BH: Gizmo Was an Alien? 5 Bizarre Revelations from Horror Movie Novelizations

Yet another article rescued from the gaping hole that was once Blumhouse.com

Back when people actually read books, novelizations of movies were incredibly popular. Kids could read and reread (and reread) the stories from their favorite Hollywood blockbusters. However, writing and publishing a novel is a very time-consuming process. So in order to release the novelizations in time to coincide with a respective film’s theatrical run, authors would frequently work from early drafts of a script or invent details whole-cloth.

As you well know, a lot tends to change between the first draft and the final product, especially in film, so these stories would often have discrepancies. Nothing major, usually. Maybe the author fleshed out a character a little differently, or the weapon someone uses to escape has been changed for the final film. But sometimes, the novelizations include details that are so mind-meltingly different from the original films that they change your entire perspective on the story. Let’s take a moment to explore five of those very special occasions.

That’s Right, Gizmo from Gremlins was an Alien

I suppose now is the time to mention that, especially in this case, not everything mentioned in the novelizations is canon. Joe Dante has explicitly dismissed the GREMLINS book as poppycock, but who do you want to believe? Novelization author George Gipe and I know the truth: Gizmo is an alien.

His mission?

The galactic powers ordered the Mogwai sent to every inhabitable planet in the universe, their purpose being to inspire alien beings with their peaceful spirit and intelligence and to instruct them in the ways of living without violence and possible extinction. Among the planets selected for early Mogwai population were Kelm-6 in the Poraisti Range, Clinpf-A of the Beehive Pollux, and the third satellite of MinorSun#67672, a small but fertile body called Earth by its inhabitants.

It’s reassuring to know that the Mogwai come in peace, but maybe it would be better if the extraterrestrial diplomats didn’t have the potential to transform into hideous monsters. In fact, it’s audaciously implied that Gremlins were responsible for some of NASA’s more prominent space shuttle failures:

The Gremlin eluded capture by the six-man crew long enough to shut down the computer handling the craft’s guidance and navigation systems… Returning to Earth eight hours late as a result of the Gremlin’s meddling, the crewmen were debriefed by government officials, who warned them not to describe what had actually happened on the mission.

It’s incredibly fascinating how much this revelation changes the entire story at a deep, fundamental level. Instead of being a creature feature romp, it basically becomes a remake of E.T. starring Howie Mandel.

Halloween’s Michael Myers was Possessed by an Ancient Celtic Spirit

The horror started on the eve of Samhain, in a foggy vale in northern Ireland, at the dawn of the Celtic race. And once started, it trod the earth forevermore, wreaking its savagery suddenly, swiftly, and with incredible ferocity.

Thus begins the prologue to Curtis Richards’ novelization of HALLOWEEN. Doesn’t that sound eerily close to the Samhain nonsense spouted in a lot of the lesser sequels? Well, buckle in because most of the things people hate in the series’ later entries can be found right in these here pages.

You know how people complained that Rob Zombie’s remake spent too much time exploring Michael Myers’ childhood and showing him talking up a storm? Well, welcome to the first three chapters of this book, where young Mikey loves nothing more than to sit down and have lengthy chats with his grandmother. But we’ve barely scratched the surface of this book’s lunacy. It turns out that Michael is being influenced by a long dead Celtic spirit who appears as a voice in his head, telling him to “say I hate people.”

In that previously mentioned prologue, which takes place near the dawn of Celtic civilization, a 15-year-old disfigured boy named Enda falls madly in love with Deirdre, the daughter of King Gwynwyll. Yes, it’s basically a Game of Thrones subplot. After having his affections spurned, Enda murders Deirdre and her fiancé in a fit of rage on Halloween night. The townspeople get their revenge and kill the boy, dooming his spirit to wander the Earth and coerce others into repeating his crimes on Halloween, including Michael’s own great-grandfather, who shot two people at a harvest dance in the late 1800s.

All this elaborate backstory sets up is the reason Michael kills his sister and her boyfriend that fateful Halloween night back in 1963. A simple sexual psychosis would probably have sufficed, but how else would we get flowery passages like this?

It was the voice. The voice stirred up the hatred. It had done so in his dreams and now it was doing it in real life. It had begun with the strange pictures in his head at night, pictures of people he had never seen–oh, maybe in comic books or on television, but never in real life. People in strange costumes, animal skins, armor, leather, drinking and dancing wildly around a fire. One couple in particular. They looked like Judy and Danny, madly in love with each other, dancing in a circle around a huge bonfire while he, Michael, stood in the crowd hating them, burning up with jealousy.

In Dream Warriors, Taryn Could Breathe Fire

The punky Dream Warrior Taryn White is everybody’s favorite beautiful badass from A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3. However, if the movie had used the early script referenced in the Jeffrey Cooper novelization, she could have had the ability to breathe freaking fire.

