We at Dead Harvey are truly honored to help Wild Eye Releasing usher in a new era in Nazi Terror by discussing "Blitzkrieg: Escape From Stalag 69" with writer/director Keith Crocker and Wild Eye Releasing's Rob Hauschild... which is our latest installment in our 'case studies in indie horror'. We'll do a brief write up here, but you really have to read what Rob and Keith have to say, as between Wild Eye Releasing and Blitzkrieg, they're pumping out some cutting edge, indie shit. Click here to check out the full interview... Film: Blitzkrieg: Escape From Stalag 69
Written By: Keith Crocker & Keith Matturro
Directed By: Keith Crocker
Released By: Wild Eye Releasing
About: "Blitzkrieg: Escape From Stalag 69" is really a one of kind movie. A return, if you will, to Nazi-sploitation... and that's if there ever was a period of Nazi-sploitation. The plot surrounds a POW camp in Germany, circa 1945, that turns into a blood-soaked playground by sadistic Nazi's. There's a naked (female) Russian front fighter, escaped cabaret dancers, evil Japanese henchmen, and American, British and Russian POWs. It's one of those films that has to be seen to be believed. They had a sold out screening in New York recently and the reviews are fantastic.
Getting it made: It was financed out of pocket and shot on DV. Keeping that in mind, the movie has a real 'film' look to it... at times, you almost feel like you're watching an old episode of "M.A.S.H." or "The Dirty Dozen", then you snap out of it once everyone gets naked and bloody. The shoot took a year and a half and was mostly shot on weekends at an old psychiatric hospital that was shut down in the early sixties.
Effects and nudity: It has an obscene amount of effects and nudity and the actors were definitely pushed to their moral limits. This isn't a film that you're going to sit down and watch with the whole family on a Sunday night... unless, of course, your family's into excessive nudity, sexual situations, violence and gore. Director Keith Crocker managed to get these morally challenged actors through honest advertising, by outright telling potential actors that "if you have a delicate disposition, do not apply".
Distributing the film: They didn't do the festival circuit, as they already had distribution through indie distributor Wild Eye Releasing. It had a World Premiere in NYC in May and they were 5 seats short of selling out. It's not available on DVD as of yet, but should be soon...
Once again, I really encourage you to read the whole interview, which can be found here.
For more information on Wild Eye Releasing, you can go to their website here.
For more information on "Blitzkrieg: Escape From Stalag 69", you can go to the films site here.
