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  #11  
Old 09-17-2008, 09:32 AM
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JEFFREY COMBS





JIMMY SANGSTER



"Jimmy Sangster is a screenwriter and director mainly known for his scripts for Hammer Studios. Sangster began his career in the film industry in 1949 as a production assistant. He soon was serving other duties such as assistant & second unit director and production co-ordinator. At a brainstorming session for an upcoming film, X...the Unknown, Hammer exec Anthony Hinds noticed that Sangster was contributing most of the ideas. Hinds suggested Sangster be writer of the script. "I'm not a writer- I'm a production manager," Sangster protested. "Write it. If we like it, we'll pay you," was Hinds' reply. This was the beginning of a great chapter in horror film history.

Soon Sangster was writing scripts full-time for Hammer. The next big assignment called for a new version of the Frankenstein story. They had a script that had undergone numerous rewrites but nobody was satisfied with it. The studio liked Sangster's script but the British Board of Film Classification did not. They made this comment:

"We are concerned about the flavour of this script, which, in its preoccupation with horror and gruesome detail, goes far beyond what we are accustomed to allow even for the 'X' category. I am afraid we can give no assurance that we should be able to pass a film based on the present script..."

A decision was made to film the script as it was, anyway. The Curse of Frankenstein was a revolution in horror filmmaking. It was the first film to show copious amounts of technicolor blood. The realism of the gory experiments was shocking to the audiences. but they loved it. The film was a success, but the next film, Dracula (Horror of Dracula in the USA) broke even more taboos and more records. Here's what the BBFC had to say about Sangster's script this time:

"The uncouth, uneducated, disgusting and vulgar style of Mr Jimmy Sangster cannot quite obscure the remnants of a good horror story, though they do give one the gravest misgivings about treatment..."

Horror of Dracula broke box office records in Britain, USA, Canada and worldwide. Hammer now had a successful formula- a Sangster script, direction by Terence Fisher and stars Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, and plenty of blood and sex. Sequels to the Frankenstein and Dracula films followed, as well as a Mummy series and Phantom of the Opera. Sangster wasn't just a monster creator though. After seeing Psycho he was so impressed he wanted to try his hand at a more psychlogical story. He proved to be as adept at this type of film, providing scripts for Taste of Fear, Maniac, Paranoiac, Nightmare, and Hysteria. Sangster has always said these were his favorite types of stories to tell.

Altogether Sangster has had sixy-seven scripts filmed, including The Nanny and The Anniversary, both starring Bette Davis. He has also directed three films- Fear in the Night, Lust for a Vampire and The Horror of Frankenstein. His "Gothics," as he refers to them, revitalised horror film industry worldwide. They are the bridge between the classic horror era and the modern era. Quite an accomplishment for someone who never had any training as a writer and never thought he would be one. Jimmy Sangster remains one of the few true icons of the genre." - NeverEnding


JOHN CARPENTER





JOHN CARRADINE





JOHN SAXON

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Last edited by _____V_____; 10-22-2008 at 10:40 PM.
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  #12  
Old 09-17-2008, 09:34 AM
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JOSEPH STEFANO





KANE HODDER





KAREN BLACK





KEN FOREE





LARRY COHEN

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  #13  
Old 09-17-2008, 09:35 AM
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LINDA BLAIR





LINNEA QUIGLEY



"Linnea Quigley is undoubtedly horror's number one Scream Queen. As a young girl, Quigley dreamt of being either an actress or a police officer. Although she passed the written test to become an officer of the law, she decided upon acting.

She began starring in independant movies after moving to LA in the late 1970s and has since starred in over 100 feature films. Her most famous role being Trash, the red haired, dancing punk from The Return of the Living Dead. This role solidified her career as a B-movie actress and she soon began taking various horror movie roles. In the late 1980s Linnea starred in such movies as Sorority Babes in the Slime Ball Bowl-o-Rama, Night of the Demons and Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers.

Quigley has written two books about her life on the B-movie Scene - Chainsaw & Bio and I'm Screaming as Fast as I Can. Her other publications include posing for several issues of Playboy and doing covers for Fangoria Magazine. But if you think you've got a chance with this smokin' hot scream queen, you might want to break out Linnea Quigley's Horror Work-Out and start sweatin' off the pounds first, boys!

Although most of Quigley's roles have been centered on exploitation and gore, her heart lies in preventing violence against animals. She has campaigned as one of PETA's "Lettuce Ladies" to garner attention for a noble cause and teach people about a healthy vegetarian diet. Quigley also makes a point of visiting as many conventions as possible each year to greet and visit with her loyal fans.

It's that kind of dedication that makes Linnea Quigley one of HDC's top 100 Horror Icons." - Miss Macabre



LLOYD KAUFMAN





LON CHANEY SR.





LON CHANEY JR.

