Wrightson’s Werewolf Design & “The Howling”
I love how this post by Lost Drawings clearly shows the influence of Bernie Wrightson’s werewolf design was picked up for The Howling.
Category: Horror
Bela Lugosi Stage Show Collectibles
Later in life, when movie roles dried up Bela Lugosi would do stage shows. Initially I thought how cool it would have been to attend one. Then I began to wonder if by that point Bela’s decline would have been evident.
Still it’s neat to see these Bela Lugosi stage show collectibles.
Source: Mayor of the Damned.
Bela Lugosi as Dracula… On Broadway in 1927!
That’s Bela Lugosi as Dracula on Broadway in 1927… a full four years before he played Count Dracula on the silver screen.
Source: Dr. Giallo.
Original “Dracula” Cast Behind-the-Scenes
I love how in this publicity shot of the original cast of Dracula everyone is in character as they read Bram Stoker’s novel.
Source: Laurie Bee Cool.
The “It” Trailer is Here!
The It trailer is here!
The “It” Poster is here!
The buzz on It has been positive and if the trailer [which drops tomorrow] is as creepy as the poster, that’ll be a great sign of what to expect from the movie.
10 Invasive Facts About “Mars Attacks”
Mark Mancini and Mental_Floss present 10 Invasive Facts About Mars Attacks. Here are three of my favorites…
2. BURTON WANTED HIS MARTIANS TO BE ANIMATED VIA STOP-MOTION.
The concept of a Mars Attacks! movie first surfaced in 1985, but development wouldn’t begin in earnest until 1994, when screenwriter John Gems and director Tim Burton got involved with the project. To bring the aliens to life, Burton intended to utilize stop-motion animation, something he’s “always [loved] and always will.”
Early in pre-production, a set of 12-inch articulated Martian models were built for testing purposes. At first, Burton’s plan was to have these animated in front of a blue screen. They would then be inserted digitally onto miniature sets by the artists at Industrial Light and Magic (ILM). Ultimately, though, Burton decided to abandon the stop-motion approach when ILM presented him with some impressive screen tests featuring computer-animated aliens.
Despite this, Mars Attacks! still pays tribute to the older effects technique. At Burton’s instruction, ILM animated the digital extraterrestrials as if they were stop motion puppets. This is why the Martians move a bit more rigidly than did most contemporary CG characters, such as the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park (1993).
4. WHY DID SO MANY CELEBRITIES JOIN THE CAST? THANK JACK NICHOLSON.
Let’s do a quick head count. Glenn Close, Martin Short, Pierce Brosnan, Danny DeVito, Michael J. Fox, and Sarah Jessica Parker are just a few of the big names on this movie’s mile-long list of stars. And yet, when the casting process began, Mars Attacks! struggled to attract any players with serious marquee value. Gems blames this on the fact that most of its characters either die in some cartoonish manner or end up disfigured.
“Agents didn’t want to see their star clients playing loser roles, and a lot of big acts passed on the project,” he says. “At one point, we thought we were going to have to cancel the film. The guy who saved our butt was Jack Nicholson.” According to Burton, the Academy Award-winner was enthusiastic about joining Mars Attacks! from the very start. After sending Nicholson the script, Burton gave him a call while location-scouting. “Which part would you like to do?” asked the director. “How about all of them?” Nicholson replied.
In the end, he was double-cast as President Dale and a sleazy Vegas businessman. Once word got around that Nicholson would be involved, other celebs lined up to join the ensemble. “We started getting requests from more stars than there were parts for,” Gems notes. “It was like a tidal wave when Jack came on.”
9. INDEPENDENCE DAY OWES ITS TITLE—AND PART OF ITS PREMISE—TO MARS ATTACKS!
While Burton toiled away on Mars Attacks!, Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich were writing an alien invasion movie of their own, but theirs was to have a more serious tone. The duo knew that both pictures would be released at some point in the summer of 1996.
“I said to Dean, we can’t do our film after a parody comes out. We had to beat [Burton] to it,” Emmerich recently said in an interview with The Guardian. “If it came out on the 4 July weekend, we would beat Mars Attacks!, which was coming out in August. So we wrote the concept around the release date. Dean said: ‘Let’s just call it Independence Day; we can come up with something better later.” The rest is history.
15 Modern Horror Movies Stephen King Has Personally Recommended
John Squires and Bloody Disgusting present 15 Modern Horror Movies Stephen King Has Personally Recommended. Here are three of my favorites from his list…
11) THE MIST
“The ending will tear your heart out… but so will life, in the end. Frank Darabont’s vision of hell is completely uncompromising. If you want sweet, the Hollywood establishment will be pleased to serve you at the cineplex, believe me, but if you want something that feels real, come here. Darabont could have made a higher-budget film if he’d added a cheerful ‘It’s all OK, kiddies’ ending, but he refused. His integrity and courage shine in every scene.”
4) DAWN OF THE DEAD (2004)
“Genius perfected would be Zack Snyder’s Dawn remake, which begins with one of the best opening sequences of a horror film ever made. Snyder’s zombies are, it seems to me: fast moving terrorists who never quit. You can’t debate with them, you can’t parley with them, you can’t even threaten their homes and families with reprisals. All you can do is shoot them and then steer clear of the twitchers. Remember that their bite is worse than fatal.”
12) THE RUINS
“The Scott B. Smith-scripted adaptation of his novel isn’t quite as creepy as the book, but the sense of dismay and disquiet grows as the viewer begins to sense that no one’s going to get away. With its cast of mostly unknowns, this would play well on a double bill with Snyder’s Dawn [of the Dead] remake.”
