Today, we celebrate Don Coscarelli’s birthday with a scene from his 2002 film, Bubba Ho-Tep!
Bruce Campbell as Elvis? That’s a genius of Don Coscarelli.
Tag Archives: Don Coscarelli
4 Shots From 4 Horror Films: 2000s Part One
This October, I’m going to be doing something a little bit different with my contribution to 4 Shots From 4 Films. I’m going to be taking a little chronological tour of the history of horror cinema, moving from decade to decade.
Welcome to the 21st Century!
4 Shots From 4 Horror Films
Final Destination (2000, dir by James Wong)
The Others (2001, dir by Alejandro Amenabar)
28 Days Later (2002, dir by Danny Boyle)
Bubba Ho-Tep (2002, dir by Don Coscarelli)
4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Bruce Campbell Edition
4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
Today, we celebrate Bruce Campbell’s birthday! It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 Bruce Campbell Films
Evil Dead II (1987, dir by Sam Raimi, DP: Peter Deming)
Army of Darkness (1992, dir by Sam Raimi, DP: Bill Pope)
Escape From L.A. (1996, dir by John Carpenter, DP: Gary B. Kibbe)
Bubba Ho-Tep (2002, dir by Don Coscarelli, DP: Adam Janiero)
Scenes I Love: Reggie Bannister in Phantasm
I read yesterday that Reggie Bannister, one of the most beloved horror character actors out there, isn’t doing too well. He has gone into hospice care. Those words — “hospice care” — will always bring a tear to my eye. My Dad went into hospice care last year and died a month later, which I was told was longer than most people survive in hospice. Being the naive idiot that I was, I have to admit that, up until the end, I was still expecting my Dad to make a full recovery and just magically get out of bed. Sadly, that’s just not the way these things work. Hospice is end-of-life care and any medical professional who doesn’t make that clear while recommending it is doing a disservice to not only their patients but also their families.
Reggie Bannister is best-known for his appearances in the work of Don Coscarelli. He’s one of those actors who just makes you smile whenever he appears on screen. Anyone who has watched Phantasm loves Reggie, with his ice cream truck and his guitar and his whole laid back vibe. Today’s scene that I love is a simple but wonderfully human moment from 1978’s Phantasm, featuring Bill Thornbury and the great Reggie Bannister.
Scenes That I Love: Elvis and JFK in Bubba Ho-Tep
Today is both President’s Day and Don Coscarelli’s birthday! As such, it only seems appropriate that today’s scene of the day should come from Coscarelli’s 2002 film, Bubba Ho-Tep.
In this film, Elvis (Bruce Campbell) and John F. Kennedy (Ossie Davis) team up to battle the killer Mummy that is haunting their nursing home. Personally, I choose to believe that both Elvis and JFK were exactly who they said they were in this film.
6 Shots From 6 Horror Films: 2002 — 2004
4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
This October, I’m going to be doing something a little bit different with my contribution to 4 (or more) Shots From 4 (or more) Films. I’m going to be taking a little chronological tour of the history of horror cinema, moving from decade to decade.
Today, we take a look at 2002, 2003, and 2004!
6 Shots From 6 Horror Films: 2002 — 2004
28 Days Later (2002, dir by Danny Boyle, DP: Anthony Dod Mantle)
The Ring (2002, dir by Gore Verbinski, DP: Bojan Bazelli)
Bubba Ho-Tep (2002, dir by Don Coscarelli, DP: Adam Janeiro)
House of 1,000 Corpses (2003, dir by Rob Zombie, DP: Alex Poppas, Tom Richmond)
Underworld (2003, dir by Len Wiseman, DP: Tony Pierce-Roberts)
Dawn of the Dead (2004, dir by Zack Snyder, DP; Matthew F. Leonetti)
Book Review: True Indie: Life and Death in Filmmaking by Don Coscarelli
Don Coscarelli just might be the nicest guy to ever make a horror movie.
Okay, obviously, I don’t know that for sure. A lot of people make horror movies and a lot of them are actually pretty nice and I don’t want to short change anyone. Still, if you read his 2018 memoir True Indie, the main impression that you come away with is that Don Coscarelli is a nice, down-to-Earth guy who truly loves to make movies.
