Lazario's Contemporary Horror Digest - Volume 3

[Lazario]

I forgot a few older flicks that I think deserve some attention. Expect this Volume to be very much out of chronilogical order and in a more experimental form.


<center>Nightmare City

<img src="http://image.allmusic.com/00/adg/cov200 ... "></center>

Sub-genres: Zombie, Mutant / Disease, Sci-Fi Horror / Apocalyptic, Exploitation, Splatter, Vampire
Director: Umberto Lenzi
Screenwriters: Antonio Cesare Corti, Luis María Delgado, Piero Regnoli
Cast: Hugo Stiglitz (Dean Miller), Laura Trotter (Dr. Anna Miller), Francisco Rabal (Major Warren Holmes), Maria Rosaria Omaggio (Sheila Holmes), Mel Ferrer (General Murchison), Stefania D'Amario (Jessica Murchison), Sonia Viviani (Cindy), Pierangelo Civera (Bob), Eduardo Fajardo (Dr. Kramer), Achille Belletti (Jim the "Dream" Hospital Patient), Sara Franchetti (Liz), Ugo Bologna (Mr. Desmond), Manuel Zarzo (Colonel Donahue), Tom Felleghy (Lieutenant Reedman)
Producers: Diego Alchimede, Luis Méndez
Music Composer: Stelvio Cipriani
Cinematographer/Director of Photography: Hans Burman
Film Editor: Daniele Alabiso
Art Director: Mario Molli
Costume Designer: Silvana Scandariato
Makeup Artists: Franco de / Di Girolami, Giuseppe Ferranti
Filming Location(s): De Paolis Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy
Italian Theatrical Release Date: December 11, 1980
U.S. Theatrical Release Date(s): November 18, 1983
Advertisting / Promotional Tagline(s): (1) Now They Are Everywhere! There Is No Escape! / (2) Don't Get Caught "Alive"
Filmed in: Widescreen / Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Region 1 DVD first released: August 6, 2002 (1 release to date) / Screen Format: Widescreen, Languages: English Mono, Subtitles: none / Scene Chapters: 25 / Special Features: Director's Interview, Theatrical Trailer, Director's Text Profile


Notable Facts / Trivia
1. According to director Umberto Lenzi, both Franco Nero and Fabio Testi were considered for the lead in the film. However, the producer insisted on a Mexican leading man to appeal to Mexican audiences. Hence, the role went to Hugo Stiglitz.


International Video History/Facts
1. The 1986 UK Stablecane video version was cut by 3 minutes, 5 seconds by the BBFC to remove scenes of gore and violence including an eye gouging and a woman's breast being sliced off. All the cuts were fully waived for the 2003 Anchor Bay DVD release.

2. The 1999 German Laser Pacific Red Edition DVD release, Grossgrangriff Der Zombies, uses a Japanese print of the movie. Japanese text appears sometimes at the bottom of the screen when a major character is introduced. A fairly common inclusion for their imported movies, this text usually provides the name of and sometimes a brief description of the character.


What the Critics Have to Say:

DVD Verdict, Brett Cullum - "(a) harrowing tale," "fun to sit through," "it has a somewhat nifty climax in an amusement park, and a really surreal journey into a television station that is scarier than any zombie antics on any movie in the set"

DVD Verdict, Bill Gibron - "(a) sublime gore epic," "straddle(s) humor and horror in an expert and exciting manner," "regale(s) as (it) repulse(s)," "add Nightmare City to (the) pantheon of slaughter and knee slap extravaganzas," "(a) pleasant surprise," "includes several nifty set piece attacks," "hyper-kinetic and active," "special," "incredibly deranged," "when it comes to rotting corpses that can fight, bite, run, kick, shoot, stab, drive, drink, punch, prod, poke, and overall pester the bejeezus out of you while still looking like an overcooked salami, Nightmare City is the movie to beat"

Classic-Horror - "(a) work of art," "delightful," "extraordinary," "extremely harmonious," "stellar," "quite an amusing film"

Horror DVD's - "very fast-paced and exciting," "it has just as much, if not more vigor and energy as most films today. Lenzi masterfully paces the mutant attacks, the chase scenes, and the various set-pieces," "there's plenty of gore to go around," "there are scenes of horror that have a genuine impact," "the movie deals with very broad themes, such as man's relationship with technology, how society is imprisoned by it, and, as displayed by Dean's argument with General Murchison about freedom of the press, how even seemingly free countries are never truly democratic," "a cult classic," "a very memorable film, and (...) also a very enjoyable one," "it is definitely worth a look"

Horror DVD's (another review) - "Nightmare City is held in high regard by zombie fans all over the world," "this is a real fun film to watch," "the zombies look different and run around like they've had one too many coffees, but the basic premise is still the same, and the movie is all the better for it," "undeniably entertaining," "the pacing is fast," "it is tough to get bored with the proceedings," "the inconsistent mix of effects actually serves the film nicely," "truly a great party movie," "if you are looking for a fun 90 minutes then make sure you have this Nightmare"


<center>Original Photos


Director Umberto Lenzi










New Photos
(Updated: June 2nd, 2009)




</center>

Films Covered in Volume 2 (Link)
1. The Last House on the Left (1972)
2. Deranged (1973)
3. Theater of Blood (1973)
4. Black Christmas (1974)
5. Deep Red (1975)
6. Rabid (1977)
7. The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
8. Piranha (1978)
9. Phantasm (1979)
10. The Fog (1980)
11. Creepshow (1982)
12. Videodrome (1982)
13. Psycho II (1983)
14. to come later

Films Covered in Volume 1 (Link)
1. Rosemary's Baby (1968)
2. Twitch of the Death Nerve (1971)
3. The Exorcist (1973)
4. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
5. Carrie (1976)
6. Suspiria (1977)
7. Halloween (1978)
8. Dawn of the Dead (1978)
9. Alien (1979)
10. The Evil Dead (1981)
11. An American Werewolf in London (1981)
12. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
13. Re-Animator (1985)
14. The Fly (1986)
15. Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)
16. Misery (1990)
17. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
18. Candyman (1992)
19. Dead Alive (1992)
20. Scream (1996)
21. Ginger Snaps (2000)
22. 28 Days Later (2002)
23. Masters of Horror: Sick Girl (2005)

(Note from me: though I've been very quiet lately, I'm not done with this project. Right now, I'm working on collecting new photographs for many prior articles. I've already updated quite a few)

[Lazario]

<center>Friday the 13th

<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/e ... "></center>

Sub-genres: Slasher, Sex Comedy, Mystery, Whodunit
Director: Sean S. Cunningham
Screenwriters: Victor Miller, Ron Kurz
Cast: Adrienne King (Alice), Harry Crosby (Bill), Peter Brouwer (Steve Christy), Betsy Palmer (Mrs. Voorhees), Laurie Bartram (Brenda), Ronn Carroll (Sgt. Tierney), Robbi Morgan (Annie), Mark Nelson (Ned), Jeannine Taylor (Marcie), Kevin Bacon (Jack), Walt Gorney (Crazy Ralph), Rex Everhart (Enos the Truck Driver), Ari Lehman (Jason Voorhees), Sally Anne Golden (Sandy), Ron Milkie (Officer Dorf)
Producer: Sean S. Cunningham
Associate Producer: Steve Miner
Executive Producer: Alvin Geiler
Music Composer: Harry Manfredini
Cinematographer/Director of Photography: Barry Abrams
Film Editor: Bill Freda
Production Designer: Virginia Field
Art Directors: Virginia Field, Robert Topol
Costume Designer: Caron Coplan
Makeup Artist / Hair Stylist: Katharine Vickers
Special Makeup Effects: Tom Savini, Taso N. Stavrakis
Filming Dates: September 4 - October 3, 1979
Filming Location(s): Blairstown, New Jersey; Camp Nobebosco - 11 Sand Pond Road, Blairstown; Freehold, New Jersey; Hardwick Township, New Jersey; Hope, New Jersey
Estimated Budget: $700,000
Film Gross: $39,754,601 (American)
U.S. Theatrical Release Date(s): May 9, 1980
Advertisting / Promotional Tagline(s): (1) You may only see it once, but that will be enough / (2) Fridays will never be the same again / (3) They were warned... They are doomed... And on Friday the 13th, nothing will save them / (4) If you think this means bad luck...YOU DON'T KNOW THE HALF OF IT / (5) A 24-hour nightmare of terror / (6) Lucky 13? I think not / (7) On Friday the 13th, They Began to Die Horribly, One...by One / (8) You'll wish it were only a nightmare...
Filmed in: Widescreen / Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Region 1 DVD first released: October 19, 1999 (6 releases to date) / Screen Format: Widescreen, Languages: English Mono, French; Subtitles: English / Scene Chapters: 15 / Special Features: Theatrical Trailer (Boxset features: Featurettes / Deluxe Edition features: Audio Commentary, Reunion / Roundtable)


