Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962)

Elvis plays Ross Carpenter, a fishing guide/sailor who loves his life out on the sea. When he finds out his boss is retiring to Arizona, he has to find a way to buy the Westwind, a boat that he and his father built. He is also caught between two women: insensitive club singer Robin and sweet Laurel.

Girls! Girls! Girls! is a 1962 American musical comedy film starring Elvis Presley.   "Return to Sender", which reached #2 on the Billboard pop singles chart, is featured in the movie.  I told you I was going to watch an Elvis movie.  I needed a change a pace after the incredibly bad movies I watched over Thanksgiving.  I started feeling like a turkey.

 A lot of people remember fat and strung out Elvis.  But young Elvis was fucking cool jack.  Elvis (Ross Carpenter), plays a fishing guide.  Unfortunately the old couple that owns his boat are retiring and selling the boat.  Elvis needs to find a way to buy the boat....and he won't take hand outs jack.  The lovely Stella Stevens (Robin Gantner) plays a singer in a night club that Ross frequents. He also sings at the club from time to time.  And boy can that Elvis belt out a song...he'll grab a guitar anywhere and burst into song.  Even out on his boat fishing for tuna. At the same time Ross has feeling for (Laurel Dodge), played by Laurel Goodwin. Who will he choose?  The problems poor Elvis has.

I'm mother fucking Elvis and you're not.

Elvis isn't believable for a second as a fisherman.  But he does a decent job in this film with his acting.  He basically plays the same dude in all of his films....a somewhat mischievous yet good natured and wholly independent working class Joe that can sing his ass off. (who never accepts handouts Jack) 

Like most Elvis films, this one includes cornball comedy, bad dialogue, and some fighting.  But Elvis seems to have more energy in this film.  The scenes with Jeremy Slate and Elvis are particularly entertaining and I was glad when Elvis whipped his ass.  Elvis even has a song on a boat about seafood.  It's not a bad film and is pretty entertaining for what it is.  Don't expect The Godfather.

I don't take hand outs Jack.

Trivia:

The only one of Elvis Presley's feature film to be nominated for a Golden Globe award.

In the film Elvis Presley performs his only tango song, "The Walls Have Ears". 

Stella Stevens did not want to do this movie and was nearly suspended by Paramount. Her protests hurt her relationship with the studio. She has stated several times that she refuses to watch this film.

According to "The Book of Lists 2" by Irving Wallace et. al., this was the most widely televised of all Elvis Presley's films. 

In a scene featuring Elvis and Laurel Goodwin outside the Pirates Den, 2 movie posters can be seen featuring Blue Hawaii (1961) - starring Elvis Presley.

Working titles have included: "A Girl in Every Port," "Welcome Aboard" and "Gumbo Ya-Ya."

After making a couple of films with United Artists, namely Follow That Dream (1962) and _Kid Galahad_, Elvis Presley returned to Paramount. Although the United Artists films had been well received by the critics, the box office was down on his previous Paramount entries. So, a conscious decision was made to return to the formula of the old Paramount films.

A dreamboat of a drama.

Don't Go In The Woods (2010)

A young band heads to the woods in order to focus on writing new songs. Hoping to emerge with new music that will score them their big break, they instead find themselves in the middle of a nightmare beyond comprehension. 

Don't Go in the Woods is a 2010 American horror musical written and directed by Vincent D'Onofrio. You read that correctly....a fucking horror musical. I'm not sure how to even begin as I've never seen anything like this.  That does it....I'm watching an Elvis movie next.

A band goes into the woods to try and come up with some new songs and before long their girlfriends show up as well.  After that a killer shows up with a sledgehammer and starts taking everybody out.  He must have really hated that singing as much as I did.  I don't think your understand...80% of this film is them singing songs.  I love horror movies and kind of like watching silly bad horror movies....but this film made me angry.  This film should be taken into the woods and left there.

Hey everybody let's sing some songs around the campfire.

In D'Onofrio's defense...the directing wasn't awful only because there didn't appear to be any.  The visuals were fine mainly because they were at least in focus.  But the singing...it's all singing.  The foreign bitch starts singing while the killer is chasing her.  The director for some reason needed every single insignificant "actor" in the film to get a solo song performance.  I've seen hundreds of horror films, and I seriously cannot remember the last time I was this irritated by a one. This movie has absolutely no redeeming qualities. 

