#anthonyhickox

[duranduratulsa]

Now showing on DuranDuranTulsa's Horror Show...Hellraiser III: Hell On Earth (1992) on glorious vintage VHS 📼! #movie #movies #horror #hellraiser #hellraiseriiihellonearth #hellraiser3 #clivebarker #pinhead #cenobites #dougbradley #AshleyLaurence #kevinbernhardt #TerryFarrell #lawrencemortoff #paulamarshall #anthonyhickox #aimeeleigh #armoredsaint #zachgalligan #vintage #vhs #90s #durandurantulsa #durandurantulsashorrorshow

[adamwatchesmovies]

Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992)

Maybe it’s a good thing my first DVD of Hellraiser 3: Hell on Earth was too badly damaged to play. If it had functioned properly, I don’t think I would've continued with the series. This film is badly acted, poorly written, plagued with bad special effects and filled with questionable creature designs. It also makes the enormous mistake of giving us a complete origin for Pinhead. Worst of all, it's boring.

Rich and spoiled club owner J.P. Monroe (Kevin Bernhardt) stumbles upon a curious artifact - an intricately carved stone pillar covered with tormented faces. When blood is spilled onto its surface (in a head-scratching scene that involves a hand-sized hole trap you'd expect to find in an Indiana Jones movie and a phony-looking rat) Pinhead (Doug Bradley) will emerge once again. With the Cenobite aiming to bring Hell to Earth, an ambitious young television reporter named Joey Summerskill (Terry Farrell) is humanity’s only hope.

I’m seriously considering giving this movie a big fat zero. It's hard to name anything good, or even creative about Hellraiser 3. Right away, it sets itself up for failure by having some bad actors front and center. The worst offender has to be Joey’s cameraman Doc (Ken Carpenter). From there, it just keeps getting worse. I understand that if you’re making a sequel to a film franchise that didn’t lend itself to multiple chapters, you’ve got to dig for ideas, but giving an origin story to your movie monster does not help make them more frightening or interesting. When Cenobites turn out to be a bunch of humans who got warped by mysterious powers, the spook scale goes down a notch, but they can still be compelling. When you give Pinhead a name and you spend the time to know everything about him, he becomes a tragic figure (at best), not one that fills you with dread.

If you could somehow muster enough enthusiasm to care about the characters in this film (a legendary feat) you'll still struggle to stay awake. This plot is as generic as it gets. What does Pinhead want? To bring Hell to Earth. How? By destroying the Lament Configuration and escaping his prison. Once he gets out, what is his plan? Kill a bunch of people and assemble an army of the worst-looking Cenobites ever conceived. Meanwhile, Joey talks to the ghost of Pinhead’s former self to figure out a way to keep the box out of the demon's hands. I'll come up with a better story outline right now. How about the story of a devout Christian who loses hope in humanity when he realizes the best way to convince the world that God is real... is to give them a glimpse of Hell? Hearing stories and testimonies of people from the mental ward in which he volunteers in, the man has to commit a series of ever-escalating crimes to obtain the object and equipment necessary to accomplish what he perceives as a noble goal. He tells himself that all of these actions are justified and will be forgiven once he goes to confession. As his heart gets blacker and blacker, he begins losing track of why he was doing this in the first place and Pinhead’s evil starts leaking into his life while he begins slowly figuring out how to open up the puzzle. There!

I have to dedicate a segment of this review to the new Cenobites introduced. The worst monsters ever brought to the screen. The biggest eye-sore has to be one that butchers human with killer CDs. An anthropomorphic CD player with a leather fetish. Easily the worst of the bunch, but a special mention goes to killer camera lens guy, who looks like he was designed by a 12-year old who once saw a still from Hellraiser. “Breathing stoma” Cenobite and “Piston Head” Cenobite are nearly as awful. The special effects that bring these creatures to life are reasonable, but there is no shortage of bad special effects. Pinhead in that pillar is no Han Solo in Carbonite.

Despite my best efforts, I failed to watch all of the Hellraiser franchise in chronological order, but I saw a fair amount. I say this saga is on the same level as the Leprechaun series. At least the Irish menace's misdeeds never put me to sleep and remained consistent. Hellraiser and its sequels wasted their potential through cheap cash grabs to keep the characters in the public eye. I despised Hell on Earth. I urge you to stay away from the series overall. Check out the first film, there’s some good stuff there. Horror classics, these are not. I hope someday we get a remake, with great special effects and a tight story. Until then, I’d like to send the series back to where it came from. (On DVD, July 12, 2015)

[spacelordmf]

Hellraiser III: Hell On Earth

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Night. #Repost @scaryflix with @get_repost ・・・ #Hellraiser 3—I Am The Way! 😵✝️ Cast: #DougBradley #TerryFarrell | Director: #AnthonyHickox | #Pinhead #Horror #NoSleep https://www.instagram.com/p/ByMmLBbFIxS/?igshid=eyx67emx4ecr

