Scary movie backstories

[Trevor]

The amount of deaths on set of THE LAST LION.
The serial killer who was an actor in THE EXORCIST.

[LilCerberus]

Saw a video over the weekend about the tragedy on the set of Twilight Zone: The Movie.....

[Trevor]

Saw a video over the weekend about the tragedy on the set of Twilight Zone: The Movie.....

That was horrible. 😳

It still amazes me that John Landis got away with murder and worse: that his career continued successfully thereafter 😳😳

[M.10rda]

Who was the serial killer in THE EXORCIST?

[LilCerberus]

Who was the serial killer in THE EXORCIST?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Bateson

[Alex]

Saw a video over the weekend about the tragedy on the set of Twilight Zone: The Movie.....

That was horrible. 😳

It still amazes me that John Landis got away with murder and worse: that his career continued successfully thereafter 😳😳

A couple of years ago, just after the pandemic, I went to an exhibition of Ray Harryhausen's work. I found myself unable to listen to the narrated tour as it was John Landis who had recorded it.

[Trevor]

Saw a video over the weekend about the tragedy on the set of Twilight Zone: The Movie.....

That was horrible. 😳

It still amazes me that John Landis got away with murder and worse: that his career continued successfully thereafter 😳😳

A couple of years ago, just after the pandemic, I went to an exhibition of Ray Harryhausen's work. I found myself unable to listen to the narrated tour as it was John Landis who had recorded it.

😳😳 I don't blame you for feeling that way.

[Trevor]

Who was the serial killer in THE EXORCIST?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Bateson

The second scariest fact about THE EXORCIST.

[M.10rda]

Who was the serial killer in THE EXORCIST?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Bateson

Thanks. What a story. IMHO, the Wiki alone fails to provide any persuasive evidence that Bateson was actually a "serial killer" as opposed to just a convicted murderer (of one victim). I tend to think the prosecutor was trying to railroad him for the other, distinct and unrelated murders - not an unheard of strategy per law enforcement during the era. The serial murders are totally dissimilar from the crime of passion Bateson definitely committed, and as Batesom himself stated (and as his behavior w/ cops would reflect) - he was a serious alcoholic drinking a liter of vodka a night, which made him (as it generally would make me) pretty docile and unmotivated to do much but sleep. One night of cocaine, poppers, and rejection drove Bateson to hit a guy over the head and then stab him - which doesn't remotely match the methodical work of the Bag guy.

Besides the halfhearted allegations of law enforcement  all we've got to go on is William Freidkin's claim that Bateson told him he committed the serial murders, as well... but Friedkin (who was still promoting CRUISING) got all the details wrong about the murder that Bateson did commit, so...       not too persuasive.

On the upside - this made me spiral down an RH that included a suggestion from last year (!) that David Fincher planned to revive the engrossing, sadly truncated "Mindhunters" as a trilogy of movies... so that's  .

[LucanReeve]

Who was the serial killer in THE EXORCIST?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Bateson

Wow, I didn't know that before. I am surprised to read that all.

[Trevor]

What happened on the set of THE CONQUEROR and later is even more scarier. 😳

[M.10rda]

Oh sure. Something like THE CONQUEROR goes way beyond Landis' negligence on his TWILIGHT ZONE installment, in my book. But Landis is still alive whereas everyone involved in THE CONQUEROR is dead, so I guess it would make little sense to be screaming for accountability on that one.

[Trevor]

I mentioned the South African film THE LAST LION (1972)

It is known as South Africa's cursed film and with good reason.

Its star Jack Hawkins died before the film was released.
The film's composer Con Lamprecht died during post production.
The film's female lead Karen Spies quit acting not long after.
The film's sound man James Chapman was mauled to death by a lion.
The lions trainer Ossie Bristow was arrested for murder.

A nice film to watch - screenplay by Wilbur Smith, no less - if you don't know the backstory. 😳😳

It is on YouTube if you want to see it.

[M.10rda]

Okay, on the TWILIGHT ZONE/CONQUEROR riff, if perhaps somehow less [sic] prolific in its horrible impact:

CLOWNHOUSE (1989)

........One of those Hollywood-adjacent productions that, sadly, lends the tiniest bit of credence to wild/mostly illusory claims that the industry is merely some kind of front for child predation. The perpetrator - writer/director Victor Salva - was charged, convicted, and imprisoned, then released, paroled, and went on to make several more films (many of which have creepy themes of pederasty or pedovorism) and to apparently creep out future collaborators to the extent that he hasn't made a new film in nearly a decade.

But the big (and queasy) picture of how crimes during CLOWNHOUSE were allowed to happen - and initially seemed to have been obscured - has remained opaque, in spite of the ongoing efforts of the victim (CLOWNHOUSE's lead actor, who was 7 or 8 at the time) to keep the story alive.

College age Sam Rockwell co-starred (his debut) and has claimed in retrospect that he had no idea what was happening on set. (I've met Rockwell briefly and know folks who've worked w/ him, and he seems like a nice and genuine guy, but Rockwell's own character in the film is subject to some creepy/sexualized treatment.)

I'm more uncomfortable (vis-a-vis Landis on TZ) by the role that CLOWNHOUSE's producer Francis Ford Coppola played or failed to play during and/or after the lead actor's abuse. It seems like FFC was dismissive of the allegations and more concerned about the impact of the victim's allegations on the film's completion and success. That kind of behavior is to be (sadly) expected of the investor class  in my experience....... but this isn't an anonymous money man, it's one of the most esteemed filmmakers of the 20th century. Coppola should've done better in this case, to the say the least. (Of course, his misadventures making APOCALYPSE NOW would imply that his judgment, historically, has been at times impaired.......)

[LilCerberus]

I keep meaning to mention the helicopter crash in Hands Of Steel