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| FEO NEWS FOR SPRING 2024: - MAY - The detritus of old Horror/Thriller history can be found here. These are archived news items, many of them linked outside of this website. |
Arrow Video Shoots PANDEMONIUM to May 27
French Macabre Horror Movie, PANDEMONIUM played the major genre film festivals and now comes to VOD, SVOD, TVOD, Apple, and Prime this May 27. Written and Directed by Quarxx (ALL THE GODS IN THE SKY), it stars Hugo Dillion (MORTEL [TV], THE FIVE DEVILS) and Arben Bajraktaraj (HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX, TAKEN). And - CONAN THE BARBARIAN Turns 42
Italian movie Producer, Dino De Laurentiis was already impressed with Arnold Schwarzenegger as someone who could fill the sandals of Robert E. Howard's heroic anti-hero, Conan. But musclebound weightlifters grafted into movies and TV shows where they couldn't act had many box office bombings and few box office flights. Arnold stood apart because he was taking acting lessons and wanted to be good at it. Arnold was so serious about it, that he impressed fellow actors Max von Sydow and James Earl Jones, who both gave him lessons on the set during downtime while shooting CONAN THE BARBARIAN. Plus - HAPPY HORROR THRILLER BIRTHDAYS TO -
Actor, Director Danny Huston (THE HUMAN FACTOR, MISTER CORBETT'S GHOST, THE MADDENING, SUSAN'S PLAN, 21 GRAMS, SILVER CITY, BIRTH, THE CONSTANT GARDENER, CHILDREN OF MEN, FADE TO BLACK, THE NUMBER 23, THE KINGDOM, 30 DAYS OF NIGHT, X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE, EDGE OF DARKNESS, CLASH OF THE TITANS, THE WARRIOR'S WAY, A MONSTER IN PARIS, WRATH OF THE TITANS, MAGIC CITY [TV], HITCHCOCK, TIGERS, JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE FLASHPOINT PARADOX, AMERICAN HORROR STORY [TV], PRESSURE, FRANKENSTEIN [2015], PARANOID [TV], IO, ANGEL HAS FALLEN, MARLOWE, CONSECRATION) is 62.
WEREWOLF OF LONDON Turns 88
Universal Picture's first Werewolf. They went for a fuzzy Science Fiction angle over superstition and, while this dapper Werewolf is never seen drinking Pina Coladas down at Trader Vic's, his hair is indeed, Perfect! WEREWOLF OF LONDON again. And - Today marks 47 Years of THE CAR
The George Barris design is why its a classic and the concept is why its ripe for remake: THE CAR. Plus - FRIDAY THE 13th: Part VII - THE NEW BLOOD is 36
As the entire franchise aims only to hack and slash in one movie after the next, forever looping, it leaves a lot of Horror, Thriller, and genuine creepy as hell scares on the table. We cover the storyline often visually hinted at but never explored in screenwriter Ken "The Fan Behind The Mask" King's review of FRIDAY THE 13th Part VII: THE NEW BLOOD. Also - It's Been 30 Years Since THE CROW
Because of the tragic killing on set of Brandon Lee, the screenplay needed a doctor. It had to be fixed. Changes needed to be made. Otherwise, Miramax would have to count it a loss and no one would ever see Lee's last movie. But what they did have was gold. Brandon loved the script and loved his role. So they re-wrote James O'Barr's story with his blessing. Brandon had become his friend during the time leading up to production and during it. O'Barr's story was a cathartic journey through hell for a real life personal tragedy involving the woman he loved. With Lee's death on set, he had to go through it all over again. The subsequent sequels made it all worse. Now they're talking remake and fans of the original aren't happy about it, as you'd expect. But those fans of the movie never saw O'Barr's original story. Between a thoroughly reworked script and the final edit that had to put it all together and make sense of everything, O'Barr's masterwork became something else. So before we boo remake, let's remember 1994's original THE CROW. Finale - HAPPY HORROR THRILLER BIRTHDAYS TO -
