Tobe Hooper, who died over the weekend at 74, was a leader in the Vietnam-era boom in independent, ultra-violent horror films. His 1974 “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” is considered the last in a trio of low-budget horror breakouts that included George Romero’s 1968 “Night of the Living Dead” and Wes Craven’s 1972 “Last House on the Left.”
Though grosses for these films were unreliably reported, “Texas” appears to have done the best. Its reported $30 million domestic take (adjusted, around $140 million today) was at least 100 times its budget (also a guess, though some reports have it as high as $300,000 in 1974 value). Producers recouped costs and little else from distributor Bryanston (best known for the Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey’s “Frankenstein” and “Dracula” movies, as well as taking over distribution of “Deep Throat”).
Like Romero and Craven, the hit boosted Hooper’s career. But unlike his peers, Hooper struggled to establish his brand after “Texas.
Though grosses for these films were unreliably reported, “Texas” appears to have done the best. Its reported $30 million domestic take (adjusted, around $140 million today) was at least 100 times its budget (also a guess, though some reports have it as high as $300,000 in 1974 value). Producers recouped costs and little else from distributor Bryanston (best known for the Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey’s “Frankenstein” and “Dracula” movies, as well as taking over distribution of “Deep Throat”).
Like Romero and Craven, the hit boosted Hooper’s career. But unlike his peers, Hooper struggled to establish his brand after “Texas.
- 8/29/2017
- by Tom Brueggemann
- Indiewire
Tony Sokol Sep 21, 2016
Cinema's latest The Joker is taking on the life of Andy Warhol for his next project...
Fresh of his surprisingly limited screentime playing The Joker in this summer’s Suicide Squad, Jared Leto is getting right back into the soup, Campbell’s Soup that is. Leto, who won an Oscar for 2013’s Dallas Buyers Club, has signed on to play Andy Warhol in a new film called Warhol.
The film will be based on author Victor Bockris's 1989 book Warhol: The Biography. The screenplay will be written by The Wolf Of Wall Street screenwriter and Boardwalk Empire and Vinyl creator Terence Winter.
Leto will co-produce Warhol with Winter and Michael De Luca, who produced Oscar-winning and -nominated films like The Social Network and Captain Phillips.
Andy Warhol was, of course, an art provocateur. He took New York City’s art world and club scene by storm throughout the 1960s.
Cinema's latest The Joker is taking on the life of Andy Warhol for his next project...
Fresh of his surprisingly limited screentime playing The Joker in this summer’s Suicide Squad, Jared Leto is getting right back into the soup, Campbell’s Soup that is. Leto, who won an Oscar for 2013’s Dallas Buyers Club, has signed on to play Andy Warhol in a new film called Warhol.
The film will be based on author Victor Bockris's 1989 book Warhol: The Biography. The screenplay will be written by The Wolf Of Wall Street screenwriter and Boardwalk Empire and Vinyl creator Terence Winter.
Leto will co-produce Warhol with Winter and Michael De Luca, who produced Oscar-winning and -nominated films like The Social Network and Captain Phillips.
Andy Warhol was, of course, an art provocateur. He took New York City’s art world and club scene by storm throughout the 1960s.
- 9/20/2016
- Den of Geek
This was a busy year at Tiff, where I was a juror for Fipresci, helping to award a prize for best premiere in the Discovery section. Not only did this mean that some other films had to take a back burner—sadly, I did not see Eduardo Williams’ The Human Surge—but my writing time was a bit compromised as well. Better late than never? That is for you, Gentle Reader, to decide.Austerlitz (Sergei Loznitsa, Germany)So basic in the telling—a record of several days’ worth of visitors mostly to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in Oranienberg, Germany—Austerlitz is a film that in many ways exemplifies the critical theory of Theodor Adorno and Walter Benjamin. What is the net effect for humanity when, faced with the drive to remember the unfathomable, we employ the grossly inadequate tools at our disposal?Austerlitz takes its name from W. G. Sebald’s final novel.
- 9/20/2016
- MUBI
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In season 3, Da Vinci's Demons is getting harder and harder to follow...
This review contains spoilers.
3.5 Anima Venator
Da Vinci's Demons has been kind of problematic for me throughout its third season thus far. It seems like everything is different, all the ideas of the first two seasons are just scrambled up to make everything a muddled, grey mess. Are the Sons of Mithras the bad guys? Are the Labyrinth bad guys? Sure, when you look at the surface, it's the bad guys like Carlo Medici and Riario involved in the Labyrinth and the Sons of Mithras have Leo's old ally Al-Rahim Aka The Turk (Alexander Siddig) and the true pope, Francesco (James Faulkner). However, one side is fighting to defend Italy and the other wide is actively assaulting and killing the people of the peninsula and by extension the Catholic Church.
