News

Mel Brooks, who directed Teri Garr in the iconic 1974 comedy Young Frankenstein, remembered the actor upon her death Tuesday, recalling Garr’s talent and spirit.

“So very sorry to hear about Teri Garr’s passing,” Brooks said in a statement on social media. “She was so talented and so funny. Her humor and lively spirit made the Young Frankenstein set a pleasure to work on. Her ‘German’ accent had us all in stitches! She will be greatly missed.”

Garr was a standout in a film filled with standouts. She played Inga, the German lab assistant to the visiting American Dr. Frederick Frankenstein, played of course by Gene Wilder. As the seemingly ditsy — “seemingly” being the operative word — Inga, Garr employed a rather ersatz German accent, hence Brooks’ quote marks around the word.

Mel Brooks, Teri Garr and Cloris Leachman at the 40th anniversary celebration of ‘Young Frankenstein...

We’re sad to report that Teri Garr, the gifted actress who starred in such classic films as Tootsie, Young Frankenstein, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, has passed away at 79. According to her publicist, Heidi Schaeffer, Garr died of multiple sclerosis after struggling with health issues in recent years. She passed away on Tuesday, leaving a legacy behind that shines like she did on the silver screen.

Garr began her Hollywood journey with minor roles in Elvis Presley movies during the 1960s. She appeared in films like Viva Las Vegas and Roustabout and also in Pajama Party, which starred Annette Funicello, Tommy Kirk, and Elsa Lanchester. Garr appears in various classic TV series, such as Star Trek, Batman, That Girl, Mayberry, It Takes a Thief, Room 222, and more. Regardless of her role, Garr stood out, destined to climb the Hollywood ladder with show-stopping performances in major motion pictures around the corner.

Teri Garr, who scored an Oscar nomination for Tootsie, starred opposite Gene Wilder in Mel Brooks’ classic horror spoof Young Frankenstein and played Richard Dreyfuss’ put-upon wife in Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind, died Tuesday. She was 79.

Her publicist Heidi Schaeffer told The Associated Press that Garr died of multiple sclerosis after struggling with health issues in recent years.

Garr got her start with bit parts in a number of 1960s Elvis Presley movies, including Viva Las Vegas and Roustabout and appeared in the 1964 Annette Funicello romp Pajama Party. She continued to land small movie roles throughout the decade and also appeared in episodes of classic TV series Star Trek, That Girl, Mayberry R.F.D., It Takes a Thief and Room 222.

In the early ’70s, she recurred on The Sonny and Cher Hour and guested on M*A*S*H, The Odd Couple, The Bob Newhart Show,...

Gene Wilder’s giddy brilliance is backed by a tremendous supporting cast and only a few gags lumber as the film is re-released for its 50th anniversary

Mel Brooks’s outrageously broad and deliriously silly black-and-white comedy, co-written with its neurotically bequiffed star Gene Wilder, is re-released for its 50th anniversary. Their lovingly observed 1974 movie is closer in time to the 1931 James Whale/Boris Karloff classic – whose lab equipment props Brooks actually re-used – than we are now to this film. In some ways it can now be considered not as satire or spoof, but a continuation of the Frankenstein genre, a connoisseur development or theme-variation not so far removed from the Hammer or Warhol riffs, and a whole lot more successful and intuitive than Kenneth Branagh’s deadly serious, deadly dull treatment from 1994 with Robert De Niro as the creature. Interestingly, though Wilder said that Young Frankenstein is based on...

Mel Brooks’s Young Frankenstein, co-written with Gene Wilder (seen here with Marty Feldman and Teri Garr) inspired Tony McNamara’s screenplay adaptation of Alasdair Gray’s novel for Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things (Oscar wins for Emma Stone and costume designer Holly Waddington).

By using well-chosen excerpts from the audiobook of Gene Wilder’s autobiography, Kiss Me Like A Stranger, Ron Frank lets Wilder himself guide us through the documentary, by positioning him in dialogue with many friends and colleagues assembled here, most prominently Mel Brooks, who directed Wilder in a number of groundbreaking movies. We find out how the two met, because Anne Bancroft, starring at the time on stage in Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage (with Wilder as the Chaplain), was dating Brooks, who was looking for an actor to play Leo Bloom in what was to become The Producers. The two men clicked, as they both recall,...

Quentin Tarantino is one of the most influential and distinctive filmmakers of our time. His movies are known for their stylish violence, witty dialogue, eclectic soundtracks, and homages to various genres and eras of cinema. He has also been vocal about his admiration for other filmmakers and their works, often citing them as inspirations or influences for his own projects.

In a recent interview, Tarantino revealed his list of seven perfect movies that he considers flawless and masterful in every aspect. He said that these movies are “the ones that I go, ‘Ok, this is as good as a movie can get.’ And I don’t think I can do any better than that.”

