Saw – 10th Anniversary Release Poster
I remember seeing Saw on it’s release, I remember the battering it dished out, the audience reactions and how pleased I was that this had been made by Australian film makers. Now, 10 years later (10..!!!), as reported last month, Saw has an Anniversary re-release. Read the official press release here:
SANTA MONICA, CA August 27, 2014 – This Halloween, Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF) will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the theatrical release of SAW, the film that kicked off the most successful horror franchise in history, by bringing it back to theaters nationwide for one week only. The film will open on Friday, October 31st, with select screenings beginning Thursday night, October 30th. The seven SAW films grossed $874 million at the box office worldwide and were hailed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the “Most Successful Horror Franchise” of all time.
SAW was the first collaboration for co-creators James Wan, who directed the film, and Leigh Whannell, who wrote the screenplay. Together, they also created the successful INSIDIOUS franchise, and Wan has gone on to direct such high-profile films as THE CONJURING and the upcoming FAST & FURIOUS 7.
Directed by Wan from a script penned by Whannell, SAW is a psychological thriller focusing on two men who wake up in a secure lair of a serial killer, with a dead body lying between them. The killer, nicknamed “Jigsaw,” leaves them tape recorded messages with details of how to make it out alive. The only way for one man to make it out alive is to do the unthinkable. The two men desperately try to find a way out, while also trying to figure out who’s behind their kidnapping. The film, which was released over Halloween weekend on October 29, 2004, was produced by Gregg Hoffman, Oren Koules, and Mark Burg.
A World War II Fairytale: The Making of Michael Mann’s The Keep
There have been some exceptional ‘fan made’ documentaries for classic horror films made over the last few years, the superlative Beware The Moon: Remembering An American Werewolf in London and Unearthed and Untold: The Path to Pet Semetary being two of the best examples to the studios as to how it should be done. Along with the fantastic Thommy Hutson documentaries Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy and His Name Was Jason: 30 Years of Friday the 13th, we are getting some real quality in the genre. Now we have a documentary in the works for little known but well regarded cult flick The Keep. Directed by Michael Mann of Manhunter, Heat and Last of The Mohicans fame.
In 2011, UK filmmaker Stewart Buck and french artist Stephane Piter began a journey to document the films production. Confronting the harsh realities of filmmaking, A World War II Fairytale is the definitive documentary on the film and the world and philosophy of The Keep.
Featuring further insight into the people behind the film and the source material that inspired it. Buck brought the project to the market at the Fantasia International Film Festival recently to find completion funds and it seems like the trip was fruitful for the UK filmmaker. Check out the website HERE
Kirby and Marvel Settle Out of Court
Just days before the Supreme Court was set to take the matter into conference, Marvel and the family of Jack Kirby have settled their long running legal dispute over the comic legend’s rights to the characters he created or co-created. Here’s their joint statement:
“Marvel and the family of Jack Kirby have amicably resolved their legal disputes, and are looking forward to advancing their shared goal of honoring Mr. Kirby’s significant role in Marvel’s history.”
Widely viewed as one of the Kings of Comics, Kirby created or co-created some of the biggest names on the page and now on the big screen in the superhero blockbusters that Hollywood has profited from in recent years. However, while his often partner Stan Lee was a Marvel employee, Kirby was a work for hire and had no rights to Captain America, The Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, the original X-Men and the plethora of other characters he played a pivotal part in bringing to life. The settlement between Marvel/Disney is confidential, but you don’t have to be a Supreme Court Justice to know that if a deal was reached this late in the process, it must be a healthy one for the Kirby’s – who were holding a lot of the cards for once.
It was a long legal road for them and Marvel to get to today’s deal. After failing repeatedly in lower courts, Lisa Kirby, Neal Kirby, Susan Kirby and Barbara Kirby petitioned the High Court on March 21 for a hearing on the matter. In their petition, the heirs wanted SCOTUS to rule in favor of their assertion that they had the right in 2009 to issue termination notices on 262 works that the comic legend helped create between 1958 and 1963. Those 45 notices went out to Marvel/Disney, Fox, Universal and Paramount Pictures and others who have made films based on the artist’s characters under the provisions of the 1976 Copyright Act. Marvel sued in 2010, after failing to reach an agreement back then with the Kirby family to invalidate the termination notices. Jack Kirby himself passed away in 1994.
