If the most terrifying horror monsters are the ones that most reflect real-life terror, then cinematic cannibals might be the most terrifying monsters of all. Unlike vampires, werewolves, or ghosts, cannibals on film are fully flesh-and-blood humans — just with a taste for the flesh and blood of other humans. The garishness of the act makes cannibalism a perfect subject for shock horror, and the cannibal film fully came alive in the ’70s and ’80s via low-budget splatter triumphs like “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “Cannibal Holocaust,” which pitted their protagonists against horrific waves of flesh eaters.
In recent years, cannibalism has had a bit of a “moment” — on film, at least. As The New York Times pointed out in 2022, a wave of movies, TV shows, and books exploring cannibalism has emerged in popular culture, from “Yellowjackets” to “Bones and All” to “Fresh.” Many of these projects use the practice as...
In recent years, cannibalism has had a bit of a “moment” — on film, at least. As The New York Times pointed out in 2022, a wave of movies, TV shows, and books exploring cannibalism has emerged in popular culture, from “Yellowjackets” to “Bones and All” to “Fresh.” Many of these projects use the practice as...
- 4/18/2024
- by Wilson Chapman
- Indiewire
You just can't keep a good (or a bad) ape down! The astonishing longevity of the "Planet of the Apes" franchise cannot be overstated. Save for "Star Wars," it's the most successful sci-fi series to date, spawning nine films over six decades. Part of the appeal of "Apes" is its ability to create a dystopian world that still remains hopeful. Granted, the original pentalogy of films started out with a lot of gloom and doom that bottled the revolutionary spirit of the late sixties and paired it with the unrest and anti-war protests of the seventies. Moving away from Charlton "Get your stinkin' paws off of me" Heston and focusing on Roddy McDowall's lovable ape leader Caesar changed the dire finale of the first "Planet of the Apes" and turned it into a much more inspirational epic.
After Tim Burton's action-packed but ultimately soulless 2001 remake, "Planet of the Apes,...
After Tim Burton's action-packed but ultimately soulless 2001 remake, "Planet of the Apes,...
- 11/12/2023
- by Drew Tinnin
- Slash Film
Charlton Heston became a household name with leading roles in action adventures and biblical epics, but his credits extended past those two well-worn genres. Let’s take a look back at 12 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.
After serving in the United States Army Air Force during WWII, Heston made his professional movie acting debut with the film noir “Dark City” (1950). His big breakthrough came just two years later with Cecil B. DeMille‘s big top soap opera “The Greatest Show on Earth” (1952), in which he played the circus manager. Though an audience favorite in its time, the film often ranks among the all-time worst Oscar winners for Best Picture.
Heston later reunited with DeMille to play the Old Testament prophet Moses in “The Ten Commandments” (1956), which brought him a Golden Globe nomination. A holy hit at the box office, the role undoubtedly inspired William Wyler to cast...
After serving in the United States Army Air Force during WWII, Heston made his professional movie acting debut with the film noir “Dark City” (1950). His big breakthrough came just two years later with Cecil B. DeMille‘s big top soap opera “The Greatest Show on Earth” (1952), in which he played the circus manager. Though an audience favorite in its time, the film often ranks among the all-time worst Oscar winners for Best Picture.
Heston later reunited with DeMille to play the Old Testament prophet Moses in “The Ten Commandments” (1956), which brought him a Golden Globe nomination. A holy hit at the box office, the role undoubtedly inspired William Wyler to cast...
- 9/30/2023
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Christian Bale worked with Alien director Ridley Scott on Exodus: Gods and Kings, which was an adaptation of the famous biblical story. But Bale thought Scott might have been freaked out by his star’s appearance for their feature.
Christian Bale felt that he made Ridley Scott panic because of his looks Christian Bale | Theo Wargo/Getty Images
Bale felt he might have made a bad impression after being cast in Scott’s biblical epic Exodus. The actor has been known to change his physique for his films. So physically, Bale didn’t think he had the look Scott wanted for his Moses. Bale put on a significant amount of weight to play his lead role in American Hustle.
