Filmmaker Don Coscarelli, best known for the “Phantasm” franchise, has been on a quest to find the original camera negatives of the 1982 feature “Beastmaster” which he directed and co-wrote.
The original film was a sword-and-sorcery epic about a warrior who can telepathically communicate with animals and starred “V” actor Marc Singer, Tanya Roberts and the late Rip Torn. The film was repeatedly screened on TBS, TNT, and HBO in the 1980s and 1990s and inspired two film sequels and a syndicated TV show with Aussie actor Daniel Goddard in the lead.
Speaking with EW, Coscarelli explains how the film was lost, saying: “the rights holder sent [someone] to pick up the negative and the guy put it in his vault in the San Fernando valley. Then he sold the house and now he [doesn’t] know where it is.”
Coscarelli is hoping that putting the word out through the website WhereIsTheBeastmaster.com will help him track it down. The website allows tips to be sent in for anyone who might have a line on where it is: “We have this fervent hope that maybe we can reinvigorate this fan base of ours to go out and help find it.”
The aim is to find the original negative so that a planned restoration of the film can feature the best image possible. He adds that while there is a back-up plan, it’s “just not as good as the original.” Kubrick’s go-to cinematographer and Oscar-winner John Alcott was the lenser on the film.
The rights to the original film’s screenplay have also reverted to Coscarelli with a potential reboot of the property in the works.