[the-master-cylinder]

SUMMARY Max Dire is a Los Angeles detective who is feeling the strain that his profession entails when his wife of two years, Liza, accuses him of bringing his work home and leaves him to ponder her future, while his partner, Jim Sheldon, commits suicide by shooting himself in the head. Realizing that Max is experiencing problems, Adam Garou, a high-ranking officer distinguished by his success in reducing crime in other big cities, invites Max to join him at his apartment for a weekly meeting with other police officers who are experiencing difficulties. Adam advises Max that since he is a good detective and he should try to solve his problems rather than quitting the force.

Although Max is skeptical as to whether he will derive any benefit from the meeting, as he and his wife had already attended counselling sessions without success, he reluctantly attends the meeting where he meets other police officers such as Casey Spencer and Ramon Perez. Everyone who Max meets at the meeting praises the impact that Garou’s influence has had on their fortunes. Max soon realizes that the activities of the group also entail embarking on vigilante missions to clean the streets of criminals.

Max initially tells Garou that he is not interested in joining the group, but agrees to accompany them to a party where criminals are exchanging weapons. Before gate crashing the party, Max notices that each of the group members injects themselves with a strange chemical, which he learns has been produced by Garou. After they have injected this chemical, Garou and his team become more powerful and seemingly impervious to injury. The next day Max attempts to advise his incredulous boss of the strange goings on, but to no avail.

He visits Casey Spencer who tries to persuade him to inject himself with the chemical. When he refuses, she shoots him. As Max lies dying on the floor, she injects him with the chemical and he is instantly healed. They sleep with each other and, afterwards, injecting themselves and raid a criminal lair after. As Max and Casey easy dispatch the criminals, they sprout long claws from their knuckles, and grow sharp teeth. One of the criminals escapes and informs his crime boss what he saw. He is given instructions to deal with Garou.

Garou learns of Casey’s sexual encounter with Max and angrily advises her that he is ‘top dog’ before raping her. Afterwards, Garou and his group, including Max, gather together for another night of attacking the criminals. After injecting themselves with Garou’s chemical, the officers enter a vehicle to depart. The vehicle explodes as the key is turned in the ignition. As the remnants of the vehicle burn, the criminal who had been instructed to kill Garou is horrified to see that all of the officers have survived and that they are in their monster-like state. The dead bodies of the criminal and his associates are dropped from a helicopter through the glass ceiling of the crime boss’ home.

The same night, Max meets a deformed ex-police officer in a holding cell. He tells Max that he knows Garou and they used to work together. Garou has worked in numerous cities, and after the streets are cleaned of crime, all of the officers who work with him were killed (though he had escaped). He also explained that his deformity was caused by overuse of the chemical. Garou kills the officer to silence him and Max covers for him, but his suspicions are aroused and he begins to conduct some research into Garou.

After making a startling discovery, he sneaks into Garou’s apartment and finds Garou extracting the chemical from his own brain with a syringe. Max advises Garou that he realizes that he is a werewolf. Conflict ensues and although Max and Casey escape from Garou’s apartment, the latter is fatally injured. The next day Garou prepares to complete his final operation and Max resolves to stop him. After Garou has killed all of the criminals, including the aforementioned crime boss, Max shoots him with a silver bullet and Garou falls to the ground. Thinking that Garou is dead, Max turns away. However, Garou, who informed Max previously that a full eclipse protects him from everything (including silver), reappears behind him. A full eclipse had passed overhead as these events took place. He then turns into an extremely large werewolf, losing his human form entirely.

Max flees as the other members of Garou’s group are killed. Garou tries to kill Max, but the latter injects Garou with a solution of silver nitrate. As the eclipse is over, this kills Garou. Before he dies Garou returns to his human form and tells Max that if he lies in his blood he can take his power. In the finale, Max is shown to have moved to Denver with his wife Anna and their relationship seems to have improved. She is shown cutting her finger with a knife as she is chopping up food. Max licks her finger and then leaves to undertake some paperwork. She notices that her cut heals immediately and stares after Max bewildered. Meanwhile, Max is shown looking up on a computer the dates of coming eclipses in different American cities.

DEVELOPMENT/PRODUCTION The project was initially titled The Pack, after the name of a special unit of the LAPD that utilizes a secret new drug to help them combat crime. On the LA street location, director Anthony Hickox calls quickly for another take before the smoke disappears and the sun rises to ruin the shot. The FX crew relights the flames around the van and fans blow smoke across the scene. swirling it around the six actors who make up the Pack. “Action! One. two, three, monsters!” Hickox calls in his polite English accent. Slowly. the half-dozen transformed werewolves rise from the ground, move through the smoke and stand together. united in power.

