1.
Reynold Brown
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Reynold Brown was an American realist artist who painted many Hollywood film posters. He attended Alhambra High School and refined his drawing under his teacher Lester Bonar, a talented artist, Brown met cartoonist Hal Forrest around 1936-37. Forrest hired Brown to ink Forrests comic strip Tailspin Tommy, norman Rockwells sister was a teacher at Alhambra High, and Brown later met Rockwell who advised him to leave cartooning if he wanted to be an illustrator. Brown subsequently won a scholarship to the Otis Art Institute, during World War II he worked as a technical artist at North American Aviation. There he met his wife, fellow artist Mary Louise Tejeda, following the war Brown drew numerous advertisements and illustrations for magazines such as Argosy, Popular Science, Saturday Evening Post, Boys Life, Outdoor Life, and Popular Aviation. Brown also drew paperback book covers, Brown taught at the Art Center College of Design where he met Misha Kallis, then an art director at Universal Pictures. Godzilla War of the Zombies Shenandoah Browns original painting for the poster of The Alamo hung for years at the actual Alamo in San Antonio. He suffered a stroke in 1976 that left his left side paralyzed and ended his commercial work. Brown and his moved to Dawes County, Nebraska, with his wifes help. In 1994, Mel Bucklins documentary about Reynold Brown entitled The Man Who Drew Bug-Eyed Monsters was broadcast on US public television, a book reproducing many of Browns artworks, Reynold Brown, A Life in Pictures, was published in 2009. Masters of Illustration Art - Reynold Brown, an appreciation of Browns work on the occasion of the publication of Reynold Brown, A Life In Pictures, Horberg is a film producer
2.
Roger Corman
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Roger William Corman is an American independent film producer, director, and actor. He has been called The Pope of Pop Cinema and is known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film, much of Cormans work has an established critical reputation, such as his cycle of low budget cult films adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe. In 2009, he was awarded an Honorary Academy Award, Corman mentored and gave a start to many young film directors such as Francis Ford Coppola, Ron Howard, Martin Scorsese and James Cameron. He also helped to launch the careers of actors Peter Fonda, a documentary about Cormans life and career entitled Cormans World, Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel, directed by Alex Stapleton, premiered at the Sundance and Cannes Film Festivals in 2011. The films TV rights were picked up by A&E IndieFilms after a screening at Sundance. Corman was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Anne and William Corman and his younger brother, Eugene Harold Gene Corman, has also produced numerous films, sometimes in collaboration with Roger. Corman and his brother were baptized in their mothers Catholic faith, Corman went to Beverly Hills High School and then to Stanford University to study Industrial Engineering. While at Stanford, Corman enlisted in the V-12 Navy College Training Program, after the end of World War II, Corman returned to Stanford and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering in 1947. While at Stanford University, Roger Corman was initiated in the fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon, in 1948, he worked briefly at U. S. Electrical Motors on Slauson Avenue in Los Angeles, but his career in engineering lasted only four days, he work on Monday and quit on Thursday. More interested in film, Corman found work at 20th Century Fox initially in the mail room and he worked his way up to a story reader. The one property that he liked the most and provided ideas for was filmed as The Gunfighter with Gregory Peck, when Corman received no credit at all he left Fox and decided he would work in film by himself. Under the GI Bill, Corman studied English Literature at Oxford University and he then returned to Los Angeles, beginning his film career in 1953 as a producer and screenwriter, then started directing films in 1955. Corman began to direct films in the mid-1950s, including Swamp Women, in his early period, he produced up to nine movies a year. His fastest film was perhaps The Little Shop of Horrors, which was shot in two days and one night. Supposedly, he had made a bet that he could shoot a feature film in less than three days. Another version of the claims that he had a set rented for a month. In addition to producing and directing films for American International Pictures, in 1959, Corman founded Filmgroup with his brother Gene, a company producing or releasing low-budget black-and-white films as double features for drive-ins and action houses
3.
Richard Matheson
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Richard Burton Matheson was an American author and screenwriter, primarily in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres. Matheson also wrote 16 television episodes of The Twilight Zone for Rod Serling, including Nightmare at 20,000 Feet and he adapted his 1971 short story Duel as a screenplay directed by a young Steven Spielberg, for the television film of the same name that year. Six more of his novels or short stories have been adapted as motion pictures — The Shrinking Man, Hell House, What Dreams May Come, Bid Time Return, A Stir of Echoes. Lesser movies based on his work include two from his early noir novels — Cold Sweat, based on his novel Riding the Nightmare, Matheson was born in Allendale, New Jersey, to Norwegian immigrants Bertolf and Fanny, who divorced when he was 8. Matheson subsequently was raised in Brooklyn, New York by his mother and his early writing influences were the film Dracula, novels by Kenneth Roberts, and a poem he saw in the newspaper The Brooklyn Eagle, where at age 8 he would publish his first short story. After returning home, he attended the Missouri School of Journalism at the University of Missouri and it is the tale of a monstrous child chained by its parents in the cellar, cast as the creatures diary in poignantly non-idiomatic English. Later that year he placed stories in the first and third numbers of Galaxy Science Fiction and his first anthology of work was published in 1954. Between 1950 and 1971, he produced dozens of stories, frequently blending elements of the fiction, horror. He was a member of the Southern California Sorcerers in the 1950s and 1960s, which included Charles Beaumont, Ray Bradbury, George Clayton Johnson, William F. Nolan, Jerry Sohl, Duel was adapted into the 1971 TV movie of the same name. Mathesons first novel to be published, Someone Is Bleeding, appeared from Lion Books in 1953, in 1960, Matheson published The Beardless Warriors, a non-fantastic, autobiographical novel about teenage American soldiers in World War II. It was filmed in 1967 as The Young Warriors though most of Mathesons plot was jettisoned and his other early novels include The Shrinking Man and a science fiction vampire novel, I Am Legend. Matheson wrote screenplays for television programs including the Westerns Cheyenne, Have Gun – Will Travel. His Death Ship episode was a metaphysical statement that went well beyond pure television entertainment. For all of Mathesons Twilight Zone scripts, he wrote the introductory. He adapted five works of Edgar Allan Poe for Roger Cormans Poe series, including House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum and he wrote the Star Trek episode The Enemy Within. Three of his stories were filmed together as Trilogy of Terror. Other Matheson novels turned into films in the seventies include Bid Time Return. In the 1980s Matheson published the novel Earthbound, wrote several screenplays for the TV series Amazing Stories, Matheson published four western novels in this decade, plus the suspense novel Seven Steps to Midnight and the blackly comic locked-room mystery novel, Now You See It
4.
The Raven
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The Raven is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. First published in January 1845, the poem is noted for its musicality, stylized language. It tells of a talking ravens mysterious visit to a distraught lover, the lover, often identified as being a student, is lamenting the loss of his love, Lenore. Sitting on a bust of Pallas, the raven seems to further instigate his distress with its constant repetition of the word Nevermore, the poem makes use of a number of folk, mythological, religious, and classical references. The poem was inspired in part by a raven in the novel Barnaby Rudge. Poe borrows the complex rhythm and meter of Elizabeth Barretts poem Lady Geraldines Courtship, the Raven was first attributed to Poe in print in the New York Evening Mirror on January 29,1845. Its publication made Poe widely popular in his lifetime, although it did not bring him financial success. The poem was reprinted, parodied, and illustrated. Critical opinion is divided as to the literary status. The Raven follows an unnamed narrator on a night in December who sits reading forgotten lore by a dying fire as a way to forget the death of his beloved Lenore. A tapping at chamber door reveals nothing, but excites his soul to burning, the tapping is repeated, slightly louder, and he realizes it is coming from his window. When he goes to investigate, a raven flutters into his chamber, paying no attention to the man, the raven perches on a bust of Pallas above the door. Amused by the ravens comically serious disposition, the man asks that the bird tell him its name, the ravens only answer is Nevermore. The narrator is surprised that the raven can talk, though at this point it has nothing further. The narrator remarks to himself that his friend the raven will soon fly out of his life, as if answering, the raven responds again with Nevermore. The narrator reasons that the learned the word Nevermore from some unhappy master. Even so, the narrator pulls his chair directly in front of the raven and he thinks for a moment in silence, and his mind wanders back to his lost Lenore. He thinks the air grows denser and feels the presence of angels, the bird again replies in the negative, suggesting that he can never be free of his memories
5.
Edgar Allan Poe
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Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and he is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism in the United States and American literature as a whole, and he was one of the countrys earliest practitioners of the short story. Poe is generally considered the inventor of the fiction genre and is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a difficult life. Poe was born in Boston, the child of two actors. His father abandoned the family in 1810, and his mother died the following year, thus orphaned, the child was taken in by John and Frances Allan of Richmond, Virginia. They never formally adopted him, but Poe was with them well into young adulthood, tension developed later as John Allan and Edgar repeatedly clashed over debts, including those incurred by gambling, and the cost of secondary education for the young man. Poe attended the University of Virginia for one semester but left due to lack of money, Poe quarreled with Allan over the funds for his education and enlisted in the Army in 1827 under an assumed name. It was at time that his publishing career began, albeit humbly, with the anonymous collection of poems Tamerlane and Other Poems. With the death of Frances Allan in 1829, Poe and Allan reached a temporary rapprochement, however, Poe later failed as an officer cadet at West Point, declaring a firm wish to be a poet and writer, and he ultimately parted ways with John Allan. Poe switched his focus to prose and spent the several years working for literary journals and periodicals. His work forced him to move among several cities, including Baltimore, Philadelphia, in Richmond in 1836, he married Virginia Clemm, his 13-year-old cousin. In January 1845, Poe published his poem The Raven to instant success and his wife died of tuberculosis two years after its publication. For years, he had been planning to produce his own journal The Penn, Poe and his works influenced literature in the United States and around the world, as well as in specialized fields such as cosmology and cryptography. Poe and his work appear throughout popular culture in literature, music, films, a number of his homes are dedicated museums today. The Mystery Writers of America present an award known as the Edgar Award for distinguished work in the mystery genre. He was born Edgar Poe in Boston on January 19,1809 and he had an elder brother William Henry Leonard Poe, and a younger sister Rosalie Poe. Their grandfather David Poe Sr. had emigrated from Cavan, Ireland to America around the year 1750, Edgar may have been named after a character in William Shakespeares King Lear, a play that the couple were performing in 1809
6.
