ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - September 29th

"HALLOWEEN: THE CURSE OF 

MICHAEL MYERS" released in 1995

Six years after Michael Myers (George P. Wilbur) disappeared from the Haddonfield jail with the aid of the mysterious Man in Black, Michael resurfaces in the pursuit of his niece, Jamie Lloyd (J. C. Brandy), who has escaped with her newborn child, in Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers!

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On October 31, 1989, Michael Myers (Wilbur) and his niece Jamie Lloyd (Brandy) are shown to have been abducted by the mysterious Man in Black at the Haddonfield Police Station. Six years later, teenager Jamie is about to give birth to her baby on Halloween Eve, but the child is quickly taken away by the Man in Black (who is shown to be leader of a Druid-like cult. Later, a midwife (Susan Swift) helps Jamie escape with her baby, but is soon killed by pursuing Michael. Jamie and her baby flee in a stolen pickup and later stop briefly at a deserted bus station where Jamie makes a frantic call to a local radio station that is doing a show about the previous Haddonfield murders. Despite warning them that Michael Myers is on his way back to Haddonfield, Jamie is largely ignored by the arrogant DJ, Barry Simms (Leo Geter). However, two people listening take Jamie's pleas seriously; Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence), now retired, despite the repeated attempts of his friend, Dr. Terence Wynn (Mitch Ryan), to return to Smith's Grove Sanitarium, and Tommy Doyle (Paul Rudd), whom Laurie Strode babysat for during Michael's very first rampage. Obsessed with Myers ever since seeing him as a child, Tommy now watches over the old Myer's house in Haddonfield, in particular the new occupants, Kara Strode (Marianne Hagan) and her six-year-old son Danny (Devin Gardner). Tommy arrives at the bus station Jamie mentioned on the radio but is too late, as Michael has already killed Jamie by impaling her on a corn thresher after being chased by Michael outside of town. Tommy does however discover Jamie's baby hidden at the bus station - Jamie having sacrificed her life to lure Michael away - and later names him Stephen. Meanwhile, in Haddonfield, Michael has already arrived back at his old home, and killed Kara's mother Debra (Kim Darby), and her abusive husband John (Bradford English). Tommy manages to find Kara and Danny, and the three return to his boarding house across the street, where he explains his theories about the cult surrounding Michael; that he believes Michael has been inflicted with the curse of Thorn, an ancient Druid symbol that represented a demon that spread sickness and caused destruction, and, to prevent this, one child from each tribe was chosen to bear the curse of Thorn to offer a blood sacrifice of its next of kin on the night of Samhain (Halloween). The curse explains why Michael is out to kill his family and also accounts for his superhuman abilities. Leaving Kara and Danny with his landlady, Mrs. Blankenship (Janice Knickrehm), Tommy goes out to look for Dr. Loomis, who has gone to a Halloween party held at the Haddonfield Junior College to look for the last surviving Strode family member, Tim (Keith Bogart). But Michael has already killed Tim, as well as Tim's girlfriend Beth (Mariah O'Brien) and the obnoxious Simms. Unfortunately, Tommy and Loomis return to the boarding house too late to discover that Mrs. Blankenship is one of the cult members in cohots with the Man in Black - revealed to be Dr. Wynn. All four are captured and returned to Smith's Grove, where the cult's ultimate goal will finally be revealed, while Loomis and Tommy must face their darkest fears if they are to save Kara, Danny and Stephen from becoming yet another bloody sacrifice!

[Opening narration]
Tommy Doyle: Six years ago - Halloween night - Michael and Jamie vanished. Most people believed them dead but I believe someone hid them away. Someone who keeps Michael, protects him... tries to control him. If there's one thing I know, you can't control evil. You can lock it up, burn it, and bury it, and pray that it dies, but it never will. It just... rests awhile. You can lock your doors, and say your prayers, but the evil is out there... waiting. And maybe, just maybe... it's closer than you think!

Top:   Michael Myers (George P. Wilbur) attacks a sympathetic midwife (Susan Swift) for helping Jamie escape!:

Above:   Meanwhile Jamie Lloyd (J. C. Brandy) manages to call Haddonfield to warn them

After the rushed production that was Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (the filmmakers hoping to capitalize on the success of Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers released the year before), series executive producer Moustapha Akkad slowly began to develop ideas for a sixth installment. In 1990, screenwriter and long-time Halloween fan Daniel Farrands gave his script for a Halloween movie to Revenge producer Ramsey Thomas. Impressed with the screenplay, Thomas arranged for Farrands to meet Akkad. Farrad apparently spent weeks preparing for his meeting with the producer, compiling a notebook with research on the series, including a timeline, bios for every character, a "family tree" of the Myers and Strode families, and research on the runic symbol of Thorn. However, a lengthy series of legal battles ensued which delayed plans for any sequel. Later, there was  a bidding war between New Line Cinema & Miramax Films for the franchise, which eventually Miramax Films (via its Dimension Films division) won. Over the next two years, several screenplays from different writers had been deemed insufficient. At one point, Evil Dead II screenwriter Scott Spiegel was going to direct with Quentin Tarantino producing. Spiegal's script dealt with a now homeless Michael Myers, trying to find his way back to Haddonfield so he could gain revenge on those who wronged him. Reportedly when series producer Moustapha Akkad read this draft, he threw it across the room into a waist bin!