However, you take the good with the bad. Instead of having her perish via Freddy’s wicked syringe claws, she dies in a silly fairy tale homage where the dream demon pretends to be her grandmother. Still, a fire-breathing Little Red Riding Hood is almost as cool as what we got…

Also, we can’t talk about the DREAM WARRIORS novelization and nottalk briefly about the dream romance between Dr. Gordon and Nancy’s ghost. Check it out:

Kristen hesitated. “Do you still…see each other?” “Yes,” Gordon replied with a strange little smile. “I’m going to see her tonight. I guess that’s why I’m so anxious to get to sleep.” Kristen smiled and nodded. “Will you say hi?” Gordon grinned. “Good night, Kristen.” Gordon closed the door and turned out the light. Then he trudged slowly upstairs and got ready for bed. It did not take him long to drift into a peaceful sleep. The paper mache model of the Elm Street House sat on his bureau. It was different now—clean, pure and inviting.

Suddenly, in one of its tiny windows, a light came on. And he was there with her.

Jason Lives… And So Does His Dad

Fans of the FRIDAY THE 13TH series know that the murderous madman Jason Voorhees was very close to his deranged single mother Pamela. But in Simon Hawke’s novelization of JASON LIVES: FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VI, the original ending to the film is revealed: Jason’s father is still alive.

Although we haven’t seen hide nor tail of Elias Voorhees in the previous five films, the novel reveals that he has been paying for the upkeep of both Jason and Pamela’s graves at the Eternal Peace Cemetery. Apparently the family grew closer in death, because Elias sure as hell didn’t step up to take custody of Jason after his mother died. Elias did appear in several FRIDAY comic books, but it’s a shame he never showed up in the film franchise, because I would have loved to see Jason exact his bloody revenge.

That could have been quite the fight too, because this passage shows that Elias might just have a smidgen of Jason’s evil power coursing through his veins. Check out the reaction of the cemetery caretaker, Martin (who doesn’t live to see the end of the film version, but is spared in the novelization), when Elias discovers Jason’s grave is empty:

Slowly, Jason’s father straightened and turned to look after the old caretaker. Inside his shack, Martin upended the bottle of Wild Turkey and drank deeply, feeling the fire of the whiskey burn his throat, unable to stop shaking. He suddenly felt cold, as if someone had walked over his grave. He couldn’t stop shivering. He sank down onto the floor in the corner of his little shack, hugging the whiskey bottle to him with both arms, trembling like a leaf and saying over and over, “I didn’t, I swear I didn’t, Mr. Voorhees, I didn’t know, I swear–“

 In Jaws: The Revenge, the Great White Shark is Powered by Voodoo

One of the biggest complaints about JAWS: THE REVENGE, the much-maligned fourth film in the franchise, is that it makes no sense how a Great White shark could follow the Brody family all the way from Amity Island to the Bahamas. Well, in Hank Searls’ novelization, there’s an explanation that makes perfect sense… sort of.

Voodoo. The reason is voodoo. Apparently, Michael Brody destroyed a local witch doctor’s magic gourd (I’m not making this up), so the man sought revenge by using voodoo to send the shark into its tooth-gnashing frenzy. You’d better think twice before cutting off that guy in traffic.

Obviously, the shark also has his own reasons for working with the witch doctor, as evidenced by this extremely strange passage written from the shark’s POV:

The sound of the man-things in the water angered him, for he owned the sea.

The voodoo curse also explains Ellen Brody’s seemingly psychic link to the shark. If you can call that an explanation. However, of all the entries on the list, this is the one that most makes me want to rewatch the movie using this new context. Imagining evil voodoo magic at work might genuinely improve the experience. Maybe give this one a shot!

BH: Five Hilarious Horror Movie Blooper Reels

Yet another article rescued from the gaping hole that was once Blumhouse.com

I’m a longtime horror fan, so there aren’t a lot of movies that faze me anymore. But when a horror flick does get under my skin, leaving me sitting on the couch with the credits rolling and a chill down my spine, there’s one thing I always do: Check to see if there’s a blooper reel. You’d be surprised how many scary movies have them, and it always helps me calm down to see the actors, obviously alive, goofing around on set and reminding me that this is all just make-believe. And sometimes, they’re genuinely laugh-out-loud funny. Here are some of my favorites!

THE DESCENT

Who doesn’t need a cooldown after watching Neil Marshall’s THE DESCENT? I love this blooper reel because it shows how tight-knit the cast really was, and what a rapport they developed with the crew during their time on this perfectly claustrophobic set. Also, it’s harder to be afraid of cave monsters when they’re dancing around after effects shots.

Best Bloop: That exit sign! I love how the actress rolls with it, taking it entirely seriously, in character, instead of just bursting into giggles.

