Destination Nightmare Move: The Deathmaster (1980's Miami TV Broadcast)

The Deathmaster (or, as the title appears on screen, simply Deathmaster) is a mesmerizing and totally unique horror movie, one that capitalizes on both the shock in the wake of the well-publicized Manson murders and the sudden fame of character actor Robert Quarry, who had found a jolt of popularity due to American International Pictures’ 1970 chiller Count Yorga, Vampire.
After the success of Count Yorga, Quarry was being groomed to be the mature successor to their mainstay star, Vincent Price. But Quarry went rogue and set up The Deathmaster in 1970 with actor-turned-director Danton (The Psychic Killer) directing, Quarry executive producing and starring in a role that was like a death-cult hippie generation re-vamp (ha!) of his Yorga character. But AIP was not pleased. When Roger Corman did the same thing in 1962 and broke away from AIP, teaming with Pathe to make the Poe film The Premature Burial, AIP honchos Sam Arkoff and James Nicholson were so cheesed that they ended up buying Pathe and forcing Corman back to work for them anyway. So it goes with The Deathmaster. AIP bought the film from the original distributor and essentially shelved it. They had Quarry on contract and they jumped into making an authentic sequel, 1971’s The Return of Count Yorga and they even had the cheek to steal The Deathmaster‘s title for that film’s theatrical poster tagline!