Shapiro Glickenhaus Entertainment

Background

Originally known as Shapiro Entertainment until late 1987 or early-to-mid 1988, this film label was started by producer Leonard Shapiro and director James Glickenhaus to distribute low-budget action and horror films. Producer Allan M. Solomon served as Executive Vice President until 1996 when he and Elliot Solomon founded Amsell Entertainment, which bought this company out. As of 2011, the rights to SGE titles were in the hands of a company called North American Pictures, LLC (which is not to be confused with Lloyd Simandl's outfit of the same name), which is speculated to have been formed after the death of Allan M. Solomon in 2010. However, as of April 2021, the entire Shapiro Glickenhaus (and North American) titles are now with Troma Entertainment.

Shapiro Entertainment

(1984-1987)

Logo: On a dark blue background, we see the stylized segmented letters "SEC" with a gold light protruding behind the logo. On the top, we see "A" above and on the bottom "SHAPIRO ENTERTAINMENT CORPORATION" and below that "Release".

Variant: Some films would just have the white SEC logo in print form on a plain black background with "A SHAPIRO ENTERTAINMENT CORPORATION RELEASE" below.

Technique: None.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Seen on The Instructor, Door to Door, The Fix, and Gallavants.

Shapiro Glickenhaus Entertainment

(1988-July 21, 1995)

Logo: We start on a grey background, then we zoom out to reveal a building with filmstrip sprockets on the sides on a blue background. In front of the building is a silhouette of a palm tree. When we stop zooming out, a big sun fades behind the two objects, and at the right of the building, the letters "SGE" (in the same segmented font from before) fade in. Underneath the logo, the text "SHAPIRO GLICKENHAUS ENTERTAINMENT" in a very narrow font, fades in.

Variants:

On some later releases on tapes from MCA/Universal, an "also from" variant appears.
A still variant appears on trailers for films from this company.
At the end of Tough and Deadly, there is an in-credit variant.

Technique: Motion-controlled animation.

Music/Sounds: Usually none, though the logo does have music on Tough and Deadly, consisting of synthesized whooshes, followed by a repeating harp tune with twinkles. On Ring of Steel, background noise from the film can be heard playing over the logo.

Availability: Common.

This logo can still be seen on movies produced by this company, such as Basket Case 2-3, Frankenhooker (including the Synapse Films Blu-ray release), One Man Force, Forced March, Back in Action, Tough and Deadly, Tiger Claws, Talons of the Eagle, TC 2000, How U Like Me Now (VHS only), Ring of Steel, No Retreat, No Surrender 2, Midnight Edition, The Outfit, Monolith, Blue Vengeance (but not on the Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray release), McBain, Timemaster, Red Scorpion 1-2 (the Alliance Atlantis VHS of RS2 uses the August Entertainment logo instead), Dragon Hunt (the French VHS), Mr. Write (at least on the original VHS and Laserdisc releases, as DVDs strangely use the Vision International logo instead), Slaughter of the Innocents (including the Synapse Films Blu-ray release), Death Spa (some international prints, particularly the Japanese VHS of said film), Freakshow (1989), Search and Destroy (1988), The Brain (1988) (on international prints), Mob War, the 1995 MCA Universal Home Video re-edited version of Freddie as F.R.O.7 (titled Freddie the Frog in this version) and Maniac Cop, among others.
It is preserved on Echo Bridge's DVD releases of Shocktroop and The Outfit.
On the Synapse Films DVDs of Basket Case 2 and Maniac Cop, this logo was removed entirely.