Don May Jr. of Synapse Films gave Fango the scoop about an upcoming DVD release that will warm the hearts of nature-amok fans everywhere. “In our tradition of putting out more and more Australian stuff,” he tells us, “we’re doing DARK AGE, the king of the killer-croc movies!”
The 1987 Down Under production, directed by Arch Nicholson, is about a park ranger who sets out to stop the rampage of a huge, people-eating crocodile and comes into conflict with the local aborigines, who worship the reptile. John Jarratt, who dealt with a similar toothy predator in the recent ROGUE, stars, along with Nikki Coghill, Max (THE ROAD WARRIOR) Phipps and David (THE LAST WAVE) Gulpilil. Highly regarded by many devotees of Aussie genre cinema (and prominently featured in NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD, Mark Hartley and Magnolia Pictures’ upcoming documentary on the subject), DARK AGE never received U.S. big-screen play, and its Stateside VHS and laserdisc editions are very hard to find. Now, Synapse plans to give the film the disc showcase it deserves.
“We had connections through the other Australian films we’ve done,” May explains, “and they presented two titles to us—DARK AGE and THE ODD ANGRY SHOT—and we couldn’t refuse.” The latter title is a similarly well-regarded but heretofore hard-to-find Vietnam drama, also featuring Jarratt along with F/X’s Bryan Brown. With the deal just signed, May has no specific details to announce regarding the DARK AGE DVD, “but what we do know is that we’ll be seeking the participation of Quentin Tarantino, because his print is pretty much the only one out there. I’ve seen it at Fantastic Fest in Austin, and it’s beautiful. That movie didn’t get much of a theatrical run, so the print he got is pretty clean.
“DARK AGE is a film that has sort of eluded horror fans for quite a few years,” he continues, “and among all the alligator and crocodile movies out there, this is one of the few that’s actually really good. We’re probably going to fast-track it, because with NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD coming out early next year, we want to get DARK AGE out as soon as possible.” Keep your eyes here for updates!
“We had connections through the other Australian films we’ve done,” May explains, “and they presented two titles to us—DARK AGE and THE ODD ANGRY SHOT—and we couldn’t refuse.” The latter title is a similarly well-regarded but heretofore hard-to-find Vietnam drama, also featuring Jarratt along with F/X’s Bryan Brown. With the deal just signed, May has no specific details to announce regarding the DARK AGE DVD, “but what we do know is that we’ll be seeking the participation of Quentin Tarantino, because his print is pretty much the only one out there. I’ve seen it at Fantastic Fest in Austin, and it’s beautiful. That movie didn’t get much of a theatrical run, so the print he got is pretty clean.
“DARK AGE is a film that has sort of eluded horror fans for quite a few years,” he continues, “and among all the alligator and crocodile movies out there, this is one of the few that’s actually really good. We’re probably going to fast-track it, because with NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD coming out early next year, we want to get DARK AGE out as soon as possible.” Keep your eyes here for updates!
3esgeoff makes this comment
Sun 23 Nov 2008 10:06:50 CST
capecep makes this comment
Thu 06 Nov 2008 22:47:30 CST