News

The Severed Heads That Didn’t Make It Into Honey, I Shrunk The Kids

Published

10 years ago

July 6, 2014

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids was recently added to Netflix, reminding those giving it a watch that the story was created by Re-animator duo Stuart Gordon and Brian Yuzna and their sometime collaborator Ed Naha (who co-wrote the screenplay). Yuzna was also a producer on Honey.

As the Chicago Tribune reported in 1989 – the year of the film’s release:

The original story of “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids“ was written by Stuart Gordon, former director of Chicago`s Organic Theater. Gordon was set to direct the feature until he was sidelined by an illness, though it`s hard to imagine a camp and gore specialist like Gordon finding the blend of light satire and innocent fun that makes Johnston`s work so appealing.

Gordon had this to say about working with Disney in an interview with Digitally Obsessed back when Dagon was hitting the festival circuit:

They were kind of nervous. It was after Re-Animator had come out, and our kids were complaining that they couldn’t see these movies that we were making. We came up with the idea for Honey! I Shrunk the Kids, and took it to Disney. They liked it, and we developed it for them. We got Ed Naha, who wrote Dolls, which we had done together, to write the script. I was going to direct, and did all the planning and worked out the special effects, and two weeks before it started shooting I got sick and couldn’t do it. They got Joe Johnston to direct the film, and I was pretty pleased with the results…It’s funny. When people talk about [Honey! I Shrunk The Kids] they say, “It’s so different.” Really, it’s not that different than Re-Animator. It’s about a mad scientist and an experiment that goes wrong, and so forth…the potential for severing some heads was there, when you have a giant ant coming at you with those big mandibles. Who knows what could happen?

Gordon commented on it in a 2003 interview with Film Threat:

Originally I was going to direct it. I did all the prep work, the story boarding, the set design, got all the way up to casting and I had drop out because I got sick. So it was disappointing…I was happy with it. I think Joe Johnston, who ended up directing it, did a good job.

The film as originally conceived was to be titled Teenie Weenies, named after a comic strip about tiny people. Naha recalled in an interview with Dr.Gore’s Funhouse in 2011:

Stuart and Brian had young children back then and came up with this idea about shrunken kids. They pitched it to Disney and the studio was interested. So, they approached me about working with them and we came up with the story. When I was a kid on the East Coast, there was a comic strip in the Sunday edition of The New York Daily News called the Teenie-Weenies. It was one huge frame showing little people riding around on mice or sitting in thimbles and I just loved that. There was also a little guy or girl that you could cut out of the newspaper and paste on cardboard to play with. So, in a way, I was prepared for this sort of thing ever since I could hold a newspaper in my chubby little hands.

On if Dr. Herbert West himself Jeffrey Combs was ever considered to play Wayne Szalinski, Naha said:

I honestly don’t know whether Stuart wanted Jeffrey or not. I can tell you, in retrospect, that the Disney execs heads would have exploded over that idea, though.

He had a lot more to say about the creation of the story in that interview, and I suggest giving it a read.

Gordon would go on to direct an episode of the TV show based on the film, which aired in 1998. It was called Honey, Let’s Trick-or-Treat.

Here’s a look at the making of the movie:

Bonus: Other horror connections this movie has are the appearances of Jared Rushton from Pet Sematary Two and Matt Frewer from The Stand, Dawn of the Dead (2004), and various other genre works. It also has Marcia Strassman, who appeared in Reeker and Kristine Sutherland from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

4 Comments

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Movies

New ‘MaXXXine’ Image is Pure 80s Costume Core

Published

2 hours ago

May 1, 2024

Timothy Rawles

A24 has unveiled a captivating new image of Mia Goth in her role as the titular character in “MaXXXine”. This release comes approximately a year and a half after the previous installment in Ti West’s expansive horror saga, which covers more than seven decades.

MaXXXine Official Trailer

His latest continues the story arc of freckle-faced aspiring starlet Maxine Minx from the first film X which took place in Texas in 1979. With stars in her eyes and blood on her hands, Maxine moves into a new decade and a new city, Hollywood, in pursuit of an acting career, “But as a mysterious killer stalks the starlets of Hollywood, a trail of blood threatens to reveal her sinister past.”

The photo below is the latest snapshot released from the film and shows Maxine in full Thunderdome drag amid a crowd of teased hair and rebellious 80s fashion.

MaXXXine is set to open in theaters on July 5.

Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

News

Netflix Releases First BTS ‘Fear Street: Prom Queen’ Footage

Published

23 hours ago

April 30, 2024

Timothy Rawles

It’s been three long years since Netflix unleashed the bloody, but enjoyable Fear Street on its platform. Released in a tryptic fashion, the streamer broke up the story into three episodes, each taking place in a different decade which by the finale were all tied together.

Now, the streamer is in production for its sequel Fear Street: Prom Queen which brings the story into the 80s. Netflix gives a synopsis of what to expect from Prom Queen on their blog site Tudum:

“Welcome back to Shadyside. In this next installment of the blood-soaked Fear Street franchise, prom season at Shadyside High is underway and the school’s wolfpack of It Girls is busy with its usual sweet and vicious campaigns for the crown. But when a gutsy outsider is unexpectedly nominated to the court, and the other girls start mysteriously disappearing, the class of ’88 is suddenly in for one hell of a prom night.”

Based on R.L. Stine’s massive series of Fear Street novels and spin-offs, this chapter is number 15 in the series and was published in 1992.

FEAR STREET: PROM QUEEN IS NOW IN PRODUCTION 🩸 Welcome to Shadyside High. We're gonna have a killer time. pic.twitter.com/jDl0zRa2CH
— Netflix (@netflix) April 30, 2024

Fear Street: Prom Queen features a killer ensemble cast, including India Fowler (The Nevers, Insomnia), Suzanna Son (Red Rocket, The Idol), Fina Strazza (Paper Girls, Above the Shadows), David Iacono (The Summer I Turned Pretty, Cinnamon), Ella Rubin (The Idea of You), Chris Klein (Sweet Magnolias, American Pie), Lili Taylor (Outer Range, Manhunt) and Katherine Waterston (The End We Start From, Perry Mason).

No word on when Netflix will drop the series into its catalog.

Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

News

Live Action Scooby-Doo Reboot Series In Works at Netflix

Published

24 hours ago

April 30, 2024

Timothy Rawles

The ghosthunting Great Dane with an anxiety problem, Scooby-Doo, is getting a reboot and Netflix is picking up the tab. Variety is reporting that the iconic show is becoming an hour-long series for the streamer although no details have been confirmed. In fact, Netflix execs declined to comment.

If the project is a go, this would be the first live-action movie based on the Hanna-Barbera cartoon since 2018’s Daphne & Velma. Before that, there were two theatrical live-action movies, Scooby-Doo (2002) and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004), then two sequels that premiered on The Cartoon Network.

Currently, the adult-oriented Velma is streaming on Max.

Scooby-Doo originated in 1969 under the creative team Hanna-Barbera. The cartoon follows a group of teenagers who investigate supernatural happenings. Known as Mystery Inc., the crew consists of Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, and Shaggy Rogers, and his best friend, a talking dog named Scooby-Doo.

Normally the episodes revealed the hauntings they encountered were hoaxes developed by land-owners or other nefarious characters hoping to scare people away from their properties. The original TV series named Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! ran from 1969 to 1986. It was so successful that movie stars and pop culture icons would make guest appearances as themselves in the series.

Celebrities such as Sonny & Cher, KISS, Don Knotts, and The Harlem Globetrotters made cameos as did Vincent Price who portrayed Vincent Van Ghoul in a few episodes.

Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'