Rewind of the Living Dead

The “Halloween” franchise has been one of the most active in horror history with very little time passing between sequels and remakes ever since the original film was released in 1978.  After Rob Zombie found success with his version of “Halloween” in 2007 and a subsequent sequel in 2009, a third film was ordered but the rock star turned director didn’t want to return for another film. There was t...

Following the buzz around his first film “Assault on Precinct 13,” director John Carpenter was sought out by a pair of producers named Irwin Yablans and Moustapha Akkad to make a movie about a psychotic killer who stalked babysitters.  Carpenter agreed to do the project so long as he had complete creative control over the film. He then got to work on the script with his girlfriend Debra Hill with...

The term “cult classic” can be seen as a compliment or an insult when it comes to a movie because many times that designation means the film is so bad that audiences can’t help but enjoy it but other times that just shows the dedication fans have to a particular work of art.  For director Frank Henenlotter, arguably his greatest success was also his greatest shame. After he was inspired to write a...

In the era of modern horror films, few directors are as revered as James Wan after he terrified audiences with films such as “Saw” and “Insidious” and eventually creating a massive franchise based around “The Conjuring.”  Of course, Wan’s talent eventually landed him blockbuster movie credentials after he directed the first “Aquaman” movie but as he was preparing to shoot the sequel, he decided he...

Following the release of the novel “Red Dragon” in 1981 by author Thomas Harris, a film adaptation was put in the works just a few years later with Dino De Laurentiis serving as producer.  The search started for a director capable of adapting the material and David Lynch was initially offered the job but he ultimately turned it down. That’s when Michael Mann stepped into the role after he had foun...

Originally based upon a Clive Barker short story called “The Forbidden,” director Bernard Rose optioned the tale for a film called “Candyman” that was first released in 1992.  The movie did solid enough business at the box office to deliver two forgettable sequels but more importantly was the chord it struck within audiences to turn the movie into a bona fide cult classic.  Talks of a sequel or a...

Ever since Ned Beatty was told to “squeal like a pig” in “Deliverance,” tales of survival have been fodder for many writers and directors across the globe with films such as “The Hills Have Eyes” becoming horror classics.  In 2003, a film called “Wrong Turn” was released from director Rob Schmidt with a story and script from Alan McElroy. The movie told the story about a group of teens in the wron...

The rise of slasher films in the 1980s has been well documented but months before Freddy Kreuger started haunting the dreams of the Elm Street children, Jason Voorhees was going on his fourth rampage through a group of teenage kids dumb enough to stay near Camp Crystal Lake.  Following the release of “Friday the 13th Part III, which was rumored to be the final film in the series, Paramount decided...

R.L. Stine — an author nicknamed “the Stephen King of children’s literature” — penned a series of over 100 books in his “Fear Street” catalog and much like his beloved “Goosebumps” series, there were plenty of attempts to eventually adapt his stories into a film or television show.  In 1997, Hollywood Pictures retained the rights to the “Fear Street” franchise with the intention of making a series...

Long before he was directing epic battles on “Game of Thrones,” Neil Marshall was a just a film school graduate looking for some kind of way to get involved in the industry.  After he completed school, Marshall and a friend were both toiling away at various jobs including editing before eventually working on a small film called “Killing Time.” It was during production that Marshall decided it was...

Back in the early 1980’s, horror legend Stephen King was working on a calendar with illustrations that would tell the story of a year long saga involving a small town being terrorized by a werewolf.  As the collection started to come together, King realized that his writing didn’t really fit in the vignette form needed for the calendar.  That’s when he decided to adapt the material into a short no...

Back in 1969 while working as a production assistant on the film “Kelly’s Heroes,” future director and writer John Landis was traveling through Yugoslavia when he was witness to a gypsy funeral where a body was being buried with the utmost precaution to prevent the dead from rising from the grave.  That sparked an idea in Landis’ mind after he realized that he would never be able to actually confr...