Please kill me so I don't have to attend the premiere.

Time for a song.

Intermedio (2005)

A group of four teenage friends become trapped in a Mexican border tunnel where they fall prey, one-by one, to tortured ghosts who haunt it.

This Thanksgiving holiday has not been good for my movie watching.  Here's another shitty fucking film I wasted 90 minutes of my life on.  This is a cheap movie with cheap "effects" that are eye-rolling at best.  The "ghosts" are guys dressed in skeleton costumes like in the fucking "Karate Kid".  The only entertaining part of this film is watching Cernia Vincent running around in a cut-off t-shirt sans bra and with thong-cut jeans.  She is quite fetching.

We're here and we're ready to act.

 The whole movie has the kids running around in tunnels...running in abandoned buildings...running up and down ladders.  And they hug a lot. The one moment that had me do a double take???  A ghost throws a pickaxe at Cerina and she suddenly demonstrates a Matrix-like move, doubling her body backward to avoid the weapon, then leaps about like a kung fu expert to fight off the villain. What in the blue hell?

This is a standard teens-against-monsters horror quickie, and you know what that means. There is not one iota of originality in this movie; you've seen every one of these recycled plot devices a hundred times before.  Avoid unless you've been drinking heavily.

In the caves of Mexico...There is something worse than death. It's this film.

Trivia:

The cast on Amber Benson's foot is real. Shortly before filming, a landscaping mishap at home caused several fractures.

Edward Furlong's pants didn't fit at first because the waist and inseam sizes were accidentally switched. The pants were too long, and too tight at the waist. However, they fit Paul Cram perfectly.

The original script followed Steve Railsback's character as he killed the teens, with strange and elaborate traps he set in the tunnel, to avenge his son's death.

At least he doesn't have to watch the rest of the film. 

The Curse Of El Charro (2005)

In California, Maria (Andrew Mia) has awful nightmares with visions of her sister that committed suicide one year ago. Her roommate Chris (Heidi Androl) invites Maria to travel with her and her friends Tanya (Kathryn Taylor) and Rose (KellyDawn Malloy) on vacation to her uncle's house in Saguaro, Arizona, to relax. When the group arrives at the house, they immediately go to a night-club to have fun and chase some local guys for sex; however, the evil El Charro (Andrew Bryniarski) is seeking Maria.....killing her friends with his machete.

The Curse of El Charro is a 2005 horror film starring Danny Trejo.  This film is a mess.  We have 4 unlikable characters played by 4 horrible actresses in a movie that moves about as fast a one legged jack rabbit. It has pointless and goofy religious "symbolism," and awful lighting and cinematography.  What does all this add up to???  A fucking mess. And speaking of religion....I will be praying for the financial ruin of whoever made this film to make sure they never make another.

The film begins with the 4 bimbos going on a trip. They have nothing in common except that each has a vagina.  On the way, while smoking some pot, they are pulled over by a creepy sheriff.  But never fear, the driver gets them out of trouble by blowing the sheriff in his car.  The sheriff then takes them to a bar filled with assorted weirdos, including a wheel chair bound death metal rocker.  They then leave.  Porn star Tabitha Stevens shows up for a lame lesbian shower scene.  And then El Charro goes nuts and starts killing.  I'm just sorry he didn't kill the director and producer of the film as well.

True evil can never die

I cannot find one good thing about this movie, and I did try. The acting is terrible. (like a group of college students were pulled out of class, handed the script, and told to do their best)  And believe it or not...Danny Trejo isn't even on screen in this film.  He's the voice of El Charro. What?  I can't blame him though...I wouldn't want to be seen in this fucking film either.

This film will drive you to an insane asylum.

John Dies At The End (2012)

It's a drug that promises an out-of-body experience with each hit. On the street they call it Soy Sauce, and users drift across time and dimensions. But some who come back are no longer human. Suddenly a silent otherworldly invasion is underway, and mankind needs a hero. What it gets instead is John and David, a pair of college dropouts who can barely hold down jobs. Can these two stop the oncoming horror in time to save humanity? No. No, they can't.

