Negatives (1988 film)

Negatives is a 1986 independent horror film directed by Tony Smith and starring Duane Jones and Debbie Rochon.
This film was shut down halfway through the shooting schedule due to an overwhelming amount of bounced checks from the producer. Some footage was salvaged and integrated into another film called Fright House.
Several attempts to finish the film were made, but failed due to lack of money. Each subsequent crew was less experienced (and cheaper) than the preceding one. This explains the inconsistent quality of the film with the best footage shot by Ernest Dickerson.
Horror film icon Duane Jones starred in Negatives as psychic researcher Charles Harmon.
Fright House is a hybrid film and contains two sixty-minute (approx) features: Fright House and ABADON.
Fright House, the first half stars Al 'Grandpa' Lewis, is about a coven of witches in an old mansion.
ABADON, the second half, is about a new female student Ione arriving at a private art school to join her boyfriend Gary. There she discovers the nasty secret to why the school mistress Madeline Abadon, played by Jackie James, looks (and remains) so young. This second part of the Fright House feature was pulled and reedited from the footage shot for the original Negatives. However Debbie Rochon's scenes do not appear in the renamed film Fright House.
Negatives was one of the first movies in which Rochon appeared and helped launch her career as a horror film Scream Queen.
Duane Jones suffered a fatal heart attack during production and was unable to complete the film.
Negatives was again re-edited and released as LEN ANTHONY'S VAMPIRES. This is a full-length film with restored footage and an 80 minute run time. It is the most complete version of NEGATIVES to date as of July 2020 but remains largely unavailable.
Ernest Dickerson was the original DP/Cinematographer.

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