Bryanston Pictures

Background
Bryanston Pictures was a distribution company headed by Louis "Butchie" Peraino, a leading man in the Columbo Crime Family, and was created after the success of Deep Throat. Their first big deal came from distributing The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), the predecessor movie of the TCM franchise. However, shady business practices (such as giving directors FAR less than 35% of the profits made from the movie, and threatening theaters to fork over 50% of the profits) led them to be sued into oblivion in 1976. Reports from people who allowed them to distribute their movies said, "It was like making a deal with the devil".

1st Logo (June 12, 1972-August 7, 1975)
Nicknames: "BP", "BP Box", "BP Box from Hell", "BP Box of Doom"

Logo: Against a black background, two yellow letters "BP" zoom out. Then, we see a series of small multicolored lines waver in the center, followed by a yellow multilined cross shape with the same "BP" in the middle, which leaves several multicolored residue trails. Then, the cross shape shifts a little taller while "BRYANSTON" and "PICTURES" in Eurostile Bold Extended in yellow appear above and below, respectively. Then, all of a sudden, they dissolve, and forms the word "PRESENTS" in the same font, also in yellow.

Variants:
 * Most of the time, the company name was not shown, due to the cropping or matting, typical.
 * A rare version exists where the background is blue. The logo itself is white and the colors seen when the second box begins to stretch are pink and mint green. Either intentional or film deterioration. Also, "PICTURES" is barely visible.
 * On a French-Canadian dub of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the last quarter is cut out and we see the yellow text "BRYANSTON PICTURES PRÉSENTE".

FX/SFX: The zooming, stretching, trailing, and dissolving. This logo uses all manner of computer or Scanimate effects.

Music/Sounds: A series of random, warbly synthesized sounds produced by a Moog synthesizer: starts with an ascending whoosh, then descending beeping sounds, a loud descending chirp, an array of fast-paced ominous music with a sound that resembles the descending voices of the Deep Note, then warbly sounds that end with a droning synth hum and continuous synth beats and chirps. On Lord Shango and The Black Gestapo, drumming can be heard under the logo.

Availability: This logo was on the brink of extinction, but has started to become more common in the last 6 years with new restorations and wider availability the more obscure Bryanston catalogs. Appeared on films such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Devil's Rain, Bruce Lee's Return of the Dragon, Andy Warhol's Dracula and Andy Warhol's Frankenstein. All current DVD releases and TV prints of these films plaster this logo over or go straight to the opening scene, while the VCI VHS of Dark Star also skips this logo. It can be currently seen on Lord Shango, The Black Gestapo, Those Mad, Mad Movie Makers (AKA, The Last Porno Movie), and the UK Fabulous Films and VCI Blu-ray releases of Dark Star. Most recent versions of Return of the Dragon, under it's original title Way of the Dragon, utilize Golden Harvest's "international" print featuring the 1978 Golden Harvest logo at the front (the previous CBS/FOX laserdisc and the 2001 DVD release feature the Golden Harvest logo with a blue background and the Bryanston Pictures music underneath!). This was also reportedly seen on some streaming and TV prints of the theatrical version That’s the Way of the World (which was originally a United Artists release and had the 1968 Transamerica T logo on some versions).

Editor's Note: This logo has gained some notoriety for scaring its viewers, which for some is further supplemented by the company's infamous history.

2nd Logo (1975-1976)


Logo: On a purple background, the text "BRYANSTON DISTRIBUTERS PRESENTS" slides from the right middle of the screen and stops in the middle of the screen.

FX/SFX: The sliding of the text.

Music/Sounds: Possibly nothing or the opening theme of the film.

Availability: Very rare. This logo can be seen on Last House on Massacre Street (AKA, The Bride) and the extended directors cut of That’s the Way of the World.

Editor's Note: Quite a rare oddity, but significantly less scary to the majority of viewers than the previous logo.