ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - November 30th

"MISERY" released in 1990

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Famed novelist Paul Sheldon (James Caan) is the author of a successful series of Regency romance novels featuring a character named Misery Chastain. Wanting to focus on more serious stories, he writes a manuscript for a new novel that he hopes will launch his post-Misery career. While traveling from Silver Creek, Colorado to his home in New York City, he is caught in a blizzard and his car goes off the road, rendering him unconscious. Paul is rescued by a nurse named Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates), who brings him to her remote home. When Paul regains consciousness he finds himself bedridden, with both his legs broken as well as a dislocated shoulder. Annie claims she is his "number one fan" and talks a lot about him and his novels. As a reward for saving him, Paul gives Annie his new manuscript, although Annie is shocked by the profanity in it. Later, Annie buys a copy of Paul's most recently published book, Misery's Child, when she discovers that Misery dies at the end of the book, causing her to fly into a rage. She reveals that she lied about calling his agent and the authorities; nobody knows where he is. Paul tries to escape from his room, but she has locked the door.

The next morning, Annie forces Paul to burn his latest manuscript. When he is well enough to get out of bed, she insists he write a new novel titled Misery's Return, in which he brings the character back to life. Paul complies, believing Annie might kill him otherwise. He also tells her he will use Annie's name in the book in appreciation of her nursing him back to health. When the first few chapters show continuity errors, Annie chides him angrily and forces him to start again. One day, Paul sneaks out when Annie is away and begins stockpiling his painkillers. He tries poisoning Annie during dinner, but fails. Paul later finds a scrapbook of newspaper clippings about Annie's past. He discovers that she was suspected and tried for the deaths of several infants, but the trial collapsed due to lack of evidence. Annie had quoted lines from his Misery novels during her trial. Annie later drugs Paul and straps him to the bed. When he wakes, she tells him that she knows he has been out of his room and breaks his ankles with a sledgehammer to prevent him from escaping again.

Meanwhile, the local sheriff, Buster (Richard Farnsworth), who has been investigating Paul's disappearance at the insistence of Paul's publishing agent Marcia (Lauren Bacall) is informed by a local shopkeeper that he has sold Annie considerable quantities of typing paper. Buster pays Annie a visit, but when he finds Paul drugged in the basement, Annie fatally shoots Buster and tells Paul that they must die together. He agrees, on the condition that he must finish the novel in order to "give Misery back to the world". As Paul nears completion of his novel, Annie prepares to kill them both - but Paul has one last desperate gamble left to save himself and to get revenge of his torturer!

[Annie has just read Paul's latest novel]
Annie Wilkes: YOU! YOU DIRTY BIRD, HOW COULD YOU!
Paul Sheldon: What?
Annie Wilkes: She can't be dead, MISERY CHASTAIN CANNOT BE DEAD!
Paul Sheldon: Annie, in 1871, women often died during childbirth. But her SPIRIT is the important thing, and Misery's spirit is still alive.
Annie Wilkes: I DON'T WANT HER SPIRIT! I WANT HER! AND YOU MURDERED HER!
Paul Sheldon: No... I didn't.
Annie Wilkes: WHO DID?
Paul Sheldon: No one! She... she died! She just slipped away!
Annie Wilkes: SLIPPED AWAY! SLIPPED AWAY? SHE DIDN'T JUST SLIP AWAY! YOU DID IT! YOU DID IT! YOU DID IT! YOU MURDERED MY MISERY!

Top and Above:   After being injured in a car accident, novelist Paul Sheldon (James Caan) is nursed back to health by his "number one fan", Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates)

Producer Andrew Scheinman first read Stephen King's novel Misery on an airplane, and later recommended it to his director partner at Castle Rock Entertainment, Rob Reiner. Reiner, who had first wanted to adapt one of King's novel into a horror movie ever since seeing Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (1980), invited famed writer William Goldman to write the film's screenplay. King was initially reluctant to sell the film rights to Misery because he was skeptical that a Hollywood studio would make a movie faithful to his vision. However, King was impressed with one adaptation of his works, Reiner's own film Stand by Me (1986), and agreed to sell Misery under the proviso that Reiner would either produce or direct the film. Given that Reiner was a director with a career of comedies, once he read the novel he identified with the theme of "a guy who needed a new challenge, who needs to push himself and grow", and decided to direct the adaptation himself.

Reiner worked closely with Goldman on the screenplay, with the director explaining that "We got rid of the most gory and horrific parts. I wanted to concentrate on the idea of this chess match between the artist and his fan." This included changing one of the most pivotal scenes in the movie; in the original novel, Annie Wilkes severs one of Paul Sheldon's feet with an axe. which Goldman loved (and later stated that scene was the reason he choose to write the screenplay in the first place) and argued for it to be included. However, Reiner and Scheinman's script revision changed the method of torture to Paul getting his ankles broken with a sledgehammer. Goldman subsequently wrote that this was the correct decision after seeing a first cut of the movie and agreed that an amputation would have been too severe.

[Annie desperately tries to keep the pages of Misery's Child from burning]
Annie Wilkes: No! Not my Misery! No, no, no! Not my Misery!
[Paul the grabs the typewriter and hits her violently in the head, causing that Annie's sleeve catches fire]
Annie Wilkes: No!
[Annie turns off the fire, moves the typewriter aside and gets up to grab Paul]
Annie Wilkes: I'm gonna kill you, you lying cocksucker!

Top:   Local Sheriff Buster (Richard Farnsworth) investigates Sheldon's disappearance;

Above:   Sheldon and Annie have a brutal, climactic fight!