Despite initial indifference and then objections from Disney-owned Marvel, SCOTUS agreed to take the case into conference to consider if they would actually hear it. That conference, where the nine Justices would ostensibly be sitting around talking about comic as well as copyright, was scheduled for September 29. The Kirby family and their legal point had a lot of support and not just among the fanboys. SAG, the WGA and the DGA back in June submitted a brief to the High Court in favour of having the Kirbys’ petition granted.
All things considered, and with the billions that Marvel/Disney have made off the films filled with characters Kirby created, this 11th hour deal should come as no great surprise – except for how long it took them. The bottom line and PR risk that the media giant was taking if SCOTUS had agreed to move the family’s petition up to an actual hearing would have sent a shudder through the market and the town. As well, if there had been a hearing and if then the High Court had found for the Kirbys, the results would have thrown Marvel/Disney into turmoil as they would have to negotiate for millions and millions with the family on everything from The Avengers, this summer’s big hit Guardians Of The Galaxy, with the popular Groot character a Kirby creation, and the all the characters in the notices if they wanted to keep the franchises going at Disney and other studios. And there would have been royalties on the already made movies like the 2008 hit Iron Man and 2012’s The Avengers with its billion dollar plus box office, to name a few. As well a wide variety of copyrights across the industry, including those at Warner Bros and DC Comics, would suddenly be in play as the work of writers, composers and others designated under a freelancer or the work for hire status could suddenly gain a piece of what they created in what would now be seen as a much more traditional employee/employer arrangement.
Mulholland Drive – Poster Art by Gabz
Incredible new poster art for the David Lynch headfuck Mulholland Drive. The poster is by Grzegorz Domaradzki at Grey Matter Art HERE
11/22/63 – Coming to Television
Bad Robot have announced a new drama series through Hulu based off Stephen King’s 2011 best selling novel, “11/22/63.” JJ Abrams is a huge fan of Stephen King’s work, and already has an order from Hulu for 9 episodes.
The book stayed on The New York Times Best Seller list for 16 weeks and won the 2011 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Best Mystery/Thriller, the 2012 International Thriller Writers Award for Best Novel, and was nominated for the 2012 British Fantasy Award for Best Novel and the 2012 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.
“11/22/63” tells the story of Jake Epping, a divorced high school English teacher who lives in Maine. Jake uses a time portal in a local diner to try and stop the assassination of President Kennedy. The portal has rules, 1) no mater how long or how short your visit to the past, you only lose two minutes in the present when you return and 2) the portal ALWAYS takes you back to September 9, 1958, at precisely 11:58 a.m. This may sound like an easy fix but there are consequences to EVERYTHING you do when it comes to time travel and most of them are not so pleasant.
Oh The Horror – Series 2
LEGO is the biggest retail toy in the world, bought by adults and kids alike… new versions of the Ghostbusters car and headquarters, batmobile and Simpsons house have pushed the little bricks to the top of workplace shelves worldwide. Minifigs have been creating specialist figures for some time now, they made Oh The Horror series 1 last year and are back with series 2. Featuring tributes to horror icons such as Freddy, Jason, Michael Myers, Jigsaw, Leatherface, Pinhead, Ghostface, Ash and Norman Bates among others. Get them HERE
The Art of Bob Peak
Anyone who’s visited this blog over the last few years would know I have a passion for Poster Art. Great news this week with the announcement of the release of The Art Of Bob Peak which celebrates the works of one of the world’s most legendary movie poster artists, edited and annotated by his son Thomas Peak.
