That 70s,80s and 90s Show

Have a Great Valentines Day

2012-02-13T15:54:00.001-08:00

Scary Movies,my new Blog

2012-01-15T16:45:00.000-08:00

I have a new blog called Scary Movies,with full horror and thriller movies,http://scarymovie-ladivas.blogspot.com/

Full Film,The Stepford Wives,1975,Katharine Ross

2012-01-15T14:57:00.000-08:00

The Stepford Wives is a 1975 science fiction–thriller film based on the 1972 Ira Levin novel of the same name. It was directed by Bryan Forbes with a screenplay by William Goldman, and stars Katharine Ross, Paula Prentiss, Peter Masterson, Nanette Newman and Tina Louise. The film was remade in 2004 under the same name, but was written as a comedy versus a serious horror/thriller film.
While the film was only a moderate success at the time of release, it has grown in stature as a cult film over the years. Building upon the reputation of Levin's novel, the term "Stepford Wife" has become a popular science fiction concept and several sequels were shot, as well as the remake of the film in 2004.

Plot

Joanna Eberhart (Katharine Ross) is a young wife who moves with her husband Walter (Peter Masterson) and two children from New York City to the idyllic Connecticut suburb of Stepford. Loneliness quickly sets in as Joanna, a mildly rebellious aspiring photographer, finds the women in town all look great and are obsessed with housework, but have few intellectual interests. The men all belong to the clubbish Stepford Men's Association, which Walter joins to Joanna's dismay. Neighbor Carol Van Sant's (Nanette Newman) sexually submissive behavior to her husband Ted, and her odd, repetitive behavior after a car accident also strike Joanna as unusual.

Joanna and Bobbie investigate Stepford.

Things start to look up when she makes friends with another newcomer to town, sloppy, irrepressible Bobbie Markowe (Paula Prentiss). Along with glossy trophy wife Charmaine Wimperis (Tina Louise), they organize a Women's Lib consciousness raising session, but the meeting is a failure when the other wives hijack the meeting with cleaning concerns. Joanna is also unimpressed by the boorish Men's Club members, including intimidating president Dale "Diz" Coba (Patrick O'Neal); stealthily, they collect information on Joanna including her picture, her voice, and other personal details. When Charmaine turns overnight from a languid, self-absorbed tennis fan into an industrious, devoted wife, Joanna and Bobbie start investigating, with ever-increasing concern, the reason behind the submissive and bland behavior of the other wives, especially when they learn they were once quite supportive of liberal social policies.
Spooked, Bobbie and Joanna start house hunting in other towns, and later, Joanna wins a prestigious contract with a photo gallery with some photographs of their respective children. When she excitedly tells Bobbie her good news, Joanna is shocked to find her freewheeling and liberal friend has abruptly changed into another clean, conservative housewife, with no intention of moving from town.
Joanna panics and, at Walter's insistence, visits a psychiatrist to whom she voices her belief that all the men in the town are in a conspiracy of somehow changing the women. The psychiatrist recommends she leave town until she feels safe, but when Joanna returns home, the children are missing. The marriage devolves into domestic violence when Joanna and Walter get into a physical scuffle. In an attempt to find her children, she hypothesizes Bobbie may be caring for them. Joanna, still mystified by Bobbie's behavior, is desperate to prove her humanity but intuitively stabs Bobbie with a kitchen knife. But Bobbie doesn't bleed or suffer, instead going into a loop of odd mechanical behavior, thus revealing she is a robot.
Despite feeling she may be the next victim, Joanna sneaks into the mansion which houses the Men's Association to find her children. There, she finds the mastermind of the whole operation, Dale "Diz" Coba, and eventually her own robot-duplicate. Joanna is shocked into paralysis when she witnesses its soulless, black, empty eyes. It is then suggested that the Joanna-duplicate strangles the real Joanna. In the final scene, the duplicate is seen placidly purchasing groceries at the local supermarket, along with the other "wives" all wearing similar long dresses, large hats and saying little more than hello to each other. The final shot focuses on Joanna's now-finished eyes. During the closing credits still pics show a very cheerful Walter along with his children in the back the station wagon picking up his "stepford wife" from the supermarket.

The House on Sorority Row 1983

2012-01-02T15:59:00.000-08:00

The House on Sorority Row is a 1983 low budget American slasher film directed by Mark Rosman. The film has become a cult classic among fans of the genre

Plot

Katey and six sorority sisters, Morgan, Stevie, Liz, Vicki, Jeanie, and Diane pull a prank on their strict house mother, Mrs. Slater, who is known for carrying a sharp walking cane. Their plan is to put Mrs. Slater's cane out in their dirty pool and force her at gunpoint to swim through and retrieve it. The prank goes awry when Vicki, who was holding the gun, acccidentally shoots Mrs. Slater. The girls all agree to hide Slater's body in their dirty swimming pool until a graduation party being held in the house is finished. As the party begins, a guest wanders around the pool and an unknown figure stabs him through the neck with Mrs. Slater's cane and drags him away.
When other guests attempt to throw Jeanie in the pool, they are stopped by the sorority sisters. Later, to prevent the pool lights from coming on revealing Slater's body, Stevie is forced to go into the power room of the house located in the basement. While doing so, she is brutally stabbed to death by Mrs. Slater's cane. Katey meets her date for the party, Peter, but she and the other girls worry why Stevie has not returned from the power room yet.
Vicki orders the girls to search around the house for Mrs. Slater. Morgan enters Mrs. Slater's room and begins to sort her clothing when Mrs. Slater's body falls on her. She is joined by the sisters who wonder how her body was moved to the bedroom. Morgan subsequently dies when she gets lured to her bedroom door and stabbed through the stomach by the cane. Having found Slater's body, the sisters decide to bury it in a nearby graveyard. Meanwhile Katey goes into the attic and discovers children's toys, a clown statue, and a dead bloodied bird laying in its cage. Diane is waiting in her van for the other girls, but the figure stabs her to death with the cane from the sunroof. Jeanie, the most nervous member of the group, is also attacked while running back into the house but manages to escape. After informing Katey about the attack, Jeanie is chased into the upstairs bathroom. The killer finds her and enters the stall, decapitating her with the butcher knife.
The party goers finally depart, leaving Katey and Peter in the house. Katey tells Peter to go home and finds a number on a chain she found near the gate. The chain has the phone number for a Dr. Beck who soon arrives and asks Katey where Slater is. The two discover the bodies of Stevie, Morgan and Diane in the pool. Meanwhile Vicki and Liz attempt to bury the body in the graveyard. Liz brings the van around and gets her throat sliced by the cane's razor sharp handle. Vicki calls for Liz and when she gets no answer, she approaches the van and discovers Liz's body. Vicki turns around, only to be hacked to death with the cane by the assailant. Katey and Dr. Beck arrive at the graveyard only to discover their bodies.
After giving her a sedative, Dr. Beck reveals to Katey that Mrs. Slater had a son named Eric who was horribly deformed and mentally underdeveloped. Eric had actually been living in the Sorority House's attic and witnessed the shooting death of his mother. He is now exacting revenge on the girls for their irresponsibility with the prank. Katey is used as bait to lure Eric out of the attic so Dr. Beck can shoot him with a tranquilizer gun. However, the plan backfires when Peter comes through the door and is shot. Dr. Beck is hacked twice in the stomach by Eric who also throws him down a flight of stairs while Katey grabs the hand gun that was used on Mrs. Slater and finds Dr. Beck's body. She flees to the upstairs bathroom and discovers Jeanie's severed head in the toilet, staring back up at her. A traumatized Katey climbs up into the attic and is attacked by Eric. As Eric approaches her, Katey seemingly kills Eric by stabbing him multiple times with a pin sticking out of a doll's neck, and he falls through the attic hatch to the floor below. Katey peers down, and thinking that he is dead, Katey lays down and falls asleep in relief. Eric was only incapacitated however, as he opens his eyes before the film ends.

Full Film,Horror Express,1972,Peter Cushing,Christopher Lee

2011-12-29T17:01:00.000-08:00

Horror Express, also known as Pánico en el Transiberiano/Panic on the Trans-Siberian Express, is a 1972 Spanish horror film directed by Eugenio Martin, produced by Bernard Gordon written by Arnaud d'Usseau and Julian Zimet (credited as Julian Halevy), and starring Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Telly Savalas.

Plot

In 1906, Professor Alexander Saxton (Christopher Lee), is an English anthropologist returning to Europe by Trans-Siberian Express, through the frozen wastes from China to Moscow. With him is the frozen remains of a primitive humanoid creature that he has discovered in a cave in Manchuria and hopes is the missing link in the evolutionary chain. Also aboard by coincidence is Doctor Wells (Peter Cushing), Saxton's compatriot, rival and Royal Society colleague.
A mysterious death occurs before the steam train departs Shanghai – a thief, having picked the lock to break into the crate, is found dead on the platform bleeding from the eyes, which have turned opaque white. A Rasputin-like monk (Alberto de Mendoza), the spiritual advisor to a Polish Count and Countess waiting to board the train, proclaims the contents of the crate to be evil. Saxton furiously dismisses such superstition and an army platoon facilitates the loading and departure. Saxton's eagerness to keep his scientific find secret has aroused the curiosity and suspicion of Doctor Wells, who bribes a porter to investigate the crate. As the man does, he is killed by the glowing red gaze of the ape-like creature within, which then escapes its confines using lock-picking skills...
The murders continue while the beast roams the moving train, its victims being found with the same opaque, white eyes. An autopsy leads Wells and his assistant Miss Jones to hypothesise that the brains of the victims are being drained of memories and knowledge. When the reincarnate fossil is gunned down by police Inspector Mirov, an authority in charge of the train, the threat seems to have been vanquished. Saxton and Wells discover images retained in liquid removed from inside the eyeball of the fossil's corpse, images that reveal a prehistoric Earth and a view of the planet seen from space. They deduce that the real threat is somehow a formless alien creature that had inhabited the body of the fossil and now resides within the Inspector. The monk, sensing the greater presence inside the Inspector and believing it to be that of Satan, renounces his holy faith to plead allegiance.
When news of the murders on the train is wired to the Russian authorities, the train is stopped and an intimidating Cossack officer, Captain Kazan (Telly Savalas), boards with a small group of his men. Kazan believes the train is housing rebels and is only convinced of the alien's existence when Mirov is discovered to be the creature, which has absorbed the memories of scientist Miss Jones, an engineer and others, and seeks the Polish Count's metallurgist knowledge too, in order to achieve escape from the Earth. Fatally shot by Kazan, Mirov manages to stagger away and the alien transfers itself to the crazed monk.
The passengers flee into the trailing freight car while the monk murders Kazan and his men, and then the Count, draining all their minds. Rescuing the Countess, Saxton manages to hold the monk at gunpoint under a light – as he has realised that bright light in its host's eyes will prevent the entity from draining minds or transferring to another body. The creature/monk explains that it is in reality an energy being that had travelled from another galaxy with others of its kind, but been marooned. It existed alone for millions of years in the bodies of protozoa, fish and other animals to survive, but cannot live outside a living being longer than a few moments. The creature/monk begs to be spared, tempting Saxton with its accumulated and advanced alien knowledge – but by this ruse manages to escape, by suddenly animating the dead body of the Count.
Saxton and the Countess flee the creature, but it now resurrects all of its victims as white-eyed zombies. These undead chase Saxton and the Countess back to the rear car, where the survivors have taken refuge. They work desperately to uncouple the caboose from the rest of the train, as the Russian government sends a telegraph to a dispatch station ahead, instructing them to destroy the train by sending it down a dead-end spur. The switchhouse follows this order in the belief the country is at war. The creature/monk assumes the train's engineer position to take over the train, which enters the spur leading to a deep ravine. Saxton and Wells manage separate the last car from the rest of the train, which goes over the cliff to a fiery wreck below, presumably killing the creature and its resurrected dead. The freight car rolls precariously to the end of the track, where the survivors witness the fire consuming the train and the unnatural inhabitants within.

Full Film,Greedy Terror 1985

2011-12-23T00:24:00.000-08:00

A trilogy of horror stories with ironic twists: a teenager tries out a love potion, a waitress gets involved in a kidnapping plot, two brothers plan to cheat an insurance company by faking their death.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLZT71p23o4&feature=related

Full Film,Watership Down 1978

2011-12-22T01:37:00.000-08:00

Watership Down is a 1978 English adventure drama animated film written, produced and directed by Martin Rosen and based on the book by Richard Adams. It was financed by a consortium of British financial institutions. Originally released on 19 October 1978 the film was an immediate success and it became the sixth most popular film of 1979 at the British box office.
It featured the voices of John Hurt, Richard Briers, Harry Andrews, Simon Cadell, Nigel Hawthorne and Roy Kinnear, among others, and was the last film appearance of Zero Mostel, as the voice of Kehaar the gull.
Art Garfunkel's British No. 1 hit, "Bright Eyes", which was written by the British singer and songwriter Mike Batt, was also included. The musical score was by Angela Morley and Malcolm Williamson.

Watership Down opens with a narrated prologue establishing the Lapine culture and mythology, describing the creation of the world and its animals by "Lord Frith" (the name of their god), including the rabbits' leader, Prince "El-ahrairah". All of the animals are friendly, and eat grass, but the rabbits soon multiply and overwhelm the other animals. When Frith warns El-ahrairah to control his people, the prince scoffs at his warning; in retaliation, Frith gives each non-rabbit a gift, turning some of them into predators that hunt down and kill the rabbits. However, Frith also gifts the rabbits with speed and cunning; many creatures may seek to kill El-ahrairah and his descendants, but the rabbits may survive by their wits and their quickness.
The film then switches from a stylized narrative to realistic animation, set in the English countryside of Sandleford. Fiver, a young runt rabbit with prophetic abilities, foresees the end of his peaceful rabbit warren and asks others to leave with him. Fiver and his older brother, Hazel, attempt to persuade their chief rabbit to have the warren evacuated and moved elsewhere, but they are dismissed, and attempt to recruit individuals instead. The group meets resistance from the warren's police force, or Owsla, but eight manage to fight and escape: Fiver, Hazel, the burly ex-Owsla officer Bigwig, the cunning Blackberry, the smallest rabbit Pipkin, storyteller and runner Dandelion, the elder Silver, and the only female, Violet. They travel stealthily through the woods, close to many predators, but make it to a covered bean field to rest for the night; however, in the morning, as she attempts to feed nearby, Violet is killed by a Buzzard.
After crossing a road and a river (using a floating piece of driftwood), evading a hunting dog, and escaping from a rat-infested cemetery, the hungry band meets a rabbit named Cowslip, who invites them for much-needed food to his warren of strange but friendly rabbits. The group is content and grateful for shelter, but Fiver senses something terribly wrong and leaves in a fit. As Bigwig follows him, taunting his bizarre behavior, he is caught in a snare trap; Fiver attempts to get help from Cowslip and his warren, but he is dismissed. As the rabbits frantically dig to free Bigwig, he collapses. As the rabbits mourn him, Fiver admonishes them. The warren is fed by a farmer who occasionally snares rabbits in return for his food and protection from predators. After this revelation, Bigwig miraculously awakens; on Fiver's advice, the band moves on with new respect for the seer's wisdom.
The rabbits discover Nuthanger farm, which contains a hutch of female rabbits. Hazel realizes that females will be needed to begin a new warren, but the rabbits are forced to leave by the appearance of the farm's cat and dog. Hazel promises to return, and the rabbits set off again. They are unexpectedly found by the Sandleford's Owsla Captain, Holly, who is injured and at the point of death. He recounts the destruction of the Sandleford warren that Fiver foresaw, and collapses after mentioning a warren called Efrafa. After he recovers, Fiver soon leads the group to the high hill he envisioned, Watership Down, where the rabbits discover empty burrows suitable to live in.
They settle in, developing their own warren, with Hazel informally recognized as Chief Rabbit. They befriend an acerbic injured seagull, Kehaar, who offers to survey the local area for females. Meanwhile, the rabbits return to Nuthanger farm to free the does, but as they make their escape, Hazel is shot by a farmhand and presumed dead; however, Fiver, following a vision, returns to the farm to discover Hazel still alive. Kehaar returns, and while removing buckshot pellets from Hazel's leg, reports of Efrafa, an over-large warren which may have females. Holly, who knows of Efrafa, begs them not to go there, describing it as a highly militarized and totalitarian state; however, Hazel, recovered from his injury, feels they have no choice but to seek does there. Bigwig decides to infiltrate the colony: He impresses the Chief Rabbit, the cold-hearted General Woundwort, who makes him an Owsla officer. In time, Bigwig recruits several would-be escapees to his cause, including Hyzenthlay, an outspoken, rebellious doe, and Blackavar, a persistently attempted escapee permanently scarred as a public deterrent. After one morning's feeding (or silflay), they escape, with Woundwort and the Efrafan Owsla in hot pursuit. Aided by a timely airborne attack by Kehaar during a lightning storm and their use of a boat off a river bank (echoing their earlier use of driftwood), the group manages to escape and return home.
However, their relief is short-lived: Efrafan trackers discover their trail several days later, following them to Watership Down and laying siege upon the warren, with the General himself planning to recapture the escapees. Hazel confronts and tries to reason with Woundwort, offering an alliance of "free and independent warrens"; after appearing surprisingly intrigued, Woundwort abruptly dismisses him, ordering Hazel to "tell Bigwig" to unconditionally surrender. It is then that Hazel decides to fight: upon his return, the Watership rabbits hole themselves up inside their own warren and are soon besieged by the Efrafans. In all the commotion, Fiver slips into a trance in which he envisions "a dog loose in the woods" from their earlier travels. His moans scare the Efrafans, but inspire Hazel: to free the dog from Nuthanger and lead him to the warren to attack them. He again escapes, this time with Blackberry, Dandelion and the doe Hyzenthlay, whom Woundwort ignores, intent on finding Bigwig.
On their way, Hazel prays to Frith, offering his life for the life of the warren, a bargain Frith reveals he cannot accept: "What is, is what must be." Upon their arrival, Hazel proceeds to chew through the dog's leash, after which he is pounced on by the cat, but is rescued by the farmer's daughter. His companions, chosen for their running ability, bait the dog in relay fashion into following them uphill to Watership Down. When the Efrafans finally break through the warren's defenses, Woundwort jumps in first; Blackavar attacks him, but Woundwort easily overwhelms and kills him. Woundwort is soon ambushed by Bigwig, and the two fight to near exhaustion; when Woundwort asks why he will not surrender, Bigwig defies him: "My chief's told me to defend this run." Woundwort, who had always assumed Bigwig was chief, hesitates as he imagines a rabbit even larger than the formidable Bigwig in charge of the warren. As he wonders, the farm dog arrives, led to the warren by Hyzenthlay; the dog goes into a blood-rage and quickly kills the Efrafan rabbits standing guard outside the warren. Hearing their screams, the General abandons Bigwig and emerges from the warren; as the dog sees him, he runs to attack Woundwort, who in turn fearlessly leaps to confront the dog. Later, no trace of the General is found, and his memory becomes a ghost story used by rabbit parents to frighten their children into obedience. The rabbits of Watership Down are safe at last.
The epilogue shows the thriving warren several years later. As stories are told of the warren's early exploits, a tired, elderly Hazel attempts to silflay when he is visited by a shadowy rabbit, eventually revealed as The Black Rabbit of Inle. He invites Hazel to join his Owsla, assuring him of Watership Down's perpetual safety. Reassured, Hazel agrees; he falls asleep on the grass and peacefully passes away. In a reprise of other mystical scenes in the film, Hazel discards his body and freely follows the Black Rabbit through the woodland and trees towards the sun—which metamorphoses into Frith—and into the afterlife:

“

All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies. And whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first, they must catch you: digger, listener, runner, prince with the swift warning. Be cunning and full of tricks, and your people will never be destroyed.

