I've watched some good doc on films such as John Carpenter's The Thing, The Making of The Shining and Plan 9 From Outer Space(a whole film was devoted to it) etc. What I was wondering was what are some of your favorities maybe even some of the shorter docs on DVD that may only have a running time of 15 mins. Thanks.
American Grindhouse is an awesome film documentary. And there's a great one about the Social Network on the double disc DVD version.
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse. It's about the making of Apocalypse Now, filmed during the actual making of the movie. Wow. It's a miracle Apocalypse Now was ever made. It was over budget, over the time line, Martin Sheen had a heart attack while filming and the Filipino Army, which lent it's soldiers and equipment to the production, was called off set often to fight in a war! In my opinion thie story of making the movie is even better than the movie itself.
Quote from: Hammock Rider on July 25, 2011, 12:28:03 PM
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse. It's about the making of Apocalypse Now, filmed during the actual making of the movie. Wow. It's a miracle Apocalypse Now was ever made. It was over budget, over the time line, Martin Sheen had a heart attack while filming and the Filipino Army, which lent it's soldiers and equipment to the production, was called off set often to fight in a war! In my opinion thie story of making the movie is even better than the movie itself.
OOooo that was a great making of doc. One part I remember very well is when Coppola is sitting on a raft or something and he's talking to the camera quite honestly, candid and straight faced and say:
"too much equipment, and little by little, we went insane. This movie I'm making is not in the tradition of the great Max Ophoels or David Lean even, This movie was made in the tradition of
Irwin Allen."
It automatically made me think of Irwin Allen's The Poseidon Adventure in a world turned upside down. The end result was quite frankly nothing of the sort. Apocalypse Now is a tremendous film. I think he was simply exhausted. Dealing with things at that point he never even considered or had crossed his mind.
American Grindhouse I'll have to check that out, thanks.
One of my favorites is a 2-hour documentary that came with the PLANET OF THE APES DVD boxed set. It covers all 5 movies in the original series.
Over the weekend, I dug out my DIRTY MARY, CRAZY LARRY DVD. There's a pretty good "making of" feature on the disc that includes interviews from a few years ago with Susan George, Peter Fonda, and director John Hough. Susan George said her agent told her not to take a percentage of the movie . . . she should just negotiate a salary and "take the money and run." Fonda took a percentage (and the movie ended up grossing $30 million). Susan George said Fonda probably made enough money so that he would never need to work again. Fonda also said he did "very well."
This isn't a documentary film, but here in Canada there is a show called On Screen which has done really nice "mini docs" on Black Christmas and Cronenberg's Shivers which are always a good watch.
Never Sleep Again:The Elm Street Legacy. With over 4 hours of material, I cant think of doc that comes any closer to covering everything about the NOES franchise. If your a fan of NOES, it dont get any better than this :thumbup:
Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film. Good doc about the history of the slasher genre
Best Worst Movie - all about Troll 2 made by the people who starred in it.
Two recent documentaries produced here are well worth a look:
Not quite Hollywood and machete maidens.
I posted a thread about both if you do a forum search but basically NQH is about b-movies made in Australia in the 70s and 80s. Films like mad max etc, back in the day where safety standards didn't exist. It's a lot of fun to watch and has some great interviews and stories from the making of many different films.
The 'sequel' machete maidens focuses on films made in south east Asia around the same time, with a similar style and focus. Films like 'for your height only' and other exploitation films made in those countries and has interviews with people like pam Grier, Roger corman and others.
Both highly entertaining and very much recommended.
The Plan 9 documentry was interesting and unexpected when I purchased the Ed Wood classic
Halloween: The Inside Story and 25 Years of Terror are decent documentaries about Halloween.
His Name Was Jason is a decent two-disc set about the Friday the 13th series.
Snowball Effect- a documentary included in the 3-Disc Clerks tenth anniversary. A decent doc recounting the inception, filming and distribution of Clerks.
