The Neon Gargoyle Gazette Volume 1 Issue 1: Oct/93
The Horror Sig
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Volume 1 issue 1 October 3, 1993
The Neon Gargoyle Gazette
Netlands Horror `Zine
Premiere issue
Comments and Complaints are welcome
You may send correspondence to xx...@po.cwru.edu
If you recieve a copy of this magazine please send an e-mail
message to: aa...@po.cwru.edu so we can get an accurate count
Produced by NGE fx of North East Ohio
(216)-491-4616
Welcome to THE NEON GARGOYLE GAZETTE
The goal of this magazine is to enlighten the public at large about
the world of horror from the tiny details of splatter to the grand
sweeping theories of hidden psychological appeal. We hope to join people
together, no matter what aspect of horror appeals to them, no matter what
their level of interest is. We feel that the GARGOYLE can provide an arena
for any horror enthusiast to share information while improving his or her
own knowledge.
The GARGOYLE contains discussion forums on horror in all its forms.
History, art, poetry, biography, modern cinema, professional make-up
techniques, and horror productions both present and past are all examined
here, as well as a trivia Q&A section.
And now onto the subject that has always been a fascination of
popular culture: HORROR!!!
You can find all issues of The Neon Gargoyle Gazette at it's home
system. See below for several connection methods. You do not have to have
an account to read. Simply choose selection #2 and login as a VISITOR.
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page 1
DISCLAIMER
~~~~~~~~~~~~
No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or part,
by any means mechanical, photocoying or otherwise without written
permission of the publisher. This document may be transmitted
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services as long as it remains in its entirety. It may also be transmitted
through electronic mail services but only in its entirety. Quoting and
encapsulation of articles are granted on a per request basis. Contact
aa...@po.cwru.edu or phone (216)-491-4616 You may also send electronic
mail to the secondary address: xx...@po.cwru.edu
Thank you
Dan Krumlauf
page 2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Page
1 DISCLAIMER: When can you copy this magazine
3 RIPS and PIECES An issue to issue newsflash column
8 A Book Review by A Kear THE BEAST WITHIN:Man,Myths and werewolfs
13 Small Screen Screams Whats up in TVs land of horror
18 A Film Review by Z Krumlauf TETSUO: The Iron Man
22 TRIVIAL TERRORS Tiny Tidbits of Terrifying Trivia
23 THE CROW Anatomy of a cursed film production
28 DISFIGURATIONS An issue to issue fx make-up column
This months article: Suggested reading
32 SLEEPERS Panned Pictures that deserve another
Perusal This issue: THE CANDYMAN
39 HELP WANTED Call for submissions and open calls
for issue to issue columns
40 NEXT ISSUE What to expect in the next issue of
THe Neon Gargoyle Gazette
page 3
RIPS and PIECES
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is the place for rumors and scraps of info from the industry.
The working title for FANCIS COPPOLA's sequel to his "Bram Stoker's
DRACULA" is currently "THE VAN HELSING CHRONICLES" rumor has it ANTHONY
HOPKINS will be returning in the title role.....In case you have been
living under a rock TOM CRUISE has been cast as LESTAT in "INTERVIEW WITH
A VAMPIRE" and ANNE RICE has been very vocal about her dissapointment.
It's no wonder considering the casting was so rushed and done on the last
day before the licensing option was up. Also cast: BRAD PITT as LOUIS,
RIVER PHOENIX as DANIEL MALLOY, MIRANDA RICHARDSON as MADELEINE and
ANTONIO BANDERAS as ARMAND; STAN WINSTON will be doing the effects...all
twenty of you that saw "VAMPIRE LESBIANS OF SODOM" will know who the
Countess is in "ADDAM FAMILY VALUES" none other than drag queen CHARLES
BUSCH......speaking of "AFV" we get to meet a new ADDAMS in the sequel,
PUBERT PENDRAGON ADDAMS III, MORTICIA and GOMEZ's new baby, although born
with the typical ADDAMS palor and trademark black hair he soon subcumbs
to the same disease MARYLYNN from the "MUNSTERS" appeared to have, chronic
page 4
normalness and eventually even blond(blehh!)locks and a penchant for
Dr. Suess books. Watch for a Thanksgiving release...Well its official gang
not only we will be seeing a whole lot more of ROBERT ENGLUND in TOBE
HOOPER's erotic thriller, a kind of De Sade meets The Phantom of the opera
sendup entitled "NIGHTMARE" but we will also see the Nightmare he is so
famous for return for another go in "WES CRAVEN'S NEW NIGHTMARE ON ELM
STREET" (yes thats the whole title) Freddy's back but this isn't going to
be the JASON Vs FREDDY battle hinted at in the latest "FRIDAY THE 13th"
ENGLUND will also be seen in the latest story to be translated to the
screen from STEVEN KING's NIGHTSHIFT anthology. With a script based on
the short story "THE MANGLER" the character of the owner of the laundromat
where the manic sheet pressing machine goes beserk was written in, we
actually find out that it was this owner (ENGLUND) that made a pact with
the devil and has unleashed the nasty curse....Who can blame NEW LINE for
bringing back the FREDDY charcter with the amount of money the series
brought in for them. They now hope lightning can strike twice as they try
to launch a new franchise in the persona of an experimental watchdog gone
bad flick called "MANS BEST FRIEND" fx maven KEVIN YAGHER brings to life
the beast that terrorizes stars ALLY SHEEDY and LANCE HENRIKSEN....
