Trapped Alive

[DarkImbecile]

Genre regular Cameron Mitchell (The Toolbox Murders, From a Whisper to a Scream) stars in this thrilling tale of escaped hoodlums and underground-dwelling cannibals from director Leszek Burzynski and Hellraiser producer Christopher Webster.

One wintry night, pals Robin and Monica are making their way to a Christmas party when they’re carjacked by a gang of crooks recently escaped from the local penitentiary. With the two young women taken as hostages, things take an even darker turn when their vehicle plummets down an abandoned mine shaft, trapping them underground with the dangerous crooks - and a mutant cannibal.

Filmed in 1988 under the title of Forever Mine but not released until 1993, Trapped Alive was the first film to come out of Wisconsin’s now-defunct Windsor Lake Studios, which would go on to produce a number of films under the Fangoria Films label in the early-90s, including 1992’s Bruce Campbell-starring Mindwarp.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

• Brand new 2K restoration from the original camera negative
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• Original mono audio
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Brand new audio commentary with director Leszek Burzynski
• Brand new audio commentary with special effects artist Hank Carlson and horror writer Josh Hadley
• Brand new audio commentary with The Hysteria Continues
• There’s EVIL Underground… - brand new making-of documentary featuring interviews with director Leszek Burzynski, cinematographer Nancy Schreiber, production manager Alexandra Reed and actors Alex Kubik and Sullivan Hester
• Upper Michigan Tonight - 1988 television documentary on Windsor Lake Studios, featuring footage from behind the scenes of Trapped Alive and contemporary interviews with director Leszek Burzynski, producer Christopher Webster and production designer Brian Savegar
• Leszek Burzynski: The Early Years - the Trapped Alive director discusses his early forays into genre movie-making
• Reversible sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork by Justin Osbourn

FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Collector’s booklet featuring new writing by Zack Carlson

[domino harvey]

I can’t believe Cameron Mitchell starred in more than one movie about mutants

[zedz]

A completely ordinary horror movie so bereft of genuine thrills or scares that it has to rely on the threat of rape to generate tension for most of its duration. Cameron Mitchell is the big star, though his role is so irrelevant you’d never have suspected his character even existed if his scenes were excised. And there’s a completely obvious “twist” ending that’s delivered in a massive gob of hysterical exposition in a scene so awkward and arbitrary that it’s almost worth sitting through the rest of the film to savour its prime lousiness.

The film is competently made, I guess, but I found the extras way more interesting than the feature. This was the first film made in a misguided attempt to set up a “Chillywood” in northern Wisconsin (the similarly unremarkable Chill Factor was another, also on Arrow for no good reason), and I’d much rather hear more about how bland the catering was (seriously: this is the source of a bunch of anedotes) than watch the film again.

[domino harvey]

Are they still just sending you every title they release, zedz? I wouldn’t peg a lot of the films you’ve been watching lately as something you’d pick up of your own volition!

[tenia]

God bless the times I was reviewing Arrow titles since that allowed me to watch movies like Satan's Blade.

[zedz]

Are they still just sending you every title they release, zedz? I wouldn’t peg a lot of the films you’ve been watching lately as something you’d pick up of your own volition!

Yeah. They’re a large part of my kevyip, and I’m taking them like medicine between better films.

[colinr0380]

They have not reached this particular film yet but the Red Letter Media guys have Cameron Mitchell as their 'mascot figure' on their Best of the Worst show (when they put up a shelf to honour the 'greats' of the series it was just a framed picture of Mitchell and a VHS copy of Surviving Edged Weapons!), so there are apparently a plethora of films in the 1980s where Cameron Mitchell gets wheeled onto set for a couple of scenes of screen time before having his big name value used to 'sell' the movie! (Kill Squad, Raw Force, Low Blow, Deadly Prey and Action U.S.A. look quite fun, whilst The Tomb and Space Mutiny seem awful! And Terror In Beverley Hills inspired a "close the F-ing doors!" meme!)

The best Cameron Mitchell performance I have seen so far (though best might be relative! most committed?) is in the 1978 original version of The Toolbox Murders. That's a film where his character is a pretty central figure for most of the running time.