Showing posts with label Grindhouse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grindhouse. Show all posts

Shout! Factory To Acquire Roger Corman Film Library


From The Hollywood Reporter

Indie film godfather Roger Corman has sold his New Horizons Pictures library to Shout! Factory and China-based Ace Film HK Company.

Terms of the deal were not available, but around 270 films and an action sci-fi TV series, including Rock‘N’Roll High School, Battle Beyond the Stars and Piranha, Galaxy of Terror, were purchased from Corman and Julie Corman, the veteran film director and producer's wife and long-time business partner.

"During the past decade our personal and professional relationships with Shout! Factory's Bob Emmer, Richard and Garson Foos, and Ace Film's Henry Luk and Adam Yuchen Ren have shown us that their independent, entrepreneurial spirit, respect for our work and creative methods of distribution and production make them especially well-suited to carry on with the New Horizons film library." Roger and Julie Corman said in a joint statement on Thursday.

The announcement was made by Shout! Factory’s founders Richard Foos, Bob Emmer and Garson Foos, and Henry Luk and Adam Yuchen Ren, CEO and COO of Ace Film HK Company. The acquisition deal hands Shout! Factory all rights to the New Horizons library in North America, Europe, Australia, and Russia.

ACE gets all rights for China, Asia, Africa, and South America. Corman properties in the deal included Bloodfist, Black Scorpion, Eat My Dust!, Humanoids from the Deep, Slumber Party Massacre and Forbidden World.

The New Horizons Picture library acquisition follows Shout! Factory’s home entertainment and digital distribution exploitation of Corman’s Cult Classics-branded films since 2010. "We’ve loved working with them over the last eight years and are thrilled to now be the custodians of these beloved films, making sure that film buffs and fans everywhere discover them like we did,” Shout! Factory’s founders added in their own joint statement.

Corman, now 91 years old, has been credited with discovering talent through the years such as Jack Nicholson, Francis Ford Coppola, Peter Fonda, Bruce Dern, Diane Ladd, Peter Bogdanovich, Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard and James Cameron. Over his career, he has produced and directed over 500 films.

Corman also founded New World Pictures in the 1970s, which grew to become the largest independent motion picture distribution company in the country. Shout! Factory and Ace Film plan to tap the 270 film and TV titles in the New Horizons library for new content development, remakes, merchandise licensing programs, digital media content and syndication across streaming, TV, digital and VOD platforms.

The deal was negotiated by Emmer and Bruce David Eisen of Media Advisory Services for Shout! Factory, Henry Luk for ACE, and Alan Schwartz and Robert Sherman of Greenberg Traurig, LLP on behalf of Roger and Julie Corman.

Throwback Thursday: Great Stuff From Our Past Years Lists

2008: Haruka Ayase - The Hottest Women of the Year!

One of the highest grossing films in Japan that year was "Cyborg She" (My Girlfriend Is A Cyborg), so it is no surprise that the film's lead actress, Haruka Ayase, would be a sought after commodity. Haruka found working on the film to be a challenge due to the language barrier between her and Korean movie director, Jae-Yong Kwak. "Mr Kwak taught me acting through gestures and facial emotions." Ayase also took a very playful approach to her robot character, "“Because I don’t have an opportunity to punch men, I enjoyed doing it during production.” I'm sure there are a lot of men out there that are happy that she got to live that fantasy out on the set.

Now male fans worldwide will want their very own Haruka Ayase cyborg. I guess it's time to trade in my "Lucy Liu Bot" for a new model!

See: Top Ten Hottest Women Of 2008


2008: Murphy As The Riddler? Weisz As Catwoman? Labeouf As Robin? Here We Go Again!

You know that Batman sequel that Christopher Nolan has been denying for months, well now it reportedly has a cast and a title. According to sources close to Nolan, the film will be titled, "Gotham" and will feature Rachel Weisz as Catwoman, Eddie Murphy as The Riddler and Shia Labeouf as Batman's trusted sidekick Robin.

As recently as October Nolan was making public statements that he wasn't sure that he even wanted to make a third Batman movie, worrying that he couldn't pull off a decent film.

Things reportedly changed in the Nolan camp, and changed in a hurry.

Weisz is the latest of the names to associated with the Catwoman character. For months it was believed that Angelina Jolie was the front-runner for the part. At one time even Cher's name was reported to be on the short-list. Weisz, however, now seems to be a lock.

