Posts with tag re-animator
Cinematical Seven: Horror Movies Based on Books or Stories
Filed under: Horror », Cinematical Seven », Lists »
Just about anyone who follows horror has bemoaned the sorry state of the genre these days. Nearly everything is a remake, either of some 1970s or 1980s classic or of some recent Asian hit. The rare films that aren't remakes are simply lazy copies of whatever worked a year earlier, the current "torture porn" subgenre, for example. And hardly anything screens for the press, which means that even the studios now understand how low things have sunk.
The new film The Ruins likewise isn't screening for the press, but it is based -- of all things -- on an actual book! With pages! It's by Scott B. Smith, who many years ago wrote both the book and screenplay for the excellent A Simple Plan. The new movie inspired me to look up other literary-based horror movies (whether inspired by novels or short stories). Sadly, aside from Stephen King and the upcoming Midnight Meat Train (based on Clive Barker's short story), I couldn't find much good recent work, but there is plenty to choose from ...
Cinematical Seven: H.P. Lovecraft Films
Filed under: Horror », Cinematical Seven »
Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1890-1947) was an early twentieth century horror writer with a dark and unique vision. In his stories humanity was usually treated at best like a pawn in the cosmic game and a dust speck at worst, with a race of elder gods called The Old Ones threatening to return and possess the earth once again. Try to imagine repo men who are several stories tall with lots of tentacles and working on a cosmic scale. Much of his work was published in Weird Tales and other fiction magazines of the period, but his readership was limited during his relatively short lifetime. Posthumous reprints of Lovecraft's fiction eventually garnered him a larger audience, but his work has been notoriously difficult to capture on film. That hasn't stopped filmmakers from trying, though.
Re-Animator (1985)
When Fangoria magazine first printed a feature article about Re-animator prior to the film's release, they described it as a "moist zombie film." With all the blood and internal organs flying around, to say nothing of that pan full of blood in which Herbert West was keeping Dr. Hill's severed head alive, I find it hard to argue with the accuracy of the statement. This was the first of several Lovecraft adaptations from director Stuart Gordon, and probably his best. Everybody's got a roommate from hell story, but you'd be hard pressed to top Dan Cain's (Bruce Abbott) after he lets Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs) move in with him. Both are med students at Miskatonic University, an institution that pops up many times in Lovecraft's work. West has just returned from Austria where he was working on a process of reanimating the dead. West and Miskatonic's Dr. Hill (David Gale) take an immediate dislike to one another, resulting in the good Doctor quite literally losing his head. The scenes of a reanimated Hill toting around his own severed noggin are not always convincing, but they're hard to forget. The film strays pretty far from the source material in both the details and the use of humor (if Lovecraft himself had a sense of humor, I don't recall ever seeing it on display in his fiction), but this remains one of the greatest horror films of all time.
A Slew Of Horror DVDs About To Hit Shelves
Filed under: Horror », New on DVD », Home Entertainment »
Last week Elite Entertainment, the company that released the definitive DVD editions of both Re-Animator (1985) and Night of the Living Dead (1968), has announced a new DVD set sure to have horror fans salivating through their pointy teeth. It's a three-disc set called The Fearmakers Collection, which contains half-hour documentaries on ten horror filmmakers: Jack Arnold (The Creature from the Black Lagoon), Tod Browning (Dracula and Freaks), William Castle (House on Haunted Hill), Roger Corman (The Masque of the Red Death), Terence Fisher (Horror of Dracula), Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), Roman Polanski (Rosemary's Baby), Jacques Tourneur (Cat People), silent-era director Roland West (The Bat) and Robert Wise (The Haunting). Each episode contains interviews with filmmakers, actors and other experts. The set is based on the book The Fearmakers, by John McCarty, and will be released May 8 with a $29.98 price tag. Elite has even posted a Youtube page full of preview clips.
But wait! Did I mention Re-Animator? Anchor Bay Entertainment has simultaneously announced a new series of remastered Special Edition DVDs (most of its signature titles are now out of print), starting with Stuart Gordon's 1985 film as well as Don Coscarelli's Phantasm (1978). The new Re-Animator disc promises a brand-new transfer, remastered Dolby Digital sound, a new 70-minute documentary and scads of other goodies. True blue (green?) fans will want to hang on to their Elite edition, however, because the one thing it doesn't have is the longer, 95-minute version of the film. Anchor Bay's DVD will contain only Gordon's official director's cut, which runs 86 minutes, while Elite's disc has both versions. Still, this new one will definitely be worth a look. It streets March 20 and retails for $24.98. And act fast: Anchor Bay is printing only 50,000 copies.
Brian Yuzna Still Shooting for a New Re-Animator Trilogy
Filed under: Horror », Independent », Remakes and Sequels », Cinematical Indie »
About six months ago we heard that filmmaker Brian Yuzna (Society, The Dentist, From Beyond and a whole bunch more) was aiming to kick-start a whole new Herbert West trilogy. The first entry would be called House of Re-Animator and star Jeffrey Combs as the troublemaking Dr. West ... and none other than William H. Macy as the President of the United States. Seems like the project might still be moving forward -- but not any time real soon, sorry to say.In this excellent interview from Gli Occhi Sol Cinema, the veteran horror-maker discusses a wide array of past successes and future projects, from Society and Re-Animator to Dagon and ... Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 4. But the part that'll prove most exciting to the old-school gorehounds is Mr. Yuzna's long-term plans for his long-running Re-Animator series. The plan is to follow House of Re-Animator with Re-Animator Unbound! and Re-Animator Begins ... maybe as a way to reboot the franchise with some new blood.
