(Above) The set up for the shark’s fiery demise at the conclusion of Jaws 2 (1978). The production still comes from a collection of 180 set photos recently unearthed and published by the Northwest Florida Daily News. The sequel was shot on Florida’s Emerald Coast as opposed to the Martha’s Vineyard locations of Steven Spielberg’s 1975 original. Check out all of the set stills here.
Year – 2017
Decade – 2010s
Cinematographer – Ava Berkofsky (official site) and Patrick Cady
Director – various
Aspect Ratio – 1.78
Distributor – HBO
Genre – Drama
Camera – Arri Alexa
Format – Spherical
Other Key Words
Location – Los Angeles Short Siding Headroom
Further Reading
Interview with cinematographer Ava Berkofsky from Mic, which details Berkofsky’s approach to lighting the varying skin tones of Insecure
In honor of Peter Medak’s well-regarded 1980 ghost story The Changeling making its way to Blu-ray today via Severin Films, here’s Waldemar Swierzy’s Polish release art.
Severin’s HD transfer release was “created from a 4K scan of the inter-positive film element” and includes a commentary track with the director and a series of featurettes.
(Above) Al Capone henchman Frank Nitti plummets to his death in this scene from Brian De Palma’s 1987 film The Untouchables. (Photo by unit stills photographer Zade Rosenthal)
The pic above – along with the one below from De Palma’s Battleship Potemkin homage shot at Chicago Union Station – comes from a recently republished article on The Untouchables from American Cinematographer magazine.
Check out more from our Shot Behind the Shot series.
Year – 1987
Decade – 1980s
Cinematographer – John Lindley (imdb link)
Director – Joseph Ruben (imdb link)
Aspect Ratio – 1.85
Genre – Horror
Lenses – Spherical
Format – 35mm
Key Words
Shot-by-Shot Scene Breakdowns Camera Moves
Click on any link to view other films featuring frames from that category.
The Movie
A seemingly bland suburban realtor (Terry O’Quinn) marries into a widowed family and reacts violently when the clan doesn’t live up to his ideal of family values.
A link has frequently been drawn between the violence in the horror films of the 1980s – particularly the slasher flicks of the era – and the decade’s shift toward moral conservatism. When characters flaunted the tenants of the religious right that flourished under Reagan, their demise was swift. Have sex and you die. Take drugs and you die. Joseph Ruben’s clever low-budget thriller The Stepfather is one of the few films to intentionally and explicitly make that connection, presenting a portrait of unhinged patriarchy raging against the white middle class male’s dwindling influence that still feels relevant 30 years later.
Check out the movie while it’s streaming on Amazon Prime.
Continue Reading ›
“The problem with (Maximum Overdrive) is that I was coked out of my mind all through its production, and I really didn’t know what I was doing.” – Stephen King, from the 2003 book Hollywood’s Stephen King by Tony Magistrale
Stephen King’s lone directorial venture Maximum Overdrive unleashed its sentient lawnmowers, pop machines, and goblin-faced trucks upon cinemagoers back on July 25th of 1986. The film was based on a short story by King that was first published in the July 1973 issue of Cavalier magazine and later included in King’s short story anthology Skeleton Crew (1978). Like Firestarter (1984), Cat’s Eye (1985), and Silver Bullet (1985), Maximum Overdrive was shot in and around Wilmington, North Carolina and produced by Dino De Laurentiis. David Lynch’s Blue Velvet – also produced by De Laurentiss – was filming at the same time in the same North Carolina town.
When it comes to pitching WolfCop flicks, writer/director Lowell Dean has a knack for dreaming up enticing amalgamations. He pegged the initial installment as Teen Wolf meets Bad Lieutenant. He’s labeled the follow-up Another WolfCop – now available on Blu-ray, DVD, and VOD – as a cross between Gremlins, Slap Shot, Strange Brew, and Lethal Weapon. It’s an apt description of the lycanthropic sequel’s mixture of comedy, action, beer, gore, and hockey.
This time around the plot finds the titular hirsute law enforcement officer (again played by Leo Fafard) battling shape-shifting aliens whose scheme to take over the Canadian berg of Woodhaven involves impregnating its citizenry via a hearty new stout.
Continue onward as Dean talks Kevin Smith cameos, the importance of a kick ass poster in the age of streaming, and the challenges of capturing explosions, werewolf lovemaking, car chases, and alien baby berths in a 17-day shooting schedule.
When we talked about the original WolfCop back in early 2015, you had the sequel script ready to go and were hoping to get financing in time to shoot that summer. Did that ultimately happen or did production get pushed?
Lowell Dean: Oh, it got pushed! By almost two years. Development on the sequel was almost as much of a journey as production itself. The first film was very modest (a budget of about 1 million Canadian) and it was more a mystery film than an action film. Everyone involved agreed that the sequel needed to up the ante in terms of action and practical effects, which of course meant (we needed) more money. In the end, the producers pulled together just over 2 million but it took more time. Over that period the script underwent several revisions. We changed the villain. The setting changed from winter to summer and then back to winter. To be honest, there was a stretch of time when I thought the sequel just wasn’t going to happen. Continue Reading ›
Came across a blog dedicated to the VHS covers of Brazil called Mundo VHS. The site was last updated in 2013, but there’s some gems there to sift through. Below are a few of my favorites. Continue Reading ›