”

UFOTV Presents...: Out of the Blue - Full HD UFO Movie

2011-12-21T14:26:00.000-08:00

Narrated by Peter Coyote, OUT OF THE BLUE is widely considered one of the best documentary films ever made about UFOs and was directed by celebrated filmmaker James Fox. The films producers traveled around the world to investigate some of the most famous UFO events on record. Through exclusive interviews with high-ranking military and government personnel, this award-winning film supports the theory that some UFOs are of extraterrestrial origin.

This film features Governor Fife Symington, Astronaut Dr. Edgar Mitchell, Russian General Leonid Aleviev, President Jimmy Carter, Cosmonaut Major General Pavel Popovich, UK Admiral Lord Hill Norton, Physics Professor Dr. Brian Greene, President Gerald Ford, Astronaut Colonel Gordon Cooper. White House Chief of Staff John Podesta, and many more. Presents an International Scope, Quality Testimony, and Scientific Perspectives. OUT OF THE BLUE provides a Definitive Investigation of the UFO Phenomenon.

Full Film,The Hills Have Eyes (1977)Horror Film Wes Craven

2011-12-21T03:02:00.000-08:00

The Hills Have Eyes is a 1977 American horror film directed by Wes Craven and starring Susan Lanier, Michael Berryman, and Dee Wallace. It is about a family on a road trip who become stranded in the Nevada desert, and are hunted by a clan of deformed cannibals in the surrounding hills. The film was released in cinemas on July 22, 1977, and has since become a cult classic.

Plot

An old man named Fred is packing his truck. A ragged and somewhat feral teenage girl approaches. Annoyed, Fred addresses her as Ruby. She offers to trade what she has in her bag for food, but the old man refuses. They walk into a small cabin and Fred scolds her for what she and "they" have done. Ruby says that her family ambushed a nearby airfield because they were hungry and no one passes by their home anymore. She pleads with Fred to take her with him. He tells Ruby that if "the pack", in particular someone named Jupiter, learns what she is doing, she could be in danger. A noise distracts them and Ruby hides.
The Carter family is traveling on vacation. Parents Bob and Ethel are driving, accompanied by their teenage children Bobby and Brenda, eldest daughter Lynne, along with Lynne's husband Doug, baby daughter Katy, and their dogs, Beauty and Beast. They stop at Fred's Oasis for fuel. Fred tells them to stay on the main road. Later, they skid off a desert road and crash, owing to what is later revealed to be a booby-trap. Bob walks back to Fred's Oasis to get help. Fred's son and his son's family of deranged cannibals dwell in the wilderness through which the Carters are traveling. They are commanded by Papa Jupiter, patriarch of the clan. He killed his mother, Fred's wife, during childbirth. As a child, he killed the livestock on his father's farm and later murdered his sister. Fred attacked his son with a tire iron and left him in the wilderness to die. Jupiter survived, and mated with a depraved, alcoholic prostitute known as Mama. Together, they had three sons, Mars, Pluto and Mercury, and their abused daughter Ruby. They survive by stealing from and cannibalizing travelers.
As night falls, Bob reaches the gas station, where Fred tells him the origin of the hill people. Papa Jupiter arrives, kills Fred with a crowbar, and takes Bob prisoner. Doug and Lynne are sleeping in the car while everyone else stays in the trailer. Bobby gets locked out of the trailer and asks Doug for his keys. Bobby does not know the trailer is locked because Pluto is looking through their valuables, while Ethel and Brenda sleep in the next room. As Bobby enters the trailer, Papa Jupiter sets Bob ablaze on a stake in the distance. Ethel, Lynne, Doug and Bobby rush to Bob, while Brenda stays in the trailer with the baby. Everyone tries extinguishing the fire, while Pluto and Mars rape Brenda. The Carters extinguish the fire, but Bob dies shortly after. When Ethel and Lynne return to the trailer, Pluto runs away. Lynne finds Mars taking her baby. She attacks Mars as Ethel hits him with a broom. Mars shoots Ethel and Lynne. Pluto abducts the baby and flees with Mars. Doug rushes in to find Lynne dead; Ethel dies shortly after.
Doug sets out to find his baby while Bobby and Brenda remain behind. Beauty has been savaged by the clan and Ruby is forced to eat it as punishment. She is chained outside the cave where the clan live, with Mama tormenting her. The men of the clan return to the cave, and Mercury is pushed to his death off a hilltop by Beast. Papa Jupiter and Pluto return to the trailer to kill the survivors. Doug sees Ruby knock out Mama and escape with Katy into the hills, followed by Mars. Doug catches up with Ruby and the baby. Pluto is incapacitated by Beast and Papa Jupiter is killed by a trap set by Brenda and Bobby.
Mars follows Doug and Ruby into the hills and is stabbed to death by Doug, saving the baby. The film ends with a closeup of Doug, who is stabbing and kicking the dead body of Mars, as Ruby weeps over her brother's body.

Full Film,Don't Go to Sleep Horror Film 1982 Starring Ruth Gordon,Valerie Harper

2011-12-19T22:21:00.000-08:00

Don't Go To Sleep is a 1982 made-for-TV movie that was produced by Aaron Spelling and Douglas S. Cramer. The movie featured Dennis Weaver, Valerie Harper, Ruth Gordon, Robert Webber, and youngsters Kristin Cumming, Robin Ignico (fresh off of a supporting role in the film Annie) and Oliver Robins of Poltergeist fame. The film was shot at Warner Brothers in Los Angeles, California on soundstage 15.

Plot summary

The premise of the story is that a father, Phillip (played by Weaver) and mother, Laura (played by Harper) and their two children Kevin and Mary (played by Robins and Ignico, respectively) move out of Los Angeles (as seen in the opening credits) to a house up north in the countryside. Moving in with the family would be their grandmother (played by Gordon), whom nobody in the family other than Laura cared for very much. The family had just suffered the tragedy of losing their oldest daughter Jennifer (played by Cumming) and hope to regroup and start a new life without her.
Just as they move into their new home, Mary begins hearing the voice of her dead sister under her bed. Soon enough, Jennifer's ghost begins appearing to Mary in secret. Jennifer hopes to kill off her family as an act of revenge. Immediately after these meetings with Mary, one by one her family members meet twisted fates. Grandma suffers a heart attack from being spooked by Kevin's pet iguana, which was released onto her bed one night, Kevin is thrown off the house roof while retrieving a Frisbee and father Phillip is electrocuted in the bathtub when the radio he is listening to falls into the water.
After it is discovered that Mary committed all of the killings (at the urgings of her demonic sister's spirit), she is placed in a mental institution where it is revealed to viewers through a flashback the fate of Jennifer. Riding home from their grandma's house, Kevin convinced Mary to play a prank on their sister, so Kevin tied Jennifer's shoes together. Apparently they were both jealous of the favoritism their sister was receiving as well as her constant bullying. When their car is accidentally struck by a van and begins to spark, all except Jennifer are able to get out of the car. Just as Phillip is about to go back to get her, the car burst into flames.
The final scene of the movie is memorable to viewers who have seen the movie in the past: As Laura lays sleeping one night, alone in her dark bedroom, she is awakened by a sound at the foot of her bed. It is the ghost of Jennifer who pops up and says, very sinisterly, "Hi, Mommy!" Jennifer's eyes widen evilly. The camera cuts and zooms into Laura, who screams just as the closing credits begin.

Full Film,The Elevator 1983 Dutch Horror Movie

2011-12-19T01:45:00.000-08:00

De Lift (The Elevator) is a 1983 film by the Dutch director Dick Maas about a killer elevator. In 2001, an English language remake, Down, was made and was also directed by Dick Maas.

Charles Manson Then and Now Documentary

2011-12-18T08:30:00.000-08:00

Charles Manson, (aka Charles Milles Maddox), the self-proclaimed Messiah who presided over a commune-style group known as the Manson Family was convicted in 1971 in California in a trial covering a total of 27 count indictments against he and members of the family for the murders of seven persons, including actress Sharon Tate, (who was pregnant at the time of the murder), coffee heiress Abigail Folger, supermarket executive Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary.

In 1972, the death sentences of all Manson Family members were commuted to life imprisonment secondary to the case of California v. Anderson, wherein the death penalty was ruled cruel and unusual and was temporarily abolished until reinstated by Constitutional Amendment. Since being commuted, Manson has been denied parole eleven times as of 2007, his next opportunity coming in 2012.

Was justice done in the cases affected? Should those sentenced to death by California’s penal system have had their sentences reversed? Should Manson and his followers have been executed as originally sentenced?

What ever happened to Aunt Alice Full Film

2011-11-06T15:52:00.000-08:00

Visit my other blog Dazzling Divas to watch the full film http://dazzlingdivas-ladivas.blogspot.com/2011/11/what-ever-happened-to-aunt-alicefull.html

Fear in the Night 1972 Full Film Starring Joan Collins

2011-11-06T15:44:00.000-08:00

Visit my Blog Dazzling Divas and watch the Full Film http://dazzlingdivas-ladivas.blogspot.com/2011/11/fear-in-night-1972-staring-joan-collins.html

The Pyx 1973 Karen Black Full Film For Glenn!

2011-11-06T15:09:00.000-08:00

The Pyx (also known as The Hooker Cult Murders and La Lunule) is a 1973 Canadian supernatural thriller film starring Karen Black and Christopher Plummer. It is based on the 1959 book of the same title, written by Montreal author, John Buell.

Synopsis

While investigating a woman's death, a detective in the city of Montreal, enters the world of prostitution, drug addiction, conspiracy, and the occult.

Plot

A motorist witnesses a woman falling or jumping from a tenement building. Police arrive on the scene and find a crucifix and a small metal container (a pyx). As the investigation continues, it is revealed that the dead woman is Elizabeth Lucy, a prostitute and heroin addict. Suspects in Elizabeth's death are soon murdered one by one, and evidence of occult ritual begins to surface, leading to a confrontation with a cult leader who may be possessed by Satan himself.

Plot devices

The Pyx is told in after Elizabeth's death/before Elizabeth's death sequence which alternates until the film's climax.

Cast

Karen Black as Elizabeth Lucy
Christopher Plummer as Det. Sgt. Jim Henderson
Donald Pilon as Det. Sgt. Pierre Paquette
Jean-Louis Roux as Keerson
Yvette Brind'amour as Meg
Jacques Godin as Superintendent
Lee Broker as Herbie Lafram
Terry Haig as Jimmy
Robin Gammell as Worther
Louise Rinfret as Sandra

Production

Filming of The Pyx began August 24, 1972, and was completed October 2, 1972. It was filmed in Montreal, Canada, and includes much French dialog, alongside the main dialog in English. Harvey Hart handled directorial duties, with René Verzier as cinematographer, and Julian Hoffman as producer. Ron Wisman was responsible for editing the film.

Music

Music for The Pyx was provided by Harry Freedman, with actress Karen Black lending her vocal talents. This resulted in an eerie, haunting musical score which lent itself well to the atmosphere of the film.

Satanism

The Satanism portrayed in The Pyx, both in the 1959 novel and the 1973 movie adaptation, reflects the traditional attitude towards Satanism found in French literature such as the 1891 novel Là-Bas. Likewise, the Black Mass sequence in the film is of the traditional Roman Catholic variety, as described in French literature on Satanism. Thus the novel and movie fit in well with the French Roman Catholic environment of Montreal at the time.

Documentary on the making of The Golden Girls.

2011-10-28T16:22:00.000-07:00

Interview with Alfred Hitchcock 1973

2011-10-09T15:10:00.000-07:00

Pamela Anderson

2011-09-03T07:43:00.001-07:00

http://dazzlingdivas-ladivas.blogspot.com/2011/08/pamela-anderson.html

Kurt Russel

2011-09-03T07:41:00.000-07:00

http://somelikeithot-ladivas.blogspot.com/2011/09/kurt-russel.html

ElvisThe Movie Starring Kurt Russel

2011-09-03T07:39:00.000-07:00

http://somelikeithot-ladivas.blogspot.com/2011/09/elvis-movie-starring-kurt-russel.html

John Schneider

2011-07-19T11:28:00.001-07:00

http://somelikeithot-ladivas.blogspot.com/2011/07/john-schneider.html

Tom Wopat

2011-07-19T11:13:00.000-07:00

http://somelikeithot-ladivas.blogspot.com/2011/07/tom-wopat.html

Tom Selleck

2011-07-19T10:49:00.000-07:00

http://somelikeithot-ladivas.blogspot.com/2011/07/tom-selleck.html

Film,Black Christmas 1974

2011-07-03T12:41:00.000-07:00

Black Christmas is a 1974 Canadian slasher film directed by Bob Clark and written by A. Roy Moore, and largely based on a series of murders that took place in Quebec, Canada around Christmas time. The film's score is by Carl Zittrer. It was distributed by Ambassador Film Distributors in Canada and Warner Bros. in the United States. It follows a group of college students who must face a deranged serial killer lurking in their sorority house. It stars Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder, Andrea Martin, Marian Waldman, and John Saxon. A remake of the same name directed by Glen Morgan was released on December 25, 2006. The movie was inspired by an urban legend called "The Baby-Sitter."

Plot

A sorority house is hosting a Christmas party late into the night. A seemingly disoriented man climbs up the house's trellis and through an open attic window. During the party, sorority sister Jess Bradford (Olivia Hussey) receives an obscene phone call from a recurrent caller the house has named "the moaner". After Barbara "Barb" Coard (Margot Kidder) jokingly provokes the caller, he replies, "I'm going to kill you," then hangs up. Soon after, Clare Harrison (Lynne Griffin) is offended by Barb and goes upstairs to finish packing for her trip home. In her room, she finds Claude the cat on the bed. She tells him to move as he's got some things to do. While she's packing, she hears the cat's cries and goes to investigate. Clare is attacked by the disoriented man and asphyxiated with plastic sheeting. He carries her dead body to the attic and places it in a rocking chair next to the attic window and puts a doll in her lap.
The next day, Mr. Harrison (James Edmond Jr.), Clare's father, arrives to take Clare home for the holidays. When Clare is not at their agreed-upon meeting place, he goes to the sorority house. Meanwhile, Jess meets her boyfriend, Peter Smythe (Keir Dullea), a neurotic aspiring pianist, and informs him that she is pregnant and wants to have an abortion. Peter is upset by her decision and orders her to discuss the situation with him later. Mr. Harrison and sorority sisters Barb and Phyllis "Phyl" Carlson (Andrea Martin) arrive at the police station to report Clare's disappearance. Sgt. Nash dismisses the report and says that Clare is probably "hiding with a lover". After Jess informs Clare's boyfriend, Chris (Art Hindle), about Clare's disappearance and Sgt. Nash's dismissive attitude, they rush to the police station to discuss the disappearance with Lt. Kenneth Fuller (John Saxon). A local mother reports that her daughter, Janice, is missing as well.
That evening, Mr. Harrison, Chris and the sorority sisters join a search party aiming to find Janice or Clare. Back at the house, Mrs. MacHenry (Marian Waldman), the sorority's housemother, hears Claude's meows in the attic and investigates. She discovers Clare's body, but the killer launches a crane hook into Mrs. MacHenry's head and hangs her. After the search party finds Janice's dead body near the park, Jess returns home and receives another obscene phone call. Jess phones the police about the caller. Later, Peter arrives and argues with Jess about her decision to have an abortion. Peter becomes frustrated and leaves after Lt. Fuller arrives to discuss the phone calls with Jess. A technician places a "bug tracer" onto the sorority house phone to trace the phone calls. An officer is also stationed outside the house.
After Barb is sent to bed for being "too drunk", the killer stabs her to death with a unicorn ornament. Door-to-door Christmas carolers drown out the noise of the attack. Jess receives another obscene phone call that quotes a part of the argument she had with Peter. Jess suspects Peter of being the caller, but she and Phyl decide that it cannot be him, since Peter was present during one of the earlier calls. Phyl goes upstairs to bed, but decides to check on Barb first, after coming in the room to check on her the door closes (unknown what happens to Phyl).

Cast

Olivia Hussey as Jess Bradford
Keir Dullea as Peter Smythe
Margot Kidder as Barbara "Barb" Coard
John Saxon as Lt. Kenneth Fuller
Marian Waldman as Mrs. MacHenry
Andrea Martin as Phyllis "Phyl" Carlson
James Edmond Jr. as Mr. Harrison
Doug McGrath as Sgt. Nash
Art Hindle as Chris Hayden
Lynne Griffin as Clare Harrison
Michael Rapaport as Patrick Cornell
Bob Clark and Nick Mancuso as Billy

Co-producer Gerry Arbeid cameos in the film as the cab driver who arrives to pick up Mrs. Mac.

Production

Filming of Black Christmas began in early 1974 over an 8-week time schedule in Toronto, Canada, and several scenes were shot around Annesley Hall National Historic Site. The films budget of $620,000 was shot in 35mm format by utilizing Panavision cameras. Cameraman, Albert J. Dunk, created the POV camera shot by mounting a camera onto his back and creeping around the house. He crawled up the housing trellis in the beginning of the film as well. According to Bob Clark, due to the surprisingly light snowfall, most of the snow scenes outside of the sorority house were made of foam material provided by a local fire department.
The role of Mrs. Mac was offered to Bette Davis. The role of Peter was originally offered to Malcolm McDowell, but he turned it down. The role of Lieutenant Fuller was originally supposed to be played by Edmond O'Brien, but due to failing health he had to be replaced. John Saxon was brought in at the last minute. Gilda Radner was offered the role of Phyllis Carlson. She was attached, but dropped out one month before filming began owing to Saturday Night Live commitments.
During preparation in 1975 for the films American release, Warner Bros. studio executives asked Clark to change the concluding scene to show Clare's boyfriend, Chris, appear in front of Jess and say, "Agnes, don't tell them what we did," before killing her, however, Clark insisted on keeping the ending ambiguous. The original title of the film was initially planned to be Stop Me. Clark has stated in an interview that he came up with the film's official title, saying that he enjoyed the irony of a dark event occurring during a festive holiday. According to Clark as well, Warner Bros. changed the title to Silent Night, Evil Night, for the U.S. theatrical release. During later television broadcasting, the film's title was changed to Stranger in the House, however, it was cancelled due to broadcasters deeming it "too scary" for television broadcast.
The composer of the film's score, Carl Zittrer, claimed in an interview that he created the film's mysterious music by tying forks, combs, and knives onto the strings of the piano in order to warp the sound of the keys. Zittrer also stated that he would distort the sound further by recording its sound onto an audio tape and make the sound slower.

