Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
Here’s a vintage drawing by Mike Mignola, the creator of Hellboy. I love how he took the classic Universal Monsters Wolfman as the basis for his werewolf. Although I usually prefer the Curse of the Werewolf design, I wouldn’t mind seeing a story about this guy.
Source: Cool Comic Art.
Of Mice and Minestrone: Hap & Leondard: The Early Years, by Joe R. Lansdale has been announced for May 14, 2020. Fans are already putting in their pre-orders. Any book by Lansdale is cause for a celebration, but H&L tales call for a special party. Here’s what we can expect…
Pull up a seat and sit a spell. Master storyteller Joe R. Lansdale has cooked up a passel of tales for you about the unlikeliest duo East Texas has to offer.
Hap Collins looks like a good ol’ boy, but from his misspent youth on, his best compatriot is Leonard Pine―black, gay, and the ultimate outsider. Inseparable friends, Hap and Leonard attend family gatherings, climb into the boxing ring, get in bar fights, and just go fishing―all while confronting racism, righting wrongs, and eating copious, delicious food.
Chock full of Lansdale’s unique blend of humor, ferocity, and insight, Of Mice and Minestrone delivers five never-before-seen (plus one perhaps familiar) Hap and Leonard stories, a selection of the boys’ favorite recipes, and an introduction from New York Times bestselling author Kathleen Kent.
So come discover the legends of Hap and Leonard, created by Joe R. Lansdale his own self, and featured in the by Hap and Leonard TV series starring Michael K. Williams (The Wire), James Purefoy (The Following), and Christina Hendricks (Mad Men).
How cool is this Tony Stella poster for The Big Combo?
The Grand Isle poster and trailer are here! This is the first Nick Cage movie I’ve thought looked pretty good in years.
Walter (Nicolas Cage) and his neglected wife lure a young man into their Victorian home to escape a hurricane. When the man is charged with murder by Det. Jones (Kelsey Grammar), he must reveal the couple’s wicked secrets to save himself.
The Hell on the Border poster and trailer are here! With this cast, I wish it looked better. Maybe it will surprise me.
This epic, action-packed Western tells the incredible true story Bass Reeves (David Gyasi), the first black marshal in the Wild West. Having escaped from slavery after the Civil War, he arrives in Arkansas seeking a job with the law. To prove himself, he must hunt down a deadly outlaw (Frank Grillo) with the help of a grizzled journeyman (Ron Pearlman). As he chases the criminal deeper into the Cherokee Nation, Reeves must not only dodge bullets, but severe discrimination in hopes of earning his star—and cement his place as a cowboy legend.
Lon Chaney is my favorite silent movie star. (Take that, Chaplin fans!) Hopefully you will enjoy that Jane Rose and Mental Floss present 9 Transformative Facts About Lon Chaney Sr. as much as me. Here are three of my favorites…
1. LON CHANEY SR. WAS KNOWN AS “THE MAN OF 1,000 FACES.”
Unlike many of Hollywood’s leading men, who trade on their good looks and recognizable faces, Lon Chaney Sr. made his name by donning a series of disguises and elaborate makeups, completely changing his appearance from film to film. Chaney, an early character actor, gravitated toward bizarre and distinct roles—playing a series of criminals, toughs, circus performers, clowns, pirates, ghouls, and vampires. His ability to disappear into his roles soon earned him the moniker “The Man of 1,000 Faces.” It also made him the subject of a popular joke at the time: “Don’t step on that spider! It might be Lon Chaney!”
3. SOME OF LON CHANEY SR.’S MOST MEMORABLE FILMS WERE MADE WITH DIRECTOR TOD BROWNING AT THE HELM.
Chaney had been working in movies for more than a decade before he began his frequent collaborations with director Tod Browning, who is best known for putting Bela Lugosi on the map with the 1931 film Dracula (and most infamously known for directing the 1932 movie Freaks). But when they did finally come together, it was a meeting of macabre minds. To begin with, Chaney and Browning had several things in common: Both had experienced past brushes with personal tragedy (Browning had been the driver in a car accident that killed actor Elmer Booth; Chaney’s first wife had tried to kill herself); both came from a Vaudevillian background; and both had a penchant for spectacle and the grotesque.
Among Chaney and Browning’s collaborations were the 1925 silent version of The Unholy Three, in which Chaney plays a sideshow ventriloquist masquerading as a kindly grandmother; the 1927 film The Unknown, in which Chaney plays a fugitive masquerading as an armless knife thrower, who later blackmails a surgeon to amputate his arms in order to win the woman he loves (the film is one of several in which Chaney and Browning concocted a bizarre character and built an entire film around it); and the 1927 film London After Midnight, in which Chaney plays a vampire-like figure. Tragically, this film is also famous forbeing lost; the last known copy was destroyed in a 1965 MGM vault fire.
