FILM 1975: PET SEMATARY

FILM 1975: PET SEMATARY (1989)

TRIVIA: Stephen King once mentioned that the only novel he wrote that really scared him was "Pet Sematary."

Bruce Campbell was the first choice for the role of Louis Creed.

Stephen King was present on location for most of the shooting of the film. The area it was shot in was only twenty minutes away from his home in Bangor, Maine. 

In Stephen King's novel, Judd mentions that a dog went wild in a nearby town and killed several people. This is a reference to the events of Cujo (1983), another novel by King. It is common for characters in King's novels to mention the events of his other novels.

Stephen King is a big fan of the Ramones and referenced some of their songs in the novel "Pet Sematary." In homage, The Ramones wrote and performed the theme song "Pet Sematary," which is featured in the film's closing credits. The truck driver was also listening to "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker" by The Ramones.

The idea for this story came about when Stephen King's daughter's cat, Smuckey, was killed on the highway outside their home. Smuckey's name appears on gravestones in the pet cemetery, in both the film and the novel.

George A. Romero was originally set to direct, but when filming was delayed, he dropped out and Mary Lambert stepped in and Romero directed Monkey Shines (1988).

During the film, the character played by Fred Gwynne mentions that he had a pet named "Spot." "Spot" was also the name of the family pet on the TV show The Munsters (1964), also starring Gwynne.

Director Mary Lambert said that Fred Gwynne was her first and only choice for the role of Judd Crandall.

Initially, Paramount executives wanted a pair of twins to play the role of Gage, like those chosen to play Ellie, which was the more cost-effective option. However, Lambert was very impressed with three-year old Miko Hughes, whom she felt was a natural talent despite his young age, so she lobbied the studio to accept her choice.

Tom Savini turned down the chance to direct the film.

One of the hardest elements for the production design team was the path to the cemetery as it was described as, "shining in the moonlight."

CAMEO: Stephen King: (at around 41 mins) minister at the funeral.

FILM 1806: MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE

FILM 1806: MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE

TRIVIA: The only Stephen King story turned into a movie to be directed by King himself.

When asked why he hasn't directed a movie since "Maximum Overdrive", Stephen Kingresponded "Just watch Maximum Overdrive."

Stephen King, being a former cocaine addict, later admitted that he was "coked out of my mind" the entire time he was making this picture and often didn't know what he was doing. He remarked that he'd like to try directing again someday, this time sober.

While shooting the scene where the steamroller rampages across the baseball diamond, Stephen King requested that the SFX department place a bag of fake blood near the dummy of a young player who would be run over by it. The desired effect would be that a smear of blood would appear on the steamroller and be re-smeared on the grass over and over, like a printing press. While filming the scene, however, the bag of blood exploded too soon and sprayed everywhere, making it appear as if the boy's head had also exploded. King was thrilled with the results, but censors demanded the shot be cut.

AC/DC was selected to make the music for the movie by Stephen King himself.

The "Dixie Boy" truck stop was a set constructed 10 miles outside of Wilmington, North Carolina. It was convincing enough that several truckers tried to stop in, and eventually the producers had to put announcements in local papers saying that the "Dixie Boy" was just a movie set.

An accident occurred on July 31, 1985 during shooting in a suburb of Wilmington, North Carolina where a radio-controlled lawnmower used in a scene went out of control and struck a block of wood used as a camera support, shooting out wood splinters which injured the director of photography Armando Nannuzzi; as a result, he lost his right eye. Nannuzzi sued Stephen King on February 18, 1987 for $18 million in damages. The suit was settled out of court.

Stephen King is a huge fan of AC/DC and when he got to meet them he asked them if they would provide music for this movie. He also offered the band a role in the film but AC/DC declined stating they are not actors and do not appear in this movie at all, despite claims of a scene of them on a boat which is not true at all. The band agreed to do the soundtrack after Stephen King sung "Ain't no fun waiting round to be a millionaire" from the bands 1976 Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap album. King sang the entire thing from start to finish and the band laughingly agreed that if he was such a fan they would do it for him. AC/DC preform all but two songs featured in the film, and the entire 1987 album "Who Made Who" is the soundtrack to this movie. AC/DC wrote a new track called Who Made Who, and various instrumentals aka: score music. Only two of the instrumentals appear on the album. The rest of the songs are from previous AC/DC albums and also contains a slightly edited version of Sink The Pink. The movie also features two unreleased mixes of previously released songs. One being a more rawer version of You Shook Me All Night Long and the vocals cut out of For Those About To Rock, heard only in the movie, not on the album. At the time of the release many music stores had no idea the album Who Made Who was a compilation soundtrack for this movie, and many mislabeled the album as an AC/DC greatest hits. limited pressings of the album did feature a small print and the movies logo stating it was the soundtrack to Stephen Kings Maximum Overdrive but was later removed from future pressings.

If you listen closely you can hear the ice cream truck's tune is "King of the Road".

The title of the film is referenced in The Simpsons: Maximum Homerdrive (1999), in which Homer Simpson takes over a truck driver's delivery and finds out that his truck is controlled by an on board computer. Yeardley Smith, who plays Connie in the film, is the voice of Lisa Simpson in the show.

FILM 1724: IT

TRIVIA: Bill Skarsgård did research into the "psycho universe" to find his own way to perform Pennywise. He got inspiration from The Shining (1980).

A lot of the lines were actually improvised by the kids. Most of the Richie/Eddie banter was improv. Jack Dylan Grazer (Eddie) actually wrote a lot of Finn Wolfhard's (Richie) jokes.

