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In addition to Sick, Scream Factory’s February home video line-up includes 4K upgrades for Galaxy of Terror, Ghosts of Mars, and Humanoids from the Deep.

Galaxy of Terror lands on 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray on February 11. Produced by Roger Corman, the Alien-inspired 1981 sci-fi horror film has been newly restored in 4K from the 3mm interpositive with Dolby Vision.

Bruce D. Clark directs from a script he co-wrote with Marc Siegler. Edward Albert, Erin Moran, and Ray Walston star with future horror icons Sid Haig and Robert Englund. A young James Cameron served as production designer and second unit director.

Disc 1 – 4K Uhd:

4K Restoration Of The 3mm Interpositive (new) Presented In Dolby Vision (new) Audio: English DTS-hd Master Audio Mono Audio Commentary with Cast and Crew

Disc 2 – Blu-ray:

4K Restoration Of The 3mm Interpositive (new) Audio: English DTS-hd Master Audio Mono Audio Commentary with Cast and Crew Tales...

Blu-ray.com reports that Scream Factory has announced that they’ll be bringing four horror movies to 4K in February – and each one of these is a cool title that a lot of genre fans will be picking up. Scream Factory’s February 4K line-up consists of Ghosts of Mars (2001), Humanoids from the Deep (1980), Galaxy of Terror (1981), and Sick (2022)!

Directed by John Carpenter from a screenplay he wrote with Larry Sulkis, Ghosts of Mars is one of the least popular films in Carpenter’s filmography… but still, it’s Carpenter, so that means a 4K release is going to be a must-buy for a good number of fans. Here’s the synopsis: Long inhabited by human settlers, the Red Planet has become the manifest destiny of an over-populated Earth. Nearly 640,000 people now live and work all over Mars, mining the planet for its abundant natural resources. But one of those...

The original "Twilight Zone" is one of those rare shows that serve as the yardstick for the entire medium of television, which is especially impressive when you remember how all over the place its stories can be. The most notable episodes of "The Twilight Zone" alone range from "Time Enough at Last" to "Eye of the Beholder" (a legendary take on body horror). The only reliable throughlines here are the inventive speculative premises, wild plot twists, and clever parables. Apart from them, anything and everything is possible in the "Zone."

Because of the original show's sheer impact on popular culture, it's no surprise that "The Twilight Zone" at large has grown into a loose franchise that spans over six decades and numerous movies and TV shows. Academy Award winners and visionaries have given their best shot at the property over the years, but how have they succeeded? Let's find out...

The Twilight Zone Helicopter Crash is one of the most infamous accidents in Hollywood history. It claimed the lives of three people – veteran actor Vic Morrow and two child actors – Myca Dinh Le (age 7) and Renee Shin-Yi Chen (age 6). It led to a nine-month involuntary manslaughter trial, and numerous lawsuits and was considered the moment Hollywood finally started to take child labour laws seriously. It’s become a permanent stain on the legacy of director John Landis, and ghoulish footage of the incident is on permanent record, proving how complicated sequences can have deadly outcomes in only a split second. Indeed, in this episode of JoBlo Scandals, we’re digging into the Twilight Zone accident and the man at its heart, director John Landis.

Before the accident, Landis was one of the top directors in Hollywood. Two movements were going on in seventies films that forever changed the medium. One was the “New Hollywood” movement,...

Stars: Vic Morrow, Sonny Chiba, Etsuko Shihomi, Philip Casnoff, Peggy Lee Brennan, Tetsurô Tanba, Mikio Narita, Makoto Satô, Seizô Fukumoto, Hiroyuki Sanada | Written by Kinji Fukasaku, Shotaro Ishinomori, Hirô Matsuda | Directed by Kinji Fukasaku

Message from Space, directed by Kinji Fukasaku, is a Japanese science fiction film that blends traditional space opera tropes with unique cultural elements, delivering a visually captivating yet narratively uneven experience. Released in the wake of the monumental success of Star Wars, this film ambitiously seeks to carve out its own niche within the genre.

One of the standout features of Message from Space is its visual presentation. The film showcases an impressive array of special effects for its time, with meticulously designed spacecraft and vibrant alien landscapes that reflect a distinctively Japanese aesthetic. The miniature models and practical effects, though not as polished as those in Hollywood blockbusters, possess a charming quality that adds to the film’s retro-futuristic appeal.

On Friday nights, IndieWire After Dark takes a feature-length beat to honor fringe cinema in the streaming age.

First, the spoiler-free pitch for one editor’s midnight movie pick — something weird and wonderful from any age of film that deserves our memorializing.

Then, the spoiler-filled aftermath as experienced by the unwitting editor attacked by this week’s recommendation.

The Pitch: A Meddlesome Producer’s Bloodiest, Briniest Catch of the Day

As titillating as it is atrocious, “Humanoids from the Deep” has everything. Sandy boobs. Practical gore. A woman director undermined by Roger Corman. Garnish with those dead dog scenes, and what more could you ask of a creature feature from the summer of 1980?

