We enthusiastically talked about the first post- Expendables 2 movie for Chuck Norris- The Finisher. Unfortunately that project never came into fruition (even though they were talks of it shooting in Australia with out favorite Aussie badass Richard Norton directing) but now we finally have some good news for all you Norris fans out there!
Just a cool photo of Chuck stretching Norton from our friends at Action Elite
Chuck has signed to appear in African (Botswanan to be precise) movie with some B- movie heavy hitters like Michael Jai White (Spawn, Black Dynamite) and previously mentioned Richard Norton, now a famed choreographer having worked on Mad Max: Fury Road, Suicide Squad and Ghost in a Shell). The writer is Motswana- born Edward Sebati and on the directing duties we have none other than the action maestro Isaac Florentine of Undisputed and Ninja fame! I see him as a sort of heir to the Menahem Golan of the legendary Cannon Films(just better).
McDaniels brothers, only their mother can tell them apart!
Movie centers around the two brothers Sasha McDaniels and Dumisani McDaniels who end up caught up in a net of poaching, robbery, murder and even a serious political conspiracy.Chuck is of course playing their cool uncle Sean Kane. Pre- production is well on the way and filming should beginning early 2017 and I’m sure I speak for all of us- it was about damn time!
Deadly villain Sahili played by Aurelien Henry Obama,much deadlier than the regular Obama!
We followed closely as Manos Returns was shaping up and now after the previous announcement of the cast , we now have the first teaser trailer too!
Here’s a short synopsis and be sure to enjoy the magnificent return of The Master.
Four friends get lost on a road trip and stumble on a hidden cult lead by the sinister Master and his servant Torgo. As they try to escape, they get caught up in the power struggle between Debbie, given to Manos as a child 50 years ago, her mother Maggie, and the other souls twisted by their time serving the dark god. A sequel to the B-movie classic, Manos – the Hands of Fate.
As far as we can see it seems the cast is a good mix or original actors: irreplaceable Tom Neyman as The Master, Diane Mahree as Maggie (I had no idea she was still around) and Jackie Raye Newman as Debbie (of course) joined by Bryan Jennings (aka the son of the original’s Sheriff Williams Bryan Jennings) and also the new addition: Nuria Aguilar , Danielle Daggerty, Christopher Barnes and Christina Pezzo as Nicki.
Now, make it or break it moment of the casting is the replacement for Torgo (as original actor John Reynolds tragically died before the movie come out in 1966). For this crucial role they picked Nebraska born- LA based actor Steven Shields (from the award winning short film “The God Chair”) who as far as I’m concerned really looks the part. “I am extremely grateful for this opportunity to bring Torgo to the screen” he stated. I for one can’t wait to see Torgo back in action.
By this point you probably realized we absolutely adore the work of the O.G. henchman Al “Ka -Bong”Leong (Lethal Weapon, Punisher, Die Hard, Rapid Fire ). You can even take a look at our little tribute here. But now we are happy to report that that the long gestating documentary Henchman: The Al Leong Story ( featuring the late great Brandon Lee, John Carpenter & The Rock) is in the finishing stages of production.We even have the first trailer to show you!
We already talked about Corman’s never (officially) released Fantastic Four movie at great length couple years ago. In this article we also mentioned at that time work-in-progress documentary from the writer/ director Marty Langfordshining a light on this fascinating subject.
… and this is a story of that movie!
If you don’t know the story- German producer Bernd Eichinger tried to get the right for a Fantastic Four movie in the early 1980’s and finally succeeded in 1986. He bought the right for non- glamorous price of quarter a million (remember those were the Dark Ages of Marvel adaptations). Now, unfortunately the rights were about to expire on December 31, 1992 and the movie didn’t even start the production.
Eichinger desperately asked for an extension from Marvel but he got none. So he did the only thing he could– he called B-MovieGrandmasterRoger Corman! Corman being Corman agreed to fast forward the movie and film it for just one million. And after all that effort the movie was never to be released with Stan Lee claiming it was never meant to be released at all (and it exists solely to extend the rights) with Eichinger and Corman claiming they seriously planned to have it released in the cinemas.
