Tito Jackson, a founding member of pop quintet The Jackson 5, has passed away at the age of 70 from a heart attack. Jackson’s three sons broke the news on social media.
Posting to Instagram over the weekend, the sons of The Jackson 5 stalwart wrote, “It’s with heavy hearts that we announce that our beloved father, Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Tito Jackson is no longer with us. We are shocked, saddened and heartbroken. Our father was an incredible man who cared about everyone and their well-being. Some of you may know him as Tito Jackson from the legendary Jackson 5, some may know him as “Coach Tito” or some know him as “Poppa T.” Nevertheless, he will be missed tremendously. It will forever be “Tito Time” for us. Please remember to do what our father always preached and that is “Love One Another.” We love you Pops.”
As one of the original members of The Jackson 5, Tito Jackson worked not only vocals but also lead guitar and synthesizer to help round out the signature sound of the band, who formed in 1964 under the guidance of their controlling father/manager Joe. With their debut album, The Jackson 5 scored one of their biggest hits – and one of their trademark songs – in “I Want You Back.” Their 1970 follow-up, ABC, would feature the title track, while their aptly titled Third Album offered “I’ll Be There”. That same year saw the release of their immediately classic Christmas album. After leaving Motown Records, The Jackson 5 rebranded as The Jacksons.
After Michael left, The Jackson 5 (then going by just The Jacksons) released one more album, 1989’s 2300 Jackson Street. While they would tour once more without Michael in 2012-2014, their acclaim and fame was far from what it was at its peak.
While almost exclusively tied to The Jackson 5, Tito Jackson would go on to do some solo work later in his career, scoring the single “Get It Baby” off of his debut album, 2016’s Tito Time.
What was your favorite song from The Jackson 5? Drop your pick and pay condolences to the late Tito Jackson in the comments section below.
American Horror Stories, a streaming series spin-off from FX’s long-running horror anthology series American Horror Story, began with a seven episode first season in 2021, continued with an eight episode second season in 2022, and gave us a four episode third season in 2023. TV Line has now revealed that American Horror Stories season 4 is set to premiere on Hulu (and Hulu on Disney+ for bundle subscribers) on Tuesday, October 15th. The new season consists of five episodes, and all five will be available to watch on that date. TV Line also unveiled a partial cast list: Henry Winkler (Happy Days), Debby Ryan (Jessie), Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos), Dyllón Burnside (Pose), Jeff Hiller (American Horror Story: NYC), Jessica Barden (American Horror Stories), Angel Bismark Curiel (Pose), Guy Burnet (3 Body Problem), Victor Garber (DC’s Legends of Tomorrow), and June Squibb (Glee). They note, “Additional cast members are still to be announced.”
Created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuck, the same duo that’s responsible for American Horror Story,this series is a weekly hourlong anthology that features a different horror story, some of which call back to the original series, in each contained episode. Obviously the “weekly” part of that description has been set aside for season 4, as it was for season 3, which was also given a binge watch release.
Murphy and Falchuk serve as executive producers on American Horror Stories alongside Alexis Martin Woodall, Max Winkler, Jon Robin Baitz, and Dr. Giggles director Manny Coto, who sadly passed away last year at the age of 62. The show is produced by 20th Television.
Those are all of the details we have on American Horror Stories season 4 at this time. TV Line wasn’t able to share any information on the stories the episodes will be telling, or the characters the actors will be bringing to life… But if you’ve watched the previous three seasons and/or American Horror Story, you probably know what to expect from this show by now.
Are you an American Horror Stories fan, and will you be tuning in for season 4? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
The horror genre might be the only genre where a low budget can have a positive effect on the final product. Horror movie fans are often swayed by the quote-unquote charm of a thriller with mere pennies to its name; and if the finished picture has a certain energy and style to it, the fact that it had no money to work with becomes part of its allure and legacy. We think of movies like Night of the Living Dead, The Blair Witch Project and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, to name an obvious few. Perhaps a not-so-obvious choice would be Basket Case (watch it HERE), Frank Henenlotter’s deranged tale about a couple of conjoined twins who share an unusual bond. Or at least, they used to… It’s a funky, disorienting little item, and while the lack of money is always apparent on-screen, it’s ends up being to the movie’s benefit. The do-it-yourself nature of the Henenlotter’s grindhouse flick is one of its main appeals, and while the director no doubt continues to wish he had more of a budget back in the day, ultimately genre fans enjoy this movie because of the janky FX and guerrilla filmmaking on display. So how did this freak of nature end up being born? Pack your bags – er, baskets – because we’re moving to the city that never sleeps to tell the tale of What Happened to Basket Case.
Basket Case was a movie that was going to get made no matter the cost. It turns out that cost was somewhere in the neighborhood of $35,000 – not much money now, not much money then, at least in terms of making a feature-length movie on 16mm. Director Frank Henenlotter had only made a couple of short films by the time Basket Case came around. Interestingly, Frank had never even thought about becoming a director as a full-time profession – he just liked making these little movies as a hobby, didn’t necessarily take it very seriously.
