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IT'S ONLY A RUMOR!
05.26.2006.... Turner Classic Movies has announced that horror rocker/filmmaker Rob Zombie will host TCM UNDERGROUND, a weekly late-night cult-movie showcase debuting in October. Zombie will not only introduce the features but select them as well. Already set for broadcast are George Romero’s THE CRAZIES, Francis Coppola’s debut shocker DEMENTIA 13, Leonard Castle’s THE HONEYMOON KILLERS, Seijun Suzuki’s Yakuza thriller TOKYO DRIFTER and Ed Wood’s BRIDE OF THE MONSTER. Like all of TCM’s movies, they’ll be presented uninterrupted and commercial-free..... The success of the Showtime series MASTERS OF HORROR has spawned not only a planned MASTERS OF SCI-FI spin-off, but a foreign edition. ITALIAN MASTERS OF HORROR will feature four films by veterans of spaghetti nightmares....... 04.11.2006...... GODZILLA, the hit stage play that was a hit in Japan makes its American premiere in Washington DC this Thursday! A hapless young woman faces family strife when she falls for a gigantic mutant dinosaur. Is this the lost prequel to HONORE FINNEGAN AND THE BRAIN OF THE GALAXY? Washington PFS members should check it out here.... 03.31.2006..... Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman will play Roger Ebert in a movie about the late, controversial auteur Russ Meyer....
01.16.2006....... B-Fest is back again! everybody go read my B-Fest piece for the Chitown Daily News!: http://bfest.notlong.com
10.14.2005....Well another gang of hairy whos have joined our
ranks. Welcome the SE Wisconsin clench of the Psychotronic Film Society, and
look what they're up to 10.28.2005:..... HALLOWEEN FILM FEST
at CATHE Join the Psychotronic Film Society (southeastern Wisconsin tentacle) for an evening of films, shorts, a serial, and discussion – FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28 at the CATHE. FREE!
FREE! FREE! Starts at Main features: 7:30 – 9:15 –
Godzilla vs. the Thing (Mothra vs.
Godzilla) (1964, 98 min) 9:15 – 10:45
– Abbott & Costello Meet
Frankenstein (83 min) 1948 10:45 – 12
midnight – The Black Cat (65 min) 1934 (All starting times are approximate!) FREE!
FREE! FREE! And join CATHE and the PFS(SEWT) next month for TURKEY MOVIES! 07.24.2005...... Culture fans can meet up with us next weekend at the Flashback Weekend HORRORAMA DRIVE-IN and convention. Meet Bruce Campbell and watch his new movie MAN WITH THE SCREAMING BRAIN on the big outdoor screen!..... 06.20.2005........ Get ready to rumble at the VIVA LAS VEGAS ROCKABILLY PARTY WEEKEND......... Yoshimitsu Banno may be the director of a new Godzilla film in 3D and made for IMAX and other large format theaters. Mr. Banno has signed a contract with Toho to use Godzilla and Hedorah the Smog Monster in his film. He will discuss the new movie and answer questions at G-FEST XII........ Another summer event to add to your schedule is FLASHBACK WEEKEND. The drive-in will never die!......... Disney is developing a live-action retooling of UNDERDOG....... George Romero says that if LAND OF THE DEAD is a hit, you won't have to wait 20 years for another sequel. He's ready for another one right away........
05.24.2005..... Over at Time.com, their tottering old film critics Richard Schickel and Richard Corliss have released a list entitled "All-Time 100 Movies", supposedly their picks for the best 100, in an effort to have some fun debating the value of different movies. The list includes the expected lobster faves and popular hits, but also quite a few psychotronic films, which would have been unlikely in any such list published 20 years ago. Included: BLADE RUNNER, BRAZIL, BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, DETOUR, DRUNKEN MASTER 2, E.T., THE FLY, INVASION OF THE BODYSNATCHERS, KING KONG, LORD OF THE RINGS, METROPOLIS, OUT OF THE PAST, PINOCCHIO, PSYCHO, PULP FICTION, SHERLOCK JR., STAR WARS, TAXI DRIVER, A TOUCH OF ZEN, UNFORGIVEN and YOJIMBO. Maybe we should announce a Top 100 psychotronic list to get some cheap publicity, too..... A lot of people laughed 20 years ago when Sylvester Stallone said he wanted to make a movie about Edgar Allan Poe. Shooting is finally set to begin this year..... 05.17.2005..... PFS pal Anthony Ferrante's first flick BOO is screening at Cannes and looks damn scary. Check out the trailer here..... 03.08.2005....... WTF?!? Keanu Reeves, fresh from making the most of being miscast as CONSTANTINE, has signed on to play the lead in THE 8th VOYAGE OF SINBAD for director Rob Cohen, which we assume will be a pastiche of the Ray Harryhausen Sinbad flicks. And since the plot takes Sinbad to China, there's likely to be some kung fu, too...... We've been anxiously waiting for Eli Roth to follow up on the promise of CABIN FEVER.His slate includes THE BOX, THE BAD SEED and SCAVENGER HUNT, but next month he starts shooting HOSTEL with Jay Hernandez........ WTF?!? Part 2: Rumor has it that Quentin Tarantino is considering writing and directing the next FRIDAY THE 13th movie.... 01.27.2005...... Get the scoop on our upcoming shows at the Improv Kitchen here......... A class action suit is being brought against MGM for selling "widescreen" movies on DVD that are actually zoomboxed. That's right, your copies of COFFY, KISS ME DEADLY, ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES, PUMPKINHEAD, SCANNERS, AMITYVILLE HORROR, or other psychotronic films might be zoomboxed. This practice, in which the cropped fullscreen version is simply matted instead of formatted to the proper aspect ration, has been going on for years at several video labels, but not many people got upset about it until more folks got widescreen TVs. Read more here...... 01.18.2005........ Look for the cast of SHAUN OF THE DEAD to turn up in George Romero's upcoming LAND OF THE DEAD....... 01.14.2005.... Psychotronic Film Society of Paris? We're not telling. While patrolling a section of the city's extensive catacombs and tunnels, the police recently discovered a highly sophisticated movie theater built in a huge hidden chamber adorned with mystic symbols. The theater is equipped with electronic security devices and phone lines, and film cans of several classic films were found by the projector, along with a note reading "Do not try to find us." Details in the Guardian........ Shopping for a new home computer this year? Check out the latest model........ Takashi Shimizu will be back to direct THE GRUDGE 2....... 01.07.2005....... 2005 slates have
been announced for major studios psychotronic theatrical releases, more proof
the psychotronic is now the mainstream: 01.06.2005..... Santo lives! Even the Son of Santo is too old to wrestle, but the legend lives on in animation, now showing on the Cartoon Network in Mexico. You can see episodes online here...... 01.03.2005.......... It's a new year and we've got more shows at the Improv Kitchen. Get the scoop here.........
12.31.2004....... Yuen Woo-ping is signed up to direct SNOW WHITE & THE SEVEN, in which a princess on the run befriends 7 Shaolin monks, from a script by art house fave Michael Chabon (WONDER BOYS) of all people........ 12.20.2004....... For your holiday enjoyment, children horrified by Santa Claus..... David Goyer (BLADE: TRINITY) has signed to produce, write and direct THE FLASH..... The hit video game Tom Clancy's SPLINTER CELL is headed for the movies under the direction of Peter Berg (THE RUNDOWN)........ Chow Yun-fat will play an infamous Chinese pirate in two planned PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN sequels..... 12.13.2004....... Our last show of the year will be this Thursday night at Improv Kitchen. Last week's showing of BATTLE ROYALE was SRO, with many of you brighter members calling ahead to make reservations. Get the whole scoop here, and we'll see y'all in 2005!...... Fox isn't satisfied with only one spin-off of X-MEN in the works, so WOLVERINE will soon be joined by MAGNETO..... Those hoping to see Paul Schrader's shelved EXORCIST prequel as a bonus on the EXORCIST: THE BEGINNING DVD will have to wait a while, as Warner Bros. have reconsidered in the face of the $42 million Renny Harlin's version took in at the box office, and are considering a limited theatrical release....... Good news for those that came in late or missed the boat entirely for the excellent ABC series LOST. Reruns start this Wednesday night with the pilot, followed by all ten episodes running through February, when they'll pick up things with show 11..... As a result of this year's rash of zombie films, RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD 4 and 5 are reportedly already in the can, directed back-to-back by Ellory Elkayam (EIGHT LEGGED FREAKS)..... 11.18.2004.... Don't forget that
PFS shows start TONIGHT in our new home at Improv Kitchen. Click
here for the scoop....... Well now we know why Sam Raimi backed off
on getting Ash involved with Freddy & Jason. With a work order to fill for a
bunch of new flicks from his Ghosthouse Films company, Raimi and friends are
making a deal to remake THE EVIL DEAD!..... 10.26.2004....... PFS member David "The Rock" Nelson writes in to tell us: "Yes, I WILL be live on "WGN Morning News"(WGN-TV) this *Fri. morn., between 7 & 9 am Central Time(8-10 am Eastern, or 5-7 am Pacific), for a 5-minute interview & clips shown of my new monster/comedy movie! It'll be "Fun"! Also, the same man who's interviewing me on WGN-TV Fri. morn., interviewed me for this Fri.'s Tribune "Red Eye" Paper, sold all-over Chicagoland! Look for WGN-TV Larry Potash's article on me, near the back of the "Red Eye", this Friday, *Oct. 29th! 10.18.2004......... Friends of the PFS will be showing BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS (in tribute to Russ Meyer) at Odd Obsession films, 1659 N. Halsted, Chicago, this Friday, October 22, at 11:00 pm. Admission is free...... 10.13.2004........ Larry Cohen will write and direct the remake of his own IT'S ALIVE..... Sam Raimi says that, oddly enough, Columbia wants SPIDER-MAN 3 to wrap up the franchise. It seems more likely that the studio simply wants a clean break so further films can take up with a less expensive team, but we'll see. He also says Ash will not be a part of the FREDDY VS. JASON sequel...... Another X-FILES movie will be made next year...... DOOM finally goes before the cameras this month, with Karl Urban, Rosamund Pike and The Rock starring as space marines...... 10.06.2004........ Howard Stern has signed a 5-year contract with Sirius satellite radio. His show will move his morning show to the satellite network at the close of his current contract at the end of 2005. Stern's contract calls for him to program 3 of Sirius' channels........ Inspired by the 50th anniversary of Godzilla, Sony has been releasing as many of the lizard king's films as they can acquire rights to on DVD. Even better news is that these movies are being released in their original format, with both Japanese and English soundtracks, plus subtitles. Three G-films from the 1970s are out this month, with SON OF GODZILLA and last year's GODZILLA: TOKYO S.O.S. coming in December. Meanwhile, plans are continuing to bring GODZILLA: FINAL WARS to US theaters in at least a limited release within the next few months....... Fox is preparing a WOLVERINE spin-off movie while X-MEN 3 heads toward production.....Vertigo Entertainment is specializing in US remakes of Asian horror hits. THE RING was a big hit for DreamWorks, their remakes THE GRUDGE and DARK WATER are coming up, and they've just signed to redo the Korean horror RYEONG ("The Ghost")....... I loved Louis Letterier & Corey Yuen's French action flick THE TRANSPORTER. They're now shooting a sequel in Florida...... It seems unlikely he'll actually direct, but John Woo's Lion Rock has signed to make a new MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE flick...... Paramount is planning BELIEVE IT OR NOT, based on the semi-fictional life of cartoonist Robert Ripley.....
09.22.2004......... We don't do a lot of death notices here, but we can't pass by without giving a moment to mark the death of Russ Meyer, a psychotronic saint of the first order....... 09.20.2004........ Odd Obsession Films, located at 1659 N. Halsted St., Chicago, will be hosting a "Back to School" themed Drive-in Double Feature on Friday, September 24 at 11:00 pm. They'll be showing CLASS OF 1984 and MASSACRE AT CENTRAL HIGH, along with school-themed trailers, shorts, music videos and surprises. Admission is free...... Apparently Sony pulled a second screening of Stephen Chow's KUNG FU HUSTLE out of the Toronto Film Festival because they feared bootleggers. Some journalists and fans were allowed to bring in cameras to record intros and Q&A sessions, and Sony thought the security risk too great...... Speaking of security, terrorists will be the least of your worries if you book seats on the FLIGHT OF THE DEAD, now set to shoot in Germany..... 08.27.2004.......... GODZILLA: FINAL WARS director Ryuhei Kitamura has confirmed rumors that the film will not only feature an appearance by the American Godzilla, but also will have a massive battle between the real Godzilla and the CGI-created "Zilla" across Sydney, Australia...... 08.06.2004........ We've got SIX copies of the new KILL BILL VOLUME 2 DVD to give away! Find out how on our contest page........ The men that actually served with John Kerry in Viet Nam say that mudslinging ads produced by a group calling itself "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" are actually a pack of lies, and high ranking members of both the Republican and Democratic parties are calling for the White House to denounce the ads....... 07.30.2004....... Jesus & The Rock! Our pal David "The Rock" Nelson, enthused by the success of Mel Gibson's recent release, is planning some religious epics of his own, including LAZARUS: THE FIRST MUMMY, EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF JESUS and a comedy called JESUS IN VEGAS. He's also using footage from his recent Las Vegas trip in THE WEREWOLF GOES WEST and DEVIL ANT INVADES LAS VEGAS........ 07.16.2004........ John Dillinger Died For You! For details on how to honor the death of Public Enemy Number One Number One, tune in here........ Now that everyone's back home, I'd like to thank J.D. Lees and all the folks at G-Fest for making my visit so much fun last weekend. This is one convention that's still for the fans, not companies promoting something. They also gave my book a rave review in G-Fan Magazine...... Our pals over at Stomp Tokyo will be providing commentary for a series of films at the Orlando Science Center for their "Cocktails & the Cosmos" series. Details here. Oh, and you can see a horrific science demonstration here....... 07.14.2004........ Finally, a reason to be interested in Project Greenlight. The winner of the third competition has been chosen, and for the first time they've chosen a horror script called FEAST, which will be produced by Wes Craven....... Upsetting previous rumors, Jessica Alba will be going blonde to play Sue Storm in FANTASTIC FOUR....... Warner Bros. are planning THE WILD, in which humanity flees planet Earth after animals are mutated by genetic engineering into dangerous monsters..... Rob Zombie is hard at work on the HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES sequel, THE DEVIL'S REJECTS....... 07.08.2004...... 2004 Election: OVER! I'm sure that famous psychic John Edwards wouldn't have agreed to be John Kerry's running mate unless he had been assured how things would work out by his friends on the "other side". Here's to our first psychic VP! I'm sure he'll straighten out this mutant problem...... I'll be a guest at the G-Fest Godzilla Convention all weekend, so be sure to come by the panels I'm moderating and bring me gifts of cash and quality merchandise........ 07.01.2004........ A photo of the new Godzilla from GODZILLA: FINAL WARS was published in a Japanese newspaper yesterday. It looks like a more agile version of the suits used in the past few movies. See it here........... 06.28.2004......... A while back we gave you an article explaining how to sync up 2001 and Pink Floyd. Here's a site that tells you how to sync WILLY WONKA and Rush....... 06.24.2004...... We are running another
contest! This time, you can win a pair of passes to see GODZILLA
at the historic Music Box Theatre. Check it out here........
06.22.2004...... THE ACID TEST 1966
returns to the Holiday Club for another run on July 8. Details......
In addition, Michael Flores, playwright, theatre and movie
director and head of Chicago's Psychotronic Film Society, will speak on
Tuesday August 10th at the Eisenhower Library, 4652 N. Olcott in Harwood Hills
at 7:30 PM on the topic CENSORSHIP IN THE 1950'S: FROM COMIC BOOKS TO
BETTIE PAGE. For more info please call Penny Blublaugh at 708- 867-
7828. Admission is free, Mr. Flores will have copies of his film BETTIE PAGE
UNCENSORED available on DVD......... The PSYCHOTRONIC STORE is now
open on eBay! Go shopping here.....
And while you've got your wallet out, I contributed a pile of material to
the new book VideoHound's GROOVY MOVIES, available on Amazon
and at your local book store. It's the perfect companion to the ACID
TEST........
05.20.2004......... Andy Kaufman is
still alive. He even has a blog.
