The WTF Really Happened to This Horror Movie series looks at the true stories behind The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

“The film which you are about to see is an account of the tragedy which befell a group of five youths, in particular Sally Hardesty and her invalid brother, Franklin. It is all the more tragic in that they were young. But, had they lived very, very long lives, they could not have expected, nor would they have wished to see as much of the mad and macabre as they were to see that day. For them an idyllic summer afternoon drive became a nightmare. The events of that day were to lead to the discovery of one of the most bizarre crimes in the annals of American history, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.” When I joke about movies being very loosely based on a true story, that opening dialogue from John Larroquette and the wild popularity is what I’m referring to. While it may not be the first movie to falsely present itself as a true story, it’s one of the most famous and certainly the most famous early example in the realm of horror. I’ve joked about it enough but lets actually take a good look at what, if anything, resembles truth from one of the best to ever do it. Don’t pick up any weird looking stray hitchhikers as we find out what REALLY happened to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (watch it HERE).

Tobe Hooper was an assistant director and documentary cameraman at the University of Texas at Austin in the early 1970s. He came up with ideas for a movie involving isolation, darkness, and the woods but, like the gang from A Clockwork Orange, felt that he needed a bit of the old ultra violence. He felt that way when he was astonished to see the graphic violence shown on the news coming out of San Antonio. He then based his killer or at least some of the aspects of the killer on Wisconsin’s Ed Gein who was convicted in the 1950’s. Now, here’s where the tricky part comes in. Hooper puts in the beginning of the movie a bit about the movie you are about to see is true and that was an intentional deception. The Vietnam War, Watergate, and the Oil Crisis of 1973 were all moments in time that the general public was lied to about and his cinematic misinformation was his response.

Hooper wasn’t alone though as he co-wrote the script with the co-writer of his first film Eggshells Kim Henkel. While Hooper based the story crimes very loosely on Ed Gein, Henkel was more interested and astonished with the story of Elmer Wayne Henley who was involved in what came to be known as the Houston Mass Murders. Henley helped lead nearly 30 young men and teenage boys to the home of Dean Corll over the span from 1970 to 1973 before Henley killed Corll allegedly in self-defense. What Henkel found interesting and something that he added to his characters was the lack of remorse and full ownership of their crimes. Henley, like the family that does the killing in today’s movie, completely owned his crimes and Henkel worked that into his portion of the screenplay.

Henkel was also the writer for Eaten Alive which was directed by Hooper and The Unseen from 1980. He would also go on to direct and write the 4th installment of the series Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation. Yeah, that would end up being his only directorial effort. The cast for the movie was mostly local talent from stage, commercials, or TV or even just people that Hooper knew personally. Marilyn Burns wouldn’t end up making much after this but did show up in Eaten Alive and two other Texas Chainsaw movies while Gunnar Hansen would make a nice niche for himself in some fun horror movies like Mosquito, Campfire Tales, and Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers before a final Chainsaw appearance in the iteration from 2013. Probably the most famous on screen talent is just a voice. John Larroquette was an unknown who worked for weed and would end up doing the narration again for the remake, its prequel, and the 2022 Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

The movie was a smash success with it making 30 million on its 80-140 thousand dollar budget but the people that actually made the movie didn’t reap the benefits as much as you would hope do to making a bad deal with bad people. It gained controversy as Hooper asked for a PG rating due to much of the gore being not expressly visible but it was instead slapped with an X before cuts dropped it to an R. It would end up as a video nasty and had some screening either flush with walkouts like San Fransisco or theaters threatened with citations and violations like in Canada. It remains one of the most successful independent films of all time as well as one of the best horror films ever made.

The movie opens with a camera snapping hard to see polaroids followed by a pile of body parts set up in a grisly fashion before we meet a group of friends that include Sally and her brother Franklin along with their friends Jerry, Pam, and Kirk. They are on the way to a property owned by Sally and Franklins family the Hardestys. They pick up a very strange hitchhiker who tries to sell them a photograph after mentioning that his family is in the animal slaughter business just like the Hardestys are. They refuse to buy the picture and the man cuts Franklin before being chased out of the van. He also cut his own hand and smeared blood on the side of the vehicle as it drives away.

(Factometer 5%) Ok look, we are going to try to make this interesting, but I was serious when I said this was the joke I use when saying movies that are purported true stories “aren’t as bad as Texas Chainsaw” when it comes to their validity. If you are looking at the Ed Gein side of things, there is really nothing here that is similar to what is seen on screen. He had a brother and a very strange and sad childhood upbringing. If you look at what Kim Henkel used as inspiration, there isn’t a ton that is familiar there wither with Henley either. He was one of four sons and I guess the fact that he was in Houston, Texas puts him in the same state as the film. The group of friends isn’t exactly lured into anything either like Henley was involved in. we will try to look at both inspirations throughout.

The van starts to run low on fuel but is told that the gas station has nothing left. They find an abandoned house owned by the family of Sally and Franklin but more importantly Kirk and Pam find a different nearby house that seems to be running off of a generator. Generator means gas and so the two go over to see about trading for some gas when we meet what we affectionately come to know as Leatherface when he is introduced to us by shocking killing Kirk with a hammer blow to the head. He is called Leatherface because he fashions a mask made of the skin of his victims. Pam goes looking for Kirk and stumbles into a room full of human and animal bones and skin along with feathers and other assorted atrocities before being hung on a hook and killed. A short time later, Jerry enters the house and befalls the same fate as his friends.

