Axe

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Released originally under the title Lisa, Lisa, this seedy murder-fest was later re-titled during drive-in circulation then again for its video release in 1985 as The California Axe Massacre to capitalize on the hype of another new arrival to video, Tobe Hooper's cult classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The film itself (actually filmed in North Carolina, not California) has little in common with Hooper's hit; the bloody revenge scenario is more reminiscent of Wes Craven's Last House on the Left. It involves a gang of grimy fugitives who hole up in the rural abode of a pretty but unstable young woman (Leslie Lee) and proceed to abuse her and her grandfather. Of course, things get out of hand from there, and the hoods kill the old fogey, which brings gory retribution as the sweet young thing brandishes the title implement. Painfully cheap-looking, this tawdry exploiter is too slow-moving to sustain the interest of chop-em-up fans who might be lured by the title. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Number of Discs: 1
• Audio: PCM Mono, 5.1
• Features:
  • Digitally remastered
  • Original theatrical trailers under the titles "AXE," "Lisa Lisa," and "The Virgin Slaughter"
  • Theatrical trailers for Harry Novak's "Behind Locked Doors," "Booby Trap," "The Child," "Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks," "Kidnapped Coed," "The Mad Butcher," "The Toy Box," and "Toys Are Not for Children"
  • Archival Short Subject #1: "Don't Be Like Lisa!"; 1952's "Mental Health: Keeping Mentally Fit"
  • Short Subject #2: Sword-swallower Maria Cortez in "We Still Don't Believe It"
  • "The Electric Chair" 86-minute feature from 1977; written, produced, and directed by AXE's J.G "Pat" Patterson
  • Gallery of horror drive-in exploitation art
  • Horrorama radio-spot rarities

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Director:

  Frederick R. Friedel

• Producer:

  J.G. Patterson, Jr.

• Screenwriter:

  Frederick R. Friedel

• Cinematographer:

  Austin McKinney

• Editor:

  Frederick R. Friedel

• Makeup:

  Worth Keeter

• Production Manager:

  Phil Smoot