Thirteen Random Facts About Whatever: 2023 Version

[Trevor]

13 famous films banned in South Africa in no particular order:

A PATCH OF BLUE
BILLY JACK
TO SIR WITH LOVE
THE EXORCIST
IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT
SHAFT
THE DEVIL'S RAIN
THE OMEN
PRINCE OF DARKNESS
ENTER THE DRAGON
STRAW DOGS
SOLDIER BLUE
THE WICKER MAN

[retrorussell]

6. THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (1972)

David Hess performed the song "The Road Leads To Nowhere".

Based on the film THE VIRGIN SPRING.

Cut and re-submitted repeatedly to the MPAA to keep it from being released as rated X, director Wes Craven had a friend on the board who approved it as R with all the cuts restored, and it was released as such.

The house in the title belonged to the producer's parents.

Originally to be a porn film, and was changed early on to not have hardcore sex.

Martin Kove was a friend of David Hess and recommended him for the part of Krug.  Kove was the bumbling deputy in this film.

The boy whose balloon is popped by Krug's cigarette is Jonathan, the son of Wes Craven.

Actress Sandra Peabody (Mari) had a traumatizing time on the set and the actors who played Krug's gang stayed in character throughout the shoot.

7. FRIDAY THE 13TH (1980)

Betsy Palmer took the job of Mrs. Voorhees solely to afford a new car.

Earned almost 40 million at US box office against a $550,000 budget.

Composer Harry Manfredini also voiced the famous "Ki-ki-ki ma-ma-ma" part of the score.

For Kevin Bacon's death scene, SFX artist Tom Savini's assistant Taso Stavrakis had a syringe to force stage blood through a tube in a fake neck.  The tube popped off and Taso simply blew into the tube, causing an effective geyser of blood in the scene.

Musician Lou Reed lived next door to the set.  He played music to entertain the cast.

Sally Field was offered the role of the final girl Alice.  Estelle Parsons and Shelley Winters were also considered for the film.

Story writer Victor Miller took the name of Jason Voorhees from a mashup of his own sons Josh and Ian and the last name of a girl he went to school with.

Tom Savini performs as a female character thrown through a window, and his assistant Taso Stavrakis portrays Mrs. Voorhees' headless, twitching body.

8. HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH

This film featured a different story due to John Carpenter wanting a series with different stories in each film.  When that idea failed, Michael Myers was brought back in part 4.

Joe Dante was the original director but moved on to another project.

The Silver Shamrock theme is based on "London Bridge Is Falling Down", which was used due to having fallen into public domain and being free of copyright issues.

The original ending was to have the sounds of children screaming over the ending credits.  To make their fate more ambiguous this was scrapped.

Jamie Lee Curtis provides some intercom/telephone dialogue.

9. SQUIRM (1976)

Kim Basinger auditioned for the role of Geri.

The sounds of the worms screeching was actually the sound of slaughterhouse pigs squealing.

Martin Sheen and Sylvester Stallone nearly got the parts of Mick and Roger.

Usage of all the worms in the film negatively impacted the local fishing industry.

10. FROGS (1972)

Most of the frogs and toads escaped the set during production.

Ray Milland wore a toupee in the film.

Though not Sam Elliot's debut, the film's success helped push him towards superstardom, especially among female fans who saw him in his many shirtless scenes here.

11. THE BOOGENS (1981)

Rebecca Balding (Trish) married director James L. Conway during filming.

The sound of the monster roar was a recording of a cat and dog fighting, and played in reverse and slowed down.

The temperatures reached up to 20 degrees below zero on the set.

Author Stephen King really enjoyed the film, calling it "A wildly energetic monster movie!".

A constructed mine set was destroyed in an accident, so they shot the scene in an actual abandoned mine.

12. A BAY OF BLOOD/TWITCH OF THE DEATH NERVE/CARNAGE (1971)

Influential on Friday The 13th and Friday The 13th Part 2.

Dario Argento loved the film so much he had a friend steal a print of it.