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS

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Another delight of horror movie blooper reels is seeing the other side of iconic villain performances. Watching Anthony Hopkins cracking wise in full Lecter regalia is a truly surreal experience, more mind-bending than any Gaspar Noé film.

Best Bloop: Agent Starling commanding a perp to do the hokey pokey at gunpoint.

SCREAM

A good blooper reel requires a good cast, and SCREAM had one of the best ensembles of the 90’s. There’s a real sense of fun in this glimpse backstage, whether it’s Jamie Kennedy pointing out the obvious (that Skeet Ulrich looks weirdly like Johnny Depp) or Wes Craven having a ball mopping the floor while shooting his cameo.

Best Bloop: Courtney Cox repeatedly getting tongue-tied over her line about Sidney’s mother’s murder.

CLOVERFIELD

I find this blooper reel particularly fascinating because it gives us a glimpse we haven’t really seen before into the behind-the-scenes process of making a found footage movie. We get to see the crew attempt to work around the frame and T. J. Miller goof around with a bunch of extras, but the coolest part is the final minute, which gives us a glimpse of a massive city street set mid-destruction.

Best Bloop: An intimate bedroom moment accidentally reveals a crew member feet away from the supposedly alone actress.

THE WITCH

THE WITCH is one of the scariest horror films in recent memory, so we’re all lucky we got to see bloopers so soon, for our sanity’s sake. It’s especially strange to watch actors break character in this fully realized, anachronistic world, but doubly funny for it.

Best Bloop: Anya Taylor-Joy’s line is interrupted by a horse loudly peeing behind her.

BH: How Wes Craven’s Porno Predicted His Entire Filmography

Yet another article rescued from the gaping hole that was once Blumhouse.com

If you’re a hardcore Wes Craven fan, you have to be willing to let things get a bit… well, hardcore. It’s a well-known fact that the master of horror spent many of his early years in the 70’s New York film scene editing and producing pornography, but there exists only one film that actually gives us solid enough evidence to suspect he directed it. That film is 1975’s THE FIREWORKS WOMAN, officially credited to the fictional writer-director Abe Snake (it was co-written by Hørst Badörties, which I suspect to be a pseudonym for the Swedish Chef).

Although the film has never conclusively been confirmed to be directed by Craven, there are certain clues that point us in his direction. Most notably, there’s the tiny hint that he literally has a cameo in the movie, as the mysterious Fireworks Man who may or may not be the Devil.  But even if his face wasn’t literally imprinted on the celluloid, his fingerprints are all over the tone and plot of the film. And yes, it actually has a plot.

In fact, THE FIREWORKS WOMAN might just be the Rosetta Stone of Wes Craven’s entire career. The favorite themes he started to develop in 1972’s brutal THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT come out in full force in this totally uninhibited film, which covers material that he would flesh out time and time again in literally very single one of the 19 films he wrote and directed until his tragic death in 2015.

If you remove the explicit scenes, the plot of the FIREWORKS WOMAN is very straightforward (Spoiler Warning: if it’s possible to spoil the plot of a porn film, that’s what’s about to happen): Angela, a young woman who possesses the quasi-supernatural power to ignite unbridled lust in those around her, seeks to win back Peter, an old lover who has since joined the priesthood. He also just so happens to be her brother. He resists her advances and she seeks lustful solace with a variety of mustachioed men, but in the end she seduces his entire congregation, forcing him to confront her. He leaves the priesthood and they literally sail off into the sunset.

That might just sound like a brutally efficient porn plot, but any scholar of Craven will delight in recognizing threads that would lead all the way to his final film. Immediately, one of his most common themes rises to the fore: the dark side of the American family unit. Craven’s troubled upbringing gave him a great distrust of society’s institutions, and he unearths skeletons from the closet of the outwardly perfect suburban family in almost every film he’s ever directed.

From A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (neighborhood parents can no longer hide evidence of their long-ago murder when their victim returns to exact bloody revenge on their kids in their dreams), to THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS (a white family uses their real estate prowess to oppress black minorities and locks up discarded mutant children in their basement) to the SCREAM franchise (a decade of murder and intrigue stems from the affairs of two small town parents), every blissful suburban idyll hides an ugly secret.

In Craven’s world, the suburban family harbors murder (SHOCKER), abuse (DEADLY FRIEND), and absenteeism (MUSIC OF THE HEART even gets in on the fun). Compared to the rest of his filmography, the incest between Angela and her brother might just be the tamest, healthiest family relationship there is. At least they like each other.

However, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. In THE FIREWORKS WOMAN, Craven busts out some superb nightmare imagery (one moment depicts Peter crucified on the mast of a sailboat), a common visual theme of his long before ELM STREET. Like the nightmares in DEADLY BLESSING or THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW especially, these sequences say way more about the character’s state of mind than any piece of dialogue possibly could. It’s probably the most terrifying non-sexual scene you’ll ever see in a porno, but speaking as a horror fan it’s delightful.

