2.NEWS OF OUR NEXT MEETING
    Our August meeting will be held on Saturday August 25th at 6:00 P.M. at the church hall behind the Perry Hall Presbyterian Church located at 8848 BelAir Road. Take Baltimore Beltway exit 32 north on Belair Road. Turn left onto Joppa Road. Immediately past the miniature golf course turn left into the parking lot. If you miss it there are ample turn-around opportunities. If you get stuck call 410-598-8005. That's Dave Henderson's cell phone. He'll talk you in.

3.AUGUST IS BARRY/BARRY NIGHT
    In August we have Barry Murphy treating us to Chapter 3 of his ongoing "Cavalcade of Cliffhangers." This one will be about special effects in the serials, generally, focusing in on the stunning work of special effects wizards, Howard and Theodore Lydecker.
    After that we'll be treated to a movie selection by Barry Walker. His theme will be "Great Movie Villains." Come prepared to hiss and boo (but please, no throwing rotten produce, spitting or making naughty hand gestures).

4.DESERT ISLAND MOVIES
    Gary Roberson made a request at our last meeting - make a list of desert island movies. Compile a list of ten titles that, if you were in a situation where you were stuck on a deserted island, you'd like to watch over and over. These aren't necessarily your ten favorite films or the ten best films - just ten eminently re-watchable movies that you and your coconut, Wilson, could snuggle up to on those endless nights (provided you're on an island with electricity). They don't have to fall anywhere near the heading of "imaginative cinema." All genre's are welcomed.
    Bring your list with you to our next meeting. Gary, you might want to tow along some spare paper and pens for those folks who want to participate but won't get   to it by August 25.

5.SHORE LEAVE WAS A PLEASURE
    We had a fine time at our Shore Leave table. Thanks to the many of you who selflessly donated materials, time to staff the table or both. Your sacrifice was valuable to the club.
    After expenses we made $300. We now have a bank balance back in the four figures. That leads to our next topic:

6.WISH LIST
    Now that we're not locked into a poverty mode the Board realizes that it's time to start making capital commitments to improve the club. At this point we're considering purchasing a DVD player, a replacement bulb for our projector and either paying to repair or replace the screen at the church (due to the creases in the screen we have to keep the picture smaller than it needs to be). If anyone has any other ideas or feedback on these thoughts let us know soon. We'll discuss these things at the August meeting.

7.THE ICS FILES PUBLIC OUTREACH IS TAKING OFF
    Those of you at Shore Leave or at the July meeting met our newest darling, formerly called "The Imaginative Cinema Society Presents The ICS Files." It's (at this point) a four page edition of what you're now reading, designed for public distribution. We've just gotten a request from Baltimore County Public Library for 1,000 copies a month. Attempts haven't been made to widely distribute it yet but it could do very well.
    At our next meeting we'll talk about this new venture and possible ways to finance it. If this takes off it could give the club some very valuable publicity.

8.SUE FEDER LIGHTS THE NIGHT WITH THE HELP OF THE ICS
    Our own Sue Feder will be participating in the Light the Night Walk at Rash Field, 7:00 P.M., on September 22. It's being held to support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is a voluntary health agency dedicated solely to seeking the cause and eventual cure of leukemia and related diseases, including lymphoma, myeloma, and Hodgkin's Disease. Any of you who've been in the club for a while know that this is a cause close to Sue's heart. We showed our support for her by raising $65 at our last meeting to sponsor her. We'll have a chance to do that again at our next meeting.
    If you'd like to participate or cheer Sue on, or if you're just curious and want some more information, either call Fayne Hack at 410-825-2500 or hit this link.

9.MONSTER PLANET
    Long, long ago in a little stretch of woods not very far away, a group of naive wannabe filmmakers assembled (with numerous familiar faces from the ranks of our then undreamed of club), in the waning days of the presidential administration of George I, to make a movie. It was a fun project. Only take a couple of weekends. Now, about 500 weekends later, the grand project, MONSTER PLANET, is still an unfinished opus. That may not be the case forever.
    Our own Mitch Klein has taken the reigns and is attempting to guide this bucking bronco into the corral. Assisted with state-of-the-art special effects and footage of people (myself included) with no discernible acting talent), Mitch is either a genius and visionary who sees opportunity where others see only darkness, or like one of those lonely Japanese soldiers stuck on an island, still fighting a forgotten war. You decide. Go to the official MONSTER PLANET homepage at http://www.likestillwater.com/MP/index.htm. Whether it's a lost cause or not hats off to Mitch for his hard work and talent. Go get 'em tiger!

11.OFFICER KATE LOCKLEY LOBBIES TO RETURN TO ANGEL
    Elisabeth Rohm, who plays the perpetually angry cop Kate Lockley on ANGEL, is anxious to return, even though she's taken on a new regular role on another TV show. "Let's put it in print," Rohm said during an interview. "I would actually love to come back."
    Rohm played the recurring role of Lockley, the police detective who alternately butted heads and connected with everyone's favorite vampire/private eye. Rohm said that she and Angel producers have discussed the possibility of coming back and added that, despite her new gig as a district attorney on NBC's LAW & ORDER, she'd make time in her schedule for ANGEL.
    "I'm off the month of September, and I'm like, 'Guys, even if I'm doing a movie, I would love to just continue the role,'" said the actress, who last season juggled both ANGEL and the defunct TNT show BULL. "They absolutely should do it. One of the cool things they did was space my episodes apart so much that people were waiting for me. With the schedule of LAW & ORDER, they could continue that. There's a lot of anticipation. 'Is Kate going to come back? We like Kate Lockley.' There was always a five-episode gap that made people more curious."
    And, no surprise, Rohm has an idea how to make it all work. "We could pop a few episodes in while I'm in California in September," she suggested. LAW & ORDER shoots in New York. "They could run them over the year, and it would accomplish what we want. It's really up to them. I've called and said, 'I've not abandoned this ship by doing LAW & ORDER. [LAW & ORDER producer] Dick Wolf is going to let me do ANGEL. Write for me.' And we'll see."

12.THE WB FUMES OVER EMMY'S BUFFY SNUB
    The WB is steamed over its complete shut-out in the prime-time Emmy nominations, particularly for the departing BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER series. The snub came despite an extensive BUFFY campaign by producer 20th Century Fox TV and the show's fans, who paid for ads in trade papers touting the critically acclaimed episode "The Body."
    Marti Noxon, who co-executive produces BUFFY with Joss Whedon, said that the shutout has spurred her to campaign to get more of her younger industry friends and colleagues to sign up for membership in the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. "To a very large extent, and this is just my opinion, the audience for our show skews to a younger [demographic] than typified by the academy membership. But my response to the total Emmy shutout is to get every younger writer I know to sign up for the academy. I became a voting member myself, because I felt that we need to make our voices heard. This is not meant as any disrespect to the shows that win, but it would be great to see newer, younger-skewing shows showing up in the nominations more often."

13.THE BBC BUFFY SPINOFF IS CONFIRMED
    In previous editions of "The ICS Files" it's been reported that there was a deal underway to make a British spinoff series of BUFFY. That deal is now complete. The BBC has announced that it will make an English variant of the show. It will be called THE WATCHER and will star Anthony Head, reprising his role of mentor/"watcher" Rupert Giles. "Joss has pitched it as a slightly more adult show, a bit like CRACKER with ghosts," Head said. CRACKER was a very edgy British series with Robby Coltrane. "After Buffy died, I asked him whether there was much more for me to do, and he said 'Look, this show is not called THE WATCHER, it's about Buffy. But how would you feel if there was a show called THE WATCHER and we made it in Britain?'" Head is glad he'll be filming in the country where he was born. He says, "I felt the time had come for me to go back to England, because I was missing my family so much."
    Joss Whedon said the show would be in the tradition of "classic English ghost stories" and would play on the theme of loneliness. "I think of it as, the people who live there, it's all very isolated, and the demons that they've brought upon themselves . . . that are most important in  their lives," Whedon said. "[Giles] himself has been gone for many years. He was surrounded by a de facto family that he no longer has. And [he is] sort of picking up his life all alone, and then getting involved in sort of the underbelly of other people's lives, and sort of finding out about them. Loneliness is what I think of. It may not be the theme so much as the emotional intent of the series, but that's what really attracts me to it the most."
    He added that he is working out a deal with the BBC for a six-episode series. The pilot is scheduled to begin shooting in the spring, and he added that he was confident any such show would eventually find a venue in the United States as well.

14.THE BUFFY ANIMATED SERIES IS CONFIRMED
    Joss Whedon has announced that the proposed animated BUFFY TV series has been approved. Whedon said, "As of [July 20], the animated series is finally a go." He said that several BUFFY writers, including Steven S. DeKnight and Jane Espenson, will also write scripts for the animated show. Jeph Loeb will produce. "We're about to start drawing," Whedon said.
    As was mentioned in earlier issues of "The ICS Files," the series for Fox will take the storyline back to Sunnydale High School and tell stories that were not told in the original live-action show. The half-hour show could go on the air in February 2002 or fall of next year.

15.GIANT LIZARDS THREATEN NEW YORK?
    It takes a lot to catch the attention of New Yorkers - but a crew of workers in haz-mat suits did just that as they handed out flyers and affixed stickers warning of impending street spraying to ward off "sewer lizards," giant underground reptiles that threaten the city. Even the New York Daily News took note of the distribution in its pages.
    What the New Yorkers didn't know at the time was that the men and their warnings were part of a hoax perpetrated by The Sci-Fi Channel to promote its series THE CHRONICLE.
    The hoax became clear when residents consulted the "Sewer Alert" Web site, which quickly linked them to Scifi.Com and THE CHRONICLE's home page. The promotion was in keeping with the show's theme, "Believe Everything." Its storyline, is about a New York tabloid newspaper whose stories about monsters and unusual phenomena are absolutely true.

16.MORE GLIMPSES OF ENTERPRISE
    THE CAPTAIN:
    Scott Bakula, recently discussed background and details for his newest TREK captain, Capt. Jonathan Archer. He explained that his character will be closer to Kirk than Picard. "My guy grew up in the system," Bakula said. "His dad was an engineer in the project and worked on developing the warp five engine. So he's kind of a brat of the space program. . . . He's a little bit brash. He's a little bit in people's faces. He doesn't like being told what to do per se. He's a great captain, I think. But he's going to make some mistakes. He's very human. He's more similar to Kirk than to Picard. . . . It's been a blast. I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd be standing toe to toe with a Klingon screaming in my face and spitting all over me."