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The story was born when writer Richard Christian Matheson was approached by a friend. Michael Reaves, to co-script a werewolf/cop movie. Matheson, who has written for over 30 TV shows including Amazing Stories and Tales from the

Crypt, wasn’t sure he was interested in working in this subgenre. As he explains further. “I’ve never been a fan of werewolf movies. As soon as they transform, they seem kind of benign to me. They don’t seem so eerie. and they lose all the facial detail that can be most frightening in a monster. I wanted to make sure that when they transformed. they did not look like wolves. I felt that would diminish the effect.

“If the script was going to be about werewolves. I also wanted it to be about addiction and overcoming the controlling influence of the lunar cycles,” he continues. “With that in mind, we set about putting the story together.

You know what, I love horror more than anything, but after making five of them, it was like, I wanna blow some shit up. Full Eclipse came along, which was a Richard Matheson script, who’s a horror writer generally and it was just such a great, for me, it had everything I wanted to do.HBO put six million dollars on that budget, which is why I could do all that shit. I love Full Eclipse because I got to do horror and these great action scenes, John Woo action scenes. Also, I was watching all these action movies thinking it must be so much fun to get to do that. – Anthony Hickox (Director)

Matheson is vehement when he describes how he visualized the creatures. “They weren’t going to be covered with hair and they weren’t going to be fully transformed.” he says, “They were going to be, in essence. stuck at the halfway point. because that’s the most frightening thing to me.

“Full Eclipse is not really a werewolf movie,” he insists. “It’s almost about the id coming under a sort of preternatural influence. It’s about addiction, and the ghastly transformational tendency of drugs. Like those guys who take STP and lift a car up, or can take a couple of rounds from a police revolver and keep coming at you.”

It didn’t take Matheson long to place the screenplay with Home Box Office. The writer has an uncanny ability to sell spec scripts, and to date has sold nine to various studios. The next step was finding the right director, and the production soon chose Hickox. He had his own opinions as to the important elements of the script and how the Pack should look, right down to their futuristic outfits and weapons. Luckily, the director and writers shared the same vision.

“I’m a huge comics fan: I read a lot of Marvel Comics, so I had a look I wanted.” Hickox explains. “Superheroes gone wrong. the whole Marvel mutant thing. I’ve always liked that concept; people with superpowers were a heavy influence. I’m quite sure I can’t buy the rights to the X-Men, so this allowed me to do my own version.”

Classic movies also played a part in Hickox’s conception. “I wanted the wolves to look like the first actor Henry Hulll who played one in Werewolf of London (1935),” he says. “We were going for a cross between him and Oliver Reed in Curse of the Werewolf. There’s a great moment where he turns from the jail cell window, and that’s kind of how I hope our werewolves are going to look. But I also wanted this to be different, especially with the two stages. There’s a first stage the Pack goes through, where they become superhuman and look like the true werewolves as the legends describe them-half man and hall wolf. Then there’s the stage where they become full wolves at the end.

“We really tried to let the actor shine through.” says the director of this approach. “It’s funny how each

face takes on a different character. We didn’t want them to just be covered in makeup. We really built on their foreheads, cheeks and necks. I also love their weapon claws, and the fact that they actually bleed when the claws come out of their fingers, which I think would happen if you were transforming.”

Bringing these ideas to screen life was a big jump, which is why veteran Tony Gardner, head of Alterian Studios was hired to create Full Eclipse’s special FX makeup. Gardner, in his quiet, professional way is a problem solver and a master artist. Not only did Alterian design the transformation makeup, as well as a terrifying 12-foot wolf for the final fight scene, but they developed the futuristic combat gear, helmets and even the insignias and logos for the Pack members.

We have a stage one look, which is just additive makeup and dentures. Gardner explains. “Stage two is where we get into appliances that go down from the forehead almost to the outer corners of the eyes. We’ve got this weird, funky appliance that goes from the tip of the nose to the lip line, just to connect the two in a more animalistic way. We’ve also got upper and lower teeth. Bruce Payne is the only person who enters stage three. That’s a big appliance makeup which goes from his collarbone over his head and covers him entirely, with big fake ears and hair and stuff like that. It’s a much larger cranium, and you see a lot more skull structure.

“We change them gradually to reveal them more and more as werewolves.” Gardner continues. “Different people are taken to different degrees. The only one you’ll see transform completely is Bruce’s character, who turns into an 11- or 12-foot wolf with fur over his entire body. It’s a big monster.”

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Yet even great makeup concepts wouldn’t mean much without the right actors in the parts. For the role of daredevil Pack officer Casey, Hickox brought in his old friend, British actress Patsy Kensit. Well known for her starring turn as Mel Gibson’s stunning South African girlfriend in Lethal Weapon 2, Kensit is also a major horror movie fan. The concept of becoming a werewolf appealed to her, despite the four hour-plus makeup process.