Stuck in the middle are Florence and its famous son,...
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In season 3, Da Vinci's Demons is getting harder and harder to follow...
This review contains spoilers.
3.5 Anima Venator
Da Vinci's Demons has been kind of problematic for me throughout its third season thus far. It seems like everything is different, all the ideas of the first two seasons are just scrambled up to make everything a muddled, grey mess. Are the Sons of Mithras the bad guys? Are the Labyrinth bad guys? Sure, when you look at the surface, it's the bad guys like Carlo Medici and Riario involved in the Labyrinth and the Sons of Mithras have Leo's old ally Al-Rahim Aka The Turk (Alexander Siddig) and the true pope, Francesco (James Faulkner). However, one side is fighting to defend Italy and the other wide is actively assaulting and killing the people of the peninsula and by extension the Catholic Church.
Stuck in the middle are Florence and its famous son,...
- 11/23/2015
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
So on Monday, I watched the Gotham series premiere with about 8 million of my friends. I started writing a column about the show and what it says (accidentally and/or purposefully) about the role of Batman in pop culture right now. But working on that column got me thinking more generally about Batman: A character who has been around for 75 years, a figure in my cultural consciousness since before my memory begins. The next thing I knew, I was making a list of my favorite Batman things–the movies, the TV shows, the vividly recalled comic book story arcs and standalone issues,...
- 9/29/2014
- by Darren Franich
- EW.com - PopWatch
Born in the Big Apple in january of 1951, Sheldon Lettich moved with his family to the West Coast at a young age. After finishing High School, he joined the Marine Corps, serving his country for four years, one of them as a Radio Operator in Vietnam.
Partially based upon his experiences in Southeast Asia, he co-authored Tracers, a play seen in the Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago and London stages, to great acclaim; It subsequently won the prestigious Drama Desk and L.A. Drama Critics Awards.
The writing of screenplays seemed like a natural progression and his writing eventually began attracting the attention of many Hollywood producers.
Since then, Lettich has become known as expert in testosterone-driven action extravaganzas, many of the films starring some of the silver screen´s best-loved slugfest protagonists: Sylvester Stallone (Sheldon shared screenwriting credit with Sly in the third cinematic episode of the Rambo series,...
Partially based upon his experiences in Southeast Asia, he co-authored Tracers, a play seen in the Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago and London stages, to great acclaim; It subsequently won the prestigious Drama Desk and L.A. Drama Critics Awards.
The writing of screenplays seemed like a natural progression and his writing eventually began attracting the attention of many Hollywood producers.
Since then, Lettich has become known as expert in testosterone-driven action extravaganzas, many of the films starring some of the silver screen´s best-loved slugfest protagonists: Sylvester Stallone (Sheldon shared screenwriting credit with Sly in the third cinematic episode of the Rambo series,...
- 11/29/2012
- by Marco
- AsianMoviePulse
On September 10th in Union Square, James Cameron and Jon Landau had a special question and answer session while promoting the 3D release of Titanic. Here it is as follows:
Host: Why 3D?
James Cameron: Alright, how many eyes do you have on your face? 2 right? So we’re seeing the world in stereo. Everybody out there does, so it’s the way we perceive the world. I believe all entertainment should be in 3D, and we started to look at doing Titanic in 3D 7 years ago, and it was a part of an overall attempt to build a 3D market. It was something to tell exhibiters who knew I was getting Avatar done in a while, ‘Well, let’s do Titanic in 3D.’ And we didn’t even know at that point if it was even possible. I knew there was technology, so we did a test of...
Host: Why 3D?
James Cameron: Alright, how many eyes do you have on your face? 2 right? So we’re seeing the world in stereo. Everybody out there does, so it’s the way we perceive the world. I believe all entertainment should be in 3D, and we started to look at doing Titanic in 3D 7 years ago, and it was a part of an overall attempt to build a 3D market. It was something to tell exhibiters who knew I was getting Avatar done in a while, ‘Well, let’s do Titanic in 3D.’ And we didn’t even know at that point if it was even possible. I knew there was technology, so we did a test of...