John Dies at the End is a 2012 American dark comedy-horror film written and directed by Don Coscarelli, based on David Wong's novel of the same name.  The film stars Chase Williamson and Rob Mayes, with Paul Giamatti, Clancy Brown, Angus Scrimm, Daniel Roebuck, and Doug Jones.

Coscarelli has made some classic movies...try Phantasm and Bubba Ho-Tep.  When I heard he had a new one I bolted to see it.  AND....IT....IS...CRAZY.  Buckle your seat belt if you get the chance to see this one, because there are lots of twists, turns, and unexpected surprises.  Here you've got mind-bending drugs, time travel, exploding monsters, an alternate universe, and laughs....huge laughs.  If you're tired of silly goth vampires and found footage films...run to see this movie.  It will never be mainstream but this is what cult classics are made of.

That's right, Arnie, everything you know is wrong

The film starts out with David Wong (Chase Williamson) telling his bizarre tale to a reporter, Arnie Blondestone (Paul Giamatti).  Wong starts to spin a tale involving himself and his friend, John (Rob Mayes) and their encounters with a powerful drug with a mind of it's own called "soy sauce". This bizarre narcotic not only gives the user (if they survive it) heightened psychic awareness but, opens doorways to alternate dimensions.  But not only can you go in....those things can come out.  It's up to Wong and John to keep them from crossing over and save the world.  This is a head trip of a movie.

The live action animatronic creatures and gore are very well done by Make-up FX master Robert Kurtzman and his team.  The acting was very good; especially for relying on two unknowns to carry the picture. Both Williamson and Mayes really nailed their roles down to the smallest idiosyncrasies of character. Paul Giamatti was his usual, solid self.

The Tall Man in a new role.

 Coscarelli is in prime form.  Despite a mediocre budget the special effects are spectacular driving a narrative that is both mind blowing and absurd, encompassing subjects like possession, telekinesis, parallel universes, alternate realities, and squirming little monsters.  Handled by any other director I think this subject matter would result in an incoherent mess of a movie. Coscarelli does a masterful job tying in all the diverse elements while keeping the plot steaming along.

Fans of the book will be happy to know that a lot of the dialogue is kept from the book; Dave's opening monologue about the ax, for example, and even some of Korrok's dialogue at the end.  The meat monster and the, uh, unusual doorknob scene is still in, and so is Bob Marley, the black cop and lots of other things that look like they've come straight from the book.

In all, this film was thoroughly entertaining and stimulating

That's not Paul Maxon

Trivia:

Director Don Coscarelli stumbled on David Wong's novel as a result of an email product recommendation: "True story: I received an email from a robot on Amazon.com, and it told me if I liked the zombie book I just read, that I would like John Dies at the End. I read the little logline, and it was just amazingly strange. I thought, 'Well this might even make a good movie.' Plus, it had arguably the greatest title in motion picture history." 

In the book, the location of the town its set it in is never given. Instead, it's usually called "Undisclosed". In the movie, however, the label of the parcel John sends to himself is sent to Sherwood, Illinois. There is no Sherwood, Illinois.

John's full name is, according to the parcel he sends himself, John Cheese.

The character of Amy Sullivan in the movie is an amalgam of two characters from the book. In the book, there's an additional female character named Jennifer "Jen" Lopez, who only shares the name with the famous singer. She became Dave's girlfriend and has tried the "Soy Sauce" herself, although she refuses to acknowledge any effects it may or may not have had on her.

After Dave meets Robert Marley, the boys have a discussion in "Hot-n-Tot Cafe." This name is a play on the word Hottentot, which was how early Europeans referred to the Khoikhoi people of Southwest Africa when they first encountered them in the 17th century. The name Hottentot was given to them by Europeans because of how they thought the language sounded. It is unclear as to why this name was used in the scene. The scene was shot at a real diner with the same name, located at 2347 Pacific Coast Highway in Lomita, CA.

Yo....it's the meat monster

John's full name, John Cheese, is a reference to Cracked.com comedy writer John Cheese (real name Mack Leighty) who co-wrote "John Dies at the End" and the sequel "This Book is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It" with David Wong (real name Jason Pargin). In the end of "This Book is Full of Spiders," David Wong claims that John demands "at least one scene per book in which he 'ramps something,' along with a flat payment for each time I [Wong] use the name in print."

