Three Of The Earliest Monsters In Movies And The Books They Came From

Believe it or not, most of the monsters that made the modern horror movies what we have all come to love actually did not get there start in the movies... Yeah, it is true! As a matter of fact, I would say that some of the earliest monsters from the movies, actually got their starts in the imaginations of Victorian era authors like, 'Bram Stoker', or , 'Mary Shelley'!

And so I thought that you guys might enjoy this list of: Three Of The Earliest Monsters In Movies And The Books They Came From!

At number 3: Mr. Hyde.

In 1988, Anthony Perkins did a great job portraying Jack The Ripper as being Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde!

Now for most of you out there, you probably know Mr. Hyde from the role that some actor had... And if you are a big enough fan, you might have even seen Anthony Perkins (Psycho) play the role later in life! But before Anthony Perkins and the multitudes of actors that came before and after had the chance to play the role, the character was one of the central figures in the Robert Louis Stevenson novel: The Strange Case Of Doctor Jekyll And Mr. Hyde (1886)!

A truly horrific classic that has helped shape the world of the horror movie!

At number 2: Frankenstein's Monster.

Boris Karloff as, 'Frankenstein's Monster' in probably the most famous big screen adaption of Mary Shelley's novel!

A slightly more used figure in the world of the horror movie, the first time though Frankenstein's monster came to life was not in James Whale's classic movie but in the pages of the novel that had originally been written by Mary Shelley!

The book that the universal classic was made from!

At number 1: Orlok/Dracula.

Believe it or not, before any of these Dracula's came about, Dracula was first seen in the pages of Bram Stoker's original novel!

Most people tend to forget this, but, 'Dracula' was not the first, 'Dracula' movie to come out... No, no, you see, Bram Stoker's estate would not give them the rights to make the movie, so some inventive German Filmmaker decided to try to change just enough of the story so that they could make it... Thus, before Dracula there was Orlok... But before there was Orlok, there was Dracula in literary form!

The Many Faces Of, 'Leatherface' And The Men Who Played Him

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400"] 'Leatherface' with his family as they are about to sit down for dinner in, 'The Texas Chain Saw Massacre'![/caption]

Believe it or not, with the exception of Freddy Krueger (who has uptil the recent remake has been played by: Robert Englund), and Norman Bates, (who til it's remake had always been played by: Anthony Perklins,) most long standing horror movie villains have been played by several different actors.

A good example of this is, 'Kane Hodder' (Hatchet)... Now Kane Hodder had up until recently been kind of universally recognized as the actor who played, 'Jason Voorhees' in the, 'Friday The 13th' movies... The only thing is, is that he didn't start playing the role till around part 7, and there were at least a couple of actors who played the role before him, and played them after him!

Well I got to thinking that you guys might enjoy a look back at the many looks of ,'Leatherface' over the years, (another role that has been played by many actors,) and the actors that played him!

So with out further adieu:

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974): Gunnar Hansen as, 'Leatherface':

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="630"] Gunnar Hansen played the role of, 'Leatherface' first, when he did, 'The Texas Chain Saw Massacre' (1974)![/caption]

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986): Bill Johnson as, 'Leatherface':

[caption id="attachment_2953" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Bill Johnson would go on to take over the role in 1986's, ' The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2'[/caption]

Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 (1990): R.A. Mihailoff as, 'Leatherface':

[caption id="attachment_2954" align="aligncenter" width="640"] R.A. Mihailoff would go on to be the first person to play the role in the 90s with, 'Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3' (1990)[/caption]

Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994): Robert Jacks as, 'Leatherface':

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="416"] Robert Jacks would be the final person to play the role in the 90s, having taken over for, 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation' (1994)[/caption]

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) & The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006): Andrew Bryniarski as, 'Leatherface':

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="442"] Andrew Bryniarski would not only go on to be the first person to play the role in the new millennium, but he would be the first person in the history of the franchise to have played the role more then once![/caption]

Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D (2013): Dan Yeager as, 'Leatherface':

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="543"] To date... Dan Yeager is the most recent person to take over the role, but not only has he taken over the role, but in my opinion, helped bring the original series back to prominence, what with helping reboot the original franchise![/caption]

In the end, this series is pretty awesome, and if you are like me, then you are really looking forward to what comes next!

A Couple Of Reasons Why, 'The Book Is Always Better Than The Movie'

[caption id="attachment_1803" align="aligncenter" width="407"] Game Of Thrones... This may be a TV Show based on a novel... but trust me when I say that the rule still applies![/caption]

I was talking with a buddy of mine recently about, 'Game Of Thrones' in both the book and TV series... And I got to telling him basically about the fact that, 'The book is almost always better than the movie...' (Before I go on, I should say that this metaphor is applicable to TV as well,) either way I really got to thinking... Well why is that? And this is what I could come up with:

1. In movies oft times filmmakers tend to take creative liberties with the the casting for a specific role, (an example is that in the original novel, 'Psycho' which was written by, 'Robert Bloch', Norman Bates is a bald pudgy guy... In the movie he was played by Anthony Perkins (Edge Of Sanity) who as it turns out was a tall skinny guy with a full head of hair... Another example of this is that in the original novel, 'The Stand' by: Stephen King, one of the prominent characters by the name of, 'Harold Lauder' is a fat pimply faced kid that is infatuated with, 'Franne Goldsmith', in the movie, 'Harold Lauder' is played by: Corin Nemic (Sand Sharks), who is thin... (although in the movie he is still pimply faced...)