And don’t underestimate these scenes. For Craven, nightmares aren’t just an opportunity to shoehorn in some spooky imagery. They represent a facet of psychology that cropped up time and time again throughout his filmography. These nightmares are a symptom of Angela repressing herself, showing her desires spilling out from her subconscious. Repression actually affects both main characters in crucial but different ways.

For Angela, repression drives her to outbursts of eroticism, much in the same way that the family in THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT were driven to violence. For Craven, holding back vital aspects of one’s self would always lead to dangerous explosions of passion, usually of violence in his horror films like THE HILLS HAVE EYES. Any attempt to mold themselves to fit into society’s expectations will always lead a character to self-destruction.

For Peter, on the other hand, his repression comes from an entirely different external institution: the church. The oppressive hypocrisy of organized religion would be tackled again in DEADLY BLESSING and to a certain extent in MY SOUL TO TAKE (another film with a twisted, violent family tree spanning generations). However, Craven spits more bile toward the church that shaped his upbringing during THE FIREWORKS WOMAN than in any other film in his career. He relishes in depicting the church’s inability to control its priests, who smoke and have sex. He also indicts religious hypocrisy by displaying the absurd willingness of the congregation to succumb to their carnal desires.

Those are the main threads that link THE FIREWORKS WOMAN to Craven’s other films, but even more lies beneath he surface, including his feints toward the supernatural and his tendency toward goofy comedy (a potential rapist is hit in the head with a giant fish).

Much in the way that Angela and he brother embracing their desires freed them from their own repression, Craven unlocked his innermost cinematic thoughts and fears when he embraced working in porn.

Any film director probably views making a porno film as slumming it, but Wes Craven gave it his all. I’ve always respected his ability to crack open the deepest recesses of his mind and pour it into a screenplay, but the porn genre actually allowed him to flesh out his twisted, transgressive ideas further than any other, more inhibited genre, ever could have. THE FIREWORKS WOMAN is only a must-watch for the most certifiably insane of completist fans (like Yours Truly), but it’s a film that finds an auteur discovering his voice, and for that it’s a truly fascinating and historic motion picture, taboos be damned.

BH: The Political Timeliness of SEOUL STATION — Animated Prequel to TRAIN TO BUSAN

Yet another article rescued from the gaping hole that was once Blumhouse.com

SEOUL STATION. No, it’s not where the Soul Train departs from. It’s the animated prequel to the smash hit zombie film TRAIN TO BUSAN, from South Korean director Yeon Sang-ho. Released just a month after BUSAN, the director’s live action debut, SEOUL STATION depicts ground zero of the outbreak: a train station that serves as a den for the homeless.

SEOUL STATION sees the director returning to his comfort zone of animation, but it’s inextricably linked with BUSAN. And I don’t just mean the plot. Where TRAIN TO BUSAN was a piercing comment on how the population is so easily manipulated by the media and those in authority, SEOUL STATION pushes its political aspirations to the limit.

The lesson that Yeon Sang-ho has rightfully learned from George Romero is that zombies are an incredibly versatile source for political and social commentary. Whether it’s DAWN OF THE DEAD’s indictment of mindless consumerism or LAND OF THE DEAD’s attack on the class system, zombies are a deadly force of nature that brings out the worst in the humans caught in the middle.

That is certainly the case in SEOUL STATION, where the zombie outbreak first spreads among the abandoned and destitute population of the homeless. Patient Zero could have been saved (or at least properly quarantined) if there was any truly effective medical system in place, but the local authorities prefer to keep the smelly, depressing homeless out of sight and out of mind.

Once the virus begins to spread in earnest, it hits Seoul Station’s homeless population first, sending only a few survivors into the unforgiving night. The authorities at first don’t understand the severity of the virus, assuming that the hobos have just gone crazy. They mercilessly take down as many of them as possible, ridding themselves of what at first seems to be a messy nuisance.

Unfortunately, this is also how the few survivors are treated. They’re homeless (and in our main character’s case, a teenage runaway who was just kicked out of a pimping boyfriend’s apartment), so in the eyes of the station guards they’re just as likely as the others to flip out and attack.

As the rules and regulations of society begin to break down, the citizens of South Korea cling to the social and military structures that they have been taught to trust and respect. People wield their patriotism and service to their country as badges of honor that should somehow exempt them from the bloody death being dished out left and right. Unfortunately, the zombies couldn’t care less about this. Nor could the authorities, who are just as obsessed with self-preservation and more equipped to pursue it.

I won’t go further because I’d hate to get into spoiler territory, but it’s needless to say that things don’t go great for everyone. Desperate survivors clinging to the social strictures that bind them are a throughline between the two films, but SEOUL STATION introduces the most important, immediately concerning political idea of the two: the problem with the homeless.

