FEO NEWS FOR WINTER 2023: - 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.
Eventually the links may not work. Everything's Eventual.
Jan. 31
One Week Until Shine House and Black Mandala Release: THE FEARWAY
And -
PHENOMEMA Turns 38
Master of Horror, Dario Argento brought on Donald Pleasence, an aging actor with a wide range who had a taste for Horror movies. He paired Donald with Jennifer Connelly, a young actor just starting out who would go on to play a wide range of roles, but always have a taste for Horror movies.
The result is one of Argento's best movies, PHENOMENA aka CREEPERS. Mike Bracken, the Horror Geek, tells us why.
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HAPPY HORROR THRILLER BIRTHDAYS TO -
By E.C. McMullen Jr.
Actor, Stunts Danielle Burgio (John Carpenter's VAMPIRES, BLADE, THE GREEN MILE, ALL AMERICAN MASSACRE, John Carpenter's GHOSTS OF MARS, DAREDEVIL, THE MATRIX RELOADED, THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS, ANGEL [TV], THE ELIMINATOR, MAX HAVOC: CURSE OF THE DRAGON, ALL SOULS DAY: DIA DE LOS MUERTOS, WHEN A STRANGER CALLS, HOUSE OF THE DEAD 2, BACKLASH, THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, HITCHCOCK, THE BLACK OUT, BEYOND THE SKY, ARMY OF THE DEAD) is 54.
Look for Danielle's upcoming 2023 Horror Thriller, SQUEALER. Also in 2023, REBEL MOON
Actor Patricia Velasquez (BEOWULF, THE MUMMY [1999], FACADE, THE MUMMY RETURNS, MINDHUNTERS, ALMIGHTY THOR, SHADOW OF THE TOMB RAIDER [VG], THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA, MALIGNANT, BRUT FORCE, SATANIC HISPANICS) is 52.
Look for Patricia in the upcoming 2021, 2022 Thriller, MAYA.
20th Century Studios Trailer Drops Stephen King's THE BOOGEYMAN
And -
DEEP RISING Turns 25
Some movies are meant to be dumb fun, which covers nearly all of the Toho GOJIRA movies and all of the GAMERA movies. The monsters in this movie are nowhere near Kaiju size, but if you've never seen it, there's still an awesome time in DEEP RISING.
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THE UNINVITED Turns 14
Can an American Hollywood studio remake of a South Korean Horror movie (A TALE OF TWO SISTERS) actually be any good? It's only happened twice to my recollection. MIRRORS (remake from GEOUL SOKEURO) and this, THE UNINVITED.
Actor Christian Bale (AMERICAN PSYCHO, REIGN OF FIRE, EQUILIBRIUM, THE MACHINIST, BATMAN BEGINS, THE PRESTIGE, BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT, TERMINATOR: SALVATION, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, OUT OF THE FURNACE, THE PALE BLUE EYE) is 46.
Actor Eiza Gonzalez (FROM DUSK TILL DAWN [TV], PARADISE HILLS, ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL, BLOODSHOT, GODZILLA vs. KONG) is 31.
Look for Eliza in the upcoming 2023 Thriller, THE THREE-BODY PROBLEM [TV]. Also in 2023, EL PROBLEMA DE LOS TRES CUERPOS.
CHILDREN OF THE DAMNED Turn 59
And are too old to still be calling themselves "Children", by cracky!
Seriously, this sequel turned out as good as you'd expect of a sequel in the 1960s. And by that I mean, while it wasn't anywhere near as bad as CHILDREN OF THE CORN in the 1980s, CHILDREN OF THE DAMNED, rushed and under budget, was still...
Writer / Director Frank Darabont (THE WOMAN IN THE ROOM, A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3, THE BLOB [1988], THE FLY II, FRANKENSTIEN, THE GREEN MILE, THE MIST, THE WALKING DEAD [TV]) is 64.
Actor Katheryn Morris (SLEEPSTALKER, W.E.I.R.D. WORLD, THE PRINCE [1996], THE PROPHECY II, DETERRENCE, HELL SWARM, THE CONTENDER [2000], A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, MINORITY REPORT, PAYCHECK, MINDHUNTERS, ASSASSINTATION OF A HIGH SCHOOL PRESIDENT, COLD CASE [TV], ROOMMATE WANTED, THE PERFECT GUY, BONE TOMAHAWK, COLONY [TV], REVERIE [TV]) is 53.
Look for Katheryn in the 2022, 2023 Mystery, HAYSEED.
Actor Ty Olsson (MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM: CHAR'S COUNTER ATTACK, THE INSPECTORS [1998], KILLERS IN THE HOUSE, ATOMIC TRAIN, THE CROW: STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN [TV], LAKE PLACID, AS TIME RUNS OUT, FINAL ASCENT, VALENTINE [2001], BLACK RIVER, IGNITION, DREAMCATCHER, WILLARD [2003], X2: X-MEN UNITED, THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK, KINGDOM HOSPITAL [TV], TRANSFORMERS: ENERGON [TV], ELEKTRA, ARK, FIREWALL, HER SISTER'S KEEPER, THE ACCIDENTAL WITNESS, FALLEN [TV], SECOND SIGHT [2007], ALIEN VS PREDATOR: REQUIEM, FLASH GORDON [TV], THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL [2008], BATTLESTAR GALACTICA [TV - 2005-2009], DEFYING GRAVITY [TV], 2012, BEHEMOTH, ICE ROAD TERROR, RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN Part 1, HALO 4: FORWARD UNTO DAWN, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: BLOOD & CHROME, GODZILLA [2014], TIL DEATH DO US PART, DEEPER: THE RETRIBUTION OF BETH, CONTINUUM [TV], MURDER SHE BAKED: A PEACH COBBLER MYSTERY, DIRK GENTLY'S HOLISTIC DETECTIVE AGENCY [TV], DEAD RISING 4 [VG], A SURROGATE'S NIGHTMARE, THE 100 [TV], WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES, SLASHER [TV], SUPERNATURAL [TV], THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE [TV], FORTUNATE SON [TV]) is 49.
Writer and feoamante.com alumni (MUTANT), Mary Sangiovanni (UNDER COVER OF NIGHT, THRALL, THE HOLLOWER, CHILLS, BEYOND THE GATE, INSIDE THE ASYLUM, A DARKLING PLAIN, BEHIND THE DOOR, HEX LIFE) is 63 or something.
Actor, Producer Elijah Wood (CHILD IN THE NIGHT, FOREVER YOUNG, THE GOOD SON, DEEP IMPACT, THE FACULTY, THE LORD OF THE RINGS [all], ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, SIN CITY, THE OXFORD MURDERS, 9, THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY, TOAD ROAD, MANIAC, TRON: UPRISING [TV], LFO, THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG, GRAND PIANO, COOTIES, A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT, OPEN WINDOWS, THE BOY, THE LAST WITCH HUNTER, THE GREASY STRANGLER, MANDY, SEVEN STAGES TO ACHIEVE BLISS, DANIEL ISN'T REAL, COME TO DADDY, COLOR OUT OF SPACE, ARCHENEMY) is 42.
Look for Elijah in the 2022, 2023 Horror Thriller, THE TOXIC AVENGER.
ALONE IN THE DARK Turns 18
Starring Christian Slater (INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE), Stephen Dorff (BLADE), and Tara Reid (URBAN LEGEND), this is the movie that put Director Uwe Bolls on the map! The M!F! Map, I tell you! You know the map I mean! THAT map!: ALONE IN THE DARK.
Read E.C. McMullen Jr.'s review of the 4 DVD Ultimate Disc Extra ever made. Stanley Wiaters DARK DREAMERS.
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THE GREY Turns 11
A Wild Varmint Horror movie starring gravel growling Liam Neeson at his most Liam Neesonist! Screenwriter Ken King tells you about THE GREY.
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HAPPY HORROR THRILLER BIRTHDAYS TO -
By E.C. McMullen Jr.
Horror Host Joe Bob Briggs aka John Bloom (EVIL EVER AFTER, GHOSTS OF GOLDFIELD, HOGZILLA, RAPTURIOUS, JOE BOB'S HAUNTED DRIVE IN, CRYPTIDS) who is 70.
Look for Joe Bob's 2021, 2022 Horror movie,
WEREWOLF SANTA. Also in 2022, THE BARN Part II.
