Movies

Nearly The Entire Remaining Cast of ‘The Thing’ to Appear at Texas Frightmare

Published

1 year ago

December 22, 2022

In an unprecedented event, nearly the entire cast of 1982’s The Thing is reuniting at Texas Frightmare Weekend this spring, including director John Carpenter. His classic film turned 40 years old this year, and most of the cast is getting together to celebrate that milestone.

You can find a full list of guests below, and except for the ones who are no longer with us, it reads like a trading card checklist of people associated with the film.

One notably big presence absent from the roster is McReady himself, Kurt Russell. The actor, now 71 years old, is the centerpiece of the movie, taking up second to Rob Bottin’s incredible practical effects that even to this day changed the game for horror movies.

Of course, there are also the Outpost 31 members who have passed on in real life. For instance, Wilfred Brimley who played Dr. Blair died in 2020. Richard Dysart as Dr. Copper passed in 2015, Charles Hallahan (Vance Norris) died in 1997, and Donald Moffat (Gary) left the mortal world in 2018.

T.K. Carter who played Chef Nauls, and is still living, is not listed as one of the alumni appearing for this reunion.

The Thing had a difficult first run at the box office. For whatever reason, the movie was not liked by critics. Roger Ebert said at the time, The Thing was a “disappointment” because of its implausible characterizations and unrealistic choices made by the doctors at the Arctic outpost. Ebert wrote, “‘The Thing‘ is basically, then, just a geek show, a gross-out movie in which teenagers can dare one another to watch the screen.”

But let’s cut Ebert a little slack, he probably had never seen special effects to that degree since The Exorcist, which he called, one of “the best movies of its type ever made.” That was nine years prior to The Thing. Maybe the gross-out factor of The Exorcist had him de-sensitized because there are some really questionable choices made by the humans in that film.

Oh, but there was that criticism from the director of the 1951 original, Christian Nyby, who said of Carpenter’s remake: “If you want blood, go to the slaughterhouse. All in all, it’s a terrific commercial for J&B Scotch.”

Thankfully, Carpenter’s browbeating would turn into accolades once The Thing hit the video tape rental market. There it became a cult favorite and was reevaluated critically, finding new grace among those who saw it as a breakthrough rather than a sci-fi trope.

There are sure to be some very special anecdotes about The Thing once the cast gets together for this 40-year anniversary at Texas Frightmare Weekend.

Here’s the guest list so far:

Peter Maloney as Bennings

Thomas Waites as Windows

Joel Polis as Fuchs

David Clennon as Palmer

Richard Masur as Clark

Keith David as Childs

John Carpenter May 26-28

For more information on the Texas Frightmare Weekend check out their website.

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Movies

‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments

Published

9 hours ago

April 26, 2024

Timothy Rawles

It was a risk for Fede Alvarez to reboot Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead in 2013, but that risk paid off and so did its spiritual sequel Evil Dead Rise in 2023. Now Deadline is reporting that the series is getting, not one, but two fresh entries.

We already knew about the Sébastien Vaniček upcoming film that delves into the Deadite universe and should be a proper sequel to the latest film, but we are broadsided that Francis Galluppi and Ghost House Pictures are doing a one-off project set in Raimi’s universe based off of an idea that Galluppi pitched to Raimi himself. That concept is being kept under wraps.

“Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence,” Raimi told Deadline. “He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.”

That feature is titled The Last Stop In Yuma County which will release theatrically in the United States on May 4. It follows a traveling salesman, “stranded at a rural Arizona rest stop,” and “is thrust into a dire hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty-or cold, hard steel-to protect their bloodstained fortune.”

Galluppi is an award-winning sci-fi/horror shorts director whose acclaimed works include High Desert Hell and The Gemini Project. You can view the full edit of High Desert Hell and the teaser for Gemini below:

^{High Desert Hell}

^{The Gemini Project}

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Movies

Fede Alvarez Teases ‘Alien: Romulus’ With RC Facehugger

Published

10 hours ago

April 26, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Happy Alien Day! To celebrate director Fede Alvarez who is helming the latest sequel in the Alien franchise Alien: Romulus, got out his toy Facehugger in the SFX workshop. He posted his antics on Instagram with the following message:

“Playing with my favorite toy on set of #AlienRomulus last summer. RC Facehugger created by the amazing team from @wetaworkshop Happy #AlienDay everybody!”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Fede Alvarez (@iamfedealvarez)

To commemorate the 45th anniversary of Ridley Scott’s original Alien movie, April 26 2024 has been designated as Alien Day, with a re-release of the film hitting theaters for a limited time.

Alien: Romulus is the seventh film in the franchise and is currently in post-production with a scheduled theatrical release date of August 16, 2024.

In other news from the Alien universe, James Cameron has been pitching fans the boxed set of Aliens: Expanded a new documentary film, and a collection of merch associated with the movie with pre-sales ending on May 5.

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Movies

‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening

Published

11 hours ago

April 26, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.

Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.

^{Happy Sad Confused}

Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.

Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.

Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.

The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.