Category: Horror

15 Facts About “Silence of the Lambs” That You Didn’t Know

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Cory Mahoney and the Hollywood.com present 15 Facts About Silence of the Lambs That You Didn’t Know.  Here are three of my favorites…

3. The moth cocoons Buffalo Bill placed in his victims throats were actually made from a combination of Tootsie Rolls and gummy bears, in case they were swallowed. 

7. Silence of the Lambs the only horror movie ever to win Best Picture at the Oscars.

Only two others have even been nominated: The Exorcist and Jaws.

9. Jonathan Demme always had characters speak directly into the camera for conversations with Clarice, yet he always filmed Jodie Foster looking slightly off camera.
The idea was to make audiences directly experience her point-of-view to more easily empathize with her character. We think anyone who has watched those gripping last few moments of the film can confirm the success of this technique.

The Traveler (2010)

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The Traveler (2010)

Director: Michael Oblowitz

Screenplay:  Joseph C. Muscat

Stars: Val Kilmer, Dylan Neal and Paul McGillion

The Pitch: “Hey,let’s make a murder mystery with supernatural revenge overtones.”

Tagline: How do you catch a killer you’ve already caught?

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Late one evening a stranger walks into a deserted under-staffed police station and begins confessing to murders he hasn’t yet committed.

Interesting premise that falls way short in reality.  The underlying premise is that an innocent man has been killed by the officers in the station and that the stranger is there to get revenge.  What follows is a lot of stupid decisions made by characters that results in torture and gore.  Then at the end there is a reveal that makes all that we’ve seen even worse.  Bah!

 

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The Mummy’s Ghost (1944)

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The Mummy’s Ghost (1944)

Director: Reginald LeBorg

Screenplay: Griffin Jay & Henry Sucher & Brenda Weisberg

Stars: John Carradine, Robert Lowery, Ramsay Ames and Lon Chaney, Jr.

The Pitch: “Hey, it’s time for another mummy movie!”

Tagline: NO CHAINS Can Hold It! NO TOMB Can Seal It!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Like all mummy movies, a mummy is brought back to life and is attracted to a modern woman who may be the reincarnation of his past love.  Terror ensues at a slow pace (mummies have a hard time walking all bandaged up and all).  This mummy movie does have at least one surprise.

 

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Re-Kill (2015)

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Re-Kill (2015)

Director: Valeri Milev

Screenplay: Michael Hurst

Stars: Bruce Payne, Daniella Alonso, Roger Cross

The Pitch: “Hey, let’s make a zombie movie!”

Tagline: We are the endangered species.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

 

It’s five years after the zombie apocalypse and life inside gated communities with security goes on.  Watching Re-Kill is like watching a tv station that is all-zombie kills all the time.  Maybe like watching Cops but the criminals are now zombies.  There are commercials and public service ads insterspliced within the “Re-Kill” programming.

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Before killing Bogue, Chisholm reveals that Bogue and his men had raped and killed his mother and sisters years earlier.  They had even hung Chisholm and left him for dead.

While this gives additional justification for Chisholm wanting to take on Bogue and his men, it makes him a little less heroic.  Up to the point of the reveal, it appeared that Chisholm and the others recruited were going against impossible odds because it was the “right” thing to do… not because one of them wanted revenge.

Pandemic (2016)

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Pandemic (2016)

Director: John Suits

Screenplay: Dustin T. Benson

Stars: Rachel Nichols, Alfie Allen, Missi Pyle and Paul Guilfoyle.

The Pitch: “Hey, let’s make a zombie movie that looks like a video game.”

Tagline: You Are Humanity’s Last Stand.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

You know the drill.  A virus has swept the world turning people into crazy fast zombies.  Survivors are either trying to live on the big city streets or worse yet the suburbs.  If you’re lucky you’re safe behind the walls of a military complex where doctors are working on a cure.

