Toxic Avenger finds way home

Film distributors and a television production company have come to the rescue of a cult film archive at Northampton University College that was hit by burglaries last year, writes Tony Tysome.

OPI Ltd, the production company behind Channel 5's cult film series OutTHERE , has teamed up with Universal Pictures, the British Film Institute, Carlton Video and other distributors to replace more than 400 rare films lost in the raids.

The archive is the only university-based one of its kind in the United Kingdom. It houses many collectors' items such as the Turkish version of Star Trek - banned from screening outside Turkey by Paramount Studios - and other cult films such as Toxic Avenger , Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers , and the film part-owned by the late George Harrison, Holy Mountain .

According to Howard Martin, co-producer and director of OutTHERE , OPI Ltd and film distributors were happy to help free of charge because the Northampton archive was such a valuable resource for the industry.

He said: "We are using the Northampton archive and drawing on the expertise of their staff all the time to help us produce our programme."

OPI has made its archive of more than 1,500 films available to Northampton and has offered work placements to its students.