Starring Doug McClure as a hero fisherman, Ann Turkel as an inquisitive biologist, and Vic Morrow in a shifty special performance, this sluggish monster invasion imagines a community ravaged by sea creatures (Aka clumsy actors in suits...

Few films have arrived in theaters saddled with more baggage than "Twilight Zone: The Movie." That the anthology film featuring segments from John Landis, Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante, and George Miller actually arrived in the first place was something of a surprise -- and for many in the entertainment industry, it wasn't a welcome one.

The production became a wholly avoidable tragedy on June 23, 1982, when a helicopter crashed on the set of Landis' segment, "Time Out," killing Vic Morrow and child actors Myca Dinh Le and Renee Shin-Yi Chen. The show does not always have to go on, but the movie was nevertheless completed and released (rather insensitively) on June 24, 1983, leading off with "Time Out". For some, it was like watching a snuff film.

How do you not let the realization that you're watching what might be a criminal production -- the National Transportation Safety Board had yet to finish their investigation,...

Jack Hogan, an actor who starred in ABC’s Combat! for 111 episodes, died Dec. 6 of natural causes at his home in Bainbridge Island, Wash. He was 94 years old.

The news was confirmed to Variety by his son West.

More from TVLineAnna 'Chickadee' Cardwell, Daughter of Here Comes Honey Boo Boo's Mama June, Dead at 29Hilary Duff Remembers Late Lizzie McGuire Producer Stan Rogow: 'Thank You for All of the Lizzie Adventures'Ryan O'Neal, Oscar Nominee and Peyton Place Star, Dead at 82

Hogan played Pfc William G. Kirby on Combat!, starring alongside Rick Jason, Vic Morrow and Pierre Jalbert. The show...

Jack Hogan, who most famously played Pfc William G. Kirby on ABC’s WWII-set series Combat!, died in his sleep Wednesday, December 6, according to the curator of an online community dedicated to Combat! He was 94.

Hogan played Pfc Kirby on 111 episodes of the long-running drama opposite Rick Jason, Vic Morrow and Pierre Jalbert. Robert Altman directed many episodes of the show, which was on the air from 1962-1967. It was not unfamiliar terrain: Hogan had been a staff sergeant in Japan during the Korean War.

Combat! was far from Hogan’s only credit.

He made his debut in the 1956 Anthony Quinn-starrer Man From Del Rio, Hogan worked steadily. He had multiple-epsisode arcs on The Rough Riders, Have Gun – Will Travel, Sea Hunt, Lock Up, Bat Masterson, The Lawman and The Rifleman.

After Combat!, Hogan worked steadily for the better part of the next three decades. His credits during...

Jack Hogan, a retired actor who starred in the WWII drama series “Combat!” from 1962 until 1967, died of natural causes on Dec. 6 at his home on Bainbridge Island, Washington, his son West told Variety. He was 94.

Hogan played Pfc William G. Kirby on the ABC series “Combat!,” starring Rick Jason, Vic Morrow and Pierre Jalbert. The show, which ran for five seasons, follows a squad of American soldiers fighting the Germans in France during WWII.

Born Richard Roland Benson, Jr. on Nov. 24, 1929, in Chapel Hill, N.C., Hogan earned his pilot’s license at the age of 16 and joined the Air Force after graduation. He spent four years serving as a staff sergeant in Japan during the Korean War.

After moving to Hollywood, Hogan worked as a lifeguard at the Beverly Hills Hotel and began taking acting classes at the Pasadena Playhouse.

Hogan made his onscreen debut as an uncredited role...

Dave Robb, a longtime Hollywood labor reporter who worked for Variety in the 1980s and ’90s, died Dec. 8 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 74 and had recently been diagnosed with cancer of the brain stem.

Robb most recently worked for Deadline, Variety‘s sibling company under the Penske Media Corp. umbrella. Robb spent most of this year on the strike beat as the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA engaged in historic, months-long work stoppages.

Robb made his name with aggressive and investigative reporting on Hollywood’s powerful labor unions. But he also had numerous other passions, always with an eye toward using his platform as a journalist to help the less privileged. Michael Fleming Jr., Deadline co-editor in chief, confirmed Robb’s death in a lengthy tribute posted Saturday.

“He was an advocate for the under-represented and disenfranchised in Hollywood: African American and Native American actors, child actors,...

Science fiction is a fascinating film genre. It inspires dreams of extraterrestrial life, futuristic gadgets, and space travel. Today, this all seems more plausible than ever. Yet, besides reflecting society, sci-fi helps us evaluate our actions -- and their consequences.

Creating scenes with nail-biting stunts requires a collaborative effort between actors and directors. Replacing stars with stunt performers due to their physical capabilities usually works but mishaps can still happen --- both on and off camera. The film industry has seen an increase in accidents over the last decade despite the advancement of technology. According to the Los Angeles Times, from 2010 to 2019, 19 fatal injuries occurred on American film sets. As attorney Chris Deacon told the outlet, "If those engaged to work on set in whatever capacity are dying at the hands of the creative process, then something is fundamentally wrong in the production processes."

