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Billy the Kid Week 2010: I cast a Billy the Kid vs Dracula remake

Posted in Billy the Kid, Dracula, monsters, movies, pop culture with tags Billy the Kid, Billy the Kid Week, Dracula, monsters, movies, Photoshop, pop culture on August 20, 2010 by Paxton

So, Billy the Kid Week was last week and I finished it up with a review of the movie Billy the Kid vs Dracula. This was a movie that looked and sounded terrible, but had a concept that was so completely out of left field (and AWESOME) that I fell head over heels for it. Unfortunately, the movie lived up to how bad it looked and I gave up an hour into the complete mess of a movie. However the concept stuck with me and I decided I wanted someone to remake this movie today (or, better yet, in the 80s/90s). How incredible would that have been? Something like Young Guns but with a little Lost Boys mixed in? FANTASTIC.

So, I started to cast my remake of this movie. I decided I wanted Emilio Estevez as Billy (obviously). Late 80s or early 90s Estevez would be ideal. However, if we made it today, I like the idea of an older Billy clashing with the King of the Vampires, too. Now, for Drac, I really want to say Bela Lugosi, however, Bela died WELL before the ’80s/’90s so I needed someone else that could make a good vampire lord. After much thought I came up with Sam Neill. He was a fantastic vampire in Daybreakers and I think he would make a great Dracula. Plus, if we made this movie in the late 80s early ’90s, Neill doesn’t look much different now than he did back then (see him in Hunt for Red October in 1990 or Jurassic Park in 1993). So, here’s our two protagonists.

Emilio as Billy Sam Neill as Dracula

I am so in love with this movie right now. I literally would take this movie, move to Connecticut and marry it in a commitment ceremony, then make sweet, sweet love with it on a bear skin rug next to a raging fire until the sun comes up. That’s right, bear skin rug by the fire love making. You know I’m seriously in love. Anyway, I also wanted a female caught between these two guys. I thought about Angelina Jolie, but she may be too tough and doesn’t really fit into this. I wanted more of a sweet female character. My first choice would probably be Gwyneth Paltrow. The first thing I remember seeing her in was Se7en in 1995. I loved her in that and I love her now. That’s my first choice, so I’m going with that. Besides, 1995 seems like a good year to make this movie now that I think about it. Gwyneth would be 23 and fresh off Se7en. Emilio would be a few years past the Young Guns movies and he didn’t appear in any movies in 1995 but appeared in D2: The Mighty Ducks in 1994 and a small role in Mission: Impossible in 1996. Sam Neill would be two years after his role in Jurassic Park. So 1995 seems like a nice fit for this movie. Now the poster.

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Billy the Kid Week 2010: Freaky Friday the 13th featuring Billy the Kid, The Three Stooges and Dracula

Posted in Billy the Kid, Dracula, monsters, movies, nostalgia, pop culture, reviews, vampires with tags Billy the Kid, Billy the Kid Week, Dracula, monsters, movies, pop culture, reviews, Three Stooges, vampires on August 13, 2010 by Paxton

This is Day 5 of Billy the Kid Week. All week I’ve been reviewing movies featuring the character of Billy the Kid. Here are the previous week’s entries:

Day 0: Young Guns II 20th birthday
Day 1: Howard Hughes’ The Outlaw
Day 2: The Left Handed Gun starring Paul Newman
Day 3: Sam Peckinpah’s Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
Day 4: Young Guns 22nd birthday

Since today is Friday the 13th, I am dubbing today as Billy the Kid Week’s “Freaky Friday”. I will review one wacky and one scary movie featuring Billy. The first movie will be the Three Stooges’ epic western, The Outlaws IS Coming. The second movie will be the horror schlockfest Billy the Kid vs Dracula. These movies look like they should be appropriately zany, so let’s get started.

Released in 1965, this is the last fully completed film featuring The Stooges. They began filming one more movie, Kook’s Tour, in 1970, but Larry had a stroke before filming was completed and the movie sat unfinished and unreleased for years afterward.

The original title of this movie was The Three Stooges Meet The Gunslingers. That earlier title sounds reminiscent of Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein for a reason as this movie is setup in much the same way. Instead of being a “monster rally” movie featuring a famous comedy team, it’s a “gunslinger rally” movie featuring a famous comedy team. There are 9 famous gunslingers in this movie including Billy the Kid, Jesse James, Wild Bill Hickock, Bat Masterson, Wyatt Earp, Johnny Ringo, Cole Younger, Rob Dalton and Belle Star. Each of the nine gunslingers were played by popular local Kid-TV hosts of the day. Other notable stars in this film are Adam West as Kenneth Cabot, a naive ne’er-do-well who works with the Stooges, the gorgeous Nancy Kovack as Annie Oakley and Henry Gibson as Charlie Horse, the Indian chief’s son. The movie is even narrated by Paul Frees, known for his voice work on Rocky and Bullwinkle (most notably, Boris Badenov). So, lots of talent were culled together to make this last movie for the Stooges. West would go on to Batman the very next year. Nancy Kovack would go on to several roles in geek classics like Queenie in two episodes of West’s Batman as well as Nona in an episode of the original Star Trek in 1968.