A silly gimmick in theaters was a "Final Warning Station" at which patrons would be personally warned by an attendant that this might be the last shock film you see.

Christopher Lee walked out of a theater showing this film, in disgust at the violence.

13. EVIL DEAD II (1987)

Set at the same cabin as the one from THE EVIL DEAD (1981) but filmed in Wadesboro NC instead of Morristown, TN.

Stephen King spoke to his financiers to help get the film completed.  A grateful Sam Raimi made appearances in the miniseries THE STAND and THE SHINING.

The Rosebud production company was a false name for Dino DeLaurentis' own company, used due to EVIL DEAD II being an unrated, heavily violent horror film.

Sam Raimi's brother Ted, who played the demon Henrietta, got so hot inside the body suit that a hole hat to be cut in it to let out the sweat.

The opaque lenses the actors/actresses had to wear to look possessed made it impossible to see.

Whereas the weather was very cold during the first film, this was filmed during a heatwave.

The production office was the house used in THE COLOR PURPLE.

Freddy Kreuger's glove can be seen over the door in the tool shed.

[Trevor]

Last House on the Left, Bay of Blood and the 1980 Friday The 13th film were all banned here.

[Trevor]

Thirteen books banned in South Africa

THE EXORCIST (William Peter Blatty)
JAWS (Peter Benchley)
BLACK BEAUTY (Anna Sewell)
THE b***h (Jackie Collins)
FRANKENSTEIN (Mary Shelley)
THE STUD (Jackie Collins)
LADY CHATTERLEY'S LOVER (D H Lawrence)
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (Anthony Burgess)
THE SATANIC VERSES (Salman Rushdie)
A DRY WHITE SEASON (Andre P. Brink)
INNOCENT BYSTANDERS (James Mitchell)
LOLITA (Vladimir Nabokov)
A WORLD OF STRANGERS (Nadine Gordimer)

[claws]

13 more true creepy family tales

1. many years ago, when my oldest sister came to visit for the weekend (she had to move to another town because of her husband's job) we went shopping the next morning. It was a Saturday, and it was Halloween. When we returned later, we brought the groceries into the kitchen and got a little surprise. Our biggest kitchen knife was stuck into our wooden cutting board, neatly placed on our kitchen table. It was a fun little Halloween scare, but we never found out who did it. My grandmother lived in the apartment above us, and she had a key to our apartment, but she wasn't a prank person. She was German and knew nothing about Halloween. We made bad Michael Myers  visiting our place jokes all night long.

2. My second-oldest sister, who doesn't believe in the paranormal, told me that last summer she was in her room reading, and suddenly heard a rattle. It was coming from the kitchen. She then went to investigate, and there was a small stack of plates with the top plate kind of vibrating, making a rattle noise. The other plates did not move at all. When she touched the plate, it stopped vibrating. When she pulled her hand back, it would vibrate again. She thought that was strange and went to her room to get her smartphone. When she returned, the vibrating and rattle had stopped.

3. Months after our dad passed away, my youngest sister told me she could feel his presence in her house occasionally. One time, while she was preparing dinner at the stove, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Before we had to put our father into a care home, my sister would take dad to her place when I had to work. He would usually sit at the kitchen table when she made dinner at the stove. Sometimes he would walk up behind her, putting his hand on her shoulder.

4. Months after our mom passed away, I was in the kitchen making coffee. It was early in the morning and still dark out. It was my mom's birthday and I quietly said "Happy Birthday, Mom". A few moments later, a butterfly came flying into the kitchen. Coincidence maybe, but I saw it as a sign of sort.

5. After my grandmother's second husband passed away, she once told us that he visited her last night in their bedroom, standing at the end of the bed. She said she wasn't afraid, and that she waved at him.

