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Don’t Fear the Reaper: The Many Faces of Death in Cinema

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Meet Joe Black

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Bill Parrish (Anthony Hopkins) has clearly seen The Meaning of Life once or twice. Death comes for successful businessman Parrish as his time has come to an end, but in this rare case, Death makes a bargain to give the wealthy entrepreneur and father a little more time in exchange for acting as Death’s escort in the world. Death takes the form of a freshly deceased Brad Pitt, nice choice there Reaps, to of course blend in with humanity, and develops a taste of what it’s like to be human with discovering the wonderful world of peanut butter, and unexpectantly… love. Yes, Death falls in love with the stunning daughter of Bill Parrish, the man whom he is supposed to take to the other side once his amusement is fulfilled, which makes things a little complicated. If you haven’t seen it, the answer to your question is yessssss… this movie is absolutely phenomenal.

 

The Twilight Zone Season 3, Episode 16

“Nothing in the Dark”

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Just to mix things up a tad, we’re going to move from the big screen to the boob tube in an underrated classic story from The Twilight Zone. And, much like Mr. Joe Black above, Death (Robert Redford) comes across as a charming, decent, and a rather hunky-looking dude in season three’s sixteenth episode, “Nothing in the Dark”.

Wanda Dunn is a timid old woman who has seemed to escape the clutches of the Reaper many times but has become sort of a recluse inside the four walls of her home for fear that Death may catch her unexpected. If you ask me, this episode perhaps unintentionally touches on the very real agoraphobic nature that cripples those who suffer from a serious phobia of death and or serious anxiety issues. Which, vulnerably speaking here, may be why this episode in particular resonated with me on a personal level.

 

Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey

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You guys knew this national treasure was coming! If you were alive and of sound mind in the early nineties, you knew all about Death’s competitive nature in board games, and that well, he’s sort of a sore loser if you happen to sink his battle-sheeep. Bill and Ted meet an untimely demise in their Bogus Journey but are determined to rescue the world and their princesses’ from the wrath of a tyrant and evil android clones of themselves. So what do they do? Challenge Death to a game of Twister, duh. And Battleship, and Clue, and so on to regain their lives. Poor Death can’t seem to beat the Wyld Stallyns at any of their games of choice. Seems like the only guy to actually ever prepare to outsmart ol’ Reaps was Hasbro. Whoh….

 

 

 

The Seventh Seal

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Last but certainly not least, the 1957 art house film from Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman starring a pre-Exorcist Max von Sydow, is much more than a movie featuring the ghastly Grim Reaper. The Seventh Seal was and still is, a benchmark film that many aspiring movie makers look to as inspiration and studied heavily even to this very day.

Centered around the infamous Black Plague, an exhausted Knight and his lowly squire in the era of the Crusades stumble upon Death on an abandoned beach terrain and challenges Sir Reaper to a game of chess. Unfortunately for Sydow, we’re not dealing with Bill and Ted’s Death buddy, so his bargain for more time is going to be a bit more challenging. Thus ensues a beautifully filmed, poetic piece of cinema that questions the nature of man and God. And at the risk of sounding like a cliche with this film, quite possibly the most gorgeous depiction of Death and man ever placed on a screen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4yXBIigZbg

 

 

Do you have a favorite Reaper to add to this list? Add your little slice of Death to the comments below!

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Brad Dourif Says He’s Retiring Except For One Important Role

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Brad Dourif has been doing movies for nearly 50 years. Now it seems he is walking away from the industry at 74 to enjoy his golden years. Except, there is a caveat.

Recently, digital entertainment publication JoBlo’s Tyler Nichols talked to some of the Chucky television series cast members. During the interview, Dourif made an announcement.

“Dourif said that he’s retired from acting,” says Nichols. “The only reason he came back for the show was because of his daughter Fiona and he considers Chucky creator Don Mancini to be family. But for non-Chucky stuff, he considers himself retired.”

Dourif has voiced the possessed doll since 1988 (minus the 2019 reboot). The original movie “Child’s Play” has become such a cult classic it’s at the top of some people’s best chillers of all time. Chucky himself is ingrained in pop culture history much like Frankenstein or Jason Voorhees.

While Dourif may be known for his famous voiceover, he is also an Oscar-nominated actor for his part in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Another famous horror role is The Gemini Killer in William Peter Blatty’s Exorcist III. And who can forget Betazoid Lon Suder in Star Trek: Voyager?

The good news is that Don Mancini is already pitching a concept for season four of Chucky which might also include a feature-length movie with a series tie-in. So, Although Dourif says he is retiring from the industry, ironically he is Chucky’s friend till the end.

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Editorial

7 Great ‘Scream’ Fan Films & Shorts Worth a Watch

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The Scream franchise is such an iconic series, that many budding filmmakers take inspiration from it and make their own sequels or, at least, build upon the original universe created by screenwriter Kevin Williamson. YouTube is the perfect medium to showcase these talents (and budgets) with fan-made homages with their own personal twists.

The great thing about Ghostface is that he can appear anywhere, in any town, he just needs the signature mask, knife, and unhinged motive. Thanks to Fair Use laws it’s possible to expand upon Wes Craven’s creation by simply getting a group of young adults together and killing them off one by one. Oh, and don’t forget the twist. You’ll notice that Roger Jackson’s famous Ghostface voice is uncanny valley, but you get the gist.

We have gathered five fan films/shorts related to Scream that we thought were pretty good. Although they can’t possibly match the beats of a $33 million blockbuster, they get by on what they have. But who needs money? If you’re talented and motivated anything is possible as proven by these filmmakers who are well on their way to the big leagues.

Take a look at the below films and let us know what you think. And while you’re at it, leave these young filmmakers a thumbs up, or leave them a comment to encourage them to create more films. Besides, where else are you going to see Ghostface vs. a Katana all set to a hip-hop soundtrack?

Scream Live (2023)

Scream Live

Ghostface (2021)

Ghostface

Ghost Face (2023)

Ghost Face

Don’t Scream (2022)

Don’t Scream

Scream: A Fan Film (2023)

Scream: A Fan Film

The Scream (2023)

The Scream

A Scream Fan Film (2023)

A Scream Fan Film
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Movies

Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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