Quote from: Nightowl on July 27, 2011, 05:45:06 PM
Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film. Good doc about the history of the slasher genre
Well produced yet a little disjointed documentary on slasher films. Would have love for them to go more in depth and detail into the begins of the genre and how it was formed. Psycho is represent no doubt but not much if anything espically on the Italy Horror films such as Bay of Blood in particular and directors Dario Agrento and Mario Bava. True all do get a nod but not much of anything else. Black Christmas sees a few images which I thought wasn't right should have been represented more so IMO. I loved the J.Lee Thompson part where the producer tells the story that Thomspon wanted more blood, I thought that was hilarious. Also the Brief part about Silence of the Lambs somewhat reviving the genre and people not wanting to recognize it as a horror film. I thought was very well said.
Quote
This isn't a documentary film, but here in Canada there is a show called On Screen which has done really nice "mini docs" on Black Christmas and Cronenberg's Shivers which are always a good watch.
I was able to catch the
Shivers doc it very good little documenmtary. I couldn't find
Black Christmas doc unfortunately. I would like to have.
Thanks for the recommendations.
Just watched Nightmares in Red, White and Blue: The Evolution of the American Horror Film. Pretty good movie. It goes from early black and white films to the present day, looking at the various trends and putting them in historical context. Lance Henriksen narrates, and it is full of movie clips and interviews with people like Roger Corman, George Romero, Joe Dante, John Carpenter, etc. To its credit, the film delves pretty deeply into the genre, highlighting not just the obvious examples, but also some more obscure films, and looking at them from the perspective of the horror directors and film historians interviewed. Some interesting insights.
Quote from: dean on July 27, 2011, 09:57:40 PM
Two recent documentaries produced here are well worth a look:
Not quite Hollywood and machete maidens.
I posted a thread about both if you do a forum search but basically NQH is about b-movies made in Australia in the 70s and 80s. Films like mad max etc, back in the day where safety standards didn't exist. It's a lot of fun to watch and has some great interviews and stories from the making of many different films.
The 'sequel' machete maidens focuses on films made in south east Asia around the same time, with a similar style and focus. Films like 'for your height only' and other exploitation films made in those countries and has interviews with people like pam Grier, Roger corman and others.
Both highly entertaining and very much recommended.
Not Quite Hollywood is really good. I've seen maybe a handful of Ozploitation films, so i'm pretty new to the genre and this doc takes you through the history of it. Good watch.
Baadasssss Cinema - A Bold Look at 70's Blaxploitation -A documentary on the history of blaxploitation movies. If your new to the genre, it's definitely worth a look.
Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession-This isn't about a movie but rather a movie channel so, thought I'd recommend it anyway.
A Decade Under the Influence-Good documentary about 1970's film making
Midnight Movies is really good.
My Best Fiend (1999). Great film about the movies Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski worked on together, and their volatile relationship. Klaus was one screwed up dude.
Quote from: AndyC on July 28, 2011, 08:52:08 AM
Just watched Nightmares in Red, White and Blue: The Evolution of the American Horror Film. Pretty good movie. It goes from early black and white films to the present day, looking at the various trends and putting them in historical context. Lance Henriksen narrates, and it is full of movie clips and interviews with people like Roger Corman, George Romero, Joe Dante, John Carpenter, etc. To its credit, the film delves pretty deeply into the genre, highlighting not just the obvious examples, but also some more obscure films, and looking at them from the perspective of the horror directors and film historians interviewed. Some interesting insights.
Heads up for those withe Netflix: NIGHTMARES is available streaming, along with a companion film called AMERICAN GRINDHOUSE that covers the exploitation movie beat. I haven't seen either but there's a good chance I'll get to them soon.
Quote from: Rev. Powell on July 29, 2011, 01:10:31 PM
Quote from: AndyC on July 28, 2011, 08:52:08 AM
Just watched Nightmares in Red, White and Blue: The Evolution of the American Horror Film. Pretty good movie. It goes from early black and white films to the present day, looking at the various trends and putting them in historical context. Lance Henriksen narrates, and it is full of movie clips and interviews with people like Roger Corman, George Romero, Joe Dante, John Carpenter, etc. To its credit, the film delves pretty deeply into the genre, highlighting not just the obvious examples, but also some more obscure films, and looking at them from the perspective of the horror directors and film historians interviewed. Some interesting insights.