Notable Facts / Trivia
1. Sally Field auditioned for the role of Alice, the main character.
2. Estelle Parsons (who played Roseanne's mother, Beverly Harris, on the hit television series) was originally signed on to play Mrs. Voorhees.
3. Director Sean S. Cunningham has been quoted as saying that the type of actors that he sought for the film were "good-looking kids who you might see in a Pepsi commercial."
4. Adrienne King at first did not want to be in the film because of the graphic violence in the script, but she changed her mind.
5. Betsy Palmer said that were it not for the fact that she was in desperate need of a new car, she would never have taken the part of Pamela Voorhees. In fact, after she read the script she called it "a piece of shit."
6. One critic was so angry at Betsy Palmer for being in the movie (which also angered many of her fans), that he published her address in his magazine, and encouraged people to write her in protest. He published the wrong address.
7. Betsy Palmer worked on the film for 10 days and was paid $1,000 per day.
8. In the script, Brenda's death scene was originally meant to show an arrow hitting her chest in the archery area. Depsite popular belief, this was never filmed.
9. The working title for the script was "Long Night at Camp Blood."
10. Steve Christy is named after Steve Miner, who had previously worked with Sean S. Cunningham on Wes Craven's debut film, 1972's The Last House on the Left.
11. Writer Victor Miller admits that he copied a lot from Halloween (1978) in his script.
12. Jason's original name was going to be Josh, but Victor Miller decided that it sounded too nice. Jason was the name of a bully he remembered from school.
13. The scene with the snake was not in the script. It was an idea Tom Savini had after a similar experience occured in his own cabin during filming. The snake in the scene was real, and the crew really killed it onscreen.
14. Tom Savini performed the arrow shot that narrowly misses Brenda when she's setting up the archery target.
15. Most of the locations and sets were already there. The crew only had to build the bathroom set.
16. In the original first draft of the script, Mrs. Voorhees was supposed to lose her pinky finger while killing Barry.
17. Tom Savini was one of the first people hired for the film because the producers loved his effects work in George Romero's film, Dawn of the Dead (1978).
18. In the scene where Brenda's dead body is thrown through the window, it's Tom Savini doubling for the actress.
19. While most of the cast and crew stayed at local hotels during the filming, a few - including Tom Savini and his friend Taso N. Stavrakis - stayed at the actual camp site. They had Savini's Betamax VCR and only a couple of movies (Barbarella and Marathon Man) on videotape to keep themselves entertained. Each night they would watch one of those movies. To this day, Savini says he can recite both by heart.
20. There is rumored to be a deleted scene featuring the murder of Claudette. The crew of the film dismissed this, however, there is a still of Claudette with a machete in her throat. It may have been shot for promotional material.
21. The lake scene in which Alice is grabbed by Jason, was shot 3 times. Once in September, then again in October, and finally re-shot again in November, when the temperature was 28 degrees outside.
22. The film has been spoofed a number of times. Most notably in Saturday the 14th, which produced a sequel years later.
23. The filmmakers claim the first film was never intended to lead into a series. Jason was only created as motivation for the original killer. Director Sean S. Cunningham says he only made the film because it was taking too long for his family-oriented projects, which included a children's film about soccer, to be picked up.
24. The movie was filmed at Camp Nobebosco in New Jersey. The camp is said to still be in operation to date, and they have a wall of Friday the 13th paraphenalia to honor the movie series' popularity.
25. The first counselor killed in the 1958 prologue is named "Barry." His co-star even refers to him when she says, "Barry's out of bounds." The closed captions in some versions of the film instead identify him as "Gary."
26. In the scene where Bill is found impaled to a door with arrows, we see his eye twitching onscreen. This is because the effect that Tom Savini applied was actually burning his eye and causing him excruciating pain. The scene and the effect were never re-shot.
27. During the first few weekends of the film's release, Tom Savini would go into theaters for the last 5 minutes of the showing to just watch the audience's reaction to the famous scene of Jason emerging from the lake and grabbing Alice. Actress Adrienne King also recalls (on the 2004 Bravo TV special, The 100 Scariest Movie Moments) that this scene got a huge reaction when she viewed it during its premiere.
28. Composer Harry Manfredini has said that contrary to popular belief, the famous "ch ch ch, ha ha ha" in the film's soundtrack is actually "ki ki ki, ma ma ma" and is meant to resemble Jason's voice in Mrs. Voorhees' head saying "kill" and "mom," which echoes the scenes where she says, "kill her, Mommy!" in a child's voice. Manfredini created the effect by speaking the syllables "Ki" and "Ma" into a microphone running through a delay effect.


International Video & Film Edits/Cuts History/Facts
1. Japanese laserdisc version featured the original death scenes trimmed in other releases.
2. The British Warner Bros video released before DVD was the same as the censored USA R-rated release. This version, released in 1987, replaced the previously uncut video, which was the same as the Japanese laserdisc.
3. The Swedish home-video version was released by Warner Bros. (not Paramount) and is the gory Japanese version. When aired on TV in Sweden, the film is shown uncut.
4. The Australian video version, released on the Warner Home Video label in the mid 1980s, is complete and uncut. Look for the cover depicting Alice leaning and resting on the side of the canoe, for this is the unedited version.
5. A Video CD (VCD) version from Hong Kong, distributed by Warner Bros, contains the full uncut version. These VCDs play on DVD players and can sometimes be purchased on eBay.
6. Norwegian Cinema version was cut to get a 16-rating but the new DVD version with a 15-rating is the uncut unrated version.
7. The original Region-1 DVD featured the full uncut death of Annie, but has a shorter version of Mrs. Voorhees's death than in previous R-rated prints. It is neither an uncut nor R-rated version. However, the Friday the 13th: From Crystal Lake to Manhattan boxed set, released in 2004, contains the full theatrical cut of Pamela Voorhees's death and the R-rated cut of Annie's death. In 2009, a region-1 DVD of the fully uncut version was released - though it has a significant problem all its' own, dealing with both the Deluxe & Blu-Ray editions zooming in and cutting off a huge portion of the original film.
8. The 2003 Warner Bros region-3 DVD is the uncut version with all the longer death scenes. Their region-4 disc released the same year contains the opening title "A Sean S. Cunningham Film" before the film begins.
9. The 2003 Region 2 DVD removed the large black line in the film that appears as Marcie is looking in the shower stall. Instead, there's a large, very pronounced blur going down the left side of the screen.
10. On September 9th, 2003, the BBFC passed "Friday the 13th" completely uncut. Warner Bros restored a total of 34 seconds of footage. Much of the extra running time comprises different opening logos and about 11 seconds of gore to the death scenes of Annie, Marcie, Jack, and Mrs. Voorhees.


Original Death Scenes / MPAA Cuts (click here for pictures!)
1. A scene showing Claudette's death was photographed, but not used in the final cut (reason unknown). Claudette was macheted in the neck.
2. Annie's death was longer. It showed more blood coming out of her throat after it was slit.
3. Jack's death was originally longer. There was a shot of Jack from an overhead view. In this shot, the arrow in Jack's throat turns, causing lots blood to shoot straight at the camera, over his tanktop, and into his mouth.
4. Marcie's death was a little longer. Originally, the ax hits her in the face and she slides all of the way down to the floor.
5. Mrs. Voorhees death was actually longer. It took her a little longer to fall down and blood a lot of blood was squirting out of her cut neck.


<center>A Few Photos

Director Sean S. Cunningham





</center>
(Note from me: I've decided to shave off a few features like Critics Quotes and Awards Mentions to make more room for the pictures. Also, I will post links to trailers if I find a good solid link, such as IMDb)

[dvdjunkie]

I am so glad that you didn't give up after Volume 2, because I knew you had a lot more films to review.

Volume Three starts off with a bang, and two of my favorite films.

Keep up the good work, I will be looking for updates as you post them.

[Lazario]

Thanks - I've got a ton of stuff coming up and I'm on vacation (first one in a YEAR) (I take my vacations at home, like Adam & Barbara from Beetlejuice), so I'm gearing up for a big comeback.

I'm also glad at least one person is still following. I really did give up before because 2006 and 2007 were swamped with computer problems. This year's been running much more smoothly.

A word of warning though, there's going to be a lot of schlock here. Volume 2 isn't finished with either. So, V2 will compensate for the lack of overall seriousness in V3. V3 is going to be at least half of what most would call guilty pleasures.

[Lazario]

<center>Friday the 13th Part II
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/e ... "></center>

Sub-genres: Slasher, Sex Comedy, Mystery, Survival-Horror
Director: Steve Miner
Screenwriters: Ron Kurz
Cast: Amy Steel (Ginny), John Furey (Paul), Stu(art) Charno (Ted), Lauren-Marie Taylor (Vicky), Tom McBride (Mark), Marta Kober (Sandra), Bill Randolph (Jeff), Adrienne King (Alice), Kirsten Baker (Terry), Russell Todd (Scott), Walt Gorney (Crazy Ralph), Betsy Palmer (Mrs. Voorhees), Jack Marks (Cop), Steve Daskawisz/Dash (Jason Voorhees with sack), Warrington Gillette (Jason Voorhees without sack)
Producer: Steve Miner
Associate Producer: Frank Mancuso, Jr.
Executive Producers: Lisa Barsamian, Tom Gruenberg
Co-Producer: Dennis Murphy
Music Composer: Harry Manfredini
Cinematographer/Director of Photography: Peter Stein
Film Editor: Susan E. Cunningham
Production Designer: Virginia Field
Art Director: Robert Topol
Costume Designer: Ellen Lutter
Makeup Artist / Hair Stylist: Cecilia Verardi
Special Makeup Effects: Carl Fullerton
Filming Months: October - November, 1980
Filming Location(s): KenWood Camp, Kent, Connecticut; Kent Falls State Park - 159 Macedonia Brook Road; New Preston, Connecticut
Estimated Budget: $1,000,000
Film Gross: $21,722,776 (American)
U.S. Theatrical Release Date(s): May 1, 1981
Advertisting / Promotional Tagline(s): (1) The day you count on for terror is not over! / (2) Just when you thought it was safe to go back to camp / (3) The Body Count Continues...
Filmed in: Widescreen / Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Region 1 DVD first released: October 19, 1999 (6 releases to date) / Screen Format: Widescreen, Languages: English Mono, French; Subtitles: English / Scene Chapters: 14 / Special Features: Theatrical Trailer (Boxset features: Featurettes / Deluxe Edition features: Convention Interviews)


Original Death Scenes / MPAA Cuts (click here for pictures!)
The following scenes were cut from the film in order to avoid an "X" rating from the MPAA:
1. The flashback footage showing Mrs. Voorhees decapitation was trimmed.
2. Bloodflow was cut from the shot of Jason driving an icepick into Alice's head.
3. A close up shot of the wire cutting Crazy Ralph's throat was cut.
4. Blood was eliminated from the shot of Jason bashing a hammer into the cop's head.
5. Additional bloodflow was cut from the shot of Jason slitting Scott's throat.
6. A front facing shot of Mark's face being hacked into by the machete was removed.
7. A close-up shot of Jeff and Sandra double-impaled after having sex on the bed.


