Aint It Cool News reports that The Creature From The Black Lagoon remake has found a new director now that Breck Esiner (Sahara) has dropped out. Now Universal is looking to Carl Rinsch to finally get this off the ground and into the water. Never heard of him? Me neither.
This project has been in development hell for a long time. How long? The first time I heard that Universal was going to remake this was issue #183 of Famous Monsters of Filmland (the one with Swamp Thing on the cover) in their Futurescope section (page 7). That was May of 1982.
I don't know anything about Carl Rinsch, except he's directing a Keanu Reeves in 47 Ronin. Personally, until I hear that cameras are actually rolling film I'm not going to get too excited.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Why I Think Clive Barker Is The Coolest Guy Ever
Why do I think Clive Barker is the coolest guy ever? Besides his bloody books and bizarre paintings and fantastic films (all of which I like) there is one more reason. Let me tell you the tale of the second time I met Clive Barker.
To tell the tale, I have to tell you the first time I met Clive Barker. When 'Nightbreed' came out on video he did a signing tour and one stop was a video store here on Long Island. I went there and actually wound up talking to him after he signed our stuff. The staff tried to shoo me away, but he asked that I stay. I don't know why, maybe because I could talk about books (I told him I was reading Dan Simmons' 'Song of Kali') and I didn't act like the other "O MY GOD I DREAM OF BEING A CENOBITE!" metal heads that yelled at him. We didn't talk long, maybe twenty minutes, but even talking to your hero for one minute is like gold to a fan. I would always remember that even if he didn't, because let's face it he meets thousands of people at these signings. That was cool, but the coolest was yet to come.
Five years later he was at Suffolk Community College giving a talk, and since I was taking classes there I decided to go listen to him. After the talk he hung out in the lobby and talked to everyone. Around him had gathered this group of goth kids, dressed in black and acting depressed as he chatted with them. I walked up and shook his hand and said, "I don't know if you remember me..."
I didn't finish the sentence.
"I remember you, (my real name) right? Did you finish 'Song of Kali?'"
Five years later and Clive Barker remembered my name! Five years later and Clive Barker remembered my name and what book I was reading! That is why Clive Barker is the coolest guy ever, at least to me.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
To tell the tale, I have to tell you the first time I met Clive Barker. When 'Nightbreed' came out on video he did a signing tour and one stop was a video store here on Long Island. I went there and actually wound up talking to him after he signed our stuff. The staff tried to shoo me away, but he asked that I stay. I don't know why, maybe because I could talk about books (I told him I was reading Dan Simmons' 'Song of Kali') and I didn't act like the other "O MY GOD I DREAM OF BEING A CENOBITE!" metal heads that yelled at him. We didn't talk long, maybe twenty minutes, but even talking to your hero for one minute is like gold to a fan. I would always remember that even if he didn't, because let's face it he meets thousands of people at these signings. That was cool, but the coolest was yet to come.
Five years later he was at Suffolk Community College giving a talk, and since I was taking classes there I decided to go listen to him. After the talk he hung out in the lobby and talked to everyone. Around him had gathered this group of goth kids, dressed in black and acting depressed as he chatted with them. I walked up and shook his hand and said, "I don't know if you remember me..."
I didn't finish the sentence.
"I remember you, (my real name) right? Did you finish 'Song of Kali?'"
Five years later and Clive Barker remembered my name! Five years later and Clive Barker remembered my name and what book I was reading! That is why Clive Barker is the coolest guy ever, at least to me.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Famous Monsters of Filmland Magazine to Return!!!
I'm wasn't surprised that Phil Kim brought back Famous Monsters of Filmland as a website. Let's face it magazines are a dying format and the few of us that remember growing up with FM in our lives couldn't expect him to start a print edition.
But that's what he's done!
Monday on the Famous Monsters of Filmland web site (Click HERE to read it) it was announced that FM was coming back as a quarterly this coming summer of 2010. They've teamed with IDW Publishing (currently publishing Star Trek, Doctor Who, G.I. Joe) to help bring the print edition out and Michael Heisler will be the new editor.
This brings a smile to my face. I hope they can make Uncle Forry proud.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
But that's what he's done!
Monday on the Famous Monsters of Filmland web site (Click HERE to read it) it was announced that FM was coming back as a quarterly this coming summer of 2010. They've teamed with IDW Publishing (currently publishing Star Trek, Doctor Who, G.I. Joe) to help bring the print edition out and Michael Heisler will be the new editor.
