monstershd Tagged Articles at Cinematical

How many excellent vampire movies can you name? A handful, maybe a dozen? (Even less for me: I'd go with Dracula '31, Dracula '58, Near Dark and maybe two or three others.) Well here's a very cool listing of the top 70 vampire movies of all time that Snarkerati put up last year. The films are ranked via IMDb and RT scores, so at least there's a method to all this madness.

Anyone out there (besides me) a big fan of Night of the Demons? Sure you are. 1988, Linnea Quigley, demon massacres, lotsa gore. (No, not Demons, although that's a good one too.) Well, it's one of those horror flicks that getting the remake treatment. The new version stars Edward Furlong, Diora Baird, Shannon Elizabeth and Monica Keena -- and based on this rather solid set report at Shock, the remake looks to be coming along quite gorily.

Thanks to Bloody-D for pointing us towards the trailer for a new indie horror called Growth. The bio-terror tale looks pretty solid, and the promo clip makes fine use of those Trent Reznor chords. Ah cool: Looks like the Aussie cult classic killer croc flick Dark Age is finally coming to R1 DVD, thanks in no small part to the fantastic Fantastic Fest. And if you like a little gore with your Thanksgiving gravy, then check out the splatter menu that MonstersHD is cooking up.

Elsewhere on Cinematical: That nifty-sounding Monster of Florence book has landed a screenwriter; the inarguably excellent World War Z has landed a diector; War Monkeys is described as a Tarantino-ish Gremlins; and apparently there's a big vampire movie opening this weekend.

The name Doug Bradley might not ring any bells right away -- except of course if you're a serious horror fan. Mr. Bradley holds the distinction of playing the immortal Pinhead in all eight of the Hellraiser films. So when I heard that A) the first four flicks in the series would soon be broadcast in Hi-Def, and B) I'd be able to share a few moments chatting with the British actor ... needless to say, I was more than interested. Below, we talk all things Hellraiser, and ask Bradley if he's involved in the new Hellraiser remake. (Regarding the Hellraiser HD marathon, it'll play on the Monsters HD network on October 27 and 28, beginning at 9pm on both evenings. Click here for more info.) And now on with the conversation...

Cinematical: Pinhead was your first role in a feature film. Did it ever occur to you that the character could go on to have this sort of shelf life?

Doug Bradley: Absolutely not..For two reasons: Firstly, in the first film I'd been paid union minimum rates for a character with no name completely in latex on screen for less than 10 minutes -- so I didn't think it was going to amount to much, but I was excited to play the part. The makeup was extraordinary and the film was so different than any horror film I'd known of. Secondly, as an actor you don't think like that and you shouldn't look at it like that. You should be focused on the work as work and not looking at it as a meal ticket or the next big franchise. If you had told me the first day I started on Hellraiser that 20 years later I'd be here (conducting this interview) and have the type of fans I have, I wouldn't have known what planet I was on.

Cinematical: Do you find that being known as a "horror icon" has prevented you from acquiring roles in different genres? Is there a downside to being a "horror guy"?

DB: I don't think being known as a "horror icon" has prevented me and I've never looked at it as a downside. I suppose if they're casting for comedies, they don't automatically think to themselves that guy who plays Pinhead in Hellraiser seems terribly funny. You have genre roles and genre filmmakers looking for you. I was a fan of horror films long before I even knew I wanted to be an actor, so I definitely don't look at this as a downside. I have no problem with being in this genre and I haven't found a downside. The fans are wonderful and everything is tremendous fun.

Like any young movie geek who was madly in love with Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator, I was eagerly anticipating his follow-up, From Beyond, when it first debuted on VHS. And the result ... let's just say that I loved the gore, but I didn't "get" the plot. (Hey, I was 14.) And since the flick has yet to be released on DVD, I haven't been able to give it the second chance it obviously deserves. But get this: On June 10th, a network (I don't have) called Monsters HD will be presenting a fully-remastered and extra-splattery Director's Cut of From Beyond. Cool! That means a DVD can't be far behind!

This news has been percolating at the horror sites for quite some time, but hey, June 10th is next week, right? Go check your cable or satellite listings to see if you get Monsters HD. (Then be sure to record the flick and send me a copy!) In the meantime, here's a trailer for the Director's Cut presentation, and if your cubicle resides next to someone who can't stand goopy monsters with forehead tentacles, then it's probably not work-safe.

Based on the short story by H.P. Lovecraft, and starring the likes of Jeffrey Combs, Ken Foree, and Barbara Crampton, From Beyond was not the smash-success follow-up that Re-Animator could have yielded, but there's a large legion of gorehounds who dig it all the same.