According to Goldman's book "Four Screenplays," the main character role, Paul Sheldon, was offered to William Hurt, Kevin Kline, Michael Douglas, Harrison Ford, Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Richard Dreyfuss, Gene Hackman, Robert Redford, and Warren Beatty, all of whom declined. Beatty in particular commented before declining that the hobbling scene made Paul Sheldon "a loser for the rest of the film." Jack Nicholson was then offered the role of Paul Sheldon but passed because he was not sure he wanted to do another movie based on one of King's novels, after what he had experienced with Kubrick on The Shining. It was then that James Caan accepted the lead role after Nicholson turned it down. Incidentally, Caan had previously turned down Nicholson's role in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), in which he also is the victim of a psychotic nurse (Nurse Ratched) and who also won an Oscar for her role (Louise Fletcher). Jessica Lange at one point was up for the role of Annie Wilkes before Anjelica Huston was offered the part, and was interested, but was unable to accept it due to her commitment to The Grifters (1990). Bette Midler also turned the role down before, according to Reiner, Goldman suggested that Kathy Bates, then unknown, should portray the psychotic Annie Wilkes. Legendary actor Richard Farnsworth was later cast as the local sheriff, Buster.

Before production even began, Reiner studied Alfred Hitchcock movies to figure out how to shoot a thriller, watching nearly every Hitchcock film (apparently, Reiner had Hitchcock on the brain so much that Caan overheard Reiner chastising himself one day on set, asking himself, "Who do you think you are, Alfred Hitchcock?"). With principal photography beginning in Nevada on 20th February, 2000, Caan and Bates clashed over their acting methods. Caan believed in as little rehearsal as possible. Bates, with her theater background, was used to practicing a lot. When she commented to director Rob Reiner that Caan was not attempting to relate or listen to her, Reiner told her to use that frustration toward her character. As filming continued, Bates would often end up getting upset over the violence. Caan recalled that his co-star was crying when it came time to shoot that infamous scene, with Bates also crying before shooting the fight sequence at the end. Ironically, Bates reportedly was disappointed that a scene was cut in which she kills a young police officer by rolling over him repeatedly with a lawnmower, a scene which Reiner was afraid that the audience would laugh at. 

Caan once showed up to the set hungover and all of the scenes he shot that day were unuseable. Reiner later told Caan he had to do the scenes again because there was "a problem at the lab." When Caan learned it had nothing to do with labs, he offered to cover the money he lost the studio. But the most difficult scenes for Caan to film where when he had to stay in bed for fifteen weeks of shooting. Caan said he thought that Reiner was playing a "sadistic" joke on him, knowing the actor would not enjoy not moving around for so long. Caan was not used to playing a reactionary character, and found it much tougher to play. For the hobbling scene, Caan's fake legs were molded out of gelatin and armatures with wire were inserted into the prosthetic ankles so that after Annie hit them with the sledgehammer, they would bend at the desired, gruesome angles (there were holes so that Caan could slip his real legs up to the knee).

TRIVIA:   In the original idea for the novel "Misery," Annie planned to kill Paul Sheldon by feeding him to Misery the Pig and take his skin to bind the book he had written. The title would have been "The Annie Wilkes 1st Edition."

Top:   Director Rob Reiner on set with Kathy Bates and James Caan;

Above:   A scene from William Goldman's 2015 Broadway production of Misery, with Bruce Willis as Paul Sheldon and Laurie Metcalf as Annie Wilkes

On Misery's release in 1990, audiences, King fans, and critics alike were mostly unanimous in their praise. Roger Ebert in particular praised Bates, stating," Bates, who has the film's key role, is uncanny in her ability to switch, in an instant, from sweet solicitude to savage scorn. Some of the things Stephen King invents for her to do to the writer are so shocking that they could be a trap for an actor - an invitation to overact. But she somehow remains convincing inside her character's madness." Dave Kehr of the Chicago Tribune wrote,"Like any good work of popular culture, Rob Reiner's film of Stephen King's best-selling book Misery functions on more than one level", while Empire Magazine's Phillip Thomas noted, "From start to harrowing finish, it is blissfully apparent that Rob Reiner can indeed turn his hand to virtually anything." Along with the strong reviews, Misery was also a box office success, grossing $10,076,834 on its opening weekend, finishing at second at the box office behind Home Alone (Misery eventually finished with $61 million domestically). In 1991, Bates won both the Golden Globe for Best Actress and the Academy Award for Best Actress for her chilling portrayal of Annie Wilkes. In her Oscar acceptance speech, one thing Bates earnestly said was, "I'd like to publicly apologize to James Caan for the ankles!"

Goldman would again adapt Misery, this time for the stage. First appearing at the Bucks County Playhouse in 2012, the play was transferred to Broadway from November 2015 to February 2016, starring Bruce Willis as Paul Sheldon and Laurie Metcalf as Annie Wilkes. The play received mixed to average reviews from theatre critics; Willis was widely criticized for his portrayal as Paul Sheldon with reviewers saying that while the actor tried his best, he "lacked emotion" as the captured character. However, on a more positive side, Metcalf was met with unanimous critical acclaim for her performance as Annie and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE:   89%

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ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - November 28th

"THE BABADOOK" released in 2014

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Amelia Vanek (Essie Davis) is a troubled and exhausted widow who has brought up her six-year-old son Samuel (Noah Wiseman) alone after her husband Oskar's death from a car accident that occurred as he drove Amelia to the hospital during her labour. Soon, Sam begins displaying erratic behaviour: he becomes an insomniac and is preoccupied with an imaginary monster, against which he has built weapons to fight. One night, Sam asks his mother to read a pop-up storybook: Mister Babadook. It describes the titular monster, the Babadook, a tall pale-faced humanoid in a top hat with pointed fingers who torments its victims after they become aware of its existence. Amelia is disturbed by the book and its mysterious appearance, while Sam becomes convinced that the Babadook is real. Sam's persistence within the Babadook leads Amelia to often have sleepless nights as she tries to comfort him.