6. When we first watched Forrest Gump (1994) my dad was a bit stunned. My dad's name is Forrest, he was also in the Vietnam War, and just like Tom Hank's character, shot in the buttocks. Unlike the movie-Forrest, my dad was traumatized from the War, resulting in lifelong nightmares. Dad would usually have War-related nightmares at least once a week. He would scream in his sleep and one of us had to shake him awake. One night I had to wake him, and I asked him what his dream was about. He said "grey people trying to get in our house". I didn't think much of it back then because dreams can be weird and not make sense. Thinking back now with all the strange things we have encountered I wish I had asked him more about those grey people.

7. Years ago, I was working for a big company in a warehouse. When there wasn't much to do, I would sort unfolded shipping boxes by size, to keep me busy. This was done at a more secluded part of the warehouse. One time while sorting boxes, I heard somebody say clearly my name, like the person was standing next to me. I was startled, and turned my head, but nobody was there. I have not a history of hearing voices in my head. And certainly none that would make me startle.

8. My youngest sister had another "tiny person" encounter as a young teen. One time our parents were gone for the weekend. My sister invited her best friend for a sleepover. They slept in my parent's bedroom. My sister woke up at night because she heard a noise. At the end of the bed was a big closet with mirror doors. In the mirrors, she saw the reflection of a head moving back and forth behind the bedroom's window on the patio. She could make out a pointy noise, bald head and ears. If a normal-sized person would stand behind the window, you would see the entire upper body. So, seeing only the head would mean the person was very small. My sister said she was too scared to do anything, she just watched the figure pacing back and forth. She told us the next morning, and we searched the patio for "evidence" but found nothing suspicious.

9. Back in the 1990s, my second-oldest sister, her kids and I would sometimes drive around at night in her car. We would drive up to abandoned places, secluded spots, hidden side roads and what not, just for fun. One night we drove lonely back roads that went by woods, a few miles away from our town. We noticed a car parking on the side with the driver's door wide open. My sister slowed down a bit, and we looked for signs of a car crash, but everything seemed fine. The very moment a man came running from out the woods, screaming, with both arms raised. My sister stepped on the gas, and we speeded away. When we looked out the back window, he was running after us with both arms still up. No way we would have stopped with my sister's kids in the car.

10. When I was released from the hospital after my first two surgeries in 2020 I was suffering from insomnia, as in, I couldn't sleep longer than two hours. Sometimes I would hear three knocks the moment I woke up. Not all the time but quite often. Haven't heard the knocks in over a year, though.

11. I feel like I have been cursed by the numbers 666 for half my life. Like, I would randomly look at a car's license plate, and it has 666 as part of the license plate number. Or when I look at how many likes a video on YouTube has that I just watched, it usually shows 666 likes. Sometimes 667. Also, at work all machines have digital number displays for how many parts they just produced and it shows 666 when I randomly look at one. Not sure if it is a subconscious thing?

12. Years ago, when we drove home from our vacation in Italy, it was storming with heavy rainfall. We saw a huge object with a row of blinking lights slowly floating about 30 meters above the freeway. I pulled out our VHS cam and filmed it through the windshield. When we got home we checked the footage but couldn't see much due to late afternoon darkness and heavy rainfall in the video. We could see the blinking moving lights. Sadly, the tape got lost over the years.

13. When my oldest sister was living in another town, she heard knocking coming from an antique closet she and her husband had bought recently. When she went in the room where the closet was, the knocking had turned into violent banging. My sister was scared but still opened the closet doors, but nothing was inside except for a few small items. At that time, my sister and her husband were living in a penthouse above an old people's retirement home. Her husband was the nursing home manager. My sister ran out the apartment and went one floor down to the nurse's break room, where she told a nurse she had befriended what just happened. The nurse told my sister that she has experienced similar things. She got holy water from the nursing home's own chapel, and they went upstairs to my sisters' apartment. There was no banging anymore, but the nurse sprinkled holy water on the closet and said a prayer. My sister thinks the banging had to do with the young, troubled caretaker of the home, who had committed suicide two days earlier.

[claws]

13 facts about The Prophecy (1995)

1. Filmed and completed as God's Army in 1993. Released as The Prophecy in 1995.

2. After completing their scenes in Pulp Fiction (1994), Christopher Walken, Amanda Plummer and Eric Stolz started filming God's Army (1993) the following week.

