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| FEO NEWS FOR WINTER 2025: - JANUARY - The detritus of old Horror/Thriller history can be found here. These are archived news items, many of them linked outside of this website. |
SCANNERS Turns 43
1970s When you're making a low budget movie, and you're Canadian, even your previous, critically acclaimed movies can't save you because the government has a stranglehold on what you can and cannot do and say and are more than happy to throw you in prison if you attempt to thwart their rule. U.S.A. Directors may not like the arbitrary, even downright Byzantine process of the Film Ratings board of the MPAA, but that association has nothing on the film boards of Canada. It was with SCANNERS that David Cronenberg became acutely aware of this and made the move to Hollywood (and we know this because he said so - much to the surprise of Mick Garris, John Landis, and John Carpenter). Partly to protect his artistic vision but mainly to protect his liberty. Yes, the American studios may send him right back to the Motherland to shoot his movie, but by law he's protected by working on an American Production. And if there is one thing the Canadian bureaucracy will eagerly bend over and present to it's Money! No matter where that money comes from as long as it isn't out of their pocket. It's because of this that there's a deep line of demarcation between the brilliant concepts but awkward execution, or presentations of, SHIVERS, RABID, THE BROOD, and SCANNERS, compared to the brilliant concept and execution of Cronenberg's very next movie, VIDEODROME, and the rest of his 1980s output. SCANNERS was David's last film under the yoke. And - SUPERNOVA is 25
A quarter century later and this movie will never be a classic. But why? EVENT HORIZON came out in 1997 and that found its audience, warts and all. Why not SUPERNOVA? In story, direction, acting, editing, SFX, some combination or what have you, EVENT HORIZON felt like it had a sincerity to it. A whole bunch of somebodies were taking something old (PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES, IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE, ALIEN) and trying something new, entertaining, scary, unpredictable, yet exhilarating. Maybe it wasn't the best performer on stage that night: a feature instead of a headliner, but flaws and all, you enjoyed it. This is why SUPERNOVA felt like an embarrassment too pitiful to "Boo". Plus - HAPPY HORROR THRILLER BIRTHDAYS TO -
Actor Kevin Durand (DARK ANGEL [TV], TAKEN [TV], THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT, LOST [TV], TOUCHING EVIL, TOUCHING EVIL [TV], SCOOBY-DOO 2: MONSTERS UNLEASHED, THE ECHO, X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE, CONVICT, LEGION, I AM NUMBER FOUR, RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION, A DARK TRUTH, THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF BONES, DARK WAS THE NIGHT, WINTER'S TALE, NOAH, THE CAPTIVE, THE STRAIN [TV], GARM WARS: THE LAST DRUID, SWAMP THING [TV], PRIMAL, DANGEROUS, LOCKE & KEY [TV], PANTHEON [TV], ABIGAIL, KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES) is 51.