Vincent Price
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Vincent Leonard Price Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and performances in horror films. His career spanned other genres, including film noir, drama, mystery, thriller and he appeared on stage, television, radio, and more than one hundred films. He has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for motion pictures, and one for television, born and raised in the Saint Louis, Missouri area, he has a star on the Saint Louis Walk of Fame. Price was an art collector and consultant, with a degree in art history and he lectured and wrote books on the subject. He was the founder of the Vincent Price Art Museum in California and he was also a noted gourmet cook. Price was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the youngest of the four children of Vincent Leonard Price, Sr. president of the National Candy Company and his grandfather, Vincent Clarence Price, invented Dr. Prices Baking Powder, the first cream of tartar-based baking powder, Price was of English descent and was a descendant of Peregrine White, the first white child born in Colonial Massachusetts, being born on the Mayflower while it was in the harbor of Massachusetts. Price had some Welsh ancestry as well, Price attended St. Louis Country Day School. In 1933, he graduated with a degree in art history from Yale University, after teaching for a year, he entered the University of London, intending to study for a masters degree in fine arts. Instead, he was drawn to the theater, first appearing on stage professionally in 1934 and his acting career began in London in 1935, performing with Orson Welless Mercury Theatre. In 1936, Price appeared as Prince Albert in the American production of Laurence Housmans play, Victoria Regina, Price started out in films as a character actor. He made his debut in 1938 with Service de Luxe and established himself in the film Laura, opposite Gene Tierney. His first venture into the genre, for which he became famous, was in the 1939 Boris Karloff film Tower of London. The following year Price portrayed the character in The Invisible Man Returns. In 1946, Price reunited with Tierney in two films, Dragonwyck and Leave Her to Heaven. There were also many villainous roles in film noir thrillers like The Web, The Long Night, Rogues Regiment and The Bribe, with Robert Taylor, Ava Gardner and his first starring role was as conman James Addison Reavis in the 1950 biopic The Baron of Arizona. He also did a comedic turn as the tycoon Burnbridge Waters, co-starring with Ronald Colman in Champagne for Caesar and he was active in radio, portraying the Robin Hood-inspired crime-fighter Simon Templar in The Saint, which ran from 1947-51. In the 1950s, Price moved into films, with a role in House of Wax
7.
Peter Lorre
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Peter Lorre was an Austro-Hungarian-American actor. In Austria, he began his career in Vienna before moving to Germany where he had his breakthrough, first on the stage, then in film in Berlin in the late 1920s. Lorre caused a sensation in the German film M, in which he portrayed a serial killer who preys on little girls. Because he was Jewish, he left Germany after 1933 and his first English-language film was Alfred Hitchcocks The Man Who Knew Too Much made in Great Britain. Eventually settling in Hollywood, he became a featured player in many Hollywood crime. In his initial American films, Mad Love and Crime and Punishment, he continued to play murderers, but he was then cast playing Mr. Moto, from 1941 to 1946 he mainly worked for Warner Bros. The first of these films at Warners was The Maltese Falcon and this was followed by Casablanca, the second of the nine films in which Lorre and Greenstreet appeared. Lorres other films include Frank Capras Arsenic and Old Lace and Disneys 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, frequently typecast as a sinister foreigner, his later career was erratic. Lorre was the first actor to play a James Bond villain as Le Chiffre in a TV version of Casino Royale, some of his last roles were in horror films directed by Roger Corman. Lorre was born László Löwenstein on 26 June 1904, the first child of Jewish couple Alajos Löwenstein and his parents had recently moved there following his fathers appointment as chief bookkeeper at a local textile mill. Alajos Löwenstein also served as a lieutenant in the Austrian army reserve, lászlós mother died when he was only four years old, leaving Alajos with three very young sons, the youngest only a couple of months old. He soon married his wifes best friend Melanie Klein, with whom he had two more children, however, Lorre and his stepmother never got along, and this colored his childhood memories. At the outbreak of the Second Balkan War in 1913, anticipating that this would lead to a larger conflict and he was serving on the Eastern Front during the winter of 1914–1915 before being put in charge of a prison camp due to heart trouble. Lorre began acting on stage in Vienna aged 17, where he worked with Viennese Art Nouveau artist and he then moved to the German town of Breslau, and later to Zürich. In the late 1920s, the moved to Berlin, where he worked with German playwright Bertolt Brecht, including a role in Brechts Mann ist Mann. The actor became much better known after director Fritz Lang cast him as child killer Hans Beckert in M, a film reputedly derived from the Peter Kürten case. Lang said that he had Lorre in mind while working on the script, the director believed that the actor gave his best performance in M and that it was among the most distinguished in film history. Sharon Packer observed that Lorre played the loner, schizotypal murderer with raspy voice, bulging eyes, in 1932, Lorre appeared alongside Hans Albers in the science fiction film F. P.1 antwortet nicht about an artificial island in the mid-Atlantic
8.
Boris Karloff
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He portrayed Frankensteins monster in Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, and Son of Frankenstein, which resulted in his immense popularity. His best-known non-horror role is as the Grinch, as well as the narrator, Karloff guest starred in a 1966 TV episode of The Wild Wild West, The Night of the Golden Cobra. He also had a role in the original Scarface. For his contribution to film and television, Boris Karloff was awarded two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Boris Karloff was born William Henry Pratt on 23 November 1887, at 36 Forest Hill Road, Camberwell, London, England. Pratt himself stated that he was born in Dulwich, which is nearby in London and his parents were Edward John Pratt, Jr. and Eliza Sarah Millard. His maternal grandparents were James Millard and Eliza Julia Edwards, a sister of Anna Leonowens, the two sisters may have had some Anglo-Indian ancestry. Pratt spent his years in Enfield, in the County of Middlesex. He was the youngest of nine children, and following his mothers death was brought up by his elder siblings and he received his early education at Enfield Grammar School, and later at the private schools of Uppingham School and Merchant Taylors School. After this, he attended Kings College London where he took studies aimed at a career with the British Governments Consular Service. However, in 1909, he left university without graduating and drifted, departing England for Canada and his brother, Sir John Thomas Pratt, became a distinguished British diplomat. He was bow-legged, had a lisp, and stuttered as a young boy and he conquered his stutter, but not his lisp, which was noticeable throughout his career in the film industry. He began appearing in theatrical performances In Canada, and during this period he chose the screen name Boris Karloff, some have theorised that he took the stage name from a mad scientist character in the novel The Drums of Jeopardy called Boris Karlov. However, the novel was not published until 1920, at least eight years after Karloff had been using the name on stage, however, his daughter Sara Karloff publicly denied any knowledge of Slavic forebears, Karloff or otherwise. One reason for the change was to prevent embarrassment to his family. Whether or not his brothers actually considered young William the black sheep of the family for having become an actor, Karloff apparently worried they felt that way. He did not reunite with his family until he returned to Britain to make The Ghoul, extremely worried that his siblings would disapprove of his new, instead, his brothers jostled for position around him and happily posed for publicity photographs. After the photo was taken, Karloff’s brothers immediately started asking about getting a copy of their own of it, the story of the photo became one of Karloff’s favorites. Karloff joined the Jeanne Russell Company in 1911 and performed in towns like Kamloops, British Columbia, after the devastating tornado in Regina on 30 June 1912, Karloff and other performers helped with clean-up efforts
9.
Hazel Court
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Hazel Court was an English actress best known for her roles in horror films during the 1950s and early 1960s. Court was born in Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire, lived in the Boldmere area and attended Boldmere School, Court, a cricketer who played for Durham CCC. At the age of fourteen, she studied drama at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, at the age of sixteen, Court met film director Anthony Asquith in London, which won her a brief part in Champagne Charlie. Court won a British Critics Award for her role as a girl in Carnival and also appeared in Holiday Camp. Her first role in a film was in Ghost Ship. One of Courts most remembered films is the cult classic Devil Girl from Mars and she trained at the Rank Organisations charm school. Court travelled back and forth between Hollywood and England, appearing in four episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and she had parts in A Woman of Mystery, The Man Who Could Cheat Death and Doctor Bloods Coffin among others. By the early 1960s, Court had permanently moved to the United States and she was featured in the Edgar Allan Poe horror films The Premature Burial, The Raven and The Masque of the Red Death, the last two with Vincent Price. In 1981 Court appeared briefly in the third Omen film, The Final Conflict and they had a daughter, Sally Walsh, who appeared with her mother in The Curse of Frankenstein. From 1964 until his death in 1998, she was married to American actor Don Taylor, Court retired from the film acting business in 1964 to concentrate on being a wife and mother. Court and Taylor met while they were shooting an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and they had a son, Jonathan, and a daughter, Courtney. In addition to acting, she was also a painter and sculptress, Court wrote her autobiography, Hazel Court – Horror Queen, which was published by Tomahawk Press in the UK and in the US. Court died of an attack at her home near Lake Tahoe, California, on 15 April 2008. She is survived by daughters Sally Walsh and Courtney Taylor, son Jonathon Taylor and she was cremated and her ashes scattered at sea. Hazel Court once said in an interview Just in case I should pop off to heaven in the night, I always remember to wash up, plump-up the cushions, I wouldnt want everyone to come in and find it a mess. 1944, Champagne Charlie 1944, Dreaming 1946, Carnival 1946, Gaiety George a. k. a. Showtime 1947, Holiday Camp 1947, Dear Murderer 1947, Meet Me at Dawn 1947, The Root of All Evil 1948, Bond Street 1948, My Sister and I1949, Forbidden 1952, Ghost Ship 1953, Counterspy a. k. a. 27, The Last Trophy 1960, Danger Man season 1 ep,8, The Lonely Chair 1961, Alfred Hitchcock Presents – The Pearl Necklace 1961, Danger Man season 1 ep
10.
