Richard Matheson R.I.P.
Influential science fiction and fantasy author Richard Matheson died yesterday from natural causes at his home, surrounded by friends and family. He was 87. “For having such a fantastic imagination, he passed very peacefully,” son Richard Matheson Jr. told Deadline. “He was not only a monumental talent, he was also every bit a father, friend, and husband.” Friend and fellow author Harlan Ellison wrote today, “I am downsmashed.”
The celebrated writer began his 6-decade-plus career in 1950 with the story “Born of Man and Woman,” published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Matheson’s best-known and oft-adapted works ranged from short stories like “Button, Button” (which Richard Kelly adapted into The Box) to novels including I Am Legend (adapted four times into features The Last Man On Earth, The Omega Man, I Am Omega and I Am Legend). Matheson wrote more than a dozen episodes of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone — including “Nightmare At 20,000 Feet,” starring William Shatner, which was remade as a segment of 1983’s Twilight Zone: The Movie — and penned the “evil Kirk “Enemy Within” episode of Star Trek: The Original Series.
Over the decades Hollywood turned frequently to his writing for its twisty but humanist genre storytelling. Films adapted from his works include The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957), The Pit and the Pendulum (1961), Steven Spielberg’s Duel(1971), Somewhere in Time (1980), the Will Smith-starrer I Am Legend (2007), and Real Steel (2011).
During his career Matheson earned a Writers Guild Association nomination for 1985′s Amazing Stories and won the Hugo Award, The Edgar Allen Poe Award, the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Horror Writers Association, and a Lifetime Achievement award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films. Earlier this year Matheson signed on to adapt his own The Incredible Shrinking Man for MGM with Richard Jr. The pair completed a draft prior to Matheson’s passing.
KISS – Horror Icons Mash-Up
KISS and Slasher legends… well, apart from Chucky who I always hated, it should have been Michael Myers. But then again, Peter Criss was quite short. Available from Fright Rags HERE
Game of Thrones – Poster Art
More Game of Thrones art… click on the image for full size single posters.
R.I.P. James Gandolfini
Actor James Gandolfini died suddenly after a suspected heart attack while on holiday in Rome to attend the Taormina Film Festival in Sicily. He was 51. Gandolfini will be forever known for his portrayal of mob boss Tony Soprano on the seminal HBO series The Sopranos, which eventually won him 3 Emmy Awards and a $1,000,000-an-episode paycheck. Overweight, balding, rough around the edges with a thick New Jersey accent, Gandolfini was the opposite of a marquee leading man, destined to be a character actor. Yet he proved through his masterful acting that he could make Tony Soprano sexy and smart, towering and powerful. Chris Albrecht who greenlighted the crime family saga at HBO in 1999 and approved Gandolfini in the role, just emailed Deadline: “Absolutely stunned. I got the word from Lorraine Bracco and just got off with Brad Grey who had just heard from David Chase. We had all become a family. This is a tremendous loss.” (Grey was the executive producer and Chase the creator of The Sopranos.) And Gandolfini’s managers confirmed the actor’s death.“It is with immense sorrow that we report our client James Gandolfini passed away today while on holiday in Rome, Italy,’ said Mark Armstrong and Nancy Sanders. ”Our hearts are shattered and we will miss him deeply. He and his family were part of our family for many years and we are all grieving.”
David Chase, the show’s creator, issued this statement today: “He was a genius. Anyone who saw him even in the smallest of his performances knows that. He is one of the greatest actors of this or any time. A great deal of that genius resided in those sad eyes. I remember telling him many times, ‘You don’t get it. You’re like Mozart.’ There would be silence at the other end of the phone. For [wife] Deborah and [children] Michael and Lilliana, this is crushing. And it’s bad for the rest of the world. He wasn’t easy sometimes. But he was my partner, he was my brother in ways I can’t explain and never will be able to explain.” Gandolfini reunited with Chase for The Sopranos creator’s feature film debut Not Fade Away, a 2012 drama in set in 1960s New Jersey in which the actor co-starred as the father of a teenage rock ‘n’ roll band lead singer. Fans anticipated a Sopranos movie from the pair, possibly a prequel about the Sopranos’ grandparents first coming to America from Italy and starring Gandolfini.
Brad Grey, The Sopranos‘ executive producer who’s now chief at Paramount, told Deadline: “Jimmy was one of the most talented, authentic and vulnerable actors of our time. He was unorthodox and truly special in so many ways. He had the sex appeal of Steve McQueen or Brando in his prime as well as the comedic genius of Jackie Gleason. I’m proud to have been his friend and grateful for the extraordinary years I was lucky enough to work with him. My heart and support goes out to his wonderful and loving family.”
