• About
  • podcasts
  • Shop

Surgeons of Horror

~ Dissecting horror films

Surgeons of Horror

Tag Archives: sean cunningham

Retrospective: The Last House On The Left (1972) 50th anniversary

30 Tuesday Aug 2022

Posted by surgeons of horror in retrospective

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

david hess, fred lincoln, jeramie rain, marc sheffler, sandra peabody, sean cunningham, steve miner, the last house on the left, Wes Craven

Fifty years ago, horror history was made as an integral part of the genre came to fruition. The Last House On The Left would see the creative combination of Wes Craven as Director for his first feature length film, and Sean Cunningham as producer. Cunningham would of course go on to spearhead Friday the 13th and Craven would herald notable works such as A Nightmare on Elm Street and the Scream series to name but a few. Amongst the crew would be another essential creative, serving as production assistant and an uncredited cameo to boot. 

It is not just about the crew, all of whom were on the cusp of greatness, but the steps taken to produce a gritty and hard hitting tale of revenge.

TLHOTL was born out of the basis of The Virgin Spring by Ingmar Bergman, and a response to how the bloody realism that Western movies were being depicted by at the time. Craven seeking to distil the glamour attached to such violence and to provide a much more realistic depiction would strike a chord in the popular mainstream. The fact that the vengeance is carried out by the parents would also flip the switch on everyday Americans pushed to the limit of despair, and take on justice of their own proceedings; much like Craven would review again in his follow up feature, The Hills Have Eyes.

Where most movies would look to have the next generation or youths providing the answer to lifes’ torment and with it the hope for humanity, here would see them as either the threat or the victim. It is the parents who take on the role of judgement and through their misguided understanding of their children, seek retribution.

Pivotal to the graphic nature depicted on screen is the portrayal of the antagonists, Krug Stillo (David Hess, who would also provide the soundtrack to the film); Fred Podowski (Fred Lincoln); Sadie (Jeramie Rain); and Junior (Marc Sheffler), who all sink their teeth into their respective roles and ground the violence and despair with disturbing realism. This is further strengthened by the innocent carefree Mari (Sandra Peabody) who falls headlong into a world which she has no control over, and has everything ripped away from her. It should also be noted that some scenes were questionably pushed beyond the limits of decency; a sign of creative freedom at the risk of the players involved. Furthermore, keen observers will recognise familiarity in the lead protagonist Krug’s name, extended to Kruger to take on an alternative threat in the realms of horror in A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Its initial release would spark protests due to its content, but the film would gain business at the Drive-In theatres alongside the double billing of Mario Bava’s Twitch of the Death Nerve. Plus a decent hook tagline of “Repeat. It’s only a movie… It’s only a movie” to draw punters in.

Looking back at it now, TLHOTL has its obvious flaws, namely through some of the performances and the comical tones from the flappable police force. One of whom cinephiles will notice is Martin Kove who would go on to play sensei John Kreese from The Karate Kid franchise. What it does hold is the brutality and uncomfortable scenes that make you shift and squirm in your seat. These moments still are difficult to view even with a modern lens, and this is why it stands strong half a century later.

  • Saul Muerte

Listen to the Surgeons of Horror podcast on The Last House on The Left

Retrospective: Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)

29 Thursday Apr 2021

Posted by surgeons of horror in retrospective

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

adrienne king, amy steel, betsy palmer, carl fullerton, Friday the 13th, Jason, Jason Voorhees, john furey, paramount pictures, sean cunningham, steve daskewisz, walt gorney, warrington gillette

Slasher films had been around through the 70s, although they were more commonly associated with snuff films, but when John Carpenter thrust Michael Myers and Halloween into the horror genre, the flame was struck. Two years later, Sean Cunningham teamed up with writer Victor Miller and stoked the fire further to propel slashers into the mainstream and a plethora of similar movies soon followed.

So, it was inevitable that Paramount Pictures would look at the film’s success and look at ways to spawn a franchise… but there was one big problem.

Let me make one thing perfectly clear, at the beginning of my movie, Jason is dead!

Victor Miller

When they offered me the script for Part 2, I got the script and Jason was running around and I said, “What are you doing?

Tom Savini

If you track that into any kind of timeline, it makes no sense whatsoever.

Sean Cunningham

If the original creators were puzzled, so were the fans, but it wasn’t just the script that was out of whack. There were a number of other conflicts that occurred behind the scenes. Most notably was the return and demise of the films original heroine, Alice played by Adrienne King. King wasn’t shy with her complaints about the production and the way that both her and her character were treated… killing her off in the opening scene supposedly without her knowledge. Those who had come to love her character and her strength in the climax against Jason’s mother Pamela, thought that it was dealt with rather too swiftly.

Another controversial component in-house came with the casting of Jason himself. Let’s forget about the whole sandbag over the head thing which was clearly a lift from The Town That Dreaded Sundown released five years earlier. Instead the issue centred on Warrington Gillette who was given the role of Jason when he failed to win the role of lead counsellor Paul, losing out to John Furey. The only problem was that Warrington at the time wasn’t a stuntman, so the producers had to call in Steve Daskewisz to perform the stunts and debate would strike over who the real Jason was.

Friday the 13th Part 2 was clearly trying to stitch the pieces back together on its path to create a franchise, and arguably were pulling from other movies to inspire or develop this world. Although the creators claimed ignorance, there is a striking similarity to one death scene in the movie to Mario Bava’s 1971 flick, Twitch of the Death Nerve, aka A Bay of Blood (The Surgeons will be taking a look at this movie in more detail for a podcast down the track).