Meanwhile, Moses was supposed to carry a much more slight physique. It didn’t help that Bale’s performance was going to follow Charlton Heston’s take on Moses in The Ten Commandments.
Christian Bale felt that he made Ridley Scott panic because of his looks Christian Bale | Theo Wargo/Getty Images
Bale felt he might have made a bad impression after being cast in Scott’s biblical epic Exodus. The actor has been known to change his physique for his films. So physically, Bale didn’t think he had the look Scott wanted for his Moses. Bale put on a significant amount of weight to play his lead role in American Hustle.
Meanwhile, Moses was supposed to carry a much more slight physique. It didn’t help that Bale’s performance was going to follow Charlton Heston’s take on Moses in The Ten Commandments.
- 8/26/2023
- by Antonio Stallings
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
On August 27, 1993, Rob Reiner’s Castle Rock Entertainment continued its expansion into Stephen King’s works with Needful Things. Directed by Fraser C. Heston, the star-studded affair arrived only two years after King published the expansive novel. Screenwriter W.D. Richter took on the Herculean task of adapting the 700 page novel, and what came to fruition is a film as tonally curious as the source material: It’s funny, it’s unsettling, it’s violent, it’s perverse. Simply put, it’s the kind of movie we just don’t get anymore.
For that reason alone, Needful Things has aged quite well. Yet it’s also a great lookin’ film. Heston shoots the hell out of this picture, capitalizing on the crisp Fall foliage across British Columbia, doubling here for King’s fictional Castle Rock, Maine. Because of this, the film looks like a Stephen King novel reads, a key facet...
For that reason alone, Needful Things has aged quite well. Yet it’s also a great lookin’ film. Heston shoots the hell out of this picture, capitalizing on the crisp Fall foliage across British Columbia, doubling here for King’s fictional Castle Rock, Maine. Because of this, the film looks like a Stephen King novel reads, a key facet...
- 8/25/2023
- by Michael Roffman
- bloody-disgusting.com
If the 1950s was the decade in which science fiction cinema began to mature and evolve, and the 1960s was the era where it started to experiment and stretch in new directions, then the 1970s was the period when the genre more or less went batshit insane.
The movies of the era continued to touch on socially and globally relevant themes, a trend that began 20 years earlier, while also continuing the literary pedigree and even more progressive concerns of the decade prior. But they did so in ever weirder ways, taking big swings (and often steep plunges as well) as many of the films of the decade aimed high but lacked the resources to match their ambitions.
Still, even the clunkier efforts of the ‘70s had their charms, and the creative success stories touched nerves in ways that the films of the previous decades hadn’t quite achieved. But almost...
The movies of the era continued to touch on socially and globally relevant themes, a trend that began 20 years earlier, while also continuing the literary pedigree and even more progressive concerns of the decade prior. But they did so in ever weirder ways, taking big swings (and often steep plunges as well) as many of the films of the decade aimed high but lacked the resources to match their ambitions.
Still, even the clunkier efforts of the ‘70s had their charms, and the creative success stories touched nerves in ways that the films of the previous decades hadn’t quite achieved. But almost...
- 5/20/2023
- by Don Kaye
- Den of Geek
This story is part of The Hollywood Reporter’s 2023 Sustainability Issue (click here to read more).
In 1970, 20 million Americans participated in the first Earth Day. One of the more alarming predictions that day was from Stanford biologist Paul Ehrlich, who foresaw a future in which “population will inevitably and completely outstrip whatever small increases in food supplies we make,” resulting in the starvation death of hundreds of millions.
Hollywood took notice and released a string of eco-disaster films in the years to follow.
In 1972’s Silent Running, a science fiction film starring Bruce Dern — and directed by 2001: A Space Odyssey effects master Douglas Trumbull — all plant life on Earth has gone extinct. And 1973’s Soylent Green, with Charlton Heston (who had starred in two other sci-fi hits, 1968’s Planet of the Apes and 1971’s The Omega Man), took Ehrlich’s ideas to scary, if campy, extremes.