“I loved that,” she says. “I’ve I never done anything like it before. Garrett Immel, who works with Tony, was kind of my key person. They were fantastic. They’re so into it: they’re really great people and so talented. What they can do with just a bit of shading and some prosthetics is incredible.

Kensit not only enjoyed the special FX side of the shoot, but was enthusiastic about everything she was required to do, from a sexy love scene with Van Peebles to a midnight swim in the Pacific ocean. The love scene, naturally, was a great deal easier and more fun. “Anthony originally wanted something that involved a lot of nudity, and I wasn’t prepared to do that,” she explains. “Now it’s very erotic, but it leaves a lot to the imagination. Anthony’s got a great mind. So he shot it beautifully, and it’s pretty steamy.”

The venture into the Pacific ocean was anything but steamy, as Kensit recalls. “When Mario and I went into the water, it was freezing cold. I had kind of a half wetsuit under my dress. so it wasn’t as bad, but Mario had nothing. We were both covered in sand burns afterwards, and it was a really mucky part of the ocean. It was the most horrific. freezing cold night of my life, with the waves crashing over me. Apparently it looks great, and that’s always worth it. That was really the hardest part of the movie, but it was a great experience. It’s something I’m glad I explored as an actress.”

Kensit wasn’t the only one who enjoyed the opportunity to play a werewolf. Van Peebles also found the concept attractive, and is eager to discuss what he calls “man’s fascination with his animal nature, or his animal side. We’ve always been curious about our evolution from beasts, and our connection to them. I always wanted to play a werewolf or a vampire, or something of that nature. It’s very cathartic to be these different people. see what they feel and let that part of you go. It’s healthy to do this.”

Van Peebles didn’t mind the heavy makeup either, and in fact was intrigued by the whole process. Hickox saw a preview for Posse, which Van Peebles both directed and starred in. and immediately decided he was the right man for the part. The actor gives Hickox points for his progressive views on casting. “It was very forward-thinking on Anthony’s part.” he states. “Because it wasn’t written for someone black, or green or blue. And Patsy as the leading lady-it’s very avant-garde in that it doesn’t pander to typical views.”

If Full Eclipse’s hero is atypical. then its villain breaks just as many molds and stereotypes. Captain Garou is one of the most compelling bad guys since Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Both Matheson and Hickox were concerned that without the right performance, Garou could turn into just another melodramatic villain. And, as Matheson explains, that wasn’t what either of them had in mind. “Garou didn’t want to be a monster.” the writer says. “He wanted to join the human community and make it better-to evolve and protect it. He was also learning to master his lycanthropic curse. Most monsters have a sort of grudge against humanity, but I don’t think Garou does: he simply dislikes crime. That makes him interesting. and Bruce really brings all of those nuances out. He’s a wonderful actor and a very bright man.”

Those levels of the character were exactly what interested Payne. While he worked to prepare for the action sequences speaking to friends in Delta Force and members of the Los Angeles SWAT team who were working with the film company-it was the psychological factors that Payne was more concerned with.

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“We’re all looking for something quicker, faster and easier that gives us a shorter feeling of contentment.” he says. “I found a lot of undercurrent issues within this character of a police officer who really feels he’s a shining knight. He’s developed this serum which is really part of his own body. This bad guy thinks he’s the good guy: he believes he’s on a good quest.”

To give the character of Garou even more depth and poignancy. Hickox decided to make some slight changes to the final transformation scene. The sequence involves Max and Garou having a terrible fight, in which Garou changes completely into the huge, towering wolf and almost tears the young cop apart. But in the end, when good naturally triumphs. Garou reverts to his true form: a very old man. The full makeup change wasn’t decided upon until the last moment, and therefore presented the film’s biggest challenge for both the special FX team and Payne.

“When you have a two-day warning, it’s impossible to create that prosthetic stuff.” the actor elaborates. “Fortunately, Tony is a very clever and energetic young man with a lot of good ideas. The man who actually did the hands-on application and coloring of the makeup was an old friend of mine named Mike Smithson. whom I had the great pleasure of working with on Switch. He’s a true talent, and he basically pulled together some of his own pieces, from his own face. They tried to match them and enhance a very old, elegant face as best they could. We put on a small. old forehead piece, but it wasn’t built for me, so he had to cut it and shape it, which is incredibly difficult. Actually, it’s a taboo thing. You don’t cut a prosthetic. because as soon as you do. the thin edge suddenly isn’t there and you have a ledge. In prosthetic terms, that ledge is the equivalent of missing a floor in a parking structure as you’re building it, so hiding it requires incredible tenacity.