Actor, Producer, Director, Editor Bryan Coyne (SILENT NIGHT ZOMBIE NIGHT, HE, THE BLACK BOX, ORGY OF THE DAMNED, THE HUMAN RACE, INFERNAL, BAD APPLES) is 62 or something. SUNDAY -
Actor Stephen Baldwin (BITTER HARVEST, THE USUAL SUSPECTS, DEAD WEEKEND, MR. MURDER, SCARRED CITY, X CHANGE, DEAD AWAKE, SPIDER'S WEB, SHELTER ISLAND, FALLACY, BOUND BY LIES, DARK STORM, THE GENIUS CLUB, SHARK IN VENICE, SHOOT THE DUKE, LET THE GAME BEGIN, MISSION: THE PROPHET, 2047: SIGHTS OF DEATH, MAGI, BLOOD PAGEANT, NOVA VITA [TV]) is 57. SATURDAY -
Actor Thomas Downey (HITTERS, JOLLY ROGER: MASSACRE AT CUTTER'S COVE, H.G. WELLS WAR OF THE WORLDS [2005], FRANKENSTEIN REBORN, THE BEAST OF BRAY ROAD, SHAPESHIFTER, KING OF THE LOST WORLD, EXORCISM: THE POSSESSION OF GAIL BOWERS, HILLSIDE CANNIBALS, DRACULA'S CURSE, TRANSMORPHERS, PARANORMAL INCIDENT, MIRROR IMAGE, 616: PARANORMAL INCIDENT, AXE GIANT: THE WRATH OF PAUL BUNYAN, SORORITY PARTY MASSACRE, ZEDD, THE BURNING DEAD, BETHANY, #CAPTURED, ZOMBIE, DARK IMAGE, DOLLS, ZOMBIE [2019], BEAST MODE, BLACK NOISE) is 55. 28 WEEKS LATER Turns 17
28 MONTHS LATER is in pre-production with original creator, Danny Boyle, back in the Director's chair. Once in a Murder Moon, the third movie in a Horror franchise is known to save the trilogy if the first sequel nearly killed it (THE OMEN III, A NIGHTMARE ON ELMSTREET 3, THE EXORCIST III, PHANTASM III, not many). More often than not, however, it's the third movie that's usually the final nail in the franchise, or at best, an oblique shift to any further movies in the franchise (CHILD'S PLAY 3 - last of the "Child's Play" titles) or at worst, the urine soaked passage to Direct to Home Video (AMITYVILLE 3D, HELLRAISER 3, CANDYMAN 3, HOUSE 3, THE CROW: SALVATION). Still, after all of these years, Danny hasn't given up on a second sequel to his most profitable franchise, turning that ship around to former glory! But maybe he shouldn't give up after we saw, 28 WEEKS LATER.
Boris Karloff's BEDLAM Turns 78
Is a picture really worth a thousand words? Artist William Hogarth's painting of Bedlam, Plate 8: "A Rake's Progress" was the inspiration used by screenwriters Carlos Keith and Mark Robson. Robson was Producer Val Lewton's goto guy for directing as well as writing. In 1946, while Bela Lugosi's career was sliding, Boris Karloff, thanks in part to his association with the wildly popular Val Lewton, was rising. With Lewton, Boris made respectable Horror for discerning adults. But how many people do you know who have ever heard of Val Lewton today? And how many do you know who have ever heard of what is considered one of Val Lewton and Boris Karloff's best, BEDLAM? And - Neil Marshall's DOG SOLDIERS is 22
If you don't know, this movie is either a Werewolf story involving soldiers, or a Soldier story involving werewolves. One of the best things (among many) about it, is its economy of story that lends itself to the audience's suspension of disbelief. Like the moment where the soldiers are confronted with the impossible idea of being surrounded by werewolves. They may have the guns and ammunition to fight their way out and live another day, but then Megan says, "If this is true then what else is true? You'll never have another good night's sleep as long as you live." This is the brutal beauty of DOG SOLDIERS. Plus - HAPPY HORROR THRILLER BIRTHDAYS TO -
By E.C. McMullen Jr.