CineArticles decided to rank these seven perfect movies according to their own criteria and preferences. Here is their list, from the least to the most perfect movie picked by Tarantino:

7. The Wild Bunch (1969) The Wild Bunch...

Broken Lizard, the five-man comedy troupe which formed in 1990 at a fraternity on the upstate New York campus of preppy Colgate University, have been stoner icons since the very first scene of their 2001 breakout hit “Super Troopers.” That’s when Jay Chandrasekhar’s mustachioed Vermont cop Lieutenant Arcot “Thorny” Ramathorn pulls over a car full of potheads and proceeds to terrorize and freak them out.

Like they did in 2018 with “Super Troopers 2,” their newest film, “Quasi,” a reimagining of Victor Hugo’s “Hunchback of Notre Dame,” is a no-holds-barred, scatological combination of “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” crossed with Mel Brooks’ “Robin Hood: Men in Tights.” It premieres today — April 20 — as a Hulu Original through Fox Searchlight.

Boasting their own cannabis brand, Smokin’ Lizard, Chandrasekhar notes, “When we get high with friends like Willie Nelson and Snoop Dogg, they take it seriously enough to try to smoke us...

Which is Mel Brooks's best movie: "Blazing Saddles" or "Young Frankenstein?" "Blazing Saddles" has social relevancy, fart jokes, and a truly bonkers final act. But "Young Frankenstein" has neighing horses, rolling in the hay, "Putting on the Ritz," and the most excruciating meal of soup in the history of cinema. Every scene in "Young Frankenstein" is gangbusters, and every lowbrow gag sings. The movie even looks pretty good, emulating the expressionist appeal of James Whale's original "Frankenstein" films. Brooks went on to make many more features, including "Spaceballs," but, for me, none live up to the simple pleasures of "Young Frankenstein."

There's one small catch though, which is that "Young Frankenstein" didn't actually begin with Brooks. The seed of the film was planted by none other than the actor Gene Wilder. Brooks had earlier invited Wilder to star in "The Producers," where he played the aspiring producer, Leo Bloom.

Click here to read the full article.

May Routh, the fashion illustrator turned renowned costume designer who brought iconic looks to such films as The Man Who Fell to Earth, My Favorite Year and Being There, has died. She was 87.

Routh died peacefully June 1 at her home in Los Angeles, set decorator and family spokesperson Bryony Foster told The Hollywood Reporter.

Routh also did several projects with director John Frankenheimer, starting with the acclaimed 1996 Civil War-set Andersonville and followed by another TNT miniseries, 1997’s George Wallace, starring Gary Sinise as the Alabama governor, and the big-screen action thrillers Ronin (1998) and Reindeer Games (2000).

Routh received Emmy nominations for her work on Andersonville and the 1991 CBS telefilm Lucy & Desi: Before the Laughter, starring Frances Fisher and Maurice Benard.

She earned her first screen credit as a costume designer on Nicolas Roeg‘s The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976), starring David Bowie as...

British comedian Barry Cryer, who wrote for sketch shows including ‘The Two Ronnies’ and ‘Morecambe and Wise,’ died on Tuesday in London, his family have confirmed. He was 86.

No cause of death has been released.

Cryer was a veteran of British television and radio. Born in Yorkshire, he originally began his career as a variety performer.

According to the BBC, broadcaster Sir David Frost spotted him on stage and invited him to work on his shows, including “The Frost Report” alongside writers John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Marty Feldman.

He would eventually go on to work on a number of beloved television and radio programmes including “Hello, Cheeky!,” “The Two Ronnies” and “Morecambe and Wise.”

He also wrote for dozens of famous comedians such as Bob Hope, Joan Rivers and Tommy Cooper.

Last month, Cryer launched a podcast with his son Bob, an actor and writer, interviewing many of his well-known friends including Stephen Fry,...

“I am not a Frankenstein. I’m a Fronkensteen!”

We Are Movie Geeks’ own Jim Batts will be hosting a screening of one of his favorite films. It’s Mel Brooks’ classic comedy Young Frankenstein from 1974. The screening will beMonday October 4th at the Buder branch of the St. Louis Library. Showtime is 1:30pm and it’s a Free event. Jim will introduce the film and host a post-discussion about it afterwards. Don’t miss it!

Good comedies are rare. Great ones are rarer. Great parodies are needles in the haystack, and this is it. The parody can be brilliantly funny (most are horrid), but Young Frankenstein is near perfect.

Mel Brooks hit all nails right on the head in his black & white classic from 1974. Taking its themes from the Mary Shelley novel and providing some spot-on homage/parody to the James Whale classic Bride Of Frankenstein (and plenty...