Release

Black Christmas was officially released on October 11, 1974, in Canada through Ambassador Film Distributors, and in the United States on December 20, 1974, through Warner Bros., where it grossed $4,053,000. It was released in October 1975 in New York City and Chicago, and previously played under the title Silent Night, Evil Night in Virginia, in July 1975. and grossed over $4,053,00 internationally, managing to earn more than the film's budget of $620,000. When released in the UK, the BBFC had the word "cunt" removed, as well as several other crude and sexual references during the obscene phone call scenes.

Film,Deep Red 1975

2011-07-03T12:34:00.000-07:00

Profondo Rosso (also known as Deep Red or The Hatchet Murders) is a 1975 giallo film directed and written by Dario Argento and co-written by Bernardino Zapponi. It was released on March 7, 1975 in Italy and June 11, 1976 in the United States. The film's score was composed and performed by Goblin. It stars David Hemmings as a music teacher who investigates a series of murders performed by a mysterious figure wielding a hatchet. Although the film was not a financial success internationally, the film has met with critical acclaim.

Plot

Profondo Rosso follows music teacher Marcus Daly (Hemmings) as he investigates the violent murder of psychic medium Helga Ulmann (Macha Meril), which he witnesses in an apartment building. Other major characters are introduced early, including Daly’s gay friend Carlo (Gabriele Lavia), Ulmann’s associate Dr. Giordani (Glauco Mauri) and reporter Gianna Brezzi (Daria Nicolodi), with whom Daly begins an affair.
After his attempt to rescue the medium fails, Daly realises he could have seen the killer’s face among a group of portraits on the wall of the victim’s apartment but is unable to find or recognize it when the police arrive. Later in the film, he also initially overlooks another clue that causes him to discover a mouldering corpse walled up in a derelict house. In typical Argento fashion, one murder leads to a series of others as Daly’s obsession with this vital clue that he fails to understand endangers his life and that of everyone with whom he comes into contact.
The killing of Helga Ulmann is prefaced by a child’s doggerel tune, the same music that accompanies the film’s opening sequence in which two shadowy figures struggle until one of them is stabbed to death. The music serves as the murderer’s calling card. When Daly hears it in his own apartment soon after becoming involved in the case he is able to foil his attacker. Later, he plays the tune to Giordani, a psychiatrist, who theorizes that the music is important because it probably played an integral part in a traumatic event in the killer's past. The doctor’s theory is of course correct, as the identity of the killer is finally revealed as Carlo’s insane mother Martha (Clara Calamai). When Carlo was still a child, he watched as she murdered her husband when he tried to have her committed to a mental hospital, then entomb his body in a room of their house. Daly’s discovery of the corpse is one of the film’s most dramatic moments.
In the climax, Martha confronts Marcus and tries to kill him. Wielding a butchering knife, Martha chases him around the complex and into a room with an elevator. Marcus is stabbed in the shoulder by the knife, and kicks Martha toward the elevator shaft. A long necklace she wears catches in the bars of the shaft, and she is decapitated when Daly summons the lift. The film ends with Daly staring into the resultant pool of blood.

Cast

David Hemmings as Marcus Daly
Daria Nicolodi as Gianna Brezzi
Gabriele Lavia as Carlo
Macha Méril as Helga Ulmann
Eros Pagni as Supt. Calcabrini
Giuliana Calandra as Amanda Righetti
Piero Mazzinghi as Bardi
Glauco Mauri as Prof. Giordani
Clara Calamai as Martha
Aldo Bonamano as Carlo's father
Liana Del Balzo as Elvira
Vittorio Fanfoni as Cop taking notes
Dante Fioretti as Police photographer
Geraldine Hooper as Massimo Ricci
Jacopo Mariani as Young Carlo (as Iacopo Mariani)
Nicoletta Elmi as Olga

Soundtrack

Main article: Profondo Rosso (soundtrack)

The Italian progressive rock music band Goblin composed most of the film's musical score. Goblin also composed music for several other films by Dario Argento.

Release

This film is known as Suspiria PART 2 (サスペリアPART2) in Japan. This film was released two years before Suspiria in Italy, and the two movies are unrelated. This was done due to the tremendous success of Suspiria in Japan. Distributors thought this film would be a success if the public thought this film was a sequel to Suspiria, hence the name change.
There's so far two version of this film is released. A Director's Cut and a UNCUT version. Both has been released on Blu-ray DVDs

Critical reception

Ian Jane of DVD Talk critiqued, "As to the film itself, it holds up as one of Argento's finest moments, a taut and suspenseful thriller shot with style and class and featuring some stand out set pieces, amazing camera work, and a few strong performances. Highly recommended."
Bill Gibron of DVD Verdict said, "Frankly, there is no better Italian thriller, giallo, detective, horror, or slasher style film than Deep Red. It resonates with all the visual excesses and subliminal undercurrents that Argento would later explore to their maximum capacity. It is a tour de force of camera, composition, and film craft skills. It is such a benchmark of smart, passionate film construction that it surpasses expectations and thwarts potential imitations. It's interesting to note that even when Argento presently returns to the giallo style thriller to keep his name in the genre, the films (Tenebrae, Non Ho Sonno, Opera) all resemble pale imitations of Deep Red."
J.C. Maçek III of WorldsGreatestCritic.com wrote, "There are reasons that Deep Red is considered one of the best films of its kind, but be warned, this is neither a primer, nor an introduction to films of this kind. While this is light on the profanity and almost nonexistent on the nudity, there is enough violence and horrific brutality to fill up two or three films made by the other guys. Further, Argento knew just how to make these hit home, using imagery that anybody in the audience could easily relate to, due to its realism and every-day nature. Ouch."

Film,Susperia 1977

2011-07-03T12:32:00.000-07:00

Suspiria is a 1977 Italian giallo horror film directed by Dario Argento and co-written by Argento and Daria Nicolodi. The film follows an American ballet student who transfers to a prestigious dance academy in Germany, only to discover that it is controlled by a coven of witches. The film's score was performed by Goblin. It stars Jessica Harper and Stefania Casini. It was also one of the final feature films to be processed in the Italian processing plant of Technicolor before it was closed. Suspiria is the first of the trilogy Argento refers to as "The Three Mothers", followed by Inferno and The Mother of Tears.
The film has become one of Argento's most successful feature films, receiving critical acclaim for its visual and stylistic performance, outstanding colors, and soundtrack. It has been nominated for two Saturn Awards: Best Supporting Actress for Joan Bennett in 1978 and Best DVD Classic Film Release in 2002. The film has since become a cult classic.

Plot

An American ballet student, Suzy Bannion (Jessica Harper), arrives from her flight in Munich, Germany on a stormy night to enroll in a prestigious dance academy in Freiburg. After Suzy is unable to gain access into the academy, she decides to spend the night around town.
Meanwhile, Pat Hingle (Eva Axén) (a former student who is expelled from the academy and seen leaving the academy in a somewhat frightened mood by Suzy) finds refuge at a friend's house in town. After Pat locks herself inside of the house's bathroom, a mysterious arm smothers Pat against the glass and repeatedly stabs her with a large knife. Her friend overhears her screaming and tries to scream for help, although nobody replies. Pat is then bound with a cord before she is hanged in mid-air after crashing through a large stained-glass ceiling. Her friend is killed directly below by the falling glass and metal. Upon Suzy's arrival at the academy the next morning, she is introduced to Madame Blanc (Joan Bennett) and Miss Tanner (Alida Valli). Suzy overhears an ongoing conversation about Pat's murder between a group of people, and recalls that she witnessed Pat leaving the academy the previous night.
Suzy is then escorted to the ballet student's locker room, where she meets Sarah (Stefania Casini) and Olga (Barbara Magnolfi), whom she lives with off-campus. The following morning, Blanc offers Suzy a dormitory room, but she denies Blanc's offer. After a strange encounter with the academy's cook (Franca Scagnetti), Suzy seemingly struggles before fainting during a lesson. Later that night, Suzy awakens to discover that she has been moved into a dormitory room against her wishes. The doctors then tell Suzy that she is to be "medicated" with a glass of wine daily. Suzy befriends Sarah after the two are roomed together. As Suzy and the rest of the students prepare for dinner, hundreds of maggots appear to fall from the ceiling due to spoiled food boxed in the attic. The girls are then ordered to sleep in the practice hall overnight. During the night, Sarah identifies a distinctive whistling snore as that of the school's director, who is not due to return to the academy for several weeks.
The next morning, Tanner orders the blind pianist, Daniel (Flavio Bucci), to leave the academy immediately after his guide dog bites her nephew's arm. Later that night, Sarah overhears the teacher's footsteps and begins to count them whilst Suzy becomes irresistibly drowsy and falls asleep. Meanwhile, while Daniel and his guide dog cross a plaza within the city, his seemingly calm dog suddenly attacks Daniel and begins to tear his throat out, killing him. The next day, Suzy recalls the words "iris" and "secret" from Pat's mumbling before leaving the academy. Later that night, Suzy and Sarah go for a swim while Sarah reveals to Suzy that she and Pat were close friends, and recalls that Pat had been "talking strangely for some time". As the two girls search for Pat's notes in Sarah's room, they appear to be stolen. Suzy suddenly becomes drowsy and falls asleep before Sarah flees to the attic after hearing approaching footsteps. Sarah is then lured into a pit of razor wire by an unseen figure, who then slits her throat after a brief struggle.
The following morning, Blanc and Tanner inform Suzy that Sarah is nowhere to be found and that her room is entirely empty. Suzy then meets one of Sarah's acquaintance, a psychologist named Dr. Mandel (Udo Kier), who explains that the academy was founded by Helena Markos, a Greek émigré who was believed to be a witch. Dr. Madel's colleague, Professor Millus, then tells Suzy that a coven can only survive with their queen. Upon Suzy's return to the academy that night, she discovers that all of the students have gone to the theater. After becoming suspicious of her prescribed glass of wine, she pours it down the sink. She then overhears the footsteps Sarah identified before, and follows them to Blanc's office. She suddenly recalls Pat's mumbling after discovering irises painted all over the walls of Blanc's office. After entering a hidden passage, she discovers Blanc, Tanner and the staff forming a ritual where they plot Suzy's death. Unseen, Suzy then turns to find Sarah's body nailed to a coffin.
Frightened, Suzy then sneaks into another room, where she mistakenly awakens a shadowed figure who reveals herself as Helena Markos. The witch begins to taunt Suzy before ordering Sarah's reanimated corpse to murder. Suzy then stabs the witch with one of the room's decorations, which appears to ultimately kill her and Sarah's reanimated corpse. As the academy is slowly destroyed with the coven inside, Suzy manages to escape before the entire building catches on fire.

Cast

Jessica Harper as Suzy Banyon
Stefania Casini as Sarah
Flavio Bucci as Daniel
Miguel Bosé as Mark
Joan Bennett as Madame Blanc
Alida Valli as Miss. Tanner
Barbara Magnolfi as Olga
Susanna Javicoli as Sonia
Eva Axén as Pat
Rudolf Schundler as Prof. Milius
Udo Kier as Dr. Frank Mandel
Margherita Horowitz as Teacher
Jacopo Mariani as Albert
Fulvio Mingozzi as Taxi Driver
Franca Scagnetti as Cook

Production

The title and general concept of "The Three Mothers" came from Suspiria de Profundis. There is a section in Suspiria De Profundis entitled "Levana and Our Ladies of Sorrow". The piece asserts that just as there are three Fates and three Graces, there are three Sorrows: "Mater Lacrymarum, Our Lady of Tears," "Mater Suspiriorum, Our Lady of Sighs," and "Mater Tenebrarum, Our Lady of Darkness."
Suspiria is noteworthy for several stylistic flourishes that have become Argento trademarks. The film was made with anamorphic lenses. The production design and cinematography emphasize vivid primary colors, particularly red, creating a deliberately unrealistic, nightmarish setting, emphasized by the use of imbibition Technicolor prints. The imbibition process, used for The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind, is much more vivid in its color rendition than emulsion-based release prints, therefore enhancing the nightmarish quality of the film.

Critical reception

The film has received critical acclaim from contemporary critics. According to review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, the film receives a 94% "fresh" rating based on 31 reviews with the consensus "The blood pours freely in Argento's classic Suspiria, a giallo horror as grandiose and glossy as it is gory". Rotten Tomatoes also ranked it #40 on their Best Horror Movies 2010 list. Whilst some critics praise the film's visual performance, outstanding use of color, and soundtrack, others have criticized it for its lack of sense and puzzling storyline.
Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote a mixed review, saying the film had "slender charms, though they will most assuredly be lost on viewers who are squeamish." Dave Kehr of Chicago Reader gave a positive review, claiming that "Argento works so hard for his effects — throwing around shock cuts, colored lights, and peculiar camera angles — that it would be impolite not to be a little frightened". Although J. Hoberman of Village Voice gave a positive review as well, he calls it "a movie that makes sense only to the eye"^. Village Voice ranked Suspiria #100 on their list of the 100 Greatest Films Made During the 20th Century.
Adam Smith of Empire Magazine awarded the film a perfect score of 5 out of 5, calling it a "perfect antipasto". Empire Magazine ranked Suspiria #312 on their list of the 500 Greatest Movies Of All Time, as well as #45 on their list of The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema TV Guide awarded the film 4 stars out of 5, concluding that "Throughout this nerve-wracking journey, Argento's sly gift is to strike when you least expect it, often when the soundtrack grows silent, and always after you've expected the knife blade to plunge in earlier". Keith Breese of FilmCritic.com also awarded the film a perfect score of 5 out of 5 stars, calling it "a wild feast of imagery that has never since been duplicated"^.
Dennis Schwartz of Ozus' World Movie Reviews awarded the film a C+, claiming that it "only catches fire when it has run out of imagination to end it in any other way but through a pyrotechnic display". The only negative review was given by David Nusair of Reel Film Reviews, introducing the review by calling it "is a so-called "classic" horror movie that even critics who ordinarily shun the genre (Leonard Maltin, for one) respect and admire. But one can't help but wonder what all the hoopla is about, as the movie is generally a dull and badly dated affair" whilst saying that "all the visual artistry in the world can't compensate for a lousy script"^.
Entertainment Weekly ranked Suspiria #18 on their list of the 25 Scariest Films Of All Time. A poll of critics of Total Film ranked it #3 on their list of The 50 Greatest Horror Films Of All Time. One of the film's sequences were ranked at #24 on Bravo's The 100 Scariest Movie Moments. IGN ranked it #20 on their list of the Top 25 Horror Movies of All Time.

Film,Don't Look Now,Occult Thriller 1973

2011-07-02T09:44:00.000-07:00

Don't Look Now is a 1973 occult thriller film directed by Nicolas Roeg. Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland star as a married couple whose lives become complicated after meeting two elderly sisters in Venice, one of whom claims to be clairvoyant and informs them that their recently deceased daughter is trying to contact them to warn them of danger. It is an independent British and Italian co-production, filmed in England and Italy, and adapted from the short story by Daphne du Maurier.
While Don't Look Now observes many conventions of the thriller genre, its primary focus is on the psychology of grief, and the effect the death of a child can have on a relationship. Its emotionally convincing depiction of grief is often singled out as a trait not usually present in films featuring supernatural plot elements.
As well as the unusual handling of its subject matter, Don't Look Now is renowned for its atypical but innovative editing style, and its use of recurring motifs and themes. The film often employs flashbacks and flashforwards in keeping with the depiction of precognition, but some scenes are intercut or merged to alter the viewer's perception of what is really happening. It also adopts an impressionist approach to its imagery, often presaging events with familiar objects, patterns and colours using an associative editing technique, turning them into portents.
Originally causing controversy on its intitial release due to an explicit and—for the time—very graphic sex scene between Christie and Sutherland, its reputation has grown considerably in the years since, and it is now acknowledged as a modern classic and an influential work in horror and British film.

Plot

Some time after the drowning of their young daughter, Christine (Sharon Williams), in a tragic accident at their English country home, John Baxter (Donald Sutherland) and his wife, Laura (Julie Christie), are staying in Venice where John has been contracted by a bishop (Massimo Serato) to restore an ancient church. Laura encounters two elderly sisters at a restaurant where she and John are dining, one of whom is blind and claims to be psychic and in contact with the Baxters' deceased daughter. The blind sister, Heather (Hilary Mason), tells Laura she can see Christine and describes the attire she was wearing at the time of the accident, and that Christine is happy. Shaken, Laura returns to her table, where she faints.
Laura is taken to hospital, where she later tells John what the sisters told her. John is sceptical but pleasantly surprised by the positive change in Laura's demeanour. Later in the evening after returning from the hospital, John and Laura engage in passionate sexual intercourse. Afterwards, they go out to dinner where they get lost and briefly become separated. John catches a glimpse of what looks like a small child (Adelina Poerio) wearing a red coat similar to the one Christine was wearing when she died.
The next day, Laura meets with the sisters, who hold a séance to try to contact Christine. She returns to the hotel and tells John that Christine has said he is in danger and must leave Venice. John loses his temper with Laura, but that night they receive a telephone call informing them that their son (Nicholas Salter) has been injured in an accident. Laura departs for England, while John stays on to complete the restoration. Under the assumption that Laura is in England, John is shocked when later that day he spots her on a barge that is part of a funeral cortege, accompanied by the two sisters. Concerned about his wife's mental state and with reports of a serial killer at large in Venice, he reports Laura's disappearance to the police. The inspector (Renato Scarpa) investigating the killings is suspicious of John and has him followed.
After conducting a futile search for Laura and the sisters—in which he again sees the child-like figure in the red coat—John contacts his son's boarding school to enquire about his condition, only to discover Laura is already at the school. After speaking to her to confirm she really is in England, a bewildered John returns to the police station to inform the police he has found his wife. In the meantime the police have found the sisters and brought them in for questioning, so an apologetic John offers to escort Heather back to her hotel to rejoin her sister, Wendy (Clelia Matania).
On returning to the hotel, Heather goes into a trance as John is leaving. On his way out, John catches another glimpse of the mysterious figure in red, and this time pursues it. Coming out of her trance, Heather beseeches her sister to go after John, sensing that something terrible is about to happen to him, but she is unable to catch up with him. Meanwhile, John has followed the elusive figure to a deserted palazzo, and having cornered it, realises too late that the strange sightings he has been experiencing were premonitions of his own death.

