Twenty-five years ago, director Stephen Sommers turned a respected, but admittedly pretty dusty, Universal horror movie into a rip-roarin’ adventure. It’s fair to say all these years later that 1999’s The Mummy the best Indiana Jones movie not directed by Steven Spielberg. And yet, when Universal wanted to remake it again, they didn’t even bother to consult Sommers.
Is it any wonder, then, that 2017’s The Mummy was a colossal flop?
Talking with Sommers about the 25th anniversary of The Mummy ’99, The Hollywood Reporter asked if he had any involvement with the 2017 film, to which the director gave a short, clear response.
“No,” he answered. “Actually, I was kind of insulted because the writers and director of that Tom Cruise one, no one ever contacted me. I contact people if I was going to take over somebody’s thing.”
Perhaps the most surprising part of that statement is...
Is it any wonder, then, that 2017’s The Mummy was a colossal flop?
Talking with Sommers about the 25th anniversary of The Mummy ’99, The Hollywood Reporter asked if he had any involvement with the 2017 film, to which the director gave a short, clear response.
“No,” he answered. “Actually, I was kind of insulted because the writers and director of that Tom Cruise one, no one ever contacted me. I contact people if I was going to take over somebody’s thing.”
Perhaps the most surprising part of that statement is...
- 5/13/2024
- by Joe George
- Den of Geek
The Screambox Original documentary Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story is now streaming on Screambox, and it’s next coming to VHS!
A limited edition of only 50 copies worldwide, the VHS copies of the Englund documentary will go up for grabs on Saturday, April 27 at 12pm Est on Lunchmeat’s official website.
Josh Schafer of Lunchmeat explains, “With so many of Englund’s works being seen and familiarized on videotape, it only felt right to offer fans and collectors the opportunity to experience this fantastic doc on VHS. We all know the Freddy movies just feel different on videocassette, and we wanted to bring that feel to this film for those who want it.”
“Since first donning a tattered fedora and a glove of eviscerating blades in 1984, Robert Englund has become a beloved horror icon. His portrayal of Freddy Krueger is without doubt a moment as visceral to the...
A limited edition of only 50 copies worldwide, the VHS copies of the Englund documentary will go up for grabs on Saturday, April 27 at 12pm Est on Lunchmeat’s official website.
Josh Schafer of Lunchmeat explains, “With so many of Englund’s works being seen and familiarized on videotape, it only felt right to offer fans and collectors the opportunity to experience this fantastic doc on VHS. We all know the Freddy movies just feel different on videocassette, and we wanted to bring that feel to this film for those who want it.”
“Since first donning a tattered fedora and a glove of eviscerating blades in 1984, Robert Englund has become a beloved horror icon. His portrayal of Freddy Krueger is without doubt a moment as visceral to the...
- 4/26/2024
- by John Squires
- bloody-disgusting.com
In the 1930s, Universal laid claim to the two biggest horror stars of the era, Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, and it was only a matter of time before the pair would meet on screen. In 1932, only months after each rocketed to stardom in Dracula and Frankenstein respectively, the two were dressed in tuxedoes and brought together for a genial photoshoot that simultaneously announced their partnership and implied a rivalry. Through a series of circumstances, it was another two years before the pair would star in a film together. As one might expect, it was in the most transgressive horror film of the era, 1934’s The Black Cat, a film that remains shocking not only for the early 1930s but even more surprising as a product overseen by the newly enforced Hays Code.
The Code had been established in 1927 as a self-censoring wing of the motion picture industry and an attempt to avoid government censorship.
The Code had been established in 1927 as a self-censoring wing of the motion picture industry and an attempt to avoid government censorship.
- 2/26/2024
- by Brian Keiper
- bloody-disgusting.com
There are a lot of "Frankenstein" movies. There's even one in theaters right now: "Lisa Frankenstein," a fun 80s-set horror-comedy-romance brew (read /Film's review here).