Actor James Cromwell (STRANDED, MURDER BY DEATH, DEADLY GAME, THE CHEAP DETECTIVE, THE MAN WITH TWO BRAINS, SPRAGGUE, EXPLORERS, ALISON'S DEMISE, ROMEO IS BLEEDING, ERASER, STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT, L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, SPECIES II, DEEP IMPACT, THE GENERAL'S DAUGHTER, SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS, THE GREEN MILE, FAIL SAFE [2000], THE SUM OF ALL FEARS, 'SALEM'S LOT [2004], I, ROBOT, SIX FEET UNDER [TV], AVENGER, DANTE'S INFERNO, SPIDER-MAN 3, 24 [TV], TORTURED, MY OWN WORST ENEMY [TV], IMPACT [TV], SURROGATES, AMERICAN HORROR STORY: ASYLUM [TV], DO NO HARM [TV], JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM, COUNTERPART [TV], BERLIN STATION [TV]) is 83.
Writer/Director Jack Hill (THE WASP WOMAN, THE TERROR, BLOOD BATH, HOUSE OF EVIL, SPIDER BABY, LA MUERTE VIVIENTE, THE INCREDIBLE INVASION, THE FEAR CHAMBER, DEATH SHIP [1980], SORCERERESS) who is 91.
Writer Frank Miller (Comics: SPIDER-MAN, RONIN, THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, SIN CITY, 300, BATMAN: YEAR ONE. Movies: ROBOCOP 2, ROBOCOP 3, SIN CITY, 300, THE SPIRIT, CURSED [TV]) is 67.
Every Horror movie fan has seen it, this endless romanticism of the 1960s Hammer Studios. Why? Hammer pushed the violence and gore factor. The studio didn't want to make their monsters romantic and tragic, but wild predatory monsters.
Year after year the studio also pushed the edge of how much skin they would show, and this was all for the good as well. After all, what did vicious monsters, disguised as human, and preying on real humans, care for laws let alone social mores of the day?
Their stable of Actors, like Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, could deliver and Hammer had top notch writers and directors as well.
But success breeds higher demand and bigger paychecks.
So Hammer had other ideas like not relying on their most popular star, Christopher Lee, to keep playing the vampire. Make him important and he'll want more money. The same went for their most profitable writers like Jimmy Sangster and Anthony Hinds.
I say, old boy, let's see what happens if we slash the budget, hire a cheap director, but still expect the same box office.
Smashing idea! These are only our bread and butter, lifeblood audience anyway: Horror fans.
When Universal Pictures, their American distributor, saw the result, they demanded a release only as a double feature: Hammer had to give the distributor two movies for the price of one. What Hammer got was a lesson in economics and underestimating the audience with 1963's KISS OF THE VAMPIRE.
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HAPPY HORROR THRILLER BIRTHDAYS TO -
By E.C. McMullen Jr.
Actor Cameron Bright (BROTHER'S KEEPER, THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT, GODSEND, BIRTH, ULTRAVIOLET, X-MEN: THE LAST STAND, WALLED IN, THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON, THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE, EARTH'S FINAL HOURS, THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN PART 2, MOTIVE [TV], FINAL GIRL) is 30.
Cameron shares a January birthday with THE TWILIGHT SAGA alumni, Boo Boo Stewart and Daniel Cudmore.
Dark Gothic Horror Artist Anne Sudworth (various paintings) is pretty freaking old!
Actor Deep Roy (FLASH GORDON, THE DARK CRYSTAL, STARSHIP, RETURN TO OZ, DOCTOR WHO [TV - 1977], ALIEN FROM L.A., RISING STORM, DISTURBED, HOWLING IV: THE FREAKS, THE RESURRECTED, FREAKED, Tim Burton's PLANET OF THE APES, THE HAUNTED MANSION, CORPSE BRIDE, J.J. Abrams STAR TREK [all], TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN, PARANORMAL MOVIE) is 74.
Look for Deep in his 2023 Thriller, TIME THE FOURTH DIMENSION.
The both famous and infamous Roger Corman would occasionally create quality movies despite his pursuit of schlock for profit. In his autobiography, How I Made A Hundred Movies In Hollywood And Never Lost A Dime, Roger explains that he knew when he was making cheap schlock and when he was trying for something greater. He didn't always achieve greatness when he tried. In fact he usually failed. But he always knew how to sell it.
The most difficult type of movie to make, however, is comedy. You can line up your beats with Action, Drama, Horror, Suspense, Thriller, Mystery, but not comedy. Either the joke lands or it doesn't. And in a comedy movie - no matter how wild or byzantine the subject matter - each joke directly lines up, domino-style, to the next. You have a few too many jokes fall flat and the audience is bored. You have more than a few too many and the audience is angry. Possibly no other form of entertainment outside of Show business can get an audience angrier than a comedy which isn't funny. Because it feels like the folks who made it are insulting your intelligence.
If you can somehow insult the intelligence of an audience who came for fart and dick jokes, you are clearly a force to be reckoned with. But a force that also better run before the mob catches you. At least as far back as William Shakespeare understood this, and his open air Globe Theater allowed for patrons to work off their displeasure by throwing vegetables they brought to the show, at the actors. Corman has made many a fun movie, but never a funny movie, and that includes THE RAVEN.
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THE GODSEND Turns 43
Can a movie told as a Supernatural tale actually be a legitimate Science Fiction flick? A solid, even hardcore Science Fiction flick? Reviewer Kelly Parks thought so as this is what he saw when he watched 1980's THE GODSEND.
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THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES Is Legally Old Enough To Drink
Just because a studio wants to make a scary Horror movie with A-List movie and TV actors doesn't mean they'll succeed. In fact it's so rare it's nearly guaranteed that they won't.
By E.C. McMullen Jr.
Actor Claudia Kim (AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON, EQUALS, THE DARK TOWER, FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE CRIMES OF GRINDLEWALD) is 37.
Look fo Claudia in the upcoming Horror TV series, GYEONGSEONG CREATURE.
Actor Mia Kirshner (DRACULA: The Series [TV],
MURDER IN THE FIRST, THE CROW: City Of Angels, MAD CITY, SPEED OF LIFE,
DARK SUMMER, CENTURY HOTEL, WOLF LAKE [TV], NEW BEST FRIEND, PARTY MONSTER, THE IRIS EFFECT,
THE BLACK DAHLIA, THEY COME BACK, THE VAMPIRE DIARIES [TV], 30 DAYS OF NIGHT: DARK DAYS, 388 ARLETTA AVENUE, THE BARRENS, THE SURROGACY TRAP, LOST GIRL [TV], DEFIANCE [TV], BLOODLINE [TV], CRISIS) who is 47.
Writer Karen Koehler (SLAYER series, THE BLACKBURN & SCARLETTI MYSTERIES series, SCARABUS, SHREDDER series) is 49.
Writer Don Mancini (CELLAR DWELLER, CHILD'S PLAY [all], CHANNEL ZERO [TV], CHUCKY [TV]) is 60.
Writer Willie Meikle (THE WATCHERS TRILOGY, THE MIDNIGHT EYE FILES, ELDREN, THE HOLE, BROKEN SIGIL, INFESTATION, CRUSTACEANS, OPERATION series, HOME FROM THE SEA, CARNAKI: THE EDINBURGH TOWNHOUSE and Other Stories, THE NIGHT OF WENDIGO, THE GREEN AND THE BLACK) is 64.
By E.C. McMullen Jr.
Actor Mischa Barton (ASSASSINATION OF A HIGH SCHOOL PRESIDENT, HOMECOMING, CYBERSTALKER, I WILL FOLLOW YOU INTO THE DARK, APARTMENT 1303 3D, A RESURRECTION, STARCROSSED, ZK: ELEPHANT'S GRAVEYARD, THE HOARDER, HOPE LOST, L.A. SLASHER, MONSTERS AT LARGE, THE TOYBOX, OUIJA HOUSE, THE BASEMENT, SPREE) is 37.
Look for Mischa in the 2022, 2023 Thriller, INVITATION TO A MURDER.
Actor Brittany Blanton (DON'T FUCK IN THE WOODS [all], NIGHTFALL, HORROR MADNESS & MAYHEM: SNUFF PARTY VOL. 1, 60 SECONDS TO DIE, FAILING GRACE, TRESPASSING, DEATH CARE, 13 SLAYS TILL X-MAS) is 37.
Look for Brittany in the upcoming 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 Horror, KILL DOLLY KILL. Also in 2021, 2022, 2023, STRANDED.
Actor Matthew Lillard (GHOULIES III, SERIAL MOM, ANIMAL ROOM, HACKERS, SCREAM, THE DEVIL'S CHILD, DEAD MAN'S CURVE, FINDER'S FEE, THIR13EN GHOSTS, SCOOBY-DOO, SCOOBY-DOO 2, KARAS: THE PROPHECY, AREA 57, KARAS: THE REVELATION, MESSAGES DELETED, SCOOBY-DOO! MYSTERY INCORPORATED, DEEP DARK CANYON, TWIN PEAKS [TV - 2017], SCOOBY-DOO: RETURN TO ZOMBIE ISLAND) is 53.