Whatever the truth may be Fantastic Four(1994) will not be released but the documentary Doomed! The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s The Fantastic Four has a firm release date as of now! We can enjoy the crazy story of the FF on VOD in October 11, 2016 before it hits the DVD on December 20, 2016. Sing and rejoice!
It’s always fascinating to think about the crazy, CRAZY movies that almost happened- like Tim Burton/ Nicolas Cage Superman or Albert Pyun’s Spiderman but that list now has a new and unexpected addition. Through the Blumhouse‘s horror podcast Shock Waves we found out about the script for an unprocessed (Charles Band’s) Empire Pictures Horror directed by Stewart Gordon (Re-Animator, From Beyond) featuring none other but the The Governator himself Arnold Schwarzenegger!!! This was supposed to be Schwarzenegger movie after Raw Deal (1986) and it would have probably come out in between Predator and The Running Man (1987).
It turns out that Schwarzenegger’s Terminator stunt double also had a role in Re-Animator and that led to the friendship between Gordon and Arnold. They considered working together and came up with the idea of a wrestler that loses his mind because of super- steroids, and then naturally going on a murder spree all through New York city. I mean, Schwarzy yelling like a madman and ripping arms and legs left and right. I would so pay to see that! Thankfully there is one piece of promo artwork saved in the archives, so you can get the idea.
That also sounds a bit like the real murder- suicide of the famous WWF wrestler Chris Benoit. and Joe Begos actually found out about this movie talking about the case with Gordon.
Movie was originally going to be called STEROID but they later changed it to much more awesome- BERSERKER!
Update (2023): Years after the original interview– Joe Begos who originally broke the news spoke to the Best Movies Never Made podcast about this mythic collaboration that almost happened. Hosts also obtained a draft of the script so we can finally have a full idea what this movie would have looked like. So here’s the most important excerpts from the the episode:
“…(Arnold Schwarzenegger) is the strongest, meanest wrestler around.He enters the ring in a bear skin roaring wild eyed.Like the fabled berserkers of Scandinavian history. He fights bear fleshed in a meager loincloth, reckless, mad for the battle.The bout is brutal, bone crunching.The berserker is magnificent.And then it’s revealed, you know, that he’s a wrestling heel, so he always has to lose to the face and that’s kind of the kick off here, is that.
But he’s a foreign guy stuck playing foreign wrestling characters, which, you know, like the Iron Sheik… always had to be the heel, losing to some American guy.And he’s got a friend who’s similarly marginalized, named Black Mamba, who’s a talented black wrestler who’s got like, he’s got a special wrestling move called the Snake Bite…
And then one day Black Mamba shows up being like buffer and more confident and better than ever and reveals that he’s got some new special drug that he’s taking. And the arc of the story is that Berserker and Black Mamba both start taking this like experimental steroid.But, I guess because Black Mamba had been taking it first, we get to see the full arc of his and he like really fucks up a guy in the ring…
It’s so sad because the full arc of the story is that Black Mamba dies in his arms. And after he dies, Berserker goes and tracks down the Doctor who they’re getting it from. And you realize, yeah, this is like experimental.It’s harvested from reptiles in some way to make this drug. And Shirley wants him to stop taking it. But I also love that the element that’s like, you can’t really stop taking it because we see what happens to you.It’s basically just a moral decision.Do you want to keep taking the drug long enough that you go insane and start killing people, which then Berserker does well?”
*text was edited for length and clarity but you can listen to the full episode right here– it’s definitely worth your time.
Even though we never saw Schwarzenegger as a wrestler in a movie, he did have this wrestling appearance in WWF/ WWE and man, he’s beating HHH like his life depends on it:
After the hit documentary Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films , we present you another promising B-movie documentary– produced and directed by Daniel Griffith covering a very interesting company- Charles Band’s Empire Production! Now, even if you don’t remember the name I’m sure you’ll remember some of their hits.