    THE CREW:
    Dr. Phlox, played by John Billingsley is from an alien race new to the TREK universe and is from an as-yet-unnamed species. "I've got three prosthetic pieces: I've got a forehead, ears and a chin, and all of that is painted over in a kind of burnt sienna and a mottled brown. So it's a sort of a striated and mottled complexion I have. And I have giant blue eyes. And my hair is pretty much my own, with one little piece that sort of augments it. . . . My own sense of it is that [he's from] a planet of hyper-intellectual philosophers who have become so wedded to their intellects that they've sort of decided to in effect become monastic and retreat from the universe. And I'm one of the few who actually considers it valuable to go out and dig around. I'm as much an anthropologist as I am a physician. . . . I was part of the Vulcan Interspecies Medical Exchange Program. . . . The Vulcans have presumably sent me [to Earth] to watch over things a bit on the medical side. When the crisis erupts that precipitates the action in the first episode, I'm pressed into service as the ship's physician."
    Sub-Commander T'Pol is as thrilled with her post on the Enterprise as her human crewmembers. Viewing it as a hardship post, she'll actually begin to envy humans and become fascinated with them, sampling food, observing behavior, and even studying mating rituals. She respects Captain Archer in him she recognizes humanity's ability to become more than the base instincts exhibited by Charlie Tucker. T'Pol will become especially close with Doctor Phlox, whom she'll confide in as a fellow outsider and student of humanity. The good Doctor will even provide her with a "nasal numbing agent" to mask the odor of humans when they're excited. T'Pol is the oldest on board.
    Charlie "Trip" Tucker III spent his youth in the Florida Keys working on an ocean reclamation project. A thrill-seeker, Charlie eventually ended up in Orbital Engineering, building starships at Utopia Planetia and earning a reputation as a miracle-worker of sorts. Charlie's best friend is the helmsman, Ensign Mayweather, and the two are always in search of the latest adventure in what reads like an early Paris/Kim relationship.
    Archer, T'Pol, and Tucker form the triumverate of the series, the three most important decision-makers on board, similar to (you guessed it) Kirk, Spock, and McCoy.
    Lieutenant Malcom Reed is the antithesis to Charlie Tucker. Rigorously organized, Reed spends his off-time working on futuristic exercise machines or perfecting a new type of torpedo. Reed and Tucker will constantly be at odds; Reed wanting to expand his weapons inventory in Engineering sections and cluttering Tucker's Jefferies Tubes with grenades. Reed is also rather contradictory, shy around women and soft spoken despite his regulatory personality.
    Ensign Travis Mayweather "was born and conceived during a two year run somewhere between Alpha Centauri and Arcturis Prime," and has traveled to dozens of planets, even spending time with a Terrelian girlfriend at some point in the past. Travis prefers to sleep in zero-g and he turns off the gravity in his quarters when he sleeps.
    Ensign Hoshi Sato is uncomfortable being stuck in a tin-can traveling at fantastic velocities, and jumping to warp can be stressful for her. Hoshi's amazing linguistic skills come in handy in an era of inadequate universal translators and though she will share a somewhat sparring relationship with T'Pol, the two women will develop a sort of sisterly bond.

    THE SHIP:
    The interior of the titular starship in Enterprise owes as much to submarine design as it does to spaceships. The 22nd-century ship's interior is meant to predate the starship of the original Trek series and evoke vessels familiar to 21st-century viewers. The bridge is narrower and deeper than previous starship incarnations, with steel pipe railings, corrugated steel floors and tan metal walls covered with instrument display panels and contemporary-looking track lighting overhead. The captain's chair resembles the driver's seat of a Porsche, with computer-screen readouts in the arms. Work stations feature flat-panel "plasma screen" computer displays and readouts, keypads, knobs and levers. The helm features an actual steering wheel and joystick control; the science station features a viewport similar to that used by Spock on the original series. At the rear of the bridge is the "situation room" - a flat computer-screen table with black leather bucket-seat chairs, where strategic meetings are held. Corridors of the ship have pipes running overhead and light panels in the walls at floor level; doors open mechanically and are set into step-over hatches, as in a modern warship or submarine. The floors are textured metal, not carpet; the overall feel is that of a large naval vessel of the future. The engine room, surrounded at mid-level by catwalks, houses the warp engine, a horizontal cylinder with pulsing lights that suggests a huge turbine. The armory resembles the torpedo room in a submarine; ranks of huge metal projectiles, or missiles, line the walls and sit in two cradles. To launch the missiles, which are the predecessors of photon torpedoes, crewmen must open a hatch and slide the missile into a launch tube.
    The starship Enterprise is the first long-range Starfleet vessel and because the events of the pilot, "Broken Bow", force her to launch three months ahead of schedule, many of her new systems will remain untested until the mission has begun. Enterprise's human crew must strive to prove humanity's worth as contact with alien races is full of uncertainty and danger. Without an established corps of diplomats or the overarching organization of the Federation, the ship's crew will have to solve most of its own problems.

    THE TECHNOLGY:
    Crew members will use "phase pistols" instead of phasers. The ship will have armored hull plating, not shields. There will be transporters for beaming cargo that have only recently been approved for human transport as well. Humanity has only now been able to construct advanced warp technology capable of traveling warp 5. The Vulcans refused over the century since Cochrane's warp flight in 'First Contact' to share their advanced warp technology and the new mark of warp 5 breaks a barrier to exploration that has hindered human expansion. At warp 5, 10,000 inhabited planets are within one year's journey, compared to only 18 at warp 2.

17.SHATNER DISAVOWS ALL KNOWLEDGE OF THE LATEST TREK
    Some people have wondered if the latest TREK will somehow try to enfold James T. Kirk into its temporally flexible storyline. If they do, no one's talked to Shatner about it. "I know nothing," he said. He appeared to be a little annoyed at having been written out of the STAR TREK franchise. "I have no idea of what they're doing. I lost contact many years ago. And in fact, FIRST CONTACT was made without me, too."
    Shatner still felt that ENTERPRISE would do well, even without his magnificent presence. "I know that Scott [Bakula] is a wonderful actor. I'm sure it will be very successful. But other than that I have no knowledge, except that they seem to have taken it back some years before the character I played was born. But that doesn't necessarily mean anything in science fiction." He said that a guest appearance on ENTERPRISE was completely "out of the question."
    He described his latest venture, an American version of the Japanese import hit IRON CHEF as "[the] World Wrestling Federation meets Wendy's." The show will see Shatner, in the role of Chairman, overseeing a gladiator-style cooking contest between master chefs from four different cooking schools. According to Shatner, there's no category the show really fits. "It's a cooking show, but it's not a cooking show. It's a comedy, but it's not a comedy. It's a wrestling show, but it's not a wrestling show."

18.ENTERPRISE WILL NOT ACCEPT SCRIPTS FROM FANS
    TREK has had a practice, dating back to THE NEXT GENERATION, of accepting unsolicited scripts. That policy launched the careers of former Trek producers Ronald D. Moore and Mike Sussman, among others. Paramount has announced that that practice has come to an end. They have suspended the open submission policy indefinitely, citing legal prohibitions. Writers who submit scripts to ENTERPRISE without representation by an agent will now have the scripts returned to them unread.

19.GLORIA STUART RETURNS TO THE INVISIBLE MAN
    Actress Gloria Stuart, who had a role in the classic 1933 film THE INVISIBLE MAN, had sort of a homecoming when she shot a guest-starring role on the Sci-Fi Channel's own INVISIBLE MAN series. Stuart, who starred opposite Claude Rains in the original film, will appear as the grandmother of the modern-day invisible man, Darien Fawkes, played by Vincent Ventresca. Stuart's episode is entitled, "Father Figure." It is scheduled to air at 8 p.m. Aug. 24. In the episode, Fawkes and his partner, Hobbes (Paul Ben-Victor), embark on a mission to track down a covert government assassin-turned-traitor, whom Fawkes recognizes as his long-lost father.

20.THE COMING OF JEREMIAH
    J. Michael Straczynski, known as the man who created BABYLON 5, announced details of new show on paid cable called JEREMIAH. The show, produced by MGM, has an order from ShowTime for a 2 hour movie followed by 18 one-hour episodes. According to Straczynski, shooting on the series is slated to start September 4th. The crew is in place and the show is said to be in "the very last stages of casting (with several name actors up for various roles)." The show is targeted for a January debut. ShowTime has signed Luke Perry (90210) and Malcolm-Jamal Warner (COSBY) to star.
    Straczynski offered the following description of the show, "Right around now in our timeline, a virus wipes out everyone on the planet over the age of puberty (figure around 12-13). It is now about 15 years later. Those who were once children have now grown up and are in their late 20s on down. For 15 years, they have been living on the scraps of the old world; now they must either continue the downward slide, or begin to rebuild the world, taking responsibility for themselves and the world and each other. . . . This is going to be a heavily dramatic series, character-oriented, with a measure of action and humor as well," Straczynski said. "Because this is pay cable, they've taken off the usual broadcast TV handcuffs and told me to take it to the wall creatively, no restrictions, so I plan to do just that."
    Besides being free of censorship, there will be at least one other significant difference from BABYLON 5. "We have a heck of a lot more money to play with than on B5," Straczynski said. "It's going to be a huge show."

21.JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA DETAILS
    Shaun McLaughlin, the executive producer of the Cartoon Network's upcoming Justice League animated series, revealed details of the show's superheroes. The show is based on the DC Comics Justice League of America series.
    Among other things, McLaughlin said the series would use the John Stewart Green Lantern, who will play like a cross between Samuel L. Jackson's SHAFT and Louis Gosset Jr.'s character in AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMEN.
    The Flash, meanwhile, will be "fast on his feet, fast with his mouth, fast with the ladies - or so he thinks," and will have some friction with the straight-arrow Green Lantern, McLaughlin said. The team will include Hawkgirl, not Hawkman, because "Hawkgirl's cuter." And the show's Aquaman will be a "Conan of the Sea," the site reported.
    The Justice League will be headquartered in a satellite, which serves as the home to the Martian Manhunter. But unlike the comics, which depict team members traveling via transporters, the show will have them ride on a shuttle craft called the Javelin-7.

22.THY KINGDOM COME
    ABC has ordered THE KINGDOM, a weekly supernatural series about a haunted hospital, from horrormeister Stephen King for the 2002-03 season. Columbia TriStar Television and Touchstone TV will produce the series; King will act as executive producer and write most of the episodes.
    ABC will premiere the show with a two-hour movie, followed by at least 13 hour-long weekly episodes. The Kingdom is based on DANCER IN THE DARK, director Lars von Trier's 1994 Danish miniseries of the same name. The central hospital is built on a haunted graveyard, resulting in unseen forces and odd goings-on, such as a phantom ambulance that visits the hospital each evening.
    We have to hope that this show is more successful than ALL SOULS, the haunted hospital show that aired earlier this year. The show debuted April 17, 2001 and was canceled on May 1, 2001. It only stayed on UPN long enough to air three of four episodes.