Gandolfini’s fellow actor on The Sopranos, Tony Sirico who played “Paulie” had this to say: “Tony was one of my best friends in life, he was there whenever I needed him. Not only did he help me with my career, but also in life, god bless him. He and I were always helping the troops, we even went to combat zones to visit the Marines. He will be missed.”
Gandolfini’s portrayal of Tony Soprano was one of TV’s largest-looming TV anti-heroes — the schlub we loved, the cruel monster we hated, the anxiety-ridden husband and father we wanted to hug in midlife crisis when he bemoaned, “I’m afraid I’m going to lose my family. Like I lost the ducks.” In the most maddening series finale in recent history – an episode chock full of references to mortality (life, death, a William Butler Yeats reference to the apocalypse, a bathroom reference to a “Godfather” bloodbath) — his was the show’s last image, seen just as the words “Don’t stop” were being sung on the jukebox. It generated such extreme reaction that the series’ fans crashed HBO’s website for a time that night trying to register their outrage that it ended with a black screen, leaving them not knowing whether Tony Soprano had been whacked. In large part to Gandolfini’s charisma (“Jimmy was the spiritual core of our Sopranos family,” Chris Albright, who is now CEO of Starz, noted today), that Season 5 of The Sopranos in 2004 remains the most watched series in HBO history with 14.4 million viewers on average.
Pacific Rim – Designing the Jaegers
“We’re been talking about the idea for it and working on a pitch,” said Guillermo del Toro today about a Pacific Rim sequel. “And there will be a Mexican Jaeger,” he joked about the giant robots that fight the giant Kaiju monsters in the movie, out July 12. This isn’t the first time del Toro has floated a sequel to the upcoming monster adventure movie, but the director was more confident about where it would fit in the Legendary Pictures property’s trajectory. “Having had two to three years pass from the first Pacific Rim to the second movie, we can also prepare a good video game, continue the graphic novel and continue the mythology,” the director added. Del Toro wrote the script for the first Pacific Rim with Travis Beacham, who is writing the prequel graphic novel, images below…
Vampires are Back!
It’s impossible to escape vampires these days. The Twilight movies are as insanely popular as ever; the HBO series “True Blood” has a large and dedicated fanbase; and Justin Cronin’s best-selling, post-apocalyptic vampire trilogy (the first two installments, The Passage and The Twelve, are currently in bookstores) looks poised to become the next blockbuster vampire franchise (the books have already been optioned for a planned series of film adaptations by Ridley Scott). The last piece of vampire pop culture to sink its teeth into movie audiences’ necks was the fifth and final Twilight installment, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part 2. Hopefully that’s the end of ‘tween vamps…
The release of Byzantium and Only Lovers Left Alive, bodes well for what has been a bloodless few years. Here’s a selection of a few lesser known vampire films that put unique spins on vampire mythology. These are all creative, fascinating movies that definitely do not suck.
Black Sabbath (1963)
directed by Mario Bava
This creepy, eclectic anthology is an early work from Italian horror maestro Mario Bava, who has built up a sizable cult following over the years due to his Gothic, gorgeously photographed fright films, which have inspired the likes of Dario Argento and Tim Burton. Black Sabbath contains three atmospheric stories, the second of which remains one of the most chilling vampire tales ever filmed. Entitled “The Wurdalak,” the segment is based on a story by Aleksei Tolstoy and stars Boris Karloff in one of his last, most sinister performances. Unlike typical vampires, who feast on random human beings, those transformed into “wurdalaks” only prey on those they love most—essentially, their own families. With its haunting yet beautiful visuals, “The Wurdalak” is a masterful family tragedy that shouldn’t be missed.
Martin (1977)
directed by George A. Romero
One of the most underrated horror films of all time (writer-director Romero has said himself it’s his personal favorite of his work), Martin is a modern vampire tale set in a deteriorating Pennsylvania town. The title character (played by John Amplas) is a troubled, disaffected 17-year-old who believes, based on a family legend, that he’s an 84-year-old vampire. Yet Martin doesn’t behave like a typical vampire: He’s immune to garlic and sunlight, and instead of fangs, uses razor blades to drink his victims’ blood. After going to live with his elderly uncle, who strongly believes in the family vampire myth, Martin attempts to live a normal life, but his craving for blood continues to haunt him. Martin is a disturbing, utterly original take on the vampire mythos. Although there are a few creepy, violent scenes to keep horror fans satisfied, the movie is most compelling when we gain insight into the main character. Romero seems to be saying that the suave, seductive vampires we’ve seen in movies, as played by Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee, are of a past generation. This modern vampire works on a much more realistic, practical, horrifying level.