The real life Seoul Station in South Korea might not be under siege by a legion of bloodthirsty zombies, but it really is facing a homelessness epidemic of disastrous proportions. Destitute foreigners and South Korean citizens flock to the station to live, suffer, and die in poverty, languishing under a system that would prefer to sweep them under the rug.

The director has made a habit of tackling controversial social issues in his animated films (his feature-length debut THE KING OF PIGS is about murder, bankruptcy, and bullying, his follow-up THE FAKE is about the hypocrisy of organized religion, and his short THE WINDOW covers military violence), but SEOUL STATION strikes right to the core of an urgent and immediate need, not just in South Korea.

In America, the popular topic is health care rather than specifically homelessness, but a major issue is the ability for the poor to access proper medical care, a major kernel at the center of SEOUL STATION’s political manifesto. Whether you’re approaching the film from an Eastern or a Western perspective, it holds up a mirror to a part of society that is suffering, humanizing the issues of an entire class of people that has been ignored for too long.

Between TRAIN TO BUSAN and SEOUL STATION, it looks like zombie cinema has found the perfect person to take up the mantle of George Romero’s groundbreaking political horror. One can only hope that Yeon Sang-ho’s success will allow him to continue his reign of terror with that unique, unflinching perspective.

SEOUL STATION is currently available on iTunes! Check it out if you want some animated zombie mayhem with political bite!

BH: Five Slasher Movies That Roger Ebert Actually Liked

Yet another article rescued from the gaping hole that was once Blumhouse.com

Anybody who has read any amount of horror film criticism probably knows how much the legendary Chicago Sun-Times movie critic Roger Ebert hated slasher movies. He dubbed them “Dead Teenager” movies, and constantly criticized their immoral attitudes and slipshod construction. In fact, Ebert and his longtime TV co-host Gene Siskel engaged in a misguided anti-slasher campaign in the 1980s [read all about that here and watch their slasher-themed episode of SNEAK PREVIEWS], which included publicly shaming Betsy Palmer for appearing in FRIDAY THE 13TH and publishing a list of SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT’s cast and crew in their pan of the “killer Santa” flick.

As a hardcore slasher fan, it’s tough to see that kind of criticism from a reviewer you respect, but the fact that Ebert so vehemently hated the genre accidentally created a very elite group of films that any enthusiast should check out immediately. You see, Ebert didgive good reviews to a small handful of slasher flicks — generally ones that broke significantly from the typical formula. While he certainly approached the subgenre from a different perspective, that kind of thing is also what veteran horror experts are trying to seek out: slashers that bring something new and exciting to the table.

Some of the entries he liked are hallowed classics that shouldn’t be surprising — we’re talking films like PSYCHO, SCREAM, DRESSED TO KILL, and CANDYMAN. But I’d like to take a moment and sift through some of the more obscure and interesting titles he awarded with a coveted positive review!

[Note: The star ratings that appear alongside these titles are on Ebert’s normal scale out of four stars.]

PEEPING TOM (1960) ****

PEEPING TOM, a film once so controversial it nearly derailed the career of legendary director Michael Powell, has certainly come up in the public estimation since it was released (when it got caught in the massive shadow of Hitchcock’s era-defining PSYCHO). But this harrowing tale of a voyeuristic cameraman who murders beautiful women is a classic in its own right, and the more people that get an opportunity to check it out, the better horror fandom will be for it.

In Roger’s own words:

His film is a masterpiece precisely because it doesn’t let us off the hook, like all of those silly teenage slasher movies do. We cannot laugh and keep our distance: We are forced to acknowledge that we watch, horrified but fascinated.

MOTEL HELL (1980) ***

Just look at that image! Ebert actually liked this movie, which may come as shocking to longtime followers of his horror-hate. But the man was smart, and he recognized that what MOTEL HELL is working with is unlike any movie before or since; the tale of cannibalistic farmers who turn people into jerky is a sparkling, hilarious send-up of grindhouse sleazefests that is chock-full of imagery you’ll struggle to erase from your brain.

Ebert had this to say about the film:

What MOTEL HELL brings to this genre is the refreshing sound of laughter. This movie is disgusting, of course; it’s impossible to satirize this material, I imagine, without presenting the subject matter you’re satirizing. But MOTEL HELL is not nearly as gruesome as the films it satirizes, and it finds the right stylistic note for its central characters, who are simple, cheerful, smiling, earnest, and resourceful cannibals.

PSYCHO III (1986) ***

It’s not at all a shock that Ebert was a fan of the original PSYCHO — but this might just be the only slasher Part 3 he had anything nice to say about. And PSYCHO III deserves it — although it works more in the milieu of the slasher than the original’s psychological thriller vein, it’s a stunning and stylish motion picture chock full of gonzo, unpredictable scenes, and a talented ensemble of ’80s actors.