23.DOES THE WORLD REALLY NEED A NEW KNIGHT RIDER?
    Well, if you're David Hasselhoff the answer is a resounding "YES!" The BAYWATCH dude wants to revive his 80s TV series using the latest special effects and computer-generated technology. He's hoping to make his comeback in the big-budget SUPER KNIGHT RIDER 3000, as a Jedi-style hero. Hmmmmm.
    Hasselhoff's small screen alter-ego Michael Knight will return from the past to make regular appearances in the new 12-part $30 million series. Newcomer Nancy Valen, who's constantly under threat in the series from aliens and mobsters, will also be a central character. One of Hasselhoff's associates says, "David hopes to be up and running with the new show in the new year. With the kind of advances they have made in the cinema now freely available for TV series, it has opened up a new spectrum for him. His fan mail proves there is a huge audience waiting. If things work out this could be the most expensive TV series ever made."

24.TNN TO AIR TREK-A-THON
    TNN: The National Network, which bought the rights to three STAR TREK series and five movies, will premiere reruns of THE NEXT GENERATION in a week-long marathon. TNN'S "The Big Bang" marathon kicks off Oct. 1 and runs through Oct. 5; it will feature 77 of the series' most popular episodes from TNG's seven seasons. Preceding the marathon at 7 p.m. Oct. 1 will be a new one-hour documentary, AMERICA'S LOVE AFFAIR WITH ... STAR TREK, which takes a look at the TREK phenomenon.

25.FANS PUT THE SQUEEZE ON TNT TO RENEW WITCHBLADE
    The nice thing about airing imaginative television is also the nasty thing about it - obsessed fans! They're wonderful in their loyalty to a series. They're terrible in their wrath when the object of their affection is placed in jeopardy. The boys at TNT are learning that lesson all over again. They've been widely scorned in many quarters for the bum's rush that they gave to the BABYLON 5 sequel, CRUSADE (just ask Tim & Heather Fleming). Now they may be running into choppy waters with WITCHBLADE.
    Nearly 600 fans signed an online petition urging the cable network to renew WITCHBLADE for a second season. The petition is sponsored by fan Carrie Hults and the WITCHBLADE Fans Forum message board. The petition reads, "The WITCHBLADE movie brought many fans to your network, and the series has indeed brought many more. The ratings have stayed consistent because of our loyalty to the show and your network. If you have not visited the Internet lately, then I think you need to grab a computer and check."
    Actually the show's ratings have declined from week-to-week. No telling yet as to when TNT will announce their decision.

26.LUCY LAWLESS AND THE LETTER "X"
    Captain Ahab had the whale, Fox Mulder had his missing sister, the ICS had (and now has) a video projector - all great obsessions. For actress Lucy Lawless it seems to be the third to last letter of the English alphabet. She made her mark playing XENA. Now she's sticking with her lucky letter for a turn on THE X FILES.
    In an apparent effort to boost anemic THE X FILES' ratings, executive producer Frank Spotnitz has signed Ms. Lawless for a recurring role in the series. Spotnitz said that Lawless had met with the show's creator/writer/producer, Chris Carter, a year ago. "Since that time," he said, "it's been something in the back of Chris' mind as to how we could use Lucy [something her fans have wondered about for years]. . . . And when we began mapping out the X FILES' mythology, we found the perfect place for her." What that "perfect place" amounts to remains a big "X," however. Lawless is scheduled to appear in the first two episodes of the series next fall and is expected to appear in additional episodes throughout the season.

THE MILLENNIUM PHILCON, which is the 59th World Science Fiction Convention, will take place August 30, 2001 - September 3, 2001 (Labor Day weekend) at the Pennsylvania Convention Center & Philadelphia Marriott Hotel in Philadelphia, PA. It's impossible, in the space that we have, to list and describe all of the guests and participants. This is after all a World Con! I reviewed what was noted as a partial list of names and their accomplishments. Their were over 260 people listed! Among them are some of the best and brightest in the field of science fiction. Like many conventions this will have a strong literary bent, but not to the exclusion of film. There will also be scientists on panels discussing science-based approaches to favorite sci-fi topics like space exploration. At this writing the schedule is still being ironed out but a few of the highlights include the opening ceremony, continuous film showings, auctions, presentation of the Hugo awards and the RetroHugos, a dance, a masquerade and something called the "Million Wizard March" (!?). The cost to attend, at this point, is $170 (that price will go up before the convention). To attend, or for more information either write to The Millennium Philcon/ P.O. Box 310/ Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006-0310 or email: phil2001@netaxs.com.

CAPCLAVE will be held on September 28 - 30 at the Sheraton College Park, located at 4095 Powder Mill Road, Beltsville, MD 20705. It's sponsored by the Washington Science Fiction Association. This is their first of what they hope will be many years. Their theme for their inaugural year is "Celebrating the Short Story in Science Fiction." Capclave's Guest of Honor is Gardner Dozois, the editor of "Asimov's Science Fiction" and The Year's Best Science Fiction as well as the winner of several Hugo awards. Their "Ghost" of Honor is Joseph Mayhew, Hugo-winning cartoonist, author, librarian, and fan. He passed away last year. Capclave will have a tribute to him and provide a chance for people to share the many things they've learned from him. Other participants include authors Roger MacBride Allen, Brenda Clough, Alexis Gilliland, Peter Heck, Jane Jewell, Mindy Klasky, Nancy Kress, Charles Sheffield, Michael Swanwick, Lawrence Watt-Evans and editor Gardner Dozois. Activities include literary discussions with authors; readings by authors; a dealer's room; exhibits by a few artists; a presentation by NASA scientists with the latest rocket and space station news, pictures from outer space, and plans for future exploration; parties and numerous chances to interact with fellow fans in a relaxed atmosphere. Registration is $30 through August 15th. $35 at the door. To register, or for more information, either go to  http://www.wsfa.org. or drop a note to Capclave 2001/ c/o Alexis Gilliland/ 4030 8th St. South/ Arlington, VA 22204

CHILLER THEATER will be held October 26-28, 2001 at the Sheraton Meadowlands in E. Rutherford, New Jersey. Details on guests and special events are pending.

29.AN INTERVIEW WITH HARLAN ELLISON
    In the July issue of "Locus" there was a wonderful (and lengthy) interview with author, personality and one-man think tank, Harlan Ellison. For those of you who haven't read him, do yourself a favor (as soon as you're done reading "The ICS Files") grab one of his wonderful short story collections. He's won more Hugo and Nebula Awards than any other author, but he didn't win them for being nice. He's a tough, opinionated, strident S.O.B. He said, "Only three figures in popular culture have had hate groups dedicated to them in recent memory. One was Shannen Doherty. One was Barney, that purple dinosaur. And the third was me!"
    Without further ado, here's the great man himself, making pronouncements on writing talent - his and everybody else's.
    ON PERFECTING HIS CRAFT: "I keep learning how to work. I've done it pretty much 50 years, and I'm now beginning to learn how to do this job well. . . . I'm at a point where I write pretty damn okay. I need to keep learning, and I need to keep pushing the envelope."
    ON THE TIMIDITY OF HIS FELLOW AUTHORS: "I'm constantly astonished at the lack of personal courage on a daily basis of many of the people who write the most heroic kinds of fiction. They write endlessly of mighty thewed warriors who have a code of ethics . . . and yet they live their lives rationalizing and explaining away and permitting most of the injustices people see on a day-to-day basis, without any understanding that they are peculiarly equipped to do something about them. I find too many of my compatriots sad people because . . .  there doesn't seem to be a spinal imperative, their timidity, their middle-class chauvinism, their intentional naiveté, blinds them to an understanding that their work can be world-changing, powerful, significant and courageous as well as entertaining!"
    ON NOT CHALLENGING READERS: "You cannot be your own writer and pay any attention to your audience, because if you do something well your audience will keep you doing it forever. Look at Isaac Asimov. He was capable of incredible strokes of writing, and you see that every once in a while when no one's looking. But most of the time, he wrote what he thought his fans would like. He was the dearest man in the world, and he loved to be stroked. I love him and I miss him, and I lament all the kinds of a writer he might have been. As an artist I think you've got to have an adversarial relationship with your own audience. If you don't, they're going to buy you - they're going to buy you with their love.
    "There is a force that leads to mediocrity and it commands, 'Don't ripple the water. Survive at all costs, even of the art. Keep everything quiet.' But art is supposed to do the opposite of that. Art is guerilla warfare."

30.RECENT TITLES: BOOKS ABOUT MOVIES
    The Horror Movie Survival Guide, by Matteo Molinari, Jim Kamm, $14.95
Separated into five categories-aliens, beasts, creations, psychopaths, and the supernatural-each horrific entity is presented with a full description, an overview of unnatural habits, and tips on how to destroy it.
    If Chins Could Kill : Confessions of a B Movie Actor, by Bruce Campbell, $23.95
The autobiography of a hard working actor struggling for recognition.
    Science Fiction Films of the Seventies, by Craig W. Anderson, $25
A comprehensive and affectionate look at the best and worst of seventies sci-fi.

31.RECENT TITLES: MEDIA TIE-INS
    Babylon 5: The Rising of the Techno-mages, by Jeanne Cavelos, $6.99
A Techno-mage travels to Z'ha'dum to uncover the Shadows' strategy in the coming war.
    Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Spike & Dru: Pretty Maids All in a Row, Christopher Golden,
$6.99. Spike and Dru in war-ravaged Europe of the 1940's fight a demon to get a special necklace.
    Fantastic Voyage: Microcosm, by Kevin J. Anderson, $6.99
A team of scientists are reduced to microscopic size to enter an alien pod.
    Farscape: Dark Side of the Sun, by Andrew Dymond, $6.99
Moya is dying of a rare infection. The only cure is in the hands of pirates.
    Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, by Dave Stern, $6.99
A novelization of the movie. Lara's after the All-Seeing-Eye.
    Richard Matheson's Twilight Zone Scripts, vol. 1, $16.95
Scripts from one of the series' most prolific authors.
    Roswell: Loose Ends, Greg Cox, $6.99
A trip gets tricky when one of the aliens bumps into a man who shot her years before.
    Star Trek: Section 31: Cloak, by S. D. Perry, $6.99
Section 31 sets a plan in motion that could bring the major powers of the galaxy to their knees.
    Star Trek Deep Space Nine: Section 31: Abyss, by Jeffrey Lang and David Weddle, $6.99
Section 31 compels Bashir to undertake a mission to stop one of their own - a genetically
enhanced super human with an army of Jem' Hadar soldiers cloned to be loyal to him.
    Star Trek The Next Generation: Section 31: Rogue, by Andy Mangels, et al, $6.99
An operation of Section 31 goes awry. They call on a young Enterprise officer to help.
    Star Trek Voyager: Section 31: Shadow, by Dean Wesley Smith et al., $6.99
As the crew races against time to save millions of refugees from a stellar cataclysm, Seven-of-
Nine becomes the target of several seemingly random but potentially lethal "accidents."