Soon after, strange events occur: doors open and close mysteriously by themselves, strange sounds are heard and Amelia finds glass shards in her food. She attributes the events to Sam's behaviour, but he blames the Babadook. Amelia rips up the book and disposes of it. Following a disatrous children's birthday party, Amelia finds the Mister Babadook book reassembled on the front door step. New words taunt her by saying that the Babadook will become stronger if she continues to deny its existence, containing pop-ups of her killing her dog Bugsy, Samuel and then herself. Terrified, Amelia burns the book and runs to the police after a disturbing phone call. However, Amelia has no proof of the stalking, and when she then sees the Babadook's suit hung up behind the front desk, she leaves. Amelia starts to become more isolated and shut-in, being more impatient, shouting at Samuel for 'disobeying' her constantly, and having frequent visions of the Babadook once again.

One night, Amelia sees a vision of Oskar, who agrees to return if she gives him Sam. Fleeing, Amelia is stalked by the Babadook through the house until it takes over her and finally possesses her, breaking the dog Bugsy's neck. Terrified, Sam must now confront the beast that has taken over his mother and trap the Babadook once and for all.

Amelia: [about the Babadook] Well, I'm not scared.
Samuel: You will be when it eats your insides!

Top:   Amelia (Essie Davis) looks for the "monster" under her son Samuel's (Noah Wiseman) bed;

Above:   A terrifying page from the Mister Babadook book

When asked where the idea of The Babadook came from, writer/director Jennifer Kent said, "I have a friend who's a single mother, whose son was traumatized by this monster figure that he thought he saw everywhere in the house. So I thought, "What if this thing was real, on some level?' So I made Monster [a short film] about that idea. But I couldn't leave it alone. I kept coming back to it. And that led to The Babadook.". Kent would later refer to Monster as the "baby babadook".

Kent began writing the script in 2009, and completed five drafts of the screenplay before seeking financing. Although the process was challenging and she was forced to reduce their total budget, Causeway Films producer Kristina Ceyton managed to secure funding of around A$2.5 million from government bodies Screen Australia and the SAFC; however, they still required an additional budget for the construction of the film sets. To attain the funds for the sets, Kent and Ceyton launched a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign in June 2012, with a target of US$30,000. Their funding goal was reached on 27 September 2012 through pledges from 259 backers raising $30,071.

Above:   The Babadook (Tim Purcell) attacks Amelia!

Kent would later approach actress Essie Davis to play the lead role of Amelia Vanek. Having met Davis while they studied together at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), Kent sought to gather her own "family of collaborators to work with for the long term.", having been inspired by her experience on the set of Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier's Dogville (Trier himself invited Kent to assist on the set after Kent sent him a written proposal to learn from him). Noah Wiseman was also cast as Amelia's son Samuel, an experience Kent descibed as "stressful" and was extremely sensitive about introducing the themes of the film to the child actor. During the three weeks of pre-production, she carefully gave him a child-friendly version of what the story was about. Wiseman's mother was on set throughout filming, and Wiseman himself was never actually present on set during scenes in which Davis' character abuses her son; Davis instead delivered the lines to an adult actor who stood on his knees. Kent is quoted as saying "I didn't want to destroy a childhood to make this film... that wouldn't be fair."

The film was primarily shot in Adelaide, South Australia, with most of the interior shots filmed on a soundstage in the Australian city — as the funding was from the South Australian state government, this was a requirement that Kent needed to meet. However, to contribute to the universality of the film's appearance, a Victorian terrace-style house was specifically built for the film, as there are very few houses designed in such a style in Adelaide. Kent originally wanted to film solely in black-and-white, as she wanted to create a "heightened feel" that is still believable. She was also influenced by pre-1950s B-grade horror films, as it was "very theatrical", in addition to being "visually beautiful and terrifying". Kent later lost interest in the black-and-white idea and worked closely with production designer Alex Holmes and Radek to create a "very cool", "very claustrophobic" interior environment with "meticulously designed" sets.

In terms of the Babadook monster and the scary effects of the film, Kent was adamant from the outset of production that a low-fi and handmade approach would be used. According to Kent, the Babadook was designed based on stills from the lost film London After Midnight (1927) starring Lon Chaney, with the director using "lo-fi" stop-motion effects for the monster (with a large amount of smoothening being completed in post-production).

TRIVIA:   William Friedkin (director of The Exorcist (1973)) said on Twitter, "I've never seen a more terrifying film than 'The Babadook'".

Top:   On the set of The Babadook;

Above:   Star Essie Davis with writer/director Jennifer Kent

The Babadook had it's world premiere in January 2014 at the Sundance Film Festival, before having a limited theatrical release in Australia (May, 2014), Singapore (25 September 2014), the United Kingdom (17 October 2014) and finally in the United States (on 28 November 2014). In North America, The Babadook opened on a limited release basis in three theaters and grossed US$30,007, although by February had grossed almost $1 million at the box office. To date, the film has grossed nearly $7 million, a considerable success compared the $2 million budget.

The Babadook also received critical acclaim, chiefly for its acting (particularly that of Davis and Wiseman), Kent's screenplay and direction, atmosphere, intensity, and story. Dan Schindel from Movie Mezzanine said that "The Babadook is the best genre creature creation since the big black wolf-dog aliens from Attack the Block." After seeing the film at the 2014 Stanley Film Festival, Flay Otters wrote on the HorrorMovies.ca fan site: "This is a film that mixes strong-minded storytelling with a clear dedication to craft ... It is mature and patient and it is, without a doubt, one of the best horror films this year."