The uniforms worn by the two members of the Human Liberation Army were not made for this film. They originally appeared as Thermian outfits in the film Galaxy Quest (1999). 

The onscreen title for this movie at the beginning was CGI "ink". The rest of the shot was actual inkblots filmed in a fish tank.

The mall where the Mall Of The Dead sequence was filmed is the same mall that producer Roman Perez saw the earlier Don Coscarelli movie Phantasm (1979) at, back when the mall was in business and had a movie theater. 

Just so you know...they're sorry for anything that's about to happen.

Deep Rising (1998)

A group of heavily armed hijackers board a luxury ocean liner in the South Pacific Ocean to loot it, only to do battle with a series of large-sized, tentacled, man-eating sea creatures who have taken over the ship first. 

Deep Rising is a 1998 American action horror film directed by Stephen Sommers and starring Treat Williams, Famke Janssen and Anthony Heald.  It's silly, cliché-heavy, and utterly predictable.  I would consider this to be what I call a "popcorn movie".  It's mindless entertainment.  This movie is stupid as hell, but it knows it, and just wants to take us along on its stupid ride.

The movie has mercenaries that are on their way to a Titanic-like cruise ship called the Argonautica in order to steal and blow it up.  The thing they weren't counting on was a monster with snake tentacles that sucks humans dry.  It's basically a rip off of Alien where a monster traps everyone in a sealed off location and takes them out one by one.

This ain't no pleasure cruise

The monster is pretty well designed and cool looking and some of the deaths are pretty brutal.  Beyond that, the film fails on most other levels.  The comic relief is provided by the ship's engineer, who whines his way through the movie and spits out lame joke after lame joke.  In fact they all crack shitty one liners no matter how bad the situation.  There is practically no tension here because at no time can this film be taken seriously - whatsoever.

Women and children first. You're next.

 If you know the work of Sommers, then you will know what to expect from his movies, aside from the fact that they lessen in quality every time a new one is released.  He also did Van Helsing which was a tremendous box office bomb as was this film.  Although to his credit he did very well with The Mummy.

Admittedly you must like B-movie fluff to enjoy this but then it has no pretensions other than escapism.  There isn't really much else to say about this film. No great science here. No factual based story....just have fun, eat popcorn.

Now what?

 Trivia:

Famke Janssen's character Trillian is named after the Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy character of the same name. Although here Trillian is her actual name, in Hitch-Hiker's it's short for Tricia McMillan. 

Claire Forlani was cast as Trillian St. James. She even started shooting, but walked out after just three days, due to creative differences with director Stephen Sommers. The part subsequently went to Famke Janssen.

The "Chinese M1 L1 triple-pulse assault rifles" used by the pirates are actually heavily modified Calico M-960 submachine guns fitted with 100-round magazines (as opposed to the "thousand-round capacity" mentioned by Hanover). Five non-functional rotating barrels were built around the actual barrel of each Calico and driven by a small electric motor connected to the trigger, so that whenever the gun was fired, it appeared to be firing out of the rotating barrels.

Captain Atherton, played by Derrick O'Connor, was named after cinematographer Howard Atherton.

Harrison Ford turned down the role of Finnegan. The production's budget was then downsized. 

They Seized The World's Richest Ship... But No One's On Board!

Famke Janssen was almost not cast in this movie because the producers felt she was too recognizable from GoldenEye (1995)

In the original script, John Finnegan's catchphrase was "what now?" In the film it was changed to "now what?"

One of the few films that has no heroes or heroines. Finnegan and his crew are hired for villainous reasons. Trillian is a thief. The mercenaries are simply mercenaries.

Stephen Sommers began writing the script, then called "Tentacle", when he worked at Hollywood Pictures in the mid-90s. 

The January 1st, 1996 revised draft of the screenplay lists Robert Mark Kamen as a co-writer.

In the initial scene of the Argonautica Casino there can be seen some old Italian banknotes probably used to portrait an exotic foreign currency; their size is 2000 lire and 1000 lire. These were the smallest banknote sizes at the time, roughly equivalent to 1$ and 50c of 2013 - in 1998 the price of an Italian newspaper was 1200 lire.

Full scream ahead.

976-Evil (1989)

People who dial 976-EVIL receive supernatural powers and turn into satanic killers. 

