F. W. Murnau Skull Stolen From Grave
The skull of director Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, best known for vampire classic Nosferatu (1922), has disappeared from his grave in Stahnsdorf, outside of Berlin, German media reports said citing authorities.
The skull was discovered to be missing on Monday and slight damage to the grave led authorities to believe that it had been stolen. The theft is thought to have taken place between July 4 and July 12, according to the reports. Police opened a probe and called on possible witnesses to come forward.
F. W. Murnau died in a car accident in Santa Barbara in 1931 at the age of 42. He was buried back in German, and over the years, his tomb has become a kind of tourist spot for Satanists. His Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans won a two Oscars at the first-ever Academy Awards in 1929.
Sir Christopher Lee – R.I.P.
Sad news just in, one of my all time movie star heroes, for as long as I can remember, Sir Christopher Lee, has died at the age of 93 after being hospitalised for respiratory problems and heart failure.
The veteran actor, best known for a variety of films from Dracula to The Wicker Man through to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, passed away on Sunday morning at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London, according to sources.
The decision to release the news days after was based on his wife’s desire to inform family members first. The couple had been married for over 50 years.
His film career started in 1947 with a role in gothic romance Corridor of Mirrors but it wasn’t until the late 50s, when Lee worked with Hammer, that he started gaining fame. His first role with the studio was The Curse of Frankenstein and it was the first of 20 films that he made with fellow legend, Peter Cushing.
Lee’s most famous role for Hammer was playing Dracula, a role which became one of his most widely recognised although the actor wasn’t pleased with how the character was treated. “They gave me nothing to do!” he told Total Film Magazine in 2005. “I pleaded with Hammer to let me use some of the lines that Bram Stoker had written. Occasionally, I sneaked one in. Eventually I told them that I wasn’t going to play Dracula any more. All hell broke loose.”
In the 70s, Lee continued to gain fame in the horror genre with a role in The Wicker Man, a film which he considered to be his best… he’s right.
He was knighted in 2009 for services to drama and charity and was awarded the Bafta fellowship in 2011. Lee still has one film yet to be released, the fantasy film Angels in Notting Hill.
Penny Dreadful – Season 2
The new season will see Vanessa (Eva Green) and Ethan (Josh Hartnett) forming a deeper bond as the group, including Sir Malcolm (Timothy Dalton), Dr. Frankenstein (Harry Treadaway), and Sembene (Danny Sapani), unite to banish the evil forces that threaten to destroy them. Meanwhile, Dorian Gray (Reeve Carney), the Creature (Rory Kinnear) and Brona (Billie Piper) are all waging battles of their own. Patti LuPone will be as a mysterious character of great importance in Vanessa’s past. Helen McCrory returns as Evelyn Poole (a.k.a. Madame Kali), the seductive spiritualist who will pose a unique threat to our heroes this season, along with Simon Russell Beale, who is back as eccentric Egyptologist Ferdinand Lyle. Additional guest stars include Douglas Hodge as a Scotland Yard investigator, Sarah Greene as Poole’s powerful daughter, Hecate, and Johnny Beauchamp as a man with a singular past.
Hero Huggers – Horror Icon Pillow Cases
Hero Huggers are a hand made character pillowcase featuring fun and colourful characters by Renny Roccon. $25 plus p+p, get them HERE