- 9/23/2012
- by Catherina Gioino
- Nerdly
The avant-garde director's new film is a woozy homage to Homer and gangster movies. He explains his vision
Even with a new film to sell, Guy Maddin is not your standard-issue eager-to-please director. "So many people are baffled," he says, with well-practised irony. "The movie will be crystal-clear upon your third viewing." This is Keyhole, Maddin's ninth full-length film since 1988; and against all the odds it's secured a theatrical release in the UK. Most of Maddin's work simply doesn't get to Britain, so resolutely has he followed his own path.
If you know him at all, it is probably for his ballet film Dracula: Pages from a Virgin Diary, or just possibly My Winnipeg, his heartfelt docu-essay tribute to his Canadian hometown. More energetic cineastes may remember 2003's The Saddest Music in the World, Maddin's most determined shot at the mainstream, an elaborate parody musical starring Isabella Rossellini. The...
Even with a new film to sell, Guy Maddin is not your standard-issue eager-to-please director. "So many people are baffled," he says, with well-practised irony. "The movie will be crystal-clear upon your third viewing." This is Keyhole, Maddin's ninth full-length film since 1988; and against all the odds it's secured a theatrical release in the UK. Most of Maddin's work simply doesn't get to Britain, so resolutely has he followed his own path.
If you know him at all, it is probably for his ballet film Dracula: Pages from a Virgin Diary, or just possibly My Winnipeg, his heartfelt docu-essay tribute to his Canadian hometown. More energetic cineastes may remember 2003's The Saddest Music in the World, Maddin's most determined shot at the mainstream, an elaborate parody musical starring Isabella Rossellini. The...
- 8/30/2012
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
Sotheby's to auction off trove of art treasures and memorabilia owned by the renowned playboy. Mark Brown, meets his son Rolf
Picture the scene. A ruggedly handsome, impeccably dressed man is enjoying a snack with his superstar wife, Brigitte Bardot, in St Tropez's Gorilla bar in the late spring of 1967. A pale, odd-looking white-haired man with a large entourage notices him and marches straight over, complaining that the Cannes film festival, of all places, has refused to screen his film because of its nudity. The man agrees to see the film, Chelsea Girls, and everyone bundles into speedboats and heads for the Carlton Hotel on La Croisette.
That chance meeting between the millionaire playboy Gunter Sachs and artist Andy Warhol had a profound effect on both men. For Sachs, a serious collector, it led to a sea change in his art buying; for Warhol it marked a vital first foothold in Europe.
Picture the scene. A ruggedly handsome, impeccably dressed man is enjoying a snack with his superstar wife, Brigitte Bardot, in St Tropez's Gorilla bar in the late spring of 1967. A pale, odd-looking white-haired man with a large entourage notices him and marches straight over, complaining that the Cannes film festival, of all places, has refused to screen his film because of its nudity. The man agrees to see the film, Chelsea Girls, and everyone bundles into speedboats and heads for the Carlton Hotel on La Croisette.
That chance meeting between the millionaire playboy Gunter Sachs and artist Andy Warhol had a profound effect on both men. For Sachs, a serious collector, it led to a sea change in his art buying; for Warhol it marked a vital first foothold in Europe.
- 5/7/2012
- by Mark Brown
- The Guardian - Film News
Paul Morrissey directed two pieces of entertaining Euro-trash in the 1970′s that were graced with the name of pop art icon Andy Warhol. Both of the films were originally released as Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein (1973) and Andy Warhol’s Dracula (1974) even though Warhol had barely anything to do with the projects besides handpicking Morrissey himself. At the time Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein (aka Flesh for Frankenstein) was released, the dark satire received an X rating and was shown in 3-D. Washington University won’t be showing the Udo Kier led film tonight in 3-D, but you’ll still be soak in all of the gore in this uncut and Free screening of the film. Keep reading to find out more info about tonight’s screening.
Washington University in St. Louis is continuing tonight with their 2011 Summer Film Series celebrating the films of Frankentein! Previous screenings include the original 1931 classic Frankenstein,...
Washington University in St. Louis is continuing tonight with their 2011 Summer Film Series celebrating the films of Frankentein! Previous screenings include the original 1931 classic Frankenstein,...
- 7/12/2011
- by Michael Haffner
- Destroy the Brain
Hello, unknown masses that I convince myself are reading my articles; I am back with another Netflix horror film report. Once again I sat down to watch something horrific. I was torn between three films. One was Lifeforce, which I had seen as a young lad. The second was The Langoliers, also rather nostalgic. The third film was 5 Girls starring Ron Pearlman. I said what the hell, I was sick of Ron and those girls taunting me so I started watching it. Bad idea. It was ever so tedious with its non-existent plot and its awful acting and I couldn’t make it through the whole thing since I kept falling asleep. I decided that something was needed to redeem this experience. As soon as I hit play on Lifeforce I was instantly rewarded.