32.RECENT TITLES: OTHER BOOKS OF NOTE
    2024, by Ted Rall, $16.95
A graphic novel that updates and spoof's Orwell's 1984
    The Ancient Track: The Complete Poetical Works of H. P. Lovecraft, edited by S.T.
Joshi, $20 PPB, $40 HC. This is the first complete collection of Lovecraft's poetry.
    God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian, by Kurt Vonnegut, $9.95
The book chronicles Vonnegut's "near-death experiences" administered by Dr. Kevorkian. The author interviews notables such as Shakespeare, Newton, and Clarence Darrow, in addition to regular people, on their way to heaven.

34.VELCOME TO DRACULA LAND
    German investors and the Romanian government are planning to develop Dracula Land, a "terror" theme park in Transylvania that officials hope will boost the country's ailing tourism industry. A German company that operates a Wild West in America theme park in Germany, is likely to design, build and operate Dracula Land. Plans call for the park to be built in the medieval city of Sighisoara – the hometown of the 15th century prince Vlad the Impaler, who inspired novelist Bram Stoker's "Dracula."
    Prince Vlad Tepes Dracula earned his nickname because of his penchant for impaling captured Turks and other enemies on stakes. The real Dracula did not drink blood or claim to be "undead." He is still regarded as a national hero by Romanians for his defense of his country against the Turks in 1462. The Romanian writer Andrei Codrescu once wrote about how unsettling it was to come to this country and find that this hero that he'd been taught about in school was a denizen of horror movies here. He compared it to a U.S. citizen traveling abroad and discovering that some countries considered George Washington to be a necrophiliac sheep-god.

35.INDIANA JONES AND THE SEARCH FOR GERITOL
    Paramount is hoping to entice George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford to team up again for a fourth Indiana Jones movie. "Paramount had meetings last week about the movie," the source told the newspaper. "They want the original credits." According to the newspaper, the studio is wrestling with the question of how it can make money from a film that is likely to cost $150 million; especially when the producer, director and star are likely to demand a big piece of the film's box-office take. But one industry exec laughed at the prospect of a new Indiana Jones flick. Noting that Harrison Ford is likely to be in his 60s by the time the movie starts shooting (he turned 59 on July 13), one industry exec asked, "What are they going to do - put Harrison Ford in a walker?"

36.PROJECT GREENLIGHT LOOKS AT MOVIE-MAKING TODAY
    PROJECT GREENLIGHT is a fascinating new documentary series from executive producers Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and Chris Moore on what it takes to get a movie made in 21st century America. The series will begin with an episode spotlighting some of the 10,000 hopefuls who submitted their original scripts via an Internet contest last September,
including winner Pete Jones' script, STOLEN SUMMER. The rest of the episodes then follow Jones from pre-production and casting through principal photography and post-production. It will be interesting to see if the documentary can capture the insanity and insecurity of modern-day Hollywood. PROJECT GREENLIGHT  will premiere on HBO in December.

37.THE MATRIX SEQUELS WILL BE A HIT OF STEROIDS AND ADRENALINE
    Joel Silver, the producer of the two upcoming sequels to THE MATRIX, said that filmmakers must up the action ante in the new films. "Wait till you see what we're doing," Silver said. "Think of a car chase inside the Matrix. It's beyond anything you could ever imagine."
    Directors and brothers Andy and Larry Wachowski have been shooting the two MATRIX sequels simultaneously, though they're staying mum about the projects. They're due next year and in 2003.

38.EVEN GANDHI RIPS HOLLYWOOD EXECS
    Well, okay, it's not Gandhi exactly, just sort of. Ben Kingsley has taken a poke at the big tinsel piñata for trying to mimic recent hits. Speaking at a film festival in Karlovy Vary, in the Czech Republic, Kingsley remarked, "Many producers are so lazy-minded that they believe that if people are buying cakes with cherries this week, then they are going to buy cakes with cherries next week. . . . It doesn't work like that, so quality suffers and so does the focus of purpose. If you make a film because you believe there is a ready-made audience for it, then you make the film without any sense of urgency, which is crucial." He added, "The studios completely dishonor the intelligence of audiences."
    As someone that has had his intelligence ignored numerous times by Hollywood I say a big right on Mr. Kingsley. Perhaps you can lead us to passively resist the movie industry!

39.WILLIAM CASTLE'S MACABRE GETS A NEW LOOK
    Gary Oldman and Steve Buscemi are teaming up for a new thriller. They'll play murderous kidnappers who go on a rampage in MACABRE. The film is based on director William Castle's 1958 film which starred William Prince and Jim Backus. In the original version, Castle used a publicity gimmick to draw in customers by insuring audience members against death from fear while watching his movie. The plot follows the two men on a small-town killing spree before they kidnap a doctor's daughter played by Rachael Leigh Cook. Filming is due to begin in the fall.

40.AN EXPLANATION OF THE PLANET OF THE APES ENDING - A CINEMATIC RORSCHACH TEST
    Bruce Snyder, 20th Century Fox's head of distribution, recently spoke about the controversial ending of Tim Burton's PLANET OF THE APES movie. Following are his comments, (SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!) which may contain spoilers for folks who haven't seen the film yet.
    The new surprise ending, intended to top the original 1968 film's Statue of Liberty ending, has many viewers scratching their heads. But, Snyder said, "Actually, you're not supposed to be able to [explain it]. If the truth be known, it wasn't really supposed to make sense. It was just supposed to go 'whoa,' make you think. Now is he in another world, did he go back in time, did he get forward in time?"
    Snyder added, "The reality is, there's no firm answer to that. It's whatever you want it to be. Everybody keeps looking for [the answer], but you've got to remember you just watched a movie about talking monkeys in outer space. Don't look for too much logic, you know."
    All right Mr. Snyder. Now lemme' weigh in here, hon. The reason that we remember that original ending after more than three decades is that it wrapped the entire film in irony. Audience members left theaters with a sense of awe and got a different perspective on the futility of Heston's character's ultimate quest. In its newest incarnation viewers left theaters scratching their collective noggins and going, "Wha-wha-what was that?"

41.RAMBO RETURNS
    Sylvester Stallone is oiling up and reaching for his Bowie knife again - as RAMBO IV lumbers into production. Stallone, 55, first played the troubled laconic warrior in 1982. Two sequels followed in 1985 and 1988 between ROCKY movies, and caused a generation of kids to buy toy knives with compasses on the end of them. RAMBO III raked in nearly $200 million at the box office - indicating that massive profits could be reaped from another installment. When first asked about returning to the franchise, Sly said, "I don't know if I'd look good in a thong anymore." But now, Miramax chairman Bob Weinstein says RAMBO IV is in the stages for a re-script this summer - with at least a $50 million budget. Weinstein says, "We'd love nothing more than for Stallone to be involved. We think it's a billion-dollar property." The new script involves Rambo tackling drug dealers in an American government building.
    The boys at Miramax might want to put this production on an ultra-fast-track. Their aging star is going to look silly having to duel bad guys with his walker. Maybe at the climax of the film they can hold his AARP card hostage!

42.THIS NEWEST ANIMATED FILM HAS SPIRITED AWAY JAPANESE THE BOX-OFFICE
    There's a new film sensation in Japan. This animated movie threatens to trample every record in its path. Its called SPIRITED AWAY (well, actually its called SEN TO CHIHIRO NO KAMIKAKUSHI). It's from Hayao Miyazaki, the man who did PRINCESS MONONOKE (presently the number two Japanese box office champ, behind TITANIC). The Japanese distributor Toho said that the new film is likely to pass MONONOKE's $157-million box office gross and even challenge the all-time record of $210.6 million set by TITANIC.
    This is one of those plots that only works for the Japanese. It's is the story of a girl named Chihiro who travels into the world of gods to find a way to turn her parents into human form after they were turned into . . . pigs. Its story of a young girl traveling through a strange and dangerous realm on a quest may be roughly similar to ALICE IN WONDERLAND.
    There's no word as to when this will come lapping up onto our shores. It's likely that Disney will again distribute this film as they have with several of Hayao Miyazaki's other films, including reviving older films with English-speaking stars to dub the characters. What isn't known is how long before the USA release will follow the Japanese release. One possibility is that if it's released in Japan in the summer of 2001, it might not make it to the USA until 2002.

43.STAR WARS EPISODE II GETS PREVIEWED IN SAN DIEGO
    Lucasfilm previewed behind-the-scenes footage of STAR WARS EPISODE II at the International Comic-Con in San Diego, including several never-before-seen sequences. "EPISODE II is filled with as much action, adventure and passion as you could hope for," Lucasfilm spokesman Steve Sansweet told convention-goers about the sequel, which he said would be darker and more adult than EPISODE I.
    In a special video segment entitled STAR WARS: CONNECTIONS, director George Lucas confirmed that the film would deal in part with the beginning of the Clone Wars. The preview also featured glimpses of Jango Fett (Temuera Morrison), the bounty-hunter father of a prepubescent Boba Fett; views of Samuel L. Jackson wielding a lightsaber as Jedi knight Mace Windu; a grown Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) and Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman) fighting side-by-side with other lightsaber-wielding Jedi; and Anakin and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) walking into a nightclub on Coruscant. In remarks to the convention, Sansweet also confirmed that Christopher Lee will play a mysterious character called Count Dooku, that Obi-Wan and Jango duel in the rain on a landing platform and that part of the film will take place on the Lars homestead on Tatooine, with a young Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru. Jar Jar Binks will appear in EPISODE II, but only briefly, he added.

44.STAR WARS II: ATTACK OF THE CLONES
    The official STAR WARS website has announced the full title of George Lucas' next film is STAR WARS: EPISODE II - ATTACK OF THE CLONES. The film is set 10 years after the events of THE PHANTOM MENACE, when Obi-Wan Kenobi, Padmé Amidala, and Anakin Skywalker are thrown together for the first time since the Trade Federation
invasion of Naboo to protect Padmé from a faction of political separatists.

45.WOMB RAIDER?
    Angelina Jolie has agreed to a clause in her contract with Paramount for the Lara Croft sequel stating that she will not become pregnant before production begins. The report said that Jolie agreed to the clause "because she is eager to build up a lucrative franchise with the computer game-based movie." So now Hollywood is not just concerned with putting our buns in the seats, they want to keep a bun out of Mrs. Billy Bob Thornton's oven!

46.JEAN LUC SETS THINGS STRAIGHT ABOUT TREK X
    Patrick Stewart told British convention-goers not to believe rumors about the upcoming 10th TREK movie. Stewart made a surprise appearance at the VOYAGER: The Return convention in Blackpool, U.K. Among other things, Stewart said there is no truth to the rumor that he or  Brent Spiner had agreed to appear only to be killed off. He added that he could see a great future for the VOYAGER cast in forthcoming movies, and said he was pretty sure for Mulgrew, that would happen "very soon." He added that production on the new movie would begin in October, after he ends an extended run in Johnson over Jordan at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds.