page 5
With nearly 20 dog puppets, pieces and real dogs the charcteristics
of this beast are well defined...on the comic creature scene STUART GORDON
director of the future shock prison feature FORTRESS has been signed on
to bring us the film adaptation of Rebel Studios's FAUST graphic novel.
DAVID QUINN has drawn scripting duties...Dark Horse's superhero "THE
MASK" will see a film treatment with CHUCK RUSSELL at the directorial
helm.....Paramount has dropped the distibution rights to the ill-fated
adaptation of JAMES O'BARR's "THE CROW" charges are pending in the fx
related accidental fatal shooting death of action star BRANDON LEE who
had the title role. Filming was completed late in June and the film
had a tenative release date near Halloween. Now its in limbo. For
an article about the problems plaguing this production see page 23 ...
On the remake and sequel front, TIPPI HENDRON has been cast in a role
in "THE BIRDS II" this role is unrelated to her character in the original
TOM HOLLAND is helming the remake of "DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS"..after leaving
"THE VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED" remake project JOHN CARPENTER takes the
position he vacated as director....In other UNIVERSAL Studios remake news
JOE DANTE is now directing the remake of "THE MUMMY" ALAN ORMSBY is doing
the screen play.....ROBERT DE NIRO has been cast as the lead in the newest
remake of FRANKENSTEIN" ...
page 6
Filmaker WAYNE COE's tentative title for the "GRIM PRAIRE TALES"
follow-up is "GRIM PRAIRIE TALES: RESCUE PARTY".....The new title for
"AMITYVILLE 1993" is "AMITYVILLE: THE NEW GENERATION"...Orion Classics has
won it's on again off again battle with the MPAA, their film "BOXING
HELENA" is being released UNCUT with an R rating....OPINION ON: Only in
America could an R rating force a film to pre-censor itself so desprately
as to wash out a character like ROBOCOP watch for ROBOCOP 3 to be very
politically correct(if you saw the scene in ROBOCOP 2 when they crammed
his brain with a bunch of directives to scramble him, they were all nicey
nice garbage) well now they have sort of done that for real, when it is
finally released later this fall after being in the can and in distibution
limbo hell since 1991 it was specifically written and TONED down so it
could get a PG rating Thats PRE-CENSORSHIP..CENSORSHIP SUCKS don't let it
overtake your mind as it has already overtaken your favorite genre films..
..Don't let other people DICTATE what you think...or you won't see it
coming..OPINION OFF...... The crew of TIM BURTON's black and white ED WOOD
biography has been spotted filming at an L.A. theater recently..What did
the marquee have in big lights as showing?... Why "PLAN NINE FROM OUTER
SPACE" of course. JOHNNY DEPP plays WOOD.The film explores WOOD's
friendship with BELA(MARTIN LANDAU)LUGOSI with whom he made several films.
page 7
Also in the cast:BILL MURRAY, LISA MARIE and JEFFREY JONES..Speaking
of TIM BURTON, his dream come-true stop-motion animation feature length
project "NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS" will be unleashed at the Ney York
film festival on October 9th and will be in theaters October 16th. This
film will do for stop-motion animation what JURASSIC PARK did for
go-motion and CGI effects. See the next issue for extensive coverage of
the animation and studios in San Francisco and Berkley where this two year
project was undertaken. BURTON first conceptualized this nearly ten years
ago when he was working at DISNEY on the short VINCENT that was ode to his
idol and mine VINCENT PRICE... With the successes of his last four films
(all grossed over $100 million) under his belt he went back to his roots
and pitched it to DISNEY Studios and they jumped at the project.With 15
puppeteers and and 22 camera rigs it took an incredible amount of juggling.
But artistically and visually it is completly breath-taking. For those of
you singing the death knell of stop-motion animation get ready to have
your socks knocked off. A lot of new technology was created for this
project and it should breath new life into an old style.
THATS ALL FOR NOW SEE YA NEXT ISSUE
page 8
THE BEAST WITHIN: MAN, MYTHS AND WEREWOLVES
Adam Douglas Orion 1993 Paperback, 294pp, price 5.99 pounds.