Pretty good gag, eh? Either this is a pretty good fraud or Andy has pulled
of the greatest practical joke in history. Which one? Well, until I learn
different, I'm perfectly satisfied to believe both explanations....... 05.19.2004....... There's a story on
Fearless Leader Michael Flores and his new show ACID
TEST 1966 in today's Chicago Tribune.......... What the-? At a Cannes
preview of the emotionally powerful SHREK 2, star Antonio Banderas
and Justin Timberlake were weeping and holding hands by the end,
which surely must have amused Cameron Diaz, who was sitting beside
them.... Is the public feud between KILL
BILL adversaries Daryl Hannah and Uma Thurman real, or
just a publicity stunt?..... Next for Jennifer Anniston? Plastics!
Jen will be seduced by older man Kevin Costner in the upcoming
comedy THE GRADUATE 2.......
05.14.2004..... NBC has nearly completed
its merger with Universal, and is eying MGM next, which would give the
corp. control of over 10,000 titles.... The MPAA has given John Waters'
latest A DIRTY SHAME an NC-17. Film stars Tracey Ullman as a woman
whose concussion turns her into a nymphomaniac..... The Weinsteins
are looking to buy Michael Moore's FAHRENHEIT 9/11 from Disney, and
may split to form a new film company over the hassle....
05.05.2004....... David "The
Rock" Nelson recently went to Las
Vegas to appear in Buddy Barnett's SKID ROW DRACULA (which is
planned for video release on a double bill with Don Glut's VAMPIRE
HUNTER'S CLUB). Unlike other PFS members, Rock did not get married while
in Vegas, but reports shooting scenes for some more of his own movies in
his spare time, including DEVIL ANT INVADES VEGAS, WEREWOLF GOES WEST and
JESUS VISITS VEGAS.....
05.04.2004...... Thanks to Roger Ebert and
the folks at the Chicago Sun-Times for listing our upcoming
PFS shows last Sunday. Lookee
here...... DINOS FOR DUMMIES: Wackos are opening creationist
dinosaur theme parks. Why not say the world is only a month old? I
could swear I saw Jesus die a few weeks ago....... The director of
the AMITYVILLE HORROR remake is yet another music video/commercial
director handed a genre studio film as his debut. You know that the
studios are thinking that the director is an unimportant part of the
production process on these kinds of projects, since they so often dismiss
experience as a factor. "Hey, anybody can make a horror film, right?
Just make sure there's a hot teen idol in it - and maybe a rapper for the
hippy-hop crowd.".... Jean Claude Van Damme will attempt a
comeback with the kind of film that made him famous in KUMITE....
04.16.2004.......... Here's
a piece on me and my book in the Chicago Tribune.....
04.10.04.2004.... Got those filling out
tax forms on Easter weekend blues? Get revenge! We're giving away DVDs of KILL
BILL Volume 1! Get all the details here.......
04.06.2004....... The latest news on the
long-awaited FANTASTIC FOUR movie is that a director has been chosen
(again), and rumor has it that it's Tim Story (BARBERSHOP), who is
currently working on the US remake of the Euro action hit TAXI...... In
other remake news, Paramount is planning a new version of TO CATCH A
THIEF, which actually isn't a bad idea...... The Sci-Fi channel has
announced a whole bunch of upcoming TV-movie and miniseries projects, and
some of them sound intriguing: a 4-hour FARSCAPE movie, Larry Niven's
RINGWORLD, our pal Clive Barker's limited series HISTORY OF THE
DEVIL, Ursula K. LeGuin's EARTHSEA, SPECIES 3, Stan Winston's
"reality" series MONSTER SMASH (actors made up as monsters fight
each other), STRANDED (a SURVIVOR-type game show set on an alien planet),
WITCHHUNTER ROBIN (series based on the popular anime), the animated series
AMAZING SCREW-ON HEAD created by our pal Mike Mignola (HELLBOY),
and 2 movies starring our pal Bruce
Campbell, MAN WITH THE SCREAMING BRAIN and ALIEN APOCALYPSE....
04.01.2004....... After all the hype, I
felt I should catch up with THE
PASSION OF THE CHRIST last weekend, and found it to be much different
than expected. For one thing, I had no idea that Jesus even had a
dog, much less a big goofy Great Dane. Sarah Michelle Gellar makes
a terrific Mary Magdalene, but I was disturbed by the graphic
nature of scenes in which Jesus is tortured by the Tar Monster Ghost.
Oh, and be sure to stick around through the end credits to learn the
secret GameBoy code........ In an effort to polish their tarnished image,
the folks at the once-respected American Movie Classics channel have
decided to offer programming made up exclusively of infomercials and
reruns of ELIMIDATE....... Due to the popularity of recent horror movie
remakes, next year we can look for a remake of this year's DAWN
OF THE DEAD remake.......
03.30.2004..... Jack Black has been
signed to play the Carl Denham role in KING KONG....
03.18.2004....... Steven Spielberg
plans to direct a new version of WAR OF THE WORLDS, reteaming with
star/producer Tom Cruise!........ Thanks to all who have been
coming out to the Holiday Club for our March Mayhem series - we've got the
terrific GODZILLA VS. DESTROYAH coming up this Sunday. Details here.....
03.12.2004......... Hideo Nakata,
director of the original RING, will direct
RING 2, sequel to the American remake. US
remakes of Nakata's CHAOS and DARK WATER are currently in the
works............
03.04.2004......... Fearless Leader Mike
Flores may be popping in and out of the hospital lately over his sex
change operation (they can't figure out what to change it to), but he
still found time to make it easier to buy BETTIE PAGE UNCENSORED. You can
now order it on ebay here......
03.03.2004........ The official title of
the 50th anniversary Godzilla film is GODZILLA: FINAL WARS and is
being directed by Ryuhei Kitamura (VERSUS)! Godzilla will fight 10
other monsters all over the world!........
02.27.2004....... Thanks to all who came
out on Fat Tuesday for our screening of SHOGUN ASSASSIN at Brainstorm.
We're hosting movie screening parties every Sunday next month at the
Holiday Club! Tune in here for
details...... The title of the new Batman movie will be BATMAN
BEGINS.....
02.13.2004...... New PFS Show! Check out
the news here!........ BUBBA
HO-TEP comes to DVD on May 25....... Rialto
Pictures is releasing GODZILLA to US theaters in its original form
this Spring to celebrate Godzilla's 50th birthday......... Wow, it'll be
great to finally lose my virginity, even in a smelly camp cabin. Oh, don't
worry about those kids in the lake - they can take care of themselves.
Hey, who's that guy in the hockey mas--- eeeYAAAA!!
01.29.2004.... Since its launch, the
Hubble space telescope has been an invaluable aide in man's exploration of
the universe. Now NASA has decided to cancel a shuttle mission for
necessary maintenance. However, outraged astronomers have launched a
petition to save the Hubble. Sign it by clicking here........
Beat the cold weather! Huddle inside an insane asylum for psychotronic
movie fans for 24 hours at B-fest 2004
this weekend....
01.19.2004...... Robert Rodriguez
claims he'll begin shooting the film version of Mike Allred's
MADMAN this year..... Sean Astin is pushing to get in the
director's chair for FANTASTIC FOUR..... The WB is planning another
revival of DARK SHADOWS..... Nic Cage is in a action blockbuster
called NATIONAL TREASURE in which the US Constitution is really a treasure
map!.........
01.13.2004......... Lots of great
Asian movies coming up on cable this weekend, including SAMURAI 1 & 2 on IFC this
Saturday,
Sci-Fi and Encore Action both have blocks of Godzilla movies - avoid, however,
the US debut of VOLCANO HIGH on MTV2 Monday morning. It's a terrific
movie, but unfortunately MTV has decided to ruin it by putting hip-hop
crap on the soundtrack and dubbing it with people like Snoopy Doggy. These
are the kinds of people that want to ghetto-ize both blacks and Asians by
connecting kung fu movies with rap music for no reason. Will somebody
please release this movie uncut in the USA?....
01.10.2004.......... There was a leak in
the security wall around the new BATMAN movie this week, when it was
learned that filming had begun - in Iceland! Scenes featuring star Christian
Bale fighting a student of villain R'as al Ghul on Europe's largest
glacier are said to be underway....
01.06.2004........ Congrats to Forrest
J Ackerman for finding a home for a big chunk of his sci-fi
collection at the new Seattle
Science Fiction Museum, opening in June. Forry has been complaining
about being broke because of legal and medical fees, but that didn't stop
him from donating a Christmas present of $153,000 to the Egyptian Theater,
which in part will be used to install seat plaques honoring 153 of Forry's
favorite filmland people.......
12.31.2003..... Don't usually go in for
obits on this page, but I have to pause to announce that yesterday Anita
Mui died of cervical cancer. She was a worldwide singing star, but
we'll always remember her for movies like RUMBLE IN THE BRONX, HEROIC
TRIO, LEGEND OF DRUNKEN MASTER, MOON WARRIORS, MAGIC CRANE, JUSTICE MY
FOOT, MIRACLES (now on US video as BLACK DRAGON), A BETTER TOMORROW 3, and
SAVIOUR OF THE SOUL.....
12.22.2003....... We're back! Sorry for
the downtime, folks - appears that a bill or a check or something got lost
in the mail, which isn't surprising. Whose idea was it for the CAT IN THE
HAT to be running the US Postal Service this holiday season? Not only is
the movie a bomb, but the lead character is an icon of anarchy. He
shouldn't be anywhere near our mail, or making Whoppers with cheese for
that matter. I smell the Conspiracy at work......... The date for B-Fest
2004 has been announced: Jan. 30-31. Check
B-fest.com for updates....... PFS member Don Glut tells us his
latest feature COUNTESS DRACULA'S ORGY
OF BLOOD, the first American film with Spanish horror star Paul Naschy,
will be out this spring on Fred Olen Ray's Retromedia label,
distributed by Image........ Trailers and posters are popping up
that make the pulp/serial sci-fi action flick WORLD OF TOMORROW look darn
cool. Stars Jude Law as an aviator hero Sky Captain in 1939, with Gwyneth
Paltrow as the good girl, Angelina Jolie as the bad girl, Ling
Bai as the mystery girl, and a mad scientist building robots to take
over the world..... MGM and Dimension will be partners on the upcoming
AMITYVILLE HORROR remake, as well as TRUE BELIEVERS, the first US film by
director Hideo Nakata (CHAOS).......
12.11.2003.... a Japanese man accused of beating his mother to death with a baseball bat has stated that he was inspired by the anime
NEON GENESIS EVANGELION which cause him to form "The ultimate conclusion of (human) evolution is ruin." He also came to believe that humans were unnecessary beings who were destroying the world's environment, and in turn began to want to kill people, prosecutors said......
Say, what is David Lynch up to these days, anyway? Well, when he's
not working on a script, or directing some scary short films for his
website, he's raising money to provide transcendental meditation
instructors, which he believes can help bring more peace to the world.
Well, it couldn't hurt.......
12.05.2003...... Duelling DAHLIAS: Brian
DePalma is signed to direct BLACK DAHLIA next year, but he may get
beaten to the punch by an indie rival. Bloodshot Pictures is lining up a
load of psychotronic faves to appear in their upcoming - and still
untitled - movie about the Black Dahlia murder, the still unsolved True
Crime in which Hollywood starlet Elizabeth Short was found sawed in
half. So far Karen Black (DINOSAUR
VALLEY GIRLS), Trent Haaga (TERROR
FIRMER), Alejandro Jodorowsky (SANTA SANGRE), Julie
& Lizzie Strain, beautiful fire-breathing contortionist Masuimi
Max, Werner Herzog, Dame Darcy, artist Robert
Williams, Richard Rush, and Lloyd "Troma" Kaufman
are confirmed, and they're talking to Fairuza Balk and Crispin
Glover. Music will be provided by Orb, Julee Cruise, David
J, and more......
12.04.2003...........
Talk about your wrong-headed projects - looks like there's bound to be a
clunker amid the current crop of superior comics-to-movie adaptations, and
this looks like a sure bet. Not only have they cast Keanu Reeves to
play John Constantine in the HELLBLAZER movie (we know how much he
sucks at Brit accents), but they're aiming for a PG-13 rating (the comic
is unrated)......
12.02.2003....... LORD OF THE RINGS
director Peter Jackson says he definitely wants to direct THE
HOBBIT after KING KONG, but it's in New Line's court.......... Supposedly
artist Alan Davis' first big project
back at Marvel will be as the new artist on UNCANNY X-MEN. I know you're all
pleased but that's not all. He will be joined by X-Men Guru Chris Claremont, as
the new on-going writer......... Clint Eastwood was rumored to be playing Commissioner
Gordon in the upcoming BATMAN 5. This however would seem to have been false.
Instead, word is that he is to play the Gotham City Mayor.........
Mick Foley, the former WWE (World, Tag Team, Hardcore Champion) wrestler, who
has recently been a bestselling author is close to signing a deal, along with
writer Teddy Tenenbaum, with CBS to develop a action TV series. Foley would play a
detective in the Tampa Police Dept. who's just as ruthless as the criminals he
hunts down. If the project goes through, WWE would also help finance...........
TETSUJIN 28, known as GIGANTOR in the
US, will soon be returning to Japanese airwaves in it's fourth animated
incarnation, beginning in January 2004. Not only that, a live action film is in
production as well........ David
"The Rock" Nelson surprised everyone with his appearance
on WGN-TV MORNING NEWS, presenting a new short he and WGN's Jeff Hoover
made together: DEVIL ANT SAVES THANKSGIVING, which pits the atomic ant
against a turkey monster.......
11.27.2003..... Happy birthday to David
"The Rock" Nelson, who reminds us that he'll be showing
a special film for Thanksgiving on the WGN Morning News program between
8am and 9am Central Time..... 11.17.2003..... Aside from BILLY JACK,
among the post-MATRIX projects Keanu
Reeves has in mind is another BILL & TED sequel, since he thinks a
40-year-old Ted would be hilarious......
11.10.2003...... Cara Jepsen wrote
a nice piece about me, my book, and our upcoming
show for the Chicago Reader, which you can see online here.....
11.09.2003.... David "The
Rock" Nelson called in to talk about
how he's become a regular on the noisy Chicagoland radio zoo Mancow's
Morning Madhouse...
11.06.2003....... For those of you who
haven't heard yet, we're having a big book signing/kung fu movie
trailer/mash-up party called MARTIAL ARTS MAYHEM next Thursday night -
details here. Check out a funny photo of Me
with accompanying story in the Chicago Reader........ The Michael Bay-produced
retread of TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE is a hit, sparking Bay to make a deal
with Dimension Pictures to develop more >$15million horror properties
including remakes of AMITYVILLE HORROR and maybe HALLOWEEN......... The Wachowski
Sisters? The credit for MATRIX REVOLUTIONS as a "Wachowski
Family" film rather than "Wachowski Brothers" has the rumor
mills churning, including reports that both brothers have left their
wives, one is a submissive transvestite living with a dominatrix, and the
other has completed a sex change operation..... Director Uwe Boll wants
to be the king of video game movies. His (horrible) adaptation of HOUSE OF
THE DEAD debuted last month, ALONE IN THE DARK is coming soon, and he has
on his schedule a HOUSE sequel, BLOODRAYNE and DUNGEON SIEGE..... Congrats
to Cinescape editor-in-chief Anthony
Ferrante for getting the greenlight on his directorial debut film BOO
from David Allen's Graveyard Filmworks. Graveyard also has in the
works SERVANT OF THE DARK and CEMETERY GATES.......
10.30.2003....... Joining the ranks of
upcoming films based on the works of Isaac Asimov is END OF
ETERNITY......
10.28.2003......Universal Pictures has
optioned the film rights to DC Comics' THE PSYCHO, a 1991 miniseries
about a superhuman spy ...........
10.17.2003....... The Chicago Horrorfest Film Festival, hosted by the beautiful
Mistress Xena, will be brought to you this year at the 3 Penny Cinema. Filled
with over 25 films, spread out over 3 Days, Oct. 26th, Oct. 30th, and Oct. 31st. Drinks
to be served to anyone with a valid I.D. and Bloody Mary's will be the
drink of the night. Featuring the U.S. Premieres of 2 Feature Films, UNEARTHLY
HARVEST and FRANKENSTEIN X. Also on Oct. 26th, Mark Rapp, Director of
the upcoming Feature Film BIOPHAGE will be there to promote his film, plus many other great short
films. For a complete list, check
out ChicagoHorrorfest.com ......
10.04.2003........ This Wednesday October 8 in Novi, Michigan at 8 PM our
own Fearless Leader Mike Flores will be screening BETTIE PAGE UNCENSORED
- THE UNAUTHORIZED STORY and he'll be spinning mash ups in the lobby of
the theater! For more info click here: www.michiganindependentfilmfestival.com/........
