Remember When Siskel & Ebert Reviewed JAWS: THE REVENGE?

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Remember When Siskel & Ebert Reviewed JAWS: THE REVENGE?

SHOCK grabs another classic clip of critics Siskel & Ebert reviewing horror films.

As part of our ongoing series digging up vintage clips of lamented critics Siskel & Ebert making sport of horror and dark fantasy films on their long-running, now defunct TV series AT THE MOVIES.

Both critics were often very fair and astute with their assessments of contemporary cinema and certainly, their impact on the art of film criticism (such as it is) cannot be properly measured.

But when they hated something, they used it as fodder for a kind of Statler and Waldorf-esque roasting routine. And while often amusing, horror fans rightfully recoiled at seeing entertainments they adored so casually dismissed.

Now that said, sometimes, just sometimes…their genre jeering was the money.

Witness their attack on Joseph (NIGHTMARES) Sargent’s universally lambasted sequel JAWS: THE REVENGE, the fourth – and to date, last – installment of the man (or woman) vs. shark series that started with director Steven Spielberg’s first masterpiece, 1975’s immaculate JAWS.

1978’s JAWS 2 was a well-produced, well-acted but often tedious and shallow attempt to duplicate the energy of the original. The Richard Matheson co-scripted JAWS 3D was ludicrous but at least it tried to do something different.

JAWS: THE REVENGE, however, is an anomaly; a film that carries over characters from the series, which are based in reality, only to trash the soul of the series by tacking on a quasi-supernatural angle wherein the long-shark-suffering Brody family seem to have been targeted by a dynasty of sharks, with one of the fuckers even following the matriarch of the family from Amity to the Bahamas to finish off the bloodline!

Throw in Michael Caine collecting a paycheck and Mario Van Peebles with a distracting accent plus shark FX that are massive steps down from the already troubled 1975 incarnation of Bruce and you have one of the most ridiculed films of the 1980’s.

In retrospect, JAWS: THE REVENGE isn’t that bad in the sense that it’s well-acted, fast-paced and at least has some class, taking itself seriously and positioning an older female as the hero. Rare for 1987 and just as rare today.

But…it aint a good movie. By any stretch.

And so, when I caught this clip of S&E digging in, I wasn’t mad. At all. God knows the movie had it coming!

Check it out. Be prepared to laugh….

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Ridley Scott Announces Plans to Make More ALIEN Prequel/Sequels

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Ridley Scott Announces Plans to Make More ALIEN Prequel/Sequels

Visionary director Ridley Scott reveals plans for two more PROMETHEUS/ALIEN: COVENANT sequels.

We already now know that the follow-up to Ridley Scott’s ALIEN sidebar/prequel PROMETHEUS has changed titles more times than a a Xenomorph changes its underpants and we know that the film will now be called ALIEN: COVENANT. 

What we didn’t know  – but now do – is that Scott is planning THREE sequels, for a grand total of FOUR PROMETHEUS/ALIEN films that will eventually tie into his 1979 original masterpiece.

Speaking from a press conference in Sydney, Australia (where ALIEN: COVENANT will be filmed), Scott had this to say, The Hollywood Reporter reports:

“Its a very complex story. Its an evolution of what I first did with PROMETHEUS 1…(that film) was borne out of my frustration that on ALIEN 1 in 1979 – I only did one as I don’t normally do sequels. I was amazed that in the 3 that followed that no-one asked the question ‘why the Alien, who made it and why?’ Very basic questions. So I came up with the notion of PROMETHEUS 1, which starts to indicate who might have made it and where it came from.”

He added: “So I’m now going to the next one, which is the next evolution directly connected with the first one, which was this Shaw, when [s]he replaced Michael Fassbender in two pieces and we’ll kind of pick it up there and it will evolve. When that’s finished there will be another one and then another one which will gradually drive into the back entrance of the film in 1979… So in other words, why was this space jockey there and why did he have an Alien inside him? And those questions will be answered.”

Well, this writer worships Scott and absolutely loved the somewhat flawed and absolutely visionary PROMETHEUS.. And we all worship ALIEN so…I say bring em on! The more ALIEN-centric films the better!

What say you?

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Review: Polish Mind-Bender THE HOURGLASS SANATORIUM on Blu-ray

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Review: Polish Mind-Bender THE HOURGLASS SANATORIUM on Blu-ray

SHOCK looks at the Blu-ray release of 1973 Polish surrealist film THE HOURGLASS SANATORIUM.

