Friday, October 30, 2015

13 Films Credited to the Wrong Director

Article By: Tyler Doupe
Most genre film enthusiasts can recite the directors of their favorite films from memory. But on occasion, the identity of a film’s actual director is confused with another for a variety of reasons. Sometimes, a producer will be mistaken for being at the helm or in other instances, the visual aesthetic of a visionary director may be emulated in such a way that said director ends up being credited for the finished product in the public consciousness. Regardless of what leads to the confusion, the following represent 13 movies that are frequently credited to the wrong director. Read on as we set the record straight.
1. Tim Burton - The Nightmare Before Christmas
This one comes as a shock to almost everyone the first time they hear it: Tim Burton did not direct The Nightmare Before Christmas. He was heavily involved with the project and he did write and produce. It’s even billed as Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas but in spite of all that, the famed director was not at the helm. Henry Selick actually directed the project. The picture reportedly went into production at the same time as Batman Returns and Burton was unable to do double duty. Henry Selick is also responsible for James and the Giant Peach and Coraline, two other films with Burton is frequently credited for helming.
2. Wes Craven - Wishmaster
Wes Craven has admitted that he had very limited involvement with Wishmaster. But with his named over the title, a lot of fans, understandably, mistakenly believed that the legendary director had directed the film. In fact, he was actually just an executive producer and effects master Robert Kurtzman directed the film.
3. Steven Spielberg - Poltergeist
Who exactly directed Poltergeist has long been the subject of heated debate. Tobe Hooper is officially credited as directing the picture but Spielberg is reported to have been very involved behind the scenes. Perhaps due to that confusion or maybe that fact that Spielberg is a more recognizable name than Tobe Hooper, people still mistakenly hold the assertion that Spielberg helmed the picture.
4. Tim Burton - The Addams Family
A feature film adaptation of The Addams Family seems to be a project that was tailor made for Tim Burton. In spite of that, he was not at the helm of the project. In reality, Barry Sonnenfeld directed the film. But to this day, people still swear that Burton directed the big screen adaptation that tells the story of the spooky television family.
5. M. Night Shyamalan - Devil
Once upon a time, M. Night Shyamalan’s involvement with a project meant a sure box office draw. In the hopes of delivering big results for the film’s opening, the decision to attach his moniker to Devil was made. That led to audience confusion and the widespread belief that Shyamalan had, in fact, directed the project. While Shyamalan did produce and co-pen the screenplay, the picture was actually helmed by John Erick Dowdle (The Poughkeepsie Tapes).
6. Quentin Tarantino - Hostel
Die-hard (or even casual) horror fans typically realize that Hostel was merely presented by Quentin Tarantino but there is still a misconception amongst some mainstream moviegoers that Tarantino was at the helm of the project. His name was used heavily in the film’s marketing campaign and with it appearing above the title, people jumped to the conclusion that the Pulp Fiction director was responsible for Eli Roth’s 2005 torture porn opus.
7. Wes Craven - They
Even though They had Robert Harmon (The Hitcher 1986) at the helm, the studio wanted to appeal to fans of Wes Craven’s slasher revival, Scream. The cover art says Wes Craven in big white letters over the title and then in smaller, faint lettering, says the word ‘presents’. Naturally, people that were not paying close attention were led to believe that Craven was responsible for directing the film.
8. V for Vendetta - The Wachowskis
The Wachowski siblings were a hot commodity in the ‘90s and the ‘00s. They were responsible for The Matrix, one of the top grossing action films of all time. Thus, it makes sense that the producers of V for Vendetta wanted to market the siblings’ involvement with the film. As per usual, that translated to confusion regarding who was actually at the helm. While the Wachowski siblings did co-write the script, it was actually their frequent collaborator James McTeigue (Ninja Assassin) who directed.
9. Charade - Alfred Hitchcock
This film has come to be known as, “The Best Hitchcock film Hitchcock did not make.” But somewhere along the line, the public has mistakenly come to the conclusion that Hitchcock did direct this 1963 picture. The film has plenty of Hitchcockian elements, including mistaken identity and murder. Also, it stars frequent Hitchcock collaborator Cary Grant. In actuality, Stanley Donen directs Charade.
10. Gremlins - Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg was a hot commodity in the 1980s (and still is). His name was attached to a large number of projects in a variety of capacities. His name was a more recognizable one than Joe Dante in 1984 when Gremlins came out and some people simply assumed that Spielberg had directed the picture when they saw his name prominently featured on the poster art. While most horror fans are well aware that Joe Dante was at the helm of the family friendly horror film Gremlins, a lot of mainstream moviegoers are still convinced that Spielberg directed Gremlins.
11. From Dusk Till Dawn - Quentin Tarantino
What misled some fans is that the artwork says “From Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino”. Misleading advertising aside, the macabre director did not helm From Dusk Till Dawn. His longtime collaborator and friend Robert Rodriguez did. Tarantino did, however, costar, co-write, and executive produce, the project.
12. Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark - Guillermo del Toro
Not only is Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark presented by Guillermo del Toro, it has a strong helping of the director’s signature, gothic aesthetic. However, it was not actually del Toro who sat in the director’s chair during the film’s production. Troy Nixey helmed the feature in his first feature film directorial effort.
13. The Last Exorcism - Eli Roth
Daniel Stamm was at the helm of the 2010 horror feature The Last Exorcism. But that didn’t stop the studio from choosing to market Eli Roth’s involvement more so than Stamm’s. The picture was positioned as, “Eli Roth Presents The Last Exorcism” and audiences got confused and thought that Roth had directed the picture.
Tyler Doupe is a film critic and journalist. He is the managing editor at Wicked Horror and an occasional contributor to Fangoria and Rue Morgue.
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ABC Family airing the 1982 original and the 1986 sequel tonight in honor of Halloween tomorrow, part of their 13 nights of Halloween