At least “Tom and Jerry” never pretends to be something that it isn’t. From the opening sounds of the new feature-length adaptation of the classic cartoon, it’s readily apparent what audiences are in for. The hook from the beginning of A Tribe Called Quest’s “Can I Kick It?” plays over the baffling new Warner Bros. water tower intro and before you know it, an animated pigeon is lip-syncing to Q-Tip.

There’s little in the following hour and forty minutes that shows any more sense of purpose, a hodgepodge of story and sight gags that goes together about as well as its attempts at combining live action and animation. It’s a “Tom and Jerry” movie that, for some reason, opts to focus on a pair of fictional Instagram celebrities and the ins and outs of hotel administration, whether or not the computer-generated cat and mouse implied...

Disney Plus has added a content disclaimer to the beginning of 18 episodes of “The Muppet Show,” which started streaming on the platform on Friday.

“This program includes negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures. These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now,” the disclaimer reads. “Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together.”

The disclaimer has been added to a total of 18 episodes throughout the show’s five seasons, including those guest hosted by Jim Nabors, Joel Grey, Steve Martin, Peter Sellers, Cleo Laine, James Coco, Spike Milligan, Crystal Gayle, Kenny Rogers, Beverly Sills, Jonathan Winters, Alan Arkin, James Coburn, Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, Debbie Harry, Wally Boag and Marty Feldman. The label has been added to each episode for a different reason; but for example, during Cash’s episode,...

Award-winning actress Cloris Leachman’s work ethic and versatility were only exceeded by her love of basking in the showbiz spotlight. The legacy she leaves her fans after dying this week at the age of 94 is immense, as is her share of trophies that she earned over the course of her career that continued up to 2020.

Her path to fame started when she was a Miss America contestant in 1946 as Miss Illinois. That led to a scholarship under Elia Kazan at the Actors Studio in New York City. She would make her film debut in Robert Aldrich’s disturbing film noir in which private eye Mike Hammer gives a lift to Leachman’s hitchhiker Christina, who has escaped a mental hospital wearing only a trench coat. She is duly tortured to death by a gang of men and her demise haunts the rest of the movie.

She paid her dues...

Pop-eyed Brit comic Marty Feldman directs and stars in this wacky spoof chosen from a list of titles to which Universal owned the remake rights. Taken away from him and completely recut by the studio, it nevertheless ended up a critical and financial success. When the New York Times published a rave review, Feldman wrote a long letter to the critic telling him he was wrong. Apologies for the low picture quality of this transfer.

The post The Last Remake of Beau Geste appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

Barry Levinson knows from comedy. He began his career writing for Marty Feldman, Carol Burnett and Mel Brooks. Then brought us “Diner,” “Good Morning Vietnam” and one of my favorites, the dark and prescient “Wag The Dog.” So when he says a new film about a Palestinian soap opera is funny, I believe him. He hosted a recent industry screening in Manhattan’s Landmark Theater for “Tel Aviv On Fire.” How do you get a legendary writer and director to support your film? Mail it to him. “I was sent a screener to take a look at and I thought it was really fascinating,” he revealed. “And I thought the approach to the issues of the region were done in a way that’s so unexpected and so humanistic I was just quite taken by it.”

SEEOscar Best Director Gallery: Every Winner In Academy Award History

The comedy set in...

It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly 50 years since the founding of the comedy troupe that gave us Silly Walks, Dead Parrots, Hell’s Grannies, the Argument Clinic and Sam Peckinpah’s Salad Days, to name only a few of the classic Monty Python sketches, but as with other great comedy artists, from Laurel and Hardy to Chaplin, Keaton, Abbott and Costello and Lewis and Martin, there’s something timeless about the truly ridiculous in the hands of the truly brilliant.

One of the founders of the Python troupe, Eric Idle, aided and abetted his colleagues, John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam, in their wonderful five-year run on the BBC as well as in their classic films such as “Life of Brian,” “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” and “Meaning of Life.”

Idle has also carved his own spectacularly funny way through the world of show business,...

We lost Madeline Kahn, a farceur extraordinaire, far too soon. And her list of film appearances, especially ones that fully showcase her unique comedic talents, is tragically short. But thank goodness for that marvelously mad Mel Brooks for letting her loose in a quartet of some of the most gut-bustingly funny female performances in cinematic history.

Kahn, who passed away at age 57 in 1999, would have celebrated her 76th birthday on September 29. What better way to salute her legacy on the big screen than to recall the two-time Oscar nominee’s 12 greatest movies, ranked from worst to best. Our photo gallery above includes “Blazing Saddles,” “What’s Up, Doc?” and “Young Frankenstein.”

SEEWhich 15 People Have the Egot?

12. History Of The World, Part 1 (1981)

There is a reason that there never was a “Part 2.” This slapdash episodic burlesque of eras past ranging from the Stone Age to the Spanish Inquisition finds Kahn as...

“We belong…Dead!”

