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--Click here to see the news archive!-- If you have a news item you would like to see posted please e-mail it directly to me at almaric@usa.net/.
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Reviews: Underground film for 2003 announced
Chat: Jan 11, 2004. 7 p.m. est. Join the cast and crew for Tempe's OZONE
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January 17, 2004
From Mike Raso of eiCinema:January 9 –– 11 saw the annual (East Coast) Fangoria''s ""Weekend of Horrors"" convention unfold in grand and exciting style once again, this time at the Meadowlands Sheraton, in East Rutherford, NJ –– its first at this location. It''s also the first time that Chiller Theatre, who runs its own spectacular semi-annual fan shows at this very same location, in April and October, has taken on the role of promoter for the ""Weekend of Horrors."" The Fangoria show has always been one of the most popular and eagerly anticipated fan shows over the years, and the new venue –– along with a great guest list, multiple film screenings, and an entertaining schedule of events, appearances and previews in the spacious auditorium –– succeeded in attracting a steady stream of horror fanatics who braved the weekend''s sub-zero temperatures. Go to www.Fangoria.com and click on ""Special Events"" to see the full line-up of guests and goings-on.
ei Cinema was on hand throughout the convention to promote the Shock-O-Rama Cinema label and its first in-house produced horror film to be released to home video on March 30 –– Brett Piper''s haunted insane asylum creep-fest SCREAMING DEAD, starring Rachael Robbins, Misty Mundae, Joseph Farrell, Heidi Kristoffer, Rob Monkiewicz, Kevin G. Shinnick and CJ DiMarsico. On Friday evening, at 9:30 p.m., Shock-O-Rama was afforded the honor of screening SCREAMING DEAD to a packed captive audience. The event began with an introduction by Tony Timpone –– Fangoria''s longtime editor –– followed by a few brief, welcoming words from ei Cinema president Michael Raso. Then the lights went down, and trailers for upcoming Shock-O-Rama films BITE ME! (Brett Piper''s second film for Shock-O-Rama), SKIN CRAWL, SUBURBAN NIGHTMARE and DRACULA ran. SCREAMING DEAD hit the screen next. For the ensuing 90 minutes, the audience thoroughly enjoyed the story of a renowned sleaze photographer who lures three beautiful models to an abandoned insane asylum –– a derelict old building purportedly haunted by the ghost of the depraved industrialist who built it –– for a photographic ""study in terror""……a photo shoot that quickly goes to hell!
Immediately after the screening, stars Misty Mundae and Rachael Robbins and writer/director Brett Piper appeared on-stage for a Q & A session. A Shock-O-Rama film crew documented the Friday night event and gathered fan and participant interviews for a mini-featurette earmarked for the SCREAMING DEAD DVD.
Misty and Rachael spent Friday evening and Saturday and Sunday show hours at the Shock-O-Rama Cinema booth meeting and greeting , autographing SCREAMING DEAD posters and limited edition 8x10''s; posing for photos; and generally promoting the upcoming March release of the Piper horror flick as only two talented, beautiful and personable women can!
On Saturday, a film crew from New York City''s Kaufman Films visited the show to record interviews for an epic horror film documentary slated to run over five consecutive nights in October 2004 on the Bravo cable network. Misty Mundae and Rachael Robbins, along with Chelsea Mundae, were offered invitations to take part in this ambitious project. The documentary, THE 100 SCARIEST SCENES OF ALL TIME, is being co-produced by Fangoria''s Tony Timpone and the Bravo Network, and will feature interviews with legendary directors, producers, writers, actors and rising talent in the horror film world, backed, of course, by extensive clips from classic films from the United States, Japan, Canada, Italy and France. Misty, Rachael and Chelsea were each interviewed at length and asked to expound upon what they consider the scariest scenes from some of the classic, cult and legendary films represented on the master list –– a list painstakingly compiled by the Kaufman, Bravo and Timpone. A documentary of this kind –– which explores and pays tribute to the greatest fright flicks of all time and the masters who created them –– has long been overdue, and Shock-O-Rama Cinema eagerly looks forward to seeing its own stars in the finished project, one that seems destined to be a horror fan''s dream come true.