09.26.2003...... Funnyman Will Ferrell
IS the Man in the Yellow Hat in CURIOUS GEORGE. Hey, wouldn't he be good
in the MAGNUM P.I. movie, too?....... Now that Keanu Reeves has
finished the MATRIX trilogy, will he follow through on his plan to star in
a remake of BILLY JACK?....... Manga legend Go Nagai goes
live-action, with features based on both CUTEY HONEY and DEVILMAN in the
works....
09.25.2003.... PFS member David "The
Rock" Nelson will be a guest at the Independent Video
Alliance this Sat., Sept. 27th, at 7009 N. Glenwood, in Chicago (Rogers Park area). The doors open at 8:00 pm,
show starts at 8:30
pm. Admission is only $2. There will be many independent short films shown,
by various independent filmmakers, plus live band music, then, "Rock" will introduce his 2-hour hit-feature,
DEVIL ANT! Plus: "Rock's" hilarious "monster-snack"
trailers will be shown! Bring a friend (or "fiend")! The show will last
until about midnight...... UNDERWORLD 2 has already been given the greenlight....
As I predicted a month ago, the success of FREDDY VS. JASON has prompted
Paramount to begin work on a special edition DVD box set of the 8 FRIDAY
THE 13th movies in their possession. Hopefully they'll make sure all the
films are uncut and release PART 3 in 3-D. Creator Sean Cunningham
is working on a new F13 TV series set at old Camp Crystal Lake. Meanwhile,
New Line continues to ponder how to best follow up their hit.... BLADE 3:
TRINITY just got even more interesting with the addition of Parker
Posey to the vampire cast.....
09.20.2003..... News and Rumors from our
buddy Bruce Campbell:
The newly-minted psychotronic classic BUBBA
HO-TEP has a sequel in the works - BUBBA SASQUATCH... Oh, and though
his agent has yet to call, apparently New Line execs are fairly excited by
the idea of ASH VS. JASON VS. FREDDY...... With horror once again hot,
sequels-in-limbo like SEED OF CHUCKY, LOST BOYS 2 and 2001 MANIACS are
getting the greenlight....... Execs at Warner Bros. are scrambling around
to assemble cast & crew to get Superman and Batman movies in
production and released at about the same time to crush the box office
competition. They're also very close to signing Alicia Silverstone
for SUPERGIRL..... Is Tim Burton really going to direct PLANET OF
THE APES 2?....
09.15.2003.... Chicagoland's cable access legend ABDUCTIONS WITH THE ALTER BOY is back on
the air for several weeks. Check out the schedule at www.alterboy.tv.......
09.10.2003...... Cult queens Tura
Satana, Haji, Francine York, Lori Williams, Mamie
Van Doren, Kitten Natividad, Cynthia Myers and Teresa
Ganzel will be starring in a new movie shooting next year titled
PLEASE SIGN IT LOVE, a drama about what happens sex objects when they grow
older. The script is said to include plenty of comedy and even some fight
scenes, too.........
09.08.2003..... PFS member David
"The Rock" Nelson has clued us in to the relatively new
web home of Chicago's horror host Svengoolie.
I've always felt that horror host programs work best at night, when
kids can gather for slumber parties and adults can gather for
whatever-adults-do-to-party parties, so I'm happy to hear that Sven's show
on WCIU channel 26 will be moving to Saturday nights at 9 PM on September
20..... .... The popularity of the Fox cartoon series THE FAMILY GUY in
reruns on cable and on DVD have led to a greenlight for a direct-to-video
feature version............ This new
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS is starting to sound like a lot of fun, with
the team of Jackie Chan and British comic Steve Coogan
meeting up with Arnold Schwarzenegger (as an Arab prince), Kathy
Bates (as Queen Victoria), John Cleese, Luke & Owen
Wilson (as the Wright Bros.), Rob Schneider, Mars, Karen
Mok, Macy Gray and Sammo Hung (as Wong Fei-hung!). And
it's directed by Frank Coraci (THE WEDDING SINGER, THE WATERBOY).........
08.25.2003........ We were saddened to learn of the death last
Thursday of PFS member and one of the true originals in both art and rock,
Wesley Willis. I first met Wesley when he was skinny, riding
home with his big drawings on the El. Being just a poor art student, I
couldn't spare the dough to buy any of his art. Now I'm regretting it - he
might've written a song about me....
08.18.2003......... Psychotronic Film Society co-founder and Member #3
Del Close,
is the subject of an article in the September issue of Chicago Magazine. Our own
Fearless Leader Michael Flores was interviewed for the piece. The magazine is on
the stands now........ Is Ara
Paiaya the next big action star? The lanky Iranian-born Armenian was
raised in Scotland, but seems to have been fed a steady diet of Hong Kong
action movies, and his DUBBED & DANGEROUS trilogy of short action
comedies have become cult favorites in the UK. Crash Cinema will be
releasing the goofy D&D films on DVD in the USA this Fall, and Ara has
a part in Jackie Chan's latest Stateside release THE
MEDALLION.....
07.24.2003.... This Saturday, July 26,
American Movie Classics will be showing Bruce Lee's three Hong Kong
Golden Harvest classics under their original titles - THE BIG BOSS, FIST
OF FURY and WAY OF THE DRAGON - for the first time in the USA! Does this
presage a similar video release to re-establish copyrights, eventually
usurping the old confusing US titles?............This weekend our pal David
"The Rock" Nelson is due to be awarded a prize at the Under
Shorts Film Fest................
07.22.2003... First review I've seen of my
book is up on Kung
Fu Cinema....... There's a sequel to BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA in
the works.... Marvel Comics movies that will definitely be made, according
to CEO Avi Arad: BLADE 3, HULK
2, FANTASTIC FOUR, IRON MAN, ELEKTRA, X-MEN
3, DEATHLOK..... New Jersey's Dante Tomaselli has directed a couple
of interesting horror flicks (DESECRATION, HORROR), and is the cousin of
director Alfred Sole (PANDEMONIUM). Now it looks like Dante will be
directing the sequel to Alfred's 1976 cult hit ALICE SWEET ALICE...... Ben
Affleck will play SUPERMAN star George Reeves in the biopic
TRUTH, JUSTICE AND THE AMERICAN WAY....
07.15.2003....... The
Hallmark channel is producing a new 4-hour version of FRANKENSTEIN..... Tobe
Hooper is set to remake the disturbing old slasher flick THE TOOLBOX
MURDERS..... No Doubt songbird Gwen Stefani is in talks to play
Dazzler in X-MEN 3...
06.18.2003........ Quite a few horror
movies over the years, from FRANKENSTEIN on down, are prefaced with a
health warning to people with heart conditions, etc. But in New Delhi, a
50-year old man died during a late Monday night screening of Rangopal
Varma's demonic possession flick BHOOT (a semi-remake of his
successful RHAAT), which is preceded by such an onscreen warning by Varma.
Good thing Varma didn't follow in William Castle's footsteps and
offer million dollar insurance policies with each ticket...... A headless
corpse has been found near the ruins of Castle Frankenstein.... William
Marshall died over the weekend after battling Alzheimer's for several
years. Marshall will forever be remembered by fans as the star of BLACULA,
his appearances in many sci-fi and horror films, and as the King of
Cartoons on PEE-WEE'S PLAYHOUSE........
06.12.2003....... NBC is bringing the aliens back with
V: THE SECOND GENERATION, a three-hour TV
movie from the original creator Kenneth Johnson..... Warner Bros. also seems to
think the CHARLIE'S ANGELS movies work because folks just want to see
movies based on old TV shows, so they're making a FALL GUY
movie.....TRANSFORMERS are also headed to the big screen.....Also in the
works: a biopic of Ghostbuster Harold Ramis - or more specifically,
based on his days as a mental hospital worker.....
06.02.2003........ After turning in his
third script in the series, David Goyer was able to leverage his
success into being hired as director of BLADE 3. The latest sequel will
depict a vampire apocalypse that leaves humanity scrambling for cover as
the nosferatu take over......... Meanwhile, in Australia, Brett Leonard
(VIRTUOSITY) will be directing MAN-THING, based on Marvel's somber monster
comics series....... Unwilling to wait until Daiei Studios get around to
another Gamera movie, a group of enthusiastic fans have made a low-budget
short version of their own called GAMERA 4, complete with one of the
actors from the series and CGI f/x, which the studio has authorized and
may release on video..... Ghoulardi fans can pick up 2 CDs worth of
compiled music the horror host used on his 1960s show here......
05.30.2003....... With Pixar possibly outgrowing their relationship with Disney, Michael
Eisner is making plans to fight back with renewed energy directed
toward their animation studio. But instead of adopting the emphasis on
creativity/writing that Pixar favors, it looks like Disney is just
planning on going in for more CGI, including re-animating classics like
PINOCCHIO and PETER PAN. Oy........... Japanese game giant Gainax and US
importer of Japanese films ADV Films are teaming up to produce a
live-action film based on the mecha anime classic NEON GENESIS EVANGELION.....Director
Darren Aronofsky may be working on a remake of LONE WOLF &
CUB.....
05.29.2003........ Many of you caught my
appearance on Chicagoland's most psychotronic TV show ABDUCTIONS WITH THE
ALTER BOY [www.alterboy.tv] not too
long ago. Well, some of you may not have caught it, so they're running it
again, late this Saturday night, 12:30 on cable access channel
19...........
05.27.2003........
PFS members traveling to Europe this summer may want to stop in to visit
the Center of Contemporary Culture of Barcelona, where the CCCB
is putting on an exhibit of trash culture featuring a festival of
psychotronic films......
05.19.2003...... As cable network TNN evolves into the New TNN, one of
their top rated programs is MOST EXTREME ELIMINATION CHALLENGE, which is
actually the wacky Japanese game show TAKESHI'S CASTLE starring "Beat"
Takeshi Kitano. Though hilariously dubbed in English, with everyone
given "American" names (Kitano is "Vic Ramano"), this
gives US fans of Kitano's hard-action movies like VIOLENT COP and BOILING
POINT a chance to see him as the Japanese are used to seeing him: as goofy
host and comedian....
05.15.2003............ Cheeta, the chimpanzee that provided distraction and
comic relief for kids too young to be interested in jungle heroics in 12
vintage Tarzan epics, is still alive, and celebrated his 71st birthday
last month - the oldest known ape! Cheeta is retired and lives in Palm
Springs at a rest home for show biz primates.....
05.12.2003..... With the departure of daughter Asia for greener
post-XXX pastures, Dario Argento has rewritten his latest project
THE CARD PLAYER, taking it from the planned sequel to STENDAHL SYNDROME to
a return to the grittier style of BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE. Following
this film, Argento plans to complete his Three Mothers trilogy began with
SUSPIRIA and continued in INFERNO........ Nicolas Cage will be torn between Winona Ryder
and Angelina Jolie in Neil LaBute's very different American
remake of THE WICKER MAN.... George Lucas, who once owned Pixar,
has opened his own Lucasfilm Animation studio, which plans on producing
features....
04.24.2003.... DMX plays the blues? The rapper/non-actor joins
the current werewolf movie wave in WEREWOLF, playing a traveling bluesman
who fights werewolves..
04.13.2003..... Hong Kong legend Yuen Woo-ping will direct a new
film for DreamWorks based on the Marvel Comics series MASTER OF KUNG
FU.... Miramax has licensed 50 classic films from the Shaw Bros. library
for US distribution, with options to remake 2 of them. While this is good
news for US fans dying to see these movies, it's also potentially bad
news, as Miramax has a history of editing the foreign films they
distribute....
04.03.2003...... Our "fiend" David "The Rock"
Nelson is featured in issue 34 of CASTLE OF FRANKENSTEIN magazine, and he
wants to make a special offer, to "quote": "You can recieve your "autographed"(by Nelson, "The'New'Ed Wood"!) copy of
this new mag. from David "The Rock" Nelson, himself, postage-paid for the
"dirt cheap" total price of only $8. "stinkin'" bucks! Send your $8. money
orders to: *David Nelson -1170 Howard Av. -Des Plaines, IL. -60018.For a great combo, recieve the
issue of "Castle of Frankenstein" & Nelson's movie, "Frankenstein Stalks",
for a total of only $25. "stinkin'" bucks, post-paid/total! At that price,
you "Can't go wrong"! -This special deal, my "Fiends", will last until
Midnight(The Witching Hour!-"Hah, heh"!), *April 15Th, 2003, in 2 weeks!" Yes,
that's the way he writes, and I can't wait for his autobiography....
04.02.2003..... We're sad to hear that p-fave actor Leslie Cheung committed
suicide by leaping off the roof of Hong Kong's Mandarin Oriental Hotel
last night. A hugely popular singing star in Asia, who made no effort to
hide his bisexuality despite the repressions of Chinese society, starred
in ONCE A THIEF, A CHINESE GHOST STORY, A BETTER TOMORROW 1-3, ROUGE, ACES
GO PLACES 5, ALL'S WELL END'S WELL, EAGLE SHOOTING HEROES, ASHES OF TIME,
BRIDE WITH WHITE HAIR 1 & 2, THE PHANTOM LOVER, FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE,
HAPPY TOGETHER and more. In recent years, he's broken away from his usual
young hero roles to play edgier - even psychotic - parts in films like
MOONLIGHT EXPRESS, DOUBLE TAP and INNER SENSES - in the latter, a role for
which he's been nominated for an HK Film Award, he played a man possessed
by his late girlfriend's ghost, who tries to lure him into leaping off the
roof of a building............ Guess it was too late for Disney
to cut one ear off of Roger Rabbit for their new deluxe DVD. Now he
just has to look like a peace symbol, unlike that poster for WHAT A GIRL
WANTS which is being altered so that it doesn't look like Amanda Bynes
is in favor of peace. I can remember when most folks thought of peace as a
good thing........
04.01.2003..... Paramount has announces that the latest comics
character to make the leap to the movies is NANCY. Rosie O'Donnell will
come out of semi-retirement to assay the title role, claiming that the
strip has been a favorite of hers since she was a little girl watching
MIKE DOUGLAS and eating Oreos with her mom and aunt. The studio thought
about casting a child actress as the precocious orphan, but decided that
the budget would be too small, and will instead employ f/x to shrink the
adult actors to child size in the manner of LORD
OF THE RINGS and STUART LITTLE. Pamela Anderson has already
signed on for the crucial role of Aunt Fritzi, with Vin Diesel being
sought to play Sluggo..... The Sci-Fi Channel, while trumpeting
their lineup of new series, has picked up new episodes of the syndicated
series STARHUNTER, because "it's a science fiction series, and nobody
wants to watch it.".....
03.19.2003...... Madonna's Maverick Films has the
rights to the graphic novel VIOLENT MESSIAHS: THE BOOK OF JOB, and is
developing it into a movie.... Producers on THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN are
nervous that Tobey Maguire's back problems may cause him to pull
out of the project...... MTv's anime series AEON FLUX is going live-action
for the big screen...... The SUPERMAN project is still a mess, with all
actors dropping out of the lead and director Brett Ratner's option
expiring......... CATWOMAN is also on questionable ground, having cast Halle
Berry in the lead and hired French f/x master Pitof as
director.........
03.12.2003........ MGM has signed John Travolta to star in a
remake of HARVEY..... There's a Hollywood movie version of the LUPIN III
series in the works.... F/x man Phil Tippett will direct the
direct-to-vid sequel STARSHIP TROOPERS 2......
03.07.2003..... Spanish horror star Paul Naschy is in Hollywood
this week, playing a vampire in Don Glut's COUNTESS DRACULA'S ORGY
OF BLOOD, then will again don his famous werewolf makeup for a film with Fred
Olen Ray called THE UNLIVING, co-starring Michelle Bauer as
Countess Elizabeth Bathory........
02.28.2003..... For those of you that haven't heard: the 3
Penny Theater has us back again for late shows starting tonight with GAMERA,
GUARDIAN OF THE UNIVERSE. Details here.......... Our
friends at Unearthed Films, DVD home of the notorious GUINEA PIG series,
will bring the wild Japanese zombie flick JUNK to DVD April 29, and are
preparing to release even more hard-edged horror double features,
including Nacho Cerda's AFTERMATH and GENESIS, plus Shozin Fukiu's
PINOCCHIO 964 and RUBBER'S LOVER....... Our friends at Cyberscope Wizards
remind us that the weird Chicagoland cable TV show ABDUCTIONS WITH THE
ALTER BOY returns this weekend. Head to www.alterboy.tv
for details and schedule.....