Cannes Special Jury Award Winner THE HOURGLASS SANATORIUM is a journey within a jaunt perpendicular to a peregrination and overlapped with a transmigration; Wojciech Has’ sumptuous adaptation of the works of Polish writer Bruno Schulz results in a strongly visualized odyssey through the life and thoughts of a man, a undulating promenade of dreams and nightmares.

Beginning with motion, following a black bird flapping in the sky as we pull in through an open moving window, Józef (Jan Nowicki) travels on decrepit train to visit his ailing father Jacob (Tadeusz Kondrat) in a sanatorium. A foreboding train keeper with a candle lantern around his neck and white eyes alerts Józef of his impending stop. Upon arrival he merely walks out the train door, makes his way through a snowy graveyard, and ascends to the massive doors of the crumbling establishment. After attempting to find food in a deteriorating dining hall coated with spider webs, he is led by a nurse to his father in a bizarre room, seemingly under no care at all, with a single bed and a single lamp to illuminate him. Dr. Gotard (Gustaw Holoubek) explains the conditions of the sanatorium and his father to Józef: they’ve managed to slow time down and play with it, ‘recreating’ it, but there is still much left to chance.

Józef looks out a broken sanatorium window, only to see his own self arriving earlier in the day to the same door he first entered. And so begins multiple trips through time, space, and the ether of consciousness through his own life, encountering his youth, parents, relationships with women, and other events both inside and outside himself through extreme vagaries taking him from one reality through another, a truly experiential tale, an Alice in Wonderland of adulthood, sans white hare.

Jerzy Maksymiuk’s flute-centric score haunts the frames as Józef finds his mother in one room, the encounters a group of Jews praying as if they were in synchronized dance. Climbing a ladder he finds a redheaded nearly nude woman who hurriedly brings him into the room. He finds pages of a book, then the book itself, explaining its importance to the woman. He finds more pages under the page, and crawling underneath finds another man underneath, and a soldier in white at the foot of the bed, asking if he is Jacob, his father. He crawls toward the soldier and is then in a city square with buildings with domed tops and men in colorful bird masks about.

He finds the young boy he saw from earlier in the day at the sanatorium who shows him a stamp book he carries filled with stamps from around the world. He finds the train keeper with the lantern on a house and is led to a patch of elephants in the smoky woods. He finds a rotting butterfly, which he holds up to the sun.

Peeking through a fence, he sees a woman in all black who appears to be in mourning. He is told she is ‘inhabited by ghosts, phantoms, larvae, and chrysalises” by the woman’s daughter who covers the hold he’s peering through with her hand. He leaves this scene and finds another broken construction, climbing down a rope ladder into a room filled with mechanized mannequins. One falls over and its mechanical guts erupt from her its face.

The film plays like a dream, or nightmare, though Józef never breaks stride, adapting to every new adventure as a condition of being alive. He doesn’t flinch or pause, just moves through each new world as part of the entirety of life. The fluidity of Witold Sobocinski’s cinematography (also responsible for Andrzej Zulawski’s THE THIRD PART OF THE NIGHT) infuses Has’ adaption of Bruno Schulz’s prose, whose texts Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass and Spring form the basis of this jaunt.

Schulz’ works are visual and based on sensation over narrative. From this following passage you can see why Has would go for a cinema of sensation over attempts at linear storytelling:

“Fall is a great touring show, poetically deceptive, an enormous purple-skinned onion disclosing ever new panoramas under each of its skins. No center can be reached. Behind each wing that is moved and stored away, new and radiant scenes open up, true and alive for a moment, until you realize that they are made of cardboard. All perspectives are painted, and only the smell is authentic, the smell of wilting scenery or theatrical dressing rooms, a pile up of discarded costumes among which you wade endlessly as if through yellow fallen leaves.”

By the time Józef is rejoined with his father, time has indeed elapsed, folded back on itself, and metamorphosed again, with Józef taking on a new identity, rising forth from an open grave into a field of candles, ready to begin an even newer chapter in the prolongation of his existence.

Boldly visual, exceedingly sensual, and formed from the clay of subconsciousness, THE HOURGLASS SANATORIUM is a film that plays particularly well in the dark and strange cavern of a motion picture cinema, filled with strangers both onscreen and off, though presented with eloquence on Blu-ray, its visuals and sounds are smokily intact.