In the book, Coscarelli tells how he went from making making his first two films when he was still a teenager to directing Phantasm, an indie film that was a surprise hit and ensured that Don Coscarelli would be forever beloved by horror fans everywhere. Not only does he discuss how he came up with the film but he also discusses what it was like to work with people like Angus Scrimm and Reggie Bannister. He follows-up by discussing the production of Beastmaster, which was considerably more troubled than the production of Phantasm. (At one point, Beastmaster star Marc Singer throws a tantrum because he feels that Coscarelli has “abandoned” him on location.) From Beastmaster, it’s back to doing sequels to Phantasm, some of which are better than others and some of which, sad to say, are screwed by the executives. Some of the book’s best parts are when Coscarelli discusses what he had to put up with while dealing with studio execs who didn’t necessarily understand what Phantasm or horror in general was all about. Seriously, you think as you read those passages, just let Don and Reggie do whatever they want! Eventually, Coscarelli directs Bubba Ho-Tep and gets to work with Bruce Campbell, which is definitely a happy ending.
True Indie is a likable book. Coscarelli is an entertaining storyteller and his love of movies is obvious on every single page of the book. He comes across as the ideal indie director, a passionate artist who simply wants to entertain his audience while staying true to his vision. It’s an inspiring book, to be honest. You read it and you’re happy that Don Coscarelli is still out there and that he’s still doing it his way.
4 Shots From 4 Films: 28 Days Later, Bubba Ho-Tep, Halloween: Resurrection, The Ring
4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
This October, we’re using 4 Shots From 4 Films to look at some of the best years that horror has to offer!
4 Shots From 4 2002 Horror Films
28 Days Later (2002, dir by Danny Boyle)
Bubba Ho-Tep (2002, dir by Don Coscarelli)
Halloween Resurrection (2002, dir by Rick Rosenthal)
The Ring (2002, dir by Gore Verbinski)
2018 In Review: Lisa’s Top 12 Non-Fiction Books
All day today, I’ve been posting my favorites (and least favorites) of 2018. If you’ve missed the previous entries …. well, that’s kind of on you.
Anyway, we have now reached the part of our program where I list my top twelve non-fiction books. There was actually quite a lot of good non-fiction published this year. The list below is a nice mix of memoirs, politics, and true crime. Read them all and then be sure to come back here and thank me.
Here’s the list!
- The Infernal Library: On Dictators, the Books They Wrote, and Other Catastrophes of Literacy by Daniel Kalder
- Room to Dream by David Lynch and Kristine McKenna
- Bachelor Nation: Inside the World of America’s Favorite Guilty Pleasure by Amy Kaufman
- You’re on an Airplane: A Self-Mythologizing Memoir by Parker Posey
- I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death by Maggie O’Farrell
- The Art of Horror Movies: An Illustraed History by Stephen Jones
- True Indie: Life and Death in Filmmaking by Don Coscarelli
- Time Pieces: A Dublin Memoir by John Banville
- Blowing the Bloody Doors Off by Michael Caine
- The Contest: The 1968 Election and the War for America’s Soul by Michael Schumacher
- I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara
- The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel That Scandalized the World by Sarah Weinman
I’ve got three more topics left to cover: music, television, and my favorite movies of the year. For now, I need to take a small break and stretch my legs so expect to see the rest of my picks for the best of 2018 later tonight or tomorrow.
(Probably tomorrow, to be absolutely honest.)
Lisa Looks Back At 2018:
Halloween Havoc!: BUBBA HO-TEP (Vitagraph 2002)
Don Coscarelli, the man who brought you the PHANTASM series, scores a bulls-eye with BUBBA HO-TEP, a totally unique film based on Joe R. Lansdale’s novella. Lansdale is well known to fans of horror fiction for his books and short stories in the filed as well as other genres (crime, westerns, even comic books). Coscarelli’s adaptation is a delightful blend of horror and humor, and a bittersweet reflection on aging, if not gracefully, then with courage.
Bruce Campbell (ASH VS EVIL DEAD) stars as Sebastian Haff, former Elvis impersonator who may or may not really be The King. He believes he is, and that’s what matters. He’s stuck in a Mud Creek, Texas rest home, confined to a walker and battling a weird growth on his pecker. People at the rest home are dying, as you’d expect in a place like this, but under some strange circumstances that’re causing Elvis…
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Through the Shattered Lens 