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That Time Stanley Kubrick Made $1.5M Off The Shining Remake

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Love it or hate it, The Shining remake/miniseries set out to tell Stephen King’s legendary story the way King intended it. As I’m sure you’re aware, the author was never a fan of Kubrick’s classic film due to the many changes made to fit the director’s vision. Ultimately, Kubrick started with King’s story and made a Kubrick film out of it, and most agree that this is the superior screen version if not one of the greatest horror films (or even films) of all time.

The Garris project, which King wrote the teleplay for, first aired in 1997. Kubrick died just two years later in 1999, but he was alive when the miniseries was made, and according to Garris, he actually got a nice chunk of change out of it.

weber-shining

I’ve been listening to a ton of back episodes of Adam Green and Joe Lynch’s The Movie Crypt podcast lately. I love hearing the stories from filmmakers and other industry insiders and learning new things about the projects they’ve worked on. Seriously, it’s like crack for horror geeks. I recently listened to one from a couple years ago – episode 18 – which featured Mick Garris, and he noted something that I was completely unaware of despite having devoted a pretty good deal of my time on earth consuming content related to The Shining. I found where he mentioned it in an old Icons of Fright interview as well, but either way, it’s an interesting bit of trivia that a lot of people probably aren’t aware of.

“Kubrick got paid a million and a half dollars for us to be able to do a miniseries, and not many people know that,” Garris told Green. “And King had to sign an agreement saying he would not say anything bad about the Kubrick film. So these are little secrets you’re getting only on The Movie Crypt (laughs).”

According to the miniseries’ trivia section on IMDb, to re-obtain the rights from the Kubrick estate, King had to publicly recant his oft-voiced opinions of Kubrick’s film.

As Garris noted in the podcast, most people  – particularly fans of King’s novel – didn’t really like Kubrick’s film when it came out. It took time for it to truly become recognized as the cinematic masterpiece that it is. By the time the remake was released, it had already achieved that status. Garris himself admitted on The Movie Crypt that he didn’t care much for Kubrick’s film when it was released as he was already a huge fan of King’s novel, but that he had come around to it over the years, recognizing it as a great Kubrick film, even if not a great King adaptation.

King says in the Author’s Note of his sequel novel Doctor Sleep (hat tip to Tasha Robinson), “The Shining is one of those novels people always mention (along with ‘Salem’s Lot, Pet Sematary, and It) when they talk about which of my books really scared the bejeezus out of them. Plus, of course, there was Stanley Kubrick’s movie, which many seem to remember  – for reasons I have never quite understood – as one of the scariest films they have ever seen. If you have seen the movie but not read the novel, you should note that Doctor Sleep follows the latter, which is, in my opinion, the True History of the Torrance Family.)”

Here’s  a video of King talking about Kubrick and his film, as he discusses Doctor Sleep and jokes about how he’s canceling out the film (another hat tip to Robinson).


“It’s like Stanley Kubrick was like the coldest guy in the universe,” he told the audience. “I outlived him though, didn’t I? Oh man, I even got hit by a car, and I still outlived him.”

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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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