Now available on Blu-ray from Mr. Bongo .

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Event Report: BLACK CHRISTMAS Reunion at the Hamilton Film Expo

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Event Report: BLACK CHRISTMAS Reunion at the Hamilton Film Expo

To time with Anchor Bay’s new Blu-ray release, SHOCK reports on the BLACK CHRISTMAS reunion in Hamilton, Canada.

We all know what an Expo or fan Convention is about. A wild, fun adventure filled with Vendors, Celebs, Cosplay, pop culture and more! In our first year doing the Hamilton Film Expo, and going forward, we wanted to earn our name. “Hamilton” is not just the city the event is staged in, it’s where I live and work. “Film Expo” is not just a way to drop all of pop culture on people. “Movie Stuff” is our tagline and that is what we wanted to deliver. Year 1, we accomplished that with our All-Canadian celebrity guests, & movie-themed vendors.

Backing up one day, the night before the Expo, Anchor Bay Canada gave us permission to screen BLACK CHRISTMAS for a free midnight screening to raise awareness and items for the Eva Rothwell Centre. All week, the 10th Annual Hamilton Film Festival had been running a promo for the ‘Season’s Greivings Editon’ of BLACK CHRISTMAS on Blu-ray. Basically, we were getting pumped…

Backing up to August 2015, I had a Facebook conversation with actor Art Hindle. I had never met him but we had mutual “friends.” I reached out and asked him if a) he would be interested in doing an introduction at the 10th Annual Hamilton Film Festival for a showcase of Michelle Latimer’s work (art had worked with her on the syndicated TV show PARADISE FALLS), and b) would he be interested in being a part of our first Film Expo. He did his research, got back to me and his response to me was “I want to help you grow this.”

Not only is that a massive compliment to the years of work we have put in, but a real example of a good person who is interested in giving back to the film & TV community. “Just doing my part” is how he worded it. This lead almost immediately to two more guests. BLACK CHRISTMAS co-stars Lynne Griffin and Doug McGrath. In the matter of a few days I had a mini BLACK CHRISTMAS reunion!

During the panel discussion (moderated by Aaron Allen of Hamilton’s Fright Night Theatre Film Festival, pictured above), Doug discussed the importance of his early work in Canadian cinema, but not in an egotistical way. It was in a way that a teacher is proud of seeing a student become successful. BLACK CHRISTMAS, PORKY’S and GOIN’ DOWN THE ROAD all paved the way for films that hadn’t been made yet. Doug was very optimistic that Canadian cinema has, and will continue to have, it’s own identity but more importantly that it has this vast legacy of movies to point to.

Lynn Griffin (who also starred in Canadian slasher classic CURTAINS) is a warm soul with a genuine smile and a passion for the arts. It’s obvious when you first meet her. She recalled Bob (Clark) asking her to imagine that she was hearing some scary things on the phone. Then when she saw the movie, had no idea it would be so disturbing! She talked about “the bag” and went on to explain that she was a swimmer and could hold her breath for a long time. “Probably why I got the part.” She said.

A lesson for filmmakers in the horror genre, came from Art Hindle. He never missed a chance to bring a laugh into the conversation, and said as much about horror filmmaking. “Bring humour into your films.” The “fellatio” scene comes (ahem)  to mind across the panel. Later on, a question was asked to the panel, “what prop would you most like to have from the movie?” Art Hindle, without missing a beat said “Olivia Hussey.”

An nice addition to the panel, or audience I should say, was when a question regarding the audio of that scary scream from Olivia at the banister, was asked. The panel wasn’t 100% sure…but an audience member was certain. Bruce Craig worked on the film 40 years ago doing sound special effects work out of a studio (Mirrophonic) at King and Spadina streets in Toronto. The scream was also a mix of their receptionist’s screams! He talked fondly about mixing the film while Bob Clark bounced his new bride on his knee. Bruce also remembered being scared at the premiere, even after seeing it so many times while editing. Bruce is also optimistic about the future. “We felt we were leading edge at that time, but with the equipment and personnel now smaller productions can have longer reaches around the world.”

What was an incredible, intimate, meeting of these wonderful Black Christmas alumni, also turned out to be a great discussion about the Canadian film industry. That is something that we can truly be proud of.

