change our mind, and look for all of our soundtracks to be converted to MP3 in the months ahead! SOUTHPORT ONLINE HOSTS ONLINE HORROR CONVENTION (6/1/2000): Just when you thought it was safe to go online...our new friends at Southport Online are hosting The 2000 Horror Fright Fest Online, held on Saturday, June 10th and Sunday, June 11th, 2000. And Tempe is there! Kicking off the festivities is our very own J.R. Bookwalter, chatting at 12 p.m. (high noon!) on Saturday. Tune your browser to the Southport Online website and join the Tempe family in cyber-heckling our ringleader, along with their other weekend guests, who include actor Muse Watson (I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER), splattermaster Tom Savini, stuntman Dick Warlock and indie director Mike Prosser (THE DIVIDING HOUR), with more guests announced soon! All chats will be held in the Southport Stadium chat room. PRODUCTION NEWS (6/1/2000): We've had a lot of e-mail asking for progress reports on our latest production, Full Moon's WITCHOUSE 2: BLOOD COVEN. The good news is that director J.R. Bookwalter has just finished the first assembly edit and should be locking it by late June. Prior to diving into the feature, Bookwalter cut a teaser trailer for the Cannes Film Festival which will be appearing online soon. Bookwalter is also thrilled that Full Moon has bumped the release from July to August and now to October 24th, 2000 in time for Halloween on both VHS and DVD. The buzz at Full Moon is that WITCHOUSE 2 is going to be something special indeed! In-between it all, Bookwalter found the time to edit THE BROTHERHOOD for Regent Entertainment, shot in 35mm anamorphic and finished on film by the gang at Fat Cat Post, with sound editing by Maui Holcomb and a stereo mix by Chris M. Jacobson. The same trio also cut the film's hip trailer. Speaking of Jacobson, his band 7 Months recently headed into the studio to record a track for WITCHOUSE 2. More on that to come...! DEADNEXTDOOR.COM DEBUTS (6/2/2000): Technically it went up during FrightVision 2000, but if you haven't checked it out, do so! Deadnextdoor.com is the new place to find out more about your favorite Tempe zombie flick, and as our sequel DEAD FUTURE: THE DEAD NEXT DOOR moves closer to reality, it will be the only place to read all about it! Watch the anniversary tribute 15 YEARS IN 15 MINUTES using RealVideo, the trailer in Quicktime 4 and read all about the making of our flagship production, including never-before-seen, newly-restored photos and more. What are you waiting for...? YES, THE MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE... (4/5/2000): The living proof of that statement frequently came from Tempe's J.R. Bookwalter during his tenure as editor of the former Alternative Cinema magazine. Now, he's loose again on the Internet with a weekly column entitled "The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste..." in which he chats about whatever is on his mind. In the debut issue, Bookwalter talks about Frightvision 2000, the convention in his hometown of Akron, Ohio where THE DEAD NEXT DOOR recently celebrated its 15th anniversary. J.R. will give us no clue as to what future columns will discuss, or even when these weekly train-of-thoughts will be posted. The bitch is back! OUT-OF-PRINT TITLES AVAILABLE WHILE SUPPLIES LAST (3/25/2000): The saga began with a box mysteriously received from our former distributors, E.I. Independent Cinema. Within the cardboard was the last remaining stash of two of our infamous Super-VHS masterpieces -- KINGDOM OF THE VAMPIRE and GALAXY OF THE DINOSAURS. What to do? Well, that part is easy. Both titles are available again for only $9.99 each (plus postage) in their original Cinema Home Video sleeves from 1990 and 1991, respectively, joining last year's limited-edition release of GHOUL SCHOOL (which has a shiny new sleeve). We gotta tell you...despite director J.R. Bookwalter babbling every now and again about remastering KINGDOM, this is very likely the last time we'll ever offer these titles...ever!! So completists, masochists and true fans can now complete their collection...but only while supplies last! AT LAST! TEMPE DVDs WILL LAUNCH THIS SUMMER (3/23/2000): You heard it here first! We've gotten quite a lot of e-mail enthusiastic about our DVD announcements late last year, and now we have some details to share. J.R. Bookwalter and Charles Band of Full Moon will soon make the formal announcement of Wizard 3000, a new label dedicated to uncut, underground releases. The name may sound familiar to veteran fans of Band's Wizard Video, which was the home to such horror favorites as ZOMBIE, BLOOD FEAST and even THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE in their home video debuts. Now, Band is readying a new slate of DVD releases under the Wizard moniker and Tempe is there. The flagship release will be writer/director Scott Spiegel's INTRUDER, presented for the first time ever in the U.S. unrated and uncut! This summer will see the long-awaited DVD release of THE DEAD NEXT DOOR, complete with newly-remastered picture culled from original elements, commentary, an all-new making-of, trailers and more, followed by our long-in-the-works SKINNED ALIVE 10th anniversary edition. The year will close with the debut of POLYMORPH and BLOODLETTING as well. Full details of this exciting new deal will follow in the weeks to come!
Work is progressing on the SKINNED ALIVE 10th anniversary special edition, now available for $19.99 in a pre-release version which includes the 1999 trailer. The final version will feature additional goodies such as an all-new "making of" segment, with a DVD release to follow. Finally, GHOUL SCHOOL Limited Edition and NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD 25th ANNIVERSARY DOCUMENTARY are untouched at their original prices of $19.99 each. "TOURIST TRAP" GETS TEMPE BOOST FOR DVD (1/4/2000): Director (and Tempe boss) J.R. Bookwalter has always had a special place in his heart for the 1979 Charles Band-produced TOURIST TRAP, and during his tenure with Full Moon pushed for the title to get a 20th anniversary remastered DVD release. The fruits of that labor are now available (and at 10% off the list price on this site)! Digitally restored from the original negative for the first time ever in a 16x9-enhanced letterboxed (1.85:1) edition with director's commentary, theatrical trailer and an on-camera interview with writer/director David Schmoeller. Highly recommended! |
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TEMPE-EDITED "INTERNET BABES" NOW ON DVD (3/18/2000): The fourth and final Tempe-edited Penthouse Video show, PENTHOUSE INTERNET BABES, streets on DVD this Tuesday, March 21st. Following on the heels of PENTHOUSE PET OF THE YEAR 1999 STARRING NIKIE ST. GILLES, PENTHOUSE LINGERIE PARTY and PENTHOUSE: THE ALL-NEW PET WORKOUT, INTERNET BABES is also noteworthy for Tempe vet Lance Randas having directed three segments, two of which feature Internet queen (and former adult star)