47.TRON IS BACK
    Suddenly TRON, the twenty year old Disney release, is looking rather robust. There are plans for a new video game, a 20th anniversary DVD and a theatrical sequel. The original foresaw the advent of the proliferation of the computer. The sequel will look ahead too. According to TRON creator Steven Lisberger, "I'd like to bring TRON into today's world and look at how cyberspace will be twenty years from now, because it's still in its infancy."
    Look for the TRON DVD next January, with four hours of commentary and a deleted love scene. The TRON video game will be some time in 2003. The TRON sequel - who knows!

48.JET LI - TWO FOR ONE
    Jet Li may have finally met his match. In his upcoming film, THE ONE, he was required him to fight a formidable opponent - himself. The film tells the story of a man traveling through alternate realities, killing the other versions of himself to absorb their power. Li plays both the evil entity and an alternate version who must stop him.
    Li said he shot each side of the fights against a stunt double. Computer technology will blend the two sides and erase the double. "THE ONE has a lot of computer help, a special way to shoot it, because I fight myself," Li said. "It's quite different. I become good guy first, then I become bad guy second, and then I become good guy again to make it work."
    Li was not the first choice to star in the film. Glen Morgan and James Wong, who co-wrote the film, wrote the lead role for pro wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Scheduling conflicts prevented him from appearing. The script then through some re-writes, backing off the dialogue and boosting the fight scenes to play to Li's strength. THE ONE will release in the fall.

49.WHO NEEDS STARS?
    The box-office success of such films as SHREK, JURASSIC PARK, PLANET OF THE APES, THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS and THE MUMMY RETURNS may make it difficult for big movie stars to negotiate $20-million movie deals, according to Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office trackers Exhibitor Relations. Noting that this year's summer movies will likely set a record without the likes of Mel Gibson, Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis or Harrison Ford, Dergarabedian said, "The summer is more about explosions and special effects than acting. . . . These [hit] movies have done well on sheer marketing and word-of-mouth. Look at how much awareness there was for PLANET OF THE APES. People are going to go see that movie regardless of who's in it."

50.WHAT TICKS OFF THE BRITISH MOVIE-GOING PUBLIC? US!
   A recent poll of British movie audiences asked them to rank their least favorite annoyances. Respondents ranked noisy candy wrappers as the most disturbing element in theaters. Okay . . . we're with you so far. Other pests were ringing cell phones (all right), whispered conversations (gotcha), late-comers (hate it), and "obnoxious Americans" (HUH!). The wrappers grated on nearly 80 percent of respondents' collective psyches but, my fellow Americans, we made it into the top five. Well, to be fair, I hate sitting near obnoxious Americans too.

51.IMAGINATIVE CINEMA FOR THE MONTH OF AUGUST
    AUGUST 3: RUSH HOUR 2 picks up where its predecessor left off. At the conclusion of the original the mis-matched duo are on a plane on their way to China. In this movie they land and then things get interesting. A bombing of the U.S. Embassy draws the two of them into a case pursuing a ruthless counterfeiter across China, back to L.A. and eventually to Las Vegas. My nominee for best line of the movie: Jackie Chan to Chris Tucker, ""In Hong Kong, I am Michael Jackson, you are Toto." One of the tough female henchmen in the movie is Zhang Ziyi from CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON.

    AUGUST 10: OSMOSIS JONES is set INSIDE Bill Murray. Fortunately we only see live action of his exterior. When we go inside its animated. It's from the brothers Farrely (Bobby and Peter) who previously did KINGPIN and THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY. Frank Detomello (Murray), is a construction worker who catches a cold. The inside of his body is known as the "City of Frank" to its inhabitants. Two of them team up to fight the invading viruses intent on taking over the City. We have a free-wheeling white blood cell cop Osmosis Jones (voiced by Chris Rock) and a by-the-book cold tablet named Drixorial (David Hyde Pierce). You'll also hear Laurence Fishburne as the evil invader and William Shatner as Mayor Phlegmming.

    THE OTHERS is about a woman named Grace (Nicole Kidman) who retires with her two children to a mansion on an island near the English Coast, towards the end of the Second World War, where she's waiting for her husband to come back from battle. The children have a disease which means they cannot be touched by direct sunlight without being hurt in some way. They will live alone there with oppressive, strange and almost religious rules (for example "don't open a door until you've closed the previous"), until she needs to hire a group of servants for them. Their arrival will accidentally begin to break the rules with unexpected consequences. There's something strange about the house that she will soon discover. The movie was written and directed by Spanish director Alejandro Amenábar in what will be his English language debut.

    AUGUST 22: JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK features the duo of losers from CLERKS, MALLRATS and DOGMA. Our titular characters are out to stop Miramax from making a movie about them. Expect lots of in jokes and STAR WARS gags.

    AUGUST 24: JOHN CARPENTER'S GHOSTS OF MARS takes place some 175 years in the future in a dusty frontier mining town on Mars. A small squad of police have been sent to transfer an extremely dangerous criminal, Desolation Williams (Ice Cube), back to the main administrative Martian city, Chryse. Our heroine, Melanie (Natasha Henstridge), is second in command of this squad. What no one realizes is that mining operations have uncovered, and disturbed,  the ruins of an ancient Martian civilization and unleashed a kind of spiritual doomsday defense system that will relentlessly destroy any alien presence (in this case, Earthlings) inhabiting Mars. When the cops arrive at this remote outpost, no one but the criminals locked away in the local jail have survived... And the "Martian Ghosts" are determined not to let them get away. The cast also has Pam Grier and Joanna Cassidy. Unlike some recent films with names attached to them that didn't do much with the film, this movie was written, directed and executive produced by John Carpenter.

    AUGUST 31: JEEPERS CREEPERS is a teen/horror flick about a nice trip gone bad. After making a horrific discovery in the basement of an old abandoned church, Trish (Gina Philips) and her brother Darry (Justin Long) watch their routine road trip home from college turn into a heart stopping race for their lives. They find themselves the chosen prey of an indestructible force that relentlessly pursues them and gives a new and chilling meaning to the old song "Jeepers Creepers." The movie was directed by Victor Salva.

53.SPIDER-MAN ON THE WEB
    SPIDER-MAN director Sam Raimi told the SPIDER-MAN Hype! Web site that he's a bit overwhelmed by the Internet interest in his film. "I've never experienced anything like it," Raimi told the site. "Like, if you were a plumber, and you had, like, 40,000 other plumbers looking over your shoulders to see how you were putting it all together, and they all have a really strong opinion, and it's printed for everyone to see. ... It makes it difficult to replace the pipe."
    Raimi added, "I think directing the picture is even a harder job than plumbing. It's filled with a thousand creative decisions, and none are right or wrong. I can't look in the book and say, 'These people are right, and these people are wrong, because the book says that the way that you replace this part with a No. 2 socket wrench and with this particular fitting so I can proceed with confidence knowing that, even though half of these people disagree with me, I'm doing the right thing by the book.' Directing a picture is just a summation of opinions. . . . The reason it's difficult is because we know the right way to make the movie is not to listen to everyone, as much as we want to please everyone, and that's our goal. We know the road to success must be in following our own instincts in telling the SPIDER-MAN story the way we feel it in our hearts, because we know we can't tell the story of a thousand different people. It would be homogenous. You can't satisfy everyone. So it's difficult."
    The first teaser trailer for SPIDER-MAN, which is based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name, is now available on the official Web site. SPIDER-MAN opens May 3, 2002.

54.TIM BURTON JUMPS THE NET
    Director Tim Burton isn't happy with the Internet. Specifically he's displeased with The Drudge Report for revealing some essential plot details (including the ending) of PLANET OF THE APES. He extended his ire to the whole Net community. "This is why the Earth is doomed. Ultimately, that's the scary thing about this whole internet. What's the point anymore as a filmmaker? The internet is really negative - so many negative thinkers are running it. People think I'm dark - these Internet people are as dark as they come. We're killing ourselves and we don't know it. Don't they realize that the printed word destroys lives? A lot of lives worked on this movie for a long time. I try quietly in my soul to keep going and not let it disturb me, but as a filmmaker, half your day is wasted responding to Internet rumors. On this movie I had to tell the studio, 'No, Mark Wahlberg and Helena Bonham Carter's characters are not having a three-headed ape baby.'"

56.RECORDABLE DVD'S EDGE THEIR WAY INTO THE MARKET PLACE
    Since the DVD format got introduced in 1997 the big question has been when they would become affordable and recordable. In the past couple of years we've seen the units de-escalate from $1,000 to under $200 (and they may still drop more). Recordability has been a little trickier.
    There are still three recordable formats. There's DVD-RW, DVD-RAM and DVD+RW. First generation units have been available for a while - that is if you had a spare $10,000 laying around that you had to spend on consumer electronics! These early units had the added disadvantage of only being able to record only once-per-disc.
    Welcome to the next generation. Pioneer and Phillips have developed recordable units that can record on the same disc about 1,000 times and are compatible with 80-90% of the players already in homes. Panasonic has a more sophisticated player that can do same disc recording about 10,000 times and has more sophisticated playback capacity (but isn't very compatible with most existing units).
    These new units have a more attractive, but still lofty, price. They range from a suggested retail of $1,500 to $2,800. There's some discounting going on. Best Buy will offer the Pioneer DVR-AO3 this fall for $799. While they're still allot more expensive than their less-taleneted cousins, the recordable DVD's are priced about right for early adapters of new technology. With some luck and retailer moxie we may see those prices reach realistic levels in the not-too-distant future.

58.BUFFY DVD's ARE COMING SOON
    Marti Noxon, executive producer of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, announced that DVD editions of the show's first three seasons are well in the works and may come out soon. "They're going to be great," Noxon said. "They're all remastered. And they have running commentary from a bunch of different people, the writer of that episode, comments on it, as well as Joss [Whedon]. It's a real fan thing."
    Noxon didn't know how soon the long-awaited DVDs will hit stores in the United States. "Soon," she said. "I know that they've already done seasons one, two and three. They've already interviewed us for those. And we've done on-camera interviews and all kinds of stuff. It's a big thing. It should be out shortly. That's going to be great for the fans. What's weird is it's taking so long to come out."

Rental titles releasing 8/7: 3,000 MILES TO GRACELAND stars Kurt Russell, Kevin Costner, Courtney Cox, Christian Slater, Kevin Pollak, David Arquette, Jon Lovitz, Howie Long, Ice-T and Paul Anka (!?!). It's directed and co-written by music video director Demian Lichtenstein. This is an action/heist film. The plan is to rob the Riviera Casino's count room during an Elvis impersonator convention, but greed derails the undertaking. There are two types of action movies; action movies that try to be dramatic and respectful, trying to camouflage themselves as dramas; and stupid action movies that have bad characters, bad plot points, but a whole lot of fun explosions. I'll let you check out this little gem for yourself and see which category you'd put it in. The VHS is a rental. The DVD sells for $19.98.