A Review by Amanda Kear
A good read, this book covers just about all aspects of werewolves
and lycanthropy, from modern psychiatric case histories, through werewolf
and witch hunts in 16th century France, to the Hollywood portrayal of the
myth. Not bad for 263 pages of text! (A "Werewolf Chronology" and
extensive reference list make up the remaining twenty or so pages).
Douglas has combed through myths, legends and fairy tales searching
for evidence of lycanthropy. Tracing them through time and watching them
mutate into the sanitised or christianised versions printed in kids books
today. Remember Little Red Riding Hood? That really dim kid who doesn't
run away when she meets a wolf on the way to Grandmother's house? The
inobservant one who can't tell the difference between dear old Granny and
a large predatory canine? The original version of has her meeting a
werewolf in human form, not a wolf. Suddenly it all makes sense!
page 9
It is also fascinating just how much "traditional" werewolf lore is
no such thing. Douglas has unearthed which myths have their origins in
Hollywood, and the list is quite surprising: a bite to transmit
lycanthropy, pentagrams on the hands of victims, silver (bullet shaped or
otherwise) to do them harm. The real folklore has far less cinematic
methods to defeat werewolves - shout out their baptismal name, for
instance. Some of the eastern European legends state that a person who is
a werewolf in life will become a vampire after death.
Right, now the bitching. The psychiatric, cinematic and historical
pieces are all fascinating, but Douglas has a common sense failure every
now and then, and displays an appalling ignorance of human biology and
evolution.
He formulates a hypothesis on the origins of the werewolf myth based
on a book by Walter Burkert - "Homo Necans" (Slaughtering Man). This
basically states that humans are (a) extremely adverse to any violence and
bloodshed, including hunting, and (b) weren't any good at hunting or
scavenging until they watched and copied predators such as the wolf.
page 10
Elaborate rituals were needed to psych the adult males up for
hunting and make them immune to the trauma of killing (women and
adolescents taking down small game doesn't count, apparently, nor does the
altogether more bloody business of dismembering the carcass). The secret
societies and "wolf brotherhoods" formed to perform the rituals and mimic
wolf behaviour are the basis for all things lycanthropic. The fact that
such clans and societies have other equally functional reasons for
existance and long-term persistance is ignored.
Douglas and Burkert's ancestors may have been peace loving veggies,
but mine have been eating meat on a time scale that dates in millions not
tens of thousands of years. Homo erectus may or may not have hunted
(current controversy), but they DID scavenge, which means they had the
ability to chase something big and fierce away from its rightful kill.
Homo sapiens is and always has been, a damn efficient predator. We have
a record for hunting things to extinction that far pre-dates the invention
of gunpowder or even iron.
page 11
Okay, so there was probably a greater reliance on meat rather than
plant foods when humans migrated into northern latitudes. The adoption of
newly encountered carnivores such as the wolf for totems seems reasonable,
but Palaeolithic hunters seem to have expended far more energy carving,
sculpting or painting bears and felines.
And the figures that dominate are the *prey* species - horse and
bison in European art; eland in the Transvaal and Kalahari; elephant and
kudu in Zimbabwe. Having the spirits of the prey on your side is a far
better strategy than encouraging your competitors! :-)
It seems to me that the "wolf brotherhoods" have a far closer link
to Man the Warrior than they do to Man the Hunter. Douglas details this
aspect in his chapter on Norse berserkers but is determined to force
continuity with prehistoric hunter-gatherers.
The idea of shamanism and spirit journeys are touched on, and it is
suggested that these practices survive or are rediscovered to give rise
to some later types of lycanthropy, which I have no disagreement with.
page 12
But there is lots of nice anthropological and archaeological data
out there on trance states and therianthropes (animal-men) which he has
manged to miss out, settling instead for the silliness of the menstrual
cycle evolving to force men to go off once a month to perform their wolf
rituals and hunt.
Overall - yeah, I enjoyed it... and I shall certainly never look at
St Christopher in the same light again! But if you are a biologist be
prepared for much gnashing of teeth during Chapter 2. Perhaps it is one
of those arcane rituals designed to induce a killing frenzy... :-)
===========================================================================
Amanda Kear Taphonomist to the Stars! The language I speak is:
Genus - English; Species - Scottish; Subspecies - East Coast.
Subtitles are available for the hard of thinking.
===========================================================================
page 13
SMALL SCREEN SCREAMS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Information provided by Chis Creed of the Sci-Fi Channel
Edited By Dan Krumlauf
This column is dedicated to telvision and video releases in the
horror genre. You will find informational bulletins, reviews and the making
of... type articles. This months column is about the Sci-fi channel's
special horror offerings to celebrate the month of October. Fox's world
television premiere of The Rocky Horror picture show. And HBO's remake of
Attack of the 50ft Woman.