Nathan Fleet is an award winning filmmaker / composer and is the director of the 10th annual Hamilton Film Festival and the organizer of the 1st annual Hamilton Film Expo.

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‘Chris Alexander’s SHOCK TREATMENT’: In Praise of LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF

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‘Chris Alexander’s SHOCK TREATMENT’: In Praise of LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF

  In this ongoing SHOCK column, editor Chris Alexander muses on classic and contemporary films and music worthy of a deeper discussion.

One of the rarest of lycanthrope-centric films is the unfortunately late, Oscar-winning British cinematographer (David Lynch’s THE ELEPHANT MAN) and noted horror filmmaker (DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE, TALES FROM THE CRYPT) Freddie Francis’ little discussed1975 Hammer-esque wolfman shocker LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF. And really, I have to ask why it’s so obscure, because the movie is rather fantastic.

As the films’ star Peter Cushing (whose work here is first rate as always) so helpfully explains in LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF’s weird opening sequence, it has been said that the beasts of the forest shall watch over and protect human children on Christmas Eve, because, well, their forefathers and mothers did it for Jesus, so if they didn’t do it too they’d be jerks. This bit of made up myth provides credibility for the ensuing tale of poor little Etoile, a baby who, after his immigrant parents are chomped on by a pack of starving wolves, is inexplicably adopted by the now sated pack. He grows up like a sort of lupine Tarzan, a wild untamed thing who is eventually ‘rescued’ by a sleazy carny (the amazing, wild eyed actor Hugh Griffith from, among many, many other fine films, Ben Hur) and top billed in his skid row circus as the feral ‘Wolf Boy’. Eventually Etoile grows into a strapping young lad (played by veteran actor David Rintoul who recently appeared in Polanski’s excellent thriller THE GHOST WRITER) who makes the rather startling discovery that, when under pressure of full moon, he grows fangs, sprouts fur, pops his shirt and end up looking a lot like Oliver Reed did in Terrance Fisher’s 1961 Hammer horror classic CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF.

In fact Jimmy Evans’s Roy Ashton-esque make up schemes for Etoile’s furry face and transformations and the idea of a Christmas curse aren’t the only things that recall that admittedly superior film. See, Etoile ends up ditching his promising career as a rabid roustabout and flees to late 19th century Paris (the Fisher film was based on Guy Endore’s novel “The Werewolf Of Paris” and both pics were penned by Anthony Hinds, under his pseudonym John Elder) where he gets a gig working at a zoo run by OLIVER! heavy Ron Moody and falls in love with a beautiful whore, a woman who – like Reed’s squeeze in CURSE- seems to temper his inner lycanthrope. Of course all goes sour when a jealous Etoile turns wolfy and rips the throats out of the local bordello’s patrons (complete with red optical effects, the kind that Francis was fond of playing with) and it falls on the narrow shoulders of Peter Cushing, here playing an intrepid police pathologist, to line Etoile’s homicidal cloud with a sweet silver lining.

LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF was produced by Tyburn Films, a tiny, short-lived UK studio founded by Francis’s son Kevin and one that sought to capitalize on Hammer’s massive, decade spanning, international success. Problem was, by 1974 Hammer Horror was already passé and, after one more picture (1975’s fine John Hurt/Ian McCulloch vehicle THE GHOUL) took a permanent dive.

In Canada (where I was born, raised and still live) a little budget video distro outfit called Interglobal Home Video (which I raved about HERE) ended up distributing LEGEND in the 1980’s. I bought that VHS cassette for $10 at a local Kmart and I’m certainly glad I did. Because I’ve never, ever seen the film legitimately available in any other format on these shores. Needless to say, I treasure my copy…

Though hampered by its low budget, and aforementioned plot familiarity, and though its not necessarily Francis’s best work (though it’s about a gazillion times better than his worst film, 1970’s awesomely insane caveman vs. Joan Crawford opus TROG) -LEGEND is a well paced, blackly humorous, creepy and oh-so-very British slice of rough-around-the -edges, modestly budgeted Gothic horror. And Hammer vet Harry Robinson’s brash, often romantic score amplifies the production value considerably.

You should find it. That beaten up tape of mine has seen the insides of no less than 7 VCR’s and it still goes strong, it still pulls it’s LP recorded weight with blood dripping, hairy backed finesse and flesh shredding, electro-magnetic grace. A muddy rip of that VHS is on YouTube and it’s a perfectly acceptable (though faded and fuzzy) version to at least get the sense of the film. Here’s hoping someone cleans this wonderful little flick up and dresses it up for Blu-ray someday…

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Top Ten Horror Directors Making Non-Horror Television

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Top Ten Horror Directors Making Non-Horror Television

 

SHOCK goes wild and reveals ten horror legends and their ventures into mainstream television.

