John Candy passed away on March 4, 1994, at the age of 43, having died from a heart attack. Candy had a history of heart issues in his family and spent portions of his life struggling with alcoholism and tobacco and cocaine usage. He was taken far too soon, as Candy was a charismatic, funny, talented comedian with dazzling movie star qualities. He died in Durango, Mexico, where he was filming Peter Markle's unremarkable Western comedy "Wagons East!," a film in which Candy starred opposite Richard Lewis.
"Wagons East!" was an inauspicious exit for Candy. The film was released only five months after Candy died, and it was a horrible box office bomb, earning only $4.4 million. What's more, it was terribly reviewed, racking up the rare and unenviable 0% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes (based on 30 reviews). Roger Ebert gave it one half of a star, calling it one of the least amusing comedies he had ever seen.
"Wagons East!" was an inauspicious exit for Candy. The film was released only five months after Candy died, and it was a horrible box office bomb, earning only $4.4 million. What's more, it was terribly reviewed, racking up the rare and unenviable 0% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes (based on 30 reviews). Roger Ebert gave it one half of a star, calling it one of the least amusing comedies he had ever seen.
- 6/9/2025
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Killer Collectibles highlights five of the most exciting new horror products released each and every week, from toys and apparel to artwork, records, and much more.
Here are the coolest horror collectibles unveiled this week!
My Bloody Valentine Trading Cards from Fright-Rags
Fright-Rags has released official My Bloody Valentine trading cards as part of its collection of merchandise dedicated to the classic ‘80s slasher. Cards are available in single packs for 5, factory boxes for 35, and sealed boxes for 120.
Single packs have nine cards and a sticker. Factory boxes have 80 cards, two parallel cards, two stickers, and a checklist. Sealed boxes (limited to 320) have two full base sets, two full sticker sets, two full parallel sets, two checklists, one autograph card, and one printing plate.
The Haunting of Julia 4K Uhd from Scream Factory
The Haunting of Julia will be released on 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray on April 18 via Scream Factory.
Here are the coolest horror collectibles unveiled this week!
My Bloody Valentine Trading Cards from Fright-Rags
Fright-Rags has released official My Bloody Valentine trading cards as part of its collection of merchandise dedicated to the classic ‘80s slasher. Cards are available in single packs for 5, factory boxes for 35, and sealed boxes for 120.
Single packs have nine cards and a sticker. Factory boxes have 80 cards, two parallel cards, two stickers, and a checklist. Sealed boxes (limited to 320) have two full base sets, two full sticker sets, two full parallel sets, two checklists, one autograph card, and one printing plate.
The Haunting of Julia 4K Uhd from Scream Factory
The Haunting of Julia will be released on 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray on April 18 via Scream Factory.
- 2/3/2023
- by Alex DiVincenzo
- bloody-disgusting.com
Whether you’re chilling out before a costume party or working late at the lab (Halloween is a Monday this year), October 31 practically screams, “Watch something!”
Yes, there are myriad seasonal activities to be enjoyed away from the ghastly glow of your screens: be it bobbing for apples, carving jack-o-lanterns, summoning the undead, or an overpriced rideshare. But few experiences are as instantly and totally transporting as the ones provided by our go-to movies and TV shows. That’s why so many of us insist on sneaking in annual viewings of our favorites between social events and trick-or-treaters. No matter how scary busy our schedules may get, making time for the Halloween tales we cherish feels in some small way important.
Maybe you’re putting on your makeup to the familiar beats of “Beetlejuice” or working from home with “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” to keep you company.
Yes, there are myriad seasonal activities to be enjoyed away from the ghastly glow of your screens: be it bobbing for apples, carving jack-o-lanterns, summoning the undead, or an overpriced rideshare. But few experiences are as instantly and totally transporting as the ones provided by our go-to movies and TV shows. That’s why so many of us insist on sneaking in annual viewings of our favorites between social events and trick-or-treaters. No matter how scary busy our schedules may get, making time for the Halloween tales we cherish feels in some small way important.
Maybe you’re putting on your makeup to the familiar beats of “Beetlejuice” or working from home with “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” to keep you company.
- 10/31/2022
- by Alison Foreman
- Indiewire
Rena Strober Les Miserables, Fiddler on the Roof, Disney's Liv amp Maddie is currently living amp working in Los Angeles. When not working in TVFilmAnimation, she teaches singing at the Academy of Music for the Blind. One of Rena's students is 7 year old Gavin Stevens who was born blind from a rare condition known as Lca. Small in stature but big in voice, Gavin recently sang the National anthem for the La Lakers amp Kings. He has won hearts all over the world. His voice and love of duets inspired Rena to produce a fully filmed recreation of the classic song in Little Shop of Horrors. Gavin is the perfect miniature Rick Moranis while Rena embodies Ellen Green. Watch the video below...
