A common practice of AIP was to have two low budget exploitation films shot back-to-back with a schedule of just ten days each. This was a method that Corman had grown accustomed to, through both his work with AIP and Allied Artists, but eventually he decided that it was time to expand and direct something more professional and artistic. He approached AIP’s co-founder James H. Nicholson with the proposal of shooting a picture over fifteen days in colour and suggested a story by Poe entitled The Fall of the House of Usher as the source material. Nicholson’s partner at AIP, Samuel Z. Arkoff, had reservations about adapting the story as there was no monster, something that had become commonplace in cinema during the 1950s due to countless cheap B-movies, but Corman finally convinced him otherwise by stating that the house itself was the monster.

The project was eventually allocated a budget of $270,000, which would become the highest AIP would ever provide for a motion picture, and would mark Corman’s first collaboration with Richard Matheson. Following the publication of his first novel, Someone Is Bleeding, in 1953, Matheson enjoyed major acclaim the following year with the hugely influential novel I Am Legend, before adapting his own story The Incredible Shrinking Man into a screenplay for director Jack Arnold in 1957. Corman and Matheson would collaborate together several times again in the future on such projects as Pit and the Pendulum, Tales of Terror and The Raven, all of which were based on stories by Poe.

Corman and Matheson would change certain aspects of the story to suit the flow of the movie, including the relationships between the three main characters: the narrator (named Philip Winthrop in the screenplay), Roderick and Madeline Usher. For the role of Roderick, Corman approached genre actor Vincent Price, who had made a name for himself during the 1950s with roles in House of Wax, The Fly and House on Haunted Hill, as well as Cecil B. DeMille’s remake of his own historical epic The Ten Commandments. For his part in House of Usher, Price would be paid $50,000.

Mark Damon, who would later appear in Mario Bava’s I tre volti della paura/Black Sabbath, would take the role of Winthrop, whilst the part of Madeline would go to Myrna Fahey, who sadly passed away in 1973 from cancer at the age of forty. In a change of pace from his recent work Corman chose not to hire regular collaborator Dick Miller, whom he had cast in most of his movies during the late 1950s and who would later make regular appearances in the films of Dante. The cinematography on House of Usher would be handled by Floyd Crosby, who had first entered the industry in the early 1930s and had since worked on High Noon with Gary Cooper and several of Corman’s earlier features, Rock All Night and The Young Rebels.

One of Corman’s greatest assets on the project was production designer Daniel Haller, who would reprise his duties on Pit and the Pendulum, The Raven and X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes before embarking on a directing career of his own with episodes of Ironside, Kojak and Battlestar Galactica. Having purchased old sets and stock from Universal for $25,000, Haller began to construct impressive sets at Raleigh Studios in Hollywood, where silent film star Charlie Chaplin shot many of his movies. For the destruction of the house at the end of the film, Corman was able to convince the owner of an old barn to allow him to instead use it for the climax, which he would shoot using two cameras.

House of Usher was first released on 22 June 1960 and would eventually earn over $1m at the box office, proving that there was an audience for the works of Poe. Corman’s own Pit and the Pendulum would be released the following year, whilst the story would be adapted once again in 1981, 1989 and 2008 (as well as countless TV productions). In their review of the movie Variety stated: “It’s not precisely the Edgar Allan Poe short story that emerges in House of Usher, but it’s a reasonably diverting and handsomely mounted variation.”

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Lustig was born in The Bronx and was later raised in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. His uncle was acclaimed boxer Jake LaMotta, who Robert De Niro would later portray in the 1980 biopic Raging Bull. Whilst his earlier cinema experiences would mostly consist of Disney features, as he entered his teenage years Lustig became fascinated with movies and watched all of the latest releases: Bullitt, The Wild Bunch, Putney Swope and Midnight Cowboy, amongst others. During the late 1960s and early ’70s he was a regular visitor to 42nd Street in Manhattan which, at the time, housed all manner of movies at their various cinemas, including the works of Roger Corman, Federico Fellini and Hammer.

When Lustig was sixteen he managed to land an apprenticeship with Peter Savage, an independent producer who was shooting a string of X-rated sex comedies. In return for sweeping the floor of the editing room Savage’s editor, Larry Marinelli, taught him how to cut film and before long Lustig had dropped out of school. Eventually raising $15,000, Lustig commenced work on his own directorial debut, 1977’s The Violation of Claudia. Following a second adult movie, Hot Honey (both of which he shot under the alias Billy Bagg), Lustig prepared to make the leap into the mainstream. Several years earlier he had made the acquaintance of struggling New York actor Joe Spinell on the set of Philip D’Antoni’s The Seven-Ups and the two instantly became close friends. Spinell, who had landed his first movie role in Francis Ford Coppola’s acclaimed classic The Godfather, was an avid fan of horror movies and the two began to discuss the possibility of producing one themselves.

The seed of what would become Maniac was first sewn when Frank Pesce, a friend of Lustig, suggested that he make ‘Jaws on land.’ Together, Lustig and Spinell conceived a story about a twisted serial killer and began to develop a script entitled Movie Maniac. Earlier drafts were co-written by C.A. Rosenberg, who focused more on the police investigation than the sordid acts of the antagonist. Whilst working on the script Lustig was contacted by his friend Andrew Garroni, who would later become his regular producer, regarding an Italian studio who required equipment for a brief shoot in New York. To his surprise, the director in question was Dario Argento, whose first feature, L’uccello dalle piume di cristallo/The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, had made a profound impact on Lustig several years earlier.

The film that Argento was planning to shoot in New York was Inferno, the highly anticipated sequel to his critically acclaimed masterpiece Suspiria. By April 1979, Lustig found himself on the set of Inferno, which was shooting in Central Park with the assistance of cult filmmaker Mario Bava and his son, Lamberto. Lustig began discussing his own script with Argento, who enthusiastically explained his idea for a low budget horror about a perverse serial killer called Frank Zito. Argento even suggested his partner and frequent collaborator Daria Nicolodi, who had also worked with Bava on his final movie, Shock. Nicolodi was disgusted when she finally read the script and immediately refused, eventually leading to Argento also backing out of the project.

