Category: Horror

Presenting Sly Stallone’s Balboa Productions

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Matt Donnelly at Variety checks in with Sylvester Stallone’s Production Company Wants to Be the Blumhouse of Action Films and it is well worth a read.  The piece talks about the goal of Sly creating Balboa Productions…

“My goal is for us to be the go-to place for action,” says Aftergood. He wants Balboa to follow the specialty model of Blumhouse, the company behind “Get Out” and “The Purge.” “I appreciate that statement is grandiose, but Blumhouse has done an extraordinary job owning the horror space,” says Aftergood. “There is no reason why we can’t own the action space in a similar way.”

The rationale  behind Sly creating Balboa Productions…

“At one of our first meetings, I asked him why he wanted to do this,” Aftergood recalls. “Starting and running a company is a pain in the ass. I don’t care who you are or how many people are underneath you — at some point you have to answer a question about payroll, about office decor. In Stallone’s case, he seemed to have graduated past all of that.” Stallone answered with one word: legacy.

Balboa Productions that are in the pipeline…

  • Arcane, a monster movie from director Corin Hardy
  • The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil  remake co-starring Sly
  • The Bellhop, starring Iko Uwais star of The Raid: Redemption
  • Samaritan starring Sly
  • Biopic of black boxing legend Jack Johnson produced by Sly
  • Nighthawks reboot for USA network based on Sly’s 1981 film
  • The Tenderloin, a cop drama for History.

For all the details click over to Sylvester Stallone’s Production Company Wants to Be the Blumhouse of Action Films.

(The only thing missing is Sly’s adaptation of Hunter by James Byron Huggins.  Cannot wait to see what Sly does with this great action/horror novel.  It is a natural for him and Balboa Productions! – Craig)

Bob Burden’s Hitman for the Dead!

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Hitman for the Dead.

Even without the cool Andrew Robinson art, the title would have brought me in for a closer look.

And it did.

ANTHONY HARKEN is a drifter, a detective of sorts, and a killer. While he kills the most evil kind of people – the unpunished murderers of the innocent – he knows he’s still a murderer, taking human life and operating totally outside the law.

 In the world of good and evil, Harken has chosen sides, but in the world of normal, everyday life, he has chosen an extreme and dangerous path. He carries a gun, he does drugs (Yage), he kills, and lives detached from a society that has no idea that people like him are even among us.

  To be sure, he fills in where the law fails: he is a vigilante. He is judge, jury and executioner. And there is no guarantee that he is always right or that he, himself will not make a mistake someday and dispatch someone who was totally innocent.

Anthony is not the only “hit-man for the dead” out there. There are others.

If this sounds like something you’d like, you’re going to love this!

Bob Burden, the creative genius of Hitman for the Dead has created a website for the property.  The site has all of the background info you could ask for, art and more.  Oh, and the more includes a 25K word Hitman for the Dead novella that you can download for free!

I hope Burden runs with.  I’d love to see more Hitman for the Dead prose stories and graphic novels.  Fire up the Kickstarter now!

The Best (and Worst) States for Surviving a Zombie Apocalypse!

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If a zombie apocalypse breaks out, are you living in a state that provides a good chance of survival?  If you want to find out, CableTV.com has the answers.  They looked at each “state’s agriculture, weapon ownership, solar energy, and climate.”  They then ranked states from 1 (most likely to survive) to 4 (least likely to survive).

Since I live in Florida (ranked a 2), my odds are pretty good.  If I went back to my birth state of Indiana (ranked a 1), they’d be even better.

 If you click over to The 10 Best States for Surviving a Zombie Apocalypse at Mental Floss, you’ll get even more info.

Trigger Mortis: A Zombie Western by Derec Donovan!

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Trigger Mortis is a 64 page Zombie Western Hardcover Graphic Novel from Derec Donovan that’s on Kickstarter now.  I jumped on board and I thought it would appeal to some of our readers.  Here’s the synopsis…

EXCLUSIVE to Kickstarter! Trigger Mortis is a 64 page Hardcover thrill-ride combining the action and human drama of Spaghetti Westerns, and the tension and horror of Zombie films.

1876: on the eve of Colorado gaining statehood, rancher Sarah Mc’Clintock has hired a pair of Pinkertons to protect her family’s ranch from the ever present threat of Cattle Rustlers.

She soon finds herself caught in a love triangle between her old flame, Deputy Dylan Hawkes, and mysterious Gunhand Seamus O’Donnell.

Until a zombie plague comes crashing to Earth, spreading like wildfire and threatening the unsuspecting citizens.

Can the living band together to defend the town of Devil’s Lantern from the army of the walking dead?

*Trigger Mortis is intended for Mature Audiences.

The 10 Best Vampire Movies

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ComingSoon posted their choice for The 10 Best Vampire Movies.  I’ve only seen four of the ten (Dracula; Nosferatu; The Lost Boys and What We Do in the Shadows), but my Top Ten Vampire Movies would be (in alphabetical order)

  • 30 Days of Night
  • Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
  • Blade 2
  • Bram Stoker’s Dracula
  • Dracula
  • Dusk til Dawn
  • Interview with a Vampire
  • Near Dark
  • Salem’s Lot
  • What We Do in the Shadows

And while we’re at it, I’d also suggest the following vampire tv series:

  • The Passage
  • The Strain

Bela Lugosi in “Arsenic and Old Lace”!

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Arsenic and Old Lace is one of my all-time favorite movie comedies.  Made in 1944, Arsenic and Old Lace was directed by Frank Capra and starred Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane, Raymond Massey, Jack Carson, Peter Lorre, Josephine Hull, Jean Adair and John Alexander.

Arsenic and Old Lace got its start on Broadway running from January 1941 to June 1944.  The popular play starred Josephine Hull, Jean Adair and Boris Karloff.  When it was time to make the movie, the play’s producers wouldn’t give Karloff the time off fearing that losing him would hurt the play’s attendance.  Raymond Massey took over Karloff’s part for the film.

Although Massey did an excellent job, I’d have loved to have seen Karloff in the movie.

Another thing I’d have loved to have seen is Bela Lugosi in the stage play of Arsenic and Old Lace.  As you can see from the ad above, Lugosi played the part originated by Karloff (and later Masey) when the show went on the road!

Source: Barnabas Collins.

Did You Know John Carpenter Was Set to Direct “Creature from the Black Lagoon” Remake?

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At one point a few years ago, John Carpenter was scheduled to direct a remake of The Creature from the Black Lagoon.  In preparation for the film, Rick Baker was brought on board to re-design the Creature based on Milicent Patrick’s original work for the 1954 film.  Although Carpenter’s update was never made, he does have several of the models on display in his home.