cult film freak: tobe hooper

Showing posts with label tobe hooper. Show all posts

Written by James M. Tate / 1/19/2023 / No comments / body count , david soul , fred willard , geoffrey lewis , horror , james mason , julie cobb , kenneth mcmillan , lance kerwin , lew ayres , miniseries , seventies , stephen king , tobe hooper , tv movie , vampire

TOBE HOOPER DIRECTS THE TV VAMPIRE MOVIE OF 'SALEM'S LOT'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5bK2QdZk6eNrc2LFoc7C-OqUnNSr3nq3-3vIfWZohzDvD8sEJLy-o30FJgXFKh6uSfpMDaB0lEZUp4qLBkX930PTCd-y7GyGISg2O75vonqZyp9jbk262S-9iSc0z2cUN7XbVHoTxh267BeMkB1mcE-iBsEul-dPrAIDedrfy2pFhkHXrdkf4oG6sPQ/s1600/22.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="891" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5bK2QdZk6eNrc2LFoc7C-OqUnNSr3nq3-3vIfWZohzDvD8sEJLy-o30FJgXFKh6uSfpMDaB0lEZUp4qLBkX930PTCd-y7GyGISg2O75vonqZyp9jbk262S-9iSc0z2cUN7XbVHoTxh267BeMkB1mcE-iBsEul-dPrAIDedrfy2pFhkHXrdkf4oG6sPQ/s16000/22.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>David Soul in SALEM'S LOT Year: 1979 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Although groundbreaking horror/exploitation director Tobe Hooper is best known for and forever linked to the legendary low-budget slasher TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, his coolest, tightest and most accessible work is fulfilling and utterly frightful, unlike some other television movies/miniseries during the 1970's in which Stephen King's SALEM'S LOT rode the crest of... <br>
<br>Involving an eclectic ensemble from several cinematic generations behind leading man David Soul as a second-rate author returned to the titular New England hometown, doing investigative research on the locally-infamous, spooky-looking haunted manor on a hill described to former English teacher/mentor Lew Ayres: "Can a house be evil in its stone foundations? In its wooden beams? In the glass of its windows?"</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

body count, david soul, fred willard, geoffrey lewis, horror, james mason, julie cobb, kenneth mcmillan, lance kerwin, lew ayres, miniseries, seventies, stephen king, tobe hooper, tv movie, vampire

TOBE HOOPER DIRECTS THE TV VAMPIRE MOVIE OF 'SALEM'S LOT'

David Soul in SALEM'S LOT Year: 1979 Rating: ****1/2 Although groundbreaking horror/exploitation director Tobe Hooper is best known for...

INVESTIGATING DIRECTION OF THE ORIGINAL CLASSIC 'POLTERGEIST'

article, craig t. nelson, haunted house, heather o'rourke, horror, james karen, jobeth williams, oliver robins, sonny landham, steven spielberg, supernatural, thriller, tobe hooper, zelda rubinstein

INVESTIGATING DIRECTION OF THE ORIGINAL CLASSIC 'POLTERGEIST'

Year of Theatrical POLTERGEIST Haunting circa 1982 One of the most iconic images in horror film history occurs when the little blond-hai...