Analysis

Themes

Don't Look Now ostensibly is an occult thriller, but the genre conventions of the Gothic ghost story primarily serve to explore the minds of a grief-stricken couple. The film's director, Nicolas Roeg, was intrigued by the idea of making 'grief into the sole thrust of the film': "Grief can separate people ... Even the closest, healthiest relationship can come undone through grief". The presence of Christine, the Baxters' deceased daughter, weighs heavily on the mood of the film, as she and the nature of her death are constantly recalled through the film's imagery: there are regular flashbacks to Christine playing in her red coat as well as the sightings of the mysterious child-like figure also wearing a red coat which bears a likeness to her; the constant association of water with death is maintained via a serial-killer sub-plot, which sees victims periodically dragged from the canals; there is also a poignant moment when John fishes a child's doll out of a canal just as he did with his daughter's body at the beginning of the film.

Water and the colour red are recurring motifs.

The associative use of recurring motifs foreshadows key events in the film, often utilised in an impressionist style, combined with unorthodox editing techniques. In Daphne du Maurier's novella it is Laura that wears a red coat, but in the film the colour is used to establish an association between Christine and the elusive child-like figure that John keeps catching glimpses of. Du Maurier's story actually opens in Venice following Christine's death from meningitis, but the decision was taken to change the cause of death to drowning and to include a prologue to exploit the water motif. The threat of death from falling is also ever present throughout the film: besides Christine falling into the lake, Laura is taken to hospital after her fall in the restaurant, their son Johnny is injured in a fall at boarding school, the bishop overseeing the church restoration informs John that his father was killed in a fall, and John himself is nearly killed in a fall during the renovations. Glass is frequently used as an omen that something bad is about to occur: just before Christine drowns, John knocks a glass of water over, and Johnny breaks a pane of glass; as Laura faints in the restaurant she knocks glassware off the table, and when John almost falls to his death in the church, a plank of wood shatters a pane of glass; finally, shortly before confronting the mysterious red clad figure, John asks the sisters for a glass of water, a piece of symbolism that prefigured Christine's death.
The plot of the film is preoccupied with misinterpretation and mistaken identity: when John sees Laura on the barge with the sisters, he fails to realise it is a premonition and believes Laura is in Venice with them. John himself is mistaken for a Peeping Tom when he follows Laura to the séance, and ultimately he mistakes the mysterious red-coated figure for a child. The concept of doppelgängers and duplicates feature prominently in the film: reproductions are a constantly recurring motif ranging from reflections in the water, to photographs, to police sketches and the photographic slides of the church John is restoring. Laura comments in a letter to their son that she can't tell the difference between the restored church windows and the "real thing", and later in the film John attempts to make a seamless match between recently manufactured tiles and the old ones in repairing an ancient mosaic. Roeg describes the basic premise of the story as principally being that in life "nothing is what it seems", and even decided to have Donald Sutherland's character utter the line—a scene which required fifteen takes.
Communication is a theme that runs through much of Nicolas Roeg's work, and figures heavily in Don't Look Now. This is best exemplified by the blind psychic woman, Heather, who communicates with the dead, but it is presented in other ways: the language barriers are purposefully enhanced by the decision to not include subtitles translating the Italian dialogue into English, so the viewer experiences the same confusion as John. Women are presented as better at communicating than men: besides the clairvoyant being female, it is Laura who stays in regular contact with their son, Johnny; when the Baxters receive a phone call informing them of Johnny's accident at the boarding school, the headmaster's inarticulateness in explaining the situation causes his wife to intercept and explain instead. The bishop (who has commissioned John to undertake the restoration), also somewhat cryptically comments that "we have stopped listening to God".
Much has been made of the fragmented editing of Don't Look Now, and Nicolas Roeg's work in general. Time is presented as "fluid", where the past, present and future can all exist in the same timeframe. John's premonitions merge with the present, such as at the start of the film where the mysterious red-coated figure is seemingly depicted in one of his photographic slides, and when he "sees" Laura on the funeral barge with the sisters and mistakenly believes he is seeing the present, but in fact it is a vision of the future. The most famous use of this fragmented approach to time is during the love scene, in which the scenes of John and Laura having sex are intercut with scenes of them dressing afterwards to go out to dinner. After John is attacked by his assailant in the climactic moments, the preceding events depicted during the course of the film are recalled through flashback, which may be perceived as his life flashing before his eyes. At a narrative level the plot of Don't Look Now can be regarded as a self-fulfilling prophecy: it is John's premonitions of his death that set in motion the events leading up to his death. According to the editor of the film, Graeme Clifford, Nicolas Roeg regarded the film as his "exercise in film grammar".

Inspirations

Don't Look Now is particularly indebted to Alfred Hitchcock, exhibiting several characteristics of the director's work. The jump cut following Christine's death from Laura's scream to the screech of a drill references a cut in The 39 Steps, when a woman's scream cuts to the whistle of a steam train. When John reports Laura's disappearance to the Italian police he inadvertently becomes a suspect in the murder case they are investigating—an innocent man being wrongly accused and pursued by the authorities is a common Hitchcock trait. The film also takes a Hitchcockian approach to its protagonist's psychology by manifesting it in plot developments: in taking their trip to Venice the Baxters have run away from personal tragedy, and are often physically depicted as running to and from things during their stay in Venice; the labyrinthine geography of Venice causes John to lose his bearings, and he often becomes separated from Laura and is repeatedly shown to be looking for her—both physical realisations of what is going on in his head.
Nicolas Roeg had employed the fractured editing style of Don't Look Now on his previous films, Performance and Walkabout, but it was originated by editor Antony Gibbs on Petulia. Roeg served as the cinematographer on Petulia, which incidentally also starred Julie Christie, and Gibbs went on to edit Performance and Walkabout for Roeg. Roeg's use of colour—especially red—can be traced back to earlier work: both Performance and Walkabout feature scenes where the whole screen turns red, similar in nature to the scene during Christine's drowning when the spilt water on the church slide causes a reaction that makes it—along with the whole screen—turn completely red. The mysterious red-coated figure and its association with death has a direct parallel with an earlier film Roeg worked on as cinematographer, The Masque of the Red Death, which depicted a red clad Grim Reaper character. The fleeting glimpses of the mysterious red-coated figure possibly draw on Proust: in Remembrance of Things Past, while in Venice the narrator catches sight of a red gown in the distance, which brings pack painful memories of his lost love.
Besides Proust, other possible literary influences include Borges and Nietzsche; Pauline Kael in her review comments that "Roeg comes closer to getting Borges on the screen than those who have tried it directly",while Mark Sanderson in his BFI Modern Classics essay on the film, finds parallels with Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil.

Production

Don't Look Now was produced by Peter Katz through London based Casey Productions and Rome based Eldorado Films, and was independently financed. The script based on the short story by Daphne du Maurier was offered to Nicolas Roeg by scriptwriter Allan Scott, who had co-written the screenplay with Chris Bryant, while Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland were cast in the principal roles. Filming began in England in December 1972, breaking off for Christmas, and resuming in January 1973 for seven more weeks in Italy.

Development and pre-production

Julie Christie attended a séance as part of her preparation for the role of Laura.

Don't Look Now was to be Nicolas Roeg's third directorial feature following Performance and Walkabout. Although real-life couple Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner were suggested for the parts of Laura and John Baxter, Roeg was eager to cast Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland from the very start. Initially engaged by other projects both actors unexpectedly became available. Christie liked the script and was keen to work with Roeg who had served as cinematographer on Fahrenheit 451, Far from the Madding Crowd and Petulia in which she had starred. Sutherland also wanted to make the film but had some reservations in regards to the depiction of clairvoyance in the script. He felt it was handled too negatively and believed that Don't Look Now should be a more "educative film", and that the "characters should in some way benefit from ESP and not be destroyed by it". Roeg was resistant to any changes and issued Sutherland with an ultimatum.
Roeg wanted Julie Christie to attend a séance prior to filming. Leslie Flint, a direct voice medium based in Notting Hill, invited them to attend a session which he was holding for some American parapsychologists, who were coming over to observe him. Roeg and Christie went along and sat in a circle in the pitch dark and joined hands. Flint instructed his guests to "uncross" their legs, which Roeg subsequently incorporated into the film.
Adelina Poerio was cast as the fleeting red-coated figure after Roeg saw her photo at a casting session in Rome. Standing at only 4'2" tall, she had a career as a singer. Renato Scarpa was cast as Inspector Longhi, despite not being able to speak English and had no idea what he was saying in the film.

Filming

The drowning scene and house exteriors were filmed in Hertfordshire at the home of actor David Tree, who also plays the headmaster at the son's boarding school. Shooting the sequence was particularly problematic: Sharon Williams, who played Christine, became hysterical when submersed in the pond, despite the rehearsals at the swimming pool going well. A farmer on the neighbouring land volunteered his daughter who was an accomplished swimmer, but refused to be submersed when it came to filming. In the end, the scene was filmed in a water tank using three girls. Nicolas Roeg and editor Graeme Clifford showed the opening sequence to some friends before filming resumed on the Venice segment, and Clifford recalls it making a considerable impression.
The Venice locations included the Europa Hotel—although the Baxters' suite was located at the Bauer Grunwald (which better accommodated the cameras)—and the Santo Nicolo dei Mendici (the Church of St. Nicholas), located on the outskirts of Venice. Finding an appropriate church proved difficult: after visiting most of the churches in Venice, the Italian location manager suggested constructing one in a warehouse. The discovery of St. Nicholas's was particularly fortuitous since it was currently being renovated and the scaffolding was already in place, the circumstances lending themselves well to the plot of the film. Roeg decided not to use traditional tourist locations to purposefully avoid a "travel documentary" look. Venice turned out to be a difficult place to film in, mainly due to the tides which caused problems with the continuity and transporting equipment.
Filming the scene in which John almost falls to his death while restoring the mosaic in St Nicholas's church was also beset by problems, and resulted in Donald Sutherland's life being put in danger. The scene entailed some of the scaffolding collapsing leaving John dangling by a rope, but the stuntman refused to perform the stunt because the insurance was not in order. Sutherland ended up doing it instead, and was attached to a kirby wire as a precaution in case he should fall. Some time after the film had come out, renowned stunt co-ordinator, Vic Armstrong, commented to Sutherland that the wire was not designed for that purpose, and the twirling around caused by holding on to the rope would have damaged the wire to the extent it would have snapped if Sutherland had let go.
While many of the changes were down to the logistics of filming in Venice, some were for creative reasons, the most prominent being the inclusion of the famous love scene. The scene was in fact an unscripted last minute improvisation by Roeg, who felt that without it there would be too many scenes of the couple arguing. The scene set in the church where Laura lights a candle for Christine was mostly improvised too. Originally intended to show the gulf between John's and Laura's mental states—John's denial and Laura's inability to let go—the script included two pages of dialogue to illustrate John's unease at Laura's marked display of grief. After a break in filming to allow the crew to set up the equipment, Donald Sutherland returned to the set and commented that he did not like the church, to which Julie Christie retorted that he was being "silly", and the church was "beautiful". Roeg felt that the exchange was more true to life in terms of what the characters would actually say to each other, and that the scripted version was "overwritten", so opted to ditch the scripted dialogue and included the real-life exchange instead.
The funeral scene at the end of the film was also played differently to what was originally intended. Julie Christie was supposed to wear a veil to hide away her face, but prior to filming Roeg suggested to Christie that she should play it without the veil and smile throughout the scene. Christie was initially sceptical, but Roeg felt it would not make sense for the character to be heartbroken if she believed her husband and daughter were together in the afterlife.

Film,The Devil's Rain 1975

2011-07-02T09:43:00.000-07:00

The Devil's Rain is a 1975 low-budget horror film, directed by Robert Fuest. The film is remembered primarily for its ending, in which most of the cast melts. It was one of several B-films in which William Shatner starred in the hiatus between the original Star Trek television series and Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Other familiar names in the cast included Tom Skerritt, Ernest Borgnine, Eddie Albert, Ida Lupino, and Keenan Wynn. John Travolta at the time was also beginning his role as Vinnie Barbarino in the sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter. Satanist Anton LaVey is credited as the movie's technical advisor.

Plot summary

A curse hovers over the Preston family, caused by their betrayal of the Satanic priest John Corbis (Ernest Borgnine). Corbis has followed the Preston family for generations, in pursuit of a Satanic book through which he obtains great power. Corbis first captures the father, Steve Preston, who is allowed to escape home to warn his wife and younger son about Corbis's wrath, and to give the book to Corbis; this is done, at which point Steve Preston then melts into a waxy substance, apparently melting in the rain.
Mark Preston (Shatner) takes the book, hoping to meet with Corbis and defeat him. The two eventually meet in a ghost town in the desert, where Corbis gives Preston a drink of water from an old hand-pumped well; Shatner's character drinks and then spits it out, proclaiming the water to be bitter. Borgnine smiles and replies, "Sweet way to end a thirst, though." Following that, Preston challenges Corbis to a battle of faith, which ends with Preston pulling a 1911 .45 pistol on Corbis.
Corbis asks, "Is THAT your faith?" at which point Preston tries to escape. Surrounded by satanists, Preston pulls out his cross, which then appears to transform into a snake, and is discarded by Preston. He is promptly captured by the Satanic followers of Corbis. Corbis later begins a ceremony which wipes Mark's memory clean with the "water of forgetfulness" in preparation for a ceremony later that evening with the Devil himself. Preston's older brother, Tom (Tom Skerritt), and his wife Julie, have gone to look for younger brother Mark; they are accompanied by Dr. Sam Richards (Albert), a psychic researcher.
Tom witnesses his brother's total conversion to a Satanic puppet in a ceremony in which Corbis is so completely taken over by the devil that he transforms into a goat-like being. Tom is discovered but escapes the Satanists, and later meets up with Richards at the Satanic church, where they discover the source of Corbis's power—a porcelain container known as The Devil's Rain, which contains the souls of Corbis's converts.
Corbis and the Satanists then arrive at the church, and Richards threatens to destroy the Devil's Rain, which he then does, and makes good his escape.
The Satanists melt in the rain as a storm rages as Tom and his wife make a hasty exit. As Tom holds his wife, the audience discovers that it is actually Corbis he is embracing and his wife's soul has become trapped within a new Devil's Rain.

Cast

Ernest Borgnine as Jonathan Corbis
Eddie Albert as Dr. Sam Richards
William Shatner as Mark Preston
Ida Lupino as Emma Preston
Tom Skerritt as Tom Preston
Joan Prather as Julie Preston
Keenan Wynn as Sheriff Owens
John Travolta as Danny
George Sawaya as Steve Preston
Anton LaVey as the High Priest

Response

The Devil's Rain received a uniformly negative critical response, with the chief complaint being the incoherent storyline. The film's refusal to provide adequate scares was also widely criticized. Vincent Canby in the New York Times noted that "The Devil's Rain is ostensibly a horror film, but it barely manages to be a horror...It is as horrible as watching an egg fry." Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times said "All of this would be good silly fun if the movie weren't so painfully dull. The problem is that the material's stretched too thin. There's not enough here to fill a feature-length film." He gave the film 1½ stars out of four.
The movie's disastrous reception arguably killed off director Fuest's career. Fuest had previously directed The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971), Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972), and The Final Programme (1973). The Devil's Rain suffered such a critical drubbing that Fuest immediately was forced to retreat to television, directing several nondescript TV-movies and series episodes over the years. He has made only one additional theatrical feature, Aphrodite (1982), a softcore sex romp shot in Greece.
In his 2010 book Showgirls, Teen Wolves, and Astro Zombies, Australian film reviewer Michael Adams called The Devil's Rain "the ultimate cult movie": "It's about a cult, has a cult following, was devised with input from a cult leader, and saw a future superstar indoctrinated into a cult he'd help popularize."

Film,Frenzy Thriller,1972

2011-07-02T09:40:00.000-07:00

Frenzy is a 1972 thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and is the penultimate feature film of his extensive career. The film is based upon the novel Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square by Arthur La Bern, and was adapted for the screen by Anthony Shaffer. La Bern later expressed his dissatisfaction with Shaffer's adaptation. The film stars Jon Finch, Alec McCowen and Barry Foster and features Billie Whitelaw, Anna Massey, Barbara Leigh-Hunt, Bernard Cribbins and Vivien Merchant. The original music score was composed by Ron Goodwin.
The film was screened at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival, but wasn't entered into the main competition

Plot

The film has become well known for a couple of grisly key scenes. The rape and murder of Brenda (Barbara Leigh-Hunt) makes use of numerous short edits in a similar fashion to the Janet Leigh shower scene in Psycho, and this serves to heighten the images of violence and horror.
The murder of Brenda is the only murder depicted onscreen. Screenwriter Shaffer convinced Hitchcock that to show a second murder would be redundant. The murder of the barmaid Barbara Jane "Babs" Milligan occurs off-screen. The audience sees her entering the killer's apartment but the camera lingers in the hall for an extended period. The audience is left with a clear message that she will be murdered. The audience next sees the killer carrying a large sack and placing it onto the back of a lorry where it sits unobtrusively among a load of unsold potatoes ready to be transported back to Lincolnshire. He soon finds that his lapel pin is missing, and realizes that Babs must have torn it off as he was strangling her. He returns to the lorry and climbs into it to retrieve the pin from Babs' dead fingers, only to find the lorry starting off on its journey north. The killer desperately scrabbles through the sack of potatoes to find the dead woman's hand. As rigor mortis has set in, he is unable to prise the pin from her grasp until he has broken her fingers. This sequence is also composed of numerous edits to create tension and remains one of this film's most identifiable scenes.
As in several other previous Hitchcock films, the audience is fully aware of the identity of the killer (Bob Rusk, played by Barry Foster) very early in the proceedings, and is also shown how circumstantial guilt is rapidly built up around an innocent man (Richard Blaney, Babs' boyfriend and Brenda's ex-husband, played by Jon Finch). Blaney is duly apprehended by the police and jailed, all the while maintaining his innocence. The investigating detective reconsiders the previous events and begins to believe that he has arrested the wrong man. In several scenes showing the detective's domestic situation, comedy is used to heighten the grisly nature of the death scenes.
The detective and his wife discuss the case and the wife gently points the detective in the right direction with a series of simple but appropriate questions and comments. The innocent man escapes from prison, and the detective knows that he will head to Rusk's flat at Covent Garden to avenge himself for being framed by Rusk and avenge the deaths of his two close lovers who had fallen victim to Rusk, so immediately goes there. Blaney has already arrived to find that the door to Rusk's flat is unlocked. He silently creeps in and sees what he presumes to be the top of Rusk's head, asleep in bed; he strikes the body with a metal bar. Just then the audience is shown the truth: it is not Rusk in bed, but another woman whose hand slips out from under the covers. Blaney pulls the covers back and there both for him and the audience it is confirmed: the face of another victim.
Suddenly the detective bursts through the door while Blaney is still standing over the corpse in shock holding the metal bar. Blaney protests his innocence to the detective but the expression on the policeman's face is clearly one of doubt; just then they both hear Rusk carrying something large and heavy up the staircase. The detective then realises Blaney is innocent and the two men wait in the flat for the killer, the detective hiding behind the door, while Blaney simply stands by the bed. When Rusk arrives, he has a large trunk with him, to carry away the dead body, and with the body lying in the bed, his guilt is finally obvious. The film ends with Chief Inspector Oxford's line, "Mr. Rusk, you're not wearing your tie". The abrupt ending of the film leaves the audience to understand that Blaney will be released, Rusk will be arrested and eventually sent to prison for life.

