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The Many Faces of Danny Trejo

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Danny Trejo, an actor known for his bad ass roles and hard, chiseled exterior has been a veteran of horror films since Robert Rodriguez’s From Dusk Till Dawn.  Before the cult classic vampire film Trejo had a collection of credits including ‘Prisoner,’ ‘Prison Inmate,’ ‘Tough Prisoner #1,’ 2nd Inmate’ and ‘Tattoo Artist.’

Finally in the late 1990’s he began picking up more memorable roles, beginning with the vampire cult classic by Rodriguez and Tarantino where he played Razor Charlie, a bad ass vampire who easily towered over and out muscled co-star George Clooney.  In fact, Trejo was brought back for the two consecutive films in the Till Dawn series; Texas Blood Money and The Hangman’s Daughter.  To round out the From Dusk Till Dawn experience, Rodriguez brought Trejo back one final time for his series by the same name on his El Rey network.

In 1997 he picked up the roll of Johnny-23 in the movie Con Air alongside John Malkovich.  While bit roles were still peppered into his career at this time, his type-casting worked in his favor as he picked up more involved roles.

Many fans know of his work in the Grindhouse style horror movie Machete, but ironically this character began in Spy Kids, also by Rodriguez as Uncle Machete to the main stars, on screen niece and nephew Carmen and Juni.

Trejo picked up the Machete again in a fake trailer preceding the Rodriguez film Planet Terror.  Arguably the fake trailer gained more notoriety than the film it lead up to!  Rodriguez noticed this and decided to roll the dice on a movie made from just snippets put together to make the trailer and work backwards, making a full feature film.  Watch the original trailer bellow that started it all!

 

Despite the challenge of working backwards the film instantly gained cult status.  Grabbing the bull by its horns Rodriguez quickly saw the potential and began working on two sequels, Machete Kills which was released in 2013 and the third installment which is currently under production, Machete Kills in Space.

Trejo also found a home in many of Rob Zombie’s films, including Devil’s Rejects and 2007’s Halloween.

In an unlikely turn of events, a man who is known from his menacing exterior and brute force, Trejo has taken many voice acting jobs.  Some of the more notable ones include; The Adventures of Puss in Boots, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Phineas and Ferb.  Can you believe it?  A man who used someone’s intestines to swing out a window worked on children’s television shows!  It kind of blows your mind, doesn’t it?!

Currently Trejo has been balancing his movie and television appearances with commercials.  Knowing his background in film these commercials had me rolling!  I love a man who can step back and laugh at themselves, and that is exactly what these commercials do.  He’s not afraid to shed his hard exterior for the sake of comedy.

The first time we see Trejo in a commercial is in 2015’s Superbowl commercial for Snickers.  In this parody he plays a hostel Marcia from the Brady Bunch, and with hair like that he certainly can rival her blonde locks.  Take a look bellow!

https://youtu.be/y3RclLJraqw


He then followed up his commercial career with the recent tv spots for Sling TV.  The first one is a very traditional Trejo, wearing his black shirt and exposing his muscles, sitting backwards on a chair and owning his look.

https://youtu.be/kO8qG6XetTM

 

However, the second one is what had me in stitches.  In this Sling TV commercial he is dressed as a hipster working in a coffee shop where he is trying to comfort a young heartbroken women in his own, awkward way.

https://youtu.be/La6fbhrkcBA

While many see this actor as just a one trick pony, he has many different avenues in the entertainment industry, including movies, television, commercials, and voice overs for kid shows as well as video games.  While I can’t wait for Machete Kills in Space, I find everything he does entertaining and I look forward to him continuing his career in whichever way makes him happy because I haven’t seen him make a wrong choice yet.

 

Here is a bonus video of how they shot the Brady Bunch Snickers commercial with Danny Trejo.

https://youtu.be/oTXiHFOnveA

And click here for another bonus Snickers video that wasn’t the easiest to find.

 

 

 

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News

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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