YOU DUG IT With a new weekend comes a new movie and the first theatrical release of 2025. So not surprisingly, it shoots to #1 over all of the movies that sat there since last year. It's not a Horror, Thriller, Mystery, or Suspense movie so I'll let those websites devoted to Heist movie fandom have this one. The highest ranked theatrical releases on the U.S. Top Ten in my favorite genres this week begins with -
4. NOSFERATU boutique distributor, Focus Films, is tight-lipped about the budget on this one (most likely $50 million before advertising), but in its 3rd weekend, this gothic as f*ck Horror movie (from screenwriter and director, Robert Eggers) continues to outperform expectations. This weekend it dips from #3 to #4 as it drops 48% in ticket sales against a 50 screen cut. That said, for a reasonably mid-budget Indie, its passed the $135 million mark in ticket sales. 7. WICKED in its 8th weekend drops from #5 to #7 with a 50% loss in ticket sales against a 320 screen cut. WICKED outperformed by every metric, including surpassing the half billion mark and is expected to do so well on home Video it might give a little bounce to disc buyers. They sure could use a break after buying so many 4K disc players at Best Buy, Target, and Walmart, only to see those stores disc collections vanish (Best Buy) or drastically shrink. You Buried Nothing This Week 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 - SON OF FRANKENSTEIN Turns 86
Thanks to a legal loophole, a loan that Carl Lamelle Jr. took out to finish his lavish musical Show Boat, wound up being called in and the studio taken out of the Lamelle family's hands forever - despite the fact that the movie was a critical and box office hit. Standard Capital's J. Cheever Cowdin, took over and rapidly drove the once proud Universal Studios straight off a cliff. So incompetent was Cowdin that even the other major studios were flabbergasted. Then popular comic, the late Groucho Marx, dubbed him "J. Cheever Loophole" and played the character in the MGM's 1939 Marx Bros. movie, At The Circus. Though Cowdin was a leader in aviation financing, his ambition to show any imagination or creativity in entertainment rapidly doomed Universal Pictures - all except for one movie. Prior to foreclosure, the Lamelle's had SON OF FRANKENSTEIN in development. The hiring of players and the money to fund it was, to some extent, already spent. Cowdin did his best to lowball the returning actors, particularly Bela Lugosi, and gave second billing to the star, Boris Karloff, in favor of then popular actor, Basil Rathbone. Cowdin's problem was that he was charmless and unlikable and, where being a studio head was concerned, useless - except he didn't seem to know it and no amount of diminishing box office returns could convince him otherwise. It just had to be everyone's fault but his. After all, look how well he did in a field that had nothing to do with Show Business? So the people put to work on the movie, from veteran Director Rowland V. Lee (A NIGHT OF TERROR) to Karloff, Lugosi, Rathbone, and even Lionel Atwill - who all had their future careers to consider - decided to do things their way and ignore directives from the studio boss. The result is what is still, 86 years later, considered the best of the Universal Pictures Frankensteins: SON OF FRANKENSTEIN. Plus - DEEPSTAR SIX Turns 36
Have you ever watched January 1989's DEEPSTAR SIX? Well then you've also seen March 1989's LEVIATHAN. Have you never seen DEEPSTAR SIX but you've watched LEVIATHAN? Well, it's like this: you've still seen DEEPSTAR SIX. Also - DEMON KNIGHT Turns 28 Hey wait! It's a popular cable TV show that has run its course! Do you really think you can get a hit movie out of a freshly cancelled TV show? In 1995 the TV show creators, Roger Zemekis (DEATH BECOMES HER), Walter Hill (ALIEN), Joel Silver (PREDATOR), and Richard Donner (THE OMEN) decided to take a chance and see how much life was left in the dead and hired Director Ernest R. Dickerson to helm his first Horror movie, Tales From The Crypt: DEMON KNIGHT. Wassmor - ONE HOUR PHOTO is 23
What happens when you have one of America's most beloved Comics and take away their humor? For Comic and Actor Robin Williams, something profoundly unnerving happened on the screen in Writer and Director, Mark Romanek's ONEHOUR PHOTO. Finale - HAPPY HORROR THRILLER BIRTHDAYS TO -
Actor Orlando Bloom (THE LORD OF THE RINGS [all], PIRATES
OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL, DEAD MAN'S CHEST, AT WORLD'S END, THE GOOD DOCTOR, THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG, THE HOBBIT: THERE AND BACK AGAIN, CARNIVAL ROW [TV], NEEDLE IN A TIMESTACK) is 47. SUNDAY - HAPPY HORROR THRILLER BIRTHDAYS TO - PRIMEVAL Turns 18
