Panic by Destryur

Life in the gutter of small town America was nothing new for Darrel Santiago, but after a brutal storm hits the sleepy beach town of Silver Lake, its once peaceful citizens transform into blood-thirsty maniacs! It is up to Darrel and his motley crew of ne'er-do-wells to get to the bottom of this phenomenon, and what they find is a hellish nightmare that they could never have imagined. Evil is at work in Silver Lake and it is literally tearing its inhabitants apart. Whatever you do...try not to PANIC!
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In the summer of 1980, just outside of Staten Island’s scenic Silver Lake Park, a small team of ambitious, young filmmakers set out to make a motion picture that would be regarded as the most gruesome and controversial horror film of all time. Written, directed and scored by the aliased phenom, Destryur (“Endurance” 1976, “Midnight Maniac” 1979), “Panic” or “Panic! Curse of the Vile” became an overnight cult hit, portraying graphic images of demonic possession and grotesque imagery. It capitalized on the recent wave of public shock in the occult known as the “Satanic Panic”. Shot in the course of only two weeks on 8mm film and a shoestring budget, the picture plunged Destryur into the realm of amateur cult film-making and a notable director/composer in genre cinema. The film also featured guitar slinging celebrity Dominick Martes of rock and roll supergroup Wild Street in the lead role as street-wise punker, Darrel “Grimer” Santiago along with Cobra Wipeout as cinematographer, supporting actor and fledgeling composer. We’re still not sure what his actual name is. Cobra was currently working with Gold Line Pictures, a studio specializing in B-Horror and mob-funded exploitation films such as “Murder of Crows” 1974 and “Swamp Thing” 1979. Destryur also enlisted the writing talents of another aliased master of the subversive. Prestigious science-fiction-horror writer, artist and composer STRNGR (“The Skurge” 1968, “Mass” 1973) who had recently returned to the states from Italy after finding success in the European horror movie market. “Panic” went international only three months after it’s initial screening at Tales of Terror Film Exhibition in Greenwich Village where it received a notable tip-of-the-hat from some of horror cinema’s most celebrated film makers. The film was almost immediately boycotted throughout Europe. A violent protest broke out at a midnight screening in Istanbul resulting in the entire theater burning to the ground. Meanwhile, in the states, outrage escalated with various public interest groups demanding that the film either be removed from theaters or undergo strict censorship. However, even after the studio’s agreement to censor, picketing continued and threats from many religious organizations overwhelmed the Film Board. On October 1, 1980, “Panic” was officially pulled from every theater. Some say this marked the end for Destryur’s career. Some say it was only the beginning. Today, you can find Destryur at a monthly midnight showing of the film at St. Vitus Cinema in Greenpoint, Brooklyn hosted by Sam Valentine.

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Special thanks to everyone involved in the production of this album and you for buying it. A big thank you to Sam Valentine for pushing me to make new music to play live. I hope you genuinely enjoy this album just as much as I've enjoyed making it.

ffm.bio/destryur

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