FILM 2008: THE HAPPENING

FILM 2008: THE HAPPENING

TRIVIA: The movie was shot completely in sequence.

M. Night Shyamalan's first R-rated film.

Mark Wahlberg admitted that he regrets working on this movie, but said, "You can't blame me for wanting to try to play a science teacher. At least I wasn't playing a cop or a crook."

Director M. Night Shyamalan's first film in which he does not physically appear for a cameo. He is the voice of "Joey," who calls Alma a few times throughout the movie. The audience never sees him, nor learns of his fate.

Bystander apathy is a real psychological phenomenon, with a strong theoretical and evidential base.

The film's tagline, "We've sensed it. We've seen the signs. Now...it's happening," referring to M. Night Shyamalan, who wrote and directed The Sixth Sense (1999), Signs (2002), and The Happening (2008).

Mark Wahlberg's line "Be scientific, douchebag" was improvised.

FILM 1920: THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT

FILM 1920: THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT

TRIVIA: The House That Jack Built (2018) was originally announced as an eight-part miniseries in September 2014 when the completed version of Nymphomaniac: Vol. I (2013) / Nymphomaniac: Vol. II (2013) premiered at the Venice Film Festival, but in February 2016, Lars von Trier announced via a David Bowie-themed video on his official Facebook page that "The House That Jack Built" would be his next theatrical release, due in theaters in 2018.

Despite audience backlash toward a scene involving the main character's mutilation of a duckling when he was a child, PETA has defended the film in a statement praising its accurate portrayal of the link between adolescent animal abuse and psychopathy. Animal cruelty is actually known to be a common trait among serial murderers, especially when they are young.

The Second Incident is similar to Ray Bradbury's short story "The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl" (1948) in which the murderer is obsessed with erasing every fingerprint at the scene of the crime.

A shot of Jack and Verge standing in a boat is reminiscent of the painting "The Raft of the Medusa" (Le Radeau de La Méduse) by Jean-Louis André Théodore Géricault. It also bears resemblance to "La Barque de Dante" by Eugène Delacroix. 

The prestigious French film magazine 'Cahiers du Cinema' declared The House That Jack Built (2018) the 8th best film of 2018.

FILM 1786: HEREDITARY

TRIVIA: In Peter's first scene at school, the words "Escaping Fate" is on the chalkboard with the teacher discussing it. This is a reference to Halloween (1978), where the main character discusses the same thing in class. Appropriately, this movie was released the same day as the trailer for Halloween (2018).

In an interview, Alex Wolff explains that he wanted to actually break his own nose for the scene where his character slams his head into a desk. Director Ari Aster respectfully declined that offer and told Wolff they'd give him a soft, cushioned desk for the scene. When it was time for the scene to be shot, Wolff slams his head into the desk only to discover that it was not soft nor made out of foam that resulted into Wolffs actual blood gushing down to his knees

Allegedly a trailer for the film was accidentally shown at a screening of Peter Rabbit(2018) in Australia. However, a very similar event supposedly happened in 2007, where a trailer for The Hills Have Eyes Part 2 was allegedly shown to a theatre full of small children ( source: moviefone.com/2007/04/06/theater-accidentally-shows-hills-have-eyes-2-to-little-kids/amp/ ) Similar stories have been reported several times since then, even reported by reputable news sources, with a graphic horror film allegedly being shown to a group of small children, who were at the theater to see a kids' movie. In all alleged instances, the theatre is said to give free movie vouchers for all present. The similarities of these stories have made some speculate that it is nothing more than an urban legend.

This was director Ari Aster's feature debut.

Ari Aster was heavily influenced by the film The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover (1989).

Toni Collete (Annie) is actually 22 years younger than her on screen husband, Gabriel Byrne.

FILM 1712: FINAL DESTINATION

TRIVIA: The story was originally the concept for an abandoned The X-Files (1993) television script, which was partially inspired on the main plot of Sole Survivor (1983).

(at around 4 mins) The shot of Alex's bedside clock, which fades in from 1.00am to 180, took 5 days to get correct.

(at around 4 mins) In the opening scene, Devon Sawa (Alex) was supposed to pretend to be asleep. He actually fell asleep for four hours.

Much of the news footage shown is actual footage from the July 1996 explosion and crash of TWA Flight 800 off East Moriches, Long Island, New York.

Kerr Smith and Seann William Scott took travel sickness pills (Dramamine) before each plane crash take and were half asleep and very weak during the shots - that's why they aren't shown close-up much.

Clear's cabin was also the cabin from Lake Placid (1999).

The original casting choices for Alex and Clear were Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst. Both of them would later start in Spider-Man 2 (2004) years later as Spider man and Mary Jane respectively.

The Chinese title translates as "The Death God Comes".

(at around 31 mins) The speech that Tod gives at the funeral is a quote from Marcel Proust.

(at around 3 mins) In Alex's room, you can see a poster for Edward Furlong's movie Pecker (1998) which also has Christina Ricci in it. Devon Sawa was in both Casper (1995) and Now and Then (1995) with Christina Ricci.

FILM 1675: PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES

TRVIA: During the filming process, Lily James stated that she had a scene where she had to walk through an area with zombie heads all around. Of course, most of them were fake props and she was directed to stomp on one. They would have supposedly gotten squished, however she stomped and realized everyone behind cameras were all staring at her in shock. She looked down and realized she stepped on one of the few extras' head.

All the actresses playing the Bennet sisters did their own stunts for the film.

Natalie Portman was originally cast as Elizabeth Bennet but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. Scarlett Johansson, Anne Hathaway, Emma Stone, Mia Wasikowska, Rooney Mara, Mila Kunis and Blake Lively were considered to replace her before Lily James was finally cast. Portman remains on board as a producer.

Matt Smith dated co-star Lily James during the film's production.

FILM 1647: YOU'RE NEXT

TRIVIA: Simon Barrett, the Tiger Mask Killer, is also the movie's screenwriter.

Both Joe Swanberg and Ti West, who play eldest brother Drake and Aimee's underground director boyfriend Tariq are two prominent mumblegore directors, a horror genre in which You're Next (2011) is also included.

The primary filming location was an antique home that had been empty for 12 years.

FILM 1530: PREMONITION

TRIVIA: When Sandra Bullock was restrained and struggling in the hospital scene she really did cut herself by accident. So instead of using a body double for the injection, it really was Bullock who got the Tetanus shot in the scene.

The story is nearly identical to the CBS Radio Mystery Theater episode "The Ides of March," which originally aired more than two decades previous on 10 September 1975.