Posts tagged vhs distributor

By Dan Kinem

To round out our Camelot Studios weekend, we have an interview with Dave Duncan! Dave has been working in film since the mid-80s on such cult films as The Hackers and Black River Monster. He is also the current owner of Camelot Studios, who distributed VHS in the 1980s, and the former owner of two video stores. VHShitfest is proud to have the first interview with Dave about these films and hopefully it sheds some light on this very obscure part of film/VHS history.



How did you get involved in filmmaking?

My father and I had a recording studio when I was a teen in the 70s, and when the early video cameras came out we purchased two and started offering video services along with audio recording. Our first feature was called The Earhunter. It was written by my uncle and shot in 1984. The story was a western about a bounty hunter who would collect the ears of villains as trophies. It was an experiment to see if we could do it. I shot it with a single tube video camera and edited it, the final product was just released to the cast and crew. It was a great learning experience for me. Also, about that time we opened our own video rental store.

Can you talk about Black River Magic and Black River Monster? What did you do on those movies?

One of our clients had a girls’ summer horse ranch and we filmed shows there every other week during the summer. Business was slow and my father pitched the idea of making features to the camp owner. He liked the idea and we first made Black River Magic. This was written and directed by a college professor from Ohio. Black River Magic was funded by the ranch and so we were able to add a sound man to our crew. The film turned out to be more of a promo for the ranch and didnʼt have a strong enough storyline. Our crew consisted of myself on camera, a sound man, grip, my father and the director. The following winter my father wrote The Black River Monster and the ranch decided to help us produce it. My father had written the story with a certain local theatre talent in mind. With a small budget to cover costs, the Black River Monster was made in 1986.


First picture of Black River Magic on the internet

Any stories you remember?

The owner of the ranch had a large role in The Black River Monster and he was a fantastic person, but was not easy to film. Anytime you did more than two takes you could feel the tensions rising. In our subsequent project, The Hackers, Arnie gets his finger cut off by a saw. He actually had a finger missing due to working a punch press in a factory so we just worked it in. There were a lot more scenes we had written and planned but we ran out of time and money.

How were those films distributed? Did they get sold to video stores or stay locally?

The Black River Ranch distributed Black River Magic. The Hackers and Black River Monster we attempted to distribute ourselves through smaller distributors.

How did The Hackers come about and how was the transition from kids movies to a violent slasher movie?

I was a horror movie fan. My favorites were Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Mother’s Day, and Dawn of the Dead. I noticed that you didnʼt need a name actor to have people rent this type of movie, and there was a core group who would rent every horror movie you had in the store. At this time we had two rental stores. So I talked with my father and we decided to make The Hackers. My father wrote the script that winter and we held casting at the studio. We shot The Hackers over a few months working it in between industrial video projects. My father wanted to work as many local landmarks in as possible to help sell the success of the movie locally.

Also, what was your role on the film?

I had a small acting role at the start of the movie. Iʼm the hitchhiker who gets his thumb cut off on the roadway. I was also the cameraman, editor and music producer.


Dave Duncan in The Hackers

How did you go about getting the movie released on video?

Having two rental stores we got to know some of the smaller distributors and they took them on.

Was it strictly direct-to-video or did it play in any theaters?

Direct to video.

How many copies of the movie were produced and how did you go about selling it to video stores?

The small distributors took on The Hackers and we sold some of the BR Monster along with it. All the local rental stores wanted The Hackers. We ended up selling a few thousand copies through a couple of the small distributors in the West, I believe out of Arizona. We were contacted by New Line Cinema about The Hackers at the time. They had heard about it and requested a copy be sent to their Detroit office and one of the owners (Mr. Shay) really liked it. They sent it on to their New York office where it was shot down because it was shot on video and not film.



All the early movies you worked on were shot on video, can you talk a little bit about that?

Video was our medium, I would have liked to work in film, but unlike the flexibility found in cameras today, film was too cost prohibitive. The most difficult task was the editing and music sync. We had two sound tracks and actually had to physically mark the audio tape with magic markers trying to line them up using a TEAC A3340 reel to reel. On the edit deck itself there were only 2 tracks of audio.

I’ve heard people from around the area still talking about the movies. Are they still embraced and watched there? Do you still keep in contact with the crew/actors who worked on them?

I have lost contact with most, and several have passed away, but I still have people come up to me when out shooting and ask about it.

Can you talk about what movies were released through Camelot Studios? The only ones that I know about are The Hackers, Black River Monster, Black River Magic?

Were there others? I’ve always been curious to know! Just The Earhunter, which was our first.

EDITOR’S NOTE: It can be assumed that The Earhunter was the first (CAM 1001), then Black River Magic was next (CAM 1002), then Black River Monster (CAM 1003), then the next two are unknown, then last, The Hackers (CAM 1006). Through digging I think they also released a VHS called The Black River Horse Capades after Black River Monster, but I am not 100% sure.

What was it like to run a low budget studio and how did you eventually take over ownership?

After The Hackers our commercial business started picking up and we focused on that. My father retired in 1992 and he was the real push behind independent features. I have always wanted to get back and remake The Hackers with todayʼs tools. Now we have cameras that can shoot candlelight and unlimited audio tracks, the limitations are gone.

Is it weird to find out that movies you worked on have cult followings and copies have sold for nearly $100?

I find it very surprising and flattering. I would get emails over the years from people that had seen the movies and wanted to find copies of them. So in 2010 we converted The Hackers to DVD and made it available on our website. One Canadian gentleman who contacted me made a pilgrimage with his girlfriend of all The Hackers sites filmed. He even located the house in which I grew up in, and was the primary location used in The Hackers movie, and sent me pictures. That was the first time I realized that our movie has a following and I was amazed at the influence it had on some people.



What did you do after The Hackers and what do you do currently?

After The Hackers I focused on the commercial side of the business. We did some work for Chrysler and filmed a daily news program for headline news, Local Edition, for over six and half years. I now produce corporate projects, programs for the C-Span Network, documentaries and TV commercials.

Thanks so much! Is there anything you’d like to promote?

We still have Hackers DVDs and Black River Monster DVDs available on our
website. www.CamelotStudios.net

(Source: vhshitfest.com)