Film Ventures International
Encyclopedia
Film Ventures International (FVI) is an independent movie production and distribution company originally situated in Atlanta, Georgia
during the 1970s. FVI garnered a notorious reputation within the industry for producing films which were highly derivative of many blockbusters
of the era. The company mainly specialized in producing and distributing B-Movie
s and horror fare.
The entrepreneur who spearheaded the company was Edward L. Montoro
. He wrote, directed and produced the company's first feature film Getting Into Heaven in 1968. The adult film was made for $13,000 and grossed almost 20 times its cost.
FVI was known for acquiring Italian genre films and distributing them within the United States. These films included the 1968 spaghetti western
Boot Hill
, a sequel to the famous Trinity
films; and the 1974 horror thriller Beyond the Door starring Juliet Mills.
FVI acquired Beyond the Door for $100,000 and the film went on to earn $9 million at the box office, making it one of the most successful independent releases of that year. Detailing a child possessed by a demon, Beyond the Door was labeled a rip-off of The Exorcist
. Warner Bros.
promptly filed a lawsuit, claiming copyright infringement. The lawsuit failed after it was determined Warner Bros. had no rights to key horror scenes depicted in The Exorcist
.
FVI produced and distributed Grizzly
in 1976, one of the first of the Jaws
clones. Montoro financed the film for $750,000 and it was directed by William Girdler
. Grizzly
was a surprise hit, earning more than $39 million and becoming the most financially successful independent film of 1976. Montoro decided to keep the profits for himself, resulting in a lawsuit against FVI by Girdler and producer/screenwriters Harvey Flaxman and David Sheldon. FVI eventually returned the profits to the filmmakers. Montoro's FVI worked with Girdler on the animal horror thriller The Day of the Animals the following year, though the collaboration did not achieve the success of Grizzly
.
Montoro eventually moved FVI's headquarters to Hollywood and began churning out multiple genre films over the next seven years including Beyond the Door II (1979); Search and Destroy (1979) starring Don Stroud
; The Dark (1979) starring William Devane
; The Visitor
(1979) starring Glenn Ford
; H. G. Wells' The Shape of Things to Come
(1979) starring Jack Palance
; Kill and Kill Again
(1981); The Incubus (1981) starring John Cassavetes
; Texas Lightning
(1981) starring Cameron Mitchell
; Pieces
(1982) starring Christopher George
; They Call Me Bruce?
(1982); Pod People
(1983); Vigilante (1983) starring Robert Forster
; The House on Sorority Row
(1983); Mortuary (1983) starring Bill Paxton
; Alley Cat (1984); and Mutant (1984) starring Bo Hopkins
.
In 1980, FVI acquired the rights to the Italian film Great White
, a thinly-veiled Jaws
rip-off starring James Franciscus
and Vic Morrow
. Montoro and FVI spent over $4 million in advertising in the U.S., but Universal Pictures
promptly filed suit, claiming that the film was too derivative of Jaws
. Universal won the lawsuit and Great White
was pulled from the theaters after one week of release. The failure of Great White was a major monetary loss for FVI.
By 1984, FVI was on the verge of collapse due to multiple financial issues including the release failure of Great White
, the poor box office performance of FVI's final film Mutant, and a pending divorce settlement of Montoro's. Surprising many within the industry, Montoro took one million dollars from FVI and vanished never to be seen again. Film Ventures International officially closed its doors in 1985, filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy and later being purchased by the INI Corporation. To this day, Montoro's whereabouts remain unknown, though it is believed he fled to Mexico
.
Today, many of the films produced and released through Film Ventures International are now distributed through small-scale video
and DVD
companies including Anchor Bay Entertainment
. The company was revived for the creation of independent films such as "The Final Curtain". FVI now owns 2 brands. Artists Releasing Corporation and Coliseum Video.
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
during the 1970s. FVI garnered a notorious reputation within the industry for producing films which were highly derivative of many blockbusters
Blockbuster (entertainment)
Blockbuster, as applied to film or theatre, denotes a very popular or successful production. The entertainment industry use was originally theatrical slang referring to a particularly successful play but is now used primarily by the film industry...
of the era. The company mainly specialized in producing and distributing B-Movie
B-movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
s and horror fare.
The entrepreneur who spearheaded the company was Edward L. Montoro
Edward L. Montoro
Edward L. Montoro was an American film producer and distributor known for releasing exploitation films and B-movies during the 1970s and 1980s through his company Film Ventures International...
. He wrote, directed and produced the company's first feature film Getting Into Heaven in 1968. The adult film was made for $13,000 and grossed almost 20 times its cost.
FVI was known for acquiring Italian genre films and distributing them within the United States. These films included the 1968 spaghetti western
Spaghetti Western
Spaghetti Western, also known as Italo-Western, is a nickname for a broad sub-genre of Western films that emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's unique and much copied film-making style and international box-office success, so named by American critics because most were produced and...
Boot Hill
Boot Hill (film)
Boot Hill is a 1969 Italian Spaghetti Western film starring Terence Hill and Bud Spencer. This film is the last one in a trilogy that started with God Forgives... I Don't! , followed by Ace High...