One key ingredient to the crew of Maniac was makeup artist Tom Savini, fresh from working on the gory thriller Friday the 13th and still riding high on the success of Dawn of the Dead. Savini arrived in New York from Blairstown, New Jersey, with a headless corpse that he had used for Friday the 13th and set about designing the explicit set pieces for Lustig’s movie. Whilst attending a convention in New York, Savini saw British actress Caroline Munro, known for her roles in Dracula A.D. 1972, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad and The Spy Who Loved Me. She had co-starred alongside Spinell two years earlier in the Star Wars rip-off Starcrash and later Savini casually mentioned that they were working on a movie together. Later that evening, Spinell contacted Munro and offered her the role that Nicolodi had turned down. Despite reluctant at the graphic aspects of the script, Munro was eager to try her hand at a different role and distance herself from the fantasy and science fiction genres that had dominated her career.

Spinell had created the character of Zito for himself and began to research serial killers whilst studying the role in order to define the personality of the film’s title character. Both Spinell and Garroni both donated $6,000 to the movie’s budget (Spinell using the fee he had received from the movie Cruising), whilst Lustig contributed the largest sum, $30,000. To help complete the budget, Munro’s husband Judd Hamilton, offered his financial assistance. With $48,000 in hand, Lustig prepared to commence shooting Maniac, which would be shot on 16mm, something that the director tried to keep quiet as he felt distributors would not take the movie seriously.

Lustig was adamant that he worked with semi-professional actors but was concerned that as the movie was non-union he would not be able to cast anyone associated with the Screen Actors Guild. After discovering a clause that excluded X-rated movies Lustig decided that if he could convince the SAG that the movie would receive an adult rating (despite not being pornographic) then he would be able to hire professionals. To achieve this he sent a copy of the Maniac script that was loaded with graphic sexual violence and gore, in the hope that the SAG would want to distance themselves from such material. After a second attempt, in which even more explicit material was added to the script, he finally managed to get his own way. Due to a restricted budget Lustig did not obtain permits to shoot around New York and so had to be vigilant whilst on location.

Principal photography commenced in late October and, despite the gruelling schedule and morbid subject matter, the shoot was relatively relaxed and enjoyable. The stand out moment of the movie was a sequence in which Zito jumps onto the hood of a car and shoots the driver in the face with a shotgun, causing his head to explode. In an ironic twist of fate both the victim and the man who fired the shot were both played by Savini, who stood in for Spinell to use the shotgun. To achieve the gruesome effect, the head was filled with shrimp and chicken salad and covered in fake blood, whilst a latex mask of Savini’s face was placed over the front. Once the take was completed, the shotgun was handed to one of the PAs, whose job it was to drive to Staten Island in case police arrived on the scene. Due to the car being covered with blood the young man was questioned by police whilst attempting to pass through a tollbooth. Some time after filming had wrapped, Lustig required Spinell to return for additional scenes but the actor had since shaved off his beard and cut his hair for his next movie, the Sylvester Stallone thriller Nighthawks. A a favour, the makeup artist on the movie agreed to attach a wig and fake moustache to Spinell in order for him to return to his previous film.

The score for Maniac was composed by Jay Chattaway, who would later work with Lustig on the movies Vigilante, Maniac Cop, Relentless and Maniac Cop 2. A track entitled Maniac was co-written and performed by Michael Sembello but omitted from the movie, although its inclusion on Adrian Lynn’s Flashdance three years later would transform it into a hit single. Despite its graphic nature the film was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in a small theatre and played to a packed audience, resulting in Maniac being picked up by Analysis Releasing, who saw the potential of marketing it as an exploitation movie and designed a poster in which a man is holding a severed head and bloody knife whilst concealing an erection in his jeans. Maniac was greeted by numerous petitions and was universally loathed by critics but soon found an audience with the slasher crowd and eventually gained a cult following.

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Dinosaurs had been the subject of many fantasy pictures for decades, including two adaptations of Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World. But Harryhausen’s imagination, which had been demonstrated in the classics The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and Jason and the Argonauts, would reveal a world that audiences had never seen and would transform dinosaurs into terrifying predators. After the success of She the previous year, Hammer wanted to capture the same formula and drafted in two of the stars: John Richardson and Ursula Andress.

Their proposed project was a reworking of Hal Roach’s 1940 fantasy One Million B.C., which had co-starred screen legend Lon Chaney, Jr., and was first suggested by Kenneth Hyman of Seven Arts, who had played a significant role in their eventually breakthrough into the mainstream during the late 1950s. Continuing their deal with American distributors Twentieth Century Fox, Hammer began pre-production on One Million Years B.C. in late 1964. The screenplay was written by Michael Carreras, whose father, James Carreras, had been a prominent force behind Hammer in the early days. The logical choice for director was Don Chaffey, who had previously worked with Harryhausen on Jason and the Argonauts in 1963. But the production faced difficulties when Andress passed on the project and the movie was suddenly without a leading lady.

Fox suggested a young actress called Raquel Welch, fresh from working on the science fiction classic Fantastic Voyage for director Richard Fleischer. Not wishing to be typecast to one particular genre and finding the concept of a dinosaur movie somewhat ridiculous Welch declined the role but Richard Zanuck, then Vice-President at Fox, ordered her to make the film as she was still under contract. Upon reading an article in Time about how London had embraced the ’swinging sixties,’ Welch finally accepted the part. What could have been just another role in a forgettable movie (as Welch had predicted) would become her most iconic performance thanks to a series of shots that photographer Pierre Luigi took of the actress in the fur bikini that she would sport throughout the film.