TOBE HOPPER DIRECTS THE REMAKE OF 'INVADERS FROM MARS'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: center;">year: 1986 rating: ***</td></tr>
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Starting off... off the beaten path, relating only partially to the subject at hand, the infectious Steven Spielberg magic often gets rubbed off on his directors, from the likes of Robert Zemeckis, whose mailbox-shaking, license plate spinning BACK TO THE FUTURE looks nothing like the subtle I WANNA HOLD YOUR HAND or USED CARS; Joe Dante, whose sparsely terrifying PIRANHA and HOWLING look and feel quite different than the rolling camera mainstream vibe of GREMLINS; Richard Donner going ultra-slick in GOONIES; and last but not least Tobe Hooper, the groundbreaking, blood-splattered, low budget exploitation king of TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and the more conventional yet still ultra violent and thrilling FUNHOUSE, who, after stepping behind the lens for Spielberg’s ultimate ghost story POLTERGEIST, kept that mystical yet youth-friendly vibe alive in INVADERS FROM MARS, a chance for Hooper to show he could pull off an extravaganza WITHOUT Spielberg's backing while keeping a lot of the fantastical signature elements, epic soundtrack style and best yet, in 1986... for Karen Black to work with her son, PARIS TEXAS child actor Hunter Carson as David, and other memorable cult cinema moments like Louise Fletcher eating a frog and Martians who are actual costumed creatures ("ugly, slimy, giant Mr. Potato Heads") before the computer generated takeover: all in a film that balances a nostalgic b-movie homage with the kind of adventurous paranoia that delves our buried young lead within a nifty cast also including Timothy Bottoms as dad, Laraine Newman as mom, Bud Cort and POLTERGEIST human antagonist James Karen as a military general whose Marine compound could harbor government secrets… per usual in this genre. But we’re skipping way ahead… <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9AtMmjHB_Z5V4VAMBTO8IXAE3c6So1-W7Ny3I8X93mYKovYri3yj6BBPL1rCi1KsLjar7PoFdXlTJvAaVqbm5eD0LmNmIMnn0NjWZ3jaYP3lzCKmjLWoIaMOATwylhGzBLWOj-Y-bmtA/s1600/1.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9AtMmjHB_Z5V4VAMBTO8IXAE3c6So1-W7Ny3I8X93mYKovYri3yj6BBPL1rCi1KsLjar7PoFdXlTJvAaVqbm5eD0LmNmIMnn0NjWZ3jaYP3lzCKmjLWoIaMOATwylhGzBLWOj-Y-bmtA/s320/1.jpg" width="260" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Retro Opening Credits</td></tr>
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MARS takes a little while to get going, starting out with a nuclear family too hip to be realistic – making sense when the inevitable monotone changeling occurs. The beautiful locations trump the somewhat dragging initial takeoff – one incline viewed outside the kid’s window (adorning the official poster above) winds into a rural, fog-shrouded backdrop reminiscent of E.T. with the enigmatic glow liken to CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, adding to the dreamlike aesthetic and, like already mentioned, showing Hooper's residual influence (intentional or otherwise) to his former POLTERGEIST boss.  <br />
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Yet the coolest visuals are <i>inside</i> pivotal caverns, leading to origin-secrets revealed about the Martians, who, up until that point, seemed part of the kid's wild imagination... at least in the narrow-minded adult point of view. Only Karen Black’s friendly school nurse, not having the mark on the back of her neck like the others, seems legit, joining the trek to discover and uncover what’s behind the nefarious curtain, providing Tobe Hooper a chance to wield his own unique brand of paranormal intrigue and, for core fans, getting sporadically morbid and downright gruesome. Yet INVADERS never gives too much away for the characters or the audience, so even the overboard militaristic finale still holds an intriguing potential: that anything can happen around each cavernous bend.<br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQCq7847KBkIDs_f_0gWiowuDkYqNaZ_c3lO6pX34A88zHfqV5_6uKN2a9BcHj1CG_wACcBFrMnnGsip-OXOllEgfylwhstX5dwmrXEj6iv49H6AG9StsBL74LrxSbEYHjbLSf9CWQ5-g/s1600/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQCq7847KBkIDs_f_0gWiowuDkYqNaZ_c3lO6pX34A88zHfqV5_6uKN2a9BcHj1CG_wACcBFrMnnGsip-OXOllEgfylwhstX5dwmrXEj6iv49H6AG9StsBL74LrxSbEYHjbLSf9CWQ5-g/s1600/3.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Carton Hunter's perspective as Louise Fletcher provides the White Rabbit into Martianland</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsYrJObWNa2Y9ntX2FdX1PwWBhFh0pEti4IPIohH-KFsm5cb6CPCWwm25IHh8SSF7pUB16jbaZbGNfNDfjTapI4TIklgWpdmYcErOwBQaed7PBXj0DGE9rT-FyRquH6ghTH-1pkwqiWz8/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsYrJObWNa2Y9ntX2FdX1PwWBhFh0pEti4IPIohH-KFsm5cb6CPCWwm25IHh8SSF7pUB16jbaZbGNfNDfjTapI4TIklgWpdmYcErOwBQaed7PBXj0DGE9rT-FyRquH6ghTH-1pkwqiWz8/s1600/2.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Signature Location with the backs of Hunter Carson, Laraine Newman & Timothy Bottoms</td></tr>
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horror, science-fiction, tobe hooper

TOBE HOPPER DIRECTS THE REMAKE OF 'INVADERS FROM MARS'

year: 1986 rating: *** Starting off... off the beaten path, relating only partially to the subject at hand, the infectious Steven Spielb...

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