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The Mad Max franchise nearly had a brilliant villain twist 44 years ago, and its next movie needs to finally do it properly. The next Mad Max movie, Mad Max: The Wasteland, had a very bumpy development. Tom Hardy, who played Max Rockatansky in Mad Max: Fury Road, has given both discouraging and hopeful quotes about the film at different times, despite the fact that Hardy may be recast for The Wasteland. The franchise has also had some trouble due to Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga's low box office earnings, so it's not clear if the series will continue at all.

If The Wasteland ever does get off the ground, though, it already has a perfect plot twist that's been waiting for over four decades to be used. There have been plenty of great villains in Mad Max over the years, and it's almost hard to imagine them getting any better.

Mad Max franchise mastermind George Miller recently brought us a new addition to the series with the release of the Mad Max: Fury Road prequel Furiosa (read our review Here) – and while that movie struggles to draw in viewers during its theatrical run, we have decided to take a look back at the first Mad Max sequel, the 1981 classic The Road Warrior (watch it Here). You can hear all about it in the embed above!

Directed by Miller from a screenplay he crafted with Terry Hayes and Brian Hannant, The Road Warrior – which is also known as Mad Max 2 outside of the United States – has the following synopsis: After avenging the death of his wife and young son at the hands of a vicious gang leader, Max drives the post-apocalyptic highways of the Australian outback, fending off attacks from nomadic tribes that prey on outsiders. Falling into an encampment...

“Who broke the world?” asks graffiti scrawled across the room where Immortan Joe locked up his “wives” in Mad Max: Fury Road. Fury Road and each of its three predecessors argue pretty persuasively that the answer is men like Immortan Joe: power hungry people whose actions lead to war and economic disaster.

But an interesting fan theory poses another culprit, one whose breaking made the world of Mad Max: Max Rockatansky, the heroic road warrior portrayed by Mel Gibson and Tom Hardy. According to this idea, the policeman Max’s mind broke down after the events of the first movie in 1979, and everything that’s happened since exists in his wild imagination.

Why Does Mad Max Prompt Fan Theories?

One of the most shocking moments in the Mad Max universe occurs midway through the first film: Toecutter runs down Max’s toddler son. The murder signals a shift in...

The brain of filmmaker George Miller is a glorious thing. The creator of the Mad Max movies has conjured some of the craziest images ever committed to film – and now, at 79 years of age, he’s about to do it all over again in fifth outing Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. Ever since the 1979 original Mad Max – and its sequels Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, and most recently Mad Max: Fury Road – Miller has been pulling weird and wonderful creations from his imagination and bringing them to the screen with uncompromising vision.

As a result, the Mad Max saga is packed with oddballs, grotesqueries, twisted heroes, and despicable villains. Now’s the perfect time to revisit every film in the series – and meet the wildest inhabitants of the Wasteland.

‘Mad’ Max Rockatansky

Films: Mad Max, Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome,...

BayView Entertainment have released the thriller film Howlin’ Refrain to Blu-ray (Region Free) in the USA.

Synopsis:

After escaping captivity, Outis embarks on a perilous journey back home, confronting past demons and seeking revenge. “Howlin’ Refrain” is inspired by “The Odyssey,” delving into primal human behavior and exploring themes of greed, fatherhood, survival, and redemption. It’s a raw, gritty, uncompromising, and heavily stylized independent silent film production.

Howlin’ Refrain was Directed by Nils Nilsson and Zach Sullivan. The film stars Kjell Nilsson, Aaron Kearney and Sarah Mudle.

Howlin’ Refrain is out now on Blu-ray (Region Free) in the USA from BayView Entertainment.

Available to order on Blu-ray (Region Free) now at:

Amazon.com

ImportCDs.com

DeepDiscount.com

Barnes & Noble

Thriftbooks.com

Keep up to date with all things BayView Entertainment by following them on social media and via their website.

Links below:

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The...

If you don't know him by name, you almost certainly know Vernon Wells by his face if you're a fan of '80s movies. He was Bennett, the Aussie villain with the chainmail tank top and Freddie Mercury mustache in "Commando," and he scared the pants off kids as Mr. Igoe, the sinister hitman with an interchangeable hand in "Innerspace." Or you may remember him as Lord General, the crazed leader of a mutant biker gang that crashes the party in "Weird Science."

Wells' career as one of Hollywood's go-to bad guys at the time was made possible by his ferocious performance as Wez, the psychotic henchman in "The Road Warrior," George Miller's sequel to his low-budget smash, "Mad Max." This time around, a bigger budget enabled the director to go bigger, faster, wilder, and weirder than his original vision. This time, our hero Max Rocktansky is battling a...

