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Actor and singer David Cassidy, who rose to fame as Keith Partridge in the classic ’70s series The Partridge Family, has died of organ failure. He was 67 years old.

He passed away on Tuesday surrounded by his family, his publicist JoAnn Geffen confirmed to Variety: “On behalf of the entire Cassidy family, it is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our father, our uncle, and our dear brother, David Cassidy. David died surrounded by those he loved, with joy in his heart and free from the pain that had gripped him for so long. Thank you for...

Atom Egoyan's Remember: Zev (Christopher Plummer) with Max Rosenbaum (Martin Landau)

Oscar-winning actor Martin Landau has died, aged 89.

His publicist said the star had passed away in Los Angeles on Saturday following "unexpected complications during a short hospitalisation".

Landau, who was nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar for Crimes And Misdemeanours and went on to win one for his portrayal of Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood, was also known for his roles as Rollin Hand in the long-running TV series Mission: Impossible.

He began his career as a cartoonist, moving into film around five years later. His film work would go on to include films as diverse as North By North West, Cleopatra and, more recently, Atom Egoyan's Remember. In an interview with Eye For Film's Anne-Katrin Titze, Egoyan spoke about working with Landau on an episode of Alfred Hitchcock presents, 30 years earlier. He said: "I...

“Hello, Boils and Ghouls” was a typical opening salvo from The Crypt Keeper, the wraparound host (and animatronic cadaver) of HBO’s inventive, creepy and more often than not, mordantly funny salute to the EC Comics of yesteryear, Tales from the Crypt (1989 – 1996). Throughout seven seasons, viewers were subjected to as much gore, nudity, and twisted morality as we could handle. God (or his underworld counterpart) bless premium cable.

Tales ran from June 10th, 1989 to July 19th, 1996, for a grand total of 93 episodes. That’s a lot of grue to ingest, and until ratings started to slip by Season Six, horror fans found it easy to lap up. And as with any anthology series, mileage varies and quality flickers to and fro – but Tales from the Crypt’s success is anchored in the very fact that it was allowed to live, and thrive, for as long as it did.

The show...

Today, the cult horror comedy April Fool’s Day celebrates its 30th anniversary. Written by Danilo Bach (Beverly Hills Cop) and directed by Fred Walton (1979’s When A Stranger Calls), the film follows a group of college students who spend spring break at their friend Muffy St. John’s family estate, unaware that the weekend will be filled with frights and unexpected surprises.

Released the same weekend as The Money Pit, April Fool’s Day became a modest success for Paramount Pictures, taking in $13 million during its three-week theatrical run and finding even more of an audience once it was released on VHS. Even though it has largely flown under the radar over the last 30 years, Walton’s slasher send-up with an Agatha Christie flair has remained a beloved cult film among genre fans and this writer in particular.

Looking back at the horror comedy, Walton discussed how his involvement...

We pay tribute to Brian Clemens, a screenwriter and producer whose work lit up 1970s cult TV and beyond...

Brian Clemens, who died earlier this week aged 83, was a highly respected screenwriter and producer both for TV and Film. He will chiefly be remembered for his work on The Avengers, The New Avengers and The Professionals but his credits were numerous and encapsulated a real golden age of cult, escapist television from the 1950s onwards.

Clemens was born in Croydon in July 1931. He spent his National Service as a Weapons Training Instructor. After spending time as a copywriter, he established himself as a scriptwriter - sometimes using the pseudonym "Tony O'Grady" - O'Grady being his mother's maiden name. He received his first commission from the BBC at the age of 24 - a thriller called Valid For Single Journey Only. He went on to write for many of the big TV...

We’re sad to report that Edward Herrmann has passed away at the age of 71.

According to Deadline, Edward Herrmann passed away in New York this morning of brain cancer. About one year ago, Herrmann was diagnosed with a “Stage 4 glioblastoma brain tumor.”

When you think of Herrmann’s 40+ year acting career, the words “durable”, “eclectic”, and “classy” may come to mind. A Bucknell University graduate, Herrmann cut his teeth in theatre before making his credited feature film debut in 1973’s The Paper Chase. Later that same decade, Herrmann portrayed two iconic real-life characters in TV movies: United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1976’s Eleanor and Franklin and 1977’s Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years and New York Yankees legend Lou Gehrig in 1978’s A Love Affair: The Eleanor and Lou Gehrig Story.