Heads up for those withe Netflix: NIGHTMARES is available streaming, along with a companion film called AMERICAN GRINDHOUSE that covers the exploitation movie beat. I haven't seen either but there's a good chance I'll get to them soon.
I was going to mention this late last night but forgot. As I watched it yesterday on netflix. Thanks for the heads up. I enjoyed it very much so. They did a decent job handling the material and going threw quite a bit of horror film history. While I didn't agree with everything the interviewees had to say. The presentation was appealing enough to keep you in your seat for the 1hr 30min length.
I will have to give Grindhouse and gander.
Quote from: The DarkSider on July 27, 2011, 08:53:25 PM
Best Worst Movie - all about Troll 2 made by the people who starred in it.
Couldn't agree more with this one - such a great doc. You won't learn a whole lot of in depth info about the actual making of (besides great recollections from cast/crew) and there isn't any on-set footage really, but it is still VERY good. It breaks down the movie in ways that most docs don't - what is the cast like? What effect has the film had on them? How is the movie recieved by audiences? What effect does THAT have on the cast? Great stuff...
Quote from: JayJayM12 on July 31, 2011, 12:50:18 PM
Quote from: The DarkSider on July 27, 2011, 08:53:25 PM
Best Worst Movie - all about Troll 2 made by the people who starred in it.
Couldn't agree more with this one - such a great doc. You won't learn a whole lot of in depth info about the actual making of (besides great recollections from cast/crew) and there isn't any on-set footage really, but it is still VERY good. It breaks down the movie in ways that most docs don't - what is the cast like? What effect has the film had on them? How is the movie recieved by audiences? What effect does THAT have on the cast? Great stuff...
I keep meaning to watch that one, and I still haven't. I really must make a point of it.
I too like GOING TO PIECES, AMERICAN GRINDHOUSE, NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD and NIGHTMARES IN RED WHITE IN BLUE. It's good to see so many people like those, you should see them. Here are some others I would recommend:
1. EMPIRE OF DREAMS -The bonus disc in the STAR WARS box set. Very detailed history.
2. GALAXY OF TERROR -The special features doc goes really in depth about Hollywood politics and how James Cameron is a jerk!
3. ANY DOCTOR WHO DVD -If you like this show grab a DVD. There are unlimited special features. Making of docs, multiple commentaries, production notes as an alternate subtitle setting. Choice of original efx or new CGI efx. Unedited and alternate takes and more. No other TV series puts out DVDs with this much stuff!
4. INSIDE DEEP THROAT -Not for everyone, but a fascinating look at how the film changed the adult industry.
5. FANTASTIC FLESH -Great doc on monster makeup efx, cool interviews with Tom Savini, Rick Baker and Dick Smith.
I have to also stress agreement with the following previously stated docs
1. Going to Pieces: the Rise and Fall of Slasher films = also a really fun read if you can get the book for cheap
2. Never Sleep Again = I never thought I would watch a 4 hour documentary 6 times... but this has proven me wrong
3. The Snowball Effect - I watch this every time I have writers block and it normally inspires me.
4. Best Worst Movie - My favorite film of last year. It's absolutely heartwarming and touching... now if you don't mind my first of two plugs (listen to my interview with George Hardy* on my podcast www.saintmortshow.com (http://www.saintmortshow.com)
I also highly recommend Divine Trash if you're a fan of John Waters and want to know the history of the making of Pink Flamingos
I'm looking forward to eventually seeing The Shark is STILL working the documentary about the making of Jaws.
* - To get to the specific episode with George Hardy - http://geekscape.net/shows/the-saint-mort-show/mustaches-and-pro-wrestlers (http://geekscape.net/shows/the-saint-mort-show/mustaches-and-pro-wrestlers)
Yeah, I gotta give an additional shout out to "Best Worst Movie."