976-EVIL is a 1988 horror film directed by Robert Englund.  The film's title refers to the 976 telephone exchange, a now mostly defunct premium-rate telephone number system that was popular in the late 1980s.

This is a cheesy little horror film from the 80's directed by Freddy Kruger himself.  I enjoy watching these movies from the 80's.  It takes me back to my youth with those hair styles and the way the characters talk and act.  But I find the film to be pretty average.

The story centres around cousins Spike (Patrick O'Bryan) and Hoax (Stephen Geoffreys).  Geoffreys was Evil Ed in the film Fright Night and it's impossible to watch him on screen and not think about that.  Anyway, Spike loses his motorcycle in a game of poker and calls a horrorscope line, 976-Evil. He follows the advice on the line and gets enough money so he doesn't have to give up his bike.  Eventually his cousin Hoax finds the number himself and gives it a call.  Personally I would have wiped my ass with the card and tossed it straight into the trash.  Hoax keeps calling the line and it has him performing Santanic rituals, getting possessed by the devil and taking revenge on everyone that picks on him. 

Once you've been to hell, everything else pales in comparison!

976-Evil was a decent time waster & a pretty watchable horror film. The script by Brian Helgeland & Rhet Topham moves along at a fair pace although it does drag in a couple of place.  Englund does a pretty good job as director although he does throw in some cheesy Freddy Kruger type one liners throughout the film.   The special effects are fine, the cinematography & lighting is cool & it's well made throughout. The acting is also pretty good, except the terrible Sandy Dennis & her almost as terrible hair-dos.  They could have chilled with all the smoking.  I've never seen so many smokers in one film.  If the demon didn't kill them they'd have lung cancer within the year.

Yes, there are plot holes galore but Geoffreys performance as a wigged out psychobitch geek who ain't gonna take it anymore is kickass. There's not too much gore though there were some quite cool special effects and make-up, but don't expect a masterpiece.

When Spike dialed 976-EVIL, he knew it was an expensive toll call, but he didn't know that he'd have to pay for it with his soul.

976-Evil is very unique, very original and just pretty fun to watch.  It's a cheese-packed time waster that serves as fine entertainment for those who enjoy these kinds of films. Just understand it for what it is before picking it up and viewing.   It did spawn a sequel, which I haven't had a chance to see yet, however I understand that Spike returns in the second movie.

One Number for Hell!

Trivia:

When Hoax casts the spell that makes spiders come out of Suzie's TV dinner, there's a box of snack cakes behind the TV dinner called "Devil Twins".

Directorial debut of Robert Englund. 

J.J. Cohen lost about thirty pounds for his role as Marcus.

Spike's usual (favorite food) at the diner is 'Deviled Egg'.

You can see a club sign near the beginning of the film that says 'Diablo'.

Marcus was originally supposed to be killed by being thrown off the roof of a building by Hoax. However, this had to be changed to Marcus getting killed in the bathroom by Hoax instead because of the low budget.

Would it be...possible...to open with a pair of hearts?

The Driller Killer (1979)

An artist slowly goes insane while struggling to pay his bills, work on his paintings, and care for his two female roommates, which leads him taking to the streets of New York after dark and randomly killing derelicts with a power drill. 

The Driller Killer is a 1979 horror film directed by and starring Abel Ferrara. It was on a list of banned so-called video nasties in the United Kingdom.  When you look at the name of the film you immediately think it's a slasher film.  It has violent finish but it is closer to being a character study of a man driven to insanity by his squalid, and increasingly anarchic urban environment.  It's more of a social drama about life in the big city than it is a horror shocker. 

It follows Reno Miller (Abel Ferrara) as a struggling painter.  He's painting a picture of a big fucking buffalo for some reason and dude is always angry and irate.  He owes money to everybody and argues with everybody he meets.  His two roommates, Carol (Carolyn Marz) and Pamela (Baybi Day) both spend his money, cover his bills, and take rather erotic showers together.  A punk band moves in next door and drive him crazy with practicing day and night.  They are god awful.  Reno then goes out and buys a drill and proceeds to kill homeless bums with it.  The music is so terrible I almost went out and bought a drill.  Reno then moves on to using the drill on others and it leads to the violent climax of the film.

I told you I'd get you the rent.