Many thanks to Fangoria editor Tony Timpone and managing editor Michael Gingold for all their help and support in making the SCREAMING DEAD evening a special one for Shock-O-Rama Cinema and all the enthusiastic fans who were given the sneak-peek opportunity. Thanks, too, to Kevin Clement and the Chiller Theatre crew for putting on a great show.
January 4, 2004
Sharkey has just completed a new digitally re-mastered version of LAST RESORT which is featured as one of the shorts in Falcon Video's new anthology entitled BEFORE I DIE. Sharkey wrapped up post-production for Falcon last month on the movie and it's now available on the Falcon Video website. A new full-length DVD version of LAST RESORT is also planned for release this spring. The movie stars Dawn Murphy and David Lee as newlyweds who are stalked by spirits at their secluded honeymoon resort.More recently released on DVD is BACKWOODS MARCY with an all-new documentary- Behind The Backwoods and many other extras included.
DEEP UNDEAD is finally in post-production and is set for release this June on DVD and VHS. The DVD will also include a bonus documentary and many extras. The movie stars David Maul, Pamela Sutch, Dawn Murphy, Mick McCleery, Debbie D., and Allen Richards, to name a few, and even has a cameo by Falcon Video's Phil Herman. Working with a large talented cast and the technical demands of shooting underwater has made this movie so challenging that it is clearly the most ambitious project we have ever tackled. Combined with the script, the result is the most terrifying story that we ever told.
We look forward to seeing it finally complete. A private screening party will be hosted for the cast and crew this spring.
***** As 2003 winds to a close, the MINDSCAPE PICTURES team happily heads into post-production on a number of short projects completed during the course of the year. At the same time, the company is readying a production slate for 2004 that aims to lessen output, but not ambition. As the company slowly moves away from short movie production and into feature-length work, there will be fewer titles to follow from MINDSCAPE PICTURES, but the company's dedication to storytelling via high quality video production will become even more evident. The following announced projects, in various stages of production, represent MINDSCAPE PICTURES official project roster for the next several months.
Still in pre-production due to the early onset of winter this year is Norma's Scent, a story from Israeli screenwriter Yair Packer about a grieving widower laundering his late wife's clothing in preparation for a charity donation who learns of an interesting friendship she shared with their nag of a next-door neighbor. It is slated to begin photography in spring, 2004.
We are currently looking for non-union male and female talent, age 55-75 for the two leading roles. Contact casting@mindscapepictures.com if you are interested.
Currently still on hold while in production is the romantic comedy/drama A Chance Connection starring Tina Krause and writer/director Jason Santo as a pair of accidentally matched, heartbroken phone mates. Half of this 15-minute long movie still remains to be shot, but no date has been made for completion. The hope is to shoot the remaining scenes of the movie this winter for inclusion on the feature-length MINDSCAPE PICTURES Presents #2 collection.
On Sunday, November 30, 2003, the ensemble cast of MINDSCAPE PICTURES' latest project, the improvised short movie Apparition Apparent, once again assembled in Winchester, Massachusetts to finish off work on this experimental mystery/drama. Part of the company's new quarterly program focused on improvisational moviemaking, Apparition Apparent's story picks up moments after the end of an unexpectedly eventful séance. A cast of ten MINDSCAPE regular contributors (including Zach Lawrence, Pat Hines, Sarah Ashton, Lucien Desar and Stacey Monty) search for an answer as to what exactly happened during the séance, but viewers will have the additional mystery of solving how all of these diverse characters are linked. The mysterious man who asked to have the séance and his angered sister. The phony medium and his assistant who are shocked by a real supernatural event. The frustrated homeowner, his intrigued wife and her superficial sister who knows more than she's letting on about a possible haunting. All try to deal with one another while unraveling the mystery of someone named "Mary." And for sharp-eyed viewers, an additional game is afoot: in several scenes "Mary" appears in very subtle ways. Will you be able to spot her?
Apparition Apparent now heads into a long line of projects currently in post-production at MINDSCAPE PICTURES. In the meantime, Apparent co-star and music maestro Lucien Desar will be whipping up a suitably chilling musical score.