Look for Matthew in the 2023 Horror movie, FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY'S.
Actor Ashley C. Williams (THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE, EMPTY, HALLOW'S EVE, A GUY NAMED RICK, SELENE HOLLOW [TV], PARANORMAL MOVIE, HALLOW'S EVE, PATRIC, JULIA, THE CHURCH) is 37.
If you know what I mean, and if you're thinking sex then you don't know what I mean. I'm talking the newly minted adults born in the 2000s who swear that Horror movies were better in the 1980s.
Seriously? Because the 80s ones that keep coming up in these conversations are movies like CRITTERS, KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE, David Cronenberg's THE FLY, and John Carpenter's THE THING, which all in turn were upgrading the retro nostalgia of 1950s monster movies. And when they did they sure as hell weren't trying to update this old flick. KILLERS FROM SPACE is not all beer and skittles. More like backseat and bullshit and the reason TV shows like Mystery Science Theater 3000 were born.
Yeah, nostalgia is weird stuff and I can't figure out any appeal to KILLERS FROM SPACE other than the fun of mocking it.
And -
THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT Turns 19
Imagine you can go back in time. But because you're a self-centered, narcissistic douchbag you come back to your present to discover that you screwed people's lives up with the changes you made: People that you actually like! So you go back to fix things with a Pardon, Me! Okay. Everything's cushy, right? No, you insufferable douchebag! You've made everything worse!
In 2004 Ashton Kutcher took on the role of a time traveling pain in the ass who thinks he's the most important person on the planet - which he is because he can travel forward and backward through time. And Ashton did this in THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT.
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HAPPY HORROR THRILLER BIRTHDAYS TO - By E.C. McMullen Jr. Actor Gil Gerard (AIRPORT '77, RANSOM FOR ALICE!, BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25th CENTURY, E.A.R.T.H. FORCE [TV], FUGITIVE MIND, THE STEPDAUGHTER, BEYOND, NUCLEAR HURRICANE, BONE EATER, REPTISAURUS, GHOST TOWN, DIRE WOLF, BLOOD FARE) is 80.
Actor Angelica Lee (SEUNG FEI, THE EYE [2002], KOMA, RE-CYCLE, MISSING, SLEEPWALKER, OUT OF INFERNO) is 47.
Writer, Director S. Craig Zahler (ASYLUM BLACKOUT, BONE TOMAHAWK, PUPPETMASTER: THE LITTLEST REICH, DRAGGED ACROSS CONCRETE) is 52.
SUNDAY -
Actor Linda Blair (THE EXORCIST, EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC, SUMMER OF FEAR, HELL NIGHT, RED HEAT [1985], GROTESQUE, WITCHERY, MOVING TARGET, BAD BLOOD, BEDROOM EYES II, THE CHILLING, REPOSSESSED, DEAD SLEEP, FATAL BOND, SORCERESS [1995], MONSTER MAKERS, ALL IS NORMAL, LANDFILL) is 63.
Actor Balthazar Getty (DEAD BEAT, NATURAL BORN KILLERS, TERRIFIED, JUDGE DREDD, LOST HIGHWAY, HABITAT, FAIT ACCOMPLI, SHADOW HOURS, PASADENA, CHARMED [TV], FEAST, ALIAS [TV], THE TRIPPER, #HORROR, TWIN PEAKS [TV - 2017], LA FLAMME ROUGE) is 48.
THE COMEDY OF TERRORS Turns 59
Adults turned out in droves in 1964, but why? These actors were all has-beens and the scary movies those grown ups saw when they were children had the Horrors of a World War and a Korean "Conflict" between the who they were and who they are: grown-ups with their own kids.
What Roger Corman understood that the studios didn't, is that these "has-beens" were still beloved by their legions of fans and there was a new generation to introduce to the old masters. A generation who would love them not for Horror, but for THE COMEDY OF TERRORS.
SATURDAY -
Actor John DeSantis (THE 13th WARRIOR, THE NEW ADDAMS FAMILY [TV], THIR13EN GHOSTS [2001], BLOODSUCKERS, Masters of Horror: INCIDENT ON AND OFF A MOUNTAIN ROAD, BLADE: THE SERIES [TV], THE HOLE [2009], STAN HELSING, 30 DAYS OF NIGHT: DARK DAYS, MUTANT WORLD, FALLING SKIES [TV], DEAD RISING 4 [VG], SUPERNATURAL [TV], VAN HELSING [TV], A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS [TV], CORRECTIVE MEASURES) is 46.
John shares a January birthday with his CORRECTIVE MEASURES alumni, Actor Daniel Cudmore.
SFX Artist / Producer Harvey Lowry (BLADE, IDLE HANDS, HANNIBAL, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL, I AM LEGEND, X-MEN: THE LAST STAND, TRAILER PARK OF TERROR, WATCHMEN, NIGHT OF THE DEMONS, DYLAN DOG: DEAD OF NIGHT, DANCE NIGHT OBSESSION, CASSIDY WAY, THE MORTICIAN, ASOMATOUS, THE MALIBU TAPES, GOTHIC HARVEST, BLOOD PAGEANT and more) is 53.
Harvey shares a January birthday month with BLOOD PAGEANT alumni, David Chokachi.
Look for Harvey's upcoming Thriller, 1 MILLION FOLLOWERS.
Actor Izabella Miko (THE FORSAKEN, MINIMAL KNOWLEDGE, THE SHORE, THE HOUSE OF USHER, DARK STREETS, FAKE IDENTITY, CLASH OF THE TITANS, AGE OF HEROES, THE RAKE) who is 42.
Writer, Director David F. Sandberg (LIGHTS OUT, ANNABELLE: CREATION) is 42.
David's first feature film began as the eponymous titled short film, LIGHTS OUT.
Look for David's upcoming 2022, 2023 Horror movie, THE CULLING.
Actor Boo Boo Stewart (SKELETON MAN, 666: THE CHILD, DANTE'S COVE [TV], THE LAST SENTINEL, THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE, DARK GAMES, THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN PART 1, THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN PART 2, HANSEL & GRETEL: WARRIORS OF WITCHCRAFT, X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST, HE NEVER DIED, TALES OF HALLOWEEN, DOMINION, AMERICAN SATAN, JULIE AND THE PHANTOMS [TV], THOSE WHO WALK AWAY) is 29.
Boo Boo shares a January birthday with fellow TWILIGHT SAGA alumni, Actor Daniel Cudmore.
AMERICAN PSYCHO Turns 23
When you say AMERICAN PSYCHO in 2023, everybody remembers Director Mary Harron's magnum opus and Christian Bale's breakout role. Few remember that it came from a New York Times bestselling novel. This is why, 23 years later, AMERICAN PSYCHO still dominates the room.
At his prime actor Vincent Price was a handsome devil with a rich honeyed voice and a suave demeanor draped over a cad beneath. This was catnip to his overwhelmingly large female audience. But he never had a breakout hit like the major actors of his day and age range. For one thing, he presented the cool intellect of a tiger biding its time before the pounce. He wasn't the kind of actor that could carry a romantic movie, which is what all the A-List actors of his era had in their portfolio as their "break-out" movie.
By the late 1950s, consigned to powerful character actor roles, a middle-aged and aging Vincent Price found his movie offers growing ever more Schlocky.
So much so that he was approached by famed Schlockmiester Roger Corman. Roger made his name as a movie making machine who could turn a dime on the most ridiculous crap. Yet among all of his quantity, he occasionally created quality so stunning that the major studios and critics were left gasping. "How did that Corman make that picture?"
Despite the occasional stumbles with each other, the two worked on eight Edgar Allen Poe movies together. Price the leading man in every one and Roger proving that he could make quality. It culminated in their last, most expensive and experimental: 1964's THE TOMB OF LIGEIA.
And -
THE PROPHECY II Turns 25
Like any sequel from Dimension Films, if you liked the first one you probably won't be *that* disappointed by the Direct to Video second one. At least THE PROPHECY II offers just as much Christopher Walken as the first.
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UNDERWORLD: EVOLUTION is 17
Like any sequel released to theaters by Sony Pictures in the 2006 Dump Month of January, if you liked the first UNDERWORLD you may like the second, UNDERWORLD EVOLUTION, a little better.