When pressed if a sequel is being planned, Kent (who holds the rights to the film) said, "I will never allow any sequel to be made, because it's not that kind of film. I don't care how much I'm offered, it's just not going to happen." In late 2014, Kent announced that, due to popular demand, a limited edition of the Mister Babadook pop-up book featured in her film The Babadook would be published in 2015. The book was written by Kent in collaboration with illustrator Alex Juhasz, who had created the prop book used in her film. The first 2000 copies were numbered and signed by the director and contained pop-up pictures as well as additional pages not seen in the movie. The book sold out its run of 6,200 copies.

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE:   98%

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ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - November 21st

"WESTWORLD" released in 1973

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Sometime in the near future a high-tech, highly realistic adult amusement park called Delos features three themed "worlds" — West World (the American Old West), Medieval World (medieval Europe), and Roman World (the ancient Roman city of Pompeii). The resort's three "worlds" are populated with lifelike androids that are practically indistinguishable from human beings, each programmed in character for their assigned historical environment. For $1,000 per day, guests may indulge in any adventure with the android population of the park, including sexual encounters and even a fight to the death. Delos's tagline in its advertising promises, "Boy, have we got a vacation for you!"

Peter Martin (Richard Benjamin), a first-time Delos visitor, and his friend John Blane (James Brolin), on a repeat visit, go to West World. One of the attractions is the Gunslinger (Yul Brynner), a robot programmed to instigate gunfights. The firearms issued to the park guests have temperature sensors that prevent them from shooting humans or anything with a high body temperature but allow them to 'kill' the cold-blooded androids. The Gunslinger's programming allows guests to draw their guns and kill it, with the robot always returning the next day for another duel. Meanwhile, the technicians running Delos notice problems beginning to spread like an infection among the androids: the robots in Roman World and Medieval World begin experiencing an increasing number of breakdowns and systemic failures, which are said to have spread to West World. When one of the supervising computer scientists scoffs at the "analogy of an infectious disease," he is told by the Chief Supervisor (Alan Oppenheimer), "We aren't dealing with ordinary machines here. These are highly complicated pieces of equipment, almost as complicated as living organisms. In some cases, they've been designed by other computers. We don't know exactly how they work."

Above:   The relentless killer robot, the Gunslinger (Yul Brynner)

The malfunctions become more serious when a robotic rattlesnake bites Blane in West World, and, against its programming, an android refuses a guest's advances in Medieval World. The failures escalate until Medieval World's Black Knight robot kills a guest in a swordfight. The resort's supervisors try to regain control by shutting down power to the entire park. However, the shutdown traps them in Central Control when the doors automatically lock, unable to turn the power back on and escape. Meanwhile, the robots in all three worlds run amok, operating on reserve power.

Martin and Blane, passed out drunk after a bar-room brawl, wake up in West World's bordello, unaware of the park's massive breakdown. When the Gunslinger challenges the men to a showdown, Blane treats the confrontation as an amusement until the robot outdraws, shoots and mortally wounds him. Martin runs for his life and the robot implacably follows. Martin flees to the other areas of the park, but finds only dead guests, damaged robots, and a panicked technician attempting to escape Delos who is shortly thereafter shot by the Gunslinger. Martin climbs down through a manhole in Roman World into the underground control complex and discovers that the resort's computer technicians suffocated in the Control Room when the ventilation system shut down. The Gunslinger stalks him through the underground corridors so he runs away until he enters a robot-repair lab. When the Gunslinger comes into the room, Martin pretends to be a robot, throws acid into its face, and flees, returning to the surface inside the Medieval World castle. With the relentless Gunslinger still in pursuit, Martin makes one last desperate stand against the killer robot in a fleeting hope of surviving Westworld!

[opening lines]
Interviewer of Delos Guests: [hosting a commercial] Hi. Ed Renfrew for Delos again. If there's anyone who doesn't know what Delos is, well, as we've always said: Delos is the vacation of the future, today. At Delos, you get your choice of the vacation you want. There's Medieval World, Roman World and, of course, Westworld. Let's talk to some of the people who've been there.

Top and Above:   Friends John Blane (James Brolin) and Peter Martin (Richard Benjamin) visit Delos' resorts Westworld for a vacation

Author Michael Crichton became inspired to write Westworld after a trip to Disneyland, where he saw the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, and was impressed by the animatronic characters. With the script completed in August 1972, it was offered to all of the major studios, who all turned it down the project except for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, then under head of production Dan Melnick. Crichton later said, "MGM had a bad reputation among filmmakers; in recent years, directors as diverse as Robert Altman, Blake Edwards, Stanley Kubrick, Fred Zinneman and Sam Peckinpah had complained bitterly about their treatment there. There were too many stories of unreasonable pressure, arbitrary script changes, inadequate post production, and cavalier recutting of the final film. Nobody who had a choice made a picture at Metro, but then we didn't have a choice. Dan Melnick... assured [us]... that we would not be subjected to the usual MGM treatment. In large part, he made good on that promise".

Although not wishing to make his directorial debut with science fiction, Crichton nevertheless persevered under MGM and began the long, difficult pre-production period, with MGM originally wanting make the film for under a million dollars (although the studio later increased the budget by another $250,000). MGM demanded script changes up to the first day of shooting and even the leads were not signed until 48 hours before principal photography began (which Crichton, the director eventually found out, had little to no control over the casting).

Actors Richard Benjamin and James Brolin were eventually cast as the leads Peter Martin and John Blane, with Dick Van Patten and Norman Bartold co-starring as fellow Delos Resort tourists the Banker and the Medieval Knight, and Alan Oppenheimer, as the Westworld's Chief Supervisor, who predicts that the robots may become unstable. Joining the cast as Delos' futuristic robots were Victoria Shaw (as the Medieval Queen), Terry Wilson (as the Sheriff), Majel Barrett (as Miss Carrie, madam of the Westworld bordello), and Michael Mikler, as the murderous Black Knight. And in perhaps one of his most iconic roles, Russian-born Swiss-American film and stage actor Yul Brynner accepted the role as the relentless The Gunslinger. Crichton in particular wanted to model The Gunslinger's appearance on Brynner's character from The Magnificent Seven, up to and including the identical costumes the two characters wear.