Another veteran from both The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and Jason and the Argonauts was Wilkie Cooper, who had also worked with Harryhausen on Mysterious Island, The 3 Worlds of Gulliver and, most recently, First Men in the Moon. Principal photography commenced on October 18th 1965 in the Canary Islands, with the volcanic landscape being shot on Lanzarote. With little dialogue (due to human speech having not been fully developed) the actors had to rely mainly on body language, although this would also prove difficult as many scenes required the actors to perform opposite creatures that would be added in post-production. To assist with this, Harryhausen was present on set to choreograph the actor’s movements, whilst eyelines and markers had to be hit perfectly for continuity. One day Welch approached Chaffey with suggestions for her character but he had little interest in improvising due to the tight schedule and difficult technical aspects, instead preferring his cast to follow their directions.

To make matters worse, Welch developed a severe case of tonsillitis due to the cold weather, whilst coal had to be placed next to the cameras in order to keep them warm enough to work. Once filming in Lanzarote had been completed the production relocated to Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire on November 20th for a further six weeks of shooting. Harryhausen’s task of creating the dinosaurs and placing them in the action would take approximately nine months to complete, whilst occasional filming would continue until the end of July 1966. Having obtained stock footage from MGM for the prologue, it was decided that due to lack of dialogue a voice-over would open the film, although much of the narration, which was performed by David Kossoff (who had appeared in Hammer’s The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll), was removed during editing.

Although originally budgeted at £367,415 the movie would eventually wrap at £422,816. One Million Years B.C. was released on December 30th and exceeded all expectations, allegedly earning approximately $8m. Critical opinion was divided, with Variety stating: “The whole thing is good humored full-of-action commercial nonsense… Wilkie Cooper, in Eastmancolor, has done fair justice to Harryhausen’s effects.” Unsurprisingly, the success of the movie prompted Hammer to produce both a sequel and TV spin-off, with When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth following four years later, although unfortunately due to scheduling conflicts Harryhausen was unable to return.

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The original concept would come from Peter Benchley, who had graduated from Harvard College in 1961 to become a freelance writer for the Washington Post, Life, Newsweek Magazine and The New Yorker. Benchley had first become fascinated with sharks as a child when his family would hunt for swordfish in Nantucket, an island south of Cape Cod in Massachusetts. When he became a writer Benchley still pursued an interest in sharks and upon hearing about a shark fisherman off Long Island beach who had caught a great white that had weighed 4,550 pounds he knew that it would make an interesting story. Several years later his concept aroused the interest of a publisher and Benchley immediately set out to write his first novel. Unsure of what the book should be called he began to flirt with a variety of none-too-subtle titles, such as A Silence in the Deep, The Jaws of Death, Leviathan Rising and The Stillness in the Water. The only word he felt had any kind of impact and relevance to the plot was ‘jaws’ and so he eventually decided to use that as the title.

Although Jaws was to be the first novel of a new writer and was to feature a basic plot about a killer shark the publisher, Tom Congdon of Doubleday, was convinced that there was something special about the book and sent out copies to the Literary Guild and the Book of the Month Club, amongst others. Benchley was finally able to secure a deal with Bantam for $575,000 and before long the novel was optioned by Universal Pictures for $150,000. Producers Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown were unsure of how they were to bring the story to the big screen but they knew that they had to make the picture and commissioned Benchley to adapt his book into a screenplay. They then bean to approach directors, including Dick Richards, who instead would helm Farewell, My Lovely with Robert Mitchum and Charlotte Rampling. By chance Spielberg, who at the time was considering directing the biopic Flushed With Pride: The Story of Thomas Crapper about the inventor of the toilet, visited Zanuck’s office and saw the script for Jaws on his desk. Intrigued by the title and having no idea of what the story was he asked to borrow a copy and read it over the weekend.

Spielberg immediately saw comparisons with his own movie Duel, in which an ‘everyman’ is terrorised by an indestructible force, in this case a Peterbilt 281 tanker truck. Having worked with both Zanuck and Brown on The Sugarland Express Spielberg asked if the script could become his next project. There were some aspects of both Benchley’s novel and script that the producers wanted to remove, feeling that the more simple the story the easier the audience would be able to identify with the characters and embrace the tension. Spielberg had certain issues with the screenplay and so wrote a draft himself before passing it over to playwright Howard Sackler, who had enjoyed major success both on stage and screen with The Great White Hope. He had also provided uncredited rewrites for Stanley Kubrick’s film noir classic Killer’s Kiss in 1955. Sackler used his own knowledge of sharks from scuba diving to help flesh out the script but felt that his contributions had been so minimal that he refused screen credit.

With time short and principal photography already looming Spielberg still did not have a script that he was satisfied with and so turned the material over to Carl Gottlieb, who had previously written for and acted in The Bob Newhart Show. The first actor that Spielberg cast for the movie was Lorraine Gary, whom he had previously seen in an episode of Kojak entitled The Marcus Nelson Murders and felt that she would be ideal for the role of Ellen, the wife of the protagonist, Police Chief Martin Brody. Roy Scheider’s first meeting with Spielberg had been at a party when he had overheard the director discussing with a writer about how they were to get a giant shark to jump onto a boat. Intrigued by the discussion, Scheider thought that they were joking but was soon cast as Brody.

For the role of ichthyologist Matt Hooper, Spielberg had first approached Jon Voight but with no success, but his friend George Lucas instead recommended Richard Dreyfuss, whom he had previously worked with on the 1973 nostalgic drama American Graffiti. Dreyfuss had initially declined the role as he realised that the shoot would be a logistic nightmare but after attending the premiere of his movie The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (by Canadian director Ted Kotcheff, later of First Blood fame), Dreyfuss was horrified by his bland performance and felt that he needed to find more work immediately. The final protagonist was Quint, an eccentric and somewhat deranged shark hunter, whom Spielberg had offered to Lee Marvin. At the suggestion of his producers he eventually cast Robert Shaw, having also been refused by Sterling Hayden.