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HAPPY HORROR THRILLER BIRTHDAYS TO -
By E.C. McMullen Jr.
Actor Tom Baker (THE CANTERBURY TALES [1972], THE VAULT OF HORROR, FRANKENSTEIN: THE TRUE STORY, THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD, THE MUTATIONS, THE CURSE OF KING TUT'S TOMB, DOCTOR WHO [TV], SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE HOUNDS OF BASKERVILLES [TV - 1982], BACKTIME, DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS, AGATHA CHRISTIE MARPLE: TOWARDS ZERO) is 87.
Actor Daniel Cudmore (X2, ALONE IN THE DARK, X-MEN III: THE LAST STAND,
THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON, REVOLUTION, THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE, THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN PART 1, RITES OF PASSAGE, THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN PART 2, HALO 4: FORWARD UNTO DAWN, X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST, DEVIL IN THE DARK, SIREN [TV], CORRECTIVE MEASURES) is 41.
Daniel shares a January birthday with PERCY JACKSON alumni, Logan Lerman.
Actor Lorenzo Lamas (DETOUR TO TERROR, FLESH AND THE DEVIL, CIA CODE NAME: ALEXA, MASK OF DEATH, TERMINAL JUSTICE, BLACK DAWN, UNDERCURRENT, THE IMMORTAL [TV], THE PARADISE VIRUS, DARK WATERS, DEEP EVIL, RAPTOR ISLAND, SCI-FIGHTER, ALIEN 3000, BLOOD ANGELS, SUCCUBUS: HELL BENT, SCORPION GIRL, BLEACH, and way more) is 64.
Actor Yan-Kay Crystal Lowe (SANCTIMONY, CHILDREN OF THE CORN: REVELATION, INSOMNIA, BLOOD ANGELS, Masters of Horror: PICK ME UP, FINAL DESTINATION 3, SCARY MOVIE 4, SNAKES ON A PLANE, BLACK CHRISTMAS [2006], WRONG TURN 2: DEAD END, YETI: CURSE OF THE SNOW DEMON, THE BOY NEXT DOOR, KILLER MOUNTAIN, A LITTLE BIT ZOMBIE, PRIMEVAL: NEW WORLD [TV], SIGNED SEALED DELIVERED [TV], OLD FLAMES NEVER DIE) is 40.
Writer/Director David Lynch (ERASERHEAD, THE ELEPHANT MAN, DUNE, BLUE VELVET, TWIN PEAKS [TV], LOST HIGHWAY, MULHOLLAND DR., INLAND EMPIRE, TWIN PEAKS [TV - 2018]) who is 74.
Look for David's Suspense, Thriller, Mystery, tentatively set for a 2023 release, UNRECORDED NIGHT [TV].
Musician Paul Stanley (Band: KISS. Albums: PSYCHO CIRCUS. Movies: KISS MEETS THE PHANTOM OF THE PARK) is 70.
In 1996, Fans were already wild over the fact that this movie would feature the talents of Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino together, but the unexpected showstopper wasn't the Balls-To-The-Wall Special Make-up Effects by Robert Kurtzman, but the appearance of Salma Hayek as Santanico Pandemonium: the Vampire Queen! This was my youthful reaction to 1996's FROM DUSK TILL DAWN.
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HAPPY HORROR THRILLER BIRTHDAYS TO -
By E.C. McMullen Jr.
I don't usually give Happy Birthdays to dead people, but dead people rarely have a career this active for so long after their death!
Writer Edgar Allen Poe (Movies: THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM [1913], A BARGAIN WITH SATAN, THE LUNATICS, THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE [1914], ISLE OF OBLIVION, EERIE TALES, THE LIVING DEAD [1932], BUCKET OF BLOOD [1932], THE CRIME OF DOCTOR CRESPI, THE TELL-TALE HEART [1939], THE BLACK CAT [1941], THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER [1949], PHANTOM OF THE RUE MORGUE, HOUSE OF USHER [1960], THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM [1961], TALES OF TERROR, THE TOMB OF LIGEIA, THE RAVEN [1963], CITY IN THE SEA, MASTER OF HORROR [1965], THE BLACK CAT [1966], HOUSE OF EVIL, WITCHFINDER GENERAL, THE OBLONG BOX, AN EVENING OF EDGAR ALLEN POE, MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE [1971], LEGEND OF HORROR, ONE MINUTE BEFORE DEATH, THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER [1979], THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER [1981], ZOMBIE 5 [1982], THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE [1986], THE HOUSE OF USHER [1989], MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH [1989], TWO EVIL EYES [1990], THE HAUNTING OF MORELLA, [1990], BURIED ALIVE, THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM [1991], HAUNTING FEAR, TALE OF A VAMPIRE, THE MUMMY LIVES, MORELLA [1999], HATRED OF A MINUTE [2002], ALONE, LUNACY, THE RAVEN [2006], THE RAVEN [2007], THE TOMB [2009], THE RAVEN [2012], REQUIEM FOR THE DAMNED, TERROIR, LIGEIA [2013], FEAR THE CROOKED CORPSE, STONEHEARST ASYLUM, CREEPERS [2014], EDGAR ALLEN POE'S LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER, THE TELL-TALE HEART [2016]), who died at the age of 40, would be 214 today.
Look for Edgar's upcoming Horror Thriller for 2022, 2023 THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER [TV], THE BLACK CAT, and THE RAVEN.
Actor Linda Hayden (TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA, THE BLOOD ON SATAN'S CLAW, SOMETHING TO HIDE, NIGHT WATCH [1973], MADHOUSE, OLD DRACULA, TRAUMA [1976], QUEEN KONG, THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL, STALKER) is 70.
Actor Tippi Hedren (THE BIRDS, MARNIE, TIGER BY THE TAIL, ROAR, IN THE COLD OF THE NIGHT, PACIFIC HEIGHTS, INEVITABLE GRACE, I WOKE UP EARLY THE DAY I DIED, BREAK UP, MIND RAGE, DEAD WRITE, HER MORBID DESIRES, THE GHOST AND THE WHALE, SOMETHING HORRIBLE) is 87.
Actor Logan Lerman (THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT, THE NUMBER 23, GAMER, PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTENING THIEF, PERCY JACKSON: SEA OF MONSTERS, NOAH, THE VANISHING OF SYDNEY HALL, SHIRLEY, BULLET TRAIN) is 29.
Logan shares a January birthday with THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT alumni, Kevin Durand.
You want to talk about a movie that is ripe for remake? A movie with a solid concept, great possibilities, amazingly untouched by all of the episodes of the WESTWORLD TV series (itself an unfortunate chock-a-block of missed opportunities), yet suffused with poor execution due to a complete misunderstanding of what such a plot entails?
What EVE OF DESTRUCTION got wrong in 1991, the animated GHOST IN THE SHELL got right in 1995 (and the live-action movie got wrong in 2017). Still, just as there's more than one tale in a Zombie apocalypse, so there is more than one tale of robots in our future. This is EVE OF DESTRUCTION.
And -
FROM DUSK TILL DAWN 3 Turns 23
I'm old enough to remember 1999 and my Art House theater friends moaning over the fact that their beloved Foreign Artsy Queen, Sonia Braga, had lowered herself to be in a cheap Direct-To-Video movie sequel like this one. While Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino retained Producer name and rights, they had little involvement in this. Yet here was my friend's Sonia Braga slumming through a movie where she didn't even get top billing.
She's not even on the poster!
The thing about being an Art House fan of foreign actors, is that you miss everything that person does that never makes it to your little cinema alcove in your tony little 'hood. Your favorite star in the sky, unknown to the hoi polloi and all the more cherished for her relative obscurity "Why, you've never heard of Sonia Braga? Harrumph! Peasant*!" is not who you think she is.
Sonia started and stayed in low-budget sex comedies and dramas. A large body of her work could charitably be viewed as the equivalent of late night cable adult soft core porn aka "Skinamax". It was not unusual for posters to feature her front and center, legs spread or cupping her breast. Once in a while she wound up in a good or great movie like KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN, The Milagro Beanfield War, and a few others, but she made her name in softcore skin flicks and in addition to her youth and beauty of the era, she could actually Act! In her country she regularly turned up in TV series. Sometimes she'd cross the pond to turn up in U.S.A. TV shows like an episode of TALES FROM THE CRYPT.
None of which takes anything away from her training, experience, and talent as an actor, but she wasn't slumming in a low rent vampire flick. Sonia is a working actor: making another in a long string of movies in her career. Sonia fit right in with her other character actors in FROM DUSK TILL DAWN 3: THE HANGMAN'S DAUGHTER.
