Movies
In Memoriam: 8 Defining Films to Remember Roger Corman
From westerns to gladiator exploitation films to post-apocalyptic action movies (and of course, plenty of horror), Corman didn’t just make off-the-wall genre films, he made them viable and rarely lost a dime on them. And above all else, he made them fun, and he gave them a spirit of enjoyability that was contagious. So, to honor Roger Corman, we here at Horror Press have compiled a list of 8 films that best embody his indelible influence on horror and science fiction.
As many Horror Press readers already know, we lost genre film legend Roger Corman last Thursday, May 9th. One of the all-time greats in Hollywood, he was known for spinning straw budgets into gold pictures, and Corman’s influence is embedded into modern filmmaking thanks to the hundreds and hundreds of films he worked on.
Starting as a production assistant turned story analyst at the bottom rungs of 20th Century Fox, Corman became the face of independent filmmaking in Hollywood from the 1950s on. With an innate vision for what gets people engaged with film, Corman was a mentalist at reading audiences and producing films that got watchers going. Corman knew what you wanted to see, sometimes before you even knew it; he wasn’t part of the genre film zeitgeist. He was the zeitgeist outright.
8 Roger Corman Movies Every Horror Fan Should Watch
From westerns to gladiator exploitation films to post-apocalyptic action movies (and of course, plenty of horror), Corman didn’t just make off-the-wall genre films, he made them viable and rarely lost a dime on them. And above all else, he made them fun, and he gave them a spirit of enjoyability that was contagious. So, to honor Roger Corman, we here at Horror Press have compiled a list of 8 films that best embody his indelible influence on horror and science fiction.
SHARKTOPUS VS PTERACUDA (2014)
It seems fair to visit one of Corman’s later works in life, since it’s a very good example of how he had the juice to make great b-movies long after he had made himself a household name. Before The Asylum and its cohorts were a gleam in the eye of the SyFy channel, Roger Corman had paved the way for them perfectly, and eventually joined them in the sharksploitation resurrection of the 2000s and 2010s.
I remember seeing Sharktopus on SyFy semi-regularly when I was younger, but its sequel is a strictly better version, with two apex predators seeing which celebrity cameos they can eat faster (Conan O’Brien gets annihilated in this one!). Vs. Pteracuda is, in a weird way, also a step up in terms of effects, even if the CGI looks rougher than sandpaper. Beyond that, it’s one of those rare gems that can laugh at itself and manages to walk the intentionally so-bad-its-good tightrope without falling into a pit of forced self-awareness.
ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS (1957) & IT CONQUERED THE WORLD (1956)
Okay, I know. I cheated, technically this makes 9 films. But I just couldn’t deny a double header of quintessential “goofy-looking monster movies”. Some of Corman’s earliest horror contributions are drive-thru shlock through and through. And that’s quite alright with me because we get giant telepathic crabs out of it!
These two feel like the best example of Corman’s ability to challenge bigger studios with smaller production values; they’re on par with contemporaries like Creature From The Black Lagoon and The Monster that Challenged the World, and every bit as enjoyable. It Conquered the World boasts one of my favorite monster designs with its strange demonic traffic cone aesthetic. It was also one of the earlier collaborations between Corman and famed character actor Dick Miller, who would reappear three years later in…
A BUCKET OF BLOOD (1959)
If there’s one way to get logged into the annals of horror history, making one of the first really solid original horror comedies is it. The film follows schmuck Walter Paisley (one of many as the name became a regular Corman movie easter egg), who struggles to find friends while surrounded by hipster artists, but discovers he excels at sculpting— but only when the clay is being molded and shaped around dead people.
Entrenched in the film’s dark humor is a solid satire about American countercultural movements, poking fun at beatniks and small, insular art scenes in a way that feels evergreen decades later. It’s a charming film about desperately seeking approval, something that Corman clearly enjoyed poking fun at given he often had to go against the grain to get his films made, and never let himself get chained up in hunting for recognition.
GALAXY OF TERROR (1981)
When we talk about Roger Corman giving life to Hollywood and creating other film legends, the example everyone will undoubtedly remember is Corman’s relationship with James Cameron. Cameron got his start as a miniatures artist while working on two films for Corman in particular: Battle Beyond the Stars, and the much more well-known Galaxy of Terror.
