Grindhouse Releasing has signed a new home entertainment distribution deal with MVD Entertainment Group that kicks off with the March 12 Blu-ray Disc release of the ’70s cult classic psycho thriller Impulse, starring William Shatner in the most unhinged performance of his career!
Shatner stars as homicidal maniac Matt Stone, a con artist and gigolo who preys on lonely women, viciously murdering the victims of his playboy scam when he loses control of his sick psycho-sexual urges. The supporting cast includes Ruth Roman (The Baby, Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train), Kim Nicholas, Jenifer Bishop, William Kerwin (Blood Feast) and James Bond villain Harold “Oddjob” Sakata (Goldfinger) as “Karate Pete.”
The two-disc Blu-ray set boasts a new 4K transfer of Impulse that has been restored from archival 35mm elements, and more than 15 hours of bonus features produced in cooperation with the film’s legendary director, William Grefé (Stanley, Death Curse of Tartu, Mako: The Jaws of Death). Extras include “Kingdom of the Shatner,” a 2022 live festival appearance in which Shatner reflects on the making of the movie, his memories of starring in other 1970s cult hits like Kingdom of the Spiders and The Devil’s Rain, and his experience going into space.
The set also offers an in-depth look at the actor’s career in the 1970s from director, screenwriter, and film historian C. Courtney Joyner; on-camera interviews with Grefé, producer-makeup artist Doug Hobart, and art director Roger Carlton Sherman; audio commentary with Grefé; a haunting alternate French soundtrack; still galleries; trailers; and hours of rare treasures from Grefé’s vaults, including two complete feature films, The Devil’s Sisters and The Godmothers.
A full-color glossy illustrated booklet with liner notes from underground filmmaker Jacques Boyreau rounds out the package, which comes in an embossed slipcover and a collectible postcard of an original oil portrait of William Shatner by painter Dave LeBow.
“I’ve always been a big fan of MVD and how they cater to the independent record stores,” said Grindhouse Releasing co-founder and president Bob Murawski. “They fully understand the philosophy that our late friend Jay Douglas espoused – ‘Cult movies are the new rock ‘n’ roll’ – and are therefore the perfect fit for Grindhouse Releasing.”
MVD’s director of home video sales and acquisitions Eric Wilkinson said, “We are happy to welcome Bob Murawski and his legendary company Grindhouse Releasing to MVD’s growing family of amazing boutique collector’s labels. Grindhouse has some exciting titles coming in the near future that fans are going to love and MVD is more than eager to get these into collector’s hands.”
Upcoming Grindhouse Releasing titles include new restorations of three long-unavailable and overlooked cinema classics: Hollywood 90028, Scum of the Earth, and Palmer Rockey’s Love is Deep Inside. Grindhouse is currently finishing 4K Ultra HD disc editions of The Beyond and Cannibal Holocaust, with more UHD titles to follow.
Grindhouse Releasing will celebate the release of Impulse March 6 at PhilaMOCA with a special screening and Q&A from William Grefé.
The Austin. TX premiere of Impulse is set for March 27 at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar.
Praise for IMPULSE:
“A grim, unrelenting study of a psychopathic killer. Shatner is surprisingly strong in an enormously demanding role.“- Box Office Magazine
“Well-crafted and effective… flowing with Grefe’s scalpel-sharp direction.” – Alex Ben Block, The Miami News
“Shatner is incredible and frightening during his lapses into insanity. There are a number of vividly horrifying murder scenes which make even adults cringe.” – Perry Fulkerson, The Evening Independent
“William Shatner is very effective in it. It’s a performance right up there with his work in THE INTRUDER.“- Joe Leydon, Variety
“IMPULSE, with its exciting camera work, local flavor, and terrific performances, especially from Shatner as the sociopathic main character, just might be the pinnacle of Grefé’s career. It has all of the punchy, violent power of the best films by Samuel Fuller and Robert Aldrich, and Grefé shares with those artists an understanding of a specific kind of sickness in the underbelly of America that is taking its toll on mainstream society.” – Jim Healy, Wisconsin Film Festival
About Grindhouse Releasing:
Launched in 1996 by Sage Stallone and Bob Murawski, Grindhouse Releasing led the way to a physical media revolution as the first label to produce lavishly restored home-video editions of Italian exploitation epics by Lucio Fulci, Umberto Lenzi, and Ruggero Deodato. The company has won worldwide acclaim for its high standard of quality, producing exhaustive bonus features to make each release as complete and definitive as possible.
Grindhouse Releasing has upheld this commitment to excellence with spectacular restorations of THE BEYOND, CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, THE TOUGH ONES, CANNIBAL FEROX, CAT IN THE BRAIN, PIECES, I DRINK YOUR BLOOD, THE TOUGH ONES, AN AMERICAN HIPPIE IN ISRAEL, THE BIG GUNDOWN, THE SWIMMER, CORRUPTION, DEATH GAME, and Duke Mitchell’s MASSACRE MAFIA STYLE and GONE WITH THE POPE. Grindhouse Releasing won the prestigious Satellite Award from the International Press Academy for Outstanding Overall Blu-Ray/DVD for its deluxe edition of THE SWIMMER, starring Burt Lancaster.