In 2008, Drew Goddard and Matt Reeves decided to do a Kaiju movie with a light touch and a hardcore heart. They wanted you to laugh, and cry, and be chilled to the bone. Which wound up making their movie less of a GODZILLA tribute, with CLOVERFIELD coming dangerously close to being a...
Also -
GLASS Turns 4
Why does M. Night Shyamalan's final movie in his protean Superhero franchise make the only trilogy that finished the franchise on top? This is why GLASS completes M. Night's nearly 2 decade masterpiece.
Finale -
HAPPY HORROR THRILLER BIRTHDAYS TO -
By E.C. McMullen Jr.
Actor Dave Bautista (THE SCORPION KING 3, RIDDICK, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY [all], L.A. SLASHER, SPECTRE, MARAUDERS, BUSHWICK, BLADE RUNNER 2049, AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, HOTEL ARTEMIS, AVENGERS: ENDGAME, ARMY OF THE DEAD, DUNE, SEE [TV]) is 54.
Look for Dave in the upcoming 2022 Horror Thriller TV series, ARMY OF THE DEAD: LOST VEGAS.
Writer/ Director/ Producer/ Editor/ Actor Takeshi "Beat" Kitano (YASHA, DIOXIN FROM FISH!, JOHNNY MNEMONIC, TOKYO EYES, BROTHER, BATTLE ROYALE, FIREWORKS, BATTLE ROYALE II, IZO, THE MONSTER X STRIKES BACK: ATTACKS THE G8 SUMMIT, BLACK GOSPEL, MOZU THE MOVIE, DOCTOR X: GEKAI DAIMON MEKIKO SPECIAL, GHOST IN THE SHELL [2017]) is 75.
Writer D F Lewis (editor NEMONYMOUS, WEIRDMONGER) is 74. Visit him at dflewisreviews.wordpress.com.
By E.C. McMullen Jr.
Actor Naveen Andrews (MIGHTY JOE YOUNG, FUTURE TENSE, GRINDHOUSE, PLANET TERROR, THE BRAVE ONE, ANIMALS, LOST [TV], SINBAD [TV]M ONCE UPON A TIME IN WONDERLAND [TV], SENSE8 [TV], INSTINCT [TV]) is 53.
Screen Writer Brian Helgeland (FRIDAY THE 13th [TV], A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 4, 976-EVIL, HIGHWAY TO HELL, L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, CONSPIRACY THEORY, BLOOD WORK, MYSTIC RIVER, THE ORDER, CIRQUE DU FREAK: THE VAMPIRE'S ASSISTANT) who is 62.
Goth artist Dr. Mangor (Art & SFX for various movies, games, and other multimedia) is 46.
Writer & Artist Jason Thibault (OPTIMUM WOUND COMICS) is 51.
Actor, Writer, Producer, Director Leigh Whannell (STYGIAN, THE MATRIX RELOADED, SAW [all], DEATH SENTENCE, DEAD SILENCE, DYING BREED, INSIDEOUS [all], CRUSH, THE PARDON, COOTIES, RAZE, LAVANTULA, THE BYE BYE MAN, KEEP WATCHING, UPGRADE, THE INVISIBLE MAN, SPIRAL) is 46.
Read my interview with Leigh Whannell and James Wan: THE LAST SAW INTERVIEW.
Director/ Producer/ Composer John Carpenter (ATTACK
ON PRECINCT 13 [1976], HALLOWEEN, THE FOG, ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, HALLOWEEN II, THE THING, CHRISTINE, BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, PRINCE OF DARKNESS, THEY LIVE, IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS, GHOSTS OF MARS, VAMPIRES, Masters of Horror: CIGARETTE BURNS, Masters of Horror: PRO-LIFE, THE WARD, HALLOWEEN [2018], HALLOWEEN KILLS, HALLOWEEN ENDS) is 74.
Actor David Chokachi (THE UNSPEAKABLE [TV], PSYCHO BEACH PARTY, WITCHBLADE [TV], BATS: HUMAN HARVEST, THE DREAMLESS, MURDER.COM, THE ASCENT, BORN BAD, RAGE OF THE YETI, ARMY OF THE DAMNED, ROSEVILLE, PATIENT KILLER, CYBER CASE, SENSORY PERCEPTION, THE BONE BOX, BLOOD PAGEANT, SECRETS BY THE SHORE DROWNING IN SECRETS) is 54.
Actor Josie Davis (BADGE OF FEAR, PSYCHIC MURDERS, THE ASCENT, THE CURSED, SEDUCED BY LIES, THE PERFECT STUDENT, DIRTY TEACHER, BACKSTABBED, SECRETS OF MY STEPDAUGHTER, LOCKED IN, BLACK BALSAM) is 49.
Look for Josie's upcoming Horror Thrillers for 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 WIZARDDREAM (one of four movies directed simultaneously by John Carl Buechler, who died in 2019, leaving them unfinished).
Comic Artist/Writer Garth Ennis (JUDGE DREDD, THE PUNISHER [VG], HELLBLAZER, CONSTANTINE, BLOODY MARY, THE DARKNESS [VG], SHADOWMAN, THE BOYS [TV], CONSTANTINE [TV], PREACHER [TV]) is 51.
Actor Richard T. Jones (THE TRIGGER EFFECT, EVENT HORIZON, KISS THE GIRLS, AUGGIE ROSE, PHONE BOOTH, TWISTED, COLLATERAL, CUTTING ROOM, TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES [TV], FORGIVENESS, SUPER 8, ATLAS SHRUGGED II: THE STRIKE, THE LAST LETTER, REVOLUTION [TV], GODZILLA [2014], EXTANT [TV], AMERICAN HORROR STORY [TV], SANTA CLARITA DIET [TV]) is 50.
Look for Richard's 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 Thriller, STEELE JUSTICE. Also in 2023, CURSED ANGEL.
Actor Caroline Munro (THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES, DRACULA A.D. 1972, DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN, CAPTAIN KRONOS: VAMPIRE HUNTER, SHARON'S BABY, AT THE EARTH'S CORE, STARCRASH, MANIAC [1980], THE LAST HORROR FILM, SLAUGHTER HIGH, EL AULLIDO DEL DIABLO, FACELESS, DEMONS 6: DE PROFUNDIS, FLESH FOR THE BEAST, THE ABSENCE OF LIGHT, HIGHWAY TO HELL [2012], VAMPYRES, CRYING WOLF, STELLAR QUASAR AND THE SCROLLS OF DADELIA, CUTE LITTLE BUGGERS, HOUSE OF THE GORGON THE HAUNTING OF MARGAM CASTLE) is 73.
Caroline shares a birthday month with her STARCRASH co-star, Marjoe Gortner.
Look for Caroline in the upcoming 2023 Horror Thriller, THE POCKET FILM OF SUPERSTITIONS.
Actor Mark Steger (SHADOW HOURS, MODERN PROMETHEUS LLC, I AM LEGEND, THE PACT [all], MR. JONES, AT THE DEVIL'S DOOR, INDIGENOUS, THE DIABOLICAL, THE LAST WITCH HUNTER, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE GHOST DIMENSION, 400 DAYS, HOLIDAYS, CALICO SKIES, INCARNATE, STRANGER THINGS [TV], THE MAN WHO KILLED HITLER AND THEN THE BIGFOOT, THE NUN, VELVET BUZZSAW, CRITTERS: A NEW BINGE [TV], SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK, NINE, THE MANOR, BLACK FRIDAY, THE GIRL IN THE WOODS [TV], SATANIC HISPANICS, THE CURSE OF BRIDGE HOLLOW) is 61.
Look for Mark in the 2023
Thriller, REBEL MOON.
SFX Artist / Director / Producer Greg Strause (GLASS HOUSE, TERMINATOR 3, THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, CONSTANTINE, VENOM [2005], FLIGHTPLAN, THE FOG [2005], ÆON FLUX, X-MEN III: CRAPPED BY RATNER, 300, ALIENS VS PREDATOR: REQUIEM, THE INCREDIBLE HULK, X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE, 2012, AVATAR, IRON MAN 2, JONAH HEX, SKYLINE [all], BATTLE OF LOS ANGELES, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES, THE AVENGERS, LOOPER, TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN Part 2, X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST, HARDCORE HENRY, MIDNIGHT SPECIAL, X-MEN: APOCALYPSE, THE CONJURING 2, DEATHNOTE [2017], STRANGER THINGS [TV], RAMPAGE, SKYLINES) is 47.