Galaxy of Terror is often referred to as a rip-off of Alien, mainly for its body horror and some insectoid alien motifs its got going on. But what it actually ends up being is a weird, heady, high-concept space fantasy of death that tortures its cast of characters more brutally than a xenomorph could. It’s also got some strange, nasty creature effects, and an even stranger ending. While it certainly started as an attempt to seize the popularity of Ridley Scott’s seminal sci-fi horror, Galaxy of Terror evolved into an indescribable touchstone in Corman’s filmography.
CHOPPING MALL (1986)
Another film that has Dick Miller, albeit this time in a smaller role, Chopping Mall was produced by Roger’s wife, Julie Corman. Still, his spirit is very much in this one with all the camp it has to offer. The premise? An enterprising mall tries to move into the 21st century early and employs a series of cutting-edge security robots to keep it clear. They, of course, promptly short-circuit during a thunderstorm and begin to murder teenage stragglers who stayed in the mall after hours.
B-movie juggernaut Jim Wynorski directed this one and actually got his start as a publicist for Corman before moving up in the film world of the 1980s and 90s. Wynorski once said that Corman “taught [him] all the lessons on how to make a film and how to make it look expensive when you don’t have a lot of money”, which is as good a praise as any filmmaker can get.
SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE II (1987)
When Deborah Brock approached Roger Corman with a proposal for a Slumber Party Massacre follow-up, he recognized the need to get a sequel off the ground after the first film’s success. What he financed was a fun rock-and-roll slasher film and a cult classic that’s easy to fall in love with.
This time around, the dead killer from part 1 has reincarnated into a greaser ghost with a giant drill guitar, prone to giving his victim’s hallucinations. Some crazy visuals like being attacked by a raw undead chicken, the world’s nastiest pimple effect, and the movie pausing to do an honest-to-God, full-on music video starring the killer are only a few of the delightful samplings the film has to share. It’s an off-kilter slasher that demands to be seen, and one of those ventures that had his distinct brand of equal parts sleaze and spirit ingrained in it.
THE RAVEN (1963)
Among Corman’s many horror endeavors, his Edgar Allan Poe adaptations with American International Pictures left some of the biggest impacts. Among them, The Raven holds a special place in my heart. Corman “extrapolates” Poe’s poem to tell a story about dueling wizards in a gothic castle, complete with dinky rotoscoped spell effects and hilarious dialogue. It also has ace performances from Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre, the latter being a mainstay of the producer’s films.
The Raven also stands as a testament to Corman’s uncanny ability to “thin the paint” as he phrased it, spreading resources between movies; it was one of three films that were all shot on the same set, and all within the same month according to Jack Nicholson, alongside The Terror and The Haunted Palace.
MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH (1964)
That being said, there is only one choice for his ACTUAL best Poe adaptation, and for that matter what I would qualify is his best film on a technical level. Masque of the Red Death is undoubtedly the most visually striking film he’s ever directed. It’s a colorful, evocative piece that perfectly captures the nature of the original short story it’s based on, in which a mysterious guest terrorizes medieval nobles trying to weather a plague as peasants suffer outside the castle walls.
Unfortunately for the lecherous Prince Prospero, death comes for everyone, and Corman makes it look incredible (especially when he’s terrorizing Hazel Court as the villainous Juliana). All of the cinematography here comes together to make the perfect storm of gothic atmosphere you need to pull off this story: the lighting, the costuming, and the set design, in particular, are off the charts, and that’s all capped off by the performance of a prime Vincent Price. Keep an eye out for repertory screenings of the film as we move into late May and June, because theatres ought to be playing Masque to pay homage. It’s wholly worth the price of admission, even 60 years after the fact.
***
Rest in peace, Roger Corman. Thanks for making the world a more campy, more silly, more fun, and when you really wanted to, more beautiful place. You will be missed, by friends and fans the world across. And, as always, happy watching horror fans.
Movies
Boeing Starliner Anomalous Sounds and ‘The Antares Paradox’ (2022)
The Antares Paradox is a chamber piece like never before. It’s a cosmic gumbo of adrenaline and emotion. Alexandra is a tenacious scientist who wants nothing more than to be a part of something bigger than herself. The film’s singular set lends to the claustrophobic nature of Alexandra’s dilemma. It’s interesting to look at her predicament from the outside. When faced with the idea of life beyond our solar system, she stays in a cramped room full of computers. Her only communication with the outside world is via telephone. One of the most intriguing questions Alexandra is faced with, at the beginning of the film, is if a genie granted her the opportunity to cure cancer or give us evidence of extraterrestrials, which one would she choose? It’s the perfect Chekov’s gun to set up her entire character arc.