[explaining the possibility of a "computer virus"]
Chief Supervisor: We aren't dealing with ordinary machines here. These are highly complicated pieces of equipment. Almost as complicated as living organisms. In some cases, they have been designed by other computers. We don't know exactly how they work.

Top:   Delos Chief Supervisor (Alan Oppenheimer) starts to notice strange things about the robots;

Above:   The Gunslinger, badly damaged, faces off against Martin!

With a schedule of a little over thirty-days, Crichton focused on shooting the bare essentials for the scenes - Crichton later wrote that since "most of the situations in the film are cliches; they are incidents out of hundreds of old movies" that the scenes "should be shot as cliches. This dictated a conventional treatment in the choice of lenses and the staging.". Westworld was filmed in several locations, including the Mojave Desert, the gardens of the Harold Lloyd Estate, several MGM sound stages and on the MGM backlot, one of the final films to be shot there.

Unfortunately, there were several minor injures during filming. During a shootout scene a piece of wadding from a blank cartridge struck Yul Brynner in the eye, scratching his cornea and leaving him unable to wear his light reflecting contacts without his injured eye turning red and tearing up, so shooting had to be maneuvered to allow time for his eye to heal. And during the scene where James Brolin's character was bitten by a rattlesnake, while the milked rattler was attached to Brolin's arm, he was bitten by the teeth on the snakes lower jaw, despite wearing padding on his arm made of leather and cotton.

Despite these setbacks and mishaps, Westworld did include some truly groundbreaking effects to portray Delos' robot denizens. For instance, the first use of computer digitized images as part of a feature film (not merely monitor graphics) was the Gunslinger's point of view in Westworld. Crichton had originally gone to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, but after learning that the two minutes of animation would take nine months and cost $200,000, he contacted John Whitney Sr., who in turn recommended his son John Whitney Jr. The latter went to Information International, Inc., where they could work at night and complete the animation both faster and much cheaper. John Whitney, Jr. digitally processed motion picture photography at Information International, Inc. to appear pixelized in order to portray the Gunslinger android's point of view. The approximately 2 minutes and 31 seconds worth of cinegraphic block portraiture was accomplished by color-separating (three basic color separations plus black mask) each frame of source 70 mm film images, scanning each of these elements to convert into rectangular blocks, then adding basic color according to the tone values developed. The resulting coarse pixel matrix was output back to film. After the process was finally developed enough to produce satisfactory results, it took a mere eight hours to produce each ten seconds of Gunslinger's pixellated POV. A much simpler solution was employed for the scene where the Gunslinger robot is splashed in the face with acid - Yul Brynner's face was coated with an oil-based makeup mixed with ground Alka-Seltzer, with a splash of water then produced the fizzing effect.

Above:   Martin becomes the sole survivor of Westworld

With filming complete, Crichton later re-edited the first cut of the movie because he was depressed by how long and boring it was. Scenes that were deleted from the rough cut include the bank robbery and sales room sequences, and the hovercraft with passengers flying above the desert in the beginning. Additional, and longer, dialogue scenes were also cut, as well as scenes with robots going crazy and killing guests (including a scene where one guest is tied down to a rack and is killed when his arms are pulled out!). There was also originally a longer chase scene with Gunslinger chasing Peter and Gunslinger cleaning his face with water after Peter throws acid on him. In Crichton's assembly cut there was also a different ending which included a fight between Gunslinger and Peter (which was deleted because it seemed like it was staged and foolish) and an alternate death scene of Gunslinger where he is killed with the same rack that was used by one of the other robots to kill one of the guests in previously mentioned deleted scene.

Westworld first held a week-long roadshow opening before premiering in Los Angeles in a limited run, and widely released on November 21st, 1973 in New York. Westworld became the critical and box office hit of the year, with Variety magazine described the film as excellent, saying that it "combines solid entertainment, chilling topicality, and superbly intelligent serio-comic story values".

TRIVIA:   The western set for Westworld was used in Blazing Saddles (1974).

Top:   Writer/director John Crichton on set of Westworld;

Above:   Crichton with star Richard Benjamin

After making Westworld, Crichton was initially exhausted by the process and took a year off (and ultimately no directing another film for another five years). For Crichton, the picture marked the end of "about five years of science fiction/monster pictures for me", and took a break from the genre to write The Great Train Robbery. Crichton himself would later adapt and direct the screen version of the novel in the same year as directing the suspense film Coma (starring Geneviève Bujold and Michael Douglas); both in 1978.

A sequel, Futureworld, was filmed in 1976, and released by American International Pictures (rather than MGM), with only Brynner returning from the original cast to reprise his Gunslinger character. Four years later, in 1980, the CBS television network aired a short-lived television series, Beyond Westworld, which expanded on the concepts and plot of the second film with new characters, but its poor ratings caused it to be canceled after only three of the five episodes aired. Beginning in 2002, trade publications began reporting that a Westworld remake, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, was in production, and would be written by Terminator 3 screenwriters Michael Ferris and John Bracanto, with Tarsem Singh slated to direct. Although nothing came of these plans, Warner Bros still announced on January 19, 2011 that plans for Westworld remake were still active.

