Before Scream turned the genre world on its head, there was another ’90s teen-centric horror movie revitalizing youth-oriented cinema. Featuring a cast of rising stars, killer effects, and a now iconic soundtrack, Andrew Fleming’s The Craft thoughtfully explored issues like high school politics, female empowerment, suicide, and the dangers of witchcraft when left in less-experienced hands.
More importantly, The Craft spoke out on the behalf of a generation of teenagers struggling to find their identity, and it continues to have an impact on new audiences. Over the years, the film has attracted a huge cult following and maintained its popularity amongst genre fans.
It may seem surprising that the decision to move forward on making The Craft wasn’t an easy sell for writer/director Fleming (Bad Dreams, Dick). “When we began prepping The Craft, the teen movie was dead,” explained Fleming. “Studios were under the impression that teens...
More importantly, The Craft spoke out on the behalf of a generation of teenagers struggling to find their identity, and it continues to have an impact on new audiences. Over the years, the film has attracted a huge cult following and maintained its popularity amongst genre fans.
It may seem surprising that the decision to move forward on making The Craft wasn’t an easy sell for writer/director Fleming (Bad Dreams, Dick). “When we began prepping The Craft, the teen movie was dead,” explained Fleming. “Studios were under the impression that teens...
- 5/3/2016
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
Brian Trenchard-Smith looks deep into the art of directing animals, long before the digital age.
When Brian Trenchard-Smith wants to tell you about directing animals on film, you step out of the way. Here’s Brian with many, many wonderful tales (and tails).
Rise of the Planet of the Apes is the latest example of how digital makes possible previously impossible animal actions, like a gorilla leaping from the Golden Gate Bridge into a helicopter cockpit. Take a look at the Comicon teaser.
But there was a time when the animal and the lens were all you had to work with. In the pre-cgi era, I was lucky enough to stage sequences involving cats, bobcats, dogs, lions, elephants, boa constrictors, chimps, spiders, scorpions, cockroaches, a mud crab, a pigeon, and a frog.
Working with All Creatures Great And Small requires complex planning, flexibility, and infinite patience. I hold the trainers...
When Brian Trenchard-Smith wants to tell you about directing animals on film, you step out of the way. Here’s Brian with many, many wonderful tales (and tails).
Rise of the Planet of the Apes is the latest example of how digital makes possible previously impossible animal actions, like a gorilla leaping from the Golden Gate Bridge into a helicopter cockpit. Take a look at the Comicon teaser.
But there was a time when the animal and the lens were all you had to work with. In the pre-cgi era, I was lucky enough to stage sequences involving cats, bobcats, dogs, lions, elephants, boa constrictors, chimps, spiders, scorpions, cockroaches, a mud crab, a pigeon, and a frog.
Working with All Creatures Great And Small requires complex planning, flexibility, and infinite patience. I hold the trainers...
- 8/11/2011
- by Danny
- Trailers from Hell
In the spirit of Halloween '09, we're breaking out reviews (some new, some old) of some Fall Frights you may want to work into your monthly viewing.
Willard - Fangoria Archives: Originally Published 2/28/03
Willard is, of course, a remake of the 1971 cult classic, but it belongs equally to a just slightly older tradition—’60s movies like What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? and Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte, which mixed grande dames with Grand Guignol to turn horror into high Gothic melodrama. Everything in Willard is heightened or exaggerated to some degree, but writer/director Glen Morgan never allows it tip over into camp, combining enough intentional humor with serious squirm-inducing moments to make it a scary/funny good time.
The not-so-secret weapon that holds it all together is Crispin Glover, who is so absolutely right for the title role that it’s astonishing to learn that the studio wanted anyone else.
Willard - Fangoria Archives: Originally Published 2/28/03
Willard is, of course, a remake of the 1971 cult classic, but it belongs equally to a just slightly older tradition—’60s movies like What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? and Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte, which mixed grande dames with Grand Guignol to turn horror into high Gothic melodrama. Everything in Willard is heightened or exaggerated to some degree, but writer/director Glen Morgan never allows it tip over into camp, combining enough intentional humor with serious squirm-inducing moments to make it a scary/funny good time.