The Gunslingers

In the movie, the Stooges work as photographers and “undercover investigators” at an organization similar to the ASPCA. They work with West’s Cabot and are sent on an undercover mission to Casper, Wyoming to determine why the population of Bison are dwindling. They discover that a ruthless cattle baron, Rance Roden, has a group of deadly gunslingers killing off the bison to stir up the Indian population into an uprising that will slaughter the cavalry and put Roden in charge of the government (how the cavalry being defeated puts Rance as ruler of the government is not explained). Oh, and Roden is selling government weapons to the Indians. We meet the group of gunslingers in the beginning and learn where their territories are. For some reason, Billy the Kid is said to be in charge of the Dakota Territory instead of Santa Fe (New Mexico, where Billy spent the majority of his life). Johnny Ringo is in charge of Santa Fe. Not a big deal since this is a Stooges movie, but it surprised me. Anyway, we meet the gunslingers in the beginning, then we really don’t see them again until the end when there’s a big gunfight. So, Billy the Kid only has dialogue in like two scenes. Also, he’s played with the temperament of a teenager or child. He whines and cries whenever he doesn’t want to do something. Roden’s henchman Trigger Mortis (Get it? It’s a play on Rigor Mortis…haha!) gets most of the screen time for the villains.

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AWESOME-tober-fest 2009: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)

Posted in Dracula, Frankenstein, Halloween, holiday, monsters, movies, Universal Studios, Wolf Man with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2009, Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Dracula, Frankenstein, Halloween, holiday, monsters, movies, pop culture, reviews, The Wolf Man, Universal Studios on October 28, 2009 by Paxton

Yesterday, I watched the first three Boris Karloff Frankenstein movies, the last one being Son of Frankenstein in 1939. Today, I’m going to jump ahead almost 10 years to talk about my next movie, 1948’s Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein.

This movie was a horror comedy (Horr-edy?!) staring the comedy team of Abbott & Costello. It is notable because it features three of the Universal monsters, two of which are played by their original actor. Lon Chaney reprises his role of The Wolf Man and Bela Lugosi returns as Dracula (this is the only time Lugosi played Dracula apart from the original 1931 classic). Karloff, however, had stopped playing “The Monster” after Son of Frankenstein in 1939, so Glenn Strange played the titular monster in this movie (as he had for The Ghost of Frankenstein a few years earlier). Karloff would actually appear with Abbott and Costello in another movie, Abbot and Costello Meet The Killer, Boris Karloff, one year later. This movie is considered the “swan song” of the original Universal Monsters as the popularity of the Universal Horror movies had waned towards the end of the ’40s. As a matter of fact, Bud Abbott did not even want to do the movie, but Universal offered him so much money he couldn’t turn it down. Also, Universal was set to cast another actor as Dracula because it believed that Bela Lugosi had died! However, Lugosi’s agent had informed Universal otherwise (his movie career was almost non-existent at this point) and convinced the executives that they owe Lugosi the role he originated. As for the Wolf Man, it is the only character to be portrayed by the same actor (Lon Chaney) throughout the original Universal monster movies (including this one). Despite the pedigree, this movie was a cash grab for Universal. And it kinda shows.

I can see why Abbott didn’t want to do the movie. It’s dumb. Apart from the novelty of having the original Universal Monsters all together, this movie is silly and hard to watch (even boring at times). Having Dracula try to reanimate The Monster and being opposed by Abbot, Costello and Larry Talbot (The Wolf Man) is a good idea on paper, but the execution is lacking. I’ve watched this movie twice and I barely made it through each time. The idea is definitely better than the result. Abbott and Costello are funny, but I prefer the Universal Monsters in a horror setting where they are taken seriously, not in this comedy setting where they seem more ludicrous and out of place than scary.

Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.

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AWESOME-tober-fest 2009: Watching the Boris Karloff Frankenstein movies

Posted in Dracula, Frankenstein, monsters, movies, Universal Studios, Wolf Man with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2009, Dracula, Frankenstein, Halloween, holiday, monsters, movies, pop culture, reviews, Universal Studios, Wolf Man on October 27, 2009 by Paxton

Welcome to Day 2 of Frankenstein movie week. Yesterday we discussed the 1910 Edison Frankenstein movie. Today, I look at the Universal Frankenstein movies, which have shaped much of what we know about the Frankenstein myths.