Dimensions Films once again turned to Farrands original script. After reading the script, one of the execs at Dimension apparently could not sleep that night and therefore called Farrands immediately and told him that they wanted go forward with it. Farrands has said his initial intent for Halloween 6 was to "bridge the later films (4-5) in the series to the earlier films (1-2) while at the same time taking the story into new territory so that the series could expand for future installments." Having already written several drafts under different working titles, Farrands' wrote a final draft, entitled Halloween 666. Deciding to use the "Curse of Thorn" angle, which is the concept that Myers had been under the influence of an ancient Celtic curse that drove him to murder all family members in his bloodline, Farrands' would eventually write another eleven drafts, until finally the screenplay hardly resembled the moodier and far psychological aspects of his original script. Fred Walton (director of When a Stranger Calls and April Fool's Day) was originally attached to direct Halloween 6 but later dropped out, and replaced with Joe Chappelle, who began his career with the independently produced thriller Thieves Quartet in 1994.

[after the group escape Smith's Grove]
Kara: Where do we go?
Doctor Sam Loomis: As far away from Haddonfield as possible.
Tommy Doyle: Come with us.
Doctor Sam Loomis: No... I have some business to attend to.
[Loomis walks back inside to confront Michael, alone]

Top:   Myers' arch-nemesis, Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence) returns to Haddonfield to confront Michael;

Above:   Loomis is aided by Tommy Doyle (Paul Rudd), the boy Laurie Strode babysat for during Michael's very first rampage

Donald Pleasence returned in his last performance as Dr. Loomis. According to Farrands, Pleasence "loved the script for 6, however, and told me that he felt it was the best story since the original." Danielle Harris asked to reprise her role as Jamie Lloyd, but Dimension could not come to an agreement over her salary and ultimately did not want to pay Danielle more than she received in Halloween 4  (which was reportedly only $5,000!). Harris later admitted she didn't care much for the scipt or the director Chappelle (stating they did not see "eye to eye" on things), and was mostly disappointed with the early death of Jamie at the beginning of the film. J. C. Brandy was cast as the teenage Jamie Lloyd instead. The producers of the movie wanted Brian Andrews to reprise his role as Tommy Doyle from the original Halloween, but since Andrews did not have an agent, they could not get in contact with him (an opportunity Andrews regrets losing). Newcomer Paul Rudd was cast as Tommy Doyle, in his film debut and marks the only time in the entire Halloween series to have a male protagonist. Farrands' wanted Christopher Lee to play Dr. Terence Wynn in the film but Lee was busy on another project - the same situation happened when John Carpenter offered Lee the Dr. Loomis role for Halloween in 1978.

The Curse of Michael Myers was also the first Halloween film in the entire series to be filmed in the fall, with production beginning in October 1994 and was shot mostly in Salt Lake City, Utah; the city was experiencing an early winter at the time which proved troublesome for the production company. There was added pressure during production of Halloween 6, when distributor Dimension Films was having budget issues with its other upcoming horror sequel, Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996), and reportedly slashed $1 million dollars from Halloween 6's budget as a result. In fact, trouble began on the film during the very first day, when Chappelle, according to many of the crew, told them from the outset that he didn't like the Halloween films, and was only involved in this project because it got him a three-picture deal with Miramax (Chappelle would later direct Hellraiser: Bloodlines and Phantoms (1998) for Dimension/Miramax). Farrands' aslo stated in a later interview that Chappelle used little to no ideas from his script, including cutting back on the scene where Wynn - by then revealed as the Man in Black - states he has always monitored Myers and even taunts Loomis by thanking him sarcastically since Loomis always made sure to capture Michael and bring him back and blatantly reveals that it was him who taught Michael how to drive a car. Chappelle would also completely re-write the entire third act - which included a completely (confusing) different ending - on set with producer Paul Freeman. Freeman would also prove disastrous during production with a series of blunders; sending the crew home when crucial scenes needed to be shot; deleting scripted scenes indiscriminately, rewrote dialogue and action sequences; and took it upon himself to direct second-unit shots as well supervise the post-production phase of the original cut. The original cut also had many of Donald Pleasence's scenes edited out of the film because Chappelle found him "boring".

TRIVIA:   Most of the cast and crew disowned this movie. On the Halloween: 25 Years of Terror (2006) DVD, they stated that the studio, producers, and director interfered and argued to the point of ridiculousness which resulted in a very poorly directed and edited film. Many vowed never to make another Halloween movie again after all the changes.

Top and Above:   Trapped in Smith's Grove Sanitarium, Loomis and Tommy must protect Kara Strode (Marianne Hagan), her son Danny (Devin Gardner), and Jamie's baby "Stephen" from Michael's curse!

In early 1995, Curse was given a test screening which, as described by actress Marianne Hagan, "consisted primarily of 14-year-old boys." During the Q&A afterward, one of them expressed great displeasure at the ending of the film, which entailed a Celtic ritual and the passing on of the Curse of Thorn to the Dr. Loomis character. The results of the bad test screening of the original work (the famous Producer's Cut), as well as creative differences between Joe Chappelle and the producer, Miramax stepped in and ordered extensive reshoots. Sadly Donald Pleasence had passed away on the 2nd of February in France, so producers ordered a whole new ending, as well as over twenty minutes of other footage being changed as well, leaving gaping plot holes that rendered the film nearly incomprehensible. Critics were almost universal in their negative reviews for the film. Daniel Kimmel of Variety called the film "tired" and "run-of-the-mill", while Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle said the film lacked suspense and said that "not even the presence of the late, gloriously histrionic Donald Pleasence can liven things up". Despite this, Curse had the largest opening weekend out of the entire series, grossing $7,308,529 and coming in second to the serial killer thriller Se7en. Curse would gross a total of $15,116,634 at the U.S. box office, from an estimated $5 million budget, making it one the more profitable films in the series.