The Driller Killer was originally banned as a "video nasty" because of the notoriety it gained for it's cover art, as opposed to it's content.  Ferrara's use of deep red in the film was particularly striking, the red symbolising Reno's ever-growing rage with life from the outset; a character driven to extreme anger out of the pressures of urban life, who then kills homeless `bums' out of a fear that one day he too will become like them.  We are frequently shown religious icons of varying sorts and I'm not sure why.  There are really no other religious overtones to this movie that I could see.

The acting is on the low-budget side. But there's something about the Driller Killer that works, almost in spite of itself.  This film really documents the village punk circuit at the end of the 1970's.  The hand-held mingling with the street people of the period shows how filthy NYC was at the time.  Overall, the Driller Killer is a creative and inventive insight into insanity. It's not a masterpiece like some movies that deal with a similar theme, such as Taxi Driver, but it a very good movie and recommended to fans of shock cinema.

The stupid fucking buffalo painting.

 Trivia:

Abel Ferrara claims that half of this movie was shot in 1978 and the other half was shot in 1979. This explains why the actors hair styles and looks in general change quite frequently during the movie. 

Title is mentioned in the song "Nasty" by The Damned - a song about horror movies that were banned in the U.K. after the Video Recording Act of 1984.

Abel Ferrara claims that the black guy cleaning the taxi cab windscreen near the beginning of the film was Bruce Willis. 

Could have easily escaped the UK 'video nasty' list if the original pre-VRA video cover wasn't so graphic. it featured a very bloody close-up of a drill boring into a man's head with lots of blood. The video cover was featured in video catalogues and received many complaints.

James O'Hara's final film. 

The Dead Zone (1983)

Christopher Walken wakes from a coma due to a car accident, only to find he has lost five years of his life, and yet gained psychic powers. Foreseeing the future appears to be a 'gift' at first, but ends up causing problems...

The Dead Zone is a 1983 American horror thriller film based on the Stephen King novel of the same name. Directed by David Cronenberg, the film stars Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Brooke Adams, Herbert Lom and Tom Skerritt.  In the previous post I commented on a movie based on a Stephen King story and it got a thumbs down.  This movie gets two thumbs up....way up. It might be the best adaptation of a King story ever made.  It's one of the few King novels turned into a really good movie.

The film centers around a young man (Christopher Walken) who is a popular teacher, has a great girlfriend he's going to marry, and has a fantastic life and future in front of him.  But late one night, a horrific car accident takes all of that away from him.  He awakens from a coma five years later and his old girlfriend is married with a child and he has a new ability.  He's able to look into the past or the future with just a touch.  A terrible doomsday vision affects him and he sets out to change the future, even if it means he will not live to see it for himself.

Your house is burning! There's still time!

 This is an emotional, sorrowful tale of loss, grief and sacrifice.  Walken is absolutely fantastic in the role.  He's very likable and, at the same time, frighteningly intense.  The wintry backdrop makes for a bleak atmosphere and helps convey the sadness and loneliness that Johnny feels in his life.  Also starring are Brooke Adams as Johnny's ex, and Herbert Lom as a doctor.  I kept waiting for Lom to go on a rant about Inspector Clouseau.  Martin Sheen is impressive as a sinister politician

Director David Cronenberg delivers a film that resonates perfectly with King's book.  With Cronenberg you may expect this to be a gore-filled affair, but it is actually a subtle film which stresses the psychological sense of fear rather than settling for blood-spattered mayhem.  Nothing in this film will make you jump out of your seat in terror.  But it will wear on your mind and stick with you long after you've finishing watching it. 

it's called the coma diet - lose weight while ya sleep

This film holds up today even though it was made in 1983.  The Dead Zone's script was written by the very talented Jeff Boam and it's fantastic.  He had a nearly unbroken nine-year streak of hit screenplays.  A somber, downbeat film with an unhappy and reluctant hero, The Dead Zone is compelling and definitely recommended.  Quite possibly my favorite film from Cronenberg.

Trivia: 

Before the accident, Johnny instructs his class to read "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". Christopher Walken would later go on to appear in Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow.

Martin Sheen's character says he has had a vision that he will be the President of the United States. Sheen went on to play the President of the United States in the mini series Kennedy and in The West Wing. 