(Factometer 25%) This may be the most accurate part of the movie to label based on a true story. For the Ed Gein side of things, what he ended up doing apart from killing AT LEAST 2 people, was dig up graves and use the skin and bones for various things. When the police finally apprehended him, they found, among other things, chairs covered by human skin, skulls on his bedposts, bowls made from human skulls, a human skin suit including leggings and corsets, and a female nipple doorbell. Gein had become so obsessed with his mother at an early age that he eventually wanted to become her and effectively crawl back inside her. Leatherface’s appearance as well as that room that Pam stumbles into area really the biggest parts that you could put together with Gein and even then, it’s not exactly apples to apples or I suppose bodies to bodies. The only similarity to Henley and the Houston Mass Murders is the number of victims there are. There is no confirmation how many people Leatherface and his family killed but it had to be a lot, the number that Henley was involved in was almost 30.

Sally and Franklin are all that remain when nightfall rolls around, and they are attacked with Franklin brutally killed in his wheelchair and Sally left to run through the woods. She makes it to the house where her friends were all killed where she sees an elderly body upstairs and is chased away to a gas station/food place. The owner drives her back to the house where we find that the hitchhiker, gas station owner, and Leatherface are all brothers, and the very much alive elderly man is their grandpa. Sally is to be killed with a hammer but when the family’s attempt to have the grandfather do it fails, and she escapes. When the hitchhiker and Leatherface chase her, the hitchhiker is killed after being struck by a truck and Leatherface is knocked down, injuring himself while Sally escapes in the back of truck screaming a mix of joy and insanity.

(Factometer 15%) Again, there isn’t much here. If you look at the Ed Gein side of things, he was alone in the acts that he committed and neither victim that he had while alive was able to escape. Gein was put in a mental hospital after a juryless trial where he would die in 1984 at the age of 77. The movie at least has a passing resemblance to the end of the Henley saga. While the main murderer Corll preferred men and teenage boys, Henley ended up bringing a girl to the house where the killings happened which made Corll turn on Henley. The woman in question while she was about to be murdered was able to convince Henley to stop and kill Corll and let them escape so we have a Sally avatar from real life. Henley called the police after two victims made it out safely and admitted to everything. Just like Gein and unlike Leatherface, Henley would not go on to have any sequels. He was tried for 6 murders of the boys he brought to Corll and he is still in prison today with his next parole opportunity being in 2025.

Well, we did it! We tackled the very untrue story of a purportedly true tale. Texas Chainsaw is still an all-time classic but if you want to watch anything based on the two inspirations for it to actually learn more you are much better off elsewhere. While there arent any big movies about the Houston Massacre, there was a loose adaptation called Freak Out from 2003. Gein has a few more options with the best being Deranged from 1974 but don’t sleep on the self-titled Ed Gein which is also known as In the Light of the Moon starring Steve Railsback from 2000. Nothing will ever take away from the original TCM even if some of its sequels tried their damnedest but if you’d like to explore the stories that inspired it, you best find another farm to explore.

A couple of the previous episodes of WTF Really Happened to This Horror Movie? can be seen below. To check out the other shows we have on the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel, head over to the channel – and subscribe while you’re there!

Atlas Comics is attempting to build a cinematic universe at Paramount Pictures, starting with an adaptation of Devilina

Founded by Martin Goodman in 1939, the company now known as Marvel Comics started off as Timely Comics, then evolved into Atlas Comics before finally being renamed Marvel. Goodman left Marvel in 1972 and founded a separate company called Atlas Comics, a.k.a. Atlas/Seaboard Comics. That Atlas Comics is now in the hands of Steven Paul, and Deadline reports that Paul has secured a deal with Paramount Pictures to bring a live-action adaptation of the Atlas property Devilina to the screen, the hope being that Devilina will launch an Atlas Comics cinematic universe at the studio. Paramount seems like a good place to get this cinematic universe plan rolling at, since they released the first four films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, before distribution of those projects moved over to Disney.

Devilina follows a sheltered young woman who journeys to New York in search of her past, only to discover she is the sister of Satan, and her twin brother has been manipulating her while a detective investigates a series of murders linked to her. The Devilina comic was first published in 1975 and featured “characters that would ultimately shape the interconnected Atlas universe, including compelling figures like Lomax, Grim Ghost, and Phoenix. These characters are integral to Atlas’s vast library, which features over 100 comics spanning a rich tapestry of genres, from sci-fi and fantasy to action, supernatural, and horror.“

Paul provided the following statement: “From the beginning, Atlas Comics’ expansive library of characters and stories was crafted as an interconnected universe. Devilina serves as the introduction, and we are dedicated to honoring this foundational vision of Atlas, ensuring that audiences can fully immerse themselves in these dynamic characters and narratives.“

Jon Gonda, EVP, Production, Paramount Pictures’ Motion Picture Group added: “Dating back to the golden age of comics, Atlas has been home to some of the greatest comic book creators of all time. There are so many characters to love and so many stories to be told.“

The Devilina film is being produced by Paul. Scott Karol, President of SP Media Group, and Jason Goodman, the grandson of Martin Goodman, serve as executive producers. Conor O’Farrell, director of development at SP Media Group, is also working on the project. Deadline notes that “SP Media has had a co-financing and production deal at Paramount Pictures and Devilina is the first project being developed under that deal with early development that began last year.” Paul’s long list of producing credits includes two Marvel-based movies: Ghost Rider and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.

The Devilina screenplay is being written by Rebecca Webb, whose revenge comedy script Divorce Party was featured on the Black List a few years ago and is now set up at Cate Blanchett’s production company Dirty Films.

What do you think of Atlas Comics attempting to launch a cinematic universe with Devilina? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.

With Last Voyage of the Demeter in theatres, we take a look at the best Dracula Actors.

