Frank Henenlotter talks about the early days of SOMETHING WEIRD VIDEO in this exclusive audio interview.
Last year I was planning a cover story salute to the late Mike Vraney and his beloved exploitation home video imprint SOMETHING WEIRD VIDEO for the print film magazine I curate, DELIRIUM, issue #4.
Mike’s widow and partner, the lovely Lisa Petrucci, was on board to talk about the love story that held their little rogue enterprise together and her reflection on Mike’s character and the future of the company was the emotional core of the piece.
But to get the full, wild backstory of the inception of SWV as we know it, I knew I had to track down BASKET CASE and BRAIN DAMAGE director, revered art/exploitation filmmaker and strange cinema guru Frank Henenlotter
It was via Frank’s friendship with Vraney that the pair ventured to the remains of the New York-based, subterranean Movielab vaults. These two fearless trash movie advocates and enthusiasts pulled off the exploitation flick equivalent to a daring “proof of life” mission, hustling their way into the Movie Lab lair and effectively raiding and rescuing dozens upon dozens of vintage, wildly obscure horror, sex, fantasy and action junk movies, getting their grips on crisp prints and, in many cases, original 35mm negatives.
The booty they boosted would form the core of the SWV library and, along with their ensuing licensing deal via Image Entertainment, Vraney and Henenlotter would change the ways in which we watch movies.
Anyway, the interview I conducted with Frank was long. Only portions of his amazing tales of D-movie derring-do made it into print, the rest stayed trapped on a lonely audio file, much like those features languishing in that moldy Movielab dungeon.
So, like those rescued pictures, I opted to liberate this audio file and present it to you, today.
It’s an important story, a valuable piece of underground cinema lore that must be preserved and is itself incredibly cinematic.
Here then, uncut, is Frank Henenlotter talking about his friendship with Mike Vraney and incredible true story of the birth of SOMETHING WEIRD VIDEO.
Enjoy…