This brings a smile to my face. I hope they can make Uncle Forry proud.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Universal Monster Legacy Web Site
I don't have to tell you, sinister readers, of my love for the old Universal Monster Movies. Now, as they get ready to unleash the new Wolf Man film next year, Universal has launched the Universal Monster Legacy web site. It has image galleries, video clips and story synopsis of the prime Universal Monster Movies in a beautifully laid out web site.
It warms the area where my heart should be that they have given a web presence to the monsters. Sometimes I feel like Universal doesn't do enough to promote their unique monsters, and when they do it's always just short term efforts. Hopefully the Wolf Man is a success, and will keep the monsters in the forefront for now on.
One minor thing that caught my eye, and I'll write to them to fix, is a fact note in the Son Of Dracula synopsis is wrong. They wrote "Evelyn Ankers, who played Kay in this film, starred opposite Chaney in James Whale's The Wolf Man in 1941." James Whales didn't direct The Wolf Man, but George Waggner did. I'll have to go through each entry, but I can understand the small mistake here and there.
(I saw the story about this on Famous Monsters of Filmland's, see their story HERE, and stop by and enjoy the new site.)
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
It warms the area where my heart should be that they have given a web presence to the monsters. Sometimes I feel like Universal doesn't do enough to promote their unique monsters, and when they do it's always just short term efforts. Hopefully the Wolf Man is a success, and will keep the monsters in the forefront for now on.
One minor thing that caught my eye, and I'll write to them to fix, is a fact note in the Son Of Dracula synopsis is wrong. They wrote "Evelyn Ankers, who played Kay in this film, starred opposite Chaney in James Whale's The Wolf Man in 1941." James Whales didn't direct The Wolf Man, but George Waggner did. I'll have to go through each entry, but I can understand the small mistake here and there.
(I saw the story about this on Famous Monsters of Filmland's, see their story HERE, and stop by and enjoy the new site.)
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
Friday, December 4, 2009
Slingers- The show SyFy should be doing.
(Forgive me while I take a detour and talk about something that's not totally monster related)
Let's face it, SyFy (formerly the SciFi Channel, but don't get me started on that) airs a lot of crap. Now with the 're-branding' to a new name they seem to be breaking even further away from science fiction and fantasy. Personally I don't know anyone who want to see a cooking show on SyFy, which is one purposed idea they've been playing with.
Now the embedded three minute and two second video below is a presentation reel for a pilot some guys I've never heard of want to shoot. It is incredible. This is the type of show I want to see on SyFy every Friday. No more Stargates, no more wrestling and no more bad direct-to-video disaster films staring Luke Perry.
Just three minutes long and this presentation reel is better than any hour long show on SyFY right now. Why isn't SyFy talking to these guys?
I wish everyone involved with this the best of luck and I hope it actually gets made.
(I saw this originally on Topless Robot please check them out)
Let's face it, SyFy (formerly the SciFi Channel, but don't get me started on that) airs a lot of crap. Now with the 're-branding' to a new name they seem to be breaking even further away from science fiction and fantasy. Personally I don't know anyone who want to see a cooking show on SyFy, which is one purposed idea they've been playing with.
Now the embedded three minute and two second video below is a presentation reel for a pilot some guys I've never heard of want to shoot. It is incredible. This is the type of show I want to see on SyFy every Friday. No more Stargates, no more wrestling and no more bad direct-to-video disaster films staring Luke Perry.
Just three minutes long and this presentation reel is better than any hour long show on SyFY right now. Why isn't SyFy talking to these guys?
I wish everyone involved with this the best of luck and I hope it actually gets made.
(I saw this originally on Topless Robot please check them out)
SLINGERS from Mike Sizemore on Vimeo.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
State Dinner
This nice couple were standing outside the State Dinner I attended on Nov. 24th in Washington. They looked all sad because they couldn't get in, so I propped opened the back door to the event so they could sneak in. Hopefully no one found out.Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
Ormsby
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Transylmania in Theater's December 4th
"College kids, the other white meat."-Transylmania Tag Line.
I'm a fan of Transylvania Twist (1989). Say what you will about the movie, it was good dumb fun that didn't take itself seriously. Sometimes you need that. I think that's why I'm getting excited for Transylmania, which comes out December 4th.
You would think they would release this around Halloween, but I think they waited until after Twilight: Full Stupid...I mean Moon came out to ride that wave. It's just in time to send up the current vampire trend.
As a plus, it has the sexy but often overlooked Musetta Vander (Oblivion, Xena) in it as a vampire hunter.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
I'm a fan of Transylvania Twist (1989). Say what you will about the movie, it was good dumb fun that didn't take itself seriously. Sometimes you need that. I think that's why I'm getting excited for Transylmania, which comes out December 4th.