, a sequel to the famous Trinity
They Call Me Trinity
They Call Me Trinity also known as My Name is Trinity, is a 1970 Italian spaghetti western film starring Terence Hill and Bud Spencer.-Plot summary:...
films; and the 1974 horror thriller Beyond the Door starring Juliet Mills.
FVI acquired Beyond the Door for $100,000 and the film went on to earn $9 million at the box office, making it one of the most successful independent releases of that year. Detailing a child possessed by a demon, Beyond the Door was labeled a rip-off of The Exorcist
The Exorcist (film)
The Exorcist is a 1973 American horror film directed by William Friedkin, adapted from the 1971 novel of the same name by William Peter Blatty and based on the exorcism case of Robbie Mannheim, dealing with the demonic possession of a young girl and her mother’s desperate attempts to win back her...
. Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
promptly filed a lawsuit, claiming copyright infringement. The lawsuit failed after it was determined Warner Bros. had no rights to key horror scenes depicted in The Exorcist
The Exorcist (film)
The Exorcist is a 1973 American horror film directed by William Friedkin, adapted from the 1971 novel of the same name by William Peter Blatty and based on the exorcism case of Robbie Mannheim, dealing with the demonic possession of a young girl and her mother’s desperate attempts to win back her...
.
FVI produced and distributed Grizzly
Grizzly (film)
Grizzly is a 1976 horror film directed by William Girdler. The film is about an 18-foot man-eating Grizzly bear that terrorizes a National Forest. The film stars Christopher George, Andrew Prine and Richard Jaeckel...
in 1976, one of the first of the Jaws
Jaws (film)
Jaws is a 1975 American horror-thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name. In the story, the police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant man-eating great white shark by closing the beach,...
clones. Montoro financed the film for $750,000 and it was directed by William Girdler
William Girdler
William Girdler was an American filmmaker. In a span of seven years, from 1972 to 1978, he directed nine feature films in such genres as horror and action...
. Grizzly
Grizzly (film)
Grizzly is a 1976 horror film directed by William Girdler. The film is about an 18-foot man-eating Grizzly bear that terrorizes a National Forest. The film stars Christopher George, Andrew Prine and Richard Jaeckel...
was a surprise hit, earning more than $39 million and becoming the most financially successful independent film of 1976. Montoro decided to keep the profits for himself, resulting in a lawsuit against FVI by Girdler and producer/screenwriters Harvey Flaxman and David Sheldon. FVI eventually returned the profits to the filmmakers. Montoro's FVI worked with Girdler on the animal horror thriller The Day of the Animals the following year, though the collaboration did not achieve the success of Grizzly
Grizzly (film)
Grizzly is a 1976 horror film directed by William Girdler. The film is about an 18-foot man-eating Grizzly bear that terrorizes a National Forest. The film stars Christopher George, Andrew Prine and Richard Jaeckel...
.
Montoro eventually moved FVI's headquarters to Hollywood and began churning out multiple genre films over the next seven years including Beyond the Door II (1979); Search and Destroy (1979) starring Don Stroud
Don Stroud
Donald Lee Stroud is an American actor and surfer who appeared in many films in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and has starred in over 100 films and 175 television shows to date.-Early life:...
; The Dark (1979) starring William Devane
William Devane
William Joseph Devane is an American film, television and theater actor.-Life and career:Devane was born in Albany, New York in 1937 or 1939 , the son of Joseph Devane, who was Franklin D. Roosevelt's chauffeur when he was Governor of New York...
; The Visitor
The Visitor (1979 film)
The Visitor is a psychological thriller film directed by Giulio Paradisi , based on a story by the Egyptian writer Ovidio G. Assonitis. The film starred such names as John Huston, Shelley Winters, Mel Ferrer, Glenn Ford, and Sam Peckinpah. Prominent Libertarian talk-show host Neal Boortz also...
(1979) starring Glenn Ford
Glenn Ford
Glenn Ford was a Canadian-born American actor from Hollywood's Golden Era with a career that spanned seven decades...
; H. G. Wells' The Shape of Things to Come
H. G. Wells' The Shape of Things to Come
H. G. Wells' The Shape of Things to Come is a Canadian science fiction motion picture first released in May 1979.Although credited to H. G. Wells, the film takes only its title and some character names from The Shape of Things to Come, Wells' speculative novel from 1933. The plot bears no...
(1979) starring Jack Palance
Jack Palance
Jack Palance , was an American actor. During half a century of film and television appearances, Palance was nominated for three Academy Awards, all as Best Actor in a Supporting Role, winning in 1991 for his role in City Slickers.-Early life:Palance, one of five children, was born Volodymyr...
; Kill and Kill Again
Kill and Kill Again
Kill and Kill Again is a 1981 South African/American action film notable for being the first live-action film to use the visual effects known as bullet-time. It is a sequel to Kill or Be Killed ....
(1981); The Incubus (1981) starring John Cassavetes
John Cassavetes
John Nicholas Cassavetes was an American actor, screenwriter and filmmaker. He acted in many Hollywood films, notably Rosemary's Baby and The Dirty Dozen...