2. Another thing is the time frame that most filmmakers have to work with in regards to the story... What I mean by this is  that most novels tend to take place over days, months, or even years (although in, 'Gerald's Game' the story is a detailed example of a women who is held after a particularly rough sexual event kills her husband, while she is handcuffed to the bed...) And so I got to imagine that, that has to be at least one of the reasons why they take certain creative liberties with the story line... A great example of this is the movie, Queen Of The Damned (2002)....

[caption id="attachment_1804" align="aligncenter" width="450"] Queen Of The Damned... A great movie, but an even better book![/caption]

Now Queen Of The Damned, took other creative liberties between the movie and the book (considering the fact that this movie is based on the book, 'Queen Of the Damned' and, 'The Vampire Lestat'), but the book itself takes place over centuries, and so while they heavily accented certain elements of the present day as seen from the original novels, they seemed to primarily focus on, 'Lestat' and how he became introduced to, 'Enkil' and, 'Akasha'...

All of that is good, the problem is, is if they had done it right, that particular movie would never have had to gloss over a lot of the rich tapestry that Anne Rice painted in the books for what would have been considered to be the present... And I think that because of the timeline for trying to fit 2 particularly meaty books in to an 1:40 minute movie was just plainly impossible!

And then last but certainly not least, there is another reason that I think that the book is better then the movie... And that is when certain movies try to take artistic liberties with the big screen adaption that they are trying to do... I mean Hollywood was a little bit more like that in the 90s and beyond but it is still happening all of the time! Now I don't mean taking artistic liberties with a novel to make the story fit in to a 2 hour movie...

No I am talking about when they just start cutting out, or adding in elements to the movie that had never been part of the original novel!

I found that when this is done, not only does it change the vision of what the author had originally intended, but I also have found that when I have later started reading the novel, that the way the author had written the novel the way it had originally been intended was actually better!

In the end, I am not saying that all big screen adaptions suck, as a matter of fact, I have that I have really liked a lot of them... But in the end, what I mentioned above is: 'A Couple Of Reasons Why, 'The Book Is Always Better Than The Movie'!

http://youtu.be/y9klJA1JMbM

http://youtu.be/qsMp2pZK-Cw

http://youtu.be/2Gu9HtN05sc

Psycho (1960) - Movie Review

[caption id="attachment_415" align="alignright" width="350"] Official Score = 4 Devils[/caption]

In the 1950s in Wisconsin there was a serial killer by the name of, 'Ed Gein' who lived alone on a huge farm, and was more or less obsessed with his mother to the point where he started tipping over the edge when she died.

Then a few years after Gein's arrest, author Robert Bloch would go on to write a novel that was loosely based on the, 'Gein' case called, 'Psycho'.

Then in 1960, the true master of suspense, 'Alfred Hitchcock' (Rear Window) went on to make a little movie for Universal Pictures that would go on the become one of the most prolific movies in both the thriller genre and the horror genre, and that was based on Bloch's novel called, Psycho (1960)!

Written by: Joseph Stefano (Psycho 4: The Beginning) and Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock. Starring: Anthony Perkins (The Black hole), Vera Miles (The Searchers), John Gavin (Spartacus), Janet Leigh (Halloween: H20) and Martin Balsam (Cape Fear).

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="538"] One of the most famous shots in horror movie history... A shot with Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) as he looks up in to his mother's room![/caption]

Psycho tells the story of Marion Crane (Leigh) who comes across $40 thousand dollars one day when a person who is about to buy a house from the real estate company that she works for drops the cash on Marion's desk, and Marion's boss asks her to take it to the companies safety deposit box!

Now Marion has a boyfriend that she loves very much by the name of, 'Sam' who lives in Fairvale California (while Marion lives in Phoenix Arizona). Sam unfortunately due to his debts can't move in with Marion, and won't let Marion movie in with him (due to the fact that he more or less basically has a tiny room in the back of his shop!

So Marion decides to steal the $40 thousand and takes off for Fairvale to be with the man of her dreams and help pay off his debts!

After some fear of being caught by the California Highway Patrol, Marion decides to stop off at the local Bates Motel, where she meets the slightly odd but nice enough Motel Manager who lives with his mother, by the name of Norman Bates (Perkins).

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="450"] Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) asking a cold and lonely Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) if she would have dinner with him.[/caption]

Now after some slightly weird but mostly genial conversation and a dinner of sandwiches, with Norman, and discovers that she may have made a mistake in stealing that money. Marion heads off to her own room to get ready for bed, in preparation for heading back to Phoenix to face the music!

While she is in the shower, 'Mrs. Bates' decides to show her dislike for Marion by barging in to her room and murdering her in what would become one of the most famous shower murder scenes in movie history!

Well with Marion and the $40 thousand dollars missing, a Private Detective by the name of, 'Milton Arbogast' (Martin Balsam) is hired to find Marion and retrieve the money. While Marion's sister, 'Lila' (Miles) just wants to find her sister!

Now this movie truly is not only an iconic movie in the horror and thriller genres! But this movie is one of the most recognizable movies in the history of Cinema!

http://youtu.be/y9klJA1JMbM