Sure, authenticity makes for a thrilling watch.

You're about to enter another dimension. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. I'm talking, of course, about the world of streaming. We've all found ourselves wandering its endless terrain, confused, slightly panicked, ultimately grabbing on to something vaguely familiar just to gain a sense of stability. Alas, we appear doomed to remain stranded in the streaming sphere as long as the idea that being able to access every piece of media ever produced at any time is viewed as a positive thing.

So, what happens when you want to go a level deeper? Perhaps you're not perturbed enough by our contemporary situation as it is, and feel like further spooking yourself with a visit to the Twilight Zone itself? Well, I might suggest Rod Serling's original series, which ran from 1959 to 1964 and in large part remains as relevant today as it was back then.

There is a lot to unpack when it comes to "Twilight Zone: The Movie," a really good movie that comes with a lot of baggage. I'm sure you know some of the movie's reputation, but if you don't then I'd recommend checking out the "Cursed Films" series on Shudder. They did an in-depth episode on the turbulent and tragic production that "Twilight Zone: The Movie" went through. It's a fascinating watch, but trigger warning: they do show the raw footage of the helicopter accident that took the lives of Vic Morrow, Myca Dinh Le, and Renee Shin-Huei Chen during the filming of the movie in full. 

That wholly preventable accident overshadowed the whole movie and tarnished its legacy, but it's important to remember that the whole thing started out with giant filmmakers of the day wanting to pay respect to the sci-fi/horror anthology show that they grew up with.

"The Simpsons" is a pop cultural institution. The yellow-skinned family was introduced to television viewers via a series of animated shorts on "The Tracey Ullman Show," and scored a ratings success with their debut episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" on December 17, 1989. Before long, Bart Simpson became a troublemaking icon, burning up the Billboard Hot 100 with the novelty rap song "Do the Bartman", and appearing on knock-off t-shirts as everything from a U.S. Army soldier to a spliff-toting Rastafarian.

When the initial sensation faded, and the series' ratings came down to earth (after Fox stupidly moved it to Thursdays at 8 p.m. to challenge "The Cosby Show"), there was a sense that "The Simpsons" was not long for this world. But the show's viewership stabilized, and, most importantly, the writing got sharper. A massively talented group of scribes turned the series into a must-watch satire loaded with if-you-know-you-know references to films,...

The sci-fi/horror anthology series "The Twilight Zone" has always had the power to completely blow our minds, with classic episodes that taught fraught moral lessons, and featured twist endings that would eventually become so iconic that modern audiences are likely to watch episodes for the first time around pre-spoiled, whether they realize it or not, just due to cultural osmosis.

But there is perhaps no episode of "The Twilight Zone" quite like "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet." The episode is a claustrophobic thriller about a man on an airplane suffering from intense anxiety, who looks out and sees a man on the wing of the plane. Naturally, no one believes him because when anybody else looks, the man mysteriously vanishes. Only our hapless hero, sanity fraying, knows that the plane is in danger from the mysterious entity. With nobody else willing to believe him, he has to make a terrible,...

If you work in Hollywood as technical crew, you know the name of actor Vic Morrow, killed by a helicopter during a stunt gone wrong on the 1983 feature “Twilight Zone: The Movie.” Or Brandon Lee, the son of actor Bruce Lee, struck and killed by a prop gun while filming 1994’s “The Crow.” Those stories have resurfaced following the indictments of Alec Baldwin and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed for manslaughter after a fatality on the set of “Rust.”

A broadly held belief among below-the-line crew is that no one cares about their safety. Yet in interviews across the industry, TheWrap found that the problems facing production staff are deeper than mere apathy. The insularity among Hollywood’s many guilds and unions leads to finger-pointing when something goes wrong. Unclear lines of responsibility, with key managers sharing the burdens of both maximizing safety and minimizing costs, don’t help. And a culture of long hours,...

Since the days of silent pictures, the American film industry has grappled with on-set accidents and tragedies. Among the earliest was in 1914, when director Owen Carter and actress Grace McHugh drowned while shooting a sequence of a bandit’s daughter crossing the Rio Grande for the silent feature “Across the Border.” On-set deaths have shadowed the movies ever since, from the accidental shooting of Brandon Lee on “The Crow” set in 1993 to the 2014 death of “Midnight Rider” assistant camerawoman Sarah Jones on a Georgia train trestle.

But those are just the ones we know about: Media attention around on-set tragedies and mishaps, especially the manslaughter charges against “Rust” actor and producer Alec Baldwin and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, formally filed on Tuesday, is a modern phenomenon. In the early days, the lack of a 24/7 news cycle allowed many accidents and deaths to go unreported.

“The coverage was less in those days [silents and beyond],” Jonathan Kuntz,...