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  #14  
Old 09-17-2008, 09:37 AM
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LUCIO FULCI





MAILA NURMI





MARIO BAVA





MARY SHELLEY





MAX SHRECK

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  #15  
Old 09-17-2008, 09:39 AM
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OVID



"Many great literary figures deserve praise as influences on horror: Shakespeare for his witches, murderous intrigues, ghosts and revenge tragedies that sparked the imagination of centuries of other writers, Lord Byron for being the vampire that became the vampire as we know it, Goethe for the best retelling of one of the most archetypal of horror stories, Dickens for his grey urban industrial shadows, Joyce for reinventing the night journey as we know it as Leopold Bloom finds himself in a bordello without rhyme or reason. But, before all of these, one poet latched onto the core of horror and used it to craft poetic narratives that would leave literature as much transformed as the unfortunates within them.

The Roman poet Ovid's Metamorphoses retell and craft Greek legends about the transformations of flesh and spirit. Among these narratives is one of the core horror stories: that of King Lycaon. Lycaon is a king punished by being transformed into a wolf in one of the first werewolf stories to influence European literature. Also among these stories is that of Orpheus' journey into the underworld and subsequent bloody dismemberment by Maenads and King Midas' golden touch. The story of Midas has been retold in many forms over time, the man who loses everything for wealth, who makes a bargain to get the one thing that means something to him and loses the things that actually matter. Metamorphoses is EC Comics, the Twilight Zone, the Wolfman, Kafka and Dante. Human beings basically fear two things: death and change, and according to the tarot and most general mysticism, the former is nothing more than the latter, so perhaps there's only one, and Ovid erected a shrine to it full of triumph and tragedy, paving a road for horror as we know it." - Doc Faustus



PETER CUSHING





PETER LORRE



"Peter Lorre is one of the most distinguished and distinctive actors to appear in horror films. He rocketed to fame after starring in the Fritz Lang classic "M" in which he played a murderer of children. His portrayal of chilling depravity is still shocking today. Though filmed in 1931, the film is a harbinger of modern horror with its focus not on a supernatural monster, but on a human monster and the way one lunatic can hold an entire city in a state of terror.

Lorre was perfectly cast for this role. His short stature and bulging eyes giving him a sinister appearance, and when he speaks, in his distinctive nasal whine, the effect is terrifying. His very appearance seemed to signify decadence and menace to audiences, and even though he often apeared in high profile pictures such as Crime and Punishment, The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca, he usually played someone untrustworthy or at least terribly flawed.

His first big role in Hollywood was as the obsessed Dr. Gogol in Mad Love. Lorre's place as a king of horror was cemented. After Mad Love he appeared as Raskolnikov and then a series of cheap dectective films as the lead character Mr. Moto. Though these films were popular with the audience, they were cheaply made and Lorre claimed later to hate them. It was during the productions of one of these films that he injured his shoulder and developed an addiction to heroin that plagued him for life.

In 1941 he appeared as Joel Cairo in The Maltese Falcon. This was the first of five films he would appear in with Sidney Greenstreet. No matter the role Lorre was playing there was always an edge of oddness to his portrayal. This is why the public loved him in films like Island of Doomed Man in which he plays a sadistic owner of an island where he keeps a colony of criminals to work in his mine. Throughout the 40s and 50s he split his time onscreen between playing supporting roles in high profile films such as Casablanca and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, smaller films like You'll Find Out (the only film to feature Lorre, Karloff and Lugosi); All Through the Night; and Quicksand, and occasional horrors such as The Beast With Five Fingers.

He was also a frequent player in radio dramas, notably mystery and horror series such as Lights Out and Inner Sanctum. He was so effective in a telling of Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart that he later released an audio recording of Poe stories.

In the 60s he was cast in a couple of Roger Corman productions- The Raven, Tales of Terror and The Comedy of Terrors, which once again brought him to the attention of horror fans.

His unusual voice, high pitched, with more than a trace of his native Hungary is probably the most imitated voice in the world- more than even Bogart or Karloff. It will crop up everywhere- movies, television, music, cartoons, even in daily life when someone wants to appear sinister.

One of the classic kings of horror, Lorre made his name in his first major film and never let the audience down." - Neverending


R. L. STINE





RAY BRADBURY

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  #16  
Old 09-17-2008, 09:40 AM
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RAY HARRYHAUSEN





RICHARD MATHESON





RICK BAKER





ROBERT BLOCH





ROBERT ENGLUND

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  #17  
Old 09-17-2008, 09:42 AM
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ROBERT WIENE





ROBERT WISE





ROD SERLING





ROGER CORMAN





ROMAN POLANSKI

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  #18  
Old 09-17-2008, 09:44 AM
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SAM RAIMI





SAMUEL Z. ARKOFF



"Samuel Z. Arkoff was a movie producer who, along with James H. Nicholson, formed American Releasing Corporation in 1954. It soon became American International Pictures and they made history by releasing pictures that never lost money. Their formula was simple- spend as little as possible on the production by hiring no name actors, film outside, eliminating the need for sets, set in modern day so no costumes were needed and don't wate time on retakes or reshoots. A LONG shoot on an AIP film was seven days. Often films were created out of thin air- Arkoff would think of an enticing title - Day the World Exploded or The She Beast- and tell an artist to mock up a poster making sure it had the key elements- a monster and a girl. With the poster alone Arkoff would then sell the picture to theatres. Capital in hand the film would THEN be produced. It was already a money maker.