Lauren is a doctor who was separated from her family.  Not allowed to attempt to check on them, (the suburbs are way too dangerous), instead she is sent with three others (a driver, a gunner and a scientist) on a rescue mission into the city.

When things go bad, Lauren decides to head to the suburbs to check on her family.

Most Pandemic is shot as a first person shooter game.  And it feels like one at times.  Whether that is a good or bad thing depends on if you prefer watching games or movies.

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The Brides of Dracula (1960)

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The Brides of Dracula (1960)

Director: Terrence Fisher

Screenplay: Jimmy Sangster & Peter Bryan & Edward Percy and Anthony Hinds (uncredited)

Stars: Peter Cushing, Martita Hunt, Yvonne Monlaur and David Peel.


The Pitch: “Hey, let’s make a Dracula movie without Dracula…”

Tagline: The most evil Dracula of all!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

If you come to this movie looking for Dracula or even a focus on the Brides of Dracula you’re in for a let down.

Instead you get…

  • A vampire who is kept chained up by his mother.  Yes, his mother.
  • A vampire hunter who always arrives right before the vampire is to rise for the evening — even though he knows vampires are powerless during the day.
  • A vampire who isn’t smart enough or cunning enough or strong enough to escape from the chain around his ankle put there by his mother.  Yes, his mother.
  • A supposedly intelligent woman who releases the vampire (not knowing he’s a vampire — Hey! But maybe he’s chained up by his mother for a reason) and falls in love with him after one meeting.
  • A vampire hunter bitten by a vampire who takes a hot metal branding iron and places it on the bites on his neck and then pours Holy water on the wound… and fully recovers! [Who knew he had that cure in his back pocket.]
  • A vampire who has blonde hair and is supposed to be good-looking and scary but isn’t much of either.
  • A vampire hunter who kills vampires with a shadow.
  • A movie that only die hard vampire or Peter Cushing fans should seek out.

 

 

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3 Things We Learned from Joe Dante’s “Gremlins” Commentary

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Rob Hunter and Film School Rejects present 40 Things We Learned from Joe Dante’s Gremlins Commentary.  Although the article is no longer available here are three of my favorites from it…

7.    Galligan is the first to point out that the “don’t feed after midnight” rule is silly because it’s always after midnight somewhere. “Well we make fun of all that stuff in Gremlins 2 anyway,” says Dante.

10. The titles on the theater marquee are an in-joke for producer Steven Spielberg’s benefit. A Boys Life was the working title for E.T., and Watch the Skies was the one for Close Encounters of the Third Kind. “I think we did this mainly so that when Steven saw the dailies he’d be happy.”

15. Cartoonist legend Chuck Jones is the guy at the bar teaching Billy (Galligan) how to draw. There was originally more of a plot involving Billy’s hopeful career as an artist.

Weird Woman (1944)

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Weird Woman (1944)

Director: Reginald Le Borg

Screenplay: W. Scott Darling and Brenda Weisberg from the Fritz Leiber novel

Stars: Lon Chaney Jr., Anne Gwynne and Evelyn Ankers


The Pitch: “Hey, let’s adapt Fritz Leiber’s novel.”

Tagline: MURDER STRIKES WITH VELVET CLAWS!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

College professor Norman Reed [Changey] returns from a trip to the jungle married to a mysterious woman [Gwynne] who believes in voodoo.  Soon enough Reed is a best-selling and popular author.  But when Reed destroys some of his wife’s protective charms, things go south and people die.  Could his wife be right and evil is out to get him?

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The Night Walker (1964)

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The Night Walker (1964)

Director: William Castle

Screenplay: Robert Bloch

Stars: Robert Taylor, Barbara Stanwyck, Judi Meredith and Lloyd Bochner.


The Pitch: “Hey, we’ve got a screenplay by Robert Bloch and Barbara Stanwyck!”