Jack Nicholson
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John Joseph Jack Nicholson is an American actor and filmmaker, who has performed for over 60 years. Nicholson is known for playing a range of starring or supporting roles, including satirical comedy, romance and dark portrayals of antiheroes. In many of his films, he has played the eternal outsider, Nicholsons 12 Academy Award nominations make him the most nominated male actor in the Academys history. Nicholson has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice, one for the drama One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and he also won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the comedy-drama Terms of Endearment. Nicholson is one of three actors to win three Academy Awards. Nicholson is one of two actors to be nominated for an Academy Award for acting in every decade from the 1960s to the 2000s. He has won six Golden Globe Awards, and received the Kennedy Center Honor in 2001, in 1994, he became one of the youngest actors to be awarded the American Film Institutes Life Achievement Award. He played Jack Torrance in Stanley Kubricks horror film The Shining, the Joker in Tim Burtons superhero film Batman, other films include the legal drama A Few Good Men, the Sean Penn-directed mystery film The Pledge, and the comedy-drama About Schmidt. Nicholson was born on April 22,1937, in Neptune City, New Jersey, Nicholsons mother was of Irish, English, and German descent. She married Italian-American showman Donald Furcillo in 1936, before realizing that he was already married, biographer Patrick McGilligan stated in his book Jacks Life that Latvian-born Eddie King, Junes manager, may have been Nicholsons biological father, rather than Furcillo. Other sources suggest June Nicholson was unsure of who the father was, in 1974, Time magazine researchers learned, and informed Nicholson, that his sister, June, was actually his mother, and his other sister, Lorraine, was really his aunt. By this time, both his mother and grandmother had died, on finding out, Nicholson said it was a pretty dramatic event, but it wasnt what Id call traumatizing. I was pretty well psychologically formed. Nicholson grew up in Neptune City, New Jersey and he was raised in his mothers Roman Catholic religion. Before starting high school, his family moved to an apartment in Spring Lake, nick, as he was known to his high school friends, attended nearby Manasquan High School, where he was voted class clown by the Class of 1954. He was in every day for a whole school year. A theatre and an award at the school are named in his honor. In 2004, Nicholson attended his 50-year high school reunion accompanied by his aunt Lorraine and he served a tour of duty in the Air National Guard. Nicholson first came to Hollywood in 1954, when he was 17 and he took a job as an office worker for animators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera at the MGM cartoon studio
11.
American International Pictures
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It was dedicated to releasing independently produced, low-budget films packaged as double features, primarily of interest to the teenagers of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Nicholson and Arkoff formed ARC in 1954, their first release was the 1955 The Fast, nicholson and Arkoff served as executive producers while Roger Corman and Alex Gordon were the principal film producers and, sometimes, directors. Griffith wrote many of the films, along with Arkoffs brother-in-law, Lou Rusoff. Other writers included Ray Russell, Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont, famous for his camera work on a number of exotic documentaries and the Oscar winner, High Noon, was chief cinematographer. His innovative use of color and odd lenses and angles gave AIP films a signature look. The early rubber monster suits and miniatures of Paul Blaisdell were used in AIPs science fiction films, the company also hired Les Baxter and Ronald Stein to compose many of its film scores. In the 1950s the company had a number of actors under contract, including John Ashley, Fay Spain, when many of ARC/AIPs first releases failed to earn a profit, Arkoff quizzed film exhibitors who told him of the value of the teenage market as adults were watching television. AIP stopped making Westerns with Arkoff explaining, To compete with television westerns you have to have color, big stars and $2,000,000. AIP was the first company to use focus groups, polling American teenagers about what they would like to see and using their responses to determine titles, stars, and story content. AIP would question their exhibitors what they thought of the success of a title, samuel Z. Arkoff related his tried-and-true ARKOFF formula for producing a successful low-budget movie years later, during a 1980s talk show appearance. Having recognized that other filmmakers were ignoring the lucrative teenage drive-in market, AIP focused on producing scores of low-budget and they exploited the emerging juvenile delinquent genre with movies like Daddy-O, High School Hellcats, Female Jungle, Reform School Girl, Runaway Daughters, and Girls in Prison. Movies centered on rock n roll music such as Shake, Rattle & Rock. based in rented office space at the Chaplin Studios, during the early 1960s AIP concentrated on horror films inspired by the Poe cycle. In 1962 Arkoff said AIP were in a similar to Columbia Pictures just before they made Submarine and Dirigible. Our better position will enable us to more important writers. Were a privately owned company at the moment but perhaps two or three years we will become a public company. Beginning with 1963s Beach Party, AIP created a new genre of beach party films featuring Annette Funicello, the original idea and the first script were Lou Rusoffs. The highly successful and often imitated series ended in 1966 with the 7th film, many actors from the beach films also appeared in AIPs spy-spoofs such as Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine and car racing sagas like Fireball 500 and Thunder Alley. During this time AIP also produced or distributed most of Roger Cormans horror films such as X, in 1966, the studio released The Wild Angels starring Peter Fonda, based loosely on the real-life exploits of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang
12.
B movie
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A B movie is a low-budget commercial movie, but one that is not an arthouse film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, although the U. S. production of movies intended as second features largely ceased by the end of the 1950s, the term B movie continues to be used in the broader sense it maintains today. In either usage, most B movies represent a particular genre—the Western was a Golden Age B movie staple, while low-budget science-fiction, early B movies were often part of series in which the star repeatedly played the same character. Almost always shorter than the films they were paired with. The term connoted a general perception that B movies were inferior to the more handsomely budgeted headliners, latter-day B movies still sometimes inspire multiple sequels, but series are less common. As the average running time of top-of-the-line films increased, so did that of B pictures, the term is also now used loosely to refer to some higher-budgeted, mainstream films with exploitation-style content, usually in genres traditionally associated with the B movie. From their beginnings to the present day, B movies have provided both for those coming up in the profession and others whose careers are waning. Celebrated filmmakers such as Anthony Mann and Jonathan Demme learned their craft in B movies and they are where actors such as John Wayne and Jack Nicholson first became established, and they have provided work for former A movie actors, such as Vincent Price and Karen Black. Some actors, such as Bela Lugosi, Eddie Constantine and Pam Grier, the term B actor is sometimes used to refer to a performer who finds work primarily or exclusively in B pictures. In 1927–28, at the end of the silent era, the production cost of a feature from a major Hollywood studio ranged from $190,000 at Fox to $275,000 at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. That average reflected both specials that might cost as much as $1 million and films made quickly for around $50,000. These cheaper films allowed the studios to derive value from facilities. Studios in the leagues of the industry, such as Columbia Pictures and Film Booking Offices of America. Their movies, with short running times, targeted theaters that had to economize on rental and operating costs, particularly small-town and urban neighborhood venues. A new programming scheme developed that would become standard practice, a newsreel, a short and/or serial. The second feature, which screened before the main event. The majors clearance rules favoring their affiliated theaters prevented the independents timely access to top-quality films, the low-budget picture of the 1920s thus evolved into the second feature, the B movie, of Hollywoods Golden Age. The major studios, at first resistant to the double feature, all established B units to provide films for the expanding second-feature market
13.
Comedy horror
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Comedy horror is a literary and film genre that combines elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as able to be categorized under three types, black comedy, parody and spoof, the genre almost inevitably crosses over with the black comedy genre. Comedy horror will often use satire on horror cliches as its source of humour or take a story in a different perspective, such as The Cabin in the Woods. Author Bruce G. Hallenbeck cites the short story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving as the first great comedy horror story, the story made readers laugh one moment and scream the next, and its premise was based on mischief typically found during the holiday Halloween. Horror and comedy have been associated with each other since the days of horror novels. Shortly after the publication of Frankenstein, comedic parodies appeared, edgar Allan Poe put humor and horror on the same continuum, and many nineteenth century authors used black humor in their horror stories. Contemporary author Robert Bloch called them opposite sides of the same coin, in comedy horror film, gallows humor is a common element. In the era of silent film, the material for early comedy horror films came from stage performances instead of literature. One example, The Ghost Breaker, was based on a 1909 play, in the United States following the trauma of World War I, film audiences sought to see horror on screen but tempered with humor. The pioneering comedy horror film was One Exciting Night, written, directed, and produced by D. W. Griffith, while the film included blackface performances, Griffith also included footage of a hurricane for a climactic storm. As an early experiment, the genres were not well-balanced with horror and comedy. Charles Bramesco of Vulture. com identifies Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein as the first commercially successful horror film. Its success legitimized the genre and established it as commercially viable, List of comedy-horror films List of genres Zombie comedy – a subgenre involving zombies Hallenbeck, Bruce G. Comedy-Horror Films, A Chronological History, 1914–2008. Jefferson, NC, McFarland & Company, Inc, transnational Horror Across Visual Media, Fragmented Bodies. Routledge Research in Cultural and Media Studies
14.
