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Blood, Boobs & Beast (2007)
A Documentary by John Kinhart

Released by TROMA

Starring Don Dohler, Joe Ripple, George Stover, Richard Dyszel, Eleanor Herman, Don Leifert, Tom Sullivan, J.J. Abrams, Tom Savini

74 mins.

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Blood, Boobs & Beast is a documentary about the film career of Baltimore independent filmmaker Don Dohler. It documents the beginning of his career in 1976 all the way to his untimely death from cancer in 2006. During that time period Dohler made 11 movies: THE ALIEN FACTOR, FIEND, NIGHTBEAST, GALAXY INVADER, BLOOD MASSACRE, ALIEN RAMPAGE, HARVESTERS, STAKES, VAMPIRE SISTERS, CRAWLER, and DEAD HUNT. Most of these movies are touched upon in this film.

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Family, friends and fans discuss the influence Don Dohler had on the independent film industry. Dohler himself appears many times on the screen, relating stories of his ups and downs in the business. A fair share of the running time is also devoted to the debt underground comics had to Don (Dohler created a character PRO JUNIOR that Robert Crumb would later on go to illustrate). Also brought up is Dohler’s special effects movie magazine CINEMAGIC, which would go on to inspire many budding filmmakers.

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Overall it is a very good gateway drug for looking into the works of Don Dohler. Many have sited that after watching the documentary that they wish to track down all of his films and watch them. The DVD comes with a commentary track and a few other extras. The commentary track is nothing to write home about so a viewer could probably skip it without losing any sleep, but the other bonus materials like the extras scenes are a lot of fun to watch.

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This being a two-disc set, the other DVD contained what could be argued as Dohler’s most successful film – NIGHTBEAST (1982). The story is that a crazed space alien’s ship collides with a meteor and crash lands in the woods of a small Maryland town. He then proceeds to start killing off the local population and eating them. Starring Tom Griffith, Richard Dyszel, Anne Frith, George Stover and Tom Leifert, this is the perfect drive-in movie produced by Dohler. Cool monster, great special effects, nudity, bloody murder and mayhem at a relentless pace makes this a total winner.

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Extras on this DVD include an excellent commentary track with Don Dohler and actor George Stover. Also included is a blooper reel and some unused FX shots.

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This double DVD set  is of nice quality with some fantastic extras. To learn more about the DIY pioneer filmmaker Don Dohler and those he inspired in the movie industry – I recommend picking this up. It is currently out off stock on the TROMA site, but copies of it can be found on AMAZON and EBAY.

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