Please join Washington University’s Film and Media Studies and the Center for the Humanities as they celebrate the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein with a free screening of Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Young Frankenstein (1974). The event takes place at Brown Hall, Room 100, Washington University in St. Louis Friday October 20th, 2017 at 7.00 pm. This is a Free event and there will be free popcorn and soda there as well.

Two hundred years have passed since Mary Shelley, the British novelist and dramatist, published her novel Frankenstein. Since that moment, her creation has not only caused a big impact in the literary world, but also in cinema, an art that was not even alive when the monster was born. In celebration of Frankenstein’s upcoming birthday, Film and Media Studies and the Center for the Humanities at Washington University in St. Louis is organizing a free...

Jenny Morrill Feb 20, 2017

Round The Horne is touring around the UK. We went. We laughed. A lot.

New Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham

2017 sees another run of the Round The Horne 50th anniversary tour by the Apollo Theatre Company, where the classic Radio 4 show is brought to life by a brilliantly authentic cast of voice actors.

If you've never heard Round The Horne, you're missing a staple of British comedy. The show ran from 1965-1968, and pushed the boundaries of acceptable humour with its blend of double entendres, camp comedy and general silliness.

The staple cast included Kenneth Horne, Betty Marsden, Hugh Paddick, Kenneth Williams, and announcer Douglas Smith. Smith's involvement is made funnier in contrast to his other well known role as a Radio 4 announcer. The original show featured musical accompaniment by Edwin Braden and the Hornblowers, and later The Max Harris Group. For the anniversary show, musical and sound effect...

Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher will be buried among many other famous stars at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles.

Reynolds’s son and Fisher’s younger brother Todd Fisher told ABC’s 20/20 that he is planning a joint service with Billie Lourd, 24, his niece and Fisher’s daughter. According to Todd, his mother and sister will be buried “among friends,” at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.

Fisher, 60, was aboard an 11-hour flight from London to Los Angeles on Friday, Dec. 23, when she went into cardiac arrest. She later died that following Tuesday in the hospital. Reynolds died a...

“I am not a Frankenstein. I’m a Fronkensteen!”

Young Frankenstein plays this weekend (October 7th and 8th) at the Tivoli as part of their Reel Late at the Tivoli Midnight series.

Good comedies are rare. Great ones are rarer. Great parodies are needles in the haystack, and this is it. The parody can be brilliantly funny (most are horrid), but Young Frankenstein is near perfect.

Mel Brooks hit all nails right on the head in his black & white classic from 1974. Taking its themes from the Mary Shelley novel and providing some spot-on homage/parody to the James Whale classic Bride Of Frankenstein (and plenty of references to Son Of Frankenstein as well), Young Frankenstein is a breathless laugh and a half. In a weak comedy, you have the entire cast setting up one character for the laughs. Here, you have every character providing humor in every scene. None more...

Are Will & Grace — and Jack and Karen — with her, too?

The late NBC comedy’s four Emmy-winning stars — Eric McCormack, Debra Messing, Sean Hayes and Megan Mullally — recently reprised their signature roles for a top-secret project, and evidence suggests Hillary Clinton may somehow be involved.

Over the weekend, the quartet — all of whom are vocal Hrc supporters — began teasing the sorta-revival on social media, posting a smattering of images (including the one above) of themselves on what appeared to be a recreation of the series’ iconic set. And then on Monday, McCormack unveiled a teaser clip that included the politically-tinged message,...

The world lost one of its great sources of laughter and joy with the recent passing of Gene Wilder, but his legacy will live on through his wonderful work, including 1974's Young Frankenstein, which is returning to theaters for one night only this fall.

To honor Wilder's extraordinary life, Fathom Events and 20th Century Fox are teaming up to bring Young Frankenstein back to the big screen in over 400 Us theaters on Wednesday, October 5th. The special screening will include a new introduction from Young Frankenstein co-writer/director Mel Brooks, who was one of Wilder's dearest friends.

Additionally, on October 18th, Hachette Books' Black Dog & Leventhal imprint will release a new hardcover book, Young Frankenstein: A Mel Brooks Book: The Making of the Film.

To see if Young Frankenstein will be playing in a theater near you, visit the Fathom Events website. We have the official press release below...

Gene Wilder 1933 -2016

In all likelihood, the events of this past week probably didn’t offer any more or less sadness and pain to be distributed among willing and unwilling recipients, a.k.a. all of us currently participating in the game of Life. It’s a strange, unsettling time to bear status as a citizen of the world, wherever it is in that world one happens to call home. But speaking as only one of billions buffeted about by the weirdness of a human condition in which terrorism has started to feel commonplace, and in which the policies of political campaigns are used as flimsy opportunities to stir fear, prejudice and an increasingly volatile mythology of helpless American victimization at the hands of hordes of murderous invaders, the sorrow contained in this past week crested perhaps a little higher than might have even been expected.