SUNDAY -
Actor Joe Dorsey (PROJECT KILL, GRIZZLY, THE MANITOU, THE VISITOR, WISE BLOOD, WARGAMES, BRAINSTORM, THE PHILADELPHIA EXPERIMENT, DEADLY CARE, SHADOWS IN THE STORM, MURDER SHE WROTE [TV], PET SEMATARY II, KILLING MIDNIGHT) is 90.
Actor Emily Kusche (THE LITTLE GHOST, DON'T. GET. OUT!, BALLOON, SLØBORN aka TRHE ISLAND [TV], CORTEX, DOPPLEGÄNGER.SOBOTÓR) is 20.
Look for Emily in the 2022, 2023 Thriller, RETRIBUTION.
IN DREAMS Turns 24
And -
VIRUS Turns 24
Plus -
THE ATTIC Turns 15
Also -
THE BOOK OF ELI Turns 13
Wassmor -
SATURDAY -
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]) is 49.
Look for Kevin in the 2024 release of KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES.
Actor Zach Gilford (THE LAST WINTER, RISE: THE BLOOD HUNTER,
SUPER, DEVIL'S DUE, THE PURGE: ANARCHY, THE FAMILY [TV], LIFELINE [TV], MIDNIGHT MASS [TV], THE MIDNIGHT CLUB [TV]) is 41.
Look for Zach's upcoming 2022, Jan. 17, 2023 Netflix Horror movie, THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH THE CHILDREN. Also in 2023, THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER [TV].
Actor Marjoe Gortner (EARTHQUAKE, FOOD OF THE GODS, MAYDAY AT 40,000 FEET!, STARCRASH, MAUSOLEUM, HELLHOLE) is 79.
Actor Grant Gustin (A MOTHER'S NIGHTMARE, VIXEN [TV], VIXEN: THE MOVIE, ARROW [TV], THE FLASH [TV]) is 33.
Actor Jordan Ladd (EMBRACE OF THE VAMPIRE, CABIN FEVER, CLUB DREAD, MADHOUSE, INLAND EMPIRE, GRINDHOUSE, DEATH PROOF, HOSTEL: PART II, GRACE, AWAKEN, MURDER ON THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR, SATANIC PANIC, VOICES) is 49.
SCANNERS Turns 42
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.
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 their corporate rules. And if there is one thing the Canadian bureaucracy will eagerly bend over and present to it's American money!
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, 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.
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. The then popular comic, 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, 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 unlikeable 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. 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, 84 years later, considered the best of the Universal Pictures Frankensteins: SON OF FRANKENSTEIN.
And -
DEEPSTAR SIX Turns 34
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.
Plus -
DEMON KNIGHT Turns 27
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.
ONE HOUR PHOTO is Old Enough to Drink
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 -
By E.C. McMullen Jr.
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 46.
Orlando shares a January birthday with his
NEEDLE IN A TIMESTACK alumni, Laysla De Oliveira.
Look for Orlando in the 2023 Thriller, RED RIGHT HAND.
Actor William B. Davis (THE DEAD ZONE, DEADLY DECEPTION, MATINEE, Stephen King's IT, OMEN IV: THE AWAKENING, CIRCUMSTANCES UNKNOWN, THE X-FILES [TV], UNFORGETTABLE, THE X-FILES: FIGHT THE FUTURE, BROKEN SAINTS, THE PROPOSAL, MINDSTORM, ANTHRAX, SNAKEHEAD TERROR, THE CRADLE WILL FALL, DARKSTORM, SISTERS, THE SECRET OF HIDDEN LAKE, THE MESSENGERS, PASSENGERS, POSSESSION, THE THAW, BEHEMOTH, THE TALL MAN, THE PACKAGE, THE SINGULARITY PRINCIPLE, CONTINUUM [TV], ABDUCT, RESIDUE, DEATH NOTE [2017], THE DOCTOR'S CASE, BAD TIMES AT THE EL ROYALE, CRYSTAL'S SHADOW, UPLOAD [TV], THE MIDNIGHT CLUB) is 85.
Actor Liam Hemsworth (KNOWING, TRIANGLE, THE HUNGER GAMES [all], THE EXPENDABLES 2, PARANOIA, CUT BANK, KILLERMAN, MOST DANGEROUS GAME [TV], ARKANSAS) is 33.
Look for Liam in the upcoming 2023 Thriller, LAND OF BAD.
Writer / Director / Actor Alan Rowe Kelly (I'LL BURY YOU TOMORROW, DEAD SERIOUS, VINDICATION, THE SCREENING, THE BLOOD SHED, PINK EYE, EAT YOUR HEART OUT, SCULPTURE, CROSSED, EXPERIMENT 7, SATAN HATES YOU, GALLERY OF FEAR, SLICES OF LIFE, PSYCHO STREET, RAZOR DAYS, GALLERY OF FEAR, CRAZY FAT ETHEL, and more) is 64.
Look for Alan in the 2021, 2022, 2023 Horror movie, SITE 13.
Editor John Kenny (ALBEDO ONE, AEON PRESS) is 58.
Cupsogue Pictures, R2R, and Black Mandala Drops THE FEARWAY
And -
Luna Park Films and Radiance Films Drops A WOMAN KILLS
By Justin Cook
Los Angeles, CA - Continuing their mission to shine a light on obscure and rare cinema long lost to wide audiences, Radiance Films has announced the Blu-ray debut of Jean-Denis Bonan's A Woman Kills. Restored and available in a limited edition Blu-ray, rediscover the little-seen French murder mystery February 7, 2023.
Filmed in the tumultuous events of May 1968, Jean-Denis Bonan's A Woman Kills never found distribution due to controversy around the director's first film and producer Anatole Dauman (The Beast, Hiroshima mon amour) was unable to find distribution for the film for 45 years until Luna Park Films brought it back to life in a new restoration. Now released on Blu-ray for the first time anywhere, audiences outside of France can finally experience this utterly singular film, a new wave-influenced serial killer film that presents its narrative in an almost true crime approach yet focuses more on the psychological aspect with echoes of German Expressionism and Franju, set to a discordant, jazzy score.
Plus -
PRIMEVAL Turns 16
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 U.S. television reshoot and their promotions and ads are everywhere!
And the ads for the TV show, which is about time travel have no connection to your movie, look like scenes from 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 PRIMEVAL.
Different producers, different actors and directors - but only one writer consistently knew how to bring the scary to broadcast television. So scary and keeping people so glued to their sets, that his movies made the unheard of move from TV to theatrical release. His name was Richard Matheson and he wrote KOLCHAK: THE NIGHTSTALKER.
And -
HAPPY HORROR THRILLER BIRTHDAYS TO -
By E.C. McMullen Jr.
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) is 44.
Look for Darren's upcoming 2022, 2023 Horror movie, CELLO. And in 2024, TENSION.
Actor Eileen Dietz (THE EXORCIST, THE CLONUS HORROR, EXORCISM, NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH, CREEPSHOW III, THE QUEEN OF SCREAMS, SIBLING RIVALRY, FREEWAY KILLER, BUTTERFLY, MONSTERPIECE THEATER VOL. 1, DEMON LEGACY, LITTLE BIG BOY: THE RISE AND FALL OF JIMMY DUNCAN, NIGHT TALES, SNOW WHITE: A DEADLY SUMMER, THE DEVIL KNOWS HIS OWN, ABADDON, DEMON LEGACY, AXE TO GRIND, KIDS VS MONSTERS, MONSTERLAND, ABNORMAL ATTRACTION, A WAKEFIELD PROJECT, 100 ACRES OF HELL, ITSY BITSY, CLOWNADO, THE AMITYVILLE HARVEST) is 76.
Look for Eileen's upcoming 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 Horror Thriller, WIZARDDREAM. Also in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 THE GRIMM BACKWARD and PALE HORSE.
Writer Alethea Kontis (HARLAN COUNTY HORRORS, ALPHA OOPS: H IS FOR HALLOWEEN, THE DARK-HUNTER COMPANION, ENCHANTED, BESPHINXED) is 47.
Actor Laysla De Oliveira (GOTHICA [2013], STAY OR DIE, IN THE TALL GRASS, CODE 8, NEEDLE IN A TIMESTACK, LOCKE & KEY [TV - 2020]) is 31.
Actor Kyle Richards (ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN, THE CAR, EATEN ALIVE, HALLOWEEN, THE WATCHER IN THE WOODS, CURFEW, DEADLY SIBLING RIVALRY, HALLOWEEN KILLS, HALLOWEEN ENDS) is 54.
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.
And 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 that even the director, Guillermo del Toro mocks - and today's embarrassment, released in the "Dump Month" of January. Peter Hyams old but never classic, THE RELIC.
