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On March 13, 1981, one of the best werewolf movies ever made – director Joe Dante’s The Howling (watch it Here) made its debut on theatre screens in the United States. 42 years later, we’re celebrating The Howling with the latest episode of our video series Wtf Happened to This Horror Movie? To find out all about it, check out the video embedded above!

Scripted by John Sayles and Terence H. Winkless, The Howling was loosely based on a novel by Gary Brandner. Here’s the synopsis for the adaptation: In Los Angeles, television journalist Karen White is traumatized in the course of aiding the police in their arrest of a serial murderer. Her doctor recommends that she attend an isolated psychiatric retreat led by Dr. George Waggner. But while Karen is undergoing therapy, her colleague Chris, investigates the bizarre circumstances surrounding her shock. When his work leads him to suspect the supernatural,...

A new episode of the Wtf Really Happened to This Horror Movie? video series has just been released, and in this one we’re looking into the true story of a movie that scared and scarred a lot of viewers when they caught it on cable in the early ’90s, the alien abduction film Fire in the Sky (watch it Here). To find out all about it, check out the video embedded above.

Wtf Really Happened to This Horror Movie? is sort of a spin-off from our show Wtf Happened to This Horror Movie. Wtf Really Happened to This Horror Movie? dives into movies that were based on or “inspired by” true stories, real people, and actual historical events so we can try to separate fact from fiction.

Directed by Robert Lieberman from a screenplay by Tracy Tormé (based on the book The Walton Experience by Travis Walton), Fire in the Sky...

Before TV movies were dissed with the phrase ‘disease of the month,’ this 1973 film surprised and moved audiences with the realistic story of a young mother facing a fatal illness. It’s directed by the great Joseph Sargent and graced with the music of John Denver, but its impact rests upon the remarkable, affecting performance of actress Cristina Raines, then just twenty years old.

Sunshine

Blu-ray

Redwind Productions

1973 / Color / 1:33 flat / 124 min. / Street Date 2018 / Signature Release / 33.95

Starring: Cristina Raines, Cliff De Young, Meg Foster, Brenda Vaccaro, Bill Mumy, Alan Fudge, Corey Fischer, James Hong, Bill Stout, Noble Willingham.

Cinematography: Bill Butler

Film Editor: Buddy Small, Richard M. Sprague

Original Music: Hal Mooney

Songs by John Denver

Written by Carol Sobieski suggested by the journal of Jacquelyn Helton

Produced by George Ekstein

Directed by Joseph Sargent

“What can you say about a twenty-five-year-old girl who died?” That’s the first line...

As The Fate of The Furious enters theaters, a ranking of its 1st Assistant Director’s oeuvre.

Friday brings us the release of The Fate of the Furious, the eighth film in The Fast & The Furious series. Thus, there could be no better time to look back and rank the previous works of one of the films most notable craftsmen, a man whose name is legendary. I speak of course of First Assistant Director Frank Capra III.

Capra III is the grandson of director Frank Capra, a Hollywood legend whose work includes It Happened One Night, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and It’s a Wonderful Life. How did that pedigree fare two generations removed? This exhaustive look at Mr. Capra III’s 1st Ad career will tell the tale.

While the film’s director often gets the lion’s share of the credit, the First Ad is one of the most critical positions on set. In...

Stars: Robin Williams, Forest Whitaker, Tung Thanh Tran, Chintara Sukapatana, Bruno Kirby, Robert Wuhl, J.T. Walsh, Noble Willingham | Written by Mitch Markowitz | Directed by Barry Levinson

The death of Robin Williams has been publicised massively over the last number of days, a shocking loss to the film industry, Williams was a beloved performer who had many fans, and so obviously there has been an outpouring of emotion since he passed away. I was a fan of Robin Williams and as a fan I have my favourites in terms of his library of films and television, the top of the heap being the 1987 comedy-drama, Good Morning, Vietnam, which I will be reviewing here, in both a tribute to the man himself, but also as a way to talk about one of my personal favourite comedy drama films and one I revisit every year or two and always enjoy.

Written by Mitch Markowitz...

1981 was a pretty exciting year for fans of werewolf cinema. Not only did we get John Landis' masterful An American Werewolf in London and a decent adaptation of Whitley Streiber's novel Wolfen, but there was also Joe Dante's The Howling, which is a clever little werewolf flick with a sense of humor that still holds up pretty darn well after all these years. No, the special effects aren't quite as amazing as those found in the John Landis movie, and some of the film's social commentary is stuck firmly in the late 1970s, but given how seldom we get new werewolf flicks these days, there's always something to be said for an old one that can still deliver the goods.

Loosely based on the novel of the same name by Gary Brandner, The Howling is about a TV reporter who suffers a violent assault from a mysterious killer...

From the 70s to the present, we look back through the sterling work of Rutger Hauer to bring you the actor’s 10 finest films that aren't Blade Runner...

