Red Scream Films LLC Acquires Rights to “Lost” film by Cult Director Oleksiy Chaukin
Red Scream Films LLC announced that it has acquired the rights to the last film directed by cult Ukrainine director Oleksiy Chaukin, “The Eldritch: A Tale of Erotic Violence”. Shot in 1990 but never completed, this film was considered lost until a workprint showed up on an auction website this past summer.
Buffalo, New York (PRWEB) January 31, 2006 -- Red Scream Films LLC announced that it has acquired the rights to the last film directed by cult Ukrainian director Oleksiy Chaukin, “The Eldritch: A Tale of Erotic Violence”. Shot in 1990 but never completed, this film was considered lost until a workprint showed up on an auction website.
“Even horror fans who know the work of Ed Wood or Andy Milligan might not know of Chaukin,” said Red Scream Films LLC CEO David R Williams, “He was a very mysterious character and little is known about him. Finding this film is like finding the grail for those of us who are familiar with his work”
Between 1962 and 1980 Chaukin wrote, produced and directed between 50-75 films. Few of the films survive. “He would only strike three or four prints then travel around the country renting theatres and drive-ins. He would advertise the films as one night only deals and promise all sorts of tantalizing sights and bloody deeds. That the films seldom delivered either seemed not to matter. He would split the door with the theatre owners.”
Titles from this period include “Velvet Scars of the Blind Werewolf,” “Erotic Nights of the Bloodsucking Leech Women” and “On Sunday We Will Eat Your Brains.”
It is believed that Chaukin was born in the 1920s in the Ukraine and that he left just before the start of the second World War. Chaukin lived for a few years in New York City but soon moved to California where he worked for several of the so-called Poverty Row film companies through the 40s.
In the 1950s Chaukin somehow came into a large sum of money and began to finance his own movies. Mostly of an exploitative nature the films ranged from so-called “nudie-cuties” to “mondo” films to out-and-out pornography. In 1962 he directed his first horror film, “Gore Shriek of the Violated” which is regarded by the few who have actually seen it as one of the worst movies ever made, if not the worst.
“He had a budget of about a buck and a quarter,” said Williams, “He used ketchup for blood. The finished film was about 40 minutes long so he added some public domain travel footage he found to pad it to 60. It is the longest sixty minute film I have ever had to sit through. Still, it has its moments.”
Chaukin vanished from sight in 1980. Rumors were that he gone into hiding because he owned money to the mob, that he had become addicted to drugs, and that he had killed himself. In 1990 however Chaukin reappeared to announce that his next film would be the horror film to end all horror films. He called his latest “epic” ‘The Eldritch: A Tale of Erotic Viiolence.”
The Eldritch concerns a photographer who becomes the object of desire for a supernatural entity known only as “The Woman”, who is the physical manifestation of fear, hate and despair.
“The big claim to fame if you will,” said Williams, “is that they used real magic in the film. The rituals performed by the cast were real magic rituals. It was filmed in a real temple. The incantations used were actual incantations used by witches covens.”
The film was shot reportedly in 7 days. Chaukin delivered a first cut but the film was never completed as Chaukin was found murdered in his home studio and the film stolen.
“Chaukin’s murder was never solved,” said Williams.
Plans call for the workprint to be cleaned and transferred to digital. The soundtrack needs to be cleaned up and a new score composed. Red Scream Films is in talks with a number of distributors interested in marketing the finished film.
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