***** Production of ei Cinema’s second sexy horror film - the stop-animation, killer-mutant-bugs-on-the-loose movie, BITE ME! - is moving along on schedule and looking good, reports writer/director Brett Piper.
“Most of the shooting has been completed, and I’m excited with what we’ve got so far,” says Piper, who wrote and directed SCREAMING DEAD, the first-ever sexy horror film to be produced in-house by ei Cinema. “We’ve got very talented and experienced actors, interesting special effects and a script that is equal parts horror, humor and sex.”
Like SCREAMING DEAD, BITE ME! will be released under ei Cinema’s Shock-O-Rama Cinema label in 2004. The new picture features, among others, Seduction Cinema sensation Misty Mundae, the luscious Julian Wells and stunning newcomer Erika Smith.
“This is the second picture on which I’ve worked with Misty, and the first with Julian and Erika,” explains Piper, who has written/directed three monster movies - Arachnia, Draniac and Psyclops - that are currently available in Blockbuster Video stores across the country. “Each actress brings a unique and special quality to the film, and the combination of the three is quite dynamic. I think the finished product will be something very special.”
SCREAMING DEAD, the first Shock-O-Rama Cinema in-house produced horror film poised for home video release, will be one of the films featured and screened at Fangoria Magazine's "Weekend of Horrors," Jan. 9-11, at The Meadowlands Sheraton in East Rutherford, N.J. Horror film veteran Brett Piper, who wrote and directed SCREAMING DEAD, and two sexy stars of the movie, Seduction Cinema starlets Misty Mundae (SpiderBabe, Lord of the G-String) and Rachael Robbins, will be present to answer questions after the film's screening. Two further Shock-O-Rama films - Brett Piper's stop-animation, killer- mutant-bug-on-the-loose movie titled BITE ME! and Justin Wingenfeld's curse-from-beyond-the-grave chiller SKINCRAWL - also will be previewed at the "Weekend of Horrors."
With Piper's SCREAMING DEAD and BITE ME!, Shock-O-Rama Cinema has begun producing its own brand of sexy and clever horror films. Add in to the mix upcoming Shock-O releases including Jon Keeyes' macabre SUBURBAN NIGHTMARE, Justin Wingenfeld's creepy SKINCRAWL (starring Julian Wells and Debbie Rochon) and Tony Marsiglia's surreal and sensual DRACULA (starring Darian Caine, Misty Mundae, Julian Wells, and Shelly and Casey Jones) and you have one heavy duty line-up of kick-ass "monster" movies.
Shock-O-Rama Cinema will soon be announcing a release date for its 2002 horror production, SUBURBAN NIGHTMARE (initially titled Blood and Roses), written and directed by Texas filmmaker Jon Keeyes (American Nightmare, Hallow’s End) from a story by popular ‘B’ movie actress Debbie Rochon. The macabre and claustrophobic film tells of husband and wife Charles and Deborah Rosenblad (Trent Haaga/Terror Firmer, Dead & Rotting; Brandy Little/American Nightmare), who are anything but your typical next-door neighbors. Underneath their facade as a loving, all-American family, they are psychotic monsters who take pleasure in kidnapping and then torturing and murdering beautiful young women in their basement. But like any married couple, the Rosenblads are not the picture of wedded bliss. Amidst their rampages of bloodthirsty cruelty, Charles and Deborah begin to question their love for and devotion to another, and soon these serial killers are at each other’s throats - plotting gruesome revenge that will take their bloodlust to new and sadistic heights.
With two Shock-O-Rama horror films already under her belt, Seduction Cinema star Misty Mundae is poised to make quite a name for herself in the horror movie genre. And what better way to get acquainted with Misty’s rise to ‘B’ movie stardom than a documentary that charts her movie career course over the past six years. “FROM SKIN TO SCREAM” is such a documentary. It details Misty’s earliest work and successes in the world of underground cinema (at the tender age of 18, as part of the avant-garde Factory 2000) and her subsequent metamorphosis into a super-talented, ‘B’ movie star with a tremendous legion of devoted fans throughout the United States and around the world.
