It’s safe to say that Alec Baldwin was a polarizing figure even before the deadly tragedy that took place on the set of his western, Rust, late last year. At times known to be abrasive, Baldwin also happened to be one of the best actors of his generation, with killer comic chops to boot. In the late eighties/ early nineties, he was considered the next big star, with roles in Beetlejuice, Working Girl and, finally, as Jack Ryan in the Tom Clancy adaptation, The Hunt for Red October. Yet, despite ...
Oct 06, 2023•21 min
2019’s X-Men: Dark Phoenix was supposed to be the movie that finally did justice to one of the comic’s most celebrated storylines, the Dark Phoenix Saga by Chris Claremont and John Byrne. It had already been done, to disastrous effect, in 2006’s X-Men 3: The Last Stand. Writer-director Simon Kinberg made his directorial debut with this, taking over for Bryan Singer, whose career imploded in the years following X-Men: Apocalypse. While there’s no doubt everyone went in with the right intentions, ...
Oct 02, 2023•25 min
Chucky had his solo adventures for three movies before this entry in the franchise, and in 1998, it was time to revive the franchise and give him a friend, a lover, a being just as twisted and violent as he is. Thus was created his bride, the one and only Tiffany Valentine! Her obsession with Chucky predates the films, going back all the way to before Charles Lee Ray died and had his soul trapped in a doll, a woman who loved him more than she probably should have. This set-up is one meant to cre...
Sep 29, 2023•11 min
Tom Sizemore is a tragic Hollywood tale. After bursting onto the scene in a variety of scene-stealing characters turns opposite Stallone in Lock-Up, Wesley Snipes in Passenger 57, and a cool bit part in Point Break, Sizemore quickly became a hot item. He stole the show as the venal cop Jack Scagnetti in Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers, followed by a memorable role in Michael Mann’s Heat. Still, his career was briefly jeopardized by a crippling addiction to drugs. He overcame his issues with ...
Sep 25, 2023•22 min
Joe Carnahan is considered one of the most fiercely independent directors in Hollywood today. Bursting onto the scene with Narc, it served as a cinematic calling card that landed him on the A-list as far as directors go, but rather than accept projects that felt compromised to him, he would step down if he thought he wasn’t a good fit. This happened with Mission: Impossible III, and it happened with the Death Wish reboot. He chose to make films that were personal to him, and while the results ha...
Sep 22, 2023•13 min
Home invasion films are often able to tap into a primordial fear. The invasion of such a sacred space is enough to keep you up at night. So in 2008, a film took the world by storm and had people locking their doors like they were going to be next. We're of course talking about Bryan Bertino's The Strangers.
Sep 18, 2023•11 min
In the 2000s, Eva Mendes was wildly considered one of the hottest up-and-coming actresses in Hollywood. Drop-dead gorgeous, with terrific acting talent to match, she started small, with a role in the Steven Seagal flick, Exit Wounds, that was looped by another actress. But, her part opposite Denzel Washington in Training Day drew a lot of attention, and soon she was everywhere. She entered the Fast & Furious franchise playing an undercover DEA agent in 2 Fast 2 Furious, a role she reprised a...
Sep 15, 2023•17 min
Tony Scott’s 1986 classic Top Gun is a definitive movie for its superstar lead, Tom Cruise. While he’s had (arguably) the best run of any movie star on the planet, Top Gun’s lead, Maverick, remains the part many of his fans identify him the most with. It took thirty-six years, but Cruise finally has a sequel ready with Top Gun: Maverick and the reviews so far have been outstanding. But, in a bittersweet twist, two of the men who made the film such a smash have since passed away. Uber-producer Do...
Sep 12, 2023•19 min
If anybody ever had the acting chops in the 90s to convincingly play a publisher who gets bitten by a werewolf and then slowly starts to become one himself, it’s Jack Nicholson. Wolf sits snugly in the ‘so bad it’s actually pretty good’ category and there’s not necessarily anything we can say that would prepare you for the experience that is watching director Mike Nichols’ Wolf. So, get ready to for a transformative experience as we howl at the moon and find out just WTF Happened to this Horror ...
Sep 08, 2023•11 min
Michael Myers never dies. Less than a year after part four, Halloween 5 hit theater screens. After seeing it, many fans felt that the film was rushed into production and didn't make much sense. They would be right. Part 5 would end up being the lowest-grossing film in the entire franchise. Even still up to when this video is released. What happened to this film that caused it to be the black sheep of the franchise? Let's find out on this episode of WTF Happened To This Horror Movie?
