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Landis Talks Fear Itself, ‘Ghoulishly Yours’

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Next Thursday John Landis’ Fear Itself episode, “In Sickness and in Health”, will air on NBC and to get inside the project SpookyDan jumped on a call with the legendary director to talk about that and his forthcoming feature film project, Ghoulishly Yours, William M. Gaines. Read on for the skinny.
A staple of the horror universe, and comedies alike Landis has carved out his own niche of horror. Next week Landis directs the episode of Fear Itself that has been getting a bit of good buzz. Written by Victor (“Jeepers Creepers”) Salva; “In Sickness and in Health” tells the story of a beautiful bride (Maggie Lawson, “Psych”), who on her wedding day receives a mysterious note that reads: “The person you are marrying is a serial killer.” Landis and Lawson spoke about the experiences on set and the differences between Fear Itself and Psyche, compared to feature films. Landis: Directors just like actors are typecast, and because I have done some successful comedies they keep coming to me. As a filmmaker, I can do any genre; I think it is kind of amusing that I am Master of Horror now. I never understood Jason or Michael Meyers just walking around. I mean hello?!? I directed two episodes of Psyche, and it makes me crazy because actress Maggie Lawson is underused, she is just terrific. I went to the studio to pitch Maggie Lawson because she was so good on the Psyche show! Maggie is able to bring a level of reality to the show. We shot in Edmonton, which is a largely catholic area, and we were not allowed to shoot in a catholic church, we had to cobble the church together. We brought it all in and it turned out beautifully.

Landis continued about his episode and the challenges of working on network TV. “The screenplay by Victor Salva is not what you expect, its much more of a throwback, its more of a woman’s picture. Interestingly enough, this episode is more of a character piece. The violence is really off screen. It’s about doubt and uncertainty, and suspicion. Do we really know this person? Because it’s an individual anthology show, I did have to fight a bit with the executive producers to get my way, because it’s my name on the line. On a series, you do not often get a chance to do different things. I made some minor changes to the script, but it’s pretty much Victors Script. The upshot of working in television, is getting to tell the whole of the characters story, the way it develops over time.

Maggie Lawson plays the bride to be, she told us about the episode further. “It’s more about the unknown, I think that is scarier. Not knowing what you are up against. John has a way of making it as realistic as possible. There was some very creepy nights that John had us in? The locations were fantastic; John has a way of setting the tone. It did not feel like a TV show, it felt more like a film and was really exciting, to have something so character based. I would do horror any day that John Landis is directing it. Its interesting, when you have to put yourself in the characters shoes, and then be scare. Bringing a level of reality to it is what makes it work. Its hard to make a believable scary picture.

Coming up for Landis is the previously announced John Landis will direct GHOULISHLY YOURS, WILLIAM M. GAINES, a biopic based on the life of the publisher of EC Comics and Mad magazine. on an anti-establishment group of artists and writers, led by a reluctant Gaines and cohort Al Feldstein, as they produce their comic books. At the peak of his success, Gaines became a First Amendment figurehead due to his unapologetic testimony before a Senate subcommittee investigating juvenile delinquency. Landis is developing the project with Joel Eisenberg, who’s also penning the screenplay.

There are lots of movies lined up and none ready to go. The hardest part is getting the money. I could make another horror or comedy, but I don’t want to. I am involved in this one its being written, but its not quite ready to go, it is happening, but not quite yet. There is an off Broadway show called BATBOY I am attached to it to make it into a movie, it’s a classic with rock and opera like Beauty and the Beast and Dracula, other than that I don’t have any horror movies lying around.

“In Sickness and in Health” airs June 26th on NBC
directed by John Landis (“An American Werewolf in London”)
written by Victor Salva (“Jeepers Creepers”).
James Roday (“Psych”) stars as the groom. Christie Laing (“The 4400”), Sonja Bennett (“Eureka”) and Marshall Bell (“Hamlet 2,” “Tales from the Crypt”) also star.