One of his short films was called Slash of the Knife, a cheeky pseudo-documentary about circumcision. It played one night in front of the notorious John Waters comedy Pink Flamingos in New York and caught the attention of a producer named Edgar Ievans, who thought Frank was nuts – in a good way – and proposed a collaboration.
Frank and Ievans came up with a concept about mad scientists called Ooze, and even intended to have infamous Pink Flamingos star Divine play a lead role out of drag. But no money was coming in for that particular project. Frustrated, Frank proposed making a movie low-budget that was completely off-the-wall, something so low-brow and ridiculous that people would have to go see it. He came up with the title Basket Case and envisioned a movie about a little monster in a box that would frequently jump out of it and kill people. Or as Frank referred to it: a “malignant jack-in-the-box.” He pictured the box being carried around from victim to victim by a man, which only makes sense because how would the little demon get around otherwise? But he couldn’t get to the bottom of why this guy was carrying around the monster. Then one day, while eating Nathan’s hot dogs in Times Square, Frank had a eureka moment: The guy carrying the box was the little monster’s brother! How and why that would be the case – pun intended – would come later, but once Frank had that question answered, Basket Case started to come together.
Still, there was no money to play with; no investor would come aboard just based on that insane idea. So Frank and his producer Edgar decided to pool the money they had together – which amounted to about $8,000 each – and start making it. Frank was determined to just start shooting it while the fire was still burning inside of him, hoping they could use whatever footage they shot to convince outside investors to give them money to complete his demented debut.
Frank’s friend Ilze Balodis was a registrar at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, a prestigious private school located on New York’s Madison Avenue. Ilze became the movie’s de facto casting director, recruiting students from the school to take part in this wacko horror-comedy. The film’s lead, Kevin VanHentenryck was a student there, and had previously worked on Henenlotter’s short Slash of the Knife, which gave him a leg up in nabbing the part of the tortured hero-slash-villain Duane Bradley.
Basket Case would be shot during long weekends throughout the year – almost everyone working on it had full time jobs elsewhere, so weekends were the only time they could all get together. Besides, they still had barely any money, sometimes couldn’t even afford to buy lunch – hence certain shoot days were determined by whether or not they could feed the crew or not. Ilze would make lunch sometimes when there was no money for pizza, and when they did have pizza, they’d frequently use the leftovers for gore effects. This was a very low-budget flick indeed, so much so that Frank and Edgar would frequently go dumpster-diving in a quest to secure props.
While the film mostly takes place in the time capsule that is the skeevy late 70s version of Times Square, most of the film was shot downtown inside a friend’s loft. The nasty hallways and rooms of the Hotel Broslin were all constructed out of whole cloth by Frank and Edgar and whoever else might lend a hand; the owner of the loft, artist Ugis Nigals, found himself sleeping at night in the midst of the creepy makeshift hotel, the walls sometimes splattered with fake blood.
Whenever Frank and his crew were able to shoot on location, as in the scene where Duane strolls down a Times Square avenue looking for a place to stay, they had to shoot fast and loose, because they’d be accosted by all forms of New York’s creatures of the night. Apparently one guy even attempted to jump into their van as they eased it down the block, which solidified the notion they could not afford to risk their equipment, or hell, their lives, shooting there.
Of course, they couldn’t afford to shoot anywhere – quite literally – and the entirety of the movie was shot without permits from the state. A sequence shot at the Statue of Liberty was hastily done before any security detail could be dispatched – Frank reasoned they would be able to get the brief scene finished before anyone noticed them, and he was right. This was the Ed Wood style of guerrilla filmmaking, and it helps lend the movie its grubby do-it-yourself charm… for lack of a better word. Another genuine location came in the form of New York’s legendary Hellfire Club, a notorious BDSM club located in the Meatpacking District. The Hellfire Club was known for housing all sorts of debauchery, and Frank and his crew decided to shoot a bar sequence in the club’s basement. Coincidentally, William Friedkin had just shot scenes for his cop thriller Cruising there and had apparently left some seedy props behind. In a bit of irony, suddenly Henenlotter had to shoot around some of the sleazier stuff hanging around in order to make his scene appear a bit more… normal.
We haven’t spent any time on the movie’s other main lead: Belial, Duane’s miniature twin who spends most of the runtime hiding away in a wicker basket. But he can’t hide forever, and when he does appear he’s quite the bizarre sight to behold. A latex lump that was constructed by future Oscar-winner Kevin Haney, Belial is a puppet who was usually operated by Henenlotter. Belial’s face was actually taken from a mold of Kevin VanHentenryck’s face, which isn’t immediately evident although if you watch the film with that in mind you can see some resemblance. Kevin also provided the monster’s chilling screams in post-production.
The filmmakers had to get creative during one sequence, where we see Belial grasping at the air in a bed, because the creature had shrunk for one reason or another and neither Frank nor anyone else could puppeteer the thing. So Frank enlisted his casting director’s daughter to perform the stunt; so when you see that icky moment – which only lasts a second or two – think about how an eight-year-old is under the bed operating the ghastly creature.