Notable Facts / Trivia
1. This film has one of the longest pre-credit sequences in cinematic history, over 12 minutes long.
2. 48 seconds were cut by the MPAA to avoid an X rating.
3. Jason in this film is dressed to look exactly the same as the killer from The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976).
4. 1981 saw at least 2 other horror films released featuring deformed, mutated, or inbred mongoloid killers, including Hell Night and Just Before Dawn.
5. Though an overhead shot of the infamous double-impalement was cut from the movie, a still of this censored shot appears on the back of the Paramount videocassette box.
6. In the first scene in the movie we see a shot of Jason's legs walking across the street toward Alice's house. This is the only time in the series the character Jason was played by a woman. Jason's legs belonged to Ellen Lutter, the film's costume designer.
7. During the climactic fight between Jason and Ginny, Jason raises the mattock to block Ginny's machete swing. Amy Steel said that during the first take, she accidentally struck the actor's finger, causing him to have to go to the emergency room. After his finger was stitched up, he returned to set that night and insisted they complete the scene.
8. Although Warrington Gillette is given the end film credit for playing Jason, in most of the scenes the character was played by stuntman Steve Dash. Gillette only plays Jason in the sequence where he bursts through a window without the sack on his head. Dash was upset at being uncredited in the role, as he has most of Jason's screen time. When archival footage from Part II was used in the next sequel, Dash is credited as playing Jason. Footage from this film is also used in Part IV (The Final Chapter), and both men are named in the credits.
9. At a fan party event held in early winter 2009, Warrington Gillette - dressed in full Jason Voorhees costume - was attacked onstage and injured with an ax by a crazed fan. It was later believed that she was trying to protect the other partygoers, since his appearence was greeted with screams and it was later reported that people in the crowd were scared by the sudden ruckus he caused.
10. Throughout the final scene, the mummified head of Mrs. Voorhees is noticeably an actress wearing makeup rather than a fake head. The final shot is a close-up of the head, ending in a freeze frame before the credits roll. Originally this shot ended with Mrs. Voorhees opening her eyes and smiling, but at the last minute Steve Miner decided this effect was hokey and cheapened the movie's impact.
11. The lead character Ginny (her unspoked last name was Field, which you overheard a character say in Part III) was named after Virginia Field, who was the production designer on both the first two Friday the 13th films.
12. When the filmmakers asked Adrienne King to reprise her role as Alice, she said that she wanted to be onscreen for only a short period of time because there was an obsessive fan who was stalking her and broke into her apartment. She says she feared for her life.
13. Following the release of the movie, Adrienne King had numerous encounters with an obsessive fan. The situation escalated into a stalker case, and she decided to avoid any further acting opportunities. She has not done any onscreen film work since but has done voice over work on several films more than 15 years later.


<center>A Few Photos

Director Steve Miner





</center>

[Lazario]

<center>"4 films of Lucio Fulci"

<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/e ... "></center>
Date of Birth: June 17, 1927
Place of Birth: Rome, Italy
Date of Death: March 13, 1996
Cause of Death: (Diabetes-related)

Trivia / Notable Facts
1. Has 2 daughters, Antonella and Camilla
2. Used to be a medical student and an art critic before his career in filmmaking.
3. Before his death, he was said to being working on a remake of Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933).
4. Italian exploitation director Umberto Lenzi (Nightmare City, Make Them Die Slowly / Cannibal Ferox) reportedly attended his funeral.
5. Had 3 films listed on the original U.K. list of 74 official Video Nasties, namely Zombie (1979), The Beyond (1981) and The House by the Cemetery (1981). His City of the Living Dead / The Gates of Hell (1980) narrowly missed the list following its recall and his later The New York Ripper (1982) was not only banned in the U.K. but also deported from the country by censor James Ferman.
6. Was an orthodox Marxist.
7. Entered the film industry as a screenwriter and assistant director.
8. His debut feature film was a seldom seen comedy called The Thieves (1959).
9. In 1968, Fulci made his first mystery thriller, One on Top of the Other. Its success was sufficient enough to garner him backing for another film, a personal project called Beatrice Cenci (1969). That film was the first to voice Fulci's hatred of the Catholic Church.
10. His 1972 film, Don't Torture a Duckling, was hugely controversial for its' time. Despite being a box-office success in Italy, Fulci's career was professionally derailed, leading to him being briefly Blacklisted and despised in his homeland.
11. Fulci broke into the international market with Zombie (1979), but the film's success and the expectations from fans left him with reservations about continuing to direct gory films.
12. Fulci cast himself in the lead role of a film he directed based semi-loosely on his own life, A Cat in the Brain / Nightmare Concert (1990).
13. In the 1990s, Fulci went on a hiatus from filmmaking for health and personal reasons. He died while in pre-production on the Dario Argento-produced Wax Mask (1996). He was 68.
14. Fans and biographers debate whether his death (the result of not taking his Insulin medication before going to bed one night) was a suicide or an accident. Fulci throughout most of his adult life was a serious diabetic.

Directorial Trademarks
1. Lead male characters in his films are usually a doctor, reporter (two of his former professions), or a policeman.
2. Shot lots of zoom-ins, especially on gore.
3. Shot lots of close-up shots of characters' eyes when they're screaming.
4. Dogs or cats frequently appear in his films.
5. The opening credits of his films are typically in lowercase, for example Lucio Fulci becomes "lucio fulci."
6. Made cameos in almost all of his films, usually as a doctor, journalist, or policeman.


<center>1. City of the Living Dead
(aka- The Gates of Hell)

<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/e ... "></center>
Sub-genres: Zombie, Gothic, Splatter, Exploitation, Apocalyptic
Screenwriters: Lucio Fulci, Dardano Sacchetti
Cast: Carlo De Mejo (Jerry), Catriona MacColl (Mary Woodhouse), Christopher George (Peter Bell), Janet Agren (Sandra), Giovanni Lombardo Radice (Bob), Fabrizio Jovine (Father Thomas), Luca Paisner / Venantini (Jon-Jon), Antonella Interlenghi (Emily), Venantino Venantini (Mr. Ross), Michele Soavi (Tommy), Daniela Doria (Rosie Kelvin), Perry Pirkanen (Blond Gravedigger), Robert Sampson (Sheriff Russell)
Producers: Lucio Fulci, Giovanni Masini
Executive Producer: Robert E. Warner
Music Composer: Fabio Frizzi
Cinematographer/Director of Photography: Sergio Salvati
Film Editor: Vincenzo Tomassi
Production Designer: Massimo Antonello Geleng
Costume Designer: Massimo Antonello Geleng
Special Makeup Effects: Franco Rufini
Filming Location(s): New York City, New York; Savannah, Georgia
Filming Dates: July 8 - August 1, 1980
Italian Theatrical Release Date: August 11, 1980
Advertisting / Promotional Tagline(s): (1) From the bowels of the earth they came, to collect the living / (2) And the Dead Shall Rise and Walk the Earth...
Filmed in: Widescreen / Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Region 1 DVD first released: May 23, 2000 / Screen Format: Widescreen, Languages: English 5.1 Surround / Scene Chapters: 26 / Special Features: International Theatrical Trailer, Radio Spots, Photo Gallery, Text Director's Profile, Hidden Text Liner Notes


Notable Facts / Trivia
1. Michele Soavi, who plays a young man whose brains are ripped out after his date vomits up her internal organs, became a well-known horror director in his own right years after appearing in Fucli's film. He was originally up for the role of Bob- the sex fiend, before Fulci changed his mind and decided to cast Giovanni Lombardo Radice instead.
2. For Daniela Doria's death scene, in which her character vomits up her internal organs, the actress swallowed and then regurgitated a plate of tripe. In closeups a fake head was used to spew the organs out more forcefully.

International Film & Video History/Facts
1. The British Cinema version was cut by 1 min, 29 seconds to remove the drill sequence. This version was released on video in the U.K. before 1984, after which all videos were required to be submitted to the British Board of Film Classification. When it was finally given a video certificate by the BBFC, further cuts were made to remove the intestinal vomit scene, and the brain squashing scenes. The U.K. video has a total of 2 minutes, 21 seconds worth of cuts.
2. The film later passed, totally uncut in 2001 in the U.K.
3. Each German release was banned over the course of over 20 years. The movie was first released on video with the title "Ein Zombie hing am Glockenseil" (A Zombie Hung on the Bell Rope) in 1982. It was banned in 1986, and a second video with the title "Ein Toter hing am Glockenseil" (A Dead Body Hung on the Bell Rope) was released, with several cuts. That version was then banned in 1988 and a final version was released with the title "Eine Leiche hing am Glockenseil" (A Corpse Hung on the Bell Rope), heavily cut without any gory scenes left. Rumors say the video distributors actually designed a new video release called "Ein Kadaver hing am Glockenseil" (A Cadaver Hung on the Bell Rope) in case this third version was banned. Surprisingly, the third and completely goreless version was also banned in 2001.
4. The version released by Anchor Bay Entertainment is the complete, uncut version, containing all the gore and violence.


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<center>2. The Beyond
(aka- Seven Doors of Death) (aka- And You Will Live in Terror)

<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/e ... "></center>
Sub-genres: Zombie, Gothic, Splatter, Ghost, Apocalyptic
Screenwriters: Dardano Sacchetti, Giorgio Mariuzzo, Lucio Fulci
Cast: Catriona MacColl (Liza Merril), David Warbeck (Dr. John McCabe), Sarah Keller / Cinzia Monreale (Emily), Antoine Saint-John (Schweik), Maria Pia Marsala (Jill), Michele Mirabella (Martin), Veronica Lazar (Martha), Giovanni De Nava (Joe the Plumber), Gianpaolo Saccarola (Arthur), Al Cliver (Dr. Harris), Laura De Marchi (Jill's Mother, Mary-Ann)
Producer: Fabrizio Angelis
Music Composer: Fabio Frizzi
Cinematographer/Director of Photography: Sergio Salvati
Film Editor: Vincenzo Tomassi
Production Designer: Massimo Lentini
Costume Designer: Massimo Lentini
Special Effects: Germano Natali
Filming Location(s): New Orleans, Louisiana; Incir De Paolis Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy
Filming Dates: October 20 - November 15, 1980
Estimated Budget: $400,000
Italian Theatrical Release Date: April 29, 1981
American Theatrical Release Date: June 12, 1998
Advertisting / Promotional Tagline(s): (1) The seven dreaded gateways to hell are concealed in seven cursed places... And on the day the gates of hell are opened, the dead will walk the earth / (2) Behind this doorway lie the terrifying and unspeakable secrets of hell. No one who sees it lives to describe it. And you shall live in darkness for all eternity.
Filmed in: Widescreen / Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Region 1 DVD first released: October 10, 2000 / Screen Format: Widescreen, Languages: English 5.1 Surround, Italian / Scene Chapters: 53 / Special Features: Audio Commentary, Cast Interviews, Director Interview, Alternate Scene, Theatrical Trailers, Music Video, Photo Gallery


Notable Facts / Trivia
1. The film was referenced on Bravo's Bravo Television's 100 Scariest Movie Moments program, making it to #60. The scene that made the countdown is the now world-famous bullet through the forehead sequence. It's also worth mentioning that the show's guest who described the plot was describing a completely different film (Stuart Gordon's 1986 H.P. Lovecraft adaptation, From Beyond).
2. The zombie rampage at the end was added into the film at the insistence of the film's German distributors whose movie market was going through a zombie craze at the time.
3. Fulci originally had Tisa Farrow - who previously worked with him on Zombie - in mind for the lead role in this film, but Farrow had recently quit acting.
4. The role of the blind girl Emily was originally offered to Stefania Casini (from Argento's Suspiria) but she declined it.
5. The DVD audio commentary by actors Catriona MacColl and David Warbeck was recorded two weeks before Warbeck died from cancer in 1997. On the commentary he talks about his illness and remarks that he's on heavy medication but that his condition is improving.
6. During the final scene in the Beyond's abyss, the sand-covered bodies lying on the ground were actually stark naked street derelicts, who were "paid" in alcohol.
7. Fulci has 2 cameos in the film. First- walking down the street reflected in a mirror behind David Warbeck as he talks on the phone at the Jazz Club (blue plaid shirt). Then again later as a librarian who boasts about a "lunch strike" labor victory.