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 14
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 14
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.
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) is 49.
Look for Angela in the 2021, 2022, 2023 animated Horror, THE WEIRD KIDZ.
Actor Patrick Sabongui (TIMELINE, RECON 2020: THE CAPRINI MASSACRE, 300, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL [2008], DARKNESS WAITS, WATCHMEN, WHITEOUT, THE KILLING MACHINE, THE BOY WHO CRIED WEREWOLF, TRON: LEGACY, SUCKER PUNCH, THE CABIN IN THE WOODS, IMMORTALS, ENDANGERED, WHITE HOUSE DOWN, TOXIN, GODZILLA [2014], INTO THE GRIZZLY MAZE, DEAD RISING: WATCHTOWER, DEADRISING: ENDGAME, DRONE, ARROW [TV], SCORCHED EARTH, BEYOND [TV], THE PREDATOR [2018], THE FLASH [TV], ENHANCED, DEPARTURE [TV], BLACK ADAM) is 46.
SUNDAY -
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 57.
Actor Rachel Nichols (THE AMITYVILLE HORROR [2005], THE INSIDE [TV], THE WOODS, ALIAS [TV], THEM [2007], P2, STAR TREK [2009], G.I. JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA, CRIMINAL MINDS [TV], CONAN THE BARBARIAN [2011], CONTINUUM, ALEX CROSS, RAZE, TOKAREV, McCANICK, CONTINUUM [TV], PANDEMIC, INSIDE, TITANS [TV], THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE [TV], BREACH, DEMIGOD) is 41.
Look for Rachel in the 2023 Horror Thriller, THE INHERITANCE.
Actor Freddie Stroma (HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE, HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS [1 & 2], AFTER THE DARK, EXTRATERRESTRIALS, TIME AFTER TIME, PEACEMAKER [TV]) is 36.
WHITE NOISE 2 Turns 15
Director Patrick Lussier (DRACULA 2000, MY BLOODY VALENTINE - 2009), and newbie writer Matt Venne did something so rare its arguably unique: The 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, 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 hires folks to spruce it up in time for the annual Yard Sale (AFM). And boy does his 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. Ptrick 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 WHITE NOISE 2 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.
SATURDAY -
Actor Lauren Cohan (SUPERNATURAL [TV], DEATH RACE 2, YOUNG ALEXANDER THE GREAT, THE VAMPIRE DIARIES [TV], THE WALKING DEAD [TV]) is 41.
Actor Nicholas Cage (VAMPIRE'S KISS, WILD AT HEART, FACE/OFF, SNAKE EYES, 8MM, BRINGING OUT THE DEAD, NATIONAL TREASURE [all], THE WICKER MAN [2006], GHOST RIDER [all], GRINDHOUSE, NEXT, KNOWING, KICK-ASS, DRIVE ANGRY, GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE, SEASON OF THE WITCH, THE FROZEN GROUND, TOKAREV, LEFT BEHIND, CONQUEST, PAY THE GHOST, MOM AND DAD, LOOKING GLASS, MANDY, KILL CHAIN, GRAND ISLE, COLOR OUT OF SPACE, JUI JITSU, WALLY'S WONDERLAND, PRISONERS OF THE GHOSTLAND, PIG, THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT) is 58.
Nick shares a January birthday with his 8MM alumni, Actor Norman Reedus, and the same birthday with his SEASON OF THE WITCH alumni, Robert Sheehan.
Look for Nicolas in the 2023 Horror Thriller, RENFIELD. And in 2024, DREAM SCENARIO and SAND AND STONES.
Writer / Editor / Publisher / Short Film Maker Rodriguo Gudiño (Founder and publisher of RUE MORGUE Magazine. Movie: THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF ROSALIND LEE, THE BREACH) who is around 62 or so I think.
Actor Ruth Negga (MISFITS [TV], SECRET STATE [TV], WORLD WAR Z, WARCRAFT, AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D., AD ASTRA, PREACHER [TV], ISOLATION, CRIMINAL JUSTICE [TV], PERSONAL AFFAIRS [TV]) is 42.
Actor Jeremy Renner (A NIGHTMARE COME TRUE, DAHMER, 28 WEEKS LATER, TAKE, THE HURT LOCKER, THE TOWN, THOR, MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL, THE AVENGERS [2012], THE BOURNE LEGACY, HANSEL & GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS, THE IMMIGRANT, KILL THE MESSENGER, CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR, ARRIVAL, AVENGERS: ENDGAME, WHAT IF...? [TV]) is 52.
Whew! Hard way for Jeremy to celebrate his birthday today!
Actor Robert Sheehan (FOREIGN EXCHANGE [TV], SUMMER OF THE FLYING SAUCER, GHOSTWOOD, CHERRYBOMB, MISFITS [TV], RED RIDING: IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 1983, RED RIDING: IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 1974, RED RIDING: IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 1980, SEASON OF THE WITCH [2011], DEMONS NEVER DIE, THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF BONES, THE MESSENGER, FORTITUDE [TV], GEOSTORM, MUTE, MORTAL ENGINES, THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY [TV]) is 35.
Look for Robert in the 2023 Thriller, RED SONJA.
WHITE NOISE Turns 18
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.
DAYBREAKERS Turns 13
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.
12 Years ago Today: Nicholas 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!
How on earth can a movie nearly half a century old still be relevant?
Because writers Robin Cook (Novel) and Michael Crichton (Screenplay and Director), never wrote their medical thrillers about modern technology, but about technology that we could have right now, but don't: usually due to ethics more than medical advances. This means their stories often revolve around an unethical villain. A villain whose real passion isn't in modern medical advances, or experiments that will lose a few lives now but save thousands in the future. No, their villains are often people who want to murder other people without being caught. In novel after novel, particularly with Cook, their villains are intelligent enough to have not only figured out how to get away with murder, but how to monetize it, build an infrastructure around it, and so spread the culpability around.
Thomas Harris's Hannibal Lector, and his madness, forces him to operate alone, often in hiding, trusting no one and keeping secrets he dare not share.
Lector has nothing on Cook villains, who are bold enough to buy off politicians to make "compassionate" laws, with the real intent behind them being that the volumes of regulations are knotted just enough to allow an evil person all of the bureaucratic loopholes needed to hide in plain site and even be respected for the false cover they've created.
This is how the sinister technology behind Cook and Crichton's work stays relevant. We have the tech, but no one is brazen enough to be the first. Instead, we know its always there, waiting in the shadows, yet never (as far as we know) used. That's the powerful engine that drives COMA.
And -
HOSTEL Turns 17
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.
Plus -
HAPPY HORROR THRILLER BIRTHDAYS TO -
By E.C. McMullen Jr.
Actor Elizabeth Blackmore (EVIL DEAD, THE VAMPIRE DIARIES [TV], SUPERNATURAL [TV]) is 35.
Actor Courtney Eaton (MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, PERFECT, LINE OF DUTY, YELLOW JACKETS [TV]) is 27.
Actor Betty Gabriel (EXPERIMENTER, THE PURGE: ELECTION YEAR, GET OUT, BEYOND SKYLINE, UNFRIENDED: DARK WEB, UPGRADE, WESTWORLD [TV], COUNTERPART [TV], DEFENDING JACOB [TV], THE SPINE OF NIGHT, CLICKBAIT) is 42.
Betty is currently filming in two untitled Horror movies, ostensibly set for release in late 2022 to early 2023.
Writer, Artist, Director Vincenzo Natali (BEETLEJUICE [TV], EEK! THE CAT [TV], BLOOD & DONUTS, CUBE, GINGER SNAPS, CYPHER, NOTHING, SPLICE, HAUNTER, THE ABCs OF DEATH 2, HANNIBAL [TV], THE STRAIN [TV], TREMORS [2018], CUBE [2021]) is 54.
Actor Norman Reedus (MIMIC, DARK HARBOR, 8MM, LET THE DEVIL WEAR BLACK, GOSSIP, BAD SEED [2000], BLADE II, TOUGH LUCK, PULSE, ANTIKÖRPER, MOSCOW CHILL, Masters of Horror: John Carpenter's CIGARETTE BURNS, RED CANYON, MESSENGERS 2, PANDORUM, THE WALKING DEAD [TV], NIGHT OF THE TEMPLAR, SILENT HILL 10 [VG], AIR, ALIEN INVASION S.U.M.1, DEATH STRANDING [VG]) is 54.
Norman shares a birthday month with his CIGARETTE BURNS alumni, actor Christopher Redman.
By E.C. McMullen Jr.
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]) is 63.