Crafted by ei Cinema editor Brian McNulty,“FROM SKIN TO SCREAM” features clips from Misty films and projects old and new; interviews with fans, filmmakers, friends and the actress herself; and a wealth of intriguing information that will give further insights into this young, stunning, one-of-a-kind actress. “FROM SKIN TO SCREAM” will make its first appearance as a DVD extra on the upcoming release of SCREAMING DEAD, which features Misty in her very first horror film co-starring role. We’re sure there’ll be many more to come.
Seduction Cinema’s 2003 UK-lensed erotic comedy/adventure, THE GIRL WHO SHAGGED ME (changed from Goddess of Lust, as stated in previous news), has wrapped post-production and will be scheduled for a home video release later in 2004. Written and directed by Manchester, England-based filmmaker/producer Tom J. Moose, and co-starring Misty Mundae and Anoushka (Play-mate of the Apes, Vampire Obsession), the hilarious and ultra-sensual film finds a recent archaeological discovery - the mythical “Goddess of Lust” (Anoushka) - unleashed from her icy slumber by the nefarious and unsavory Dr. Unsound and let loose to wreak erotic havoc upon an unsuspecting populace. It falls into the quite capable lap of Secret Agent Johnson (Misty Mundae) to track down the sexually insatiable she-beast and restore order and propriety to England. THE GIRL WHO SHAGGED ME constitutes Moose’s first film for Seduction Cinema, which eagerly looks forward to his next project. Considering the success of SC films in the UK, Misty’s popularity there and the fact that it’s a British production, THE GIRL WHO SHAGGED ME should be an extra special release for fans “across the pond.”
Misty Mundae and newest ei Cinema actress, the beautiful Erika Smith (Shock-O-Rama Cinema’s BITE ME!), are just returned from Los Angeles and Burbank, California, where they co-starred in Tony Marsiglia’s latest film - the sensual drama MINE. Misty and Erika, along with SC actress Andrea Davis (Dr. Jekyll and Mistress Hyde, Sin Sisters) spent the week between Christmas and New Year bringing Marsiglia’s newest creation to life - a metaphor that is quite apropos, considering MINE’s plot: a young woman (Misty Mundae), who wants a child but despises the act of sex and is unable to conceive, is driven to jealous rage by a rivalry with her fertile, sex-crazed neighbor.
Marsiglia, the director of such critically acclaimed Seduction Cinema favorites as SIN SISTERS, DR. JEKYLL AND MISTRESS HYDE and the recently produced films DRACULA and CHANTAL (a remake of the Nick Philips 1969 original), has created an impressive and unique body of work over the past three years. His erotica/sexploitation films - which are unlike any others produced in recent decades in the genre - are a fascinating and caustic mixture of black humor and bizarre psychological underpinnings, presented with an intense visual style that hearkens back to the deeper complexity of classic films produced in the hey-day of grind house cinema in the 60s and 70s. SC is certain that MINE will be no different, and it eagerly anticipates the new “delivery.”
Raven-haired beauty Erika Smith, a New York City actress who earned a degree in Music, with a concentration in Voice, from Hunter College, is the newest addition to ei Cinema’s ensemble of talented and sexy stars.
Smith, who was born and raised in Massachusetts and now resides in Manhattan, is one of the featured players in BITE ME!. The attractive 22-year old was also cast in another ei Cinema production, which just wrapped shooting in Los Angeles. The film, tentatively titled MINE, was written and directed by Tony Marsiglia, whose DR. JEKYLL AND MISTRESS HYDE is currently ei Cinema’s most popular title.
“So far, working for ei has been a great experience,” says Smith. “I really enjoyed shooting BITE ME! The director, Brett Piper, is very dedicated to his work, and I had a lot of fun with my character, an exotic dancer who turns out to be both very sexy and comically clumsy. I got to really ‘camp up’ my performance…a silly voice and a pair of glasses that I lose and must search for while stumbling around and bumping into things.”