Sep 05, 2023•15 min
If the eighties had a face, it would be Matthew Broderick. Arguably the greatest of all teen actors, he made perhaps the signature comedy of the era, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and if that 1986 classic had been the old movie he ever made, he would still be a legend. But Broderick’s had a pretty great career; even if recent years, he’s taken an extended break from the big screen and primarily focused his energy on the stage. Bursting onto the scene in John Badham’s 1983 computer hacking classic Wa...
Sep 01, 2023•25 min
Peter Jackson’s 2005 remake of King Kong came with sky high expectations from fans. After all, it was his follow-up to the Lord of the Rings, so audiences weren’t only expecting a good movie - they were expecting a masterpiece. The resulting film probably can’t be called a masterpiece, but it is a wildly ambitious, beautifully made film that pays homage to the 1933 film that inspired Peter Jackson to become a director. At the time, the critical reaction to the film was muted. The Lord of the Rin...
Aug 28, 2023•17 min
Gore. The gore, the merrier, or so it seemed, during the 70s and 80s. And throughout many a decade, gorehounds love all the red splatter a screen can handle. And one of the best to give the gore all the more is Tom Savini. A master of splatter, an icon of special effects, and a director and actor, too, Savini has been the inspiration for more filmmakers and effects artists than I can count and continues to do so. He’s also never stopped making monsters and mayhem, either. Tom Savini is one of th...
Aug 25, 2023•17 min
The early 2000s were filled with odd films and amazing films. One that should have made more of an impression yet seems to have somewhat disappeared is Paul Verhoeven's not-so-classic Hollow Man. The film was not a failure at the box office, but many seem not even to know it exists until they stumble upon it on television. How can a Paul Verhoeven film Hollow Man, starring Kevin Bacon, seemingly vanish from the general population's consciousness? Let's find out on WTF Happened To This Horror Mov...
Aug 21, 2023•10 min
Sarah Michelle Gellar was one of the biggest teen stars of the nineties. Fuelled by her star-making role as the lead on Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she won massive acclaim for her badass, emotional turn as the titular slayer. She parlayed her success into a burgeoning film career, starring in a pair of late nineties teen classics, I Know What You Did Last Summer and Cruel Intentions. The latter was a controversial part that could have backfired but instead was a major hit that furthe...
Aug 18, 2023•19 min
Back in the nineties, John McTiernan was perhaps the most well-regarded action director in Hollywood. He had an unmatched string of hits that included Predator, Die Hard, Die Hard With a Vengeance, The Hunt for Red October and more. At the same time, Michael Crichton was a household name thanks to a little book and film you might have heard of called Jurassic Park. Putting the two of them together to adapt Crichton’s Eaters of the Dead must have seemed like a sure-fire hit to Disney, especially ...
Aug 14, 2023•13 min
Evil children movies have been around forever. One only needs a quick web search to find a ton of them, from The Brood to The Omen, Children of the Corn to The Good Son, and so many, many more. The movie at hand today is one you just may remember from the glory days of the video store. The 1992 direct-to-video film Mikey. Yea, this gets a bit rough, So hold on to your buts as we dive into the killer kid that is Mikey on WTF Happened To This Horror Movie?
Aug 11, 2023•12 min
Seann William Scott is famous for being one of the nicest guys in Hollywood. Rising to fame in 1999/2000, hot on the heels of his gross-out teen comedy hits American Pie and Road Trip, Scott was on an enviable hot streak for a while. While attempts to break him out in different kinds of roles didn’t pay off at first (the late Ivan Reitman’s Evolution and Bulletproof Monk were flops), his comedies remained highly successful, with hits that included Dude, Where’s My Car, The Dukes of Hazard and Ro...
Aug 07, 2023•20 min
Before George Lucas launched the Star Wars Universe in 1977, he directed the coming-of-age comedy-drama American Graffiti. Produced by Francis Ford Coppola, the film revolves around various early rock ‘n’ roll cultures that helped define a generation. Gearheads often swoon for this memorable film as it features plenty of gorgeous hot rods that any collector would love to have in their garage. American Graffiti is written by Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz, and Lucas and features an eclectic cast of y...
Aug 04, 2023•16 min
Faces of Death was the horror movie that generated a thousand whispers and even more rumors. A film that was a rite of passage for any wannabe gore hound who managed to score a grainy second-hand copy from a friend or relative, and then proudly wore the psychological scars the next day while sharing the grizzly details to awe-struck friends. Faces of Death is a case study on how to turn a cinematic experiment into a cult horror movie, leading us to ask, WTF happened to This Horror Movie?...
