MRH : The Image was originally released in mono. How did you fashion a new stereo 2.0 mix?

DM : When we got the original negative we also got the original mag tracks.

The dialogue, music and effects were on separate tracks the original master (they lay them all down separately so you can mix them individually later), and because we didn't get a mono [composite] track (which is everything all mixed together, like a print would be), we were able to actually go in and [equalize] each individual track separately. (The dialogue would be separate; the music would be separate; and the sound effects.)

I just thought that [since] we've got this opportunity, why don't we go ahead and do something. Of course, we didn't go crazy; we just wanted to do a pseudo mix - just add a little depth to it.

We didn't go nuts and start throwing cars left to right and things like this. It was just a little something, and one of our audio engineers who I've worked with since '93 set up his audio place in Santa Monica, and said "Let me play with it a little bit; let me bring it up." So we were actually able to extract the isolated music track, and he wanted to make a pseudo stereo track and throw a little bit of the directional effects into the surround - just to add a little depth to it, nothing crazy.

MRH : It was well done. There have been a number of poor pseudo-stereo remixes which have often yielded worse, even drainpipe-quality effects.

DM : There are these companies out there who do these crazy 5.1's or 2.0's, but they don't actually offer you a choice to go back and listen to the original tracks and listen to the way it was, and we [give the choice] with The Image, and with our upcoming disc of Blue Sunshine.

[For the latter], we found the original mag tracks and not the negative, and I thought… [since] it's been twenty-some odd years, let's remix it in stereo, because they didn't have enough money to do it back then. To remix a movie in stereo after twenty-five years was a huge endeavor; very costly.

These days, it's amazing what you can do with computers and things… with The Image we just spit the audio into a computer, and started adding ambience and depth, and bringing up the bass.

A lot of The Image dialogue that you hear is, of course, dubbed in, and in some of it you can actually hear punches; you hear like a 'click' noise, and then you hear the person talk, and it'll click again, and that person will 'shut off.'

We were able to actually go in and try to minimize a lot of that as well, because [you'd hear] the microphone turn on, and then the person will say his lines, and then the microphone will turn off. On the original mag mix of The Image you can actually hear that, so were able to take some of that away.

I don't do the mixing myself. We use a guy named Jim Allan, who I've worked with forever. When I helped produce A Nightmare On Elm Street [1984] and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre [1974] and stuff like that (DVD and laserdiscs), he was the audio engineer on those. I've been friends with him ever since, and he's been pretty much our audio guy since the beginning, and he's just a wonder; he's a wizard at this stuff.

He does commentaries and audio and stuff (he did the commentaries for Hart's War)… He's also mastering the Blue Sunshine soundtrack CD that we're going to include on the Blue Sunshine disc as well.

MRH : Are there any aspects to The Image DVD that you're proud of, and has made Synapse a better label?

DM : It's a big release for us in a lot of ways. I mean, it's our first real erotic film. We've done things like Vampyros Lesbos [1970] and things like this, but to actually come out with something that contains hardcore pornography was a big challenge for us.

I was worried at first… Stores that normally carry our product aren't going to carry this obviously, but it's turned out for the best, and it was a big experiment. We're like, 'Let's see what happens - Let's do this thing, and if it works out well, maybe it'll open us up to some newer films or some other films of this type, so that the fans are still with us on these things.'

A lot of my fans are the sci-fi horror stuff… but to actually do a film that contains pornography and release it under out label was a big risk, and it worked out for the best. The other thing that I'm really proud of is that The Image was our first film that we did do from the original negative.

It was my first introduction in dealing with the 'ultimate elements' for a film transfer, and because of this - working with the negative and everything going okay - we're actually going back to the original negative for Street Trash [1987]… So The Image in a lot of ways was a big stepping stone for Synapse, with a new genre of film that we released successfully.

It was a test for me (doing a transfer from something I've never done a transfer from before); and working with Radley too. Radley's always been one of those people that I've always wanted to work with but never had the chance until now, so it's like a dream come true from us.

MRH : In regards to The Image, did you find that Metzger is surprised at all the attention that he's getting?

DM : Yeah, I think so. He's a very personal guy. He's very quiet. I don't think, very honestly, that he knows the amount of fans that he actually really has. He didn't want to do a commentary track. He doesn't want to do one for whatever reason, and he never told me why. He just said no, and I think he's just been a very quiet man. He did his movies, and now it's time for him to relax.

It's so strange: he came to [the last Chiller Show in New Jersey], and he wasn't on the guest list or anything. He just kind of showed up just to see me, and to come visit and to look at the transfer of [The Image]. He stayed for a few hours, and we went up to my hotel room [to watch] the check disc.

Here he was around all these people, and if somebody would have said, 'Hey, that's Radley Metzger,' the whole place would have come down. But he came in; he met me in the lobby; we watched the movie; he wandered around the show for a couple of hours, and then went home. It's just the way he is. He's like the greatest guy in the world, though.

He's so funny, and he's got this great sense of humour…Look at The Image: watching it you can see that sense of humour that he's got. He was just a joy to work with, but I really, honestly think that he just doesn't realize what kind of fans he has… I don't even know a lot about Radley myself, and that's why I was kind of hoping he would do a commentary, because he 's such a great person, and I'd really like to know what's going on inside that head of his. But who knows; maybe for the next project we work with him on, something will happen.

MRH : Any plans to release a future Metzger film?

DM : We're talking - I can't really say much about it yet, but Radley is part of Audubon Films and we are releasing an Audubon film called Olga's Girls [1964], which is not a Radley Metzger film. Olga's Girls is the second in I guess what you would call an Olga Trilogy… and widely recognized as the best one of the three.

We've got the original negative from Radley again, and we're actually going to be doing a new transfer of that film early August, and we're actually able to get [Audrey Campbell], the lady who plays Olga in the film, for a commentary track, so that's going to be really interesting.

There is a chance that we might be able to do something with Radley on another one of his films that I've been getting a lot of requests for.

MRH : Camille 2000 must be one of his most requested ones.

DM : No, not that one. This particular one has always been edited, and people are like,' Well, now that you've tackled The Image, maybe you should get this one.' We're talking, so we'll see. Who knows? But I think it would be an honor to do another Radley Metzger film and do it justice by actually going back to the original elements again.