Not too long ago, astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams boarded a Boeing Starliner. Their destination? The International Space Station. In another hit to Boeing’s reputation, the world would be rocked with frightening news. Helium leaks and thruster issues would cause Wilmore and Williams an unexpected extension to their space journey. These two intrepid explorers will now be forced to spend the next [roughly] five months in space due to Boeing’s constant failures at every turn. Adding salt to the wound, Elon Musk and SpaceX have come to the rescue. A SpaceX Dragon spacecraft will come to the rescue in February 2025 to escort Wilmore and Williams safely back to solid ground.
A Strange Sound From Space
As if things couldn’t get worse, or more weird, the crew of the Starliner would report back to base with some troubling information: a mysterious sound. On August 31, 2024, Butch Wilmore reached out to Mission Control at Johnson Space Center. Wilmore reported this strange sound, and it took the internet by storm. The sound Wilmore played for Mission Control was a haunting sonar-like sound. It still seems that the origin of this sound is unidentified, but it should be noted Wilmore seemed relatively unfazed throughout this whole correspondence.
Hearing this sound made me automatically think of two things. Firstly, it made me lament the passing of Art Bell. Just picture how much fun a Coast to Coast or Dreamland broadcast of this would be! The broadcast would probably start with Linda Moulton Howe interviewing one of her experts in this field and playing the interview off of a terrible-sounding tape recorder. Art would likely use ABBA’s hit song ‘SOS’ for his bumper music. And you just know the wild card line phone calls would be off the chain! Secondly, this event made me think of one of my favorite films, The Antares Paradox.
Two years ago, I had the wonderful opportunity to catch The Antares Paradox at Fantastic Fest, and I was left breathless. Astrophysicist Alexandra Baeza (Andrea Trepat) is stuck on the overnight shift at the EART Observatory. Alexandra is set to have a life-changing night. Her father is dying in the hospital, they are about to experience the storm of the century, and EART has just received a signal from another planet that, if authenticated, could change the course of history.
The Antares Paradox is a chamber piece like never before. It’s a cosmic gumbo of adrenaline and emotion. Alexandra is a tenacious scientist who wants nothing more than to be a part of something bigger than herself. The film’s singular set lends to the claustrophobic nature of Alexandra’s dilemma. It’s interesting to look at her predicament from the outside. When faced with the idea of life beyond our solar system, she stays in a cramped room full of computers. Her only communication with the outside world is via telephone. One of the most intriguing questions Alexandra is faced with at the beginning of the film, is if a genie granted her the opportunity to cure cancer or give us evidence of extraterrestrials, which one would she choose? It’s the perfect Chekov’s gun to set up her entire character arc.
When Will The Antares Paradox Get Released?
This all brings me to the point I really wanted to talk about. While the relationship between the Boeing Starliner and The Antares Paradox is tangential, it made me think long and hard about how the smallest things make me think of this movie. I’m not exaggerating when I say this, I google The Antares Paradox once a week to see if there is any new information regarding, at the least, a VOD release. (And I’m really not exaggerating when I say I have a weekly calendar notification to remind me to google it.)
And that’s where the one frustration of film festivals comes in. The number of films I’ve seen at festivals that quickly die out and don’t go on to have a release of any kind is staggering. Even having your film run at some of the biggest festivals doesn’t necessarily mean it’s getting released for streaming or theatrical release. A film like The Antares Paradox is not only an overwhelmingly beautiful film, but it’s also poignant.
In the age of modern disclosure, a film like The Antares Paradox hits the nail on the head. People like Lue Elizondo, George Knapp, Jeremy Corbell, Brandon Fugal, and many others, probably feel like they’re the Alexandra Baeza of disclosure–stopping at nothing to get the truth out there. However, many of these people, especially Lue Elizondo, have ulterior motives that revolve around financial gain rather than disseminating the truth. Was all this just a thinly veiled excuse for me to talk about The Antares Paradox or throw a dig at Lue Elizondo? Maybe. What I think the real takeaway should be is twofold: that sonar-sounding thing aboard the Boeing Starliner is odd and creepy, and it’s a damn shame there isn’t a physical release of The Antares Paradox.
