cult films

(Source: phantomblogger)

a traumatized vietnam war veteran finds out that his post-war life isn’t what he believes it to be when he’s attacked by horned creatures in the subway and his dead son comes to visit him.

dir.: adrian lyne
drama / horror
1990

tim robbins as jacob singer
elizabeth peña as jezzie

some facts:

- all sfx were filmed live, with no post-production. for example, to achieve the famous ‘shaking head’ effect, lyne simply filmed the actor waving his head around (and keeping his shoulders and the rest of his body completely still) at 4fps, resulting in an incredibly fast and deeply disturbing motion when played back at the normal frame-rate of 24fps.
- the bergen street station in the film was actually an abandoned, lower level portion of the station, which had to be re-tiled and fixed to look as if it was still in working condition.
- all ads in the subway and bergen street station are anti-drug ads.
- according to the original script, after jacob is nearly run over by the subway train, a sequence involving a man being raped in the subway station mens bathroom was supposed to occur. it was filmed but deleted from the final cut (parts of the scene can be seen in the making-of featurette building ‘jacob’s ladder’).
- lyne made sure jacob and his visions never appear together in the same shot.
- the closing legend of the film mentions the testing of a drug named bz in vietnam. bz is nato code for a hallucinogen called 3-quinuclidinyl benzilate, which was rumored to have been administered to us troops during the vietnam war in an attempt to increase their combat abilities.
- for all of the chiropractor scenes, lyne ensured there was a real chiropractor on-set, who would work with actor danny aiello so as to ensure authenticity. according to lyne, chiropractors often approach him and thank him for going to the trouble of getting what they do exactly right.
- according to lyne, most of the dialogue in the opening scene between the soldiers was improvised on set by the actors themselves, especially the conversation between george (ving rhames) and jacob (tim robbins) about masturbation.
- lyne also heavily rewrote the scene involving the biblical jacob’s ladder at the end of the film. writer bruce joel rubin had written the scene to involve a massive staircase ascending into the clouds, with crowds of people lining it, towering columns, and huge gates at the summit. again however, lyne felt that such an image could come across as preposterous (he refers to rubin’s original conception as the liberace scene’ on the dvd commentary track). as such, lyne rewrote the scene to involve simply the staircase in jacob’s house, basing this on the principal that heaven is wherever you were happiest.
- in the original screenplay, writer bruce joel rubin had created a typical biblical hell, complete with winged demons, cloven hoofed devils with horns, people with beaks and strange objects lying randomly around (director adrian lyne likens rubin’s vision to the work of hieronymus bosch). as with rubin’s general depiction of demons however, lyne felt that such scenes could very easily make an audience laugh. as such, he decided to rewrite the scene of jacob’s descent into hell; ultimately coming up with the hospital sequence where jacob is wheeled on a gurney into a metaphorical hell which becomes more and more grotesque as he moves.
- in bruce joel rubin’s original screenplay, all of the demons who appear throughout the film were typical biblical demons with horns, wings, cloven hooves etc. lyne felt that this kind of imagery could very easily come across as comic, which would destroy the film. he felt that the fact that the imagery was so far from human lessened its impact, and as such, he decided he wanted the demons to be humanesque, but not quite human. during his research into this (which was when he discovered the photography of joel-peter witkin), lyne came across the thalidomide scandal. thalidomide was a drug made available for purchase from 1957 to 1961. ostensibly, it was designed to treat pregnant women; primarily as an antiemetic to combat morning sickness, and secondarily as a sleeping aid. however, prior to its release, inadequate clinical tests were carried out, leading to roughly 10,000 children in africa and europe being born with severe physical deformities because their mothers had taken thalidomide during their pregnancy. the most common defects were phocomelia, dysmelia, amelia and polymelia; all conditions which affect the appearance of the limbs. during his research, lyne studied the thalidomide case, and came to feel that the birth defects caused by the drug represented the perfect starting place for his redesign of rubin’s demons. the thalidomide scandal was also the inspiration for david cronenberg’s scanners.
- according to lyne, the drug aspect of the story was inspired by the martin lee and bruce shlain book, “acid dreams: the cia, lsd and sixties rebellion”.
- lyne used the art of painters william blake, h.r. giger, and francis bacon and photographers diane arbus and joel-peter witkin as his primary influences for the visual style of the film.
- in an ironic reversal, lyne turned down directorial duties on the bonfire of the vanities so he could direct jacob’s ladder. his first choice for the role of jacob singer was tom hanks, but hanks turned down the film so he could make the bonfire of the vanities.
- actors who were allegedly interested in playing the leading role of jacob singer included dustin hoffman, al pacino and richard gere. for the role of jezzie, director adrian lyne auditioned roughly 300 women, including julia roberts, andie macdowell, madonna and jennifer lopez. the role eventually went to the very first person who auditioned - elizabeth peña.
- the track “rabbit in your headlights” from UNKLE takes its title from a quote from the film; dialogue from the film is also one of many samples on the song.