Anthony Hickox was finishing Full Eclipse. This is another project where I focused writing around a rhythm section – hammond, guitar, bass and drums. For the action cues, many of Billy Ward’s performances were on midi pads, so that I could take his recordings and associate the information with other sounds – such as pitched slate tiles and other found sounds.  All in all, we had a lot of fun on this one, and I heard that Jim Kerr, who was married to Patsy Kensit at the time, liked my end credit theme when he heard it at the cast screening! – Gary Chang (Score Composer)

CAST/CREW Directed Anthony Hickox

Written Richard Christian Matheson Michael Reaves

Mario Van Peebles as Max Dire Patsy Kensit as Casey Spencer Bruce Payne as Adam Garou Anthony John Denison as Jim Sheldon Jason Beghe as Doug Crane Paula Marshall as Liza John Verea as Ramon Perez Dean Norris as Fleming Willie C. Carpenter as Ron Edmunds Victoria Rowell as Anna Dire Scott Paulin as Teague Mel Winkler as Stratton Joseph Culp as Detective Tom Davies

CREDITS/REFERENCES/SOURCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY my-blog-of-interviews halloweenlove Fangoria#129

Full Eclipse (1993) Retrospective SUMMARY Max Dire is a Los Angeles detective who is feeling the strain that his profession entails when his wife of two years, Liza, accuses him of bringing his work home and leaves him to ponder her future, while his partner, Jim Sheldon, commits suicide by shooting himself in the head.

[ketchupandmyownass]

let's do it babies!!!! #movies #cthomashowell #joanseverance #anthonyhickox #pmentertainment #josephmerhi #jefffahey #action #90s #thriller #chud

[spacerangerprince]

Watched "Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth" (1992) [9 years ago] (09/14/10) Posted: 09/14/19 #timehop #miramaxfilms #dimensionfilms #anthonyhickox #hellraiser3hellonearth #horrorfilm #september14 #9yearsago #summer2010 (at North York) https://www.instagram.com/p/B2aqxSeBE8C/?igshid=1qcqgh70rfd2g

[www-love80s-ru]

Watching horror comedy "Waxwork" (1988) on Blu-ray. Directed by Anthony Hickox, starring Zach Galligan, Clare Carey, Deborah Foreman, Jennifer Bassey, Michelle Johnson, Dana Ashbrook and David Warner. 🎥🎞Do you like that movie? . #waxwork #horror #horrorfilms #horrormovies #anthonyhickox #zachgalligan #clarecarey #80smovies #80sfilms #mynostalgia #фильмы80х #фильмыужасов #ужастики (at Chicago, Illinois) https://www.instagram.com/p/B0KZgzlgAV4/?igshid=kpzpxmun0jkz

[outhouseofhorror]

Down the dark decades of your pain, this will seem like a memory of Heaven. #OoH #Hellraiser #III #HellOnEarth #1992 #director #AnthonyHickox #actor AKA @RealDougBradley #ILoveHorrorMovies #HorrorIcons #Cenobites #LeadCenobite #LamentationConfiguration #lemarchandsbox #author @RealCliveBarker #TheHellboundHeart #TheScarletGospels #ReadingIsFundamental #HorrorKeepsMeSane (at Shirlington House Apartments)

[duranduratulsa]

Now showing on Steve's Favorites Filmfest...Hellraiser III: Hell On Earth (1992) on glorious vintage VHS 📼! #movie #movies #horror #hellraiser #hellraiser3 #hellraiseriiihellonearth #clivebarker #pinhead #cenobites #dougbradley #anthonyhickox #kevinbernhardt #TerryFarrell #lawrencemortoff #paulamarshall #90s #vintage #vhs #stevesfavorites

[actionerd]

Van Damme sera Falconman

Van Damme sera Falconman #Falconman #JCVD #AnthonyHickox

Ce n’est peut-être qu’une rumeur, avec IMDB et quelques sites spécialisés commencent à discuter d’un possible projet en développement pour Jean-Claude Van Damme (Universal Soldier).

Pour ce que nous avons pour l’instant, c’est la confirmation que JCVD tiendra le rôle principal du film d’action. Aucun résumé n’est disponible, mais cela l’affiche promotionnelle de Falconman, le long-métrage suivra…

[speedou]

Waxwork (Anthony Hickox, 1988)

[the-master-cylinder]

SUMMARY Under the leadership of their ancient and powerful leader Jozek Mardulak, a colony of vampires seek a peaceful life in the desolate desert town of Purgatory. Key to the transition is the town’s artificial-blood making facility and it is just not working. Mardulak summons the human designer of the plant, who brings his wife and two young daughters along for what he thinks will be a pleasant desert vacation. Soon, he and his family are caught up in a civil war as another vampire elder, who abhors the idea of vampires being anything other than predators, organizes a revolution, and a descendant of the Van Helsing family arrives intent on destroying all vampires.

