Fun Facts: Alien Movies

Jean Claude Van Damme almost had a very different big break in film; he was the original casting choice to play Predator. They even started production, with a completely different alien design, but Van Damme so vocally disliked being stuffed into the latex suit he was cut from the cast. Kevin Peter Hall took his place and the alien was completely redesigned (probably because it was originally designed by someone without FX background and was, by all accounts, not working). Because the redesign resulted in such an icon, every effects artist working at the time now claims to have had a hand in influencing the look of the Predator. James Cameron even claims he casually mentioned to Stan Winston (who's team of artists actually did the redesign) that he'd like to see a creature with mandibles.

Like all stories about classic movies, we'll never know who said what to ultimately inspire whom. Though, you can usually rely on stories from players that didn't make the annals of history. Here's a clip from the recent webcast by Stan Winston School of Character Arts (SWSCA) featuring Steve Johnson discussing that original Predator design and how he insisted it wasn't going to work, only to be proven right. 

-Tim

CRITTERS 2 at the MOA tonight!

If you're in the Twin Cities tonight and have 5 bucks, you should be at the Theatres at the Mall of America!  

Why you ask?

7pm: Pre-party in the Starbar (inside the theater, next to the concessions) where we will be giving away Critters button packs to the first 20 people there!

7:30pm: Vintage 35mm trailers and then Critters 2! 

A brief intermission: Featuring a local made short film"Bad Egg" Directed by Ryan Schaddelee

And then: Super secret mystery movie (approximately 80 min)

We hope to see you there, we don't want to have a super fun evening without you!

Big Trouble and John Carpenter's legit band.

John Carpenter directed some of our favorite movies, and nearly all of those movies he scored himself. Likely utilizing latent talents to save on budget costs, those scores have influenced countless filmmakers and musicians through the years. As if that wasn't enough, in the mid 80's Carpenter recruited fellow filmmakers Tommy Lee Wallace (dir Halloween 3, It, Fright Night 2) and Nick Castle (dir The Last Starfighter, Major Payne, and writer of this magical number "Everyone's coming to NY"  from Escape From New York) and formed the band “The Coupe de Villes”.

And, for what seems to be a hobby band, they were fairly prolific. They released a full length album, wrote some songs for soundtracks, and made a music video. Yes, that's right: a music video. It is as splendored, as it is painful.

Obviously that song was written for Big Trouble in Little China, and if watching that amazing feat of musical courage reminded you how much you love Big Trouble, hit up Trylon Microcinema April 18-20^th. They're also screening Buckaroo Banzai in a weekend in a line up Trylon's had on their wish list for years. (I was lucky enough to help them celebrate by designing the poster for the double header!)

Obviously we'll be attending one of these screenings since few things are funner than filling* a Trylon screening with 15 of your friends and watching a movie you all love to death!

Psst: If you want to buy one of those posters, they're for sale at Trylon. They sell small prints of all their posters for 10 bucks. Sales towards keeping the (completely non-profit) theater going for another year. Support a cool theater and get a sweet poster in the process!

*To actually fill a Trylon screening, you'd have to bring 50 of your friends, but 15 of your posse will make you feel like a film nerd gangster to be sure!

-Tim

Mix Tape!

Adding to our trend of monsters from space, here is a "mix tape" I made featuring songs from soundtracks of space alien movies. Enjoy!
-Tim

Critters

We're so excited for the Theaters of MOA's screening of Critters 2, we had to re-watch the original! This movie is good fun from start to finish and it contains one of our all-time-favorite insult slinging dads. Seriously, his casual threat to his kid has inspired us to hurl some impressive insults around our circle of friends.

The plot unfolds something like this: One eventing the Brown family notices a strange light in the sky fall into their back yard. Unfortunately for them, it's Krites, a pack of furry aliens hell bent on eating everything in their path. Luckily, shapeshifting intergalactic bounty hunters are on the case, though they seem to be better at smashing up the town than actually hunting Krites. No matter, with the Browns taking out more Krites than our bounty hunters can shake a stick at, someone is likely to save the day!

Things to watch for: The biggest overreaction to the possibility of missing a bus ever uttered by a father to his son. Special effects by the Chiodo Brothers. The same house and yard used in Invaders From Mars. Zoolander's good friend Billy Zane! The flimsiest excuse to have a song written for, and several times preformed in, a movie.

What we learned: When in doubt, throw modified firecrackers at it.

What the filmmakers might have been thinking: I've never seen a horror movie where the heroes swoop in and destroy as much as the bad guys...

“Hey that's” moments with: Dee Wallace (The Howling, ET), Scott Grimes (ER, Party of Five) and M. Emmet Walsh (Blade Runner, Fletch, The Jerk and 206 other things).

Yep, that's: Billy Zane.

Specs (our copy):

Format: VHS

Previews: none

Tag line: none

Choice line from the synopsis: “It's an alien adventure, full of action and just crawling with CRITTERS!”

VHS release company: RCA

Running time: 86min

VHS release: 1986

Original release: 1986

Our rating: Better with a group.

Power of the Night

     

There was a trend in 80s horror movies thats origin sort of eludes us; producers commissioning uncomfortably specific pop songs written with the intention of being preformed in the film they're too specific about. Reasons this might have been a trend could involve the birth and raging success of MTV around the same time. It could also have to do with deals between movie and record execs. But whatever the reasons, big name producers jumped all over the idea like a dogs over scraps of meat. 

What we do know is that trend left us with some AMAZING 80's music gems, including Power of the Night featured in Critters.

Written and preformed by Terrence Mann (though he isn't credited on the original soundtrack) the song was entirely removed from later reissues (possibly because they weren't crediting the right musician). Lucky for us, we live in the age of the internet, where you couldn't obliterate anything this amazing if you tried! Please enjoy (as we have been all week) Power of the Night: 

Three Brothers from the Bronx.

Some practical effects fans know the Chiodo Bros. by name, but even if you don't know who they are, you've likely seen their work. From Sabrina the Teenage Witch to Team America World Police they have been using their unique collection of talents to create cult icons. Some of my favorite monsters from the 80s were created by these guys [LIST MONSTERS], but my personal favorites would have to be Critters and Killer Klowns from Outer Space.

Critters was their first feature film gig, and Killer Klowns from Outer Space is their only directorial venture. Both Critters and Killer Klowns stand out in an era that was saturated with monsters, creatures, and aliens, their work is colorful, whimsical, and fun while still remaining menacing. There's a cartoon aesthetic to their designs (something that likely comes from their animation background) that makes their creatures jump off the screen.

Where Critters keeps the over all tone on the menacing side, Killer Klowns from Outer Space gives you the creeps while letting you laugh about it. They took an over-the-top premise of killer clowns and added the amazing element of making them also be space aliens who just happen to look like clowns. It's the perfect balance of wild premise, stellar effects, and good production: if you've not seen it, you're missing out on an unparallelled comedy horror movie. 

The brothers have continued working on other people's film projects and although their contributions to things like Elf and Pee Wee's Big Adventure are fantastic, I would love to see them work on something they have more control again! We also hope their contributions to the movie and television world continue well into the future, because if there's one thing we love, it's practical effects and puppetry!