SOYLENT GREEN Turns 51 in the U.S.A.
The fact that political dystopian science fiction books and movies miss their date of expiration never means that their warning is obsolete. George Orwell's 1984 forever hangs over our heads and the very people who espouse a Big Brother government are often the same ones irritably telling us to ignore that "Orwell stuff". This movie's due date was 2022. Are the lessons of SOYLENT GREEN also outdated? And - FRIDAY THE 13th Is 43
Sean S. Cunningham saw John Carpenter's success with HALLOWEEN and he really wanted a piece of that! God, how he wanted to copy John Carpenter! Sean's movie would also have teens having sex and being stalked and butchered by a knife wielding killer. He didn't have a mask idea in mind so, you'd only see the killer's big hairy hands, see? Now he just needed a holiday. No good Holidays worth his time (Arbor Day Massacre? Surely you jest!) but lots of people are superstitious about the number 13 and ... and ... Friday the 13th! Well there you go! With this in mind he commissioned a movie poster, then put that sucker in a newspaper ad. Paramount Pictures took the bait. Now all Sean needed was a script! A FRIDAY THE 13th script that would haunt Sean for ... A Very Long Time... 43 years to be exact. Plus - THE FIFTH ELEMENT Turns 27
27 Years! Can you believe I saw this movie in the same year I launched this website? ...Yes, I'm that old. Shut yer f*ckin' piehole! Anyway, it's a SciFi Action Thriller, not Science Fiction and by that I mean FLASH GORDON comic book-style Space Opera over hardcore Science Fiction like FORBIDDEN PLANET, 2001, ALIEN, or John Carpenter's THE THING. This is why THE FIFTH ELEMENT is such fun! Finale - HAPPY HORROR THRILLER BIRTHDAYS TO -
By E.C. McMullen Jr.
THE CORPSE VANISHES Turns 82
Look, let's not quibble, shall we? I don't like quibbling and I like quarreling and arguing even less. The fact is you could remake this movie with a bigger budget and better script but since it won't have Bela Lugosi to carry the weight, you'll be spinning your wheels and losing money by the minute. On the other hand, if you've never seen it and you love old Bela, you're going to be entertained when THE CORPSE VANISHES. And - J.J. Abrams "Kelvin Timeline" STAR TREK Turns 15
The stewards of Star Trek TNG the TV show were poor stewards of the Star Trek TNG movie franchise and it slowly slid into ignominy as the actors went onto better careers or fan conventions. No, Paramount felt what the movie really needed was a guy who successfully made his mark in television shows that started hot and prematurely fizzled out. Paramount needed someone like J.J.Abrams who openly didn't like Star Trek because he couldn't understand it: it was over his head. And because he couldn't understand it, what was the point of making a movie that a massive world-wide fanbase could understand?
So, Abrams wanted to play to the lowest common denominator: A small slice of movie audience who didn't like Star Trek but might like the franchise he was selling because he dumbed it down. and wouldn't see it. The desperate Star Trek fans were a bunch of rubes who only understood lame-brain science stuff, so they'd turn out en mass and maybe even convince themselves they enjoyed it (like I did. Mea culpa)! At first. Which meant they could get two, maybe three movies out of the way before audiences turned their backs on it. That's why the studio bean counters gave their cynical greenlight to J.J. Abrams STAR TREK. Yet Star Trek fans were happy with his first one and it made the most money. So naturally Abrams didn't like it. If he made Trekkies happy, he did something wrong. Abrams would go on to fall in love with the idminishing box office returns of his Star Trek sequels. Plus - HAPPY HORROR THRILLER BIRTHDAYS TO -
Actor Nora Arnezeder (LES DUEX MONDES, MANIAC [2012], ZOO [TV], IN THE CLOUD, ORIGIN [TV], BERSERK, FARAWAY EYES, RIVIERA [TV], THE COLONY, ARMY OF THE DEAD, THAT COLD DEAD LOOK IN YOUR EYES) is 35.