- 6/17/2016
- by Stage Tube
- BroadwayWorld.com
Proving he’s a viable stage actor, Jake Gyllenhaal received a warm reception as he kicked off his limited run in the revival of “Little Shop of Horrors” in New York City on Wednesday night (July 1).
The “Southpaw” star was joined by Taran Killam, Tracy Nicole Chapman, Ellen Green and Ramona Keller as he played Seymour as part of the New York City Center Encores Off-Center production.
Afterwards, the New York Post sang Jake’s praises- “To everybody’s surprise, including maybe his own, Jake Gyllenhaal is appealingly funny and sweet in Encores’ semi-staged concert of the comic musical ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ — playing City Center for just two days. Not bad for a guy who’s best known for heavy-duty movies like ‘Brokeback Mountain’ and ‘Nightcrawler’ and a pair of somber-minded plays (most recently Broadway’s ‘Constellations’).”...
The “Southpaw” star was joined by Taran Killam, Tracy Nicole Chapman, Ellen Green and Ramona Keller as he played Seymour as part of the New York City Center Encores Off-Center production.
Afterwards, the New York Post sang Jake’s praises- “To everybody’s surprise, including maybe his own, Jake Gyllenhaal is appealingly funny and sweet in Encores’ semi-staged concert of the comic musical ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ — playing City Center for just two days. Not bad for a guy who’s best known for heavy-duty movies like ‘Brokeback Mountain’ and ‘Nightcrawler’ and a pair of somber-minded plays (most recently Broadway’s ‘Constellations’).”...
- 7/2/2015
- GossipCenter
Pushing Daisies, “Pie-lette”
Written by Bryan Fuller
Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld
Aired October 2nd, 2007
The facts are these: a series about death, loneliness, romance, PIs, and pie shouldn’t work. Especially on network television. And yet for two seasons, it did. Bryan Fuller’s Pushing Daisies premiered in the fall of 2007 as the highest rated new series, with 13 million viewers tuning in for the pilot, “Pie-lette”. It would eventually drop in the ratings, squeaking out a renewal due to uncertainty over the writers strike before being cancelled the next season, but those who tuned in for that first episode were treated to a delightful, whimsical flight of fancy the likes of which are rarely seen on American television.
Bryan Fuller has a history with darkly comedic, metaphysically tricky shows. His previous series, Dead Like Me and Wonderfalls, both feature their female protagonists dying (or nearly doing so) in the pilot.
Written by Bryan Fuller
Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld
Aired October 2nd, 2007
The facts are these: a series about death, loneliness, romance, PIs, and pie shouldn’t work. Especially on network television. And yet for two seasons, it did. Bryan Fuller’s Pushing Daisies premiered in the fall of 2007 as the highest rated new series, with 13 million viewers tuning in for the pilot, “Pie-lette”. It would eventually drop in the ratings, squeaking out a renewal due to uncertainty over the writers strike before being cancelled the next season, but those who tuned in for that first episode were treated to a delightful, whimsical flight of fancy the likes of which are rarely seen on American television.
Bryan Fuller has a history with darkly comedic, metaphysically tricky shows. His previous series, Dead Like Me and Wonderfalls, both feature their female protagonists dying (or nearly doing so) in the pilot.
- 7/3/2013
- by Kate Kulzick
- SoundOnSight
Ellen Muth was George on that quirky dramedy, Dead Like Me. She was a grim reaper. So it’s only fitting that she pay NBC’s Hannibal a visit. Grim reapers and serial killers have this in common: the both send people to the afterlife.
NBC has already given the upcoming series a little catch phrase. “Detective Will Graham has a killer new partner. Hannibal: The Beginning.” Catchy, yes?
The series will spotlight the special relationship between Special Agent Will Graham, a criminal profiler who hunts serial killers acted by Hugh Dancy, and forensic psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter, acted by Mads Mikkelsen. Not to gripe, but that catch phrase should then address him as “Agent Will Graham”, right?
The freshest news regarding the project came when TV Line announced Ellen Muth would play “Georgia”. This is a little tribute to her Dead Like Me character, George. You see, the...
NBC has already given the upcoming series a little catch phrase. “Detective Will Graham has a killer new partner. Hannibal: The Beginning.” Catchy, yes?
The series will spotlight the special relationship between Special Agent Will Graham, a criminal profiler who hunts serial killers acted by Hugh Dancy, and forensic psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter, acted by Mads Mikkelsen. Not to gripe, but that catch phrase should then address him as “Agent Will Graham”, right?
