The Undertaker (1988 film)

The Undertaker (also released as Death Merchant) is a 1988 American slasher film directed by Franco Steffanino and starring Joe Spinell. The film was completed in November 1988,[1] but was never released for the public and existed only in an incomplete form. The Undertaker was later reedited for a DVD release by Code Red in 2010 and a Blu-ray release by Vinegar Syndrome in 2016. The film is considered a cult classic, due in part to both Joe Spinell's involvement and its troubled production. This was Joe Spinell's last film before his premature death in 1989.

The Undertaker
Directed byFranco Steffanino
Produced byFrank Avianc
Steve Bono
Written byWilliam James Kennedy
StarringJoe Spinell
Rebeca Yaron

Susan Bachli
Music byJ. Eric Johnson
CinematographyRichard E. Brooks
Edited byLarry Marinelli
David Szulkin
Production
company
Double Helix Films
Distributed byDouble Helix Films
Code Red
Release date
November 1988
Running time
89 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Premise

The mortician Uncle Roscoe (Joe Spinell) attends community college by day and murders women for his personal use. His nephew Nicky, his professor Pam (Rebeca Yaron) and her roommate Mandy (Susan Bachli) begin to suspect Roscoe, unaware that the undertaker has now taken a special interest in them.

Cast
  • Joe Spinell as Roscoe
  • Rebeca Yaron as Pam Hayes
  • Susan Bachli as Mandy
  • Martha Somoeman as Hazel
  • Charles Kay-Hune as Police Chief
  • William James Kennedy as Inspector Barry
  • France Porta as Security Guard
  • Joe Magle as Kevin
  • Max Stone as Sergeant
  • Ginny Franco as Mary Lawrence
  • Lisa Vondal as Nancy Bowen
  • Rita Kling as Angela
  • Jan Harrison as Cashier
  • Mette Holt as Jean
  • Robert Kessler as Inspector Vance
  • Guillermo Gentile as State Coroner

Production

The film was made on location in Port Chester, New York at the former Colony Funeral Home on King Street and was produced by Double Helix Films. Filming for The Undertaker was completed in November 1988.

Release

The film was never released to theatres or to video, and the only known copy belonged to Joe Spinell,[2] who died not long afterward. The film circulated as a bootleg for years, before Code Red released an edited version of the film on DVD in October 2010. The release was padded with public domain films to increase running time, was titled Death Merchant in the opening titles, and scenes were both cut and rearranged from the bootleg version.[3]

In 2016, Vinegar Syndrome restored and released The Undertaker in a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack limited to 3,000 copies. Unlike the Code Red release, the Vinegar Syndrome version does not include the public domain films edited in to pad the running time.

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References
  1. "The Undertaker: Release Info", www.imdb.com, retrieved June 5, 2013
  2. "The Undertaker (1988): Joe Spinell's Lost Slasher", www.retroslashers.us, retrieved November 26, 2016
  3. "The Undertaker", www.dvdbeaver.com, retrieved June 5, 2013
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