Category: Horror

30 “Alien” Franchise Movie Facts That Will Blow Your Mind

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Gem Seddon and GamesRadar present 30 Alien Facts That Will Blow Your Mind.  Here are three of my favorites…

11. Blow its bloody head off!

In Aliens, the Marines scatter when the xenomorphs peel away from the walls, retreating to the safety of the APC. One pesky creature manages to get its sharp talons wedged into the doors; and then gets its head blown off by Hicks.

After endless takes where actor Michael Biehn struggled to get the barrel into the alien’s jaws, the crew came up with a way. They simply started with the gun in its mouth, pulled it out, and reversed the shot. Proof that sometimes the coolest tricks don’t require CGI.

5. Terminator connection

Preliminary Aliens drafts had Bishop mention that he was created by Cyberdyne Systems – the technology corporation responsible for creating Skynet in the Terminator saga. It was later switched to Hyperdyne.

One element that does remain happens aboard the drop ship. In the special edition, Hudson’s “ultimate badass” rant about the Marines’ arsenal of weapons, makes reference to a “phased plasma pulse rifle.” The weapons the Marines use are in fact, M41A pulse rifles. This line is a cheeky connect between James Cameron’s previous film, in which the T-800 asks a gun store clerk for a “phased plasma rifle.”

Bill Paxton, who plays Hudson, also appeared in The Terminator as one of the street punks at the observatory.

1. Kane’s last supper

Ridley Scott deliberately kept the actors off the Alien set while production designers and the effects crew dressed the scene for Kane’s last meal. Despite having read the script, none of the principal leads knew what was going to happen. So when the chestburster emerges from John Hurt and a stream of fake blood blasts a stunned Veronica Cartwright, her shocked reaction and scream? Completely authentic.

“Everyone was wearing raincoats,” Weaver later recalled. “We should have been a little suspicious.”

The article contains so many more interesting facts.  It’s definitely worth a read!

9 Altogether Ooky Facts About John Astin

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Me-TV presents 9 Altogether Ooky Facts About John Astin.  Here are three of my favorites…

3. He was nominated for an Oscar…

   Image: MGM Television

…but it wasn’t for acting. Astin directed the 1968 short film Prelude. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.

4. He appeared in ‘West Side Story.’

   Image: United Artists

The 1961 musical blockbuster starred box office heavyweights like Natalie Wood and Rita Moreno, but it also featured an uncredited appearance by Astin. The actor appeared as the character Glad Hand, the social worker who kicks off the “Mambo” dance sequence in the gymnasium.

 

5. He appeared as The Riddler on ‘Batman.’

Most people associate the devious villain with Frank Gorshin. But Astin also put on the green tights and purple mask in the season two episodes “Batman’s Anniversary” and “A Riddling Controversy.”

The Walking Dead’s 21 Most Shocking Deaths So Far

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Louisa Mellor at Flipboard came up with her list of The Walking Dead‘s 21 Most Shocking Deaths So Far.  Mellor’s list is a good one and a tribute to the number of truly shocking death’s in The Walking Dead‘s eight seasons.

As I was going through the list, I had to keep refining to come up with my top three…

Shane Walsh

Shane’s death is one of The Walking Dead’s most memorable exits. Andrew Lincoln and Jon Bernthal held nothing back in their performances as former partners turned mortal enemies. Rick’s gambit with the gun—pretending to hand it to Shane then stabbing him in the heart with a knife—was a shock as great as the one little Carl faced when he arrived on the scene and took in what had happened.

Glenn Rhee and Abraham Ford

Perhaps this entry should belong solely to Abraham, as most people were expecting Glenn to follow his comic book counterpart and fall foul of Negan’s baseball bat. The brutality of Glenn’s death though, with its truly stomach-churning prosthetics and make-up, made it no less shocking than the unexpected addition of Sgt Ford. As punishment for their attack on the Savior satellite outpost, Negan famously beat Abraham to death after a massively publicised season six cliff-hanger. When Daryl punched Negan in retaliation, he provoked the Savior leader into additionally murdering Glenn.

Carl

The Walking Dead audience, or what’s left of it, had an entire midseason break to get used to the idea that Carl Grimes was a goner. We all saw the bite-mark, we all knew what it meant. Even if you’d ignored the set leaks and behind-the-scenes rumours, it was clear that in a world without a cure, that boy was no more.

Somehow though, having that certainty made it no less surprising when that final gunshot signifying Carl’s suicide rang out from the destroyed church. They finally really did it, those maniacs! A character we’d known since the pilot had breathed his last.

It was hard to not include Sasha’s death in my top three.  Also, although the death didn’t make Mellor’s list, I would have included Shane killing Otis!

The 10 Best Horror Movie Franchises

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Grant Hermanns at ComingSoon.net listed his choices for The 10 Best Horror Movie Franchises.  If you click over you can see when the franchise started, how many films it spawned, how much the franchise has earned and a bit about each series.

Here’s Hermann’s choices:

  • The Conjuring
  • The Evil Dead
  • Final Destination
  • Friday the 13th
  • Halloween
  • Hannibal Lector
  • Insidious
  • Nightmare on Elm Street
  • Saw
  • Scream

I can’t say I agree with all of them.  Also, I wonder why…

  • Alien (and sequels)
  • Predator (and sequels)
  • … Of the Living Dead

…didn’t make the list.  What other horror films failed to make the cut, but should have?

 

ACK! ACK! ACK! MARS ATTACKS CO-CREATOR LEN BROWN LOOKS BACK ON THE ICONIC TRADING CARDS

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Mars Attacks trading cards came out in 1962.  The set consisted of 55 cards telling the story of a Martian invasion of Earth.  Although designed for children, the cards depicted humans and animals being killed by the Martian invaders in graphic detail.  If the only Mars Attacks you know is Tim Burton’s comedy, then you’re missing out.

Josh Weiss, from Syfy.com, recently interviewed Len Brown one of the co-developers of the Mars Attacks cards.  Check out ACK! ACK! ACK! MARS ATTACKS CO-CREATOR LEN BROWN LOOKS BACK ON THE ICONIC TRADING CARDS.