The not-so-secret weapon that holds it all together is Crispin Glover, who is so absolutely right for the title role that it’s astonishing to learn that the studio wanted anyone else.
- 10/3/2009
- by no-reply@fangoria.com (Michael Gingold)
- Fangoria
Opens Friday, March 14
A reworking of the 1971 horror film about a boy and his rat (as opposed to a sunny biopic about the former "Today" show weatherman), "Willard" is alternately creepy and crappy.
In his debut as a feature director, Glen Morgan, who collaborated with James Wong on "Final Destination" and "The X-Files", proves he can choreograph the teeming vermin to maximum squirm-inducing effect, but there are also the annoying human performances which seem to have been encouraged to challenge the rodents in a race to the rafters.
The upshot is an unsuccessful mix of sci-fi horror and a highly exaggerated filmmaking approach that borders on unintentional parody.
That watered-down effect will likely result in only mild theater infestations, with its predominantly male target audience preferring to take the bait off the DVD shelves.
While there was already a strong element of Hitchcock's "The Birds" in place, writer-director Morgan has seen fit to graft on more than a bit of "Psycho", with central character Willard Stiles recast as Norman Bates.
With Crispin Glover doing the honors, Willard is a mess of tics and twitches and wrist-wringing angst, suffocating in the stuffy old house he shares with his controlling, infirmed mother (Jackie Burroughs), a fright of a woman with one foot in the fruit cellar.
Things aren't much better at work. Willard is as a clerk for Martin-Stiles Manufacturing, the company originally started by his late father who made Willard's employment there a condition of his partnership with the bullying Frank Martin (R. Lee Ermey).
But our Willard is about to discover empowerment through his odd relationship with the ever-growing legion of rats that have been invading his basement. Along with that association, however, is a struggle of Shakespearean proportions brewing between two of those rodents -- the sweet, benevolent Socrates and the imposing, unstoppable Ben.
In building up to the inevitable "ratsplosion," Morgan frequently delivers the unsettling goods, especially in a sequence keyed to Michael Jackson's crooning of "Ben" (which actually is from the 1972 sequel) as the rodents terrorize a cat by gnawing through the legs of a large dining room cabinet, sending it and the hapless kitty crashing down to their teeth-gnashing level.
As it turns out, those rodents aren't The Only Ones chewing the scenery.
The ever-jittery Glover is continually running out of top to go over, and the rest of the compact cast appears to be following his lead. Only Laura Elena Harring approaches subtlety as a co-worker who tries to strike up a friendship with the otherwise occupied Willard.
Where the original may have been lacking in any discernible style, there was a least a tangible pathos that made Rat Boy oddly sympathetic. Although the Morgan version has style to burn, his two-legged characters have been reduced to cartoon levels at the expense of the viewer's patience.
Too bad they couldn't have taken a cue from those rodents -- a mix of live, animatronic and CGI varieties -- who end up delivering the most convincing performances. The real deal, handled by stunt coordinator Boone Narr, are particularly persuasive in those earlier sequences not requiring computer-assisted swarming.
A ton of inside references abound -- both to the original film and Morgan's "X-Files" work. Photos of his father are actually of Bruce Davison, who was the original Willard, while the doomed housecat goes by the name of Scully.
WILLARD
New Line
New Line Cinema presents a Hard Eight Pictures production
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Glen Morgan
Based on a screenplay by Gilbert Ralston
Producer: James Wong
Executive producers: Bill Carraro, Toby Emmerich, Richard Brener
Director of photography: Robert McLachlan
Production designer: Mark Freeborn
Editor: James Coblentz
Costume designer: Gregory Mah
Visual effects supervisor: Stuart Robertson
Music: Shirley Walker
Cast:
Willard: Crispin Glover
Mr. Martin: R. Lee Ermey
Cathryn: Laura Elena Harring
Henrietta Stiles: Jackie Burroughs
Running time -- 100 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
A reworking of the 1971 horror film about a boy and his rat (as opposed to a sunny biopic about the former "Today" show weatherman), "Willard" is alternately creepy and crappy.
