Benicio del Toro as "The Wolfman" (Photo from Yahoo! Movies) The frenzy is beginning to pick up for "New Moon," the first sequel in the immensely popular Twilight series, which is set for release on November 20. This time around werewolves get some facetime; vampires, apparently, aren't the only ones who can be angsty. Werewolves making an appearance in a vampire series -- how appropriate. Werewolves are those classic monsters that, these days, only find themselves as interesting tangents in a story arc focused on other, more attractive, denizens of the dark underworld. Rarely are they centerstage ("An American Werewolf in London," "Ginger Snaps," "Blood and Chocolate," "The Howling"). Today there is deluge of books and movies populated by either sexy vampires or grotesque zombies: the stars of the horror scene. This is a world where werewolves find themselves desperately snapping at the scraps of side characters and tangential plotlines But it was not always this way. The werewolf, believe it or not, might just be our oldest nemesis. Maybe in our modern, urban lives we have distanced ourselves from a time when nightfall did not signal the start of fervent activity out on the town or comfort on the couch. There was a time when nightfall meant only a feeble campfire and the gathered darkness of unknown wilderness all around us. It was a time when only the howling of some distant wolf pack could be heard from within the protective warmth of our campfires. Even then we had dogs. But they must have also trembled, like their masters, at the sound of their wilder, more dominant cousins. Maybe this is one of the reasons for man's deep (some would say primal) fear and hatred of these animals. We kept the docile ones that would obey us and seek our affection. Wolves represent their evil doppelganger: the violent, untameable side of animal and man alike. For that the wolf has become a legendary figure of evil, like the great Norse wolf Fenrisulfr. And from legends such as these came the werewolf. The legend of the Wolf of Magdeburg and the real-life Beast of Gevaudan, among other legends, were precursors to our modern ideas of what it means to be a werewolf. Vampires get a lot of attention and they love it. They mope about to the strains of depressing emo music, complain about their superpowers, and strike modelesque poses at every opportunity. Werewolves have none of that. They get right to the point of blood and gore. No emo music: it's all thrash metal and ripping out throats. To illustrate: in the opening scene of the movie "Silver Bullet" there is no lengthy dialogue, no make-out scene, just a werewolf decapitating a man. That's what werewolves are all about, and that's why they deserve a return to the spotlight. Suggested Sites... Werewolves.com - tons of werewolf-related goodies. Wolf Country - learn about wolves, listen to them howl, watch them in action. Werewolf Movies - learn what's happening in the world of werewolf movies. New Moon Official Site - get your Twilight jollies here. The Wolfman - Benicio del Toro dons the fake fur in this 2010 take on the classic monster movie.

Directory categories: Werewolves, Wolves, Horror Movies, Full Moon Superstitions, Folklore

Archived under: Animals, Horror, Monsters and Creatures, Movies, Mythology and Folklore, Vampires, Werewolves

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Dracula, Prince of Wallachia Long before Lestat, Bill Compton, Angel, and Edward Cullen took their first bites, there was the original vampire: Dracula. Unlike the aforementioned bloodsuckers, Dracula didn't wrestle with his conscience, delve into politics, help the helpless, or (God forbid) sparkle. Both the "real life" and fictional Draculas were violent and merciless -- not brooding, self-aware emo kids. The "real" Dracula is believed to be a Wallachian (not Transylvanian) prince named Vlad Tepes who lived during the mid-15th century. Vlad lived during a time of great political turmoil for his homeland. The ever-expanding Ottoman Empire was determined to conquer Romania and Vlad led the resistance to turn them away. Vlad used guerilla warfare and what amounted to martial law to keep the Turks out and the local nobility from rebelling. He became known as "Vlad the Impaler" for his particular brutal torture and execution tactics. According to legend, anywhere from 50,000 to 200,000 were killed by Vlad's forces, leading to his reputation as a bloodthirsty tyrant. But Vlad's actions should be placed in the context of the violent and war-torn era in which he lived. In fact, many modern Romanians consider him to be a national hero. The Dracula of fiction was probably inspired by the legend of Vlad Tepes. It is debatable how aware writer Bram Stoker was of old Vlad's biography; he may have just liked the sound of "Dracula" for his villain. And Dracula was quite a villain. In between murdering and brainwashing, Dracula also plots world domination. He is apparently defeated by Dr. Van Helsing and his allies at the end of Stoker's novel by being stabbed in his coffin. However, as Hollywood has shown us, this death certainly wasn't permanent. In the Universal Studios Dracula films of the 1930s and '40s (made famous by Bela Lugosi) and the Hammer Films movies of the '60s and '70s (with Christopher "Saruman" Lee), Dracula always lives to kill another day. The popularity of these films further cemented Dracula's place in pop culture history. The last few years have seen vampires come back into vogue, thanks primarily to the TV shows "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "True Blood," and "The Vampire Diaries," and the Twilight books and movies. But Dracula has largely been absent, save a cameo on "Buffy" and a role in the 2004 film "Van Helsing." But as we all know, Dracula always comes back. This year, Bram Stoker's great grand-nephew will publish "The Undead," a sequel to "Dracula" based on Stoker's original notes and material not included in the original novel. With this release and the ceaseless popularity of vampire books, movies, and TV shows, it probably won't be long before Dracula rises again. But please: no sparkling.   Suggested Sites... Dracula: 1897 Original Text - read the original 1897 version of Bram Stoker's "Dracula" online at Internet Archive. Dracula's Castle - visit Dracula's Castle in Brasov, Romania and learn about other Dracula-related places in Romania. Romania Tourism; Dracula - discover more about Dracula (a.k.a. Vlad Tepes) and learn more about Dracula's place in Romanian history from the official tourism website of Romania. The Dracula Society - the foremost organization devoted to learning more about the real and fictional Dracula, as well as other supernatural beings.

