FILM 1996: THE FRIGHTENERS

FILM 1996: THE FRIGHTENERS 

TRIVIA: It was during filming this on-location in New Zealand, that Michael J. Fox made up his mind that he'd had enough of being away from his family making movies, and decided to head back to the small screen and star in a new sitcom (Spin City (1996)). This turned out to be his last leading role in a film.

When Fran Walsh and Peter Jackson were writing the part of the Drill Sergeant in the graveyard, they wrote the part as a spoof of R. Lee Ermey's character in Full Metal Jacket(1987) with the intention of getting an actor in New Zealand for the role. But they didn't feel the actors who auditioned were right, and finally ended up approaching Ermey himself.

Danny Elfman was so impressed with Peter Jackson's previous movie, Heavenly Creatures(1994), that he offered to do the score for one of Jackson's next movies, and agreed to this movie without even knowing what it was about.

Was originally planned as a Tales from the Crypt (1989) feature, but Executive Producer Robert Zemeckis liked the script so much, he decided it should stand on its own and not be part of a series.

The film was not released to theaters in Tasmania. The Port Arthur Massacre rather spookily mirrored the film's content and ihappened not long before the film's release. It was released on video and subsequently broadcast.

When Frank's ghost friends attack the Lyskey residence, a mini statue of Elvis Presley floats in front of Ray. Peter Dobson, who plays Ray, previously appeared in Forrest Gump (1994) as Elvis Presley.

Roughly 21 minutes into the film Michael J. Fox's character is eating by his window. If you look closely he is eating one of General Mills famed Monster Cereals. The flavor, Boo Berry which is the ghost cereal.

Cameo 

Melanie Lynskey: Star of Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures (1994) is the Deputy taking Lucy Lynskey's statement at the police station. Lucy's last name is a reference to the actress as well.

FILM 1918: PEE-WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE

FILM 1918: PEE-WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE

TRIVIA: Tim Burton and Paul Reubens brought on Danny Elfman as composer after Burton had attended concerts by Oingo Boingo, of which Elfman was lead singer and songwriter. Elfman was originally apprehensive, having no formal music training, but he was assisted by Boingo guitarist Steve Bartek as orchestrator. Elfman later said that hearing his music performed by an orchestra for the first time was one of the most thrilling experiences of his life.

Jan Hooks improvised the dialogue for her scenes as the Alamo tour guide.

This was Tim Burton's directorial feature debut. He had previously directed some short films.

The Drive-in sequence was filmed at the Studio Drive In, formerly located in Culver City CA. The Studio was built in the 1930s, and was the first Drive-in Theatre constructed in California. It served as a set for several films, including Grease (1978). It was closed in 1993 and demolished in 1998. No trace of this Drive-in remains.

The rock band whose video shoot Pee Wee rides his bike through is Twisted Sister.

During the magic shop scene, Mario shows Pee-wee heads of different sizes. The largest head that he shows Pee-wee last is actually Aleister Crowley.

The Mr. T cereal eaten by Pee-Wee actually existed. It was not something made up for the film.

Elizabeth Daily (Dottie) would later go on to provide famous cartoon voices such as Buttercup in The Powerpuff Girls (1998) and The Powerpuff Girls Movie (2002)

CAMEO: Cassandra Peterson: (a.k.a. Elvira) Biker Mama at the Biker Bar.

CAMEO: Tom Berenger: Patron that turns around in the diner after the Large Marge sequence.

CAMEO: Phil Hartman: reporter interviewing Francis at the drive-in is "Captain Carl" from Pee Wee's TV shows.

DIRECTOR CAMEO : Tim Burton: the thug who accosts Pee-wee just before he enters the fortune teller's studio.

FILM 1859: CAMPFIRE TALES

FILM 1859: CAMPFIRE TALES

TRIVIA: Film debut of Jacinda Barrett.

Originally intended for a theatrical run, the film was eventually released direct-to-video in 1998.

FILM 1844: THE SIXTH SENSE

FILM 1844: THE SIXTH SENSE

TRIVIA: Reportedly, Haley Joel Osment got the role of Cole Sear for one of three reasons. First, he was best for it. Second, he was the only boy at auditions who wore a tie. Third, director M. Night Shyamalan was surprised when he asked Haley Joel Osment if he read his part. Osment replied, "I read it three times last night." Shyamalan was impressed, saying, "Wow, you read your part three times?" To which Osment replied, "No, I read the script three times."

Toni Collette has said that she was so moved by the emotional resonance of the story while filming, she did not even realize it was a horror film until after its release.

While in New York City auditioning for Bringing Out the Dead (1999), Toni Collette also auditioned for this film as an afterthought. She said the scene in the car toward the end of the film, which was the audition scene, was the scene that really drew her to the film.

According to director M. Night Shyamalan, Donnie Wahlberg lost 43 pounds for the role of Vincent Grey.

Filmed in sequence.

The movie was rented by 80 million people in 2000, making it the year's top-rated VHS and DVD title.

M. Night Shyamalan wrote the role of Malcolm Crowe with Bruce Willis in mind.

A lot of the members of M. Night Shyamalan's family are doctors. This is the reason why he cameos as a doctor, as a tribute to his family.