With The Last Voyage of the Demeter now on home video, Dracula is once again on everyone’s mind. In it, Javier Botet plays a horrific version of the count that’s far removed from the recent, classic-style version played by Nicolas Cage in Renfield. How will he stack up against some of the best versions of the fanged Count? First, we must come up with our list of the Best Dracula Actors!

C​hristian Camargo – Penny Dreadful (2016)

W​hile Universal was trying to figure out how to create their Dark Universe, over on Showtime, Penny Dreadful was already doing a fantastic job beating them to the punch. The series pulled together literary versions of Frankenstein’s monster, the wolfman, Dorian Gray, and eventually Dracula himself. Christian Camargo played Dr. Alexander Sweet in Season Three, who begins to seduce Eva Green’s Vanessa Ives. It is revealed later that this doctor is, in fact, the Count himself, making him an unconventional addition to the Best Dracula Actors list. Carmargo brought out the seductive side of the vampire while later revealing just how deadly he could be.

His version of Count Dracula appeared in the kid’s film The Monster Squad but brought a lot of menace to the role. He appears in town with his other monster friends, looking for Van Helsing’s diary. Our group of young heroes crosses paths with him multiple times and only barely escape with their lives. Dracula has no problem using some dynamite to blow up their tree house and sees no problem with wanting a group of children killed. He was so terrifying in the role that child actor Ashley Bank legitimately screamed for her life during their face-to-face confrontation. Cage’s version in Renfield seems a little darker and funnier than this version, but Regehr scared a whole generation of movie fans. We would for sure list him as one of the best on-screen Dracula portrayals… and to make things he even better, he spends a good portion of his screen time hanging out with versions of Frankenstein’s Monster, the Wolf Man, the Mummy, and the Gill-Man.

I​n 1979, Werner Herzog remade the classic vampire tale, and in a twist of genius casting, put Klaus Kinski in the title role. His version of Dracula is more animalistic in its approach. He doesn’t seduce his victim but instead drinks from them in their sleep. His creepy look harkens back to the Max Schreck version but has even less humanity than that film put on display. With his giant lips and sharp teeth, he seems more like a leech than anything that can pass for human. Even though the performance from Kinski is completely strange (from Kinski? Go figure), it still is one of the best on-screen versions of Dracula. It’s probably safe to bet that Cage’s version in Renfield will take less inspiration from this one.

J​ack Palance – Dracula (1974)

W​ith the popularity of Dan Curtis’s series like Dark Shadows and his Kolchak TV movies, he decided to turn his attention to bringing Dracula to the small screen. He teamed up with his usual collaborator Richard Matheson to bring it to life. They cast Jack Palance in the role of Dracula, and he brings an edge of pathos to the character. In this version, he sees a woman that reminds him of his long-dead wife. We see a little more of the character’s humanity as he tries to find the one thing that used to make him happy. He’ll get it no matter who he has to kill.

T​his fictional take on the making of Nosferatu turns Max Schreck into an actual vampire. The director F. W. Murnau brings aboard this strange actor who suddenly seems too well-equipped to play the famed vampire. Dafoe disappears into the role of the strange creature. The interactions between him and the rest of the cast is fantastic to watch, and Murnau getting frustrated that he won’t stop killing the cast is great. A strange meta performance but still ranks as one of the best on-screen Dracula portrayals even if it’s by technicality.

Sometimes Dracula just can’t help falling in love. I​ don’t think it will be a shock to say that Gary Oldman is an amazing actor. Francis Ford Coppola cast him to play Dracula in his 1992 big-budget story version. They used some of the best state-of-the-art effects to transform Oldman during different stages of his rejuvenation. He starts out as a decrepit old man, and as he feeds, he ages backward until he becomes a spry young man. Oldman plays the character perfectly, and you can see how easily seductive he is. At the same turn, there is a danger underneath that seeps through onto the screen. Easy to see why he’s a contender for the best on-screen Dracula.

W​hen sound was first introduced to films, studios would sometimes make foreign language versions as well with different actors on the same sets and using the same costumes. For the 1931 Dracula, they shot the English version with Bela Lugosi during the day, and then another crew would come in to shoot the Spanish Language version of the horror film at night.

When compared, Villarias’ version of the character isn’t quite as stiff as Lugosi’s. His expressions and movements were more free-flowing and set this version apart. This, along with making the female leads sexier due to less stringent film codes in other countries, made this version of the story stand out from its English counterpart. Some even like it better than the Todd Browning film that everyone knows. Should be interesting to see if it’s closer to Cage’s take on the character in Renfield.

M​ax Schreck – Nosferatu (1922)

E​ven if someone hasn’t seen this film they definitely know the look of Max Schreck in the film. It has transcended the film and lodged itself so completely in pop culture that a single image of the film is enough for people to recognize it. This silent film from Germany used light and shadow to give Schrek’s Count Orlok (we all know it’s really Dracula) such a commanding presence in the film. His look and mannerisms have given generations the creeps just by looking at him. The filmmakers were sued by Stoker’s estate and lost. All film copies were to be destroyed, but a few survived, which is good for history as this version of the character might just be the creepiest it has ever been.

W​hen Universal’s monster series began to grow long in the tooth (pun intended), they began to shift away from some of the classic monsters and move more into the atomic-age films that had started to become popular. Across the pond, Hammer Films decided to do their own version of these classic creatures. Christopher Lee was cast, and his take on Dracula was something audiences hadn’t seen up to that point. His version was very proper and dignified, but once he went into his blood-lust, he became savage and unhinged. You were in trouble if you were unlucky enough to come across him at this stage. He bared his fangs and hissed while his eyes became bloodshot and unsettled. The switch almost happens instantly. You could be having a thoroughly normal conversation, but he would suddenly go into a rage, and there would be no way to calm him down until he was able to dine. A scary portrayal of the character for sure.