International Film & Video History/Facts
1. The U.S. print titled "7 Doors of Death" is the version with the most gore scenes edited out and radically different soundtrack music. Lucio Fulci is also credited as Louis Fuller.
2. The version under the title "Seven Doors of Death" (different spelling of 'Seven') available on some budget DVD releases is not the U.S. print. It is merely a time-compressed version of "The Beyond" with a freeze-frame displaying the altered title.
3. The German DVD released by Astro in 2001 contains both the color and b&w pre-credit sequence (selectable via menu). This release is completely uncut.
4. The banned German theatical version is the only version that has a colored Pre-credit sequence. The same version was released on video by Video Medien Pool (VMP) in 1982. Unfortunately, it was banned on February, 27th, 1986. So officially, it's no longer available except for a cut version named "Über dem Jenseits" (approx. 65 Minutes).
5. The British cinema and video versions were heavily cut to remove gore. This version has 9 cuts totalling 1 minute, 39 seconds. The BBFC passed The Beyond uncut in the U.K. on January 31, 2001, with all previous cuts waived.
6. The Japanese Videotape from Daiei Video in glass box is fully uncut and letterboxed. English language with Japanese subtitles.
7. This film was never seen in America uncut until 1998, when Quentin Tarantino's Rolling Thunder Pictures, in association with Grindhouse Releasing, tracked down the original master and restored the film, playing it at midnight shows at selected cities.
8. The DVD released by Anchor Bay in 2000 includes the German color pre-credit sequence in its "Extras" menu and is the complete uncut version, containing all the gore and violence.


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<center>3. The House by the Cemetery

<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/e ... "></center>
Sub-genres: Haunted House, Gothic, Splatter, Ghost, Zombie
Screenwriters: Elisa Briganti, Lucio Fulci, Giorgio Mariuzzo, Dardano Sacchetti
Cast: Giovanni Frezza (Bob), Paolo Malco (Norman), Catriona MacColl (Lucy), Silvia Collatina (May Freudstein), Ania Pieroni (Ann), Dagmar Lassander (Ms. Gittleson), Giovanni De Nava (Dr. Freudstein), Teresa Rossi Passante (Mary Freudstein), John (Kenneth A.) Olsen (Harold), Gianpaolo Saccarola (Daniel), Carlo De Mejo (Mr. Wheatley), Daniela Doria (Unnamed Female Victim)
Producer: Fabrizio Angelis
Music Composer: Walter Rizzati
Cinematographer/Director of Photography: Sergio Salvati
Film Editor: Vincenzo Tomassi
Production Designer: Massimo Lentini
Costume Designer: Massimo Lentini
Special Makeup Effects: Giannetto De Rossi, Maurizio Trani
Filming Location(s): Boston, Massachusetts; Concord, Massachusetts; Ellis Estate House - 709 Country Way, Scituate, Massachusetts; New York City, New York; Incir De Paolis Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy
Filming Dates: March 11 - April 9, 1981
Italian Theatrical Release Date: August 14, 1981
American Theatrical Release Date: March 1, 1984
Advertisting / Promotional Tagline(s): (1) Read the fine print. You may have just mortgaged your life! / (2) Can anyone survive the demented marauding zombies in... / (3) Beware the Demon Forces of the...Blood Beasts!
Filmed in: Widescreen / Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Region 1 DVD first released: May 22, 2001 / Screen Format: Widescreen, Languages: English Stereo / Scene Chapters: 25 / Special Features: Theatrical Trailers, TV Spot, Photo Gallery, Text Crew Profiles, Deleted Scene (Hidden)


Notable Facts / Trivia
1. One of the early VHS issues of "House By the Cemetery" in America got several of the film's reels out of order, making the already erratic story much more confusing.
2. The U.S. trailers for the film were narrated by Brother Theodore.
3. The Estate Agent's death is rumored to be longer and nastier and included eye gouging, a Fulci trait, but was cut because Lucio Fulci didn't think the effects were realistic enough.
4. The film's original shooting title was "Freudstein."
5. Though the final line ("No one will ever know whether the children are monsters or the monsters are children") is attributed to Henry James, it was actually fabricated by Lucio Fulci.

International Film & Video History/Facts
1. For its American release, all scenes that featured Norman and Lucy Boyles arguing or showing any signs of marital tension were cut from the film. These edits were done because the distributors of the film felt that the marital tension subplot would alienate viewers and were removed to make the film more of a traditional "Family Moves Into a Haunted House" style movie.
2. There have been 5 different releases of the film so far in the U.K. The cinema version was cut by 1 minute, 21 seconds by the BBFC and was later prosecuted in the U.K. as a Video Nasty, with all consequent video releases being heavily cut. The 1988 Elephant Video release was pre-cut by 34 seconds but suffered a further 4 minutes, 11 seconds of BBFC cuts removing a poker murder, throat cuttings, a graphic stabbing scene, and shots of disemboweled corpses, and the initial 1993 Vipco release had been pre-cut by 7 minutes, 27 seconds before submission. The 2001 Vipco DVD issue restored nearly all of the film's prior edits but was cut by 33 seconds by the BBFC with lesser edits made to the poker murder and throat cutting. Although willing to release the movie uncut, the film had recently been prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act following the discovery of bootleg copies of the uncut version, leaving the BBFC no choice but to cut the film. All the cuts were finally waived for the 2009 Arrow DVD.
3. The Vestron home video release, which was released during the 1980s, has two reels of footage out of order. This error makes for a nearly incomprehensible film, as characters who die are seen later seen alive and running around as if they had never been killed.
4. The Swedish and Greek video releases are uncut and in letterbox.
5. The Anchor Bay DVD contains a deleted scene (as a hidden feature) which takes place right after the bat attack scene. The camera slowly zooms out from the dead bat while everyone stands around in shock. Lucy then says "Take me away from here, I can't stand it anymore!" This deleted scene can also be seen during the international trailer on the DVD.
6. The version on the Anchor Bay DVD also includes additional footage with Giovanni Frezza in the cellar, there are almost 20 seconds extra shots of his eyes and face plus the glowing eyes of the monster he sees.
7. The Anchor Bay release is the complete, uncut version, containing all the gore and violence.


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<center>4. Manhattan Baby

<img src="http://image.allmusic.com/00/adg/cov200 ... "></center>
Sub-genres: Supernatural, Curse, Mystery
Screenwriters: Elisa Briganti, Dardano Sacchetti
Cast: Christopher Connelly (George), Martha Taylor (Emily), Brigitta Boccoli (Suzie), Giovanni Frezza (Tommy), Laurence Welles / Cosimo Cinieri (Adrian Marcato), Cinzia de Ponti (Jamie Lee), Carlo De Mejo (Luke), Enzo Marino Bellanich / Vincenzo Bellanich (Wiler)
Producer: Fabrizio Angelis
Music Composer: Fabio Frizzi
Cinematographer/Director of Photography: Guglielmo Mancori
Film Editor: Vincenzo Tomassi
Production Designer: Massimo Lentini
Costume Designer: Massimo Lentini
Filming Location(s): Cairo, Egypt; New York City, New York
Filming Dates: March 22 - April 22, 1982
Estimated Budget: $300,000
Italian Theatrical Release Date: August 12, 1982
American Theatrical Release Date: July 27, 1984
Advertisting / Promotional Tagline(s): (1) Little Susie is very young, very pretty, and very very evil! / (2) It's Looking at You... from Hell!
Filmed in: Widescreen / Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Region 1 DVD first released: May 22, 2001 / Screen Format: Widescreen, Languages: English Mono / Scene Chapters: 24 / Special Features: Writer Interview, Theatrical Trailer, Text Crew Profiles


Notable Facts / Trivia
1. The name of the character Adrian Marcato is taken from Rosemary's Baby (1968). But this isn't the first time Fulci's stolen from that film. Catriona MacColl's character in City of the Living Dead was named Mary Woodhouse, which is Rosemary's full name, minus the Rose.
2. The Babysitter character's name, Jamie Lee, is most likely a reference to actress Jamie Lee Curtis, who was famous at the time as the star of Halloween (and its sequel), Prom Night, Terror Train, and The Fog.


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[littlefuzzy]

I'm also glad at least one person is still following.

Bring on the Schlock!

[Lazario]

Be careful what you wish for.