Watch for Clancy in the upcoming 2021, 2022, 2023 Thriller, JOHN WICK 4.
Actor Franz Drameh (HEREAFTER, ATTACK THE BLOCK, EDGE OF TOMORROW, RESIDUE, VIXEN: THE MOVIE [Animated], THE FLASH [TV], LEGENDS OF TOMORROW [TV], SEE [TV], THE INTERGALACTIC ADVENTURES OF MAX CLOUD, SEE [TV]) is 29.
Writer Tananarive Due (THE BETWEEN, BLOOD COLONY, THE LIVING BLOOD, MY SOUL TO KEEP, JOPLIN'S GHOST, GHOST: SUMMER STORIES, THE GOOD HOUSE, and way more) is getting up there!
Musician, Actor Marilyn Manson (Albums: PORTRAIT OF AN AMERICAN FAMILY, SMELLS LIKE CHILDREN, ANTICHRIST SUPERSTAR, THE LAST TOUR ON EARTH, MECHANICAL ANIMALS, HOLY WOOD, THE GOLDEN AGE OF GROTESQUE. Movie: SALEM [TV]) is 53.
Actor Katie Parker (ABSENTIA, THE FAMILY, OCULUS, FUN SIZE HORROR, THE BINDING, ALL THE CREATURES WERE STIRRING, THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE [TV], DOCTOR SLEEP, THE HAUNTING OF BLY MANOR [TV], ALT [TV]) is 36.
WB Release Today - EVIL DEAD RISE: The Red Band Trailer
And -
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(Pop was no one to go to for advice but it would be a regrettably long time before I realized that).
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 bidded 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 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 disappointed in Emerson, Lake, and Palmer's BRAIN SALAD SURGERY?
Plus -
HAPPY HORROR THRILLER BIRTHDAYS TO -
By E.C. McMullen Jr.
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 65.
Actor Julian Sands (AFTER DARKNESS, THE DOCTOR AND THE DEVILS, GOTHIC, VIBES, SIESTA, WARLOCK, ARACHNOPHOBIA, NAKED LUNCH, TALE OF THE VAMPIRE, BOXING HELENA, WARLOCK: THE ARMAGEDDON, DARIO ARGENTO'S THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, MERCY, CAT CITY, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, HIROKIN, SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF, ALL THINGS TO ALL MEN, BANSHEE [TV], THE CHOSEN [2016], BORLEY RECTORY [Animated], CROOKED HOUSE, WHAT/IF [TV], DEATH RIDER IN THE HOUSE OF VAMPIRES, THE GHOSTS OF BORLEY RECTORY) is 65.
Look for Julian in the upcoming 2022 Thriller, THE SURVIVALIST. Also in 2022, THE GHOSTS OF MONDAY, and THE PIPER.
By E.C. McMullen Jr.
Actor Alisen Down (COLD SQUAD [TV], MYSTERIOUS WAYS [TV], TRIPPING THE WIRE: A STEPHEN TREE MYSTERY, DA VINCI'S INQUEST [TV], BATTLESTAR GALATICA [TV], THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL [2008], CASE 39, PARADOX, GRACEPOINT [TV], LOST GIRL [TV], 12 MONKEYS [TV]) is 47.
Actor Nicholas Gonzalez (ANACONDAS: HUNT FOR THE BLOOD ORCHID, SEA OF DREAMS, FALLING AWAKE, SLEEPY HOLLOW [TV], THE PURGE: ANARCHY, FREQUENCY [TV], PRETTY LITTLE LIARS [TV], PRAY FOR RAIN [TV], BENEATH US, CONFESSIONS OF AN EXORCIST nka EVIL TAKES ROOT, LA BREA [TV], BORREGO) is 47.
Nicholas shares a January birthday with ANACONDAS alumni, Morris Chestnut.
Voice actor Jason Marsden (ROBOT JOX, [all TV credits] THE MUNSTERS TODAY, EERIE INDIANA, HOCUS POCUS, BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES, SPIRITED AWAY [English version], HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER, INVADER ZIM, W.I.T.C.H., AFRO SAMURAI, THE BATMAN, BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD, THE LEGEND OF KORRA, MONSTERS UNIVERSITY, LOCKER 13) is 47.
Look for Jason in the 2023 Horror Thriller, BATMAN: THE DOOM THAT CAME TO GOTHAM.
Actor Jewel Shepard (RAW FORCE, THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, GOING UNDERCOVER, ROOTS OF EVIL, SCANNER COP II, SLASHER.COM) is 65.
Writer / Director / Actor Hyung-rae Shim (YOUNG-GU AND COUNT DRACULA, TIRANO'S CLAW, POWER KING, DRAGON TUKA, REPTILIAN, DRAGON WARS: D-WAR) is 65.
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 55.
Actor Taye Diggs (HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, NEW BEST FRIEND, EQUILIBRIUM, BASIC, DRUM, SLOW BURN, DAY BREAK [TV], DYLAN DOG: DEAD OF NIGHT, MURDER IN THE FIRST, DAYBREAK [TV], ROSEWOOD [TV], TILL DEATH DO US PART, RIVER RUNS RED) is 52.
Look for Taye in the 2022 Horror Thriller, INCARNATION.
Actor Julie Farrar (THE CHRISTMAS SEASON MASSACRE, THE UNDERTOW, SAVAGE HARVEST 2, DEADWOOD PARK) is 43.
Actor Kristen Hager (ALIEN VS PREDATOR: REQUIEM, WANTED, MANSON: MY NAME IS EVIL, VALEMONT [TV], TIES THAT BIND [2010], A LITTLE BIT ZOMBIE, BEING HUMAN [TV 2011-14], THE BARBER [2014], CLARA, WHAT/IF [TV - 2019], BLOOD AND MONEY, CONDOR [TV]) is 39.
Writer Brian J. Hatcher (various short stories) is 55.
Writer Bentley Little (THE MAILMAN, UNIVERSITY, THE IGNORED, DOMINION, THE TOWN, DEATH INSTINCT) is 63.
Actor, Stunt Woman, Nancy McCrumb (CULT, DARK HOUSE, THE AWAKENING [2010], 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE, DEMON LEGACY, READY TO DIE, INTO THE STORM, THE PACT II, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE GHOST DIMENSION, THE CROOKED MAN, AMERICAN HORROR STORY [TV], FEAR THE WALKING DEAD [TV], CAPTIVE STATE) is 38.
SUNDAY -
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]) is 42.
Actor, Producer Morris Chestnut (HALF PAST DEAD, CONFIDENCE, ANACONDAS: THE HUNT FOR THE BLOOD ORCHID, THE CAVE, V [TV], AMERICAN HORROR STORY [TV], THE CALL, KICK-ASS 2, THE PERFECT GUY, WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS, ROSEWOOD [TV], THE SPELL, THE ENEMY WITHIN [TV]) is 54.
Actor Frank Langella (THE DEADLY TRAP, DRACULA [1979], SPHINX, SHERLOCK HOLMES [1981], BODY OF EVIDENCE, BRAINSCAN, BAD COMPANY, THE NINTH GATE, INNOCENTS, CRY BABY LANE, NOW YOU SEE IT..., 10.5: APOCALYPSE, THE CALLER, THE BOX, ALL GOOD THINGS, UNKNOWN, ROBOT AND FRANK, THE TIME BEING, PARTS PER BILLION, THE AMERICANS [TV]) is 85.
Actor Christopher Redman (THE DEFENDERS: CHOICE OF EVILS, GINGER SNAPS, BLESS THE CHILD, K-19: THE WIDOWMAKER, ABSOLON, TOUCHING EVIL [TV], Masters of Horror: John Carpenter's CIGARETTE BURNS, ABSOLUTE ZERO, 88 MINUTES, SCREAMERS: THE HUNTING, RE-CUT, CSI: MIAMI [TV], GREEN GUYS, PERCY JACKSON: SEA OF MONSTERS, THE SOUND AND THE SHADOW, THE LAST SHIP [TV], THE TANK, REVERIE [TV], THE PURGE [TV], HOMECOMING [TV]) is 43.
Christopher shares a birthday month with his CIGARETTE BURNS alumni, actor Norman Reedus.
E.C. McMullen Jr.
Author page at Amazon
(Amazon.com)
Listed at GoodReads
Internet Movie Database resume (IMDb.com),
Stage 32 listing (stage32.com),
Listed at Academia.edu and is a
19 year member of the San Diego Comic Convention (SDCC).
Wikipedia 1, 2, 3, 4 Starbucks Cup #118
E.C. McMullen Jr. / Feo Amante is quoted throughout the Internet and print as a resource on,