Universal would make several Frankenstein movies, but the first three would be the most iconic. Let’s look at the first three movies staring the legendary Boris Karloff as The Monster.

Frankenstein (1931) –Since I read all those books last week about Frankenstein, I had to go back and watch Universal’s original 1931 Frankenstein movie directed by James Whale and staring Boris Karloff. I vaguely remember the movie, and while reading the book I was constantly surprised about how different the novel and the movie are. Several of the main characters are pretty much all the two have in common. While watching this movie I realized the events in this movie encompass most of what people associate with the tale of the creation of the Frankenstein monster. The movie character of Dr Frankenstein (Victor in the novel but renamed Henry for the movie) is more a “mad scientist” than the “curious genius” portrayed in the book.
My thoughts after watching are that this movie is pretty good. I was surprised that a movie in the ’30s began with two guys digging for corpses in a graveyard. It was a nice, macabre beginning to the movie. The monster looks good and so do a lot of the sets. The story drags a bit here and there but when it gets going the action is surprisingly good. And, obviously, the end leaves you hanging (as there are, not surprisingly, like 6 sequels to this movie). It’s exactly what one thinks of when you remember Frankenstein and his monster. I see why this is a classic monster movie. The Frankenstein makeup in this movie (by Jack Pierce) is iconic. I didn’t remember how emaciated the monster looked. Apparently Karloff took out some temporary bridge work to give the monster this sunken cheek look. That along with the lighting created a very dramatic effect. I was very much looking forward to Bride of Frankenstein when this movie was over.

Bride of Frankenstein (1935) — Like I said, I was looking forward to this first sequel to Frankenstein because it was made using the same actors as well as the same director, James Whale. It was a serious sequel that many believe is as good (if not better) than the original. I’m torn, I like both…A LOT. Overall, this movie’s script seems a bit tighter. Karloff’s Frankenstein is wonderful as always. The sunken cheeks are gone because Karloff was asked not to remove the bridge work this time out. The sets are even grander this time around. It’s definitely more of the same, but in a really good way. My only beef, and I didn’t know this going in, the title monster, The Bride, only appears in the final 5-8 minutes of the movie. I kept waiting for her to show up, but she doesn’t until the end. Very disappointing, which is probably why I can’t put this movie above the original Frankenstein, even though it’s a fantastic horror movie.
Oh, another thing, the character of Minnie, the housekeeper, was BEYOND annoying. Every little thing, scary or not, would cause her to scream this Banshee-like wail throughout the scene. I wanted to tear her vocal cords out and stomp them into the ground. SO. F’N. IRRITATING. I believe this is where Cloris Leachman’s character came from in Young Frankenstein.

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AWESOME-tober-fest 2009: Drak Pack cartoon

Posted in cartoons, Frankenstein, Halloween, holiday, pop culture, TV shows, werewolves with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2009, cartoons, Dracula, Drak Pack, Frankenstein, Halloween, holiday, monsters, pop culture, TV shows, werewolves on October 14, 2009 by Paxton

Continuing my look at cartoons featuring Frankenstein’s monster. Today I look at Drak Pack.

This show originally aired on CBS between 1980 and 1982 and it was created by the Australian arm of Hanna-Barbera.

The cartoon had a great premise. As descendants of the original monsters (Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster and Wolf Man), the three main teens use their monster abilities, and taking orders from the legendary Dracula, to fight crime and atone for their ancestors’ evil doings. Here is the opening sequence that explains the entire premise of the show (like many Hanna-Barbera cartoons are want to do).

This was a very clever series that merged the superhero genre as well as the monster genre. As you can see, the teens appeared normal until they called on their monster identities to fight evil. The three teens are Drak Jr (or just Drak), Frankie and Howler. They each had different abilities in their monster forms. To change into their monster personalities they high fived and yelled “WHACK-O!” (called the Drak Whack). Surprisingly, they went by the same names whether as regular teens or as the monsters which makes you wonder why they used secret identities. But I guess walking around as a 7 ft green monster would be a bit much. To get around they drove a bad ass hot rod called the Drakster which not only looked cool but had a ton of James Bond-ish gadgetry hiding within it.

I remember really enjoying this show. I only ever saw it a few times because the time that it aired constantly changed. I was always on the lookout for it but never could find it. It was released on DVD in Canada, but you can order it from Amazon (it’s Region 1, so you can watch it on a US DVD player). Unfortunately Netflix has not added it to their library just yet.

Definitely worth a look for monster fans as well as Hanna-Barbera fans. Another really great series staring every0ne’s favorite monsters as heroes.

Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.

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