<center>Friday the 13th Part III

<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/e ... "></center>

Sub-genres: Slasher, Sex Comedy, Mystery, Suspense, Novelty
Director: Steve Miner
Screenwriters: Martin Kitrosser, Carol Watson, Petru Popescu
Cast: Dana Kimmell (Chris), Richard Brooker (Jason Voorhees), Paul Kratka (Rick), Tracie Savage (Debbie), Larry Zerner (Shelly), Jeffrey Rogers (Andy), Rachel Howard (Chili), Catherine Parks (Vera), David Katims (Chuck), Nick Savage (Ali), Steve Susskind (Harold), Cheri Maugans (Edna), Gloria Charles (Fox), Kevin O'Brien (Loco), David Wiley (Abel, "I have warned thee!")
Producer: Frank Mancuso, Jr.
Executive Producer: Lisa Barsamian
Co-Producer: Tony Bishop
Associate Producer: Peter Schindler
Music Composer: Harry Manfredini, Michael Zager
Cinematographer/Director of Photography: Gerald Feil
Film Editor: George Hively
Production Designer: Robb Wilson King
Set Decorator: Dee Suddleson
Special Visual Makeup Effects: Allan A. Apone, Douglas J. White, Frank Carrisosa / Francisco X. Pérez
Makeup Artist: Stan Winston
Makeup Effects: Carl Fullerton
Filming Dates: September 4 - October 3, 1979
Filming Location(s): Green Valley, California; Veluzat Motion Picture Ranch, Saugus, California; Vernon, New Jersey
Filming Months: March - June 1982
Estimated Budget: $4,000,000
Film Gross: $33,312,481 (American)
U.S. Theatrical Release Date(s): August 13, 1982
Advertisting / Promotional Tagline(s): (1) A new dimension in terror... / (2) It Will Scare You. Count on it! / (3) 13 is an Unlucky Number. But Out Here, So Are 1 Through 12. / (4) There's nowhere to hide. We dare you to try. / (5) Camp Crystal Lake's bloody legacy!
Filmed in: Widescreen / Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Region 1 DVD first released: October 17, 2000 (4 releases to date) / Screen Format: Widescreen, Languages: English Mono, French; Subtitles: English / Scene Chapters: 14 / Special Features: Theatrical Trailer (Boxset features: Audio Commentary, Featurettes)

Notable Facts / Trivia
1. A scene from this film appears in the 1985 Sally Field film, Murphy's Romance. Sally Field, of course, auditioned for the lead role in Friday the 13th.
2. Amy Steel, who starred in Friday the 13th Part 2 was offered to reprise her role for the third film, but declined.
3. To prevent the film's plot being leaked, the production used the fake title "Crystal Japan," after a David Bowie song, on all script and screenplay copies. This began an on-again-off-again tradition of giving 'Friday the 13th' films David Bowie song or album titles during their filming. Sometimes, the actors themselves didn't even know when they were auditioning that the scripts were for Friday the 13th, because on later films, the name "Jason" was often changed to "Eli" or something else.
4. Debbie picks up a copy of "Fangoria" and turns to an article about Tom Savini, who of course did the famous gore effects from Friday the 13th. This was said to be Fangoria's very first issue.
5. This is the only Friday the 13th film when none of the characters actually say the name "Jason."
6. Takes place the day after the events of Part 2, making it Saturday the 14th. While the beginning of the movie takes place on the evening of Saturday the 14th, when the store owner and his wife are killed, the majority of the movie takes place on the following day, making it Sunday the 15th.
7. The house, barn, and lake were all purpose-built on location. The man-made lake wasn't properly sealed and subsequently the water drained into the soil during the first week of filming.
8. In the original script, the character of Rick was called "Derek." It was changed to Rick as it was one less syllable and therefore more "screamable."
9. Although it appears sunny and warm, the film was shot during a January-February winter. Several night scenes were not used in order to conceal the actors' visible breath appearing on screen.
10. This was the first of the Friday the 13th films to use the hockey mask, which has been in every sequel since.
11. There were 2 alternate endings to this movie that were actually shot. One had Chris killing Jason, except Ali survives (he dies in the used ending). She finds him after she opens the barn door and he startles her. Both of them escape, and when the police and paramedics arrive, Jason's body isn't there. The other ending had Chris kill Jason, then go out in the canoe and fall asleep. In her dream, Jason decapitates her with a machete. This was followed by Chris waking up screaming in the back of the police car. This "dream" scene was cut and replaced by the other "dream" scene with Jason's rotted mother jumping out of the lake and grabbing Chris.
12. Larry Zerner was cast as Shelly in this movie when the producers spotted him handing out fliers for a horror movie and asked him if he'd want to star in one himself.
13. Richard Brooker was chosen as Jason simply because Steve Miner needed a big man for the role. Being tall at 6'3", but not that bulky, Brooker wore foam padding under his clothes and did all his own stunts.
14. The Royal independent movie theater in Toronto, Canada, which closed in 2006, had owned one of the few copies of the movie in its original 3D format. They used to screen the film once every Halloween.
15. Director Steve Miner makes a cameo as a newscaster on the television set Edna is watching. In the fullscreen VHS versions, you can't see the front of the television screen at all and miss seeing his face.
16. Several scenes in this film are identical or are like to the scenes in the original Friday the 13th: *Debbie sees drops of blood falling from above she looks up and a knife through her, much like Kevin Bacon's scene in the first film. *After Chris thinks she had killed Jason she goes to sleep in a canoe on the lake much like Alice did in the first film. *When Chris awakes from the canoe, a corpse comes out of the water and drags her under much like what Jason did to Alice in the first film. *Abel (the old man) is much like Crazy Ralph from the first two films.

International Video & Film Edits/Cuts History/Facts
1. The 3-D version contains a title card not seen in 2-D home video releases (for obvious reasons). After the Paramount Pictures logo fades out, the card reads, "Ladies and gentlemen: The first few minutes of this picture are not in 3-D. However, you will need the special 3-D glasses." The film then continues as normal with the recap of the ending of Part 2, presented in 2-D. The 3-D begins with the opening credits.
2. The new broadcast television print, as seen on Spike TV, not only removes all references to Debbie being pregnant, but it also removes many of Chuck and Chili's opening scenes to omit the minor marijuana references. In fact, the first time we see either of them is when the whole group is standing over the old man in the road.
3. The U.K. video version was cut by the BBFC by 4 seconds to remove a brief shot of Andy's sliced body and to reduce the knife piercing Debbie's chest. The cuts were waived in 2001. The British version will now include extra gore to Andy, Debbie, and Vera's death, as seen earlier in the year on the Sci-Fi channel.
4. The Norwegian video-version is uncut with an 18 rating.
5. In 2009, a 3d version with 3d glasses was put onto the Deluxe DVD Edition by Paramount.

Original Death Scenes / MPAA Cuts (click here for pictures!)
Several deaths in the film had to be cut to avoid an "X" rating, including:
1. Enda's needle stabbing was trimmed of excessive blood flow.
2. Vera's original death showed a longer and more hideous reaction to the spear hitting her. It was cut short because it looked "too real."
3. Andy's splitting death was originally longer. As was the shot above Debbie's bed where she sees his leg's been cut off and his stomach ripped open. This 2nd shot was altered in the theatrical version and fullscreen home video releases, but Paramount showed the full original shot in the widescreen DVD release.
4. Debbie's death scene was also cut short. Originally we were to see blood running down her chest and splattering on her face.
5. Chili's impalement was trimmed of a closeup shot of the fire poker run through her, which showed steaming blood hitting the floor. Paramount's DVD and newer VHS releases apparently feature the closeup shot of the poker, but the blood is missing- except what you see on the poker's tip.


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[Lazario]

<center>The Shining
<img src="http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk16 ... "></center>

Sub-genres: Ghosts / Haunted House, Psychological Horror, Mystery, Supernatural, Suspense
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Screenwriters: Diane Johnson, Stanley Kubrick
Cast: Jack Nicholson (Jack Torrance), Shelley Duvall (Wendy Torrance), Danny Lloyd (Danny Torrance), Scatman Crothers (Dick Hallorann), Philip Stone (Delbert Grady), Anne Jackson (Doctor), Barry Nelson (Stuart Ullman), Lisa & Louise Burns (The Twins), Joe Turkel (Lloyd, the Bartender), Tony Burton (Larry Durkin), Barry Dennen (Bill Watson), David Baxt (Forest Ranger 1), Manning Redwood (Forest Ranger 2)
Producer: Stanley Kubrick
Associate Producers: Robert Fryer, Mary Lea Johnson, Martin Richards - The Producer Circle Organization
Executive Producer: Jan Harlan
Music Composers: Wendy Carlos, Rachel Elkind
Cinematographer/Director of Photography: John Alcott
Film Editor: Ray Lovejoy
Production Designer: Roy Walker
Art Director: Les(lie) Tomkins
Costume Designer: Milena Canonero
Filming Dates: May 1, 1978 - April, 1979
Filming Location(s): Colorado; EMI Elstree Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England; Glacier National Park, Montana; London, England; Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England; Timberline Lodge, Mount Hood, Oregon; Yosemite National Park, California
Estimated Budget: $22,000,000
Film Gross: $44,017,374 (American)
U.S. Theatrical Release Date(s): May 23, 1980
Advertisting / Promotional Tagline(s): (1) He Came as the Caretaker, But This Hotel Had Its Own Guardians - Who'd Been There a Long Time / (2) Stanley Kubrick's epic nightmare of horror / (3) The Horror is driving him crazy
Filmed in: Full Frame / Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 (Europe), 1.85:1 (USA)
Region 1 DVD first released: June 29, 1999 (5 releases to date) / Screen Format: Widescreen, Languages: English 5.1 Surround, French 5.1 Surround, Spanish 5.1 Surround / Scene Chapters: 40 / Special Features: Theatrical Trailer, Documentary (Special Edition features: Audio Commentary, Featurettes)