02.05.2003.... Front Line Films has signed horror legend Paul Naschy for
COUNTESS DRACULA'S ORGY OF BLOOD, the sequel to EROTIC RITES OF COUNTESS
DRACULA, which starts shooting March 10. William Smith and
Del Howisen return as Count Dracula and Renfield, respectively. TV
horror host Count Gore De Vol makes a guest appearance............ The Vatican has announced that the HARRY POTTER books
and movies are okay with them.....
01.24.2003..... Jackie Chan will star in a straight drama for
director Edward Yang.....
01.14.2003.... ... Recording star William
Shatner is working on a new album with New Age popster Ben Folds......
Troma's next in-house feature will be a horror anthology called TALES FROM
THE CRAPPER.....
01.06.2003...... Pop star Britney Spears is turning
more toward movies than music lately, with her latest project a mystery
thriller about a modern American girl who turns Sherlock Holmes to
save the President's son........
12.16.2002..... Producer Scott Rudin has left the LEMONY SNICKET
movie (based on the wickedly funny children's book series) over budget
haggles with Paramount, who want to spend less than the budgeted 100
million bucks on it. Jim Carrey is signed to star as Count Olaf,
with Barry Sonenfield directing.......
12.04.2002...... Morgan Freeman and Jet Li will team
up in DANNY THE DOG for Luc Besson's Europa production company, to be
directed by Louis Leterrier (THE TRANSPORTER). Besson's KISS OF THE
DRAGON is Li's best movie to date outside of China, so here's hopin'.......... Robert
Zemeckis (CONTACT) is working on an
intriguing feature called POLAR EXPRESS, which will use CGI to make Tom
Hanks into a little boy for an extended flashback......... CAPTAIN HARLOCK GOES LIVE- French director
Olivier Dahan (La Vie Promise, Le Petit Poucet) is gearing up to produce a live-action interpretation of
Leiji Matsumoto's classic manga and anime hero Captain Harlock.
According to the article on French film site AlloCine.com the film will be an American/Japanese co-production, featuring English dialogue and Japanese special effects. The screenplay is being produced by an unnamed English
author. A composer has also not yet been named, but it's speculated that two possibilities are
Joe Hisaishi and Kenji Kawaii. Harlock has been budgeted at 27 million euros..........
11.28.2002.... That last item reminded me to tell y'all that we have a
song about Rocky's film CONRAD
BROOKS VS. THE WEREWOLF by Space Coyote. Download the
mp3 here - and hope you
have a happy holiday weekend. Recommended: get together with family and
friends to watch that Thanksgiving classic BLOOD FREAK.....
11. 26.2002..... HEROES!... While editing DEVIL ANT 2, our pal David
"The Rock" Nelson saved his mother's life by delivering
CPR when she had a cardiac arrest. Bravo, Rocky - and hope your mom gets
well soon!..... Not quite as dramatic, but while director of friend of PFS
Don Glut (DINOSAUR VALLEY
GIRLS, EROTIC RITES OF COUNTESS DRACULA) is in town visiting his
mom for the holiday, he saw to it that one of the Frankenstein family
tombstones in a local cemetery was restored to its proper place after he
noticed vandals had moved it while trying to steal it. Bravo, Don - and
we'll be watching for your next flick THE MUMMY'S KISS early next
year......
11.22.2002.......... Kadokawa Publishing has purchased Daiei Studios to form
the Kadokawa Daiei Motion Picture Company. Among the first big projects on
their production schedule is a new version of DAIMAJIN (aka MAJIN, MONSTER
OF TERROR) and negotiations are underway with Toho Studios to make
GODZILLA VS. GAMERA!!....
11.14.2002.......In the wake of THE
RING, United Artists is buying remake rights to the creepy Japanese
hypno-killer flick CURE.......
10.29.2002............. Interviewed about their Christian flick TIME
CHANGERS, directing twins Dave and Rich Christiano are quoted as saying
"Hollywood just pretends that Jesus doesn't exist." Tell that to
the producers of Hollywood that have made more Christian movies than
anybody else, including INTOLERANCE, BARABBUS, KING OF KINGS, DOGMA,
GODSPELL, THE SILVER CHALICE, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTACY, THE PASSOVER
PLOT, JESUS, SIGN OF THE CROSS, THE BIBLE, THE BOOK OF LIFE, THE ROBE,
WHOLLY MOSES, THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD, BEN-HUR, JESUS CHRIST
SUPERSTAR, THE CRUSADES, SAVING GRACE, CIVILIZATION, LIFE OF BRIAN, THE
PASSION, THE CROSS, THE WORD, THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST, etc......
10.22.2002........ Warners is buying remake rights to the Jet
Li movie HITMAN, released on video in the USA as CONTRACT
KILLER...........
09. 03.2002............. Universal is thing-king about making THE
THING 2.......
08.14.2002.... We're saddened to have to report the death of legendary
psychotronic director Doris Wishman, who passed away last Saturday.
Doris always said "When I die, I'll direct movies in Hell", so
she may be filming cloven hooves walking around right now, though we
suspect she's actually dubbing voices in Heaven. Her website has up a web
board where you can pay your respects here.....
Razor 3D, a label that has released several Imax and specialty 3D films on
DVD and CD-ROM has signed a deal to release a list of 20 films this Fall
using a process that makes 2D movies look like 3D. The list includes
psychotronic faves like NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, CHINESE CONNECTION and
FIVE DEADLY VENOMS.....
07.23.2002..... I'm sure some Chicago PFS members caught SVENGOOLIE'S
TV GRAVEYARD featuring THE MONKEES last Saturday on Ch. 26.
Coincidentally, I'd just watched HEAD the night before I watched it, but I
never once thought about the 1987 NEW MONKEES. Well, apparently NBC was
thinking about it, as they've announced plans for the NEW NEW MONKEES,
from the folks that brought you AMERICAN IDOL........ Forrest J
Ackerman has decided his Ackermansion is too large for him to maintain
and will be selling a large portion of his vast collection on eBay to fund
his retirement to a smaller, more streamlined Ackermuseum...........
06.28.2002........ Love Hong Kong action movies but hate the way Disney
butchers them for US release? You can sign a petition to let them know here.
Do it for director Chang Cheh (FIVE DEADLY VENOMS), who died last
week at age 79.............
06.25.2002...... The Psychotronic Film Society will co-sponsor TWO
upcoming events! The first is the 68th annual JOHN DILLINGER DAY
celebration. And next month, come see us, along with Bruce Campbell,
Herschell Gordon Lewis, and more, for a psychotronic film festival
and dealers convention at FLASHBACK WEEKEND. For details see our schedule
page at www.psychotronic.info/news.htm........
John Woo's next project will star Chow Yun-fat and Nicolas
Cage, and be about foreigners working on US railways in the
1800s........ This week sees release of Ed Wood's THE BRIDE &
THE BEAST on DVD from a 35mm print in a deluxe edition from Fred Olen
Ray's Retromedia. The disc
includes trailers for the feature (subject of a hilarious musical stage
adaptation by our own Michael Flores) and Conrad Brooks' MAN
FROM PLAN 9, plus David "The Rock"
Nelson's featurette MUMMY A.D. Yes, you heard right, one of
Nelson's flicks on DVD before KING KONG....
06.21.2002...... Miramax will get into
CGI feature animation with S.P.O.O.K.S., about a bunch of kids who are
ghostbusters...... Though announcements have been hesitant for a fourth
INDIANA JONES movie, Steven Spielberg has announced that Sean
Connery will definitely be asked back, and there may be a role for Calista
Flockheart as well..................
05.21.2002......... Michael
Jackson will produce and play a werewolf in WOLFED, based on an
Alexander Dumas story.... Jackie Chan, 48, won the 2002 Taurus Award for Best Action Movie
Star in the
World Stunt Awards.....
05.15.2002..... John Woo is producing, and Lucy Liu is
starring as the granddaughter of CHARLIE CHAN. The Honolulu police
detective has been a hot button for some Asian-Americans due to the fact
that Chan was always played by Anglos in his old movies, but I'm guessing
Liu loves them as much as we do. Besides, the series gave steady work to a
lot of Asian actors (Chan had a dozen or so kids) like Keye Luke,
Victor Sen Yung, Benson Fong and Barbara Jean Wong. Say,
wouldn't Wu Ma make a great Charlie Chan?.............
05.06.2002....Just when we thought we had heard enough of
Fearless Leader Michael Flores, he signs a deal with Mark Mothersbaugh
(Devo,
music for everything from RUGRATS to PEE WEE'S PLAYHOUSE) to do art direction
and music for his next show, THE ACID TEST, which will be opening in both Los
Angeles and Chicago in 2003....... Other PFS news: If it seems like reviews in Movie
Madness! and items here haven't been updated as often lately, it's
because Propaganda Minister of the Sinister Brian Thomas is hard at
work on another project for Visible
Ink Press. Last year, I was lead contributor to their expanded second
edition of Videohound's CULT FLICKS & TRASH PICS. Now I'm smack in the
middle of a book of my own, Videohound DRAGON: ASIAN ACTION & CULT
FLICKS, an encyclopedic guide to Far East cinema available on tape or DVD
in the USA, that should be available for Xmas giving. Video distributors
that want their titles included that I haven't been able to contact yet
should email me immediately...... Roland Emmerich is set to direct
THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, in which global warming causes extreme
weather........ Two imprisoned Cambodian crematorium workers were freed by
a provincial court Saturday because there was found to be no law on the
books against cannibalism. The law was likely removed during the Killing
Fields years of the 1970s, when eating each other was the only way many
Cambodians survived.........
04.29.2002.......... Theatre guy and PFS fearless leader Michael Flores has been chosen by
underground filmmaker Kenneth Anger to shoot a film on Aleister
Crowley's
artwork in the collection of rocker Jimmy Page. Watch for Michael's new play AU
GO GO about 1965 go go clubs to open May 17th at the Rive Gauche Nightclub- the
first play in Chicago to play a nightclub!.... Warner Bros. and Tarsem
(THE CELL) are suing each other over his leaving the CONSTANTINE project
(based on the comic HELLBLAZER) after a year of work. Tarsem says he left
because of studio interference with his work..........
04.15.2002..... Warner Bros. has hired Stephen Norrington (BLADE)
to direct a live-action remake of AKIRA........ Alphaville (THE
MUMMY, SCORPION KING) hopes to get production underway for Edgar
Rice Burroughs' PRINCESS OF MARS by next year...........
04.01.2002....... The results of the recent Oscars have been so popular
that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has announced that
from now on, eighty percent of all awards must go to African American
nominees. This includes Best Animated Feature, so Forrest Whitaker
should dust his mantle for both THE PANIC ROOM and FAT ALBERT. When told
of the decision, Halle Berry was said to burst into tears of joy. Spike
Lee has issued a statement, which says in part, "... it's a
start. Maybe ninety-five would feel better after five hundred years of
oppression."..... At as recent film convention, we were approached by
representatives of 20th Century Fox that prefer to remain anonymous, who
showed us to a hotel room for a super-secret private screening of
STAR WARS: Episode 4! Though some of the special effects appeared to be
unfinished, it's two hours of solid entertainment that definitely lives up
to the hype! It has a back-to-basics approach that gives the impression
that George Lucas has regained some of the early energy he had in
the director's chair. And by the way, that annoying Jar Jar Binks
is nowhere to be found.... Relatives of the late Milton Berle are
reported to be fuming over a controversial last request by the comedian
that he be buried in drag. It may be up to a court of law to decide
whether or not "Uncle Milty" was joking or not in the request,
or whether the request, joke or not, is legally binding....... Arnold
Schwarzenegger has accepted an offer of 20 million dollars to have his
name attached to an upcoming sci-fi action film. "Ahnuld" will
not appear in the as yet untitled film, but his name will appear on all
advertising and above the title in the film itself......
03.20.2002........ Disney just
laid off 250 employees from their animation department......
03.15.2002..... Threshold Entertainment has announced plans to turn
anime favorite NINJA SCROLL into a $60 million live-action film. They're
also producing DUKE NUKEM......... Check out the latest on the BETTIE PAGE
UNCENSORED movie here.
Lots of photos!.... Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed on to play an
android in a remake of WESTWORLD. Wouldn't an update featurte some kinda
virtual reality, like TOTAL RECALL?......
02.22.2002...... Jay Chou has been chosen to star in the US
remake of FIST OF FURY (aka THE CHINESE CONNECTION)........ 02.12.2002........ Due to the football season overruns, production on
some Fox shows like FUTURAMA is over a year ahead of schedule..... Ticket
sales in Japan for GODZILLA GMK have equaled those of the last two Godzilla
pictures combined. This is partially due to the enthusiastic response to
the new feature, and partially due to it being double-featured with a Hamatoro
movie. Toho has announced plans to repeat the teaming for this
year.........
01.25.2002...... Just want to say I hope to see you all at B-FEST
tonight. If anybody wants me to sign their copy of VideoHound's CULT
FLICKS & TRASH PICS, bring it along.....
01.17.2002.... We're rebuilding the PFS mailing list. If you'd like to
get our news and announcements in your email box, please send a message
now. We do not give out our mailing list to anybody......
01.08.2002....... NBC has given the greenlight to two new TV movie
pilots: CARRIE, based on the Stephen King novel, and LOST
IN SPACE....... Stephen Sommers (THE
MUMMY RETURNS) has signed aboard THE ARGONAUTS, a tale set in the
1930s about a crew of adventurers seeking Jason's fabled sunken
ship....... Blockbuster Video is once again trying to wreck home video and
shoot themselves in the foot. Now they're trying to get studios to release
more flicks on DVD in full screen format only, saying that their customers
prefer it. Blockbuster's market research is always 5 years out of date -
one of the reasons DVD is so successful is because viewers are hipper to
film and prefer quality. Here's a link
to a petition seeking to call a halt to this nonsense.....
12.14.2001........ The First Family of Punk - The Ramones - will
be inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame next year...... Columbia Pictures
and director John Singleton are planning to revive Ray
Harryhausen's SINBAD series for a new movie......Universal and
Dimension Films will partner to produce the new 6 MILLION DOLLAR MAN
movie. They've also purchased rights to Martin Caiden's other
novels in his CYBORG series....... USA Films is developing a movie based
on the death of SUPERMAN star George Reeves..... Hey! Winona
Ryder stole my cigarettes!........
12.11.2001....... Korea's Zero
Nine Entertainment (YONGGARY/REPTILIAN)
is now shooting a flick called DRAGON WARS, which should get to the US in
time to look like a cheap rip-off of REIGN OF FIRE......... Pimply,
balding comic-book artist Alex Ross has been hired to design the
poster for the 74th Academy Awards Presentation......
12.10.2001..... Sony is close to giving a green light to ASTRO BOY,
having just hired Eric Leighton (DINOSAUR)
to direct from a script by Todd Alcott (ANTZ) and Ken Kaufman (SPACE
COWBOYS). Sony Imageworks is working on test footage for the now all-CGI
project......... 12.07.2001...... Big ASTRO-ZOMBIES PFS screening
Party tonight!..... Speaking of zombies, Fangoria Pictures' WilliamButler
is currently working on a script for an action-packed RETURN OF THE LIVING
DEAD 4. He says there's also a TV series being considered.........
12.06.2001....... The WB network is looking into a new LONE RANGER
series........ Warners has given the greenlight to a WONDER WOMAN movie,
though no names are attached as yet...... THE RAVEN has to be the most
filmed poem ever (even though none of the movies has ever had much to do
with the poem's "plot"). Now Ron Howard is working on a
flick based on the Poe rhyme, with Greg Kinnear, Linda
Hunt and Richard E. Grant in attendance.....
12.04.2001.......
T3 should net Arnold Schwarzenegger around 30 million dollars.....
The Sci-Fi channel has given the green light to a sequel miniseries,
CHILDREN OF DUNE...... Nathan Lane is set to star in the Jackie
Gleason biopic TO THE MOON..... PLUG: A few years back, I was the lead
contributor to the best-selling book VIDEOHOUND'S GUIDE TO CULT FLICKS
& TRASH PICS. Now we've gone and done it again, completely revising,
updating and expanding the book for a massive new second edition!
Available in bookstores now - in time for X-mas giving - or follow this link.......
11.21.2001..... After a decade of Development Hell at Universal,
Miramax has picked up the feature rights to THE GREEN HORNET.....
11.20.2001...... Kismet Entertainment has announcedtwo remakes in the
works of Mario Bava horror films. The first will be BARON BLOOD and
the second BLACK SUNDAY....... New Line has made a deal with the Cartoon
Network to produce two features based on the series SAMURAI JACK, one
animated and one live-action. Rumor has it Brett Ratner may direct
the feature after RED DRAGON..... Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell,
and a few other conspirators are being rather cagey about a low budget
film they're working on together........
