FILM 1966: VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED

FILM 1966: VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED

TRIVIA: This was the final feature film completed by Christopher Reeve before a horse riding accident on May 27, 1995 which left him paralyzed.

The film was shot in western Marin County, California. Director John Carpenter had a house in Inverness for several years, so the location was essentially his second home at that time (as the director puts it, "his own backyard"). However, the locals were not happy to see the film crew in the area so they made the shoot very difficult by harassment and vandalism. Carpenter tells that while they were filming, for example, a sound take, a neighbor would start mowing his lawn or start up a chainsaw until he was paid to stop. Some of the people even tried to break into the equipment trucks. The whole experience essentially soured Carpenter on living in the area, where several scenes of his earlier film The Fog (1980) were also filmed.

John Carpenter had planned to work again with Universal on their long-gestating remake of Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), but the film's box office failure killed those plans. As of 2017, the remake remains unmade, although speculation began again with the announcement of Universal's "Dark Universe" brand.

Based on the novel The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham, published through Penguin Books.

DIRECTOR CAMEO: John Carpenter: Man at gas station pay phone.

FILM 1907: BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA

FILM 1907: BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA

TRIVIA: Kurt Russell confessed on the DVD commentary that he was afraid of starring in the movie, because he had made a string of movies that flopped at the box-office. When he asked John Carpenter about it, he told Kurt that it didn't matter to him - he just wanted to make the movie with him.

The Chinese characters in the main title translate to "Evil Spirits Make a Big Scene in Little Spiritual State".

Kurt Russell suffered a bad case of the flu during the scene just after the brothel, so the sweat on his body is real, caused by the fever.

The vehicle Egg Shen drove in the movie was a 1936 White touring car. That car is now in Yellowstone National Park (the location, for which it was originally built), named "Hollywood", and gives tours out of Old Faithful.

John Carpenter and Kurt Russell explain on the audio commentary that the test screening was so overwhelmingly positive, that both of them expected it to be a big hit. However, 20th Century Fox put little into promoting the movie, and it ended up being a box-office bomb. In addition, the film was released in the midst of the hype for Aliens (1986), which was released sixteen days afterwards. However, it went on to be a huge cult hit through home video. Carpenter and Russell explained that the reason the studio did little to promote the film, was because they simply didn't know how to promote it.

The Brides of Lo Pan must have green eyes. Yet Kim Cattrall and Suzee Pai have brown eyes in real-life. Both wore green contacts for the movie. This is very obvious in the high definition version of the movie.

Zach Braff went as Jack Burton to Kate Hudson's 2014 Halloween party and ran into Kurt Russell at it. They posed for a photo together.

The interior of Egg Chen's garage/office is Fire Station 23, the same building used as the business interior in Ghostbusters. 

Towards the beginning of the film, Jack accompanies Wang on a trip to the airport to pick up his fiancé. A street gang by the name of The Lords of Death kidnap Wang's girl and during the ensuing chase to retrieve her, attempt to run over both of them. Watching the scene carefully, it is easy to spot that John Carpenter shot the scene backwards, with the actors performing all movements in reverse. The scene was then played forward and sped up substantially. This dramatic scene was shot using this reverse method not to confuse actors and crew (or audience for that matter), but for safety reasons due to the speed of the vehicles and lack of stunt doubles. 

FILM 1696: IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS

TRIVIA: In the film, the works of Sutter Cane are occasionally quoted. Most if not all of these quotes are actually taken directly from several H.P. Lovecraft short stories with some adaptations to fit them into the film story. Most notably, in the scene where Styles reads to Trent as he gazes into the abyss--her speech lifts much of its description, including such elements as "the illimitable gulf of the unknown" from the last few paragraphs of Lovecraft's "The Rats in the Walls." In an earlier scene as well, Trent reads a line verbatim from Lovecraft's "The Haunter of the Dark," in reference to the black church being "the seat of an evil older than mankind and wider than the known universe."

The Sutter Cane character is clearly based on John Carpenter's friend Stephen King, even referencing King's New England roots, with Hobb's End filling in for King's Castle Rock. Carpenter directed a film version of King's Christine (1983). Additionally Michael De Lucahad previously written the screenplay for the King adaptation The Lawnmower Man(1987). However, the characters say that Sutter Cane is even more popular than Stephen King.

Robot Monster (1953), which Sam Neill is watching at the end of the movie, is one of director John Carpenter's favorite monster movies as a kid.