Rental title releasing 8/14: MORGANA stars Julie Strain, Michelle Bauer and Martin Sheen's brother, Joe Estevez. A young woman from Oklahoma joins an exclusive modeling and escort service where she discovers her coworkers possess unearthly powers with an appetite for human flesh. The VHS is a rental. The DVD sells for $19.98. . . . VENGEANCE OF THE DEAD stars Michael Galvin, Susan Karsnick. A young woman meets a mysterious man who she thinks is the man of her dreams, but the residents of her small town think he has something to do with a series of suspicious fires and graveyard disturbances. The VHS is a rental. . . . 15 MINUTES stars Robert De Niro, Edward Burns, Kelsey Grammar and Kim Cattrall. DeNiro is a New York homicide detective who enlists the help of a young fire department arson investigator (Burns) to help track down a pair of Eastern European killers on a rampage through the city. Things get complicated when the murderous pair become media celebrities. The VHS is a rental. The DVD sells for $26.98. . . . ENEMY AT THE GATES is based on the true story of World War II Russian hero Vassili Zaitsev (Jude Law). He played a key role in the siege of Satlingrad. His unexpected fame thrust him into a personal war with the Nazis' best sharpshooter (Ed Harris). The VHS is a rental. The DVD sells for $29.99. . . . KILLER INSTINCT stars Corbin Berensen and Dee Wallace Stone. A small town is awakened when secrets buried deep in the past resurface. A group of teenagers, who have already committed murderous crimes, spend the night in an abandoned asylum where the horror began. The VHS is a rental. The DVD sells for $24.99.

Rental titles releasing 8/21: HANNIBAL is back. In that ten year lay-off since SILENCE OF THE LAMBS he's gotten very hungry. Come join the feast! The VHS is a rental (see the above story). The DVD sells for $29.95. . . . DEADLY INVASION focuses on a family holed up in their house to escape a deadly swarm of bees that are wreaking havoc on their small community. The VHS is a rental. . . . THE LAST WARRIOR has a casting alert with it. This must be a low-budget action film heading straight for video - it stars Dolph Lundgren! In this one the big guy is an Air Force captain who must help a group of survivors find safety now that California has become an island after a major earthquake. . . . CREEPING' is a low-brow spoof of recent films. Its killer on the loose taunts his victims by reminding them, "I know who you did last summer." The VHS is a rental. The DVD sells for $14.99. . . . DEADLY INVASION: THE KILLER BEE NIGHTMARE is a 1995 TV movie. A swarm of bees infests a small rural town just as a new family moves in to fulfill a dream of owning an orchard. One small footnote makes this of possible interest o FARSCAPE fans. The movie was directed by Rockne S. O'Bannon. When he directed this he'd already executive produced SEAQUEST, DSV and would go on to create and oversee FARSCAPE. The VHS is a rental.

Rental titles releasing 8/28: FAUST is a story of revenge. To avenge his girlfriend's death a man cuts a deal with a devilish figure known simply as "M." He gains powers that he can't control or understand. The VHS is a rental. The DVD sells for $24.99.

Sell through titles releasing 8/7: Buena Vista is re-releasing its Halloween titles this month. Look for SCARY MOVIE, SCREAM 2, THE CROW, THE CROW: CITY OF ANGELS, THE CROW: SALVATION, FROM DUSK TIL DAWN, HALLOWEEN H20 and CHILDREN OF THE CORN 666: ISAAC RETURNS. The VHS are $14.99. The DVD are selling for $29.99. . . . Anchor Bay releases a trio of classics today. HALLOWEEN: EXTENDED EDITION put Jamie Lee Curtis on the scream queen map back in 1978. BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY'S TOMB is a 1971 Hammer studio version of Bram Stoker's disturbing mummy novel. SCARS OF DRACULA is a 1970 Hammer Dracula with Christopher Lee is as the evil Count. A young man and his beautiful girlfriend unwittingly visit the Count's castle. They find themselves trapped in a face-to-face frenzy of bloodthirsty vixens, religious blasphemy and sadistic torture. Some people consider this one the most ferociously violent film in the entire Hammer/Dracula series. The three titles are going out at $14.98 for the VHS and $24.98 for the DVD. . . . THE JOHN CARPENTER DVD THREE PACK releases today. It contains STARMAN, CHRISTINE and JOHN CARPENTER'S VAMPIRES. The cost is $41.95. . . . Columbia/Tri-Star will be releasing their Halloween titles today on DVD.  They've got BATS, CANDYMAN, CHRISTINE, FRIGHT NIGHT, HUSH, I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER, I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER, MARY SHELLEY’S FRANKENSTEIN, TO DIE FOR and WOLF. They're $14.95 a disc. . . . ATTACK FROM MARS, stars Robert Clarke (who grappled THE MAN FROM PLANET X) and Ann Robinson (who battled Martians previously in WAR OF THE WORLDS). This 1988 movie had a strange origin. What started out as a reprise of an old television show called SPACE PATROL, turned into   MIDNIGHT MOVIE MASSACRE (the film's title when it had a theatrical release). It was intended to be a loving homage to the old fifties TV show. SPACE PATROL shows up as a serial people are watching. Then a monster (from Mars as it turns out) lands on top of the theater and begins to eat the theater goers one at a time. A group of moviegoers fights off the fearsome vampire creature. This DVD sells for $24.99. . . . ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: HOLLYWOOD HERO is perfect for those of you who can't get enough of the big fella. The life story begins with his poor youth in Austria to marrying into a prominent family and becoming a star. Plenty of big names are on hand to sing his praises. The VHS is $14.98. The DVD sells for $19.99. . . . HELLINGER is from 1997. Twenty years after her abusive father is killed by a demonic being called "Hellinger", a woman continues to be haunted by the being. And wouldn't you know it, there's a bunch of killings going on. When "Hellinger" first shows-up we wonder is he's a bit mentally deficient by his slow speech and he's an obvious clone of Pinhead (minus the pins). It's an attempt at making a low-budget film villain. It offers lots of gore, a hero so tattooed it's gross and a repulsive (and needlessly brutal) slaying of a female cast member. The VHS is $29.99. . . . Some find him lovable, others damned annoying. No I'm not talking about Jim Carrey. This is about "No. 5," the free-wheeling robot in SHORT CIRCUIT 2. This 1988 film has our lovable/annoying robo-pal returning to catch jewel thieves while helping his inventor succeed in the toy business. The DVD sells for $19.95. . . . STAR TREK: VOYAGER releases four episodes to VHS today. They've got Episode 43: "Sacred Ground," 44: "False Prophets," 45: "Flashback" and 46: "Basics." The tapes sell for $14.95 each. . . . THE FURY is a 1978 film starring: Kirk Douglas, Andrew Stevens, Amy Irving and John Cassavettes. A father tries to rescue his son from a secret U.S. government agency that trains children with psychokinetic abilities how to kill during war. The movie was directed by Brian De Palma. The VHS sells for $9.98.

Sell through titles releasing 8/14: SEVEN DAYS TO LIVE, from 2000, is a German film with an English speaking cast. Amanda Plummer plays a young woman who is haunted by dreams of her own imminent death. The film bears a resemblance to movies like THE SIXTH SENSE, but carries some wallops all its own. It's on DVD only for $24.99. . . . BICHUNMOO  (DANCE WITH SWORD): SPECIAL EDITION has often been compared to CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON. Both films were released in 2000. Both films feature stunning displays of martial arts. Both have a romantic story at their core. This film, though set in China, is Korean. It's one of the highest grossing Korean films of all time. It has a cast of some of its home country's biggest stars. It failed to get theatrical distribution in the U.S. BICHUNMOO relies more on amazing sword play than its more illustrious neighbor. Nevertheless, if you get a chance, check it out. The DVD sells for $29.95. . . . THE CRAWLING HAND, from 1963, slithers our way today. This is what cheap sci-fi teen horror is all about, and it's from AIP, of course! An astronaut is killed in space while possessed by an evil alien force, but somehow his severed arm makes its way to earth, still hosting the alien, and begins a killing spree. If that's not good enough, you've got troubled teens, two proto-X-FILES scientists tracking the hand, a sublimely weird malt-shop assault scene, and the crawling arm's demise comes via a pack of stray cats! Classic trash from start to finish! This DVD is $9.95. . . . DESTINATION NIGHTMARE is the pilot film for a VERY short-lived anthology series from 1958-9, called THE VEIL. It ran nine episodes and was hosted by Boris Karloff. This DVD gives us three episodes. The three are "The Return of Madame Vernoy," "The Girl on the Road" and "Destination Nightmare." All three feature Karloff. This disc is selling for $9.95. . . . GOTHIC INDUSTRIAL NOSFERATU has the evil Count Dracula, the Nosferatu, wreaking havoc on a small town where a real estate broker is finishing final arrangements with a wealthy nobleman. This DVD sells for $19.95. . . . JACK THE RIPPER, from 1959, retells that sad and familiar yarn with a fresh perspective. This one has an American policeman assisting the baffled Brits. This DVD sells for $9.95. . . . MARTIAL ANGELS has a cat burglar who finds out that her former boyfriend has been captured by Russians. She recruits a group of gorgeous female "Angels" to find a stolen computer chip to exchange for her old flame. A trio of scantily dressed babes who master martial arts and then break into a hostile fortress to rescue a helpless male in distress? No wonder this movie didn't get any theatrical play! Who's going to believe that? The DVD sells for $29.95. . . . NINJA VS. NINJA may sound like its a heartbreaking movie about divorce. It's not. It's a bone-breaking movie in which a secret police agent must stop an evil drug lord from hiring a Ninja sect to wipe out a cure for heroin addiction.  The VHS is $9.95. The DVD sells for $14.95. . . . PARASITE EVE is a series that is based on the best-selling novel that spawned a video game series. A beautiful woman becomes the ultimate nightmare when a scientist experiments with her and creates a monster who is out to destroy mankind. The VHS is $14.98. The DVD sells for $19.98. . . . Rhino Home Video releases a triumvirate of trash to DVD today. SLIME PEOPLE, from 1962, has a pack of slimy varmints from the bowels of the earth who have encased L.A. in a solid wall of fog to establish their new home (I've been to L.A. - if it did get encased in a solid wall of unbreathable vapor I doubt that any of the residents would notice). These critters are impervious to bullets since they're self sealing slimebags (and once again, let me say that if an army of slimebags moved to L.A. their only problem would be competing for space with the slimebags already there). Anyway it falls to five people to do what the armed forces couldn't do: liberate L.A. and defeat the monsters. MONSTER FROM THE OCEAN FLOOR, from 1954, features an American girl on vacation in Mexico who spots a giant one-eyed amoeba but can't get anyone to believe her. All the characters are so unbelievably annoying and irritating that you want the monster to kill them! There is also a very annoying mini-submarine device that is eventually used to battle the monster. Watch out for some funny lines and inappropriate dialogue. This is young producer Roger Corman's first ever monster-movie. Leonard Maltin called it "20,000 yawns under the sea."  TERROR IN THE HAUNTED HOUSE, from 1958, was also known as MY WORLD DIES SCREAMING. What little plot there is revolves around a woman and her nightmares about a rundown house. She and her new husband go to America and guess what house they move into. Then weird unscary stuff happens and she wonders if she is going out of her mind or is her husband up to no good. This stinker was filmed in "Psychorama" which means there were subliminal "messages" in it. They were images flashed too fast for the eye to see like skulls, bats etc. to make you scared. Supposedly the government banned this film for 26 years as a result of this process. Yeah, right (this movie sat in a vault somewhere because it was so freaking bad). Johnny Legend "restored" those images and you can see them for a split second on the screen. The price for these three DVD "classics" is a thrifty $9.95. . . . THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH is the most recent 007 flick. After a British oil tycoon is killed in a bombing, his daughter inherits his fortune which includes billions of dollars worth of oil deposits in the Caspian Sea and James Bond as a bodyguard. Her new wealth attracts international interest, but she has also attracted the attention of her father's killer. The VHS is $9.94.