Sci-fi Horror
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Torrents of terror will reign throughout October as The Sci-Fi
channel sends chills up and down your screens in anticipation of Halloween.
Classic monster month presents a nightly primetime invasion of the
Halloween Movie Special. Each week will feature the films of a different
favorite monster.
page 14
Saturday's Sci-Fi feature films are all variations on a scary theme.
Each week focuses on a different monster. The MUMMY, DRACULA, FRANKENSTEIN
and the WEREWOLF all have their time to wreak havoc this month.
All this culminates on the 30th and 31st in a Halloween weekend of
chilling offerings. Beginning with The WORLD OF ZOMBIES film festival and
reaching a frightful crescendo with an all-day Halloween movie special
collection of modern horror greats.
CLASSIC MONSTER MONTH
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's time to get out the wolfsbane as the Sci-fi channel presents
a Halloween movie special every weeknight in primetime. Four weeks; Four
monsters.
page 15
October 4-8 MUMMY WEEK
First up is "THE MUMMY"- Boris Karloff plays Im-Ho-Tep, High priest
of ancient Egypt, enbalmed alive for commiting sacrilege with the
Pharoh's daughter, he returned to life 3,700 years later. MUMMY week
continues with "THE MUMMY'S HAND" "THE MUMMY'S TOMB" "THE MUMMY'S GHOST"
AND "THE MUMMY'S CURSE"
October 11-15 DRACULA WEEK
Monday, October 11th ushers in vampire season starting with the
famous 1931 version of Bram Stoker's tale of the undead Transylvanian
Count Dracula (BELA LUGOSI) who lives off human blood. DRACULA week
continues with "DRACULA'S DAUGHTER" "SON OF DRACULA" "HOUSE OF DRACULA"
and "BRIDES OF DRACULA"
page 16
October 18-22 FRANKENSTEIN WEEK
The 3rd week belongs to Dr Frankenstien's monster, kicking off with
"FRANKENSTEIN" - Starring BORIS KARLOFF as the misunderstood creature who
terrorizes the peasantry. FRANKENSTEIN week continues with "SON OF
FRANKENSTEIN" "THE EVILS OF FRANKENSTEIN" "BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN" and
"I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN"
October 25-29 WEREWOLF WEEK
Lastly the SCI-FI channel airs five nights of WEREWOLFS, in the
series is "THE WOLFMAN" featuring greats LON CHANEY and BELA LUGOSI When
a giant wolf bites he leaves the mark of the wolfshead and a pentagram
over the heart of his victim who then becomes a werewolf. WEREWOLF week
also includes "CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF" "WEREWOLF OF LONDON" "I WAS A
TEENAGE WEREWOLF" and "THE HOWLING"
Films air weeknights Monday October 4th thru Friday October 29 from
9 pm to 10:30 or 11 pm and the films repeat at 1 am to 2:30 or 3 am
page 17
The ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW on FOX
The ultimate (imho) sacrilege is about to become a reality, I
thought that the video release of this cult classic was the worst thing
that could happen but the FOX network is about to take it one step further
Thats right folks on October 25th 1993 The ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW will
make its TELEVISION world premiere. Perhaps it will start a whole new
generation that hasn't been exposed to the film, or as most television
does just wash out the thrill and make people more jaded against enjoying
the film. Only time will tell.
The ATTACK OF THE 50ft WOMAN
Screenwriter Joseph Dougherty is at it again. Dougherty who brought
us the wacky detective sendup CAST A DEADLY SPELL has teamed up again with
HBO to for the remake of the 50s cult favorite ATTACK OF THE 50ft WOMAN.
Pulling double duty as executive producer on this $7 million dollar
project, along with director Chris Guest, he cast DARYL HANNAH in the part
of NANCY ARCHER (the late ALLISON HAYES part) the larger than life lead.
See the next issue for more about the fx by GENE WARREN'S FANTASY II crew.
page 18
TETSUO: THE IRON MAN
A Review by Zelda Krumlauf
Let me preface this reviw with a little background on the reviewer
(myself), so that you'll be able to put what I say into better context.
Having spent years in a household decorated by my parents with bonsai
plants, ikebana arrangements, sumi paintings, (not to mention the best
damn Godzilla collection in Shaker Heights Ohio) and then meeting up with
a succession of roommates profoundly attached to Japanimation, eastern
graphic novels, tae kwon do, and Shintoism... it's needless to say that
I have a strong appreciation for (if not a complete understanding of) the
artistic outlets of Japanese culture.
It's also true that while my taste in cinema favors the horror
genre, it is a very broad spectrum, occaisionally ranging into areas
described variously as "artsy-fartsy" or "boring, slow foreign movies."