PRODUCTION The original script by John Burgess was not intended as a Western parody, although it contained the same basic premise of an isolated town of vampires. “It was meant to be an answer to Roman Polanski’s THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS,” said Hickox. When Vestron offered Hickox the chance to direct the film, they asked if he wanted to rewrite the script. “During the rewriting, all these Western cliches came up,” said Hickox. “Then when filming, we decided to dress everyone up like cowboys.”

Of course, cowboys and vampires make for a strange mixture, but part of the fun of the project was finding ways to make the two sets of cliches work together. For example: how does one justify a shootout between characters impervious to ordinary bullets? Hickox’s answer: wooden bullets. “I know my lore,” he said, explaining why he avoided the DARK SHADOWS error of using silver bullets, which (as any fan knows) work only on werewolves. Added Hickox, “They wooden bullets actually work. The Germans manufactured them during the war because they were running out of metal. I didn’t know that when I wrote it; somebody told me afterwards.”

Another sly touch is the casting of David Carradine, whose role in the philosophical western series KUNG FU hardly leads one to think of him as the aristocratic Count Mardulak-until one recalls that David’s father, John Carradine, played Count Dracula on several occasions, including one of the few previous vampire westerns, BILLY THE KID VS. DRACULA (1966). Said Carradine, “I play it like my father would have, in that ‘grand’ old style of acting. As soon as I read the script, I kept thinking of the way my father would do it.”

The film was shot entirely on location in Moab, Utah, during four weeks last summer which lent an authentic atmosphere and helped keep the budget down. “It was a tough movie because it was low budget, but it doesn’t look cheap,” said Hickox, a former English resident who admits he had never been out in the American countryside before going on location. “As an outsider, you pick up the cliches better-you aren’t afraid of them. Which is why, I think, Sergio Leone could make a great western.”

One scene called for an old fashioned crane shot, with the camera rising from behind a small hill to reveal a wide valley below-similar to scenes in dozens of Hollywood Westerns. “We couldn’t afford a crane that would go that high,” said Hickox. Fortunately, INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE was filming nearby. “We were driving back from the location, wondering how we were going to get that shot, and down the other side of the road coming toward us was a Titan Crane, the one we wanted, going home from RAIDERS III. We pulled it over-hijacked the truck and got our shot. Luckily, our producer Jeff Richard knew the guy driving the truck.”

A concern of a more personal but less substantial nature arose when Hickox’s directorial debut, WAXWORK, opened the same weekend he was about to start shooting SUNDOWN. “That was terrifying,” he said. “Can you imagine-just about to start and people ring up to say, Hollywood Reporter called you the worst director ever.’ I thought Vestron might read the reviews and throw me off the film.”

Portraying vampire leader Count Mardulak, David Carradine admonishes the dead townsfolk for considering a return to drinking human hemoglobin. After all, didn’t he rescue them from their predatory, bloodsucking ways? Hasn’t he spent all his money to bring them here? To build this town? To manufacture synthetic blood so they could live in peace alongside their natural food source, humans?

Threatening clouds seem to gather overhead in response to Carradine’s speech. As winds whip around the vampires, director Hickox calls for several more takes and some reaction shots of the undead crowd to edit in later. Meanwhile, two dozen onlookers and technicians applaud Carradine’s performance. Vampire bodyguard Chris Caputo meanders over to discuss some fine points behind the action and introduces Evil Dead’s Bruce Campbell.

Campbell has the distinct honor of portraying Van Helsing’s grandson, aptly named Van Helsing. “Van Helsing, being the descendant of the great vampire hunter who chased Dracula around, has a family destiny to live up to-even though socially, he’s pretty much a nerd,” explains Campbell, decked out in goofy moustache and suit. “He’s very sharp when it comes to vampires. Ask him anything about a vampire, he can tell you. He thinks killing them is cool. He just doesn’t function in the real world.”

When the awkward nerd meets sultry vampiress Deborah Foreman, his feet predictably turn to jelly. “Like I said, he’s naive in the ways of the world, but not in the ways of the vampire,” Campbell grins. “He’s about to become kissy-face with this girl he’s falling for, and he catches their reflection in his car hubcap but only sees his own. He goes, ‘Oh my God, she’s a vampire!’ He never thought of this-hey, she’s a little pale, but no big deal. So instantly, he pins her down with a stake aimed at her heart. He keeps them in a holster. He’s like Rambo, only with vampire-killing stuff.”

“Sandy’s been a vampire for just six months, and she’s kind of confused,” is how Deborah Foreman puts it during Sundown’s Moab, Utah location filming. Sitting at a bowling alley snack bar on a Sunday evening as cast and crew relax in preparation for the next day’s start of all-night shooting, she expounds upon her character’s inner conflicts. “Sandy was converted to vampiredom by Mardulak (David Carradine) himself. She’s dealing with human feelings, and losing them. When Van Helsing (Bruce Campbell) comes to town, well, he’s a male human to her, and she wants to know if she can still please a man.”