Spielberg felt that the less the audience saw of the shark the more terrifying the movie would be. The producers decided that to make the scenes underwater appear more realistic then they would need to shoot some real footage of sharks under water. To achieve this they contacted Peter Gimbel, who had directed the 1971 documentary Blue Water, White Death, but to their surprise he insisted that he should also direct the film. Unable to secure his services they were instead referred to Ron and Valerie Taylor, who had also worked on the documentary. Shooting in the same location around Dangerous Reef in South Australia, the footage required a shark to attack a cage that was suspended underwater.

To help create the illusion that the shark was giant a smaller cage was constructed and Spielberg cast what he referred to as a ‘little person’ as a body double. Carl Rizzo was given the task of performing underwater but the conditions were unpleasant and the actor was scared about interacting with the three sharks. Finally they were able to shoot a sequence in which one of the sharks attacked the cage and caught its nose in the bridle, causing the creature to thrash around violently until the cage fell to the bottom of the ocean. The task of finding suitable locations in the United States fell to production designer Joe Alves, who travelled across the country taking photographs to present to the producers. After briefly considering Jamaica they eventually settled on Martha’s Vineyard, a picturesque island near Cape Cod that had a rural quality and was surrounded by deep blue water. The community had little interest in the chaos caused by a movie production and no sets were allowed to be built unless the filmmakers promised to return everything back to how they found it once they were finished.

To create tension from the outset the movie opened with a scene in which a beautiful young swimmer is mauled by an unseen predator from below the surface of the water. Denise Cheshire, who has cast in the role, had experience performing stunts in the water but Spielberg’s main concern was that she was not a professional actress. He was suitably impressed with her performance and would work with her once again four years later on 1941.The shark, affectionately called Bruce after Spielberg’s lawyer, would become a major hindrance for the production and would cause the shoot to fall behind schedule. The mechanics would often fail underwater and despite the best efforts of Robert A. Mattey and his team numerous technical issues seemed unavoidable. Spielberg would later spoof the shark over a decade later when he produced the science fiction comedy Back to the Future Part II, in which a 3-D shark in the future bursts out of a screen and attacks hero Marty McFly before suddenly disappearing, prompting him to state dismissively “The shark still looks fake!”

The shoot would eventually last seven months and by the time principal photography came to an end many of the crew were cursing their director. Having previously worked with composer John Williams on The Sugarland Express, Spielberg once again brought him in to create the score for Jaws. This would land Williams an Academy Award and the two would continue to work together for many years. When the film was finally released it was a hit with the critics (Roger Ebert stated ‘It has the necessary amount of blood and guts to work – but none extra. And it’s one hell of a good story, brilliantly told’), whilst its box office taking surpassed even the producers’ expectations, eventually becoming the biggest selling movie of all time. Yet, despite all its success, Spielberg’s humiliation would be caught on film when he invited several friends to his office to watch as the Academy Awards were announced, believing that he was in the running to pick up the ‘Best Director,’ only to miss out on even a nomination.

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Williamson was a failed actor when his screenplay Scary Movie made its way from one Hollywood studio to the next. Eventually it found its way to Dimension and was offered to Craven, whose own movie A Nightmare on Elm Street had been referenced in the script. The horror genre had become something of a taboo in the 1990s; with the slasher having been replaced by the more respectable ‘psychological thriller,’ yet there was something about Williamson’s story that intrigued producers. It was most definitely a slasher but it was self aware, ironic and violent. Scream, as it would become known, seemed as fresh and exciting as Halloween had almost twenty years earlier.

Unlike most slasher franchises, Scream would not have one specific villain, but the mask that the killers would wear would become as recognisable and iconic as Freddy’s glove or even Jason’s mask. Another departure for slashers is that each of the movies would focus on one heroine, Sidney Prescott, whose own adulterous mother would become the catalyst for the massacres that would follow. Almost a year to the day after the death of her mother, Sidney’s home town is plagued by a series of brutal murders, with many of her classmates targeted by a masked killer with a penchant for testing his victims with horror movie trivia before ‘gutting them like a fish.’ Sensing an exclusive, ambitious reporter Gale Weathers, who had claimed that Sidney had accused the wrong man of her mother’s murder (Cotton Weary, who now waits on death row), arrives to uncover the truth. Meanwhile, the town’s well-meaning yet incompetent deputy, Dewey Riley, attempts to shield Sidney from both the media and the deranged killer.

Riley would follow the slasher cliché of inadequate authority figures, as would Sidney’s father, Neil. The males in her life (two of which are revealed to be the killers) do not offer her the support that she needs and ultimately it is left to Sidney to fend for herself. Starting a trend that would continue through the subsequent slasher revival, the producers would hire a young attractive cast who had primarily worked on a variety of successful TV shows. Courtney Cox, who would play the obnoxious Gale, had become a household name from the sitcom Friends, whilst Neve Campbell, who would be cast as Sidney, had previously co-starred in Party of Five. David Arquette, meanwhile, who would provide the comedy relief as Riley, had come from the infamous Arquette family (his sister, Patricia, had starred in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors).

Released during the 1996 Christmas holidays Scream became an unexpected success, and would outgross its competition, which would include One Fine Day, Beavis and Butt-head Do America and Evita, eventually grossing over $100m at the US box office. Critics were also impressed with the style and intelligence of the movie and soon other studios followed suit, with I Know What You Did Last Summer, Urban Legend and Cherry Falls being amongst the most successful imitators. Dimension would waste little time and immediately drafted Craven and Williamson to work on the sequel. Set one year after the first movie, Scream 2 would see Sidney once again targeted by deranged killers whilst at college, although this time the murder spree would be committed by a copycat.