Magic (paranormal)
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Magic or sorcery is the use of rituals, symbols, actions, gestures, and language with the aim of exploiting supernatural forces. The term magic has a variety of meanings, and there is no agreed upon definition of what it is or how it can be used. Religious scholars have defined magic in many different ways, one approach, associated with the anthropologists Edward Tylor and James G. Frazer, has magic and science be opposites. Many scholars of religion have rejected the utility of the term magic, the term magic comes from the Old Persian magu, a word that applied to a form of religious functionary about which little is known. This meaning of the term was adopted by Latin in the first century BCE. The concept was incorporated into Christian theology during the first century CE. This concept was pervasive throughout the Middle Ages, although in the modern period Italian humanists reinterpreted the term in a positive sense to establish the idea of natural magic. Both negative and positive understandings of the term were retained in Western culture over the following centuries, throughout Western history, there have been examples of individuals claiming to be practitioners of magic and referring to themselves as magicians. This trend has proliferated in the period, with a growing number of magicians appearing within the esoteric milieu. Scholars of religion have failed to agree on a definition of magic is. The subject has one of intense dispute, with some scholars criticizing the validity of the term in the first place. Even among those throughout history who have described themselves as magicians, there has been some debate among scholars as to whether to use the term magic at all. The scholar of religion Jonathan Z. Smith for example argued that it had no utility as a term that scholars should use. Religious historian Wouter Hanegraaff agreed, stating that the magic is an important object of historical research. Since the 1990s its usage among scholars has declined, within Western culture, magic has been linked to the idea of the Other. Using the term magic when discussing non-Western cultures or pre-modern forms of Western society raises problems, alternately, this term implies that all categories of magic are ethnocentric and that such Western preconceptions are an unavoidable component of scholarly research. Magic is one of the most heavily theorized concepts in the study of religion, the intellectualist approach to defining magic is associated with two prominent British anthropologists, Edward Tylor and James G. Frazer. This was an approach that viewed magic as being the theoretical opposite of science, in his 1871 book Primitive Culture, Tylor characterized magic as beliefs based on the error of mistaking ideal analogy for real analogy
15.
The Raven (1935 film)
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The Raven is a 1935 American horror film directed by Lew Landers and starring Boris Karloff and Béla Lugosi. Lugosi had the role, but Karloff received top billing, using only his last name. Almost three decades later, Karloff also appeared in film with the same title, Roger Cormans 1963 comedy The Raven with Vincent Price, Peter Lorre. Aside from the title and references to the poem, the two bear no resemblance to one another. After Jean Thatcher has been injured in a car accident, her father, Judge Thatcher, after Vollin reveals his growing love for Jean to her father, the Judge quickly discourages him from the affair. Angered, Vollin hatches a plan when Edmond Bateman, a murderer on the run, Vollin admits to not being a plastic surgeon, but says he can help Bateman, and asks him to help in exacting revenge on the Thatchers, which he refuses. Bateman explains that he feels his antisocial behavior is a result of having been called all his life. Vollin performs the surgery, but instead turns Bateman into a disfigured monster, Vollin hosts a dinner party, among which Jean, Jerry, and the Judge are guests. One by one, the guests are caught in the Poe-inspired traps, ultimately, Bateman is shot by Vollin as he rescues Jean and Jerry, but throws Vollin into the shrinking room where he perishes, and the guests escape. Was Edgar Allan Poe a mental derelict, the pressbook suggests that Poes characters were but a reflection of himself. Universal also suggested that cinema owners write letters to local schools and colleges. With the genre no longer viable, horror went out of vogue. This proved a devastating development at the time for Lugosi, who found himself losing work, universal Pictures changed hands in 1936, and the new management was less interested for the moment in the box office novelty of the macabre. During the production of The Raven, Lugosi encouraged four additional members of the supporting cast to sign with the guild. List of American films of 1935 Boris Karloff filmography Béla Lugosi filmography The Raven at the Internet Movie Database The Raven at AllMovie The Raven at the TCM Movie Database
16.
Bela Lugosi
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Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó, better known as Bela Lugosi, was a Hungarian-American actor, famous for portraying Count Dracula in the 1931 film and for his roles in various other horror films. He had been playing small parts on the stage in his native Hungary before making his first film in 1917 and he had roles in several films in Weimar Germany before arriving in the United States as a seaman on a merchant ship. In 1927, he appeared as Count Dracula in a Broadway adaptation of Bram Stokers novel and he later appeared in the classic 1931 film Dracula by Universal Pictures. Meanwhile, he was paired with Boris Karloff, who was able to demand top billing. To his frustration, Lugosi was increasingly restricted to minor parts, by this time, Lugosi had been receiving regular medication for sciatic neuritis, and he became addicted to morphine and methadone. This drug dependence was noted by producers, and the offers eventually dwindled down to a few parts in Ed Woods low-budget movies, Lugosi was married five times, and had one son, Bela George Lugosi. Lugosi was a member of the American Screen Actors Guild. Lugosi, the youngest of four children, was born Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó in Lugos in the Kingdom of Hungary, not far from Transylvania, to István Blaskó, a banker and he later based his last name on his hometown. He and his sister Vilma were raised in a Roman Catholic family, at the age of 12, Lugosi dropped out of school. He began his career probably in 1901 or 1902. His earliest known performances are from provincial theatres in the 1903–04 season, playing roles in several plays. He went on to Shakespeare plays and other major roles, moving to Budapest in 1911, he played dozens of roles with the National Theatre of Hungary between 1913–19. Although Lugosi would later claim that he became the actor of Hungarys Royal National Theatre. During World War I, he served as an infantryman in the Austro-Hungarian Army from 1914-16, There he rose to the rank of captain in the ski patrol and was awarded the Wound Medal for wounds he suffered while serving on the Russian front. Due to his activism in the union in Hungary during the time of the Hungarian Revolution of 1919. He first went to Vienna and then settled in Berlin in the Langestrasse where he continued acting, eventually, he travelled to New Orleans, Louisiana, US as a crewman aboard a merchant ship. He took the name Lugosi, in 1903, to honor his birthplace, Lugosis first film appearance was in the movie Az ezredes. When appearing in Hungarian silent films, he used the stage name Arisztid Olt, Lugosi made 12 films in Hungary between 1917 and 1918 before leaving for Germany
17.
Raven
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A raven is one of several larger-bodied species of the genus Corvus. These species do not form a taxonomic group within the genus. The largest raven species are the common raven and the thick-billed raven, the modern English word raven has cognates in all other Germanic languages, including Old Norse hrafn and Old High German raban, all of which descend from Proto-Germanic *hrabanaz. Obsolete collective nouns for a group of ravens include unkindness and conspiracy, in practice, most people use the more generic flock
18.
Magician (fantasy)
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A magician, mage, sorcerer, sorceress, warlock, witch, wizard, or wizardess is someone who uses or practices magic derived from supernatural or occult sources. Magicians are common figures in works of fantasy, such as literature and role-playing games, and enjoy a rich history in mythology, legends, fiction. In medieval chivalric romance, the wizard often appears as an old man and acts as a mentor. Other magicians, such as Saruman, from The Lord of the Rings series, villainous sorcerers were so crucial to pulp fantasy that the genre in which they appeared was dubbed sword and sorcery. Le Guins A Wizard of Earthsea explored the question of how wizards learned their art and this theme has been further developed in modern fantasy, often leading to wizards as heroes on their own quests. Such heroes may have their own mentor, a wizard as well, wizards can be cast similarly to the absent-minded professor, being foolish and prone to misconjuring. They can also be capable of magic, both good or evil. Even comical wizards are often capable of feats, such as those of Miracle Max in The Princess Bride, although he is a washed-up wizard fired by the villain. Wizards are often depicted as old, white-haired, and with white beards majestic enough to occasionally host lurking woodland creatures. This depiction predates the modern fantasy genre, being derived from the image of wizards such as Merlin. In the Dragonlance Dungeons and Dragons setting, wizards show their moral alignment by their robes, terry Pratchett described robes as a magicians way of establishing to those they meet that they are capable of practicing magic. To introduce conflict, writers of fiction often place limits on the magical abilities of wizards to prevent them from solving problems too easily. In Larry Nivens The Magic Goes Away, once an areas mana is exhausted, a common limit used in role-playing games is that a person can only cast a specific number of spells in a day. Magic can also require various sacrifices or the use of materials, such as gemstones, blood. Even if the magician lacks scruples, obtaining the material may be difficult, a. K. Moonfire combines these limits in his book The Aubrey Stalking Portal. The magician expends power to fuel his spells, but does not replenish that power naturally, therefore, the extent of a wizards knowledge is limited to which spells a wizard knows and can cast. Magic may also be limited by its danger, if a powerful spell can cause harm if miscast. Other forms of magic are limited by consequences that, while not inherently dangerous, are at least undesirable
19.