With this!
The film begins with a fast tracking shot over a meteor or something and...
With this!
The film begins with a fast tracking shot over a meteor or something and...
- 6/6/2011
- by Jesse
- The Liberal Dead
Canadian horror and exploitation film fans making their way to London, Ontario’s first-ever Shock Stock convention (running April 29-May 1) will be thrilled to learn that legendary Andy Warhol disciple/actor Joe Dallesandro (pictured) will be appearing. Fans know Dallesandro not only for his landmark New York art/porn hits Flesh, Trash and Heat, but for the wild Paul Morrissey-directed cult favorites Flesh For Frankenstein (a.k.a. Andy Warhol’S Frankenstein) and Blood For Dracula (a.k.a. Andy Warhol’S Dracula).
- 2/10/2011
- by gingold@starloggroup.com (Chris Alexander)
- Fangoria
The UK's most amazing horror film festival Film4 FrightFest has released what could very well be another one of the best horror line-ups we've seen ever for its latest show taking place from Thursday the 26th of August to Monday the 30th of August, brimming with films we've been salivating over Stateside!
From the Press Release
This year there are eight British films in the main programme (another record) including Monsters, Gareth Edwards’ sensational post-Apocalyptic debut, The Ford Brothers’ Cannes-hyped African Zombie flick The Dead and Johannes Roberts F – in which a school gets a lesson in horror! Other home-grown titles are Dead Cert (East-End gangsters meet Eastern European vampires), Isle Of Dogs (nasty gangland horror), Paul Andrew Williams’ harrowing Cherry Tree Lane and werewolf thriller 13Hrs. Plus, Jake West will be presenting his in-depth documentary Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship And Videotape, which will be followed by a Q & A panel discussion.
From the Press Release
This year there are eight British films in the main programme (another record) including Monsters, Gareth Edwards’ sensational post-Apocalyptic debut, The Ford Brothers’ Cannes-hyped African Zombie flick The Dead and Johannes Roberts F – in which a school gets a lesson in horror! Other home-grown titles are Dead Cert (East-End gangsters meet Eastern European vampires), Isle Of Dogs (nasty gangland horror), Paul Andrew Williams’ harrowing Cherry Tree Lane and werewolf thriller 13Hrs. Plus, Jake West will be presenting his in-depth documentary Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship And Videotape, which will be followed by a Q & A panel discussion.
- 7/2/2010
- by Uncle Creepy
- DreadCentral.com
Have a question about gay male entertainment? Send it to aftereltonflyingmonkey@yahoo.com! (Please include your city and state and/or country.)
Q: Dear Monkey, both wingéd and winsome, my other half has beseeched me to ply my troth to him and ask your opinion to settle our dispute. (I'll cut with the thesaurus now.) With The Princess and the Frog recently out, we got to thinking back over some of the other Disney classics, trying to decide which one was the most gay. I say it was Mulan due to the cross-dressing/gender issues theme and the voices of both Harvey Fierstein and George Takei in the cast. He says it was The Little Mermaid because the design for the sea-witch was based on Divine, the drag artist, and Howard Ashman wrote the songs, including the gay-resonant "Part of That World". Are either of us right? – Jeremy, Orem, Utah...
Q: Dear Monkey, both wingéd and winsome, my other half has beseeched me to ply my troth to him and ask your opinion to settle our dispute. (I'll cut with the thesaurus now.) With The Princess and the Frog recently out, we got to thinking back over some of the other Disney classics, trying to decide which one was the most gay. I say it was Mulan due to the cross-dressing/gender issues theme and the voices of both Harvey Fierstein and George Takei in the cast. He says it was The Little Mermaid because the design for the sea-witch was based on Divine, the drag artist, and Howard Ashman wrote the songs, including the gay-resonant "Part of That World". Are either of us right? – Jeremy, Orem, Utah...
- 1/18/2010
- by Brent Hartinger
- The Backlot
Jan. 16
8:00 p.m.
Anthology Film Archives
2nd Ave at 2nd St.
NYC, NY
Hosted by: Anthology Film Archives
Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Vampyr (1932) may not be considered an “underground” film, but it sure as hell looks like one, belonging to the avant-garde tradition of the “trance film,” a term coined by the writer P. Adams Sitney in his book Visionary Film.