In his debut as a feature director, Glen Morgan, who collaborated with James Wong on "Final Destination" and "The X-Files", proves he can choreograph the teeming vermin to maximum squirm-inducing effect, but there are also the annoying human performances which seem to have been encouraged to challenge the rodents in a race to the rafters.
The upshot is an unsuccessful mix of sci-fi horror and a highly exaggerated filmmaking approach that borders on unintentional parody.
That watered-down effect will likely result in only mild theater infestations, with its predominantly male target audience preferring to take the bait off the DVD shelves.
While there was already a strong element of Hitchcock's "The Birds" in place, writer-director Morgan has seen fit to graft on more than a bit of "Psycho", with central character Willard Stiles recast as Norman Bates.
With Crispin Glover doing the honors, Willard is a mess of tics and twitches and wrist-wringing angst, suffocating in the stuffy old house he shares with his controlling, infirmed mother (Jackie Burroughs), a fright of a woman with one foot in the fruit cellar.
Things aren't much better at work. Willard is as a clerk for Martin-Stiles Manufacturing, the company originally started by his late father who made Willard's employment there a condition of his partnership with the bullying Frank Martin (R. Lee Ermey).
But our Willard is about to discover empowerment through his odd relationship with the ever-growing legion of rats that have been invading his basement. Along with that association, however, is a struggle of Shakespearean proportions brewing between two of those rodents -- the sweet, benevolent Socrates and the imposing, unstoppable Ben.
In building up to the inevitable "ratsplosion," Morgan frequently delivers the unsettling goods, especially in a sequence keyed to Michael Jackson's crooning of "Ben" (which actually is from the 1972 sequel) as the rodents terrorize a cat by gnawing through the legs of a large dining room cabinet, sending it and the hapless kitty crashing down to their teeth-gnashing level.
As it turns out, those rodents aren't The Only Ones chewing the scenery.
The ever-jittery Glover is continually running out of top to go over, and the rest of the compact cast appears to be following his lead. Only Laura Elena Harring approaches subtlety as a co-worker who tries to strike up a friendship with the otherwise occupied Willard.
Where the original may have been lacking in any discernible style, there was a least a tangible pathos that made Rat Boy oddly sympathetic. Although the Morgan version has style to burn, his two-legged characters have been reduced to cartoon levels at the expense of the viewer's patience.
Too bad they couldn't have taken a cue from those rodents -- a mix of live, animatronic and CGI varieties -- who end up delivering the most convincing performances. The real deal, handled by stunt coordinator Boone Narr, are particularly persuasive in those earlier sequences not requiring computer-assisted swarming.
A ton of inside references abound -- both to the original film and Morgan's "X-Files" work. Photos of his father are actually of Bruce Davison, who was the original Willard, while the doomed housecat goes by the name of Scully.
WILLARD
New Line
New Line Cinema presents a Hard Eight Pictures production
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Glen Morgan
Based on a screenplay by Gilbert Ralston
Producer: James Wong
Executive producers: Bill Carraro, Toby Emmerich, Richard Brener
Director of photography: Robert McLachlan
Production designer: Mark Freeborn
Editor: James Coblentz
Costume designer: Gregory Mah
Visual effects supervisor: Stuart Robertson
Music: Shirley Walker
Cast:
Willard: Crispin Glover
Mr. Martin: R. Lee Ermey
Cathryn: Laura Elena Harring
Henrietta Stiles: Jackie Burroughs
Running time -- 100 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 3/10/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Kevin Kline has intervened with the makers of his latest film Life As A House to elevate the status of his co-star - a dog. Kline, who stars opposite Kristin Scott Thomas in the upcoming movie, became so attached to J.J., the pooch that appears in one of the scenes, that he mounted a vigorous campaign to keep him in as many scenes as possible for the rest of the film. Hollywood's top animal trainer Boone Narr, who has provided screen pets and co-stars for the likes of Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt and Jim Carrey, says Kline just fell in love with J.J., a golden labrador, and pleaded with film bosses to keep him on set. Narr says, "J.J. was only supposed to have a minor role in the movie, but Kevin liked him so much they wrote him in to the rest of the movie. Instead of working a month on it, he ended up working for four months on it. You hear about actors getting attached to each other when they do movies and it's exactly the same with the animals, they do get attached to them."...