+: imdb

“die or shup up”

dir.: bruce mcdonald
horror / mystery / suspense
2008 

stephen mchattie / lisa houle / georgina reilly

facts:
- the original conceptualization for the movie was to have tony burgess, the writer, read the script with the wavering line being the only visual. sydney’s voice would be heard and laurel-ann would only get a mention.
- pontypool was produced as both a motion picture, and as a radio play. both versions were influenced by orson welles’ infamous radio production of the war of the worlds. the radio play was broadcast on the bbc’s art & culture section of their world service website. it is approximately 58 minutes long, as opposed to the film’s running time of 95 minutes.
- one scene features neal stephenson’s novel snow crash, a book featuring an ear worm or memetic virus that transfers itself through verbal information.

+: imdb

do you really want to provide a genocide with elevator music?

george a. romero: interviews (conversations with filmmakers series)

george a. romero (b. 1940) has achieved a surprising longevity as director since his first film, night of the living dead (1968). after recently relocating to canada, he shows no signs of slowing up: his recent film, survival of the dead (2009), is discussed in a new interview conducted by tony williams for this volume, and still other films are awaiting release. although commonly known as a director of zombie films, a genre he himself launched, romero’s films often transcend easy labels. his films are best understood as allegorical commentaries on american life that just happen to appropriate horror as a convenient vehicle. romero’s films encompass works as different as the crazies, hungry wives, knightriders, and bruiser.

the interviews in this collection cover a period of over forty years. in whatever format they originally appeared-the printed page, the internet, or the video interview-these discussions illustrate both the evolution of romero’s chosen forms of technology and the development of his thinking about the relationship between cinema and society. they present romero as an independent director in every sense of the word.

via zombienice

+: amazon

sir christopher lee
born may 27, 1922

an english actor and musician. he initially portrayed villains and became famous for his role as count dracula in a string of hammer horror films. other notable roles include lord summerisle in the wicker man (1973), francisco scaramanga in the man with the golden gun (1974), count dooku in star wars episodes ii and iii (2002, 2005) and saruman in the lord of the rings film trilogy (2001–2003). he considers his most important role to have been his portrayal of pakistan’s founder muhammad ali jinnah in the biopic jinnah (1998). he is also known for his deep, strong voice.

lee has performed roles in 266 films since 1948 making him the guinness book world record holder for most film acting roles ever. he was knighted in 2009 and received the bafta fellowship in 2011.

+: “vampires don’t chat. so i didn’t write him any dialogue. lee has claimed that he refused to speak the lines he was given … so you can take your pick as to why christopher lee didn’t have any dialogue in the picture. or you can take my word for it. i didn’t write any.” - jimmy sangster explaining why dracula didn’t have any lines in dracula: prince of darkness.

+: wikipedia & imdb

“it’s as much fun to scare as to be scared.”
vincent price
may 27, 1911 - october 25, 1993

+: wikipedia & imdb

the abominable dr. phibes
1971

aliens who look like clowns come from outer space and terrorize a small town.

dir.: stephen chiodo
horror / sci-fi / comedy
1988

some facts:

- the giant “king klown” from the ending sequence, affectively called “klownzilla” by the chiodo brothers, was actually played by one of them (charles). 
- director stephen chiodo had hoped the shower scene would rival alfred hitchcock’s masterpiece psycho (1960), substituting a toilet bowl swirl for the shower drain. 
- the $2 million budget went primarily on production costs. the clowns and visual effects were created almost entirely by the filmmakers at very little cost. 
- an early version of the restaurant scene was shot showing the chiodo brothers sitting at a table in the background as extras. 
- the scene where a klown rams a car off the road and kills the driver was originally intended to be an opening prologue to the film, and the driver was to be the character joe lombardo. for this prologue there was also a scene shot where joe and his date are kissing on a deserted dark road and after his date rejects him, he angrily drives off alone only to meet his demise with the klown. however when it was decided to have an opening credit sequence be seen first, the kissing rejection scene ended up on the cutting room floor, and the car crash scene was placed at a later point in the film with the driver not being joe lombardo. he ended up being the name of a dead person that mike and debbie discover wrapped up in a cotton candy cocoon in the final version. 
- the scene in which a car is thrown over a cliff was initially intended to be far more spectacular - the car was to fly over the cliff and crash down to the ground. unfortunately, the sling rope snapped because effects crew members neglected to remove the stoppers from underneath the car’s wheels. the result was what is seen in the final film, the car slowly tumbles over the edge and becomes caught on a tree. 
- the tagline seen on the dvd box art says “in space, no one can eat ice cream”. this is a play on words that pays homage to the tagline for the 1979 film alien (1979), which states “in space no one can hear you scream”. 
- horrorcore rap group, the insane clown posse often sample quotes from this film in their music, most notably on their “the wraith: shangri-la” album.