Smith, who is a fan of classic movies - her favorite film is Gone With the Wind - and Broadway musicals, was in the movies Hotties 1 and Hotties 2 before being cast in ei’s BITE ME! She has starred in a number of stage productions in the New York metropolitan area, including Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House,”
“Doing comedy is fun, but I also like the challenge of a dramatic role, and that’s why I enjoyed doing the Tony Marsiglia movie,” offers Smith. “I had seen several of his films before I was cast, and I was already a big fan of his style.”
MINE will be Smith’s first feature-length drama.
Legendary erotica auteur Joseph Sarno recently completed the final draft of his script for his first motion picture in over twenty years - the tentatively titled LAURA. It’s the tale of a young, successful nude model (Misty Mundae), who returns to her rural hometown, unwittingly sewing, and ensnaring herself in, a complex web of carnal craving, lust, love and lies. The writer and director of such classic films as Inga, Sin in the Suburbs and Swedish Wildcats, Sarno was convinced to come out of feature film retirement by ei Cinema president Michael Raso, who suggested he write and direct a picture for Seduction Cinema starring its stable of acclaimed and popular actresses. The New York native began work on the script in Sweden, where he and his wife, Peggy Steffans, live for two months during the summer each year. Sarno had been introduced to stars Misty Mundae and Julian Wells prior to leaving for Sweden and wrote parts specifically with each of them in mind. Since then, new ei and SC actress Erika Smith (Shock-O-Rama Cinema’s Bite Me!) has come on board, along with Chelsea Mundae, and there is rumor of a special appearance by Scream Queen legend Linnea Quigley.
LAURA is scheduled to begin shooting in February, in northern New Jersey.
Seduction Cinema is happy to report that the CKY band's "Shock & Terror" music video, starring Misty Mundae, is now out and available at retail and etail as part of their Deluxe Edition Double-Disc DVD, CKY: INFILTRATE-DESTROY-REBUILD: THE VIDEO ALBUM. The DVD features videos for all ten songs on CKY's most recent album on Island Records, among a wealth of other cool extras. The videos, including "Shock & Terror," were directed by pop icon/pro skateboarder Bam Margera (whose new MTV show, "Viva La Bam," is one hot property, as is his current dtv feature, HAGGARD) and produced by Joseph Frantz. CKY are guitar/vocalist Deron Miller, guitarist Chad I. Ginsburg, drummer Jess Margera and bass player Vern Zaborowski.
The video incorporates Misty's sexy and bloody performance with footage of the band, done up in gruesome makeup, performing in a macabre funhouse. There's also a fun, behind-the-scenes mini- documentary about the creation and production of "Shock & Terror." It's an awesome music video, part of an entertaining double DVD package, and we urge all Misty fans to snap up a copy. Between "Shock & Terror" and Shock-O-Rama Cinema's upcoming horror film, SCREAMING DEAD, Misty has been head-to-toe covered in blood twice now! She wears it well. Seduction Cinema will pass along any news concerning other options for checking out Misty's starring turn in the CKY video.
ei Cinema
Shock-O-Rama
Seduction Cinema
CKY Music
Bam MargeraJanuary 1, 2004
Crawler, the new sci-fi thriller from Timewarp Films, wrapped principal photography on Nov. 1.
Production began June 27, but several rainy weekends in July pushed the project beyond its scheduled early October completion date.
Though the title alien was to be a full-body suit, the decision was later made to create the Crawler in three-dimensional CGI, which will allow the creature to move and react in ways that would be impossible for a person in a suit.
Starring in Crawler are Justin Timpane, Darla Albornoz, Daniel Ross, James Keegan, Nikki O'Dell, Maynard Edwards, John Patrick Barry, Ayo Sorrells, George Stover and Claire Sherman.
Dave Oldaker was Key production grip and prop-maker, Steve Myers did make-up FX, Glenn Barnes recorded sound, and Mitch Klein is handling visual FX -- incuding the Crawler CGI.
Don Dohler produced and was director of photography, and Joe Ripple wrote and directed.
***** Joe Castro and Slaughtehouse Cinema would like to invite you to a preview screening of Joe's newest movie JACKHAMMER at L.A.'s Renberg Theater on January 16, 2004. Seating is limited to 200.