Imagine going to all of the trouble to make the best Killer Crocodile movie ever, only to see your movie get released in the Dump Month of January with little fanfare because there is a promising TV show in England that has such high hopes, it's already slated for a Mega-Budget U.S. television reshoot and their promotions and ads are everywhere! And the ads for the TV show, which has the same name as your movie, is about time travel - so has zero connection to your movie - YET many of the scenes involving people getting attacked by wild varmints look like your movie! Written by the team of John Brancato and Michael Ferris (THE GAME, TERMINATOR 3, SURROGATES) and by episodic television director Michael Katleman, this is why you may enjoy The Movie, PRIMEVAL far more than North American audiences cared for the TeeVee PRIMEVAL. SATURDAY -
Writer, Director, Darren Lynn Bousman (IDENTITY LOST, SAW II, SAW III, SAW IV, REPO: THE GENETIC OPERA, MOTHER'S DAY, 11-11-11, THE DEVIL'S CARNIVAL, THE BARRENS, ANGELUS, TALES OF HALLOWEEN, ALLELUIA! THE DEVIL'S CARNIVAL, ABBATOIR, ST. AGATHA, DEATH OF ME, SPIRAL, THE CELLO) is 46. KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER Turns 52
Different producers, different actors and directors - but only one writer consistently knew how to bring the scary to broadcast television. So scary and expert at keeping people glued to their sets, that his films made the nearly unique move from TV to theatrical release. It had only happened once before: the previous time he wrote a scary TV movie. His name was Richard Matheson (THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN, HOUSE OF USHER, THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM, THE TWILIGHT ZONE [TV], THE LAST MAN ON EARTH, DUEL, TRILOGY OF TERROR), one of the most influential writers you may have never heard of. His novel I AM LEGEND inspired George A. Romero to make NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, and he wrote KOLCHAK: THE NIGHTSTALKER.
1990: The Year Science Fiction Horror Movies Did Not Age.
My review of Richard Stanley's HARDWARE. And - METROPOLIS Turns 97
It was today, possibly before your Grandparents were born and when your Great-grandparents were children, that a hardcore Science Fiction Horror movie, freely adapting Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's FRANKENSTEIN (Both the first Science Fiction novel and the first Horror novel) for the 20th century, was released on theater screens. But Mary's FRANKENSTEIN (itself inspired by the legends of a Golem, among others) wasn't this movie's foundation, but its launchpad. The result was a vision of the future by novelist and screenwriter, Thea von Harbou, that inspired vanguards of Liberty and Tyrants: Futurists and fascists. Some Dictators have praised it while others banned it. This silent picture continues to strongly echo throughout many stories and movies since its birth. From its direct influence on Star Wars to TRON to the book and movies of Dune: 1984 to THE MATRIX to EQUILIBRIUM, the list is exhaustive. This is the movie that, throughout its history, has seen those who tried to preserve it and those who thought they'd destroyed the original. Up to this day, many filmmakers yearn to do a modern reboot, but no one knows how. Being nearly 100 years old, its certainly not for glazed over eyes and gnat-sized attention spans of modern smartphone droolers, but it remains a high bar that has yet to be reached: METROPOLIS. Plus - THE RELIC Turns 28
The Hollywood echelon - boardroom suits that pass through their jobs faster than contestants on America's Got Talent - maintaines their delusion that they are the guard of "Real Science" when it comes to Science Fiction movies. The only reason they throw endless fantasy nonsense into their science fiction is because the rest of us - rubes - wouldn't get it. Yet the fact remains that, by overwhelming numbers, science fiction movies that stick to the science (FORBIDDEN PLANET, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, ALIEN, THE TERMINATOR, THE THING, TREMORS) become enduring hits and those that don't, crash and burn. If you want to look for exceptions to this history you don't have to look far. Star Wars. That's all and that doesn't count the daffy Phantom Menace trilogy and the sappy Mary Sue trilogy after that. Yet in 1997 two science fiction monster movies came out, born in faux science so laughably bad that today they are known for being amusing jokes of mockery than anything of value. MIMIC - a movie even its director, Guillermo del Toro mocks - and today's embarrassment, released in the "Dump Month" of January. Peter Hyams old but never classic, THE RELIC. Also - HAPPY HORROR THRILLER BIRTHDAYS TO -
By E.C. McMullen Jr.