That is to say, I enjoy checking out some of the weirder, more artistic
films when I get the chance.
page 19
Some would say then, that I would be the ideal candidate to join
the thronging critics in praising the new video release TETSUO: THE IRON
MAN. It's definately weird, and definately foreign. It also, for my
money, sucks.
Don't get me wrong... it has its moments, especially for those of
you who are big-time gore hounds. The scene early on where the man
slices his leg open, inserts a metal pipe, and looks down again to
disocver it covered with maggots definately had my skin crawling, while
the rest of the crowd in my living room howled with sarcastic admiration,
"Whoa... He's so punk rock!" And the scene where the man is chased into
the grungy subway station by a woman whose hand? arm? is covered with...
um, things... was also pretty tasty.
The sex scenes were pretty decent too, getting across the intensity
of the passion without being blatant porno shots. But overall, TETSUO
didn't do too much for me. The plot, as far as I could tell, had to do
with the main character's transformation into a metal man-thing, and how
it affected his girlfriend and his sanity. It's all shot in black and
white, with most of the effects accomplished by stop-motion animation.
page 20
There is very little dialog (Japanese, with English subtitles)
and a teeth-gnashing score of industrial sounds provides the background,
um, "music."
The biggest difficulty with the film is that it is extremely
difficult to follow who the main character actually is. The jerky
(aka ArTiStIc) camera work focuses only for split seconds on parts of
the main character's face while he undergoes pain and torment, and it
becomes hard to tell if the man in the opening scenes, the man shaving,
the man making love against a tree, and the man being chased through the
subway is the same person, or different aspects of the same person, or
different people altogether.
And once they start their mechanical evolutions, it's even tougher
to distinguish them. A reviewer from Fangoria magazine came to the
conclusion that the film focused on the main character and "a demon from
his past."
Huh? I mean, I understood Terry Gilliam's BRAZIL the first time
I saw it so I know I'm not a complete cinematic moron, but c'mon... how
page 21
the heck can you tell that the secondary iron man is "a demon from his
past" ???
The second important flaw in TETSUO is that the effects are pretty
substandard. In these days of morphing, stop-motion photograohy needs to
be nothing short of exquisite in order to be effective. Alas, most of the
transformation effects look like a cheesy, Harryhausen wanna-be had a
free-for-all with two acres of Reynolds Wrap. Come to think of it,
Pee-Wee Herman's giant ball of tinfoil was more intimidating than certain
of TETSUO's incarnations.
So, to sum up, I give TETSUO: THE IRON MAN... a D+. There were
several ways I could have enhanced my enjoyment of the film, had I the
opportunity to view it differently, and I recommend any of the following
to those of you who are considering checking it out:
1. See it with a large crowd. Watching a cross-section of people
react to the giant drilling penis scene will compensate for the
boredom generaed by the overdrawn slow pans across piles of junk.
page 22
2. Project it on a wall for your next party, with no sound. Instead,
play some Ministry, and watch your guests freak out.
(Hallucinogens optional.)
3. Rent ERASERHEAD instead.
As always, your responses/counter-criticisms are more than welcome!
Send them to aa...@po.cwru.edu and they will be handled as they can
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRIVIAL TERRORS ANSWERS NEXT ISSUE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. What now famous non-genre director had his directorial debut on a
low buget horror flick entitled "DEMENTIA 13"
2. What was the name of the short story from Steven King's anthology
"NIGHT SHIFT" that was turned into a movie starring Emilio Estevez.
3. What real disease often has it's victims mistaken for vampires.
page 23
THE CROW
~~~~~~~~~~
An Article by Dan Krumlauf
The date was March 30th 1993, Brandon Lee was being rushed to New
Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, North Carolina. He had
just been injured in an effects related accident on the set of "THE CROW"
This was another incident in a long line of strange accidents
plaguing the production. Early in the winter, two sets were completly
destroyed when the building they were housed in had the roof collapse
from the weight of snow piled on it during a blizzard. A crew member
accidently drove a screwdriver through his hand.
Another member of the crew, An electrician was nearly killed when
the metal scaffold he was working from came into contact with high powered
live lines. And the studio plaster shop was destroyed when an employee,
upset about a wage dispute drove his car through the building wall. The
weight and speed of the vehicle carried it into the basement, wiping
everything out.
page 24
This accident was different, this accident was fatal. Thirteen
hours after he arived at the hospital, BRANDON LEE died of a peritiniel
shrapnel wound.
For those of you unfamiliar with "THE CROW", it is based on the
JOHN O'BARR's graphic horror novel about a man who is killed unjustly,
who returns to avenge his death. Neddless to say death was quite
traumatic for him. He came back with a twisted attitude and became an
undead vigilante.
It was the scene where the lead character gets killed that had
been the one they were filming that fateful night. In the scene LEE was
carrying a bag of groceries when he was approached by a street gng, One
of the thugs eventually shoots LEE through the bag into his stomach.