Gene Wilder had been...

The sad news for fans of film comedy spread like wildfire earlier this week. Here’s the opening paragraph facts from the New York Times:

Gene Wilder, who established himself as one of America’s foremost comic actors with his delightfully neurotic performances in three films directed by Mel Brooks; his eccentric star turn in the family classic “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”; and his winning chemistry with Richard Pryor in the box-office smash “Stir Crazy,” died early Monday morning at his home in Stamford, Conn. He was 83.

A nephew, the filmmaker Jordan Walker-Pearlman, confirmed his death in a statement, saying the cause was complications of Alzheimer’s disease.

Mr. Wilder’s rule for comedy was simple: Don’t try to make it funny; try to make it real. “I’m an actor, not a clown,” he said more than once.

And what an actor. That’s from the...

Here is a photo gallery focusing on the career of Gene Wilder, who died Sunday. The revered comic actor starred in such inarguable classics as The Producers, Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein and worked alongside such comedy greats as Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, Richard Pryor (four times), Wilder’s wife Gilda Radner, Madeleine Kahn, Cloris Leachman, Marty Feldman and Charles Grodin — and even with the likes of Donald Sutherland and…...

Public sightings of iconic actor Gene Wilder are as rare these days as public sightings of Willy Wonka (or Arthur Halliday). Three years ago, the retiree spoke with Robert Osborne at the 92nd Street Y in New York City in a rare public appearance. He discussed filming Mel Brooks classics like “Young Frankenstein” and “The Producers,” making Willy Wonka into his own and the state of modern Hollywood (including remakes of his own films!). The results will make you wish you could see Wilder back on the big screen.

Read More: We Miss You! Our Favorite Hypothetical Comebacks

It’s safe to assume Wilder has an old sensibility towards the industry. In this talk, he touches on his dislike for profanity in today’s films (“When they’re swearing… can’t they just stop and talk? Instead of swearing?”), confusion over what a podcast is (“Would I come on your what?...

Louisa Mellor Jul 1, 2016

Not every artist is happy to have their song featured in a particular TV show or film. Here are 17 times the rights were refused...

It's not only political campaigns that inspire musical artists to exercise the power of veto on the use of their songs. For reasons of finance, reputation, ego, taste and more, the following TV shows and films weren't able to secure the use of the recordings they originally sought...

Frank Sinatra – Goodfellas

This Express piece quotes an Empire Magazine interview with Martin Scorsese’s long-time editor Thelma Schoonmaker in which she relates how the original plan was to have Frank Sinatra’s original recording of My Way play over the end credits of modern gangster classic Goodfellas instead of the Sid Vicious cover that was eventually used.

“Sinatra would never let Marty use his music,” explains Schoonmaker, “which is too bad because Marty may...

Martin Short brought back beloved character Jiminy Glick for the premiere of NBC’s “Maya and Marty” on Tuesday, in which the notoriously bad interviewer sat down with Larry David. Glick asked David about his time on the short-lived comedy series “Fridays,” and then asked the comedian if he played a curmudgeon on that show like he does on every other show. David responded by telling Glick that he is much thinner in real life than he looks on TV. After a few more terrible questions, David started to get visibly angry. Glick asked him if his anger is based on the fact that he.

Maya Rudolph and Martin Short came in like a wrecking ball on Tuesday with the debut of their new variety show Maya & Marty on NBC. Was it the best time ever or the biggest loser?

RelatedThe Voice: 8 Easy Fixes to Stop the NBC Juggernaut’s Ratings Slide

The new variety hour (whose title fails to mention third cast member Kenan Thompson) featured special guests Bernie Sanders Larry David, Tom Hanks, Miley Cyrus, Kate McKinnon, Steve Martin, Jimmy Fallon and the cast of Broadway’s Shuffle Along for a debut episode that felt an awful lot like Saturday Night Live...

Join us for some old-school 16mm Movie Madness! – It’s our monthly 16Mm Double Feature Night at The Way Out Club (2525 Jefferson Avenue in St. Louis) ! Join We Are Movie Geeks‘ Tom Stockman and Roger from “Roger’s Reels’ for a double feature of two complete films projected on 16mm film. The show is Tuesday June 7th and starts at 8pm. Admission is Free though we will be setting out a jar to take donations for theNational Children’s Cancer Society.

First up is Young Frankenstein

Mel Brooks hit all nails right on the head in his black & white classic from 1974. Taking its themes from the Mary Shelley novel and providing some spot-on homage/parody to the James Whale classic Bride Of Frankenstein (and plenty of references to Son Of Frankenstein as well), Young Frankenstein is a breathless laugh and a half. In a weak comedy, you have the entire...