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Editorials

‘Phantasm’ – Why the Horror Classic’s Exploration of Death Still Resonates 45 Years Later

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As Benjamin Franklin famously wrote, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”

The horror genre offers a controlled environment in which viewers can reflect on their own morality, whether it be via catharsis or escapism, but a personal loss can complicate one’s relationship with horror. Even the most hardened of fans may struggle to find comfort in the genre after experiencing the death of a loved one.

45 years ago today, Phantasm helped viewers confront death head-on while subtly exploring the grief that accompanies it. In the film, 13-year-old Mike (A. Michael Baldwin) convinces his older brother-turned-guardian Jody (Bill Thornbury) and their affable neighborhood ice cream man, Reggie (Reggie Bannister), to investigate a mysterious mortician dubbed The Tall Man (Angus Scrimm).

Phantasm was the third feature from writer-director Don Coscarelli (The Beastmaster, Bubba Ho-Tep). The seed was planted upon witnessing the audience react to a small jump scare at a preview screening for his previous effort, the 1976 coming-of-age tale Kenny and Company. Chasing that jolt of adrenaline, he challenged himself to make a movie that delivers scares regularly throughout.

The independent production was shot in 1977 on weekends over the course of nearly a year in and around southern California’s San Fernando Valley. The 23-year-old Coscarelli shrewdly rented the film gear on Fridays and returned it Monday morning, getting three days of work out of a single day’s rental fee. When all was said and done, the film cost an estimated $300,000.

Unable to afford a full crew, Coscarelli also took on director of photography and editing duties. His father, Dac Coscarelli, receives a producer credit for providing a large chunk of the film’s funding. Additional financing was invested by doctors and lawyers, accruing a total estimated budget of $300,000. His mother, Kate Coscarelli, served as production designer, wardrobe stylist, and makeup artist under different pseudonyms, and she later wrote the novelization.

Hot off the success of John Carpenter’s Halloween, AVCO Embassy Pictures purchased Phantasm for distribution. It was released on March 28, 1979 in California and Texas before expanding to other territories and becoming a box office success. It spawned four sequels, with Coscarelli and the core cast on board throughout, along with a cult following that counts Quentin Tarantino, Rob Zombie, Snoop Dogg, and JJ Abrams (who named Star Wars: The Force Awakens‘ Captain Phasma in its honor) among its ranks.

PHANTASM Remastered

The film embraces nightmare logic – in part by design, as Coscarelli drew influence from Suspiria; partly the result of extensively editing down an overlong first cut to a tight 89 minutes. The it-was-all-a-dream ending is a rare one that doesn’t undermine the entire movie that preceded it. Not every plot point is spelled out for the viewer, and some dots may not completely connect, but the narrative is conveyed in such an engrossing manner that it hardly matters.

A particularly striking pair of back-to-back sequences occur at the conclusion of the first act. Following a late-night graveyard excursion, the camera pulls out on a shot of a sleeping Mike to reveal his bed in the cemetery with The Tall Man poised over him while ghouls attack from their graves. The next day, Mike witnesses The Tall Man affected by the chill of Reggie’s ice cream truck via a spine-tingling slow-motion zoom.

The special effects also shine, from flying metallic spheres that suck the blood out of victims’ heads to lifelike severed fingers that bleed viscous yellow gore. The visuals are supplemented by progressive music composed by Fred Myrow and Malcolm Seagrave, to whom Coscarelli recommended electronica maestro Vangelis and Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. Despite its repetition throughout the film, the power of their haunting musical theme is never diluted.

The cast was populated by amateurs, but occasionally hammy performances are far outweighed by naturalistic character moments, best exemplified by the scene in which Jody and Reggie jam on their guitars together. In addition to serving the plot by introducing the tuning fork that plays an integral role in the finale, it allows the viewer to better connect with the characters, thereby making their peril all the more frightening.

It’s character building like this that makes Phantasm‘s exploration of death so effective. The film is ultimately about Mike coming to terms with the passing of Jody, portrayed as the cool older sibling every adolescent wishes they had. Mike confronts his fear by dreaming up a final adventure with his dearly departed brother in which they manage to defeat death itself, represented by The Tall Man. Upon doing so, he’s awakened to the harsh reality that Jody died in a car accident, allowing Mike to reach the final stage of grief: acceptance.

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