Independent U.S. distributors Severin Films have officially announced and detailed their upcoming Blu-ray release of Frederick R. Friedel's films
Axe (1974) and
Date with a Kidnapper a.k.a.
Kidnapped Coed (1976). The double-feature
release will be available for purchase on December 8.
Axe
After terrorizing a convenience story salesgirl with tomatoes, three lowlifes on a crime spree hide out at an isolated farmhouse occupied only by teenage Lisa and her pathetically paralyzed grandpa. Bad move, guys, for while Lisa looks innocent enough, she's actually a ticking-time-bomb-of-psychotic-aggression who spends her days killing chickens, feeding raw eggs to her granddad, staring blankly into space and hallucinating blood on a mirror. So when the three numbskulls add Lisa to their list of people to abuse, she promptly puts an end to their antisocial activities with the help of her two best friends, a straight-edge razor and her handy AXE...
Directed by Frederick R. Friedel (who plays sensitive thug Billy and also helmed Kidnapped Coed), produced by J.G. "Pat" Patterson (a spook show magician and TV horror host who also acted in and worked behind the scenes on numerous films for Herschell Gordon Lewis), and distributed by the one and only Harry Novak (Please Don't Eat My Mother!), AXE is a dark, morbid, surprisingly disturbing foray into the underbelly of rural gothic, a.k.a. Lisa, Lisa and The Virgin Slaughter.
Kidnapped Coed
Rich girl Sandra Morley becomes a Kidnapped Coed when she's held for ransom by Eddie Mattlock, yet another mama's boy gone bad. After they're attacked by two sleazy psychos at a seedy hotel, the couple take to the back roads of the Carolinas, encounter an extremely odd assortment of humanity and, yes, fall in love, but watch out! There's a surprise ending waiting for them just up ahead... a.k.a. Kidnapped Lover, it's another morbid masterpiece from Harry Novak and the man who made Axe.
Special Features:
- New 2K transfers of both films from the original negatives
- Axe and Kidnapped Coeds audio commentary with Writer/Director Frederick R. Friedel, Production Manager Phil Smoot, Makeup Artist Worth Keeter & PA Richard W. Helms
- Blood Brothers bonus feature
- Audio Commentary with Nightmare USA Author Stephen Thrower
- At Last... Total Terror!: The Amazing True Story of the Making of Axe & Kidnapped Coed (61 minutes)
- Moose Magic: The George Newman Shaw & John Willhelm Story (33 minutes)
- Stephen Thrower on Axe & Kidnapped Coed
- Trailers, TV Spots & Radio Spots
- BONUS CD: Axe & Kidnapped Coed Original Motion Picture Soundtracks Plus Bonus Tracks By George Newman Shaw & John Willhelm