Helmed by Richard Fleischer...
In 1970, 20 million Americans participated in the first Earth Day. One of the more alarming predictions that day was from Stanford biologist Paul Ehrlich, who foresaw a future in which “population will inevitably and completely outstrip whatever small increases in food supplies we make,” resulting in the starvation death of hundreds of millions.
Hollywood took notice and released a string of eco-disaster films in the years to follow.
In 1972’s Silent Running, a science fiction film starring Bruce Dern — and directed by 2001: A Space Odyssey effects master Douglas Trumbull — all plant life on Earth has gone extinct. And 1973’s Soylent Green, with Charlton Heston (who had starred in two other sci-fi hits, 1968’s Planet of the Apes and 1971’s The Omega Man), took Ehrlich’s ideas to scary, if campy, extremes.
Helmed by Richard Fleischer...
- 3/22/2023
- by Seth Abramovitch
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Oblivion was released as a Tom Cruise vehicle in 2013, giving him his second best box office weekend up to that time outside of the Mission: Impossible franchise. However, the sci-fi pseudo-epic also received middling reviews and almost immediately dropped out of the public consciousness altogether. Which makes its reemergence into it via Netflix this month intriguing.
Oblivion admittedly has its flaws, yet it is worth a second look if only because it so clearly has ambitions to be something so much more. In 2013 we had only recently gotten a glimpse at what the future held as the commercial effects of the first Avengers movie began to be felt. It was a year of two Marvel movies (three if you count The Wolverine), one Superman movie, and a slew of remakes, reboots, sequels and prequels, from The Hobbit, and The Hunger Games, to Star Trek: Into Darkness and G.I. Joe.
Oblivion admittedly has its flaws, yet it is worth a second look if only because it so clearly has ambitions to be something so much more. In 2013 we had only recently gotten a glimpse at what the future held as the commercial effects of the first Avengers movie began to be felt. It was a year of two Marvel movies (three if you count The Wolverine), one Superman movie, and a slew of remakes, reboots, sequels and prequels, from The Hobbit, and The Hunger Games, to Star Trek: Into Darkness and G.I. Joe.
- 11/14/2022
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
Behold — it’s Indiana Jones in embryonic form. Paramount’s South American adventure exploits Peruvian scenery and the ’50s exotica phenomenon that was the unique songstress Yma Sumac. The production receives hearty input from Charlton Heston, Nicole Maurey and Thomas Mitchell, but it’s mostly a relic today. Not because the Raiders films have stolen its thunder . . . because it’s plenty hokey, even for 1954.
Secret of the Incas
Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] 154
1954 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 102 min. / Street Date August 31, 2022 / Available from [Imprint] / au 39.95
Starring: Charlton Heston, Robert Young, Nicole Maurey, Thomas Mitchell, Glenda Farrell, Michael Pate, Marion Ross, Leon Askin, William Henry, Kurt Katch, Yma Sumac, Booth Colman.
Cinematography: Lionel Lindon, Irmin Roberts
Art Director: Hal Pereira, Tambi Larsen
Film Editor: Eda Warren
Original Music: David Buttolph
Written by Ranald MacDougall & Sydney Boehm, from stories by Boehm and Boehm Maximum
Produced by Mel Epstein
Directed by Jerry Hopper
Everybody loves a good...
Secret of the Incas
Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] 154
1954 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 102 min. / Street Date August 31, 2022 / Available from [Imprint] / au 39.95
Starring: Charlton Heston, Robert Young, Nicole Maurey, Thomas Mitchell, Glenda Farrell, Michael Pate, Marion Ross, Leon Askin, William Henry, Kurt Katch, Yma Sumac, Booth Colman.
Cinematography: Lionel Lindon, Irmin Roberts
Art Director: Hal Pereira, Tambi Larsen
Film Editor: Eda Warren
Original Music: David Buttolph
Written by Ranald MacDougall & Sydney Boehm, from stories by Boehm and Boehm Maximum
Produced by Mel Epstein
Directed by Jerry Hopper
Everybody loves a good...
- 9/27/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
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