Herrmann stayed busy throughout the early to mid-1980’s, guest-starring on the “Heal Thyself” episode of M*A*S*H,...

Frequent listeners of the Sound On Sight podcast would have heard me discuss my day job working with kids. For the unfamiliar, I am the director of a community center, and the coordinator of a summer camp here in Montreal. At the start of the summer, I was talking to my kids about music and I discovered that none of them knew what a mix tape was, much less an audio cassette – so, I decided it would be a good idea to make them some complications. Of course, I’m not recording these on actual cassettes, but nevertheless, they get the idea. As it turns out, the kids love it, and now that the storyline in Guardians of the Galaxy revolves around a mix tape, they keep asking me to make more. Here’s the most recent compilation I’ve produced following Making Time. This one is simply titled, Awesome Mix Tape Vol.

Welcome back to Cannes Check, In Contention's annual preview of the films in Competition at next month's Cannes Film Festival, which kicks off on May 14. Taking on different selections every day, we'll be examining what they're about, who's involved and what their chances are of snagging an award from Jane Campion's jury. Next up, the third Canadian director in the lineup: Atom Egoyan's "The Captive." The director: Atom Egoyan (Canadian, 53 years old). There was a time when Egoyan looked to be as estimable a festival fixture as his compatriot David Cronenberg, but his career hasn't moved in the direction many thought it would after he won big at Cannes (and scooped a surprise Best Director Oscar nod) for 1997's critical peak “The Sweet Hereafter.” Born in Cairo to Armenian-Egyptian parents – a heritage he'd later explore in his 2002 film “Ararat” – Egoyan largely grew up in British Columbia and studied...

Here's your daily dose of an indie film in progress; at the end of the week, you'll have the chance to vote for your favorite. In the meantime: Is this a movie you’d want to see? Tell us in the comments. "Uncle Alice Presents" Tweetable Logline: "Uncle" Alice Cooper hosts a horror anthology comic book series and TV pilot co-created by Tom Sheppard (Annoying Orange) Elevator Pitch: Look, we all love anthology series like Tales from the Crypt, The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents, but wouldn’t we love them a Lot more if they were a comic book and TV show hosted by Alice Cooper? Production Team:Emmy Award winner Tom Sheppard, publisher and partner at Dark Matter, Credits: Pinky and the Brain, writer; The New Adventures Of Pinocchio starring Martin Landau, writer. Wrote and directed the independent feature Would I Lie To You? Other recent projects include Adult Swim’s Robot Chicken,...

Interview Duncan Bowles 19 Mar 2013 - 06:24

We had the unique opportunity to talk to composer Danny Elfman about working with Sam Raimi on Oz, Tim Burton, Batman, and much more...

There was something strangely appropriate about conducting an interview with Danny Elfman at midnight. It came as no surprise to be told he was more of a night person, since his darkly romantic melodies are as intrinsically linked to the gothic as the visual style of his long-time collaborator, Tim Burton. Elfman has, of course, scored most of Burton’s films, creating some magnificently eclectic music in the process, from Beetlejuice to Mars Attacks!

His unique style has led to recurring working relationships over the years with Burton, but also Ang Lee, Gus Van Sant and Sam Raimi. It was great news to fans of both Raimi and Elfman to hear that they were reuniting for Oz, as their work...

When a film arrives at your door wrapped in a green ribbon with a bloody foam rubber index finger tucked under it...well, let's face it, that sucker is probably gonna get watched, especially when it has some good buzz surrounding it. Chop was worth unwrapping. Another motivator was that forced amputation has made for some great movei and TV entertainment in the last few years.  In Tales From The Crypt, Lance Henriksen and Kevin Tighe played a game of chop poker that cost each them more than an arm and a leg. There's an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1985), titled Man of the South in which a wacky John Huston convinces a down on his luck Vegas gambler to risk his digits on a...