Randy, the film geek (once again portrayed by Jamie Kennedy), would explain the rules of the horror sequel for those not familiar with genre clichés: The body count is always bigger. The death scenes are always much more elaborate, with more blood and gore (although, ironically, none of the murders in Scream 2 would match the graphic nature of the original’s opening massacre). Both Cox and Arquette would once again resume their roles, whilst Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Sarah Michelle Gellar would enjoy a brief appearance as one of the victims. The supporting cast would include Jerry O’Connell (Stand By Me), Rebecca Gayheart (later seen in Urban Legend) and Timothy Olyphant (who has since appeared in Go, Gone in 60 Seconds and the remake of The Crazies).

Scream 2 would prove to be one of those rare sequels which would prove to be a worthy successor, with some critics even stating that it was superior to the original. As with Scream, the second movie with boast a soundtrack full of the latest popular groups (including Foo Fighters and Eels), whilst Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ Red Right Hand had become the franchises unofficial anthem. With Williamson having stated that he had conceived the story as a trilogy, Scream 3 would eventually be released in February 2000. With Williamson preoccupied with the hit show Dawson’s Creek, as well as his directorial debut, Killing Mrs. Tingle, the task of writing the script fell to Ehren Kruger, previously responsible for Arlington Road. With Cox, Arquette and Campbell once again taking the lead, the cast would also include Patrick Dempsey (Mobsters), model Jenny McCarthy and genre veteran Lance Henriksen.

Yet whilst Williamson’s scripts had been tight and strong on character, Kruger’s take on the franchise would cause many fans to feel disappointed. A slew of pointless cameos from Roger Corman, Carrie Fisher and Jay & Silent Bob (fictional characters from the Kevin Smith movies), as well as an irritating turn from Parker Posey would do little to improve the situation. After the murder of Cotton Weary (who has since been pardoned for murder and now hosts his own hit show), Sidney is lured out of hiding and makes her way to Hollywood, where Riley now works as a consultant on the set of the latest Stab movie; a horror franchise based on the original murders. The killer, Roman Bridger (Scott Foley), is not only revealed to be her brother but also the mastermind behind the murder of her mother. Eventually, Riley is killed and Sidney tries to accept a life without fear.

In the decade that would follow the release of Scream 3 the industry would drastically change. The torture porn cycle would take screen violence to new extremes, whilst the recent run of remakes would see not only classics such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween but also cult flicks like The Toolbox Murders, being updated for modern audiences. Although Scream had been initially created as a trilogy, the success of any slasher (or indeed Hollywood) franchise guarantees that it will eventually return. Dimension head Bob Weinstein had expressed interest in bringing the series back from the dead but Craven, always eager to distance himself from the horror genre, was somewhat reluctant. After Williamson had submitted a script that the studio were satisfied with (regularly updating fans and critics via his Twitter page), both Craven and the equally reluctant Campbell agreed to return.

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Prior to this Lynch had intended for his next project after The Grandmother to be Gardenback, but unable to come to terms with the plot Lynch eventually abandoned the script and instead obtained a $5,000 grant from the AFI and commenced work on another story that would borrow heavily from Gardenback. The AFI’s track record for producing feature films had been less than successful and so Lynch submitted a twenty-one page outline for Eraserhead. The Grandmother had been shot in 16mm colour but for his first real film (despite the AFI insisting that it remain a short) Lynch decided that he would shoot in 35mm. He was told the only way he could do this was if his film was shot in black-and-white, something that Lynch was more than enthusiastic about. Pre-production would commence in early 1972, with Lynch expecting the shoot to take somewhere between one and two months.

Whilst searching around the premises of the AFI Lynch found a series of rooms that were unused and seemingly forgotten about, allowing Lynch his own private set with which he could shoot his movie. His own experience as a handyman meant that he was able to build parts of the sets himself, whilst other rooms would be reserved for storage and an office. The construction of the sets would be completed with the help of Alan Splet, who also worked as the head of AFI’s Sound Department, as well as Lynch’s brother, John. The principal crew would consist of production manager Doreen Small, cinematographer Herbert Cardwell and Catherine Coulson, an occasional actress who would be by Lynch’s side throughout the production of Eraserhead. Amongst her various roles on the set of Eraserhead Coulson would work as assistant cameraman and even handle catering. Lynch insisted that his crew were paid, something that the AFI were hesitant to agree to, but eventually as always he got what he wanted.

In order to keep the set private and avoid any unwanted outside interference both Lynch and Splet worked to create an insulation to keep the sound as contained as possible. Despite unsociable hours – most of Eraserhead would be shot at night – and constant money issues, Lynch’s crew worked as hard as possible and were committed to producing a film that matched the director’s vision. Several of Lynch’s collaborators on the movie would be reprised for much of his subsequent work, including his two lead actors. Charlotte Stewart, who would later enjoy the recurring role of Bobby Briggs’ mother in Lynch’s cult show Twin Peaks, was a friend of Small and would enjoy minor success in the mid-1970s for her turn as Eva Beadle in Little House on the Prairie. One of Lynch’s most frequent collaborators was actor Jack Nance and the two would later work together on Dune, Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, Wild at Heart and Lost Highway. Nance was somewhat skeptical about taking the part as at first he felt that the film was nothing more than a student effort but Lynch eventually decided to bring the actor back to his home to meet his wife, who soon gave her approval. Amongst the first to be cast in the film were Allen Joseph and Jeanne Bates, both of whom would portray Stewart’s parents, and Judith Anne Roberts, all of whom had worked for a local theatre company.

Lynch had mapped out the entire film in his head and knew exactly what he wanted, working closely with Cardwell to bring his vision to the screen. One of Lynch’s first issues, however, would be with the laboratory who was processing the film. Their concern was that they felt the footage was poorly lit and would be almost unwatchable, yet each time they sent the film back to Lynch he would return it with a note demanding for them to process it even darker. Lynch and Frederick Elmes visited several special effects studios in Hollywood to seek advice on how to create props and gags with little budget, most notably for the monstrous baby that would come to tear Nance’s world apart. In an effort to reduce the budget and retain creative control, Lynch attempted to use as much in-camera effects as possible, such as multiple exposures.