During the time Michael Kamen was composing the music for the film in London, he would play the score on the piano in his home. He received several complaints by his neighbors who asked, "Can you please stop playing that music? I can't sleep and it's giving my family nightmares."

The film makes reference to 'Sleepy Hollow' which, like this film, is about a schoolteacher. In the novel, Johnny Smith compares his coma and subsequent recovery to 'Rip Van Winkle,' another short story written by Washington Irving. 

"Bless me"? Do you know what God did for me? He threw an 18-wheeled truck at me and bounced me into nowhere for five years! When I woke up, my girl was gone, my job was gone, my legs are just about useless... Blessed me? God's been a real sport to me!

Director David Cronenberg had to re-shoot the scene in which John Smith has his first premonition. It showed a little girl's room burning and a small E.T. doll could be seen on one of the shelves. The scene had to be re-shot when Universal Pictures threatened to sue.

Cronenberg fired a .357 Magnum loaded with blanks just off camera to make Smith's flinches seem more involuntary; this was Christopher Walken's own idea. 

A stuntman was severely burned around the legs and groin when a squib went off too near him during the shooting of the WWII flashback sequence.

The "sweat" on Christopher Walken's face during the "burning bedroom" sequence was in fact a flame-retardant chemical that had been sprayed onto him. The resulting effect, which hadn't been anticipated, looked surprisingly dramatic on film. 

David Cronenberg wanted to change the name of Christopher Walken's character: "I'd never name someone 'Johnny Smith'", he quipped, but in the end it was left as is. The book does specifically mention how it sounds like a fake name.

One of only three David Cronenberg films that do not have a score by his friend, composer Howard Shore. This was due to studio politics in which Paramount wanted a more familiar composer to write the music for the film. Michael Kamen, who had written the music for the film Venom for the studio, was chosen instead. 

This film (and Stephen King's novel) are both loosely based upon the life of famous psychic Peter Hurkos. Hurkos claimed to have acquired his alleged powers after falling off a ladder and hitting his head.

The poem Johnny reads in the beginning of the film is the end of "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe. 

There are several deleted scenes that were filmed and completed but have never been seen publicly and are thought to have been discarded prior to the films release. Among them: - A prologue showing John Smith as a boy (played by Stephen Flynn) who sustains a head injury during an ice hockey match. The scene features actor Sean Sullivan as John's father. - An alternate scene of John Smith's vision of the Camp David scene (featuring Martin Sheen) in which John himself appears in the vision as a helpless spectator. Photos of these scenes appeared in the December 1983 issue of Cinefantastique.

Three people were involved in the James Bond franchise. Anthony Zerbe (Roger Stuart) would later appear in Licence to Kill, while Christopher Walken (Johnny Smith) would later appear in A View to a Kill. Michael Kamen, who did the music for this film, would later do the music for Licence to Kill. 

The Dead Zone was the first of several Stephen King novels and short stories that took place in the small town of Castle Rock. Others include Stand by Me, Cujo, The Dark Half, and Needful Things.

Bill Murray was Stephen King's choice for the part of Johnny.

The gazebo where the murder took place was built for the film, and was later donated to the town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, where it was filmed and is now a favourite spot for wedding photographs.

I have had a vision that I am going to be President of the United States someday. And nobody, and I mean *nobody* is going to stop me!

In the "nuclear war" scene, Greg Stillson, Martin Sheen's character, threatens to "hack off" someone's hand and put it on the scanning screen. An earlier version of the script actually had Stillson shooting the man and putting his dead hand on the screen.

One rejected ending had Johnny Smith survive being gunned down and predicting a knife attack against his girlfriend while in the hospital, then slipping back into a coma and dying.

In the final scene when Sarah is crying and hugging Johnny, we hear her stop crying for a few seconds to tell Johnny that she loves him, but since her mouth is obscured we don't actually see her say it. The original script did not have her saying this. Her voice was dubbed in later in order to have some closure for Johnny.

The Ice is going to BREAK!!!

Riding The Bullet (2004)

A young man hitchhiking back home to visit his mother is picked up by a mysterious stranger. As the ride goes on, the young man uncovers a terrible secret about the stranger, and is given a choice by the stranger. A choice that can mean life or death.

Riding the Bullet is a 2004 horror film, directed by Mick Garris. It is an adaptation of a Stephen King novella of the same name.  This film is not the greatest ride.