The freshest news regarding the project came when TV Line announced Ellen Muth would play “Georgia”. This is a little tribute to her Dead Like Me character, George. You see, the...
- 2/1/2013
- by Sasha Nova
- Boomtron
It's been a while since I've seen Frank Oz's adaptation of Little Shop Of Horrors, starring Rick Moranis, Bill Murray, Ellen Green, Steve Martin, John Candy, James Belushi, and Levi Stubbs. As a kid I used to watch it frequently, mostly because it was both hilarious and scary at the same time. A very unique combination. Now, the film is getting the blu-ray treatment, which hits shelves tomorrow, and it includes a very epic alternate 20-minute ending with the...
- 10/8/2012
- by Paul Shirey
- JoBlo.com
Joseph Gordon-Levitt is developing a remake of Little Shop of Horrors, “with an eye” toward playing Seymour, The Hollywood Reporter writes. Ah! Too many feelings! On the one hand, sure, Jgl would probably make a terrific Seymour. But ... Frank Oz’s 1986 movie, starring Rick Moranis, Ellen Green, and Steve Martin, is perfect in a way almost no other movie musical is. Broadway producer Marc Platt is set to produce the remake, and Robert Aguirre-Sacasa, a Glee producer, comic-book author, and playwright (who rewrote Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, among other things), is working on the script. This could be the greatest movie revival ever and it would still feel vaguely blasphemous.
- 5/3/2012
- by Margaret Lyons
- Vulture
Film review: 'Bless the Child'
"Bless the Child" is a thoroughly unimaginative supernatural thriller that picks over elements from "The Omen", "The Exorcist" and "Rosemary's Baby" but never improves on any of its borrowings. Lacking the special-effects firepower of such recent exercises as "End of Days" and "The Devil's Advocate", "Bless" emerges as a throwback to a time when filmmakers had to create suspense through characters rather than effects. Good idea -- only when characters are this aggressively obtuse, they aren't likely to win audience empathy.
The genre usually scares up good boxoffice numbers in the first week, and the presence of Oscar winner Kim Basinger should bring in female viewers. But "Bless" lacks staying power, and not too many women are going to appreciate the relentless stupidity of Basinger's character.
Basinger's Maggie O'Connor is portrayed as a level-headed, reasonably intelligent nurse. Then why, with the NYPD and FBI investigator John Travis (Jimmy Smits) eager to back her up, does she go alone, looking like she just stepped out of a beauty salon, to a derelict building in a crime-infested corner of the Bronx to take on the forces of ultimate evil? And why does she take along a gun but never bother to check if it's loaded?
This epidemic of dumbness moves beyond the characters to the writers themselves. For the movie's climax, dozens of state police and FBI agents take off in cars and helicopters for the devil worshippers' estate nearby. Cut moments later to a lonely road in a dark forest where Smits gets out of a car and must ask with a straight face to the only cop in sight, "Where's our backup?"
Where indeed.
The screenplay by Tom Rickman and Clifford & Ellen Green, based on Cathy Cash Spellman's novel, has Maggie, a lapsed Catholic, raising a supposedly autistic child named Cody (Holliston Coleman) after the newborn is dumped on her by a junkie Sister Angela Bettis). Mind you, we see no evidence of autism, but the dialogue constantly tells us that Cody is "special."
She was born on Christmas Eve -- nudge, wink, nod -- when portents and omens point to the coming of another Christ child. (Whatever will theologians think of that plot point?) Cody can make objects spin and heal cancer, but no one seems to notice because everyone is so busy trying to diagnose autism.
Several years later, the kid sister reappears, looking if anything worse but claiming to be fully cured by her new husband, self-realization guru Eric Stark (Rufus Sewell). But Stark clearly is the leader of a devil-worshipping cult. We can tell this from Sewell's dark clothes, bulging eye and nasty smirk.
The filmmakers never quite figure out whether they are making a cop movie or occult thriller. One minute, Cody is a helpless girl in desperate need of protection from a satanic cult. The next, she is healing gunshot wounds and scaring off bad guys with a withering glance. With her paranormal skills, Cody apparently is never in real jeopardy. No wonder the police backup disappeared.
The one smart thing the movie does is downplay its special effects -- for audiences have grown weary of filmmakers hiding behind cinematic trickery.
Chuck Russell competently directs the Toronto-based production. Designer Carol Spier finds, builds or dresses suitably spooky sets and collaborates with cinematographer Peter Menzies Jr. in keeping the tones and lighting in the dark, moody range.
And while stars may require makeup artists, hairstylists and designer costumes, didn't anyone ask whether such movie-star glamour is appropriate for a
working-class nurse doing battle with the devil's minions? Maybe she wants to out-glam them.