For years after the theatrical release, the original version of the film (known as the "Producer's Cut") began to circulate in bootleg/collector circles, which had poor video and audio quality rendering it nearly unwatchable. In addition to featuring a different ending which was intended to keep Donald Pleasence's character in the films, it also features longer scenes in several parts of the movie, as well as different music at times. The major plot points that differ between the two cuts include - Jamie Lloyd is not killed by Michael's attack in the barn, just wounded, and killed later by the Man in Black after having a dream about how she was imprisoned in Smith's Grove, and the revelation that Jamie's child may be the inbred son of Michael Myers. And while Farrands stated that he thinks both versions of the film are poor, he considers the Producer's Cut to be the superior version. On September 23, 2014, the Producer's Cut was officially released for the first time as part of the Halloween Complete Collection Blu-ray box set released by Anchor Bay Entertainment and Scream Factory, with Miramax releasing the producer's cut of the film as a standlone DVD a year later on September 15th. Thus bringing to a close one of the more successful, but most trouble-plagued, films in the Halloween series.

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE:    6%

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ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - September 28th

"THIRST" released in Australia in 1979

An ancient descendant of the infamous Elizabeth Bathory is abducted by a shadowy organization known as The Brotherhood, who attempt to persuade her to embrace her bloody heritage, in the Ozploitation cult classic, Thirst!

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Kate Davis (Chantal Contouri) seemingly has an idyllic life - she is beautiful, wealthy, and has a handsome architect boyfriend, Derek (Rod Mullinar). But little does she know that she is being constantly watched by a shadowy organization known as the Brotherhood. Kate's activities are discussed at great length at a gathering of the Brotherhood's senior member, among them the idealistic Dr. Fraser (David Hemmings), who disagrees with his colleagues  - Dr Gauss (Henry Silva), Mrs Barker (Shirley Cameron), Mr Hodge (Max Phipps) - that they should force Kate into a "conditioning" program. The group reluctantly relent to Fraser's wishes, and the next morning Kate is drugged and later awakens at the Q.A.S.T.A. Research Facility. When Kate awakens, she is confronted by Barker and Gauss who explain that Kate is a long-lost descendant of the infamous Countess Elizabeth Bathory and that she has been chosen to join the Brotherhood as the new Baroness. Later, Barker and Hodge matter-of-factly explain to Kate they are all modern day vampires (with over 70,000 of them all over the world) and urge her to join them of her own free will. Kate proves resistant to their constant attempts to persuade her join and Barker and Gauss eventually lock Kate in a room with only a tiny hole through which to view the outside world (as it was done to her ancestor). Furious at the others, Fraser releases Kate from her cell and lets her freely walk among the grounds. Kate discovers the research facility is actually a human farm, where "blood cows" (aka humans) have they blood harvested by attaching them to giant milking machines. Their blood is then packaged inside ordinary milk containers and distributed to Brotherhood chapters all over the world. Terrified, Kate tries to escape, but she is quickly recaptured and sent back to the farm. That night, Kate is woken by a strange chanting coming from the chapel. Peeking through the window, Kate witnesses an elderly vampire drinking the blood from the neck of a young blood-cow and screams. Barker is not pleased, and against Fraser's advice, decides to proceed with the conditioning. Kate is subjected to a series of drugs that induce mind-bending hallucinations, and after several days it appears the conditioning has worked. That night Kate is initiated into the cult and willingly feasts on a bloodcow with ornamental silver fangs. The Brotherhood is impressed with Kate's conversion, but Mrs Barker wants to make sure that Kate's indoctrination will hold up in the outside world, and sends her home to drink the blood of Derek, who has just returned from the United States. Despite her newfound legacy, will Kate be able to resist harming the man she loves, or will the "old thirst" prevail in the end!

TRIVIA:   This film is notable for it's shower scene in blood. The sequence, which overlays Marnie (1964) with the shower scene from Psycho (1960), was dominant in the film's promotional materials, featuring prominently on the film's original theatrical poster as well as video covers.

Top:   Kate (Chantal Contouri) tries to resist the many tricks of the Brotherhood to get her to embrace drinking human blood;

Above:   Brotherhood scientists, Fraser (David Hemmings) and Guass (Henry Silva) are divided on the how to persuade Kate to join them

Widely considered Australia's first serious attempt at making a modern vampire film, Thirst was produced at the height of the Australian New Wave era that saw a rise in popularity of Australian films, particularly in the United States, and produced nearly 400 films between 1970 and 1985 (more than had been made in the history of the Australian film industry!). Within the this film revival emerged another genre, the Ozploitation films - a category of low-budget horror, comedy, and action films made after the introduction of the R rating in 1971. One such filmmaker, producer Antony I. Ginnane, who had previously  established a small distribution company, Studio Films, for  imported art house and exploitation films, decided to make the move into film production and quickly made the hugely profitable softcore pornographic films, Fantasm (1976) (which featured renowned porn actor John Holmes), and it's sequel, Fantasm Comes Again (1977). Ginnane's early success led him to move on to more genre driven films, and produced the cult classic horror film Patrick (1978).

