Release Date: February 23rd, 1994 (video premiere) (Teenage Exoricst)
June 27th, 1991 (video premiere) (The Channeler)
October 5th, 2021 (blu-ray)
Run Time: 1 hour 26 minutes 24 seconds (Teenage Exorcist)
Run Time: 1 hour 26 minutes 24 seconds (Teenage Exorcist)
1 hour 28 minutes 52 seconds (The Channeler)
Region Code: FREE
Picture: 1080p (1.66:1 aspect ratio) (Teenage Exorcist)
Region Code: FREE
Picture: 1080p (1.66:1 aspect ratio) (Teenage Exorcist)
720p (1.33:1 aspect ratio) (The Channeler)
Sound: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (Teenage Exorcist)
Sound: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (Teenage Exorcist)
English Dolby Digital 2.0 (The Channeler)
Subtitles: None
Slipcover: No
Digital Copy: No
Starring: Brinke Stevens, Eddie Deezen, Oliver Darrow, John Henry Richardson, Tom Shell, Elena Sahagun, Robert Quarry, and Michael Berryman (Teenage Exorcist)
Subtitles: None
Slipcover: No
Digital Copy: No
Starring: Brinke Stevens, Eddie Deezen, Oliver Darrow, John Henry Richardson, Tom Shell, Elena Sahagun, Robert Quarry, and Michael Berryman (Teenage Exorcist)
Dan Haggerty, David Homb, J. Cynthia Brooks, Robin Sims, John Henry Richardson, and Oliver Darrow (The Channeler)
Written by Brinke Stevens (Teenage Exorcist)
Jeff Falls, Peter Meab, Jeb Seibel, and Grant Austin Waldman (The Channeler)
Directed by Grant Austin Waldman (Both films)
Directed by Grant Austin Waldman (Both films)
Rating: Not Rated (violence and nudity) (both films)
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Poster
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What's It About?
Diane (Brinke Stevens), a prim and proper college grad student, rents a spooky old house from a creepy realtor (Michael Berryman). Unfortunately for Diane, an ancient demon (Oliver Darrow) resides in her basement and she's quickly possessed by the spirits of the house, turning her into a leather-clad, chainsaw-wielding succubus. When Diane's sister Sally (Elena Sahagun), Sally's brother-in-law Mike (Jay Richardson) and Diane's boyfriend Jeff (Tom Shell) come to visit only to be attacked by her demonic incarnation, they summon a priest, Father McFerrin (Robert Quarry), to handle the situation. Failing that, Father McFerrin attempts to call an exorcist, only to dial the wrong number and unwittingly place an order at the local pizza parlor. When the pizza delivery boy (Eddie Deezen) arrives at the house, it's up to him and the rest of the gang to destroy the demon and stop his nefarious scheme. (TEENAGE EXORCIST)
Pam (Sims) gathers a group of college students to join her on a trek to an abandoned mine on a remote, forested mountain. Though her companions believe they are going to help reclaim and restore the area's environment, Pam knows of strange events in both the distant and recent past. Her interest appears to be more in the line of folklore and parapsychology than the environment. The group experiences a number of misfortunes and mysteries before arriving in the area of the mine. They soon encounter a hermit (Haggerty) living alone in a cabin and he seems to know quite a bit about the sinister nature of the region. All must confront and escape the evil that has lurked at the mine since a tragedy there in 1845. (THE CHANNELER)
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Film Review
TEENAGE EXORCIST is what happens when a producer asks a director to make a sleazy film filled with gore and laughs, but the director doesn't want too much sleaze, so he adds a little, doesn't want too much gore, so he takes most of it out, and leaves in what he thinks are laughs, but they aren't. I love that Brinke Stevens wrote this film for herself and then gives it everything she's got. There is so much to admire about this film. Too bad the film isn't one of them.
This is a film where the girl gets possessed in the first twenty minutes and then everyone around her wants her to get better, but they aren't in any rush to make it happen. There is some decent photography going on but then most of the film looks like ass. There is some good monster make-up here, but it's most shown in shadows. Why? I get setting movies with CGI at night to help hide the imperfections, but the make-up here is really nicely done, but we never really get a good look at it.
I like the innocence on display here. Everyone involved looks like they are having fun and no one is taking this film too seriously. Miss Stevens has a look of joy on her face in every scene and I can not hate a film that makes people happy. I didn't like this film, but I can't hate it. Everyone involved cleary wanted to make a silly film and they did. It's not very funny. It's not scary in the least, but it does have a lot of heart and charm going for it. The film gets a pass from me.
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Video/Audio
Presented in 1.66:1, this 1080p transfer is fine. It's good and not so good. It is very obvious that there has been no clean up done whatsoever with all the hairs, cigarette marks, and other imperfections. I am fine with this as I would have hated if they had DNR'd this thing to hell. While I do say that there is no DNR, faces seem to have little in the way of definition or pores. They look pretty waxy. So maybe there was a bit of DNR used and it skipped over the biggest problems to take the pores on our actors' faces, but probably not. Colors and skin tones are good, although there seems to be a small push towards the color red. Like Brinke Stevens' brother-in-law's face looks mighty red. Like I said, the transfer is fine. It does a decent job of making this film look good.
The lossless 2.0 track gets the job done, but there seems to be a sibilance problem. In some scenes, any "S" sound becomes distorted and sounds terrible. It's not there for every scene, but when it shows up, it is very noticeable.
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Extras/Packaging
There is only one extra on this disc and it is the other film that Waldman made in 1991, THE CHANNELER. The film was taken from what looks like a VHS copy of the film as there are no other suitable materials for the film left. This is actually a pretty good-looking transfer all things considered. Of course, it doesn't look all that good especially when compared to TEENAGE EXORCIST, but it gets the job done. The film isn't all that good, but it is ok. I just wish that the story had been told better, but what do you expect when there are four writers on your project. This is the type of film that you would have rented with your buddies at a sleepover. You would have gotten it back to the house and it would have played but you guys would have checked out of it early on because nothing really happens in the first half of the film. Still, I love that it is included here. I also wish that there was some involvement from Brinke Stevens as she wrote the film and still has a love for it.
There was a special offer when I ordered the blu-ray from Makeflix that offered up a signed card from Brinke Stevens. I placed my order and was surprised to see that I got one of the cards. It is really nice and fits snuggly in the blu-ray case.
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Overall
Fans of TEENAGE EXORCIST will enjoy this blu-ray from Retromedia, but they won't be overjoyed by it. The video quality is good, but not great and the audio could have used some work. There is an extra film on here so that is a plus. I do wish that the DVD special features had been ported over, but the price was right and I love the Brinke Stevens autograph card that was included.
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Teenage Exorcist
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The Channeler
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