One could even say the story of "Frankenstein" birthed the horror genre as we know it today, both in literature (thanks to Mary Shelley's "Modern Prometheus") and in film. James Whale's 1931 "Frankenstein," arriving on the heels of "Dracula," cemented the age of Universal Horror and proved that monsters could be crowd-pleasers.
Countless sequels and remakes later, everyone knows the basics of the story. Dr. Frankenstein (first name usually Victor) sets out to create life in a reanimated corpse. The result is a Creature, unpleasant to the eye, and soon Frankenstein experiences the wrath of his Monster. Was Frankenstein's Monster born destructive or made that way by his creator rejecting him? Interpretations differ, but the message endures: don't play God (or become a parent...
One could even say the story of "Frankenstein" birthed the horror genre as we know it today, both in literature (thanks to Mary Shelley's "Modern Prometheus") and in film. James Whale's 1931 "Frankenstein," arriving on the heels of "Dracula," cemented the age of Universal Horror and proved that monsters could be crowd-pleasers.
Countless sequels and remakes later, everyone knows the basics of the story. Dr. Frankenstein (first name usually Victor) sets out to create life in a reanimated corpse. The result is a Creature, unpleasant to the eye, and soon Frankenstein experiences the wrath of his Monster. Was Frankenstein's Monster born destructive or made that way by his creator rejecting him? Interpretations differ, but the message endures: don't play God (or become a parent...
- 2/18/2024
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
The story behind the novel is almost as famous as the novel itself: in the summer of 1816, Mary Shelley and her husband Percy Shelley traveled to Lake Geneva on a trip with her stepsister Claire Claremont and Claire’s lover, poet Lord Byron. Because of the abnormally cold weather, the foursome were forced to stay indoors for nearly the entire trip, and to pass the time, Byron proposed a challenge to see who could write the scariest ghost story. Mary, a woman with a taste for the macabre, was inspired by a discussion of galvanism, a scientific theory that electricity could stimulate or create life, to write what she first thought would be a short story: the tale of a young, ambitious student playing God and creating an abomination in the process.
From that idea came quite possibly the most influential and iconic horror novel in history. Published two years later in 1818, “Frankenstein; or,...
From that idea came quite possibly the most influential and iconic horror novel in history. Published two years later in 1818, “Frankenstein; or,...
- 2/13/2024
- by Wilson Chapman
- Indiewire
When we recently compiled our list of science fiction movies based on true stories, one film that didn’t make the list was Christopher Nolan‘s Oppenheimer. After all, the technology behind the nuclear bomb can no longer be said to be undiscovered, sadly. Nonetheless, Oppenheimer remains the archetypal science fiction story—one about a mad scientist who devises a new machine that changes the world through terrible unforeseen consequences. He is an an American Prometheus, yes, but also a regular Yankee Frankenstein. More than that though, by ushering in the nuclear age, Oppenheimer may have lit the fuse on the genre of cinematic science fiction.
It is hardly a new observation, but walk into any cinema in the 1950s and you will find no shortage of creatures, monsters, or occasionally people grown to giant size by the mysterious power of radiation. You don’t need to look too closely...
It is hardly a new observation, but walk into any cinema in the 1950s and you will find no shortage of creatures, monsters, or occasionally people grown to giant size by the mysterious power of radiation. You don’t need to look too closely...
- 1/20/2024
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
Like most movies, The Invisible Man travelled a long and winding road to the silver screen, and perhaps longer and more winding than most. As biographer James Curtis put it in his book James Whale: A New World of Gods and Monsters, “The gestation of The Invisible Man was the lengthiest and most convoluted of all of James Whale’s films. It involved four directors, nine writers, six treatments, and ten separate screenplays—all for a film that emerged very much in harmony with the book on which it was based.” It was first suggested as a possible follow-up to Dracula (1931), perhaps as a vehicle for new star Bela Lugosi, but was dropped in favor of Frankenstein (1931) due to the complicated special effects it would require. After Frankenstein was an even bigger success, both director James Whale and star Boris Karloff were immediately attached to The Invisible Man and several...