Lee portrayed Dracula in a total of ten films. In addition to Horror of Dracula, he starred in Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966), Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968), Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970), Scars of Dracula (1970), Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972), and The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973). He also played the character in Jess Franco’s Count Dracula (1970), Jerry Lewis’s One More Time (1970), and Édouard Molinaro’s Dracula and Son (1976).

B​ela Lugosi – Dracula (1931)

The Universal horror icon. U​ntil the world finally turns to dust and escapes into the vacuum of space, no other actor will be as associated with the character of Dracula as Bela Lugosi. His slow walk and deep gaze became a stereotype for how the character was portrayed in every version afterward. His menacing stare and slow walk toward his victim became the stereotype for every characterization of Dracula. It will be interesting to see what Nic Cage took from this version in Renfield.

Even when Lugosi would return to the role in the Abbott and Costello movies, his presence was enough to send a chill down your spine even with all the comedy going on around him. The simple delivery of the line, “Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make!” is enough to send Lugosi to the Dracula hall of fame. Even with a smile on his face, the darkness in his performance is bone-chilling.

Who do you think is the best on-screen Dracula? Would you have included Frank Langella, Gerard Butler, John Carradine, or Richard Roxburgh? Maybe George Hamilton in Love at First Bite? Adam Sandler (Hotel Transylvania)? Lon Chaney Jr. (Son of Dracula)?

Let us know in the comments.

A full trailer has been released for Terrifier 3, which reaches theatres in October and sees Art the Clown ruining Christmas

Writer/director Damien Leone had a budget of around $55,000 to work with on his breakout horror film Terrifier, and a budget of “a little over” $250,000 for Terrifier 2, which was a massive hit when it was released last year, earning $15.1 million at the box office. Since the second film did so well, Terrifier 3 has a substantially higher budget. A “couple million” is going into this one, and we’re going to get the chance to see how that translates to the screen when the film receives a theatrical release on October 11th. With that date now just six weeks away, a full trailer for Terrifier 3 has arrived online, and you can check it out in the embed above!

Terrifier 3 has the following synopsis: Art the Clown is set to unleash chaos on the unsuspecting residents of Miles County as they peacefully drift off to sleep on Christmas Eve. The movie is being released during the Halloween season, but Art the Clown will be ruining Christmas this time around. Speaking with USA Today, Leone revealed that the new sequel takes place five years after the events of Terrifier 2.

David Howard Thornton reprises the role of Art the Clown, a character who was first introduced in Leone’s 2013 anthology All Hallows’ Eve (although Thornton didn’t start playing him until Terrifier). Also in the cast are Lauren LaVera, who’s back as Terrifier 2 heroine Sienna; Elliot Fullam returns as Sienna’s brother Jonathan, Samantha Scaffidi is returning as Terrifier and Terrifier 2 character Victoria Heyes, and Daniel Roebuck, who has been cast in the role of Santa Claus. FX legend Tom Savini will also be showing up, in an unspecified role. The same goes for Jon Abrahams, Antonella Rose, Krsy Fox, and legendary character actor Clint Howard. Chris Jericho, who had a cameo in Terrifier 2, is back in Terrifier 3 – but he has let everyone know that his appearance in the film won’t last very long.

What did you think of the Terrifier 3 trailer? Will you be catching this movie on the big screen in October? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

About the Author

Cody is a news editor and film critic, focused on the horror arm of JoBlo.com, and writes scripts for videos that are released through the JoBlo Originals and JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channels. In his spare time, he’s a globe-trotting digital nomad, runs a personal blog called Life Between Frames, and writes novels and screenplays.

Images and a poster have been unveiled to promote the action horror film Azrael, starring Samara Weaving and coming in September

Last month, we learned that the North American distribution rights to the action horror film Azrael are in the hands of IFC Films and the Shudder streaming service, with IFC Films having chosen a date for the theatrical release: September 27th. (The movie will then be making its way to Shudder sometime later in the year.) Last week, a trailer for the film arrived online (you can watch it HERE), and now a poster has been unveiled, along with several images from the film. You can check those out at the bottom of this article.

Directed by E.L. Katz (The Haunting of Bly Manor) from an original screenplay by You’re Next writer Simon Barrett, Azrael has the following synopsis: In a world in which no one speaks, a devout female-led community hunts down a young woman who has escaped her imprisonment. Recaptured by its ruthless leaders, Azrael is to be sacrificed to pacify an ancient evil that resides deep within the surrounding wilderness – yet she will stop at nothing to ensure her own freedom and survival. From the seeds of this gritty, relentless parable of sacrifice and salvation, comes an immersive, real-time, action horror tale.

Samara Weaving, whose previous credits include Ready or Not, Mayhem, The Babysitter, Guns Akimbo, Scream VI, and episodes of Ash vs. Evil Dead, plays the title character.

Joker financier Jason Cloth and his C2 Motion Picture Group partner Dave Caplan provided the financing for Azrael. Caplan and Barrett produced the film with Dan Kagan, while Cloth served as executive producer alongside Katrin Kissa.