***** From Mike Russin and CinemaSky Productions:
We're starting to get feed back on distribution for CREEPY TALES: GIRLS NIGHT OUT and I hope to be able to give you more news on that soon. Sometime in January, cast and crew members will appear on a NY based talk show called Cognac's Corner and I'll post the air dates when they become available. January 9-11 CinemaSky will have a table set up at the Fangoria Convention to help promote the film. We'll be there at the following times.
Friday - January 9 - 6 p.m. - 11 p.m.
Saturday - January 10 - 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Sunday - January 11 - 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.Jayson Palmer has begun working on the script for our next feature which will move us away from horror and into the world of comedy. I'm looking forward to the challenges of moving from the familiar ground of horror and stepping into a new area of filmmaking. Projects are also in the works with Mister Monster, Blitzkid and Dr. Chud's X-Ward.
CinemaSky Productions
Cognac's Corner
***** ADVANCE SCREENING OF “SCREAMING DEAD” AT FANGORIA WEEKEND OF HORRORS
In person: Director Brett Piper Stars MISTY MUNDAE RACHAEL ROBBINS
Friday Night Screaming: Advance screening of E.I. Independent Cinema’s THE SCREAMING DEAD with actresses Misty Mundae & Rachael Robbins, plus director Brett (ARACHNIA) Piper live on stage
Saturday & Sunday: Misty Mundae & Rachael Robbins will be at the eiCinema table greeting fans
***** Fans of Terry M. West's gory/sexy bloodbath FLESH FOR THE BEAST may have to wait awhile for his next film, but they can satisfy their horror hunger in the meantime by picking up DREG, West's first full length horror novel. DREG tells the story of an ancient serial killer, empowered by Acadian magic, who is pursued by a police psychic with faltering ability and a terminally ill homicide detective. Released Spring 2003 by Publish America, readers can purchase the novel online at Amazon.com, Publishamerica.com. Barnesandnoble.com and just about every Internet bookstore. West, who has been recognized for his erotic/horror screen fare, is also an accomplished author, with 2 International Horror Guild Award nominations under his belt, as well as recognition on the 1997 TV Guide Sci-Fi Hot List for his graphic novel series, CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE VAMPIRE. His fiction has been praised by several of his peers, including PD Cacek, David Niall Wilson and Brian A. Hopkins.
Dark West Productions
Publish America
Flesh for the Beast
***** West Virginia-based Razor Sharp Productions ("Escape From The Dead") has begun preproduction on their new project "Pet Dracula," chronicling the classic tale of a boy and his pet vampire. Casting is coming to a close and cameras are set to begin filming in late December with a targeted release date of mid-January. The film will tentatively star Lance Steele & Diana Burton and expect the rest of the Razor Sharp crew to make appearances as usual. "Pet Dracula" will be the first in a line of films exclusively for the internet.
***** OBITUARIES from the Astounding Space Monster Newsletter
Wah Ming Chang
Artist and Academy Award-winning animator Wah Chang has died. He was 86. Chang's most remarkable work was accomplished for Walt Disney studios, where he created posable figures of Pinocchio and Bambi from which animators could draw, and for producer George Pal, working on such films as "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm," "Tom Thumb" and "The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao." He also created costumes for "Can-Can," "The King and I" and "Cleopatra," and created monsters for such television series as "Star Trek" and "The Outer Limits," fashioning, among many memorable props, Romulan warships, Tribbles and phasers for the former, and the infamous Zanti Misfits for the latter. He even sculpted the first models of the Pillsbury Doughboy. He earned his Oscar for the spectacular special effects that were integral to Pal's landmark film "The Time Machine."
