John "Bud" Cardos

Brought to life through archival material and the reflections of over 40 colleagues, friends and fans, BLOOD & FLESH is much more than the story of a moviemaking life most unusual. It beautifully captures the worlds of outsider filmmaker communities that existed in California in the ’70s, and the weird ways they intersected with Hollywood mainstream and union indies. On Adamson shoots, regular Orson Welles crew and cinematographers like Gary Graver, Vilmos Szigmond and Lazlo Kovaks worked alongside Bud Cardos — and at one point, Charles Manson! Director David Gregory (founder of Severin Films, director of LOST SOUL: THE DOOMED JOURNEY OF RICHARD STANLEY’S ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU) spent years making this film, speaking to everyone down to the cops who investigated Adamson’s murder, vividly encapsulating both a bold life and tragic demise, with alien conspiracies, go-go dancers and Colonel Sanders coming in along the way. If you’ve got even a passing interest in cinema, you want to see this

Gary Kent was the king of B movies in the Sixties and Seventies, working for indie directors from Richard Rush to Ray Dennis Stickler to Al Adamson, but he's tackled even larger real-life challenges.

A renegade general plots to bomb Washington using a new top secret jet called the Storm Catcher. The only trouble is only one man is capable of flying it. So they seek to put him on the run in a conspiracy that makes him appear to have murdered several men and stolen the plane. Then try to murder his wife and take his daughter prisoner. Threatening to kill his daughter if he doesn't help, he appears trapped. However, his best friend who is the plane's computer specialist has a few tricks up his sleeve.

An Earthman returns to the planet Gor, and fights against tyranny.

A large motor yacht becomes the focal point in this action tale when a group of mercenaries decide to capture the vessel. The original owner, who was delivering it to Sydney, Australia, is believed dead but is in fact very much alive, and determined to recover the yacht...

A retired Army colonel attempts to rescue his imprisoned son in this action packed thriller. To save his CIA operative son from terrorists, Col. Smith (Ernest Borgnine) and a group of mercenaries head to war-torn Angola's Skeleton Coast, where they must infiltrate an armed compound run by a sadistic East German officer before Smith's son is tortured to death. Robert Vaughn, Oliver Reed and Herbert Lom costar.

When two brothers, Josh and Mike, go to a small southern town for a vacation, they find most of the residents either dead or missing. When Mike himself goes missing, Josh teams up with the local sheriff and an attractive school teacher to find him until Josh discovers that the whole town and most of it's people have been infected by a form of toxic waste, and they have all turned into toxic vampires whom prowl the streets at night for human blood!

A small family relocates to the Sonoran Desert, to be closer to the grandparents of the family. Though there are news reports of a spectacular triple supernova, and the young granddaughter has seen a glowing alien construction behind the barn, the family is at ease until, one night, a UFO soars over head and appears to land in the nearby hills. Apparently, the triple supernova has opened a rift in space and time.

At night the Mangler stalks the streets of Los Angeles, killing and mutilating random victims. On the trail are a TV reporter, the father of one of the victims, and a police detective, but despite their efforts only the mysterious psychic DeRenzy knows what the killer is and how to stop it.

At night the Mangler stalks the streets of Los Angeles, killing and mutilating random victims. On the trail are a TV reporter, the father of one of the victims, and a police detective, but despite their efforts only the mysterious psychic DeRenzy knows what the killer is and how to stop it.

The Pig has a plan to eradicate some people with a freeze bomb that instantly freezes people to death. It is up to Detective Ash to stop him and protect the woman with the secret to the ice bomb embedded in a microdot under the skin of her forehead.

The Pig has a plan to eradicate some people with a freeze bomb that instantly freezes people to death. It is up to Detective Ash to stop him and protect the woman with the secret to the ice bomb embedded in a microdot under the skin of her forehead.

Investigating the mysterious deaths of a number of farm animals, vet Rack Hansen discovers that his town lies in the path of hordes of migrating tarantulas. Before he can take action, the streets are overrun by killer spiders, trapping a small group of townsfolk in a remote hotel.

If you've ever wondered about the sexual proclivities and appetites of those rollerskating waitresses at old fashioned fast food drive ins, you're surely not alone. A lot of very smart people have given it a lot of thought and the result is this groundbreaking motion picture. Carrying trays of burgers and milkshakes is just the tip of the iceberg, from there it gets heavy. Can you handle it?

At the site of the 1969 rock concert at Woodstock, New York, an electrical charge turns a local farmer into a murderous werewolf.

Three vicious thugs are on the run in rural America after robbing a local bank. They seek refuge at the home of a reclusive farmer, but he is prepared for their arrival and holds them at gunpoint. Unable to let them simply wait for the law, he decides to take them into into his cellar and torture them a little before the police arrive.