For those looking to watch the trilogy this weekend,you don't need to fire up your DVD or BluRay player or DVR. You can watch both the 1982 original and the 1986 sequel on ABC Family (check your cable provider for the channel in your area),tonight.In fact,the 1982 original is on now through 11PM and "The Other Side"; the direct 1986 sequel which is the first appearance of Rev. Kane, will be on at 12AM on ABC Family as well.
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Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Wicked Scary: 8 Movies with Ghosts That Totally Ruled the ’80s

Posted September 3rd, 2015, 1:09PM by
80s_movies_700x384The ’80s were a strange time—coupled with the nascent popularity of horror, horror comedy and special effects, ghost stories not only became stranger, but very popular. And, now, iconic even. Here is a list of eight of the most memorable movie ghosts from the ’80s, starting with the one ranks highest in our reoccurring nightmares…
1. Freddy Kreuger (Robert Englund), A Nightmare on Elm Street
Freddy Kreuger (Robert Englund) whiles his nights away murdering teenagers in their dreams. In his lifetime, Freddy was the ultimate stuff of nightmares as a child serial killer. After he was acquitted on a technicality, he was murdered by the parents of his town, only to return in the dreams of the town teenagers. The Nightmare on Elm Street franchise gave the horror genre some of its most iconic imagery, from Freddy’s clawed hand coming up from inside your own bathtub, to a bed that consumes its victims and then spurts out blood like a geyser.
2. Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton), Beetlejuice
Beetlejuice was a landmark in many regards; not only did it cement the aesthetic that would define Tim Burton’s career, but it also gave us one of the most iconic film characters of the 1980s with Michael Keaton’s eponymous Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice, despite being quite powerful, can only enter the land of the living if someone says his name three times. This comes to a head when he nearly forces Lydia (Winona Ryder), to marry him.
3. The Beast, Poltergeist
The Freeling family have something of a ghost infestation. Not just one ghost, but several, and they tend to break glasses and possess children. It is revealed by some “parapsychiatrists” that there is a big bad ghosts called “the Beast” who is not only controlling the other spirits in the house, but possesses the Freelings’ youngest daughter, Carol Anne (Heather O’Rourke). As it happens, the little girl’s closet is the gateway to the other dimension where the ghosts should be heading. Truly, the stuff of children’s nightmares.
4. The Ghosts of the Overlook Hotel, The Shining
In Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining it’s clear that something is up with that hotel, but we never really learn what—other than the fact that people who spend the winter alone up there tend to go crazy and murder everyone in sight. We learn from the hotel chef that the hotel has a “shine,” meaning some supernatural presence. Jack Torrance’s (Jack Nicholson) son, Danny (Danny Lloyd), can sense it. The most memorable ghostly image is that of the two twin girls, daughters of the last winter custodian of the hotel who were killed by their father.
5. Stay Puft, Ghostbusters
Stay Puft is not a spirit, but a mascot for a product that becomes something of an avatar for the god, Gozer (Slavitza Jovan). Knowing Gozer will take the form of something, Stanz (Dan Aykroyd) tries to imagine something “harmless,” and it backfires in the form of a hundred-foot mascot for a marshmallow company. He is only in the movie briefly, but the image of Stay Puft has become synonymous with the fond memories many have of Ghostbusters.
6. Slimer (Ivan Reitman), Ghostbusters
Slimer doesn’t have much in the way of supernatural abilities aside from, well, sliming, and being oddly hungry for an ethereal being. In the first movie, he’s the resident ghost in part of a hotel, more of a food-eating nuisance than a menace, when he first gets captured by the Ghostbusters. By the time of Ghostbusters II, Slimer appears to be something of a pet to the Ghostbusters, and is portrayed as more sympathetic.
7. Shigero, Otami and Masanori (Tsuiyuki Sasaki, Mako Hattori and Toshiya Maruyama), The House Where Evil Dwells
When a samurai in the in the 1840s is finds his wife in bed with another man, he kills them and then himself. One hundred and forty years later, an American family (played by Edward Albert and Susan George) moves into the house to eventually discover that the murder-suicide tragedy still haunts the house. The ghosts intend to reenact this gruesome murder-suicide once more, and go to some truly odd lengths to obtain this objective (at one form even taking the form of giant spider crabs). In the end, these ghosts actually achieve their objective, freeing themselves and trapping the new spirits in the house.
8. Big Ben (Richard Moll), House
House clearly takes some inspiration from The Shining—it’s about troubled writer Cobb (William Katt ), who’s having difficulty with his writing and goes to a new dwelling which appears to be haunted. Cobb is particularly troubled by his experience in Vietnam, particularly his friend Big Ben (Richard Moll) who he had failed to mercy kill in the field. Big Ben has held a grudge ever since and is haunting him. This is a film about, literally, escaping the ghosts of one’s past.