BLESS THE CHILD
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures and Icon Prods. present
a Mace Neufeld production
Producer: Mace Neufeld
Director: Chuck Russell
Screenwriters: Tom Rickman, Clifford Green,
Ellen Green
Based on the novel by: Cathy Cash Spellman
Executive producers: Bruce Davey,
Robert Rehme, Lis Kern
Director of photography: Peter Menzies Jr.
Production designer: Carol Spier
Music: Christopher Young
Co-producer: Stratton Leopold
Costume designer: Denise Cronenberg
Editor: Alan Heim
Color/stereo
Cast:
Maggie O'Connor: Kim Basinger
John Travis: Jimmy Smits
Cody: Holliston Coleman
Eric Stark: Rufus Sewell
Jenna: Angela Bettis
Cheri: Christina Ricci
Rev. Grissom: Ian Holm
Sister Rosa: Lumi Cavazos
Running time - 113 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
The genre usually scares up good boxoffice numbers in the first week, and the presence of Oscar winner Kim Basinger should bring in female viewers. But "Bless" lacks staying power, and not too many women are going to appreciate the relentless stupidity of Basinger's character.
Basinger's Maggie O'Connor is portrayed as a level-headed, reasonably intelligent nurse. Then why, with the NYPD and FBI investigator John Travis (Jimmy Smits) eager to back her up, does she go alone, looking like she just stepped out of a beauty salon, to a derelict building in a crime-infested corner of the Bronx to take on the forces of ultimate evil? And why does she take along a gun but never bother to check if it's loaded?
This epidemic of dumbness moves beyond the characters to the writers themselves. For the movie's climax, dozens of state police and FBI agents take off in cars and helicopters for the devil worshippers' estate nearby. Cut moments later to a lonely road in a dark forest where Smits gets out of a car and must ask with a straight face to the only cop in sight, "Where's our backup?"
Where indeed.
The screenplay by Tom Rickman and Clifford & Ellen Green, based on Cathy Cash Spellman's novel, has Maggie, a lapsed Catholic, raising a supposedly autistic child named Cody (Holliston Coleman) after the newborn is dumped on her by a junkie Sister Angela Bettis). Mind you, we see no evidence of autism, but the dialogue constantly tells us that Cody is "special."
She was born on Christmas Eve -- nudge, wink, nod -- when portents and omens point to the coming of another Christ child. (Whatever will theologians think of that plot point?) Cody can make objects spin and heal cancer, but no one seems to notice because everyone is so busy trying to diagnose autism.
Several years later, the kid sister reappears, looking if anything worse but claiming to be fully cured by her new husband, self-realization guru Eric Stark (Rufus Sewell). But Stark clearly is the leader of a devil-worshipping cult. We can tell this from Sewell's dark clothes, bulging eye and nasty smirk.
The filmmakers never quite figure out whether they are making a cop movie or occult thriller. One minute, Cody is a helpless girl in desperate need of protection from a satanic cult. The next, she is healing gunshot wounds and scaring off bad guys with a withering glance. With her paranormal skills, Cody apparently is never in real jeopardy. No wonder the police backup disappeared.
The one smart thing the movie does is downplay its special effects -- for audiences have grown weary of filmmakers hiding behind cinematic trickery.
Chuck Russell competently directs the Toronto-based production. Designer Carol Spier finds, builds or dresses suitably spooky sets and collaborates with cinematographer Peter Menzies Jr. in keeping the tones and lighting in the dark, moody range.
And while stars may require makeup artists, hairstylists and designer costumes, didn't anyone ask whether such movie-star glamour is appropriate for a
working-class nurse doing battle with the devil's minions? Maybe she wants to out-glam them.
BLESS THE CHILD
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures and Icon Prods. present
a Mace Neufeld production
Producer: Mace Neufeld
Director: Chuck Russell
Screenwriters: Tom Rickman, Clifford Green,
Ellen Green
Based on the novel by: Cathy Cash Spellman
Executive producers: Bruce Davey,
Robert Rehme, Lis Kern
Director of photography: Peter Menzies Jr.
Production designer: Carol Spier
Music: Christopher Young
Co-producer: Stratton Leopold
Costume designer: Denise Cronenberg
Editor: Alan Heim
Color/stereo
Cast:
Maggie O'Connor: Kim Basinger
John Travis: Jimmy Smits
Cody: Holliston Coleman
Eric Stark: Rufus Sewell
Jenna: Angela Bettis
Cheri: Christina Ricci
Rev. Grissom: Ian Holm
Sister Rosa: Lumi Cavazos
Running time - 113 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 8/11/2000
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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