A choice Ebert quote:

Any movie named PSYCHO III is going to be compared to the Hitchcock original, but Perkins isn’t an imitator. He has his own agenda. He has lived with Norman Bates all these years, and he has some ideas about him, and although the movie doesn’t apologize for Norman, it does pity him. For the first time, I was able to see that the true horror in the PSYCHO movies isn’t what Norman does… but the fact that he is compelled to do it.

JACK’S BACK (1988) ***

What drew Ebert to this story of a murderer following in Jack the Ripper’s footsteps on the famous London murderer’s 100th birthday was the central performance from (then) up-and-coming actor James Spader. Who could possibly blame him?

According to Ebert:

All of this sounds contrived. Of course it is contrived. A movie like this is nothing without contrivance, and one of its pleasures is to watch the plot gimmicks as they twist inward upon themselves, revealing one level of surprise after another.

I, MADMAN (1989) ***

I, MADMAN, which recently hit Blu-Ray via Scream Factory, is a tragically underrated film. Jenny Wright stars as a voracious reader whose reality begins to blend with the horror novel she’s reading. It’s one of the best of the post-ELM STREET supernatural slashers, and Randall William Cook’s twisted make-up effects are killer (pun absolutely intended).

Says Ebert:

What’s original about this movie is the fun it has with the thin line between reality and imagination, between what Virginia is reading and what is really happening.

Honorable Mentions (all of these received three stars out of four):

• CHILD’S PLAY
• FINAL DESTINATION
• SCREAM 2
• WES CRAVEN’S NEW NIGHTMARE
• AMERICAN PSYCHO

BH: Harry Potter Was in TROLL? Exploring Weird Horror Movie Name Doppelgängers

Yet another article rescued from the gaping hole that was once Blumhouse.com

There are only so many names out there in the world. I myself have a fairly uncommon name, but I’ve met a handful of Brennans in my travels. Hell, a cursory Google search will probably tell you that you share a name with an Olympic figure skater or a PTA president or a Minnesota law student. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that movie characters also have names that overlap with real people. Anybody named Sally Hardesty probably got the thrill of their lives when TEXAS CHAIN SAW came out.

However, there are certain cases where a screenwriter will pick a name for a character, only to have that name be swept up by some incredibly popular public figure a decade or more later, making that character’s appearance seem incredibly bizarre in retrospect. Here are some horror movie name doppelgängers that weird me out every time.

Harry Potter Gets His First Taste of Magic in TROLL

The 1986 John Carl Buechler project TROLL proved that Harry Potter had experience fighting trolls long before his dungeon escapades in THE SORCERER’S STONE. That’s right, one of the lead characters in this Empire film about a San Francisco family fighting a diminutive creature shares a name with the boy wizard who swept the globe eleven years later. In fact, there are two Harry Potters crammed into the film: Harry Potter Jr., whose sister becomes possessed by the troll (don’t ask), and his father, Harry Potter Sr. This coincidence is nothing less than magical.

Viola Davis Meets a Bitter End in BLOODY BIRTHDAY

The Oscar-winning actress Viola Davis is best known for her roles in prestigious flicks like DOUBT, FENCES, and THE HELP, but long before she hit the Hollywood scene, her namesake faced off against a trio of murderous children in 1981’s BLOODY BIRTHDAY. Miss Viola Davis was a young schoolteacher who met a violent end, which actually sounds like a great role to help the current Davis toward her next Oscar.

Hans Gruber Dies Hard in RE-ANIMATOR

Hans Gruber, the dastardly terrorist portrayed by Alan Rickman in 1988’s DIE HARD, is one of action cinema’s most iconic villains. But just three years before, his name could be found adorning the ill-fated professor in Stuart Gordon’s cult classic RE-ANIMATOR. Dr. Hans Gruber is the subject of the first experiment by Herbert West, his medical student at the University of Zurich. After his death, West accidentally overdoses Gruber with re-animating reagent, giving him one of the grossest demises in an already goopy, gory movie. Way better than falling in slow motion out of a high-rise, if you ask me.

Mike Myers Came Home Long Before AUSTIN POWERS

This is by far the biggest name doppelgänger at large, to the point that they make a joke about it in the stunning trailer for Edgar Wright’s BABY DRIVER. Canadian comedian Mike Myers made a name for himself with iconic roles in films like WAYNE’S WORLD and AUSTIN POWERS, but he was building his legacy off that otherMichael Myers, the legendary serial slasher from John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN. Mike Myers himself has even poked fun at this connection, inserting himself into the opening scene of SCREAM when he hosted the 1997 MTV Movie Awards. Check out the video!

The best thing about this entry is that Dana Carvey had a bit part in 1981’s HALLOWEEN II, making that his first official film co-starring with Mike Myers.