Notable Facts / Trivia
1. According to Stephen King, the title is inspired by the refrain in the Plastic Ono Band's song, "Instant Karma" (by John Lennon), which features the chorus: "We all shine on."
2. Kubrick at one point considered both Robert De Niro and Robin Williams for the role of Jack Torrance. But after watching his performance in Taxi Driver (1976)- he deemed De Niro not psychotic enough for the role. He didn't think Williams would suit the part after watching his performance in "Mork & Mindy" (1978), as he deemed him too psychotic for the role. According to King, Kubrick also briefly considered Harrison Ford.
3. The role of Lloyd the Bartender was originally to have been played by Harry Dean Stanton, who was unable to take the part due to his commitment to Alien (1979).
4. There were so many changes to the script during shooting that Jack Nicholson claimed he stopped reading it. He would read only the new pages that were given to him each day.
5. King tried to talk Stanley Kubrick out of casting Jack Nicholson in the lead, suggesting either Michael Moriarty or Jon Voight. King felt that watching either of these normal-looking men gradually descend into madness, would have immensely improved the dramatic thrust of the storyline.
6. In King's book, there are hedge animals on the hotel grounds. Kubrick decided that having them come to life (as they do in the book) was unworkable due to restrictions in special effects, so he opted for a hedge maze instead.
7. During filming, Stanley Kubrick made the cast watch Eraserhead (1976), Rosemary's Baby (1968) and The Exorcist (1973) to put them in the right frame of mind.
8. Every time Jack talks to a ghost, there's a mirror in the scene. Except in the food locker scene.
9. Prior to hiring Diane Johnson as his writing partner, director/producer Stanley Kubrick rejected a screenplay written by Stephen King himself. King's script was a much more literal adaptation of the novel, a much more traditional horror film than the film Kubrick would ultimately make. He was considering hiring Johnson because he admired her novel "The Shadow Knows," but when he found out she was a Doctor of Gothic Studies, he became convinced she was the person for the job.
10. The film was released in the United States on star Scatman Crothers' 70th birthday.
11. The Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood in Oregon was used for the front exterior. The management of the Timberline requested that Stanley Kubrick not use 217 for a room number (as specified in the book), fearing that nobody would want to stay in that room ever again. Kubrick changed the script to use the nonexistent room number 237.
12. Kubrick's daughter Vivian makes a cameo in the party scene. She wears a black dress and sits on the right side of the sofa closest to the bar.
13. Much like the casting of the "Jack" character, Stephen King also disliked the casting of Shelley Duvall as "Wendy." King said that he envisioned Wendy as being a blond former cheerleader type who never had to deal with any true problems in her life making her experience in the Overlook all the more terrifying. He felt that Duvall was too emotionally vulnerable and appeared to have gone through a lot in her life, basically the exact opposite of how he pictured the character.
14. The movie Wendy and Danny are watching on the opening of Monday is Summer of '42 (1971).
15. After reading the novel, Jack Nicholson wanted Jessica Lange for the part of Wendy, and even recommended her to Kubrick, as he felt she fit Stephen King's version of the character.
16. Lloyd (Joe Turkel) and Grady (Philip Stone) never blink once throughout the entire film.
17. The scene towards the end of the film, where Wendy is running up the stairway carrying a knife, was shot 35 times; the equivalent of running up the Empire State Building.
18. The famous opening scene was shot in Glacier National Park in Montana just north of St. Mary's Lake. The road seen in the scene, Going-to-the-Sun Road, does actually close down during winter and is only negotiable by snowcat. Kubrick initially sent a second unit to the Rockies in Colorado, but they reported back that the area wasn't very interesting. When Kubrick saw the footage they had shot, he was furious, and fired the entire unit. He then sent Greg MacGillivray, a noted helicopter cameraman, to Montana and it was McGillivray who shot the scene.
19. At the time of release, it was the policy of the MPAA to not allow the portrayal of blood in trailers that would be approved for all audiences. Bizarrely, the trailer for The Shining is comprised entirely of the shot of blood pouring out of the elevator. Stanley Kubrick had convinced the board the blood flooding out of the elevator was actually rusty water.
20. Neither Lia Beldam nor Billie Gibson (the young and old women in tub) appeared in another movie before or after this one.
21. Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind wrote and performed a full electronic score for the film, but Stanley Kubrick discarded most of it and used a soundtrack of mostly classical music. Only the adaptation of Hector Berlioz's "Symphonie Fantastique" during the opening credits, the music during the family's drive to the hotel, and a few other brief moments (such as Halloran's plane trip) survive in the final version. Wendy Carlos once noted that she'd like to see the original score released on CD, but there were too many legal snags at the time. As of 2005, Carlos' score for the film has been remastered, and is a part of "Rediscovering Lost Scores Volumes 1 and 2."
22. For the scene in which Jack breaks down the bathroom door, the props department built a door that could be easily broken. However, Jack Nicholson had worked as a volunteer fire marshal and tore it apart far too easily. The props department were then forced to build a stronger door.
23. To construct the interiors of the Overlook, Stanley Kubrick and his production designer, Roy Walker sent photographers around the country photographing hotel rooms and picking favorites to copy for the movie. For example, the red men's bathroom was modeled after a men's room in the Biltmore Hotel in Arizona designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and the Colorado Lounge was modeled on the lounge of the Ahwanee Hotel in the Yosemite Valley.
24. Anjelica Huston lived with Jack Nicholson during the time of the shooting. She recalled that, due to the long hours on the set and Stanley Kubrick's trademark style of repetitive takes, Nicholson would often return from a day's shooting, walk straight to the bed, collapse onto it and would immediately fall asleep.
25. The image of the two girls in the hotel corridor was inspired by the photograph "Identical Twins, Roselle, New Jersey, 1967" by Diane Arbus.
26. Jack Nicholson ad-libbed the line "Here's Johnny!" in imitation of announcer Ed McMahon's famous introduction of Johnny Carson on U.S. network NBC-TV's long-running late night television program "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" (1962). Kubrick, who had been living in England since before Carson took over "The Tonight Show," had no clue what "Here's Johnny!" meant. Carson once used the clip of Nicholson as the introduction to one of his annual anniversary specials.
27. The idea for Danny Lloyd to move his finger when he was talking as Tony was his own; he did it spontaneously during his very first audition.
28. Scatman Crothers was a friend of Jack Nicholson's, and when he heard about the Halloran role, he asked Nicholson to talk to Kubrick about casting him.
29. The throwing around of the tennis ball inside the overlook hotel was Jack Nicholson's idea. The script originally only specified that, "Jack is not working."
30. The snow on the outside of the hotel near the conclusion of the movie consisted of 900 tons of salt and crushed Styrofoam.
31. The 1921 photograph at the end of the film was a genuine 1920s photo, with Jack Nicholson's head airbrushed onto the body of another man. Stanley Kubrick originally planned to use extras and shoot the photo himself, but he realized he couldn't make it look any better than the real thing.
32. During the making of the movie, Stanley Kubrick would occasionally call Stephen King at 3:00 a.m. and ask him questions like "Do you believe in God?"
33. According to the Guinness Book of Records, the scene where Wendy is backing up the stairs swinging the baseball bat was shot 127 times. However, both Steadicam operator Garrett Brown and assistant editor Gordon Stainforth say this is inaccurate - the scene was shot about 35-45 times. Brown says that the scene where Hallorann explains to Danny what Shining is was shot 148 times, which is a world record.
34. The book that Jack was writing contained the one sentence ("All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy") repeated over and over. Stanley Kubrick had each page individually typed. For the Italian version of the film, Kubrick used the phrase "Il mattino ha l' oro in bocca" ("He who wakes up early meets a golden day"). For the German version, it was "Was Du heute kannst besorgen, das verschiebe nicht auf Morgen" ("Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today"). For the Spanish version, it was "No por mucho madrugar amanece más temprano" ("Rising early will not make dawn sooner."). For the French version, it was "Un 'Tiens' vaut mieux que deux 'Tu l'auras'" ("A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush").
35. Stanley Kubrick's first choice to play Danny Torrance was Cary Guffey, the young boy from Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). Guffey's parents apparently turned down the offer due to the film's subject matter
36. Garrett Brown accomplished many of the ultra-low tracking corridor sequences from a wheelchair with the camera mounted onto it. Grips would either pull backward or push forward the wheelchair, depending on the requirement of the shot.
37. This was voted the ninth scariest film of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
38. The movie's line "Here's Johnny!" was voted as the #68 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100) and as the #36 of "The 100 Greatest Movie Lines" by Premiere in 2007.


Video & Film Edits/Cuts History/Facts
1. ABC edited 4 minutes from the film for its 1983 network television premiere.
2. Three days after the release of the film, Stanley Kubrick and Warner Bros. ordered all projectionists to cut about 10 minutes from the end of the film, and send the footage back to the studio. Starting after the closeup of frozen Jack, the camera goes to a pullback shot with part of a state trooper's car and the legs of troopers walking around in the foreground. We then cut to the hotel manager Stuart Ullman (Barry Nelson) walking down a hospital hallway to the nurse's station to inquire about Danny and Wendy. He's told they're both doing well and proceeds to Wendy's room. After some gentle conversation, he tells Wendy that searchers have been unable to locate any evidence of the apparitions she saw. Additionally, Jack's body cannot be located. We then cut to the camera silently roaming the halls of the Overlook Hotel for about a minute until it comes up to the wall with the photographs, where it (back to the ending as it is now known) fades in on the photo of Jack in the 1921 picture.
3. When first released, the film had an alternate ending: after the shot of Jack's body, the film dissolves to a scene of policemen outside the hotel. It then cuts to a scene in a hospital, where Wendy is resting in a bed and Danny is playing in a waiting room. Ullman arrives and tells her that they have been unable to locate her husband's body anywhere on the property. On his way out, Ullman gives Danny a ball -- the same one that mysteriously rolled into a hallway earlier in the film, before Danny was attacked in room 237. Ullman laughs and walks away and the film dissolves to the move through the corridors towards the photo. Stanley Kubrick had the scene removed a week after the film was released.
4. In all previous video versions of The Shining (prior to the 2001 DVD re-release), each title card failed to change in synchronization with the music. Upon being released on DVD, each title card does in fact change in sync with the music, the way it was originally intended.
5. When released theatrically in the United States, the film ran approx. 146 minutes. However, 3 weeks into it's release, Kubrick cut the 2 minute coda from the end of the film, reducing its length to 144 minutes. After meeting with poor reviews and erratic box office, Kubrick decided to further edit the film for it's theatrical release outside the US. He cut approximately 31 minutes of footage, reducing the length to 113 minutes. The 144 minute 'U.S. version' is often erroneously called the Director's Cut when in fact director Kubrick regarded the 113 minute version as the superior cut of the film. When the film was released on home video in the U.S., Kubrick endorsed the shorter version of the film as the 'official' version. Nevertheless, the longer version is the version now most commonly available.

