I just bought a DVD of Memorial Valley Massacre that uses the 'Son of Sleepaway Camp' title, and it got me wondering about horror movies getting retitled for VHS back in the day (usually to cash in on other, more popular movies). Do you know of a list of movies that did that? I'm really curious about it but haven't found much online.
Oh, gosh.Ā Now this is a subject that I know much about, as itās something that was pretty common throughout horror during the 80ā²sāparticularly Italian horror, as Italian filmmakers realized that there was a greater market for horror films in Italy if the public there believed them to be American-made (this trend actually plays a MAJOR part in jump-starting the film career of horror maestro Mario Bavaāand the rise of horror and sci-fi films in Italyābut thatās a story for another day).
For example, letās start with the late George Romeroās Dawn of the Dead (1978).Ā In Italy, it was known as Zombi.Ā Lucio Fulciās Zombie (1979) was created to profit off of the popularity of Romeroās film, and was marketed overseas as Zombi 2.Ā Zombi 3 later came about in 1988, and was co-directed by Lucio Fulci and Bruno Mattei.
Hereās where it gets weird:Ā
Sometimes Umberto Lenziās Nightmare City (1980) is credited as being Zombi 3 (it was also sometimes marketed as Cannibal Holocaust 2 to ride the success of Ruggero Deodatoās āfound footageā horror), as is Andrea Bianchiās controversial Burial Ground (1981).Ā Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (1974) and Zombie Holocaust (aka Dr. Butcher, M.D.) (1980) have both been marketed at some point as being Zombi 3.
Jean Rollinās A Virgin Among the Living Dead (1973) is often referred to as Zombi 4, as is the 1988 film After Death (which many consider the ārealā sequel).Ā Panic (1982) is known as Zombi 4 in Greece.
Jess Francoās Revenge in the House of Usher(1982) has been marketed as Zombi 5 in America, but itās Joe DāAmatoās Killing Birds(1988) thatās widely considered to be Zombi 5.
Joe DāAmatoās Absurd (1981) has previously been marketed as Zombi 6, whenāin actualityāit is the sequel to DāAmatoās own Anthropophagus (1980).
And, it is Anthropophagus that has been marketed as Zombi 7, even though it came before Absurd.Ā Andreas Schnaasā Zombie ā90: Extreme Pestilence (1991) has also occasionally been sold as Zombi 7.
Confused yet?Ā Letās try an easier one.
Letās talk about House (1986):
Not to be confused with the Japanese House, later renamed Hausu (1977).
House was followed by House II: The Second Story (1987), which did not follow the previous filmās storyline whatsoever.Ā It was also known as La Casa 6 in Italy, but Iāll get to thatā¦
Overseas, the supernatural slasher The Horror Show (1989) was sold as House III (and La Casa 7).
House IV (1992) is the official third entry in the series, as it actually shares a character with the original film.
So whatās La Casa?Ā Hmmā¦I guess this one wasnāt much āeasierā to understand after all:
La Casa is what Sam Raimiās The Evil Dead (1981) was titled in Italy.
La Casa 2 is Raimiās sequel, Evil Dead II (1987).
La Casa 3 is actually an Umberto Lenzi film, originally titled Ghosthouse.
La Casa 4 is the sequel to Ghosthouse, and originally known as Witchery (1988).Ā Neither have anything to do with Raimiās films.
La Casa 5 is really just a film called Beyond Darkness (not to be confused with Joe DāAmatoās controversial Beyond the Darkness (1979), also known as Buio Omega and Blue Holocaust), and was directed by Claudio Fragrasso, who brought the world Troll II (which was originally titled Goblin, and also has nothing whatsoever to do with the movie itās allegedly a sequel for!).
As mentioned before, La Casa 6 is what we know as House II: The Second Story (still no relation to The Evil Dead).
La Casa 7 is just The Horror Show.Ā I guess House IV wasnāt good enough to be La Casa 8.
Ever heard of the Curse series?Ā Wellā¦it isnāt a series:Ā The Curse (1987), Curse II: The Bite (1989), Curse III: Blood Sacrifice (1991), and Curse IV: The Ultimate Sacrifice (1993) are four films that have absolutely nothing to do with each other.Ā
The original film is an adaptation of H. P. Lovecraftās The Colour Out of Space (this same story was the inspiration for 1965ā²s Die, Monster, Die!, and partially inspiredĀ āThe Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrillā from the 1982 horror anthology Creepshow).
Curse II: The Bite is about a man being bitten by a radioactive snake, and spawning other snakelike creatures.
Curse III: Blood Sacrifice was originally called Panga, and is about a tribal magician in Africa summoning a demon.
Curse IV: The Ultimate Sacrifice is actually a film from 1988 called Catacombs thatās about a monastery haunted by a demon.Ā The film wasnāt released for five years after its completion due to the financial downfall and seizure of Charles Bandās Empire Pictures by a credit company (which later led to Band forming Full Moon Features).Ā Columbia TriStar slapped the new title on it to try to pass it off as another entry in a series that was never a series to begin with.
How about Demons (aka DĆØmoni)?
Lamberto Bava (with Dario Argento producing) brought the original film to the world in 1985, with great commercial success.
DĆØmoni 2(1986) is a legitimate sequel from the same people.
DĆØmoni 3?Ā Well, that could be a few films, including Lambertoās own The Ogre (1988), Michele Soaviās The Church (1989) (coincidentally, Soavi played a part in the original Demons), or Umberto Lenziās Black Demons (1991) (which is commonly considered the āofficialā third installment).
Soaviās The Devilās Daughter (1991) was marketed as Demons 4: The Sect.
Bavaās La maschera del demonio(1989) was marketed as Demons 5: The Devilās Veil.
Luigi Cozziās adaptation of Edgar Allen Poeās āThe Black Catā was retitled to Demons 6: De Profundis (1989).
Soaviās Cemetery Man (aka Dellamorte Dellamore) (1994) was occasionally marketed as Demons ā95.
Only the first two were intentionally linked.Ā The rest were renamed when convenient for the sake of sales.Ā Did anyone notice the frequency with which certain names have been appearing here?Ā The Italian filmmaking industry was some wild shit.
Other examples that I can think of (at least at the moment):
Meng Hua Hoās supernatural shocker The Rape After (1986) is sometimes re-titled Devil Fetus 2, after the original film by Hung-Chuen Lau.
IzĆ“ Hashimotoās Lucky Sky Diamond (1990) is occasionally falsely associated with the infamous Japanese Guinea Pig film franchise (due to sharing similar themes of cruel experimentation), but is a separate, unrelated v-cinema release.
Sometimes itās just the packaging that tries to pass something off as something itās not.Ā Check out this Japanese box art for Andreas Schnaasā Violent Shit III: Infantry of Doom (1999).
If this titling nonsense isnāt bad enough, poster artists also ripped each other off right and left during the 80ā²s.
Someday, I also want to post about parodies and rip-offs in horror, because some of them (such as Indiaās Mahakaal) are so blatant that theyāre honestly endearing.