James Cameron Busted Blocks Four Years Before TERMINATOR

James Cameron was working in Hollywood long before 1984, but he first reached wide public consciousness with his directorial debut THE TERMINATOR in 1984. However, certain audiences would have already heard the name, as it belonged to the hardboiled Inspector James Cameron, John Smihula’s character in the 1980 Z-grade picture THE LONG ISLAND CANNIBAL MASSACRE!

Bonus: The Loomis Variations

I couldn’t resist giving a nod to that other big name doppelgänger from HALLOWEEN, even though this one was definitely on purpose. Donald Pleasence’s manic Dr. Samuel Loomis takes his name from the granddaddy of all slashers: Alfred Hitchcock’s PSYCHO, in which barrel-chested hardware store owner Sam Loomis investigates the disappearance of his lover at the eerie Bates Motel. The namesake would also be picked up again in 1996 when Wes Craven’s SCREAM cast Skeet Ulrich as the skeevy Billy Loomis. That name hasn’t carried over into any 21st century flicks yet, but I can’t wait for the next great horror filmmaker to continue the tradition.

BH: Eight Truly Terrifying Modern Movie Masks

Yet another article rescued from the gaping hole that was once Blumhouse.com

The horror genre is full of iconic masks: Michael Myers’ blank-faced HALLOWEEN mask, Jason Voorhees’s hockey mask, Ghostface’s pale visage… You’d think the genre would have run out of ideas by now, but modern films are still creating immensely terrifying masks, even if they haven’t had the time to become icons yet. Here are some of the best and creepiest.

Smiley in SMILEY (2012)

I can’t say I’ve ever seen this YouTube-based horror flick, but I’ve seen enough screenshots to have this particular mask haunt me. It’s a fleshlike material carved into a violent, bloody smile that makes me anything but happy.

Chromeskull in LAID TO REST (2009)

Maybe this one is more “awesome” than “scary,” but you can’t go wrong with a mask like Chromeskull’s. It’s a chrome skull, which is really pretty self-explanatory, but it’s such a fun, clever look in a film that’s vastly underseen.

The Animals in YOU’RE NEXT (2013)

The trio of killers in Adam Wingard’s YOU’RE NEXT wear the masks of three different animals. The first is a tiger, the second is a fox, but the third is a true perversion of innocence: a docile lamb. Seeing these blank-faced creatures bring visceral death and carnage to an old country home is even more powerful because of that third heat.

The Strangers in THE STRANGERS (2008)

Home invasions are terrible things to begin with, but they’re made even worse by the utterly terrifying masks donned by the titular Strangers in Bryan Bertino’s 2008 flick. I can’t even begin to choose which one freaks me out the most, but there’s something truly uncanny about the woman on the left, whose mask cuts off too soon at the forehead, giving her face an incomplete look that’s just jarring.

Owen in LET ME IN (2010)

This mask in LET ME IN never sees action. It just appears in an early scene where the main character Owen is playacting in his room, but it’s a shame the clear monstrosity doesn’t get more screentime. There’s something creepy about actually being able to see the face behind the mask, except for the fact that it’s eerily distorted.

The Killer in HUSH (2016)

Blank faces are a staple of horror movie masks, from Michael Myers to the aforementioned YOU’RE NEXT animals, but HUSH takes the model one step further by smoothing out the facial features to the barest suggestion of a face. Though it happens in a narratively satisfying way, it’s a shame this cool mask is removed from the film far too soon.

Babyface in THE HILLS RUN RED (2009)

What is it about modern masks looking like they’re made of actual rent flesh? This mask is like TOURIST TRAP meets Leatherface meets a Pinocchio fever dream. Babyface’s visage is definitely one of the best of the decade.

The Purgers in THE PURGE (2013)

The PURGE franchise is full of incredible masks, but you just can’t beat the original. The wicked glee on these blank-eyed masks is exactly what you don’t want to see outside your peephole in the middle of the night.

BH: Listen to These Nine Horror Podcasts Made by Fans of SHOCK WAVES!

Yet another article rescued from the gaping hole that was once Blumhouse.com

It’s so easy to listen to podcasts. You can listen while driving, doing chores, working, eating, sorting your Blu-Ray collection, catching butterflies, and on and on and on. But if you’re a ravenous podcast consumer, you can whittle down the available episodes in no time at all. Then it’s time to dive deeper into the world of more obscure podcasts to find something to fill your feed.

But don’t just grab any old podcast! Why not check out these nine fun horror-related shows created by fans of the Blumhouse podcast SHOCK WAVES, which I hope many of you are already subscribed to. These are all podcasts hosted or co-hosted by members of the Shock Waves Horror Movie Club group on Facebook, your premiere place for horror fans discussing everything fun and flirty about the genre. Check it!