; Texas Lightning
Texas Lightning (film)
Texas Lightning is a 1981 film written and directed by Gary Graver. The film stars Maureen McCormick, who is most well known for her role as Marcia Brady in the hit television series The Brady Bunch...
(1981) starring Cameron Mitchell
Cameron Mitchell (actor)
Cameron Mitchell was an American film, television and Broadway actor with close ties to one of Canada's most successful families, and considered, by Lee Strasberg, to be one of the founding members of The Actor's Studio in New York City.-Early life and career:Born Cameron MacDowell Mitzel in...
; Pieces
Pieces (film)
Pieces is a 1983 cult classic slasher horror film and "drive-in favorite".-Plot:...
(1982) starring Christopher George
Christopher George
Christopher John George was an American television and film actor who was perhaps best known for his starring role in the 1966-1968 TV series The Rat Patrol. He was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1967 as Best TV Star for his performance in the series...
; They Call Me Bruce?
They Call Me Bruce?
They Call Me Bruce? is a 1982 comedy action film starring Johnny Yune and Margaux Hemingway.The film was written by Tim Clawson and was directed by Elliott Hong...
(1982); Pod People
Pod People
The Pod People is a 1983 Spanish science fiction film directed by Juan Piquer Simón. A young boy discovers a lovable alien creature, but the alien's mother is on the prowl...
(1983); Vigilante (1983) starring Robert Forster
Robert Forster
Robert Forster is an American actor, best known for his roles as John Cassellis in Haskell Wexler's Medium Cool, and as Max Cherry in Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown, the latter of which gained him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.- Early life :Forster was born Robert Wallace...
; The House on Sorority Row
The House on Sorority Row
The House on Sorority Row is a 1983 low budget American slasher film directed by Mark Rosman. The film has become a cult classic among fans of the genre.-Plot:...
(1983); Mortuary (1983) starring Bill Paxton
Bill Paxton
William "Bill" Paxton is an American actor and film director. He gained popularity after starring roles in the films Apollo 13, Twister, Aliens, True Lies, and Titanic...
; Alley Cat (1984); and Mutant (1984) starring Bo Hopkins
Bo Hopkins
Bo Hopkins is an American actor.-Career:Hopkins has appeared in more than one hundred film and television roles in a career of more than forty years, including The Bridge at Remagen, The Wild Bunch, The Getaway, American Graffiti, White Lightning, Radioland Murders, The Killer Elite, Midnight...
.
In 1980, FVI acquired the rights to the Italian film Great White
Great White (film)
Great White is a 1980 Italian horror film directed by Enzo G. Castellari and starring James Franciscus and Vic Morrow. The film is extremely similar to Steven Spielberg's Jaws.-Plot:...
, a thinly-veiled Jaws
Jaws (film)
Jaws is a 1975 American horror-thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name. In the story, the police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant man-eating great white shark by closing the beach,...
rip-off starring James Franciscus
James Franciscus
James Grover Franciscus was an American actor, known for his roles in the series The Naked City and The Investigators, and in feature films.-Life and career:...
and Vic Morrow
Vic Morrow
Victor "Vic" Morrow was an American actor whose credits include a starring role in the 1960s TV series Combat!, prominent roles in a handful of other television and cinema dramas, and numerous guest roles on television...
. Montoro and FVI spent over $4 million in advertising in the U.S., but Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
promptly filed suit, claiming that the film was too derivative of Jaws
Jaws (film)
Jaws is a 1975 American horror-thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name. In the story, the police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant man-eating great white shark by closing the beach,...
. Universal won the lawsuit and Great White
Great White (film)
Great White is a 1980 Italian horror film directed by Enzo G. Castellari and starring James Franciscus and Vic Morrow. The film is extremely similar to Steven Spielberg's Jaws.-Plot:...
was pulled from the theaters after one week of release. The failure of Great White was a major monetary loss for FVI.
By 1984, FVI was on the verge of collapse due to multiple financial issues including the release failure of Great White
Great White (film)
Great White is a 1980 Italian horror film directed by Enzo G. Castellari and starring James Franciscus and Vic Morrow. The film is extremely similar to Steven Spielberg's Jaws.-Plot:...
, the poor box office performance of FVI's final film Mutant, and a pending divorce settlement of Montoro's. Surprising many within the industry, Montoro took one million dollars from FVI and vanished never to be seen again. Film Ventures International officially closed its doors in 1985, filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy and later being purchased by the INI Corporation. To this day, Montoro's whereabouts remain unknown, though it is believed he fled to Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
.
Today, many of the films produced and released through Film Ventures International are now distributed through small-scale video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
and DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
companies including Anchor Bay Entertainment
Anchor Bay Entertainment
Anchor Bay Entertainment is a U.S. based home entertainment and production company and is a division of Starz Media, which is a unit of Starz, LLC. It was previously owned by IDT Entertainment until 2006 when IDT was purchased by Starz Media. Anchor Bay markets and sells feature films, series,...
. The company was revived for the creation of independent films such as "The Final Curtain". FVI now owns 2 brands. Artists Releasing Corporation and Coliseum Video.