THE KINDRED Turns 38
Okay, here's the thing and I know a few of my Horror fam can relate. There's this Horror movie that... well it's not perfect. We can't even call it great. Yet there's just something about it. It's not great, not awful, not So Bad It's Good. It's what I call a flawed gem, like the charmingly addictive THE KINDRED. And - THE UNBORN Turns 16
David S. Goyer has penned some of my favorite dark fantasy and dark science fiction movies. But though he approaches horror, as a director and writer he's yet to cross the border into Horror. An attempt was made in 2009 with THE UNBORN. Plus - DØD SNØ Turns 16
Of the many places NAZI Zombies could turn up, we've had them rise from old battlefields (OUTPOST), lakes (ZOMBIE LAKE), and the ocean (SHOCKWAVES). Norwegians Tommy Wirkola and Stig Frode Henriksen felt it was time for the world to witness NAZI Zombies in: DEAD SNOW. Finale - HAPPY HORROR THRILLER BIRTHDAYS TO -
Actor Angela Bettis (BLESS THE CHILD, MAY, CARRIE [2002], TOOLBOX MURDERS, THE CIRCLE, Masters of Horror: SICK GIRL, THE WOODS, SCAR, WICKED LAKE, DRONES, THE WOMAN, TOM HOLLAND'S TWISTED TALES, DIG, 12 HOUR SHIFT, GHOSTS OF THE OZARKS, THE WEIRD KIDZ) is 51.
Film Masters Does their Magic with Roger Corman's MONSTER FROM THE OCEAN FLOOR
By Vicki Greenleaf The first feature-length film produced by the iconic king of pop cinema, Roger Corman, Monster From the Ocean Floor was inspired by a Los Angeles Times story Corman read about a one-man submarine manufactured by Aerojet General. He couldn't pay for utilizing the sub in his move, but he promised plenty of publicity ... and a deal was struck. SPECIAL FEATURES: Tom Weaver and The Weaver Players provide full-length commentary, which includes archival contributions from Roger Corman; liner notes by Weaver; Ballyhoo Motion Pictures presents two new documentaries, Bob Baker: From Monsters to Marionettes and Roger Corman: Becoming a B-Movie Maker; stills gallery, courtesy of Mike Barnum; original 35mm theatrical trailer; and re-cut 2025 trailer. And - WHITE NOISE 2 Turns 16
Director Patrick Lussier (DRACULA 2000, MY BLOODY VALENTINE - 2009), and newbie writer Matt Venne did something so rare its arguably unique: They made a sequel better than the original, and I mean Way better than the original. Unfortunately their producer, Shawn Williamson (SANCTIMONY, BLACKWOODS, HOUSE OF THE DEAD, ALONE IN THE DARK, SEVERED, BLOODRAYNE, THE WICKERMAN - 2006, SEED, APOLLO 18, BLOODRAYNE II, lots of disposable Christmas TV roms for Hallmark, Lifetime, etc.), has made a career out of avoiding the effort of reaching for the lowest hanging fruit and just picks up what he can find on the ground. Then he hires folks to spruce it up, glue some macaroni noodles on it, and spray it with gold taint in time for the annual Yard Sale (AFM). And boy does Shawn's IMDb page show it! Unfortunately for Patrick, as good a director as he is, he's spent his career waiting for paychecks from producer's like Shawn, despite the fact that he was fortunate enough to learn lessons by visionary indie rebels from Wes Craven to Guillermo Del Toro. Patrick seems to follow the Jimmy Sangster "Do You Want It Good Or Do You Want It Tuesday?" method of career path and, so far, all of his boss's want it Tuesday. So all of Patrick's talent, experience, and hard work couldn't save this movie from going straight to video - because Shawn can't tell a good movie from crap - and again - his body of work reflects this in 8K IMAX crystal clarity. Too bad, because WHITE NOISE 2 is the theatrical release movie WHITE NOISE should have been. And - DAYBREAKERS Turns 15
Some movies appear to be stuck in the culture of their country of origin. The Spierig Bros. make hit after hit in their native Australia, and their movies do well in the U.K. including Canada. Yet after nearly 20 years and movies with big name actors, they still can't break through the American Market. Find out about the hardcore vampire movie you may have never seen, DAYBREAKERS. Plus - HAPPY HORROR THRILLER BIRTHDAYS TO -
Actor Michelle Forbes (KALIFORNIA, LOVE BITES, ESCAPE FROM L.A., 24 [TV], BATTLESTAR GALACTICA [TV], GLOBAL FREQUENCY, HALF-LIFE 2 [VG], BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: RAZOR, WAKING THE DEAD [TV], TRUE BLOOD [TV], THE KILLING [TV], THE HUNTERS, ORPHAN BLACK [TV], THE RETURNED [TV - 2015], THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY Part 2, POWERS [TV], GEMINI, WOLFENSTEIN II: THE NEW COLOSSUS [VG], BERLIN STATION, TREADSTONE [TV], BIG SKY [TV]) is 59.