Evil
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In religion, ethics, philosophy and psychology good and evil is a very common dichotomy. In cultures with Manichaean and Abrahamic religious influence, evil is usually perceived as the dualistic antagonistic opposite of good, Evil, in a general context, is the absence or opposite of that which is described as being good. Often, evil is used to denote profound immorality, in certain religious contexts, evil has been described as a supernatural force. Definitions of evil vary, as does the analysis of its motives, however, elements that are commonly associated with evil involve unbalanced behavior involving expediency, selfishness, ignorance, or neglect. How to achieve good is also discussed in the social sciences, every language has a word expressing good in the sense of having the right or desirable quality and bad in the sense undesirable. A sense of judgment and a distinction right and wrong, good. This idea developed into a religion which spawned many sects, some of which embraced an extreme dualistic belief that the world should be shunned. Morality in this absolute sense solidifies in the dialogues of Plato, the idea is further developed in Late Antiquity by Neoplatonists, Gnostics, and Church Fathers. Medieval theology was shaped by St. Augustine of Hippo. According to the definition of St. Augustine of Hippo sin is a word, deed. Other later Germanic forms include Middle English evel, ifel, ufel, Old Frisian evel, Old Saxon ubil, Old High German ubil, differing views also exist as to why evil might arise. Many religious and philosophical traditions claim that evil behavior is an aberration that results from the human condition. Sometimes, evil is attributed to the existence of free will, Some argue that evil itself is ultimately based in an ignorance of truth. A variety of Enlightenment thinkers have alleged the opposite, by suggesting that evil is learned as a consequence of social structures. In physics and statistical thermodynamics, the property of goodness or order is referred to as a state of low entropy. Confucianisms primary concern is with correct social relationships and the behavior appropriate to the learned or superior man, thus evil would correspond to wrong behavior. By good, I understand that which we know is useful to us. By evil, on the contrary I understand that which we certainly know hinders us from possessing anything that is good
20.
The Black Cat (short story)
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The Black Cat is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe. It was first published in the August 19,1843, edition of The Saturday Evening Post and it is a study of the psychology of guilt, often paired in analysis with Poes The Tell-Tale Heart. In both, a murderer carefully conceals his crime and believes himself unassailable, but eventually breaks down and reveals himself, the story is presented as a first-person narrative using an unreliable narrator. He is a man at the outset of the story. The narrator tells us that from an age he has loved animals. He and his wife have many pets, including a large and this cat is especially fond of the narrator and vice versa. Their mutual friendship lasts for years, until the narrator becomes an alcoholic. One night, after coming home completely intoxicated, he believes the cat to be avoiding him. When he tries to seize it, the panicked cat bites the narrator, and in a fit of rage, he seizes the animal, pulls a pen-knife from his pocket, from that moment onward, the cat flees in terror at his masters approach. At first, the narrator is remorseful and regrets his cruelty, but this feeling soon gave place to irritation. And then came, as if to my final and irrevocable overthrow and he takes the cat out in the garden one morning and ties a noose around its neck, hanging it from a tree where it dies. That very night, his house catches fire, forcing the narrator, his wife. The next day, the returns to the ruins of his home to find, imprinted on the single wall that survived the fire. The narrator begins to miss Pluto, feeling guilty, some time later, he finds a similar cat in a tavern. It is the size and color as the original and is even missing an eye. The only difference is a white patch on the animals chest. The narrator takes it home, but soon begins to loathe, after a time, the white patch of fur begins to take shape and, to the narrator, forms the shape of the gallows. This terrifies and angers him more, and he avoids the cat whenever possible, then, one day when the narrator and his wife are visiting the cellar in their new home, the cat gets under its masters feet and nearly trips him down the stairs
21.
Tales of Terror
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Tales of Terror is a 1962 American International Pictures horror film, shot in color and Panavision, that was produced by Samuel Z. Arkoff, James H. Nicholson, and Roger Corman, who also directed. The screenplay was written by Richard Matheson, and the film stars Vincent Price, Peter Lorre and it is the fourth in the so-called Corman-Poe cycle of eight films largely featuring adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe stories directed by Corman for AIP. The film was released in 1962 on a bill with Panic in Year Zero. The film uses a format, presenting three short sequences based on the following Poe tales, Morella, The Black Cat. Each sequence is introduced via voiceover narration by Vincent Price, who appears in all three narratives. When Lenora Locke travels from Boston to be reunited with her father in his decrepit and cobwebbed mansion, she finds him drunk, disordered and he refuses her company, insisting that she killed her mother Morella in childbirth. Lenora then discovers her mothers body decomposing on a bed in the house, Lenora cannot return to Boston and remains in the house to care for her father. His feelings soften towards her when he learns she has a terminal illness, one night Morellas spirit rises, and kills Lenora in revenge for her childbed death. Morellas body is resurrected, becoming as whole and as beautiful as she was in life. This is in exchange for Lenoras, which is now decomposing where Morella lay, Morella strangles her horrified husband as a fire breaks out in the house. Then Morella and Lenora return to their bodies, Lenora smiling as she lies on her dead father. The cast includes Edmund Cobb as a coach driver, montresor Herringbone hates his wife Annabelle and her black cat. One night on a ramble about town, he happens upon a wine tasting event and challenges the worlds foremost wine taster, Fortunato Luchresi, Luchresi escorts him home and meets his wife. Time passes, and Annabelle and Luchresi become intimate, the cuckolded Herringbone then entombs them alive in an alcove in the basement. The authorities become suspicious and two policemen visit the house to investigate, hearing screeching behind a basement wall, they knock the wall down to discover the dead lovers — and Annabelles black cat, which Herringbone had accidentally walled up with the lovers. Cast includes Wally Campo as bartender Wilkins and Alan DeWitt as the Wine-Tasting Chairman, dying from a painful disease, M. Valdemar employs a hypnotist, Mr. Carmichael, to alleviate his suffering by putting him under various trances. He then remains between the world of the living and the dead, in a trance, Valdemar begs Carmichael to release his soul so he can die but Carmichael cruelly refuses. Months pass and Valdemars putrefying body remains in his bed under the control of Carmichael
22.
Dell Comics
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Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1974, at its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium. In 1953 Dell claimed to be the worlds largest comics publisher, the company formed a partnership in 1938 with Western Publishing, in which Dell would finance and distribute publications that Western would produce. Most of the Dell-produced comics done for Western Publishing during this period were under the Whitman Comics banner, notable titles included Crackajack Funnies and Super Comics. Comic book historian Mark Carlson has stated at its peak in the mid-50s while Dell’s total number of book titles only 15% of those published. Dell more million-plus sellers than any company before or since. Dell Comics was best known for its material, most notably the animated characters from Walt Disney Productions. From 1939 to 1968, Dells most notable and prolific title was the anthology Four Color, published several times a month, the title saw more than 1,300 issues published in its 23-year history. It often served as a title and thus the launching pad for many long-running series. In 1948, Dell refused an invitation of membership in the nascent Association of Comics Magazine Publishers, the association had been formed to pre-empt government intervention in the face of mounting public criticism of comic books. Dell in this period even burnished its image by taking out ads in the Saturday Evening Post in late 1952. From mid-1950 to Spring 1959 Dell promoted subscriptions to its non-Disney titles with what it called the Dell Comics Club. Membership was automatic with any one year subscription to such titles, but there are drawings that are sequential which tell stories. His was intended for Huck and Yogi’s adult fans, of which there apparently were more than a few, given the format and high price — $1. While most of the talent who had worked on the Dell line continued at Gold Key, Dell also drew new talent to its fold, such as Frank Springer, Don Arneson, and Lionel Ziprin. Dell Comics continued for another 11 years with licensed television and motion picture adaptations, Dell Comics ceased publication in 1974, with a few of its former titles moving to Gold Key Comics. Writer/artists Walt Kelly and Carl Barks are the most noted talents associated with the company
23.
The New York Times
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The New York Times is an American daily newspaper, founded and continuously published in New York City since September 18,1851, by The New York Times Company. The New York Times has won 119 Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other newspaper, the papers print version in 2013 had the second-largest circulation, behind The Wall Street Journal, and the largest circulation among the metropolitan newspapers in the US. The New York Times is ranked 18th in the world by circulation, following industry trends, its weekday circulation had fallen in 2009 to fewer than one million. Nicknamed The Gray Lady, The New York Times has long been regarded within the industry as a newspaper of record. The New York Times international version, formerly the International Herald Tribune, is now called the New York Times International Edition, the papers motto, All the News Thats Fit to Print, appears in the upper left-hand corner of the front page. On Sunday, The New York Times is supplemented by the Sunday Review, The New York Times Book Review, The New York Times Magazine and T, some other early investors of the company were Edwin B. Morgan and Edward B. We do not believe that everything in Society is either right or exactly wrong, —what is good we desire to preserve and improve, —what is evil, to exterminate. In 1852, the started a western division, The Times of California that arrived whenever a mail boat got to California. However, when local California newspapers came into prominence, the effort failed, the newspaper shortened its name to The New-York Times in 1857. It dropped the hyphen in the city name in the 1890s, One of the earliest public controversies it was involved with was the Mortara Affair, the subject of twenty editorials it published alone. At Newspaper Row, across from City Hall, Henry Raymond, owner and editor of The New York Times, averted the rioters with Gatling guns, in 1869, Raymond died, and George Jones took over as publisher. Tweed offered The New York Times five million dollars to not publish the story, in the 1880s, The New York Times transitioned gradually from editorially supporting Republican Party candidates to becoming more politically independent and analytical. In 1884, the paper supported Democrat Grover Cleveland in his first presidential campaign, while this move cost The New York Times readership among its more progressive and Republican readers, the paper eventually regained most of its lost ground within a few years. However, the newspaper was financially crippled by the Panic of 1893, the paper slowly acquired a reputation for even-handedness and accurate modern reporting, especially by the 1890s under the guidance of Ochs. Under Ochs guidance, continuing and expanding upon the Henry Raymond tradition, The New York Times achieved international scope, circulation, in 1910, the first air delivery of The New York Times to Philadelphia began. The New York Times first trans-Atlantic delivery by air to London occurred in 1919 by dirigible, airplane Edition was sent by plane to Chicago so it could be in the hands of Republican convention delegates by evening. In the 1940s, the extended its breadth and reach. The crossword began appearing regularly in 1942, and the section in 1946
24.