Using this formula I Was a Teenage Werewolf was filmed with a budget of $150,000, starring an unknown by the name of Michael Landon and B-Movie stalwart Whit Bissell. In two weeks the film made two million dollars. Horror movies, sci-fi, beach movies, drug movies, biker films, blacksploitation- anything that would appeal to a young audience was fodder for AIP. Instead of expensive effects using foam rubber AIP effects wizard Paul Blaisdell made monsters out of styrofoam and coat hangers. They hired young actors who were glad to have a job and were willing to act as the crew in addition to their on screen duties. There were no expensive caterers- Sam's wife would bring over a basket of sandwiches. If an interior shot was ever needed, it was often Sam's house that appeared, as well as Sam's car.

One of AIP's legendary feats was filming a movie in two days and a night- a film that would become legendary- The Little Shop of Horrors. This film featured a key role by a name that would crop up in many AIP productions- Jack Nicholson. Another key name in AIP's history was Roger Corman. Corman had written and produced a racing film titled The Fast and the Furious and needed a distributor. Arkoff promised to release the film if Corman would make three more pictures for him. A deal was struck and history was made. Corman made other biker and youth oriented films for AIP, and when they were ready to make films for a slightly higher budget and production values Corman would become a legend.

Corman and Arkoff wanted to try something a little higher class and they hit upon the idea of adapting Edgar Allen Poe stories. Why not? They wouldn't have to pay for the rights! Keeping the budget relatively modest by reusing sets over and over and hiring well known genre stars like Boris Karloff, Vincent Price and Peter Lorre for a few days work on each film the films were incredibly popular because they looked great and had top-notch acting. One film, The Terror, was shot because Karloff had two days left on his contract from The Raven and Arkoff didn't want to waste the money.

Besides the Poe adaptations, other memorable AIP productions include the Dr. Phibes films, Blacula and The Amityville Horror. Besides Corman and Jack Nicholson other talent that spent their early years at AIP read like a who's who - Don Johnson, Nick Nolte, Diane Ladd, Bruce Dern, Dennis Hopper, Peter Fonda, Woody Allen, Rick Baker, Paul Bartel, Peter Bogdanovich and Francis Ford Coppolla.

In a time when early horror films were released to TV for the first time and more and more people were staying home for entertainment, Arkoff and AIP provided theatre owners with cheap movies that young audiences would pay to see. The Theatre Owners of America Award was given to Arkoff for saving the business. Truly an honorary and well-respected icon of horror." - NeverEnding



SEAN S. CUNNINGHAM





SID HAIG





STAN WINSTON

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Last edited by _____V_____; 10-11-2008 at 09:56 PM.
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  #19  
Old 09-17-2008, 09:45 AM
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STEPHEN KING





STUART GORDON





TAKASHI MIIKE





TERENCE FISHER



"Terence Fisher was a British director who revitalised the horror genre in the 50s and 60s. His pictures were filmed in vivid technicolor and contained plenty of blood - quite shocking for the audiences of that time. By combining blood, sex and violence with classic horror characters, Fisher, his scriptwriting partner Jimmy Sangster, and the studio they worked for - Hammer - brought horror movies back to box office prominance.

Fisher directed new versions of all the Universal monsters of the 30s and 40s - Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy, The Wolfman, Phantom of the Opera, as well as The Hound of the Baskervilles. The films made stars of Hammer stalwarts Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Frankenstein and Dracula in particular were great successes and turned into profitable franchises for the studio.

Though his films were dismissed by critics at that time as lurid, he has come to be regarded as a major influence in modern horror film-making. Horror of Dracula in particular has come to be regarded as a seminal landmark horror movie. The King of B-movie productions, Roger Corman himself, was clearly influenced by Fisher when he directed his Poe adaptations. Fisher's contribution of revitalising and modernising horror will always be a milestone in the annals of horror cinema." - NeverEnding


TIM BURTON

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Last edited by _____V_____; 10-15-2008 at 10:58 AM.
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  #20  
Old 09-17-2008, 09:47 AM
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TOBE HOOPER



"October 1974. A little film was released at the beginning of the month, that seemed to be getting terrible reviews, wherever it opened. It had cheapjack written all over it, lurid title, complete unknown cast, made on a shoestring by some guy in Texas, who had never made a film before. The critics called it sadistic garbage, that had been done before, and predicted it would fade into cinema obscurity.