In August 2013, it was announced that HBO had ordered a pilot for a Westworld TV series to be produced by J.J. Abrams, Jonathan Nolan, and Jerry Weintraub. Nolan and his wife Lisa Joy were set to write and executive produce the series, with Nolan directing the pilot episode. The new series, which is set to air ten episodes, stars Anthony Hopkins, Evan Rachel Wood, Thandie Newton, James Marsden, Jeffrey Wright, Rodrigo Santoro, Clifton Collins Jr., and Ed Harris, with the season premiering on October 2, 2016 on HBO.

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE:   86%

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ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - November 18th

"IT" premiered in 1990 on ABC

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In Derry, Maine, 1960, a young boy named George "Georgie" Denbrough is lured to a storm drain by a strange, yet seemingly kind, man dressed in a clown costume named Pennywise. After a brief conversation, Pennywise reveals his malevolent nature and murders Georgie. Georgie's older brother Bill is taunted by Pennywise as well. He and six other outcast children, who form a group called the Losers Club, discover they are all being tormented by the ambiguous clown. The rest of the group consists of the overweight but smart Ben Hanscom, asthmatic Eddie Kaspbrak who lives with his overprotective mother, Beverly Marsh who lives with her alcoholic father, comical Richie Tozier, Jewish boy scout Stan Uris, and African-American student Mike Hanlon. In turn, all of them are bullied by the psychotic Henry Bowers and his gang.

The Losers soon theorize that Pennywise is not a human being, he is instead an otherworldly creature that surfaces every thirty years in Derry to murder children and therefore they dub him "It". To avenge Georgie and others killed by It, the Losers venture into the sewers where the clown lurks. They are followed by Henry and his friends Victor Criss and Belch Huggins, who threaten Stan, only for It to kill Victor and Belch, but spares the terrified Henry, whose hair turns white. It, as Pennywise, catches up to the Losers and grabs Stan, bragging that he is immortal and eats children. Guessing It's powers are based around imagination, the Losers fight back using the same power, melting Pennywise's face with imaginary battery acid and Beverly smashes a hole in his head using a silver projectile. Pennywise escapes wounded, and the seven make a promise to return and kill him should It resurface. Henry is arrested and institutionalized when he confesses to murdering his friends and the children It killed.

Above:   Tim Curry stars as the evil Pennywise the Dancing Clown!

Thirty years later, in 1990, Pennywise returns and begins murdering children in Derry. Mike, a librarian still living in Derry, summons his six friends back to Derry to fulfil their vow. Bill has become a horror novelist married to actress Audra Phillips, Ben is an architect, Beverly is a fashion designer but in an unhappy relationship, Richie is a late night TV comedian, Eddie runs a limousine service but still lives with his mother, and Stan is a real estate broker. While five of them agree to come, Stan commits suicide in his bath tub and writes "It" on the wall in blood. The remaining six are individually scared by Pennywise, before reuniting for dinner, though Pennywise frightens them there too. They soon learn of Stan's suicide shortly after.

Elsewhere, an older Henry is visited and befriended by Pennywise who sends him to Derry to kill the Losers. Audra also arrives in town following Bill but falls victim to It's paralyzing "deadlights" and falls into a catatonic state. Henry wounds Mike, but is killed by his own knife during a scuffle with the other Losers. With Mike hospitalised, the five remaining Losers decide to destroy It for good. They confront It, who now appears as a monstrous spider. Eddie is killed by It, but Beverly mortally wounds It with her slingshot, and the Losers tear the spider apart. They remove the comatose Audra and Eddie's body from the sewers, burying him in Derry's cemetery.

The Losers go their separate ways, free from It's torment forever. Richie is cast in a film, Beverly and Ben get married and are expecting their first child, and Mike recovers. Bill manages to coax Audra out of her catatonia by going on a ride on his childhood bicycle, which had once freed a young Stan from his fear. With It gone, the Losers can move on with their lives and leave Derry behind.

Pennywise: Excuse me, sir. Do you have Prince Albert in a can? You DO? Well, you better let the poor guy out! A-ha! A-ha! A-ha!... Excuse me, ma'am. Is your refrigerator running? [gasps] It IS? Well, you better go catch it before it runs away! A-ha! A-ha! A-ha!

Top and Above:   The Losers Club from 1960 and 1990 prepare to fight It!

When ABC and Lorimar first announced the film adaptation to Stephen King's novel IT, it was to be a 6 hour miniseries directed by George A. Romero, who had previously collaborated with King on the horror anthology film, Creepshow. Romero did extensive pre-production work and closely collaborated with Lawrence D. Cohen to develop the script, but he had to bow out due to a scheduling conflict with the remake of Night of the Living Dead (1990). This mirrored Romero's experience on another Stephen King property, the previous year's Pet Sematary (1989), which he was also slated to direct, but was instead helmed by Mary Lambert.

King allowed a lot of flexibility when it came to rewriting much of the novel, which heavily omitted many references from the book (new director Tommy Lee Wallace admitted he had never read the novel before making the film, preferring to let the script speak for itself). For instance, the ending of the novel included the appearance of the Turtle, which was It's natural enemy and created the universe, but was deemed too cerebral to tackle on a television budget. When John Ritter  - who was a huge King fan - asked about the Turtle's appearance in the film, the studio asked if he was crazy!

Pennywise: [Pennywise's face begins changing from a smile to a frown] Ohh yes... They Float Georgie... They Float... and when your down here, with me... YOU FLOAT TOO!
[Pennywise grabs Georgie's arm and pulls him toward the storm drain]

Top:   "It" torments bill with the memory of his dead brother, George;

Above:   Pennywise has a special homecoming "gift" for the Losers

Cast as the grown-up counterparts of the Loser's Club (otherwise known in the series as the Lucky Seven) were actors Richard Thomas, Harry Anderson, John Ritter, Annette O'Toole, Tim Reid, Dennis Christopher and Richard Masur as; Bill Denbrough, Richie Tozier, Ben Hanscom, Beverly Marsh, Mike Hanlon, Eddie Kaspbrak and Stanley Uris, respectively. Child actors Jonathan Brandis, Seth Green, Brandon Crane, Emily Perkins, Marlon Taylor, Adam Faraizl and Ben Heller would play the respective characters as children in 1960. Jarred Blancard (cast as the young Henry Bowers) hated having to call Marlon Taylor a "nigger", and would often apologize to him before and after filming for his character's excessive use of the slur. While on the other hand, Michael Cole (adult Henry) got so much into the scene where he's trying to kill Mike that it was difficult for Ritter and Christopher to pull him off of Reid!