IMDb
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In 1998 it became a subsidiary of Amazon Inc, who were then able to use it as an advertising resource for selling DVDs and videotapes. As of January 2017, IMDb has approximately 4.1 million titles and 7.7 million personalities in its database, the site enables registered users to submit new material and edits to existing entries. Although all data is checked before going live, the system has open to abuse. The site also featured message boards which stimulate regular debates and dialogue among authenticated users, IMDb shutdown the message boards permanently on February 20,2017. Anyone with a connection can read the movie and talent pages of IMDb. A registration process is however, to contribute info to the site. A registered user chooses a name for themselves, and is given a profile page. These badges range from total contributions made, to independent categories such as photos, trivia, bios, if a registered user or visitor happens to be in the entertainment industry, and has an IMDb page, that user/visitor can add photos to that page by enrolling in IMDbPRO. Actors, crew, and industry executives can post their own resume and this fee enrolls them in a membership called IMDbPro. PRO can be accessed by anyone willing to pay the fee, which is $19.99 USD per month, or if paid annually, $149.99, which comes to approximately $12.50 per month USD. Membership enables a user to access the rank order of each industry personality, as well as agent contact information for any actor, producer, director etc. that has an IMDb page. Enrolling in PRO for industry personnel, enables those members the ability to upload a head shot to open their page, as well as the ability to upload hundreds of photos to accompany their page. Anyone can register as a user, and contribute to the site as well as enjoy its content, however those users enrolled in PRO have greater access and privileges. IMDb originated with a Usenet posting by British film fan and computer programmer Col Needham entitled Those Eyes, others with similar interests soon responded with additions or different lists of their own. Needham subsequently started an Actors List, while Dave Knight began a Directors List, and Andy Krieg took over THE LIST from Hank Driskill, which would later be renamed the Actress List. Both lists had been restricted to people who were alive and working, the goal of the participants now was to make the lists as inclusive as possible. By late 1990, the lists included almost 10,000 movies and television series correlated with actors and actresses appearing therein. On October 17,1990, Needham developed and posted a collection of Unix shell scripts which could be used to search the four lists, at the time, it was known as the rec. arts. movies movie database
25.
Turner Classic Movies
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Turner Classic Movies is an American movie-oriented basic cable and satellite television network owned by the Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary of Time Warner. TCM is headquartered at the Techwood Campus in Atlanta, Georgias Midtown business district, historically, the channels programming consisted mainly of featured classic theatrically released feature films from the Turner Entertainment film library – which comprises films from Warner Bros. However, TCM now has licensing deals with other Hollywood film studios as well as its Time Warner sister company, Warner Bros. and occasionally shows more recent films. The channel is available in United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Latin America, France, Spain, Nordic countries, Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific. In 1986, eight years before the launch of Turner Classic Movies, concerns over Turner Entertainments corporate debt load resulted in Turner selling the studio that October back to Kirk Kerkorian, from whom Turner had purchased the studio less than a year before. As part of the deal, Turner Entertainment retained ownership of MGMs library of films released up to May 9,1986, Turner Broadcasting System was split into two companies, Turner Broadcasting System and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and reincorporated as MGM/UA Communications Co. The film library of Turner Entertainment would serve as the form of programming for TCM upon the networks launch. After the library was acquired, MGM/UA signed a deal with Turner to continue distributing the pre-May 1986 MGM and to begin distributing the pre-1950 Warner Bros. film libraries for video release. Turner Classic Movies debuted on April 14,1994, at 6,00 p. m. Eastern Time, the date and time were chosen for their historical significance as the exact centennial anniversary of the first public movie showing in New York City. The first movie broadcast on TCM was the 1939 film Gone with the Wind, at the time of its launch, TCM was available to approximately one million cable television subscribers. AMC had broadened its content to feature colorized and more recent films by 2002. In the early 90s AMC abandoned its format, leaving TCM as the only movie-oriented cable channel to devote its programming entirely to classic films without commercial interruption. In 1996, Turner Broadcasting System merged with Time Warner, which besides placing Turner Classic Movies, in March 1999, MGM paid Warner Bros. and gave up the home video rights to the MGM/UA films owned by Turner to Warner Home Video. In 2008, TCM won a Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting, in April 2010, Turner Classic Movies held the first TCM Classic Film Festival, an event – now held annually – at the Graumans Chinese Theater and the Graumans Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. In 2007, some of the films featured on TCM were made available for streaming on TCMs website. The networks programming season runs from February until the following March of each year when a retrospective of Oscar-winning and Oscar-nominated movies is shown, called 31 Days of Oscar. Turner Classic Movies presents many of its features in their original aspect ratio whenever possible – widescreen films broadcast on TCM are letterboxed on the standard definition feed. TCM also regularly presents widescreen presentations of films not available in the format on any video release
26.
AllMovie
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AllMovie is an online guide service website with information about films, television programs, and screen actors. As of 2013, AllMovie. com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by All Media Network, AllMovie was founded by popular-culture archivist Michael Erlewine, who also founded AllMusic and AllGame. The AllMovie database was licensed to tens of thousands of distributors and retailers for point-of-sale systems, websites, the AllMovie database is comprehensive, including basic product information, cast and production credits, plot synopsis, professional reviews, biographies, relational links and more. AllMovie data was accessed on the web at the AllMovie. com website and it was also available via the AMG LASSO media recognition service, which can automatically recognize DVDs. In late 2007, Macrovision acquired AMG for a reported $72 million, the AMG consumer facing web properties AllMusic. com, AllMovie. com and AllGame. com were sold by Rovi in August 2013 to All Media Network, LLC. The buyers also include the founders of SideReel and Ackrell Capital investor Mike Ackrell. All Media Network offices are located in San Francisco, California, AllMusic AllGame SideReel All Media Network Official website
27.
Rotten Tomatoes
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Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by Senh Duong and since January 2010 has been owned by Flixster, in February 2016, Rotten Tomatoes and its parent site Flixster were sold to Comcasts Fandango. Warner Bros. retained a minority stake in the merged entities, since 2007, the websites editor-in-chief has been Matt Atchity. The name, Rotten Tomatoes, derives from the practice of audiences throwing rotten tomatoes when disapproving of a stage performance. From early 2008 to September 2010, Current Television aired the weekly The Rotten Tomatoes Show, featuring hosts, a shorter segment was incorporated into the weekly show, InfoMania, which ended in 2011. In September 2013, the website introduced TV Zone, a section for reviewing scripted TV shows, Rotten Tomatoes was launched on August 12,1998, as a spare-time project by Senh Duong. His goal in creating Rotten Tomatoes was to create a site where people can get access to reviews from a variety of critics in the U. S. As a fan of Jackie Chans, Duong was inspired to create the website after collecting all the reviews of Chans movies as they were being published in the United States, the first movie whose reviews were featured on Rotten Tomatoes was Your Friends & Neighbors. The website was an success, receiving mentions by Netscape, Yahoo. and USA Today within the first week of its launch. They officially launched it on April 1,2000, in June 2004, IGN Entertainment acquired rottentomatoes. com for an undisclosed sum. In September 2005, IGN was bought by News Corps Fox Interactive Media, in January 2010, IGN sold the website to Flixster. The combined reach of both companies is 30 million unique visitors a month across all different platforms, according to the companies, in May 2011, Flixster was acquired by Warner Bros. In early 2009, Current Television launched the version of the web review site. It was hosted by Brett Erlich and Ellen Fox and written by Mark Ganek, the show aired every Thursday at 10,30 EST on the Current TV network. The last episode aired on September 16,2010 and it returned as a much shorter segment of InfoMania, a satirical news show that ended in 2011. By late 2009, the website was designed to enable Rotten Tomatoes users to create, one group, The Golden Oyster Awards, accepted votes of members for different awards, as if in parallel to the better-known Oscars or Golden Globes. When Flixster bought the company, they disbanded the groups, announcing, in the meantime, please use the Forums to continue your conversations about your favorite movie topics. As of February 2011, new community features have been added, for example, users can no longer sort films by fresh ratings from rotten ratings, and vice versa
28.
The Raven (1915 film)
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The Raven is a stylized silent 1915 American biographical film of Edgar Allan Poe starring Henry B. The film was written and directed by Charles Brabin from a play by George Cochran Hazelton that was based upon his novel, the film begins by tracing Poes ancestral heritage before Poe himself is born. After the loss of his parents, Poe is taken in by the John and Francis Allan in Richmond, the film then jumps ahead about 15 years to Poes time at the University of Virginia. Due to debts from playing cards and a growing interest in wine and he hallucinates that he has killed a man in a pistol duel. Poe meets Virginia and they spend a day together, riding a horse and he tells her a fairy tale, a raven perching on Poes shoulder as he finishes the story, before they go on a walk together. Upon seeing a black slave being whipped, he buys the slave with an IOU for $600.00, the slaves former owner then goes to John Allan to collect the debt. Allan calls Poe a scoundrel for causing so many bills, after having a drink with his chum Tony, Poe goes to visit Virginia. Tony follows shortly after and the two compete for Virginias affection, later, Virginia says she will choose the man who guesses which hand holds a wreath behind her back. Poe allows Tony to go first and, though he guesses correctly, shortly after, in front of Tony and Virginia, Allan questions Poes spending habits. Allan causes quite a scene, despite his wifes attempts to calm him, Poe is asked to leave the Allan family but Virginia offers to come along. Poes recently purchased slave comes along as well, Poe has an alcohol-induced hallucination that recreates his poem The Raven. As Poe sits alone, he hears a tapping at the chamber door, the door knocker moves on its own and Poe thinks he sees the outline of a large, black bird. As Poe stumbles outside, the word appearing on a rock he braces himself against. As he reaches for another sip of wine, a skull appears in place of the glass. Finally, a raven makes its way into the room, repeating the word Nevermore as Poe attempts to talk to it, Poe, in Fordham, New York, is in dire poverty along with Virginia and her mother Maria. Virginia has a coughing fit, a sign of her tuberculosis. Poe, desperate for money, unsuccessfully attempts to sell some of his work to George Rex Graham, Virginia, bothered by the cold winter weather, is kept warm by Poes old coat from his time at West Point and from their pet black cat. She dies the day, causing Poe great grief
29.
