We’re just a little over halfway to Halloween, and every reader is entitled to one good reminder that this exists on the interwebs.
About ten years ago, the horror internet exploded with this never-before-seen footage from John Carpenter’s “immortal classic”, Halloween and I think it’s overdue to dig out those pumpkin seeds and resurrect this glorious footage once more. Uploaded on VIMEO by user Billy Kirkus, what you’re about to see is the FIRST ever Panaglide test by Dean Cundy and Ray Stella inside and outside of the Panovision studio right before principal photography began on the Halloween set.
Panaglide at the time was revolutionary and had only been used in three other films prior to Halloween, with Days of Heaven being the first on record to use the cutting-edge technology. As we’re all aware, the use of this continuous camera shot is all over the film, most importantly in the opening shots from little Michael Myers’ perspective.
In just under five minutes, Dean Cundy with Stella in tow operating the Panaglide gives us a demonstration via a test run before shooting the actual film with it.
Pretty cool stuff that should not be forgotten. And after being brought to the surface back in 2013, I’m still here talking about it almost 10 years later to remind you that it’s still cool as shit.
I’ve been horror blogging for close to ten years now and other than a Blu-Ray review, several lists, and news-worthy jammers on the flick, I have yet to dedicate a full article to the beloved, and ultimate “kult” horror movie, Killer Klowns From Outer Space. Welp, here’s to fixing what’s been ailing me for ten years now.
I could give 101 reasons as to why Killer Klowns is the ultimate cult horror, but I’ll narrow it down to just a few for little patience. The Chiodos’ driven 1988 horror-comedy came swinging through the mom-and-pop rental shop doors, (another door!) as a straight-to-VHS Friday night flick. Giving another wholesome reason as to why those video shacks were a memorable staple of our youth as this was the way we got to see these movies. But it became so much more than that. The original title was to be simply “Killer Klowns”, but the Chiodos Brothers’ didn’t want their film to be mistaken for a slasher flick. So in turn they added “From Outer Space” to the title to give it that goofball- klowny jazz.
The Chiodos themselves were so heavily involved in everything about making this film happen that it’s almost as if the film itself mirrors their own minds of the perfect cult horror would be, on a very limited budget! I guess one wouldn’t think that two million bones is nowhere near small potatoes, but for a film that relays heavily on special effects to get the story across, it is peanuts. But, the Chiodos, who at the time was only known for their effects portfolio, made that shit work but working alongside other hired artists on the set and pulling triple-duty working on a full-scale miniature set for the Klownzilla sequence; while Charles Chiodo donned a rubber mask and suit to play JoJo himself.
Now because of the Chiodos’ genius to work under pressure on a tight budget, MGM wanted to do the sequel for the same amount of money. I first got wind of a sequel in the talks back in 2017 during a trip to Monsterpalooza where I had a lengthy chat with Stephen Chiodo himself and I had asked him, “What was up with Killer Klowns 2?!” While at the time, my 7-year-old son was playing with a replica cotton candy gun from his table, which he so generously offered to him while we talked about how legendary this movie is. He answered, off the record, and didn’t want it out there at the time, that “the movie was to be released in conjunction with SYFY if all goes well and in 3D.” Which was marvelous to hear!
Until the all mighty dollar fucked us all out of a sequel because they (the studios) didn’t think it was worth any more than that.
YEAH, I SAID IT.
Via Slasher Radio, SYFY and MGM just didn’t want to invest any more than the initial two million to make the sequel; and the Chiodos weren’t wanting to make “Killer Klowns in 3D” on such a low budget.
That being said, if we the fans want a Killer Klowns sequel, we just have to be loud about it to MGM directly. Now, I’m not saying to get nasty or anything, but they do need to know our thoughts and I think if enough of us bitch about it, something may spark. It’s got to happen sooner or later, right?
In the meantime, I’ll just cherish the movie we have now and that Monsterpalooza moment that was pretty much the coolest thing ever.
On May 9th, 1980, Paramount unleashed a holiday slasher that would forever change the slasher game in the 80s’- Friday The 13th. Certainly, Friday wasn’t the first slasher film in the game, but with their continuous sequels that came year after year until the 90s’, horror icons like Michael Myers and Leatherface soon followed suit with sequels of their own to cash in on that horror-slasher mania that overtook the decade. And we couldn’t get enough of it. In 1980, Pamela Voorhees would soon join the slasher roster with her special baby boy Jason to become the face of the franchise a year later and Paramount studios made sure to plant her famous face all over the place for this heavily promoted little film. However, according to Fridaythe13thFranchise.com, one promotional still sent out in media kits was in fact, a deleted scene that never made it into the final cut of the movie.
It’s not uncommon that promos from films harbored some images that we never actually got to see in the final movie. The one that comes to mind most directly is the original trailer for Rocky IV; where we see quite a few scenes that never actually made it into the theatrical cut, but were later added to the director’s cut released last year. The image seen below of Pamela Voorhees (Palmer) with her face smashed up against a plastic sheet, was an image sent as part of a Paramount media kit sent to theater chains and media outlets and not something anyone saw in the final version. So, for the longest time, everyone just assumed it was a deleted scene; however, in the infamous doc Crystal Lake Memories, unit photographer Richard Feury sets the record straight:
The Friday The 13th cast and crew were taking a lunch break in a dining hall at Boy Scout Camp, Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco in between shoots, and the open-aired part of the hall was covered with plastic sheets to contain the heat inside, as Fall weather had arrived. Feury instinctively asked Betsy Palmer to lean into one of the plastic sheets and scream. Well, she did as you can see above and one of the most famous images promoting the film came to be that we never actually got to see on film.
A pretty neat little bit of Friday trivia for those who never knew and even better for those who never have seen this image prior to now. You’re welcome for the new screensaver.