For some, Dutch actor Rutger Hauer will forever be associated with a certain rooftop speech about tears in rain. But although his turn as doomed replicant Roy Batty in Blade Runner was a classic one, Hauer’s output before and since has been stunningly prolific. This list, therefore, is designed to highlight 10 of Hauer’s finest non-Blade Runner movies, with a particular emphasis on those that are lesser known – which is why we've gone for some older pictures rather than the more recent and mainstream, such as Batman Begins. And since this is Den of Geek, expect to find lots of action movies, horror, and low-budget sci-fi in the entries below.

One thing they all have in common, though, irrespective of...

Goooooooood Morning Vietnaaaaam! You have to yell it. I.ll wait. Well, Robin Williams. breakout performance makes the transition to high def with a 25th anniversary edition. Not that there.s much new to celebrate the occasion. 1965, Adrian Cronauer (Robin Williams) arrives in Saigon to work as a DJ for Armed Forces Radio. He.s picked up by Pvt. Garlick (Forest Whitaker) but when he arrives at his new job he rubs his superiors, Lt. Hauk (Bruno Kirby) and Sgt. Dickerson (J.T. Walsh), the wrong way. However, he is a hit with the audiences who eat up his comedic patter and Brigadier General Taylor (Noble Willingham) is also a fan so he stays on the air. His love life...

This week sees the release of a few Academy Award nominees and winners, some new tv shows and some movies coming to Blu-ray for the first time. Among the ones we’re most interested in this week are Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire, The Boondock Saints II, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, The Commish and Up in the Air (with George Clooney and Anna Kendrick, pictured above.)

Check them out:

Movies

Capitalism: A Love Story (Blu-ray and DVD)

Edgar Allan Poe’s The Pit And The Pendulum ~ Lorielle New, Stephen Hansen, Bart Voitila (Blu-ray and DVD)

Falling for Grace ~ Gale Harold, Fay Ann Lee, Billy Asher (Blu-ray and DVD)

Hachi: A Dog’s Tale ~ Richard Gere, Joan Allen, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Blu-ray and DVD)

Nine Dead ~ Melissa Joan Hart, John Terry, Lawrence Turner (Blu-ray and DVD)

Old Dogs ~ John Travolta, Kelly Preston, Robin Williams, Seth Green (Blu-ray and DVD)

Paris ~ Juliette Binoche,...

Writers: Numerous Directors: Numerous Cast: Chuck Norris, Clarence Gilyard Jr., Sheree J. Wilson, Noble Willingham Rating: Not Rated Studio: Paramount & CBS Release Date: July 1, 2008 I used to watch Walker, Texas Ranger with my dad when he was alive. My dad was a huge fan of martial arts films. One of his favorite American martial arts experts/actors was Chuck [...]Sharethis.addEntry({ title: "DVD Review: Walker, Texas Ranger: The Complete Fifth Season", url: "http://www.literaryillusions.com/LIreviews/2008/07/03/dvd-review-walker-texas-ranger-complete-fifth-season/" });...

After hawking its food-for-thought wares in fests from Santa Barbara, Calif., to Dallas, and now a strong entry in the Method Festival - a one-week event that celebrates performances in independent films - "The Corndog Man" (tonight at the State Theatre in Pasadena) is worth savoring for several reasons, but theatrically it remains a hard sell beyond limited exposure in art cinemas.

Initially, the concept of the film set in contemporary South Carolina is grating and somewhat tedious - a revenge-minded man we never see clearly makes hundreds of harassing phone calls to aging redneck and boat seller Ace (Noble Willingham). But director Andrew Shea ("Santa Fe") has a good eye for visuals and takes credit for the fine pacing as the film's editor.

Veteran character actor Willingham ("Chinatown"), meanwhile, delivers an awe-inspiring performance as a horrid, pathetic loner who becomes unhinged and eventually turns to violence. Still, nothing is entirely predictable in this probing, gritty drama - which does have its share of comedy relief and subtle humor.

Co-writer Jim Holmes provides the voice of illegitimate Penrod Barker, who deliberately sets out to drive his father, Ace - guilty of bad character and tragic crimes in the past - to ruin by never giving him a moment's rest. In effect a two-person, stagy kind of affair, "Corndog" nicely transcends its potential limitations with adroitly rendered background action, such as the naughty antics of Ace's co-workers while he's on the phone.

Shea utilizes black-and-white imagery and slow-motion in flashback sequences, and food plays a major part as the title would suggest, but even these familiar devices are employed well, and one becomes quite involved with the characters. Of course, there is some harsh, race-related language. Cars, boats and heads get bashed. Ultimately, it's Willingham's amazing success playing an ugly but fascinating wreck of a man that haunts one.

THE CORNDOG MAN

Corndog Prods.

A Doradel Pictures production

Director-editor:Andrew Shea

Screenwriters:Andrew Shea, David Steen, Jim Holmes

Producers:Jim Holmes, David Steen, Andrew Shea

Executive producers:Kjehl Rasmussen, James J. Melino

Director of photography:David Bridges

Production designer:Rusty Smith

Costume designer:Karen Keyes

Casting:Shana Landsburg

Color/stereo

Cast:

Ace Barker:Noble Willingham

Voice of Penrod Barker:Jim Holmes

Running time - 84 minutes

No MPAA rating...