A new trailer for festive horror movie Hanukkah gives us a last look at horror legend Sig Haig, who sadly passed away in September at the age of 80.
Many years ago, Judah Lazarus (Haig), a serial murderer known as the Hanukiller, was shot dead right before he was about to sacrifice his young son Obadiah. In the intervening time, Obadiah disappeared without a trace, only to now resurface and take on his father’s bloody work as a force of warped morality, killing Jews not affording proper reverence to their faith. A number of twenty-somethings become targets of his wrath and, aided by a creepy rabbi who appears suspiciously knowledgeable about events, must embrace the teachings of the Torah if they want to survive the holidays.
Although Haig had a rush of notoriety in recent years from the important role of Captain Spaulding from Rob Zombie’s trio of throwback grindhouse flicks House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil’s Rejects and 3 From Hell, he had a career that was lengthy and varied. He often appeared in low-budget and independent films, including a run of Jack Hill’s blaxploitation and women in prison movies in the ‘70s, such as Coffy, Foxy Brown and The Big Doll House. For his final role to be an appearance in a movie inspired by the era at which he was most renowned definitely seems a fitting tribute to his life and work.
The pic also features the final role of omnipresent character actor Dick Miller, and a bonus feature on the home video release sees the final takes of each of the two prolific performers. Not only that, but as well as VOD and Blu-Ray, Hanukkah is also being released on VHS, an increasingly popular marketing tactic among horror filmmakers producing works that take inspiration from those made in the days of the format’s boom in popularity in the late ‘70s and ‘80s, creating even more of a feel that this movie is indeed a transplant from that era to modern times.