Poll


Which '80s ghost has the best legacy?







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Tuesday, October 20, 2015

The 10 Best Horror Movies of the 1980s

poltergeist The 10 Best Horror Movies of the 1980s
The 1980s saw a rise in a peculiar kind of cobbled together aesthetics. The neon slickness of commercials and music videos, the safety pinned postmodernism of punk, and the crispy production design that Hollywood adopted thanks to technically auspicious directors like Ridley Scott, Adrian Lyne and James Cameron.
Horror grabbed on hard to these trends, swimming like champions in grungy decadence or deliberately bucking the system in favor of clean, old fashioned grammar. Movies like White of the Eye, Pumpkinhead, Razorback, Re-Animator, Humanoids from the Deep, Night of the Comet, The Entity, Motel Hell, The Changeling and The Hunger sit on either side of the divide, going for style or scares, atmosphere or assault, punk or classic rock.
There had never been anything like the hyperactive merging of influences and, thanks to the invention of VHS, these films influenced a generation in a more personal way than was ever before possible. For the first time, kids could take the horror home and watch over and over again.
Last week, we took a look at the 11 Best Horror Movies of the 1970s. Before that, we took a look at the 10 Best Horror Movies of the 1960s.
Here is Screen Rant’s list of the 10 Best Horror Movies of the 1980s.
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The Shining (1980)

Best Unscripted Movie Scenes Shining Heres Johnny The 10 Best Horror Movies of the 1980s

Stanley Kubrick’s reputation as one of the smartest and most exacting directors in the history of cinema was assured by the time he made The Shining in 1980. Many wondered why the director of Clockwork Orange and Barry Lyndon was even bothering with the populist thrills of a Stephen King novel, and the elicited a sense of disappointment when it was released.
In the decades since, however, various books and films have tried to uncover the hidden truths of this singularly bizarre adaptation. The simple version: this is one of the master’s best and most haunting films. Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson, on the verge of losing his ability to play subtle) and his wife (Robert Altman’s muse Shelley Duvall) agree to take care of the mammoth Overlook Hotel deep in the mountains, conveniently miles away from civilization. Insanity creeps in like a mist through the long, impossible corridors of the overlook. Kubrick searches through the Overlook for the essential patterns of human emotion and locates a troubling disturbance in the heart of every artist. A change of scenery may mean the difference between life and death.