Sitney doesn’t actually write about Vampyr in Visionary Film, but he pulls his definition of a “trance film” from another film writer, Parker Tyler. In his book The Three Faces of Film, Tyler wrote:
The chief imaginative trend among Experimental or avant-garde filmmakers is action as a dream and the actor as a somnambulist.
That was true in 1960. Sitney traced the evolution of the “trance film” from the classic German Expressionist silent film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari to the work of American avant-garde filmmakers like Kenneth Anger...
8:00 p.m.
Anthology Film Archives
2nd Ave at 2nd St.
NYC, NY
Hosted by: Anthology Film Archives
Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Vampyr (1932) may not be considered an “underground” film, but it sure as hell looks like one, belonging to the avant-garde tradition of the “trance film,” a term coined by the writer P. Adams Sitney in his book Visionary Film.
Sitney doesn’t actually write about Vampyr in Visionary Film, but he pulls his definition of a “trance film” from another film writer, Parker Tyler. In his book The Three Faces of Film, Tyler wrote:
The chief imaginative trend among Experimental or avant-garde filmmakers is action as a dream and the actor as a somnambulist.
That was true in 1960. Sitney traced the evolution of the “trance film” from the classic German Expressionist silent film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari to the work of American avant-garde filmmakers like Kenneth Anger...
- 1/14/2010
- by screenings
- Underground Film Journal
This evening, Fangoria Radio invites you to a party at the House Of The Devil! On tonight’s show (heard live every Friday on Sirius Xm Stars satellite radio, Sirius channel 108/Xm channel 139, from 10 p.m.-1 a.m. Est, with a repeat broadcast immediately following), hosted by Debbie Rochon, Fango editor Tony Timpone and special guest/co-host Larry Fessenden, we’ll give you the lowdown on plenty of horror that should be on your radar:
Wrestler Brimstone and producer Sean Pomper give us a little insight into their upcoming flick Killer Hoo Ha. Ti West, director of one of 2009’s most loved horror flicks, The House Of The Devil, talks conjuring up the dark lord and maybe a little on what we can expect from The Haunting In Georgia. He ran with the wolves in The Twilight Saga: New Moon and will again in the upcoming Eclipse, hunky actor...
Wrestler Brimstone and producer Sean Pomper give us a little insight into their upcoming flick Killer Hoo Ha. Ti West, director of one of 2009’s most loved horror flicks, The House Of The Devil, talks conjuring up the dark lord and maybe a little on what we can expect from The Haunting In Georgia. He ran with the wolves in The Twilight Saga: New Moon and will again in the upcoming Eclipse, hunky actor...
- 12/11/2009
- by no-reply@fangoria.com ( Sam Zimmerman)
- Fangoria
Obnoxious drag queens, sleepy hustlers, washed-up starlets, effeminate vampires, and sickly junkies were among the miscreants and lowlifes that inhabited a series of films made in the 60’s and 70’s under the banner of the Andy Warhol “Factory” label. Though the eccentric artist himself had virtually no creative input, Andy Warhol’S Flesh (1968), Andy Warhol’S Trash (1970), and Andy Warhol’S Heat (1972) though low-budget and mostly improvised, were milestones in underground independent cinema. The final film made under the Warhol banner was 1977’s Andy Warhol’S Bad, one of the most shocking black comedies of the 1970’s. Andy Warhol’S Bad differs from the earlier Warhol films because of its higher production values (a 1.5 million dollar budget) and studio-friendly casting, but retains its sense of underground cred thanks to a demented script by Pat Hackett and George Abagnalo that breaks many taboos of the time to create a hilarious deadpan satire.
- 7/14/2009
- by Tom
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
“Superman.” Photographs courtesy of owners Wes and Missy Cochran. A private collection of Andy Warhol artwork is on display this summer at Cleveland Institute of Art's Reinberger Galleries. “Andy Warhol Prints: 1974-1986” showcases 36 images created in the last 12 years of the artist’s life. Mickey Mouse, Dracula, Uncle Sam, Santa Claus, and other pop culture icons—including a soup can—make an appearance in the show, which is on display through August 16. “This exhibition reminds me of the important role Cleveland played during the 1960s cultural revolution,” says Bruce Checefsky, director of the Reinberger Galleries. “In a sense, comics and graphic novels were popularized, if not created, in northeast Ohio.” If Cleveland isn't in your summer plans, here are some images from the exhibition.
- 6/8/2009
- Vanity Fair
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