I can already hear the gripes: "True, Scott, the original Re-Animator is a bona-fide horror classic, as well as one ferociously fun splatter flicks ever made, but Bride of Re-Animator pretty much stunk and Beyond Re-Animator was even worse!"
I dunno, I have a soft spot for the whole sticky series, warts and all. Sure wouldn't mind seeing a few new sequels...
Stuart Gordon Aims to Get Stuck
Filed under: Horror », Independent », Thrillers », Cinematical Indie »
It only takes one true-blue classic for the horror fans to embrace a filmmaker -- just ask Sean Cunningham -- but in the case of Mr. Stuart Gordon, we have a solid handful of goodies to choose from. Yep, 1985's Re-Animator is the guy's big hitter, obviously, but over the years Mr. G has turned out some fairly entertaining pieces of genre, most notably From Beyond (1986), Fortress (1993) and Dagon (2001). The Chicago-bred filmmaker recently gave William H. Macy some great opportunities in a big-screen adaptation of David Mamet's Edmond -- and now it looks like it's back to the horror scene for Stu.Gordon's next film will be a thriller called Stuck, and it's about the terror that pursues a woman after she stupidly bails from the scene of a nasty hit & run accident. The director will be co-writing Stuck, which is reportedly based on actual events, with a guy named John Strysik, who once wrote a truly awful horror flick called Deathbed ... for producer Stuart Gordon.
Stuck begins production in New Brunswick next week. We'll let you know if any cool casting news hits the 'net. And there's been no new word on Gordon's apparent involvement in House of Re-Animator, but I have my fingers crossed.
Stuart Gordon is Back From Beyond
Filed under: Horror », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Fandom », Home Entertainment »
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.
President Macy vs. Herbert West!
Filed under: Horror », Remakes and Sequels »
Just one week ago, we shared some news about an all-new Re-Animator trilogy that producer Brian Yuzna seems pretty darn psyched about, and today Fangoria brings us some even cooler news:William H. Macy, one of the most talented, admired, and gosh-darn likable character actors in the known universe, has been signed to play the President of the United States in Stuart Gordon's House of Re-Animator! Returning for the third trilogy are director Gordon, producer Yuzna, screenwriter Dennis Paoli, and Dr. West himself: Jeffrey Combs. (Someone get Bruce Abbott's agent on the phone ... or his wife if he doesn't have an agent anymore. And please don't forget the lovely Barbara Crampton...)
Ready for the plot? The U.S. President dies, so one high-ranking moron calls Dr. West in to bring the Commander-in-Chief back to life ... and if you've ever seen, say, 5 random minutes of Re-Animator, then you know precisely what happens next. (Yay!)
(Y'know, while the gorehounds stress and worry about Sam Raimi's potential return to the Evil Dead series, I'm of the opinion that the Re-Animator trilogy gets a pretty raw deal. True, everyone loves the first one cuz it's a splatter-tastic mega-classic, but those sequels aren't all that bad, you know. And now that a new trilogy is getting the kick-start (and with the original filmmakers, no less), I think this is pretty big news indeed. For the horror geeks, anyway. Like me.)
Yuzna Announces New Re-Animator Trilogy
Filed under: Horror », Remakes and Sequels »
Longtime Stuart Gordon collaborator and bona-fide horror geek of the most colorful variety, Brian Yuzna has some big plans. He recently closed up shop on his Fantastic Factory shingle (a Spanish production company that yielded Faust, Dagon, Rottweiler, and Beyond Re-Animator) and kick-started an outfit called Halcyon, and guess what Mr. Yuzna will be doing there. That's right: making splattery horror flicks.According to Fango, the company has a few titles in the can already (with titles like Doomed, Battlespace, and Darkworld ... cool), but their big plan is to reunite the original Re-Animator / Bride of Re-Animator gang (producer Yuzna, director Stuart Gordon, screenwriter Dennis Paoli, and actors Bruce Abbott & Jeffrey Combs) for a White House-based sequel entitled House of Re-Animator (the gang hopes this will be chapter one in an all-new Re-Animator trilogy). Yuzna also hopes to get William H. Macy to play the president, and it might not be all that difficult; Macy recently starred in the David Mamet adaptation Edmond -- which was directed by Stuart Gordon.
Also in Yuzna's blood-soaked pipeline: Sprawl: Grizzly, which is about a whole PACK of ravenous man-eating bears, and Everdark, a "based on actual events" ghost story ... like we really need another one of those.
New On DVD - Delicatessen, The Family Stone, Last Holiday
Filed under: New Releases », DVD Reviews », New on DVD », Home Entertainment », Columns »
- The Call Of Cthulhu - The H.P. Lovecraft Preservation Society, a group of dauntless fans that created the brilliant, Cthulhu-themed musical, A Shoggoth On The Roof, have created the ultimate fan film, an incredible tribute to the writer whose work seeded modern horror favorites like Re-Animator and From Beyond. Shot like a 1920's era silent film, the 47-minute feature is technically amazing, shot (in black-and-white), lit and performed like an authentic film of the period would have been (although it would have horrified people of the time right into Arkham Sanitarium.) Considered Lovecraft's most famous story, the story of a man who inherits a collection of documents detailing the ghastly Cthulhu Cult, it is very faithfully adapted, not to mention super-efficient. The title cards are in the viewer's choice of an astonishing 24 different languages, and the lush, symphonic score can be played in hi-fi and the kitschy-fun, lo-fi "Mythoscope". A skillful build and an extremely satisfying payoff (think creature design King Kong '33 style) add up to one of the smartest horror films of recent memory.
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