11.19.2001...... Michael Bay (ARMAGEDDON,
PEARL HARBOR) says he and Will Smith are trying to get Warner
Brothers to let them make Richard Matheson's I AM LEGEND through
Bay's new lower-budget-project production company.......
11.16.2001...... Norton Records www.nortonrecords.com has just released
FRIDAY AT THE HIDEOUT- Boss Detroit Garage Music 1964 - 1967. The cd and booklet
cover the scene that everyone from Suzy Quatro to Bob Seger came from. Our
Fearless Leader Michael Flores has an excerpt from the interview you can read at
www.psychotronic.info/ioam/hideout_records.htm
in the booklet. Of course it is about the groupie scene. He has also started an
internet civil defense group, www.civildefenseleague.com and is
toiling away on the BETTIE PAGE movie........... After tossing around story
ideas for JUMANJI 2 for years, looks like Columbia is going back to the
novel's writer Chris Van Allsburg, picking up the rights to his new
book ZATHURA for the sequel........ Taking the place of the canceled
HOWARD STERN RADIO SHOW in syndication will be the Stern-produced sitcom
KANE, about a Southern jerk who is re-united with his long-lost
family...... Robert Weide (MOTHER NIGHT) is writing a script of Kurt
Vonnegut's SIRENS OF TITAN........
11.15.2001....... Bruce Lee lives! Sort of. Korea's ShinCine has
purchased the rights to the late star's image to be used as a CGI actor in
a film called DRAGON WARRIOR....... Studios will be scrambling today as
movie rights to C.S. Lewis' CHRONICLES OF NARNIA books go up for
auction......
11.14.2001.......... After having to abandon his
DON QUIXOTE project, Terry Gilliam appears to be bouncing back with
GOOD OMENS, which pits enemy angels Joseph Fiennes and Christopher
Lambert against each other.....
11.13.2001..... Government and Hollywood brass started meetings this
week to determine how the entertainment industry can help out with the war
effort. Spokespeople claim there is no talk being done about propaganda or
any specific content. MEANwhile, Sylvester Stallone is working on a
script for RAMBO 4, in which the aging hero invades Afghanistan (again) to
capture bin Laden single handed. This should piss off Chuck
Norris, who has had a nearly identical TV movie in the can that CBS
refuses to broadcast........
HELLSEEKER will be yet another unwanted sequel milking the HELLRAISER
franchise......
11.12.2001......... Universal has signed to make a film project
based on Clive Barker and Todd McFarlane's TORTURED SOULS
horror action figures - creatures that kinda look like the folks that
deliver mail to the Cenobites, do their laundry, etc.........
10.29.2001..... Sobini
Films has announced production of the action adventure SWORD OF
HERCULES.....
10.26.2001...... Universal has hired David Hayter (X-MEN)
to write the screen version of WATCHMEN, and Hayter also wants to
direct......
10.23.2001...... Dredd again: Shoreline Ent. and 2000 AD have signed a
deal to bring their most popular character back to the screen for two more
features. Though the first film was pretty much ruined by having star
Sylvester Stallone appear without his helmet, JUDGE DREDD: DREDD
RECKONING and JUDGE DREDD: POSSESSION are planned to hew more faithfully
to the comics....... Speaking of JUDGE
DREDD, Anchor Bay may be doing a
director's cut DVD of the film. They are also planning a 4-DISC special
edition of EVIL DEAD, a possible box set of John Carpenter's ESCAPE
FROM... movies, and a special series of Orson Welles discs,
including a newly finished cut of THE DEEP!......... Ridley Scott's
next will be the supernatural thriller SWIFT....... While his GANGS OF
NEW YORK is being pushed back until next year (possibly to put some time
between it and star Leo DiCaprio's uncomplimentary comments about
the film), Martin Scorsese is said to be preparing ALEXANDER THE
GREAT.........
10.19.2001.... One doesn't usually associate author Harlan Ellison
with the word "action", but nevertheless director Alex Proyas
(DARK CITY) is making a
chase-and-fight feature called DRIVE, adapted from Ellison's "Along
the Scenic Route"...... Regency Pictures are producing David
Benioff's supernatural thriller script STAY........ Will there be a live-action
feature of DEXTER'S LABORATORY? Director D.J. Caruso (MIND PREY)
has it on his schedule.....
10.16.2001....... Dario Argento
is writing a sequel to his quirky masterpiece PHENOMENA.......... Fox appears to be
gaining the upper hand in bidding with ABC over the rights for a new TIME
TUNNEL series.....
10.03.2001...... Shopping: Sobini Films bought the film rights to
Graham Joyce' witchcraft novel DARK SISTER. They're also working on a
script called JOHNNY FRANKENSTEIN. And Dimension bought the film rights to
the ALONE IN THE DARK video game series.... Laszlo Kovacs will
pick up a lifetime achievement award from the American Society of
Cinematographers. Kovacs' lens has recently graced such hits as MISS
CONGENIALITY, but we'll always remember him for scores of old exploitation
films like TARGETS, KISS ME QUICK, MANTIS
IN LACE, BLOOD OF DRACULA'S CASTLE and HELL'S BLOODY DEVILS.........
Screenwriter of THE NINTH GATE Enrique
Urbizu willtake up the directing chores as well on the sequel THE
DEVIL'S BEAUTY......
10.02.2001...... Happy Palindrome Day! See ya again on January 2,
2010......... Chuck Norris is pushing for CBS to air his TV movie
THE PRESIDENT'S MAN. No, it's not a serious drama about a gay president,
but an action flick in which Norris is sent to Afghanistan to abduct a bin
Laden-like terrorist kingpin......
09.28.2001.... According to Video Business magazine, the evil pinheads
at Blockbuster Video are expanding their DVD business - but destroying
their tape titles by 25% at each store. Not selling off, or donating to
charities - destroying. Reminds me of how film studios have
burned thousands of negatives in their archives to make room for
"newer, better" material. Like the script for SHALLOW HAL I
s'pose............
09.26.2001.......... Sony is working on an animated
feature based on the Smashing Pumpkins' "Machines of God"
album........
09.25.2001............ According to DreamWorks, their remake of
FORBIDDEN PLANET will resist the urge to "update" and will
include a Robby the Robot that looks just like the
original..........
09.24.2001.......... Mark Frost
is looking to get use of some characters, including FBI Agents Dale Cooper
(Kyle MacLachlan) and Sam Stanley (Kiefer Sutherland) for a
TWIN PEAKS spin-off feature set at Bureau headquarters.........
09.18.2001....... Countess Coralina
Cataldi-Tassoni has a music cd out, has worked in film with Dario
Argento (OPERA, DEMONS 2, PHANTOM
OF THE OPERA) and has been in plays created by our own fearless leader
Michael Flores (Yep, he just keeps discovering new talent). To see her
very very nude
click here.......... Beloved
character actor Victor Wong (TREMORS, BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA,
PRINCE OF DARKNESS) has died........
09.17.2001.......... Producer Samuel
Arkoff died of natural causes at 83 on Sunday. As co-founder of
American International Pictures, Arkoff executive produced and/or
distributed hundreds of psychotronic films, from US independent producers,
AIP's in-house production companies, and foreign productions from around
the world.......
09.14.2001....... Predictably, a lot of
folks are using the 9-11 attack as an excuse to spout all kinds of
bigotry. On Pat Robertson's 700 CLUB, broadcast on the Disney-owned Fox
Family Channel, Lynchburg's own Jerry Falwell blamed "the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists and the gays
and lesbians ... the ACLU, People for the American Way" and groups "who have
tried to secularize America". He forgot to add Tinky-Winky....
09.13.2001....... Studios have announced
changes due to the 911 terrorist attacks on the USA. Arnold
Schwarzenegger's COLLATERAL DAMAGE, which opens with the bombing of an
LA skyscraper, has been shelved. Disney's BIG TROUBLE has also been
shelved due to a plot element that involves a nuclear bomb smuggled onto
an airplane. Special f/x, including a trailer, for SPIDER-MAN that show
the WTC towers are being reworked. MEN IN BLACK 2 will need a rewrite
because the climax is rumored to take place at the WTC. British theaters
have pulled the terrorist-themed SWORDFISH out of theaters. Release of
TRAINING DAY is pushed back to October 5. Production on WAR OF THE WORLDS
has gone on hiatus. The upcoming Jackie Chan film NOSEBLEED, about
a WTC window washer, will undergo a rewrite. NBC has scrapped plans for
it's crossover miniseries TERROR. Fox TV has canceled this weekend's
screenings of PEACEMAKER and INDEPENDENCE DAY.
However, THE ASSASSINATION OF RICHARD NIXON, a true account starring Sean
Penn as a man who tried to hijack a plane to fly it into the White
House in 1972, will stay in production........
09.12.2001....... The world was stunned to watch suicide bombers attack the United States and
more than one commentator compared the assault to psychotronic films such as
INDEPENDENCE DAY. But this wasn't a movie. Bruce Willis, Jackie Chan and
Arnold did not save the day, No super hero arrived to stop the horror. This
was reality shaking us from our private worlds, reminding us how unsafe the
world is. Our hearts go out to those touched by these events and our
condolences to those whose lives have been forever changed by the events of
September 11, 2001.............
09.10.2001....... Beware of banner ads for
the Republican National Committee floating around on the web. Clicking on
them not only takes you to their website, but also adds your address to
their spam mailing list so they can tell you about "the latest
successes of George W. Bush"......
09.05.2001............
Like many, I thought it was a joke item at first, but it turns out Hank
the Angry Drunken Dwarf (who played God in CITIZEN TOXIE) is
really dead. From now on, the part of Hank on THE HOWARD STERN RADIO SHOW
will be played by comedian Craig Gass on his knees............
08.31.2001............. Jim Cameron is having a love affair - with the sea! His Lightstorm Ent. is stepping into the production of a film based on the FATHOM comic-book....... 08.28.2001........ Steven Spielberg is looking into the possibility of producing a CGI film based on the legendary European hit comic TINTIN...... 08.23.2001........ Michael "Phantom Of The Opera" Crawford will star in the theatrical adaptation of Roman Polanski's THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS, which was a dud at the box office but has since picked up a cult following. The play bears the film's original title DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES. Singing and dancing vampires?......... Philip Kaufman will direct a remake of Hitchcock's SUSPICION for Dimension and RKO............. 08.21.2001........ With his Hollywood stock slipping since TWISTER, director Jan DeBont is moving more into TV production, presently planning a miniseries for Fx Network called EATER, based on the Gregory Benford novel about a black hole headed for Earth........... John Carpenter says a French remake of ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 is in the works...... 08.20.2001......... Ray "Shifty" Ferry lost to Forrest J Ackerman in court in the famous Famous Monsters of Filmland trial, but has yet to pay a penny of the half million dollar judgment, claiming bankruptcy. However, now the US Bankruptcy Court has filed suit against Ferry's law firm, claiming Freund & Brackey helped Ferry hide his assets to dodge the bill. They're seeking $750,000 in punitive damages................ 08.17.2001........ In honor of the Chicago debut of 3 Jose Mojica Marins films at the Chicago Underground Film Fest, we've put up reviews of the DVD releases now available in Movie Madness.............. With the prison drama OZ a hit for HBO, a confused WB network has ordered a pilot based on the L. Frank Baum children's book series........ 08.16.2001...... Sounds like the funniest episode yet: WILL & GRACE star Sean Hayes (CATS & DOGS) came across a robbery victim that had been shot Friday night. Hayes ripped off his shirt and stuffed it in the bullet wound, helping to stop the bleeding until help arrived........ 08.13.2001....... Paramount and Nickelodeon have picked up the feature and TV rights to ECTO-KID, based on the Marvel comic-book owned by Clive Barker...... Disney bought the rights to DC Comics' BIG DADDY DANGER......... Despite general disinterest that greeted the first sequel, MGM has some new writers working on PUMPKINHEAD 3....... Warner Bros. seems to be going through a period great indecision of late, not knowing what to do with some properties other than animated series. Lots of speculation as to what Batman and/or Superman project should be done in what way, and now they've got a couple different concepts for a SPACE JAM follow-up, including SPY JAM with Jackie Chan and RACE JAM with NASCAR drivers........ 08.08.2001..... Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in New York will unveil figures of Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's Monster and the Mummy, and Bela Lugosi as Dracula this Halloween........ 08.06.2001.......... Tom Hanks will provide voice work for Universal's adaptation of Maurice Sendak's WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE. Disney vet Eric Goldberg (POCAHONTAS) has been hired to direct...... Disney has bought INDIANA JACKSON, a "hip-hop RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK" set to star Pras from the Fugees. Will Paramount and Spielberg sue?..... 08.03.2001......... Comedy Central cancelled THAT'S MY BUSH, but creators Matt Stone & Trey Parker plan to make a feature out of the concept called GEORGE BUSH & THE SECRET OF THE GLASS TIGER...... 08.01.2001..... TNT network is remaking SALEM'S LOT as a new miniseries. Has it really been 22 years since the original?....... 07.31.2001........ DreamWorks plans to follow their success with SHREK by producing an all-CGI version of CURIOUS GEORGE....... Daniel Day Lewis says he'd like to play Namor, THE SUB-MARINER....... 07.27.2001....... Kirk Wong (CRIME STORY) will direct Ray Park (X-MEN) as IRON FIST, based on the Marvel comic about an American kung fu master with explosive punches and kicks.... Universal is preparing a script called BROTHER SAM for a biopic of late comic Sam Kinison, based on the book by his brother Bill. Wow, could be another MAN ON THE MOON or WIRED........ Harry Knowles has announced that he's co-written a book that'll be published soon. I admire a lot of things that Harry has done with his site, but I can't possibly endorse any book by a film critic that has a caricature of him on the cover holding a box of popcorn....... Waiting at the Disney stoplight is TRON 2.0. Will they think kids will want to see a sequel to a 20 year-old movie they've never heard of? Decision could hinge on how their deluxe DVD of the original does..... 07.24.2001........ Over at DreamWorks SKG, they've just signed Stephen Norrington (BLADE) to direct an epic kung fu movie called HAMMER OF GOD...... What th--- Dimension Pictures have secured the rights to remake DOLEMITE, and are casting LL Cool J (DEEP BLUE SEA) in the lead. We'll see if they don't fuck it all up, meanwhile here's Dolemite's Blaxploitation Tagline Generator, with props to Dolemite.com!........... 07.23.2001.......... Gives me a headache to even think about this, but Michael Jackson plans to produce an animated feature called THE WAY OF THE UNICORN: THE ENDANGERED ONE. Jackson will provide the voice for "an orphan named Sailor who teams up with a lonely rich girl and a band of endangered animals on a quest to save Mother Earth".......... 07.18.2001............ Lots of folks are steamed at Sarah Silverman and Conan O'Brien because Sarah used the word "chinks" in a joke on Conan's show last week, despite the fact that she was using it as an example of something inappropriate. Typically, managers at NBC that I might inappropriately term "pussies" are apologizing all over the place. Speaking as a part Asian, I'd have been offended if they'd cut the word out because it would ruin the joke. However, I'm still mad at Comedy Central for airing that recent cuss-heavy SOUTH PARK because I'm mostly full of shit...... F. Gary Gray (THE NEGOTIATOR) has been signed to direct MAGE, based on the cult hit comic-book........ The new Swedish Bikini Team is really confusing. Now there's only 4 instead of 5, they're all really Swedish (except Gunnel, a token Norwegian), and they don't wear blonde wigs........ 07.17.2001...... Phillip Morris is now trying to promote the fact that since smokers die earlier, they save the government millions in Medicare costs. Amateurs. The government has a better plan: keep getting into wars. And give the soldiers plenty of free cigarettes just in case they don't get shot, blown up, or poisoned....... 07.12.2001..... Harrison Ford rescued a Boy Scout stuck in a tree or a kitten that fell down a well or something....... Talent from around the world is converging in Shenzhen, China, to work on THRU THE MOEBIUS STRIP, a CGI sci-fi flick created by the French comics legend..... Miramax has signed Reese Witherspoon to play HONEY WEST, based on the 1960s series of novels and TV series...... Jean-Claude Van Damme is going to India to co-star with Chiranjeevi in RETURN OF THE THIEF OF BAGDAD...... |
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07.02.2001............. Richard Donner plans to produce and direct a film based on Sega's CRAZY TAXI video game.....
06.29.2001...... If you happen to be in Malaysia today, let the buyer beware. Those tapes of PEARL HARBOR on the market only have about 5 minutes of the real movie. The rest is all hard core porn starring Asian and Caucasians performing. Whether or not this is an improvement is up to the individual viewer..... In more porn news, a couple seen having (under blanket) sex on the Portuguese version of BIG BROTHER tried to calm down the populace by getting married. Bet CBS' BB2 ain't gonna be a tenth as interesting.....