Michael Rothstein and Sam Hall’s Mossbank are handling the international sales. Rothstein provided the following statement: “From the first minute we read it, we were captivated by the world of Azrael and the potential of a film so relentless and action-packed for its genre – distinguished by its own unique voice, which has so much to say. E.L. Katz and Simon Barrett have delivered something truly visionary, which will undoubtedly connect with a global legion of fans. And we couldn’t think of a more perfect heroine in Samara Weaving, who’s at the peak of her powers right now.“

Are you interested in Azrael, and are you hoping to catch the movie on the big screen next month? Let us know by leaving a comment below – and take a look at the poster and images while you’re scrolling down:

Beetlejuice bestows the story of his past marriage on his workers in the new clip from the film that will be premiering at the Venice Film Festival.

Last Updated on August 29, 2024

The anticipated sequel to one of the 80s most beloved quirky comedies is almost here. Tim Burton is especially happy to have gone back to his plucky roots with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and improvising the film during production. He recently talked about the process, saying, “We did everything quickly. The things that usually take months we did quickly. We’d go buy a doll from a toy store and rip it up and put rods on it and do some stuff. That was the spirit, and it doesn’t always happen in films. It has it an energy and a personal nature to it that everybody contributed to.”

His process meant he got to do fun stuff like the Italian film-inspired flashback sequence of Beetlejuice’s backstory in the new clip from the film. Warner Bros. released a brief look at the quirky, absurd humor that’s in store for audiences. Here, he tells his workers in the afterlife about the tale of when he married Monica Bellucci’s character and how it ultimately became his demise. The sequence is shown like an old black-and-white film, while Beetlejuice tells the story in Italian, accompanied by English subtitles.

Here’s the official synopsis: Beetlejuice is back! After an unexpected family tragedy, three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River. Still haunted by Beetlejuice, Lydia’s life is turned upside down when her rebellious teenage daughter, Astrid, discovers the mysterious model of the town in the attic and the portal to the Afterlife is accidentally opened. With trouble brewing in both realms, it’s only a matter of time until someone says Beetlejuice’s name three times and the mischievous demon returns to unleash his very own brand of mayhem.

Michael Keaton is joined in the cast by Winona Ryder, reprising the role of Lydia Deetz (now the host of a TV series called Ghost House with Lydia Deetz); Catherine O’Hara, back as Lydia’s stepmother Delia; Jenna Ortega as Lydia’s daughter Astrid, Justin Theroux as Lydia’s fiancé Rory,  Monica Bellucci as Beetlejuice’s wife, and Willem Dafoe as a law enforcement officer in the afterlife. Arthur Conti is also in there, in an unspecified role.

About the Author

E.J. is a News Editor at JoBlo, as well as a Video Editor, Writer, and Narrator for some of the movie retrospectives on our JoBlo Originals YouTube channel, including Reel Action, Revisited and some of the Top 10 lists. He is a graduate of the film program at Missouri Western State University with concentrations in performance, writing, editing and directing.

The Marvel Comics character Thor officially made his live-action debut in the 1988 TV movie The Incredible Hulk Returns. But the year before that, Thor was a major presence in a teen comedy film about a group of youngsters having a wild night in downtown Chicago. The kids deal with gun-wielding car thieves, knife-wielding gang members, a homicidal tow truck driver, and a lot of other odd characters and dangerous situations. Their lives are put at risk on multiple occasions. And throughout, Thor’s iconic helmet is worn by an eight-year-old girl who looks up to the character… and believes he’s real. By the time the night is over, she might be proven right… Or maybe not. Whatever the case, there’s a whole lot of Thor in the 1987 film Adventures in Babysitting (watch it HERE). And it’s time for it to be Revisited.

Adventures in Babysitting began with a spec script written by David Simkins. Who had worked on a locally-produced TV show as a teenager in his hometown of South Bend, Indiana. After going to film school, he found work assisting producers and earning credits on cult classics like Angel and Children of the Corn. After reading a lot of scripts, Simkins decided to write his own. The result was Adventures in Babysitting, and it was quickly picked up by Hill/Obst Productions, which was headed by Debra Hill, best known for her collaborations with John Carpenter – most famously Halloween – and Lynda Obst, who had previously worked on Flashdance and Risky Business. Hill and Obst weren’t totally on board with Simkins’ story, which involved a babysitter pulling off an elaborate, Ocean’s 11-style heist with her young charges, but they saw potential in the basic concept and had Simkins replace the heist with a series of smaller events.

Paramount Pictures had the right of first refusal for any Hill/Obst projects, so the studio looked at the script – and wanted to make the movie with Molly Ringwald in the lead role of 17-year-old babysitter Chris Parker. Which makes sense. Ringwald would have been a fine choice, and she had just become an ‘80s icon through the John Hughes productions Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and Pretty in Pink. It would have been a good choice for Ringwald as well, since Adventures in Babysitting made more of an impact than other movies she was working on at that time, like The Pick-up Artist, For Keeps, and Fresh Horses. But she passed on the offer. Paramount briefly considered having the character rewritten for Bette Midler or Cher, but they lost interest before pursuing those options. So Hill and Obst had to find another studio that would be willing to make the movie. That ended up being the Disney label Touchstone Pictures, where Adventures in Babysitting became the first Disney movie to get a PG-13 rating.

Making his feature directorial debut with the film was someone who was partly responsible for the creation of PG-13: Chris Columbus, screenwriter of the Steven Spielberg productions Gremlins, The Goonies, and Young Sherlock Holmes. The ratings board had come up with PG-13 in response to parental uproar over the darkness and violence in Gremlins and another Spielberg movie, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Rather than write something for himself, Columbus had been searching for a script to direct. It was a two year search and he read over a hundred scripts before Adventures in Babysitting landed on his desk. He decided to move ahead with this one because he felt comfortable with the scale of the story.