It is interesting to note that Christopher Nolan didn't want to do a third film because third films generally "suck" (Those are his words), yet by bringing in three new characters, he seems to be following the same formula for disaster. Fans often refer to the adding too many elements into one films as the "Too Many Villains Syndrome." What generally happens here is that too many new characters get put into one film, limiting their character development, which bogs down the films plot. Examples of this are, "Spider-man 3", "Batman Forever" and "Batman & Robin." Fans generally point out that the best superhero films almost always feature one villain.

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See: The Most Talked About Stories Of 2008


2009: Allison Scagliotti

Just like last year's top cutie, Haruka Ayase, this years favorite, Allison Scagliotti, is more of a down to Earth, girl-next-door type.

I guess that this just goes to prove that what guys are 'really' looking for is a girl they can take home to mom.

Am I right guys?.....guys?.....guess I lost a few there.


Anyway, "Warehouse 13" is huge hit for the SyFy Channel and the fact that Scagliotti is on the show, certainly helped the actress capture our number one.

On "Warehouse 13" Scagliotti plays Claudia Donovan, a young, hip, brilliant techno-wiz, who manages to successfully breach the Warehouse's complex security system in order to track down Artie (Rubinek). With a natural aptitude for science and technology, Donovan's talents enable her to manipulate and activate many of the objects contained in the Warehouse to help the Team.

See: The Top Ten Hottest Women Of 2009

2010: GHOST ADVENTURES - Zak Bagans, Nick Grof And Aaron Goodwin At Comic Con 2010

Like I mentioned in my previous article, my experience at Comic Con was a little 'different' than that of the 'typical' fan. Instead of lusting after the 'trendy' movies and shows, my family and I were excited about a lot of things that weren't so mainstream.

One of these was the television series, "Ghost Adventures", and my wife April, son Christopher and I were really looking forward to meeting the shows stars Zak Bagans, Nick Grof and Aaron Goodwin at an autograph signing later in the afternoon.

As luck would have it, the very same people, Zak, Nick and Aaron,that we so strongly wanted to see, arrived at the convention at the exact same time that we did. Amazingly, they were just milling around in the area adjacent to the check-in and autograph areas. To our delite, we were able to snap a few photos and talk to Aaron for a few seconds. My wife was very happy to have told him that 'he was the shit!'

To our surprise, no one else even recognised them.

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See: The Top Monster / Sci Fi Stories Of 2010


2010: The First Look At Roger Corman's 'Dinoshark'

Isn't it wonderful that giant mutant monsters are popular again. After J.J. Abrams unleashed his giant monster movie, "Cloverfield", in theaters two years ago, there has been a non-stop parade of independent features where the motto, "bigger is better", has really been taken seriously.

Last year, The Asylum, made a huge media splash with their film "Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus". The film featured former 80s pop sensation, Debbie Gibson, playing second fiddle to a titanic shark and an equally gigantic octopus. Likewise, films of the same vein like, "Dinocroc vs. Supergator", "Megaconda," and even The Asylum's follow-up to "Mega Shark", called "Megapiranha", were all rushed into production by the end of 2009.

Now it seems that the king of B movie monsters, Roger Corman, was feeling a little left-out by all of this, so he has developed his own giant monster film for the SyFy Channel called, "Dinoshark."

Lets see....Megaconda....Dinocrock.....Mega Shark........Dinoshark. Makes perfect sense in the grand scheme of things, doesn't it?

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2010: Alessandra Torresani

Alessandra Torresani (born Alessandra Olivia Toreson; May 29, 1987) is an American actress. She is credited as Alessandra Toreson for her work prior to 2007.

Torresani's television debut was at age nine when she hosted the "Kids' WB Club" for San Francisco's KBWB (Channel 20). She co-starred in the Disney Channel Original Movie Going to the Mat. Her other television credits include Even Stevens, JAG, ER, The War at Home, Malcolm In The Middle, Arrested Development, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and CSI among others.

In May 2008, Torresani was cast as Zoe Graystone in Syfy's pilot for Caprica, a prequel spin-off of Battlestar Galactica, which debuted in January 2010.

In 2009 she was cast to play Lita Ford in the biopic The Runaways about the all-girl punk band of the same name. However, the role was later given to Scout Taylor-Compton.