For his next project, Ginnane selected the screenplay for the Thirst as his next project, with screenwriter John Pinkney basing his screenplay on stories which had been written as part of a book entitled Instant Terror. Ginnane followed his then-usual practice of hiring new directors from television, giving the job of directing to Rod Hardy, and importing actors with international recognition from Britain and the United States to play supporting roles to bolster the film's popularity (and sale-ability) in markets outside Australia. For Thirst, Ginnane cast foreign actors Henry Silva and David Hemmings in the roles of Dr Gauss and Dr Fraser respectively. Hemmings once said of this film during filming: "This crew is the best I've worked with in five years. What is happening out here in Australia is very exciting and I plan to become involved...I thought the script for Thirst was very commercial and had the potential for international success", while Silva once said of being cast in this movie: "I love traveling. That and the script were the reasons I decided to come to Australia". Although normally imported American or British actors would have received top or higher billing, both stars have billing down the cast order, at fourth and sixth.

TRIVIA:   Thirst had a small devoted section in the documentary, Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! (2008)

Top:   The secret of the Q.A.S.T.A. Research Facility - a blood farm for harvesting human blood!;

Above:   An elderly vampire is about to feast on a "blood-cow" 

Local actors rounding out the cast were Shirley Cameron, Max Phipps, Rod Mullinar, Amanda Muggleton and Robert Thompson (who played the titular role of Patrick in Ginanne's last film). Lead actress Chantal Contouri, who plays this movie's central character and protagonist Kate Davis, had also previously worked with Ginnane on a previous horror film, the not yet released One More Minute (1979) (which starred Sigrid Thornton). Contouri had also famously played nurse Tracey Wilson, a sado-masochist and serial killer, the infamous "Pantyhose Strangler", in the TV soap opera Number 96. For the estate premises of the headquarters of the secret vampire cult the Hyma Brotherhood, the production filmed on location at an artists colony north of Melbourne, Victoria known as Montsalvat. While filming Dr Gauss' death scene, the Department of Civil Aviation banned a stunt where he falls to his death from a helicopter, landing on a number of stobey-pole electric cable wires whereupon he is vividly electrocuted. But despite the ban, filmmakers shot the scene anyway with the combination of a stuntman and life-size dummy.

Released on 28 September 1979 in Australia (and a day later in the United States), Thirst did not do well at the local box office, but was highly regarded by influential American film critic Leonard Maltin, who gave it three stars out of four. Review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes consensus was, "Fans of the genre will most likely enjoy this different take on a classic tale and there are plenty of scares that abound on-screen that are guaranteed to terrify you. This is a truly original yarn that is entertaining from start to finish, and despite some minor flaws, it is a terrific horror film that is a must see for genre fans. Rod Hardy's direction is great, and he knows to craft a solid, atmospheric vampire film that is engaging from start to finish. What is wonderful with this film is that it pushes the genre into new, unexplored territory and succeeds at creating something quite different and original in the process".

Above:   Encouraged by Mr Hodge (Max Phipps), Kate embraces her destiny as the descendant of Elizabeth Bathory!

Antony I. Ginnane would go to produce another ten films during the New Wave period, including Harlequin (1980), Dead Kids (1981) and Turkey Shoot (1982), and work with actor David Hemmings on two further pictures, this time with Hemmings in the director's chair, The Survivor (1981) and Treasure of the Yankee Zephyr (1981). As the Australian Cinema Revival came to close in the late-80's, Ginnane would eventually produce nearly 70 films in Australia and the United States in a career spanning 46-years, as well as heading the Screen Producers Association of Australia from 2008 to 2011.

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE:   N/A 

_____________________________________

ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - September 26th

"CARNIVAL OF SOULS" released in 1962

After a traumatic accident, organist Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss) retreats to Utah and becomes drawn to a mysterious abandoned carnival on the shores of the Great Salt Lake, in Herk Harvey's cult classic, Carnival of Souls!

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Accepting the challenge to drag race against some men in another car, Mary Henry (Hilligoss) loses control while crossing a narrow bridge and plunges her car into the river. Although the police spend three hours dragging the murky, fast-running water without success, Mary later miraculously surfaces, but she cannot remember how she survived. Grieving for the loss of her two girlfriends who were also in the car, Mary retreats to Utah to take up the position of the church organist. Along the way she passes a large, abandoned pavilion sitting all by itself on the shores of the Great Salt Lake, which at a gas station later, the attendant tells her the pavilion was first a bathhouse, then a dance hall, and finally a carnival before shutting down. Shortly thereafter, while she is speeding along a deserted stretch of road, a ghoulish, pasty-faced figure replaces her reflection in the passenger window and stares at her. A split second later, The Man (Herk Harvey) suddenly appears in front of the car, forcing Mary to swerve off the road. Shaken, Mary finally arrives in town, Mary rents a room from Mrs. Thomas (Frances Feist) and meets the only other lodger John Linden (Sidney Berger). That night, she becomes upset when she sees The Man downstairs in the large house and retreats to her room. Mary questions Mrs. Thomas when she comes upstairs to bring Mary her dinner, but claims says she did not pass anyone. Over the next few days, Mary's experiences become more frequent and terrifying; her new employer, the Minister (Art Ellison) fires her after hearing her play "profane" music on the church organ that Mary does not remember playing, Mary starts to suffer interludes when she becomes invisible and inaudible to the rest of the world, and appearances of the Man become more and more frequent. Terrified of being alone, Mary agrees to go out on a date with Linden (although she has no romantic feelings for him), Mary later becomes upset when she sees the Man's reflection in her mirror and tries to tell Linden what has been happening to her. Linden leaves, believing she is losing her mind, and Mary finally turns to a kindly physician Dr. Samuels (Stan Levitt), where she slowly begins to realize she can't simply outrun the spirits plaguing her and in the end resolves to face them at the strange pavilion, that seems to almost beckon to her in the twilight!