The story is set back in 1969. Alan (Jonathan Jackson) is a college student who learns that his mother (Barbara Hershey) has been hospitalized after a stroke. He must hitchhike across the state over the course of one night to be with her. Along the way he confronts his past, his future, his demons and fears - and a terrifying personification of death. David Arquette does a fine job of playing a weirdo. That's kinda like type casting.

The movie is not, for the most part, a horror movie, but it does manage to generate suspense.  The last half hour feels way too much like an episode of the Twilight Zone.  Mick Garris was the director and he's directed in television for so long that this big screen effort feels like a TV movie.  With this film  the parts are better than the whole.

Nice to meet you, Hector. I'm George. George Staub

The acting and effects were convincing enough for what it is, but overall it was too uneven to really deliver either a decent horror or a good coming to terms movie.  If you're a Stephen King fan you should probably check it out....otherwise it's nothing too special.

Trivia:
Based on a story of the same name by Stephen King that was written exclusively for the internet.

The old red car with the white top is supposed to be a 1958 Plymouth Fury - the same make and model as Christine. 

In the short story, George Staub's car was a Ford Mustang. The filmmakers decided to go with a red and white Plymouth as a nod to Stephen King's Christine. However Christine was a 1958 Plymouth Fury and George's car was a 1960 Plymouth Fury.

When Alan asks his mother how his father died, she says he was hit by a car while walking along side the road (while on his way to get gas for his car). On June 19, 1999, Stephen King was struck (and almost killed) while walking along Route 5, in Lovell, Maine. 

Shit, one more life or death seems pretty insignificant in the greater planetary sheme of things.

Dr. Black And Mr. Hyde (1976)

An African-American scientist develops a formula to regenerate dying liver cells, but it has the unfortunate after-effect of turning him into an albino with a mania for killing prostitutes. A tough police lieutenant investigating the murders discovers the existence of the dual-personality killer, and determines to bring him in.

Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde is a 1976 blaxploitation horror film. It was loosely inspired by the novella, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. The film stars Bernie Casey and Rosalind Cash and was directed by William Crain, who had also directed the successful Blacula for American International Pictures in 1972.

The film has Bernie Casey as Dr. Henry Pride.  Pride has been experimenting with a serum that should cure hepatitis and regenerate liver cells.  It's doesn't do that.  It instead turns him into the white and sadistic Mr. Hyde. When his favorite hooker won't try his serum. he starts killing her Ho friends. Why is he pissed at Ho's?  Henry's mother worked as a maid in a local bordello.  When she fell ill and needed help, none of the Ho's lifted a finger to assist.

A screamin' demon rages inside, turnin' him into Mr Hyde... don't give him no sass or he'll kick yo' ass!

This film isn't very scary, but its mighty entertaining.  As a showcase for Bernie Casey this is pretty damn enjoyable.  It's also damn funny with lots of action and crazy blaxploitation-style music.  It also has super groovy Silky the pimp.  Word to your mother.  Dude is also hard to kill - surviving attacks by police dogs, innumerable gun-shot wounds and, finally, a leap from L.A.'s oddly-shaped Watts Tower. 
Also features Rosalind Cash, known for her role opposite Charlton Heston back in The Omega Man. Also noteworthy, the Mr. Hyde make-up effects on Bernie Casey are by the legendary Stan Winston.

The Fear of the Year is Here!

The funniest part of the movie is that Hyde doesn't even really look "white", as the movie suggests.  It's hilarious that the black folks in the movie pretend to be fooled by it. In one scene, Hyde rampages inside a seedy bar, gets cut, and bolts outside into the parking lot, where he reverts to Pryde. His pursuers don't recognize him at all, despite the fact that he's wearing the same clothes, bleeding, and all that's changed is his complexion.  Groovy.

I do recommend this to all other fans of bad B-movies and blaxploitation films. A bad movie for all the right reasons.

A Monster He Can't Control Has Taken Over His Very Soul!

Quotes:

Lt. Jackson: Brother man, this situation is rapidly becoming insalubrious... meaning: We're about to stomp a mudhole in your ass!

Lt. Jackson: That's a cross between The Abominable Snowman and Willie the Werewolf. 

See What Ain't. See a... Haint!