See: The Top Ten Hottest Women Of 2010


2012: Dynamite Baby, Grindhouse Dynamite!

Grindhouse is an American term for a theater that mainly shows exploitation films. Named after the defunct burlesque theaters located on 42nd Street in New York City where 'bump n' grind' or striptease was featured.

Grindhouse films characteristically contain large amounts of sex, violence or bizarre subject matter. One genre of film featured were "roughies" or sexploitation, a mix of sex, violence and sadism. Quality varied, but low budget production values and poor print quality were common. Critical opinions varied regarding typical grindhouse fare, but many films acquired cult following and critical praise. Double, triple, and "all night" bills on a single admission charge often encouraged patrons to spend a long time in the theater. The environment was faithfully captured at the time by the magazine ‘Sleazoid Express’.

By the 1980s, home video and cable threatened to make grindhouse obsolete. By the end of the decade, these theaters had vanished from Los Angeles's Broadway and Hollywood Boulevard, New York City's Times Square and San Francisco's Market Street. By the mid-1990s, these particular theaters had all but disappeared from the United States and very few are in existence today.

READ MORE



2012: Classic Tales Of Cryptozoology: Does The Creature Really Walk Among Us?

For centuries people from all corners of the globe have claimed to have seen all kinds of creatures ranging from dinosaurs to werewolves and if you are inclined to believe so, a real life "Gill-Man".

Way back in the summer of 1972 two young men claimed that they were chased from the beach at Thetis Lake, British Columbia, Canada by the "Creature From The Black Lagoon" or at least something that looked very much like it.

Was it a case of mistaken identity or overactive imaginations run wild after an afternoon of watching monster movies?

At the time the local police believed the two youths and began a search for the monster. Four days later the story seemed to be validated when two fishermen spotted the monster on the opposite side of the lake. Of course the search didn't turn up any man-fish at the time yet reports of the aptly named "Thetis Lake Monster" continued on for two more decades.

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See: The Top Ten Most Popular Stories Of 2012!

Stacey! She's A Very Private Detective!

Stacey is a 1973 exploitation film directed by Andy Sidaris. Half the budget was provided by Roger Corman for his New World Pictures the rest was raised by Sidaris. It was re-released in 1975 as Stacy and Her Gangbusters.

The film features an empowered babe in a masculinized action role. She is "a very private detective" in a crime-fighting film. This was the first attempt of Sidaris to produce a film with a female protagonist facing crime. The film thus serves as a precursor to many 1980s films, including those produced by Sidaris himself. In these films "soft" women adopt "hard" personae. It is also a precursor to 1990s softcore films where gender has little to do with a heroine's career, as by that point women's advance into the workplace was no longer an exploitable hot topic.

The protagonist is Stacey Hanson (Anne Randall), a private eye and race car driver. She is hired by aging heiress Florence Chambers (Marjorie Bennett) to investigate the close members of her family who live in her mansion. Stacey is to determine whether the members of Florence's family are worthy to be included in her will. They are three: Florence's nephew John (John Alderman), his wife Tish (Anitra Ford), and Florence's grand-niece Pamela (Cristina Raines).

As it happens, all three potential heirs have something to hide. John is a discreet homosexual, Tish is having an affair with the houseboy, and Pamela has dubious friends. Stacey uncovers some family secrets but a greater scandal is about to begin. The scheming houseboy Frank (James Westmoreland) is murdered. Stacey now has to find the identity of the murderer before he/she can kill again. Frank was sleeping with and/or blackmailing nearly all members of the family, so everyone is a suspect.

Stacey's investigation leads to a helicopter and car chase and gunplay. The murdered turns out to be Pamela who is a member of a cult reminiscent of the Manson family. She was planning to frame John and stand as the last viable heir to the family fortune. - Wiki

GRINDHOUSE: DRIVE IN, BLEED OUT #7

GRINDHOUSE: DRIVE IN, BLEED OUT #7



Grindhouse’s final arc is guaranteed to get your green blood running hot! Plucked from the tentacles of doom by angels, Veronica and Britt find a new home on a spaceship that runs on a very special, very hot and sweaty energy. “Nebulina” is ready to launch, and we’ve got three words for you: Sex! In! Space!

*Alex de Campi (Archie vs. Predator) brings Grindhouse to its mind-blowing climax!

*First issue in the final, sexy new arc!