Filming on Eraserhead commenced in May 1972 and Lynch was usually satisfied with the first take, mainly due to having rehearsed with his actors beforehand. The shoot would last approximately a year – far longer than Lynch had predicted – with photography running relatively smoothly and without incident, although Lynch was beginning to both drink and smoke heavily, as well as living on a diet of fast food from McDonald’s. But after the first year funds began to dry up and the production faced closure. In an effort to raise more money, Lynch and Splet edited a portion of the film together and screened the footage for a potential producer who was horrified by how unconventional and amateur the film was. Soon afterwards, the AFI grew concerned that Eraserhead was being turned into feature length and withdrew funding from the project, only allowing Lynch and his crew equipment and the location.

By the spring of 1973 the production was in trouble and filming abruptly stopped. The crew remained in contact as they pursued other projects, whilst Splet and Lynch cut the footage together. Elmes and Coulson, meanwhile, worked together on John Cassavetes’ crime drama The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, as camera operator and assistant, respectively. Having gained further funding from family and friends the production commenced once again the following May, although Lynch was given less freedom to work than before. Having divorced from his wife and ostensibly homeless, Lynch slept on set in between shooting which helped to save cost on renting. At some point during long shooting process Cardwell had left the production and was replaced by Elmes. Meanwhile, new strict union regulations had forced the AFI to cease production on all non-union films, although somehow Lynch was able to continue shooting. Through his collaboration with Splet, Lynch learnt the importance of sound effects, something that would come into play through his subsequent work. Both the editing and sound design would last until almost mid-1976, when Lynch was finally satisfied with the picture.

Although eager for his film to be screened at Cannes, Lynch had arrived in New York after the final submission date, whilst Eraserhead would also be refused by the New York Film Festival. The film finally made its public premiere on March 19 1977 for the cast, crew and friends, although the dumbfounded reaction was not what Lynch had expected. Critics seemed confused, disgusted, shocked and disappointed by the feature, with Variety stating; ‘The mind boggles to learn that Lynch labored on this pic for five years.’ Lynch’s luck would change when Eraserhead was picked up by Ben Barenholtz, an independent distributor who had championed the midnight circuit with the Mexican flick El Topo (directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky who, in a bizarre twist of fate, would attempt to adapt Frank Herbert’s Dune a few years before Lynch). It would be here that the movie would finally find its audience, which would include cult filmmaker John Waters, who proclaimed that Eraserhead was his favourite film. Soon afterwards, the movie was brought to the attention of Mel Brooks, comedy actor and director of such classics as The Producers and Young Frankenstein, who would offer Lynch the chance to direct the biopic The Elephant Man in 1980.

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Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood had done little to prove to Paramount that the series was still a success and worth continuing and soon the studio began to give serious though to killing off Jason once and for all. They had tried this once before with 1984’s Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter but at that time the franchise was still making money, but now five years later the generation that had flocked to see the first movie had grown up and the kids of 1989 had little interest in horror clichés and such a one-dimensional character. Even as The New Blood earned a modest amount at the box office (although far less than its predecessors) the producers began to discuss potential ideas for the next sequel, with both director John Carl Buechler and actress Lar Park Lincoln pitching concepts that would carry on the story of Part VII’s disturbed heroine Tina. Eventually it was decided that the series had run its course and the eighth movie would be the last.

On October 3 1987 Friday the 13th: The Series made its debut on American television and, despite its suggestive title, had no relation to the movie franchise. The show would, however, feature contributions from several directors who had already carved a name for themselves within the horror genre: these would include slasher veterans Tom McLoughlin (Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives), William Fruet (Killer Party) and Armand Mastroianni (He Knows You’re Alone). One director who would get his big break through the show would be Rob Hedden, a young enthusiast who had previously worked as a writer for Paramount on MacGyver and had been offered the chance to pen an episode of Friday the 13th: The Series by producer Barbara Sachs. On the condition that he could also direct Hedden was eventually brought onto the show and was given the opportunity to direct two epsidoes, The Electrocutioner and 13 O’Clock, which would appear in the first and second season, respectively. Whilst filming the latter Hedden was visited by Frank Mancuso Sr., the head of Paramount whose son, Frank Mancuso Jr., had nurtured the Friday the 13th movies since the first sequel and was looking for a filmmaker to both write and direct the eighth installment.

Although Hedden had worked on the TV show he had little knowledge of the movie franchise and so immediately watched the previous seven films to familiarise himself with the formula and mythology. Soon after he found himself in Mancuso Jr.’s office pitching his concept and it became apparent that the producers were concerned that New Line’s A Nightmare on Elm Street had begun to steal their thunder (1988’s A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master had grossed over $49m, whilst The New Blood had managed just $19m) and would demand something a little different from their new director. Hedden decided to introduce a supernatural element to the story in which Jason would appear to the heroine like a ghost, whilst also moving the action from Crystal Lake to New York City. Mancuso Jr. immediately sensed the potential of Jason embarking on a killing spree around the Big Apple and Hedden began to suggest possible locations: Madison Square Gardens, Broadway, Times Square, Brooklyn Bridge and even the Statue of Liberty. But before long Paramount grew concerned that the concept could inflate the budget and decided to cut back on many of Hedden’s ideas.

Initially New York was to be be introduced at the end of the Act I, but Hedden was then instructed to base the first half of his script on a cruise ship, and finally – when the overall budget was calculated at $4m – he was told he would only get one week to shoot in New York. To save cost the producers decided that Vancouver in British Columbia would make an ideal substitute and so Mancuso Jr. contacted Randolph Cheveldave, whom he had worked with a few years earlier on the slasher comedy April Fool’s Day. Cheveldave had worked for Mancuso Jr. as a production manager and the two had become friends and with Mancuso Jr. tied up with the thriller Internal Affairs he offered Cheveldave the chance to produce Friday the 13th Part VIII. Hedden, who at that time was relatively inexperienced and unable to debate with a major studio, was forced to deal with the changes suggested by the producers and rewrote his script accordingly. The final draft saw a graduating high school class embarking on a cruise on board the SS Lazarus from Crystal Lake to New York but are picked off one-by-one by Jason, before the handful of survivors escape into the city.