Sell through titles releasing 8/21: Today is NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET day. You can buy parts one through six individually on VHS for $9.94. Each of the six DVD's sells for $19.98 a pop. The six volume VHS set is $59.98. The six volume DVD set is $129.98. . . . Today is also PLANET OF THE APES day You can buy PLANET OF THE APES (1968), BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES (1970), ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES (1971), CONQUEST FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES (1972) and BATTLE FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES (1973) individually on VHS for $14.98 and DVD for $24.98. The entire collection in a boxed set, on VHS, goes for $49.98. The DVD boxed set sells for $89.98. . . . Today is also STEPHEN KING DAY! There's lots of movies from the master of menace. The main group are selling at $9.98 for the VHS and $14.98 for the DVD. They include CAT'S EYE, CREEPSHOW, CUJO, DOLORES CLAIBORNE, GOLDEN YEARS, THE LANGOLIERS, THE STAND and THINNER. RUNNING MAN is $9.98 for the VHS and $19.98 for the DVD. IT is $19.98, available only in VHS. SALEM'S LOT sells for $19.98 for the VHS and $14.98 for the DVD. THE SHINING's VHS is $19.98 and its DVD goes for $24.98. Finally, there's the STEPHEN KING'S HORROR COLLECTORS PACK which includes  DVD's of CUJO, THE LANGOLIERS and THINNER for $39.98. . . . Today is TERMINATOR DAY too. You can buy the original TERMINATOR and TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY, on VHS for $9.98 each. You can own the DVD of T2 (which is calling itself "THE ULTIMATE EDITION") for $26.98. . . . A trio of 80's big-budget entertainment heads our way today. THE GOONIES, GREMLINS and BEETLEJUICE all get re-released today. They're selling for $14.95 for the VHS and $19.95 for the DVD's. . . . Anchor Bay has a pair of DVD-only releases coming out. ELVIRA, MISTRESS OF THE DARK is Elvira's feature film debut. When her Great Aunt dies, the horror hostess Elvira heads for the uptight New England town of Falwell (hmmm, wonder how it got that name) to claim her inheritance of a haunted house, a witch's cookbook and a punk rock poodle. Just like in all movies, nothing's ever that simple. SCHLOCK is John Landis' first film, from 1971. Meet Schlockthropus, a prehistoric apeman on a grisly suburban rampage of murder, mayhem, and banana peels. When the mad missing link falls in love with a beautiful blind girl, he learns some cruel lessons about evolution, romance, and movie theater etiquette. This is strictly played for laughs. Each DVD sells for $19.98. . . . Anchor Bay's not done yet. There've got two more titles coming out. VAMP (from 1986) has a group of fraternity pledges head for the seedy side of the city in search of strippers and discover a sinister spot called The After Dark Club. When the bar's luscious dancers turn out to be bloodthirsty vampires led by the kinky Katrina (Grace Jones), the evening takes on a freaky new twist. Can these guys survive a bizarre onslaught of vixens and vamps, or will the armies of the undead take the ultimate bite out of their night? LINK (from 1986) is about a young graduate student who becomes the new assistant to her eccentric zoology professor at the remote home he shares with two brilliant chimpanzees and an elderly orangutan butler named Link. When one of the chimps is found dead and the professor mysteriously disappears, Link becomes dangerously aggressive towards the student. The VHS are $9.99 each. The DVD are $24.99 each. . . . We're still not done with Anchor Bay. MANIAC (from 1980) focuses on a deeply disturbed man, haunted by the traumas of childhood abuse. When these horrific memories begin to scream inside his mind, he prowls the seedy streets of New York City to stalk and slaughter innocent young women and harvests their scalps. When it was released this film was banned in several countries for its extreme violence. It's still banned in England and Germany. The is VHS $9.99. The regular DVD sells for $24.99. MANIAC also comes in a Limited Edition DVD (only 5,000 will be made). It comes packaged in a tin container and contains a bonus CD containing the original score by Jay Chattaway. It includes a 5x7 postcard insert. The limited edition price is $39.98. . . . Last (promise) Anchor Bay title of the day. THE WICKER MAN (from 1973) is about a Scottish island/town with a secret and police Sergeant Howie (Edward Woodward) and his struggle to discover it as he searches for a young girl who has mysteriously disappeared. This movie has everything - a pair or riveting performances by Woodward and Christopher Lee (as the genial Lord Summerisle), a challenge to the very moral and intellectual foundations of modern Western civilization AND features Britt Ekland doing the nasty with a blank wall. This is the acclaimed U.S. theatrical version of THE WICKER MAN, now fully restored from original vault materials for the first time ever. The regular VHS is $9.99. The VHS COLLECTOR'S EDITION contains an additional 11 minutes of rarely seen footage. It sells for $14.98. The regular DVD is $24.99. The DVD LIMITED EDITION (with a run limited to 50,000) comes packaged in a special wooden box and comes with both the American and Extended Versions of the film on 2 DVDs. It sells for $39.98. . . . BATMAN arrives today. This is the theatrical feature from 1966 that starred Adam West and Burt Ward. You can enjoy all the ZOCKO! POW! KA-BLAM! action on VHS for $9.98 or DVD for $19.98. . . . THE AMPHIBIAN MAN is a Russian film. It dates from 1961. A woman from a small seaside town falls in love with an amphibious man believed to be terrorizing the local fishermen. The movie became a cult classic the instant it was released. The actors became famous overnight. The music is still recognizable and remembered. This film is considered a masterpiece of world cinema no less. It is based on the novel of the same title by Alexander Beliaev, one of the pioneers of Russian science-fiction. The DVD sells for $29.99. . . . THE ASTRONAUT'S WIFE stars Johnny Depp as an astronaut who returns home from a strange space mission. His wife, played by  Charlize Theron, notices he's changed. Her pregnancy seems like something not of this world. The VHS is $14.98. The DVD is $19.98. . . . Today is BLAIR WITCH day. THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT gets re-released. The VHS is $9.98. The DVD sells for $14.98. THE BOOK OF SHADOWS: BLAIR WITCH II also gets re-issued. The VHS is $14.98. The DVD sells for $19.98. . . . CAMPFIRE TALES is an anthology film. A group of teens stranded in the woods after a car accident swap scary stories. They'll come to discover that they're trapped in the scariest story of all. The VHS sells for $14.98. . . . CAST A DEADLY SPELL has a down-at-the-heels 40's gumshoe named Lovecraft (played by Fred Ward) searching for the Necronomicon. He smokes his lungs out, gushes down bourbon and constantly cracks one-liners. He's trying to cope in a universe that has black magic, a unicorn, vampires, zombie slaves, a guy killed by newspaper clippings, the required noir-allotment of deadly dames and a transvestite. Think of this movie as a crossover between a good PI-flick and a movie like ARMY OF DARKNESS. This VHS sells for $9.94. . . . A CAT IN THE BRAIN is directed by (and stars) Italian director Lucio Fulci. A psychiatrist uses his filmmaker patient as a scapegoat for his killing spree. The DVD sells for $24.99. . . . DOOMWATCH is set on the mysterious island village of Balfe. They're experiencing unexplainable phenomenon, from grossly oversized sea-life to half-buried bodies in the dark woods. It is up to Dr. Del Shaw and the dedicated scientists at Doomwatch headquarters to discover the cause of these horrific mutations. This 1972 film is based on the British television series of the same name. The DVD sells for $24.99. . . . THE CHANGELING is a 1980 HBO film. George C. Scott plays a man whose family is killed in a road accident. He retires to a lonely mansion where he experiences supernatural occurrences linked to the house's past. The VHS sells for $9.94. . . . KINDRED THE EMBRACED - THE COMPLETE VAMPIRE COLLECTION is all eight episodes of the short-lived Fox series from 1996. Five clans of vampires battle mortals and each other in modern-day San Francisco. This two-tape VHS retails for $29.98. The two-disc DVD set sells for $19.98. . . . THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE, from 1997, casts Keanu Reeves as a young hotshot lawyer who gets more than he bargained for. He discovers that his boss, played by Al Pacino, is Lucifer himself. The VHS sells $14.95. The DVD is $24.98. . . . DRACULA'S WIDOW features Sylvia Kristel as the vampiric widow of the title. She awakens from her long sleep when her coffin is shipped to a museum. You can figure the rest from there. The VHS is $9.94. . . . EMBRACE OF THE VAMPIRE gives us Alyssa Milano as a young virgin (a-hem) who begins having dreams about sex thanks to a vampire who has taken a liking to her. The movie's pretty rough sledding. It's strictly for fans of Alyssa Milano's nude body. The VHS is $14.98. The DVD sells for $19.98. . . . Cue the pea soup. Limber up that neck for the big head spin. Today's EXORCIST day. We have the original THE EXORCIST from 1973. We've got EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC from 1977. We also have EXORCIST III from 1990. The VHS are selling for $14.95. The DVD are $14.98. . . . FALLEN gives us Denzel Washington as a cop trailing a particularly nasty serial killer. This nasty piece of work may be a fallen angel. The VHS $14.95. The DVD is $19.98. . . . FULL ECLIPSE has Mario Van Peebles as an energetic young cop invited to join a special elite division of the police force. He discovers that it's a secret society of werewolves trained to fight crime with a vengeance, no matter the consequences. The VHS is $9.94. The DVD sells for $14.98. These are available both in a regular and an unrated version. . . . HOUSE OF WAX is the 1953 Vincent Price classic. After a fire that damaged his wax museum, the owner uses human bodies as his sculptures. The VHS sells for $9.94. . . . HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL is the 1999 incarnation of this 1958 gem. The owner of a supposedly haunted mansion offers $1,000,000 to anyone brave enough to attempt to spend the night there. One catch- you must stay alive to get the big reward. As an homage to the original, which starred Vincent Price, Geoffery Rush's main character is named "Steven Price." The VHS sells for $14.95. The DVD is $19.98. . . . IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS is a 1995 John Carpenter film that stars Sam Neill and Charlton Heston. An insurance investigator is sent to a small town to investigate a horror author's disappearance. He steps into a nightmare from which he can't escape. The small town where the movie is set is named "Hobb's End." That's an an in-joke reference to the subway station where the alien ship is excavated in 1967 British movie QUARTERMASS AND THE PIT. The VHS is $14.98. The DVD sells for $19.98. . . . INNOCENT BLOOD is a John Landis vampire film from 1992. A woman's career as a vampire is going along fine until two problems come up, she is interrupted while feeding on a mafioso and she begins to develop a relationship with the policeman who has been trying to  put him away. Look for the Landis trademark of cameos by other filmmakers. There are appearances by directors Dario Argento, Frank Oz, Sam Raimi, and Michael Ritchie; "Famous Monsters of Filmland" editor Forrest J Ackerman; makeup artist Tom Savini and a shot of Hitchcock's cameo from STRANGERS ON A TRAIN. The VHS is $9.94. The DVD goes for $14.98. . . . INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE is the popular 1994 movie based on the novel by Anne Rice. A reporter gets more than he bargained for with an interview with someone claiming to be a vampire. The VHS is $14.95. The DVD costs $24.98. . . . JASON GOES TO HELL: THE FINAL FRIDAY comes in two different flavors. There's the R-rated version and the unrated one. Jason is at it again for part nine! The VHS is $14.98. . . . LE DERNIER COMBAT is a very different kind of film. In the post-apocalyptic future, the few humans left are unable to speak. A loner befriends an older man and together they battle thugs for food, shelter and survival. The main thug is played by Jean Reno. The film contains no dialogue. Characters communicate non-verbally. The film is directed and co-written by Luc Besson (THE MESSENEGR, THE FIFTH ELEMENT) The VHS is $14.95. The DVD sells for $29.95. . . . LOGAN'S RUN, from 1976, is set in a troubled futuristic paradise. Survivors sealed in a domed city near Washington, D.C. when a nuclear cataclysm happened. To maintain the population balance, the computers that run the city have decreed that all people must die at 30. This system is enforced by "sandmen" : black-clad police operatives who terminate (kill) "runners" (those who attempt to live beyond 30). Logan, a sandman, is sent on a mission to find "sanctuary," which is a code- word used by the master computer to describe what it believes is a place to which runners have been escaping. Logan begins to question the system he serves and after seeing for himself that there is life beyond the dome, he returns to destroy the computer. The VHS is $9.94. The DVD sells for $14.98. . . . THE LOST BOYS is about some boys who've moved into a California town. It seems like the worst local problem is the gang of rowdy kids around. But it gets worse - way worse. They're more than rowdy. They're vampires! The VHS is $9.94. The DVD is $19.98. . . . . LOST SOULS stars Winona Ryder as a young Catholic schoolteacher who was the victim of demonic possession as a teenager. She works as part of a team of exorcists looking for the human that Satan himself plans to take over when he comes to Earth to begin his reign. The VHS costs $14.98. The DVD is $24.98. . . . NIGHTBREED is about a community of mutant outcasts attempt to escape the attention of a serial killer and redneck vigilantes. The movie is written and directed by Clive Barker. The VHS is $14.95. The DVD sells for $19.98. . . . THE NINTH GATE has Johnny Depp as a rare book dealer who is hired to search for three copies of a 17th century demonic book. As he pursues his quest he's drawn him into a circle of evil the threatens to destroy him. The film was directed by Roman Polanski. The VHS is $9.98. The DVD sells for $19.98. . . .PROFESSOR DOWELL'S TESTAMENT is a Russian sci-fi film from 1984. A brilliant scientist's student uses his professor's scientific research on immortality for criminal purposes. The DVD sells for $29.99. . . . TALES FROM THE CRYPT - THE ROBERT ZEMECKIS COLLECTION is a collection of three episodes of the HBO show directed by the Oscar-winning director. First there's "And All Through the House," from 1989 with a psychotic killer who, dressed as Santa, escapes Christmas Eve and terrorizes a middle-class home where murder has already made a holiday appearance - a homicidal wife has plunged a fireplace poker into her husband's skull. Then there's, "Yellow," from 1991, when Kirk Douglas stars as a blood-and-thunder World War I general who discovers his son is a coward. Finally there's "You, Murderer," from 1995, in which Isabella Rossellini and John Lithgow costar as plotting lovers. It's a story of murder, double crosses, and poetic justice as seen through a dead man's eyes. This DVD sells for $14.98. . . . THE SIGN OF FOUR is a new version of this classic adventure that marked the second (of many times) that Holmes and Watson teamed up to solve a case. Matt Frewer ("Max Headroom") stars as Holmes in this 2001 version. A woman enlists the help of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson to investigate the truth behind her father's disappearance 10 years earlier and find out who is sending her single pearls in the mail every year on the same day. This VHS is $14.98. . . . SPAWN: THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION is a four-disc set of the animated series that aired on HBO between 1997 and 2001. All three seasons are featured as well as a bonus DVD-ROM with exclusive interviews and featurette. This DVD sells for $39.98. . . . SPLIT SECOND casts Rutger Hauer as a cop with a problem. In a futuristic London, the rising sea levels mean that large areas are under feet of water. Hauer plays a cop who previously lost his partner to some strange creature. Now the creature is back and its after him. The VHS is $9.94. . . .  STIR OF ECHOES stars Kevin Bacon who has been hypnotized by his sister-in-law. The unintended result is his receiving of a haunting visions of a girl's ghost and his compulsion to resolve the mystery involving her death. The movie was based on a novel by Richard Mathesson. The VHS is $9.98. . . . TALES FROM THE CRYPT: THE CRYPTKEEPER'S DOZEN is a collection of episodes from the HBO series. This 13-volume VHS collection sells for $69.92. . . . TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE 6-Pack is a collection of episodes from this eighties anthology series. The collection sells for $49.98. . . . TALES FROM THE HOOD, from 1995, is an anthology of five short vignettes which follow mostly black characters and encounters with the unknown. The VHS is $9.94. The DVD is $14.98. . . . JOHN CARPENTER'S THE THING come to VHS today. Scientists in the Antarctic are confronted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of the people it kills. The tape is $14.98. The DVD releases next week. . . . TOTAL RECALL stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as a man who discovers that the life that he thinks he's leading is a fabrication. The VHS is $9.98. . . . VIY (or SPIRIT OF EVIL) is a 1967 Russian movie based on a classic story from 19th century writer Nikolai Gogol. A theology student is forced to read scripture for a young woman who has died. What he doesn't know is, she is the devil's emissary on earth. Over the three nights of his mission, he's tempted and tormented by all the minions of hell. This DVD sells for $29.99. . . . WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?, from 1962, casts the volatile personalities of Bette Davis and Joan Crafword together. Baby Jane was a child star. When she grows up she is forgotten by the public. Instead her sister Blanche gets famous as a Hollywood actress. Blanche gets physically handicapped after a mysterious car accident. She lives in a room and Jane has to take care of Blanche. But Jane hates Blanche. The tension on the screen between the two leads wasn't entirely made up. During the production, Bette Davis had a Coke machine installed on the set to anger Joan Crawford. Crawford's late husband was an executive at Pepsi. The VHS is $14.95. The DVD sells for $19.98. . . . THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK stars Cher, Susan Serandon and Michelle Pfieffer who encounter the devil, in the form of Jack Nicholson. They discover that they can have their wishes granted - at a price. The VHS is $9.94. The DVD sells for $14.98. . . . .WOLFEN, from 1981, stars Albert Finney as a New York cop who investigates a series of brutal murders that resemble animal attacks. In his pursuit he learns of an Indian legend about wolf spirits. The VHS costs $9.94.