See Also: Vanguard Illustrated #2, January 1984 Issue - Pacific Comics

Dynamite Baby, Grindhouse Dynamite!


Written By: Terri Pressley

Grindhouse is an American term for a theater that mainly shows exploitation films. Named after the defunct burlesque theaters located on 42nd Street in New York City where 'bump n' grind' or striptease was featured.

Grindhouse films characteristically contain large amounts of sex, violence or bizarre subject matter. One genre of film featured were "roughies" or sexploitation, a mix of sex, violence and sadism. Quality varied, but low budget production values and poor print quality were common. Critical opinions varied regarding typical grindhouse fare, but many films acquired cult following and critical praise. Double, triple, and "all night" bills on a single admission charge often encouraged patrons to spend a long time in the theater. The environment was faithfully captured at the time by the magazine ‘Sleazoid Express’.

By the 1980s, home video and cable threatened to make grindhouse obsolete. By the end of the decade, these theaters had vanished from Los Angeles's Broadway and Hollywood Boulevard, New York City's Times Square and San Francisco's Market Street. By the mid-1990s, these particular theaters had all but disappeared from the United States and very few are in existence today.


The Robert Rodriguez film, ‘Planet Terror’ and the Quentin Tarantino film ‘Death Proof’, which were released together as Grindhouse, were created as homage to the genre. Similar films such as ‘Machete’ (also by Rodriguez) and ‘Drive Angry’ have appeared since. The video games ‘House of the Dead: Overkill’, ‘Wet and Shadows of the Damned’ serve as homages to grindhouse horror movies. The author Jacques Boyreau released the book ‘Portable Grindhouse: The Lost Art of the VHS Box’ in 2009 about the history of the genre. The genre is also the focus of the 2010 documentary ‘American Grindhouse’ directed and produced by Elijah Drenner. The film made its world premiere at the South by Southwest film festival in Austin, Texas on March 13, 2010.


Elijah Drenner’s smart, affectionate but clear-eyed history of American exploitation films combines commentary and well-chosen clips from movies that range from 1913s white-slavery “exposé” Traffic in Souls’ to the Nazi sexploitation classic ‘Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS.’

Drenner’s ambitious mandate for American Grindhouse is to simultaneously chart the development of exploitation pictures, which staked out a lucrative niche by gleefully tackling topics deemed too vulgar, shocking or disreputable for the tender sensibilities of middle-class moviegoers, and to situate them within the context of broader social and cultural developments.


Drenner covers the waterfront, from road-show birth-of-a-baby pictures, which staked their claim to educational value on live, post-screening lectures about sexual hygiene, to drug-scare movies like Reefer Madness (1936), to burlesque movies and wholesome nudist-camp “documentaries” which paved the way for ever-more-explicit depictions of onscreen sex. Blaxploitation, juvenile-delinquent dramas, naughty Nazi sexploitation, gross-out gore pictures, biker flicks and mondo movies are also represented. He taps a small but well-chosen cadre of film historians to handle the hard history, from the way Hollywood’s 1930 Production Code—which limited filmmakers by disallowing bad language, interracial relationships, violence and vice (including but not limited to drug abuse and “sex perversion”) to the game changing influence of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, whose success erased the line between high and low culture moviemaking.


For’ on-the-ground’ color, he turns to trash-movie writers, directors and actors like Fred Williamson, who chuckles that he learned how to “steal shots and do big scenes without permits” by starring in Larry Cohen’s Black Caesar, a master class in guerrilla filmmaking, and Don Edmonds, who matter-of-factly labels himself a whore for agreeing to direct the shameless ‘Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS’ (which, by the way, was shot on standing sets from the TV sitcom “Hogan’s Heroes”) and its campier sequel,’ Ilsa: Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks’.


Piranha director Joe Dante who astutely sums up Jaws as “a big-budget version of The Creature from the Black Lagoon.” John Landis (who shared equipment with Melvin Van Peebles when they were simultaneously shooting Schlock and Sweet Sweetback’s Badasssss Song) makes the connection between ’70s blaxploitation and the “race pictures” of the 1930s and ’40s, low-budget movies that repackaged the conventions of westerns, crime pictures and melodramas with all-black casts and played in segregated theatres across the United States. He also dubs’ The Passion of the Christ’ “Texas Chainsaw Jesus,” implicitly placing it on a continuum with religious freak-show movies like Lash of the ‘Penitentes’ (1936) and ‘Trapped by the Mormons’ (1922), declaring that “the whole point [of ’60s Beach Party movies] is to see tits and ass…but wholesome tits and ass.”