Black Mandala Releases 100 CANDLES: THE POSSESSION This Jan. 14 (USA) Jan. 13 (UK)
This is a Digital and VOD release. Shinehouse says the movie's logline is, "Influencers summon the "Black Countess" in a ritual at her mansion, inadvertently releasing otherworldly forces." 100 CANDLES: THE POSSESSION is a 73 minute anthology movie and sequel to 2020's THE 100 CANDLES GAME. And - WHITE NOISE Turns 20
Actor Michael Keaton's career is on an upswing, thanks in large part to his 2014 indie movie, BIRDMAN. But in 2005 it was a different story and it looked like Michael might sink forever thanks to a high profile studio movie called WHITE NOISE. Plus - 14 Years ago Today: Nicolas Cage's SEASON OF THE WITCH Every famous person has their followers and detractors, yet actors are often limited by how many roles they've had and this is particularly true for how many leading roles they've had. For fans of Nicolas Cage, however, there are an embarrassment of riches in over 100 of his works. Plus, SEASON OF THE WITCH has Christopher Lee! Finale - HAPPY HORROR THRILLER BIRTHDAYS TO -
Actor Lauren Cohan (SUPERNATURAL [TV], DEATH RACE 2, YOUNG ALEXANDER THE GREAT, THE VAMPIRE DIARIES [TV], THE WALKING DEAD [TV], THE WALKING DEAD: DEAD CITY [TV]) is 43.
YOU DUG IT
3. NOSFERATU as expected in the "Dump Month" of January, no new releases entered the Top Ten in the first week so no new competition. All of the top three held onto their positions from last week. NOSFERATU experienced a 39% dip in ticket sales per screen, but that was because theaters added an extra 140 screens to its total and that includes taking some of those screens away from the Walt Disney and Paramount family movies holding steady at #1 and #2. It's a rarity for Focus Features to break $100 million at the world box office in only its 2nd weekend but that's exactly what's happened. NOSFERATU may wind up being the biggest single winner distributor, Focus Features, has ever had. 5. WICKED in its 7th weekend stepped down from last week's #4 to #5 with a 48% drop in ticket sales while adding 110 more screens. 9. HOMESTEAD stayed steady in its third weekend, holding onto #9 from last week with a smaller drop in ticket sales of 32% while losing 60 screens. You Buried Nothing This Week Bubbling Under 11. KRAVEN THE HUNTER, which audiences buried in its 3rd weekend last week, is holding onto 11 spot in its 4th weekend. Okay, so no new movies entering, sure. Surprisingly though, it suffered only a 35% dip in ticket sales this week despite a heavy 575 screen cut. Is it possible that KRAVEN will get a dead cat bounce back onto the Top Ten next weekend?