One of the film’s standout sequences – for better or worse – involves a jealous Belial going on a mini-rampage in his hotel room while his brother is gone. Clearly accomplished using stop-motion animation, the sequence provides laughs and gasps in equal measure. Since he didn’t have any actual animators in his rolodex, Henenlotter pulled off the sequence himself. A self-admitted impatient man, Frank would later admit he was the wrong person to do this, but beggars can’t be choosers, so he spent quite a long time moving Belial inch by inch around the room. When he watched the footage he had to work with, Frank hated it so much that he tossed the reel of film across his room and let it sit there for months as a reminder to himself how bad it was. Some time later, when he finally picked it up again and watched it, he realized he could play the scene for laughs, and after some more work on it decided to keep it in and lean into the ridiculousness of it all.
Not so ridiculous, at least for some people, was the disturbing scene where Belial attacks Duane’s gal-pal Sharon while she sleeps. The scene culminates with Belial gyrating on top of her, indicating that the most unthinkable thing has indeed happened. To add an extra level of horror, Henenlotter decided to cover actress Terri Susan Smith’s lower half with blood. Apparently, this upset the small crew Frank was working with, and they all decided this was finally a bridge too far and walked off the set. Since they barely had a crew to begin with, Frank and his actors decided to forge ahead with the sequence, just the handful of them finishing it by the skin of their teeth. Years later, Frank still seems mystified as to why that moment was suddenly too much for his skeleton crew, but evidently everyone has their limits, even in the world of Basket Case.
Shooting went on for over a year; sometimes they were shooting 12,14,16 hour days. When it was finally done, Henenlotter edited the entire thing in his apartment. The director has admitted many times over the years that he didn’t think anyone would see the film, at least, not enough people to make a huge difference. He assumed Basket Case would play for a few weeks in a junky Times Square theater and make just enough money to eek out a profit so that he and his producer could go out and make something a little more substantial. How surprised he would be to find out we’re all sitting here watching this video about the making of the film!
In August of 1981, Frank and Edgar held a screening of Basket Case in 16mm in order to raise additional funds for the 35mm blow-up. The screening was a big success, and ultimately Basket Case was acquired by the distributor Analysis Film Corporation. That would seem like good news, but Henenlotter was in for a bucket of cold water: The distributor was turned off by the ample amount of gore in the film and wanted to focus on its more comedic elements. For Frank, the gore and the comedy went hand in hand, but Analysis thought otherwise and decided to trim out the blood in several sequences, leaving the movie a rather dulled-down version of itself. The distributor opened the film in a handful of screens across the country to little fanfare, and it looked as if it was indeed going to die a lonely death, one that would’ve disappointed even Henenlotter, who already had low expectations for making a profit.
Then an angel came to help Basket Case – an angel with the name Joe Bob Briggs. Analysis had booked Basket Case into a theater in Dallas and wanted the popular hillbilly critic to host it. Briggs agreed, but with an important caveat: he would show Henenlotter’s cut of the film, not the softer version. Grudgingly, the distributor gave in, and much to their surprise the film did gangbusters business in Dallas, selling out midnight shows.
Newly convinced of the film’s success in its gorier incarnation, Analysis decided to put the uncut version in the Waverly Theater in New York, where it sold out regularly on the weekends. Shockingly, Henenlotter wasn’t even aware this had happened, and one day found himself wondering what movie playing at the Waverly had a gaggle of people lined up for it. Running into one of the make-up effects guys who worked on the film, Frank would find to his amazement that it was the uncut version of his naughty little $35,000 movie – it was becoming an unlikely phenomenon on the midnight circuit without his knowledge.
Basket Case went on to play at the Waverly for almost two years straight. Naturally, it eventually did big business on the home video market as well. The critics weren’t kind, but that only helped the cause: the famously grumpy Rex Reed called it the “sickest movie” he’d ever seen – a quote that made people want to see it for themselves even more.
In perhaps the biggest and most unlikely testament to the film’s status as a cult classic, the Museum of Modern Art restored Basket Case, making a 4K scan of it from the original 16mm negative. MoMA even held a special screening of the film in 2017 with many members of the cast and crew in attendance. Once again, Henenlotter was floored by the film’s successful legacy. At the screening, he said neither he nor Kevin VanHentenryck understand why it’s still so popular to this day, but obviously he’s grateful – after all, he went on to make two sequels to the movie, and frequently threatens a third one. Belial must be getting up there in age, but he’s come this far, so who’s to say he doesn’t have one more stop-motion rampage in him..?
A couple of the previous episodes of What Happened to This Horror Movie? can be seen below. To see more, head over to our JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!
Nobody 2 is now reloaded, cocked and shooting under the direction of Timo Tjahjanto, who is stepping in for the first film’s director, Ilya Naishuller. Bob Odenkirk returns as Hutch Mansell, the mild-manner family man who keeps his past as a government assassin under wraps. Connie Nielsen is also returning as Hutch’s wife, Becca, as well as Christopher Lloyd as Hutch’s father, a retired FBI agent. It was also announced a couple of months ago that Sharon Stone would be playing the main villain of the sequel.