7. LON CHANEY SR. HATED PUBLICITY.
Chaney was a mysterious presence both onscreen and off. He disliked hobnobbing with the Hollywood set, going to premieres, giving interviews, and/or signing autographs (except for fans behind bars—Chaney was a self-taught penologist, or student of prisons and convict rehabilitation). He once boasted that he would “fix it so no one will write my autobiography after I’m gone.”In fact, details of Chaney’s life were so scarce that actor James Cagney had a difficult time researching the part of Chaney for 1957 biopic Man of a Thousand Faces. While he was no doubt genuinely reclusive to an extent, Chaney’s reticence may have in fact been the smartest publicity move of all, as his mystery only added to his allure.
Check out this cool Terminator 2: Judgment Day poster by Tony Stella.
Rob Hunter and Film School Rejects present 21 Things We Learned from Martin Scorsese’s The Set-Up Commentary.
The Set-Up is one of my favorite films (not favorite boxing films, favorite films period). If you haven’t seen it, do yourself a favor and search it out.
And now, for three of my favorite commentary items (beware of spoilers)…
15. One of the elements that appealed to Wise with the story is that the fight at the heart of the film isn’t some championship bout… it’s just a regional, late on the card fight.
20. He says traditionally this kind of film sees the protagonist not surrender, they get their self-respect, and morally everyone feels uplifted, but it happens here in a different way. The ending in the alley sees his true redemption as he pays the price but is now allowed out of the hellscape his life had become. “It’s really a happy ending,” says Scorsese about Stoker having his hand crushed with a brick by crooks holding him incorrectly accountable “in a truthful way. And maybe there’s a hope to that, a hope for the weaker ones in the world.”
2. The film opens with a clock face showing 9:05 and Wise closes the film with the same clock roughly the length of the film later.
Jim Steranko can do it all.
Thanks to Doug at Black, White and Bronze we get to see a great example of Steranko’s writing and art. The complete story is At the Stroke of Midnight and it’s presented in both the black & white and color versions.
Check ’em out!
Mark Rozeman, Jim Vorel & Paste Movies Staff put together their list of The 100 Best Vampire Movies of All Time.
I like their list. I’ve viewed almost half of all of the movies listed. Of the one’s I’ve seen, these are my top ten (listed by year of release)…
Dracula (1931): Forced to pick my all-time favorite vampire movie, this is the go-to. Bela Lugosi IS Count Dracula.
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948): How could anyone not love this one? You get Frankenstein, the Wolfman, Dracula (Bela is back) plus Abbott and Costello! Look for the secret Vincent Price cameo.
The Night Stalker (1972): I remember watching this as a kid when it first premiered on tv. The build-up to it had me so excited. A great memory of watching it with my mom.
Salem’s Lot (1979): Another vampire movie that premiered on tv. Again, the build-up was great. Watched it for the first time with my future wife.
Near Dark (1987): Very under-rated. Love this modern take on vampire.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992): has some great moments. I remember seeing it in a theater when it premiered and loved that Coppola was making a movie experience and not just a horror movie.
Interview with The Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994): I love this film and think it’s also under-rated. I’d never read any of the Anne Rice novels (and still haven’t) which I really should fix.
From Dusk Till Dawn (1996): Tarantino and Rodriguez made a winner. (No surprise there.) Love how FDTD starts out as a crime flick and transitions to a horror film.
Blade II (2002): I didn’t care for Blade but absolutely love Blade II.
30 Days of Night (2007): I was familiar with the comic and love the movie even more.
What We Do in the Shadows (2014): I was surprised how funny and well done WWDitS was. Check it out!
Code 8: Fear is the Most Dangerous Power.
In a world where 4% of the population is born with varying supernatural abilities, a desperate young man possessing special powers clashes with a militarized police force after committing a series of crimes.
Cheezburger.com is back with More Two Sentence Horror Stories. I love these and here are three of my favs from the new batch…
“Two eyes peered at me through the darkness, then disappeared again.
“No, no survivors down here,” I heard the rescue searcher say.
“Hey,” my wife said, looking at the police sketch of the suspected killer, “that looks just like your dad.”
I was just disappointed that they made me look so old.
“Stop shaking David, it’s just minor surgery” said the doctor as I laid on the operating table.
I thought he just forgot my name until I saw his nametag.
Jim Vorel & Paste Movies Staff present The 50 Best Serial Killer Movies of All Time.
Their list is an interesting one in that it contains a few movies that don’t normally spring to mind as serial killer movies (but are!). Movies like Arsenic and Old Lace, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Halloween are technically movies about serial killers but is that the first thing you think of when you hear those titles?
My top three serial killer movies would be…
3. Cell
2. Se7en
1. The Silence of the Lambs
Happy Halloween! Today we have a poster (created by Richard Hilliard) for a Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein!
Who doesn’t love A&C Meet Frankenstein? It’s got great humor as well as Frankenstein, The Wolfman and Dracula (Bela is back!). Plus — a great cameo from Vincent Price.
Source: Movie Poster Moment.
How about this Creature from the Black Lagoon print by Jason Edmiston? If you like it (I do!), you can see a larger version at Mondo.