Originally, Alice Cooper was being considered for the role of Pennywise, until Tim Curry was cast. Curry was reluctant to take the role of Pennywise initially because he didn't relish the thought of being buried under so much makeup. When he played Darkness in Legend (1985), it was a difficult and demanding role, and the hours in makeup was still fresh in his mind. To compromise, Wallace minimized the amount of makeup on Curry, stating later that a lot of make-up wasn't necessary anyway because Curry's performance was so strong. On the DVD commentary track, the actors note that Tim Curry's characterization of Pennywise was so creepy and realistic that everyone avoided him during the filming!

Above:   It's true monstrous form!

During production, the adult actors had to be careful what they touched during the sewer scenes because the place was so rusty, there was a very real danger of tetanus infection. Because of that, it was not a fun scene to film. The spider at the climax was a fully operable puppet and was the last scene to be filmed. Ritter admittedly was disappointed that the final battle had to be fought with a puppet and not Curry, because he felt Pennywise was the real villain of the show, and not some fake spider. Wallace also felt disappointment with the movie's ending - the way he imagined it was different to the way it turned out, because they didn't have the money to do it as it was storyboarded. To get the effect of It moving through the pipework, a dolly crane was built and pushed through the piping. It was a difficult shot to get right because it was so cramped. It was also done from It's point-of-view because Tommy Lee Wallace believed that what we imagine is often scarier than what we see, a trick he learned from his old mentor, John Carpenter.

IT originally aired on ABC in 1990 on the nights of November 18 and November 20. Part 1 was the fifth highest rated program on Sunday nights with an 18.5 rating and watched in 17.5 million households, while Part 2 was the second highest rated program on Tuesday nights with a 20.6 rating and watched in 19.2 million households. Stephen King's It received generally positive reviews from critics and television viewers, with Tim Curry's performance as Pennywise receiving most of the high praise for capturing the novel's portrayal of the character.

A feature-length adaptation for IT has been in development on-and-off for years, going through two phases of planning: initially with Cary Fukunaga from 2009 to 2015, with the early contributions of screenwriter David Kajganich, and currently with Andrés Muschietti, with Fukunaga remaining in some capacity due to prior screenplay contributions. On May 25, 2015, it was reported that Fukunaga had dropped out as the director of IT. According to The Wrap, Fukunaga clashed with the studio and didn't want to compromise his artistic vision in the wake of budget cuts by New Line, which greenlit the first film at $30 million. However, Fukunaga maintained that wasn't the case; with him stating he had bigger disagreements with New Line over the direction of the story: "I was trying to make an unconventional horror film. It didn't fit into the algorithm of what they knew they could spend and make money back on based on not offending their standard genre audience." On July 16, 2015, it was announced that Andrés Muschietti was in negotiations to direct IT, with New Line beginning a search for a new writer to tailor a script to Muschietti's vision, with the announcement also confirming the possible participation of Muschietti's sister, Barbara Muschietti, as a producer, and Richard Brener joining New Line producer's Walter Hamada, Dave Neustadter and Warner Bros' Niija  Kuykendall to oversee the project.

Above:   Bill Skarsgård stars as Pennywise in the 2017 remake

Exclusively recounting the story from the children's perspective in a more contemporary setting of 1988, the cast announced included; Jaeden Lieberher as Bill Denbrough, Jeremy Ray Taylor as Ben Hanscom, Sophia Lillis as Beverly Marsh, Finn Wolfhard as Richie Tozier, Jack Dylan Grazer as Eddie Kaspbrak, Chosen Jacobs as Mike Hanlon, and Wyatt Oleff as Stanley Uris. Nicholas Hamilton was also cast as sociopath Henry Bowers, with Logan Thompson as Victor "Vic" Criss, Jake Sim as Reginald "Belch" Huggins, and Owen Teague as psychopath Patrick Hockstetter, filling out Henry's gang.

On June 3, 2016, The Independent officially reported, after final negotiations took place, that Muschietti had chosen actor Bill Skarsgård to portray the character Pennywise The Dancing Clown. On portraying Pennywise, Skarsgård stated, "It's such an extreme character. Inhumane, It's beyond even a sociopath, because he's not even human. He's not even a clown. I'm playing just one of the beings It creates." Skarsgård described the character further, saying, "It truly enjoys the shape of the clown Pennywise, and enjoys the game and the hunt." He also commented, "What's funny to this evil entity might not be funny to everyone else. But he thinks it's funny."

Principal photography was confirmed to have begun in Toronto, with an original shooting schedule occurring from June 27 to September 6, 2016. IT is scheduled to be released in cinemas September, 17th, 2017.

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ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - November 18th

"AMITYVILLE 3-D" released in 1983

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After he exposes a pair of con artists with his partner Melanie (Candy Clark) in the infamous 112 Ocean Avenue house in Amityville, journalist John Baxter (Tony Roberts) is persuaded to purchase the house by real estate agent Clifford Sanders (John Harkins). While preparing the house for John, Clifford investigates footsteps in the attic, but is locked in the room, where a swarm of flies attack and kill him. John believes Clifford died of a stroke, even after Melanie shows him some photos she took of the real estate agent before his death which depict him as a rotting corpse!

