"The Hills Run Red" is poised to release a new masked killer on the horror scene and to bring a new standard of bloody mayhem to the direct-to-DVD market, despite settling for an R rating after the unexpected axing of its unrated edition.

Warner Premiere is offering the film on DVD, On Demand and by digital download, Sept. 29. Directed by Dave Parker ("The Dead Hate the Living!"), "The Hills Run Red" is based on a story by John Carchietta and was written by John Dombrow and David J. Schow ("The Crow," "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning").

The film tells the tale of an infamous lost 80's slasher that was immediately pulled from theaters for its insanely disturbing content. Subsequently, the director, cast and film reels disappeared.

Tyler (Tad Hilgenbrink), a cinema buff, sees an opportunity to make a documentary on the mysterious flick and perhaps watch it if a print survived. He gathers his friends and sets off to investigate, but soon finds he has stumbled into the very nightmarish world that the slasher depicted.

Parker, producer Robert Meyer Burnett and actress Sophie Monk ("Click") recently talked with RabidDoll.coms Bryant Griffin about their experiences of making "The Hills Run Red."

Horror movies, especially slashers, have been an ongoing addiction for Parker. He sees his passion for the genre as a clear asset for this project.

"It's always been a love of mine since I was a kid," Parker explained. "I was born when the VHS boom started. So I really got to experience a lot of these movies that I probably shouldn't have seen at an early age. I rented everything!

"I really responded to the characters, whether it was Michael Myers, or Freddy or Jason. They scared me. So I think that was the fascination with them. To sort of conquer those fears, and actually, in a strange way, become friends with them.

"When you see a movie like 'Halloween' and you see what can be done with a limited budget, and how effective and scary and iconic they can be, I wanted to try my hand at it and see what we can do. And what we can do differently."

Creating a new masked psychopath was a critical step. Parker worked carefully with conceptual designer Michael Broom for a year to craft Babyface, their demented killer who sports a bright red jacket, a necklace of baby rattles and a creepy infant mask.

With the look nailed, Schow began to develop the story behind him.

Schow brought a "whole dark, nasty take on mankind to this movie," Burnett said. "And I think with Dave Parker's vision for the psycho killer and David Schow's insights into the depths of the darkness into the human soul, it's sort of a match made in hell. Im glad we were able to get that."

Placing a unique spin on the story and Babyface was a persistent concern for Parker and Schow.

"So they were very conscious of doing something that sort of subverted the genre and make it memorable," Burnett said. "I think our masked killer does things that you don't see masked killers do. He plays totally against type.

"The masked killer genre has become so cliché; so when you see a masked killer do something that goes against the grain, it immediately becomes something unique and different. And I think when word gets out, that all horror fans, anybody who loves Jason, or Freddy or Leatherface ... are really going to gravitate toward the movie."

Monk, who plays Alexa, also found Schow's work on her character fascinating. "I read the script and was like 'Oh, wow, she has so many levels to her. I want to do it,'" she said. "I loved my character. I could see how she had been manipulated so much by her father that she thought it was right."

Once the script was locked and Babyface was ready for filming, the carnage began. It was a film born for the unrated title.

"When we shot the movie we were told to go for broke," Burnett said.

But later, with filming complete, the studio started to backpedal.

"We had some things that really made the studio nervous," Burnett said. "And when we were making the film, they made the decision not to release anymore unrated horror films."

One concern of the studio was the growing young horror audience, partly buoyed by the success of the "Twilight" series.

"As a horror fan, I do not like to see things that are neutered, Burnett said. But I also understand that when you are a multinational corporation and you have to answer to your stockholders, you also have to make sure that the product you are putting out is palatable to the general public."

Although Burnett feels "The Hills Run Red" still maintains an extreme edge, he is not pleased with the state of extreme horror.

"I think the state of American horror films is abysmal -- all these gutless remakes that don't even have the same things that the originals had, he said. We live in a world that is so different from the 1980's ... there are really no truly disturbing American horror films being made anymore.

"The great horror films are coming out of France, with movies like 'Martyrs,' 'Inside,' 'Frontière(s).' Or Asia. There is a lot of extreme Japanese horror. And we are not getting any of that in America because we are watered down. We are so overprotective of our children now; we are not allowing them to lead their own lives. And I really think it is detrimental to our culture, unfortunately."

Extreme horror films are actually good for culture, according to Burnett.

"It allows people to face their fears in a cathartic manner," he explained. "Now we are all pretending that they do not exist and it's very weird.

"And now you are watching these movies today, the kids are too pretty, they don't take off their clothes and they die off screen. What's the point? Now all that the girls want is Robert Pattinson to look longingly into their eyes and not have sex with them. What kind of world is that?"