Scared To Death 1981 And Syngenor Anyone Remeber These To Horror Flicks

[fceurich39]

I picked up syngenor last week on dvd not realizing that it was a sequel to the 1981 movie scared to death. So today i got scared to death in the mail on vhs and thought it is a very cool movie and i thought it totally blows away syngenor.

Which i think the best thing going for that movie is david gale's nutty performance. Also there is a glitch in the dvd at 46:20 into the movie dvd freezes and then skips to 46:30 kind of annoying but i read a review on the internet of the dvd and does explain about the glitch anyways scared to death was great and it desperatly needs a dvd release it was directed by william malone director of another media vhs movie called creature and he also was involved with the syngenor movie as creature effects guy...

what do you guys think of these two movies?

[wago70]

I love Scared to Death. I remember in 1981, it opened a week after The Funhouse (in April) and it sorta appeared outta nowhere and then only played a week at our local drive-in in Reno. I still have the little newspaper add - it was paired up with The Toolbox Murders. I also remember Scared to Death being featured in a 1981 issue of Famous Monsters but I have yet to find that issue and I have been searching as best as I could for 6 years now!
I have two one-sheet posters of Scared to Death and 2 press-sheets. I guess that makes me a fan! Dunno why, but this films low budget-ness is soooo charming!!!

[legz]

If you want to get Scared to Death on dvd it is currently available at Amazon, but the quality of the dvd isn't very good, as it is very dark and grainy, almost like an old VHS tape quality. Amazon is about the only place that I could find this dvd and they said there was only 2 left, so get it while you can. Who knows if it will ever get a decent dvd release. I saw both of these when they first came out, I enjoyed both of them. I thought Scared to Death was the better of the two films and more of a horror film than Syngenor. David Gale's performance was the best part of Syngenor. If you love 80's cheesy sci fi/horror movies I recommend everyone buy them on dvd while they are still around.

[Katatonia]

I do enjoy both movies and they are part of my collection.

The Syngenor DVD has a known layer-change bug that skips to another part of the movie on basically any DVD player. I think Elite corrected it, but there are still many defective first run copies out there.

The Scared to Death DVD is basically VHS quality and the print looks crappy, but I've seen much worse.

[chrishicks]

The Syngenor DVD has a known layer-change bug that skips to another part of the movie on basically any DVD player. I think Elite corrected it, but there are still many defective first run copies out there.


about what time does the layer change occur? I just got my disc today and I won't have time to watch the whole thing for atleast a week.

[Katatonia]

about what time does the layer change occur? I just got my disc today and I won't have time to watch the whole thing for atleast a week.

I honestly don't remember exactly, but it's somewhere in the first half of the movie it seemed like. It'll just "skip back" to another part of the movie.

[legz]

The layer change is at 46:19. It is the scene where David Gale is talking to the bitch of the movie in his office. It will pause momentarilly and then skip ahead to 46:21. I checked it out last night. I originally had a defective first run version of the dvd and on my dvd player it would freeze up at that point and stay there. Luckily I was able to return it to DDD.

[VideoViolence]

Both are great flicks. STD needs a good dvd release, pronto!!

[chrishicks]

The layer change is at 46:19. It is the scene where David Gale is talking to the bitch of the movie in his office. It will pause momentarilly and then skip ahead to 46:21. I checked it out last night. I originally had a defective first run version of the dvd and on my dvd player it would freeze up at that point and stay there. Luckily I was able to return it to DDD.

well, I just checked my copy out and I actually have 2 pauses. 1 at 46:19 which jumps it to 46:21. it then pauses again and jumps to 46:23 to resume the film. I guess I'll try to contact DDD.

[legz]

Contacting DDD may not help i received another disc and the same thing happened again so I contacted Elite who makes the disc and this is what they told me:

We did have a problem with the very first pressing
of SYNGENOR but it
has since been corrected. Try returning it again to
where you purchased
it and ask them to order you a "NEW" replacement copyfrom their
distributor. That should help you.

I then asked them Is there any way to tell if you have a new replacement
or the first pressing just by looking at disk or box?

They responded with:

No, but if it's stock that was not part of their original shipment,
then
it's a "good" one.

I returned the replacement and decided I would wait a few months and try to reorder it thinking their original stock should have been gone by now. I thought wrong, the disc I received still paused. When I originally returned my disc I called DDD about what Elite told me they had no idea what I was talking about. Either Elite didn't fix the problem or DDD is still sending out the first pressing for Syngenor. I decided to keep what I had and suffer through the pausing, at least it occurs in the movie when nothing really happens.
Good luck in trying to get one that doesn't pause. Has anyone had any luck in getting one that doesn't pause?

[Katatonia]

well, I just checked my copy out and I actually have 2 pauses. 1 at 46:19 which jumps it to 46:21. it then pauses again and jumps to 46:23 to resume the film. I guess I'll try to contact DDD.

I seem to remember that you can fast forward through where it skips...at least that worked on mine. You never know, you could get another defective disc.