National Lampoon's "Animal House" is perhaps Hollywood's first party film. It's a beloved genre now, with notable entries like "Neighbors" and "Project X," but "Animal House" was a true pioneer in debauchery. It may have seemed like a non-stop rager in the Delta house, but believe it or not, the set was a strictly sober environment — at least, while the cameras were rolling.

"Animal House" was a fratty set from the very start. Director John Landis called all the Deltas to set a week before the rest of the cast to help them form a close-knit bond. One night, they went to a frat party and got in a fight with the real fraternity brothers there, The New York Times reported.

"That fight cemented us as a group," declared James Widdoes, who plays the high-strung chapter president Robert Hoover. After that, the Deltas took to partying in real life almost as much as their characters.

On the evening of July 23, 1982, “Animal House” director John Landis was filming a tricky nighttime helicopter scene for “Twilight Zone: The Movie.” The wide-open spaces of Indian Dunes, now part of Santa Clarita, Calif., were standing in for Vietnam, and the scene called for soldiers in a helicopter to pursue actor Vic Morrow, who was carrying two children. When the copter made a turn just above a large mortar round, the special effect explosive detonated, bringing down the helicopter and killing Morrow along with 7-year-old Myca Dinh Le and 6-year-old Renee Shin-Yi Chen.

The devastating accident shook Hollywood, and several months later, Variety announced that “Landis, pilot, others face ‘Twilight’ accident charges.” Landis and other “Twilight Zone” movie crew members were charged with involuntary manslaughter — the same charges “Rust” actor and producer Alec Baldwin and “Midnight Rider” director Randall Miller faced for their roles in on-set deaths.

Five years later,...

Trading Places remains a highlight in the careers of stars Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy and Jamie Lee Curtis. A riff on the timeless Prince and the Pauper tale, it was a smash hit in the summer of 1983, ranking fourth for the year, only beaten by Return of the Jedi, Terms of Endearment and Flashdance. It became a staple of video stores and cable and is also an unheralded holiday classic, taking place around Christmas and New Year’s.

Flashback to 1982. This was an important year in the lives of all of the leading players involved with Trading Places. For star Dan Aykroyd, it was marked with tragedy, with his best friend and frequent on-screen partner, John Belushi, dying of a drug overdose early in the year. Likewise, director John Landis was involved in a tragedy while directing Twilight Zone: The Movie. While staging a scene involving a helicopter, star Vic Morrow...

Correction: The previous version of this article utilized inaccurate language. We have updated the piece accordingly.

"¡Three Amigos!" is a fun romp with an all-star comedy trio leading its cast. With Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, and Martin Short in their prime leading the charge, the film was destined to be hilarious based on their performances alone. In addition to this, John Landis, who helmed such successful films as "National Lampoon's Animal House" and "An American Werewolf in London" was directing. Those fantastic building blocks made for a great picture that remained popular for years. The film is so beloved, in fact, that Empire got the three stars and the director back together for a retrospective reunion in 2016, marking the 30th anniversary of the film's release.

The piece is, for the most part, delightful. It's a lot of reminiscing and joking between the co-stars of the film with the sort of...

To handle pyrotechnics on a movie set in California, you need a license, which requires five letters of recommendation, two years of apprenticeship, and passing a written test.

But to be an armorer, all you need is a background check. And in other states, you don’t even need that.

“There’s no actual rules,” said Joe Martinez, who works as an armorer in Hollywood. “There isn’t any official anything.”

The “Rust” tragedy, in which cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed by a live round in New Mexico, has prompted calls for industrywide reform. Some, including a California state senator, have advocated banning “real” guns — that is, guns capable of firing a live round — from sets entirely.

But others in the industry have suggested that would be impractical, and pointed instead to imposing some credentials to work as a film armorer.

“I do agree with permitting,” said Scott Rasmussen, a film armorer based in Albuquerque.

Munich-based Koch Films has struck a deal with Studiocanal Germany to take over the distributor’s entire sales and logistics activities for all physical home entertainment activities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Studiocanal’s extensive portfolio comprises new releases, series and classic catalog titles such as Francis Ford Coppola’s newly restored 1983 teen drama “The Outsiders” and David Lynch’s “Mulholland Drive” as well as works by the likes of Jean-Luc Godard, Wim Wenders, Jim Jarmusch and Margarethe von Trotta.

The agreement pools Studiocanal and Koch Films’ strengths and bolsters their market position in the home entertainment sector over the long term, the companies said.

Studiocanal’s Arthaus label includes such recently restored films as Federico Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita”; Ousmane Sembène’s 1968 Senegalese classic “Mandabi”; and Richard Kelly’s “Donnie Darko” as well as German titles like Reinhard Hauff’s 1975 drama “The Brutalization of Franz Blum,” featuring Jürgen Prochnow...

