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Nightmares in Red, White, and Blue: The Ultimate Horror Documentary

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It’s the 4th of July Weekend, and what could be more American than Horror movies? But which ones? Which movies do you watch, which do you pass up,? Classics or contemporaries? How about probably the best Horror documentary onĀ American cinema ever made? Nightmares in Red, White, and Blue: The Evolution of the American Horror Film, based on the book of the same name.

Horror can be a hard subject for some people to talk about. It can be hard to admit to other people that you love the morals of the SAW series despite the gruesome scenarios, or that you enjoy the social commentary right alongside the campiness of some of the classic zombie movies. Ā The difficulty of this discussion makes finding a good Horror documentary fairly hit or miss, which makes how well this one is made all the more of an accomplishment.

Produced by Lux Digital Pictures in 2009, directed by Andrew Monument, and narrated by the voice of the singular Lance Henrickson, it includes commentary and interviews by John Carpenter, Joe Dante, George Romero, and Roger Corman among others.

Image courtesy of Nightmaresinredwhiteandblue.com

The documentary opens with the very beginning, starting with the Edison Manufacturing Company’s 1910 renditionĀ of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. From there, it progresses up through the decades, looking at the movies which defined the years, the themes behind them, and even the state of the country which led to their creation.

For example, it’s interesting to learn that 1931’s Dracula was passed off as a love story more than a Horror film. That theme continues through the decade, where the monsters aren’t just monsters. King Kong, in 1933 had the theme of love in it, as most people know. Also Frankenstein. And despite the monsters having these redeeming qualities, you find out that Hollywood actually decreed that all monsters in movies had to be destroyed by the end of the film.

The 1950’s and early 60’s had the fear of nuclear power and looked into gimmicks such as vibrating seats (The Tingler, 1959) and a version of 3D glasses (13 Ghosts, 1960).

They discuss how the themes of Horror tend to follow the changes in American culture through the years, the ‘wars’ between generations, the changing fears of the world through the eyes of America. We get breakdowns of the attacks on the American way of life through The Exorcist, The Amityville Horror, and The Stepford Wives.

Image courtesy lionsgateathome.com/saw

It continues all the way up to the present day, with the incredible on-screen violence of the SAW and Hostel movies, and the revival of monsters through new movies and remakes in the late 2000’s.

Nightmares in Red, White, and Blue is great because not only do you get to understand some of your favorite Horror movies a little bit better, you’ll probably find some movies you haven’t seen which, maybe you should. If you count yourself any real kind of Horror fan, this is a horror documentary you need to watch. As for where, it shows up intermittently on Netflix, and the whole thing can also be found on YouTube.

One last thing, we’re all Horror fans here, but the documentary does include some strong language and nudity. Just FYI.

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‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments

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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 SĆ©bastien 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.

Evil Dead Rise

“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.ā€

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

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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.

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Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date

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Jake gyllenhaal presumed innocent

Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s in ‘Presumed Innocent’

Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abramsā€™ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turowā€™s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.

These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:

According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”

Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.

Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.

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