Both informative and well made, ‘American Grindhouse’ is an enjoyable stroll down memory lane.

Raze Is a Grim Tale of Female Fights to the Death -- for Sport

From The Village Voice

Girl fight! If that phrase makes your pulse quicken, Raze may be the movie for you. Or, it may cure you forever of the desire to see women growl, bite, and brawl.

Sabrina (played by Zoë Bell; read our interview with her) has been kidnapped, awakening in a barren cell, only to be thrown into a gladiator pit alongside another young woman.

If Sabrina doesn't use her handy-dandy kick-fighting skills to slay her opponent, her daughter will be killed. Sabrina is one of 50 women who are being forced to fight one another to the death, all for the amusement of rich patrons watching via a live video feed.

The stark prison Sabrina and a half dozen final contestants inhabit make the torture ...

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MORE NEWS STORIES

Farewell to the King of Grindhouse


From B Movie Nation

It’s a truly sad week for cult cinema. Mike Vraney, founder of the era-defining Something Weird Video, died Jan. 2 at the age of 56.

Vraney’s importance in the preservation and celebration of exploitation, grindhouse, drive-in and z-grade movies can not be overestimated.

For music fans, the Pacific Northwest native may be most famous as a cofounder of Seattle’s The Showbox, and later as manager of punk bands including The Dead Kennedys, TSOL, and The Accused. But it was a film fanatic – in the truest and deepest sense of the words – that he made his biggest impact.

As a teenager, he worked in the Bel-Kirk Drive-In in Bellevue, Washington, then became a projectionist at Seattle’s Green Parrot Theater (a notorious 24/7 grindhouse and x-rated theater) and the Apple Theatre.


Then in the early 1990s he started hunting down prints: The obscure, the erotic, the exotic, the sleazy and the scary. It began with a collection of 16mm girlie arcade loops, which he edited together to form one of the company’s first compilation releases. As Vraney told the Chronicle in 2001, “I came up with titles and screened ‘em, thinking, ‘Boy, none of this is on tape, like naked girls just walking around on rocks in 1952.’”

After that first haul, he was lucky enough to get access to the archives of exploitation king Dave Friedman. That was just the beginning, as he unearthed over 2,500 titles. The massive collection he gathered and transferred to video and then digital became the Something Weird archive.

These were films that no-one cared about. Rough, often amateurish, scarcely likely to make it into the Cahiers du Cinema. But to Vraney they were “very pop culture, Americana, adult-oriented but soft, not hardcore, fascinating stuff.” He championed them, and gave them the life they deserved. He kept them on screens.

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Aip Rises From the Dead With Roger Corman Remakes


From Fearnet

Back in the 1950s, the film industry went through some major changes. The studio system (in which the major studios had directors, actors, and writers under contract and matched them up for films) was dying, and the studios had lost ownership of most theater chains due to anti-trust laws, which meant theaters had more freedom in what they could screen. This gave rise to the independent studios, who would hire no-name directors and actors on a per-project basis, could churn out low-budget flicks with sensational topics that could turn a bigger profit.

American International Pictures (Aip) was one of the biggest independent studios of its time, with over 500 films produced and/or distributed by the company. Aip produced Roger Corman's earliest films. The company specialized in "teeny-bopper" films: juvenile crime, horror, and sci-fi tales. Throughout the years, Aip was bought and merged into a number of companies, with MGM...

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Naked lust that builds to a climax of death

The Big Doll House (1971) - Female prisoners in a Phillippine jail are being subjected to sadistic torture. Five of the women along with the help of two men plot an escape.

Director Jack Hill named the sadistic prison warden "Dietrich" after German producer Erwin C. Dietrich, with whom Hill had had a very unpleasant experience after Dietrich hired him to shoot a film in Switzerland.

In the sequence in which Judith Brown is tortured by having a snake dangled over her head, only a pane of glass separated Brown from said snake.

A graphic lesbian scene was shot, but cut from the final finished version of the film.

A Filipino porn actress was originally cast as Ferina, but left after the first day of shooting.

Roberta Collins' infamous "Get it up or I'll cut it off" line was improvised on the spot by director Jack Hill. - IMDB

Not to be confused with ...

