Welcome, class!

Each month I will be composing a list of important events that have happened throughout the decades regarding horror history. This includes birthdays, deaths, and notable films. It’s an excellent way to remind you of some of the great films that were produced, and also gain some insight for all you horror buffs out there. It’s like that Time Hop app, but without the cute dinosaur. August is a very eventful month, so let’s get started!

August 1st

1986 – Friday the 13th, Part XI: Jason Lives is released. For the first time, we see our beloved masked killer as not only a lumbering whirlwind of violence, but also as a supernatural force, being resurrected by a bolt of lightning that just so happened to strike his grave.

August 2nd

1939 – Happy birthday to Wes Craven, creator of Scream, The People Under the Stairs, and of course the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. Hats off to you, Mr. Craven.

1999 and 2002 – Two important events for director M. Night Shyamalan. The Sixth Sense is released, and three years later Signs is released as well.

August 3rd

1978 – A parody of Jaws is released by producer Robert Corman entitled Piranha. Given the close proximity to the release date of Jaws, Universal Studios almost tried to stop the film from being distributed. However, Steven Spielberg saw it and convinced the studio otherwise. Thanks, Steve.

August 4th

1932 – White Zombie, starring Bela Lugosi is released. This will prove to be a big month for the star, but probably not in ways that he had hoped. To be continued.

August 5th

1998 – Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later is released to theatres. The timeline for the series begins to get really screwy as this is a direct sequel to Halloween 2. Also notable is the reemergence of Jamie Lee Curtis in the series. I’m not complaining.

August 6th

1970 – M. Night Shyamalan is born into this world to give us the greatest masterpiece in all of film history: Avatar, The Last Airbender.

August 11th

1947 – Stuart Gordon is born. He will go on to make a lot of films that are based off of the stories of H.P. Lovecraft, and he will do them very well. Watch Re-Animator for reference.

1989 – Heeeere’s Freddy! A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child explodes onto the silver screen, fans of the franchise more of what they love so much: Freddy Krueger killing people and making a joke out of it. Freddy also considers getting a manicure but ultimately decides against it, as it might hurt his film career.

August 13th

1899 – Alfred Hitchcock is born. Hitchcock will go on to be one of the most prolific filmmakers of all time.

1982 and 1993 – Friday the 13th Part 3 is released, and Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday is released over a decade later. The first is a fan favorite, and the latter is considered by many to be the worst in the franchise. How’s that for contrast?

August 14th

1975 – Musical horror comedy The Rocky Horror Picture show is released in the UK. The United States audience would have to wait until the following month for its release.

1987 – The Monster Squad is released and pits the Universal Studio’s Monsters against a group of kids. It goes on to be a cult favorite.

August 15th

1986 – The Fly is remade by David Cronenberg and produces a modern version of the original Vincent Price film, filled with disgusting visuals and starring Jeff Goldblum. The film is a success.

1997  – The sci-fi horror genre bender Event Horizon, starring Laurence Fishburne and Sam Neill is released to theaters. The movie is a flop upon release, but since has proved to be a hidden gem of the decade.

2003 – Freddy vs. Jason comes out, and August proves to be a month where neither Freddy nor Jason will go away throughout the years. Come on guys, you’re hogging this list!

August 16th

1956 – Bela Lugosi, the most iconic actor to ever portray Dracula, dies. He passes away at the age of 73 of a heart attack and is buried in one of the costume capes for Dracula. Rest in peace, Bela.

August 18th

1933 – Roman Polanski, director of Rosemary’s Baby is born. The life of Roman Polanski is a complicated one, including a huge controversy over sexual abuse of a minor. Yikes.

August 19th

1988 – A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master comes to theaters. It was the highest grossing horror film of the 1980’s at the box office.

August 20th

1890 – Howard Phillip Lovecraft is born. Lovecraft writes countless awesome stories. Stuart Gordon goes on to take notice.

August 21st

1981 – John Landis unleashes An American Werewolf in London into the world, which includes one of the greatest werewolf transformation scenes ever. Rick Baker is to thank for this, as his make up effects are outstanding, and he ends up working on some of the best films in the industry.

1998 – Wesley Snipes stars in Blade, a violent adaption of a comic book character that was introduced in Marvel’s The Tomb of Dracula, issue # 10 in July of 1973.

August 22nd

1986 – “Thrill me.” Night of the Creeps is released, and one of the greatest catchphrases in horror is created. The movie is filled with so many good quotes that it actually hurts.

August 23rd

2013 – You’re Next is released to American theaters and gets a surprisingly positive response.

August 25th

1979 – Lucio Fulci’s Zombi 2 is released, and shows the greatest example of a zombie fighting a shark ever. Or maybe the only example. Who’s to say?

August 29th

1935 and 1939 – William Friedkin, director of Exorcist, and Joel Schumacher, director of The Lost Boys are both born on this day. They grow up to be best friends, have awesome birthday parties, and hang out with each other each year on this day. The last sentence that I wrote is completely made up.

August 31st

1983 – Basket Case, a film by Frank Henenlotter is released. If you haven’t seen this movie, go watch it right now. It’s absolutely bizarre and awesome. It gains widespread popularity through the breakthrough of the home video.

2007 – Rob Zombie remakes Halloween and everyone goes nuts. Some people love it, some people hate it. Regardless people still continue to fight over it. I’m on your side, Mr. Zombie.

 

And that’s a wrap for this month! Did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments, and stay tuned for next month’s September edition of Horror Movie History!