The Thing (1982)

the thing 1982 horror movies nightmares The 10 Best Horror Movies of the 1980s
Speaking of Rob Bottin, The Thing boasts not just his best effects work in a mightily impressive career, but also a little assist work from Stan Winston, the latex guru behind The Terminator and later Jurassic Park, among others. The best of the best. Which is a great way to describe The Thing. Though you wouldn’t guess it from the reviews of the period, the legendary John Carpenter had one of the best decades of any American director in the 80s. The Fog, Prince of Darkness, Star Man, They Live… One of those would be enough to guarantee you a spot in cult heaven. Add The Thing to that resume and it’s a mystery why we haven’t put him on the 20 dollar bill.
12 researchers and technicians are settling into a long, isolated winter at an outpost in the Antarctic when a dog shows up chased by a crazed gunman in a helicopter. After they clean up the mess, they try to investigate what drove the man so insane that he’d shoot a dog. Naturally, they aren’t thrilled by what they find, or by what finds them. A study in economic storytelling, grim production design and lived-in performances, The Thing isn’t just one of the great horror films. It’s one of the great American movies, period.


Poltergeist (1982)

poltergeist The 10 Best Horror Movies of the 1980s
When the demented Tobe Hooper, mastermind behind The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, met Steven “aw shucks” Spielberg, coming off the success of E.T., the result was this awe-inspiring and awe-centric ghost story.
When the Freeling family moves into their new house, they don’t know what horrors await them. One night, their youngest daughter (Heather O’Rourke) communes with something called a poltergeist and it brings with it a whole host of telekinetic happenings and bad psychic vibes. The family is under constant assault by manifestations of their worst fears.
Spielberg’s family-friendly mode keeps Hooper’s grizzly invention from going too far into bleak territory, and Hooper makes sure that the film presents real stakes, a real sense of danger and intimacy. Sure, it remains terrifying all these years later, but it’s also, weirdly, the perfect family film. It makes you appreciate what it means to be in a crisis together.



A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

freddy kruger nightmare on elm street 5 best wes craven horror movies The 10 Best Horror Movies of the 1980s
Wes Craven didn’t become the master of horror we know today until he tapped into our unconscious minds and turned our dreams into madness. A film that posits that hard-lined capital punishment-crazed societies (Reagan’s America chief among them) would doom their children to answer for their crimes, A Nightmare On Elm Street went after the safety of where we go to escape from the world.
When we can’t even sleep without being attacked by the sins of the father, where is there left on earth to hide? This was Craven’s bread and butter, and he spent a career going to every far corner of the earth undermining the supposed safety of every kind of refuge. We can say we aren’t to blame, but that will just make it harder to reckon with the ghosts when they come looking for payback. Nightmare is full of unforgettable imagery and a tour-de-force performance by boogieman extraordinaire Robert Englund as the inescapable Freddie Kreuger.


Return of the Living Dead (1985)

return of the living dead The 10 Best Horror Movies of the 1980s
A zombie movie with the sneering aggression and breakneck pace of a hardcore punk concert, Return of the Living Dead takes the metaphorical social critiques of early zombie movies and turns them into an all out war on youth culture.
When a couple of workers accidentally unleash a chemical weapon near a cemetery, it raises the dead and they’re none too pleased to be up and about. If you’ve ever heard anyone yell “brains” while pretending to be a zombie, then someone they know has seen Return of the Living Dead. It doesn’t have the respectability of Night of the Living Dead, but it’s infected the spring from which horror and post-modernism drink. Dan O’Bannon’s rampaging monster romp is a beer bottle smashed to shards and thrown at the classics.
Next: Near Dark (1987)



Near Dark (1987)

near dark The 10 Best Horror Movies of the 1980s
Visual artist Kathryn Bigelow, better known now for prestigious Oscar fare The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, took the film world by storm with her lithe, rockabilly fresco The Loveless, but she cemented her reputation with 1987’s Near Dark, a neon “open” sign that invites viewers to a violent, Freudian buffet.
No sooner has Caleb (Adrian Pasdar) met Mae (Jenny Wright), the girl of his dreams, than her family abducts and indoctrinates him into their lifestyle. They’re vampires, and if Caleb wants to survive as one he has to learn how to kill and feed on the innocent. Bigelow’s country-fried tale of bloodlust and lawless romance shows off her acuity behind the camera. She directs love scenes to tug at the darkest part of the heart and violence to shake you to your foundations.
This is the pulp masterpiece that all new vampire films have to answer to.