[edit] Cast

Jon Finch as Richard Ian 'Dick' Blaney
Alec McCowen as Chief Inspector Oxford
Barry Foster as Robert 'Bob' Rusk
Billie Whitelaw as Hetty Porter
Anna Massey as Barbara Jane 'Babs' Milligan
Barbara Leigh-Hunt as Brenda Margaret Blaney
Bernard Cribbins as Felix Forsythe
Vivien Merchant as Mrs. Oxford
Michael Bates as Sergeant Spearman
Jean Marsh as Monica Barling
Clive Swift as Johnny Porter
Madge Ryan as Mrs. Davison
Elsie Randolph as Gladys
Gerald Sim as Mr. Usher, Solicitor in the Pub
John Boxer as Sir George

Alfred Hitchcock's cameo appearance can be seen (three minutes into the film) in the center of a crowd scene wearing a bowler hat. Teaser trailers show a Hitchcock-like dummy floating in the River Thames and Hitchcock introducing the audience to Covent Garden via the fourth wall.
Michael Caine was Hitchcock's first choice for the role of Rusk, the main antagonist, but Caine thought the character was disgusting and said "I don't want to be associated with the part". Foster was cast after Hitchcock saw him in Twisted Nerve (which also featured Frenzy co-star Billie Whitelaw). Vanessa Redgrave reportedly turned down the role of Brenda, and Deep Red's David Hemmings (who had co-starred with Redgrave in Blow-Up) was considered to play Blaney.

Production

After a pair of unsuccessful films depicting political intrigue and espionage, Hitchcock returned to the murder genre with this film, which tells the story of a serial killer who rapes and strangles several women in London. The narrative makes use of the familiar Hitchcock theme of an innocent man overwhelmed by circumstantial evidence and wrongly assumed to be guilty. Many critics consider Frenzy the last great Hitchcock film and a return to form after his two previous works, Topaz and Torn Curtain.
Hitchcock set and filmed Frenzy in London after many years making films in the United States. The film opens with a sweeping shot along the Thames to Tower Bridge, and while the interior scenes were filmed at Pinewood Studios, much of the location filming was done in and around Covent Garden and was a homage to the London of Hitchcock's childhood. The son of a Covent Garden merchant, Hitchcock filmed several key scenes showing the area as the working produce market that it was. Aware that the area's days as a market were numbered, Hitchcock wanted to record the area as he remembered it. According to the making-of feature on the DVD, an elderly man who remembered Hitchcock's father as a dealer in the vegetable market came to visit the set during the filming and was treated to lunch by the director. The area as seen in the film still exists, but the market no longer operates from there, having relocated in 1974. The buildings seen in the film are now occupied by banks and legal offices, restaurants and nightclubs, such as Henrietta Street, where Rusk lived (and Babs met her untimely demise). Oxford Street, which had the back alley (Dryden Chambers, now demolished) leading to Brenda Blaney's matrimonial agency, is the busiest shopping area in Britain. Nell of Old Drury which is the public house where the doctor and solicitor had their frank, plot-assisting discussion on sex killers, is still a thriving bar. The lanes where merchants and workers once carried their produce, as seen in the film, are now occupied by tourists and street performers. To many people of a younger age, the world depicted in Frenzy shows a London that has all but disappeared.

Film,The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 1974

2011-07-02T09:38:00.000-07:00

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a 1974 American independent horror film directed and produced by Tobe Hooper, who cowrote it with Kim Henkel. It stars Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow, and Gunnar Hansen, who respectively portray Sally Hardesty, Franklin Hardesty, the hitchhiker, the proprietor, and the main antagonist, Leatherface. The film follows a group of friends who fall victim to a family of cannibals while on their way to visit an old homestead. Although it was marketed as a true story to attract a wider audience and as a subtle commentary on the era's political climate, its plot is entirely fictional. The character of Leatherface and minor plot details were inspired by the crimes of real-life killer Ed Gein.
Hooper produced the film for less than $300,000 using a cast of relatively unknown actors drawn mainly from central Texas where the film was shot. The limited budget forced Hooper to film seven days a week for long hours so he could finish as quickly as possible and reduce rental costs on the equipment. Due to the film's violent content, Hooper struggled to find a distributor. Eventually, however, Louis Perano of Bryanston Pictures purchased the distribution rights. Hooper limited the quantity of onscreen gore in hopes of securing a "PG" (Parental Guidance) rating, but the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) rated it "R" (Restricted; children under 17 require a parent or guardian). The film faced similar difficulties internationally.
Upon its October 1974 release, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was banned outright in several countries, and numerous theaters later stopped showing the film in response to viewers' complaints about its violence. It initially drew a mixed reception from critics. The film was a commercial success, grossing over $30 million at the United States box office and becoming, at that time, the highest-grossing independent film ever. It has since gained a reputation as one of the most influential horror films in cinema history. It is credited with originating several elements common in the slasher genre, including the use of power tools as murder weapons and the characterization of the killer as a large, hulking, faceless figure. The popularity of the film led to a franchise which continued the story of Leatherface and his family through sequels, remakes, comic books, and video games.

Plot

Sally Hardesty (Marilyn Burns) and her brother, Franklin (Paul A. Partain), travel with three friends, Jerry (Allen Danziger), Kirk (William Vail), and Pam (Teri McMinn), to a cemetery where the grave of the Hardestys' grandfather is located. Their aim is to investigate reports of vandalism and corpse defilement. Afterwards, they decide to visit an old Hardesty family homestead. Along the way, they pick up a hitchhiker (Edwin Neal). He behaves strangely and slashes both himself and Franklin with a straight razor before the group forces him out of the van. They stop at a gas station to refuel, but the proprietor (Jim Siedow) tells them that the pumps are empty. They continue towards the homestead, intending to return to the gas station once the fuel has been delivered.
When they arrive, Franklin tells Kirk and Pam about a local swimming hole, and the couple head off to find it. Instead, they stumble upon a nearby house. Kirk calls out, asking for gas, while Pam waits on the front steps. After Kirk receives no answer, he discovers that the door is unlocked and enters the house, where Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen) appears and kills him. Pam enters soon after and finds the house filled with furniture made from human bones. She attempts to flee, but Leatherface catches her and impales her on a meathook. At sunset, Jerry heads out to look for Pam and Kirk. He finds the couple's blanket outside the nearby house. He investigates and finds Pam, who is still alive, inside a freezer. Before he can react, Leatherface murders him and stuffs Pam back into the freezer.
With darkness falling, Sally and Franklin set out to find their friends. As they near the neighboring house and call out, Leatherface lunges from the darkness and kills Franklin with a chainsaw. Sally heads toward the house and finds the desiccated remains of an elderly couple in an upstairs room. She escapes from Leatherface by jumping through a second-floor window and flees to the gas station. Leatherface disappears into the night. The proprietor calms her with offers of help, but then ties her up and forces her into his truck. He drives to the house, arriving at the same time as the hitchhiker, who turns out to be Leatherface's younger brother. When the pair bring Sally inside, the hitchhiker recognizes her and taunts her.
The men torment the bound and gagged Sally, while Leatherface, now dressed as a woman, serves dinner. Leatherface and the hitchhiker bring an old man, "Grandpa" (John Dugan), from upstairs to share the meal. During the night, they decide Sally should be killed by "Grandpa". He tries to hit her with a hammer, but is too weak. In the confusion, she breaks free, leaps through a window, and escapes to the road. Leatherface and the hitchhiker give chase, but the latter is run down and killed by a passing semi-trailer truck. Armed with his chainsaw, Leatherface attacks the truck when the driver stops to help. The driver hits him in the face with a large wrench. Sally escapes in the back of a passing pickup truck as Leatherface waves the chainsaw above his head in frustration.

Production

Development

The concept for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre arose in the early 1970s when Tobe Hooper worked as an assistant film director at the University of Texas at Austin and as a documentary cameraman. He had already developed a story centering on the theme of isolation, woods, and darkness. He credited the graphic coverage of violence by San Antonio news outlets as one inspiration for the film and based the plot loosely on the murders committed in 1950s Wisconsin by Ed Gein, who inspired other horror films such as Psycho (1960) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991). During development, Hooper used the working titles of Headcheese and Leatherface.

I definitely studied Gein ... but I also noticed a murder case in Houston at the time, a serial murderer you probably remember named Elmer Wayne Henley. He was a young man who recruited victims for an older homosexual man. I saw some news report where Elmer Wayne ... said, "I did these crimes, and I'm gonna stand up and take it like a man." Well, that struck me as interesting, that he had this conventional morality at that point. He wanted it known that, now that he was caught, he would do the right thing. So this kind of moral schizophrenia is something I tried to build into the characters.

— Kim Henkel

Hooper has cited changes in the cultural and political landscape as central influences on the film. His intentional misinformation that the "film you are about to see is true" was a response to being "lied to by the government about things that were going on all over the world", including Watergate, the gasoline crisis, and "the massacres and atrocities in the Vietnam War". The "lack of sentimentality and the brutality of things" that Hooper noticed while watching the local news, whose graphic coverage was epitomized by "showing brains spilled all over the road", led to his belief that "man was the real monster here, just wearing a different face, so I put a literal mask on the monster in my film". The idea of using a chainsaw as the murder weapon came to Hooper while he was in the hardware section of a busy store, contemplating a fast way to get through the crowd.
Hooper and Kim Henkel cowrote the screenplay and formed a corporation, Vortex, with Henkel as president and Hooper as vice president. They asked Bill Parsley, a friend of Hooper, to provide funding, so Parsley formed a company named MAB, Inc. and invested $60,000 in the production. In return, MAB owned 50 percent of the film and its profits. Production manager Ron Bozman told most of the cast and crew that he would have to defer parts of their salaries until after it was sold to a distributor. Vortex made the idea more attractive by awarding them a share of its potential profits, ranging from 0.25 to 6 percent, similar to mortgage points. The cast and crew were not informed that Vortex owned only 50 percent, which meant their points were worth half of the assumed value.

Casting

Actor Gunnar Hansen sought inspiration from special needs children to develop Leatherface's mannerisms.

Many of the cast members at the time were relatively unknown actors—Texans who had played roles in commercials, television, and stage shows, as well as actors whom Hooper knew personally, such as Allen Danziger and Jim Siedow. Involvement in the film propelled some of them into the motion picture industry. The lead role of Sally was given to Marilyn Burns, who had appeared previously on stage and served on the film commission board at UT Austin while studying there. Teri McMinn was a student who worked with local theater companies, including the Dallas Theater Center. Henkel called McMinn to come in for a reading after he spotted her picture in the Austin American-Statesman. On her last call-back, he requested that she wear short shorts, which proved to be the most comfortable of all the cast members' costumes.
Icelandic-American actor Gunnar Hansen was selected for the role of Leatherface. In preparation for his role, he regarded Leatherface as being mentally retarded and having never learned to speak properly. To research his character, Hansen visited a special needs school and watched how the students moved and spoke.

Filming

The farmhouse used for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was moved from La Frontera to Kingsland, Texas and restored as a restaurant.

The primary filming location was an early-1900s farmhouse located on Quick Hill Road near Round Rock, Texas, where the La Frontera development is currently located. The small budget and concerns with high-cost equipment rentals meant the crew filmed for seven days per week, 12 to 16 hours per day. The environment was humid, and the cast and crew found conditions tough; temperatures peaked at 110°F (43°C) on July 26. Hansen later recalled, "It was 95, 100 degrees every day during filming. They wouldn't wash my costume because they were worried that the laundry might lose it, or that it would change color. They didn't have enough money for a second costume. So I wore that [mask] 12 to 16 hours a day, seven days a week, for a month."
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was mainly shot using an Eclair NPR 16 mm camera with fine-grain, low-speed film that required four times more light than modern digital cameras. Most filming took place in the farmhouse, which was filled with furniture constructed from animal bones; latex material was used as upholstery to give the appearance of human skin. The house was not cooled, and there was little ventilation. The crew covered its walls with drops of animal blood obtained from a local slaughterhouse. Art director Robert Burns drove around the countryside and collected the remains of cattle and other animals in various stages of decomposition, with which he littered the floors of the house.
The special effects were simple and limited by the budget. The on-screen blood was real in some cases,such as the scene in which Leatherface feeds "Grandpa". The crew had difficulty getting the stage blood to come out of its tube, so instead Burns's index finger was cut with a razor. Burns's costume was so drenched with stage blood that it was "virtually solid" on the last day of shooting. The scene in which Leatherface decapitates Kirk with a chainsaw worried actor William Vail (Kirk). After telling Vail to stay still lest he really be killed, Hansen brought the running chainsaw to within 3 inches (8 cm) of Vail's face.

Post-production

The crew exceeded the original $60,000 budget during editing.Sources differ on the film's final budget, offering figures between $93,000 and $300,000. A film production group, Pie in the Sky, provided $23,532 in exchange for 19 percent of Vortex's half of the profits. This left Henkel, Hooper and the rest of the cast and crew with a 40.5 percent stake. Warren Skaaren made a deal as an equal partner with Hooper and Henkel, in which he received a 15 percent share of Vortex Skaaren received a deferred salary of $5,000 and 3 percent of the gross profits (MAB and Vortex combined). David Foster, producer of the 1982 horror film The Thing, arranged for a private screening for some of Bryanston Pictures' West Coast executives, and received 1.5 percent of Vortex's profits and a deferred fee of $500.
On August 28, 1974, Louis Peraino of Bryanston agreed to distribute the film worldwide, from which Bozman and Skaaren would receive $225,000 and 35 percent of the profits. Years later, Bozman stated, "We made a deal with the devil, [sigh], and I guess that, in a way, we got what we deserved." They signed the contract with Bryanston. After the investors recouped their money (with interest)—and after Skaaren, the lawyers and the accountants were paid—only $8,100 was left to be divided among the 20 cast and crew members. Eventually, the producers sued Bryanston for failing to pay them their full percentage of the box office profits. A court judgment instructed Bryanston to pay the filmmakers $500,000, but by then the company had declared bankruptcy. In 1983, New Line Cinema acquired the distribution rights from Bryanston and gave the producers a larger share of the profits.

Release

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre premiered on October 1, 1974, in Austin, almost a year after filming concluded. It screened nationally in the United States as a Saturday afternoon matinée and its false marketing as a "true story" helped it attract a broad audience. In San Francisco, cinema-goers walked out of theaters in disgust, and in February 1976, theaters in Ottawa, Canada, were asked by the local authority to withdraw the film due to growing concerns about the amount of violence it portrayed. For eight years after 1976, it was annually reissued to first-run theaters, promoted by full-page ads. The film grossed more than $30 million in the United States, making it one of the most successful independent films of all time. It was overtaken in 1978 by John Carpenter's Halloween, which grossed $47 million.

The film which you are about to see is an account of the tragedy which befell a group of five youths, in particular Sally Hardesty and her invalid brother, Franklin. It is all the more tragic in that they were young ...

— The opening crawl falsely suggests that the film is based on true events, a conceit that contributed to its success.

Hooper reportedly hoped that the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) would give the complete, uncut release print a "PG" rating due to its minimal amount of visible gore.Instead, it was originally rated "X". After several minutes were cut, it was resubmitted to the MPAA and received an "R" rating. A distributor apparently restored the offending material, and at least one theater presented the full version played under an "R". It was banned in many countries, including Australia, Brazil, Finland, West Germany, Chile, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Singapore, and Sweden.After its initial British release, including a one-year theatrical run in London, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was banned on the authority of British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) Secretary James Ferman.cing imitators to rename their films. In 1998, despite the BBFC ban, Camden London Borough Council granted the film a license. The following year, the BBFC passed The Texas Chain Saw Massacre for release with an 18 certificate (indicating that it should not be seen or purchased by a person under 18), which was broadcast a year later on Channel 4.
The Australian Classification Board first viewed the film in June 1975 and refused to classify the 83-minute print. The distributor appealed to the Review Board, which upheld the decision in August. The distributor prepared a 77-minute version, only to see it banned again in December. When the film was resubmitted to the censors five years later, it was banned again, and Greater Union Organization Film Distributors were refused registration for an 83-minute print in 1981. It was later submitted by Filmways Australia and approved for an "R" rating in 1984.

Reception

Critical response

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre received a mixed reaction upon its initial release. Linda Gross of the Los Angeles Times criticized the film, calling it despicable, and described Henkel and Hooper as being more concerned with the realistic atmosphere than with a "plastic script". Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times criticized the film for being as violent and brutal as its title suggests, yet he praised it for the acting and the impact it had on the viewer. Revisiting the film in his 1976 article "Fashions in Pornography" for Harper's Magazine, writer Stephen Koch mentioned that he felt the sadistic violence in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre to be extreme and still unimaginative. Patrick Taggart of the Austin American-Statesman praised it as the most important horror film since George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968). Variety found the picture to be well-made, despite the gory, violent scenes. John McCarty of Cinefantastique stated that the house featured in the film made the Bates motel "look positively pleasant by comparison".

Horror and exploitation films almost always turn a profit if they're brought in at the right price. So they provide a good starting place for ambitious would-be filmmakers who can't get more conventional projects off the ground. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre belongs in a select company (with Night of the Living Dead and Last House on the Left) of films that are really a lot better than the genre requires.

— Roger Ebert, writing for the Chicago Sun-Times

Later, critics began to praise the film for its artistic qualities and effectiveness. TV Guide thought it was "intelligent" in its "bloodless depiction of violence", while Anton Bitel felt the fact that it was banned in the United Kingdom was a tribute to its artistic qualities and pointed out how the quiet sense of foreboding at the beginning of the film grows until the viewer experiences "a punishing assault on the senses". Dave Kehr of the Chicago Reader found the picture to be intense rather than well-crafted, but he noted Hooper's talent. Bruce Westbrook of the Houston Chronicle called it "a backwoods masterpiece of fear and loathing". Mike Emery of The Austin Chronicle said the film was "horrifying" and claimed what made it so effective was that the story never appeared to be too far from reality. Rebecca Ascher-Walsh of Entertainment Weekly believed it laid the foundations for future horror franchises such as Halloween, The Evil Dead, and The Blair Witch Project.
Since its release, it has been described as one of the scariest films ever made. Rex Reed described it as the most terrifying film he had ever seen. Empire described it as the most purely horrifying horror film ever made and called it "never less than totally committed to scaring you witless". Horror director Wes Craven reminisced about his first viewing of the film, stating he wondered "what kind of Mansonite crazoid" could have created such a thing. Horror novelist Stephen King considers it "cataclysmic terror", and stated, "I would happily testify to its redeeming social merit in any court in the country." The Texas Chain Saw Massacre has been declared one of the few horror films to invoke "the authentic quality of nightmare".Isabel Cristina Pinedo, author of Recreational Terror: Women and the Pleasures of Horror Film Viewing, stated, "The horror genre must keep terror and comedy in tension if it is to successfully tread the thin line that separates it from terrorism and parody ... this delicate balance is struck in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in which the decaying corpse of Grandpa not only incorporates horrific and humorous effects, but actually uses one to exacerbate the other." Scott Von Doviak of Hick Flicks noted the effective use of daylight shots, including the sight of a corpse splayed over a tombstone in the opening sequence. The book Contemporary North American Film Directors described it as being more elaborate and less bloodthirsty than the title might imply. Review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 90% of critics give the film a positive review, with an average score of 7.7 out of 10. This is based on 40 reviews collected between the years 2000 and 2009.