While Universal was working on the second sequel of Jaws (1975), the franchise famously created by Steven Spielberg then passed on to Jeannot Szwarc in 1978, poliziesco specialist Enzo G. Castellari shot L’ultimo squalo between the U.S. and Malta, creating quite a few headaches within white-collar Hollywood. The film did overwhelmingly and surprisingly well, grossing $18 million in the first month of programming, a fact that greatly annoyed Universal, which filed a lawsuit for plagiarism. To be precise, this was the studio’s second attempt at blocking the film. Universal attempted to stop distribution by Film Ventures before its U.S. premiere on March 5th, 1982, but the request was denied in the U.S. district courts. If, on the one hand, the filiation of Castellari's film from the original one is quite evident (with similar characters and narrative solutions), on the other it is also clear that Universal activated its legal team...

The Bad News Bears

Blu ray

Imprint

1976 / 1.78:1 / 102 min.

Starring Walter Matthau, Tatum O’Neal, Vic Morrow

Cinematography by John Alonzo

Directed by Michael Ritchie

W.C. Fields’ final screen appearance was a brief walk-on in Sensations of 1945, an overloaded variety show that barely found time for the great man. As usual Fields had the last laugh—thanks to his life-long aversion to authority, the comedian enjoyed a brief renaissance in the 70’s when his films were showcased at revival houses alongside those other counterculture champions, the Marx Brothers. Morris Buttermaker, the obstinate antihero of Michael Ritchie’s The Bad News Bears, is a W.C. Fields for The Me Decade. Like Fields, Buttermaker is a hard-drinking vagabond (he roams the San Fernando Valley cleaning swimming pools), boasts a tomato-shaped proboscis, and has little use for the world or its inhabitants—who else but Walter Matthau to play this slouching, grouching deadbeat.

William Sadler began his acting career in New York theaters, appearing in more than 75 productions over the course of 12 years. His roles included that of Sgt. Merwin J. Toomey in Neil Simon’s Tony Award winning play “Biloxi Blues”. He is best remembered for his roles in Die Hard 2, The Shawshank Redemeption, and as The Grim Reaper in the Bill and Ted movies. William Sadler is also a television star, appearing in such sitcoms as Roseanne (1988) and Murphy Brown (1988) and he also starred as Sheriff Jim Valenti on the WB science fiction television series Roswell. William Sadler’s latest project is a co-starring role in Alice Fades Away, written and directed by Ryan Bliss and also starring Ashley Shelton, Paxton Singleton and Blanche Baker. Alice Fades Away is the story of a troubled woman in 1950s New England who stumbles upon an isolated farmhouse and is taken in by...

Welcome to this week’s Mlw: Fusion review, right here on Nerdly. I’m Nathan Favel and we have a new sponsor:

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Once upon a time, MGM launched a big spectacle Western remake with the top star Glenn Ford and the bright import Maria Schell — and then second-guessed the whole production, cutting back on everything so severely that director Anthony Mann ankled the set for Spain and El Cid. The storytelling is a mess — after starting big, the show soon falls into pieces. But many of individual scenes and set pieces are exemplary, especially Mann’s re-run of the Oklahoma Land Rush, staged in Arizona and augmented by classy special effects. The large cast rounds up some big talent — Mercedes McCambridge, Russ Tamblyn — to tell Edna Ferber’s multi-generational story about ambition, intolerance and dreams of glory on the frontier.

Cimarron (1960)

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1960 / Color / 2:35 anamorphic widescreen / 147 min. / Street Date January 21, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Glenn Ford, Maria Schell, Anne Baxter, Arthur O’Connell, Russ Tamblyn, Mercedes McCambridge, Vic Morrow,...

Two years ago, in 2017, while filming a scene for AMC’s very successful, long-running TV show The Walking Dead, based on Robert Kirkman’s comic book series of the same name, a stuntman by the name of John Bernecker fell to his death during a stunt gone wrong. Today, his family’s lawyer made his closing argument, accusing AMC of being liable for Bernecker’s death, saying that it was entirely preventable and asking for $40-$100 million in damages.

The stunt in question involved Bernecker falling over a railing after being killed by Dwight, Austin Amelio’s character. There was a crash pad below him and things seemed set, but something went awry and Bernecker missed the pad by between two and nine feet. He fell on his skull and was rushed to a hospital, where he died two days later.

AMC’s arguing that he gripped the railing on his way down,...

Pam Polifroni, a longtime casting director for “Gunsmoke” who gave early acting roles to Jodie Foster, Jon Voight, Loretta Swit and others, has died. She was 90.

Polifroni died in Columbus, Ohio, on Thursday, Nov. 21 as a result of dementia, her daughter-in-law confirmed to Variety.

With more than 50 credits to her name by the end of her career, Polifroni worked in both film and television, though most of her hires appeared on the small screen.

Polifroni worked on “Gunsmoke” beginning in 1966 and continued through 1975. She was responsible for suggesting and landing Bette Davis for a guest role on the show, and also gave Jon Voight one of his earliest Hollywood parts. One of Jodie Foster’s youngest roles, at age seven, came after being hired by Polifroni for a small role in “Gunsmoke.” Loretta Swit also appeared on the series thanks to Polifroni, as well as on “Hawaii Five-o,” ahead of...

Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” ends with Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) being welcomed into Sharon Tate’s home for the first time after his bloody confrontation with members of the Manson Family cult. Some Tarantino fans have wondered if Rick finally being introduced to one of Hollywood’s most promising rising stars would reignite his dwindling career, but it turns out that’s not what’s in store for the “Lancer” actor.

During an appearance on “The Margaret Cho” podcast, Tarantino weighed in on what happens to Rick’s career after “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” ends. The answer shouldn’t surprise anyone familiar with the real-life figures Tarantino based Rick on when scripting the character.

“There are a few different ways his career could have gone depending on who you hitch your horse to of who he is representing. The George Maharis way is this way,...

Exploitation director Jared Masters compiles two dozen more grindhouse double feature DVDs for Shoctober! Celebrating the work of Dario Argento, Lon Chaney, Vic Morrow and Brandon Lee!… Cult horror classics, obscure thrillers, vintage erotica, absurd 80s action, sizzling foreign films and more! The next wave of Frolic Pictures’ new limited edition grindhouse series double …

The post Exploitation director Jared Masters compiles two dozen more grindhouse double feature DVDs for Shoctober! appeared first on Hnn | Horrornews.net.

John Landis celebrates his 69th birthday on August 3, 2019. Despite his many career ups and downs, the director has created a number of classics across several different genres. In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 10 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1950, Landis made his filmmaking debut with the micro-budget creature feature “Schlock” (1973), in which he also starred as an apeman terrorizing a Southern California suburb. It was the first collaboration between him and makeup maestro Rick Baker, who went on to win the first Academy Award for Best Makeup for the director’s “An American Werewolf in London” (1981).

SEEDan Aykroyd movies: 15 greatest films ranked from worst to best

Landis had his greatest successes with comedies, starting with the sketch compilation “The Kentucky Fried Movie” (1977), written by the “Airplane!” trio of Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker. He went on to helm...

John Landis celebrates his 69th birthday on August 3, 2019. Despite his many career ups and downs, the director has created a number of classics across several different genres. In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 10 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1950, Landis made his filmmaking debut with the micro-budget creature feature “Schlock” (1973), in which he also starred as an apeman terrorizing a Southern California suburb. It was the first collaboration between him and makeup maestro Rick Baker, who went on to win the first Academy Award for Best Makeup for the director’s “An American Werewolf in London” (1981).

Landis had his greatest successes with comedies, starting with the sketch compilation “The Kentucky Fried Movie” (1977), written by the “Airplane!” trio of Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker. He went on to helm the box office smashes “National Lampoon’s Animal House” (1978), “The Blues Brothers...

Wow — a good Audie Murphy movie. Clair Huffaker’s screenplay should take credit, as well as the workmanlike direction of former Hitchcock assistant Herbert Coleman. Even John Saxon comes off well, plus the film can boast good work from favorites Zohra Lampert and Vic Morrow, and fine support from Rodolfo Acosta, Royal Dano and Lee Van Cleef.

Posse from Hell

(Die Gnadenlosen Vier)

Blu-ray

Explosive Media GmbH

1961 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 89 min. / Street Date June 21, 2018 / Eur 14,84

Starring: Audie Murphy, John Saxon, Zohra Lampert, Vic Morrow, Robert Keith, Rodolfo Acosta, Royal Dano, Frank Overton, James Bell, Ward Ramsey, Lee Van Cleef, Ray Teal, Charles Horvath, Harry Lauter.

Cinematography: Clifford Stine

Film Editor: Frederic Knudtson

Written by Clair Huffaker from his novel

Produced by Gordon Kay

Directed by Herbert Coleman

Yes, I have to admit that I’ve seen more bad Audie Murphy movies than good ones, including a few outright losers. But...

What’s the greatest killer shark movie of all time? Jaws (1975) of course, and no one has ever disputed it. Try ranking number 2 through 114 however, and everyone has a different answer. Most folks will quickly marry Jaws 2 (’78) to its predecessor and follow up with the usual suspects: Deep Blue Sea (1999), The Shallows (2016), etcetera and so on. Just make sure you put Jaws: The Revenge (’87) last, okay? Or don’t; as we all know, at the very least it bought Michael Caine a nice house and had Mario Van Peebles trot out a gratuitous Jamaican accent as a Bahamian diver. Speaking of gratuitous (in regards to accents and all other matters), let’s take a look at Great White (1981), my favorite Jaws movie that I can’t call Jaws for fear Universal will sue or shut me down.

Released in its native Italy in April, with a world wide rollout...

The man who gave us cinema’s greatest werewolf now brings us a pretty lady with deer legs.