Movies
Get Your Milk and Cookies: The Terrifier 3 Trailer Just Dropped
Art the Clown is coming back to town, and everyone’s on the naughty list. The trailer for Terrifier 3 premiered on the Bloody Disgusting official YouTube account this morning and it looks like we’re in for quite a treat. The third installment of the Terrifier franchise releases to theaters on October 11th of this year, 2024.
Art the Clown is coming back to town, and everyone’s on the naughty list. The trailer for Terrifier 3 premiered on the Bloody Disgusting official YouTube account this morning and it looks like we’re in for quite a treat.
If you’ve somehow evaded all things Terrifier for the last decade, let’s have a brief refresher.
Art the Clown in Terrifier
Art the Clown, as played by David Howard Thornton, started making waves in the horror community with the film Terrifier in 2016. The film saw a mime stalking and killing on Halloween night with various creative methods.
Terrifier’s blend of comedy, dark grit, and gore fueled by Tom Savini-inspired practical effects was polarizing to horror fans. Some like myself find real delight in the films, while others take issue with multiple things including gratuitous gore and Art the Clown’s use of a gun for one of his kills.
Not to be deterred, Damien Leone doubled down on everything for Terrifier 2. He let it be known within the first 15 minutes how he felt about the criticisms of Art using a gun in Terrifier, as Terrifier 2 saw Art the Clown unload a Tommy gun on a crowd in a dream sequence right at the beginning. As far as the criticisms of Terrifier being too gory went, there’s a reason why the words “bleach and salt” are well-known in the horror community now.
If the first Terrifier caused waves, then when Terrifier 2 was released in 2022, it caused a tsunami. Reports of a moviegoer passing out while watching it in the theater are often attributed to why Terrifier 2 started receiving mainstream recognition.
To original Terrifier fans like myself though, we know that Art the Clown was born to be a horror icon. It’s no surprise that he’s gained such a following because the brutality of the character, combined with his comedic charm and edge, is unique in a way we haven’t had for a long time. We simply can’t get enough of him, so let’s get into Terrifier 3.
What We Know About Terrifier 3 So Far
The third installment of the Terrifier franchise releases to theaters on October 11th of this year, 2024.
If you follow Horror Press on Instagram or TikTok, you might have caught our Horror Trivia Tuesday about Terrifier, specifically that Damien Leone knew that Terrifier 3’s first five minutes alone will be very controversial.
The Terrifier 3 teaser trailer that was released back in May has a lot of people speculating that it’s because this time we will see Art the Clown slaughter a child.
It drew a lot of criticism, as the line in horror is typically drawn at children. Even when we see tragic child deaths, they’re typically handled gingerly as we saw with Gage Creed in Pet Sematary. However, horror has always been known to push the boundary, with Mike Flanagan’s baseball boy scene from Doctor Sleep coming immediately to mind. Damien Leone has made it known that he, too, is one not to shy away from any boundaries.
Judging from the Terrifier 3 trailer alone, I think it’s safe to say this one will make even the most hardcore horror fans squirm.
Watch the Terrifier 3 Trailer Now
The Terrifier 3 trailer picks up on the impending fifth anniversary of the events from Terrifier 2. Sienna, as played by Lauren LaVera, who beheaded Art the Clown at the end of the last film, is urged by her friends to speak out about surviving the harrowing events.
Meanwhile, Art the Clown is armed with the Christmas spirit and a chainsaw, advancing on a couple in the shower. He gives us an expression that tells us Terrifier 3 will give us the same goofy, brutal Art that we all know and love from the previous Terrifier films.
Remember when I said Damien Leone does not shy away from his vision, no matter the criticism? One scene, as Art the Clown sits in Santa’s chair at a mall event, tells me that people who were concerned about the potential grisly murder of a child will quickly find there’s way more than one in danger.
The trailer also hints at Terrifier 3 giving us more Art the Clown lore as Sienna says she has to “go back to the Terrifier” hinting that Art the Clown may be buried at the abandoned carnival from Terrifier 2.
We also see a potential new villain, or perhaps an earlier version of Art the Clown, as Sienna faces a monster blacksmith.
The trailer closes with a festive Art the Clown enjoying some milk and cookies, as he must be exhausted from all that slaying.
If Terrifier 2 didn’t teach us that Damien Leone will not back down from presenting his vision of Art the Clown no matter the criticism, Terrifier 3 most certainly will. Get your Terrifier 3 tickets now.
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