This was the first of two movies that Bruce Willis owed Disney, after he caused another production, "The Broadway Brawler," to be shut down, due to him firing the director. He also was paid ten million dollars, half of his usual salary at the time.

According to Michael Cera, this was the first film that he ever auditioned for. He read for the part of Cole, but the role ultimately went to Haley Joel Osment.

Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die," edited by Steven Schneider.

In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #89 Greatest Movie of All Time. This was one of the newest entries on the list (from films which were released between 1997 and 2005).

DIRECTOR CAMEO: M. Night Shyamalan: Dr. Hill, who examines Cole Sear after the "accident" at the birthday party.

FILM 1839: WINCHESTER

FILM 1839: WINCHESTER

TRIVIA: The Winchester Mystery House is a mansion located in San Jose, California. It is believed to be haunted by the victims of the Winchester rifle. It has been a tourist attraction since 1923, a year after Sarah Winchester's death.

Very little of the filming took place in the actual mansion. The mansion's design in reality is extremely cramped, making filming very difficult. As such, most of the mansion's interior needed to be recreated on sound stages.

According to records kept by the Mystery House proprietors today, Sarah Winchester constantly built and rebuilt the house throughout her 38 years in residence. The Winchester house has windows and doors in the floor, doors that open into walls or go nowhere, and stairs to nowhere or into the ceiling. Its total area is around 6 acres (24,000 m²).

The promotional image for the film of Helen Mirren sitting in the carriage in mourning clothes mirrors the only known photograph of the reclusive Sarah Winchester on the estate, which is seen on the tour of the mansion in San Jose, California.

Lionsgate bought the film and photography rights to the Winchester Mansion for this film. So now tourists are not allowed to take any pictures of the interior of the mansion, because a tourist photo would be in direct competition with a Hollywood movie.

The directors are twins. Dame Mirren likened the experience to having one mind speaking through two mouths.

The quotes on the stained glass windows shown at the beginning, "Wide unclasp the tables of their thoughts" and "These same thoughts people this little world," are obscure Shakespearean quotes, and not even from the same play. No one knows why Sarah Winchester chose them.

The real life Winchester house has spider webs incorporated into its design, as Sarah believed that spider webs were good luck.

FILM 1821: GHOST STORIES

FILM 1821: GHOST STORIES

TRIVIA: The title of the film was misspelled as "Ghost Storeis" in much of the pre-release media. This was done to accord with the production's tagline "The brain sees what it wants to see"

Based on the West End play by League of Gentleman writer Jeremy Dyson.

Both Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson's feature film directorial debut.

FILM 1802: GHOSTBUSTERS: ANSWER THE CALL

FILM 1802: GHOSTBUSTERS: ANSWER THE CALL

TRIVIA: Although Harold Ramis could not make a cameo like his costars from the original Ghostbusters due to his death in 2014, you can see a bust of Harold just outside of Erin's university office near the beginning of the film.

At one point Erin proclaims: "Books can't fly and neither can babies". Both happened in the original Ghostbusters (1984) and Ghostbusters II (1989).

The movie is dedicated to Harold Ramis, as mentioned in the final credits.

After Erin comes to Abby's lab and announces that she has been fired, Abby says, 'Unlike Columbia, this institute is 100% behind us.' This is a reference to Ghostbusters (1984), where Columbia University allowed its facilities to be used for filming as long as its name was never mentioned.

The role of Patty Tolan, played by Leslie Jones was originally written for Melissa McCarthy. Paul Feig realized that Melissa McCarthy had played similar characters in his previous films, explaining "I wanted to unleash Leslie on the public in the same way we unleashed Melissa on the public in Bridesmaids (2011), with a very showy role."

At one point in the movie, Holtzmann says "they are heavier than you think" with regards to the proton packs. During the filming of the first two original Ghostbuster movies, the actors often complained about the weight of the proton packs.

When the Ghostbusters open the container with the ghost for Dr. Martin Heiss, he jokingly calls the ghost "Casper" in reference to the children's cartoon character "Casper, the friendly ghost". The creators of Ghostbusters (1984) were sued by the owners of the "Casper" properties for $50 million plus the destruction of the film prints. because their logo looked too similar to their character "Fatso", a member of "The Ghostly Trio". But in 1986 the case was ruled in favor of "Ghostbusters". Nevertheless the live-action adaptation of Casper (1995) featured a cameo of Dan Aykroyd as Ghostbuster Ray Stantz.

As of July 2016 this film holds the title for 'most disliked' trailer ever on YouTube.

Four of the cast members, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, Kate McKinnon, and Cecily Stronghave been Saturday Night Live (1975) cast members. At the time of release, Melissa McCarthy had also hosted SNL four times. Of the original cast, Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd were also SNL stars, while Harold Ramis was a writer for the Canadian sketch show SCTV (1976), co-starring Rick Moranis.

CAMEO: Daniel Ramis: son of Harold Ramis has a small role as a Metal Head outside the concert Rowan attends.

DIRECTOR CAMEO: Paul Feig: the voice on the other end of the walkie talkie that tells Rowan to go clean the bathrooms.