The following is a list of all the scenes or parts of scenes not present in the shorter 'European version':
1. After the first scene with Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and Danny (Danny Lloyd), the film cuts back to Jack (Jack Nicholson) at the Overlook, where his interview with Stuart Ullman (Barry Nelson) continues. Jack is introduced to Bill Watson (Barry Dennen), and Ullman tells Watson that Jack used to work as a schoolteacher. Jack says he became a writer because he needed a change in his life. Ullman then explains that the Overlook is closed every winter from the end of October to the following May, because it would be too expensive to keep the roads open, and he points out that the site was chosen specifically for its seclusion.
2. When Danny first 'sees' the Grady twins in his bathroom at home, he blacks out. When he awakes, he is being examined by a doctor (Anne Jackson). This entire examination scene, and the subsequent conversations were all cut. Danny says that before his black-out he was talking to Tony, "the little boy who lives inside my mouth". Wendy and the Doctor then talk in private, and Wendy mentions an incident in which Jack dislocated Danny's shoulder in a drunken fit of temper, at which time he swore never to touch alcohol again. That was five months ago, and since then, he has kept his word.
3. During their tour of the Overlook, Jack and Wendy are brought into the Colorado Lounge, and Wendy asks if the Indian designs are authentic. Ullman explains that they are based on ancient Navajo and Apache motifs. He then mentions the prestigious history of the hotel, saying it was a stopping place for the jet set, for four presidents, movie stars and "all the best people."
4. The beginning of the scene where Ullman shows Jack and Wendy the hotel grounds has been cut. He points out "our famous hedge maze" and warns them not to go in unless they have an hour or so to spare.
5. Prior to the introduction of Dick Hallorann (Scatman Crothers), Ullman shows off The Gold Room and explains that all liquor is removed during the winter so as to reduce insurance costs. Hallorann is then introduced, and the secretary Susie (Alison Coleridge) appears, having found Danny outside the games room. Ullman then leaves with Jack, and Hallorann takes Wendy around the kitchen.
6. Some of Danny's conversation with Hallorann has been cut. Danny asks Hallorann if he is scared of the Overlook, and Hallorann replies that he isn't, but that "some places are like people, some shine and some don't. I guess you could say the Overlook Hotel here has something about it that's like shining."
7. The first few shots of Wendy wheeling the breakfast tray through the corridors have been cut.
8. The end of the scene where Wendy brings Jack his breakfast has been cut. He comments that he has never been as happy or as comfortable anywhere as he is in the Overlook and Wendy reveals that she thought the place was scary when they first arrived. Jack replies that he fell in love with it straight away and he felt as if he had been there before.
9. The scene of Jack throwing the ball against the wall is shorter.
10. After Wendy and Danny explore the maze, a sequence has been cut showing Wendy working in the kitchen while a TV announcer talks of a search in the mountains for a missing woman, and a snow-storm that is predicted to be moving in on Colorado.
11. Following the scene in which Jack loses his temper with Wendy for interrupting him, the title THURSDAY was deleted.
12. After the scene in which Danny is confronted by the Grady twins in the corridor, and they invite him to play with them, a scene has been cut in which Wendy and Danny are watching TV. Danny asks if he can go to his room to get his toy fire-engine and Wendy tells him to be quiet because Jack is sleeping.
13. Some dialogue has been cut from the first conversation between Jack and Lloyd (Joe Turkel). Jack toasts, "Here's to five miserable months on the wagon and all the irreparable harm that it's caused me". Lloyd then asks him how things are, and Jack comments that they could be a whole lot better, that he is having trouble with his wife. Lloyd comments, "Women! Can't live with 'em. Can't live without 'em", and Jack wholeheartedly agrees.
14. After he has returned from examining Room 237, Jack's conversation with Wendy is slightly shorter.
15. After the scene between Jack and Grady ('Philip Stone' ), a sequence has been cut in which Wendy is seen crying and talking to herself, musing about the possibility of getting down the mountain in the Sno-cat, and of calling the Forest Rangers. She then hears Danny calling out "red rum" over and over, but when she tries to talk to him, she is only 'answered' by Tony, who tells her that Danny can't hear her.
16. A scene has been cut in which Hallorann tries to get through to the Overlook by calling the Ranger station. They tell him that they've tried to get through several times but there has been no answer, and they offer to try again later.
17. Prior to the shot of Hallorann's plane, the title 8AM has been deleted.
18. On the plane, Hallorann asks a stewardess what time they are due to land in Denver and she tells him at 8.20. Jack is then seen typing in the lounge of the Overlook. Hallorann's plane lands at the airport and he calls Larry Durkin (Tony Burton), a garage owner, to rent a Sno-cat so as to get up to the Overlook. Durkin says the mountain roads are completely blocked off, and Hallorann explains that the people looking after the hotel turned out to be "completely unreliable assholes". Hallorann estimates that it will take him five hours to drive from the airport to collect the cat, and Larry says the Sno-cat will be waiting for him when he arrives.
19. The beginning of the scene in which Wendy finds Jack's type-written pages has been cut. She and Danny are watching television and she looks at her watch, telling Danny that she is going to talk to his father for a few minutes and that he should stay there. She picks up the baseball bat before leaving.
20. In the final scene, when Jack is pursuing Danny through the maze and Wendy is being confronted by some of the Overlook spooks, a short scene where she encounters a group of skeletons sitting at a table with a champagne bottle and glasses has been cut.


<center>A Few Photos




</center>

[Lazario]

<center>Sisters
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/e ... "></center>

Sub-genres: Psychological Horror, Mad Doctor, Murder Mystery
Director: Brian De Palma
Screenwriters: Brian De Palma, Louisa Rose
Cast: Margot Kidder (Danielle Breton / Dominique Blanchion), Jennifer Salt (Grace Collier), William/Bill Finley (Emil Breton), Lisle Wilson (Phillip Woode), Olympia Dukakis (Louise Wilanski), Charles Durning (Joseph Larch), Mary Davenport (Mrs. Collier), Barnard Hughes (Arthur McLennen), Dolph Sweet (Detective Kelly)
Producer: Edward R. Pressman
Associate Producers: Lynn Pressman, Robert Rohdie
Music Composer: Bernard Herrmann
Cinematographer/Director of Photography: Gregory Sandor
Film Editor: Paul Hirsch
Production Designer: Gary Weist
Filming Location(s): Alexander Hamilton Apartment Building - 36 Hamilton, Staten Island, New York City, New York; Great Meadows, New Jersey; Time-Life Building, Manhattan, New York City
Filming Months: June - August, 1972
Estimated Budget: $500,000
U.S. Theatrical Release Date(s): March 27, 1973
Advertisting / Promotional Tagline(s): (1) What the Devil hath joined together let no man cut asunder. / (2) They were joined at birth by the devil and the evil never left them! / (3) Take a trip into terror!
Filmed in: Widescreen / Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Region 1 DVD first released: September 19, 2000 (1 release to date) / Screen Format: Widescreen, Languages: English Mono; Subtitles: English / Scene Chapters: 18 / Special Features: Photo Galleries, Text Articles

Notable Facts / Trivia
1. Producer Ray Stark originally wanted the film to be a vehicle for actress Raquel Welch.
2. Margot Kidder and Jennifer Salt were roommates in Southern California in the early 1970s while they were struggling actresses. They held parties for their friends and neighbors who included Paul Schrader, Blythe Danner, Bruce Paltrow, and Brian De Palma. One year at Christmas, Kidder and Salt opened separate boxes under their Christmas tree and each one contained the script to this film. This project was De Palma's gift to them.
3. The film was inspired by an article De Palma read about a set of Soviet Union Siamese twins that were successfully separated after an operation. De Palma said he was haunted by a photograph of the twins in which one looked cheerful and healthy, while the other looked surly and disturbed. The article went on to include issues about the twins psychological problems after their separation.
4. To indicate the musical effects he wanted, Brian De Palma put together an edit of his film that was dubbed with music from the films of the composer he most wanted to hire, Bernard Herrmann. While he was showing it to Herrmann, the composer stopped him with, "Young man, I cannot watch your film while I'm listening to Marnie," (1964).
5. Jennifer Salt and her real-life mother Mary Davenport portray mother and daughter on screen.
6. During an interview with star Jennifer Salt she was questioned about the meaning of the film's strange, open-ended conclusion. Salt admitted that she didn't understand the meaning of the film's bizarre conclusion either.
7. The "Peeping Tom Show" segment that the film opens with was inspired by the Candid Camera television series.
8. The film was shot in 8 weeks following a month of rehearsals.
9. According to De Palma, an elaborate tracking shot had to be deleted from the film. De Palma said the search scene was originally "a Max Ophuls-type tracking shot about 6 minutes long, and while they are searching through the apartment the camera keeps coming back to the couch and the spot is getting bigger and bigger and bigger," De Palma stated. "I shot it, but because the camera could only get down so low and still go up high enough to shoot the rest of the scene we couldn't get down to the bottom of the couch and when we saw the rushes it looked ridiculous because it looked like the guy was bleeding up through the arm of the couch. So I had to throw out the whole tracking shot, and I was forced to use close-ups and television-type coverage."

International Film & Video Edits/Cuts History/Facts
1. For the original 1973 U.K. cinema release, cuts were made by the BBFC to edit the violent stabbing of Phillip Woode. All later releases were fully uncut.


<center>A Few Photos





</center>

[Lazario]

<center>There's Nothing Out There

<img src="http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk16 ... "></center>

Sub-genres: Monster Movie, Alien, Sci-Fi Horror, Bodily Possession, Horror-Comedy, Sex Comedy
Director: Rolfe Kanefsky
Screenwriter: Rolfe Kanefsky
Cast: Craig Peck (Mike), Bonnie Bowers (Stacy), John Carhart III (Nick), Wendy Bednarz (Doreen), Mark Collver (Jim), Claudia Flores (Janet), Jeff Dachis (David), Lisa Grant (Sally), Sissy Frye (Teacher), Cyrus Voris (Lead Punk), Ronald St. Denis (Plumber)
Producer: Victor Kanefsky
Music Composer: Christopher Thomas
Cinematographer/Director of Photography: Ed Hershberger
Film Editor: Victor Kanefsky
Filming Year: 1989
Filming Location(s): Piermont, New York
U.S. Theatrical Release Date(s): January 22, 1992
Advertisting / Promotional Tagline(s): (1) A horror film of comic proportions
Filmed in: Widescreen / Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Region 1 DVD first released: September 18, 2001 (1 release to date) / Screen Format: Widescreen, Languages: English Stereo / Scene Chapters: 14 / Special Features: Audio Commentary, Auditions / Screen Tests, Trailer, Pre-Production Footage, Video Storyboards, Rehearsal Footage / Bloopers, Animation Test Footage, Photo Gallery (with Commentary), Text Cast/Crew Profiles, Text Article