Tjahjanto’s previous credits include May the Devil Take You, The Night Comes for Us, May the Devil Take You Too, The Big 4, and segments of the anthologies The ABCs of Death, V/H/S/2, Portals, and V/H/S/94. With Kimo Stamboel, he also co-directed the films Macabre, Killers, and Headshot. He is now promoting his new release, Netflix’s The Shadow Strays, and our own Chris Bumbray got to talk to him about working on Nobody 2. Tjahjanto proclaimed, “I underestimated just how crazy Bob Odenkirk is! Honestly, Bob is a 61-year-old man and his dedication and the training that he undergoes…man….like, I’m embarrassed. I’m significantly younger than him and I get tired by the time we are shooting.”
He continues, “Hollywood schedules are relentless! I thought, ‘More money, more time.’ It’s nothing like that. It’s this crazy gauntlet of heavy scenes. Bob is a beast. I think you’re gonna like it. All I can say right now is that the theme is ‘family,’ and that’s what we’re trying to keep in mind while making this sequel.”
When the subject of Christopher Lloyd came up, Tjahjanto had this to say about the veteran actor, “Man, he is the funniest guy ever! Honestly, I was so worried cause he’s like…you know, [he’s] in [his] twilight age. But I’ve never seen an 85-year-old man having so much fun! He hasn’t lost any of his spark. I see the same guy playing Doc Brown and all that stuff. His improvisation and his ad-libbing skills are off the charts. When you’re dealing with an elderly actor or a senior actor, you think you should be more delicate, but not with him. I had fun with him. He’s gonna be great as well.”
If John Hughes’ The Breakfast Club remains the quintessential ‘80s Brat Pack movie, what ranks as a close second? If we’re talking headcount, Joel Shcumacher’s critically panned commercial hit St. Elmo’s Fire (which might be getting a sequel) tops them all. The movie follows a tight-knit group of seven Georgetown post-graduates navigating young adulthood and helped define the “Brat Pack” as a play on the fraternal friendship forged by Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack in the ‘50s and ‘60s. In addition to advancing Schumacher’s directorial career, St. Elmo’s Fire partially launched the careers of stars Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, and Mare Winningham, most of whom would be associated with the Brat Pack for the next 40 years. The subject is documented in the new Hulu documentary, Brats, written and directed by McCarthy in a tender and touching snapshot of a special time in American coming-of-age movies.
Released four months after The Breakfast Club, St. Elmo’s Fire’s depiction of tenuous teenage friendship careening into adulthood has more heart and soul than the poor critical reviews may suggest. And just as crazy and unpredictable as its characters, the production witnessed its share of insane anecdotes, fun-filled factoids, and titillating trivia that may have eluded even the most die-hard fans of the film. You know what that means. Booga–Booga-Booga…Ha Ha Ha…it’s time to find out What Happened to St. Elmo’s Fire as the film approaches its 40th birthday!
St. Elmo’s Fire faced pushback since it was announced in the summer of 1984. According to director and co-writer Joel Schumacher, the script he wrote with Carl Kurlander, was rejected by several studio heads, stating: “A lot of people turned down the script…the head of one major studio called its seven-member cast ‘the most loathsome humans he had ever read on the page.’”
Columbia Pictures also hated the title, St. Elmo’s Fire, penning a 35-page screed explaining why it was such a terrible idea. Columbia even suggested the alternative titles, The Real World and Sparks. Ironically, the hit MTV reality series, The Real World, launched seven years after St. Elmo’s Fire, also focused on seven young adults living together and navigating personal and professional ups and downs. Speaking of living together, to play roommates in the film, stars Andrew McCarthy and Emilio Estevez roomed together before filming commenced to build their screen rapport.
Once Columbia Pictures green-lit the film, casting became the most important aspect of telling the story. According to Schumacher, hundreds of teens were interviewed for the seven major parts. The studio quickly okayed the casting of 20-year-old Rob Lowe as Billy Hicks, the youngest cast member who was a teen idol in the mid-80s. Despite being underage, Lowe reportedly waltzed into his audition with a sixer of Corona in hand. Schumacher originally felt Lowe was wrong for Billy, but relented after Lowe’s agent bombarded him with persistence and an impassioned plea.
The studio also approved Ally Sheedy to play Lesie Hunter following her work in John Badham’s hit techno-thriller WarGames. Oddly enough, Columbia was also happy to cast Mare Winningham as Wendy Beamish, a teenage virgin who was not only 26 years old when the film was released, but was also pregnant while filming and already had one child. If you look closely, Wendy often crosses her arms, holds items in front of her stomach in wide shots, or is positioned behind cast members to conceal her baby bump in the movie. Other times, she is filmed sitting down or from above the waist.
While Columbia had no qualms about casting Lowe, Sheedy, and Winningham, Schumacher had to work hard to convince the studio to cast Judd Nelson as Alec Newberry and Emilio Estevez as Kirby Keager, despite their outstanding performances in The Breakfast Club and other movies. It was John Hughes who recommended the two actors, as well as Sheedy, to Schumacher. Sheedy also vouched for Nelson based on their Breakfast Club collaboration. Meanwhile, the casting of Demi Moore as Jules was a bit trickier.
