Empire of the Full Moon Episode 1 – Introduction

• Hello everyone and welcome to the inaugural episode of Empire of the Full Moon where I’m going to be talking about and breaking down films from Charles Band’s film studios Empire Pictures that operated from 1983 to 1988… and Full Moon Features that picked up in 1988 and continues to operate to this day.

• The idea is to do short videos where I’ll talk about a film, or tackle a subject that exists in this universe. Since Empire Pictures started in 1983 and Band is still producing films at an unbelievable clip, there will always be plenty of subject matter to cover. I’ll let you know why I decided to do this in a little bit.

• I’ve been a horror/sci fi/fantasy film fan my whole life, but I didn’t specifically start to recognize Band’s films until I was in high school in the early 90’s when I picked up Puppet Master from the local video store. At that time, I was into girls, sports, hanging with my bros so it took me a little longer to make the connection between these Full Moon movies we were renting and some of the all-time classics that I’d rented in the past such as Reanimator, Ghoulies, and Dolls.

• I have to admit that the thing that really made these Full Moon Features stand out to me were the Videozone featurettes tagged on to the end of the tape. 

• I spent many a night in high school renting Subspecies, Puppet Master, The Pit and the Pendulum, and all the other Full Moon films we could get our hands on.

• To me, these were the “Golden Age” of Full Moon films. That’s not to say that anything produced after that wasn’t good… I mean that more in the manner that these were my formative years, and these films were ever present during it.

• You may be asking yourselves why I’ve decided to start up this project.  Well, there’s a few reasons.

  • #1 – There has always been something about his films that I LOVE

    • Obviously, I’m a horror/scifi/fantasy fan, and he’s always made films that land squarely in my wheelhouse.

    • They have a look and feel that make them so special

      • From early Empire films, all the way to even today. Unapologetic horror/exploitation.

    • I think that Richard Band, Charles’ Brother, has always added such wonderful music… that really give these films credibility above and beyond most exploitation films.

      • He hasn’t made all the soundtracks… but every one he’s put together are amazing

    • The writing of these films seems so unencumbered. The storylines seem to have no limit of the craziness or imagination. 

  • #2 – I love that Charles Band has always found ways to innovate and come up with ideas that make me, as a fan, want to engage. Even back with the Video Zone featurettes, it made me feel like I was on the inside. There wasn’t the internet back then, but even though we didn’t have Charle’s Band’s Full Moon Universe/vidcast/etc videos, where Charles lets us know what’s going on, having the VideoZone still made me feel connected. 

    • Full Moon Features was in on the streaming game early. I was one of the first subscribers when it was announced and implemented in 2013. Admittedly, the software was clunky, and sometimes it was tough to get through the UI… The fact that there was a headquarters for Full Moon was great. They changed it up in 2019 and today the software is way better. I think they use Vimeo’s OTT service. Anyhow, on the streaming we got classic movies, new movies, featurettes, extras, even videos by Charles, himself. There are a ton of flicks from some of his other labels, like surrender cinema and Moonbeam. We also get a bunch of old school exploitation that he’s licensed to show on his channel. I like how this tool used to open the gates for Full Moon to release super-low-budget films and the not-so-super-low-budget films. What a great way to make your work available. This isn’t even mentioning their Amazon channel and the many films that are on tubi.

    • The last thing I want to talk about when it comes to innovation was the ill-times Deadly 10. Basically, this was a great idea that involved making 10 brand new movies. The idea was to film these movies back to back. The special thing about it was that they live streamed production of the films. I remember being at work, live streaming the filming of a movie called Necropolis Legion. It was super fun just to sit in and watch. The website is still up at Deadly10.com. They did make some of these films, like Necropolis Legion, Blade: The Iron Cross, Sorority Babes in the Slime Ball Bowl-a-rama 2, Femalian: Cosmic Crush, and Subspecies V: Blood Rise. Unfortunately, Covid happened and they weren’t able to finish the rest.

  • #3 – I just finished reading Confessions of a Puppetmaster: A Hollywood Memoir of Ghouls, Guts, and Gonzo Filmmaking Hardcover – November 16, 2021

    • by Charles Band (Author), Adam Felber (Author). As I’ve mentioned, I’ve been a fan of Band’s work for a long time, however, reading this book, there was so much I didn’t know about what went in to bringing these movies to us. Also, I’ve also known that Charles Band was involved at Empire, but I didn’t realize that he was the head honcho. Not sure why I didn’t realize that… but this book set the record straight in my mind. 

    • It was a great book that I enjoyed very much. Even got a little emotional at the end, I must say.

Even though I’ve been a fan for over 30 years, I’ve never met Charles Band… I came close at the 2023 Joe Bob’s Jamboree at the West Wind Drive in in Las Vegas. He was there filming his movie: Barbie and Kendra Crash Joe Bob’s Drive-In Jamboree. I was in the bathroom taking a leak. I finished up, washed my hands, turned around and there he was on his phone. He looked up at me. I nodded… he nodded back. I didn’t really feel like it was an appropriate time to say hi and start up a conversation. I mean… probably wouldn’t have been the most inappropriate thing to happen in a drive-in bathroom… but still.

Like I said, I’m just going to periodically put out a video talking about a single subject. Most of the episodes, I’ll be talking about one movie. I won’t do them in order, because there are definitely “Eras” of Empire and Full Moon. If someone doesn’t like a particular era, I don’t want this person to get bored with the show for a period of time.

Anyhow, I think that’s good enough for an introduction and explanation… so, until next time.