See more about  HOT women locked away on an island of sex and torture at: Dynamite Baby, Grindhouse Dynamite!

The Top Ten Most Popular Stories Of 2012!

10. Dynamite Baby, Grindhouse Dynamite!

Grindhouse is an American term for a theater that mainly shows exploitation films. Named after the defunct burlesque theaters located on 42nd Street in New York City where 'bump n' grind' or striptease was featured.

Grindhouse films characteristically contain large amounts of sex, violence or bizarre subject matter. One genre of film featured were "roughies" or sexploitation, a mix of sex, violence and sadism. Quality varied, but low budget production values and poor print quality were common. Critical opinions varied regarding typical grindhouse fare, but many films acquired cult following and critical praise. Double, triple, and "all night" bills on a single admission charge often encouraged patrons to spend a long time in the theater. The environment was faithfully captured at the time by the magazine ‘Sleazoid Express’.

By the 1980s, home video and cable threatened to make grindhouse obsolete. By the end of the decade, these theaters had vanished from Los Angeles's Broadway and Hollywood Boulevard, New York City's Times Square and San Francisco's Market Street. By the mid-1990s, these particular theaters had all but disappeared from the United States and very few are in existence today.

READ MORE

9. Work, work, work. Work, work, work. Work, work, work. Hello boys, have a good night's rest, I missed you.


Born in 1940, Robyn Hilton entered acting late in life. She spent much of her early 20s attempting to start a professional modeling career. However, she soon realized that her breasts were her best feature. She began posing topless under several aliases, for several small fly-by-night publications, many of which went out of business after just two or three issues. She also worked in many "nudie-cutie" films, which exploited her impressively busty physique, and she spent almost all of her time in front of the camera topless or completely nude.

She also did professional modeling under her own name. Finally, she was discovered by Mel Brooks, who cast her in her first legitimate feature, Blazing Saddles (1974). She believed that role would jump-start her career, but unfortunately it didn't. The "legitimate" offers weren't coming in and the lure of the adult film industry became too great. She returned to nude modeling and began to explore the growing porn film industry. She would do bit parts in television and films, hoping that she could make it as a legitimate actress. However, it wasn't meant to be. She retired from the adult film industry in the spring of 1977, after completing six feature-length porn films and roughly two dozen shorts.

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8. Classic Tales Of Cryptozoology: Does The Creature Really Walk Among Us?


For centuries people from all corners of the globe have claimed to have seen all kinds of creatures ranging from dinosaurs to werewolves and if you are inclined to believe so, a real life "Gill-Man".

Way back in the summer of 1972 two young men claimed that they were chased from the beach at Thetis Lake, British Columbia, Canada by the "Creature From The Black Lagoon" or at least something that looked very much like it.

Was it a case of mistaken identity or overactive imaginations run wild after an afternoon of watching monster movies?

At the time the local police believed the two youths and began a search for the monster. Four days later the story seemed to be validated when two fishermen spotted the monster on the opposite side of the lake. Of course the search didn't turn up any man-fish at the time yet reports of the aptly named "Thetis Lake Monster" continued on for two more decades.

READ MORE

7.Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection Blu Ray


For the first time ever, eight of the most iconic cinematic masterpieces of the horror genre are available together on Blu-rayTM as Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection debuts on October 2, 2012 from Universal Studios Home Entertainment. Digitally restored from high resolution film elements in perfect high-definition picture and perfect high-definition sound for the first time ever, Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection brings together the very best of Universal’s legendary monsters—imaginative and technically groundbreaking tales of terror that launched a uniquely American movie genre. This definitive collection features eight films on Blu-rayTM, a collectible 48-page book featuring behind-the-scenes photographs, original posters, correspondence and much more. Each iconic film is accompanied by an array of bonus features that tell the fascinating story of its creation and history, including behind-the-scenes documentaries, filmmaker commentaries, interviews, storyboards, photo galleries, and trailers. Especially appealing for fans are a never-before-seen featurette about the restoration of Dracula and the first ever offering of Creature from the Black Lagoon in its restored Blu-rayTM 3D version.

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6. Iconic Hollywood Studio To Be Demolished Unless Fans Step In!


Does it seem feasible that the city of West Hollywood would condone the demolition of a historical landmark?