Although the previous four Friday the 13th movies had featured the obligatory blonde heroine Hedden was determined to cast against type for the role of his ‘final girl,’ Rennie. Amongst the young hopefuls to read for the part were Dedee Pfeiffer (The Horror Show), whose older sister Michelle had enjoyed minor success with Grease 2, Scarface and Tequila Sunrise, and Elizabeth Berkley, whose subsequent career would include the hit show Saved by the Bell and the notorious flop Showgirls. Jensen Daggett, who would eventually win the role, had come from an acting background and had pursued theatre in high school, before relocating to Hollywood at the age of eighteen. For her audition Daggett was required to perform a ’scream test’ in order to prove that she could deliver the goods during the film’s more tense moments. Hedden would be pressured by the studio to have his lead strip for the movie but Daggett refused and, unable to even land a topless scene, eventually stopped asking.

At this point no actor had wanted to or had been given the chance to play the character of Jason more than once. Jason Lives‘ C.J. Graham had initially been considered to return for The New Blood but the director, Buechler, had insisted on casting actor/stuntman Kane Hodder, whom he had previously worked with on the flick Prison. Hedden was offered the chance to recast the role and the producers had considered a Canadian stuntman for budgetary reasons but Hedden had been impressed by Hodder’s turn as Jason and fought to have him return to the role. The supporting cast would be primarily made up of fresh young talent who would enjoy various degrees of success in their subsequent careers: these would include Kelly Hu (The Scorpion King), Martin Cummins (Dark Angel), Scott Reeves (The Young and the Restless) and Gordon Currie (Beverly Hills, 90210). Scott Reeves, who would play the male lead, had not been the first choice for the role of the heroic Sean but had been brought in early in the shoot after the actor originally cast was replaced.

Just prior to principal photography the boat that the production were to use for the majority of the shoot was taken away due to scheduling conflicts and the producers were forced to find a replacement as soon as possible. Filming took place early in 1989 in Britannia, a small town thirty kilometres north of Vancouver, for approximately seven weeks before relocating to New York City for one week. Daggett was not the only actress that the studio wanted to feature naked in the movie, something that they felt their core audience demanded. Sharlene Martin, who would play the obligatory bitch Tamara, is killed by Jason whilst showering and the producers were eager for some T&A. Martin, far removed from her obnoxious character, was uncomfortable about peeling off her clothes but Hedden, who wanted his cast to be at ease during the shoot, stripped off and stepped into the shower to show her how easy it was. Unknown to Hedden, director of photography Bryan England had left the camera rolling and when the producers saw the next set of diallies they were shocked to see their director standing naked.

To recreate New York in Vancouver Hedden and his crew worked overtime by transforming abandoned tunnels under the city into a subway, laying down tracks and building a fake subway car. For the climax in which the sewers are flushed out with toxic waste the production moved to the gymnasium of an old school, in which they constructed large tanks that held 5,000 gallons of water that could be released easily. There was one sequence that could not be shot in Vancouver: Rennie and Sean try to escape from Jason by running through Times Square. Hodder stepped out into the street and was greeted by thousands of die hard fans who were shocked to see their hero loose in New York. Mancuso Jr. had allocated the production a further $25,000 to film for seven days in New York and the hype that surrounded Jason’s surprise appearance helped to generate a buzz around the movie. One aspect of the film that fans were less than impressed with was the ending, in which Jason drowns in the toxic waste and reverts back to a scared young boy, something that even Hodder felt was an anticlimax.

The editing would be handled by Steve Mirkovich, who had previously collaborated with John Carpenter on Big Trouble in Little China and Prince of Darkness. Mirkovich’s son, Timothy Burr, had been brought on the set for several weeks in Vancouver when the actor hired to play Jason as a boy was unable to cope with the various underwater scenes. Resident composer Harry Manfredini had been replaced by Fred Mollin, whom he had shared credit with on The New Blood and had scored the TV series. The original cut of Jason Takes Manhattan came in at just over two hours, forcing Hedden to remove much of the dialogue and character scenes, instead focusing on the action and suspense. The movie was released by Paramount on July 28 1989 and would earn just $14.3m at the US box office, whilst critics were quick to point out that, despite the film’s title, very little of the movie actually takes place in New York, with the Washington Post stating: “The on-screen body count is 19 and Jason Vorhees doesn’t even get to New York until the last 20 minutes of Friday the 13th: Part VIII – Jason Takes Manhattan.”

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In the original series, Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is forced to battle a deadly alien life form, both alongside trained marines and dangerous convicts. Although she would be killed off at the end of the third movie, overzealous producers still managed to wring money out of the franchise with another unnecessary sequel.

Through its three sequels – ranging from James Cameron’s critically acclaimed action flick Aliens, David Fincher’s misunderstood Alien³ and Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s disappointing Alien: Resurrection – the franchise has enjoyed both success and failure, before making way for Paul WS Anderson’s ridiculous AVP: Alien vs. Predator.

Whilst Nimród Antal and Robert Rodriguez’s Predators will no doubt disappoint, the early buzz on Scott’s Alien prequel has excited fans and renewed interest in the franchise.