According to Schumacher, he spotted Moore by chance in the hallway of his production office, which was located across the hall from John Hughes’ office. Schumacher implored a friend to track Moore down and ask if she was a professional actress despite starring in the daytime soap General Hospital. Once Moore was asked to audition for St. Elmo’s Fire, she rolled into the rehearsal on a motorcycle with the price tags still on her clothing. Much like her character Jules in the film, Moore was in the throes of a serious cocaine addiction while making St. Elmo’s Fire.
One day on the set, Schumacher noticed that Moore was launched out of her gourd on blow and demanded she leave immediately. Rather than firing her, Moore was ordered to attend rehab and vow to remain sober for the remainder of the shoot, despite playing a character with a drug habit. In her biography, Moore admitted to sniffing an eighth of coke every two days at the time and underwent 15 days of rehab treatment following Schumacher’s confrontation. Moore also admitted to having a drug counselor on the set with her each day of filming to maintain her sobriety.
Adding to the drama, Moore and Estevez began dating in real life while making the movie. Their relationship became so serious that they were briefly engaged to marry, although a wedding never happened.
The one glaring non-Brat Pack member, Andie MacDowell, who plays Kirby’s love interest Dale Bieberman, also had to be fought for by Schumacher. MacDowell has credited St. Elmo’s Fire for changing her life and career trajectory. In the DVD audio commentary, Schumacher attributes Kirby’s obsession with Dale to screenwriter Carl Kurlander’s experience as a college student. It’s also worth noting that Estevez initially expressed interest in playing Billy before he settled on portraying ol’ Kirbo.
As for actors almost cast, Robert Downey Jr. was eyed to play Billy Hicks before Lowe earned the part. Estevez’s co-star from The Outsiders, C. Thomas Howell, auditioned for the role of Kirby Keager but was deemed too young. Meanwhile, actresses up for the role of Jules included Jennifer Beals, Joan Cusack, Jodie Foster, and Tatum O’Neal. Before Sheedy was cast as Leslie, everyone from Jamie Lee Curtis, Bridget Fonda, Melanie Griffith, and Jennifer Jason Leigh to Sarah Jessica Parker, Meg Ryan, Brooke Shields, and Elisabeth Shue were considered.
Tangential Brat Packers Anthony Edwards and Lea Thompson were also up for unspecified roles. One of the more obscure casting tidbits includes Laura Dern nearly being cast as Naomi the sex worker before Anna Maria Horsford was chosen. Even more obscure, Mare Winningham’s brother Patrick appears as one of the New Breed band members during a party scene. As for Wendy’s parents, they are played by Martin Balsam and Joyce Van Patten, Hollywood veterans who were married in real life from 1957 to 1962.
Estimated with a $10 million budget, St. Elmo’s Fire began principal photography on October 15, 1984, and was quickly completed by Halloween. The rapid 16-day film shoot primarily occurred in Maryland and Washington, DC. Although the film is set around Georgetown University, the private Catholic college disallowed production to film on the campus, citing disturbing content such as drug use and premarital sex as reasons why. All the campus scenes in St. Elmo’s Fire were filmed 10 miles away at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland. Hence, the red and white Maryland Terrapin attire seen on campus rather than the blue and gray Georgetown colors.
The exterior of the St. Elmo’s Bar the college friends frequent was modeled after The Tombs in Georgetown. However, the bar’s exterior was filmed on a backlot at Universal Studios. An entire street was built to replicate Wisconsin Avenue in Georgetown. If you look closely, the iconic Hill Valley clock tower from Back to the Future is located a few doors to the left of St. Elmo’s Bar. Crazier yet, both movies were released five days apart in the summer of ‘85.
Additional filming occurred in Southern California, including various exteriors around the city and interiors at Paramount Studios in Burbank. The snowy scenes at the cabin where Dale and her boyfriend stay were filmed in Truckee, California.
Of course, one of the most memorable refrains from the movie is the group chant, “Booga-Booga-Booga-Ha-Ha-Ha,” which they share as a friendly in-joke that underscores their camaraderie. Get this, the chant was not in the script. Instead, it developed naturally among the cast members, who improvised the chant in response to outside gossip about the movie and the Brat Pack. Rob Lowe admitted the chant was created to make fun of whispering fans talking behind their backs.
Perhaps just as memorable as the Booga-Booga celebration, John Parr’s title track for St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion) was not originally written for the film. Parr co-wrote the song to honor and raise funds for Canadian Paralympian Rick Hansen’s Man in Motion World Tour, who sustained a spinal cord injury during a car accident when he was 15. After the film’s release, Parr admitted the “Wheels” in “Man in Motion” referred to Hansen’s wheelchair but was mistaken by the public as a reference to Jules’ Jeep wheels in the movie. Despite finding inspiration for the lyrics elsewhere, “St. Elmo’s Fire” was written in 2 hours by Parr and the film’s composer, David Foster. Foster chose Parr to work on the film, although he is solely responsible for the instrumental piano theme. Despite being mandated by Schumacher not to mention St. Elmo’s Fire in the song, Parr did so anyway, necessitating Billy’s explanation to Jules about St. Elmo’s Fire being a meteorological event used by sailors to keep their spirits up.
