It has been so long ago that I honestly don’t remember when exactly it was, but I remember talking to Synapse’s Don May and Jerry Chandler about their announcement for them getting the rights for this highly underrated 1987 film, The Kindred. When I worked at the theater, we had this and I just loved it. I remember reading about it in the pages of Fango, seeing some amazing photos of the creatures and effects that were in it. And seeing on the big screen, it didn’t disappoint.

Then hearing that Synapse had run into some issues with the rights, and that it might be a while before it comes out, if at all, it crushed me. Don May had said “We had purchased it, and it got entangled in a horrible legal battle. It was no fault of ours; we just had to hold tight until everything was finalized”. So thank god they decided to hold out and wait for the dust to settle. I would see Jerry at several shows over the years, and sometimes he’d have a big smile telling me, “It’s coming!” and other times he’d shake his head and say “I just don’t know anymore.” So I am so thrilled to hear that it will soon be coming.

To make this even better, this version will be different than what I got to see in the theater, or that terribly dark VHS print. May said that “our version of The Kindred actually has more gore in it than the original U.S. version had. We ended up finding material which has extra gore which hasn’t been released here.”

So if you’re a fan of good old fashion monster movies, way before CGI, when these technical makeup wizards were creating some rubber nightmares from the recesses of their brains, and breathing life into them., then you will want to pick up this release when it comes out. It has a great cast as well, like Rod Steiger, Kim Hunter, Amanda Pays, Talia Balsam, David Allen Brooks, and more.