Color, 1987, 89 mins. 47 secs. / 62 mins. 28 secs.
Directed by Pat Bishow
Starring Jamie Kinser, Pierre Deveaux, Bob Cederberg, Tom Cosari, Sue Chase, Louise Millmann, Ginny Dunlevy
Bleeding Skull (Blu-ray) (US R0 HD), AGFA / Bleeding Skull (DVD) (US R0 NTSC)

One of the many homegrown The Soultanglerhorror oddities that were made for the home video market but sank into oblivion instead, the Long Island The Soultanglershocker The Soultangler came out of nowhere when it got its first U.S. VHS release in 2014 (yes, 2014) as part of a big SOV initiative from Bleeding Skull. Four years later it got a deluxe DVD edition from AGFA and Bleeding Skull, with the latter eventually going solo again for a 2025 Blu-ray with all the same extras and a whole lot more. No matter how you see it, this is a truly mind-melting experience that will charm fans of gore-spattered regional labors of love.

Dr. Anton Lupesky (Devaux) has just gotten off the legal hook for his bizarre experiments that can transfer a human soul into any fresh corpse and reanimate it, though so far he's the only one who can withstand the intense hallucinations caused by the process. His colleague and onetime research partner Janet Simpson (Dunlevy) is still working at the Whitewood Institute where the experiments originated, and when the doctor comes back after a mysterious sojourn to Luxembourg, intrepid reporter Kim Castle The Soultangler(Kinser) is determined to get to the bottom of his gruesome activities as bodies keep reviving and everything gets very The Soultanglersquishy.

Shot for around $8,000 and barely sold for distribution overseas, The Soultangler is very far removed from any kind of "good" horror movie but delivers entertainment in bucket loads if you're in the right mood. Numerous flubbed lines, a random segment of Haxan, a hooded henchman nabbing fresh bodies via hammer murders, and charming practical lo-fi gore effects make for a bizarre stew that you have to see to believe. Director Pat Bishow (who mostly worked in corporate shorts after this) originally completed the film at just over an hour, but to get a distribution deal he had to bring it up to standard feature length and ended up wedging in lots of scrapped footage and reshoots that he disavows today. Both versions have been included on the DVD and Blu-ray editions, and your mileage may vary depending on what you want. The much tighter director's cut gets to the good stuff a lot faster and has a brisk editorial approach (not to mention some aggressive newly added music), while the longer release version has a kind of droning weirdness to it (including a nearly avant garde opening and other tangents) that scratches the itch if you want something on the deeper end of the weird movie pool. The film was shot on 16mm but those elements were lost ages ago, so the existing tape master is all we have -- so keep your expectations in check here as it's very much limited by the The Soultanglersource.

Both The Soultanglerdisc editions feature a commentary with Bishow who enthusiastically packs the track with tidbits about the footage he begrudgingly had to add, the potential casting of Edie Falco, the inspiration of Jean-Luc Godard(!), the process of getting permission to shoot around town, and his utter disbelief that anyone would listen to him talking about this film. You also get a reel of behind-the-scenes footage (11m43s) from both the original shoot and the added scenes including some fun gore gag creations, an amusing 18m27s Q&A with the director from his appearances cut together from the Alamo Drafthouse screenings in Austin and Brooklyn introduced by the label's Joseph A. Ziemba, a 2m23s photo gallery, the original VHS-sourced trailer, a bonus 1986 trailer for The Dead of Night Town, and a 1991 Bishow music video for "Wow" by Hypnolovewheel. The big new draw here is 2002's It's a Haunted Happenin' (74m1s), a previously unreleased Bishow shot-on-video creature feature musical. It's pretty much a silly goof about a Josie and the Pussycats-style band who burst into music video-style performances every few minutes with a sound very similar to a certain Russ Meyer X-rated hit and an Athens, Georgia retro band we all know. They also end up in a big spooky house where someone is chloroforming random interlopers and conducting experiments, with other oddities including vintage movie clips, a guy in an ape suit, and a butler who likes to serve TV dinners. There are also some horror host interruptions (in black and white, of course, complete with Ed Wood jokes), and of course, one of the bands is named The Soultanglers. It's all harmless G-rated fun made with a lot of love for the cost of a turkey sandwich. It also comes with a very breezy commentary by Bishow and co-writer Jon Sanborne who look back at claustrophobic actors, DIY set construction, impromptu music video shooting, and a lot more other tidbits than you'd expect over the course of 74 minutes.

Reviewed on June 1, 2025