The idea that a city that normally prides itself on the preservation of of historic structures would turn a blind eye when a developer plans to bulldoze a complex that houses one of Hollywood's earliest and most acclaimed studios seems on the outside to be preposterous, but that is exactly what is about to happen.

At the heart of a growing controversy in the land where dreams are created as fast as they are destroyed is the famed Pickford-Fairbanks Studios where such movies as Some Like It Hot, The Thief of Bagdad, Guys and Dolls, and even select scenes from Star Wars (Episode 4: A New Hope) were filmed.

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5. Betty Brosmer: The Sexy Girl You Probably Have Never Heard Of

Today while I was looking for a photo of Andy Griffith as Lonesome Rhodes in A Face In The Crowd I found an image I could hardly take my eyes off of. Who is this? I wondered. The photo was labeled "Betty Brosmer" which of course sent me on a quest to find out who exactly Betty Brosmer is.

I quickly discovered that I was embarrassingly ignorant on the subject due to the fact that Brosmer was one of the most famous glamour models and sex symbols of the 1950s.

Check out these credits:

Betty's classic beauty put her on over 300 magazine covers and books.
Betty had the greatest hourglass figure of all time: 38-18-36 (inches).
She was in thousands of magazine spreads.
Her face appeared on full-page ads in Life, Time, Fortune, Look, Saturday Evening Post and other leading magazines of her day.
She won over 50 beauty contests before the age of 20.
Betty, the ultimate Calendar Girl, appeared on hundreds of calendars.
She was on numerous music album covers;
On billboards in Times Square and billboards across the country;
On life-size cutouts in retail stores selling Kodak film, Thom McAn shoes and other products.

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Enjoy This Sneak Preview!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

Mudhoney ...leaves a taste of evil!

Maggie Marie: 'Don't pay her no mind, young fella. Eula, that's the child's name. She can't talk. Can't hear, neither. They do say she makes some right pretty sounds once you get to know her.'

It's 1933, in the midst of the Depression and Prohibition. Calif, a stranger with a past walks into Spooner, Missouri on his way from Michigan to California. He hires on with Lute Wade to earn some travelling money, but gets entangled in a bad family situation: Lute's daughter is married to Sidney, a good-for-nothing drunk that frequents the rural equivalent of a whorehouse and beats his wife and is just waiting for Lute to kick the bucket to get his money. When Sidney and a local wacko preacher begin orchestrating a smear campaign against Calif, he finds it difficult to conceal his past and his growing affection for Sidney's wife. Written by Ed Sutton






Dynamite Baby, Grindhouse Dynamite!


Written By: Terri Pressley

Grindhouse is an American term for a theater that mainly shows exploitation films. Named after the defunct burlesque theaters located on 42nd Street in New York City where 'bump n' grind' or striptease was featured.

Grindhouse films characteristically contain large amounts of sex, violence or bizarre subject matter. One genre of film featured were "roughies" or sexploitation, a mix of sex, violence and sadism. Quality varied, but low budget production values and poor print quality were common. Critical opinions varied regarding typical grindhouse fare, but many films acquired cult following and critical praise. Double, triple, and "all night" bills on a single admission charge often encouraged patrons to spend a long time in the theater. The environment was faithfully captured at the time by the magazine ‘Sleazoid Express’.

By the 1980s, home video and cable threatened to make grindhouse obsolete. By the end of the decade, these theaters had vanished from Los Angeles's Broadway and Hollywood Boulevard, New York City's Times Square and San Francisco's Market Street. By the mid-1990s, these particular theaters had all but disappeared from the United States and very few are in existence today.


The Robert Rodriguez film, ‘Planet Terror’ and the Quentin Tarantino film ‘Death Proof’, which were released together as Grindhouse, were created as homage to the genre. Similar films such as ‘Machete’ (also by Rodriguez) and ‘Drive Angry’ have appeared since. The video games ‘House of the Dead: Overkill’, ‘Wet and Shadows of the Damned’ serve as homages to grindhouse horror movies. The author Jacques Boyreau released the book ‘Portable Grindhouse: The Lost Art of the VHS Box’ in 2009 about the history of the genre. The genre is also the focus of the 2010 documentary ‘American Grindhouse’ directed and produced by Elijah Drenner. The film made its world premiere at the South by Southwest film festival in Austin, Texas on March 13, 2010.

See more about  HOT women locked away on an island of sex and torture at: Dynamite Baby, Grindhouse Dynamite!