Mary Henry: It's funny... the world is so different in the daylight. In the dark, your fantasies get so out of hand. But in the daylight everything falls back into place again.

Top and Above:   Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss) miraculously survives a car crash

It was while working as a director and producer of industrial and educational films for the Centron Corporation, Herk Harvey first conceived the idea for Carnival of Souls while driving past the abandoned Saltair Pavilion in Salt Lake City, Utah (at the time he was returning to Kansas after shooting a Centron film in California). Harvey enlisted his friend, and co-writer, John Clifford to assist with the screenplay and raised the budget over a single weekend by Harvey asking local Kansas businessmen if they were willing to invest $500 apeice in Harvey's production. Starting with an initial production budget of $17,000, Harvey later deferred the remaining $13,000 of the total $30,000 budget, with he and Clifford both waiving any fees. Hiring an unknown actress, Lee Strasberg-trained Candace Hilligoss (in her film debut), the rest of the supporting cast of the film was made up of local actors from the Lawrence, Kansas area, where much of the film was shot.

Filmed in only three weeks on location in Salt Lake City, Utah, and in Lawrence, Kansas (with some interior shots at the Centron Studios in Lawrence and the shots of the 'ghouls' rising from the Salt Lake being filmed in an apartment building's swimming pool!), Harvey's entire crew consisted of only five other people besides himself, and all of them Centron employees. The bridge used in the opening of the film, the Lecompton Bridge (named after the nearby town of Lecompton, KS), was offered to Harvey at no cost, only requiring the film crew to replace the bridge's damaged rails once they were done filming - at a princely cost of $17. According to star Candace Hilligoss, the river water she was submerged in for the film's finale was frigidly cold, but she had to be placed in the water for several hours to get the final shots. In fact, one of the actresses lying next to Hilligoss can be seen trembling from the cold water in the final cut.

Mary Henry: I don't belong in the world.

Top:    Arriving in Utah, Mary meets with a kindly doctor, Dr Samuels (Stan Levitt);

Above:   She also attracts the unwanted attention of fellow lodger, John Linden (Sidney Berger)

Harvey employed techniques he had learned in his work on industrial films in order to limit production costs; not having enough money for a process screen to create a rear projection effect, which was the method typically used at that time to create the impression that a scene was taking place inside a moving car,  Harvey instead used a battery-powered hand-held Arriflex camera to film the shots inside moving cars, removing the need for compositing. The Arriflex, which was at that time more often used by cameramen filming newsreel footage, also allowed them to use a moving camera in other scenes without the need for gear like dollies or cranes. For the finale where Mary encounters the Man and the Ghouls, the Salt Lake City Chamber of Commerce charged Harvey $50 for the one-week shoot at the ruined Saltair Pavilion, with the dancers seen at the end coming from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Unfortunately, the Saltair that appears in the film actually burned down in the early '70s. In the early '80s another version of Saltair was rebuilt, although it was a much smaller design, but Shortly after it was built, the Great Salt Lake rose and flooded it out. In 1993, the building was remodeled and reopened, now it's mainly used as a small venue for musical acts.

As a running visual motif, portions of the movie were tinted in a manner similar to silent films - whenever Mary is in one of her altered mental states, the picture has a faint cyan tint, while all the "real" scenes are in pure black-and-white. Later in the film, the tinted segments also have distorted sound and picture. According to director Harvey, one reel of footage for the film was unfortunately ruined during processing. Harvey said it was a long series of shots that was suppose to take place just before Mary sees the "souls" dancing in the ballroom. In the shots the ghouls were supposed to slowly appear from behind the rotting dock pylons out on the salt flats and slowly walk across the prairie to the ballroom, where they would begin to dance. Sadly, the footage was overexposed during the processing and couldn't be included in the film.

TRIVIA:   At the "Carnival of Souls" 1989 reunion, director Herk Harvey wore the ghoul makeup that he wore in the film for interviews.

Top:   Mary continuously encounters a ghoulish figure The Man (Herk Henry);

Above:   Mary tries to flee town, but finds herself on a busload of ghouls!

Cut down from it's original 84 minutes to 75 minutes to accommodate more showings at the drive-in theaters, Carnival of Souls was a commercial failure on its release. In fact, star Candace Hilligoss' agent refused to represent her any further after seeing this film. While the US release of Carnival of Souls failed to include a copyright on the prints, automatically placing them in the public domain, the foreign release marketed by Walter Manley did contain a copyright card and was protected for overseas sales. After it's initial theatrical run, 16mm television copies were broadcast on WOR in New York City during its late night timeslot throughout the sixties. Its subsequent airings on late night television helped to gain it a strong cult following and today it is regarded as a landmark in psychological horror! Leonard Maltin gave Carnival of Souls 2 1/2 out of 4 stars, calling the film an "eerie" and "imaginative low budget effort." Roger Ebert awarded the film 3 stars out of four, stating, "Unlike most of today's horror movies, Carnival of Souls has few special effects – some wavy lines as we pass through various levels of existence, and that's it. Instead, it depends on crisp black-and-white photography, atmosphere and surprisingly effective acting".