3. Third horror movie for Virginia Madsen. She had been in Candyman (1992) and Zombie High (1987) prior.

4. The God's Army (1993) version was released in a few European markets. It was shot open matte, but most likely intended for a 2.35:1 widescreen release.

5. Christopher Walken would eat raw garlic before shooting dialogue scenes.

6. Many believe God's Army (1993) is the original director's cut version.

7. For The Prophecy (1995) version, a different opening and ending was added.

8. The Prophecy (1995) version has newly added f/x.

9. Some dialogue and scenes from God's Army (1993) were trimmed for The Prophecy (1995).

10. Color filters were added to The Prophecy (1995) version. The God's Army (1993) version does not have color filters.

11. When director Gregory Widen wrote the script, the film's title was 'Daemons'.

12. It was well known in the industry that the Weinsteins would give films they released a final "make over". They usually did final editing, and other stuff they deemed 'necessary'. Because of that, movies were held back, sometimes up to two years and longer. It is unknown if director Gregory Widen was involved or approved the changes made for The Prophecy (1995).

13. The Prophecy II (1998) was intended for theatrical release, but went straight to video. This was followed by The Prophecy 3: The Ascent in 2000. Two more sequels were made without Christopher Walken: The Prophecy: Uprising (2005) and The Prophecy: Forsaken (2005) both filmed back to back in Romania.

[Paquita]

13 facts about The Prophecy (1995)

1. Filmed and completed as God's Army in 1993. Released as The Prophecy in 1995.

2. After completing their scenes in Pulp Fiction (1994), Christopher Walken, Amanda Plummer and Eric Stolz started filming God's Army (1993) the following week.

3. Third horror movie for Virginia Madsen. She had been in Candyman (1992) and Zombie High (1987) prior.

4. The God's Army (1993) version was released in a few European markets. It was shot open matte, but most likely intended for a 2.35:1 widescreen release.

5. Christopher Walken would eat raw garlic before shooting dialogue scenes.

6. Many believe God's Army (1993) is the original director's cut version.

7. For The Prophecy (1995) version, a different opening and ending was added.

8. The Prophecy (1995) version has newly added f/x.

9. Some dialogue and scenes from God's Army (1993) were trimmed for The Prophecy (1995).

10. Color filters were added to The Prophecy (1995) version. The God's Army (1993) version does not have color filters.

11. When director Gregory Widen wrote the script, the film's title was 'Daemons'.

12. It was well known in the industry that the Weinsteins would give films they released a final "make over". They usually did final editing, and other stuff they deemed 'necessary'. Because of that, movies were held back, sometimes up to two years and longer. It is unknown if director Gregory Widen was involved or approved the changes made for The Prophecy (1995).

13. The Prophecy II (1998) was intended for theatrical release, but went straight to video. This was followed by The Prophecy 3: The Ascent in 2000. Two more sequels were made without Christopher Walken: The Prophecy: Uprising (2005) and The Prophecy: Forsaken (2005) both filmed back to back in Romania.

My metal nerdliness compels me to add a bonus fact:  Glenn Danzig has a very small acting role in The Prophecy II

[claws]

My metal nerdliness compels me to add a bonus fact:  Glenn Danzig has a very small acting role in The Prophecy II

My metal ignorance probably never notice  I am familiar with Danzig by name, never heard a song of theirs intentionally.

[ER]

The 13 Best Numbers of 2024:

13. 6
12. 12
11. 6,664
10. 5
9. 33
8. 75
7. 9,000,000
6. 18
5. 3
4. 2
3. 7
2. 1
And for the forty-fifth year in a row:
1. 42

Friends, you read it here first....

[claws]

13 even more things you didn't know about Prince

1. When Prince recorded his first album (For You, 1978) he prank-called Chaka Khan on the phone pretending to be Stevie Wonder. He asked her to come to the recording studio. When Chaka Khan arrived and realized she was pranked, she called Prince all sort of names, but she eventually stuck around listening to Prince recording his album.