Peak casts a huge shadow across the worlds of popular illustration and graphic design, and his influence is also felt in comics. His style and innovations echo through the work of Jim Steranko, Howard Chaykin and Bill Sienkiewicz, three of the most groundbreaking artists ever to produce sequential art.
Peak himself actually got his start as a cartoonist, providing strips for his college newspaper before becoming one of America’s most in-demand illustrators, and this book covers his career from those early gag panels through to his last painted masterpieces.
Bob Peak’s use of hue and shape to call attention to specific figures, and his knack for dropping out color and detail to sharpen focus are just a couple of his compositional hallmarks. His figures race forward and almost vibrate apart, separating into component tones and lines – the motion pulls the viewer’s eye across the page, and the kinetic combination of textures gives these images a depth and character that goes beyond any that could emerge from more realistic styles of depiction.
And nearly all of Peak’s iconic works are represented in this collection. From his Coke promotions to his posters for My Fair Lady, Camelot, Modesty Blaise, Superman, and countless other films, to the abstract motion of his sports illustrations and the stark graphic nature of his airline commissions, it’s all here, and all stunning.
Tom Peak has crafted a fitting tribute to his father’s creative prowess, but he’s also provided an invaluable service for scholars, pop culture historians, designers, and art aficionados. This is rewarding reading for anybody with an interest in American visual culture, or for anyone who simply likes to look at beautiful pictures.
The Walking Dead Season 5 Synopsis
Fox International Channels have released an official synopsis for Season Five of AMC’s The Walking Dead. The synopsis starts off with a touch of setup in the form of where Season Four left off – an important element since, for the first time since the series launched, The Walking Dead doesn’t have a time-jump this year.
It also features a bit of an existential question – “who do they become?” – something that has become more and more overt since the second half of Season Four began. The themes have always been there, of course, but we’re moving quickly toward a version of The Walking Dead where that’s right out there in the open. You can check it out below:
Season Four of The Walking Dead ended with Rick and the group outgunned, outnumbered, and trapped in a train car awaiting a grim fate.
Season Five picks up shortly thereafter. What follows is a story that weaves the true motives of the people of Terminus with the hopeful prospect of a cure in Washington, D.C., the fate of the group’s lost comrades, as well as new locales, new conflicts, and new obstacles in keeping the group together and staying alive.
Stories will break apart and intersect. The characters will find love and hate. Peace and conflict. Contentment and terror. And, in the quest to find a permanent, safe place to call home, one question will haunt them…
After all they’ve seen, all they’ve done, all they’ve sacrificed, lost, and held on to no matter what the cost…
Who do they become?
Six
SIX is a 64 page horror comic anthology. It collects six tales of terror written by Fabian Rangel Jr with art by various artists. The comic has already 100% funded in the first week. However you can still get involved as they have extended and added to the brief.
If they raise 3,500, the book will increase in page count to include script pages and characters designs! So you’ll be getting a thicker book, more in line with a trade paperback than a one-shot single issue. If the total reaches 5,000 EVERYONE will be getting a free print from “Blood and Snow” artist Jonathan Sawyer!
Check it out HERE 21 days to go!
Mike Mignola
Mike Mignola was born September 16, 1960 in Berkeley, California and grew up in nearby Oakland. His fascination with ghosts and monsters began at an early age (he doesn’t remember why) and reading Dracula at age 13 introduced him to Victorian literature and folklore from which he has never recovered.
In 1982, hoping to find a way to draw monsters for a living, he moved to New York City and began working for Marvel Comics—First as a (very terrible, according to the man himself) inker and then as an artist on comics like Rocket Raccoon, Alpha Flight, and The Hulk.
By the late 80’s he had begun to develop his signature style (Thin lines, clunky shapes and lots of black) and moved onto higher profile commercial projects like Cosmic Odyssey (1988) and Gotham by Gaslight (1989) for DC Comics, and the not so commercial Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser (1990) for Marvel. In 1992 he drew the comic book adaptation of the film Bram Stoker’s Dracula for Topps Comics.