In the late 1980s, Candace Hilligoss wrote a treatment for a sequel to Carnival of Souls and took it to associate Peter Soby Jr., who instead decided to produce a remake of the original film. Hilligoss had no part in the later production, feeling the filmmakers of the remake had shown disrespect to her in initiating the film without consulting her or considering her treatment. After negotiations with Harvey and Clifford concluded, the remake was directed by Adam Grossman and Ian Kessner and starred Bobbie Phillips in role of the haunted heroine Alex Grant. The remake would have very little in common with the 1962 film, borrowing little more than the revelation at the end, and was marketed as Wes Craven Presents Carnival of Souls. The new film received negative appraisals from most reviewers and did not manage to secure theatrical release, going direct-to-video. The original film resurfaced again in 1989 when it was fully restored and given a more proper release in New York. But the end result of the re-release - at least for the original filmmakers, Harvey and Clifford - was the same as the original release; with no money returning to them and no new film projects forthcoming as result. Sadly, Carnival of Souls would be the the only feature film that director and producer Herk Harvey ever worked on.

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE:   84%

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ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - September 25th

"URBAN LEGEND" released in 1998

Ever heard the story about the two kids making out on lover's lane and there's a killer with a hook for a hand on the loose? Or the babysitter getting phone calls from a murderer hiding upstairs? Well, at Pendleton University, someone is taking these legends as inspiration for a vicious killing spree in Jamie Blanks' directorial debut, Urban Legend!

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During a stormy night, college student Michelle Mancini (Natasha Gregson Wagner) has a dangerous encounter with a stuttering Gas Station Attendant (Brad Dourif), believing he is attacking her. Michelle realizes too late that the attendant was actually trying to warn her of a real attacker hiding in the back seat, and as Michelle drives off, the hooded figure in the back seat decapitates her with an axe. The next day, student Parker Riley (Michael Rosenbaum) relates how one of the campus halls, Stanley Hall, had been the site of a massacre in 1973, to fellow students Natalie Simon (Alicia Witt), Brenda (Rebecca Gayheart), and Damon Brooks (Joshua Jackson), although Parker's story is discredited by school journalist Paul Gardner (Jared Leto). Later on, the group attend Professor Wexler's (Robert Englund) lecture on urban folklore, just as news of Michelle's death reach the campus. Distraught over the murder of her friend, Natalie is persuaded to take a drive with Damon. While in the woods, Damon is attacked by the killer, who hangs him from a tree with the rope attached to the car. As the killer then approaches Natalie, she attempts to run him over, strangling Damon to death in the process. Natalie flees and alerts security guard Reese Wilson (Loretta Devine) who doesn't believe her when they find the car and Damon's corpse missing. Returning to her dorm room, Natalie leaves the lights off, as she thinks her goth roommate Tosh (Danielle Harris) is having sex - but she is actually being strangled to death by the killer, who leaves a blood scrawled message on the wall the next morning; "Aren't you glad you didn't tun on the lights?". Realizing Damon, Michelle, and Tosh's murders resemble urban legends, Natalie confesses to Brenda that one night she and Michelle once tried to re-enact an urban legend; they were driving with their headlights turned off and pursued the first driver who flashed them, causing him to run off the road and die in the crash. Natalie also believes the killer is still on campus, despite the news reporting that the Gas Station Attendant was arrested for Michelle's murder. That night, while Parker hosts a fraternity party to commemorate the Stanley Hall "Massacre", two more people die; school dean Adams (John Neville) is attacked in the garage and run over by his car forcing the emergency spikes into his back, and Parker's girlfriend Sasha (Tara Reid) is killed with an axe on live radio! Paul tracks down Natalie and explains that the '73 Stanley Hall massacre actually happened and the pair head to the now abandoned Stanley Hall to confront the killer and put an end to this urban legend once and for all!

[to Natalie, Brenda, Paul, and Sasha]
Parker: Don't you guys get it? Come on, it's just like that urban legend.
Natalie: What are you talking about?
Parker: You know the story, A boy and a girl, parked out in the woods, making out...
Brenda: [to Natalie] You made out with him?!

Top and Above:   Students Damon (Joshua Jackson), Brenda (Rebecca Gayheart), Parker (Michael Rosenbaum) and Natalie (Alicia Witt) attend Prof. Wexler's (Robert Englund) lecture on urban myths

With the release of Scream in 1996, horror films became popular again in Hollywood, with producers and studios looking to cash in on the revival. Original Film producer Neal H. Moritz was in the middle of developing I Know What You Did Last Summer - with Scream writer Kevin Williamson - when he received a faux trailer for the un-produced movie by Australian filmmaker, Jamie Blanks. Blanks had already secured an agent in Los Angeles based on his short film made at Melbourne’s Swinburne Film School, Silent Number - which revolves around a babysitter receiving a number of disturbing phone calls, with the voice pleading for help, and later discovers the calls are not coming from any normal source. Moritz was impressed by Blanks trailer but the directing job for I Know What You Did Last Summer had already gone to Jim Gillespie. Nevertheless, Moritz kept the young filmmaker in mind when searching for a director for his next project, Urban Legend, written by first time screenwriter Silvio Horta, and hired Blanks to helm the picture.

Alicia Witt was cast as the films heroine Natalie Simon, the part having previously been offered to Melissa Joan Hart and Reese Witherspoon. Jodi Lyn O'Keefe was originally offered the role of Sasha, but turned it down to take part in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, when Moritz turned to his I Know What You Did Last Summer star Sarah Michelle Gellar. Gellar accepted the role but had to back out due to schedule conflicts with filmming for her TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The role was later taken by Tara Reid (American Pie). Upcoming actors Jared Leto, Joshua Jackson, Rebecca Gayheart, and Michael Rosenbaum rounded out the remaing cast. They were joined by cameo's from horror legends Robert Englund (the Nightmare on Elm Street films), Brad Dourif (the Child's Play series), Danielle Harris (Halloween 4 & 5), and Julian Richings (Mimic and Cube), as well as by veteran actors John Neville (TV's The X-Files) as Dean Adams and Loretta Devine as security guard Reese Wilson (and the only cast member to return to cameo in the sequel, Urban Legends: Final Cut).

