Clive Barker made an official announcement on his Facebook Friday night that his cult classic, “Nightbreed,” will get a DVD release of the “Cabal Cut” by Shout! Factory’s Scream Factory line.
Barker himself was harshly critical of the 1990 theatrical edit of the film and felt the studio completely mishandled the editing and marketing of the movie, which was a huge box-office and critical flop. The lost footage was found years later, but the studio had no interest in an extended release despite its rise to cult status. Then in 2012, Russell Cherrington, a senior lecturer in film and video production at the University of Derby, created a composite cut of the film using the footage found on both VHS tapes as well as the Warner Bros DVD. This version is the most complete version of Barker’s film available and has been dubbed The Cabal Cut, running 155 minutes long.
This isn’t the only time Barker’s work was misunderstood and mishandled by studio execs. “Lord of Illusions” suffered a similar fate of being over-edited, and critical failure. But the extended cut adds back much need elements to the story, and is one of the more disturbing horror films out there. Which, it should go without saying, is considered a compliment here.
It’s not so hard to figure out why the man stopped directing.
Barker is such a mad genius of dark fantasy, he’s beyond anything Hollywood could possibly ever grasp. And “Nightbreed” presents a shining example of a world created by Barker, full of creatures who form their own tribe as outcasts of humanity, or the Nightbreed.
No details on release date or extras, but Shout! Factory has quite a collection of special editions, including films like “Prince of Darkness,” “Terror Train,” and “The Funhouse.” Or, you could read the book “Cabal” while you wait for the “Nightbreed” release.
Bob Carter, or as many of us knew him, Sammy Terry.
We lost a true horror legend today. While I always refer to the “unholy trinity of horror” as Vincent Price, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, I would have never known them if it hadn’t been for another man — Bob Carter, or Sammy Terry, as legions of horror fans came to know him.
Carter played his role every Friday night on Indianapolis channel 4, and I could barely contain myself through the nightly news, waiting for him to come on. He played all the cult classics like “Night of the Living Dead,” and introduced the House of Hammer to me, namely Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. And with Lee, such began my love affair with the monster, or my lifelong “sympathy for the devil.”
With his trusty sidekick spider, George, Sammy Terry entertained us all with his silly segments and creaky coffin, and my love of horror was born. He died today at the ripe old age of 83, breaking my heart at the thought I would never get the chance to meet him as I put off making it out to his public appearances. And a huge piece of my childhood died with him.
I still think of Friday nights as horror movie night to this day, over 40 years later.
Rest in peace, Sammy. Until we meet again, indeed…
Huffington Post posted a great, long interview with Michael Rooker, aka Merle Dixon on “The Walking Dead,” or formerly of TWD as he became a zombie and was killed by his brother last season. But you know we still love him, as we “genre” fans embrace you for life once you’ve made your mark with us.
I had forgotten about his role in “Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer,” which he reveals was his first role, and talks about his method acting technique for the role in this clip. He was seriously disturbing in that movie if you haven’t seen it.
He also talks about his love of horror and some of his other roles in horror, including movies like “The Dark Half” and “Slither.” He doesn’t even mention “Mississippi Burning,” where he had a rather notorious run-in with Gene Hackman.
So anyway, check out this great interview and watch Rooker mess with the Huff Post guy. Priceless. Can’t we bring him back to “The Walking Dead?” Please?
Guillermo del Toro has written, directed and produced some beautiful dark fantasy films such as “Pan’s Labyrinth” and comic-based movies such as “Blade II” and “Hellboy,” but his most recent producer project, “Mama,” is straight up horror movie. The film, which premiered Friday, eviscerated the competition at the box office to kick off the weekend, with a $10 million opening day. It also happened to be the second week topping the box office for star Jessica Chastain, who reigned supreme in earnings last weekend with her Oscar-nominated performance in “Zero Dark Thirty.” Not to mention that whole Golden Globes Award last week for Best Actress.
What a showoff that one is, don’t you think?
And she’s at it again with her performance as a brunette, garage-band bassist turned guardian angel in “Mama.” The film centers on two little girls who are abandoned in a cabin in the wild after a family tragedy, and have to survive on their own a few years.
Well… almost on their own. Enter the aforementioned “Mama.” And this is one bad mother.
Mama adopts the two orphan girls and doesn’t take too kindly when their uncle’s search team finds them, and takes them off to a psychiatric institute. And while the older girl seems to be adapting back to civilization, the younger one… not so much.
They eventually go home with their uncle Lucas (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and his other half, Annabel (Chastain) creating some friction in their formerly childless relationship. But they don’t come home alone, as Mama tags along, which creates a bit of another problem, such as Mama coming through the walls to play with the little girls when Chastain isn’t looking or hiding in the closet. And that rather nasty bit when Mama decides to push Lucas down the stairs to dispatch him to the hospital for awhile.
Someone did not learn to share or play nice with others in school.
Then Chastain incurs Mama’s wrath when she starts winning over the eldest daughter, and things start to really go downhill from there. Likewise, the relationship between the two sisters becomes strained when they begin to polarize into different camps of “Team Annabel” and “Team Mama.”
“Mama” has some genuinely creepy moments, and of course, those moments that’ll make you jump out of your seat a little. Hey, it’s mandatory for horror film to go for the quick scares. But there is certainly an artistry in the more subtle moments of the film, as well, with a dare-I-say-it “tearjerker” ending?
Hey, there’s no crying in horror movies — that’s just not right. But it is, for this movie anyway.
And that’s the quality that separates this film from many horror films, unfortunately. Most lack a real grasp of the human element, and real emotion, but instead, go for cheap “jump-out-and-go-BOO” thrills. Thankfully, “Mama” bucks that bad trend. Of course, it doesn’t hurt when have top-rate acting with the likes of an Academy Award nominee, and a great cast to fill out the rest of the roles. (It’s amazing the job Isabelle Nélisse does playing a feral six year-old that’s just too far gone to bring back from the wild.) But, sure enough, early reviews of the movie focus mostly on Chastain and are already hailing her performance, deservedly so.
But the primary critique of the film would be the CGI animation of the main character, which is not a very good example of the art, to say the least. And as any horror aficionado knows, there will be audience members who laugh inappropriately during horror movies under any circumstances, and bad CGI just encourages them and gives them an excuse.
But bad horror film etiquette is a whole other topic… don’t even get me started on that.
It’s particularly ironic about the bad CGI as producer del Toro began his career as a makeup artist, and this film screams for a more organic monster, made in real life with makeup. It begs for a monster with as much substance — and humanity — as its actors.
In that regard, “Mama” falls short. But it’s still a whole lot better than the usual horror fare.
It’s like Halloween in February with four nice horror releases on Blu-ray today, ranging from mainstream, to classics, to cult: “Sinister,” “The Prison,” a new print of “The Terminator,” and a double-feature video of “Terrorvision” and “The Video Dead.”
“Sinister” is a recent release making it’s way to DVD for the first time, starring Ethan Hawke as a disgraced true-crime author who moves into a house where a rather gruesome murder has taken place.
“The Terminator” has been remastered for this new release Blu-ray edition, but doesn’t have any new special features form the original Blu-ray edition.
More promising is the special edition release of Renny Harlan’s “The Prison,” with Viggo Mortenson. The movie starts with a POV shot scene of a man going to execution and since they were shooting in a real prison, they decided to use real inmates as extras. You know if it has Viggo it has to be worth watching.
And the last new release is the double-feature of “Terrorvision” and “The Video Dead.” If you love the 80s and pure campy classics, this is a great way to spend a Friday night in front of the TV with a big bowl of popcorn.