Despite being hastily written and inspired by Hansen, St. Elmo’s Fire charted at number one on the Billboards Hot 100, remaining in the top position for two weeks in September 1985. Foster’s “Love Theme From St. Elmo’s Fire,” instrumental reached number fifteen. A music video was made for “Man in Motion” and serves as a semi-sequel, in which the actors reprise their roles (save for MacDowell) and return to St. Elmo’s Bar. Under Schumacher’s supervision, the music video was directed by Kort Falkenberg III.
Speaking of a return to St. Elmo’s Bar, the success of Andrew McCarthy’s documentary Brats in 2024 has led to Sony Pictures announcing an official movie sequel currently in development. While the plot details are unknown, all seven original stars are in line to reprise their roles, with MacDowell the only one yet to commit. Of course, Joel Schumacher passed away in 2020 after a battle with cancer and it will be difficult to find a director with the same connection with the actors and the material. But before digging deeper into a St. Elmo’s sequel, a closer look at the original film’s release and reception is in order.
Entering theaters on June 28, 1985, St. Elmo’s Fire became an instant commercial hit. The film turned its ten million budget into a thirty-eight million dollar moneymaker, launching the careers of its hot young stars, and Schumacher, who would go on to direct The Lost Boys in his follow-up film. Yet, despite the financial success, the movie was obliterated by film critics, most of whom cited the deeply deplorable and unlikeable characters for the movie’s lack of appeal. Rob Lowe won a Golden Rasberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor for his performance as Billy Hicks. Despite the movie’s popularity, the film still holds a paltry 35 Metascore and a 42% Rotten Tomatoes rating. In 2015, Consequence of Sound had the nerve to write a lengthy screed about why St. Elmo’s Fire is the worst movie ever made – a hysterical overreach of hilarious proportions that makes New York Times critic David Denby’s apoplectic review in 1985 seem rather tame.
Yet, looking at the audience reception, the film currently boasts a 6.4 IMDb score and 67% Rotten Tomatoes Audience Rating. The numbers suggest that, despite the characters’ insipid behavior, St. Elmo’s Fire is more enjoyable than its reputation may indicate. Yes, the characters are shallow, not too bright, and unsure of how to behave at such an impressionable age, but looking back, that is kind of the point of the piece. Older critics of the day may not have connected to the movie, but it resonated among the younger moviegoing crowds. Condemnable as the characters may be, few movies capture true, honest friendships like St. Elmo’s Fire.
In 2009, Sony announced plans to adapt St. Elmo’s Fire to the small screen as a TV series. Topher Grace pitched the idea through Sargent Hall Productions, which hired Dan Bucatinsky to write the pilot episode based on a concept approved by Schumacher. After lingering in development limbo for 10 years, NBC announced plans to make a St. Elmo’s Fire TV show in 2019. Although Josh Berman was tapped to write and produce, the project has yet to materialize.
And that brings us back to Brats. The documentary written and directed by Andrew McCarthy reunites several willing members of the Brat Pack, a punny description of the young actors who helped popularize the teen coming-of-age film in the 1980s. St. Elmo’s Fire features the most Brat Packers on record, with the six official members including Estevez, Lowe, McCarthy, Moore, Nelson, and Sheedy. “Brat Pack” was coined by David Blum in the June 10, 1985 edition of New York Magazine, which the participating members of the Brats documentary contemplate as a badge of honor and perjorative term. Members who appear in the doc include McCarthy, Estevez, Moore, Sheedy, and Brat Pack-adjacent members Lea Thompson, Jon Cryer, and Timothy Hutton. St. Elmo stars Judd Nelson, Mare Winningham, and Andie MacDowell do not appear in the doc. Nor do essential Brat Pack members, Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall.
Apart from the nostalgic blast from the past, Brats also explores the toll the media blitz had on The Brat Pack in the mid-80s, with the cast members explaining how the cultural phenomenon was both a curse and a blessing at once. McCarthy and Estevez come face to face to air out old grievances, but for the most part, it’s a fun-filled, heartfelt reflection on a bygone era in movies. Despite the members disliking being labeled as Brats at the time, McCarthy admits that the fans were correct to embrace the nickname. The real question becomes, how will audiences embrace a St. Elmo’s Fire sequel some forty years after the original? Until time tells the tale of the sequel’s fate, that’s What Happened to St. Elmo’s Fire. Despite depicting irredeemable youngsters navigating early adulthood, the film solidified The Brat Pack as a popular group of fresh-faced entertainers that would persist until the end of the decade. Yet, here we are 40 years later and the legacy still lives.
The Walking Dead spin-off The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon (you can read our review HERE) is set to continue with a second season that will focus on Daryl’s good friend Carol, played by Melissa McBride – and because of that, season 2 has the ridiculous (and ridiculously long) title of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carol. The show is scheduled to premiere on Sunday, September 29 at 9pm ET/PT on both AMC and AMC+… and with that date swiftly approaching, a teaser trailer has arrived online, along with a pair of posters. You can watch the teaser in the embed above and the posters can be found at the bottom of this article.