06.21.2001............... Comics legends Len Wein and Marv Wolfman have sold a script called GENE POOL, about super-folks banding together to fight off enemies.....
06.20.2001..... Looks like Disney's at it again. They had so much success ripping off KIMBA to make THE LION KING that now they've swiped from NADIA to make ATLANTIS. Click here for a comparison. Meanwhile, after botching the potential goldmine release of PRINCESS MONONOKE, they've buried other Miyazaki treasures under their control. Where's LAPUTA: CASTLE IN THE SKY? CRIMSON PIG? Maybe being hidden until they can come up with projects just like 'em...... Toho Studios are in tentative pre-production for a remake of WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS.......... SURVIVOR host Jeff Probst showed off some hidden talents as a director when his FINDER'S FEE took the Best Film prize at the Seattle Independent Film Festival.....
06.18.2001...... Action producer Joel Silver is trying to put together a modern urban remake of M, to star rapper DMX (ROMEO MUST DIE) as a crime boss competing with police to find a child killer..... Filming a fight in THE HUNTED, Tommy Lee Jones accidentally busted Benicio Del Toro's arm. Wonder if BTD changed his perpetual squinty expression........
06.13.2001.... Toy company Takara plans to sell canned "Godzilla Meat" (actually corned beef) in Japanese grocery stores. "Rodan Meat" will actually be canned BBQ chicken........
06.11.2001......... Brian DePalma is working on another remake of INHERIT THE WIND..... Will they really make: BEVERLY HILLS COP 4?.... Somewhere on the internet, a Chicago STAR WARS fan is selling his own "Jar Jar free" edit of PHANTOM MENACE, said to be about 20 minutes shorter....... Disney lawyers cracked down on a small school in Scotland, forcing them to cancel the kids' stage production of THE LION KING......
06.06.2001....... Jonathan Davis of Korn and Richard Gibbs of Oingo Boingo are teaming up for a DVD project that will combine their music with paintings by Clive Barker...... Newsweek has exposed Sony for the fraud of using a phony critic quote in ads for THE ANIMAL......
06.01.2001...... After 22 years, the censor board will allow folks in South Africa over 18 to see CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST..... Neo-groaner Steven Seagal says his first album is finally ready for release, unlike most of his films......
05.31.2001...... Screenwriter Karey Kirkpatrick (CHICKEN RUN) will direct the upcoming SUPERKID, from his own script.......... Dimension Films is planning a film based on Marvel's CLOAK AND DAGGER comics...... Golden Harvest has announced their next 2 Jackie Chan projects: OPERATION CONDOR 3 and the ambitious 80 million dollar SUN TZU'S THE ART OF WAR, to be shot in India....... Dan Haggerty will be the voice of Terl in the BATTLEFIELD EARTH animated series......
05.25.2001...... TiVo has been awarded patents that cover the basic processes of its video recording systems, which spells bad news for competitors Replay TV and Microsoft's Ultimate TV, who may have to cough up big bucks in licensing fees..........
05.18.2001....... ALICE will be the first feature made as part of vid game producer American McGee's deal with Dimension pictures. Wes Craven is attached as director....
05.17.2001....... Despite criticism from the scientific community, a group of US businessmen plan to carry on with their plan to clone Vlad Dracula the Impaler..........
05.16.2001......... PFS member Perry Pagonis sent us a copy of his novel BLOOD & POPCORN, a story of mallrats, movies, and a local horror host in the neverland of the 1980s. Check it out...... Samsung will pick up the tab for SKYQUEST, a futuristic animated ecological tale, which at over $20 million will be the "most expensive Korean feature ever"......... While in the UK, another animated sci-fi feature is underway. WATER WARRIORS is about dinky space aliens that want to invade Earth, but land in a pond instead.....
05.02.2001...... Talk about product placement! As if TOY STORY wasn't enough, there's a flick in the works called FOOD FIGHT about animated corporate icons come to life.........
04.26.2001............ As another sign that we always have to blame somebody, some of the families of Columbine shooting victims are suing game companies for 5 billion dollars. If that doesn't work I suppose they'll sue the bullet manufacturers.......
04.22.2001.......... Sen. Joe Lieberman was in Hollywood last week trying to push his vague government-control ideas on the entertainment community, members of which were cordial but resistant. Hey Joe, a rating system for movies and TV shows sounds like a good idea - that's why THERE ALREADY IS ONE. Now stop trying to milk celebrities for free publicity to further your own political career and get back to work........
04.15.2001.... Hail to thee our recent dead: Brother Theodore and Joey Ramone............
04.06.2001........... Apparently they're going to make their own version of CHARLIE'S ANGELS in India......... Since the new owners of Roger Corman's old studio building were going to tear it down anyway, thrifty Corman asked if he could blow it up for a hastily-written movie called SLAUGHTER STUDIOS..... Tim Allen goes to China? The GALAXY QUEST star is attached to a possible remake of Hammer Film's LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES.....
04.01.2001....... Following the long-awaited release of THE PHANTOM MENACE on DVD next year, George Lucas plans to do a total revamp of the film using new digital technology. Besides a general audio/visual polish, Lucas has come to terms with the fact that some areas of the film are not as popular with fans as they could be. The Jar Jar Binks character will be replaced by funnyman Orlando Jones, while the casting misfire that was Jake Lloyd will be "corrected" by replacing him with little Hallie Kate Eisenberg from the Pepsi commercials. According to Lucas, these two actors are very hot with the preteen target audience..... Celebrating his Lifetime Achievement Oscar, producer Dino De Laurentiis will get in on the strike-breaking re-release bandwagon this Summer. While a restored version of his KING KONG remake was briefly considered, he chose instead to go with MANDINGO, which is thought to be a more commercial property....... Speaking of King Kong, the big ape will continue to rile the other contestants of SURVIVOR: MONSTER ISLAND in an upcoming episode by confessing to his homosexuality, then insisting on flaunting it in front of everyone. At one point Gamera can't resist the giant gorilla's chatter about being "flaming" and blasts him with a fireball, requiring the injured beast's extraction from the island via helicopter and helium balloon airlift...... The team behind the hit play BURLY-Q will have to get their film version of the show on the market fast, as producer Roger Corman has announced plans to have his similarly-themed BURLESQUE-A-RAMA on video shelves by late July.......
03.29.2001............. Hallmark is producing a TV series based on the NEVERENDING STORY movies...... Paul Reubens has THE PEE WEE HERMAN STORY, plus two sequel scripts, in the works.....
03.21.2001.......... The Sci-Fi channel is spending millions to acquire series created by the likes of Stephen Spielberg, Clive Barker and Stephen King - yet, when they took over Mothership.com in a merger, were too cheap to take on the site's staff as well, and lost little time firing everyone, replacing all content with their own frivolous hype..........
03.14.2001....... John Woo and Terence Chang will produce a remake of Sam Pekinpah's THE KILLER ELITE.......
02.24.2001......... With SURVIVOR 2 still topping the ratings, and a strike coming on, the "reality TV" trend keeps expanding. Mtv has on one of the funniest: FEAR, in which they stick a bunch of impressionable teens in a location with cameras for a couple nights, tell them the place is full of ghosts, send them on silly missions in dark corners, and scare the crap out of them. Animal Planet has announced a show called TEMPTATION KENNEL, in which dogs and owners are separated and tempted by masters with plenty of kibble and well-behaved dogs. The tough part comes when Lady is shown video of her Shawan scratching another bitch's belly. The Food Network and the History Channel are also planning yet-unnamed shows that feature real folks, one of which has a famous chef preparing a meal, and another which is about stuff that really happened years ago........
02.07.2001......... Horror icon Stephen King is adapting someone else's novel into a screenplay for the first time. King is adapting Patrick McGrath's ASYLUM for Paramount and director Jonathan Demme....... Ray Shim, director of that YONGGARY remake we still haven't seen yet, is working on a new project called DRAGON WARS........
02.02.2001............ The American Film Marketing Assn. has chosen Roger Corman to receive their first lifetime achievement award........ Six postage stamps have been issued in Guyana featuring Chow Yun-Fat...... Y'know, it's not that I don't believe he would do it. It's just that I don't want to believe anybody would pay OJ Simpson any amount of money to play a psycho killer in an X-Rated video........
01.26.2001............ Penny-pinching: The Cartoon Network, making a fortune on the POWERPUFF GIRLS, may be losing star voice actors Tara Strong (Bubbles), Catherine Cavadini (Blossom) and E.G. Daily (Buttercup), after offering to renew contracts with them at a measly $1000 per recording session for the hit show, and refusing to let them in on lucrative merchandising deals.......
01.21.2001....... Chicagoland cable TV viewers, be sure to tune in Channel 19 at 11pm to see ME as the special guest/abductee on the ABDUCTIONS WITH THE ALTER BOY show...........
01.05.2001............. With all Hollywood gone CGI-happy, it's only natural that Disney is working on a script for TRON 2.0......... Will Melanie Griffith take her mother's role in the proposed remake of THE BIRDS? I'm hoping the whole project falls through........ Chow Yun-Fat will play the lead in RINGWORLD.......
12.28.2000........ Psychotronic entries being added to the National Film Registry include DRACULA (1931), FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER (1928), PETER PAN (1924) and PORKY IN WACKYLAND..... Ray Park (X-MEN) will play Marvel's kung fu superhero IRON FIST......
12.21.2000....... Even though THE CROW: SALVATION was dumped by Dimension Films into the direct-to-video bin, they're going ahead with yet another sequel. Actor/rapper DMX will star in THE CROW: LAZARUS, playing a rapper who comes back from the dead to kill a lot of white people............ Newlyweds Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones are attached to a project called SMOKE AND MIRRORS, about Harry Houdini encountering sorcery........
12.14.2000.... Tired of what's on the same old 500 channels? Starting this weekend, Chicago cable subscribers have a psychotronic alternative, when ABDUCTIONS WITH THE ALTER BOY debuts Sunday, Dec. 17 at 11 pm on channel 19. It's a wild half hour sci-fi, comedy talk show, and an upcoming episode will feature PFS Propaganda Minister of the Sinister Brian Thomas as guest/abductee. There's also a premiere party this Saturday night at Delilah's, 2771 N Lincoln (near Diversey at 8pm. Check www.alterboy.org for details........
12.08.2000.... Col. Klink is dead, from cancer. Remind me to tell you my Werner Klemperer story some day...........
12.06.2000......... When Tim Burton (SLEEPY HOLLOW) moved out of his New York apartment, during the confusion of moving (been there) he mislaid about 50 pieces of art. Now the cretin that moved into his old place wants to sell the art at Christie's, and refuses to give it back to Burton. Hope Tim's lawyers butcher the creep....
11.29.2000.... ..... Marvel also has films of DEATHLOK and TALES OF THE ZOMBIE in the works - two of my favorite '70s comics series.......
11.27.2000..... A new FU MANCHU flick is in the works, with Antonio Banderas attached to play an FBI agent on the Yellow Peril super-villain's trail........... The Muppets will return on THE KERMIT THE FROG SHOW...... Kane Hodder, secretly famous for playing Jason Vorhees in several FRIDAY THE 13th films, will make his directorial debut in New Line's AT NIGHT IT WAKES, starring Kurt Russell.........
11.13.2000..... If ya can't beat 'em: George Lucas has signed an agreement with the Atom Films website to allow - and even encourage - amateur STAR WARS parodists. Filmmakers will have a venue to legally distribute their Force farces online, while Lucas gets yet another chance to propagate SW fandom - and keep an eye out for emerging talent.....
11.09.2000...... We're sad to announce the death of Frederick S. Clarke, creator, owner, editor, and publisher of the groundbreaking publication Cinefantastique, who took his own life last month at the age of 51. Clarke began CFQ (as fans called it) in 1970 as the first serious sci-fi, horror and fantasy film magazine to be published in color on slick paper. The magazine covers genre releases in depth far beyond the due given them in most other magazines, often devoting double issues to significant films. Starting in1992, Clarke began a sister publication Femme Fatales, which at first glance looked to be merely a girlie magazine for psychotronic fans, but turned out at times to feature articles almost as thoughtful and thorough as those in CFQ. Both magazines will continue, but their creator will be greatly missed.......
11.07.2000........ A BATTLEFIELD EARTH animated TV series is being made in Japan for worldwide distribution.......
10.31.2000...... The remake of I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE starring Craig Sheffer, Jennifer Grey and Tim Curry, has been retitled REVELATION....
10.26.2000... Financial statements at MGM reveal the studio plans an OUTER LIMITS feature, another PINK PANTHER film, and a theatrical sequel to STARGATE........
10.13.2000........ Reports are coming in that there may be some trouble up at Camp Crystal Lake, where counselors are spending the weekend closing down the camp.... alone....... .
10.11.2000..... According to the research of English writer Rodger Garrick Steele, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was having an affair with the wife of his best friend and fellow writer Bertram Fletcher Robinson, then the pair murdered Robinson and stole his Sherlock Holmes stories, including "Hound of the Baskervilles". Sounds like poppycock, but Steele has sold film rights to his manuscript for a book about the supposed murder.... Mel Gibson and Jet Li are exec producing a TV series called THE PROTECTORS, about a band of folks chosen to battle fallen angels.........
10.09.2000...... Not getting better: Richard Farnsworth, Oscar nominee for THE STRAIGHT STORY, shot himself after being diagnosed with a terminal cancer........ Forget the speculation that scandal surrounding Meg Ryan will tarnish her sweet girl next door image. She's now considering playing the lead in THE LINDA LOVELACE STORY.......... More DVD news: high ranking turkeys at Warner Home Video are trying to create coding to block play of their region 1 discs on region-free players. Which stinks....... Meanwhile, we've been hearing about various Japanese properties that Jim Cameron has been trying to secure movie rights for. One of them turns out to be giant robot classic MAZINGER Z......
10.02.2000..... Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (ED WOOD) are working on an animated Christmas movie spoof for Rhino called SLUSHY THE SNOWMAN......
09.30.2000..... We regret to report that Melanie Scott, friend and founder of the Washington Psychotronic Film Society passed away last Saturday..... Warners and Fox will share production on a new version of Jean Claude Forest's comic BARBARELLA, with a script by John August (GO), and Drew Barrymore signed to produce and star......
09.26.2000.... Leonardo DiCaprio is considering playing the leads in a film based on the life of Johnny Eck, the famed "half-man" carnival performer who starred in FREAKS. Leo would also play Johnny's twin brother Robert...... Cereal giant Kellog's of Battle Creek are fronting the first ever animated feature produced in India........
09.21.2000.......... In the same vein he mined in CANDYMAN, Clive Barker will produce BLOODY MARY, a film based on the urban folklore among Miami's homeless..........
09.20.2000..... Out-of-towners may not have heard about this, but yesterday the Chicago Sun-Times uncovered the fact that Cardinal George brought in an official exorcist for the area about a year ago. The unnamed devilhunter hasn't had a chance to perform the rights here yet, but did at least 9 in Rome. No word on how effective he was in those cases, but he might want to start with the owners of our pro sports teams just in case........
09.13.2000.... It's taken a while for the news to filter out: Curt Siodmak died on Sept. 2 at the age of 98. Though most of his directing career was limited to schlock like BRIDE OF THE GORILLA and LOVE SLAVES OF THE AMAZONS, as a screenwriter, he was a genre legend. Siodmak wrote FP1 DOESN'T ANSWER, TRANSATLANTIC TUNNEL, NON-STOP NEW YORK, BLACK FRIDAY, THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS, THE APE, THE INVISIBLE WOMAN, THE WOLF MAN, INVISIBLE AGENT, FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN, I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE, SON OF DRACULA, HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS, DONOVAN'S BRAIN, EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS, and many others. In recent years, his interviews in fan magazines have portrayed him as a delightful grouch, fond of skewering icons and naming names. His film career started when, as a reporter, he got hired as an extra in METROPOLIS to get an interview with director Fritz Lang. His last project was preparing a sequel to METROPOLIS. His brother Robert Siodmak, who directed some of his brother's scripts, died in 1973............. Dan Myrick (BLAIR WITCH PROJECT)will direct the post-apoc epic SALVAGE.......
09.08.2000......... George Clooney has written his own treatment for a BATMAN movie. His story begins by killing off Alfred and Robin. I'm sure Michael Gough and Chris O'Donnell are happy to hear this........
