Ultra Violent

07/03/2025

Our friends at Silk Screams have a killer new Deadly Spawn shirt up for preorder. You need this shirt! https://silkscreams.bigcartel.com/product/the-deadly-spawn-preorder

05/02/2025

Last House on Dead End Street is a contender for our all-time favorite movie. Preorder this amazing new LHODES shirt from our friends at Silk Screams via https://silkscreams.bigcartel.com/product/last-house-on-dead-end-street-preorder and make sure to attend the 02/22/25 theatrical double feature of LHODES and Don’t Go in the House in Ultra Violent Editor Art Ettinger’s hometown of Buffalo. Art Ettinger is introducing both films and conducting a live Q&A with LHODES cast member Bill Schlageter. Be there!

31/10/2024

Ultra Violent's Art Ettinger is introducing a double feature of Don't Go in the House and Last House on Dead End Street in his hometown on 02/22/25. Last House on Dead End Street means the world to us, and it will be a pleasure presenting it in the town where Art first fell in love with it upon renting it from Video Factory in middle school. Thank you to Silk Screams for the invite and to Ultra Violent for making so many of our dreams come true. PS: Happy Halloween!!!

29/09/2024

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/theridgefieldpress/name/john-grissmer-obituary?id=56368024

Art Ettinger wrote:

Bruce Holecheck of Cinema Arcana just informed me that one of my heroes, John Grissmer, died this month at the age of 91. Who is John Grissmer?

In the sixth grade, I started going to see as many horror movies that played in my hometown of Buffalo, NY as I could. Late in that school year, a movie I hadn't heard of, Nightmare at Shadow Woods (aka Blood Rage), opened at the Boulevard Mall movie theater. The Boulevard Mall was a troubled four-screen multiplex that seemed to always have one screen dedicated to low-budget horror / exploitation flicks. Excited to see something new, I went to a Saturday matinee of Nightmare at Shadow Woods. The screening was surprisingly crowded, and the rowdy audience loved the film. I was blown away. Even though it was the mid-'80s, it was clearly an early 1980s production, and I loved every goofy minute of it.

I later rented the uncut, gory version from Video Factory under the title Blood Rage and taped the theatrical cut as Nightmare at Shadow Woods off of late night cable. I talked Nightmare at Shadow Woods up for years, but didn't meet many fans, surprising given how strong of a slasher it is. I reviewed it in Ultra Violent in 2005, trying to help spread the word about its brilliance.

Eighteen years after first seeing Nightmare at Shadow Woods, I was talking to Shade Rupe at Chiller Theatre about how much I love director John Grissmer's three films (Grissmer also wrote The House that Cried Murder and wrote and directed Scalpel). Shade hooked me up with John Grissmer, and I interviewed Grissmer for Ultra Violent in early 2006. My interview with Grissmer remains his only print interview regarding his exploitation film career.

Fast-forward to the summer of 2014 when Ewan Cant, who was working for Arrow Video at that time, asked me for John Grissmer's contact information. I asked Grissmer if I could share his information. At that time, Grissmer said that he wasn't interested. I told Cant that based on my Ultra Violent interview, I believed that Blood Rage was owned by its producer, Marianne Kanter. That fact panned out and Arrow began working on their incredible three-disc set of Blood Rage, which was released on Tuesday, 12/15/15. John Grissmer ended up participating in Arrow's extras-loaded release after all.

The point of this story? A geeky kid went to the movies in 1987 and spent three decades trying to help spread the word about the cinematic gem he saw that day. Watching the fantastic new restoration of Blood Rage was a dream come true. More importantly, Blood Rage finally has the fan base it deserves, frequently cited as one of the all-time great slasher movies. "That's Not Cranberry Sauce" is now a popular meme. We won!

I kept in touch with Grissmer over the years. He was nothing but kind to me. 91 years old is no joke. I am glad he lived a full life, I am honored that I conducted his only in-depth print interview, and I am privileged that I helped catapult a childhood favorite film into canonical status.

View John M. Grissmer's obituary, send flowers and sign the guestbook.

11/07/2024

Ultra Violent's Ally Melling appears on this week's Midnight Mass with Peaches Christ & Michael Varrati, talking about the heroic David Cronenberg! Check it out!!!

09/07/2024

Happy 15th anniversary to our friends at Death by DVD! https://www.facebook.com/DeathByDVDOFFICIAL

The official Death By DVD page

12/05/2024

He lived for almost a century, but film is forever. Roger Corman was truly a great man. You can kill Roger Corman, but you can't kill exploitation cinema!!!

Roger Corman, who directed and produced hundreds of B movies and discovered Jack Nicholson, Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro, has died. He was 98.

22/04/2024

We are pleased to announce that Ultra Violent's Daimion Fumerton and Art Ettinger will have the honor of hosting a Q&A with the wonderful Silvia Collatina from House by the Cemetery at Shock Stock 2024. The Q&A is from 1:30 PM to 2:15 PM on Shock Stock Saturday! BE THERE!!!

16/03/2024

It was truly an honor discussing The Beyond with four of our favorite people on the planet. Nathaniel Thompson, Troy Howarth, Bruce Holecheck, and Ultra Violent's Art Ettinger provide a hilarious and insightful two-hour plus discussion of Lucio Fulci's The Beyond on Dave James Parker's Horror in 1981 series. We hope you all enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed recording it.

Horror in 1981: The Beyond with Art Ettinger, Bruce Holecheck, Troy Howarth, and Nathaniel Thompson A new series where I sit down with a guest and talk abo...

05/02/2024

These are our people. We thank them for everything they do. Print lives. Physical media lives.

The curators behind Vinegar Syndrome, Radiance, Fun City, and Cinématographe are keeping jewels of film history from falling through the cracks.

31/01/2024

We just learned via our ally Bruce Holecheck of Cinema Arcana that exploitation film icon Annie Belle died. Another legend is gone. :(

12/01/2024

Tune in tonight at 7:30 PM for the debut of the August Underground Trilogy episode of Horror 101 with Dr. AC. The panel includes Aaron Christensen, Michelle Kisner, Scott Bradley, Allana Sleeth, and Art Ettinger. Ultra Violent's Allana and Art were two of the first people to see the original August Underground and they appeared in Mordum. Art took most of the stills on the set of Mordum, including the iconic group shot. Please enjoy us five brilliant talking heads as we discuss one of the most beloved romantic comedy trilogies of all time. Tune in live at 7:30 PM Eastern or watch it after the fact. The link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXTfqI5NqMs.