It takes approximately two minutes of speaking to Andrew Dice Clay before he starts a routine. "I was just in New York," he says in the same stentorian, street-tough voice that narrated his filthiest nursery rhymes at a sold-out Madison Square Garden in 1990. "It was so cold. I hate fuckin' bundling up, like. You know how you got to do it – the fuckin' scarf with the hat and the bullshit. But, you know, I love New York. I'm a Brooklyn boy."

Dice is now home in L.A. where it's...

The Frankenstein Monster is arguably the greatest monster in all fiction. There have been a few genuinely excellent films made about him, but all too many of them are pretty bad. While the latest attempt in Victor Frankenstein falls flat, Cinelinx looks at the film history of Frankenstein to see which of them worked and which of them didn’t.

The Frankenstein Monster was the invention of 18 year old Mary Shelly (wife of poet Percy Shelly) who was vacationing in Switzerland with her husband, their close friend Lord Byron and John Polidori. Incessant rain left them housebound and reading ghost stories to each other. This led to a challenge from Byron, daring them all to create the scariest story ever told. Mary Shelly seemed outclassed by her literary companions until she heard legends of a crazy scientist named Conrad Dipple who performed illegal experiments using parts of dead bodies and electricity.

Daniel Radcliffe and James McAvoy make for an unlikely yet extremely likable pairing in Victor Frankenstein, which transforms Mary Shelley's dark novel into a cheeky action-adventure picture. On the face of it, the idea of making Igor the hero is ridiculous. Since James Whale's famed adaptation of the source material in 1931, Dr. Frankenstein's assistant has been portrayed as a hunchbacked man, in my mind most memorably played by Marty Feldman in Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein. In fact, the character does not appear in Shelley's novel, and so writer Max Landis -- properly credited for both screen story and screenplay -- conjures up a nameless, severely hunchbacked man who has been raised in a circus in the latter part of the 19th century. The man...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe star in the latest clip from director Paul McGuigan’s Victor Frankenstein.

Radical scientist Victor Frankenstein (McAvoy) and his equally brilliant protégé Igor Strausman (Radcliffe) share a noble vision of aiding humanity through their groundbreaking research into immortality. But Victor’s experiments go too far, and his obsession has horrifying consequences. Only Igor can bring his friend back from the brink of madness and save him from his monstrous creation.

Victor Frankenstein is a “Frankenstein” movie unlike any other. While inspired by Mary Shelley’s classic novel and the countless interpretations of that story, screenwriter Max Landis’ “regeneration” focuses on the relationship between Victor and his best friend and assistant Igor.

Did you know Igor was not a character in Mary Shelley’s book and that he didn’t appear in most of the subsequent film interpretations? Actor Dwight Frye’s hunchbacked lab assistant in...

By and large, almost every feature film, play or anime that’s been released concerning Mary Shelley’s indelible literary legend focuses on the creation of the monster itself, and while that’s still true to a certain degree in Paul McGuigan’s soon-to-be-released supernatural feature, Victor Frankenstein is as much about the core dynamic between James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe’s leading duo as anything else.

Scripted by Chronicle scribe Max Landis, the aforementioned pairing will assume the roles of Victor and his brilliant but reclusive protégé Igor Strausman, respectively, who set out to defy the laws of nature and resurrect the dead. It’s a dark and slightly horrifying idea, but one that promises to pay off for the all who are involved.

Recently, during the film’s press day, we caught up with Radcliffe for an exclusive interview. During the course of our discussion, the actor spoke...

Daniel Radcliffe is beloved by millions, smart, unassuming, humble, verbose, and clear-headed about his fame. Fans will be relieved to know that he narrowly escaped being trampled by zebras and eaten by lions on the set of "Victor Frankenstein," in which he plays Igor, the hapless right-hand man to Dr. Victor Frankenstein in Mary Shelley's classic novel. The movie is a prequel of sorts. It is not about the monster, birthed from the reassembled parts of human corpses, but rather about the early relationship that develops between Frankenstein and his deformed assistant, not to mention a young trapeze artist played by "Downton Abbey" star Jessica Brown Findlay. Way back in 2014, I toured the set of the film at London's Shepperton Studios; during my visit they were shooting an early scene that at the circus, before Frankenstein takes Igor under his wing and removes his hump in a gruesome on-screen procedure (okay,...

Coming this Halloween is the new film Scouts Guide To The Zombie Apocalypse. Part comedy, part horror, director Christopher Landon’s latest movie has Scouts saving the world from the Undead. Landon says audiences will be “screaming and laughing their heads off. This movie is an amusement park ride.”

What’s better than the mashup of comedy and horror to get you shrieking in fear! Just like a Reese’s cup – peanut butter and chocolate – the two just go together. Making scary themes into funny romps, while doing it cleverly, is a hard act to pull off. The films that have done it well have become part of the zeitgeist with fans of both genres.

