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JULY 8 |
60 Years Ago Today, U.S.A saw the Toho release of FRANKENSTEIN VS. BARAGON
When it comes to Bonker-Ass-Cinema, Japan is second to none.
Even the grand and legendary Toho Pictures, nearly since its inception, built its reputation on being gonzo.
I began as a Big Horror fan.
Human-sized monsters from Vampires to Werewovles weren't good enough for me. Not when I was a little kid and all adults were giants capable of being Scary Monsters and Super Creeps. When you're a shrimpy kid, and I was the runt of the class until my 14th or 15th year growth spurt, monsters that are taller than the tallest skyscraper level the playing field like they level a city when all humans are comparitively the size of ants.
And my giant adult Pop? He took me to see THE EXORCIST and THE OMEN at an arthouse theater when I was around 12, because he thought it would scare me into shape.
But how was I supposed to be scared of a bitchy brat who stays in bed and a spoiled priviliged shit?
You wanna scare a 12 year old? Have that asshole rampage through a freaking city! You expect me to be scared by a demon with a tummy-ache who is confined to her bedroom, in her pyjamas, until she can learn to behave?
Granted I was 12, adults may have viewed it with a different perspective, but still!
(My Pop was also creeped out that the two movies didn't have the desired
effect on me. Which apparently made an undesired effect on him.)
So! Are you already Koo-koo for Kaiju or are you an newbie Big Horror fan? Read my Big Horror spoiler free review of Director Ishiro Honda's FRANKENSTEIN VS. BARAGON, aka in the U.S.A. as Frankenstein Conquers The World.
And -
PHANTASM II is 38
It was 1988, 10 years after the first PHANTASM, and before the Age of Internet, Don Coscarelli's sequel came flying at us Horror fans from out of nowhere. The trailer showed that a new actor replaced A. Michael Baldwin, as Mike. Well who was James LeGros?
Wait a minute. Isn't that the guy who played the young nameless cowboy in last year's NEAR DARK? He beat out A. Michael Baldwin for the role in the sequel?
LeGros did more than that. He beat out another actor who would cement his A-List status only 6 years later with his star turn in INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE!
Here is the mix, mess, and awesome of an Indie flick that went from Horror to Horror Action movie, PHANTASM II.
Plus -
DARK WATER is Old Enough to Buy A Beer
2005 was 21 years ago! How well did the Hollywoodized Jennifer Connolly version hold up against the original 2002 Japanese version?
This is how Douglas Lobo out of Brazil saw the U.S.A. version of DARK WATER.
Also -
THE DESCENT is Old Enough to Buy a Mai Tai
Director Neil Marshall came hot off of the surprise hit of his first feature film, DOG SOLDIERS: A Horror action movie and we went nuts! Three years later, up against the American remake of DARK WATER, Lionsgate released his second hit, THE DESCENT.
Finale -
HAPPY HORROR THRILLER BIRTHDAYS TO -
By E.C. McMullen Jr.
Actor Kevin Bacon (FRIDAY THE 13th, THE DEMON MURDER CASE, CRIMINAL LAW, TREMORS, FLATLINERS, MURDER IN THE FIRST, SLEEPERS, WILD THINGS, STIR OF ECHOES, HOLLOW MAN, TRAPPED, MYSTIC RIVER, WHERE THE TRUTH LIES, THE AIR THAT I BREATHE, DEATH SENTENCE, SUPER, X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, THE FOLLOWING [TV], R.I.P.D., THE FOLLOWING, THE DARKNESS [2018], TREMORS [2018], YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT, SPACE ODDITY, THEY/THEM, ONE WAY, THE TOXIC AVENGER [2023], LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND, MAXXXINE, THE BONDSMAN [TV]) is 68.
Look for Kevin in the upcoming 2027 Horror Thriller, FAMILY MOVIE, also directed by Kevin and his wife Kyra Sedgwick.
Writer Mort Castle (CURSED BE THE CHILD, STRANGERS, KNOWING WHEN TO DIE, NEW MOON ON THE WATER, and a whole lotta short stories!) is 80.
SFX Make-Up Artist Glenn Hetrick (THE X-FILES [TV], BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER [TV], ANGEL [TV], KING OF THE ANTS, THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN, THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK, RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD: NECROPOLIS, PUMPKINHEAD: ASHES TO ASHES, PUMPKINHEAD: BLOOD FUED, CROSSING JORDAN [TV], LEGION, HEROES [TV], THE HUNGER GAMES [all], EXTANT, AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D., INHUMANS [TV], MASKED MUTILATOR, THE BIRCH) is 54.
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JULY 7 |
SPECIES Turns 31
Remember when you were 20 and saw this in the theater on opening week?