You would think they would release this around Halloween, but I think they waited until after Twilight: Full Stupid...I mean Moon came out to ride that wave. It's just in time to send up the current vampire trend.
As a plus, it has the sexy but often overlooked Musetta Vander (Oblivion, Xena) in it as a vampire hunter.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Happy Birthday to Karloff the Uncanny Part Two
WOW! Karloff and Lugosi singing 'We're Horrible, Horrible Men'. You don't hear that everyday.
This little gem comes from a radio program called Baker’s Broadcast (AKA Seein’ Stars in Hollywood from March 13, 1938. I read once they did this to promote 'Son of Frankenstein', but the dates don't jive. The show was broadcast March of 1938, and filming didn't start on 'Son of Frankenstein' until November of 1938. Since they had no join movie ventures coming out at the time, I think they were asked to do this because of the re-release of Dracula and Frankenstein, which was a hit in 1938.
Regardless, enjoy the rare clip of Karloff and Lugosi.
This little gem comes from a radio program called Baker’s Broadcast (AKA Seein’ Stars in Hollywood from March 13, 1938. I read once they did this to promote 'Son of Frankenstein', but the dates don't jive. The show was broadcast March of 1938, and filming didn't start on 'Son of Frankenstein' until November of 1938. Since they had no join movie ventures coming out at the time, I think they were asked to do this because of the re-release of Dracula and Frankenstein, which was a hit in 1938.
Regardless, enjoy the rare clip of Karloff and Lugosi.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Happy Birthday to Karloff the Uncanny! Part One
I was asked over Halloween what was my favorite Boris Karloff film. The person asking probably thought I was going to say one of the Frankenstein roles, but I surprised him with a film he never heard of: Targets (1968).
Outside of Karloff fans, not many people have heard of this great Peter Bogdanovich film. The plot follows two stories. The first is an aging horror star named Orlok (Karloff) who is tired of playing the boogie man and wants to retire. The second is a young man who has snapped and starts shooting down people (based on true stories that happened in the 1960's) starting with his own family. The destinies of these two men, the old monster and the new monster, finally cross paths at a movie drive in where the young man is picking off people watching the latest film of the old horror star.
The reason I love this film is Karloff's performance, which tugs at the heart strings of fans. You feel for this man who is at the end of his career and his life, a situation Karloff knew all too well. He wasn't playing a role as much as making a statement about his own life.
Not only is this my favorite Karloff film, it is one of my favorite films of all time.
(Please note: I usually embed a trailer at the end of posts. Unfortunately, the only trailer I found for Targets makes it out to be all about the killer and only has Karloff in it for one seconds at the end. If I find a better trailer I'll post it later.)
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
Outside of Karloff fans, not many people have heard of this great Peter Bogdanovich film. The plot follows two stories. The first is an aging horror star named Orlok (Karloff) who is tired of playing the boogie man and wants to retire. The second is a young man who has snapped and starts shooting down people (based on true stories that happened in the 1960's) starting with his own family. The destinies of these two men, the old monster and the new monster, finally cross paths at a movie drive in where the young man is picking off people watching the latest film of the old horror star.
The reason I love this film is Karloff's performance, which tugs at the heart strings of fans. You feel for this man who is at the end of his career and his life, a situation Karloff knew all too well. He wasn't playing a role as much as making a statement about his own life.
Not only is this my favorite Karloff film, it is one of my favorite films of all time.
(Please note: I usually embed a trailer at the end of posts. Unfortunately, the only trailer I found for Targets makes it out to be all about the killer and only has Karloff in it for one seconds at the end. If I find a better trailer I'll post it later.)
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Anti-Twilight Vampire Weekend Movie List
Just wanted to keep you up to date on the movies I've watched so far since I'm not going to write about each and every one of them (some I want to save for other blog entries). Except for Killer Barbys vs Dracula, the movies I've picked out of the hat have been really good ones.
1) Killer Barbys vs Dracula (2002)
2) Return of the Vampire (1944)
3) Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires AKA The Seven Brother meet Dracula (1974)
4) Atomic Age Vampire (1960)
5) Son of Dracula (1943)
Next up is Count Dracula starring Louis Jourdan, a BBC production from 1977.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
1) Killer Barbys vs Dracula (2002)
2) Return of the Vampire (1944)
3) Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires AKA The Seven Brother meet Dracula (1974)
4) Atomic Age Vampire (1960)
5) Son of Dracula (1943)
Next up is Count Dracula starring Louis Jourdan, a BBC production from 1977.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
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