Born in Honolulu, Chang and his parents, both artists, moved to San Francisco in the 1920s. Following the death of his mother, his father left him in the care of a guardian and moved away. Local journalist Blanding Sloan took the young Chang under his wing. The two traveled to Texas and created a historical pageant for the Texas Centennial. There, Chang met his future wife Glenella. Their marriage lasted 60 years. (Glenella Chang passed away in 1997.) Chang became a sought-after talent, developing his design, animation and puppetry skills. By the age of 16, he was designing sets for shows at the Hollywood Bowl. After landing a job with Disney, he was diagnosed with polio. He battled the illness and continued to work. (For the rest of his life Chang especially cherished a letter of encouragement sent to him by Walt Disney at this time.) Chang also worked at the George Pal Puppetoon Studio, helping to create Pal's memorable stop-motion animated series. Eager to produce films of his own, Chang invested all of his money in camera equipment and produced educational films and television spots. In 1987, Chang was commissioned by cartoonist Hank Ketcham to sculpt a life-size statue of his "Dennis the Menace" to be displayed in the Monterey park named for the character. Film historian and prop preservationist Bob Burns was working with Paul Blaisdell on "Invasion of the Saucer Men" when he first met Chang, who was then sharing the same studio while working on "The Black Scorpion." Burns has cited Chang as one of his greatest inspirations. At the time of his death, Chang's work was on display at the Chinese Historical Society of America in San Francisco.
Jack Pollexfen
[Tom Weaver contributes the following obituary/appreciation]Jack Pollexfen, an independent writer-producer of 1950s B movies and the co-creator of the 1951 science fiction classic "The Man from Planet X," has died. He was 95. Pollexfen and his writing-producing partner Aubrey Wisberg collaborated on a number of low-budget films in the early '50s, several based on works of classic literature or on real-life historical figures, but their best-remembered credits were sci-fi thrillers like "Captive Women" (1952), "The Neanderthal Man" (1953) and "Man from Planet X," the first "man from space" movie of the era. Directed by legendary low-budget wunderkind Edgar G. Ulmer, "Planet X" re-used sets from the big-budget Ingrid Bergman version of Joan of Arc" (1948) in this story of a diminutive, bubble-helmeted alien, the advance scout for an invasion fleet, prowling the foggy moors of an island off the coast of Scotland.
"The amazing thing was that Jack and Aubrey managed to make this picture in six days, and for only $50,000, and shot the entire thing inside one soundstage at Hal Roach Studios," recalls "Planet X" co-star William Schallert, a Pollexfen-Wisberg "discovery." "Casting me in 'Planet X,' Jack was taking a gamble on me -- I didn?t have much of a track record in movies yet. In addition, he backed up his initial belief in me by casting me in five or six pictures after that. I was a beginning movie actor at the time, and that was a real boost to my morale and to my belief in myself. I owe Jack a LOT for that."
Born in San Diego, Pollexfen was raised in Mill Valley, Calif. Fascinated with newspaper work, he began in that business as a copyboy on the Los Angeles Express, then moved up to reporter and feature writer on other dailies. Magazine writing assignments led to scriptwriting chores at MGM and Universal before Pollexfen served the World War II effort as an Air Force noncom, writing training films and manuals. Pollexfen and the English-born Aubrey Wisberg teamed in the late 1940s and by 1950 had formed their own production company, Mid Century Films, to make "The Man from Planet X." "Planet X" star Robert Clarke later became a regular in Pollexfen-Wisberg productions. ?Jack was a workaholic before the word was coined,? Clarke recalls. ?Aubrey was big on talking -- you never had to encourage him. But, as I observed it, it was more talk than elbow grease. Jack was the one to always take the heavier end of things. Jack was someone who deserved everything nice that could be said about a man.?
The Pollexfen-Wisberg films included "Sword of Venus" (1953), with Clarke as the son of the "Count of Monte Cristo," "Captain John Smith and Pocahontas" (1953), "Captain Kidd and the Slave Girl" (1954) and "Return to Treasure Island" (1954), a follow-up to the Robert Louis Stevenson novel. In the latter half of the 1950s, and now operating on his own, Pollexfen continued in the sci-fi/horror vein, producing and directing "Indestructible Man" (1956) with Lon Chaney, Jr., and producing and writing "Daughter of Dr. Jekyll" (1957), again directed by Ulmer. After co-producing his final film "Monstrosity" (released in 1964), Pollexfen went into semi-retirement, marrying for the first time at age 55 and moving back to the Mill Valley area where he had grown up. Impaired in recent years by diabetes and failing eyesight, he came down with pneumonia just days before his death at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in San Rafael. He is survived by Lee, his wife of 39 years.
[Thanks to Lee Pollexfen, Robert Clarke and William Schallert.]