May is Mummy Month THE MUMMY is 25
Universal Pictures decided it was high time they relaunched their Monsters that put them on the map in the first place and remains their most recognized calling card (Monsters remain to Universal Pictures what a rodent remains to Disney World). Actually, it had been "high-time" for some time but Universal was looking for the right director for way too much time. They'd already attached and detached Joe Dante, Clive Barker, and George A. Romero. Wes Craven was offered the job but didn't jump. Disney Director, Stephen Sommer, did so well with 1994's live action Jungle Book that the mouse let him direct a Horror movie he wrote called Tentacle, through their Hollywood Pictures appendage. Before it hit the screens as DEEP RISING, word was getting out that this would be both a fun and scary ride. And word was getting out a lot because Disney kept cutting the budget (We can't get Harrison Ford? Cut the budget! Jim Carrey isn't replacing Ford? Cut it some more!) which contributed to a longer, not shorter, production schedule. So when Stephen mentioned in passing that he'd love to take on the famous Universal Mummy Monster franchise, UP sat up and took notice. Once DEEP RISING made fat profit, despite playing in theaters against James Cameron's box office gigantic TITANIC, there was no going back on Stephen Sommers THE MUMMY. And - May is Marvel Month IRON MAN 2 is 14
Stan Lee and Marvel Productions couldn't afford to do the standard knee-jerk crap sequel. The only way to support Stan's vision of an MCU was to make each sequel better than the preceding movie. It didn't get to have a lower budget, cheaper writers and directors and run off opening weekend fumes as it crawled to its trilogy disc pack and faded from memory. It had to rock! So this is what happened with IRON MAN 2. Also - HAPPY HORROR THRILLER BIRTHDAYS TO -
Actor Carrie Henn (ALIENS, THUNDER ISLAND) is 47.
Author E.C. McMullen Jr., creator of Feo Amante's Horror Thriller, found getting his short stories published in mags and anthos was great at first. Then, after years of this, he realized his stories were spread out everywhere in limited magazine runs and their availability vanished over time, lost to any readers who would look. Even worse was his life being wasted on glacial response from publishers even when eventually accepted! This despite the fact that his stories often received critical acclaim time and again. PERPETUAL BULLET is his collection of previously published shorts plus a few bonuses. Available in a new Special Edition Hardcover, Paperback, and Kindle now! And - INSANE LIKE ME gets a June 4 VOD / Digital Release
Plus - BLACK SABBATH Turns 62
Yes, this is the movie that legendary musician and Boris Karloff fan, Tony Iommi, chose to name his new band after. That's right, the band that launched the career of Ozzy Osbourne. The band that introduced Stan Lee's Marvel comics IRON MAN movie and the MCU to the world with Black Sabbath playing their hit, Iron Man.