Despite all this, some iconic moments were created.

The introduction of Ginny (Amy Steel) who not only kicked arse as the final girl, but was smart and managed to psyche Jason out by pretending to be dear old Mom. This also brought Betsy Palmer back to resurrect Pamela albeit in dream form.

Also returning from the original movie was Crazy Ralph (Walt Gorney) and with him the wacky old guy character that would become synonymous with the slasher films. Plus the iconic camp fire scares and young school counsellors getting busy before they get whacked, which is a key draw card for the sub-genre. 

Speaking of kills, with the absence of Tom Savini in the makeup and effects department having signed on to make The Burning, another mastro Stan Winston stepped into the scene, only to also be called away for another commitment. Instead Carl Fullerton (Wolfen, The Silence of the Lambs) would more than step up to the plate and deliver some great effects sequences and some of the most memorable kills from the franchise.

It may have been built on some shaky ground with some questionable narrative decisions that are still debated today, but the final result pulled in $21.7 million at the box office. This wasn’t as successful as its predecessor but it was enough for Paramount to call it a win and from the wake of Pamela Voorhees came the birth of Jason. They were still finding their feet in who or what Jason would be and he is more in embryonic stage, but with Director Steve Miner returning again to helm the next instalment alongside producer Frank Mancuso Jr. history was being made and Jason would soon take great strides in the horror film industry.

  • Saul Muerte

Last House On The Left (1972)

17 Tuesday May 2016

Posted by surgeons of horror in Wes Craven

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

david hess, last house on the left, sean cunningham

 

OUR FIRST HORROR FILM LEGEND to enter the Surgeons of Horror theatre is the late Wes Craven.

It is our endeavour to scrutinise and dissect his film career and study how Craven became an auteur of his craft.

We start with a Season that we will call The Early Years, whereby we will take a look at the films that paved the way to marking him as an icon in horror.

The first movie in question is, The Last House On The Left, made in 1972 along with fellow horror legend, Sean Cunningham (Friday the 13th) who was the films producer.

Between them they made a movie that would send shockwaves throughout the cinema industry for it’s low down and dirty cinematography.
It was a film that wasn’t shy from turning away from what was dubbed as gratuitous but perhaps not by modern standards.

The movie would be banned in certain countries including Britain and caused pandemonium in the auditoriums as people allegedly rushed the projection booths in protest.

This was all gold dust to the films producers who were bold enough to give it a nationwide release.

And word of mouth wouldn’t let this movie lay down to rest and it resurfaced in the video bootleg and slowly became the stuff of legend.

It also coined one of the most iconic taglines in movie history, “To avoid fainting. Keep repeating. It’s only a movie… only a movie…. Only a movie…”

So how does this film stand up in our surgery?

Does it still stand the test of time?

Check out the surgeons of horror podcast below for more thoughts and views.

https://player.whooshkaa.com/player/episode/id/98471?visual=true

Also available on iTunes

-Paul Farrell

Friday the 13th (1980)

13 Friday May 2016

Posted by surgeons of horror in Friday the 13th Franchise

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Friday the 13th, Jason, Jason Voorhees, kevin bacon, sean cunningham, Tom Savini

Friday-the-13th

THE 1980’s WOULD MARK the rise of horror movies, particularly in the homes with the introduction of video rental stores.

Leading the charge would be Friday the 13th, a little known film that with a small budget and with a production company that was willing to market nationwide.

The Film itself owed a lot of its success from a visionary director, Sean Cunningham (Last House On The Left) with a young cast that was willing and eager, plus some of the best blood and gore to have been seen on screen before.

The last of which would be Friday the 13th’s true calling. By teaming up with Special FX guru, Tom Savini (Dawn of the Dead) who was and still is ahead of his time when it comes to capturing realistic gore for the screen, Cunningham had blended the perfect recipe of blood, gore and scares that continues to delight generation after generation and spawned a franchise.

-Paul Farrell

Check out the surgeons of horror podcast below for more thoughts and views.

https://player.whooshkaa.com/player/episode/id/103489?visual=true

Subscribe

  • Entries (RSS)
  • Comments (RSS)

Archives

  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016

Categories

  • A Night of Horror Film Festival
  • Alien franchise
  • Alliance Francaise French Film Festival
  • Australian Horror
  • Best Movies and Shows
  • Competition
  • episode review
  • Flashback Fridays
  • Friday the 13th Franchise
  • Full Moon Sessions
  • Halloween franchise
  • In Memorium
  • Interview
  • japanese film festival
  • John Carpenter
  • killer pigs
  • midwest weirdfest
  • MidWest WierdFest
  • MonsterFest
  • movie of the week
  • Movie review
  • News article
  • podcast episode
  • press release
  • retrospective
  • Rialto Distribution
  • Ring Franchise
  • series review
  • Spanish horror
  • sydney film festival
  • Sydney Underground Film Festival
  • The Blair Witch Franchise
  • The Exorcist
  • The Howling franchise
  • Top 10 list
  • Trash Night Tuesdays on Tubi
  • umbrella entertainment
  • Uncategorized
  • Universal Horror
  • Wes Craven
  • wes craven's the scream years

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Surgeons of Horror
    • Join 183 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Surgeons of Horror
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...