The Hateful Eight was never to be seen due to the unfortunate leak of the early draft of Tarantino’s screenplay for the film. It wasn’t meant to be seen outside of those he had trusted to become part of the film. Yet, the script still managed to leak and fanboys worldwide rushed to download and take a gander at what Tarantino had planned for his eight film.
After weeks and a couple months of cooling down from the betrayal of having his work leaked before it was time, Tarantino finally backed off from his promise that The Hateful Eight will never be filmed. With sighs of relief, fans, admirers and critics were glad to see Tarantino change his mind and put the script into production.
Months have gone by since that decision and the start of principal photography. Mini teasers were released and publicity shots were disseminated to the public, but a proper teaser trailer still hadn’t been released.
Now, the waiting has ended as The Weinstein Company has released the first official teaser trailer for Quentin Tarantino’s eight film, The Hateful Eight.
The Hateful Eight will be seen in limited release this Christmas 2015 and everywhere else on January 8, 2016.
It’s been awhile since we’ve featured a new beauty on the site. What better way to reintroduce a new one than with the current and hottest talent to grace the big-screen this summer: Rebecca Ferguson.
Rebecca Ferguson has been kicking ass and taking names through her role as mysterious rogue agent Ilsa Faust in the blockbuster summer hit, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation. Her character has made her the new go-to name for all upcoming female action-hero roles. Whether it’s to be cast as Captain Marvel in Marvel Studios’ future superhero film of the same name to the female lead in the upcoming Gambit live-action film over on Twentieth Fox. While she hasn’t been cast for either role it hasn’t stopped fans and film writers from wanting her to take the next step into the superhero film realm.
Yet, before her breakout role as Ilsa Faust opposite Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt on Rogue Nation, Ms. Ferguson had early success in soap opera roles over on Swedish TV before branching taking on the lead role in the BBC 10-part historical drama The White Queen.
For now, as fans and the world waits to see what’s next for Rebecca Ferguson, people should go out and see her light up the big-screen as Ilsa Faust on Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation.
It’s been a while since I’ve done an entry in the Daily Grindhouse here at the Shattered Lens. (And please, no snarky comments about the definition of the word “daily.” I’ve been doing such a good job of controlling my temper lately…) So, I figured I’d correct that oversight by taking a few moments to tell you about The Raiders of Atlantis, an Italian film from 1983.
(If you’re a regular reader, you know how much I love Italian exploitation films.)
On many a Saturday night, I have gotten together with my fellow members of the Late Night Movie Crew (including TSL’s own Patrick Smith) and we’ve watched movies with titles like Samson Vs. The Vampire Women, Cruel Jaws, and Space Raiders. Whenever it’s my night to pick the movie, I’ve always been tempted to select The Raiders of Atlantis. In many ways, it’s the perfect film to watch with a group of snarky and outspoken friends. The film is action packed, it features a lot of over-the-top melodrama, the pace is relentless, and the film is so defiant in its refusal to follow any narrative logic that you can’t help but respect its defiant soul.
(If Raiders of Atlantis could talk, it would say, “I do what I want!” before giving the finger to anyone complaining about not being able to follow the plot.)
I’ve come very close to picking it on a few occasions but then I always remember just how violent this film can be. By the standards of Italian exploitation, The Raiders of Atlantis is actually rather tame but it still features a lot of people dying in a lot of disturbingly graphic ways. People are set on fire. People are graphically shot in the face. One unfortunate woman gets a dart fired into her neck. Heads roll, literally.
The Raiders of Atlantis tells the story of what happens when a bunch of scientists on an oil rig accidentally cause the lost continent of Atlantis to rise up out of the ocean. A Caribbean island is conquered by an army of heavily made up, motorcycle-riding, mohawk-sporting “interceptors,” who claim to be the descendants of the original inhabitants of Atlantis. Led by the evil Crystal Skull (Bruce Baron), the Interceptors are determined to kill everyone who does not possess Atlantean blood. When they’re not randomly killing, they’re searching for an artifact that will … well, to be honest, I’m not sure why they wanted that artifact but they certainly were determined to find it.
Who can stop the Interceptors? Well, how about Mike (Christopher Connelly) and Washington (Tony King)? They’re two mercenaries who just happened to be nearby when the continent of Atlantis rose out of the ocean. Along with a group of scientists, an escaped convict, and a random bald guy in tuxedo, it’s up to Mike and Washington to save the world!