Auditions for the role of Chris Parker were held across the United States and in the Canadian city of Toronto, Ontario. A hundred and fifty actresses read for the part. Valerie Bertinelli of the recently-ended sitcom One Day at a Time was among those who auditioned. So was Phoebe Cates – and it’s surprising that she didn’t get the job, given the Gremlins connection. But Columbus chose to cast Elisabeth Shue, then best known for being The Karate Kid’s love interest. This wouldn’t be Shue’s first lead role – that came in the killer ape movie Link the year before – but it was still a challenge. She would have to carry the movie and keep it grounded while all sorts of crazy stuff happens around her.

The film memorably begins with Chris getting ready for a date while dancing and singing along to the song “Then He Kissed Me.” But her plans come crashing down when her boyfriend Mike, played by Bradley Whitford, shows up, dressed in his everyday clothes, to tell her that he has to cancel their anniversary dinner because he needs to take care of his sick little sister. With nothing else to do, Chris agrees to babysit for the Andersons. She’s only supposed to be babysitting 8-year-old Sara, played by Maia Brewton. Sara’s 15-year-old brother Brad, played by Keith Coogan, was going to be staying at his friend Daryl’s place… but he has a crush on Chris, so when he finds out she’s going to be watching Sara, he decides to stick around. Soon after Sara and Brad’s parents leave to attend an event in Chicago, Chris gets a call from someone else in the city. Her friend Brenda, played by Penelope Ann Miller, has gotten sick of her stepmom and decided to run away from home, but now she’s stuck at a bus station and needs Chris to come pick her up. It’s a thirty minute drive into Chicago and Chris tells the kids she’ll be back in an hour. But they insist on going with her. And Brad’s friend Daryl, played by Anthony Rapp, invites himself along as well.

The night continues going downhill from there. Chris’s mom’s car gets a flat tire and they get a ride from a tow truck driver who gets distracted by his mission to murder his wife’s lover. With bullets flying around them, they seek shelter in another car – which is being stolen by Joe Gipp, played by Calvin Levels. Joe is a nice guy, but he makes the questionable decision to take Chris and the kids to a chop shop where crime boss Bleak and his right hand man Graydon, played by John Chandler and Ron Canada, don’t take kindly to their presence. And get more upset when Daryl steals a Playboy that has their business plans written down on the centerfold, featuring a model with an uncanny resemblance to Chris.

With no transportation and criminals on their tail, Chris and the kids have to navigate their way through Chicago, avoid danger, save Brenda, and get Chris’s mom’s car back. This adventure takes them through a blues club, onto the L train, to a hospital, a restaurant, where Mike is on a date with someone else, through a frat party, into – and outside – the skyscraper that was then known as the Associates Center, and to Dawson’s Garage, where the owner is played by Vincent D’Onofrio and may or may not be Thor.

The Sara character has a fascination with Thor that’s so intense, she wears his winged helmet all through the movie and has his hammer Mjolnir close at hand. This was not in earlier drafts of David Simkins’ script. It was, along with the Chicago setting (despite the fact that Simkins grew up near Chicago), brought to the project by Chris Columbus. The director had been a Marvel Comics fan since childhood. They inspired him to get into the entertainment industry. He considered becoming a comic book artist, but figured filmmaking would be a better fit for him. And he was able to work his love for Marvel into Adventures in Babysitting. He also paid tribute to Gremlins with the backpack Sara wears.

Adventures in Babysitting is a mostly family-friendly movie… but there’s also content some parents might find objectionable. It has young kids as leads, but that doesn’t keep it from having a bit of edge. As mentioned, it has gun-toting criminals and bloodthirsty gang members, as well as a tow truck driver who’s out to kill. There’s a minor stabbing, nudity-free glimpses at an issue of Playboy, and a cheating boyfriend getting kicked in the ass. There are even a couple of F-bombs, including one in the most iconic line. It earned that PG-13. In most cases, the fact that there are two F-bomb lines back-to-back would have earned it an R. So the ratings board was being a little lenient here. But don’t worry, when Disney+ dropped the film on their streaming service, they used the cleaned-up TV edit. So when Chris grabs a knife and stands up to the gang member who has just stabbed Brad, she merely tells him, “Don’t fool with the babysitter.”

Despite the harder edge, and possibly because of it, the film earned a lot of young fans in the ‘80s. So it remains a nostalgic favorite for those fans all these decades later. It still holds up as an enjoyable, fast-paced piece of entertainment that sends its characters on the adventure of their lives.

Elisabeth Shue did an excellent job in the lead role, even though she’s tasked with being the serious one while other characters get to have more fun. Maia Brewton is great as Sara, the little girl who’s always going on about Thor and messing with her brother, getting him back for messing with her. Sara makes some choices that raise the stakes – and nearly gets herself killed. Long before we saw Tom Cruise climb the Burj Khalifa, we saw Sara hanging on to the side of the Associates Center. Of course, unlike Cruise, Brewton was hanging onto the side of a set. She was never more than a dozen feet off the ground. Keith Coogan is also great as the high-strung, lovestruck Brad. He went on to co-star in the cult classic Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead four years later, so you can have a good time watching a Coogan Babysitter double feature. Anthony Rapp is highly entertaining as irreverent horndog Daryl. So it’s surprising we haven’t seen him play more guys like this over the years. He’s in another popular teen movie, Dazed and Confused, but he’s one of the more low-key characters there. Speaking on The Today Show, Shue pointed out that the director and many of the actors were just getting started in their careers, and that’s a big reason why the movie is so fun to watch. She said, “There’s just such a grateful energy on a film like that where everybody is excited and it’s new to them. And that kind of energy really, really comes forward.” You can feel it in the finished film.