It’s a sad fact that theatrical feature films are today suffering through a sort of creative dormancy, causing Hollywood’s top talents to migrate over to television’s artist-friendly climate. The horror genre has been especially affected by this trend, with beloved directors seeking work in TV not only for a paying gig, but also to stretch out with subject matter not usually brought their way. Many of these directors have actually been tacking television for years, as the examples below illustrate. Now, this list isn’t to showcase horror folks doing yet more scary stuff on the small screen, such as stints on TWILIGHT ZONE or HANNIBAL or THE WALKING DEAD, but are a look at familiar filmmakers using (or having used) the dominance of television programs for the chance to do something a little unexpected…

CASEBUSTERS (Wes Craven)

No filmmaker felt more ghettoized by the horror genre than the late Wes Craven, and he famously leveraged his SCREAM clout for the opportunity to direct Meryl Streep in the cloying biopic MUSIC FROM THE HEART. But in 1986, well before his Streep gambit, Craven was thinking of the kids—his film DEADLY FRIEND was something he hoped would connect with younger audiences, and it was instead hijacked by the studio and loaded up with ridiculous gore sequences. That same year, Craven would finally get to make a genuine kiddie flick, as he went into league with the House of Mouse to direct an installment of their stalwart WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISNEY program. Craven’s effort, feeling very much like an aborted series pilot, is called CASEBUSTERS, and it concerns a brother (Noah Hathaway of TROLL) and sister, the latter of which is obsessed with detective novels. The duo are helping out their kindly, podgy grandpa (character actor Pat Hingle), who happens to be a private investigator-slash-neighborhood watchman. Teaming up with local delinquent “Ski”, Grandpa and the youngsters take on a geeky Rick Moranis clone and a harridan in mom jeans who are out running a lame counterfeiting scheme. From hilariously awkward and misplaced narration by Hingle, to three (!) ineptly-staged car chases, to dumbed-down and preposterous plotting (the little sister blackmails a guy into chasing down the baddies by threatening him with a fine for dumping garbage?), CASEBUSTERS is juvenile, moronic fluff. Sorry, Wes.

GAME OF THRONES (Neil Marshall)

Fiendishly popular GAME OF THRONES has no shortage of epic set pieces and enormous battles, something Neil Marshall had previous experience in mounting through his swashbuckling 2010 film CENTURION. Marshall got the nod to direct two of GAMES’ heaviest episodes, and it’s difficult to discuss the particulars without spoiling any of the series’ intricate political machinations. Suffice it to say that when Marshall’s name flashes up on the credits of a particular episode, in-tune viewers know that they are primed for scope and scale—it was Marshall who marshalled the massive brawl between the sentries of the Night’s Watch and the feral tribe known as the Wildlings, and the results can be witnessed in the clip below:

NEW YORK UNDERCOVER (Mick Garris)

Having set or broken ratings records with his Stephen King miniseries, it makes sense that Mick Garris would be recruited over the years to hop aboard a number of successful programs. Garris has thus demonstrated his ability to work with the darker corners of teen-driven dramas like PRETTY LITTLE LIARS and RAVENSWOOD, and macabre grownup fare like THE WITCHES OF EAST END and HAPPY TOWN, but it was his helming an episode of Dick Wolf’s mid-nineties cop actioner NEW YORK UNDERCOVER that comes out of left field. UNDERCOVER was part of the then-upstart Fox network’s attempt to coax a younger demographic, and featured regular performances from hip-hop and R n’ B stars of the day. Garris’s episode has cool-guy detectives Williams and Torres backing a local reverend against an evil cigarette conglomerate’s attempts to discredit him, and boasts an appearance by controversial social critic Al Sharpton.

