TedStixon

8th Oct 2019

The Howling (1981)

Trivia: Many shortcuts had to be taken due to the incredibly tight budget. For example, the infamous final shot of the sex-scene being hand-drawn animation was done because the crew ran out of time and money and couldn't get the shot done in live-action. Additionally, Karen's final transformation was not seen, and her transformed face is only seen in extreme closeup because the effects crew ran out of money and could only afford to make a small puppet head for the scene.

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Trivia: Sybil Danning agreed to do the film, but only if she didn't have to do excessive nudity, as she was getting sick of doing nude scenes. The producers agreed to limit the amount of nudity she'd have to film. But in a tricky move, they then recycled a shot of her ripping off her top and replayed it over and over during the end credits - 17 times in total - in order to capitalize on her sex appeal. Danning was reportedly furious when she saw the edited credits.

TedStixon

Trivia: The only "Howling" movie co-written by the original novel author Gary Brandner. Brandner was a bit miffed by all the changes made to the original film, and wanted to write the sequel as he saw fit. Ironically, while the original film was warmly received by critics and audiences, this sequel was universally panned and is often considered a "so bad, it's good" camp classic.

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Trivia: The film's original title is "Holwing II: Stirba - Werewolf Bitch." But this title was rejected in many countries for obvious reasons. However, it was released in some areas with that title.

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Trivia: Christopher Lee agreed to appear in the film because he had never made a werewolf movie and wanted to make one. However, he absolutely hated the finished film. He later personally apologized to original "Howling" director Joe Dante (who had no involvement in this sequel) for making the film.

TedStixon

7th Oct 2019

Scream 4 (2011)

Trivia: SPOILERS: The only "Scream" movie in which one of the killers isn't shot in the head during the climax. (Albeit, one of the killers is shot in the chest instead).

TedStixon

7th Oct 2019

Scream 4 (2011)

Trivia: Kirby was originally going to be revealed to have survived. However, the scene revealing she survived was cut due to timing and pacing issues. Director Wes Craven instead decided to leave her fate intentionally ambiguous so they would have the option of bringing her back in a future film if they wanted - she was stabbed and last seen bleeding, but was still breathing. Spoiler Alert... the 2022 sequel does ultimately confirm she survived in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it Easter-Egg in one scene.

TedStixon

7th Oct 2019

Scream 3 (2000)

Trivia: At one point, it was not known whether Neve Campbell would be able to appear in the film as Sidney due to her hectic work schedule. The studio even considered writing out of the character. She eventually agreed to appear in the film, but was only able to be on-set for a few weeks.

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Trivia: The first film by production company Dark Castle Entertainment. Dark Castle was originally founded to exclusively make big-budget remakes of films by famed B-movie producer/director William Castle. (The company even borrows the word "Castle" from his name.) This is why Dark Castle's first two films were "House on Haunted Hill (1999) " and "Thirteen Ghosts (2001) " - they were remakes of two of Castle's most well-known works. However, after these two films were released, the executives at Dark Castle decided to diversify their output, and began to work on films not inspired by William Castle's work.

TedStixon

6th Oct 2019

Thirteen Ghosts (2001)

Trivia: The only film role of Shawna Loyer, who portrays the "Angry Princess." Because of the character's constant nudity, and the role being Loyer's only credited on-screen performance, for many years, it was believed that Loyer was actually a pornographic actress working under a pseudonym. This rumor was further fueled by the later production of "13 Erotic Ghosts," a porn parody of the film, as people speculated Loyer was also one of the actresses who appeared in it. The rumors have since been disproved. Loyer is not a porn-star working under a pseudonym, nor did she appear in the porn parody.

TedStixon

6th Oct 2019

Thirteen Ghosts (2001)

Trivia: The lawyer Ben being killed after grabbing a suitcase of money is a bit of a callback to the original 1960 film. In that movie, the character Benjamin the lawyer is actually the main villain, and his motivation is that he's trying to find a hidden stash of cash inside the haunted house. He too meets a dark fate at the hands of supernatural forces after discovering the money.

TedStixon

6th Oct 2019

Thirteen Ghosts (2001)

Trivia: The villain of this film is named "Cyrus." However, in the original "13 Ghosts," Cyrus was actually the name of the protagonist.

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Trivia: Part of what made the Coen Brothers agree to make the film for Netflix was that the traditional studio system just isn't funding films like "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" the way they used to. Studios are instead focusing much more on big-budget comic-book movies and reboots, or super low-budget ventures like horror films. The Coens found Netflix to be one of the only companies that seemed to understand the project and be willing to fund it. Although co-director Joel Coen did lament that he wishes the film had a traditional theatrical release, as he feels audiences respond to and respect movies in a different way on the big screen.

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Trivia: This movie represents several firsts for the Coen Brothers. Including this being the first Coen Brothers' film to be shot digitally instead of on film, and their first movie to be made primarily for the streaming market instead of theaters. It is also their longest film, coming in at 132 minutes.

TedStixon

23rd Sep 2019

Trick 'r Treat (2007)

Trivia: The ghoulish, child-like creature "Sam" is named after "Samhain" - an ancient Gaelic festival marking the end of harvest season. Samhain eventually ended up becoming the holiday now known as "Halloween."

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23rd Sep 2019

Trick 'r Treat (2007)

Trivia: The movie was originally scheduled to be released in theaters in October, 2007. Its trailer was even attached to several films. However, the studio pulled its release at the last moment with no explanation. It was finally released direct-to-video with little advertisements or notice two years later. Ironically, despite being dumped onto home-video with little fanfare, the film garnered excellent reviews and won several awards, and built enough of an audience through word-of-mouth alone that director Michael Dougherty confirmed a sequel will be made.

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Trivia: The only entry in the series not given a wide release. Instead, the film was a bit of an experiment for the studio - they struck a deal to release the film for a brief period exclusively in AMC theaters, then immediately follow it up with a digital and Video-On-Demand release. This was because the studio felt certain films performed better on home-video and digitally than in theaters, and because the previous film, "The Marked Ones" grossed significantly less than its predecessors. As a result, "The Ghost Dimension" was only released on about half the screens of the previous five films, and was the lowest grossing film of the franchise. (Albeit, it was still a box office success due to its low production costs).

TedStixon

Trivia: As part of a marketing gimmick, the film wasn't going to receive a traditional release. Instead, audiences could click a button online to "demand" their local theaters get a copy, and once an area got enough "demands," a copy would be shipped there. This was done because the studio was worried they wouldn't make enough money if they did a wide release. So many people ended up "demanding" the film, that the studio eventually caved and gave it a wide release. It became a massive hit.

TedStixon

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