(Washington, incidentally, has just converted to Islam and spends most of the movie demanding that Mike call him by his new name, Mohammad. I imagine this is one of those subplots that would be abandoned if the film were remade today.)*
So, as I said before, The Raiders of Atlantis makes absolutely no sense but that’s actually a huge part of the film’s charm. This is one of those relentless action films that truly does seem to be making it up as it goes along. There’s something very enjoyable about seeing how many movies The Raiders of Atlantis can rip-off in just 98 minutes and you soon find yourself thankful that the film didn’t waste any time trying to justify itself. The film may not be traditionally “good” but it is flamboyantly bad and, in many ways, that’s even better. Maybe you have to be a fan of Italian exploitation cinema to truly understand.
Speaking of which, if you have any experience at all with Italian exploitation, you will immediately recognize half the cast of The Raiders of Atlantis. You may not know they’re names, because these actors frequently changed their Americanized screen names from film to film. But you’ll definitely recognize the faces and one of the more enjoyable aspects of The Raiders of Atlantis is that you get to see all of these familiar faces together in one movie.
For instance, Christopher Connelly is best known for starring in Lucio Fulci’s ill-fated Manhattan Baby. Tony King gave memorable performances in both The Last Hunter and Cannibal Apocalypse. The cast also features giallo and spaghetti western mainstays George Hilton and Ivan Rassimov, along with Filipino Z-movie veteran Mike Monty. Stefano Mingardo, who appeared in a handful of violent actions films, shows up as an escaped convict and livens up every scene in which he appears. Even Michele Soavi, years before he would direct the brilliant Dellamorte Dellamore, appears in a small role. Unfortunately, George Eastman is nowhere to be found but still, The Raiders of Atlantis is worth seeing for the cast alone.
The Raiders of Atlantis was directed by Ruggero Deodato, who is best known for directing such controversial films as Cannibal Holocaust and The House At The Edge of the Park. Raiders of Atlantis is nowhere close to being as extreme as either one of those films. If anything, it feels like a more violent than usual SyFy movie.
The Raiders of Atlantis has apparently slipped into the public domain and, as of this writing, it’s been uploaded to YouTube. You can watch the trailer below. This trailer not only captures the feel of the film but it also features the film’s enjoyably vapid theme music.
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*And why not remake it!? Chris Pratt and Tyrese Gibson could play Mike and Washington.
So, what does everyone think of the trailer for Goodnight, Mommy? For the past few months, people have been hyping this movie as one of the scariest movies ever made. The trailer certainly has its moments, nicely mixing obvious scares with moments of deep unease and ominous atmosphere. This is one movie that I will definitely be seeing as soon as it opens in theaters.
When film fans think of their Mount Rushmore of horror stars, a few names immediately come to mind. Boris Karloff. Bela Lugosi. Lon Chaney (Sr & Jr). Vincent Price, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee. One name usually omitted is Lionel Atwill. Which is a shame, because the actor was front and center at the beginning of the horror cycle of the 1930s. While hard-core horror buffs certainly know his work, Atwill is best remembered today for his supporting role as the wooden-armed Inspector Krough in 1939’s SON OF FRANKENSTEIN. But at the dawn of the Golden Age of Horror, Lionel Atwill starred in two of the earliest fright classics, both produced by Warner Brothers: DOCTOR X and MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM.
DOCTOR X is more along the lines of an “old dark house” mystery, with dashes of the new horror genre added for extra spice. Dr. Xavier (Atwill) is called in by the police in the…
John Wilkes Booth (Raoul Walsh) flees after shooting Abraham Lincoln in D.W. Griffith’s Birth Of A Nation
The second annual Academy Awards were handed out on January 20th, 1916. For the second and final time, the ceremony took place in the Empire Room of the Waldorf Hotel in New York City. Just as in the previous year, the awards were handed out after dinner and a speech from Academy President Mack Sennett. Again, the winners were announced before the actual ceremony and were given certificates of achievement. According to contemporary reports, the winners who were present all gave brief acceptance speeches but nobody bothered to record what anyone said.
As in the previous year, winners were selected by a jury of distinguished citizens. The 1915 jury consisted of:
Mystery Woman: In The Shadows (2007) – Once again, we join Kellie Martin and Clarence Williams III at the Mystery Woman Bookstore. This time the two are at a book signing when the author announces that his next book will name a KGB agent. I think this is the best of the three Mystery Woman movies I’ve seen so far (Oh Baby, Redemption, and In The Shadows). I like that fact that it involves international intrigue instead of just some local person murdered in Centerville, USA where a busybody takes it upon themselves to investigate. I also love that most of the movie Kellie Martin is in the hospital and out of commission. As much as I like her, it was really nice to see Williams shine. He knows about this secret world and it’s fun to watch him navigate it. I know there are other Mystery Woman films, but of the ones I have watched, this is the one I recommend most strongly.