The Raven (2006 film)
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The Raven is a 2006 American direct-to-video production horror film directed by Ulli Lommel and references the poem The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe. The DVD case cover art carries the title, Edgar Allan Poes The Raven, Lenore as a child dreams of a man, who is evil, according to the nuns that work at the orphanage she lives at, with the flight attendant who is her adoptive grandfather. Her adoptive grandfather reads her poetry, but after his death she only reads The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe, years later, she is raped by the man she saw in her dreams, who is called Skinner, and then she kills him. After his death, he returns from hell as a supernatural murderer/raven, by this time, she has joined an LA band as the lead singer. Skinner slowly kills all of her members, including one who is topless. Skinner then finally proceeds to try murdering Lenore to have sex with the body and this somehow stops Skinner, and then Poe and Lenore walk across a bridge. Then, the movie back to the room she was in. The Raven was filmed in the October 2005 and November 2005, for the most part in Marina Del Rey, California and Venice, a sequence was shot during a Halloween festival held along the Venice canals. The house features an unusual guitar-shaped pool, the various exterior scenes of Skinner in his mountaintop lair were filmed in the hills behind Malibu, California. Some of these scenes were directed by producer Jeff Frentzen. The first victims of Skinner include an executive and his assistant, portrayed by the films editor. One of the priests in the scene is portrayed by British film critic Calum Waddell. The trained raven used in some scenes was named Oscar, official website The Raven at the Internet Movie Database Movie trailer
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The Raven (2012 film)
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The Raven is a 2012 American psychological thriller drama film directed by James McTeigue, produced by Marc D. Evans, Trevor Macy and Aaron Ryder and written by Ben Livingston and Hannah Shakespeare. It stars John Cusack, Alice Eve, Brendan Gleeson and Luke Evans, set in 1849, it is a fictionalized account of the last days of Edgar Allan Poes life, in which the poet and author pursues a serial killer whose murders mirror those in Poes stories. While the plot of the film is fictional, the writers based it on some accounts of real situations surrounding Edgar Allan Poes mysterious death. Poe is said to have called out the name Reynolds on the night before his death. The title derives from Poes poem The Raven, in the manner of the earlier unrelated 1935 and 1963 films. It was released in Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom on March 9,2012, in 19th-century Baltimore, Maryland, several policemen discover a murdered woman sprawled on the floor of her apartment, which was locked from the inside. While police search for the means of escape, they discover a second corpse in the chimney. The writer Edgar Allan Poe is brought to Fields for questioning, after finding the body of Griswold, a rival of Poe, cut in half by a pendulum, the pair deduce that someone is staging murders based on Poes stories. Edgars love, Emily Hamilton, is kidnapped at her fathers masquerade ball, the killer taunts Poe in a note, demanding that Edgar write and publish a new story. Poes lodgings are burned down by people who believe he is exploiting the murders for his own journalistic ends, and he is forced to move in with Fields. The man is determined to be a sailor, and the clues on his body bring the pursuers to Holy Cross Church, as the police attempt to break down the church doors, the killer attacks and kills one of the policemen, then shoots and wounds Fields. Poe gives chase on horseback, but the killer escapes, Poe writes one last newspaper column, offering his life for Emilys, suggesting that he could take poison. In the morning, the maid gives Poe a letter from the killer, accepting his terms, realizing that the killer must work at the paper, Poe races to confront his editor, Henry, but Henry is already dead, another note lying next to him. The real killer is the typesetter, Ivan Reynolds, who congratulates Poe. Ivan attempts to converse with Edgar, but Poe demands Emilys location, Ivan pours a vial of poison, promising to end the story as Poe had written it. Poe agrees and drinks the liquid, Ivan quotes the The Tell-Tale Heart, cluing Edgar that Emily is concealed beneath the printing floor. As the killer leaves, Poe uses the last of his strength to tear up a section of floor. Poe rescues Emily, and they share a poignant moment before she is away by ambulance
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Barnaby Rudge
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Barnaby Rudge, A Tale of the Riots of Eighty is a historical novel by British novelist Charles Dickens. Barnaby Rudge was one of two novels that Dickens published in his weekly serial Master Humphreys Clock. Barnaby Rudge is largely set during the Gordon Riots of 1780, Barnaby Rudge was the fifth of Dickens novels to be published. It had originally planned to appear as his first, but changes of publisher led to many delays. It was Dickens first historical novel and his only other is the much later A Tale of Two Cities, also set in revolutionary times. It is one of his less popular novels and has rarely been adapted for film or television, the last production was a 1960 BBC production, prior to that, silent films were made in 1911 and 1915. Sir John intends to marry Edward to a woman with an inheritance, to support Johns expensive lifestyle. Edward quarrels with his father and leaves home for the West Indies, Barnaby Rudge, a simpleton, wanders in and out of the story with his pet raven, Grip. Barnabys mother begins to receive visits from the stranger, whom she feels compelled to protect. She later gives up the annuity she had been receiving from Geoffrey Haredale and, without explanation, takes Barnaby, when Barnaby and his mother arrive at Westminster Bridge they see an unruly crowd heading for a meeting on the Surrey side of the river. Barnaby is duped into joining them, despite his mothers pleas, the rioters then march on Parliament, and burn several Catholic churches and the homes of Catholic families. A detachment led by Hugh and Dennis head for Chigwell, intent on exacting revenge on Geoffrey Haredale, leaving Barnaby to guard The Boot, the mob loots the Maypole on their way to the Warren, which they burn to the ground. Emma Haredale and Dolly Varden are taken captive by the rioters, Barnaby is taken prisoner by soldiers and held in Newgate, which the mob plans to storm. The one-armed man turns out to be Joe Willet, who has returned from fighting against the American revolutionaries, Joe and Edward Chester turn out to be the rescuers of Gabriel Varden. The pair then rescue Dolly and Emma, Dennis is arrested and sentenced to die with Hugh and Barnaby. Barnaby, through the efforts of Gabriel Varden, is pardoned, Joe and Dolly are married and become proprietors of the rebuilt Maypole. Edward Chester and Emma are married and go to the West Indies, miggs tries to get her position back at the Varden household, is rejected, and becomes a jailer at a womens prison. Simon Tappertit, his legs crushed in the riots, becomes a shoe-black, lord George Gordon is held in the Tower and is later judged to be innocent of inciting the riots
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The Blessed Damozel
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The Blessed Damozel is perhaps the best known poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. It was first published in 1850 in the Pre-Raphaelite journal The Germ, Rossetti subsequently revised the poem twice and republished it in 1856,1870 and 1873. He also used the title for some of his best known paintings. The poem was inspired by Edgar Allan Poes poem The Raven. Rossetti chose to represent the situation in reverse, the poem describes the damozel observing her lover from heaven, and her unfulfilled yearning for their reunion in heaven. The poem also was the inspiration for Claude Debussys La damoiselle élue, the first four stanzas of the poem are inscribed on the frame of the painting. The blessed damozel leaned out From the gold bar of Heaven, Her eyes were deeper than the depth Of waters stilled at even, She had three lilies in her hand, And the stars in her hair were seven. Her robe, ungirt from clasp to hem, No wrought flowers did adorn, But a white rose of Marys gift, For service meetly worn, Her hair that lay along her back Was yellow like ripe corn. Herseemed she scarce had been a day One of Gods choristers, The wonder was not yet quite gone From that still look of hers, Albeit, to them she left, her day Had counted as ten years. The Blessed Damozel is the one of Rossettis paired pictures. Friends and patrons repeatedly urged Rossetti to illustrate his most famous poem, after the work was completed Graham requested a predella, the lower part of the painting, on December 31,1877. Alexa Wilding modelled the damozel in Paradise, Wilfred John Hawtrey modelled the child–angel, another, later version is in the Lady Lever Art Gallery. Frederick Richards Leyland commissioned eighteen paintings from Rossetti, not counting unfulfilled commissions, three additional Rossetti paintings were then hung in Leylands drawing room, all of which Leyland called stunners. A2007 modern popular song of the name by Tangerine Dream appears on their album Madcaps Flaming Duty. Elsie Whitaker Martinez Treuherz, Julian, Prettejohn, Elizabeth, Becker, london New York, N. Y, Thames & Hudson. Wildman, Stephen, Laurel Bradley, Deborah Cherry, John Christian, elliott, Betty Elzea, Margaretta Fredrick, Caroline Hannah, Jan Marsh, Gayle Seymour. Waking Dreams, the Art of the Pre-Raphaelites from the Delaware Art Museum
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The Raven (Lou Reed album)
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The Raven is the nineteenth solo album by Lou Reed. It is an album released in 2003, recounting the short stories and poems of Edgar Allan Poe through word and song. It also features new and very different versions of The Bed and Perfect Day, in addition to Reed, the album features a number of guest vocalists including Laurie Anderson, David Bowie, Antony Hegarty, Steve Buscemi and Willem Dafoe. The producer, Hal Willner, had overseen the Poe tribute album Closed on Account of Rabies. It is the final rock album by Reed, as his final overall solo album consisted entirely of meditational new age music. The recording was released as a two-disc set of recordings. Painter and director Julian Schnabel created the cover, all songs written by Lou Reed. Shelly Woodworth - English horn on Who Am I, russ DeSalvo - guitar & keyboards on Who Am I. Rob Mathes - string arrangement on Who Am I, ric Wake - production on Who Am I
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Treehouse of Horror (The Simpsons episode)
