The Unlikely Story of the “Enter The Dragon” Novelization

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Enter the Dragon is one of my all-time favorite films.  The photo above is from the novelization written by Mike Roote.  I read this adaptation in 10th grade.  I got the book from Mrs. Adams’ student library.  Although not as good as the film (how could it be?), I enjoyed reliving the Enter the Dragon experience.

It is important to remember…

…that in the early ’70s – unless a film was shown on TV or did a second round in cinemas – there wasn’t much scope for a re-watch. This was before VHS existed, so buying a book was your best way of reliving the magic.

The Enter the Dragon novelization was a best-seller!   Mike Roote must have been a pretty cool guy to get the gig.

Except Mike Roote wasn’t a guy at all!

Mike Roote was actually a woman named Leonore Fleischer!  Mike Roote was just one of her many pen-names.

If you’ve read this far, you’d probably enjoy The Unlikely Story of the Enter The Dragon Novelization by Craig Lines for Den of Geek.   You’ll learn a lot about the adaptation and may just discover that you’ve read one or more of Fleischer’s novels even if it wasn’t under written her name.

 

 

11 Astonishing Facts About “Freaks”

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Matthew Jackson at Mental Floss posted 11 Astonishing Facts About Freaks.  Here are three of the most interesting…

2. MGM WANTED IT TO RIVAL DRACULA AS A HORROR FILM.

Though there were certainly monstrous characters populating various silent films (particularly those portrayed by Chaney in The Phantom of the Opera and London After Midnight), the horror film as a genre didn’t really take off until the era of talkies began. Shortly after Chaney’s death due to complications from lung cancer, Browning was off at Universal Pictures, helping to lead the horror wave with his now-classic adaptation of Dracula. When Browning returned to MGM in the wake of Dracula’s success, head of production Irving Thalberg wanted to capitalize on the horror boom. The hope was that, with the director of Dracula back at the studio, MGM could best Universal with something even more horrifying, and so Browning was finally given the go-ahead to make Freaks, which had remained a pet project of his for years.

According to Skal, it became a classic lesson for Thalberg in being careful what you wish for: The story goes that after he was presented with the screenplay for the film, Thalberg reportedly hung his head and said, “Well, I asked for something horrible, and I guess I got it.”

10. IT DERAILED BROWNING’S CAREER.

Before Freaks, Browning was one of the most successful directors in Hollywood, and his success had earned him enough clout to get the ambitious and gutsy film made after Dracula hit big at Universal. After Freaks, he never quite recovered. According to Skal, this was not just due to that film’s failure, but due to Browning’s continued discomfort with the change in the filmmaking process that came from the rise of talkies. That discomfort, coupled with an increasing inability to get more personal projects approved by the studios in the wake of Freaks, led to his decline in the 1930s.

Browning directed just four more films (two of them uncredited), with his final directing credit coming on the MGM mystery Miracles for Sale in 1939. He retired with enough savings from his directorial successes to live comfortably in a pair of homes in Beverly Hills and Malibu, and died in 1962.

11. IT FOUND A NEW AUDIENCE IN THE 1960S.

After its critical and commercial failure in the United States, Freaks faded into the background as a kind of Hollywood curiosity, and was banned in several countries (including the United Kingdom) for decades. The film was licensed by distributor Dwain Esper in the late 1940s, and played on the grindhouse circuit at various independent theaters, but it wasn’t until the 1962 Cannes Film Festival that the film’s revival really began. After screening there, it was heralded as a kind of forgotten classic. Noted film collector and archivist Raymond Rohauer picked up the baton from there, landing the rights to Freaks and showing it as a cult film. It gained prominence on the midnight movie circuit, and found particular success with members of the 1960s counterculture movement, who saw kindred spirits in its cast.

 

15 Facts About John Carpenter’s “Christine”

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Sean Hutchinson at Mental Floss posted 15 Facts About John Carpenter’s Christine.  Here are three of my favorites…

2. JOHN CARPENTER SIGNED ON SIMPLY BECAUSE HE WANTED A JOB.
Kobritz approached John Carpenter after the critical and financial failure of his 1982 adaptation of The Thing, which is now widely regarded as one of the filmmaker’s best.

The pair previously worked together on Carpenter’s 1978 TV movie Someone’s Watching Me! and Carpenter agreed to take on the project because he wanted to jump immediately into another movie after his first high-profile box office flop.

8. KEVIN BACON WAS ORIGINALLY CAST AS ARNIE.

Carpenter held auditions in California and New York, looking for the right fresh faces for the teen characters in the film, and he found the perfect newcomer for Arnie: Kevin Bacon.

The now-famous actor’s only other significant work at the time was bit parts in Animal House and Friday the 13th, and Kobritz and Carpenter thought Arnie’s transformation from dweeby hero to suave villain was a perfect fit for Bacon. But after being cast, Bacon dropped out when he was offered a starring role in Footloose.

Carpenter went back the the drawing board to cast Arnie, and eventually found actor Keith Gordon in a play in New York City. Carpenter initially took to Gordon as Arnie because of the actor’s previous appearance in Brian De Palma’s thriller Dressed to Kill.