Filed under: Movie News, Cinematical

Don't know what you want for Christmas? Now you do: This limited edition box set from director Tim Burton and composer Danny Elfman.

In celebration of 25 years of their pleasantly macabre collaboration, Warner Bros. Records is releasing a box set of 13 original Elfman film scores.

Get your order in now: There will only be 1000 numbered editions of the Danny Elfman & Tim Burton 25th Anniversary Music Box made, and it'll come in a collectible container: a tin-covered music box topped by a working zoetrope.

Included in the set are all the scores Elfman created for Burton's films, from 1985's 'Pee-Wee's Big Adventure' to this year's 'Alice in Wonderland,' as well as more obscure works, such as 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Jar, ' 'Beetlejuice: The Animated Series,' and (ooh!) Elfman's unused score to the 'Edward Scissorhands Ballet.

Filed under: Movie News, Cinematical

Don't know what you want for Christmas? Now you do: This limited edition box set from director Tim Burton and composer Danny Elfman.

In celebration of 25 years of their pleasantly macabre collaboration, Warner Bros. Records is releasing a box set of 13 original Elfman film scores.

Get your order in now: There will only be 1000 numbered editions of the Danny Elfman & Tim Burton 25th Anniversary Music Box made, and it'll come in a collectible container: a tin-covered music box topped by a working zoetrope.

Included in the set are all the scores Elfman created for Burton's films, from 1985's 'Pee-Wee's Big Adventure' to this year's 'Alice in Wonderland,' as well as more obscure works, such as 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Jar, ' 'Beetlejuice: The Animated Series,' and (ooh!) Elfman's unused score to the 'Edward Scissorhands Ballet.

There's no denying one of the most prolific -- and successful -- collaborations between director and composer is the 25-year relationship of Tim Burton and Danny Elfman, and to celebrate their longevity, Warner Bros. Records will release The Danny Elfman & Tim Burton 25th Anniversary Music Box.

From the Press Release:

The Danny Elfman & Tim Burton 25th Anniversary Music Box, a very special limited-edition, numbered box set of 1000 that collects expansions of the 13 original scores that Elfman has composed for Burton’s iconic films: a newly produced library of 16 CDs, each packaged with artwork by Burton, adding up to more than 19 hours of music. Additionally, the package will contain a bonus DVD of a recent exclusive conversation between Elfman and Burton discussing every film and score in their remarkable quarter century collaboration. The box is available for preorder starting today, October 1st at elfmanburton.com.

This elaborate and lovingly designed collectible...

Chicago – The NBC TV show legend, “Little House on the Prairie,” evokes an era of the family drama that Melissa Sue Anderson, who played Mary Ingalls, says could never be on the air today. Anderson was in Chicago recently, promoting her new book, “The Way I See It: A Look Back on My Life on Little House.”

Anderson was on Little House for its entire run portraying Mary Ingalls, from 1974-1981. The series also featured Michael Landon, who created another memorable TV character as Pa Ingalls, and Melissa Gilbert, who was Mary’s sister and the main character on the show, Laura Ingalls. Anderson’s memoir focuses specifically on the Little House years.

Melissa Sue Anderson, Author of ‘ The Way I See It: A Look Back on My Life on Little House’

Before Her Book Signing at Borders in Lincoln Park Chicago, May 13, 2010

Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.

Peter Haskell was a leading television actor from the early 1960s. He starred in numerous tele-films including the sci-fi and horror titles The Eyes of Charles Band (1972), The Phantom of Hollywood (1974), The Cloning of Clifford Swimmer (1974), The Suicide Club (1974), Mandrake (1979), Disney’s Shadow of Fear (1979), and Stunt Seven (1979). He was also featured as Mr. Sullivan, Good Guys Toys CEO, in the Chucky horror films Child’s Play 2 (1990) and Child’s Play 3 (1991)

Haskell was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on October 15, 1934, the son of geophysicist Norman Haskell. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard, and spent two years in the U.S. Army from 1954 to 1956. He was soon performing on stage in Boston, Canada, and New York. Haskell began his long career on television in 1964, and was featured as Peter Jellicoe in the “Wolf 359″ episode of The Outer Limits later in the year. He was also seen in episodes of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,...