Sell through titles releasing 8/28: Today's a big day for Universal with their "Monster Madness promotion. They've got 70th anniversary re-isues of DRACULA and FRANKENSTEIN and a 60th anniversary edition of THE WOLF MAN. the VHS are $9.98. the DVD's are $24.98. They also have a big Abbott & Costello re-release. They have ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE, ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN, ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET THE INVISIBLE MAN and ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET THE MUMMY. The VHS are $9.98 each, or a 4-pack for $34.98. MEET FRANKENSTEIN and MEET THE MUMMY are available on DVD for $24.98 (MUMMY is making its DVD debut). Speaking of mummies, Universal has four of them coming your way. There's THE MUMMY'S HAND, THE MUMMY'S GHOST, THE MUMMY'S GHOST and THE MUMMY'S CURSE. They're available exclusively on VHS for $9.98 each. Finally, there will be six new DVD double features coming out. There's DRACULA'S DAUGHTER & SON OF DRACULA, GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN & SON OF FRANKENSTEIN, FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN & HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, THE MUMMY'S GHOST & THE MUMMY'S CURSE, THE MUMMY'S HAND & THE MUMMY'S TOMB and WEREWOLF OF LONDON & SHE WOLF OF LONDON. Each double feature DVD sells for $29.95. . . . To celebrate the 25th anniversary of MGM Home Entertainment they're re-releasing one of their biggest hits - CARRIE. You can pick up the VHS for $9.95 or go for the SPECIAL EDITION DVD. The disc will include the usual "making of" documentary, actors' interviews, director commentary and a Stephen King biography. The DVD sells for $19.98. They'll also be releasing two other Brian DePalma movies to DVD, DRESSED TO KILL and BLOW OUT. They'll both also be $19.98. . . . MGM also has an assortment of other vintage titles hitting the street today. There's THE HOWLING, PHANTASM: SPECIAL EDITION, THE AMITYVILLE HORROR, INVADERS FROM MARS, SPECIES, STIGMATA, CANDYMAN 2: FAREWELL TO THE FLESH, SCANNERS and KILLERS KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE. They're all being released on DVD for $14.98 each. . . . Under the banner of "ROGER CORMAN CLASSICS," four Corman-produced flicks get released today. HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP, THE NEST, THE TERROR WITHIN and THE UNBORN all get re-issued. The VHS are $9.98. The DVD's are $14.98. . . . It's "CHUCKY" Day today. We've got the original CHILD'S PLAY and the sequel, BRIDE OF CHUCKY SPECIAL EDITION, on VHS $9.98 and DVD for $24.98. . . . THE 6TH DAY is set in the not too distant future when cloning plants, pets and human organs is accepted, a sinister corporation has begun illegally duplicating entire human beings. They mistakenly clone the wrong man (Arnold Schwarzenegger), a man who is now the only one with the power to expose their evil. They desperately want to kill him, but he will do anything to reclaim his family and life. This VHS is $14.95. . . . BARON BLOOD is from Italian director Mario Bava. American student Peter Kleist travels to Austria on summer holiday to learn more about his family roots. By reciting an incantation on a piec