The skies open up, and another downpour sends Campbell jogging to his dressing room, where he explains the comedic aspects of Sun. down. “It’s hard to define this whole comedy thing,” he marvels. “I still have a character, he still has a mission, he’s still serious about everything. In Evil Dead, Ash goes from being an idiot to a fearless idiot trying to get by, day to day. In Evil Dead II, Ash breaks plates and bottles over his own head, but it’s not played funny. If you did it laughing and smiling, the audience just wouldn’t accept it. As far as I’m concerned, if it’s funny, you still have to play it straight. Otherwise, it’s a farce.

“I’m from the Sam Raimi school of moviemaking,” defends Campbell when discussing the differences between his past and present experiences. “Sam is very technical. The camera’s in your face. You’ve got to hit very precise marks. He’ll do 10 takes to get it right. This is a little different. Tony Hickox is very fast, but he’s still extremely aware and gets on you if you start slouching off or sliding into another character. He’ll say, ‘Hey, you’re Ashing out on me.’ ”

Suddenly, Dana Ashbrook, a thespian veteran of Waxwork, Return of the Living Dead, Part II and the upcoming Girlfriend from Hell, enters the small dressing room with a Scrabble board tucked under his arm and a challenge for the ever ready Campbell. “I get vamped in a jail cell. M. Emmet Walsh bites me, but I live in this one…for eternity!” beams the 21-year-old. “For this part, I’m pretty much playing myself, a sarcastic wiseguy. Tony Hickox tells me how he wants it, and if it doesn’t work, he changes it. He’s a real actor’s director.”

Vampire has built a retirement town for the undead. “We wear dark glasses and number 100 sun block,” Carradine deadpans. “We can come out in sunlight if we wear hats and gloves. Basically, we’re trying to stop biting people. I have a factory that produces synthetic blood. There’s a certain contingency among us that wants to go back to the old ways. They stage a mutiny, and we have a war between the good and the bad vampires. The good win.

“It’s a send-up of vampires. Most of ’em are, these days. You never see a serious vampire picture anymore,” the actor muses. “It’s an old genre that people don’t take seriously. The only way you can sell it is to say to the audience, ‘I don’t take it seriously, do you?’ There’s also a secret in the movie,” he adds from the doorway while caressing his wife and manager, Gail Jensen. “I’m really Count Dracula. All the way through the story, you think my name is Mardulak. He’s not telling anyone he’s Dracula. At the end, you learn who he is and that he’s 1,000 years old. It’s the first movie ever where Dracula is the hero.”

Leaving the Carradines and wandering the darkened desert set is like strolling through an actual Old West ghost town, where the agonizing moans of victims from ancient gunfights is almost audible within each gust of wind. Up ahead, director Hickox helms a scene in which vampire M. Emmet Walsh encounters Dana Ashbrook and Elizabeth Gracen (1982’s Miss America). Ashbrook and Gracen have just seen Walsh decapitate their friend, and they’re pretty freaked out. “My character, Alice, came out of this dream and now she’s in hell, vampire wonderland!” explains the former beauty queen.

Hickox ruins the moment to tour the set and point out the custom Y-shaped vampire straws specially designed to fit over fangs while drinking synthetic blood called Neck-tarine. “Sundown has turned into an out-and-out adventure comedy,” surmises the director, “with the feel of a spaghetti Western. My lifelong desire is to make good vampire movies, the ultimate vampire movie, which I think this is.”

SPECIAL EFFECTS The film’s effects and makeup are being kept to a minimum by Hickox, who already tried his hand at excess in WAXWORK, particularly the blood drenched Castle Dracula sequence. This time, in keeping with the film’s western motif and comic tone, he’s aiming for a broader audience and hoping for a PG-13 rating, although he suspects the ratings board will hand the film an R anyway, because of its horrific elements.

“I learned a lot from WAXWORK, particularly to save the best for last,” said Hickox “On this one, I gave myself time. It pays off; the best stuff’s at the end, and that’s what you remember when you leave the cinema.”

On location in Utah was the makeup effects unit, under the direction of Tony Gardner (THE BLOB). Gardner’s unit provided several insert shots and two key sequences: a transformation of about 20 vampires into bats and the fiery destruction of the evil vampires beneath the shadow of a crucifix at the film’s conclusion.

The transformation sequence, storyboarded and directed by Gardner, features a full-body spandex bat suit, with a 14-foot aluminum armature wingspan, and a series of progressive makeups which grow darker and more clean shaven, matching the gargoyle appearance of the mechanical and stop-motion bats provided by Tony Doublin. As a humorous touch, Hickox requested that the vampires retain their hairstyles throughout the transformation, making them recognizable in bat form.