Tagline: Will It Dare You To Dream of Things You’re Ashamed to Admit!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Irene Trent’s blind husband, Howard is convinced she is cheating on him because of the things Irene says while sleeping.  When Howard is killed in a mysterious explosion, Irene begins to have vivid dreams and is convinced that someone is trying to drive her mad or kill her.

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Knock Knock (2015) directed by Eli Roth, starring Keanu Reeves, Lorenza Izzo & Ana de Armas / Z-View

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Knock Knock (2015)

Director: Eli Roth

Screenplay: Eli Roth & Nicolás López & Guillermo Amoedo

Stars: Keanu Reeves, Lorenza Izzo, Ana de Armas, Aaron Burns and Colleen Camp.

Tagline: ONE NIGHT CAN COST YOU EVERYTHING

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Evan decides to stay home to get caught up on work while his wife and two young children take a weekend trip. Working late, Evan is surprised when two young women show up at his door.  They were dropped off for a party, had the wrong address and are soaked.  Evan calls a cab but it will be forty-five minutes.

He allows them to wait inside.  Despite his best efforts one thing leads to another and Evan learns that all is not what it seemed and “one night can cost you everything.”

Thoughts…

Knock Knock is a remake of Death Game (1977), which co-starred Colleen Camp and Sondra Locke.  Camp and Locke co-produced Knock Knock.  Colleen Camp also had a role in this remake.

Co-star Lorenza Izzo was Director Eli Roth’s wife at the time.  Keanu Reeves said this made  filming the nude scenes awkward.

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Cabin Fever 3: Patient Zero (2014) / Z-View

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Cabin Fever 3: Patient Zero (2014)

Director: Kaare Andrews

Screenplay: Jake Wade Wall

Stars: Sean Astin, Currie Graham and Ryan Donowho

The Pitch: “Hey, let’s make another Cabin Fever movie!”

Tagline: The BIRTH OF FEAR.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

A group of young friends get dropped off on a remote island for a weekend of fun.  Sadly, a flesh-eating virus has escaped from the island research facility.  And they thought sun burn was the worst of their worries.

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The Blob (1958) / Z-View

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The Blob (1958)

Director: Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr. and Russell S. Doughten Jr. (uncredited)

Screenplay: Theodore Simonson and Kay Linaker

Stars: Steve McQueen, Aneta Corsaut and Earl Rowe

The Pitch: “Hey, let’s make a monster movie that will appeal to teenagers!”

Tagline: The management of this theatre disclaims any responsibility for heart attacks or damage to nerves.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

When a couple of teenagers discover that a blob-like alien life form has landed on Earth and is consuming people, no one in town believes them… until it is too late.

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The Leopard Man (1943) / Z-View

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The Leopard Man (1943)

Director: Jacques Tourneur

Screenplay: Ardel Wray and additional dialogue by Edward Dein based on the novel by Cornell Woolrich

Stars: Dennis O’Keefe, Margo and  Jean Brooks

The Pitch: “Hey, let’s get Jacques Tourneur to direct The Leopard Man!”

Tagline: A shriek in the night–another victim torn to pieces by claw and fang! Is it man-like beast or beast-like man that picks only beauty as prey–and why?.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

When a sideshow leopard escapes women begin turning up bitten and clawed to death… but evidence starts to suggest it might not be the leopard.

 

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Black Sabbath (1963) / Z-View

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Black Sabbath (1963)

Director: Mario Bava

Screenplay: Mario Bava and Alberto Bevilacqua

Stars: Michèle Mercier, Lidia Alfonsi and Boris Karloff

The Pitch: “Hey, let’s have Mario Bava direct Boris Karloff!”

Tagline: This is the night of the nightmare…

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Boris Karloff introduces a trio of horror tales and stars in one.  In the first, a woman preparing a corpse for burial steals the dead woman’s ring… and comes to regret it.  In the second a young woman receives terrorizing phone calls from a man watching her.  In the third Boris Karloff plays an old man returning home from battle with vampire… but did he win?

 

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