When comedian and writer Mishna Wolff was invited to take part in the Women’s Film and Television Fellowship at Ubisoft Film and Television, she was more than happy to attend but one of the perks that came along with the invitation was a stack of video games made by the company.  One of those games centered around a whodunit set in a medieval town where a group of villagers are tasked with trying...

Growing up in Texas with a religious upbringing that usually involved reading the Book of Revelations and the Old Testament in the bible, writer Brent Hanley was inspired to write a movie based on some of those same kind of themes.  A huge fan of Alfred Hitchcock and Stephen King as well, Hanley crafted a story about a single father with two sons, who is visited by an angel one day and he’s inform...

The low-budget horror film has always been a staple of the movie industry but back in 1980, a producer named Harvey Weinstein was desperate to get his shot in Hollywood so he decided to try his hand at creating a scary movie after hearing stories about the Cropsey legend in upstate New York.  He pitched the idea to his producing partner Michael Cohl, who knew this was a potential hit after the suc...

In 1981, 19-year-old Arne Cheyenne Johnson was arrested and charged with the murder of his landlord after stabbing the man numerous times with a five-inch blade from his pocket knife.  A media circus soon followed the sensational murder thanks to the attention brought on the case by famed demonoligists Ed and Lorraine Warren after they reportedly conducted an exorcism on a young boy that resulted...

For the better part of two decades, producer Tony DeRosa-Grund had been desperately trying to adapt a story told to him by paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren after hearing a chilling audio recording from one of their cases.  The Warrens had already been considered the foremost expert when it came to hauntings and possession stories after they investigated infamous cases like the Amity...

Following the massive, worldwide success of “A Quiet Place” in 2018 — a film that grossed over $340 million at the global box office — Paramount immediately began looking into a possible sequel.  The only problem was original star, director and co-writer John Krasinski wasn’t interested in creating a franchise but rather a one-off film, which he already made. The original screenwriters also bowed...

When John Krasinski wrapped his role in “The Office” back in 2013, he was left at a crossroads in his career. He could have easily stuck to comedy, a genre that gave him a comfortable home for man years but he also yearned to branch out and do something different.  So he began directing features as well as developing films such as “Manchester By the Sea” alongside Matt Damon. He also signed onto s...

Following a five year long journey making a documentary about the revolutionary Roland TR-808 drum machine, writer and director Alex Noyer wanted to transition into feature film making and he couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity than to dive into his favorite — the horror genre.  The concept for his first film was simple yet nuanced at the same time — how about a movie you actually kill so...

Over the past 20 years, Zack Snyder has become one of the most polarizing directors in the film industry, especially after he managed to remake an all-time classic like “Dawn of the Dead” and live to tell about it with horror fans actually embracing his idea about zombies invading a mall just like George A. Romero’s classic version from the 1970s.  After the success he found with that film, Snyder...

The sequel is a staple of the horror genre but few films have produced as many replicas in such a short period of time in recent years as the “Saw” series. With the original movie released in 2004, the “Saw” franchise had a new film released each year up until 2010 when “Saw 3D” was teased as the final movie in the series.  Then seven years later, a new film was commissioned called “Jigsaw” that r...

When Australian director James Gunn and his writer friend Leigh Wannell graduated from film school, they decided to work together on a low budget horror film after being inspired by “The Blair Witch Project.”  Another film titled “Pi” by Darren Aronofsky convinced them they could self-finance the film and they started coming up with ideas. They decided the cheapest film possible would involve two...

The Pierce brothers — Drew and Brett — were essentially born to do horror movies considering their father Bart was a photographic FX artist on the original “Evil Dead” movie by Sam Raimi.  Following their first film “Deadheads” that came out back in 2011, the siblings decided to take a stab at a different genre in the horror field by focusing on witches. Inspired by the idea to build a different i...

It’s a well known fact that the 1980’s was arguably the most prolific and profitable time for horror films — sometimes for better, other times for worse.  Julie Corman, wife of legendary horror producer Roger Corman, had a deal with Vestron video for a horror film that would take place in a shopping mall, which was the center of American consumerism in the 80s. She hired Jim Wynorski to pen the sc...