In 1993 Mike moved to Dark Horse comics and created Hellboy – A half-demon occult detective who may or may not be the Beast of the Apocalypse. While the first story line (Seed of Destruction 1994) was co-written by John Byrne, Mike has continued writing the series himself. There are, at this moment, 13 HELLBOY graphic novel collections (with more on the way), several spin-off titles (BPRD, Lobster Johnson, Abe Sapien and Witchfinder), 3 anthologies of prose stories, several novels, 2 animated films and 2 live action films staring Ron Perlman. Hellboy has earns numerous comic industry awards and is published in a great many countries.
Mike also created the award-winning comic book The Amazing Screw-On Head and has co-written two novels (Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire and Joe Golem and the Drowning City) with best selling author Christopher Golden.
Mike worked (very briefly) with Francis Ford Coppola on his film Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), was a production designer on the Disney film Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) and was visual consultant to director Guillermo del Toro on Blade II (2002), Hellboy (2004) and Hellboy 2: The Golden Army (2008).
Mike considers The Magician and the Snake the best thing he has ever done. Though scripted and drawn by him the 6 page story was actually plotted by his daughter Katie (at the time 7 years old) and earned both of them Eisner Awards for best short story.
He lives somewhere in Southern California with his wife, daughter, a lot of books and a cat. He is one of the few comic artists that I buy work unseen based on his participation (the others are Berni Wrightson, Liberatore and Eric Powell) I suggest you purchase some of his work immediately.
Young Ones – Futuristic Western
Young Ones is set in a near future when water has become the most precious and dwindling resource on the planet, one that dictates everything from the macro of political policy to the detailed micro of interpersonal family and romantic relationships. The land has withered into something wretched. The dust has settled on a lonely, barren planet. The hardened survivors of the loss of Earth’s precious resources scrape and struggle.
Ernest Holm (Michael Shannon) lives on this harsh frontier with his children, Jerome (Kodi Smit McPhee)and Mary (Elle Fanning). He defends his farm from bandits, works the supply routes, and hopes to rejuvenate the soil. But Mary’s boyfriend, Flem Lever (Nicholas Hoult), has grander designs. He wants Ernest’s land for himself, and will go to any length to get it. From writer/director Jake Paltrow comes a futuristic western, told in three chapters, which inventively layers Greek tragedy over an ethereal narrative that’s steeped deeply in the values of the American West. Rango anyone..?
Universal Monsters
The newest assortment of Universal Monsters action figures is out now at Toys”R”Us and is coming soon to comic shops and specialty stores, as well as an all-new figure of the greatest monster hunter of all time.
Frankenstein’s Monster as he appears in Son of Frankenstein, and a super-poseable version of the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Both feature entirely new sculpts by Jean St. Jean, and both come packaged on a blister card with a small display base. Additionally, the Monster comes with the prosthetic arm of Inspector Krogh.
As a bonus, hanging alongside the Creature and Monster is Diamond Select Toys’ original take on the famous monster hunter, Van Helsing. Also sculpted by St. Jean, Van Helsing stands around 7 inches tall, and comes armed with an axe, a sword, a crossbow and a rifle, all of which can be carried on his back. Definitely not based on Van Helsing as portrayed by Edward Van Sloan in the 1930’s Universal classics… Now make a Hammer series and give us Peter Cushing, by far the best Van Helsing.
Franco Options Palahniuk’s Rant
Great news for fans of Chuck Palahniuk, James Franco has closed a deal to acquire Rant, the 2007 novel by Fight Club author Chuck Pahlaniuk.Rant is told in the form of an oral biography. When the story begins, the reader discovers that the main character, Buster Landru “Rant” Casey, is already deceased. Throughout the book various people discuss their memories of Buster and the world he lived in, presenting stories in an occasionally conflicting timeline. Franco and his Rabbit Bandini partner Vince Jolivette are looking to have Pamela Romanowsky write the script and direct the film. She directed The Adderall Diaries, which Franco and Jolivette produced.
socialpsychol 