Cultural impact

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, considered one of the greatest—and most controversial—horror films of all time, significantly influenced the horror genre. Ben Cobb of Channel 4 admired the film's style and atmosphere and proclaimed it to be one of the most influential horror films of all time. In 1999, Richard Zoglin of Time commented that it had set a new standard for the slasher genre. The Times listed it as one of the 50 most controversial films of all time. Tony Magistrale believes the film paved the way for horror to be used as a vehicle for social commentary. Mark Olsen of the Los Angeles Times described it as being "cheap, grubby and out of control", which "both defines and entirely supersedes the very notion of the exploitation picture". In his book, Dark Romance: Sexuality in the Horror Film, David Hogan called it "the most affecting gore thriller of all and, in a broader view, among the most effective horror films ever made"; he said, "the driving force of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is something far more horrible than aberrant sexuality: total insanity." Bill Nichols commented, '[it] achieves the force of authentic art, [is] profoundly disturbing and far more than personal, as the general response [to the film] demonstrates."
Leatherface has gained a reputation as one of the most disturbing and notorious characters in the horror genre,t killer devoid of personality. Christopher Null of Filmcritic.com said, "In our collective consciousness, Leatherface and his chainsaw have become as iconic as Freddy and his razors or Jason and his hockey mask." Don Sumner called the film a classic that not only introduced a new villain to the horror pantheon but also influenced an entire generation of filmmakers. Leatherface and his family were ranked No. 3 in Total Film's list of "12 Messed-Up Movie Families". Ridley Scott credited it as an inspiration for his 1979 film, Alien. French director Alexandre Aja credited The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, among other films, as influencing his early career. John Carpenter's Halloween (1978) incorporated the film's focus on suspense and minimal use of blood and gore. Horror filmmaker and heavy metal musician Rob Zombie sees it as a major influence on his art, most notably his 2003 film House of 1000 Corpses.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was selected for the 1975 Cannes Film Festival Directors' Fortnight, but a bomb scare delayed the viewing. In 1976, it won the Grand Prize at the Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival in France, and was inducted into the Horror Hall of Fame in 1990, with director Hooper accepting the award. It was named "Outstanding Film of the Year" at the 19th annual London Film Festival.
William Friedkin, director of The Exorcist (1973), inducted Hooper into the 2003 Texas Film Hall of Fame. New York City's Museum of Modern Art added the film to its permanent collection, validating its claim as legitimate, unconventional art. Entertainment Weekly ranked the film No. 6 on its list of "The Top 50 Cult Films". In a 2005 Total Film poll, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was selected as the greatest horror film of all time. The film was named among Time magazine's top 25 horror films of all time in 2007. In 2008, the film ranked No. 199 on Empire magazine's list of "The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time". Empire also ranked it No. 46 in its list of the 50 greatest independent films. It was selected as the greatest horror film in a 2010 Total Film poll, whose judging panel included veteran horror directors such as John Carpenter, Wes Craven and George A. Romero, among others. The Guardian ranked The Texas Chain Saw Massacre No. 14 on its list of the top 25 horror films of all time.

Themes and analysis

The underlying themes of the film have been the subject of extensive critical discussion; critics and scholars have interpreted it as a paradigmatic exploitation film in which female protagonists are subjected to brutal, sadistic violence. Stephen Prince comments that the horror is "born of the torment of the young woman subjected to imprisonment and abuse amid decaying arms ... and mobiles made of human bones and teeth." As with many horror films, it focuses on the "final girl" trope—the heroine and inevitable lone survivor who somehow escapes the horror that befalls the other characters: Sally Hardesty is wounded and tortured, yet manages to survive with the help of a male truck driver. Critics argue that even in exploitation films in which the ratio of male and female deaths is roughly equal, the images that linger will be of the violence committed against the female characters. The specific case of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre provides support for this argument: three men are killed in quick fashion, but one woman is brutally slaughtered—hung on a meathook—and the surviving woman endures physical and mental torture. In 1977, critic Mary Mackey described the meathook scene as probably the most brutal on-screen female death in any commercially distributed film. She placed it in a lineage of violent films that depict women as weak and incapable of protecting themselves.
In one study, a group of men were shown five films depicting differing levels of violence against women.On first viewing The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, they experienced symptoms of depression and anxiety. However, upon subsequent viewing, they found the violence against women less offensive and more enjoyable. Another study, investigating gender-specific perceptions of slasher films, involved 30 male and 30 female university students. One male participant described the screaming, especially Sally's, as the "most freaky thing" in the film.

Hooper's apocalyptic landscape is ... a deserted wasteland of dissolution where [the] once vibrant myth [of frontier] is desiccated. The ideas and iconography of Cooper, Bret Harte and Francis Parkman are now transmogrified into yards of dying cattle, abandoned gasoline stations, defiled graveyards, crumbling mansions, and a ramshackle farmhouse of psychotic killers. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre [is] ... recognizable as a statement about the end-time of American experience.

— Christopher Sharrett

Various critics have seen the film as a representation of the response of the American people to the struggles faced by American society in the 1960s and the early to mid-1970s.Film critic Christopher Sharrett argues that American reactions to the Watergate scandal, as well as the "delegitimation of authority in the wake of Vietnam", are reflected in the art of the era, particularly the American horror film. Sharrett further argues that there is an "idea of apocalypse" in the film—it appeared amid a period of great social and political unrest in America. In Kim Newman's view, Hooper's presentation of the Sawyer family during the dinner scene parodies a typical American sitcom family: the gas station owner is the bread-winning father figure; the killer Leatherface is depicted as a bourgeois housewife; the hitchhiker acts as the rebellious teenager.
Critic Robin Wood characterizes Leatherface and his family as victims of industrial capitalism, their jobs as slaughterhouse workers having been rendered obsolete by technological advances. He states that the picture "brings to focus a spirit of negativity ... that seems to lie not far below the surface of the modern collective consciousness". Naomi Merritt explores the film's representation of "cannibalistic capitalism" in relation to Georges Bataille's theory of taboo and transgression. She elaborates on Wood's analysis, stating that the Sawyer family's values "reflect, or correspond to, established and interdependent American institutions ... but their embodiment of these social units is perverted and transgressive." Sharrett also argues that the horror film, particularly since Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) and The Birds (1963), poses questions about the "fundamental validity of the American civilizing process". Identifying The Texas Chain Saw Massacre as an apocalyptic allegory, Sharrett writes that it "shows the violent disruption of the security and stability of rural and urban life". Jesse Stommel of Bright Lights Film Journal argues that the lack of explicit violence in the film forces the viewer to question their own fascination with what is being depicted on-screen. Stommel argues further that it engages the audience more on a sensory level than on an intellectual one, citing the frantic camera movements, flashes of lights and the sounds heard throughout the film.

Thriller and Horror Week

2011-07-01T16:02:00.000-07:00

This week a lot of posts of thriller and horror films from the 70s,80s,and 90s !!!!!!

Film,Independence Day 1996

2011-07-01T15:43:00.000-07:00

Independence Day (also known by its promotional abbreviation ID4) is a 1996 science fiction film about an alien invasion of Earth, focusing on a disparate group of individuals and families as they converge in the Nevada desert and, along with the rest of the human population, participate in a last-chance counterattack on July 4 – the same date as the Independence Day holiday in the United States. It was directed by Roland Emmerich, who co-wrote the script with producer Dean Devlin.
While promoting Stargate in Europe, Emmerich came up with the idea for the film when fielding a question about his own belief in the existence of alien life. He and Devlin decided to incorporate a large-scale attack when noticing that aliens in most invasion films travel long distances in outer space only to remain hidden when reaching Earth. Principal photography for the film began in July 1995 in New York City, and the film was officially completed on June 20, 1996.
The film was scheduled for release on July 3, 1996, but due to the high level of anticipation for the movie, many theaters began showing it on the evening of July 2, 1996, the same day the film begins. The film's combined domestic and international box office gross is $816,969,268, which at one point was the second-highest worldwide gross of all-time. It holds the 27th highest worldwide gross of a movie all-time, and was at the forefront of the large-scale disaster film and science fiction resurgences of the mid-to-late-1990s. It also won the Academy Award for Visual Effects.

Plot

On July 2, an enormous alien mothership enters orbit around Earth and deploys 36 saucer-shaped destroyers, each of which is at least 15 miles wide, over major cities around the globe. In New York City, David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) discovers transmissions that he believes the aliens are using as a countdown to coordinate an attack. David and his father Julius (Judd Hirsch) travel to the White House and warn U.S. President Thomas J. Whitmore (Bill Pullman) of the attack. The President, portions of his Cabinet and the Levinsons narrowly escape aboard Air Force One as the aliens destroy Washington DC, New York, Los Angeles, and other major cities around the world with energy based weapons.
Meanwhile, USMC Captain Steven Hiller (Will Smith) is called to take part in a counterattack against the aliens. His girlfriend Jasmine, her son and dog survive the attack by hiding in a workmen's shed in a Los Angeles freeway tunnel. The next day, on July 3, Jasmine finds the injured First Lady (Mary McDonnell), who had been in Los Angeles and whose helicopter was brought down by the alien attack.
On the same day, as part of a U.S. counterattack, Captain Hiller leads a squadron of F/A-18 Hornets on a mission to engage with a destroyer near the remains of Los Angeles. The destroyers are revealed to be guarded by force fields which repel projectiles and nuclear detonations, and it releases scores of smaller "attacker" ships which are armed with similar shields and weaponry. After a one-sided dogfight ensues, Hiller survives by luring an attacker to the Grand Canyon, where he causes it to crash and then subdues the alien pilot. Hiller is picked up in the desert by a refugee group that includes Russell Casse (Randy Quaid), an alcoholic crop-duster who has claimed for years that he was abducted by aliens in his youth. They take the captured alien to Area 51, where Air Force One has already landed. Area 51 conceals a top secret facility housing a repaired attacker and three alien bodies recovered from Roswell in 1947. The captured alien regains consciousness at an Area 51 lab, and reveals that its species travels from planet to planet, harvesting a planet's resources before moving on. The alien attempts a psychic attack against Whitmore, but is shot and killed by his entourage. A retaliatory nuclear attack against a destroyer over Houston ends in failure. The President and his daughter Patricia later visit the First Lady when she is in the hospital, and it is revealed that she suffered mortal internal injuries in her helicopter's crash. The President stays with her for the last few minutes of her life. Outside, Patricia and the President hug and comfort each other.
On July 4, David devises a plan to use the repaired attacker to gain access to the interior of the mothership in order to introduce a computer virus and plant a nuclear bomb. It is hoped that this will cause the shields of the Earth-based alien craft to fail long enough for a worldwide attack to eliminate them. Hiller volunteers to be the mission's pilot- reasoning that he is the only person to have seen these ships in action and survived, thus giving him unique knowledge of what the ship is capable of-, with David accompanying him to upload the virus. With few pilots to man available aircraft, the battle requires volunteers, including Whitmore and Casse, who have previous combat flight experience. Morse code is used to contact forces around the world in order to coordinate the attack.
After the virus is implanted and lowers the shields, Whitmore leads an attack against a destroyer approaching Area 51. Although the fighters can now damage the alien ship, their supply of missiles are exhausted against the craft's large complement of attackers while its sheer size makes missiles relatively ineffectual against it directly, and the destroyer prepares to fire its main weapon at the base. Casse possesses the last remaining missile, but his firing mechanism jams. He pilots his aircraft into the center of the alien weapon in a suicide attack, causing a chain reaction which destroys the alien ship.
Simultaneously, other forces around the world are able to destroy the remaining destroyers. David and Hiller escape the mothership just as it is destroyed by the nuclear bomb, and the duo crash land near Area 51. The world celebrates, and the main characters watch debris from the mothership enter the atmosphere.

Cast

Will Smith as Captain Steven Hiller, an assured United States Marine Corps F/A-18 pilot. Devlin and Emmerich had always envisioned an African-American for the role, and specifically wanted Smith after seeing his performance in Six Degrees of Separation.
Jeff Goldblum as David Levinson: An MIT-educated computer expert, chess enthusiast and environmentalist, working as a satellite technician in New York City.
Bill Pullman as President Thomas J. Whitmore: A former Persian Gulf War fighter pilot and current President of the United States.
Margaret Colin as Constance Spano: The White House Communications Director and David's ex-wife.
Robert Loggia as General William Grey: A United States Marine Corps general who is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and one of President Whitmore's most trusted advisors.
Randy Quaid as Russell Casse: A widowed, alcoholic crop duster and veteran Vietnam War pilot who claims to have been an alien abductee ten years prior to the events of the film.
James Duval as Miguel Casse, Russell's eldest son.
Judd Hirsch as Julius Levinson: David Levinson's father. The character was based on one of Devlin's uncles.
Mary McDonnell as Marilyn Whitmore: President Whitmore's wife - the First Lady.
Vivica A. Fox as Jasmine Dubrow: A single mother, Hiller's girlfriend and exotic dancer.
James Rebhorn as Albert Nimzicki: The Secretary of Defense and former director of the CIA.
Harvey Fierstein as Marty Gilbert: David's boss.
Adam Baldwin as Major Mitchell: A United States Air Force officer and the commanding officer at Area 51.
Brent Spiner as Dr. Brackish Okun: The unkempt and highly excitable scientist in charge of research at Area 51.
Harry Connick, Jr. as Captain Jimmy Wilder: Steve's best friend and fellow pilot.
Kiersten Warren as Tiffany: Jasmine's exotic dancer friend.
Mae Whitman as Patricia, the President's daughter. She is called 'Munchkin' by her parents.

UB40,"Kingston Town"1990

2011-07-01T15:34:00.000-07:00

"Kingston Town" is a 1970 song by Lord Creator. It was covered in 1990 by reggae group UB40 and was the second single from their 1989 album Labour of Love II, reaching #4 on the UK singles chart.
In June 2007, the copyright holders of the song, Sparta Florida Music Group, started legal action against Paris Hilton and Warner Chappell Music for plagiarism due to alleged similarities between "Kingston Town" and Hilton's song "Stars Are Blind". It has wrongly been stated that UB40 was the suing party, but that has been denied by the band on their website.
In France, the cover by UB40 peaked at #1 for three weeks from October 20 to November 3, 1990. It remained on the chart for 25 weeks, and was certified Gold disc by SNEP in 1991. Infodisc Website estimates it is the 426th best selling single of all time in France with 581,000 copies sold^.
The song was also covered by Jamaican group The Mighty Red.

Film,Disclosure 1994

2011-07-01T15:27:00.000-07:00

Disclosure is a 1994 thriller directed by Barry Levinson, starring Michael Douglas and Demi Moore. It is based on Michael Crichton's novel of the same name.
The cast also includes Donald Sutherland, Rosemary Forsyth and Dennis Miller. Like so many of Levinson's films from Diner (1982) to Liberty Heights (1999), Ralph Tabakin appears, this time as an Elevator Attendant.
The film is a combination mystery and thriller about office politics and intrigue in the computer industry in the mid-1990s. The main focus of the story, from which the film and book take their titles, is the issue of sexual harassment. The film invites viewers to critically examine topics such as the ease with which allegations of sexual harassment can destroy one's career and whether a double standard exists when such allegations are levied by men or women. The Bollywood movie Aitraaz is heavily inspired by Disclosure.

Plot

Seattle software company DigiCom is about to merge with a publishing company, and company founder and president Bob Garvin (Donald Sutherland) is about to retire. Tom Sanders (Michael Douglas), head of manufacturing, expects to be promoted to run DigiCom after the merger. However, he learns that the post instead went to operations executive Meredith Johnson (Demi Moore), a former girlfriend from long ago. Garvin introduces Meredith to her new associates.
Co-workers like Mark Lewyn (Dennis Miller) comment to Tom on how attractive Meredith is. Others like chief financial officer Stephanie Kaplan (Rosemary Forsyth) seem to be aware that Tom and Meredith had a relationship in the past.
Late that evening, Meredith calls Tom into her office, ostensibly to discuss a project he is working on. Meredith aggressively tries to resume her romantic relationship with him. Tom resists (with difficulty) as he is now a married family man. As he leaves, Meredith threatens to make him pay for spurning her.
The next day, Tom discovers that Meredith alleged sexual harassment against him to DigiCom. Colleagues refuse to believe his protestations of innocence and the company pressures him to accept reassignment to the company's Austin office. Tom does not want to do this as he would lose his stock options, ruining his career and family. However, since no one believes his story and Meredith is now his boss, he appears to have no choice but to accept reassignment or be fired.
Just as all seems hopeless, Tom receives an e-mail from someone identified only as "A Friend." It directs him to Seattle attorney Catherine Alvarez (Roma Maffia), who specializes in sexual harassment cases. Tom counter-sues, alleging that Meredith is the one who harassed him. Evidence is produced that supports Tom's story and refutes Meredith's testimony before a court mediator.
The company backs down and gives him a large pay raise. Tom is celebrating his apparent victory, but receives another e-mail from "A Friend" warning him that all is not what it seems.
It turns out that Meredith and Garvin's assistant, Philip Blackburn (Dylan Baker), are setting him up to take the fall for defects in DigiCom's new advanced hard drive, simply to cover up their involvement in changing the quality control specifications at the plant. They plan to pin the blame on him at a conference the next day announcing the merger. The plan is to make Tom look incompetent, thereby giving them a valid reason to fire him.
Tom cannot access a company computer to investigate because Meredith has locked him out of the system. He spends a tense and frantic night getting the information through a demonstration machine left in the hotel room of executives from the merging company, with help from a colleague who owes him a favor. Armed with this information, he manages to again turn the tables on Meredith, exposing her involvement and getting her fired instead.
Tom thinks this puts him back in the running to run DigiCom, but Garvin instead names Stephanie, the low-key CFO, as his successor. Tom heartily approves. It occurs to him that her son, Spencer (a research assistant to professor Arthur Friend currently away in Nepal), could very well be "a friend" responsible for helping him via e-mail. With a knowing look, Stephanie does not deny this.
In the end, Tom is left in the same position he was in at the beginning of the film, but only after a narrow escape. He is left musing over the fact that two women (the attorney and his new boss, the former CFO) were responsible for saving him.