Directory categories: Count Dracula, Vampires, Vlad Tepes, Bram Stoker, Romania

Archived under: Biographies, Blood, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, European History, Fiction, Horror, Horror Films, Literature, Movies, Mythology and Folklore, Paranormal, TV, Vampires, Villains

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"If anyone wants me, I'll be in my trailer!" The cast of "Roundhay Garden Scene" A two-second shot of people walking and laughing isn't very exciting and doesn't have much of a plot, but it made history by becoming the first motion picture ever made. On October 14, 1888, French inventor Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince gathered his wife Elizabeth, son Adolphe, mother-in-law Sarah Whitley, and friends Joseph and Harriet Hartley on Whitley's property in Roundhay, West Yorkshire, England, and filmed the "Roundhay Garden Scene." Ten years after Eadweard Muybridge captured a galloping horse with a series of still images on his zoopraxiscope, and a few years before either Edison's Kinetoscope or the Lumière Brothers' "L’arroseur arrosé" ("The Sprinkler Sprinkled"), Le Prince used the single-lens camera he invented to capture an ephemeral family scene. Le Prince was introduced to photography by Louis Daguerre himself, and shot portraits of Queen Victoria and Prime Minister Gladstone that were put into the time capsule buried in the foundation of Cleopatra’s Needle in London in 1878. Le Prince also invented several cameras, and was about to leave France on a trip to promote his latest inventions in the United States when he disappeared on a train between Dijon and Paris. Murder? Suicide? Voluntary disappearance? The mystery has never been solved, even after more than a century, but in 2003, a photograph of an unidentified drowned man who resembled Le Prince was found in the Paris police archives. That's not the only tragedy surrounding Le Prince, though: his mother-in-law, one of the stars of "Roundhay Garden Scene," died only ten days after it was filmed, and Le Prince's son Adolphe was shot dead in New York in 1902. We've heard of tough critics, but that takes things a little too far. Suggested Sites... Louis Le Prince, a Prolific Inventor - his life, his work, his inventions. Cinema History - from 900 BC to today, the "complete" history of motion pictures. "Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge" - Le Prince's hit sequel to "Roundhay Garden Scene." A three-second epic. "Accordion Player" - Le Prince's first musical. Louis Le Prince - biography from the Louis Le Prince Centre at the University of Leeds.

Directory categories: Louis Le Prince , Movies and Film History, Silent Movies, Auguste and Louis Lumiere, Thomas Edison

Archived under: 19th Century, Eadweard Muybridge, Filmmaking, Movie History, Movies, Mysteries, U.K. History