- 12/21/2023
- by Brian Keiper
- bloody-disgusting.com
60th anniversary collector’s edition of Roger Corman’s The Terror on Blu-ray/DVD, 12th December 2023
Two-Disc Collection Packed With Special Features, Including Bonus Film The Little Shop of Horrors (1960) and Film Commentary by Star Jonathan Haze
The duality of Roger Corman is on display, showcasing his spooky gothic side with The Terror (1963) — marking the 60th anniversary of its release this year — and his more whimsical side with The Little Shop of Horrors (1960) in this double-feature, special-edition, two-disc, collector’s set, on Blu-ray and DVD 12th December 2023 from Film Masters.
In The Terror—with an all-new HD restoration from 35mm archival elements — an 18th century French Lieutenant in Napoleon’s army encounters the ghostly apparition of a young woman (Sandra Knight). Curiosity leads Lt. Andre Duvalier (Jack Nicholson) to the castle of Baron Von Leppe (Boris Karloff), where he notices a painting of the Baron’s late wife Ilsa, who looks identical to the ghostly woman. Determined to unravel the castle’s mystery, Duvalier learns that...
The duality of Roger Corman is on display, showcasing his spooky gothic side with The Terror (1963) — marking the 60th anniversary of its release this year — and his more whimsical side with The Little Shop of Horrors (1960) in this double-feature, special-edition, two-disc, collector’s set, on Blu-ray and DVD 12th December 2023 from Film Masters.
In The Terror—with an all-new HD restoration from 35mm archival elements — an 18th century French Lieutenant in Napoleon’s army encounters the ghostly apparition of a young woman (Sandra Knight). Curiosity leads Lt. Andre Duvalier (Jack Nicholson) to the castle of Baron Von Leppe (Boris Karloff), where he notices a painting of the Baron’s late wife Ilsa, who looks identical to the ghostly woman. Determined to unravel the castle’s mystery, Duvalier learns that...
- 11/20/2023
- by Peter 'Witchfinder' Hopkins
- Horror Asylum
When cinephiles of a certain sensibility talk about the best decades for horror, they’ll probably point to the 1980s with its explosion of cutting-edge special effects and home video-induced demand for material. Or they might point to the era of Universal Pictures’ domination in the 1930s, followed up then by the moody Val Lewton thrillers of the 1940s. Maybe even a very unpopular kid will try to make an argument for the 2010s, at least until everyone pulls the A24 hat over his eyes and kicks him out.
But moviegoers would be foolish to overlook the 1960s. The decade saw not only two amazing horror flicks from Alfred Hitchcock but also caught the genre in an interesting time of transition. Filmmakers built on the Gothic approach of previous decades by adding a psychological dimension, finding new chills in an established model. Furthermore, the decade saw the first steps toward the ho,...
But moviegoers would be foolish to overlook the 1960s. The decade saw not only two amazing horror flicks from Alfred Hitchcock but also caught the genre in an interesting time of transition. Filmmakers built on the Gothic approach of previous decades by adding a psychological dimension, finding new chills in an established model. Furthermore, the decade saw the first steps toward the ho,...
- 10/21/2023
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
Chances are, if you’re familiar with the name Edward D. Wood, Jr., it’s thanks to Tim Burton’s delightful biopic, Ed Wood. Certainly, people were aware of the eccentric writer-director prior to the 1994 film, but Burton cast Wood in a whole new light, turning the quote-unquote “worst director of all time” into a lovable dreamer who wouldn’t let puny budgets, bad actors, or obnoxious producers impede his goals. Ed Wood gave us a reason to appreciate a man for whom making movies was the ultimate gratification, quality be damned. Settle into your favorite angora sweater, because we’re going to find out What Really Happened to Ed Wood.