- 2/26/2001
- WENN
He's the "Babe" of birds.
The title character of the delightful "Paulie" is a precocious blue-crown Conure who doesn't merely parrot but can carry on entire conversations in Brooklynese with Joe Pesci-style intonations.
An all-ages audience-pleaser that puts a smile on the lips and a lump in the throat, the handsomely assembled picture dispenses sentimentality without the syrup. It's moving but never mawkish.
The payoff should amount to a whole lot more than birdseed for DreamWorks, which could see "Paulie" best its "Mouse Hunt" at the boxoffice.
Gracefully directed by John Roberts (who previously helmed the underrated "The War of the Buttons") from a winning script by novice screenwriter Laurie Craig, the bird-meets-girl, bird-loses-girl, bird-gets-girl adventure begins in a research lab, where a caged and clipped Paulie (voiced by Jay Mohr and played by an assortment of real-life and animatronic parrots) stuns Russian immigrant janitor Misha (Tony Shalhoub) with his no-nonsense approach to the English language.
Contending that his mouth has always gotten him in trouble, Paulie proceeds to tell Misha his story, beginning with the day little stuttering Marie Hallie Kate Eisenberg) raised him from a fledgling.
Concerned that she was becoming too attached to her pet, Marie's parents (Matt Craven and Laura Harrington) send Paulie out into the big, Cold World. Eventually landing in a pawn shop, Paulie is purchased by a lonely widow (Gena Rowlands), whom he convinces to embark on a cross-country journey in her long-dormant Winnebago in search of his beloved Marie.
Their association proves shortlived, but Paulie eventually reaches his goal -- give or take a few years -- with a little help from Misha, a fellow fish-out-of-water.
While the early pacing is somewhat slow to take flight and Roberts and Craig could have afforded to go funnier (especially where the younger viewers are concerned) without fear of upsetting the film's delicate balance, there remains a finely tuned timelessness to "Paulie" that it shares with those perennial family classics.
Rather than the going tendency toward broadly played cartoonish characters, Paulie's human supporting cast keeps it warmly low-key with affectingly defined performances from Rowlands, Shalhoub and young Eisenberg, as well as from Cheech Marin (as an East L.A. entertainer whose act is literally for the birds) and Bruce Davison (as a research scientist who sees Paulie as his ticket to a Nobel Prize).
Mohr gives Paulie's vocal chords the right blend of smart-alecky brashness and gentle innocence, and in addition he plays the part of Benny, a two-bit thief,
Technical attributes are equally impressive. Animal wrangler Boone Narr (who also corralled the rodents for "Mouse Hunt") coaxes fine work from his feathered friends while the more demanding stuff has been seamlessly handled by a Stan Winston Studio animatronic stand-in.
Cinematographer Tony Pierce-Roberts ("A Room With a View", "Howards End"), meanwhile, lends the Los Angeles and Arizona backdrops a classy vibrance as John Debney's thoughtful score quietly nudges -- but never tugs at -- the heartstrings.
PAULIE
DreamWorks
A Mutual Film Co. production
Credits: Director, John Roberts; Screenwriter, Laurie Craig; Producers, Mark Gordon, Gary Levinsohn, Allison Lyon Segan; Executive producer, Ginny Nugent; Director of photography, Tony Pierce-Roberts; Production designer, Dennis Washington; Editor, Bruce Cannon; Costume designer, Mary Zophres; Music, John Debney; Casting, Risa Bramon Garcia, Randi Hiller, Sarah Finn. Cast: Ivy: Gena Rowlands; Misha: Tony Shalhoub; Ignacio: Cheech Marin; Dr. Reingold: Bruce Davison; Adult Marie: Trini Alvarado; Voice of Paulie/Benny: Jay Mohr; Artie: Buddy Hackett; Marie: Hallie Kate Eisenberg; Warren Alweather: Matt Craven. Color/stereo. Running time - 91 minutes. MPAA rating: PG.