2. Prince recorded his vocals for his second album (Prince, 1979) laying underneath a piano with a microphone attached nearby.

3. His record label Warner wanted Prince to explore different music styles, prompting Prince to create a band called 'The Rebels'. The idea was that no names and pictures would be on the album. He recorded several songs with future The Revolution band members, mostly rock, punk and new wave. The Rebels project was canned when Prince started working on his Dirty Mind (1980) album.

4. Prince went on a small club tour through Europe in 1980, to promote his Dirty Mind album. In England, he was invited to a party hosted by Steve Strange (Visage). Prince would later say that the people of the New Romantic scene are beautiful, but he was disappointed they only played old R&B songs at the party. He was hoping they would play some of "their" music.

5. When Prince performed in a club in Paris, he wasn't told that it was Drag Queen night. Apparently, Prince was amused when he realized who his club audience was.

6. Prince met Bob Marley backstage in 1980. The meeting was awkward because Bob Marley was irritated by Prince's outfit.

7. In 1981, Prince was attempting to make a movie called 'The Second Coming'. He was hush about the plot. They shot several scenes, but it is unknown how much footage was actually filmed.


(The Second Coming)

8. Prince was booed off-stage when he was the opening act for the Rolling Stones in October 1981.



9. Prince created the band The Time in 1981, as an outlet for his funky side. He did so as a fictitious character, a music producer named Jamie Starr.

10. When Prince was on concert tour with The Time in 1982, they would get into devastating food fights after each show. Bodyguards had to protect Prince with umbrellas when he left the stage. They had to pay hefty cleaning bills in several hotels, where the food fights continued.

11. Prince would organize food drives for the homeless during his Purple Rain concert tour.

12. Prince supported and was best friends with Marva Collins, the creator of the Westside Preparatory School.

13. Prince wanted Madonna to play the female lead in his movie Graffiti Bridge. After reading the script, she threw it at Prince and called it a piece of trash.

[Paquita]

Claws - I hope I didn't miss if you mentioned it, but do you think there's any truth to Sinead OConnor's bizarre story about Prince kidnapping her?

[claws]

Claws - I hope I didn't miss if you mentioned it, but do you think there's any truth to Sinead OConnor's bizarre story about Prince kidnapping her?

omg I totally forgot about that. I don't think he wanted to kidnap her, but I can imagine that it probably got very weird at some point.

[RCMerchant]

13 facts about ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (1948)

1. Lon Chaney Jr. doubled for Glenn Strange as the Frankenstein Monster in one scene, because Glenn had injured himself.
2. This is only the second time Bela Lugosi played Dracula on the screen after DRACULA (1931).
3. Bela Lugosi Jr. visted the set for much of the shoot.
4. The original title was the BRAIN OF FRANKENSTEIN, and posters still exist with that title.
5. Lou Costello hired a burlesque comedian to play gags on the other actors on the set.
6. It was the last Universal Monster film using Dracula, the Wolf Man, and Frankenstein.
7. Vincent Price shows up at the end of the film as the voice of the Invisible Man.
8. Boris Karloff was approached to play the Monster, but declined.
9. The Mummy was to be in the film also, but the idea was cut.
10. This was the 5th time Lon Chaney played the Wolf Man on screen. It was Glenn Strange's 3rd time playing the Monster, and Bela's second as Dracula.
11. Jack Pierce, who had done all of the make-ups for the Universal Monsters in the past, was not hired. Wally Westmore did the job this time. Pierce never worked for Universal again.
12. Though Karloff turned down appearing in the film, he later starred in ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE KILLER BORIS KARLOFF (1949).
13. Lugosi, Chaney, and Strange would never play the Monsters again on screen, thou Chaney palyed a wolf man in the Mexican film FACE OF THE SCREAMING WEREWOLF (1959).

Bela Lugosi Jr. and Lon Chaney on the set.

