Showing posts with label in memoriam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label in memoriam. Show all posts

Jul 25, 2019

RIP RUTGER HAUER


"Fiery the angels fell. Deep thunder rolled around their shoulders... burning with the fires of Orc."
If we don't, remember me.

Jan 8, 2013

R.I.P. DAVID R. ELLIS


David R. Ellis, who called schlock entertainment his playground, has died at age 60. At this time, there is no official cause.

He never would have won an Oscar, but he did give us hands-down the best installment of the Final Destination franchise, Final Destination 2, as well as Snakes on a Plane, Shark Night 3D, and...Homeward Bound 2. (For real.)

The man proved he was usually in on the joke and never turned his nose down on the more low-brow projects on which he worked. And allowing Samuel L. Jackson to bellow his infamous line from Snakes on a Plane, which was born not during the scripting stage but rather much earlier on the Internet, courtesy of fan boy enthusiasm, proved he was a class act. It wasn't enough that he willingly took on the project and had fun with the outlandish concept, but because SOAP was a fan-driven project, it was his way of letting the fans have a more-than-usual level of input.

R.I.P., good sir. I'll watch FD2 in your honor.

Dec 18, 2012

R.I.P. DANNY STEINMANN


His name might not be household by nature, but the mark he left on the horror genre was undeniable.

The man whose name you might not recognize is Danny Steinmann, and he was responsible for the sleaziest, but perhaps the most fun entry of Friday the 13th - that of The New Beginning. (Yes, the one with the copycat killer.)

While the Friday the 13th brand is not one lauded for its contributions to high art, I think it's safe to say that Steinmann's entry was the first to fully realize the sleazeball environment in which those films thrived. It was The New Beginning that eschewed any attempts at psychological fear and went right for the throat. It was the first and last attempt to merge Jason Voorhees with a grindhouse aesthetic - a genre in which Steinmann was more than comfortable working.

It's safe to say that Steinmann's face will not be appearing at the annual "In Memoriam" roll call of the dead that the Oscars like to run every year, all so the rich 'n' famous can dictate via their applause whose corpse is their personal favorite. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder, someone once said, and one man's trash is another man's art. While calling Steinmann an artist is probably pushing it, the canvases he left behind are still celebrated today.

Steinmann is the second Friday director to leave us, the first being Jason X's James Isaac. (2012 has not been a good year for Friday fans). 

Let's hope he'll be the last for a very long time.

Aug 20, 2012

R.I.P. TONY SCOTT


We don't know why you did it. I suspect, in time, we will.

But you shouldn't have.

Bad news. 

UPDATED: ABC News is now reporting that Scott had received a diagnosis of inoperable brain cancer prior to his suicide.