It was playing, mainly in the grindhouses, so I knew it would be around for a while, and I figured I’d catch it some afternoon when I’m bored out of my skull. Maybe double-billed with something better. After all, the smart money was on DePalma’s The Phantom of the Paradise, starring Bill Finlay, a great character actor who had done such an admirable job in Sisters. Leaving the theatre after that one, I was not quite as wowed, but there was enough in the film to reasonably assure me that DePalma was the real deal. Later that year, The Exorcist was released, and talk of small budget horror got kicked to the curb.

Spring of the following year, a buddy and I took our dates to the new fad, “Midnight Movies”. The feature that night was - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I had heard it was still going around theatres, getting great word-of-mouth and actually making money. I figured, even if it’s crap, I’ll still have my date to keep me entertained. The credits rolled, with a rather grating noise in the background. The opening shot of a disgustingly, bloated corpse pretty much guaranteed, in the back of my mind, that the girl I was with would be dragging me out, about 30 minutes into it. Then came the hitchhiker. I’m thinking, yea, wont be long now. Then a prolonged stop at a gas station(by then, even I was looking for an exit). This thing was boring me quick. A pair of hippies in the quartet decide to wander off to look for help. They spot an old farm house. Yea yea, get on with it(figured it was just a set-up for some dumb stunt like a chicken comes running out). The guy walks slowly down the foyer, and you here something like pig squeals. At the end of the hall, there is a large steel-plated door. As the guy reaches it, the door slams open, with a very large man behind it... in a mask……… with a sledge hammer………

A squishy, bone crushing thud…

……and thus began the legend of the unnamed family of cannibal murderers later to be known as the Sawyers. The rest of the film was excruciatingly, blissful torture. People were yelling like crazy in the audience. And to make matters worse, the theatre had hired a guy to run down the aisle with a running chainsaw (no blade, of course), which pretty much cleared the first 7 or 8 rows on either side. This was pre-lawyerhappy America. You know, back when things were fun. My date and I weren’t even thinking about sex, after the film ended, as we had both just been raped. Of course, I had to see this flick as much as possible, before it’s run ended. We hadn’t dreamed there would be such a thing as home video.

If Tobe Hooper had made nothing but this film, he would still be as highly regarded in horror IMO. Fortunately(or unfortunately, depending on your point of view), he was given larger budgets and created some more great films – Eaten Alive, Salem's Lot, The Funhouse, Lifeforce, Poltergeist and, of course, the sequel to his masterpiece, which is starting to get respect, finally.

Although he has never quite matched the intensity of the first Chainsaw, he’s still around, making films, so anything can happen. And for laying the final brick to complete the bridge, started by Hammer films and Alfred Hitchcock, between the old classics and modern horror, all fans will be indebted to him. I don’t pretend to know his life story in detail(that’s what the internet is for, right), but check out as many of his films as you can find, and, if you ever get a chance to watch TCM in a theatre, run, don’t walk, to get a ticket. It is a completely different experience." - Festered



TOD BROWNING



"Tod Browning (b. 1880) started off working in sideshows and carnivals as a barker in the early 1900's; an experience that would influence many of his films. After getting into Vaudville as an actor, he met the legendary director, D.W. Griffith, and acted in several of his films. Griffith's innovative editing techniques with cross-cutting action and dichotomy between images would later influence Browning's films.

It wasn't until 1917 that Browning directed his first film. One year later he met Lon Chaney, Sr., with whom they would go on to make ten films together, including the lost film London After Midnight (1927), Browning's first "vampire" film. Chaney also starred in Browning's The Unknown with a young Joan Crawford, a film to be a precursor to Freaks (1932).

It wasn't until after Chaney's death in 1930, that Browning would direct his first talkie, Universal's Dracula (1931), staring Bela Lugosi. This film was the first of the Universal horror pictures and really was a turning point for horror in film. Dark and chilling, this film turned Lugosi into a Horror icon and secured Browning's transition into talkies (a feat many directors and even actors struggled with).

Riding high off of Dracula, Browning made the boxing drama, The Iron Man (1931), followed by Freaks in 1932. Highly controversial, and underrated in it's time, Freaks was a film about a carnival sideshow love triangle that featured real life "freaks" from sideshows during that time period. Dark and unsettling, the film was just as much a study in sideshow personas in the height of the sideshow era as it was the twisted love story.

Unfortunately, Freaks was ill-received and derailed his directing career. He made a few minor horror films after Freaks and ultimately retired in 1942. Browning died in 1962, but his contribution to the horror film genre will not be forgotten, as he truly is a horror icon." - Papillon Noir



TOM SAVINI





UDO KIER





VAL LEWTON

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