The Killer: Don't you want to be an urban legend, Nat? All your friends are now.

Top:   The killer leaves a blood scrawled message for Natalie;

Above:   Parker finds out about the "old lady drying her dog in the microwave" legend!

Primarily filmed on location at the University of Toronto, it was the filmmakers original intention to set the story during winter - hence the design of the killer's thick hooded outfit. But with production beginning in April, the Spring weather was too warm and it was decided to drop the winter aspect of the story-line rather than apply fake snow in all the outdoor scenes and dress all the extras in winter outfits (but they did keep the killer's costume). Interestingly, during filming of the opening sequence, the producer's actually had to change the 4x4 driven by the killer's first victim from a Land Rover to a Ford Expedition when they discovered the Land Rover was too small to swing an axe inside of it! For these scenes and others, the hooded killer was played by Matt Birman, before Brenda is revealed as the real killer. In fact, in a cryptic film spoiler, the Latin motto of the university seen on the emblem in some scenes, translates as; "The Best Friend Did It"!

The actual legends used in the murder scenes were taken from the most popular stories in urban folklore, including; the Hook, Killer in the Backseat, the Pop Rocks myth, the Kidney Heist, the Headlight Flashing Initiation, the Ankle Slasher Under the Car, "Aren't you glad you didn't turn on the light?" (a variation of, "People Can Lick Too") and, most disturbingly, the Old Lady dries wet dog in microwave legend! Of course other stories are touched on in the picture. During Wexler's lecture he references The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs, later Natalie and Brenda play Bloody Mary outside Stanley Hall, and on Sasha's radio show she hears a number of university myths, including replacing a room mate's birth control pills with baby aspirin, having a stomach pumped after performing oral sex, and an extremely rare (but surprisingly real) case of Penis Captivus.

Above:   Director Jamie Blanks on set of Urban Legend

Although Urban Legend was a very successful at the box office, grossing over $70 million against a $14 million budget, the movie was not well received by critics who judged it (perhaps unfairly) against other genre pictures of the period, especially Scream. Review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes' consensus was, "Elements of Scream reappear in a vastly inferior vehicle". Felix Vasquez wrote for Cinema Crazed, "So very early in to the movie, you’ll want to see who is next to die and in what urban legend form, rather than wanting to discover who or whom the killer may be... but by the middle half of the story it seems to have no idea how to orchestrate it all to form an interesting mystery". Anita Gates, writing for the Boston Globe, on the other hand gave a positive review, stating that, "Urban Legend is a teen-age moviegoer's dream. It has familiar young television stars, familiar older stars with cult followings (Robert Englund as the aforementioned professor, John Neville as the dean), an edgy sense of humor, a tricky plot and characters too genre-savvy for their own good. Maybe there will be an oversaturation of Scream-inspired horror films someday soon, but this one feels fresh."

Urban Legend was followed by two sequels; Urban Legends: Final Cut, which was released theatrically in 2000, and the direct-to-video Urban Legends: Bloody Mary in 2005.

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE:   20%

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ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - September 24th

"SHAUN OF THE DEAD" released in 2004

Shaun (Simon Pegg), a 29-year-old electronics shop salesman with no direction, decides to get some kind of focus in his life as he deals with his girlfriend, his mother and stepfather, while at the same time having to cope with an apocalyptic zombie uprising, in Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead!

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Shaun (Pegg) is having one of those days - his younger colleagues at the electronics store don't respect him, he has an estranged relationship with his stepfather Phillip (Bill Nighy), and his housemate Pete (Peter Serafinowicz) is fed up with Ed (Nick Frost), Shaun's vulgar, unemployed best friend still sleeping on their sofa after three years. Later, Shaun forgets to book a table at the restaurant he promised his girfriend Liz they would go to, to - belatedly - celebrate their anniversary, but when he suggests they go to his favorite pub, the Winchester for the date, Liz angrily breaks up with him. Shaun drowns his sorrows with his best friend Ed at the Winchester and as the two head home at 4am to play music, an enraged Pete — suffering from a bite wound he received earlier — confronts Shaun on his flaws, telling him to sort his life out. Hangover the next day, Shaun and Ed fail to realize a zombie apocalypse has overwhelmed the city, until they encounter two zombies in their backyard! Learning more about the outbreak by watching the news, the pair head outside to kill the two zombies (and another that walked through the front door) with blows to the head, and then briefly discuss a plan to rescue Shaun's mother, Barbara (Penelope Wilton), and Liz, then wait out the crisis in the Winchester. After taking the now-zombiefied Pete's car and rescuing Barbara (and, relunctantly, Phillip too), Shaun then collects Liz from her flat, bringing her two flatmates, David (Dylan Moran) and Dianne (Lucy Davis) along as well. As the group make their way to the Winchester on foot (having abandoned the car after Phillip reanimated into a zombie), they find the streets surrounding the pub are overrun, so the group pretends to be zombies to sneak past them. Successfully making it inside - after a few slight "incidents" - Shaun's plan to "wait until it all blows over" falls apart as the zombies besige the Winchester. With only a handful of gardening tools, a pair of pool cues, and an antique Winchester rifle hanging over the bar to defend themselves, Shaun attempts to reconcile his relationship with his mother, his girlfriend, and his best friend while dealing with an entire community that has returned from the dead to eat the living!