“Alien Covenant” Poster is Creepy Good!
This Alien Covenant poster is creepy good. Gets even better when you look at it bigger.
10 Infectious Facts About “Resident Evil”
Jay Serafino and Mental_Floss present 10 Infectious Facts About Resident Evil. Here are three of my favorites…
1. GEORGE ROMERO WAS ORIGINALLY TAPPED TO WRITE AND DIRECT.
George Romero basically created the zombie movie genre with 1968’s Night of the Living Dead, and his signature undead style had a huge influence on the original Resident Evil video game series. So the decision to bring him on to write and direct the first movie was a virtual no-brainer. Video game studio Capcom and Sony came to an agreement with the horror legend in 1998 to bring the film to life, and despite not being familiar with the game series (he researched by watching someone else play the games), Romero wrote a script that closely followed the events of the first Resident Evil title.
Despite early enthusiasm from everyone involved, Romero’s script treatment was eventually rejected and he was fired. “Romero’s script wasn’t good, so Romero was fired,” Capcom producer Yoshiki Okamoto tersely said of the ordeal. That’s not to say Romero never directed anything Resident Evil-related. Before the movie fell through, he was at the helm of a live-action commercial for the Resident Evil 2 video game that only aired in Japan. (You can watch it above.)
6. ALICE NEVER APPEARS IN THE VIDEO GAMES…
Milla Jovovich has been one of the most visible action movie heroines over the past 15 years, but her Resident Evil movie character, Alice, never even shows up in a single Resident Evil video game. Anderson reasoned that the role of Alice helped people enjoy the movie even if they never played the games.
“There’s the hardcore fans, who know everything about the video game and about the world and then there’s the more general audience, who you also need to come and see the movie, who don’t know anything about the world,” Anderson told The Hollywood Reporter. “I think sometimes they feel a little excluded because they go, ‘Oh this is not for me.’ Milla really became the avatar for that audience.”
7. ALICE’S NAME IS NEVER SPOKEN THROUGHOUT THE MOVIE.
Seriously, watch the first movie again. Milla Jovovich is never referred to as “Alice”; you’d only know her name by staying and watching the closing credits. This was intentional, as Anderson didn’t even want Alice to know who she was in the first movie.
“What I provided her with in the first movie, was like a blank slate,” the director told Thrillist. “She wakes up in the first movie, she has no memory. She has no concept of who she is and how she feels about things. While you’re watching as an audience member, you’re watching a character being constructed in front of your eyes.”
RIP – Bernie Wrightson
It was announced today that Bernie Wrightson has passed away after a long battle with brain cancer. Mr. Wrightson was 68.
Known best for his drawings and paintings in the horror genre, Mr. Wrightson was a humble and soft-spoken man who appreciated his fans. Wrightson was an artist’s artist. Not only was his work loved by fans, but professional artists were also in awe of his talent. Best known as the co-creator (with Len Wein) of Swamp Thing, Wrightson was also known for…
- Being one of the young upstart talents of “The Studio” (along with Barry Smith, Michael Kaluta, and Jeff Jones)
- His horror work at Warren Publishing
- His Frankenstein project (beautiful pen and ink illustrations for Mary Shelley’s classic tale)
- His work with Stephen King – creating the poster for the movie Creepshow and illustrating King’s Cycle of the Werewolf novella, illustrations for The Stand (restored version), and art for the hardcover editions of From a Buick 8 and Dark Tower V.
- His comics at Marvel (Punisher, Spider-Man), DC (Swamp Thing, Batman) and IDW (The Ghoul and Doc Macabre – both with co-creator Steve Niles)
- His conceptual art for films such as The Faculty, Spiderman, and George Romero’s Land of the Dead, and The Mist.
- So much more
I was fortunate enough to meet Berni Wrightson a couple of times at HeroesCon. He was kind and humble and appreciative of the praise fans (myself included) gave him. On the first occasion, when my wife learned that Mr. Wrightson was a guest at the con she came into the show to meet him. She wasn’t a real comics fan, but she did love Mr. Wrightson’s art, appreciated his talent and wanted to meet him. When she spoke to him, he seemed genuinely touched. As we were leaving his area other fans were coming over to share their appreciation. I’m glad Bernie Wrightson was aware of how much his art positively impacted so many people.
My thoughts and prayers go out to Berni Wrightson’s family, friends and fans.
The 12 Greatest Giant Monster Movies
Owen Gleiberman and Variety turn their sights to their choices for the 12 Greatest Giant Monster Movies.
Their list contains excellent choices. My top three today would be…
- King Kong (the original Kong)
- THEM!
- The Amazing Colossal Man
My most controversial pick would be The Amazing Colossal Man. The argument could be made for several other (better?) movies but TACM has always been a favorite since I was a kid. It’s hard to beat the nostalgia factor.
I was also glad to see Mysterious Island made the list. It’s not normally a movie listed for horror, but it did have some giant monsters so I won’t nit pick. Plus Mysterious Island is a fun movie.
The 50 Best Movie Monsters of All Time
Oliver Lyttelton and Playlist have come up with their choices for The 50 Best Movie Monsters of All Time.
The great thing about this list is that by going 50 deep they are able to highlight some monsters usually not considered (and in many cases monsters that didn’t star in movies but made appearances).
The Best Movie Creatures of All Time
/Film posted their choices for The Best Movie Creatures of All Time. Using just their list, my top three (in alpha order) are:
- Alien
- Creature from the Black Lagoon
- The Thing (John Carpenter version)
Now if I went off-list, then I would have considered…
- The Werewolf of London: That is what a werewolf should look like
- The Thing (original version)
- Predator