As far as the effects for this shot were concerned, this was pretty
much effects 101 stuff. Very simple, very straight forward, not alot of
room for error. The bag LEE was carrying was wrigged with a small
explosive charge called a squib.
page 25
A prop gun was fired at LEE at the same time the charge was set
off by remote control. After LEE was rushed off the set, speculation
began into what might have gone wrong. Most people assumed it was a
piece of metal from the squib (used as backing against the skin to shield
from the gun powder charge) that had ripped into his stomach and probably
didn't do much damage.
Back at the hospital officials were finding out that just wasn't the
case. During emergency surgery a bullet was removed from LEE's body. LEE
died shortly there after. An investigation was immiediatly begun.
Producers EDWARD PRESSMAN and JEFF MOST had there work cut out for
them, their lead character had just died with under a week of primary
filming to go. And the media rumor mill had already begun with fits of
wild speculation into the accident.
BRANDON LEE was the son martial arts film star BRUCE LEE who also
died under mysterious circumstances. Conspiracy theories abounded, from
talk of organized crime, to crossed drug kingpins.
page 26
There was even one ludicrous theory that because LEE died thirteen
hours after the incident it was all part of a choreographed publicity
stunt, that would somewhat follow the script, as the lead character
returned from the dead, so would LEE.
But as we know now, none of that was anything but rumor. The truth
was much more tragic. LEE was shot by a blank firing prop gun. It was
actually a blank that shot him. The prop gun was designed to fire blank
rounds only. Any one familiar with blanks know they are clearly marked.
At some point, shortly before the prop gun was used a live 44
caliber round was used in the pistol. Because the gun was not designed
to accomadate a real bullet a piece of it scored into the barrel and
lodged itself deep inside.
For all outward appearences the gun looked normal and was loaded
with the blanks for the take. When the gun was fired the gasses and
packing from the blank built up behind the blockage with enough force to
drive the shrapnel out at a high velocity.
page 27
BRANDON LEE had a promising career to look forward to and like his
father before him he was cut down in his prime. His death could not have
been foreseen. But his death could have been prevented, charges are
pending for the person responsible for the live round being in the gun.
There is also the possibility of involuntary manslaughter charges pending.
Where does the production go from here? Filming was halted for
several weeks after BRANDON LEE's death and finally wrapped up late last
June. Several of the scenes that were left were heavily dependent on LEE's
character, A double was not used. Changes were made to novelist JOHN
SHIRLEY's screenplay to take the empahasis off of his character for these
scenes.
With all the pit-falls the film was still tentativley scheduled for
a late October release. But Parmount has just dropped the film into
distribution limbo. It may be some time before we see "THE CROW" fly.
___________________________________________________________________________
As always, your responses/counter-criticisms are more than welcome!
Send them to aa...@po.cwru.edu and they will be handled as they can
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
page 28
DISFIGURATIONS
Forward by Dan Krumlauf Article by Al Tuskes
This is the forum for all of your Special effects/Makeup questions.
You will also find informative articles on such subjects as: Suggested
reading resources for people interested in doing their own makeup fx. How
to articles and recipes. And articles in a HOW DID THEY DO THAT? vein on
both current films and past productions.
Your contributions are more than welcome. If you just can't figure
out how they cut that person in half or how did they show a hole you could
look through in someones stomach. Feel free to ask. Send questions to
aa...@po.cwru.edu and we will do our best to get the answer in an upcoming
issue.
page 29
Big Al here, I thought it would be good to present an overview of
books on the subject of theatre make-up; what areas they cover and how
they will help you as you delve into this exciting field.....
"STAGE MAKEUP" - by Herman Buchman......now here is a book that I
am a little biased towards. To often, young folk that want to emulate Dick
Smith or Rick Baker read about how prosthetics are created in "Fangoria"
magazine, rush right out and buy a 100 lb bag of plaster, 20 lbs of clay
and dig right in to spend a fortune making a crooked rubber nose that
could have been made using a few swipes of greasepaint....YOU NEED TO
LEARN TO CRAWL BEFORE YOU LEARN TO WALK! Buchman's book is an excellent
way to learn to reshape your face using no more than greasepaint and
liners.
It is, as the title denotes, stage makeup. This text shows that you
need not encase your face in rubber pieces to look old. There are plenty
of photos to illustrate what the auther is talking about, many in color.
It also touches upon the proper blending and use of crepe hair, as well
as the making of a face cast for the purpose of making simple slush cast
pieces.
page 30
How am I biased towards this book? Completeness, I guess. I would
rather work with somebody who has a thorough understanding of all aspects
of the field rather than one narrow niche. 'Nuff sed.