Notable Facts / Trivia
1. This film is not a parody of horror films. It's a parody of certain horror cliches the director found to be funny or overdone.
2. The house the film took place in belonged to a lesbian couple, a musician and a massage therapist. As part of the deal to use the house, the filmmakers agreed to cast their daughter, Sissy Frye (who plays the high school teacher) in a minor role.
3. Actress Claudia Flores thought Wendy Bednarz's character, Doreen's behavior and dialogue during the dinner scene were so silly, she got a blonde wig and ran around the set during the filming, mimicking her, fawning and whining, "Are there bears?! Is that a bear?!"
4. One of the scenes in the movie was designed to parody the Friday the 13th series by having a group of partying young people start taking off their clothes and swimming in the lake (mirroring a scene from Part IV: The Final Chapter, 1984). Director Kanefsky further explains that the concept of the joke is that they've walked into what they think is one movie situation, asking a character- "isn't this the camp by the lake?" (to which the other replies, "no, it's the house by the pond"), not knowing they're in the wrong movie. Kanefsky also says, had the film spawned a sequel, he planned to reproduce this scene in reverse, by having a character from the "house by the pond" movie walk into a "camp by the lake" movie.
5. Actress Bonnie Bowers has a scene with a white rat in the film where she sees it in the basement and is repulsed by it. In actuality, Bonnie was a great animal lover and was concerned the rat would be harmed by being kept in the freezing cold water. It's said that after shooting that scene, she took the animal home.
6. Director Kanefsky intended for Doreen's shower scene to be completely nudity-free. So it starts that way, with the camera being fogged up by steam and only seeing through to her legs and her hair as she shampoos it. However, his producer convinced him to shoot a later shot of the actress's breasts because he was a financial backer and was concerned the movie wouldn't make money without gratuitous nudity. Other scenes were affected by the producer's (also his father) insistance to add more nudity, including Doreen's fireplace makeout with Jim. Kanefsky however was able to shoot Stacy's stripping scene without seeing a frontal shot of her, so some of the director's intention to tease the audience remains intact.
7. During the first big screening for cast and crew, cast members invited friends to come and see it. One of Craig Peck's friends remarked during the scene where Stacy trots to the lake, "God- if somebody takes off their clothes again here, I'm going to throw up."
8. In the kitchen scenes in the house, we often see a prop jar full of M&M's throughout the film. One of the crew members, Ed Clapper, became obsessed with the continuity of the candies in the jar. Since none of the characters in the film are seen eating them, he wanted to make sure the level from the top is never higher in later scenes than in earlier ones. So many people were eating the M&M's, he tried to stop them by spraying the inside of the jar with hairspray. Afterward, director Kanefsky warned some, but not all, of the cast and crew not to eat the M&M's. Actor Mark Collver was the first to eat the poisoned-M&M's but was one of the people told about it. Nobody was harmed.
9. The actor originally chosen for the character of Mike and who auditioned for the part, was given the role but immediately turned it down when contacted. He later came to the director with concerns about the film's sexuality and nudity described in the script (even though Kanefsky planned to not shoot most of it). By this time, Kanefsky was already re-casting the part. The original actor returned a second time, just to tell Kanefsky: "I hope God forgives you for making this movie." Years later, Kanefsky joked that "He" probably hasn't.
10. Another actor dropped out of the film because of problems with nudity- the original choice to play Stacy. Due to this, 2 roles were affected. When actress Bonnie Bowers stepped in, she was given the job of choosing the actor to play Nick, her boyfriend, since Kanefsky hadn't made up his mind. Out of 3 actors, she was instructed to pick the man she found most physcially attractive and she chose John Carhart III. Carhart was one of the only actors on the film to have had previous film experience. Though it was just as an extra, dancing in the background, on John Waters' 1988 film, Hairspray.
11. Watch carefully... You'll notice the house has 2 different front doors at various points in the movie. One has a big rectangular plate of clear glass, and a slim light-blue frame. The other has an oval-shaped plate of glass with a tacky design on it, and a thick red frame. The director claims this is intentional and that the door was replaced partway into the shoot. The audience is supposed to notice this, so he had the editor cut 2 shots with the different doors back-to-back (as Nick exits the house to go for a morning walk).
12. In the scene where John Carhart III (Nick) is walking in the yard and steps on a rake, the actor wasn't hitting his mark or walking in the right direction. This caused so many re-takes, the crew member who rigged the rake to fly up at him just short of hitting him in the face, says he became furious and, on the DVD audio commentary remarked he, "really wanted to hit him with the rake." In the end, it took almost 2 hours to shoot the 20 second scene (the film's shooting schedule was limited to 2 short weeks). Carhart also at one point threw the rake and it hit the boom operator - a woman - in the face.
13. Cast and crew unanimously agree that actress Bonnie Bowers (Stacy) was a nightmare to work with. After maybe a couple days shooting, she started complaining constantly and fighting over directorial decisions. She was frustrated that the film's scenes were shot out of order, obsessed over the continuity of her hair during and after the pond scenes, stole clothing from the wardrobe, refused to come to the set on some days, would halt takes and yell "cut!" because she lost a slipper in the pond- forcing a crew member to swim in after it (it took 3 hours to find), called her lawyer to try and get her removed from the film, and claimed to have food poisoning (though the crew believes she made that up as an excuse to not work). Things with Bonnie got so bad that at one point, actor John Carhart III refused to allow her to touch his genitals in the "she's crushing my balls!" sequence toward the end. To fix this, in the shots where he's seen onscreen, another woman whose face we don't see is grabbing him, and where she's onscreen, another man whose face we don't see is being grabbed by her. Most of the cast and crew are really good friends to this day and Kanefsky says the reason for that is because they all hated Bonnie.
14. There's a scene where Craig Peck's character Mike remarks that when the creature attacks women there's "no slime!" This is because Bonnie Bowers refused to have the substance mixed up for the green slime touch her at all, so it was added into the dialogue for the "reproduction" discussion scene that when the creature attacks women, there's no slime.
15. Before shooting the sequence where Bonnie Bowers' character, Stacy, tells Craig Peck's character, Mike, that her flashlight doesn't work and he slams it against a countertop to get it to work- Kanefsky and the cast were joking around. In jest, Craig suggested in the scene, he whack the flashlight against Bonnie's head instead. While shooting the scene, Craig smacked the flashlight onto the countertop and threw it at John Carhart III's character, Nick, as we see in the final scene. But during the first take, the flashlight slipped out of his hand... and actually did hit Bonnie in the face. She was very upset and quietly walked out of the room, causing everyone to fear that she was leaving for sure and that they'd have to shoot all her scenes over again. But she came back in shortly to continue working, knowing that it was an accident and that Peck felt bad about it.
16. Good Day New York came to the set of the film to do a Behind the Scenes segment, observing the crew on the day they shot the big fight scene between Doreen and Stacy. At this point in the shooting, Bonnie Bowers was giving the crew trouble, both not showing up or acting very tired during her fighting and running scenes with the creature, however she was on her best behavior when the news crew came to visit. This is believed to be the only reason the fight scene works in the film. Actress Wendy Bednarz had a lot of fun this day, running around the set- she hit everybody with the fake bat. Director Kanefsky remarks that it still hurt quite a bit to be hit by the fake bat, which was made out of real rubber and not foam-rubber.
17. Producer Victor Kanefsky claims that Claudia Flores' nude scene was done to impress the news crew who visited them on-set and for no other reason.
18. A production assistant, Ed Stalter, went on to become personal assitant to action film director John Woo years after the film, working on several of his films, including- 1993's Hard Target and 1996's Broken Arrow.
19. All the actresses playing potential victims were models, but most moved on to other professions, including- musician, running a restaurant, director of photography, and teaching college film courses at NYU.
20. It's rumored that actress Lisa Grant was cast as the opening 'victim' merely because of the way she said "a fallen cloud!" in her audition.
21. The water in the flooded basement scene leaked into the den of the house the filmmakers were shooting in. One crew member remarks that this damaged over a thousand dollars worth of the owners' books.
22. Bottles of shaving cream don't naturally spray the cream out like a stream. There is a trick to rig the bottle to shoot this way that the director knew from childhood, so it's not implausible that he is able to fill the monster's mouth with shaving cream through a keyhole. However, several crew members had never heard of this and weren't allowed to eat lunch until they figured out how to make a "Modified Shaving Cream Can."
23. Some of the movies parodied by, referenced in, or that inspired the film include: Alien (1979), Mars Needs Women, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, The Evil Dead, Jaws, of course the Friday the 13th films, and most likely- Ghostbusters.
24. None of the male actors on the film are seen wearing boxer shorts, though they were more popular than briefs with many teen/20-something white males, especially in movies, at the time.


<center>A Few Photos

Director Rolfe Kanefsky






</center>

[dvdjunkie]

Wow! I had totally forgotten about "Manhattan Baby", thanks for the memories. Do you know if the DVD is still available? I would love to add this to my collection.

Thanks again, for all the memories. As schlocky or cheesy they may be, they are still very watchable films.

[Lazario]

Wow! I had totally forgotten about "Manhattan Baby". Do you know if the DVD is still available? I would love to add this to my collection.

Yep, sure is. You can Amazon-it, but I think it's also available at most any big online store.

The rule seems to be (and I didn't know this until I found out about it a couple years ago) that a smaller DVD company (such as Anchor Bay, Troma, etc.) can hold the rights to a movie when they release it on DVD for about 5 years and that's it. Meaning of course, any other company can re-release it any time afterward, but that that DVD released will only be available for maybe 5 or 6 years and then most likely go out of print after that. Which means Anchor Bay's original DVD's of Fulci's movies (and other Italian or European horror titles) are hard to find or completely out of print.

But Blue Underground re-released a large group of Anchor Bay's prior Euro-horror releases (Let Sleeping Corpses Lie - two times, Nightmare City, Argento's Cat o' Nine Tails and Suspiria and Inferno and Opera, Bruno Mattei's Rats: A Night of Terror and Hell of the Living Dead, Michele Soavi's The Church and Stagefright, Mario Bava's Shock - I think, and Fulci's Don't Torture a Duckling, House by the Cemetery, City of the Living Dead, The New York Ripper, Zombie - but much earlier in 2004, and Manhattan Baby) in 2007. So, if BU's earlier DVD's (I think their first was... well, I'm guessing a lot with this but, George Romero's The Crazies... that or Shock Waves... or The Final Countdown) start going out of print because of the 5-year rule, Fulci's movies (other than Zombie, which could go out of print at any time, unless it's released on Blu-Ray which Blue Underground is really getting into now) will be around until at least 2012. Unless the world is destroyed or significantly diminished somehow, first.

Thanks again, for all the memories. As schlocky or cheesy they may be, they are still very watchable films.

Thank you for checking it out.

[littlefuzzy]

I've got There's Nothing Out There on laserdisc, sadly the DVD is OOP. Thanks for the great review of this fun flick!

[Lazario]

I've got There's Nothing Out There on laserdisc, sadly the DVD is OOP. Thanks for the great review of this fun flick!

It's one of my favorites - I was more than happy to do it.

You can get the DVD from this guy on eBay, the one who sold me mine. He's amazing. Right now it costs $14.95 ($1.00 more than I spent for it, but even at 15 it's less than it ever was when it was in-print) and it's brand new & sealed, shipping's free and he has more than 10 copies left. And he'll get it to you in probably a week or less. Here's the Link, if you decide you want to get it soon.