Empire Pictures started with limited released such as Swordkill and Dungeonmaster, followed by a string of actual theatrical hits like Reanimator and Ghoulies and also Trancers.
“2,000 movies by the year 2000!” Well, not really…
Unfortunately it all came crushing down just 5 years later after a scandal with their main financier Credit Lyonnais (a French bank that was outed for it’s predatory lending practices and actively trying to conceal Empire’s pile of debts from other creditors). It all ended in a mess of lawsuits, and the company was bought out by newly founded Epic Pictures Entertainment with Band leaving to found Full Moon Entertainment which is despite a break of some years still active!
Now, I’m a big fan of the Kazahstani cinema, not ’cause I think directors are overly talented but for the sheer fact that they approach film-making like the kid collecting the stickers- they try really hard to collect them all.
And then you have things like Olivier Gruner (Nemesis, Alien Interceptor), Mark Dacascos (Crying Freeman, Brotherhood of the Wolf, Agents of SHIELD), Martin Kove (Karate Kid, Rambo 2, Assault on Devil’s Island), Cary Tagawa (Mortal Kombat, The Man in the High Castle), Eric Roberts (Runaway Train, Best of the Best, Raptor), Billy Zane (Titanic, Phantom), Michael Jai White (Spawn, Black Dinamite), Bai Ling (Age of Hobbits,The Crow, Crank 2), Kevin Sorbo (Hercules), Kristina Loken (Terminator 3), Armand Assante (The Odyssey, Prophecy) and Danny Trejo (Machete) all working on the same freakin’ movie!
And it’s about manhunt + reality TV mix with a fare share MMA action to boot- who can say no to that?
Now that you’ve enjoyed the trailer, prepare for more Kazahstani goodness ’cause we are expecting another offering from them this year and that’s The Whole World at Our Feet with unlikely mix ofArmand Assante, Peter O’Tool and Bolo Yeung! Hope they never stop doing what they do.
Long gestating “Expendables of Horror” aka Death House is wrapping up the last day of filming on the East coast today before moving production to LA.
Movie originally started life as a passion project of Gunnar Hansen (the original Leatherface) but he unfortunately didn’t live long enough to see the fruits of his labor.Harrison Smith (Head of Independent Genre Development for Carolco Pictures) is responsible for the rewrite and is also on director duties and we are happy to report things are moving smoothly and by all accounts we can expect the finished product in the late 2016/ early 2017.
Movie of course boasts a pretty impressive ensemble of genre luminaries like our favorite Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes), Kane Hodder (Friday 13th, Monster, Se7en), R. A. Mihailoff (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3), Dee Wallace (Cujo, The Howling), Bill Moseley (The Army of Darkness, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2), Barbara Crampton (Re-Animator,From Beyond), Sid Haig (House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil’s Rejects) and ultra- talented Bill Oberst Jr. (Abraham Lincoln vs Zombies) The only one missing is the legendary Robert Englund (Nightmare at Elm Street). Here’s the synopsis and some early production stills.
You can follow the production on the official facebook page- and the official instagram.
The fact that many of his much younger coworkers started dying in last one year or so, didn’t prevent Roger Corman from continuing to make cult movies (more cult than movies truth to be told). Unexpectedly the most prolific B- Movie producer of all times decided to remake a remake of his own film, legendary Death Race 2000 (Stallone, David Carradine), now Death Race 2050!
The filming is underway right this moment in Peru staring surprisingly potent cast of Mannu Benett (Chronicles of Shanara, Arrow, Spartacus), Malcom McDowell (Clockwork Orange, Halloween, Class of 1999) and Yancy Butler (Kick-Ass, Hard Target, Witchblade).
“This is an amazing opportunity for me and millions of Death Race 2000 fans to experience the intensity, thrills and dark humor of the original, fueled by a terrific young cast, spectacular vehicles and side-splitting action, literally” said Corman.
Just a cool photo of Chuck stretching Norton from our friends at Action Elite
McDaniels brothers, only their mother can tell them apart!
Deadly villain Sahili played by Aurelien Henry Obama,much deadlier than the regular Obama!
Worsemovies 