“We tried to keep some semblance of human physiology,” said Doublin. “At first, [Hickox] wanted realistic bats, basically furballs with wings. As I started drawing, he’d say “Well, like JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS.’ He really started going for the gargoyle look.” Doublin contributed a handful of effective stop-motion shots, most notably a continuous 47-second motion-control shot of three bats flying past the camera and speaking in lipsync animation.

Gardner explains Sundown’s bat transformations. “Basically, we’re doing a montage of progressive appliance makeups,” notes Gardner. “We’re trying to build up a sense of vampires waking up and starting to change into bats, so we came up with a very fast sequence instead of slowing down the story and saying, “Well, we’re going to show you an effect now.’ Starting with wide shots, the sequence will progressively get faster and tighter,” notes the FX wizard, who garners his first second unit directing opportunity with the scene in question.

“We didn’t have access to a lot of the actors in LA because they were trying to cast local people out here,” interjects Gardner’s associate Loren Gitthens.

“So instead of just doing a lot of generic appliances,” continues the 25-year-old Gardner, “for people we never met and that we could never make fangs for, we made teeth for the guys in our own shop. The whole makeup crew and their wives and girlfriends, even my wife Cindy, came out here and got to be in that cave scene.”

CAST/CREW Directed Anthony Hickox

Produced Dan Ireland Jack Lorenz Jefferson Richard

Written John Burgess Anthony Hickox

David Carradine as Jozek Mardulak Bruce Campbell as Robert Van Helsing Morgan Brittany as Sarah Harrison Jim Metzler as David Harrison Maxwell Caulfield as Shane Harrison Deborah Foreman as Sandy White Emmet Walsh as Mort Bisby John Ireland as Ethan Jefferson Dana Ashbrook as Jack John Hancock as Quinton Canada Marion Eaton as Anna Trotsberg Dabbs Greer as Otto Trotsberg Bert Remsen as Milt Bisby Sunshine Parker as Merle Bisby Helena Carroll as Madge Elizabeth Gracen as Alice Christopher Bradley as Chaz Kathy MacQuarrie Martin as Burgundy Jack Eiseman as Nigel George Buck Flower as Bailey Erin Gourlay as Juliet Harrison Vanessa Pierson as Gwendolyn Harrison

CREDITS/REFERENCES/SOURCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY Cinefantastique v20n01-02 (Nov 1989) Gorezone#12 The Bloody Best of Fangoria#09 Fangoria#88

Sundown The Vampire in Retreat (1989) Retrospective SUMMARY Under the leadership of their ancient and powerful leader Jozek Mardulak, a colony of vampires seek a peaceful life in the desolate desert town of Purgatory.

[themoviecave]

31 Days of Horror (2016) | Movie No. 22 & 23 #nowwatching #waxwork #waxworkiilostintime #zachgalligan #anthonyhickox #bluray #bluraycollection #vestronvideo #movies #cinephile #horror #31daysofhorror #tmc31doh #horrorchallenge

[spacerangerprince]

Watched "Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth" (1992) [9 years ago] (09/14/10) Posted: 09/14/19 #timehop #miramaxfilms #dimensionfilms #anthonyhickox #hellraiser3hellonearth #horrorfilm #september14 #9yearsago #summer2010 on Flickr.

[outhouseofhorror]

Pinhead: This is my body, This is my blood, Happy are they who come to my supper. 🤓🎟️🍿🥤🎥🎞️🔥😈 🧩 Pinhead: There is no good, Monroe. There is no evil. There is only flesh. 🤓🎟️🍿🥤🎥🎞️🔥😈🧩 Pinhead: [to Joey] I will enjoy making you bleed. And I will enjoy making you enjoy it. 🤓🎟️🍿🥤🎥🎞️🔥😈🧩 Pinhead: Unbearable, isn't it? The suffering of strangers, the agony of friends. There is a secret song at the center of the world, Joey, and its sound is like razors through flesh. 🔥😈🧩 Joey: I don't believe you. 🔥😈🧩 Pinhead: Oh come, you can hear its faint echo right now. I'm here to turn up the volume. To press the stinking face of humanity into the dark blood of its own secret heart. 🤓🎟️🍿🥤🎥🎞️🔥😈🧩 #OoH #teeoftheday #horrorteeoftheday @frightrags #HellraiserIII #HellonEarth #1992 #director #AnthonyHickox #actor #DougBradley #KevinBernhardt #TerryFarrell #IMDBquotes #ilovehorrormovies #horrorkeepsmesane #Cenobites #LamentationConfiguration #LeMarchandsBox #HorrorNerd #SundayFunday #sundaymotivation — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/2lklpYY