The Screamcast

We couldn’t have a list like this and not include an entry from our Facebook group’s intrepid moderator and Blumhouse.com contributor BJ Colangelo! The Queen of Scream is joined by Sean Duregger and Brad Henderson in this fun podcast that covers classic, cult, and indie horror. They have an impressive roster of guests, like MANIAC’s Bill Lustig, LEPRECHAUN 3 & 4’s Brian Trenchard-Smith, and SPRING duo Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead. As you should already know, BJ always brings an incredibly fun perspective, and this podcast is definitely one not to miss.

Try This Episode: “ScreamCast 67: Morality vs. the Horror Fan” (released 7/7/2015)

Kill by Kill

Kill by Kill co-hosts Patrick Hamilton and Gena Radcliffe pride themselves on discussing (and making jokes about) the least-explored element of any slasher film: the characters. As they work their way through the FRIDAY THE 13TH franchise two or three kills at a time, they crack wise about pop culture, discuss which ways they’d prefer to be murdered, and agonize over the motivations and personalities of slasher movie characters. They have a unique talent for noticing details that you’ve never ever noticed in films you’ve seen a dozen times. Special guests have included WIZARD OF GORE director Jeremy Kasten, ROOM 237 documentarian Rodney Ascher, and (for their PROM NIGHT special episode), the actual real-life woman Patrick took to prom!

Try This Episode: “Episode 14 – Friday the 13th Part 3D (with Clint Worthington)” (released 11/11/2016)

Scream 101

Full disclosure, one of the co-hosts of this particular podcast is Yours Truly.  I’m obviously a huge horror nerd, but my co-host Sergio is a novice. Every month we review four films from a different horror subgenre (recent months included giallo flicks, 70’s proto-slashers, and aquatic horror), starting at the big popular titles (TENEBRAE, JAWS) and narrowing down to the more obscure as we go (YOUR VICE IS A LOCKED ROOM AND ONLY I HAVE THE KEY, ORCA: THE KILLER WHALE). Our different perspectives provide for some interesting conversations, if I do say so myself!

Try This Episode: “Halloween Bonus: HALLOWEEN II (1981) w/ Patrick Hamilton of Kill by Kill” (released 10/31/2016)

Halloweekly

As the name implies, this is a weekly podcast covering all kinds of horror topics. The show is hosted by George Healy and Nick Rollins (who also run some killer live videos on the Halloweekly Facebook group). A few episodes ago, they started a fun project titled “How Low Can We Go?” where each week they review poorly rated horror movies on Rotten Tomatoes, starting at 59% and working their way down one point at a time. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait for the single digits.

Try This Episode: “Revisiting the Carrie Remake” (released 5/31/2017)

Grindbin

From Mike Wood, Chris Mann, and Bobby Trippett, The Grindbin is a grindhouse/exploitation podcast. Every week they dust off a classic grindhouse title from the 70’s and 80’s. It’s not always a horror title, but it’s a fascinating glimpse into an era of cinema that deserves a closer look. I’m a particular fan of last November, in which they did a five-part marathon of Linda Blair vehicles.

Try This Episode: “Episode 36 – Hell Night (1981) – Blairvember Part 4” (released 11/23/2016)

Scott & Liam vs. Evil

Shock Waves fans span from all over the globe, as proven by Scott and Liam, who co-host this horror double feature podcast from sunny Scotland. Every two weeks, they tackle two thematically linked horror flicks for this fun and gloriously NSFW podcast.

Try This Episode: “Scott & Liam vs Krampus/Silent Night, Deadly Night” (released 12/16/2016)

Don’t Read the Latin

Jennifer Lovely and Michael Montoure co-host this podcast which lives up to Jennifer’s last name. This one is less of a specific review show, following the Shock Waves model of discussing a wide-ranging horror topic every episode, from Spanish horror to favorite directors to romance and fairy tales.

Try This Episode: “Episode 30: Wes Craven Retrospective” (released 9/21/2015)

Decades of Horror: The Classic Era

There are a half-dozen incarnations of the Decades of Horror podcasts, but The Classic Era (covering the silent era through the 1960’s) is an essential guide to a period in horror that more fans need to consider with open arms. Hosts Erin, Joseph, Jeff, and Chad will lead you through big titles like KING KONG and PSYCHO, but you’d be remiss if you ignored their more obscure picks, like 1967’s MANEATER OF HYDRA or 1949’s THE QUEEN OF SPADES.

Try This Episode: “The Tingler (1959) – Episode 5” (released 3/29/2017)

Horreur Gamer

OK, I can’t exactly speak to the quality of this one because the entire podcast (co-hosted by SW fan Sébastien Bouc-Hard) is in French, which I admittedly do not speak. But 1) It’s incredible that Shock Waves has fans all across the world, and 2) It sounds so well-produced I want to get started on Rosetta Stone right away.

Try This Episode: Je ne sais pas