Malcolm Young

Malcolm Young, we salute you.

AC↯DC, laying waste to the chaste at the Myer Bowl, Melbourne, '76.

Umberto Lenzi

Addio to one of the great Italian genre auteurs - Umberto Lenzi. 

From the sublime (his gialli), to some of the most indefensible trash the Italian film industry ever produced (CANNIBAL FEROX), he tried his hand at just about every genre you can think of, and left his mark on all of them.

During the course of his prolific career, Lenzi lent his talents to sword & sandal epics, westerns, war movies, violent crime, espionage, sex comedies, thrillers and zombies. Along the way he managed to kick off the cannibal cycle with MAN FROM DEEP RIVER, and make one of the most hilariously goofy of the Italian DAWN OF THE DEAD knock-offs in NIGHTMARE CITY.

Like his peer Lucio Fulci, Lenzi epitomised the artistic elasticity that was so essential in keeping the Italian genre industry vital and vibrant throughout its golden years.

Harry Dean Stanton

Farewell to a great character actor, and another member of the Nostromo's crew. The title of the post below this is a quote from Brett, the character he portrayed in ALIEN, and today Harry Dean Stanton is gone. With 200 acting credits to his name, he worked with the likes of Carpenter, Scorsese, Coppola, Lynch, Wenders, and many, many more. He was one of a kind. Goodbye Mr. Stanton.

COOL HAND LUKE

TWO-LANE BLACKTOP

ALIEN

ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK

REPO MAN

PARIS, TEXAS

THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST

WILD AT HEART

TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME

FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS

TWIN PEAKS (2017)

Tobe Hooper

Farewell to another titan of horror. It's hard to believe we now live in a world without Tobe, Wes and George. Vale!

George A. Romero

I could write thousands of words on the life of George A. Romero, but frankly I'm feeling too gutted to put the words together. His influence on horror, on cinema, is inestimable. His influence on me personally since 1979 has been profound.

Cultural iconoclast. Cinematic maverick. Rebel. Romero's films held a mirror up to the western world, encouraging us to reflect on and examine some of our ugliest problems: greed, xenophobia, social injustice, militancy, and nationalism. In his life and work he was fiercely independent, never compromising his values, toiling to the end outside of the corporate studio system that he railed against.

And the man was quintessentially cool, a quality that saturates his entire filmography. Countless imitators have tried to equal the badass chemistry of Peter, Roger, Fran and Stephen, but only Romero could have created an elite squad of apocalyptic survivors as perfectly cool as that foursome.

In 1968 the release of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD heralded the modern era of horror cinema. The father of that epoch is gone, but his legacy lives on in every film, every shot, every frame of the genre that he was so instrumental in shaping.

Bill Paxton

Just a month after the death of the Executive Officer of the Nostromo, today we farewell a crew member of the USS Sulaco, Private First Class William Hudson.

Although almost exclusively a supporting actor, Bill Paxton really was a titan of genre cinema. He was after all the only actor ever to be killed by a Terminator, an Alien and a Predator.

He began his career toiling behind the scenes for Roger Corman's New World Pictures, in between picking up roles and bit parts in the likes of 1983's MORTUARY and Walter Hill's STREETS OF FIRE. During this time, while working as a set decorator on GALAXY OF TERROR, Paxton befriended a young production designer by the name of James Cameron. A few years later Cameron cast his friend as a switchblade wielding punk in THE TERMINATOR, and the rest, as they say, is history. As well as his continuing work with Cameron, and memorable roles for John Hughes, Kathryn Bigelow and Sam Raimi, Paxton ventured behind the camera himself in 2001, to direct the critically acclaimed FRAILTY.


THE TERMINATOR

WEIRD SCIENCE

ALIENS

NEAR DARK

PREDATOR 2

TOMBSTONE

APOLLO 13 

A SIMPLE PLAN

FRAILTY

EDGE OF TOMORROW

NIGHTCRAWLER

John Hurt

The first crew member of the Nostromo to encounter H.R. Giger's nightmare (in Ash's words, the alien is "Kane's son"), is now the first member of that wonderful ensemble of actors to leave us.

John Hurt was the quintessential character actor. With over 200 credits to his name, and working right up until the end (he'll appear in no less than four movies due out this year), his career spans every genre and a veritable who's who of directors. Imbuing all of his roles with intelligence, dignity and a delicate subtlety of expression, you could always be sure that whatever film he appeared in would be elevated by his presence. I'll miss him greatly.

10 RILLINGTON PLACE

MIDNIGHT EXPRESS

ALIEN

THE ELEPHANT MAN

1984

DEAD MAN

CONTACT

HELLBOY

THE PROPOSITION

V FOR VENDETTA

MELANCHOLIA

TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY

ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE

SNOWPIERCER