BayView Entertainment will release the thriller film Howlin’ Refrain to Blu-ray (Region Free) in the USA on 25th July 2023.

Synopsis:

After escaping captivity, Outis embarks on a perilous journey back home, confronting past demons and seeking revenge. “Howlin’ Refrain” is inspired by “The Odyssey,” delving into primal human behavior and exploring themes of greed, fatherhood, survival, and redemption. It’s a raw, gritty, uncompromising, and heavily stylized independent silent film production.

Howlin’ Refrain was Directed by Nils Nilsson and Zach Sullivan. The film stars Kjell Nilsson, Aaron Kearney and Sarah Mudle.

Howlin’ Refrain will be released to Blu-ray (Region Free) in the USA from BayView Entertainment on 25th July 2023.

Available to pre-order now at:

Amazon.com

ImportCDs.com

DeepDiscount.com

Barnes & Noble

Thriftbooks.com

Keep up to date with all things BayView Entertainment by following them on social media and via their website.

Links below:

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

Youtube...

No filmmaker crafts a car chase as deftly as George Miller does and the "Mad Max" films prove it. One of his crowning achievements is the climax of "Mad Max 2" or "The Road Warrior" (its title in the U.S. thanks to the first "Mad Max" being an initial flop there).

During the film, Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson) stumbles on some settlers in the Wasteland. They're besieged by the forces of Lord Humungus (Kjell Nilsson), who want the town's gasoline supply. This story culminates with Max driving a decoy tanker truck to lead the raiders away from settlers escaping with the real gasoline.

Lord Humungus' men are in smaller vehicles and their chase of the tanker looks like a wolf pack on the trail of a buffalo. The smaller vehicles get swatted away by the truck, causing spectacular crashes. During the "Mad Max 2" shoot, the danger of these crashes wasn't staged either,...

"Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" allowed George Miller's insane action universe to expand into more adventurous territory when it came out in 1985. The previous entry, "The Road Warrior," did well to establish clear-cut villains for Max (Mel Gibson) to battle — even if the characters of Lord Humungus (Kjell Nilsson) and Wez (Vernon Wells) were a little one dimensional. For the sequel, Miller needed a more complex villain that had a reason for existing other than to simply cause chaos across a post-apocalyptic hellscape.

Tina Turner was an inspired choice to play an intelligent, conniving villainess that could truly challenge Max as the leader of this strange, dangerous new world. Her character Aunty Entity was more than just a rampaging antagonist for Max to battle: As the mayor of Bartertown, she built a bustling community that was able to survive and thrive under her control. Turner was already an aspirational figure...

Burbank, CA, September 28, 2021 – Warner Bros. Home Entertainment announced today that The Mad Max Anthology, featuring 1979’s acclaimed post-apocalyptic action film Mad Max, 1981’s Mad Max The Road Warrior, 1985’s Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome and 2015’s Mad Max Fury Road will be released together on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Combo Pack and Digital HD on November 2. Created by George Miller and Byron Kennedy, Miller directed or co-directed all four films. Mel Gibson starred as Max Rockatansky in the first three films and Tom Hardy took over the lead role in the fourth film. Additionally Mad Max The Road Warrior and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome will also be available individually in 4K, joining Mad Max and Mad Max Fury Road which are already available in 4K.

The Mad Max Anthology 4K Uhd release, along with the 4K Uhd releases of Mad Max The Road Warrior and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, are from...

Greetings from The Humungus! The Lord Humungus! The Warrior of the Wasteland! The Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla!”

arner Bros. Home Entertainment announced today that The Mad Max Anthology, featuring 1979’s acclaimed post-apocalyptic action film Mad Max, 1981’s Mad Max The Road Warrior, 1985’s Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome and 2015’s Mad Max Fury Road will be released together on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Combo Pack and Digital HD on November 2. Created by George Miller and Byron Kennedy, Miller directed or co-directed all four films. Mel Gibson starred as Max Rockatansky in the first three films and Tom Hardy took over the lead role in the fourth film. Additionally Mad Max The Road Warrior and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome will also be available individually in 4K, joining Mad Max and Mad Max Fury Road which are already available in 4K.

The Mad Max Anthology 4K Uhd release, along with the 4K...

“My life fades. The vision dims. All that remains are memories. I remember a time of chaos. Ruined dreams. This wasted land. But most of all, I remember the Road Warrior…”

The Road Warrior plays midnights this weekend (April 27th and 28th ) at the Tivoli Theater (6350 Delmar Boulevard) as part of their Reel Late at the Tivoli Midnight series.