I love John Landis. I know not everyone shares this opinion. He has been controversial ever since his involvement in the Twilight Zone: The Movie accident that claimed the lives of his leading man, Vic Morrow, and co-stars Myca Dinh Le and Shin-Yi Chen, both of whom were children. It’s an impossible discussion to have in any kind of satisfying way here; there was an entire book written about it (Outrageous Conduct by Stephen Farber and Marc Green) and a lengthy court case at the end of which Landis was absolved of legal responsibility. Clearly it was still a tragedy, and clearly Landis shares in the blame for an accident that could have been avoided. I only bring it up here to provide some context for Landis’ career and to let you,...

Look, anyone who knows me is aware of my severe lack of fondness for spiders, as well as my love for movies about them. (I am riddled with inconsistency.) 1977 was a vintage year for arachnids; in addition to one of my all time favorite movies, Kingdom of the Spiders, the small screen offered up the telefilm Curse of the Black Widow, a Dan Curtis effort that never fails to entertain. Just keep the buggers away from me, okay?

Originally broadcast September 16th as part of The ABC Friday Night Movie, Curse went up against Logan’s Run/Switch! on CBS, and the much tougher competition, NBC’s The Rockford Files/Quincy, M.E. For those not inclined to have Jack Klugman yell in their face for an hour, Curtis’ Curse offered a fun, goofy alternative.

Let’s crack open our cobwebbed faux TV Guide and have a look see:

Curse...

Most of us neglect to think about the potential dangers that the crew of a film encounter for often months on end while we stream a movie from Netflix or go to the theater to enjoy ourselves for a couple of hours and escape the often straining reality of life. But film-making is a business that is often much more serious than it is ever given credit for.

Perhaps the area of making a movie you would think of to be the most treacherous would be in the field of stunts. But even actors suffer injuries, as well as other assorted members of film staff. There are many different things required that go into making a flick and all those have to be manned.

Intricate planning is always implemented but sometimes, no matter how much preparation is exhausted, things can and still do go unfortunately wrong.

Below are 5 films that...

Roger Corman’s ferocious gangster epic (more squibs!) bounces back in a UK Region B edition, noisier and bloodier than ever. Jason Robards, George Segal, Ralph Meeker and a couple of dozen top-notch hoods replay the ugly events that led up to the notorious 1929 gangland slaying — which now almost seems tame — where gun massacres are concerned, today ‘Every Day Is a Holiday.’

The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre

Region B Blu-ray

Powerhouse Indicator

1967 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 100 min. / Street Date April 30, 2018 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £15.99

Starring Jason Robards, George Segal, Ralph Meeker, Jean Hale, Frank Silvera, Joseph Campanella, Richard Bakalyan, David Canary, Bruce Dern, Harold J. Stone, Kurt Kreuger, Joe Turkel, John Agar, Celia Lovsky, Tom Reese, Jan Merlin,Alex D’Arcy, Reed Hadley, Gus Trikonis, Charles Dierkop, Alex Rocco, Leo Gordon, Russ Conway, Jonathan Haze, Betsy Jones-Moreland, Dick Miller, Barboura Morris, Jack Nicholson, Joan Shawlee.

Cinematography Milton Krasner

Art Direction Philip Jefferies,...

Escape From New York is one of the greatest genre films ever made. It’s lean, it’s mean, and it has an absurd premise and setting that’s just begging for exploration. It’s a bona-fide John Carpenter classic. And much like Halloween before it, it inspired quite a few knockoffs. From Sergio Martino’s 2019: After the Fall of New York (1983) to Lockout (2012), Escape From New York has become a regular genre knockoff touchstone. But today, I want to focus on just two: Enzo. G Castarelli’s Bronx series.

The saga began in 1982 with 1990: The Bronx Warriors, Castellari’s attempt to blend Escape From New York, The Road Warrior, and The Warriors into one sci-fi actioner. The film is set in, well, the Bronx circa 1990, now a “no man’s land” where absurdly themed gangs run free and squabble over land without police interference. The skyline is intact,...

You may now enter The Twilight Zone! The beloved classic series has been handed a series order with Jordan Peele (Get Out) and Simon Kinberg (X-Men) leading the way.

The reboot will be produced by CBS Television Studios in association with Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions and Kinberg’s Genre Films for the subscription video on demand service CBS All Access. Peele, Kinberg and Marco Ramirez (The Defenders) will executively produce the series and collaborate on the premiere episode.

Peele went on to say:

Too many times this year it’s felt we were living in a twilight zone, and I can’t think of a better moment to reintroduce it to modern audiences,

Kinberg added:

The Twilight Zone was a touchstone in my life. The opportunity to continue its lineage is a dream come true, and I’m so thrilled to be doing it with Jordan, Marco and the team at CBS All Access.

In 1976, he took viewers to The Town That Dreaded Sundown, and just a few years later, Charles B. Pierce introduced them to the horrors of the Monroe house in The Evictors, now out on Blu-ray from Scream Factory, and we've been provided with three high-def copies to give away to lucky Daily Dead readers.

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Prize Details: (3) Winners will receive (1) Blu-ray copy of The Evictors.