09.05.2000..... German studio Helkon Media plans to film Hugo Pratt's sweaty pirate comic CORTO MALTESE as a English language TV miniseries. Shooting will take place entirely in Cuba........ Some kid snuck into Virginia from Iran, started calling himself Jonathan Taylor Speilberg, and claimed to be the nephew of the SAVING PRIVATE RYAN director. INS agent are deporting him......
08.31.2000....
Kira Reed, the host of the Playboy Channel show SEXCETERA will be hosting
a party for our own Fearless Leader Michael Flores to celebrate the re-
opening of the revised and unauthorized version of BETTIE PAGE UNCENSORED. The party will
be Thursday, September 7th at 10 pm, at The Fifth Floor, 440 North Halsted, one block
south of Grand Avenue in Chicago. There will be a wild Bettie Page
Look-Alike Contest, Wild Outfit Contest, and the party will be taped for broadcast, as
will the opening weekend of the play at the Playground Theater, 3341 North Lincoln. Check
the poster
08.29.2000......... Psychotronic Saint Ted V. Mikels (ASTRO ZOMBIES) celebrated yesterday at his Las Vegas studio with a wrap party for CORPSE GRINDERS 2: CAT PEOPLE FROM SPACE. Mikels was joined by Mayor Oscar Goodman, the Lt.Governor of Nevada, heads of several casinos, and even visiting royalty from Cambodia (!) in toasting the long-awaited sequel to his hilarious kitty chow horror classic......... Robin Williams gay again? The trollish actor (BICENTENNIAL MAN) may play the lead in Phil Kaufman's biopic LIBERACE.......
08.25.2000..... Fox is planning THE ZODIAC, a TV movie about the still-unsolved San Francisco serial killer case. Dozens of films have been inspired by the case. Other Zodiac-based films include DIRTY HARRY, THE LIMBIC REGION, THE ZODIAC KILLER, and THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN......... BABY HUEY: THE MOVIE? - a group of entertainment heavyweights have bought up a majority share of Harvey Entertainment, licensors of Casper the Friendly Ghost and a host of other comics characters....
08.22.2000...... Warners is making a TV movie based on the DC Comics series DEADMAN for broadcast on the TNT cable network.....
08.21.2000.......... Yet another: Columbia will make I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER 3, introducing "totally new characters" (big surprise).....
08.17.2000...... MGM, getting more active lately, has enlisted Ralph Zondag (DINOSAUR) to direct RAISED BY GHOSTS, a dark supernatural comedy....... Plate full yet? Stephen Norrington (BLADE) is finishing post-production on his independent film THE LAST MINUTE, setting up BROTHER TERMITE (from a script by John Sayles) and GHOST RIDER, writing GODHEAD and SUPERGRAVITY, and "developing a gigantic action franchise".............
08.16.2000....... MGM is planning a feature based on J. Michael Strazinski's Top Cow comic RISING STARS, about a group of random folks granted super powers....
08.15.2000..... Expanding his production plans, Gene Simmons has picked up the feature film rights to the comic-book EVIL ERNIE..........
08.11.2000... AND NOW THE SCREAMING STARTS: Miramax substudio Dimension Films is being a dick. A few years ago, they were threatened with a lawsuit by the producers of the sci-fi flick SCREAMERS over use of the title SCREAM. Now Dimension, who had previously tried to buy the spoof I KNOW WHAT YOU SCREAMED LAST SEMESTER from Rhino Entertainment (then made their own SCARY MOVIE when they failed), is now threatening to sue over use of the word "scream" in the title! Gee, who knew SCREAM was in the works before SCREAM IN THE NIGHT, SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN, GIRLS SCHOOL SCREAMERS, SCREAM BLACULA SCREAM, SCREAM BLOODY MURDER, SCREAM OF THE BUTTERFLY, THE NIGHT GOD SCREAMED, and ICE SCREAM..........
08.08.2000..... Lawyers for Arnold Schwarznegger have sent a cease & desist order to the website Gaijin a Go-Go for showing a commercial AS made for DirectTV. The site features funny ads of Hollywood stars hawking products in Japan......... The Playboy Channel's SEXCETERA show and BETTIE PAGE UNCENSORED, the unauthorized and uncensored revised play, are headed towards Bettie heaven together. SEXCETERA will be hosting a pre-opening night party for the play with a Bettie Page Look-Alike contest on Thursday, September 7th at a location to be named in the Chicago area......
08.04.2000........ Josh Leonard (THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT) is haunted anew in the Australian horror flick CUBBYHOUSE...... More controversy for NYC's "Cows on Parade" exhibit (ripped off from Chicago's last year): a cow created by David Lynch has been rejected. I'll take it!.............
08.03.2000....... Self-financing filmmaker Dave Lawler (THE TELL-TALE HEART) has announced that his Damned Productions next feature will be THEY ONLY COME OUT AT NIGHT. Lawler says this film will have a higher budget and level of production value, making it "look like ARMAGEDDON" next to his previous efforts.......... The Krofft brothers are still trying to revive their fortunes on the big screen. Joining H.R. PUFNSTUF, SIGMUND AND THE SEA MONSTERS and LAND OF THE LOST on their development slate is THE BUGALOOS -- a show I used to watch because one of the bugs was a cute girl in a really short skirt........
08.02.2000..... STARSHIP REGULARS, an animated series on Icebox.com, is moving to TV on the Showtime channel............ Dude! High Times Magazine will produce its first feature film. Entitled POTLUCK, it'll feature Frank Gorshin, Jason Mewes, and Jackie "the Jokeman" Martling. Expect some drug humor......... Tons of stuff is being stolen from the sets of LORD OF THE RINGS. One of the security guards was arrested for taking over $200k worth of stuff, and eBay had to shut down dozens of auctions for stolen props........... Condomania has signed a license deal to make rubbers with SOUTH PARK characters on them.......
07.31.2000....... George Romero, at the first US screening of BRUISER, said his next project is Stephen King's THE GIRL WHO LOVED TOM GORDON. He also said it's been frustrating (but profitable) working on projects that went nowhere the last 7 years, and he spent some of that time writing a draft of TWILIGHT OF THE DEAD. Here's a link to his website.......
07.28.2000....... Hot writer Nick Marine (WHACKED) currently has 4 scripts in development - TOM SLICK: MONSTER HUNTER, with Nic Cage attached, apparently unrelated to the cartoon character; GET SMART, an update of the TV spy spoof; REX RILEY SPACE RACER; and now CATCHING HELL, about a demon-posessed bounty hunter......... I
07.25.2000...... KISS frontman Gene Simmons is developing a film based on Mike Grell's 1980s First Comics series JON SABLE, FREELANCE..........
07.19.2000.... Jerry Bruckheimer Films just bought a script called RED WORLD, about a time cop bent on keeping future folks from colonizing the past (present?)..... Bruce Campbell will be time traveling too in NOBODY KNOWS, about an alternative universe where the Kennedys were saved...... Jackie Chan plans to make a remake (?) of TERRACOTTA WARRIOR.....
07.14.2000........ Snake Plissken is back! John Carpenter's surly warrior will come to the small screen via the syndicated TV series ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, with somebody else wearing Kurt Russell's eyepatch. If that's successful, they'll finally start shooting ESCAPE FROM EARTH.......... One hundred SPEED RACER fans with 60 thousand bucks or so burning a hole in their pockets can now order their own working model of the Mach 5.....
07.13.2000..... The failed experiment of the 1950s that was "Odorama" is being revived by Golden Harvest and UFO Films for their release of LAVENDER, about a romance between an angel and an aroma therapist........
07.03.2000........ The Texas Supreme Court has ruled Texas A&M University liable for a $250,000 judgment related to the injury of Dracula. An actor playing the lead in a 1994 school drama club production of VLAD DRACULA was accidentally stabbed with a Bowie knife at the climax of a performance. The actor, Paul Bishop, finished the scene, but had to be taken to the hospital immediately afterward........
06.30.2000............. SubGenius Bibles HIGH WEIRDNESS and 3-FISTED TALES OF "BOB" will be back in print soon. Buy 'em.........
06.27.2000..... Variety ran a story today naming the late Isaac Asimov as a hot writer in Hollywood these days, despite the relative failure of BICENTENNIAL MAN. Projects sold by the energetic Created By agency include THE UGLY LITTLE BOY (to star Demi Moore), END OF ETERNITY (directed by Ridley Scott), FOUNDATION (directed by Shekhar Kapur), and an animated TV series, NORBY THE MIXED-UP ROBOT............ Working through grief following the death of his wife has led William Shatner to producing and directing a black comedy called SHIVA CLUB....
06.21.2000...... Sounds crazy, but reports are coming in that Tom Cruise' production company will be making DEATH RACE 3000, to be directed by Paul Anderson (EVENT HORIZON) and star Cruise. And they definitely want Sylvester Stallone to reprise his role as Machine-Gun Joe Viturbo.........
06.13.2000............ Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen has more movie news - his Clear Blue Sky Productions has is hiring Martin Scorcese (BRINGING OUT THE DEAD), Michael Apted (THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH), and other top directors to create a 6-part miniseries chronicling the history of Blues music........
06.12.2000............. Sony has hired HK director Kirk Wong to helm MAI THE PSYCHIC GIRL.......
06.08.2000...... Psychotronic comic Jerry Lewis will direct TRUFFLES, in France (where else?), marking the first time JL has directed a picture since the 1980s.......... Michael Douglas will star as an astronaut, MIA for 40 years, who suddenly shows up in his home town in GODSPEED, LAWRENCE MANN........ Jan DeBont's production company has picked up the long-dormant STAINLESS STEEL RAT project and is having a script written......... Christina Ricci (SLEEPY HOLLOW) as a killer cyborg super-soldier? Make it so! Based on the comic-book Ricci will kick big-screen booty in ADRENALYNN..... Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has revealed his hobby - he's been restoring Cinerama theaters and will be showing features in that format for the first time in decades.......... The Drive-In will never die! On a road trip through Kentucky last weekend, we found the legendary Star-Vue Double Drive-In still in operation - since 1945! Drive east from Lexington toward Winchester to see movies under the stars as God intended..........
06.01.2000........... FIGHT CLUB director David Fincher plans to direct RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA, based on the Arthur Clarke novel.......... Plans are underway to remake Ray Harryhausen's CLASH OF THE TITANS..........
05.26.2000.......... As a follow-up to his successful live TV presentation of FAIL-SAFE, George Clooney is planning to present an adaptation of John W. Campbell's story WHO GOES THERE?, which is more widely known through it's two movie adaptations THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD (1950) and THE THING (1982).........
05.18.2000..... Popular character actor and director Paul Bartel is dead of cancer at age 61(?). Bartel was the director of DEATH RACE 2000, PRIVATE PARTS (1972), CANNONBALL, LUST IN THE DUST and EATING RAOUL. As an actor, he also appeared in HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD, PIRANHA, EAT MY DUST, TRICK OR TREATS, WHITE DOG, FRANKENWEENIE, CHOPPING MALL, MUNCHIES, AMAZON WOMEN ON THE MOON, GREMLINS 2, MORTUARY ACADEMY, DREAMERS, JOE'S APARTMENT, ESCAPE FROM L.A., and THE USUAL SUSPECTS......
05.15.2000..... Bruno Campos, a stand-out cast member from NBC's JESSE series, will star in Miramax' sci-fi action feature HARDSHELL......
05.12.2000......... Toni Braxton, Tom Sizemore and Michael Jai White (SPAWN) will star in SIX, a super-soldier run amok thriller directed by Kirk Wong (ROMEO MUST DIE).........
05.11.2000..... Latest from Horrorwood: Forrest J Ackerman has WON his case against Ray "No-Pay" Ferry! Details here..... John Woo nude! An overseas film fest has rediscovered a 1969 drama in which the MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 2 director also stars as a gay man who threatens to break up with his partner when he falls for a woman........... Chow Yun Fat will star in the MGM film version of the BULLETPROOF MONK comic-book series......... Tsui Hark wants to do a remake of A BETTER TOMORROW - with Michelle Yeoh in the Chow Yun Fat role........
05.10.2000..... Robert Zemeckis will direct the Dark Castle remake of William Castle's 1958 hit MACABRE.........
05.05.2000........... MGM is working on a script for 3001: THE FINAL ODYSSEY, based on Arthur Clake's sequel novel.....
05.04.2000...... Actor Steve Reeves, a former Mr. Universe and player in Ed Wood films, who went to Italy and gained fame as HERCULES, died Monday of cancer. Reeves was the biggest box office star in the world in 1959.......... Canadian lake monster OGOPOGO is headed for the big screen. Meanwhile, local businessmen have put up a multi-million dollar reward for evidence confirming the beast's existence.........
04.17.2000............ Disney is paying big bucks for the movie rights for our old pal Clive Barker's upcoming fantasy novels titled THE ABARET QUARTET......... Danish TV network DR is moving ahead with filmmaker Lars von Trier on his next (and final?) installment of THE KINGDOM, difficult because two of the lead actors on the supernatural hospital series have died. Von Trier had announced plans for a third, and possibly a fourth, miniseries, but it looks like they want to wrap it all up in 2 hours this time...... Bootlegging, much like drug traffic, is running rampant in much of the world, despite the efforts of most governments to put a lid on it. Two weeks ago, a Yugoslav TV station (illegally) aired THE MATRIX as an effort by the government to lure citizens away from anti-dictatorship public protests!......... Chris Carter is working on a script called THE WORLD OF TED SERIOS, based on the non-fiction book about a Chicago bellhop and psychic photographer.......
04.01.2000..... Looks like the search for a TELETUBBIES THE MOVIE director is over. Alejandro Joderowski, the genius behind such cult films as EL TOPO and SANTA SANGRE, has long held a secret wish to helm a big budget Hollywood children's film, but has never thought he'd be given the chance. The closest he's ever gotten was his aborted DUNE project, but turns out producer Chris Columbus has always been a huge fan of THE HOLY MOUNTAIN and thought this would be a great chance to work with Joderowski........ Though producer Martin Scorcese has been discussing a film about Bettie Page for years, there's never been any concrete plans announced. So it came as a huge surprise when we received a call from the Maestro this week. Seems Scorcese had been in Chicago on business with a planned event involving the American Film Institute and the Art Institute Film Center and decided to take in the play BETTIE PAGE UNCENSORED. He was so impressed that he decided to offer the director's chair on the project to our own Fearless Leader Mike Flores! This created a great deal of excitement around the Psychotronic Film Society offices, until a fatal disagreement arose. Seems Flores wanted to shoot most of the film in black and white using Irving Klaw's own camera (if it could be located), but Scorcese accused Flores of trying to rip off RAGING BULL. We're hoping things can be worked out, but Mike's black eye and the bite marks on Marty's elbow tell a different story......... David Nelson's acclaimed film DEVIL ANT has been chosen by the Hollywood Video chain for their First Rites program, which supports the emergence of promising young filmmakers by promoting and distributing the films on video nationwide in Hollywood stores. DEVIL ANT was nominated for the Palm D'ore at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival...........
03.23.2000........ Spring is here and new sects of the Psychotronic Film Society are sprouting like weeds! Look for chapters to start showing films in Nashville (the home of country music and big time wrasslin') and Dallas (where they shoot presidents and shoot people that shoot presidents)........
03.16.2000..... X-FILES' Rob Bowman will direct GENERATION SHIP, based on Harlan Ellison's story "Phoenix Without Ashes".....
03.15.2000........ Columbia is preparing a project called AFTERLIFE, from a script by Josh Whedon (BUFFY). They're hoping to get Andy Tennant (ANNA AND THE KING) to direct.......
03.06.2000......... TELETUBBIES creators Itsy Bitsy Entertainment go theatrical with JEREMY THATCHER, DRAGON HATCHER........
03.03.2000......... Let's put on a show! Billy Mumy's feature sci-fi feature project OVERLOAD is a child star reunion. It stars Angela Cartwright, Johnny Crawford, Tony Dow, Don Grady, and Billy Gray..........
03.01.2000........ Sick & Twisted Productions is working on a DTV flick called EASTER BUNNY MASSACRE.......
02.25.2000..... Heading off video pirates. China Star Entertainment will soon be offering many of the classic kung fu movies in their catalogue FREE on the web via a new website venture......... Gary Oldman and Sean Penn will appear in the Russo-British production of THE FINAL JOURNEY, a big-budget feature that will be partially shot on the Mir space station.......... In Japan, there will be a Godzilla postal stamp. Other stamps of note will be Seven Samurai, Mighty Atom, Ultraman, Space Cruiser Yamato, Mobile Suit Gundam, Princess Mononoke.......