Cast

Michael Douglas - Tom Sanders
Demi Moore - Meredith Johnson
Donald Sutherland - Bob Garvin
Caroline Goodall - Susan Hendler
Roma Maffia - Catherine Alvarez
Dylan Baker - Philip Blackburn
Rosemary Forsyth - Stephanie Kaplan
Dennis Miller - Mark Lewyn
Suzie Plakson - Mary Anne Hunter
Nicholas Sadler - Don Cherry
Jacqueline Kim - Cindy Chang
Joe Urla - John Conley Jr.
Michael Chieffo - Stephen Chase

Stephanie De Monaco - Irresistable 1986

2011-07-01T15:15:00.000-07:00

Princess Stéphanie of Monaco, Countess of Polignac (Stéphanie Marie Elisabeth Grimaldi; born 1 February 1965) is a member of the princely family of Monaco. She is the youngest child of Grace, Princess of Monaco and Rainier III of Monaco, and the sister of Albert II of Monaco and Princess Caroline. Stéphanie has been a singer, swimwear designer, and fashion model; her mother lovingly called the princess her "wild child."

Music career

In February 1986, Stéphanie self-produced and released her first single with the French label 'Carrere', under the production of Yves Roze. The song "Ouragan" ("Hurricane") and its English version "Irresistible" quickly reached the international Top 10, reportedly selling more than 2 million copies. In September, she released a full album called Besoin reportedly selling more than 1.5 million copies (also released as Stéphanie in some countries) with eight new songs, including "Flash" (in French; its English version "One Love To Give"), which was released as a single and reached the hit parade all over Europe. In January 1987, she released the single "Young Ones Everywhere" to benefit UNICEF.
In 1987, Stéphanie moved to Los Angeles. However, it took 5 years for her next recordings to be released, and sales were disappointing, only 3,000 copies in the USA. The album had 10 songs, including the single 'Winds of Chance' for which the video clip was recorded in the Canary Islands. Her first and only live tour took place in the summer of 1991 in Europe and South America to promote the album called Stéphanie released in the U.S. by Sony Music. U.S. critics gave the album negative reviews. She also recorded "In the Closet" with Michael Jackson under the alias of Mystery Girl for his album, Dangerous. She then ended her pop music career.

Film,Single White Female 1992

2011-07-01T15:06:00.000-07:00

Single White Female is a 1992 American thriller based on John Lutz's novel SWF Seeks Same. The movie stars Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh and is directed by Barbet Schroeder, who also directed Reversal of Fortune.

Plot

Alison "Allie" Jones (Bridget Fonda) is a software designer in New York City, engaged to Sam Rawson (Steven Weber) and the film opens with them contemplating kids. In the middle of the night, his ex-wife calls, and it is revealed he slept with her recently; Allie breaks off the engagement and asks him to leave. She spends the night at her only friend and upstairs neighbour Graham's apartment, who she leans on for support (having mentioned she has not been in New York long). The next morning she attends a business lunch with Mitchell Myerson, a fashion house owner who is looking to buy Allie's revolutionary new program that will change his business. However, it doesn't go as well as planned. He manages to manipulate her into significantly lowering the cost, on the basis that his recommendations within the industry will be her future business, and he is her first and only client; therefore, she must cater to his needs during the install of the program and staff training at a discount in order to have any future clients. She accepts, knowing she has no choice.
Graham recommends that she try to sort things out with Sam, but for pride and fear of being alone, Allie advertises for a new roommate to fill the void in her life, and in an effort to make new friends. She eventually settles on timid Hedra Carlson, also having just moved to the city, who she immediately nicknames "Hedy", after the glamorous Hedy Lamarr. They soon become friends and Allie welcomes having a girlfriend whom she lends her clothes to and takes on shopping trips, and she learns more about Hedy, who tells her she was supposed to be a twin but she died at childbirth, leaving Hedy with a constant feeling of loneliness. However, Hedy is seen to be secretive, manipulative and disturbed. She erases Sam's phone messages when he calls to plead with Allie for a reconciliation, and steals his letters. She secretly spends $400 on a puppy she pretends was a stray to bond with Allie over raising it. Her behaviour worsens when Sam returns in person and he is able to win Allie back.
Fearing she will be kicked out of the apartment for Sam, Hedy's behaviour spirals out of control. She kills the puppy by throwing it from an open window Sam was fixing. She flirts with him and attempts to come on to him, which he rebuffs; but behind his back she bad mouths him as weak and a cheater to Allie. He eventually leaves on a trip, when Allie has had enough of Hedy's shadowing. She finds identical clothes in her wardrobe and Hedy comes home with exactly the same colour and hairstyle, making the two nearly identical.
She demonstrates a violent and wild side that begins to rub off on the passive Allie. Myerson attempts to rape her on completion of their deal, insinuating that if she does not submit to him, he will warn off future clients, effectively destroying her business, and not complete her payment. She is taken over by a violent urge and fights back and escapes, but is shaken not by the experience, but by the way in which she was "not herself".
Allie decides to investigate when Hedy is showering and finds in a box in her room Sam's letters, and Hedy's real name: Ellen Besch, and newspaper clippings showing her twin sister actually drowned when they were 9. She follows an unaware Hedy that night to an underground sex club, and witnesses her pass herself off as Allie, flirting with a man who looks "just like my sister's boyfriend". Utterly disturbed, she seeks out Graham, who tells her to get Hedy to move out, and that she may have psychological problems. Allie calls Hedy's parents and tells them of her location, in an attempt to help. However, Hedy heard her conversation with Graham through the airvents, and attacks Graham later that night.
Allie tries to talk to Hedy that night but Hedy's venom exposes itself as she calls Allie "fucking weak" for going back to Sam, believing he will cheat on Allie, and that he is the real reason for Allie's cooling affections toward her. Sam returns from his trip late that night, and Hedy poses as Allie and performs oral sex on him. He only recognises her as Hedy near climax, and despite his protests, she forcefully continues. He is upset and rages at her, claiming he will tell Allie the truth of her deception, and she stabs him with a stiletto heel to the eye. As she leaves his apartment complex, the doorman mistakes her for Allie, giving her the idea to frame Allie.
In the morning Allie wakes to find Hedy feverishly cleaning the apartment, and is slightly moved that Hedy has decided to move out so quickly. When she sees a news report on Sam's death she realizes what has happened and tries to escape. Hedy takes Allie hostage at gunpoint in Graham's apartment, revealing that the early morning cleaning was to erase any evidence that she existed, since only a handful of people knew that Allie sublet the apartment. She intends to frame Allie for Sam's murder since any witnesses will assume they are the same person.
However, since Myerson did not make the full payment to Allie, her anti-theft software comes into action and copies and erases his files as a consequence of his actions. He comes to her apartment building looking for Allie at Graham's address (which she earlier left at his office as a contact) and he intervenes, trying to free Allie from her bonds. Hedy beats him to death. In a rage, she lets slip that this has happened before with "that stupid girl in Tampa. She called my parents, too". She is about to execute Allie, when she pleads "don't make me leave you", Hedy is convinced that Allie has comes to realise her place as a twin, and plans to run away with her, when she catches Allie making another attempt to escape. They violently fight, and Allie is shot in the arm, and seems to be dead from being hit on the head. Hedy tries to start the incinerator in the building's basement, but Allie stabs her with a screw driver, killing her.
In an epilogue, Allie narrates that she finally moved on (into a new apartment, specifically one she and Sam visited earlier in the film that he did not like) through the help of Graham. She forgives Hedy for Sam, and herself for Hedy, because Hedy's downfall was an example of how survivor's guilt can destroy someone. The film ends with a closeup of an photograph presumably made by Hedy of their faces superimposed into one, that lies partly hidden from view amongst Allie's possessions.

Cast

Bridget Fonda as Allison "Allie" Jones
Jennifer Jason Leigh as Hedra "Hedy" Carlson/Ellen Besch
Steven Weber as Sam Rawson
Peter Friedman as Graham Knox
Stephen Tobolowsky as Mitch Myerson
Frances Bay as Elderly Neighbor
Jessica Lundy as Talkative Applicant

Nena,99 Luftballons 1983

2011-07-01T15:00:00.000-07:00

"99 Luftballons" is a protest song by the German pop-rock band Nena. Originally sung in German, it was later re-recorded in English as "99 Red Balloons".

History

While at a June 1982 concert by the Rolling Stones in West Berlin, Nena's guitarist Carlo Karges noticed that balloons were being released. As he watched them move toward the horizon, he noticed them shifting and changing shapes, where they looked nothing like a mass of balloons but some strange spacecraft (referred to in the German lyrics as a "UFO"). He thought about what might happen if they floated over the Berlin Wall to the Soviet sector.
Both the English and German versions of the song tell a story of two children who buy a bag of balloons in a toy shop in Cold War era Berlin and release them into the air where they are spotted by the military who don't recognize them as balloons but instead think they are some kind of incoming weapon. They immediately put their troops on red alert and call out fighters to intercept which ultimately triggers a nuclear war between the two Cold War adversaries. In the apocalyptic aftermath, one of the children stands in the rubble of the city and finds a single remaining red balloon. The music was composed by Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen, the keyboardist of Nena's band, while Karges wrote the original German lyrics.
Having achieved widespread success in Germanic Europe and Japan, plans were made for the band to take the song international with an English version by Kevin McAlea, titled "99 Red Balloons". The English version is not a direct translation of the German but contains a somewhat different set of lyrics.
VH1 Classic, an American cable television station, ran a charity event for Hurricane Katrina relief in 2006. Viewers who made donations were allowed to choose which music videos the station would play. One viewer donated $35,000 for the right to program an entire hour and requested continuous play of Nena's "99 Luftballons" and "99 Red Balloons" videos. The station broadcast the videos as requested from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. EST on 26 March 2006.
The translation of the title is sometimes given as "Ninety-Nine Air Balloons", however "Ninety-Nine Balloons" is also correct. A Luftballon is a colourful toy balloon, rather than a balloon for transport or research. The name is derived from Luft, German for air, but the meaning of Luft does not qualify the type of balloon. The title "99 Red Balloons" almost scans correctly with the syllables falling in the right places within the rhythm of the first lines of lyrics, with "red" replacing "Luft"; the only difference is that neunundneunzig (99) has one syllable more than ninety-nine.
The 2002 re-release also features lyrics in French.

Film,Clash of the Titans 1981

2011-07-01T14:49:00.000-07:00

Clash of the Titans is an American 1981 fantasy–adventure film involving the Greek hero Perseus. It was released on June 12, 1981, and was a box office hit, grossing $41 million domestically, on a $15 million budget. It was the 11th highest grossing film of the year. A novelization of the film by Alan Dean Foster was published in 1981.
Warner Bros. released a remake of the film in 3D on April 2, 2010

Plot

King Acrisius of Argos (Donald Houston) locks his daughter Danaë (Vida Taylor) away from mortal men to avoid a prophecy that he would die if his daughter had a son. However, the god Zeus (Laurence Olivier) impregnates her sneaking in as a shower of gold. Acrisius casts his daughter and her newborn son Perseus out to sea in a wooden coffin, hoping to kill both and avoid his fate. In retribution, Zeus kills Acrisius and orders the god of the sea, Poseidon (Jack Gwillim), to release an ancient monster known as the Kraken to destroy Argos, fulfilling the prophecy. Meanwhile, Danaë and Perseus safely float to the island of Seriphos, and Perseus grows into a strong young man.
Calibos (Neil McCarthy), son of the sea goddess Thetis (Maggie Smith), is destined to marry Princess Andromeda (Judi Bowker), the daughter of Queen Cassiopeia (Siân Phillips) and heir to the rich city of Joppa. But cruel Calibos has destroyed Zeus's entire sacred herd of flying horses (except for Pegasus). To punish him, Zeus transforms Calibos into a satyr-like creature who is shunned and forced to live as an outcast in the swamps and marshes. Thetis vows that if Calibos cannot marry Andromeda, no other man will, either. In revenge for her son's fate, Thetis transports Perseus (Harry Hamlin) from Seriphos to Joppa. Perseus meets scholar and playwright Ammon (Burgess Meredith), and learns of Andromeda and her plight: she cannot marry unless her suitor successfully answers a riddle, and any suitor who fails to answer the riddle correctly is burned at the stake. Perseus is armed with gifts from the gods (a sword, shield, and a helmet that renders its wearer invisible), and receives instructions from Zeus. Perseus captures Pegasus and follows Andromeda's spirit on her nightly journey inside a cage held by a giant vulture to learn a new riddle from Calibos. Armed with the answer, Perseus is nearly killed by Calibos but escapes, losing the magical helmet in the swamps in the process.
Perseus appears at the next ceremony for a new suitor and answers the riddle, presenting Calibos's severed hand (with a gold ring on one of the fingers, which is the answer to the riddle) and winning Andromeda's hand in marriage. Calibos prays to Thetis to take vengeance on Perseus. Thetis says she can't because Perseus is protected by Zeus, but she can take vengeance on Joppa. At the wedding, Queen Cassiopeia compares Andromeda's beauty to that of Thetis herself, which leadss Thetis to take revenge by bringing the head of her statue to life, and demanding Andromeda as a virgin sacrifice to the Kraken in thirty days, or else Joppa will be destroyed.

The gorgon Medusa

Perseus seeks a way to defeat the Kraken, while Pegasus is captured by Calibos and his men. Zeus commands Athena (Susan Fleetwood) to give Perseus her owl Bubo to help as the helmet was lost, but instead she orders Hephaestus (Pat Roach) to build a mechanical replica as she loves her owl. Replica-Bubo leads Perseus to the Stygian Witches, three blind women (Flora Robson, Anna Manahan, and Freda Jackson) who after their only eye is taken by him, tell him the only way to defeat the Kraken is by using the head of the monster Medusa the Gorgon. Once a beautiful woman, Medusa had been punished by the goddess Aphrodite (Ursula Andress) by being transformed into a horrible monster. Meeting Medusa's gaze will turn any living creature to stone, including the Kraken. She lives on the Isle of the Dead, which lies across the River Styx, at the very edge of the Underworld. Perseus is guided there by Bubo, and pays the Ferryman to get him to the Isle.
Once there, Perseus and his men kill Dioskilos, a huge two-headed dog that is the guardian of Medusa, though one of the men is killed. One of Perseus's men is killed by Medusa's arrows, while the last becomes caught in the stare of Medusa and is transformed into a stone statue. Perseus tricks Medusa with the help of his shield, and also decapitates her with his sword and collects her head, but loses the shield in a pool of Medusa's acidic blood. As he and his party set to return, Calibos raids the camp, drives off the group's horses and punctures the cloak carrying Medusa's head using a three-pronged weapon he has replaced his hand with, causing her blood to spill and spawn three giant scorpions. The scorpions and Calibos attack the party and everyone dies except Perseus. He is able to slay the remaining scorpion and kills Calibos with Aphrodite's sword.

The Kraken comes to claim Andromeda

Perseus, weakened by his struggle and running out of time, asks Bubo to find Pegasus. The owl locates Pegasus in the swamp, guarded by Calibos's men and the vulture. Bubo manages to scare them off, destroy the camp, and free the winged stallion. Just as Andromeda, who has been bound to the cliff, is about to be sacrificed to the Kraken which Poseidon has released, Bubo appears, trying to stall the Kraken while Perseus catches up flying on Pegasus. Perseus approaches the Kraken, but is knocked off, falling into the ocean. Bubo retrieves the head and delivers it to Perseus, who frees the head, turning the Kraken into stone which collapses into the bay. Perseus throws the head into the ocean and frees Andromeda. Pegasus emerges from the sea to the crowd's delight.
The gods discuss the outcome of the adventure: Perseus and Andromeda will live happily, rule wisely and produce good children. Zeus forbids the other gods to pursue any vengeance against them. In addition, the likenesses of Perseus, Andromeda, Pegasus and Cassiopeia are set among the stars as constellations to forever remind mankind of the values of heroism and bravery.

Cast

Harry Hamlin - Perseus
Maggie Smith - Thetis
Claire Bloom - Hera
Ursula Andress - Aphrodite
Pat Roach - Hephaestus
Judi Bowker - Andromeda
Burgess Meredith - Ammon
Siân Phillips - Cassiopeia
Laurence Olivier - Zeus
Tim Pigott-Smith - Thallo
Jack Gwillim - Poseidon
Neil McCarthy - Calibos
Susan Fleetwood - Athena
Vida Taylor - Danaë
Ellie Nicol-Hilton - Aura
Flora Robson - Stygian Witch #1
Anna Manahan - Stygian Witch #2
Freda Jackson - Stygian Witch #3

Reception

The film maintains a 65% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes and enjoys a reputation as a classic fantasy film.

It was nominated for AFI's Top 10 Fantasy Films list.
Box office

Clash of the Titans was released June 12, 1981. By the time it finished its theatrical run, it had grossed $41,000,000 on a $15 million dollar budget, making it a financial success.
Behind the scenes

The special effects used to create the various creatures in the film were done by Ray Harryhausen who employed stop motion animation. Harryhausen was also co-producer of the film, and retired from filmmaking shortly after the movie was released, making this his last main feature film.

Despite the mechanical owl Bubo's similarities to the droid R2-D2 of the 1977 film Star Wars, Harryhausen claimed that Bubo was created before Star Wars was released.
Stars Harry Hamlin and Ursula Andress were romantically involved at the time of production. Their son, Dimitri, was born in 1980 after filming was completed. Their relationship ended in 1982.

The film's screenwriter, Beverley Cross, was married to Maggie Smith, who played Thetis, until his death in 1998. Cross worked with producer Charles H. Schneer, before, writing the screenplay for Schneer's production of Jason and the Argonauts.

A sequel, Force of the Trojans, detailing Aeneas' mythological journey after the fall of Troy, was proposed to MGM in 1984, but never produced.