CSI: MIAMI (Rob Zombie)

For Rob Zombie’s many critics who would dearly love to see him direct a script that he didn’t write himself, look no further—in 2010, Zombie was behind the camera for an episode of CSI: MIAMI, conjuring that Bruckheimer beige glow around star David Caruso. There are traces of Zombie’s visual flair during an opening party sequence, and members of the Zombie zoo show up in the form of William Forsyth, Malcolm McDowell, and Sheri Moon Zombie (and there’s also a cameo by ZZ top’s Billy Gibbons!), but the episode hews closely to the standard CSI procedural outlay. The far more amusing result of Zombie’s network television dalliance is his interview anecdote regarding the notoriously crotchety Caruso, starting at 3:55:

DREAM ON (John Landis)

John Landis will the first person to tell you that he’s hardly a horror icon, having only ever made two features in the genre. He most definitely has a dozen blockbuster comedies to his name, so it was hardly an out of character move for Landis to concoct his own sitcom, bringing in FRIENDS’ Marta Kaufman and David Crane to assist in developing it. Alongside TALES FROM THE CRYPT, DREAM ON was a key component of HBO’s early wave of original programming, and Landis would direct many of the episodes himself. The show starred Brian Benben (with whom Landis would reunite in the awful MASTERS OF HORROR episode ‘Deer Woman’) as Martin Tupper, an NYC book editor fumbling through post-divorce dating life. The show’s gimmick is that Tupper spent so much time in front of the television as a child that footage from ancient programs would be spliced in to comment on the action, as Tupper’s brain presumably would do. While DREAM ON’s risqué humor, spicy language, and frequent instances of nudity broke ground for the TV sitcom format, the plots were repetitive and the clips themselves quickly become annoying. Still, Landis can take heart in knowing that his show was in on the ground floor of the towering program slate for which HBO has since become renowned. Here’s a trailer for the show, in German:

 HAWAII FIVE-0 (Joe Dante)

Joe Dante has made the odd venture into television throughout his career with a number of forgotten series, such as the excellent kid-oriented spookshow EERIE, INDIANA. And like Rob Zombie, Dante dipped his toe into the CSI world by directing an Amityville-themed 2009 episode of CSI: NY. It’s no big stunner to see that Dante can handle horror on large or small screens, but the surprise is how he became a staple of the HAWAII FIVE-0 revival, directing a total of nine episodes of what has proven to be a solid and consistently entertaining cop series. Of course, the assignment of shooting this year’s atmospheric Halloween-themed HAWAII episode went to Dante, and here’s a nasty, maggoty clip of that particular work:

SCALES OF JUSTICE (David Cronenberg)

As most die-hard fans are aware, David Cronenberg veered into television by directing an episode of FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE SERIES, a show that conveniently shot in Cronenberg’s hometown of Toronto. Less prominent on Cronenberg’s T.V. resume is his direction of two episodes of SCALES OF JUSTICE, a crime re-enactment program hosted by esteemed Canadian defence attorney Edward Greenspan. SCALES was adapted from a long-running radio program of the same name, and the screen version was, to be honest, a stiff and amateurish Northern answer to slicker U.S. fare like UNSOLVED MYSTERIES. Surviving episodes are almost impossible to find—though a brief, unremarkable clip from one of Cronenberg’s efforts can be viewed here:

THE WINNERS (George A. Romero)

Laurel Entertainment was the name of the Pittsburgh production company founded by George A. Romero and partner Richard Rubenstein. In addition to Laurel’s involvement with feature films, the company also produced a series of sports documentaries during the mid-seventies under the title THE WINNERS. Romero himself would cut several episodes of THE WINNERS together; besides a celebration of legendary Pittsburgh Pirates slugger Willie Stargell, there was also a 1974 ode to the gridiron accomplishments of one O.J. Simpson. In retrospect, this short doc is arguably the most horrific project of Romero’s career, but at the time Simpson was a spotless paragon of athletic prowess and adored for his affable, approachable public demeanor. The documentary itself amounts to standard sports-profile fawning, and fairly drips with hilarious seventies’ funky-flute music and graphics, but brush aside the now-odious subject matter and it stands as an excellent example of Romero’s tremendous editing skill, especially in the short pre-credits locker room sequence.