How to Enter: We're giving Daily Dead readers multiple chances to enter and win:

1. Instagram: Following us on Instagram during the contest period will give you an automatic contest entry. Make sure to follow us at:

https://www.instagram.com/dailydead/

2. Email: For a chance to win via email, send an email to contest@dailydead.com with the subject “The Evictors Contest”. Be sure to include your name and mailing address.

Entry Details: The contest will end at 12:01am Est on July 5th. This...

There’s nothing like a good car chase in a movie. Maybe it’s the daring-do of the stunt drivers that makes you feel you’re in danger even though you’re comfortably in your seat, or the high stakes of the moment in which the characters we’re rooting for will either get out of the situation or have a gruesome finale, but an impressive car-chase scene can make even a mediocre movie a beloved classic. What makes a car chase legendary, you ask? They’re the ones that keep you at the edge of your seat and actually fit in with the rest of the plot.

Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver opens Wednesday, June 28th. Baby (Ansel Elgort), is an innocent-looking getaway driver who gets hardened criminals from point A to point B, with daredevil flair and a personal soundtrack running through his head. That’s because he...

“Here is the screen’s most shocking exposé, of the ‘Baby-Facers’ just taking their first stumbling steps down Sin Street U.S.A.!” Robert Altman’s first feature film is far too good to be described as any but an expert step toward an impressive career. But he had to deal with a young actor who drove him up the wall, Tom Laughlin.

The Delinquents

Blu-ray

Olive Films

1957 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 72 min. / Street Date March 21, 2017 / available through the Olive Films website / 29.98

Starring: Tom Laughlin, Peter Miller, Richard Bakalyan, Rosemary Howard, Helen Hawley, Leonard Belove, Lotus Corelli, James Lantz, Christine Altman, George Mason Kuhn, Pat Stedman, Norman Zands, James Leria, Julia Lee, Lou Lombardo.

Cinematography: Charles Paddock

Film Editor: Helene Turner

Second Unit Director: Reza Badiyi

Produced, Written and Directed by Robert Altman

The hoods of tomorrow! The gun molls of the future!

Ah, the glorious Juvenile Delinquency film, or J.D. Epic,...

Remember when The Walking Dead's seventh season began last October with Glenn getting his head crushed beneath Negan's spiked baseball bat – one of the most devastating and polarizing deaths in the entire run of this corpse-strewn series? We've come full circle, in a way: Last night's finale ended with the dearly departed's wife/mother of his child Maggie giving a stirring speech that framed his murder as the loss of a kind man at the hands of a cruel one. In the sixth months between those moments, cable's most...

In 1976, he took viewers to The Town That Dreaded Sundown, and just a few years later, he introduced them to the horrors of the Monroe house in The Evictors, and Scream Factory has announced that they will release the 1979 horror film on Blu-ray sometime this summer with a fresh film transfer.

From Scream Factory: "We hinted at this in yesterday's flashback on The Town that Dreaded Sundown, now were are officially confirming it: 1979's The Evictors - directed by Charles B. Pierce and starring Jessica Harper (Suspiria) - will be receiving its own solo Blu-ray upgrade with a new film transfer. Expect it to occupy a release date sometime in early Summer."

Synopsis (via Blu-ray.com): "Shortly after moving into a cute farmhouse in a quaint Louisiana town, Ben (Michael Parks) and his wife, Ruth (Jessica Harper), experience strange and disturbing events and soon come to the frightening...

Join us for some old-school 16mm Movie Madness! – It’s our monthly 16Mm Double Feature Night at The Way Out Club (2525 Jefferson Avenue in St. Louis)! Join Tom Stockman and Roger from “Roger’s Reels’ for a double feature of two complete films projected on 16mm film. The show is Tuesday August 2nd and starts at 8pm. Admission is Free though we will be setting out a jar to take donations for the National Children’s Cancer Society.

First up is Dirty Mary Crazy Larry

If entertaining ‘70s car culture movies with great chases are your thing, then check out Dirty Mary Crazy Larry. In 1974, John Hough delivered a fast paced, and surprisingly entertaining film. Peter Fonda is Larry Rayder, a down and out race car driver with dreams of driving in the big-time Nascar circuit. Along with his mechanic, Deke Sommers (Adam Roarke), they rob a supermarket to finance their dreams,...

Many know Michael Biehn from his iconic roles in James Cameron’s Aliens, The Terminator, and The Abyss, but in recent years he and his wife and business partner Jennifer Blanc-Biehn have been a tremendous force on the indie scene with their production company, Blanc-Biehn Productions, which provides a platform for indie filmmakers—including themselves—to tell new stories and interact with their dedicated fan base.

Michael and Jennifer were recently at San Diego Comic-Con to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Aliens, and I had a chance to sit down with the duo to discuss their grassroots approach to indie filmmaking, Michael’s desire to play Hicks once again in a new Alien movie, and much more.

Jennifer talked about the key to being a grassroots production company by interacting with fans and getting involved with talented actors, writers, and female filmmakers.

Jennifer Blanc-Biehn: There are a lot of people like this.