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Larry Fine looking stunned, undoubtedly by some unexpected turn of events People who work in comedy know the "Rule of Three." That is, when writing jokes or creating a comedic movie, TV show, play, or even a skit, writers know how to establish a situation, confirm it, and then overturn it. If you look for it, you'll see it all the time: "A priest, a minister, and a rabbi walk into a bar ..."; "an Englishman, an Irishman, and a Scotsman were arguing ..."; "a genie grants a man three wishes ..." With that rule so well-known, it makes us wonder why there are so few three-man comedy teams. There's the Ritz Brothers (who few remember nowadays), the Marx Brothers (who originally were a quartet), the Three Stooges -- and that’s about it. We were reminded of this apparent paradox today in noting that October 5 marks the birthday of our favorite Stooge, Larry Fine. Every Stooge fan has his favorite. (We use the pronoun "his" deliberately here, since it's well known that women just don't get -- or even like the Stooges.) Some prefer the outright lunacy of Curly; some think Shemp is the ne plus ultra of wackiness; there are undoubtedly those who think the antics of Joe or Curly Joe cannot be bettered; and we're sure Moe brings delight to many for his attempts to bring order out of chaos. But Larry is, for us, the essential Stooge. His "normalcy" (at least in terms of Stoogedom) provides the necessary grounding between Moe's masochism and Curly's flights of fancy. The Trinity of Stooges has been compared to Sigmund Freud's theory of the unconscious (no, honestly), what with Moe's controlling force representing the ego, Curly the uncontrollable id, and Larry, the superego that strives for organization and peace. Larry Fine himself was an unassuming man. He was born Louis Feinberg in Philadelphia in 1902, and after a childhood accident (he burned his arm with acid), he took up the violin, a choice that led to a career in vaudeville, where a chance meeting with comedian Ted Healy (who had originally hired the Howard Brothers -- Moe, Shemp, and Curly -- to accompany him on stage) led him to join Healy's act as the third Stooge, a role he would hold for the next four decades, until a debilitating stroke forced him to retire. Larry's contribution to the act is invaluable. He provides an entry point for the viewer, allowing us to put Moe's harshness and Curly's craziness into context. Without him, Stooge fanatics would be left only with an authoritarian beating up on a lunatic. And every so often, Larry will say or do something so off the wall that it confirms his own existence as a Stooge. Director Peter Farrelly has been threatening to make a new "Three Stooges" movie for years. While this may not seem a good idea at first blush (Benicio Del Toro as Moe? Sean Penn as Larry?), his views on Mr. Fine give Larry-philes reason for hope (while also providing a fine epitaph): "Growing up, first you watched Curly, then Moe, and then your eyes got to Larry. He's the reactor, the most vulnerable. Five to fourteen, Curly; fourteen to twenty-one, Moe. Anyone out of college, if you're not looking at Larry, you don’t have a good brain." Suggested Sites... Larry Fine.com - dedicated the most important Stooge of them all. IMDb: Larry Fine - film credits, biography, and photos. Wikipedia: Larry Fine - good overview of his life and career. Stooge World: Larry Fine - illustrated biography. Farrelly Brothers' Three Stooges Saga: The 13-Year Backstory - is the lack of a movie a good thing or a bad thing?

Directory categories: Larry Fine, The Three Stooges, Comedy Teams, Comedy, Actors

Archived under: 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, Actors, Biographies, Birthdays, Comedians, Entertainment, Humor, Men, Movie History, Movies, Musicians, The Three Stooges, Vaudeville

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Chuck Jones's "Feline Frame-Up" On this day in 1912, Chuck Jones, one of the most celebrated directors from the Golden Age of animation, was born. So we celebrate his work today, to honor what wonderful, hilarious, and most importantly, timeless pieces of work that Charles M. Jones accomplished. Known mostly for his "Looney Tunes" animated shorts, including popular gems such as "One Froggy Evening," "Duck Amuck," "What's Opera, Doc?," and the "Hunting Trilogy." My personal favorite, however, is a much lesser-known short titled "Feline Frame-Up," which, in my opinion, has more hilarious gags that each hit their mark than any other animated short I can recall. Starring Claude Cat, Marc Antony the bulldog, and Pussyfoot the adorable little kitten, this was the third short starring Marc Antony and Pussyfoot ("Feed the Kitty" being the most famous of the three). In "Feline Frame-Up," Claude Cat, who had a decent career in several of Jones's shorts, plays the villain in the story, committing some pretty serious crimes, such as assault and battery against a minor (kicking little Pussyfoot right out of her bed), suffocation (dropping Pussyfoot down into a very tall glass vase), and blackmail (placing Pussyfoot into Marc Antony's mouth while he was sleeping, to make it look like he ate the cat, which then gets the dog kicked out of the house). Marc Anthony has his way with Claude, however, and gets the house back in the end. Another favorite Chuck Jones short of mine also stars Claude Cat, titled "No Barking." This one pairs Claude up with Frisky Puppy, a young, very jolly, pup that often, but unwillingly, scares the bejeezus out of Claude by sneaking up behind him and barking -- often sending the cat straight up in the air from shock. What's your favorite Chuck Jones short? If you're not sure which ones were his, just think of a funny Looney Tunes cartoon and, chances are, Chuck Jones directed it. Suggested Sites... ChuckJones.com - official site of the late and great legend. Wikipedia: Chuck Jones - his Wiki entry. Chuck Jones: The Greatest of All Time - nice tribute fan page. Senses of Cinema: Chuck Jones - detailed analysis about why he was "the most influential individual in the history of animated film." Wikipedia: Michael Maltese - because he wrote all of Chuck Jones's masterpieces, he deserves a mention.

Directory categories: Chuck Jones, Looney Tunes, Looney Tunes Characters

Archived under: Animation, Birthdays, Cartoons, Directors, Entertainment, Looney Tunes, Movies

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