Well now it's 31 years later and you're old! OLD!
And yet the Trailer was compelling! The poster was intriguing! For Science Fiction Horror movie fans, creature design by the late artist who created the ALIEN, Hans Rudi Giger, was an irresistable draw! Hell! Even as bad as POLTERGIEST II was, Giger's few seconds of Kane's vomit rebirth was and remains the most memorable thing in the picture! Besides actor Julien Beck himself, that is!
Yes, this movie had Oscar winning actor, Ben Kingsley! It had the late Michael Madsen straight out of Quentin Tarantino's RESERVOIR DOGS! And it had a femme fatale in n00b actor, Natasha Henstridge as the human appearing alien Sil.
At last on opening day, we excitedly sat there in the dark of the theater like so many hushed crickets, as the movie SPECIES was...
Plus -
26 Years of SCARY MOVIE
By 2000, Wes Craven brought Horror back big with his SCREAM franchise and everything from FINAL DESTINATION to THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT hit the screens like a tsunami! The minds behind In Living Color were there to rip on it. I was there in the theater to see the Wayan Brothers cut loose on SCARY MOVIE.
Also -
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST Turners Twenty
The first PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN movie took the Disney ride and turned it into an extension of Disney's Haunted Mansion. The Pirates were the undead: A revenant somewhere between a zombie and a ghost. But in this sequel with Director Gore Verbinski still at the helm, we don't have a haunted movie, we have a monster movie! R! And all the varmints are twisted sea creatures straight out o' the Hell of a Lovecraft fever dream!
This be the hook of PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST.
Finale -
HAPPY HORROR THRILLER BIRTHDAYS TO -
By E.C. McMullen Jr.
Actor Billy Campbell (THE ROCKETEER, Bram Stoker's DRACULA, OUT THERE, THE COLD EQUATIONS, MENNO'S MIND, MAX Q, THE 4400 [TV], SHARK [TV], METEOR [TV], THE DISAPPEARED, LIZZIE BORDEN TOOK AN AXE, THE SCRIBBLER, THE KILLING, HELIX [TV], MODUS [TV], CARDINAL [TV], THE ROCKETEER [TV], TROLL [2022], SOMETHING UNDONE, TRUST, I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER [2025], WE COME IN PEACE [TV]) is 67.
Writer, Producer, Director Robert Eggers (THE WITCH, THE LIGHTHOUSE, THE NORTHMAN, NOSFERATU [2024]) is 53.
Look for Robert's Horror Thriller expected for a Christmas Day release this year, WERWULF starring Willem Dafoe (NOSFERATU) and Ralph Ineson (VVITCH).
Actor Jorja Fox (HAPPY HELL NIGHT, HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN 1997, VELOCITY TRAP, MEMENTO, C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigations [TV], 3022, THE MAP OF TINY PERFECT THINGS) is 58.
Writer, Producer, Director Akiva Goldsman (THE CLIENT, SILENT FALL, BATMAN FOREVER, TIME TO KILL, BATMAN & ROBIN, LOST IN SPACE, DEEP BLUE SEA, PRACTICAL MAGIC, MINDHUNTERS, I, ROBOT, CONSTANTINE, POSEIDON, THE DA VINCI CODE, I AM LEGEND, ANGELS & DEMONS, JONAH HEX, FRINGE [TV], WINTER'S TALE, INSURGENT, THE 5TH WAVE, RINGS, STEPHANIE, THE DARK TOWER, DOCTOR SLEEP, STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS [TV], Stephen King's FIRESTARTER [2022]) is 64.
Look for Akiva's upcoming 2024, 2025, 2026, Thriller, CONSTANTINE 2.
UPDATE: After completing filming and going into Post Production, CONSTANTINE 2 returns to Pre-Production as the producers attempt to reorganize the movie into something that can stand a chance at the theaters.
The last clear cut answers that I know came from this early uplift from an October 2025 Interview with Keanu Reeves and Aziz Ansari -
Followed later that same month by this downer (in regards to CONSTANTINE 2, not the whole interview) from James Gunn -
Actor Dylan Sprayberry (SHUFFLE, TEEN WOLF [TV], THE ROW, LIGHT AS A FEATHER [TV], BABY BLUE, TEEN WOLF: THE MOVIE, SICK,
MALIBU HORROR STORY, CHAPTER 51) is 28.
Look for Dylan in the upcoming 2027 Thriller, DISORDER.
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JULY 6 |
YOU DUG IT
Good 2 Know: Any weekend box office drop of less than 50% is good. Any weekend B.O. drop smaller than 30% of the previous is excellent.