A young soldier who was thought to be killed in the line of duty in Vietnam returns home shortly thereafter, much to the confusion of his family. Upon his return, he exhibits strange, withdrawn behavior and begins wandering the streets at night.

A nurse is hired to take care of a mean, cantankerous woman. It turns out that the nurse and her boyfriend are after the woman's fortune. When the woman turns up dead in a bathtub full of blood the couple begin to search for the money, but they soon begin to suspect that the woman isn't really dead - or her ghost has come back to avenge her.

Soft-core western filmed at Charles Manson's old stomping grounds; the Spahn Ranch, back in 1968. As of this writing, not commercially available for viewing.

Soft-core western filmed at Charles Manson's old stomping grounds; the Spahn Ranch, back in 1968. As of this writing, not commercially available for viewing.

Jeff is sick of losing weekend grudge matches with his Dodge Challenger and longs for the chance to drive a top fuel dragster. When a top racing team cans their driver, Jeff sees an opportunity to make his dreams come true. IF he can prove that he has what it takes to be a real driver.

An all-female gang living on a ranch gets involved with a pair of bikers.

An all-female gang living on a ranch gets involved with a pair of bikers.

An all-female gang living on a ranch gets involved with a pair of bikers.

An all-female gang living on a ranch gets involved with a pair of bikers.

Told by a U.S. Army colonel and his wife, this vintage Western set in post-Civil War Texas chronicles the exploits of the all-black 10th cavalry regiment, which was formed in 1871. Cesar Romero plays the unit's commander.

In a small, US costal town with many Spanish speakers, a motorcycle gang arrives on holiday. Also in town to try to reconnect with his pregnant girlfriend, Karen, is businessman Paul Collier. Paul and a leader of the cyclists, J.J., knew each other years before, so when the gang comes upon the couple and, led by the menacing Bunny, beats up Paul and begins a sexual assault of Karen, J.J. tries to intervene: he suggests they hold cycle-riding contests, with the winner claiming Karen (he promises, sotto voce, to set her free if he wins). After the contests commence, Paul crawls away to look for help. He meets with a shrug from a cowardly sheriff's deputy; where can he turn?

Astronauts land on a planet with prehistoric creatures and a war between a human-like tribe and a race of vampires.

Bikers, Nazis, Mafiosi, and the FBI all clash in this wild and wooly exploitation picture from director Al Adamson. Mark Adams (John Gabriel) is an FBI agent who has been assigned to infiltrate an organized crime ring that has obtained a set of printing plates that will allow them to produce nearly perfect counterfeit 20-dollar bills. The plates were made in Germany during World War II, and were discovered by a radical right-wing group hoping to restore the Nazi Party to power. The American gangsters are in cahoots with a group of wealthy American neo-Nazis sympathetic to the new German cause, led by fugitive war criminal Count von Delberg (Kent Taylor); the count has in turn recruited a vicious motorcycle gang, the Bloody Devils, to do his dirty work.

A lone gunman hunts the fearsome Apache Satago across the plains of the Wild West. When Satago's marauders ambush a stagecoach, the gunman rides to the rescue of the trapped passengers and helps them in their last stand against the deadly Indians.

A lone gunman hunts the fearsome Apache Satago across the plains of the Wild West. When Satago's marauders ambush a stagecoach, the gunman rides to the rescue of the trapped passengers and helps them in their last stand against the deadly Indians.

A lone gunman hunts the fearsome Apache Satago across the plains of the Wild West. When Satago's marauders ambush a stagecoach, the gunman rides to the rescue of the trapped passengers and helps them in their last stand against the deadly Indians.

Count Dracula and his wife capture beautiful young women and chain them in their dungeon, to be used when they need to satisfy their thirst for blood.

Count Dracula and his wife capture beautiful young women and chain them in their dungeon, to be used when they need to satisfy their thirst for blood.

The "Satans" are a very cruel biker gang led by Anchor. The gang goes to a diner in the middle of nowhere in the California desert where they begin to terrorize Lew and his patrons and his waitress, Tracy. After a little killing, one of the patrons named Johnny manages to escape from the bikers into the desert. They need to reach a town before the Satans catch up to them and kill them.

The disfigured curator of a wax museum murders his enemies and then uses their bodies as exhibits in his museum.

The disfigured curator of a wax museum murders his enemies and then uses their bodies as exhibits in his museum.

A family of bootleggers fight against the sheriff and local gangsters.

At first gas station attendant Poet is happy when the rockers gang “Hell’s Angels” finally accepts him. But he’s shocked when he learns how brutal they are – not even murder is a taboo to them. He gets himself in trouble when the leader’s girlfriend falls in love with him – and he welcomes her approaches.

A young drifter is mistaken for Billy the Kid. The concequences prove deadly.

The official feature-length documentary about the rise and fall of Charles Band's legendary Empire Pictures studio.