Chris Columbus’s main reason for requesting a Chicago setting was so he could work some Chicago blues into the film. That led to the most popular scene, where Chris and the kids find themselves on stage in a blues club – and the band, headed up by Albert Collins, won’t let them leave the place without singing the blues. Chris has to come up with a song on the spot. “Babysitting Blues,” with Collins singing along and Brad, Sara, and Daryl singing back-up. Shue told The Today Show the blues club scene was “Probably one of my favorite experiences in film, like at the top, top, top of every experience I had. I had so, so, so much fun. I think you can probably see it in in my performance. I probably had way too much fun.” Viewers have been having fun watching that scene ever since.

Even though the movie takes place in Chicago, much of it was filmed in Toronto. The production went smoothly – except when city workers came along and cleaned up the trash that was being used for set dressing. Crew members had to be posted as guards to make sure that wouldn’t happen again.

Disney was so certain this film would be a success, they signed a long-term deal with Hill/Obst Productions and had them move their offices from Paramount to the Disney lot. Sneak previews of Adventures in Babysitting were held on nearly 500 screens at the end of June 1987 to build up positive word-of-mouth before the film’s wide release on July 3rd… but that tactic didn’t work out as planned. The film had an underwhelming opening weekend. Thankfully, the positive word-of-mouth finally started spreading around. Movie-goers must have started noticing just how cool the poster Drew Struzan designed for the film was. Touchstone also came up with a new ad campaign that was apparently more appealing, because the film’s box office numbers rose forty-three percent on its second weekend and it was on its way to making thirty-four million dollars during its theatrical run. For the initial UK release, Adventures in Babysitting was given the title A Night on the Town – but it got its original title back for later home video releases.

The film was a hit on the big screen, then more fans found it through VHS rentals and airings on cable. Chris Columbus went on to direct more high profile films, including Home Alone movies, Harry Potter movies, and Mrs. Doubtfire. Elisabeth Shue followed Adventures in Babysitting with the Tom Cruise hit Cocktail and the two Back to the Future sequels, and has been working steadily ever since. She earned an Oscar nomination for her performance in the 1995 film Leaving Las Vegas, a job she got because director Mike Figgis counted Adventures in Babysitting as one of his favorites.

The movie was so popular, Hill, Obst, and Simkins tried to continue the story – not with a sequel, but a TV series. A pilot for an Adventures in Babysitting TV show was co-written by Simkins and directed by Joel Zwick. Jennifer Guthrie took over the role of Chris, with Joey Lawrence as Brad, Brian Austin Green as Daryl, Courtney Peldon as Sara, and Ariana Mohit as Brenda. The pilot made it to the air on CBS in July of 1989. It begins with Brad accidentally destroying one of Sara’s Thor toys. When he goes out to get a replacement, it becomes another adventure, involving armed robbery, a hostage situation, and an encounter with an alligator in an abandoned sewer system. CBS didn’t order the show to series, so things went quiet for about twenty years… Until Disney started developing a remake. Directed by John Schultz from a script by Tiffany Paulsen, a new Adventures in Babysitting aired on the Disney Channel in June of 2016. And for the most part, it’s a remake in name only, telling a story about completely different characters going on a different adventure – but with some similarities to the adventure Chris went on in the ‘80s.

The remake drew in viewers, but it came and went while the original film remains a beloved favorite for many who have seen it. Shue said she thinks it endures because, “It’s episodic and its innocence resonates today, just watching these young kids trying to navigate a really complicated world and how they learn and grow from there. Their night out together is obviously timeless. But maybe in today’s world, its innocence kind of shines through.”

It also happens to be a whole lot of fun to watch. So if you haven’t seen Adventures in Babysitting in a while, give it another look. It’s definitely worth revisiting.

Casey Affleck and Laurence Fishburne really impress is this space-set thriller dealing with the mental fatigue of a years long mission.

Last Updated on August 29, 2024

PLOT: An astronaut struggles to maintain his grip on reality aboard a possibly fatally compromised mission to Saturn’s moon, Titan.

REVIEW: Space is a setting that’s often saved for the big budget, bombastic Hollywood films like Star Wars or even Dune. The setting alone is enough to balloon a budget. Yet I’ve always loved it when the horror genre heads to space for a serious outing. Whether it’s Event Horizon or Sunshine, despite their grand concepts, often hit on a more human level. And while Slingshot certainly doesn’t get into any hell-like dimensions, its focus on paranoia and isolation makes it hard to deny its horror roots.

In Slingshot, Casey Affleck stars as John, an astronaut sent on a mission to Saturn’s moon, in an attempt to retrieve resources for Earth. The narrative is told from John’s perspective as he periodically wakes from hypersleep and makes sure the ship is in working condition. When the ship starts showing issues that aren’t picked up by the sensors, his two other shipmates, Nash and Captain Frakes, have differing ideas on how to handle it. Frakes is more level-headed, always seemingly in charge of the situation, while Nash is very paranoid, and wants to abandon the mission. It’s an interesting dichotomy amongst the crew.

Slingshot mostly focuses on the phantom damage to the ship and whether they should go through with the mission. It’s not all set in space as we do get flashbacks to Earth, with a focus on John’s relationship with Zoe (Emily Beecham). Given her limited screen time and importance to the story, I’d argue Beecham is the backbone of the narrative. She’s convincing in every aspect and works well as John’s anchor to earth. She has an intangible quality that I’m shocked hasn’t been taken advantage of in Hollywood. Laurence Fishburne is wonderful as Captain Frakes, with some great monologues to the crew that show how in charge of the situation he is. And it’s hard to see him against the backdrop of space and not immediately think of Event Horizon. Nash (Tomer Capone) works well as the crewmember who is always questioning the mission. Capone really gets to go wild.