Laster at work, John himself is almost killed in a malfunctioning elevator, while, simultaneously, Melanie experiences bizarre occurrences in John's house; she is found later that night by John, cowering and hysterical against the wall. Her attempts to convince John that something is inside the house fall on deaf ears. Later, while looking over blowups of the photos of Clifford, Melanie discovers a demonic-looking face in the pictures, but when she attempts to show the photos to John, she is killed in a horrific car accident. Melanie's death is ruled accidental by everyone, including John, who still remains oblivious to the evil in his home.

While John is away one day his daughter Susan (Lori Loughlin) and her friend Lisa (Meg Ryan) and two boyfriends use a Ouija board in the attic, where the game tells them Susan is in danger. Growing bored, Susan and the others go out in John's motorboat. Susan's mother Nancy (Tess Harper), who has come to look for her, is surprised to see a drenched Susan silently walk up the stairs, while at the same time outside, John arrives home to find Susan's friends bringing her lifeless body to shore. Nancy has a nervous breakdown and, believing Susan is still alive and will return shortly, refuses to leave, even for Susan's funeral. After having nightmares about the old well in the basement and unable to deal with Nancy's delusions that Susan is still alive, John finally allows his friend, paranormal investigator Doctor Elliot West (Robert Joy), and a team of paranormal investigators to set up in the house, to help prove if Nancy actually saw something or not - and confront the evil that has plagued the Amityville house for centuries!

Lisa: I hear you bought yourself a haunted house.
John Baxter: I just bought the house, not the ghost.

Top:   Journalist John Baxter (Tony Roberts) is the latest owner of the infamous Amityville house;

Above:   In the attic, Baxter's daughter Susan (Lori Loughlin) and her friend Lisa (Meg Ryan) use a ouija board

Due to a lawsuit between the Lutz family and Dino De Laurentis over the storyline which did not involve the Lutz family, Amityville 3-D was not called a sequel, although it does make reference to The Amityville Horror (1979) as it follows a paranormal investigator John Baxter - fact loosely based on Stephen Kaplan - and his investigation of the house, who at the time was trying to prove the Lutzes' story was a hoax.

Like the previous installment, Amityville 3-D filmed the exterior scenes at the same house in Toms River, New Jersey and a house nearby for the exterior of Nancy's house. The interior was a set in a Mexico studio. The filmmakers almost never got the house to film at again. It was scheduled to be picked up and moved over one lot. They were just able to film the exterior shots before the house was moved. Originally the house had four quarter shaped moon windows, two on both sides. However, by the time of filming in 3D, the owners of the house did not want the eye windows on the side of the house facing the road so they modified them to look like small ordinary square windows. All shots of the "eye" windows (except for the most noticeable scene when John and Susan pull up to the house) had to be filmed on the side facing the river that has the sundeck.

Melanie: [to John] I don't want another one of your rational explanations, John. I know what I experienced, and I'm not crazy.

Top and Above:   Strange, deadly events start to occur - Baxter's wife Nancy (Tess Harper) starts seeing her daughter's spirit in the house, and Baxter's partner, photographer Melanie (Candy Clark) is burnt alive in her car!

As with Friday the 13th Part III and Jaws 3-D, which were also released in 3D in 1983, Amityville 3-D was filmed using the ArriVision 3-D process - coordinated, for this film, by cinematographer Tibor Sands. The Arrivision 3D system filmed 3D movies in standard color, with a single camera and one single strip of film. The process utilized a technique in which a special twin lens adapter was fitted to the camera and divided the 35mm frame in half down the middle – the result was that the right eye image was in the lower half of the frame and the left eye image was in the upper. The innovation was to allow a single camera to capture the image that could be merged when with the help of the special polarized glasses.

At the box office, movie patrons were given the disposable polarized glasses so they could see the film, creating the illusion that certain props and elements were coming toward the viewers. In this case, a pole that penetrates a car window; a Frisbee that flies toward the screen; a skeleton reaches out its arms; and a set a French doors that fly at the audience during the climactic scene. Most striking are the film's opening titles, in which the large block letters moved outward, and the “3D” were skewed as they moved outward. The process was supposed to be the new beginning for the 3D process, but it did not last long. The chief complaint was that the images in Amityville 3-D were blurry and distorted. Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert complained on At the Movies, that the images were indistinct, and said “it really looks crummy.” Chicago Tribune critic Gene Siskel said that "The 3D added nothing to the experience. All you ended up with was eye-strain."

TRIVIA:   Amityville 3-D is featured in an At the Movies special, The Stinkers of 1983 (1983), where Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert give poor reviews for this and other sequels released that year, Jaws 3-D, Porky's II: The Next Day, The Sting II, Smokey and the Bandit Part 3, and Staying Alive (sequel to Saturday Night Fever).

Top and Above:   Baxter's friend, paranormal investigator Doctor Elliot West (Robert Joy), has a deadly encounter with the demon in the basement of the Amityville house!

Other critics were also extremely negative in their reviews for the film, with Variety reporting “A new cast of characters and the addition of 3-D does little to pump new life, supernatural or otherwise, into this tired genre.” Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote, "Once the first two films in a series have exhausted most opportunities for action, the third is liable to average half a dozen exposition scenes for every eventful episode." Of the 3D, she said "3-D exposition is the stuff of which headaches are made; the footage tends to be so dark that you can barely tell whether it's night or day.

Despite the reviews however, Amityville 3-D finished its opening box office weekend at #1, with a box office take of $2,366,472 according to Box Office Mojo. Its final domestic gross ended at $6,333,135, and was ultimately considered a box office flop. Thus ended up being the last film in the series released theatrically until the remake of The Amityville Horror in 2005.

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE:   0%

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