Movies
‘Lord of Illusions’ Star Hospitalized After Suicide Attempt
Literally a day after I went on a Twitter rant about the local news being worse than anything you’ll ever see on the big screen, ABC shamelessly shares a horrifying story about an ex-movie star who attempted to take his own life. In a world where news outlets brag about scoring exclusive interviews with the parents of rape victims, they also have audio of a 9-1-1 call where Lord of Illusions, The Silence of the Lambs, The X-Files and Thinner star Daniel von Bargen survives a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. We will not link the audio. If you’re a sick f*ck, go Google it.
According to the call, Von Bargen shot himself to avoid going to the hospital. He is a diabetic and was supposed to have two of his toes amputated that day. According to Montgomery Police Srgt. Greg Vondenbenken, Von Bargen was “seriously injured.” They took him to Bethesda North hospital, where Vondenbenken says that his condition is improving.
It’s a sad world we live in when local news outlets celebrate their success at the expense of another human being. It’s a tough, brutal world we live in and all of our thoughts go out to Von Bargen and his family.
Movies
‘Abigail’ on Track for a Better Opening Weekend Than Universal’s Previous Two Vampire Attempts
In the wake of Leigh Whannell’s Invisible Man back in 2020, Universal has been struggling to achieve further box office success with their Universal Monsters brand. Even in the early days of the pandemic, Invisible Man scared up $144 million at the worldwide box office, while last year’s Universal Monsters: Dracula movies The Last Voyage of the Demeter and Renfield didn’t even approach that number when you COMBINE their individual box office hauls.
The horror-comedy Renfield came along first in April 2023, ending its run with just $26 million. The period piece Last Voyage of the Demeter ended its own run with a mere $21 million.
But Universal is trying again with their ballerina vampire movie Abigail this weekend, the latest bloodbath directed by the filmmakers known as Radio Silence (Ready or Not, Scream).
Unlike Demeter and Renfield, the early reviews for Abigail are incredibly strong, with our own Meagan Navarro calling the film “savagely inventive in terms of its vampiric gore,” ultimately “offering a thrill ride with sharp, pointy teeth.” Read her full review here.
That early buzz – coupled with some excellent trailers – should drive Abigail to moderate box office success, the film already scaring up $1 million in Thursday previews last night. Variety notes that Abigail is currently on track to enjoy a $12 million – $15 million opening weekend, which would smash Renfield ($8 million) and Demeter’s ($6 million) opening weekends.
Working to Abigail‘s advantage is the film’s reported $28 million production budget, making it a more affordable box office bet for Universal than the two aforementioned movies.
Stay tuned for more box office reporting in the coming days.
In Abigail, “After a group of would-be criminals kidnap the 12-year-old ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, all they have to do to collect a $50 million ransom is watch the girl overnight. In an isolated mansion, the captors start to dwindle, one by one, and they discover, to their mounting horror, that they’re locked inside with no normal little girl.”
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