Before THEY LIVE, Rowdy Roddy Piper was Sam Hell in HELL COMES TO FROGTOWN, on Blu-ray/DVD combo from Vinegar Syndrome.

In the future, nuclear war has decimated much of the population and left almost all of the remainder infertile. World powers are in a re-population war, and Medtech's job is to find fertile males and females. "Scavenger" Sam Hell (Piper) is wrested from the clutches of sadistic Captain Devlin (William Smith, GRAVE OF THE VAMPIRE) by Medtech scientist Spangle (Sandahl Bergman, CONAN THE BARBARIAN). He is fitted with an explosive chastity device, and taken on a suicide mission - accompanied by sexy soldier Sentinella (Cec Verrell, SILK) - to rescue fertile women from the harem of Commander Toady (Brian Frank, PACIFIC RIM), ruler of Frogtown (mutant frogs being a side effect of the nuclear devastation). With the help of insiders reptilian Arabella (Kristi Somers, RUMBLE FISH) - headlining entertainer at Leroy's - and human Uranium prospector Looney Tunes (Rory Calhoun, MOTEL HELL), Hell and Spangle infiltrate Frogtown. Things get complicated, however, when Toady's second-in-command Bull (Nicholas Worth, SWAMP THING) - as in "Bullfrog" - snatches Spangle away from Hell and prepares her to perform the "Dance of the Three Snakes" that few of Toady's harem have survived.

Although perhaps not as well-remembered as star Piper's other eighties sci-fi venture John Carpenter's THEY LIVE, New World Pictures' HELL COMES TO FROGTOWN is not without its low budget charms. The plot of a virile outlaw on a mission to impregnate fertile women is rife with softcore possibilities that would have been exploited in the seventies - or even in the eighties by New World's lower-budget contemporary Empire Pictures - but the end product plays as a mesh of MAD MAX and A BOY AND HIS DOG, but with ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK's Snake Plissken in the lead. Marble-mouthed Piper gets by on charisma and the creations of Steve Wang (PREDATOR), particularly for Tody, are spectacular for the budget. That the film may not fully realize its exploitation potential is explained in the disc's extras. Director Donald G. Jackson had previously helmed the Michigan-area regional film THE DEMON LOVER with the help of future eighties visual effects artists Dennis and Robert Skotak (ALIENS).

Released theatrically by New World Pictures and on video by New World (along with a subsequent budget VHS by Anchor Bay precursor Starmaker) and laserdisc by Image, HELL COMES TO FROGTOWN first came to DVD from Anchor Bay Entertainment in 2001 with an anamorphic transfer and commentary track. A barebones edition was reissued in 2011 in a double bill with DEF-CON 4 when Image had the Lakeshore library while Arrow Video issued a limited edition Blu-ray in 2014 in the UK only that dropped the commentary but featured a trio of new video interviews. Sourced from a new 4K restoration of the film's original 35mm interpositive, Vinegar Syndrome's transfer seems to be graded based on the Anchor Bay transfer, looking darker than the Arrow while also a bit "greener" which makes the frogs looks slimier and more mutant without truly distorting any of the other colors. The image is darker and the skies look a little less blue, but this may better suit the post-apocalyptic setting. The film was released in mono and that mix is presented here in DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0, but the disc also includes a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track that is labeled on the menu as "remastered stereo." While there is no explanation on the disc as to where this track comes from, it is presumably an alternate archival element created at the time but not used since New World tended to favor mono releases apart from a handful of titles like the two HELLRAISER films and Bill Condon's SISTER SISTER. The track is louder and the music has a fuller presence but demonstrates more depth than the effects feature directionality. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided.

The audio commentary by director Jackson and writer Randall Frakes (TWISTED FATE) who reveal the tangled story behind the film. Frakes had been brought on to work at New World in the effects department on BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS by James Cameron while Jackson started working there on GALAXY OF TERROR, and the two came up with film ideas as well as effects workarounds while working the night shift at the studio. Jackson had directed a wrestling documentary that Frakes suggested he try selling to the "new" New World's video division and I LIKE TO HURT PEOPLE made a lot of money for the company. Jackson took the money he got from selling the film to shoot ROLLER BLADE piecemeal and got Frakes to write a script of narration and overdubbed dialogue to connect the pieces together. New World bought that film also and okayed their idea for Frogtown as a $150,000 16mm direct-to-video film only for the script to make the rounds and New World president Bob Rehme (formerly of Avco Embassy) to decide to move the project to the theatrical division. With the $1.5 million dollar budget came a union cast but also compromises as more executives put in their input, dulling the "raunchy" aspects of the original project. They mention that they wrote the role for Tim Thomerson (TRANCERS) and that Daniel Stern (CHUD) was once considered, but a New World executive suggested Piper who Jackson liked but Frakes did not initially. Sound editor Kizer was also brought on as co-directed to make sure the production got the necessary shots to cut the film together. They go onto discuss the compromises and frustrations as well as the backstabbing of the rest of the shoot and release.