[retrorussell]

13 more tv show facts:

1. CAROL BURNETT SHOW (1967-78)
Harvey Korman was very rude to a number of guests, and when Carol Burnett asked what his problem was he said he wasn't happy.  She said "OK, don't come back".  Korman did come to his senses and wanted to return, but her ultimatum was that he come back whistling and skipping.  He did, literally!  He stayed on with the show for most of its run before leaving to do THE HARVEY KORMAN SHOW in 1977, which bombed at only 6 episodes.

2. SILVER SPOONS (1982-87)
Originally intended to be based on the film ARTHUR.

3. GET SMART (1965-70)
Edward Platt (Chief), like Dick York from BEWITCHED, had chronic back pain during the series.  He is not in some episodes and is sometimes just sitting in others.

4. INSPECTOR GADGET (1983-85)
Obviously based on Inspector Clouseau from THE PINK PANTHER films, but also voice actor Don Adams' Maxwell Smart from GET SMART.  For the pilot episode, Gadget sports a moustache.  United Artists, who had produced the Panther films, felt that made him look too much like Clouseau and it was removed for the series.

5. CHARLIE'S ANGELS (1976-81)
John Forsythe (Charlie) was never on the set, and only recorded his voice for use in the show.  Another actor is sometimes shown with his back to the camera, intended to be Charlie.  Actor Gig Young was initially supposed to be Charlie but his drinking problem made him undependable.  Forsythe was a last-minute replacement.  He liked the idea of usually just hearing his voice in the show to add mystery to the character.

6. THE BIONIC WOMAN (1976-78)
Lindsay Wagner was in a serious car accident when she was driving with her boyfriend (later husband), actor Michael Brandon.  She got a deep cut on her upper lip which left a permanent, noticeable scar.  This delayed production of the first season so she could recover.

7. THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN (1974-78)
Lee Majors' then-wife Farrah Fawcett, who appeared in a handful of episodes, was pushed by Majors to be the Bionic Woman, but lost out to Lindsay Wagner.  Amid a contract dispute with Majors in the show's final season, the producers reportedly considered replacing him with a different actor-- Gil Gerard, (then) Bruce Jenner, or Harrison Ford.

8. THE FALL GUY (1981-86)
The opening theme is sung by star Lee Majors.  The line "I'm not the kind to kiss and tell, but I've been seen with Farrah" is a reference to his ex-wife Farrah Fawcett.  A shot in the opening is from the film SILVER STREAK (1976), where Gene Wilder dangles from a train signal bridge.

9. SOLID GOLD (1980-88)
Andy Gibb was heavily abusing drugs and was often either late or didn't show up at all.  He would be fired after only 20 episodes and also from the Broadway play JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT.  His drug abuse would lead to a weakened heart (he died in 1988 at only 30 years of age) and the destruction of his relationship with actress Victoria Principal (DALLAS).

10. THE WONDER YEARS (1988-1993)
The breakup of Kevin and Winnie was implemented due to actress Danica McKellar's growth spurt, making her even taller than Fred Savage, who was already shorter than her, making them look odd next to each other.  When Fred himself went through a growth spurt of his own, their characters reconciled.

11. FAME (1982-87)
Janet Jackson appeared in one season of FAME before she quit.  She felt the producers mistreated the young actors/actresses.  Shortly after she quit in 1985 she released her album CONTROL and hit the big time.

12. MAUDE (1972-78)
Co-star Bill Macy made a scene during the 1974 Emmy Awards when he dropped his trousers and told a dirty joke.  This upset the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences to the point where they would not give the show any Emmys, up until 1977 when star Bea Arthur won for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.

13. HAPPY DAYS (1974-84)
Though Fonz loved to ride motorcycles, Henry Winkler was terrified of them.
BONUS: The term "jump the shark" grew from a 3-part HAPPY DAYS season 5 opener, in which Fonz jumps over a shark while water skiing.  The series' quality was seen to have deteriorated at this point forward.

[RCMerchant]

". THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN (1974-78)

"Bruce Jenner, "

That would make him the Bionic Woman, now!