"MONSTER MAKEUP HANDBOOK" - Dick Smith........how can you really
explain this one? It was originally published 20 some odd years ago by
Warren Publishing [who also brought you "Famous Monsters of Filmland"] as
a magazine. Written by the dean of character makeup, Dick Smith, it was
his response to what he wished would have been available to him as a
younger man. It covers the art of theatrical makeup starting with
greasepaint and moving into hair and simple prosthetics.
Notably, in an effort to create makeup using easily obtained
materials, Dick Smith made advances that have become industry
standards. A couple of examples......in order to disfigure one's
face for a "Quasimodo" makeup in his handbook, Dick Smith decided
upon the use of unflavored gelatine...simple, cheap, easily found.
Further research showed that it was a viable substitute for foam
latex in certain applications, as is most recently shown in "Heart
Beeps" and "Fly 2".
page 31
The other development was the creation of his Karo Syrup blood
formula, now considered an industry standard. This book is a valuable
addition to your collection. If you don't buy it, at least take it to
work and copy some of the more useful pages on the copier. I forgot to
mention, you don't have to get a time machine to get it....it was
republished in 1984 and '89...
"STAGE MAKEUP" - Richard Corson......continuously reprinted, now
in it's 8th edition, I believe. If you buy only one makeup book this
year, this should be it. Covers, at least briefly, all aspects of
theatrical makeup including corrective, character, hair work creating a
likeness, creating skin textures using various materials, Prosthetics,
just about anything to get you started in the right direction. There
isn't enough I can say about this book.
Well, enogh for now...I'll be back next issue with more on books
about more advanced techniques.
========================================================================
Al Tuskes Maker of the unusual {dirty job, but someone's gotta do it!}
========================================================================
page 32
SLEEPERS
````````````
This is an issue to issue column dedicated to those films that, for
whatever reason, the theater going public panned or missed out on. Send
your article suggestions and\or articles for this section with the header:
Sleepers to: aa...@po.cwru.edu
This months installment is about CANDYMAN. When this films trailer
first came into theaters, I decided that it just didn't look like
something I was going to pay money to see. The trailer used two methods
to draw everyones attention. The first method was to highlght the special
effects make-up. This probably wouldave worked fsome people but, I
am very critical of effects done poorly, and this film definatly
"appeared" to have some really cheesy effects. Secondly it tried to
give the appearence that the lead bad guy had a way of being everywhere
ala a Freddy Krueger vehicle of traveling through ones thoughts, Designed
to literaly ride on the popularity of the Nightmare on Elm street series.
page 33
A vehicle that even pop culture was getting tired of, But true
horror fans had really walked away from. Being the horror hound that I am
it was definatly a misser.
If I never saw this movie we would be at the end of this article
and I wouldn't have been any worse for the wear.
But I consider myself lucky for the Friday night at the video store
blues, that caused me, after much searching of the over picked videos, to
choose CANDYMAN as the other film I took home that night.
The trailer's focus was completly, in my opinion, off base. The
storyline of this folklore\urban legend sendup was over-looked to a
fault. It made a twist that was a minor plot device appear to be what the
movie was all about.
It is that storyline that would do the alt.folklore... folks proud
and made this a film one that I would come to recommend to my friends and
now to the readers of this column.
page 34
Under the sculpting pen of writer/director Bernard Rose the script,
based on a short story by the horrormeister himself, Clive Barker entitled
THE FORBIDDEN, took shape. After a few touch-ups to bring it into a more
provincial and contemporary setting and to flesh out characters the film
was lensed.
The most notable change in the story had to be the change of the
location setting from Liverpool England to Cabrini Green. For those
unfamiliar with Cabrini Green it is a public housing project in Chicago
here in the states. In fact when it opened it was touted as THE housing
model of the future. But after all the money that was invested into it
was gone and all the media fanfare died down. It's fifteen minutes were
over.
It became a catch-basin for the flotsam, jetsam and emotionally
wrecked downtrodden beings that often exist on the underbelly of society.
The pristine project of the future had degenerated into a ghetto that
seems more like a fortress for drug kingpins and petty thieves then a
model for the future.
page 35
Not the kind of place you would expect to find strong people to
characterize. But thats one of the things I liked about this film. The
first goal of any good script is to make you believe in and care about
the people that it focuses on. Most people in todays society look at
places like the Green and only see the bad people that populate the
area because good people are so few and far between.
Some of the characters reminded me of the humanity of good that
still shines through, even in the most detrimental of conditions, even
though society has taught me to look the other way. There are people in
this film (that populate the Green) that I can care about that society
has forgotten to care about.
Early in the film we meet Helen Lyle played by Virginia Madsen,
(whom most of you know from THE HIGHLANDER where she played the wife of
highlander Christopher Lambert) Lyle is a student in Chicago working
towards her doctorate in mythology.
page 36
In her search for something unique as a subject for her thesis
(which. all the lurkers like myself, who read the alt.folklore...know is
pretty tough to do) she hears about a killer named CANDYMAN played by
TONY TODD (fresh from the remake of THE NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD) So you
say what does a murderer have to do with mythology. It has to do with the
M O of the murderer or to be specific, his choice of weapons, reportedly
a hook-hand and his stalking grounds... Cabrini Green.