The title character of the delightful "Paulie" is a precocious blue-crown Conure who doesn't merely parrot but can carry on entire conversations in Brooklynese with Joe Pesci-style intonations.
An all-ages audience-pleaser that puts a smile on the lips and a lump in the throat, the handsomely assembled picture dispenses sentimentality without the syrup. It's moving but never mawkish.
The payoff should amount to a whole lot more than birdseed for DreamWorks, which could see "Paulie" best its "Mouse Hunt" at the boxoffice.
Gracefully directed by John Roberts (who previously helmed the underrated "The War of the Buttons") from a winning script by novice screenwriter Laurie Craig, the bird-meets-girl, bird-loses-girl, bird-gets-girl adventure begins in a research lab, where a caged and clipped Paulie (voiced by Jay Mohr and played by an assortment of real-life and animatronic parrots) stuns Russian immigrant janitor Misha (Tony Shalhoub) with his no-nonsense approach to the English language.
Contending that his mouth has always gotten him in trouble, Paulie proceeds to tell Misha his story, beginning with the day little stuttering Marie Hallie Kate Eisenberg) raised him from a fledgling.
Concerned that she was becoming too attached to her pet, Marie's parents (Matt Craven and Laura Harrington) send Paulie out into the big, Cold World. Eventually landing in a pawn shop, Paulie is purchased by a lonely widow (Gena Rowlands), whom he convinces to embark on a cross-country journey in her long-dormant Winnebago in search of his beloved Marie.
Their association proves shortlived, but Paulie eventually reaches his goal -- give or take a few years -- with a little help from Misha, a fellow fish-out-of-water.
While the early pacing is somewhat slow to take flight and Roberts and Craig could have afforded to go funnier (especially where the younger viewers are concerned) without fear of upsetting the film's delicate balance, there remains a finely tuned timelessness to "Paulie" that it shares with those perennial family classics.
Rather than the going tendency toward broadly played cartoonish characters, Paulie's human supporting cast keeps it warmly low-key with affectingly defined performances from Rowlands, Shalhoub and young Eisenberg, as well as from Cheech Marin (as an East L.A. entertainer whose act is literally for the birds) and Bruce Davison (as a research scientist who sees Paulie as his ticket to a Nobel Prize).
Mohr gives Paulie's vocal chords the right blend of smart-alecky brashness and gentle innocence, and in addition he plays the part of Benny, a two-bit thief,
Technical attributes are equally impressive. Animal wrangler Boone Narr (who also corralled the rodents for "Mouse Hunt") coaxes fine work from his feathered friends while the more demanding stuff has been seamlessly handled by a Stan Winston Studio animatronic stand-in.
Cinematographer Tony Pierce-Roberts ("A Room With a View", "Howards End"), meanwhile, lends the Los Angeles and Arizona backdrops a classy vibrance as John Debney's thoughtful score quietly nudges -- but never tugs at -- the heartstrings.
PAULIE
DreamWorks
A Mutual Film Co. production
Credits: Director, John Roberts; Screenwriter, Laurie Craig; Producers, Mark Gordon, Gary Levinsohn, Allison Lyon Segan; Executive producer, Ginny Nugent; Director of photography, Tony Pierce-Roberts; Production designer, Dennis Washington; Editor, Bruce Cannon; Costume designer, Mary Zophres; Music, John Debney; Casting, Risa Bramon Garcia, Randi Hiller, Sarah Finn. Cast: Ivy: Gena Rowlands; Misha: Tony Shalhoub; Ignacio: Cheech Marin; Dr. Reingold: Bruce Davison; Adult Marie: Trini Alvarado; Voice of Paulie/Benny: Jay Mohr; Artie: Buddy Hackett; Marie: Hallie Kate Eisenberg; Warren Alweather: Matt Craven. Color/stereo. Running time - 91 minutes. MPAA rating: PG.
- 4/14/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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