And yes, the same Mario Bava whose movies stylistically, in both design and story, heavily influenced everything from STAR TREK (TOS) to ALIEN to FRIDAY THE 13th and who knows what else? When it comes to modern Horror and Heavily Metal, there is a falling domino line from Mario Bava to the present, making him, if not the father, then at least the Godfather of it all. And that all began about 60 years ago with BLACK SABBATH. Also - PHANTASM III Turns 30
The ball was back and so was a cheer from the Phans when a grown-up A. Michael Baldwin returned to play his character Mike (PHANTASM, PHANTASM IV) in PHANTASM III: Lord Of The Dead. Finale - HAPPY HORROR THRILLER BIRTHDAYS TO -
Writer Nancy Kilpatrick (THE VAMPIRE STORIES OF NANCY KILPATRICK, THE GOTH BIBLE, ETERNAL CITY, POWER OF THE BLOODWORLD series, BLOOD LOVER, EVOLVE: VAMPIRE STORIES OF THE NEW UNDEAD) is 63 or something. SUNDAY -
Actor John Rhys-Davies (SPHINX, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, WAXWORK, THE LOST WORLD, THE UNAMEABLE II, THE LORD OF THE RINGS, CHUPACABRA TERROR, TAINTED LOVE, ANACONDA 3, ANACONDA 4, 31 NORTH 62 EAST, FEROCIOUS PLANET, MEDIUM RAW: NIGHT OF THE WOLF, FEROCIOUS PLANET, ESCAPE, 100 DEGREES BELOW ZERO, PRISONERS OF THE SUN, TIME LAPSE [2014], AUX, AQUAMAN, G-LOC, THE GATES, over 270 movies and TV episodes in all!) is 79. SATURDAY -
Actor Nicholas Hamilton (STRANGERLAND, THE DARK TOWER, IT [2017], IT: CHAPTER 2, ENDLESS, GEN V) is 23. May Is Mummy Month THE MUMMY RETURNS is 23
Aw man! It was great to see the fun cast togther again! And The Rock was at his prime and he was going to be... The Scorpion King (we had no idea but it sounded cool and we were there for it!). What a great movie! All building up to the appearance of the Scorpion King! Then... we saw it, and that utterly changed the direction of THE MUMMY RETURNS. May Is Marvel Month SPIDER-MAN 3 is 17
There could have been many more SPIDER-MAN movies with the Sam Raimi cast. Unfortunately the only actor who got out of it unscathed was J.K. Simmons. My first watch was pure geek giddiness. But some movies cannot withstand repeated viewings and that's what happened with most of us who saw SPIDER-MAN 3.
May Is Marvel Month SPIDER-MAN is 22
It was 2001! Hot Marvel movies like BLADE opened the door to Box office gold and X-MEN laid the foundation. It was no fluke! A BLADE sequel was in the works and a Horror director was signed on. An X-MEN sequel was in the works and it began with a Horror director! Columbia Pictures was ready to release their own Marvel superhero property and it too was directed by a Horror director! One who already proved himself in the Superhero realm with DARK MAN! Then on September 9, 2001, a day that changed the world for the worse put the brakes on Sam Raimi and Marvel Studios' ascent. It would be a new year before Columbia Picture's SPIDER-MAN would be released. And - IRON MAN 3 is 11 Years Old
How to put this? By 2013 the MCU was off and running. CAPTAIN AMERICA was a hit. THE AVENGERS were a bigger hit. It was as if Paramount had found the secret formula (which they did) for making Superhero movies that were basically legal machines for printing money. And whatever box office the movie made in theaters, that would be doubled or more in home video. Then came the second sequel. In hindsight, some point to Disney buying out Paramount's Marvel properties of THE AVENGERS and IRON MAN in 2012, leaving Paramount with plenty of cash and nothing to lose if they poisoned Disney's new well. On the other hand, maybe it was to Disney's benefit if the property lost some value before all the monetary transactions were complete? When you rule out all possibilities then whatever is left, however improbable, has an ocean of its own possibilities. Sour grapes coming from unexpected corners are legendary in Hollywood, and who knows really when everybody wants credit for a hit and nobody takes credit for a miss? For whatever reason(s) which are none too clear, somewhere in the chain they threw away everything they learned that far in making hit, fan pleasing Marvel movies, and made a parody IRON MAN 3 so mediocre that it destroyed the franchise for the next ten years and damaged the MCU brand. Plus - HAPPY HORROR THRILLER BIRTHDAYS TO -
By E.C. McMullen Jr.