Tony Danza

2011-07-01T08:46:00.000-07:00

http://somelikeithot-ladivas.blogspot.com/2011/07/tony-danza.html

Christopher Atkins

2011-06-27T14:16:00.000-07:00

http://somelikeithot-ladivas.blogspot.com/2011/06/christopher-atkins.html

Jon-Erik Hexum

2011-06-25T17:15:00.001-07:00

http://somelikeithot-ladivas.blogspot.com/2011/06/jon-erik-hexum.html

Patrick Swayze

2011-06-25T17:13:00.001-07:00

http://somelikeithot-ladivas.blogspot.com/2011/06/patrick-swayze.html

Divine in Memoriam (John Waters)

2011-06-21T13:43:00.000-07:00

1988 - Divine in Memoriam door simba215

Local Boston TV Broadcast (John Waters)

2011-06-21T13:26:00.000-07:00

1984 - Local Boston TV Broadcast door simba215

Peter Koper on Edi (John Waters)

2011-06-21T13:11:00.000-07:00

1976 - Peter Koper on Edie door simba215

Love Letter to Edie (John Waters)

2011-06-21T13:00:00.000-07:00

1976 - Love Letter to Edie - Robert Maier door simba215

The Beginnings of Dreamland(John Waters)

2011-06-21T12:12:00.000-07:00

Polyester Trailer (John Waters)

2011-06-21T11:50:00.000-07:00

Desperate Living Trailer (John Waters)1977

2011-06-21T11:40:00.000-07:00

Desperate Living is a 1977 crime comedy fantasy horror film directed, produced, written, and photographed by Baltimore, Maryland filmmaker John Waters starring Liz Renay, Jean Hill, Mink Stole, Edith Massey, and Mary Vivian Pearce.

Plot

Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole), a neurotic, delusional, suburban housewife, and her overweight maid, Grizelda (Jean Hill), go on the lam after Grizelda smothers Peggy's husband, Bosley (George Stover), to death. The two are arrested by a policeman (Turkey Joe) who gives them an ultimatum: go to jail or be exiled to Mortville, a filthy shantytown ruled by the evil Queen Carlotta (Edith Massey) and her treasonous daughter, Princess Coo-Coo (Mary Vivian Pearce).
Peggy and Grizelda choose Mortville, but still engage in lesbian prison sex. They become associates of self-hating lesbian wrestler Mole McHenry (Susan Lowe), who wants a sex change to please her lover, Muffy St. Jacques (Liz Renay). Most of Mortville's social outcasts - criminals, nudists, and sexual deviants - conspire to overthrow Queen Carlotta, who banishes her daughter, Coo-Coo, after she elopes with a garbage collector, who is later shot to death by the guards. Coo-Coo hides in Peggy and Grizelda's house with her dead lover. When Peggy betrays Coo-Coo to the Queen's guards, Grizelda fights them, and dies when the house collapses on her. Peggy, however, joins the queen in terrorizing her subjects, even infecting them (and Princess Coo-Coo) with rabies.
Eventually, Mortville's denizens, led by Mole McHenry, overthrow Queen Carlotta and execute Peggy by shooting a gun up her anus. To celebrate their freedom, the townsfolk roast Carlotta on a spit and serve her, pig-like, on a platter with an apple in her mouth.

Cast

Mink Stole as Peggy Gravel
Jean Hill as Grizelda Brown
Edith Massey as Queen Carlotta
Mary Vivian Pearce as Princess Coo-Coo
Susan Lowe as Mole McHenry
Liz Renay as Muffy St. Jacques
George Stover as Bosley Gravel
Turkey Joe as Cop
Brook Yeaton as Bosley, Jr.
Cookie Mueller as Flipper
Channing Wilroy as Lt. Wilson
Ed Peranio as Lt. Williams
Paul Swift as Mr. Paul
George Figgs as Herbert

Production

This is the only feature film Waters made without Divine prior to the actor's death in 1988. Divine was touring as a live performer and couldn't fit Desperate Living into his schedule. This was also Waters' first film without David Lochary, who bled to death after accidentally cutting himself whilst on PCP just before production.
Due to his Pink Flamingos infamy, Waters began to attract actors from outside his circle of friends. Liz Renay was a convicted felon and author of My Face for the World to See, her still-in-print autobiography (referenced in Waters' previous film Female Trouble). Casting Renay presaged Waters' later use of other crime-related celebrities like Patty Hearst and Traci Lords in his films.

Pink Flamingos Behind the Scenes-No Shit (John Waters)

2011-06-21T11:33:00.000-07:00

The Maelcum Soul Story (John Waters)

2011-06-21T11:26:00.000-07:00

John Waters Day!

2011-06-21T05:37:00.000-07:00

Today its John Waters day on my blog with some very rare posts from his films and private life!!!!!!

John Samuel Waters, Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, actor, stand-up comedian, writer, journalist, visual artist, and art collector, who rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films. Waters' 1970s and early '80s trash films feature his regular troupe of actors known as Dreamlanders—among them Divine, Mink Stole, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce, and Edith Massey. Starting with Desperate Living (1977), Waters began casting real-life convicted criminals (Liz Renay, Patricia Hearst) and infamous people (Traci Lords, a former porn star).
Waters skirted mainstream filmmaking with Hairspray (1988), which introduced Ricki Lake and earned a modest gross of $8 million domestically. In 2002, Hairspray was adapted to a long-running Broadway musical, which itself was adapted to a hit musical film which earned more than $200 million worldwide. After the crossover success of the original film version of Hairspray, Waters's films began featuring familiar actors and celebrities such as Johnny Depp, Edward Furlong, Melanie Griffith, Chris Isaak, Johnny Knoxville, Martha Plimpton, Christina Ricci, Lili Taylor, Kathleen Turner, and Tracey Ullman.
Although he has apartments in New York City, San Francisco, and a summer home in Provincetown, Waters still mainly resides in his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland, where all his films are set. He is recognizable by his trademark pencil-thin moustache, a look he has retained since the early 1970s. Some of his film-related material and personal papers are contained in the Wesleyan University Cinema Archives to which scholars and media experts from around the world may have full access.

Filmography

Writer/director

1964 Hag in a Black Leather Jacket (8 mm)
1966 Roman Candles
1968 Eat Your Makeup (16mm)
1969 Mondo Trasho (16mm)
1969 The Diane Linkletter Story (16mm)
1970 Multiple Maniacs (16mm)
1972 Pink Flamingos (16 & 35 mm)
1974 Female Trouble (16 & 35 mm)
1977 Desperate Living (16 & 35 mm)
1981 Polyester
1988 Hairspray
1990 Cry-Baby
1994 Serial Mom
1998 Pecker
2000 Cecil B. Demented
2004 A Dirty Shame

Writer

This Filthy World (2006)
Hairspray (2007, original screenplay)

Actor

Films

Voice

Pink Flamingos (1972) – Mr. Jay
Serial Mom (1994) – Ted Bundy (uncredited)
Pecker (1998) – Pervert on phone
Hairspray (2002) – Voice on Maybelle's TV
Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea (2007) – Narrator
The Junior Defenders (2007) – Narrator
Animal Planet: Jessica the Hippo (2007) – Narrator
The Wild World of Ted V. Mikels (2010) – Narration

Acting

Something Wild (1986) – Used Car Salesman
Hairspray (1988) – Dr. Fredrikson
Divine Trash (1998) – Himself
Sweet and Lowdown (1999) – Mr. Haynes
Cecil B. Demented (2000) – Reporter
Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat (2002) – The Reverend
Seed of Chucky (2004) – Pete Peters
Jackass: Number Two (2006) – Himself
This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006) – Himself
Each Time I Kill (2006/2007)
The Junior Defenders (2007) – Narrator
Hairspray (2007) – Flasher
In the Land of Merry Misfits (2007) – Narrator

Television

Acting

My Name is Earl, episode "Kept a Guy Locked in a Truck" – Funeral Director
'Til Death Do Us Part – Groom Reaper
Homicide: Life on the Street – Bartender, R. Vincent Smith
21 Jump Street, episode "Awomp-Bomp-Aloobomb, Aloop Bamboom" – Mr. Bean
The DrexelInterview, episode / interview - directed by Steve Acito

Voice

Frasier, episode "The Maris Counselor" – Roger
The Simpsons, episode "Homer's Phobia" – John

Other appearances

Saturday Night Live
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Dinner for Five
The Colbert Report
The Graham Norton Show
Graham Norton's Bigger Picture
The Graham Norton Effect
The Henry Rollins Show
Last Call with Carson Daly
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Show with David Letterman
Politically Incorrect
Real Time with Bill Maher
Ricki Lake
The Roseanne Show
Shootout
So Graham Norton
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
V Graham Norton
I Love the 70's
"The Creep", a song and music video by The Lonely Island

Documentary appearances

American Cinema
Beautiful Darling
Biography
The Cockettes
Divine Waters
Divine Trash
Love Letter to Edie
E! True Hollywood Story
Le Grand Journal
HBO First Look
Here's Looking At You, Boy - The Coming Out of Queer Cinema
The Incredibly Strange Film Show
Inside Deep Throat
Intimate Portrait
This Film Is Not Yet Rated
It Came From Kuchar
John Waters Presents Movies That Will Corrupt You
How Porn Conquered the World
A Pie in the Sky: The Brigid Berlin Story
SexTV
Tracks
VH1 Behind the Music
William S. Burroughs: A Man Within
Guest of Cindy Sherman
Of Dolls and Murder
The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special – In 3-D! On Ice!
Celebrity Ghost Stories
Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema

Ricki Lake Hairspray Reunion 1994 (John Waters)

2011-06-21T05:29:00.000-07:00

Female Trouble Deleted Scene Dawns Hair 1974 (John Waters)

2011-06-21T05:12:00.000-07:00

Film,The Stephfather 1987

2011-06-15T16:00:00.000-07:00

The Stepfather is a 1987 American thriller film starring Terry O'Quinn in the title role. It is loosely based on the life of mass murderer John List, although the plot is more commonly associated with slasher films of the era than a true story. It was directed by Joseph Ruben and written by Carolyn Lefcourt (story), Brian Garfield (story) and Donald E. Westlake (also screenplay) with a rewrite by David Loughery.
This film was met with critical acclaim upon its release. The film was also followed by two sequels, released in 1989 and 1992 respectively and a remake which was released on October 16, 2009. The film was released on DVD for the first time in North America by Shout! Factory on October 13, 2009. Shout! Factory released the first-ever Blu-ray version of the film on June 15, 2010.

Plot

The film opens in a Seattle Bellevue neighborhood with Henry Morrison, a psychotic serial killer and master of disguise, washing blood off himself in a bathroom before shaving his beard, replacing his glasses with contact lens and putting a few of his belongings into a suitcase. After packing his things, Henry leaves through the front door of his house, nonchalantly passing the butchered remains of his family, Vicki, Jill and a grown male relative along with a grown female relative, whom he had earlier murdered. Boarding a ferry, Henry disposes of the suitcase containing the objects from his former life by throwing it into the ocean.
One year later, Henry (operating under the identity of a mild-mannered real estate agent named Jerry Blake) has married the widow Susan Maine. Jerry's relationship with Susan's teenage daughter Stephanie is strained, as Stephanie is highly suspicious of Jerry, despite his acts of kindness, such as giving her a puppy as a gift. After a session with her psychiatrist Doctor Bondurant, who advises her to give Jerry a chance, Stephanie is driven home by Jerry, who suggests they work together to build a better relationship, also stating that he and Susan hope she will try to be a better student at school, where Stephanie is having trouble.
In Seattle, vigilante drifter, former adventurer and amateur detective James "Jim" Ogilvie, the brother of Jerry's latest victim Vicki and Jill's young uncle, convinces a reporter to run an article about his sister's slayer in the newspaper. While hosting a neighborhood barbecue, Jerry discovers the article and is clearly disturbed by it. Excusing himself from the festivities, Jerry goes into the basement of the house and begins maniacally rambling to himself (possibly recalling memories of his unhappy childhood), unaware that Stephanie is in the basement as well. Discovering his stepdaughter's presence, Jerry brushes off his outbursts by saying he was simply letting off some accumulated stress. Leaving the basement, Stephanie finds the newspaper mentioning Jerry's earlier killings and comes to believe her stepfather is the murderer Henry Morrison mentioned in the article.
Stephanie writes a letter to the newspaper requesting a photo of Henry Morrison; but Jerry finds the photo in the mail and hides it from Stephanie while she is with Dr. Bondurant. After hiding the photo, Jerry thrashes about in the basement and contemplates killing Susan and Stephanie, but is brought to his senses when Susan yells to him, saying that Dr. Bondurant is calling asking to speak to him. Jerry refuses to answer the phone, having Susan tell the doctor that he is out. Curious as to why Jerry is avoiding him, Doctor Bondurant pretends to be a man named Ray Martin and calls Jerry at the real estate agency under the pretense of wanting to buy a house. As Jerry schedules a meeting with Bondurant, Stephanie opens an envelope addressed to her in the mail and finds a fake photo of Henry Morrison that Jerry had planted to protect his identity. Stephanie is tricked into believing her suspicions of Jerry are false.
During his meeting with Bondurant, Jerry becomes increasingly suspicious of the man, who continually questions him about his home life. Realizing Bondurant is not who he says he is, Jerry beats him to death with a wooden board. After discovering Bondurant's identity as his stepdaughter's psychiatrist, Jerry makes Bondurant's death look like an accident, blowing up the doctor's car with his body inside it. The next day, Jerry informs Stephanie of Bondurant's death in an apparent car accident and succeeds in bonding with the mournful Stephanie. Jerry's newfound relationship with his stepdaughter is quickly cut short when he catches Stephanie kissing her boyfriend named Paul Baker, who is also the family friend of the Maines before Jerry came. Jerry's wild accusations of Paul attempting to rape Stephanie result in him getting into an argument with Stephanie and Susan, which results in the former running off. Realizing all hope of having a happy life with Susan and Stephanie has been ruined, Jerry quits his job and creates a new identity for himself as Bill Hoskins, applying for a job as an insurance agent in another town, where he begins to court another widow while planning to get rid of Susan and Stephanie.
Having discovered where Jerry is now living, Jim Ogilvie begins going door to door through town in search of his former brother in-law. After Jim stops by, Susan phones the real estate agency to tell Jerry that someone was looking for him, only to be informed that Jerry had quit several days ago. Confronting Jerry when he returns home, Susan is told by Jerry that there must have been a mix-up. While explaining himself to Susan, Jerry confuses his Jerry Blake identity with the new Bill Hoskins one he had crafted and bashes Susan with the phone before knocking her down the basement stairs after she realizes Stephanie was right about Jerry. Content that Susan is dead, Jerry then sets to kill the family puppy, however, he instead prepares to kill Stephanie when she returns home and begins showering when Jim knocks on the door, having concluded that Jerry is Henry Morrison.
Ambushing Jim when he enters the house after recognizing him, Jerry kills him by stabbing him in the stomach with a knife as Jim pulls out a Smith & Wesson Bodyguard .38 Special snubnosed revolver before attacking Stephanie. Sustaining a wound to the arm when Stephanie stabs him with a piece of glass, Jerry follows his stepdaughter into the attic, where he corners her. Before he can kill Stephanie, Jerry falls through the weak floor of the attic, but recovers from the fall quickly and renews his attack on Stephanie when she tries to escape. Before he can harm Stephanie, Jerry is shot twice by a still living Susan, who had regained consciousness and retrieved Jim's gun. Feebly trying to reclaim his knife after being shot, Jerry is stabbed in the chest by Stephanie, who grabs the knife before he can. Uttering a weak "I love you" to Stephanie, Jerry falls down the stairs, seemingly dead. The film ends with Stephanie cutting down the birdhouse she and Jerry had put up during the brief time they had bonded with one another.

Cast

Terry O'Quinn as Jerry Blake/Henry Morrison/Bill Hodgekins/The Stepfather
Jill Schoelen as Stephanie Maine
Shelley Hack as Susan Maine
Charles Lanyer as Dr. A. Bondurant
Stephen Shellen as James "Jim" Ogilvie

Reception

During its opening weekend, The Stepfather grossed around $260,587; it was released in 148 movie theatres and earned a total domestic gross of $2,488,740. Film critic Roger Ebert from the Chicago Sun Times gave the movie 2.5 stars, and commented:

“

Violence itself seems to sell at the box office, even when it's divorced from any context. Maybe that's what the filmmakers were thinking. What often happens, though, is that in an otherwise flawed film there are a couple of things that are wonderful. The Stepfather has one wonderful element: Terry O'Quinn's performance.

”

On "Combustible Celluloid", the movie ranked 3 out of 4 stars, with reviewer Jeffrey M. Anderson commenting:

“

Joseph Ruben directs competently but perhaps not as playfully as the material could have used, but O'Quinn gets in a few prime moments, such as the startling one in which he forgets which persona he's currently occupying. Nevertheless, The Stepfather is still a high water mark of 1980s horror/suspense.

”

For his performance, O'Quinn was nominated for both a Saturn and an Independent Spirit Award. Director Ruben was honored with the Critics award at the 1988 Cognac Festival. The film was also nominated for the International Fantasy Film Award for Best Film at the 1990 Fantasporto and included in Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments on spot #70.
It is also now considered a cult film.

Sade,The Sweetest Taboo 1985

2011-06-15T15:55:00.000-07:00

"The Sweetest Taboo" is the lead single from the English group Sade's second studio album, Promise (1985). While the song peaked at number 31 on the UK Singles Chart, it fared considerably better in the United States, where it reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1986, remaining in the top 40 for 13 weeks. It also became the band's second consecutive number-one hit on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, following "Smooth Operator".
"The Sweetest Taboo" is mentioned in the lyrics of Prince's 2005 charity single "S.S.T.", as well as in Mos Def's 1999 song "Ms. Fat Booty".
The French duo Les Nubians recorded a song called "Tabou" on their 1998 album Princesses Nubiennes, credited as a French adaptation of "The Sweetest Taboo", although the lyrics are significantly different.
British artists Glamma Kid and Shola Ama sampled the song in 1999 in a somewhat more upbeat version with both a ragga and R&B feel to it. It was released as a single only.

Divine,"You Think You're A Man"1984

2011-06-15T15:41:00.000-07:00

Divine (19 October 1945 – 7 March 1988), né Harris Glenn Milstead, was an American actor, singer and drag queen. Described by People magazine as the "Drag Queen of the Century", Divine often performed female roles in both cinema and theater and also appeared in women's clothing in musical performances. Even so, he considered himself to be a character actor and performed male roles in a number of his later films. He was often associated with independent filmmaker John Waters and starred in ten of Waters's films, usually in a leading role. Concurrent with his acting career, he also had a successful career as a disco singer during the 1980s, at one point being described as "the most successful and in-demand disco performer in the world."

After abandoning his former agent, Robert Hussong, for the British theater director Bernard Jay in 1979, Divine became involved in the club scene. He first appeared at a gay club in Fort Lauderdale, Florida where his unscripted act included shouting "fuck you" repeatedly at the audience and then getting into a fight with another drag queen, a gimmick that proved popular with the club's clientele. Subsequently, he saw the commercial potential of including disco songs in with his act and, with composer Henry Krieger created the song "Born to be Cheap." He then joined forces with young American composer Bobby Orlando, who wrote a number of singles for Divine, including "Native Love (Step By Step)," "Shoot Your Shot" and "Love Reaction". To help publicize these singles, which proved to be successful in many discos across the world, Divine went on a series of tours and combined his musical performances with comedic stunts and routines that often played up to his characters' stereotype of being "trashy" and outrageous. Throughout the rest of the 1980s, Divine took his musical performances on tour across the world.