In 1983, before launching Full Moon Features, founder Charles Band established Empire International Pictures. The new company, often referred to as Empire Pictures, dove into distributing creature-feature cult movies during the '80s, with Empire’s profitable Gremlins knock-off Ghoulies (1985) paving the way for a home entertainment distribution deal with Vestron Video.
Through Vestron’s Lightning Video imprint, the company briefly shined with B-movies like Zone Troopers (1985) and TerrorVision (1987). Yet, even during those glory years, Empire Pictures battled the “shlock” label from horror critics, despite making movies that ruled late-night rentals. Now, let’s be kind and rewind to revisit this long-gone company’s top five outings.
1. H.P. Lovecraft’s Re-Animator (1985)
Director Stuart Gordon's adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's short story "Herbert West Reanimator" is not only the best film Empire produced and released, but it is also among the greatest horror films of the 20th century. The tale of nebbish-yet-menacing medical student Herbert West's willful use of a reanimating formula to raise the dead deviates from Lovecraft's plot. It's more akin to Lucio Fulci meets a '50s AIP film. Jeffrey Combs' brilliant, transgressive mad scientist portrayal, Gordon's outstanding direction, brilliant screenplay, and outrageous gore combine to deliver a low-budget horror masterpiece. The quintessential '80s classic!
Re-Animator showed sparks to life at the box office, scoring well for an indie film with limited distribution. The feature's VHS popularity cemented its cult following and contributed to Empire’s boom.
2. Prison (1988)
Restless and vengeful spirits don’t always cause trouble in suburban homes. They can be released inside the walls of a dark and brutal penitentiary’s haunted cells. The spirit of a wrongfully executed inmate can be extra-restless, vengeful, and murderous. Will a young Viggo Mortensen uncover the dark secret behind Creedmore State Prison’s hidden past and put a deadly spirit back to rest?
After bringing this chilling tale to life, director Renny Harlin would go on to A-list fame with Die Hard 2. With Prison, he crafts a grim, claustrophobic fright tale that sentences audiences to serious scares instead of groans from tired '80s horror comedy one-liners. The ambitious film did poorly at the box office, as a financially shaky Empire could not support a wide release. Today, it enjoys a minor but well-deserved cult following.
3. Troll (1986)
Before entering haunted cells, Empire opted for weird folkloric whimsy. When Anne and Harry Potter move into their new Bay Area apartment with their son Harry Potter Jr., they face a pesky tenant clash. One of their fellow dwellers is a troll as in a real/fantasy one. The mean-spirited creature plans to turn the apartment complex into an enchanted forest and change the residents into elves, goblins, and fairies. A battle between righteousness and silly plots ensues.
SFX expert John Carl Buechler performed a serviceable job with this uneven horror/fantasy/comedy low-budgeter from a new duty in the director's chair. Genre fans may think the inclusion of Troll is done to, well, troll them. Truth be trolled: it’s an okay film that made five times its budget at the box office before heading to further success on video. Unfortunately, Empire went out of business because it lost money. More success stories like Troll would have kept the company operational and working on other, better projects.
4. Trancers (1985)
Jumping from horror to fantasy to sci-fi grit, Empire’s Charles Band returned to director duties to tell the hard-boiled sci-fi story of retired 23rd-century cop Jack Deth going back in time to track down a madman turning people into “trancers," mindless maniacs assisting him in changing the course of Los Angeles history for the nefarious.
With the time-chasing hero on a mission plot, Trancers sounds like a Terminator clone, but, surprise, it’s a well-done homage to classic detective films and the emerging cyberpunk movement. Comedian Tim Thomerson trades in his “Charles Bronson ordering at McDonald’s” shtick for an excellent turn at “Humphrey Bogart’s cousin playing a cynical time-traveling peace officer.” Initially released in the U.S. in 1985 as Future Cop, it would hit video stores under the Trancers name and launch a belated franchise in the post-Empire '90s.
5. From Beyond (1986)
Returning to sci-fi/horror dread, Charles Band got the Re-Animator band back together: director Stuart Gordon, producer Brian Yuzna, and stars Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton. This time, they were joined by Dawn of the Dead's Ken Foree to craft a Lovecraft film closer to the pulp writer's cosmic horrors. The (presumed) late mad scientist Dr. Edward Pretorius built an infernal machine dubbed the Resonator, which opens portals to an alternate dimension. When the top-notch cast visits Pretorious' mansion, they learn the Resonator not only gives glimpses of the beyond but opens a path for weird creatures accompanying the living and evolving Pretorius and his evil cosmic ambitions.
To fans, From Beyond is a worthy follow-up to Re-Animator, but it did poorly at the box office, a harbinger of Empire Pictures' future financial woes. After several costly flops and a reliance on debt financing, Empire Pictures would go bankrupt within two years.
End of an empire
Videotape sales can only cover so many expenses, and Empire Pictures' heavy (and costly) production budgets would sink the company. Empire distributed some less-than-stellar films, like 1987's Psychos in Love. The company did release some interesting cult flicks, such as Stuart Gordon's creepy Dolls (1987) and the quirky Klaus Kinski vehicle Crawlspace (1986). However, Empire didn't produce enough films to keep the company solvent.
While Empire International Pictures went under, Charles Band did not. He launched Full Moon Features to greater longevity, which continues today. Don't look at them as the same company under a different name. Empire had a unique, cheesy '80s VHS charm you won't see today.