Bleeding Skull! Video was a collaboration with our friends at Mondo, the art boutique of the Alamo Drafthouse, that existed from 2014-17.
The Blonde Death limited edition VHS/DVD was the sixth Bleeding Skull! Video release.
Shot for $2000 by “James Dillinger” aka James Robert Baker, a playwright-novelist-anarchist who was once described as “the world’s angriest gay man,” Blonde Death is a major triumph in the shot-on-video universe. This movie wages war on suburban America, attacking the concepts of family and love with murderous wit. Blonde Death draws possible dismissive comparisons to early John Waters, but it’s as strong as Waters’ best. At the age of 51, Baker chose to end his life via carbon monoxide poisoning in his garage (exactly how two of his lead characters perish in Blonde Death). This was his supreme bird-flip to the world. Though we wish he could be alive to experience this praise of his work, the brilliant and overlooked James Robert Baker — to his credit — wouldn’t care.
Produced by legendary Los Angeles underground art collective EZTV, Blonde Death was heavily bootlegged, but never released widely on home video. BLEEDING SKULL! VIDEO and VERBODEN VIDEO’s co-release has been transferred from the original 1″ master tapes, making it the best looking-and-sounding version of Blonde Death that has ever been available.
Directed by James Robert Baker
93 minutes / 1984 / Color
Includes new interview with actor Sara Lee Wade, archival interview with EZTV founder John Dorr, and Bleeding Skull! Video trailers.