Near Dark (1987)
directed by Kathryn Bigelow
Before she became the first woman in Oscar history to win the Best Director trophy (for The Hurt Locker), Kathryn Bigelow helmed this unusual film, which fuses together the Western, biker and vampire genres. The film stars Adrian Pasdar as an aimless young man in a rural Midwestern town who becomes involved with a family of dangerous nomadic vampires (among them Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen and Jenny Wright). These aren’t your typical blood-suckers—they’re a group of dirty, unhinged drifters who roam the highways in stolen vehicles (during the day, incidentally), moving from town to town to satisfy their insatiable bloodlust. In fact, the destructive, amoral vampires of Near Dark seems to share more in common with the modern serial killer than the classic Dracula archetype. This gritty, genre-bending film put Bigelow on the map, and, 25 years later, it still has the power to dazzle and disturb.
Cronos (1993)
directed by Guillermo del Toro
This remarkably innovative Mexican film marked the feature debut of writer-director del Toro. The movie revolves around an elderly antique dealer (Federico Luppi) who comes upon the deadly yet enticing object of the title—an ancient mechanism that promises eternal life to its owner. When opened, the device painfully inserts a needle into the owner’s skin, yet the wound also brings about a sudden burst of youthful vitality, as well as a desperate craving for blood. Though the word “vampire” is never spoken in Cronos, del Toro’s bold vision provides a unique spin on the age-old vampire mythology. Especially unnerving is the sequence in which the infected old man discovers a puddle of blood (resulting from another man’s nosebleed) in a public bathroom. In what is surely one of the ickiest moments in vampire movie history, he lies down on the floor and proceeds to lick it up, much like a cat would spilled milk. From its fable-like beginning to its surprisingly tragic end, Cronos is full of disturbing yet unforgettable images.
Official Mad Max Game
Check out the trailer for the game below, and for more information head to the Official webpage HERE
Friday the 13th – Box Set
All 12 Friday The 13th films are to be collected in a Blu-ray box set via Warner Bros in the USA. All 12 films will be stretched across 10 discs, with 7 movies hitting the hi-def format for the first time. There will also be a bonus blu dedicated to special features and a 40 page companion book of highlights culled from Peter Bracke’s “Crystal Lake Memories.”
Films in The Collection include:
· Disc 1 – Friday the 13th (1980)
· Disc 2 – Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)
· Disc 3 – Friday the 13th Part 3 in 3D (1982)
· Disc 4 – Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984) NEW TO BLU-RAY
· Disc 5 – Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning (1985) / Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986) NEW TO BLU-RAY
· Disc 6 – Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988) / Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989) NEW TO BLU- RAY
· Disc 7 – Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993) / Jason X (2002) NEW TO BLU-RAY
· Disc 8 – Freddy vs. Jason (2003)
· Disc 9 – Friday the 13th (2009) (Theatrical Version and “Killer Cut” Extended Version)
· Disc 10 – Killer Bonus DVD Disc
“On September 13th, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will provide plenty of blood-curdling thrills when Friday The 13th: The Complete Collection debuts on Blu-ray. For the first time, all twelve Friday the 13th films will be packaged together, (with seven of them making Blu-ray debuts) as a result of a strategic distribution alliance between Paramount and Warner announced last fall, granting Warner exclusive video distribution rights to over 600 Paramount titles. The set also includes a Friday The 13th Killer Extras Bonus DVD.
The ‘slasher’ series is one of the longest-running and most successful horror franchises in film history, surpassing the domestic theatrical box-office grosses of such legendary series as A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The film that turned psycho killer Jason Voorhees and his infamous hockey mask into a pop culture icon has also bested the horror competition as the #1 home entertainment seller, with total sales of $119.7M to date.
The 10-disc collection ($129.95 SRP) includes the twelve films on nine Blu-ray discs, as well as a DVD bonus disc full of special features on the making of the famous franchise. The set will be presented in a collectible tin case with 11 hours of previously released special features and a 40-page soft cover book. The book is excerpted from Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday The 13th, a fan-favourite volume that’s viewed as the ultimate memoir of the series, and highlights some of the 200 interviews, 600 photos, storyboards, concept art and more. Also included is a brand new, official Camp Crystal Lake embroidered Counselor Patch.
Friday The 13th: The Complete Collection also includes digital versions of all 12 films with UltraViolet, allowing viewers to download and instantly stream the films to a wide range of devices from computers and compatible tablets to smartphones, game consoles, Internet-connected TVs and Blu-ray players.”
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