General Rules:
A. Theaters get approximately 50% of the gross in North American B.O. (negotiable).
B. Distributors omitting Production budget figures believe the movie will under perform.
C. Total gross by the 3rd weekend accounts for at least half of movie's total theater ticket sales regardless of length of stay.
D. After the 3rd weekend, as screens drop, theater 50/50 B.O. split rises about 10% each weekend, favoring the theater, until it stops at 80/20 (negotiable).
1. MINIONS AND MONSTERS Baby Cthulhu makes its 4,243 screen debut in the DESPICABLE ME franchise and, in a snap, H.P. Lovecraft is back to the fore in American cinema. This movie comes out of the gate with a world box office that doubles its Production budget, which means everything beyond this is technically profit (not counting the unknown advertising/marketing budget which can be up to the equal of the production budget).
5. DISCLOSURE After last weekend's massive drop, Steven Spielberg's return to directing holds onto 5th place for the second weekend in a row with a mild 30% drop in ticket sales against a 655 screen cut. Now in its 4th weekend, this movie has yet to earn back its Production Budget break even point.
6. OBSESSION The winner of 2026 so far earned 2.5 times its Production Budget in its 8th weekend! Boutique distributors, Focus Features, must be going cross-eyed with delight by this time as this is the only movie in their history that earned 404 times its budget - ever! Let alone remained in the top ten while doing it. This ovie had a 46% drop in ticket sales this week against a 325 screen cut and the heaviest competition that all of the major studios combined could throw at it.
7. BACKROOMS is not doing too shabby itself, as this movie has earned over 35 times its budget and would be the profit winner of 2026 if it wasn't for OBSESSION. The heads at this other boutique distributor, A24, combined with Focus Features, have so far mopped the floor with the nervous sweat of big studio failures so far this summer. It suffered a mild 25% box office drop in its 6th weekend against a 317 screen cut.
9. SCARY MOVIE drops to #9 in its 5th weekend with a 62% loss in ticket sales against a 846 screen cut. Still, its made 7 times its Production budget in the world box office market, so it just might launch the rebirth of the franchise.
YOU BURIED IT
11. MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE struggled throughout its 4 weekends to find an audience for its live action version of a cartoon (the first live action HE-MAN also flopped), but finally leaves the top ten in its 5th weekend, having earned less than half of its $170 million Production Budget.
And you know? $170 million dollars would have funded up to three seasons of a high production quality, low risk, animated He-Man. Three seasons would have left plenty of room for the show runner and writers to find their footing with a story arc that works for their audience, while being profitable on commercial streaming like Tubi or ad supported Amazon Prime: as examples.
3 years of reinvigorating sales of the vast ancilliaries tied to this IP for the, not unlikely price of, what was probably the advertising and marketing budget on this movie: Let alone its Production budget.
Just saying.
Figures calibrated from reporting by Box Office Mojo and The Numbers. Should there be differences between the two, I err on the side of caution and post the most positive numbers.
And -
HAPPY HORROR THRILLER BIRTHDAYS TO -
By E.C. McMullen Jr.
Actor Linda Bella (FILTH TO ASHES FLESH TO DUST, ECSTASY, MONSTERS IN THE WOODS, DRACULA: REBORN, RATPOCALYPSE, DEVIL'S DOMAIN, TALES OF FRANKENSTEIN, STAINED) is 34.
Actor Eva Green (FRANKLYN, CRACKS, WOMB, PERFECT SENSE, DARK SHADOWS [2012], WHITE BIRD IN A BLIZZARD, SIN CITY 2: A DAME TO DIE FOR, 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE, PENNY DREADFUL [TV], MISS PEREGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN, BASED ON A TRUE STORY, EUPHORIA, THE LUMINARIES [TV], NOCEBO) is 46.
Look for Eva in the upcoming 2027 Horror Thriller, TWO TREES.
SUNDAY -
Actor Pruitt Taylor (ANGEL HEART, FEAR [1990], JACOB'S LADDER [1990], SWEET POISON, CHINA MOON, NATURAL BORN KILLERS, NIGHT SINS, THE END OF VIOLENCE, THE CELL, IDENTITY, TOUCHING EVIL [TV], CONSTANTINE, WHEN A MAN FALLS, CAPTIVITY, THE ECHO, DON MCKAY, MYSTERIOUS ISLAND [2010], DRIVE ANGRY, CREATURE [2011], ON THE INSIDE, BRAKE, DARK TOURIST, BROKEN BLOOD, TRUE BLOOD [TV], 13 SINS, THE MENTALIST [TV], THE DEVIL'S CANDY, HEROES REBORN [TV], AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D., BIRD BOX, SCRIPTS GONE WILD ZOMBIE NIGHTMARE, LADY IN THE LAKE [TV]) is 66.