Grossed the largest box office record for any Horror film with $117.1 million dollar opening weekend.

Around the time of the theatrical release of this film, in Lititz, Pennsylvania, there was a prank that involved a series of red balloons tied to sewer grates throughout the town mimicking one of the book covers of the "It" novel. The prank had frightened the citizens, including the Lititz police force.

Shipped to cinemas under the code name "POUND FOOLISH" a literal opposite to Pennywise.

The cast of the "Losers Club" were asked whom they wanted to play their adult parts: Finn Wolfhard (Richie Tozier) said Bill Hader, Sophia Lillis (Beverly Marsh) said Jessica Chastain, Chosen Jacobs (Mike Hanlon) said Chadwick Boseman, Jack Dylan Grazer (Eddie Kaspbrak) said Jake Gyllenhaal, Wyatt Oleff (Stanley Uris) said Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jeremy Ray Taylor (Ben Hanscom) said Chris Pratt and Jaeden Lieberher (Bill Denbrough) said Christian Bale.

FILM 1708: GERALD'S GAME

TRIVIA: The woman from the dream Jessie describes as standing over a well during an eclipse is Dolores Claiborne, the main character from Stephen King's 1992 novel of the same name.

Gerald refers to the dog as Cujo, which is a reference to the Stephen King book by the same name.

Features virtually no soundtrack during the course of the film.

This is the fourth collaboration between Kate Siegel and Mike Flanagan since Oculus(2013), Hush (2016) and Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016).

TOP FIVE: HORROR MOVIES

1. THE SHINING (1980)

A classic, and for a good reason. This wins in terms of style, suspense and horror. Every shot looks like a beautifully macabre photograph.

2. TALES FROM THE CRYPT (1972)

I love a horror anthology, the British do it best, in my opinion. This one has some classic stories. The thing I love most about these stories are the fact that the bad guys always get their comeuppance. Other great horror anthologies include (because I couldn’t include them all… The Vault of Horror (1973), Asylum (1972), From Beyond the Grave(1974), and of course the more modern Creepshow (1982) and Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990)

3. THE BAD SEED (1956)

There’s nothing scarier than a ‘cute’ psychopathic little girl.

4. THE POUGHKEEPSIE TAPES (2007)

A whole set of video tapes are found in an abandoned house showing what appears to be the life’s work of a truly horrific serial killer. The mockumentary style just makes the whole thing scarier because you can image what you’re seeing is real.

5. SLEEPAWAY CAMP (1983)

This almost falls into the so bad it’s good category, The twist makes it even better.

FILM 1486: CUJO

TRIVIA: Stephen King has admitted several times that he was so into his alcohol addiction at the time that he does not remember writing the book.

Five St. Bernards were used, one mechanical head, and a guy in a dog costume.

Stephen King has stated that he feels Dee Wallace gives the best performance in this film of any film or TV adaptation of his books, including Kathy Bates's Oscar-winning turn in Misery (1990).

A rumor has circulated that "Cujo" is an ancient Indian word meaning "unstoppable force." In reality, Stephen King made it up himself when writing the novel.

Stephen King cites this film as having the most effective scare of any of the movies based on his works, referring to the jolting scare where Cujo first leaps at the passenger window of the car.

The story was inspired to Stephen King when he met his mechanic's intimidating dog while having his motorcycle repaired one day.

The fog in the scene where Brett encounters a sick Cujo was created by a naval fog machine. The smoke brought out the local fire department who feared the woods were burning.

First film to take place in the fictional town of Castle Rock, which would go on to feature in The Dead Zone (1983), Stand by Me (1986), The Dark Half (1993) and Needful Things (1993). Rob Reiner, who directed Stand by Me and produced Needful Things, also named his production company Castle Rock.

FILM 1260: THE GREEN MILE

TRIVIA:  The prison guards wear uniforms to give the movie a better feel, even though uniforms weren't in use at the time in which the movie is set.

In actuality, Michael Clarke Duncan is of a similar height as his co-star David Morse and is a couple of inches shorter than James Cromwell. Among other things, creative camera angles were used to create the illusion that Duncan as John Coffey towered over the prison staff, even Brutal Howell and Warden Moores.

When the producers were having trouble finding the right actor to fill the role of John Coffey, Bruce Willis suggested Michael Clarke Duncan with whom he had co-starred in Armageddon (1998).

Originally, Tom Hanks was going to play the Old Paul Edgecomb but the makeup tests didn't make him look credible enough to be an elderly man. Dabbs Greer was cast instead as the older Paul Edgecomb.

Originally set in 1932, the timeframe was bumped to 1935 so the movie Top Hat (1935) could be featured.

The reason Stephen King serialized The Green Mile was because it was a deliberate response to fans who flipped to the end of his books, something his mother used to do. The fans would have to wait for the last installment to find out the ending. King wrote each one with its own miniature climax, but even he admitted he didn't have a clue how the story would end.

Doug Hutchison (Percy) was given, according to the director, the squeakiest shoes he'd ever heard. He thought this was the greatest bit of fate, and a "perfectly wonderful, annoying character trait" that he kept it in the movie, and you can hear sometimes how loud his shoes are.

Voted number 2 in Channel 4 (UK) "Top 100 Tearjerkers" countdown, losing first place to "E.T The Extra Terrestrial".

The music played over the loudspeakers in the retirement home as Old Paul Edgecomb first walks out of his room is the same as the music the nurses played at medication time in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975). The music used is Mantovani's Charmaine.