Before you catch Scouts vs Zombies, check out our list of the funniest horror films.

Zombieland

Tallahassee: My mama always told me someday I’d be good at something. Who’d a guessed that something’d be zombie-killing?...

Local fiends! The B&B Theatres in Wildwood, Mo is hosting a program called Retro Fright Nights starting this Thursday, October 8th with Young Frankenstein. To celebrate these repertory screenings we have some vouchers to give away!!

Fill out the forms below for the respective screenings and we’ll notify you the Wednesday before the show to let you know if you won!

Young Frankenstein – October 8th at 4pm & 7pm

Synopsis:

(1974) Respected medical lecturer Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (Gene Wilder) learns that he has inherited his infamous grandfather’s estate in Transylvania. Arriving at the castle, Dr. Frankenstein soon begins to recreate his grandfather’s experiments with the help of servants Igor (Marty Feldman), Inga (Teri Garr) and the fearsome Frau Blücher (Cloris Leachman). After he creates his own monster (Peter Boyle), new complications ensue with the arrival of the doctor’s fiancée, Elizabeth (Madeline Kahn).

Contest Closed For This Screening...

Before you see the new Victor Frankenstein movie this Thanksgiving, see the original 1974 classic – Young Frankenstein!

Mel Brooks’ monstrously crazy tribute to Mary Shelley’s classic pokes hilarious fun at just about every Frankenstein movie ever made. Summoned by a will to his late grandfather’s castle in Transylvania, young Dr. Frankenstein (Gene Wilder) soon discovers the scientist’s step-by-step manual explaining how to bring a corpse to life. Assisted by the hunchback Igor (Marty Feldman) and the curvaceous Ings (Teri Garr), he creates a monster (Peter Boyle) who only wants to be loved.

Young Frankenstein will be playing for one night only this Thursday, October 8th at the B&B Wildwood 10! Retro Night showtimes are at 4pm and 7pm and tickets are only $5.

Get yours today at bbtheatres.com

Wamg is giving away free pass vouchers for the show.

Answer the following:

Which Irving Berlin song is sung by Dr.

Read More: Watch:'#Tbt The Funniest Part of 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail' Isn't in 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail' This Friday marks the launch of the Radio Times Festival in London. This year is an exciting one for Monty Python fans, as it marks the first chance to see the British comedy program that inspired it all, one that hasn't been seen since its original broadcast, 48 years ago. Last year, BFI rediscovered two episodes of the much-loved and highly influential comedy series, "At Last the 1948 Show." An anonymous member of the public has just come forward with a further two episodes starring John Cleese, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Marty Feldman, Graham Chapman, Bill Oddie, Eric Idle and “the lovely” Aimi Macdonald. One of the discoveries -- Episode 3, of the first series of "At Last the 1948 Show," which was only ever seen on March 1, 1967 -- will be screened at the Radio Times Festival at.

From spoofs to point-and-click adventure games, here are 10 of the most memorable unusual incarnations of Sherlock Holmes...

We don’t know a great deal about the content of the 90-minute Sherlock special set to air later this year, but one thing has emerged from the set photos and tantalising titbits of information we’ve seen so far. Sherlock Holmes and John Watson will be in nineteenth-century garb, pitching them back into the setting of the legendary detective’s original adventures: 1895, to be precise. Why that happens is as yet unclear, but all will be revealed.

For those still craving their Holmes fix in the meantime, the new film Mr. Holmes offers us Ian McKellen’s take on the character, musing upon an old case as he looks back on his long career from the vantage point of retirement. Jonny Lee Miller’s ultra-modern, Us-based Sherlock will be entering his fourth...

47 years on, some thought-lost pre-Monty Python John Cleese/Graham Chapman sketches have been found…

At Last The 1948 Show was a sketch comedy programme with John Cleese and Graham Chapman. Contrary to the name, it aired from 1967 to 1968. Predating Monty Python, this is where the immortal phrase ‘and now for something completely different’ was first uttered.

Two episodes, lost since their initial broadcast, have now been found. They turned up in the archive of the late, great David Frost, whose company produced the show. The BFI have assured us that the episodes will be aired again in due course.

Rediscovering some the first screen performances for the men who go on to build such a whopping cultural legacy can only be a good thing, and the BFI are understandably thrilled. Further fantastic comic talent also starred in the programme, namely Tim Brooke-Taylor, Aimi MacDonald and Marty Feldman.

Dick Fiddy from...

The BFI has confirmed that two lost episodes of pre-Monty Python sketch show At Last the 1948 Show have been re-discovered.

The first and last-ever episodes of At Last the 1948 Show were recently discovered on reels of 16mm film in the private collection of the late David Frost.