Actor / Stuntman Brad Loree (THEM [1996], UNDERWORLD [1996], THE INVADER, FUTURESPORT, THE 13TH WARRIOR, QUARANTINE [2000], THE 6TH DAY, BONES, HALLOWEEN: RESURRECTION, FINAL DESTINATION 2, HOUSE OF THE DEAD, DREAMCATCHER, X2, SCOOBY-DOO 2, THE KEEPER, X-MEN 3, WHITE NOISE 2: THE LIGHT, BATTLESTAR GALATICA: RAZOR, DEAD CALLING, MESSAGES DELETED, WATCHMEN, 2012, THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON, FINAL STORM, TRON LEGACY, MR. HUSH, HALLOW POINT, THE DAY OF THE LIVING DEAD, THE BLACKBURN ASYLUM, CHILD'S PLAY [2019], FESTIVAL OF THE LIVING DEAD, HAPPY SLASHERS [TV], TRON: ARES) is 65.
PANIC IN THE YEAR ZERO is 64
Another day another Roger Corman movie: the guy made hundreds.
As actor Ray Milland, a renown prankster and cut-up in Hollywood, aged and his film career gave way to a television career and even that was descending over the curve, he tried his hand at directing movies and TV shows. He gave it a good shot for over ten years, only to find he still remained in demand as an actor. He never fell from grace, he only dropped from leading man status then levelled off.
Still, Ray already moved toward Science Fiction and Horror movies, as he craved a legacy of originality in his work, and those genres were the only thing he saw that delivered that creativity. And boy did he throw himself into some doozies (THE MAN WITH THE X-RAY EYES, THE AMAZING TWO-HEADED TRANSPLANT, FROGS)! That's what put him in the driver's seat as both Director and star actor in PANIC IN THE YEAR ZERO, one of two Horror movies he made with Roger Corman in 1962.
SATURDAY -
250 YEARS of the U.S.A.!
Actor Jason Liles (TO NEVER BE, DEATH NOTE [TV - 2017], RAMPAGE, THE CLINIC, GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS, STEREOSCOPE [TV], AFTERMATH, HELLRAISER [Hulu], STEREOSCOPE) is 39.
Jason shares a birthday with GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS Artist Milena Zdravkovic.
Look for Jason in the upcoming 2025, 2026, TO NEVER BE. UPDATE: This movie was moved back out of Production / Filming and is currently in limbo.
Actor Marti Matulis (LAND OF THE LOST, SHADOWS, THE APPARITION, AMERICAN HORROR STORY [TV], SLEEPY HOLLOW [TV], TEEN WOLF [TV], WESTWORLD [TV], STUDIO 666, EVIL [TV], SMILE, THE ERL KING, RED ONE, SKELETON CREW [TV]) is 56.
Art Director, Art Department Milena Zdravkovic (LEVEL 9 [TV], STRANGE FREQUENCY [2001], X2: X-MEN UNITED, FREDDY VS. JASON, I, ROBOT, UNDERWORLD: EVOLUTION, SCARY MOVIE 4, X-MEN: THE LAST STAND, SNAKES ON A PLANE, FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER, THE INCREDIBLE HULK, X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE, 2012, PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF, SUCKER PUNCH, RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - GHOST PROTOCOL, UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING, PERCY JACKSON: SEA OF MONSTERS, ROBOCOP [2014], R.L. Stine's MONSTERVILLE: CABINET OF SOULS, STAR TREK BEYOND, THE PREDATOR, BAD TIMES AT THE EL ROYALE, Lemony Snicket's A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS [TV], GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS, SEE, LOST IN SPACE [TV], GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE, THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS, THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER, THE LAST OF US [TV]) IS 57.
TALES OF TERROR is 64
It was 2024 and Writer, Producer, and Director, Roger Corman turned 98 in April of that year then died in May. Few people live long enough to outlive their copyrights and see their movies go to Public Domain, but Roger did.
Roger Corman's life story melds with influential Horror Writers like Richard Matheson (THE TWILIGHT ZONE [1959 - 1964 TV], THE LAST MAN ON EARTH, THE OMEGA MAN, THE NIGHT STALKER, THE NIGHT STRANGLER, STIR OF ECHOES, I AM LEGEND) and evergreen Horror movie icons like Vincent Price. What's more, because of his near complete Poe cycle, his cinema story is part of the posthumous works that are the legacy of Edgar Allen.
However, the main of Edgar's stories are little more than bite-sized. How to wring and bring an entire feature film out of Poe's short stories and poems?
Matheson and Corman chose a collection of stories to create TALES OF TERROR.
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