Evil Dead 2 (1987)

evil dead bruce campbell horror movies nightmares The 10 Best Horror Movies of the 1980s
There is a sense in which a lot of ’80s slasher films and cabin-in-the-woods movies are a collection of home movies, documenting the fashion, slang, and dreams of kids who wanted nothing more than to break into motion pictures at a young age. The Evil Dead may well have joined the ranks of The Dorm That Dripped Blood and Don’t Go Into The Woods as just one week among young film buffs turned into a silly little movie, except that director Sam Raimi wasn’t fooling around.
After the nerve-munching first film, Raimi returned to the well with a bigger budget and an even more warped sense of humor. Evil Dead 2 is the most macabre Saturday morning cartoon you’ll ever see. Bruce Campbell takes his fiancĂ© to a secluded cabin in the woods and once more awakens a gaggle of soul-hungry demons. Raimi’s camera is the Bugs Bunny to Campbell’s Daffy Duck, putting him through every hilarious (if, of course, also completely disturbing and scary) trial it can dream up. Campbell fights possessed animal heads, a headless ballerina, a witch in the cellar and his own hand, and he never once eases up on himself. He and Raimi exert more energy than a classroom full of children out to recess. Evil Dead 2 has too many ideas, and for once that isn’t a problem.


Inferno (1980)

inferno The 10 Best Horror Movies of the 1980s
After dipping his toes in the waters of the supernatural in Suspiria, Dario Argento dove in head first with Inferno, his masterpiece. An homage to the legendary horror director Mario Bava (who directed such deliciously subversive films as The Whip and the Body), Inferno is a shocking, expressionistic piece of devilry about a house in New York that consumes the spirits of those who enter.
Inferno derives great power from allowing impossible, uncanny events to transpire for just a little longer than they should. The stare of a mysterious stranger from across a classroom, the refusal of a man at a cauldron to turn around, a swim through a pastel-coloured, submerged room searching for clues, each haunting sequence works a short film on the experience of knowing that something wrong is about to happen and you can’t stop it. Argento’s images were never cleaner nor more startling.
Next: The Howling (1981)
 
 
 

The Howling (1981)

the howling The 10 Best Horror Movies of the 1980s
An American Werewolf In London may be the better-remembered of the ’80s werewolf movies, and while it doesn’t want for personality (the hero’s dream of machine gun-wielding monsters is one of the great sequences of the decade), it’s The Howling that secretly steals the show (poor Wolfen is a distant third). Joe Dante and John Sayles, two of the greatest cinephile wise-asses who ever lived, craft a film that’s part pop-culture sick love-letter, part extremely troubling serial killer PTSD study.
Dee Wallace plays a journalist haunted by memories of the killer who became obsessed with her before the police gunned him down. She and her husband (Christopher Stone) take a little time off to head to a coastal retreat run by a self-help guru (the late Patrick Macnee) whose methods are a little peculiar, to say the least. The Howling was the first film to play upon our collective understanding of an idea from the movies and TV (such as our collective knowledge of the tropes of a werewolf movie), and use it to wring dramatic irony out of a scary story (Scream is one of this film’s most notable disciples).
But none of that would matter much if the film weren’t scary. The film’s werewolves are truly unnerving, a beautiful display of practical effect wizardry by the dearly missed Rob Bottin, who retired when CGI overtook practical effects.
 

Hellbound: Hellraiser 2 (1988)

hellraiser 2 The 10 Best Horror Movies of the 1980s
Clive Barker’s Hellraiser was an excellent horror show; it gathers much of its charm through it feeling home made, as if the horror scribe did it in secret to show the world he was the only man up to the task of adapting his work.
Hellraiser 2 takes the strands left dangling at the end of the first film and knits a Boschian tapestry, a whole universe of erotic pain and jaw-dropping creatures. This sequel, directed by Tony Randel, one-ups Barker’s imagination with pristine execution. It’s a textural delight, all damp stone, squirming critters, leaky pipes and the promise of something worse right around the corner. As artistically edifying as the original was excitingly rough, Hellbound delivered on the promise of a cinematic universe in the shape of Clive Barker.
 
 

Conclusion

jason voorhees The 10 Best Horror Movies of the 1980s
The 80s also gave rise to the slasher movie, as near-classics like The Burning, My Bloody Valentine, Humongous and Just Before Dawn, which set the stylistic/technical bar higher even than accepted classics like Friday the 13th and Prom Night.
It was also the age of the horror franchise, as the Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Friday the 13th extended their universes far past their original ideas and deep into our cultural consciousness.
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What are your favorites? What horror films did you watch at sleepovers and halloween parties? Did you own any of these on VHS? Tell us about your ’80s horror experience in the comments!
Check out some more Screen Rant lists on the best horror movies to grace the big screen:
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