The paranoia of whether or not the ship will make it to Titan is evident with every clank and bang of the hull. Can the ship’s instruments be trusted or should they believe what they’re hearing and seeing? Each hypersleep brings them closer to the point of no return as the integrity of the ship comes more and more into question. Despite the looming threat of space, the human element is what shines through the most here. John’s connection with Zoe back on earth leads us to question how someone could even go on a seemingly one-way mission, no matter the achievement. Because loneliness on Earth is clearly a very different thing than loneliness in space, and I love how the film broaches the topic.

One brilliant aspect of Slingshot is its usage of space. Unlike other films with similar budgets (ISS, I’m looking at you), the filmmakers are smart enough to avoid sequences that would break the immersion. In fact, I could actually see the film being done as a stageplay, with its focus on performance and mostly taking place on the ship. The ship is beautifully designed with its simplicity but still dynamic enough that the limited setting never becomes boring. Director Mikael Håfström gives us exactly the right amount of information and spectacle while putting the true focus on the characters. He strikes the perfect balance.

There are some expected as well as unexpected twists and turns throughout the story. As much as they telegraph certain elements, I think that’s to the film’s benefit. Just when you think the answers are revealed, greater questions loom. While it doesn’t go quite as hard with the crazy visuals as I would have liked, this is still a great film about struggle, both physical and mental. And plays beautifully off the notion that the desire and execution of an idea are vastly different. Slingshot is more than just a film about a space mission, it’s a dissection of loneliness, and how that can manifest.

SLINGSHOT will be available in theaters nationwide on August 30, 2024.

It was highly unlikely that Ridley Scott would choose to water down the violence in a gladiator movie, but the rating has now been made official.

Last Updated on August 30, 2024

Ridley Scott and Paramount have been hyping up the upcoming sequel, Gladiator II, immensely. Paramount President of International Theatrical Distribution Mark Viane would talk up the footage at this year’s CineEurope trade show and declared that he and his peers were blown away by early footage that they saw.  Viane would also make the proclamation that Gladiator II has some of the “biggest action sequences ever put on film.”

Additionally, Scott teased, “We begin the film with probably the biggest action sequence I’ve ever done,” Scott teased to Empire. “Probably bigger than anything in Napoleon.” With all the battles the film will feature, both in gladiatorial and war, it’s always been likely that Scott would not shy away from the violence the same way he didn’t with the 2000 original. The upcoming film ratings from the MPA have been released, and Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II has been rated R. The sequel, which stars Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington and Pedro Pascal, is rated R for “strong bloody violence.”

“From legendary director Ridley Scott, Gladiator II continues the epic saga of power, intrigue, and vengeance set in Ancient Rome,” reads the official Gladiator II synopsis. “Years after witnessing the death of the revered hero Maximus at the hands of his uncle, Lucius (Paul Mescal) is forced to enter the Colosseum after his home is conquered by the tyrannical Emperors who now lead Rome with an iron fist. With rage in his heart and the future of the Empire at stake, Lucius must look to his past to find strength and honor to return the glory of Rome to its people.“

Gladiator II is set to hit theaters on November 22nd, the same day as Wicked, which has some hoping that we’ve got Barbenheimer 2.0 on our hands, including Mescal. “Wickdiator doesn’t really roll off the tongue does it? I think my preference would probably be Glicked if it has a similar effect to what it did for Barbie and Oppenheimer,” Mescal said. “It would be amazing ’cause I think the films couldn’t be more polar opposites and it worked in that context previously. So fingers crossed people come out and see both films on opening weekend.“

About the Author

E.J. is a News Editor at JoBlo, as well as a Video Editor, Writer, and Narrator for some of the movie retrospectives on our JoBlo Originals YouTube channel, including Reel Action, Revisited and some of the Top 10 lists. He is a graduate of the film program at Missouri Western State University with concentrations in performance, writing, editing and directing.

We sit down with the supporting cast of Beetlejuice 2: Jenna Ortega, Catherine O’Hara, Justin Theroux and Monica Bellucci.

Last Updated on August 29, 2024

After a quiet few weeks, the dog days of summer seem like they’re finally getting ready to end with the release of one of the most highly anticipated movies of the year, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, next week in theatres. Set for a world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, generations of film fans can’t wait to see Michael Keaton reprise his iconic role as The Ghost With the Most in Tim Burton’s sequel – which we’ve been waiting thirty-six years for!

In the lead-up to its premiere, we were invited by Warner Bros to sit down and chat with some of the key supporting cast members. First up was Catherine O’Hara and Jenna Ortega. O’Hara, of course, reprises her role as Lydia Deetz’s not-so-wicked stepmother, a bo-ho artist who, in the sequel, is now widowed following the death of the character once played by Jeffrey Jones. Jenna Ortega, who’s also working with Tim Burton on the wildly successful Wednesday, plays Lydia’s daughter, Astrid, who accidentally unleashes Beetlejuice (or Betelgeuse) upon the world. 

And, it looks like Beetlejuice isn’t alone with time, with our man Eric lucky enough to chat with perhaps the most beautiful woman alive, Monica Bellucci, who co-stars in the film as Beetlejuice’s ex-wife Delores, who has a bone to pick with him. Finally, we spoke to the always genial Justin Theroux, who plays Lydia’s husband, Rory, a television producer who gets dragged into the supernatural proceedings.

Check out the interviews embedded above, and make sure to come back later today for the first reactions to the new film following its Venice premiere. Plus, we have an interview with Tim Burton himself coming up later this week and a whole lot more leading up to our official Beetlejuice Beetlejuice review on September 4th.