Frost executive produced the ITV sketch show in 1967 and 1968, with future Python members John Cleese and Graham Chapman, Marty Feldman, future Goodie Tim Brooke-Taylor and Aimi MacDonald in the cast.

Cleese will be presenting the episodes at BFI Southbank in London on Sunday, December 7 as part of the BFI's annual Missing Believed Wiped. These shows have not been seen in full since their original broadcasts.

BFI television consultant Dick Fiddy said: "This latest recovery is a crucial find. It represents a key moment in the history of British television comedy featuring the combined talents of some of its greatest exponents.

"These gifted comedians,...

Some of you might be asking: why do I care what Daniel Radcliffe, Harry Potter, has to say about Frankenstein? He, person who doesn't know, is playing Igor in 20th Century Fox's take on a prequel to Mary Shelly's novel that focuses on the relationship between James McAvoy's Victor Frankenstein and Igor, his assistant.

Empire talked to Radcliffe about the role:

The character maybe lost a little intellectual freight with Marty Feldman’s portrayal of him as a boggle-eyed lunatic in Mel Brooks’ hilarious Young Frankenstein (“It’s pronounced ‘I-gor’!”), so Radcliffe’s version will probably be a little closer to what Shelley intended.“There is that physicality,” he stressed of Igor’s famous hunchback, “but the story this time around is told through his eyes. He’s granted more of a story than he has been before. It’s an equal partnership where one of them is trying to be dominant,...

Photo: Marco VitturWith his quirky drama Horns just around the corner, Daniel Radcliffe stopped by to chat movie things with Empire. With his Seb Coe movie Gold currently in a holding pattern, the current Rad-slate is dominated by 20th Century Fox’s new take on Mary Shelley’s weird scientist, Victor Frankenstein. Radcliffe, who plays Igor (or Ygor), bills it as “a real adventure at its heart, a fun movie” while stressing that there’s brains to go with the brawn. “[It’s] very smart in terms of the ideas it’s discussing, [which is] a rare combination for a huge movie.”Igor, of course, is Frankenstein’s (James McAvoy) factotum. The character maybe lost a little intellectual freight with Marty Feldman’s portrayal of him as a boggle-eyed lunatic in Mel Brooks’ hilarious Young Frankenstein (“It’s pronounced ‘I-gor’!”), so Radcliffe’s version will probably be a little closer to what Shelley intended.

We finally have a poster for Tim Burton's Big Eyes. Herewith some thoughts as they came to me.

• "Visionary Director" would be so much more impressive as a description if it weren't so overused.

• "Big Eyes" could well describe lots of celebrities: Emma Stone, Amanda Seyfried, Marty Feldman*, Heather Graham, Jake Gyllenhaal, Susan Sarandon, Anne Hathaway, Sailor Moon.

• Christoph Waltz and Amy Adams have Normal-Sized Eyes but that will never be a film title. The only person in this cast with gargantuan eyeballs is Krysten Ritter

• The tag line is basic but it does cleverly have a double meaning with the last bit "... and everyone bought it"

• A lot of people seem to be sure that this one won't be a major Oscar player but apart from test screenings (a notoriously unreliable source of info) no one has seen it so it's one of our mystery movies when it...

“For the experiment to be a success, all of the body parts must be enlarged. “

Movies for Foodies, a regular film series put on by Chef Liz Schuster, Chef Steve Schmidt, and the other talented chefs at Tenacious Eats, is back in a new location and a fresh slate of films to write menus around. Enjoy a five-course gourmet meal (and five unique cocktails) while enjoying one of your favorite movies! That’s the Tenacious Eats way! The movie starts at 8pm. The doors open at 6:00 for the pre-show which includes an hour of Super-8 Movie Madness!

The new locale is Food Outreach, 3117 Olive Street in St. Louis. The next Tenacious Eats ‘Movies for Foodies’ event will be a screening of the Mel Brooks’ 1974 gutbuster Young Frankenstein on October 30th. Tickets are $65.00 and ticket information can be found at the Tenacious Eats site Here

http://tenaciouseats.com/

Good comedies are rare.

“I am not a Frankenstein. I’m a Fronkensteen!”

Young Frankenstein plays this weekend (October 10th and 11th) at the Tivoli as part of their Reel Late at the Tivoli Midnight series.

Good comedies are rare. Great ones are rarer. Great parodies are needles in the haystack, and this is it. The parody can be brilliantly funny (most are horrid), but Young Frankenstein is near perfect.

Mel Brooks hit all nails right on the head in his black & white classic from 1974. Taking its themes from the Mary Shelley novel and providing some spot-on homage/parody to the James Whale classic Bride Of Frankenstein (and plenty of references to Son Of Frankenstein as well), Young Frankenstein is a breathless laugh and a half. In a weak comedy, you have the entire cast setting up one character for the laughs. Here, you have every character providing humor in every scene. None more...