7. CARPENTER DIDN’T WANT TO CAST MOVIE STARS.

Columbia execs wanted a star-studded cast to round out their King adaptation, and suggested that Brooke Shields—coming off the hit film The Blue Lagoon—be cast as Leigh, and Scott Baio be cast as Arnie. But Carpenter didn’t want recognizable faces in the movie as a way to stress that the titular car was the real star of the movie.

The 100 Best Horror Movies of All Time, According to Critics

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Josh Lynch at Business Insider posted The 100 Best Horror Movies of All Time, According to Critics.  Lynch’s list is a good one worth checking out.

Here are three of my favorites and some comments…

69. “28 Days Later” (2003)

Critic score: 86%

Audience score: 85%

What critics said: “The movie’s craft makes the dread of a killer virus contagious: viewers may feel they have come down with a case of secondhand SARS or sympathetic monkeypox.” — Time

What Craig said:  I’m a huge fan of 28 days later.  While quite a few folks like to argue if 28 days later is truly a zombie film or not, I’d rather spend the time re-watching it.

39. “Train to Busan” (2016)

Critic score: 95%

Audience score: 88%

What critics said: “A zombie movie content not to aspire to any loftier subtextual readings needs little more than a skilled choreographer of action, and there’s plenty of evidence that this film had one in Yeon.” — The AV Club

What Craig said:  Train to Busan came out of nowhere to be one of my favorite horror films in recent years.  I hadn’t heard the buzz before seeing it.  This is a zombie movie with heart.  Dong-seok Ma should be a breakout star.  If you haven’t caught the Train to Busan you owe it to yourself to give it a ride.  Just be aware that not everyone makes it to the final stop.

2. “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” (1920)

Critic score: 100%

Audience score: 89%

What critics said: “Undoubtedly one of the most exciting and inspired horror movies ever made.” — Time Out

What Craig said: Of the three movies from this list that I chose to highlight, I’ll bet that The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is the one that has been seen the least by those reading this.  It has three strikes against it:

1.  It is a silent film.

2.  It is a foreign silent film.

3.  It is nearly 100 years old.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari has a twist ending that would make M. Night Shamalan and Rod Serling high-five.  When I first watched The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari I thought the choices being made in set design were due to budget restrictions and experimentation with expressionism and the relatively new form of story-telling called film.  I was wrong… at least partially.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari tells the tale of a serial killer hypnotist who uses a somnambulist to commit murders. The film takes advantage of the lack of color film and makes the most of a light and shadow with sets that are off-kilter.

If you haven’t seen The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and you’re a film lover, give it a try.

James Byron Huggins Podcast Interview!

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Because we have so many James Byron Huggins fans here, I thought I’d let everyone know that James did a podcast interview and a reading from The Reckoning for The Other Stories.org.

Huggins is probably best known as the author of Hunter which he specifically wrote with Sylvester Stallone in mind as the book’s hero.  Hunter is one of my all-time favorite novels and I’m not alone in that regard.  Stallone fans continue to hope that Sly will helm a movie version of Hunter even if he doesn’t star in it.

Huggins also wrote The Reckoning, Cain, Leviathon, Rora, and other novels. I recommend each of them to fans of thrillers, action-adventure, horror and great writing.

“Rocky” Movie Series Posters by Tony Stella!

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Check out this very cool poster for Rocky III created by Tony Stella!

Source: Film ’89.

In response to Film ’89’s tweet featuring Tony Stella’s Rocky III poster, Stella posted the following…

Wow!  I was, pardon the expression since we’re talking about Rocky, knocked out.  I then clicked over to Stella’s Tumbler and fond other different and equally amazing posters created by Tony Stella for the Rocky films.   I think my favorite may be the Rocky II poster, but they’re all awesome.

Lavender Jack by Dan Schkade

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Lavender Jack is a new free weekly comic by Dan Schkade that reminds me of the comics I used to read as a kid.  And that’s a good thing.

When a masked man begins terrorizing the wealthy upper class, exposing their dirty secrets, the Mayor calls in a veteran detective. What begins as a game of cat and mouse leads to a rabbit hole of mysterious organizations, betrayal, & lost love.

Schkade’s writing and art are perfect for Lavender Jack and they should be since he created the character.  Jenn Manley Lee’s colors enhance the strip.  I’m usually not a fan of web comics but I plan to be a regular reader.  You might as well if you give it a shot!

Brooklyn Blood by Paul Levitz and Tim Hamilton

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Brooklyn Blood by Paul Levitz and Tim Hamilton looks to be the kind of story fans of crime fiction and horror stories will love.

In Brooklyn, a serial killer is on the loose–and when strange clues lead down a paranormal path, a detective confronts his inner demons to solve the case.

After returning from a tour in Afghanistan, detective Billy O’Connor returns home to a Brooklyn he doesn’t recognize. As he tries to return to his normal routines, his PTSD is easily triggered and he suffers severe hallucinations. Once he begins to work a gruesome homicide case, however, O’Connor has difficulty sorting out what’s real–and after he uncovers some strange clues, he’ll have to face the unthinkable to bring the killer to justice.

From New York Times Bestselling authors Paul Levitz (75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Myth-Making) and Tim Hamilton (Ray Bradbury’s Farenheit 451: The Authorized Adaptation), this volume collects all sixteen chapters originally serialized in Dark Horse Presents Volume 3 #17-#22 and #24-#33!