The first season of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon had the following synopsis: Daryl (Norman Reedus) washes ashore in France and struggles to piece together how he got there and why. The series tracks his journey across a broken but resilient France as he hopes to find a way back home. As he makes the journey, though, the connections he forms along the way complicate his ultimate plan.
The six episodes of the new season pick up where The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon left off, following fan-favorite characters Daryl Dixon (Reedus) and Carol Peletier (Melissa McBride). They both confront old demons while she fights to find her friend and he struggles with his decision to stay in France, causing tension at the Nest. Additionally, Genet (Anne Charrier)’s movement builds momentum, setting Pouvoir on a violent collision course with the Union of Hope in the fight for France’s future.
In addition to Reedus, McBride, and Charrier, the show’s cast includes Clémence Poésy, Louis Puech Scigliuzzi, Laika Blanc Francard, Romain Levi, Eriq Ebouaney, and Manish Dayal.
Showrunner David Zabel serves as executive producer alongside Reedus, Scott M. Gimple, Angela Kang, Greg Nicotero, Brian Bockrath, and Daniel Percival. AMC Studios is producing. Even though season 2 hasn’t premiered yet, the third season of the show is already filming in Spain.
Will you be watching The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 2 / The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carol? Take a look at the teaser trailer and the posters, then let us know by leaving a comment below.
Writer/director Damien Leone had a budget of around $55,000 to work with on his breakout horror film Terrifier, and a budget of “a little over” $250,000 for Terrifier 2, which was a massive hit when it was released last year, earning $15.1 million at the box office. Since the second film did so well, Terrifier 3 has a substantially higher budget. A “couple million” is going into this one, and we’re going to get the chance to see how that translates to the screen when the film receives a theatrical release on October 11th. Now, with just a few weeks left to go before we reach the release date, our friends at Bloody Disgusting have an unveiled a new poster for the film that was created by Samhain. You can check it out at the bottom of this article.
Terrifier 3 has the following synopsis: Art the Clown is set to unleash chaos on the unsuspecting residents of Miles County as they peacefully drift off to sleep on Christmas Eve. The movie is being released during the Halloween season, but Art the Clown will be ruining Christmas this time around. Speaking with USA Today, Leone revealed that the new sequel takes place five years after the events of Terrifier 2.
David Howard Thornton reprises the role of Art the Clown, a character who was first introduced in Leone’s 2013 anthology All Hallows’ Eve (although Thornton didn’t start playing him until Terrifier). Also in the cast are Lauren LaVera, who’s back as Terrifier 2 heroine Sienna; Elliot Fullam returns as Sienna’s brother Jonathan, Samantha Scaffidi is returning as Terrifier and Terrifier 2 character Victoria Heyes, and Daniel Roebuck, who has been cast in the role of Santa Claus. FX legend Tom Savini will also be showing up, in an unspecified role. The same goes for Jon Abrahams, Antonella Rose, Krsy Fox, and legendary character actor Clint Howard. Chris Jericho, who had a cameo in Terrifier 2, is back in Terrifier 3 – but he has let everyone know that his appearance in the film won’t last very long.
Are you looking forward to Terrifier 3? Take a look at the new poster, then let us know by leaving a comment below.
Two years have passed since Kevin Smith‘s horror anthology KillRoy Was Here made its way out into the world as an NFT – and to this day, the only people who have seen the movie are those who have either bought the NFT, been given access to one of the NFTs, or attended a special screening. Which means so few people have seen KillRoy Was Here, it could almost be described as Smith’s “lost movie.” Now, while speaking to Entertainment Weekly and promoting his new film The 4:30 Movie, Smith has revealed exactly how and why the movie became an NFT release.
Directed by Smith from a script he wrote with Andy McElfresh, KillRoy Was Here was made on a minuscule budget as a project with film students at the Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida. The movie is a throwback anthology horror film featuring a creature that kills evil adults at the behest of victimized kids. The creature at the heart of the story is KillRoy, inspired by the “Kilroy was here” graffiti that became popular during World War II, showing a long-nosed man peeking over a fence. In this case, KillRoy started out as a Florida man named Roy Huggins, who was a soldier in the Vietnam War, not World War II, and when he was captured by enemy soldiers he got loose, killed a whole lot of people, and cannibalized one of the corpses. He had to be locked up in a mental institution, and when the place caught on fire Roy was left to burn. Now he’s a supernatural being who stalks the Florida swamps, and his burns have left him looking a lot like that figure in the Kilroy graffiti. They say he has a psychic connection to kids, and if someone says his name three times he’ll show up with his machete and start hacking away at anyone who has wronged a child.
The cast includes Harley Quinn Smith, Jason Mewes, Chris Jericho, Betty Aberlin, Ralph Garman, Daisy McElfresh, and Justin Kucsulain.