Shaun: [about Ed] He's not my boyfriend!
Ed: [handing beer to Shaun] It might be a bit warm, the cooler's off.
Shaun: Thanks, babe.
[winks]

Top and Above:   After a night of heavy drinking, Shaun (Simon Pegg) and Ed (Nick Frost) are oblivious to the fact the zombie apocalypse has began!

Having collaborated on a short lived television sitcom, Spaced, director Edgar Wright and actor Simon Pegg were inspired to write the screenplay for Shaun of the Dead after one of the Spaced episodes where Tim (Pegg), under the influence of amphetamine and the video game Resident Evil 2, hallucinates that he is fighting off a zombie invasion. When Wright and Pegg began pitching the film, Film4 Productions showed interest in it, but then, Film4 significantly cut back its budget, leaving the film without a production company for a while. But since Wright was still hoping to get the film made, he held off on taking other directing jobs while searching for new financing for the film, and ended up having to borrow money from his friends (according to Wright, Pegg still hasn't allowed him to pay back the money he owes him from those lean times!).

Spaced also had a major influence on the casting of Shaun, with major and minor parts being filled with actors from the series;  Nick Frost (who played Mike in Spaced) has a starring role as Ed, with Pegg's Spaced co-star Jessica Stevenson playing Yvonne, the leader of another group Shaun runs into on the way to the Winchester. Also appearing in Shaun was Peter Serafinowicz and Julia Deakin – who played Duane Benzie and Marsha in Spaced – as Shaun's roommate Pete and Yvonne's mum, respectively. The remaining cast features a number of British comedians, comic actors, and sitcom stars, most prominently from Spaced, Black Books and The Office, including Bill Nighy, Dylan Moran, Martin Freeman, Tamsin Greig, Reece Shearsmith, and Matt Lucas. Many other comics and comic actors appear in cameos as zombies, including Rob Brydon, Paul Putner, Russell Howard, Pamela Kempthorne, and Coldplay members Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland also having cameo roles in the film (apparently Pegg and Martin attended quiz nights at Pegg's local pub, the Shepherds in Highgate - which was the basis for the Winchester). All of the newsreaders and television presenters are real people portraying themselves.

Shaun: If you get cornered...
[hits himself on head with cricket bat]
Shaun: ...bash 'em in the head, that seems to work - Ow!

Top and Above:   Finding the Winchester surrounded, Shaun and the group pretend to be "zombies" to make their way past them!

Shaun of the Dead began filming in May, 2003 on a budget of £4 Million, with many of the zombie extras being, in fact, fans of the TV series Spaced and were recruited through the Spaced Out fan web site to be in the film. In homage to George A. Romero (among many, many other homages in the film!), the non-featured zombie extras were paid the princely sum of £1 a day for their troubles, which Romero also paid his extra zombies for Dawn of the Dead (1978) and Day of the Dead (1985). In fact, Romero was later given a private viewing of the film near his home in Florida, and while watching Shaun, Romero was oblivious to the fact that in the scene where Ed yells into the phone, "We're coming to get you, Barbara," was a direct lift from Night of the Living Dead (1968), and only found out later after a phone conversation with Wright. Romero was so impressed with Wright and Pegg's film, that a year later he invited them to the set of Land of the Dead to cameo as a pair of Photo-Booth Zombies.

Intended as the first part of the Cornetto Trilogy - the other two parts being Hot Fuzz (2007) and The World's End (2013) - according to Edgar Wright, the reason that Cornettos appear in the film is because he once ate a Cornetto to get over a hangover, and thought it would be funny if Ed, did the same after a night of drinking. Shaun is also notable for Wright's kinetic directing style, and its references to other movies, television series and video games.

TRIVIA:   When asked by an interviewer why they chose to have slow moving zombies instead of running zombies, Simon Pegg simply replied, "Because death is not an energy drink."

Top:   Director and co-writer Edgar Wright;

Above:   Simon Pegg on set

Because of the timing and the indisputable similarity of the names, the Working Title and Universal Pictures were forced to hold Shaun of the Dead back until two weeks after the remake Dawn of the Dead was released in the UK. However, on it's release Shaun took £1.6 million at 366 cinemas on its opening weekend, and earned $3.3 million in it's opening weekend in the US, taking seventh place at the box office despite a limited release to only 607 theaters. Shaun would eventually gross over $30 million worldwide and received almost universal critical acclaim. Nev Pierce, reviewing the film for the BBC, called it a "side-splitting, head-smashing, gloriously gory horror comedy" that will "amuse casual viewers and delight genre fans", with Peter Bradshaw giving the film four stars out of five, saying it "boasts a script crammed with real gags" and is "pacily directed [and] nicely acted." Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes' critical consensus was, "Shaun of the Dead cleverly balances scares and witty satire, making for a bloody good zombie movie with loads of wit", with cult filmmaker Quentin Tarantino having dubbed Shaun one of his top 20 films made since 1992. Given the success, Pegg and Wright considered a sequel that would replace zombies with another monster - with a proposed title of From Dusk til Shaun - but decided against it as they were pleased with the first film as a stand-alone product, and thought too many characters died to continue the story. But with a working title like that, it's hard to imagine which "monster" the filmmakers had in mind!

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE:   92%

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