Marguerite Bradbury
Marguerite ("Maggie") McClure Bradbury, wife of author Ray Bradbury, has died. Married to Ray for 56 years, Marguerite worked tirelessly as the family breadwinner in the early years of their marriage, while Ray stayed home and wrote, honing his talents and becoming one of America's best-loved and most successful authors. In the mid-1940s, following her studies in English and Spanish at UCLA, she worked at a bookstore where she met her future husband who was, at the time, writing for pulp magazines. She initially mistook him for a thief, according to Bradbury biographer Sam Weller. Following a brief courtship, they were married in 1947. Ray's best man was his best friend, stop-motion movie animator Ray Harryhausen. That same year, Bradbury's first book, "Dark Carnival," was published. It was Maggie, who, in 1949, typed up the original manuscript of Bradbury's classic "The Martian Chronicles." Though she came from a wealthy family, when she married Ray she took a "vow of poverty," Bradbury once said. Her vow paid off as his career ascended. Her passion for books led to a collection of at least 7,000 and the Bradbury house was, at one time, home to 22 cats. She is survived by her husband, four daughters and eight grandchildren.
Ellen Drew
Actress Ellen Drew, who began her career as a starlet earning $50 a week before graduating to starring roles opposite such actors as Ronald Colman, Dick Powell, Jack Benny, Bing Crosby, Pat O'Brien and Joel McCrea, died of a liver ailment in Palm Desert, Calif. She was 89. Drew may be best known to genre-film fans for her appearances in the Val Lewton-produced "Isle of the Dead" with Boris Karloff, "The Mad Doctor" opposite Basil Rathbone, and "The Monster and the Girl," which featured movie gorilla man Charles Gemora as a simian with the transplanted brain of Drew's brother (Phillip Terry). Drew never achieved breakout stardom, but worked steadily in films of all genres, delivering solid performances for such directors as Preston Sturges ("Christmas in July"), Samuel Fuller ("The Baron of Arizona"), Andre De Toth ("Man in the Saddle"), Gordon Douglas ("The Great Missouri Raid") and Jacques Tourneur ("Stars In My Crown"). Drew was discovered while waitressing at C.C. Brown's on Hollywood Boulevard, where character actor William Demarest encouraged her to pursue a film career, a notion she originally laughed off. She appeared in dozens of films from 1936 until her final big-screen appearance in "Outlaw's Son," a 1957 Western with Dane Clark and Lori Nelson. She also made several television appearances on such programs as "Science Fiction Theater," "The Millionaire," "Perry Mason" and "The Barbara Stanwyck Show."
Earl Bellamy
Prolific film and television director Earl Bellamy died at a hospital in Albuquerque, N.M. following a heart attack. He was 86. He had lived in Rio Rancho, N.M., since the early 1990s. Bellamy directed innumerable television episodes, particularly westerns. In 2002, he was awarded the Golden Boot from the Motion Picture and Television Fund for his contribution to the western genre. Bellamy began his film career as a messenger boy at Columbia pictures in 1935, working his way up the production ranks as a clerk, a second assistant director and an assistant director. His first feature as a director was "Seminole Uprising" in 1955. Other feature direction credits include "Blackjack Ketchum, Desperado," "Toughest Gun in Tombstone" and "Incident at Phantom Hill." But it was in television that Bellamy made his mark, becoming one of the most prolific and in-demand directors in the medium. "I got hooked on television," he once told an interviewer. "If you were doing features, which were a lot of fun, it was a long and drawn-out process. With TV, you're through with one show in six days, and now you've got another one to do with a new script, and off you go again." Bellamy directed programs as varied as "Lassie," "M Squad," "Bachelor Father," "McHale's Navy," "Leave it to Beaver," "The Munsters" and "The Mod Squad." Among the western series he directed were "The Lone Ranger," "Tales of Wells Fargo," "Rawhide," "The Virginian," "Wagon Train," "Annie Oakley," "Tales of the Texas Rangers," "Daniel Boone" and "The Iron Horse." His final directing assignment was the alien invasion miniseries "V" in 1984. He retired in 1986.
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