Smith told Entertainment Weekly, “We made this movie KillRoy Was Here with the kids at the Ringling College of Art and Design. I wound up with possession of the movie. When it was all done, I had this movie; perfectly watchable, Creepshow type of movie. So I reached out to Shudder and I was like, ‘Hey man, you guys wanna run this? It’s a Kevin Smith original, kind of horror movie. 30 grand.’ That was it. Shudder was like, ‘This is terrible. This isn’t good enough for Shudder.’ Then our producer on the movie, David (Shapiro), he goes, ‘I met with this company, they are interested in buying a movie to release as an NFT. The first movie to release as an NFT, and what they wanna do is use it to showcase their blockchain technology.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, all right.’ Perhaps this is another version of indie film, this is a new playground to go play in. Company paid us over a million dollars. I made a million dollars off of this movie. ‘Not good enough for Shudder.’” Now, with that explanation, the whole NFT release strategy finally makes sense.
KillRoy Was Here may not meet up to Shudder’s standards, but here’s hoping more of Smith’s fans will have the chance to see the movie eventually.
Have you seen KillRoy Was Here? What do you think of the story behind the NFT release? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.
While James Cameron is a filmmaker with a passion for new technology, an eye for detail and a champion for film experience, the 4K remasters of his past films have drawn controversy over the methods and results of the transfers. As Aliens, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, The Abyss and True Lies finally get 4K releases, many have complained about the use of AI and digital smoothing methods that may have compromised the integrity of the picture. The next film of his to have a big Ultra High-Def release is his breakout hit — 1984’s The Terminator.
Earlier this year, the film celebrated its 40th anniversary and saw a limited screening in theaters, which we saw. Now, Blu-ray.com has revealed what the specs for the physical release 4K will entail. The release is due to arrive at retailers on November 5. And Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will additionally be releasing a special Limited Edition Steelbook 4K on the same date.
The description reads, “Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as the most fierce and relentless killing machine ever to threaten the survival of mankind! An indestructible cyborg – a Terminator (Schwarzenegger) – is sent back in time to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), the woman whose unborn son will become humanity’s only hope. This legendary sci-fi thriller from pioneering writer/director James Cameron, written with Gale Anne Hurd, fires an arsenal of action and heart-stopping suspense that never lets up!”
Special Features and Technical Specs:
Optional English SDH, Spanish, and French subtitles for the main feature
The Alien franchise is set to continue on the small screen with an “FX on Hulu” TV series called Alien: Earth, from Fargo creator Noah Hawley. The show began filming in Thailand last year, then had to halt production after a month due to the actors strike. Filming resumed earlier this year and wrapped a couple of months ago – and while speaking to Deadline while on the Emmys red carpet, Hawley promised that the show will have Xenomorph moments that are so scary, it will make viewers lock their doors.
One of the first things we heard about the Alien TV series – and one of the most surprising things about it – is that it will be set on Earth (thus the title), a couple of decades before the events of the first movie. FX chairman John Landgraf has said the show will take place “right near the end of this century.” According to Deadline, the setting puts it “a few years before Prometheus,” which Hawley has previously said he has chosen not to acknowledge. Hawley decided to set the show on Earth because “The alien stories are always trapped… Trapped in a prison, trapped in a space ship. I thought it would be interesting to open it up a little bit so that the stakes of ‘What happens if you can’t contain it?’ are more immediate.“ Variety noted that the Alien TV series will “explore the formation of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation and the race to create android life.”
Speaking with Deadline, Hawley said, “There’s something about seeing a Xenomorph in the wilds of Earth with your own eyes. That is truly chilling to think of it moving here among us, and so I can’t tell you under what circumstances you’ll see that, but you’ll see it — and you’re going to lock your door that night. What was really fun for me was to really engage with the creature, bring some of my own thoughts to the design while not touching the silhouette, because that’s sacrosanct. But some of the elements as we know, whatever the host is, informs what the final creature is. I just wanted to play around a little bit to make it as scary as it should be.“
Alien: Earth has the following synopsis: When a mysterious space vessel crash-lands on Earth, a young woman (Sydney Chandler) and a ragtag group of tactical soldiers make a fateful discovery that puts them face-to-face with the planet’s greatest threat.
Chandler’s Alien character is the meta-human Wendy, who has the body of an adult, but the brain and consciousness of a child. Her co-stars include Essie Davis (The Babadook) as Dame Silvia, Alex Lawther (The End of the F*cking World) as a soldier named CJ, Samuel Blenkin (Black Mirror) as a CEO named Boy Kavalier, Adarsh Gourav (The White Tiger) as a character named Slightly, Kit Young (Shadow and Bone) as a character called Tootles, and Timothy Olyphant (Justified) Kirsh, a synth who acts as a mentor and trainer for Wendy. Babou Ceesay (Guerrilla), Jonathan Ajayi (Wonder Woman 1984), Erana James (The Wilds), Lily Newmark (Sex Education), Diêm Camille (Washington Black), Adrian Edmondson (The Young Ones), Moe Bar-El (The Peripheral), and David Rysdahl (Fargo season 5) are in the cast as well, but no details have been revealed about their characters. Sandra Yi Sencindiver of Foundation will be playing “a senior member of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation” in multiple episodes, and her role could be expanded as the series continues.
Are you looking forward to being creeped out by the Xenomorph moments in Alien: Earth? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