THE EQUALIZER (Tobe Hooper)

In between shooting his features TCM2 and SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION in the late eighties, Tobe Hooper also got sidetracked by several TV projects. There were the shows that one might expect, from Spielberg’s Garris-guided AMAZING STORIES to the pilot of FREDDY’S NIGHTMARES, and a real curveball among them—an episode of righteous action-drama THE EQUALIZER, a sort of upscale A-TEAM in which a retired British spy (played primly by THE WICKER MAN’s Edward Woodward) is contacted via personal ad by New York’s downtrodden, and then Woodward goes to work in their defense. Hooper’s episode has a family battling a slumlord, and features an uncharacteristically restrained performance by a young Michael (HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER) Rooker, which balances a hilarious, over-the-top Michael (BARTON FINK) Lerner as the heartless slumlord. As with most EQUALIZER episodes, the two-dimensional melodrama is laid on thicker than mayonnaise, and Hooper can’t manage to impart enough of his personality to rescue a single minute of this soppy network slop.

RAKE (Sam Raimi)

Sam Raimi is no stranger to filling up T.V. schedules with Renaissance Pictures’ output in the capacity of producer, and he very recently directed the opening salvo of the Starz channel’s ASH VS. EVIL DEAD series. Less acknowledged is his participation in 2014’s Greg Kinnear vehicle RAKE. Any inch of film or byte of DV directed by Raimi is prized by film nerds for its visual inventiveness, but beyond the splatstick of the EVIL DEAD trilogy or the grandiose spectacle of his SPIDER-MAN and OZ films, Raimi is also an unheralded master of slow-burn drama (Sure, THE GIFT may be spotty, but A SIMPLE PLAN is an American crime classic). RAKE sits squarely in the comedic side of Raimi’s repertoire, and gives him another puffed-up protagonist to torture through karmic misfortunes; this one deftly played by Raimi’s GIFT star Kinnear. Kinnear’s character Keegan Dean isn’t quite in Ash’s delusory league, but roguish attorney Dean is a pretty flawed hero nonetheless. Raimi directed RAKE’s pilot, guest starring the great Peter (FARGO) Stormare as a serial killer, and returned for episode four. Entitled ‘Cannibal’, the episode has AMERICAN HORROR STORY’s Denis O’Hare playing a debonair flesheater that Kean is hired defend in court—before horror fans get too excited, know that this cannibal is handled mostly for laughs, and that the consumption turns out to be consensual. Overall, the short-lived RAKE was a witty, acerbic show gone too soon. (And yes, Raimi devotees, “The Classic” makes a split-second cameo at the end of ‘Cannibal’.)

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New THE CONJURING 2 Set Photos Show the Warrens in 1970s London

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New THE CONJURING 2 Set Photos Show the Warrens in 1970s London

James Wan has shared new The Conjuring 2 set photos with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson

Director James Wan has shared some new The Conjuring 2 set photos via social media. Check them out below for a look at returning stars Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, set to reprise their The Conjuring roles as real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. You’ll also get a first look at the retro London location and Simon McBurney (Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation) in period costume, so check out the pics from The Conjuring 2: The Endfield Poltergeist below!

In between shots, posing w the coolest cats-Simon McBurney, @patrickwilson73 @VeraFarmiga #Marylebone #theconjuring2 pic.twitter.com/DY5RuBv1O5

— James Wan (@creepypuppet) November 22, 2015

Taking gorgeous #MaryleboneStation back in time to seventies London. Beautiful Victorian architecture #TheConjuring2 pic.twitter.com/LqyrvYTRA6

— James Wan (@creepypuppet) November 22, 2015

Recreating snowy Christmas in the 70’s on the streets of London. Outside a pub, naturally! #Conjuring2 pic.twitter.com/fcoJfauYvs

— James Wan (@creepypuppet) November 18, 2015

 

I bring my crane into every pub I visit. #warringtonhotel #london #conjuring2

A photo posted by James Wan (@creepypuppet) on Nov 18, 2015 at 9:55am PST

Unlike the recent spinoff film, Annabelle (which explored the back story of the first film’s terrifying doll), The Conjuring 2 will continue the based on truth adventures of the Warrens, whose cases have also inspired the likes of The Haunting in Connecticut and most notably, The Amityville Horror. The sequel is also set to feature Frances O’Connor, playing the part of a desperate mother whose daughter is experiencing a haunting.

The Conjuring 2: The Endfield Poltergeist features a screenplay by Chad and Carey Hayes who penned the first film along with House of Wax and The Reaping. James Wan (Saw, Insidious, Furious 7) will return to direct for a June 10, 2016 release.

What do you think of these latest The Conjuring 2 set photos? Are you looking forward to another terrifying big screen experience? Let us know in the comments below!

The post New THE CONJURING 2 Set Photos Show the Warrens in 1970s London appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.

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