THE BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS Turns 63
In 1961 it was the worst movie ever released in the U.S.A.! But that's a highly competitive field and it lost that emblem a long time ago. Never-the-less, this movie once occupied such a lowly perch and reviewer Kelly Parks forced himself to watch THE BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS out of sheer masochism. And - Like It Or Not, May Is Marvel Month So Let's Get To It: X-MEN 2 is Old Enough to Legally Drink
A quarter Century ago, New Line Cinema's BLADE opened the door for Marvel movies. When it did, Columbia Pictures stopped sitting on their hands and finally committed to their SPIDER-MAN property. To top Sony's Columbia, 20th Century Fox finally roused from their moribund business model: their decade plus of fence sitting on their X-MEN property, and tried to shove as many X-Men through that doorway as possible. Columbia has one Marvel Superhero, we've got a whole school of them! The first X-MEN, in 2000, led by a cast of TV show and character actors, was a surprising smash hit. Let's make that sequel! Holy shit! Columbia Picture's much delayed SPIDER-MAN (2002) is a smash! Sony is rushing forward on the sequel! Will director and co-writer Bryan Singer make lightning strike twice with X-MEN 2? Plus - IRON MAN Turns 16
By many accounts, Universal Pictures and the producers who owned Marvel's HULK franchise, didn't stand by Marvel icon Stan Lee and his Marvel Comics Universe. They went their own, non-Stan Lee way with HULK, Stan wished them well, and the movie crashed and burned to ash. This is how Stan actually turned Universal's loss to his gain and used it as a launch pad for his MCU, with two Marvel movies released within months of each other, starting with IRON MAN! Finale - HAPPY HORROR THRILLER BIRTHDAYS TO -
By E.C. McMullen Jr.
May 28: 4DM will Release Psychological Thriller
And - FRIDAY THE 13th Part 2 Turns 43
It was meant to be nothing more than an "also ran". Producer Sean S. Cunningham had the poster before he had the script. In fact before he was sure what the story was going to be. All he knew is that he wanted to copy John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN, which meant a mysterious maniac hacking barely legal kids. Except John Carpenter's movie was practically a sequel of Bob Clark's BLACK CHRISTMAS. Would a copy of a copy work? It's not as sharp as... well... the original.* Though Cunningham had the low budget of Clark and Carpenter's indie slashers, he also had something the other two directors didn't have: the big studio clout of Paramount Pictures. And that, kiddies, is part of the reason that we still have FRIDAY THE 13th Part 2, today. *Michael Keaton in Multiplicity. Plus - X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE
To the suits at 20th Century Fox's utter surprise, the first X-MEN was a far bigger hit than they anticipated. Then X2 was a bigger hit than that. Well if there was one thing 20th Century Fox despised in the 1990s and early 2000s it was producers, writers, and directors increasing their value (and so their paycheck) in the world with Fox properties. Fox soon made things unbearable for their hit director so he left, leaving a hole that Fox suits at that time didn't know how to fill and didn't care. We saw this contemptable lack of care throughout the young millennium's Golden Age of Marvel movies. Everyone from Disney to Columbia Pictures figured out how to make a winning Marvel movie. Only 20th Century Fox threw themselves off of a cliff, nearly every single time they made one. X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE was no exception. Also - HAPPY HORROR THRILLER BIRTHDAYS TO -
By E.C. McMullen Jr.
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INTERVIEWS Matt Jarbo's interview with Feo Amante at The Zurvivalist. James Cheetham's Q&A with Feo Amante at Unconventional Interviews *. Megan Scudellari interviews Feo Amante and Kelly Parks (of THE SCIENCE MOMENT) in The Scientist Magazine. Check out our interview at The-Scientist.com. REFERENCES Researcher David Waldron, references my review of UNDERWORLD in the Spring 2005, Journal of Religion and Popular Culture entry, Role-Playing Games and the Christian Right: Community Formation in Response to a Moral Panic (downloadable pdf). E.C. McMullen Jr.
*Linked to archive.org |
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