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“Masked Mutilator” Survives 23-Year Ordeal

Unreleased Hybrid Thriller Survives 23 Years in the Can

Back in 1994 in Allentown, Pennsylvania, aspiring screen writers Dale Schneck and Ed Polgardy were approached by Troma Pictures cult star Brick Bronsky to consider writing a screenplay for a low-budget horror feature. In addition to starring in Troma’s “Class of Nuke ‘Em High II & III” and “Sgt. Kabukiman NYPD,” the muscular and physically imposing Bronsky had wrestled briefly for the WWF (now the WWE.) He had also just returned from Asia where he was cast as a featured fighter in Jean-Claude Van Damme’s “The Quest.”

Schneck and Polgardy were promised the financing would be “easy,” so they penned “Masked Mutilator,” the horrific story of teenagers committed to a group home that also housed a troubled past. To showcase Bronsky in the lead role, his character was also “a big pro wrestling fan.”

During the hot summer months in 1994, cast and crew worked for deferred pay to make their little horror movie something special. The movie’s fight scenes resulted in a number of real injuries for cast members who often told DP Scott Barkman, “Get this in one take ‘cause we ain’t doing this more than once.”

In addition to the extremely brutal fight sequences in “Masked Mutilator,” Executive Producer Dale Schneck also helped to cast actors with virtually no credits. However, since the shooting of the film more than 23 years ago, the “unknowns” have done extremely well in the entertainment business.

A 22-year-old Glenn Hetrick was cast as a rebellious “Rocker” in the film, and has since gone on to 10 seasons as the main judge on the SyFy Channel’s hit reality series “Faceoff.” In addition to his powerful performances in front of the “Masked Mutilator” cameras, he actually began his own successful career first creating special FX makeup for the film.

Only 14 at the time of shooting, James DeBello appeared in the movie as the young Bronsky character in a flashback sequence. DeBello went on to co-star in Paramount’s popular “Detroit Rock City,” then hugely successful thrillers like “Swim Fan” and Eli Roth’s “Cabin Fever.” To date, Debello’s resume includes over 20 feature films.

When what little money Bronsky, Schneck, Polgardy and others could pull out of their own pockets dried up, and many cast members had other obligations waiting for them, the color 16mm negatives were stored in cans in Schneck’s home basement for over the next 20 years.

“It always bothered me,” says Schneck, “that all the work and effort that everyone put into this project never resulted in a finished film. So, even though I vowed I wouldn’t spend another penny on reviving and finishing this film, I invited some of the principal players to dinner and told them about my plans to complete our project.

“Of course, I quickly had to ignore my position to not spend ‘another penny,’ and began the tedious and challenging process of reviving the film,” Schneck says. “The biggest obstacle in the beginning was dealing with technical issues to bring the film up to 2017 standards.”
Luckily for Schneck, the negatives of the original footage were still in pristine condition. With the help of a university film department professor, Schneck got access to a Black Magic Design lab where the negatives were transferred to high def video files.

Sound for the picture was a bit more challenging. During the original shoots, all sound was recorded on DAT cassettes. Schneck quickly found out that finding a DAT player that actually worked was not an easy task. With the help of Tom Taylor, one of the film’s stars, they found a player in Philadelphia, but the first one didn’t keep sync. But after an overhaul, a DAT player that worked was purchased and audio was also converted to digital files.

Ultimately the footage was assembled, but something in Schneck’s opinion was still missing. “I thought we had a powerful psychological thriller with retro slasher elements, but I believed the film would be even more powerful if we brought the storyline into present day. We found a way to do that by introducing a new character who story-wise is related to Bronsky’s character.”

Thanks to Paul Sutt, who also had a significant acting role in the original footage and who worked with Hetrick on the special FX for the movie, Schneck was introduced to Sutt’s friend, Jim “The Tank” Dorsey, a cosplayer with a huge following in this country and abroad. Fan convention goers know him as “Lord Humungus,” “Conan,” “GIJoe,” and many more.

“I wrote a new beginning and ending to sort of ‘frame’ our film, and wrote a character specifically to fit Dorsey’s intimidating persona. If we decide to do a sequel to ‘Masked Mutilator,’ you can bet The Tank will be a central character in it,” Schneck says.

Screeners of the completed “Masked Mutilator” will be provided to cable TV channels, distributors and DVD companies within the next few weeks. “Somehow the word has got out that we have something special, completely new with debut performances, and a plot not typical of standard horror features,” Schneck explains. “This has truly been a labor of love with more help than I could have hoped for from a small team of very dedicated people. OK, so it took us 23 years. Time, in this case, has been on our side.”

More info, contact: Dale Schneck Entertainment Development, LLC
https://MaskedMutilator.com

Website:
https://www.DaleSchneckEntertainmentDevelopment.com

Mitchell Wells

Founder and Editor in Chief of Horror Society. Self proclaimed Horror Movie Freak, Tech Geek, love indie films and all around nice kinda guy!!

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