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Interview: Shane Black on the Making of ‘The Predator’

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DG: What inspired you to want to revisit the Predator film series, as a director?

SB: I feel old.  I’m fifty-six years old, and I didn’t see the time pass.  It seems like yesterday I was back in the 1980s.  I was a student at UCLA, and then there was Lethal Weapon, and The Monster Squad, and Predator.  That was over thirty years ago.  What the hell happened?  I was talking to Fred Dekker about this, and I suggested that we should go back in time with this film.  Let’s pretend that we’re making this film thirty years ago.  Let’s make a 1980s war film that combines action, horror, science fiction.  There’s no CGI.  Then we’ll add in the digital effects, the FX shots, later.  That was my vision for this film.

DG:  What is the proximity, the relationship, between this film and the previous films?

SB: The second film happened.  The Alien vs. Predator films happened.  In this film, we see that Earth has noticed that all of these things have happened.  The predators have been showing up on Earth for a long time, possibly since ancient times, so how does Earth respond to this in 2020?  How do we prepare for the next alien incursion?  An intelligence division has been established for the purpose of confronting the alien threat but also for the purpose of exploring the technological opportunities.  Although the predators are hunters, killers, their technology suggests that the predator planet consists of scientists and warriors.  We don’t have interstellar spaceships, obviously, so maybe the predators have some kind of think tank on their planet.

DG: How many Predator hunters are featured in this film, and how have the Predator creatures evolved since we last saw them?

SB: There are two predator creatures in the film. The predators that appear in this film are always deadly, and they’re really fast, and they’re always moving.  There’s a rogue faction within the predator race, and some of the predators are really angry about what’s happened to them in the previous films.  They’re angry because their warriors have, time and time again, been defeated by Earth’s greatest champions, beginning with Arnold’s character.  They’re not happy about that, and they want to punch back. 

DG: The Predator features an ensemble cast, which includes Boyd Holbrook and Jacob Tremblay.  How would you describe the human dynamic that exists in the film? 

SB: Every character in the film is a misfit.  Quinn [Holbrook’s character] and his men are marginalized soldiers, post-traumatic stress disorder cases, who have been written off by society.  This isn’t the crack team of commandos from the first film.  As the film opens, Quinn’s life is in a holding pattern, and he’s trying to maintain a connection with his son, who exists within the autism spectrum.  There’s a science teacher, played by Olivia Munn, and she’s also a misfit.  All of the characters in the film are unsure of themselves.

DG: What was the biggest challenge that you faced during the filming? 

SB: The challenge was to visualize parts of the film without being able to really visualize them.  I’m talking, of course, about filming around the digital effects and imagining what’s happening in a scene while you’re filming against a green screen.  I didn’t want this film to be a CG-fest.  I had to wait for the FX shots to arrive and see if they matched what I’d been visualizing.  They did.  It worked.

DG: When this project was announced, speculation quickly grew about the possibility of Arnold Schwarzenegger reprising his character from the first film in this film.  Did you talk to Arnold about this?

SB: Where is Arnold?  It’s not a silly question, and I understand why people would wonder about Arnold’s character and whether Arnold could play a role in the film.  I did speak to Arnold, and we toyed with the idea of Arnold appearing in the film.  It would have been a cameo role for him, and that wasn’t something he was interested in, so we wished each other good luck, and then we said goodbye.    

DG: Are you planning to do more Predator films?

SB: I am open to doing more films, but I would never make an announcement like that until I saw how this film has been received.  That would be like having the wrap party on the first day of filming. 

The Predator opens in theaters on September 14.  Watch the final trailer here

 

 

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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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