Nikos the Impaler

Nikos the Impaler is a b-grade splatter film directed by and starring German arteur Andreas Schnaas. It follows a reincarnated Romanian barbarian (Schnaas) as he wreaks havoc on modern day New York City. It is was released in some territories as Violent Shit 4.

Synopsis

College professor Frank Heller (Joe Zaso) and his girlfriend Sandra (Felissa Rose) lead a ragtag group of museum patrons in a race for their lives. After a botched robbery attempt spills blood on the ancient mask of Nikos a lu Unziceanu (Schnaas), the barbarian returns to kill off virtually anyone who crosses his path. After wiping out the denizens of the art museum, the maniac turns his sights on a health club, gay bar, movie theater, and video store.

Production Information

Vlad the Impaler

Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia (1431–1476/77), was a member of the House of Drăculești, a branch of the House of Basarab, also known, using his patronymic, as Vlad Drăculea or Vlad Dracula (Old Church Slavonic: Владъ Дрьколъ). He was posthumously dubbed Vlad the Impaler (modern Romanian: Vlad Țepeș, pronounced [ˈvlad ˈt͡sepeʃ]).

He was a three-time Voivode of Wallachia, ruling mainly from 1456 to 1462, the period of the incipient Ottoman conquest of the Balkans. His father, Vlad II Dracul, was a member of the Order of the Dragon, which was founded to protect Christianity in Eastern Europe. Vlad III is revered as a folk hero in Romania and Bulgaria for his protection of the Romanians and Bulgarians both north and south of the Danube. Following his raids on the Ottomans, a significant number of Bulgarian common folk and remaining boyars resettled north of the Danube to Wallachia and recognized his leadership.

As the cognomen "The Impaler" suggests, his practice of impaling his enemies is part of his historical reputation. During his lifetime, his reputation for excessive cruelty spread abroad, to Germany and elsewhere in Europe. The name of the vampire Count Dracula in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula was inspired by Vlad's patronymic and reputation.