To start off with the obvious, Wood’s real life wasn’t quite as peachy keen as the movie portrays. Tim Burton didn’t want to make a traditional biopic about the man, nor did the screenwriters, who based...
To start off with the obvious, Wood’s real life wasn’t quite as peachy keen as the movie portrays. Tim Burton didn’t want to make a traditional biopic about the man, nor did the screenwriters, who based...
- 10/19/2023
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
In the world of film, you will have icons that appear with a few manufactured into something better than they are. The Net and the Hollywood star system of the past do that today with some questionable ability and content on both sides of the camera being hailed as something special. The icons of the horror genre rise to the top like Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, Bela Lugosi, Christopher Lee, and Peter Cushing. Their names are often above titles of films even reduced to the use of the surname as in Karloff and Lugosi without losing box office appeal. Entering this realm is the feature documentary of actor Robert Englund simply called Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story.
I honestly was not a huge Freddy fan towards the end of the A Nightmare On Elm Street series of films because for me the stories became set pieces for effects.
I honestly was not a huge Freddy fan towards the end of the A Nightmare On Elm Street series of films because for me the stories became set pieces for effects.
- 10/18/2023
- by Terry Sherwood
- Horror Asylum
Though there had been earlier efforts, like Ealing Studios’s Dead of Night from 1945, the horror anthology film came into its own in the 1960s with titles like Kobayashi Masaki’s Kwaidan and the Poe-centric Spirits of the Dead from directors Roger Vadim, Louis Malle, and Federico Fellini. Hammer Films’s rival Amicus churned out no fewer than seven of them in a 10-year period starting with Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors. But the one that really got the omnibus rolling was Mario Bava’s Black Sabbath from 1963, an Italian-American co-production that resulted in two different versions of the film.
After the success of 1960’s Black Sunday, American International Pictures took a more active hand in producing several of Bava’s later films, altering them in the process to suit American audiences that tended to skew younger. The Aip cut of Black Sabbath rearranges its three segments, tones down some...
After the success of 1960’s Black Sunday, American International Pictures took a more active hand in producing several of Bava’s later films, altering them in the process to suit American audiences that tended to skew younger. The Aip cut of Black Sabbath rearranges its three segments, tones down some...
- 10/16/2023
- by Budd Wilkins
- Slant Magazine
Boris Karlov, Peter Lorre, and Vincent Price in The Raven.Image: Film Publicity Archive (Getty Images)
For almost as long as the medium has existed, filmmakers have been turning to the works of Edgar Allan Poe for inspiration. The earliest adaptations of his stories date back to the silent era.
For almost as long as the medium has existed, filmmakers have been turning to the works of Edgar Allan Poe for inspiration. The earliest adaptations of his stories date back to the silent era.
- 10/11/2023
- by Cindy White
- avclub.com
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSNext week, we are holding a launch event for Issue 3 of Notebook in London. Join us at the Ica London on September 28 for a screening of a new 4K restoration of Jean-Luc Godard’s Contempt, followed by a conversation between issue contributor Erika Balsom and critic Simran Hans. We are sorry to say that the event is now sold out, but you can still enter our competition to win a pair of tickets. Lee Kang-sheng’s Instagram seems to indicate that he and Tsai Ming-liang shot another installment of their ongoing Walker series in Washington, DC: a few images are posted here.REMEMBERINGPressure.Horace Ové has died aged 86: His debut Pressure (1975) is considered the first full-length feature by a Black British filmmaker; it centers on a Trinidadian teenager living with his family in West London,...