To celebrate the return of the xenomorph, here is a retrospective of thirty years from 1979’s Alien to 1997’s Alien: Resurrection…

- Images 1-9 from Alien (1979; Ridley Scott)
- Images 10-18 from Aliens (1986; James Cameron)
- Images 19-24 from Alien³ (1992; David Fincher)
- Images 25-33 from Alien: Resurrection (1997; Jean-Pierre Jeunet)

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Hitchcock:
The first needs no introduction: Alfred Hitchcock is arguably the most acclaimed director of all time, having been responsible for such classics as Rear Window, Vertigo, Psycho and The Birds. With a film career that spanned fifty years, Hitchcock first began in Britain the silent movie industry in the 1920s, as well as a stint in Germany. He first gained popularity with his early thrillers that included Number 13, The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog and Blackmail, the latter of which would usher in the era of the ‘talkies.’

Further acclaim would come in the 1930s with The Man Who Knew Too Much (a film he would choose to remake twenty years later), The 39 Steps and The Lady Vanishes, before relocating to the United States with Rebecca in 1940. The movie would star screen legend Laurence Olivier and would win the ‘Best Picture’ Academy Award the following year. Continuing his obsession with murder and betrayal, many of Hitchcock’s movies would explore the ‘wrong man on the run’ formula, whilst others during this period would flirt with film noir. Amongst his greatest works during the Second World War were Saboteur, Shadow of a Doubt and Lifeboat.

Amongst the noted actors that he would collaborate with after moving to America were Cary Grant, James Stewart and Ingrid Bergman. The 1950s was perhaps his most successful and acclaimed period, which would result in a variety of stylish and respected work, including Strangers on a Train, Rope, Dial M for Murder (his one and only 3D effort), Rear Window, To Catch a Thief, The Wrong Man, Vertigo and North by Northwest. Whilst 1960’s Psycho would repulse critics upon its initial release, it has since become noted as one of the most influential movies of all time.

He would continue his obsession with espionage and murder with Marnie, Torn Curtain and Topaz, before directing perhaps the darkest movie of his career, Frenzy, which would see him return to Britain. His last movie, Family Plot, failed to achieve the success of his earlier work and Hitchcock would pass away on April 29, 1980 at his home in Bel Air, Los Angeles from kidney failure at the age of eighty. Throughout his long and prestigious career, Hitchcock had directed approximately seventy movies, although there are believed to be more undiscovered or ones that he had not taken credit for. Even today, filmmakers are still attempting to capture the magic that Hitchcock had so effortlessly demonstrated time and time again.

Bava:
The other filmmaker who would die thirty years ago this month was Italian director Mario Bava, the man most associated with the giallo subgenre and an early pioneer of the slasher film. Son of special effects artist and cameraman Eugenio Bava, Mario would first enter the industry as a noted cinematographer in 1939 with Roberto Rossellini’s short La vispa Teresa/Lively Teresa. He would make his own directorial debut just seven years later with the little-seen documentary L’orecchio, which would lead to a string of similar titles.

Having worked as a cinematographer for the likes of Massimo Terzano and Jacquez Tourneur, Bava would be forced to take over as director during the filming of 1956’s I, Vampiri (aka The Devil’s Commandment), when its director, Riccardo Freda, walked from the project after disagreements with the producers. Bava would not receive credit for his directing chores, but would soon find himself in the same situation again when, two years later, he was forced to once again take over from Freda when he stepped down from Caltiki, il mostro immortale (Caltiki, the Immortal Monster). Impressed with his ability to control a set and salvage the movie, the producers finally offered Bava the chance to direct a film of his own, resulting in 1960’s La Maschera del demonio (Black Sunday).

The early 1960s would prove to be a successful time for Bava, which would result in several successful fantasy movies, such as Ercole al centro della terra (Hercules at the Center of the Earth) and Gli invasori (Erik the Conqueror), before directing the stylish thriller La Ragazza che sapeva troppo (The Girl Who Knew Too Much); a film which critics have since stated would provide the blueprint for the giallo genre. The following year would see him create the horror anthology I Tre volti della paura (Black Sabbath), which would see the legendary Boris Karloff as the host. His next effort was the science fiction horror Terrore nello spazio (Planet of the Vampires), which has since been stated as a major influence on Ridley Scott’s Alien.

Other classics from this era would include Operazione paura (Kill, Baby…Kill!), Il Rosso segno della follia (Hatchet for the Honeymoon) and 5 bambole per la luna d’agosto (Five Dolls for an August Moon), before Bava would come under fire for his graphic murder mystery Reazione a Catena (Twitch of the Death Nerve). The movie would be criticized for its departure from his usual restrained and stylish approach and would later be labeled as a ‘video nasty’ in the United Kingdom. The 1970s would prove to be less successful, with Lisa e il diavolo (Lisa and the Devil) being re-cut by its producer and re-released as The House of Exorcism, whilst the footage for Cani arrabbiati (Rabid Dogs) would be confiscated by the courts after the death of one of the financiers. His last movie, Shock, would be released under the title Beyond the Door II, in an effort to cash in on the success of Ovidio G. Assonitis’ supernatural horror Chi sei?, which gained minor acclaim three years earlier under the title Beyond the Door. Bava would pass away on April 25, 1980 at the age of sixty-five.

Purchase Hitchcock and Bava DVDs below:

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Méliès was forty years old when he made Le Voyage dans la lune and had directed over three hundred short films, including 1896’s Le manoir du diable/The Devil’s Castle, which many critics site as the first ever horror movie, despite being only two minutes in length. Inspired by a variety of classic science fiction literature, the film would become Méliès’ most acclaimed work.

Le Voyage dans la lune is even more of an achievement because cinema at that time was still in its infancy, with very few filmmakers (with the exception of R.W. Paul) embracing the possibilities that this new medium had to offer. Méliès was a former stage magician and would incorporate many of these tricks into his films, including matte paints.

Despite his legacy, by 1913 he had become bankrupt and much of his work would be destroyed or lost forever. It would not be until after his death in 1938 that his reputation as the first ever true filmmaker would be cemented. Along with Le manoir du diable, his crowning achievement would be Le Voyage dans la lune, which he will be forever known for.

Watch Le Voyage dans la lune below…

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