12. SE7EN for its 30 year anniversary, Warner Bros. re-enters SEVEN as an IMAX movie on 200 screens. Fans turned out for it giving it a higher per screen average than this weekend's #2 movie. 13. THE DAMNED Boutique distributor Vertical Entertainment enters its new Horror Thriller to a 732 screen release. THE DAMNED so far has got an 85% Tomato from 39 critics but a 50% from 100 Horror movie fans. It could go either way. Obituary Rather than let their movies sink to the Top 20, Warner Bros. removed THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE WAR OF THE ROHIRRIM from theaters after last week's disastrous fall to #12 in only two weeks. Amazon MGM removed RED ONE from theaters when it dropped to #14 last week. IFC didn't give its movie, BLOODY AXE WOUND, which debuted last week on 237 screens for a 22nd place (listed at Box Office Mojo at 24), a chance to develop any audience with a second weekend shot (I never saw an ad for it). BLOODY AXE WOUND was yanked after only one week. 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 - COMA Turns 47
How on earth can a Science Fiction Thriller, nearly half a century old, still be relevant? And what do you need to know to write one? Read my article on the Robin Cook and Michael Chchton Science Fiction Thriller, COMA. Plus - HOSTEL is 22
Imagine getting the opportunity to hang with Quentin Tarantino and one night, he wants to hear your pitches. So you tell him all of the ones you think he'd like and he's... whelmed. Well, you do have that one in your back pocket but, no, it's too crazy. No theater, no investor who wants to make their money back will help you get this movie made. But what the hell? It can't hurt to just tell Quentin about this idea you have for a movie called HOSTEL. Also - MEGAN is 3
With this 2022 release, Producer and co-writer James Wan finally figured out a way to bring his love of scary dolls (a fear he seems to share with Charles Band) into the modern age (instead of being merely supernatural) in a way that was fun and realistic enough to be bring the frights and chills. He brought in Gerard Johnstone, who made his mark in fun, scary Horror with his 2014 feature, HOUSEBOUND. This is how they did it with MEGAN. Finale - HAPPY HORROR THRILLER BIRTHDAYS TO -
Actor Elizabeth Blackmore (EVIL DEAD, THE VAMPIRE DIARIES [TV], SUPERNATURAL [TV]) is 37. SUNDAY -
Actor Clancy Brown (THE BRIDE, HIGHLANDER, BLUE STEEL, AMBITION, CAST A DEADLY SPELL, PET SEMETERY II, PAST MIDNIGHT, GARGOYLES [TV], STARSHIP TROOPERS, CARNIVÀLE [TV], THE BURROWERS [TV], A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET [2010], COWBOYS AND ALIENS, JOHN DIES AT THE END, AT ANY PRICE, HELLBENDERS, SPARKS, TRANSFORMERS PRIME [TV - Animated], THE LEGEND KORRA [TV - Animated], NOTHING LEFT TO FEAR, HOMEFRONT, HULK AND THE AGENTS OF S.M.A.S.H. [TV - Animated], TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES [2012-2017, TV - Animated], DOOM PATROL [TV], SLEEPY HOLLOW [TV], AXE COP [TV - Animated], LITTLE EVIL [TV], THOR: RAGNAROK, DETROIT: BECOME HUMAN [VG], THE VENTURE BROS. [TV], THE MORTUARY COLLECTION, LAST LOOKS, DEXTER: NEW BLOOD [TV], JOHN WICK 4, INVINCIBLE [TV - Animated]) is 65. SATURDAY -