In Mad Max(1979), director George Miller showed us a eerie Australia on the verge on some kind of apocalypse. Biker gangs roamed the desert roads raping and pillaging as they pleased, while a small group of cops did what little they could to keep law and order. Small communities still existed, shops were operational, and institutions still had some sense of organization, but when The Road Warrior picks up the story, civilization as we know it is gone, and thugs in fetish biker gear do as they like. Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson...

This Friday, George Miller returns to the post-apocalyptic universe he first brought to life back in 1979 with Mad Max. His trend-setting actioner has now spawned three sequels, the latest being Mad Max: Fury Road, which has Tom Hardy bringing the seminal hero to life this time around. Since we’re just a few days away from meeting his latest adversary, the ruthless Immortan Joe, I thought this would be a perfect time to look back at the villains from the original Mad Max trilogy who first paved the way and still continue to influence film and pop culture even after three decades.

Mad Max: George Miller’s Mad Max opens with one of the most cinematically exhilarating chase sequences ever committed to celluloid (The Road Warrior coming in neck-and-neck at number two) that is fueled by the actions of a notorious criminal known as the “Nightrider,” who has escaped...

Mad Max 2 (aka The Road Warrior)

Written by Terry Hayes, George Miller and Brian Hannant

Directed by George Miller

Australia, 1981

Mad Max 2, or as it is more commonly recognized in North America, The Road Warrior (upon its release not enough people had actually seen Mad Max, therefore prompting the title change) , begins with a brief montage of archival documentary footage and scenes from the first film that set up the world viewers are about to launch into. Society has now collapsed. When resources became scarce, the people revolted. The institutions tried to retain order, but it was too late. What was hinted at in 1979’s Mad Max is now a harsh reality, with the titular character (Mel Gibson) driving the dusty Australian roads in search for food and resources for his amazing car, the Ford Falcon. This time his efforts at scavenging are temporarily thwarted by the pilot...

Two years after Mad Max was released in its native Australia and only a year after it finally hit U.S. theaters, director George Miller brought his title character back to the big screen in Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior and created what many consider to be one of the best (if not the best) post apocalyptic movies of all-time, not to mention one of the best action films of all-time, and deservedly so. This is a film experience unlike many we've ever seen and, thanks to CG run amok, unlike many we'll ever see again. It's hard to comment on The Road Warrior without recognizing its place in the hearts of many. It's almost impossible to not look at it through the lens of its place in the history of cinema. Tell someone seeing it for the first time today that it's believed to be one of the...

From early Bond to 21st century sci-fi, here's Ryan's pick of 11 unforgettable villain pairings from action cinema history...

You're generally lucky if a movie has one genuinely great villain in it, let alone two. This is probably because creating a villain takes great acting and writing - it's one thing to create a preening character who stomps around a story doing unpleasant things, but creating a villain who's three-dimensional, witty, scary and above all memorable requires considerable skill.

Every so often, a movie comes along which gives us not one, but two classic villains, with the personality of one complementing the other. A familiar dynamic was once laid out by Steven Spielberg: one is smart and eloquent , while the other is the tougher, more violent of the pair. It's a template that we've seen time and again in cinema, but it's only occasionally that both characters leap from the screen.

The 2015 SXSW Film Festival will be running from March 13th through March 21st in Austin, Texas and the first wave of selections were announced today to get attendees excited for all the amazing films coming our way next month. And while horror fans have to wait until next week for the announcement of the Midnighters slate, here’s a look at some of the genre-related titles already revealed amidst SXSW’s other film categories for this year.

Narrative Feature Competition

Manson Family Vacation

Director/Screenwriter: J. Davis

The story of two brothers: one who’s devoted to his family, the other who’s obsessed with the Manson Family. Cast: Jay Duplass, Linas Phillips, Leonora Pitts, Tobin Bell, Adam Chernick, Davie-Blue. (World Premiere)

Headliners

Ex Machina

Director/Screenwriter: Alex Garland

Alex Garland, writer of 28 Days Later and Sunshine, makes his directorial debut with the stylish and cerebral thriller Ex Machina, starring Domhnall Gleeson,...

From its comic book inspirations to a prominent excerpt from Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, Christopher Nolan’s saga-ending The Dark Knight Rises was chockablock with pop-culture references. While there were plenty of unexpected moments in the film’s 164 minutes, some of the biggest surprises weren’t plot developments but Nolan’s loving homages to (and occasionally strange riffs on) other films, books, and more. Below, we look into some of the influences of Rises, including one very unexpected shout-out to the speech that won Matt Damon and Ben Affleck an Oscar. (Warning: Spoilers Ahead!)

At its very core,...