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Treehouse of Horror is the third episode of The Simpsons second season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 25,1990, the episode was inspired by 1950s horror comics, and begins with a disclaimer that it may be too scary for children. It is the first Treehouse of Horror episode and these episodes do not obey the shows rule of realism and are not treated as canon. The opening disclaimer and a shot through a cemetery with humorous tombstones were features that were used sporadically in the Treehouse of Horror series. This is also the first episode to have the music composed by Alf Clausen, the plot revolves around three scary stories told by the Simpson children in the familys treehouse. The first segment involves a haunted house that is based on various haunted house films, primarily The Amityville Horror, in the second segment, Kang and Kodos are introduced when the Simpsons are abducted by aliens. In the third, Edgar Allan Poes The Raven is adapted, James Earl Jones guest starred in all three segments. The episode was received positively, being included on critics best of lists. Critics singled out The Raven for praise, although Simpsons creator Matt Groening was concerned that it would be seen as pretentious, on Halloween, Bart, Lisa and Maggie sit in the treehouse and tell scary stories, while Homer eavesdrops on them. The Simpsons move into an old house, wondering at its low cost and their questions are answered when the walls begin to bleed and objects begin to fly through the air, and Lisa senses an evil presence in the house. There is also a portal to another dimension in the kitchen, Marge expresses the desire to leave, but Homer asks her to sleep on it, due to the cost of buying the house. That night, the house possesses Homer and the children, manipulating their minds, Marge unlike the others however, is instead using her knife to spread mayonnaise on a sandwich and intervenes, breaking the trance. Afterwards, Lisa discovers the source of the haunting - a Native American burial ground hidden in the basement, after the Spirit of The House threatens them again, Marge loses her patience and confronts the house, demanding that it treat them with respect during their stay. The house thinks it over, and eventually opts to destroy rather than live with the Simpsons. The Simpsons are in their backyard having a barbecue when they are abducted by extraterrestrial life forms, the aliens explain that they are taking the Simpsons to their home planet on Rigel IV, a world of infinite delights, for a feast. En route they present the family with enormous amounts of food and watch eagerly as they themselves, then check their weights. Suspicious of the intentions, Lisa sneaks into the kitchen. She takes the book and shows it to the aliens, who explain to her part of the title was obscured by space dust
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The Raven in popular culture
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Edgar Allan Poes poem The Raven has been frequently referenced and parodied in contemporary culture. Immediately popular after the publication in 1845, it quickly became a cultural phenomenon. Some consider it the best poem ever written, as such, modern references to the poem continue to appear in popular culture. This mention alludes to the belief that Barnaby Rudge, A Tale of the Riots of Eighty inspired Poe to write The Raven, in the magazine Mad issue 9, The Raven is reprinted in full with absurd illustrations by Will Elder. Another parody appeared in a Mad collection, Were Still Using That Greasy MAD Stuff and it was titled as The Spaniel. Rather than Nevermore, the author was bombarded with famous commercial taglines, a more recent parody in Mad by Frank Jacobs, titled The Reagan, appeared in issue 265. Even more recently, the poem was used to horror movies. The recurring line is, Quoth Wes Craven, lets make more, in the Donald Duck 10-pager Raven Mad by Carl Barks, published in Walt Disneys Comics and Stories #265 in 1962, Huey, Dewey and Louie play with a raven who can only say Nevermore. As in the poem, the raven often repeats the word throughout the story, sections of The Raven are quoted in Hubert Selby Jrs 1964 novel Last Exit to Brooklyn. In the story entitled The Queen is Dead the lead character, Georgette, the Raven has been the subject of constrained writing. It is attributed to Arthur Gordon Pym, aiken won an Edgar Award in 1972. The Calvin & Hobbes collection The Essential Calvin and Hobbes, A Calvin and Hobbes Treasury contains an illustrated poem, A Nauseous Nocturne. In Stephen Kings novel Insomnia, Ralph compares an omen to the raven of the poem, the novel Black House, written by King and Peter Straub, also features a talking crow reminiscent of the raven in Poes poem. Part III of the novel is entitled Nights Plutonian Shore, in Robin Jarviss Tales from the Wyrd Museum trilogy, Woden has two raven servants named Thought and Memory. Memory is known as Quoth throughout the stories, and occasionally says Nevermore, b&W version in Mythography #1, an anthology book also featuring work from other independent comics creators, Bardic Press,1996. In the seventh book of Lemony Snickets A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Vile Village, a tree in the center of the village covered with crows is called the Nevermore Tree. Neil Gaiman references The Raven in two of his works, In the novel American Gods, the protagonist, Shadow, asks one of Odins ravens, Hey, Hugin or Munin, or whoever you are. The comic book series The Sandman features a raven named Matthew, at one point in the series, he flaps his wings and screams, Nevermore
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House of Usher (film)
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House of Usher is a 1960 American horror film directed by Roger Corman and written by Richard Matheson from the short story The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe. The film was the first of eight Corman/Poe feature films and stars Vincent Price, Myrna Fahey, Mark Damon, in 2005, the film was listed with the United States National Film Registry as being deemed culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. On August 6,2010, BRIC Arts presented the film in Prospect Park with a new score and psychedelic overlays, versions exist on DVD with running times between 76 and 80 minutes. Philip Winthrop travels to the House of Usher, a mansion surrounded by a murky swamp. Madelines brother Roderick opposes Philips intentions, telling the man that the Usher family is afflicted by a cursed bloodline which has driven all their ancestors to madness. Roderick foresees the family evils being propagated into future generations with a marriage to Madeline, Philip becomes increasingly desperate to take Madeline away, she agrees to leave with him, desperate to get away from her brother. During a heated argument with her brother, Madeline suddenly dies and is laid to rest in the crypt beneath the house. As Philip is preparing to leave following the entombment, the butler, Bristol, lets slip that Madeline suffered from catalepsy, Philip rips open Madelines coffin and finds it empty. He desperately searches for her in the passages of the crypt but she eludes him. Now completely insane, Madeline avenges herself upon the brother who knowingly buried her alive, both die as a fire breaks out, ending the Usher bloodline, and Philip escapes and watches the burning house sink into the swampy land surrounding it. The film ends with the words of Poe. and the deep. The market for this kind of movie was in decline so AIP decided to gamble on making a larger budgeted film in colour, the film was announced in February 1959 and was dubbed the companys most ambitious film to date. It was shot in fifteen days, in February 2011 Intrada made the world premiere release of the Les Baxter score from music-only elements in mono. blithely ignored the authors style. Poes prose style, as notable for ellipsis as imagery, compressed or eliminated the expository passages habitual to nineteenth-century fiction and invited the readers imaginations to participate. Other reviewers have been kinder, however, House of Usher is now regarded as a point in Cormans filmography. The film differs from the story in significant ways. In the short story, the narrator is Rodericks friend. Madeline does not attack Roderick, but falls on him, the house does not burn, but breaks in two before sinking
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The Pit and the Pendulum (1961 film)
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The Pit and the Pendulum is a 1961 horror film directed by Roger Corman, starring Vincent Price, Barbara Steele, John Kerr, and Luana Anders. The screenplay by Richard Matheson was based on Edgar Allan Poes short story of the same name, set in sixteenth-century Spain, the story is about a young Englishman who visits a forbidding castle to investigate his sisters mysterious death. The film was the title in the popular series of Poe-based movies released by American International Pictures. Like House, the film features cinematography by Floyd Crosby, sets designed by art director Daniel Haller. A critical and box-office hit, Pits commercial success convinced AIP and Corman to continue adapting Poe stories for another six films, the series ended in 1965 with the release of The Tomb of Ligeia. Stephen King has described one of Pits major shock sequences as being among the most important moments in the horror film. In sixteenth century Spain, Englishman Francis Barnard visits the castle of his brother-in-law Nicholas Medina to investigate the death of his sister Elizabeth. Francis vows that he not leave until he discovers the true circumstances surrounding his sisters death. During dinner with the physician, Dr. Leon, Francis again asks about his sisters death. Dr. Leon tells him that his sister died of heart failure. Francis demands to be shown where Elizabeth died, Nicholas takes him to the castles torture chamber. Nicholas reveals that Elizabeth, under the influence of the heavy atmosphere. After becoming progressively unbalanced, one day she locked herself into an iron maiden, Francis refuses to believe Nicholass story. Francis tells Catherine that Nicholas appears to feel definite guilt regarding Elizabeths death, in response, Catherine talks about Nicholass traumatic childhood. Their father was Sebastian Medina, an agent of the Spanish Inquisition. When Nicholas was a child, he was exploring the forbidden torture chamber when his father entered the room with his mother Isabella and Sebastians brother. Hiding in a corner, Nicholas watched in horror as his father repeatedly hit Bartolome with a red-hot poker, after murdering Bartolome, Sebastian began torturing his wife slowly to death in front of Nicholas. Catherine and Francis are later informed by Dr. Leon that Isabella in fact was not tortured to death, Dr. Leon explains, The very thought of premature interment is enough to send your brother into convulsions of horror