Garage Sale Mystery (2013) – This, on the other hand, is the typical Hallmark mystery fare these days. It’s not good. This one follows Lori Loughlin who runs a consignment store and hits garage sales for items to resell. When a friend is found dead and it might tie in with garage sales, then this woman who can’t mind her own business begins investigating. There is a cop on the case, but he seems pretty incompetent and worthless to the film. Loughlin just seems to sleepwalk through the whole thing. There just isn’t anything here worth watching. It’s better than some of these mystery movies on Hallmark, but that’s not saying a whole lot. I really wonder who thought it was a good idea to remove all edge, suspense, feeling, and reality from murder mysteries, then decided to make tons of them. At least there is a scene where her son has her play Minecraft to clear her mind. That was interesting even if we never actually see the game or her really play it.
Garage Sale Mystery: All That Glitters (2014) – I guess since it wasn’t a total mound of caca doo doo, they thought it was ready for a full series. It still sucks. Again, one of her friends ends up dead. I guess being friends with Lori Loughlin’s character means you’re marked for death. At least Jessica Fletcher brought death to the places she visited. Loughlin’s just thinning out the population of her own town. This time the person killed is tied to a storage facility she won in an auction. Of course there are rare items and in short order a guy shows up wearing a sign that says I’m the bad guy. Luckily, he’s played by Kavan Smith of Eureka. He was a welcome sight even if by being well known it meant he was the bad guy. I’m not giving anything away here. It’s really really really obvious. Plus, I’m leaving the details out. At least this time people tell her she should mind her own business. She ignores it, but it’s nice to hear some voices of reason. Skip this one too. I wonder if the other two Garage Sale Mystery movies are any better. I doubt it.
Murder 101 (2006) – This is how you do a murder mystery! Someone is murdered, so a cop brings a criminology professor in to help solve the case. Simple! The non-police officer actually has a reason to be there investigating. And the criminals aren’t a joke. Also, this isn’t some weird Stepford Wives world where everything exists in fantasy. It even has Dick Van Dyke and his son Barry who, by the way, looks like Michael Bay in this. It’s kind of funny. A business executive is killed in an explosion. Barry brings Dick into the investigation and an investigative reporter comes along since she was there. It’s nothing amazing, but far better than movies like Garage Sale Mystery, Murder, She Baked, Wedding Planner Mystery, Aurora Teagarden, etc. I wish Hallmark would go back to doing mystery movies like this and Mystery Woman again. They are so much more enjoyable and far better made in general.
Born in Pennsylvania at the turn of the 20th Century, the prolific illustrator Rudolph Belarski dropped out of school at the age of 12 and spent the next ten years working in the coal mines. During this time, he studied mail-order art courses at night from the International Correspondence School, Inc. of Scranton, PA. In 1922, he moved to New York City and studied at the Pratt Institute. Upon graduating in 1926, he taught at Pratt for 5 years. He started his career as a cover artist in 1935 and worked regularly until 1960, painting covers for both pulp magazines and paperback books. His greatest work may have been done during World War II, when he served with the USO and drew thousands of portrait sketches of hospitalized veterans in New York and London.
A small sampling of his pulp work can be found below.
Skyfall was the James Bond that seemed to have resonated with the so-called millenials. For the most part, James Bond the film franchise was considered dated and quaint when compared to the more action-oriented and cynical spy thrillers like the Jason Bourne franchise. This younger generation couldn’t take seriously a superspy who dressed in exquisite suits and tuxedos. A spy who bedded beautiful women like young people collected causes to support and/or protest.
This type of generational ennui, thankfully, hasn’t truly hit the otaku set. No matter how old an anime we otaku would have heard of it, watched it and, most of the time, enjoyed it. We’re not just stuck on what’s the latest trend in the anime scene. We’ll search out old with the new. While the quality of the animation have improved since the early days of the medium the storytelling from way back still remains strong and resonates with the oldest and youngest crowd.
So, the latest “AMV of the Day” is a celebration of that appreciation for not just the now but what came before: James Bond with Cowboy Bebop (with some help from Fate/Zero).
Through the Shattered Lens 