01.25.2000............ Is Broadway ready? Dan Curtis is readying a production of DARK SHADOWS: The Musical..........
01.21.2000........... Sony will get into the kung fu comedy act with THE TENTH MASTER........ "Psychic" Uri Geller wants to sue Nintendo for 97 millllion dollars over the spoon-bending Pokemon character Alakazam, which is known as Un-Geller in Japan...........
01.20.2000............ Jonathan Frakes' directing To Do List: TOTAL RECALL 2 and a sci-fi comedy called STEVE WAS HERE......... The story of Eliot Ness tracking down a serial killer will be seen in TORSO, based on the comic-book series........
01.13.2000........ New projects under consideration for David Fincher (FIGHT CLUB) include PASSENGERS, which sounds like a concept cribbed from THE HIDDEN to me.......
01.12.200........ The Australian government has refused a protection visa to X-rated film star Fatemeh Moradgholi because she was not "hotly pursued" by her native Iranian government. Her crimes in Iran include The illegal activity in Iran included selling alcohol, having a sexual relationship with a married man, renting out X-rated videos and performing in X-rated videos. By the way, in Iran "X-rated" means she was seen in her underwear......
01.10.2000............. Clive Barker will exec. produce and anthology film based on his BOOKS OF BLOOD stories. A different director will take on each of the three tales. Barker will also direct a feature called AMERICAN HORROR.....
01.07.2000........ Ex-pro football star Jim Brown, star of SLAUGHTER and many other p-films, has been sentenced to 6 months in prison for beating up his wife's car with a shovel. Since that's what most guys get that beat up their wife with a shovel, Brown plans to appeal. Brown is not to be confused with James Brown the soul singer or James Brown the host of America's Funniest......
01.06.2000...... The town of Frankenstein, Missouri has officially changed its name to Young Frankenstein. To celebrate, "25 and one-half" Frankenstein monsters skydived into the town. Marty Feldman could not be reached for comment.......... Director Ed Zwick's next project will be TOYS OF DESPERATION, a supernatural thriller about a ghost haunting a college student............
12.22.1999......... Psychotronic singer Yma Sumac will be making a comeback next year, releasing a new 21-track collection and taking her 5-octave range on tour.....
12.20.1999..... Word is going around that John Hughes is writing a sequel to FERRIS BEULLER'S DAY OFF. Y'know, that actually sounds kinda cool........ Rowan Atkinson is shooting a BLACKADDER feature......... More Extra work for David "The Rock" Nelson: Look for him in the mini-series SOLE SURVIVOR(from Dean Koontz' novel); UNCONDITIONAL LOVE with Kathy Bates, Rupert Everett, and Jonathan Pryce; and the culture-clash romance SAVE THE LAST DANCE......
12.09.1999............ F/x master Stan Winston (END OF DAYS) is working on 2 projects currently: WILD KINGDOM, about an animal control officer trying to track down a genetically engineered monster that escapes from the zoo - and an unnamed feature about a dormant space alien that awakens in the 19th century........
12.03.1999........ Andrew Davis (THE FUGITIVE) will direct a sci-fi film called THE TRAVEL AGENT, about the adventures of a time-travelling economist who tries to stop a presidential assassination.........
12.02.1999............ DreamWorks bought the film rights to the Italian comic NATHAN NEVER, about a futureworld hard-boiled cop..........
12.01.1999....... Ex-Smashing Pumpkins bassist D'arcy Wretzky will play a hitwoman opposite Mickey Rourke (DOUBLE TEAM) in a feature called PEACES OF RONNIE. Marylin Manson bassist Twiggy Ramirez also has a part in the film.......
11.30.1999......... Dimension Films have purchased remake rights to Dario Argento's horror classic SUSPIRIA, and have lured the Maestro into the project with a big pile of lira............... Hard-Boiled Pulp Fiction! Rearguard Productions have bought TV & movie rights to a ton of material that originally appeared in the classic old pulp magazine BLACK MASK.......
11.18.1999......... Jennifer Love Hewitt will star in BUNNY, a feature based on the daffy, sexy spy series put out by Harvey Comics in the 1960s.........
11.17.1999........ Dateline: Horrorwood, Karloffornia. Forrest J Ackerman has finally instituted a lawsuit against Ray Ferry and his Dynacomm publishing for stealing Famous Monsters of Filmland. For those kiddies out there who don't know, FM was a terrific magazine created by Forry that inspired a whole generation from 1958 through the late '70s. He also owns and maintains the largest collection of sci-fi and horror memorabilia in the world (which ought to be underwritten by every studio in Hollywood). Without Forry, there would be no psychotronic in any format.You can check out the FJA website here. In the '90s, Ray Ferry purchased rights to the magazine and worked with Forry to revive it, but has since betrayed FJA and not only forced him out of the magazine, but appropriated the entire format. We at psychotronic.com applaud this sweet 83-year old man's attempt to reclaim what is his, understand that he does it not only for himself, but for all the Monster Kids he's helped raise over the decades, and hope that he gets what is rightfully his...........
FM fans Gene Simmons (Kiss), Adam Rifkin and Tim Sullivan (DETROIT ROCK CITY) are planning a feature called REAL MONSTERS for New Line Cinema, to be directed by Rifkin (INVISIBLE MANIAC, PSYCHO COP RETURNS)............ This year's list of inductees into the National Film Registry includes the psychotronic titles NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1969), RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, GUNGA DIN, KISS ME DEADLY, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1956) and THE WILD BUNCH.......
11.15.1999....... Does New Orleans suck? That's the question posed by TBS' telefilm SINKHOLE due next June, in which John Corbett plays a dashing geologist (?) who tries to save Mardi Gras from going underground. Jessica Steen and Brittany Daniel help stir the jambalaya........... In other bad taste news: producers in Florida are planning a massive production of BEN HUR: THE MUSICAL to attract tourist cash....... ... Columbia has snatched the rights to DOCTOR STRANGE and plan a film franchise for the cult favorite comics character........
11.12.1999......... Recalling events in Peter Jackson's FORGOTTEN SILVER, documentary director Peter Brosnan has become a movie archeologist. He's discovered the buried ruins of massive sets constructed for Cecil B. DeMille's 1923 epic THE TEN COMMANDMENTS buried in the California desert, and is raising money to recover and preserve them........
11.10.1999.......... In Hong Kong, Jackie Chan came clean about his affair with Elaine Ng, and said he would take responsibility if her child turns out to be his. He also said that his family had forgiven him for his trespass and begged the press to leave them alone............ The musical version of REEFER MADNESS won 5 Ovation Awards - the southern California equivalent of the Tony and the Jeff...........
11.09.1999........ Here's one we've never seen: a film called THE NEW SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON has been given a PG rating by the MPAA due to "adventure violence and peril".........
11.04.1999....... Continuing their ASTRO BOY collaboration, Angry Films and Henson are also creating an alien invasion film called PARASYTE, based on a comic by Hitosi Iwaaki.........
11.02.1999.................. Disney has announced plans to build a new Disneyland in Hong Kong to open in 2005............... Star Trek: Voyager’s Robert Duncan McNeill appears to have signed on to star in a science fiction film called MAN IN THE MACHINE, about a psycho robot threatening a young couple on a distant planet. Sounds like a remake of SATURN 3..........
11.01.1999......... Director Tom McLoughlin, whose previous credits include FRIDAY THE 13th, PART VI, has been hired to direct the prequel EXORCIST: DOMINION............ HK director Andrew (Wei Keung) Lau of STORMRIDERS has been hired to helm the movie version of the Image comic DARKNESS......
10.27.1999............. Adding to his already busy schedule, Steven Spielberg is considering directing IF ONLY IT WERE TRUE, about a man who finds a woman's ghost in the closet of his new apartment.......
10.25.1999............. Creative team Laura Harckom and Chris Leone pitched their script EXTINCTION to Sony as an animated film, but came away with a deal to develop it as live-action. It's about robots that accidentally resurrect extinct humans while trying to solve a problem in robot society.......
In the upcoming non-fiction book BEWARE THE NIGHT, NYC police veteran Ralph Sarchie and journalist Lisa Collier Cool recount his after hours exploits investigating paranormal incidents. Disney's after the film rights........
10.20.1999....We'll have to wait to see the first SF film by Michelangelo Antonioni. DESTINAZIONE VERNA, to star Sophia Loren, is on hold due to the director's ill health............
10.18.1999.................. Michael Keaton will be back to battle supernatural creatures in STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT, a comic thriller............ David Leone, the founder of HIDE OUT RECORDS - named after his teenage hang-out in Michigan who gave Glenn Frey, Ted Nugent, Bob Seger and even Iggy and the Stooges and many others their first stage time - passed away after suffering a heart attack recently. He was buried Saturday October 16 and you can read his last public interview here..........
10.01.1999....... A fresh script by Robert Zappia (HALLOWEEN: H20) has kept alive a movie project based on DC Comics' HOUSE OF SECRETS..... Zappia is also writing a pilot for the proposed JONAH HEX weird western series.........
09.01.1999..... Black actors who portray slaves for tourists in Colonial Willliamsburg are complaining of harsh treatment, underpayment, and lack of opportunity for advancement. They feel that conditions are much better for white actors hired to portray slave masters.........
08.17.1999...... According to director George Miller, he and Mel Gibson are hot to do MAD MAX 4, saying, "Who'd have thought 20 years ago that people would one day be nostalgic for the apocalypse?"........... Artisan is hot on horror after they hit with BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. Coming up from them: EVERYBODY'S DEAD, a comedy about zombies invading a frat party...................Director Jan De Bont has passed on directing the science-fiction thriller THE ADAPTIVE ULTIMATE. The Fox project, with a script by Jon (MINORITY REPORT) Coehn, which is based on Stanley G. Weinbaum's 1935 short story, tells of a scientist who uses a dying homeless woman to test a process that grants powers of unlimited adaptability............. AUSTIN POWERS director Jay Roach's next project is an untitled film about a billionaire who discovers a computer program capable of sending email back in time...... Writer/director Alexander Payne will follow up his great comedy ELECTION with a biopic of psychotronic music giant ESQUIVEL, starring John Leguizamo. Don't know if the flick will be fair or foul, but the soundtrack will have to be swwwwingin'..............
The Man of Bronze is Back - and Schwarzenegger's got him! The Arnold will star in a new film playing legendary pulp hero DOC SAVAGE. Frank Darabont (GREEN MILE) will direct for Castle Rock and Warners. No word yet on who will play Doc's five assistants. For those of you that don't know, Dr. Clark Savage, Jr. was the star of nearly 200 action-packed pulp novels in the '30s and '40s, and inspired Superman, Batman, the Fantastic 4, and every other superhero created since then. George Pal misfired a campy version in a '70s feature starring Ron Ely. Let's hope this time they get it right......
Horror novelist Stephen King is recovering from injuries received when he was struck by a van June 19, despite the fact that sources claim King's condition was described as "beyond critical". Reportedly, the author's back and neck had been crushed in several places as if they'd been squeezed in a vise, his head was turned completely backward, and his heart had "exploded". It has yet to be confirmed by staff of Central Maine Medical Center whether several members of an offshoot Santeria cult that had been spotted on hospital grounds had indeed been visitors to King. No charges have been filed against the driver of the van, Bryan Smith, who claims the van was "driving itself" when the accident occurred. Witnesses claim that Smith's St. Bernard, who was in the van at the time, had attacked his owner and could be blamed for the accident. The dog has been described as foaming at the mouth, and his eyes were glowing a bright red, as if burning with the eldritch fires of Hades. As for Smith, he appears to have suffered no injury from the accident, although the well-known portly resident has lost around 50 pounds in the days since. King might have been ready to exit the hospital within a month's time - however, his healed legs were rebroken by an overzealous nurse who describes herself as King's "Number One Fan"......... Film Roman will animate a feature version of "underground" comix fave THE FABULOUS FURRY FREAK BROTHERS...
Catherine Zeta-Jones will follow THE HAUNTING with a remake of THE TENTH VICTIM......... .... Brad Anderson will follow NEXT STOP WONDERLAND with a remake of THE SEVENTH VICTIM................ 23-year old writer Philip Devereaux has sold a script called MURDER.COM, about a French serial killer who uses viruses as a weapon and e-mail to taunt police.....
With MATRIX a big hit, studios are scrambling to acquire Wachowski Brothers material. Trimark has picked up their early script CARNIVORE, and are looking to hire George Romero to helm the cannibal thriller..... Italian comic Roberto Benigni's awards show antics have made him so beloved that people are nominating him for awards just to see what he'll do. Even the Nobel committee is considering him as a nominee. "The Nobel she is like a large wet vagina, an' I'm a-ready to swim in its aroma." said the multitalented Benigni upon hearing the news......
Ghost of Psychotronic Past? The role is credited to one "C. Konarski", but who really played the Spirit of Christmas Future? Rumors are flying that P-fave Patrick Macnee, who played young Jacob Marley in the 1951 production SCROOGE, got a day of work for his tall, thin friend Christopher Lee............. Eastern Westerns: Either THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN or THE PROFESSIONALS or both will be remade by US studios with Hong Kong action stars............
Fox Broadcasting Co. has ordered the 20th Century Fox TV comedy pilot ``Jeff of the Universe'' created by David Mirkin, the director of ROMY AND MICHELE'S HIGH SCHOOL REUNION and a former executive producer on The Simpsons. Mirkin is directing, writing and producing the dark, sarcastic comedy about a late-20s burnout who is kidnapped and forced to travel to different worlds and dimensions, where he faces challenges that will likely kill him............
Who would think there would ever be another movie called MUNCHIES? Director Jamie Blanks' follow-up to his successful URBAN LEGEND has nothing to do with the 1987 GREMLINS rip-off. Instead it's the story of 4 high school girls with a bizarre eating disorder.... Director Gus Van Zandt's next project will be a shot-for-shot remake of PSYCHO 2........
Universal has optioned FATALIS, based on the book by Jeff Rovin ("Return of the Wolf Man"), a ``Jurassic Park''-like thriller about the return of saber-toothed tigers that threaten L.A. The deal, which is said to be in the seven-figure range, was done with Sylvester Stallone in mind. In the story, tigers have sprung to life thanks to climatic shifts of El Nino -- and are set on invading Los Angeles. The book's hero is an academic expert who tries to stop the attack and has a penchant for ancient weaponry. Rovin's upcoming novel VESPERS, about giant bats attacking New York, is already in feature development with Barry Sonnenfeld and Disney...........
Rob Cohen will write and direct a Dimension Films remake of I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE, the 1943 RKO film directed by Jacques Tourneur...........
DreamWorks SKG has acquired the feature film rights to the Sega arcade game THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD as a directing vehicle for Jesse Dylan, son of folk-rock legend Bob Dylan. Under terms of the deal, DreamWorks agreed to pay a mid-six-figure sum to option the video game for the big screen and a seven-figure sum if the film gets made. Jesse Dylan is attached to direct and produce the feature version along with Jeff Rosen. Dylan previously had optioned the rights to the game out of his own pocket and developed a narrative storyline with writer Mark Verheiden (TIME COP, THE MASK), who will write the screenplay. Using the Sega game as the basis of their tale, Dylan and Verheiden's story takes place in a small college town, where the ultra-fashionable "Goth" house serves as a haven for zombies, who happen to be the hippest and most popular kids in school. After the death of a friend at the hands of one of the walking dead during a rave, and following a series of gruesome murders around the campus, the main character, Jenny, and a group of nerdy "necro-warriors" strike out to avenge their friends' untimely deaths. Dylan previously has directed music videos and TV commercials, including spots for Coca-Cola, Pepsi and MTV's Rock the Vote........................
GOVERNMENT OPPRESSES PSYCHOTRONIC FAN - Carl Cephas, the head of the Washington, DC branch of the Psychotronic Film Society, has been suspended from his job at the Library of Congress. Carl was allegedly reported to his superiors when he was overheard using dialogue from the 1959 film THE ALLIGATOR PEOPLE that could be construed as threatening. None of his co-workers could recall feeling threatened by the good-natured Carl. Not until it was... TOO LATE!..............
James Brown says that Eddie Murphy is planning to produce and star in a biopic about the Godfather of Soul..........
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If you have a direct link to this page and haven't looked around the site in a while, you've missed the work of the Psychotronic Minister of the Sinister Brian Thomas, so go to the home page and check it out.......... Want to write about classic film stars or favorite psychotronic film or music genres? E-mail your article here for our consideration........ If you're an out-of-towner planning to visit Chicago, click here for our next event...... Ted Cogswell wrote in to tell us he's starting up a Seattle Psychotronic Film Society! Send some e-mail to join up with him.......
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