Black Gate

It’s the 1981 Academy Awards ceremony and creature-effect magician Richard (“Rick”) Baker is stepping on stage to receive not only the first of what would be his total of seven awards to date (out of 11 nominations), but the first ever handed out for Best Makeup. The award was newly minted that year in response to the lack of an award in 1980 with which to celebrate the incredible makeup effects of The Elephant Man.

Though Baker was already known in Hollywood for his work in The Exorcist, King Kong and The Fury, and would go on to win Academy Awards for Ed Wood and Men in Black among others, his first award for his achievements in An American Werewolf in London would forever be ground-breaking on multiple levels.

Among the vast catalog of werewolf films there are, of course, many standouts – not the least of which is Universal’s 1941 classic The Wolf Man, which introduced the werewolf concept to the then new medium of film. But we’d also need to count Joe Dante’s The Howling and the teenage coming-of-age horror flick Ginger Snaps. In fact, ilovewerewolves.com tallies over 150 werewolf movies made to date; but An American Werewolf in London tops their list.

Starring David Naughton as a young American traveler who is cursed to become a murderous beast when the moon is full after an unfortunate encounter on the British moors, and Griffin Dunne as his dead friend Jack, An American Werewolf in London is generally regarded as not only one of the greatest werewolf movies ever, showcasing what was then the most ingenious special effects, but one of the greatest horror films of all-time.

David and Jack, two American college students, are backpacking through Britain when a large wolf attacks them. David survives with a bite, but Jack is brutally killed.

As David heals in the hospital, he’s plagued by violent nightmares of his mutilated friend, who warns David that he is becoming a werewolf. When David discovers the horrible truth, he contemplates committing suicide before the next full moon causes him to transform from man to murderous beast.

Basically what I’m saying here is that if you haven’t seen it, go do so immediately.

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In the midst of my favorite time of year, I must hang my head and sigh over the undeniable fact that Universal Studios plans to continue its reboot vendetta against its own iconic monster catalog.

This, in spite of the proverbial box office stake being driven straight through the heart of Dracula Untold back in 2014.

Never heard of it? Nope, and you probably never will after this.

Still, to date we have pseudo-confirmations of everything but The Mummy, which has a confirmed release date of June 9, 2017.

• The Mummy (2017), starring Tom Cruise and Sofia Boutella
• Untitled Invisible Man film (TBA), starring Johnny Depp
• Untitled Wolf Man film (TBA)
• Untitled Creature from the Black Lagoon film (TBA)
• Untitled Bride of Frankenstein film (TBA)
• Untitled Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (rumored), starring Russell Crowe
• Untitled Frankenstein film (rumored), starring Javier Bardem

Why you ask?  Or at least that is what I ask as I mix up another pumpkin spice martini.  I mean, its one thing for Hollywood to be bereft of any novel ideas, and quite another to mess with classics of this magnitude.

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For years now fans have been waiting for something to come of all the rumors regarding the Wesley Snipes, day-walking, bad-ass known as Blade.

In case you haven’t been keeping track, we last left the story back in 2004 with Blade Trinity, where personally I first learned to appreciate Ryan Reynolds on many levels, not to mention Dominic Purcell. Add in a fairly good storyline, an awesome soundtrack and a strong female character in the form of Jessica Biel laying waste with her compound bow and what you get is a movie that stands up quite well, a dozen years later.

But a lot of water has flowed under that particular dam in the interim, and Marvel may have trouble committing to another movie with Snipes in the lead role.

According to Patton Oswalt, who played weapons master “Hedges,” Blade Trinity was a troubled production indeed and Wesley Snipes appeared to have had some sort of mental breakdown during the shoot in Vancouver. He refused to speak to director David S. Goyer and often would not come out of his trailer; he would only respond to the name ‘Blade,’ and if he communicated with anyone, it would be via post-it notes. Ryan Reynolds corroborated this while promoting the film; saying that Snipes would ignore the entire cast, but he once acknowledged Reynolds by saying “Keep your mouth shut. You’ll live longer.”

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It’s the first week of October; that very special time of year when we here at Goth Chick News venture out of our subterranean office space and spread the “joy of the season” to the rest of the Black Gate staff. Oh sure, they act as though they don’t appreciate the puddles of theatrical blood, the moaning, the clanging of chains, the…

Never mind.

The point is, Halloween is in full swing and the GCN staff is doing a great job getting high on sugar and pumpkin-flavored adult beverages, but frankly doing a poor job at keeping our eyes on industry news. So just when I was about to drag up the stairs to tell editor John O (aka “The Big Cheese”) that everyone was too hung over to research anything coherent for this week’s article, the gods of black nail polish and blacker eyeliner, threw me a bone.

Earlier today, Warner Bros. Pictures announced that Blade Runner 2049 is the official title to their Blade Runner sequel that’s being directed by Sicario and Prisoners’ Denis Villeneuve.

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