FILM 1767: LIGHTS OUT

TRIVIA: Teresa Palmer hadn't seen the design of Diana before filming, until she filmed her first scene with her on a completely dark set. This was an intentional directorial choice so as to provoke a genuine reaction of fear when first seeing the design. Alicia Vela-Bailey, the woman in the costume, was previously Palmer's stunt double on I Am Number Four(2011), it would have ruined the effect had she seen her prior as she would have recognized her therefore losing the authentic expression of fear.

David F. Sandberg decided to focus on practical effects and avoided as much CGI as possible.

Made back its entire production budget on its opening day at the box office. 

The house in this movie is the same one used in Ouija (2014) and Ouija: Origin of Evil(2016).

On the wall in Rebecca's room, a poster reads "Släckt", which is Swedish for "Lights Out" or "Extinguished".

Diana was created with a photorealistic prosthetic suit that could also function as a green screen suit so as to remove her from the scene when the lights came on. The designer of the suit previously created the title character of Mrs. Doubtfire (1993).

(at around 38 mins) When Martin and his mother have a movie night, the movie that they are watching is Auntie Mame (1958).

The move to Hollywood was somewhat hectic for David F. Sandberg and his wife, requiring that Losten quit her day job in order to do so. Once in Hollywood the two were unable to get an apartment due to a lack of credit, forcing them to rent Airbnb on a monthly basis.

FILM 1727: CASPER

TRIVIA: During filming, Christina Ricci and Bill Pullman had to talk to tennis balls in place of the ghosts, while the digital ghosts were added later on.

The last name of Christina Ricci's and Bill Pullman's characters is "Harvey". Harvey Comics is the long time publisher of "Casper the Friendly Ghost".

A scene was filmed with Zelda Rubinstein shooting out of a chimney and shouting "Go toward the light!", reprising her role from Poltergeist (1982), but it was cut.

Director Brad Silberling wanted something unusual for the design of Whipstaff Manor for this movie. Production Designer Leslie Dilley suggested up front that they should go with a house that's not the stereotypical haunted house, which is usually Victorian, and offered up a different style of architecture-Gaudiesque.

The house that was used for Whipstaff Manor was also used to film scenes from the Backstreet Boys' music video, "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)". Most notably is the ballroom dance sequence from this music video.

Cathy Moriarty was in an episode of Tales from the Crypt in 1992. In the scene where Dr. Harvey is possessed by the ghosts, he turns into the Crypt Keeper at one point.

CAMEO: Dan Aykroyd: As Dr. Raymond Stantz (from Ghostbusters (1984)) who runs out of the house frantically and says, "Who you gonna call? Someone else!"

ANOTHER TOP FIVE: HORROR MOVIES

I realized when making the last top five that I love horror films so much and there are so many good ones that I couldn’t leave it at one top five so as it’s Halloween and all here’s another list…

1. THE HAUNTING (1963)

The remake of this doesn’t even come close to the original. It’s a truly haunting story of a group taking part in a paranormal experiment in a super creepy house. The scenes with the banging coming from just outside the door make actual hairs stand up on the back of my neck.

2. DEAD OF NIGHT (1945)

The original, and in some ways the best, British anthology horror film. It starts with a man talking about a strange dream, which leads to others in the group to tell their tales of the supernatural, the ventriloquist dummy is the one that stands out here though.

3. HIGH TENSION (2003)

This is a gory entry into the top five, I don’t shy away from gore, I just don’t find it as scary as the kind of horrors that are more understated and uses your own imagination to create the fear. That being said, I was on the edge of my seat watching the seemingly unrelenting dread-fest that was this film. The suspense was immense and the ending was unusually surprising.

4. MISERY (1990)

This is one of those films that I can watch over and over. It’s maybe not classed as a horror by everyone – but the scene with the legs (if you’ve seen it, you know) I think is more horrific that a lot of modern gore-based horror. The psychology behind the character of Annie Wilkes is fascinating and the idea of a kindly sinister psychopath is terrifying.

5. THE EXORIST (1973)

This is a classic, and for a good reason. When I was a kid I was so keen to watch this (and wasn’t allowed to) that I read the book (some of it was a little dull and the film is a lot better). Not only is the film great, with some really ingenious tricks to make the special effects (the documentary of the making of is a really interesting watch), but the added bonus of the stories of the curse surrounding it makes it one of the most famous horror films of all time. Plus a bonus piece of trivia – did you know that a real life murderer was cast as an extra in this film?  See more information here: http://www.blumhouse.com/2017/04/13/did-you-know-theres-a-serial-killer-in-the-exorcist/

Just because I could go on forever I’m going to add more honorable mentions to the list:

PONTYPOOL (2008)

THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE (1974)

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET(1984)

ROSEMARY'S BABY (1968)

THE CONJURING (2013)

THE STRANGERS (2008)

JU-ON: THE GRUDGE (2002)

THE COLLECTOR (1965)

THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS (1946)

TWISTED NERVE (1968)

DOROTHY MILLS (2008)

BASKET CASE (1982)

EYES WITHOUT A FACE (1960)