Aug 01, 2023•11 min
In the nineties, Hugh Grant owned the rom-com. From his debut in Four Weddings and a Funeral to his American breakthrough in 1995’s Nine Months, nothing could derail Grant’s career, not even a well-publicized scandal that landed his mug shot on the cover of tabloids worldwide, which everyone thought would ruin his image for good. He was able to bounce back and his charm helped make 1999’s Notting Hill one of the most popular romantic comedies of all time. Grant hit his stride in the early 2000’s...
Jul 28, 2023•24 min
In the wake of Star Trek Beyond’s middle underwhelming box office, there were various plans to get another Star Trek movie underway. One would have involved bringing back Chris Hemsworth, who played Captain Kirk’s doomed father before he was a star in 2009’s Star Trek, but economically, that proved to be unfeasible. Another, perhaps more intriguing idea, was hatched by none other than Quentin Tarantino, who was to write a script with The Revenant’s Mark L. Smith. While ultimately it didn’t get m...
Jul 24, 2023•11 min
Stephen King and George A Romero collaborated to bring us the wonderful world of Creepshow back in 1982. Featuring a wonderfully eclectic group of actors taking part in different stories, the film ended up being a great time at the movies. So it's no surprise that we received a sequel. But why did it take five years? And why were Romero and King not as heavily involved? We cover all of this and more as we dive into 1987's Creepshow 2.
Jul 21, 2023•12 min
In the world of pop culture crossovers, few are as iconic as the 1996 film Space Jam. Starring basketball legend Michael Jordan alongside the beloved Looney Tunes characters, it became a cultural phenomenon that captured the hearts of fans worldwide. But what if there was another crossover in the works that would have taken the 2000s by storm? Enter Skate Jam, the unmade film that almost brought together skateboarding icon Tony Hawk and the zany world of the Looney Tunes. Why didn't this film ge...
Jul 17, 2023•8 min
Of all of the directors to emerge from the “new Hollywood” movement of the seventies, Brian De Palma deserves to be considered one of the biggest. While his career has cooled in recent years, for about twenty-five years or so, he was at the top of his game, delivering more than a handful of classics. His first breakout success was arguably the 1976 Stephen King adaptation, Carrie, which put its young cast on the map, including Sissy Spacek & John Travolta. His follow-up, The Fury, wasn’t qui...
Jul 14, 2023•27 min
Saturday Night Live has often tried to turn popular sketches into movies. Sometimes this notion works, and sometimes it doesn’t. It all started back in 1992 when Mike Myers and Dana Carvey’s Wayne and Garth got a big-screen outing in Wayne’s World. They took the admittedly thin premise of the sketch - two metalheads have a public access talk show - and ran with it. The film helped kick off Mike Myers’ big-screen career and paved the way for a whole slate of SNL movies, including 1993’s Coneheads...
Jul 10, 2023•14 min
The late 1990s saw a boom in teen horror films following the success of Scream, and I Know What You Did Last Summer. One of the titles that saw its share of excitement over its production was Disturbing Behavior, starring James Marsden, Nick Stahl, Katie Holmes, and Katherine Isabelle. This film had success written all of it. Magazines like Fangoria and YM gave it some ink, but if you have watched any of these episodes before, you know that, as always, things did not go exactly to plan. So let's...
Jun 30, 2023•11 min
Being a child star isn't easy. Once the cuteness wears off, the transition to adult star can be nearly impossible and gruelling. Hollywood is full of tragic stories of former child stars who flame out when they reach adulthood, trying to chase that Hollywood dream in what can be a ruthless town. Yet, some of them, like this week's WTF subject Haley Joel Osment, manage to defy the odds. Osment became the biggest child star since Macaulay Culkin thanks to his turn in The Sixth Sense opposite Bruce...
Jun 26, 2023•19 min
In 1999, Ben Stiller got to play a superhero. Well, kind of. You see, he was one of the leads in Universal’s big-budget superhero comedy Mystery Men. The first (and last) movie directed by noted commercial director Kinka Usher, the film landed with a thud in the summer of 1999, topping out at $33 million worldwide on a $68 million budget. Based on an obscure comic, Mystery Men always seemed like a risky bet at the box office, with star Ben Stiller, who plays Mr. Furious, having only recently beg...
Jun 23, 2023•12 min
If you look at the House franchise, you see a series of films that started out with promise. The fourth film, on the other hand? That's a whole other mess that was mired in confusion, a story that makes little sense, and humor that failed to connect with its intended audience. Let's find out precisely WTF Happened To This Horror Movie?
Jun 19, 2023•10 min