- 9/20/2023
- MUBI
Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment is thrilled to be releasing Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story. The film will premiere exclusively on the Icon Film Channel from 2nd October 2023, with Special Collector’s Edition Blu-ray and Tvod/Est available from 6th November 2023. From the makers of Pennywise: The Story of It and the widely-anticipated movie RoboDoc: The Creation of RoboCop comes an all-new documentary, celebrating the legacy and career of one our generation’s most beloved horror icons, the legendary Robert Englund. Shooting to super-stardom with his revolutionary portrayal of Freddy Krueger in the ‘Nightmare On Elm Street’ franchise – a moment without doubt as visceral to the horror genre as Chaney’s werewolf or Karloff’s ground-breaking realisation of Frankenstein’s monster – Englund has firmly earned his place in the pantheon of horror movie legends. The documentary features a host of horror icons including Robert Englund himself, as well as...
- 9/11/2023
- by Peter 'Witchfinder' Hopkins
- Horror Asylum
Sequels are practically as old as cinema, with the very first thought to be The Fall of a Nation (1916), a cheapie knockoff/follow-up to the incredibly racist The Birth of a Nation from a year earlier. Ever since Hollywood has been keen to cash-in on sequels and ongoing sagas. Before the term “movie franchise” was even a glint in a studio executive’s eye, MGM was churning out high-quality Thin Man movies at MGM throughout the 1930s and ‘40s while Universal was introducing us to both Dracula’s Daughter (1936) and Son of Frankenstein (1939). One must wonder why the studio never got those two crazy kids together.
And yet, while sequels have been around forever, they’ve generally been seen as lesser-than until recently. By their nature, sequels are derivative, and there have been many filmmakers who were all too happy to embrace sameness while filling their working hours before and after lunch.
And yet, while sequels have been around forever, they’ve generally been seen as lesser-than until recently. By their nature, sequels are derivative, and there have been many filmmakers who were all too happy to embrace sameness while filling their working hours before and after lunch.
- 6/6/2023
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
Despite it’s very au courant subject matter, Peter Bogdanovich’s first feature was never going to abide by the filmmaking trends of its era. In fact, it would be hard to think of many others in the industry less interested in the then-contemporary vanguard, and more fixated on the way things used to be back in American cinema’s golden age. Nevertheless, Targets emerged in 1968 as something of a bridge between the two generational factions that were in the early stages of splitting Hollywood apart.
Targets is essentially two films in conflict with each other right up to the final minute. Its logline is a ripped-from-the-headlines depiction of what, at the time, was a reasonably unheard-of phenomenon: a mass shooting. Lifting thematic elements of the infamous case of Charles Whitman, who climbed to an observation deck at the University of Texas in Austin, on August 1, 1966, and picked people off with a rifle,...
Targets is essentially two films in conflict with each other right up to the final minute. Its logline is a ripped-from-the-headlines depiction of what, at the time, was a reasonably unheard-of phenomenon: a mass shooting. Lifting thematic elements of the infamous case of Charles Whitman, who climbed to an observation deck at the University of Texas in Austin, on August 1, 1966, and picked people off with a rifle,...
- 5/18/2023
- by Eric Henderson
- Slant Magazine
Poor Elsa Lanchester and poor Bride of Frankenstein. Despite being the title character of James Whale’s 1935 horror-comedy masterpiece, this ghoulish undead creature only gets about five minutes of proper screen time. Whale’s camera certainly basks in her visage, which by design is far more glamorous than makeup artist Jack Pierce’s other creature feature designs for the Universal Monsters. Nonetheless, after finally being brought to life, the character, who is almost insultingly dubbed “the Monster’s Mate” in the credits, gets to walk once or twice around the lab and is then obliterated—burned to a cinder because she had the audacity to (like everyone else) be repulsed by Boris Karloff’s misunderstood monster.
Emma Stone appears poised to change that in what should be one of this year’s most intriguing films: Poor Things.
As Lanthimos’ first feature since the Oscar-winning The Favourite in 2018, the film is...
Emma Stone appears poised to change that in what should be one of this year’s most intriguing films: Poor Things.
As Lanthimos’ first feature since the Oscar-winning The Favourite in 2018, the film is...
- 5/11/2023
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
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