Actor Matt Frewer (MAX HEADROOM, THE FOURTH PROTOCOL, FAR FROM HOME, THE STAND [TV], THE LANWMOWER MAN II, GARGOYLES [TV], DEAD MAN'S GUN, QUICKSILVER HIGHWAY, DEAD FIRE, THE INCREDIBLE HULK [TV - Animated], PSI FACTOR, THE HOUND OF BASKERVILLES [2000], THE SIGN OF FOUR [2001], THE ROYAL SCANDAL [2001], THE CASE OF THE WHITECHAPEL VAMPIRE [2002], TAKEN [TV], DAWN OF THE DEAD [2004], RIDING THE BULLET, DESPERATION, EUReKA [TV], WEIRDSVILLE, INTELLIGENCE [TV], WATCHMEN, RAMPAGE, BAG OF BONES, FALLING SKIES [TV], ORPHAN BLACK [TV], TIMELESS [TV], RESIDUE, ALTERED CARBON [TV], CASTLEVANIA [TV], THE ORDER [TV], FEAR THE WALKING DEAD [TV], THE MAGICIANS [TV]) is 67. Over Half a Century of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer's BRAIN SALAD SURGERY
How can you blame me? I was just a child! The first time I ever saw Hans Rudi Giger's art was in an ancient record store. It was an album cover to a band I'd never heard of, Emerson, Lake, and Palmer. The album was Brain Salad Surgery. By that H.R. Giger cover alone I knew I had to get it! I had to listen to it! But my parents took one look at that album cover and weren't just No, but an emphatic "Hell no!". My Catholic Pop never shook off the paranoia of watching THE OMEN (and never looked at me the same afterwards) just as he never shook his paranoia over surfing again after seeing JAWS (mY Pop was no one to go to for advice about anything at all, but he was the only Father I knew and it would be a regrettably long time before I realized his flaws). Anyway, in that nameless record store I swore then and there on my first grade teacher's life (Mrs. Foresmo) that one day, I would buy that album! I patiently bided my time until adulthood and living on my own. Then I haunted used record stores. The original had a gateway fold out cover I'd discovered. None of that brand new single sleeve regular CENSORED cover or itty bitty CD album with a *Great Music! Great Price* sticker on it for me! Not after all of these years! I found it. I made sure it was the original pressing. It was! I bought it, took it home, and put it on my record player. After so many years, was I happy or disappointed in Emerson, Lake, and Palmer's BRAIN SALAD SURGERY?
HAPPY HORROR THRILLER BIRTHDAYS TO -
By E.C. McMullen Jr.
TREMORS 4 is Old Enough to Legally Drink
Thanks to the distributor, Universal Pictures, tragic corporate culture of ever smaller budgets and demands for shorter production times (a well-established recipe for disaster) on sequels, the quality of the TREMORS francise from Stampede Entertainment dropped percent by percent. TREMORS 2 was only half as good as TREMORS and TREMORS 3 was only half as good as TREMORS 2. With TREMORS 2, the franchise was purely Direct to Video. By 2004, TREMORS 4 hit the rock bottom of Syfy Channel bilge. And - HAPPY HORROR THRILLER BIRTHDAYS TO -
Actor Tia Carrere (COVENANT, ZOMBIE NIGHTMARE, INTIMATE STRANGER, RISING SUN, TREACHEROUS, TRUE LIES, HOLLOW POINT, KULL THE CONQUEROR, TOP OF THE WORLD, DOG BOYS, SCAR CITY, THE NIGHT OF THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN, RELIC HUNTER [TV], TORN APART, SUPERNOVA, DARK HONEYMOON, IN PLAIN SIGHT [TV], SCOOBY DOO! MYSTERY INCORPORATED [TV], GUTSHOT STRAIGHT, THE GIRL [2016], LEGEND OF HALLOWAIIAN) is 57.
HAPPY NEW YEAR BIRTHDAYS TO -
Actor Jonas Armstrong (GHOST SQUAD, BOOKS OF BLOOD, THE FIELD OF BLOOD, RAGE OF THE YETI, TWENTY8K, EDGE OF TOMORROW, LOOK THE OTHER WAY AND RUN, GHOST SEEKERS [TV], THE DROWNING [TV], HOLLINGTON DR. [TV], LOOK THE OTHER WAY AND RUN, C.B. STRIKE [TV], AFTER THE FLOOD [TV], COMA) is 44.
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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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