Whistles and bells go off in her head, this all seems to be vaguely
familiar. She soon figures out why, in her research she had read about a
19th century legend. The legend tells the story of a young black artist,
who after being commisioned to paint a portrait of a young girl, falls
in love with his subject. In this time frame that is completely impossible
and an angry mob chases him down, and in the ultimate defilation (at least
to an artist anyways) they chop off his hand, leaving him to live without
a reason to live. But that dosn't matter as the blood that is coming
from the wound, and the thrashing on the ground stirs up a swarm of bees.
Which procedes to sting him to death.
page 37
The legend goes on to say that by calling out the name CANDMAN five
times you will be standing before the hook handed incarnation of the
artist who has a bone to pick and he's going to do it with a vengance.
After a little research she finds that the legend takes place in of
all places the very spot that Cabrini Green stands on today. She now has
the chance to write her thesis on the holy grail of all urban legends,
one that can be proven true.*
SIDEBAR: For those of you unfamilliar with urban legends they are never
proven. For instance a lot of people have heard about cow tipping, a
legend aout how cows sleep standing up and if you can sneak up on them
without waking them you can tip them over. If you ask some of your
friends if they have ever done this they will often admit "NO BUT SO AND
SO HAS AND HE SAID YOU CAN...." no one ever has themselves but they know
its true because so and so had. Reinforcing and adding to the story as it
is passed on. Thats how an urban legend grows.
page 38
The Lyle character is a middle-class woman, not the kind of person
you find in Cabrini Green let alone one that shows up asking lot of
questions. She dosn't exactaly meet with open arms from the inhabitants of
the Green.
What we end up with as we follow her through the tracking and then
the confrontation of the CANDYMAN is very enjoyable genre piece. Add the
hauting soundtrack score by Phillip Glass, and very "passable" effects...
(remember, I said that the effects in the trailer "appeared" cheesy.
Again it was offbase) Which includes a very unsettling effect of live bees
coming out of the CANDYMAN'S mouth (which, by the way, was not done with
a dummy, but TONY TODD'S real mouth)
All in all I'm really glad I gave this film a chance. If I learned
one thing, it's not to always make my film viewing choices based on the
trailer. Giving a film a chance might take a definate misser and turn it
into a good evening of enjoyment.
As always, your responses/counter-criticisms are more than welcome!
Send them to aa...@po.cwru.edu and they will be handled as they can
page 39
HELP WANTED
The Neon Gargoyle Gazette is in search of talented horror writers
for several positions. Columns are open on the subjects of book and film
reviews, and informational articles on current productions.
RIPS and PIECES information and rumors are welcome for submission,
as well as freelance articles, poetry and fiction on the subject of
horror.
We hope to also enter into the cult film area including B movies
and some fantasy (more on the make-up end) Cross genre influenced
articles are also welcome.
For more information please contact:
aa...@po.cwru.edu
or
xx...@po.cwru.edu
page 40
WHATS UP IN THE NEXT ISSUE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
More reviews on books and films of the genre as well as
informational articles on "DUST DEVIL" director RICHARD "HARDWARE"
STANLEY's boogey man in the out-back film....On the comics to film front
we'll look at OPTIC NERVE's make-up and effects on "THE FANTASTIC FOUR"
Plus whats going on with: BRIAN YUZNA's "RETURN OF THE LIVINGDEAD III"
RACHEL TALALAY'S serial killer gone computer virus "GHOST IN THE MACHINE"
Plus our issue to issue columns DISFIGURATIONS: we'll finish up
on the suggested reading list for budding make-up artists. And another
SLEEPERS column. And the answers to the TRIVIAL TERRORS tidbits and much,
much more........
As always, your responses/counter-criticisms are more than welcome!
Or if you think you have an article or an idea for an article
Send them to aa...@po.cwru.edu and they will be handled as they can
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dan Krumlauf Sysop of the Cleveland Freenet HORROR SIG ! For more info
Telnet to 129.22.8.38 Choose VISITOR Type "GO HORROR" ! Contact
"By the perception of illusion we expierience reality" ! NGE fx at
"Imagination is more important than Knowledge" -A. Einstein ! 216-491-4616
--
*blood* *blood* *blood* *blood* *blood* *blood* *blood* *blood*
*gore* THE CLEVELAND FREENET HORROR SIG *gore*
*gore* FOR MORE INFO SEND EMAIL TO aa...@PO.CWRU.EDU *gore*
**guts* *guts* *guts* *guts* *guts *guts* *guts* *guts* *guts**