Mediumrare Entertainment have announced the UK DVD release of Return of the Six Million Dollar Man & the Bionic Woman, the 1987 reunion movie from writer/producer Michael Sloan, who was also responsible for the 80s revivals of The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Alfred Hitchcock Presents and in the 90s, Kung-Fu: The Legend Continues.

Steve Austin (Lee Majors), now a disenchanted loner is persuaded out of his seclusion by his old friends at O.S.I in order to help them put a stop a group of international terriosts know as Fortress. His former lover, Jamie Somers (Lindsay Wagner) is also begged to join in the struggle. Austin and Somers not only find their old powers are rusty, they must also learn to overcome their personal suspicions of each other and work together, especially when Austin’s son is badly injured and then kidnapped by Fortress.

Hopefully Mediumrare will follow up this release...

When Dr. Catherine Stewart (Julianne Moore) begins to suspect that her husband, David (Liam Neeson), a 50-something professor of music, is having an affair, she is unsure how to uncover the truth. Catherine is a woman at the pinnacle of her career and someone who is used to having all aspects of her life under control. When she begins to suspect David of extra-marital activities, she is equally upset and determined to find out why her husband could be straying and what it is he may be looking for outside his marriage.

Her investigation awakens desires she never knew she had.

During a chance dinner with friends, Catherine encounters an alluring young woman in the restaurant’s rest room, Chloe (Amanda Seyfried). Upon returning to her table, her husband and friends are playing 'spot the hooker' and immediately identify the beautiful blonde — now in the company of an older businessman — as a prostitute.

British actress Jean Simmons earned an Oscar nomination early in her career for her portrayal of Ophelia in Laurence Olivier’s 1948 production of Hamlet. Years later she starred as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard in the 1991 remake of the Gothic horror soap opera Dark Shadows.

Simmons was born in Crouch Hill, London, England, on January 31, 1929. She began studying dance in the early 1940s, and made her film debut in 1944. She made an impression as Estrella, the spoiled young lady, in David Lean’s 1946 film adaptation of Dickens’ Great Expectation, and her performance in Hamlet (1948) established her as a star.

Simmons continued her career as the passionate slave girl Kanchi in 1947’s Black Narcissus, and was Caroline Ruthyn in the 1947 Gothic horror Uncle Silas (aka The Inheritance). She starred in the 1952 screen adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s Androcles and the Lion with Alan Young and Victor Mature, and co-starred with Richard Burton...

Disclaimer: This article may contain sarcasm; irony and “LOLs” proceed with caution.

Our second stab at the Oscars contains make-up effects and score (read part 1 here). The make-up effects, followed by the visual effects and technical awards, remain my favorite parts of the show; here you got to see your heroes: Rick Baker, Howard Berger, Chris Walas or Rob Bottin in the audience. Even the great Stan Winston could have been out there, back in the day. Though best known for his “visual effects” wins—he brought home an Oscar for best make-up in 1991 for Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Here genre fans can rejoice, Greg Cannom brought home the gold, again, for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Cannom, a genre elder, worked alongside (just to name a few) Fincher, Coppola, Landis, Dante, Blatty, and Cohen creating all sorts of character and creature make-ups.

This part of the list also...

Criminal investigation meets Greek mythology when current primetime television stars David McCallum and Marg Helgenberger assume the voices of Zeus and Hera, respectively, for Wonder Woman, the next entry in the popular series of DC Universe animated original PG-13 films, débuting March 3 in multiple formats.

McCallum, known to current TV audiences as Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard in the hit CBS series Navy NCIS (Navel Criminal Investigative Service), adds Wonder Woman to an animation resume that already includes the DC Universe movie Batman Gotham Knight and TV series Ben 10 and The Replacements. Animation is but a side gig for McCallum, though, the actor having achieved legendary status for his two best known roles – in film as Lt.-Cmdr. Eric Ashley-Pitt in The Great Escape and on TV as super spy Illya Kuryakin in The Man From U.N.C.L.E. During his 62-year career, McCallum has played many notable characters in fanboy TV favorites like Jeremiah,...