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Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey in Dirty Dancing Image: Hulton Archive Dancing never goes out of style, but apparently dance movies do. The 40th anniversary of Footloose has us thinking about all the dance movies we’ve loved through the years, and the scarcity of those kinds of films these days.

Kevin Bacon in FootlooseImage: Paramount Pictures/CBS (Getty Images)

Dancing never goes out of style, but apparently dance movies do. The 40th anniversary of Footloose has us thinking about all the dance movies we’ve loved through the years, and the scarcity of those kinds of films these days. If you look at social media,...

For the past 50 years, horror movie fans have been thrilled by The Exorcist, directed by the late William Friedkin and starring Linda Blair as the possessed girl Regan MacNeil. Blair became a cinematic icon for her role in the chilling film and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her universally acclaimed performance. While Blair has acted in plenty of film and television projects since, including reprising her role as Regan in this year's The Exorcist: Believer, she has worked extensively as a prominent animal rights activist, founding the Linda Blair WorldHeart Foundation in 2004, which operates to provide care to abused and abandoned animals, providing them with vital help and supportive adoptive homes.

In an exclusive interview with Cbr, The Exorcist star Linda Blair reflected on working on The Exorcist and The Exorcist II: The Heretic, explained the mission and history of the Linda Blair WorldHeart Foundation,...

Linda Blair started her animal rights work after experiencing personal loss and a vision that dogs needed help. She founded the Linda Blair WorldHeart Foundation to rescue and provide resources for animals in need. Blair has been particularly involved in fighting against breed-specific legislation and supporting pitbulls, highlighting the mistreatment of the breed and advocating for their rights. The Foundation is currently working to address the biggest animal crisis in history, including tackling the lack of veterinarians and the need for increased support and resources for shelters. Blair emphasizes the importance of press coverage to spread awareness and encourage public involvement.

While known for her iconic work in the horror classic, Linda Blair has devoted much of her life to animal rights via the Linda Blair WorldHeart Foundation. Having gotten her start in commercials and print advertising, Blair quickly rose to stardom with her role as the possessed young girl...

Mark Goddard, the actor who made a lasting impression on young sci-fi fans as the daring, forever impatient Major Don West on CBS’ 1965-68 series Lost In Space, died of pulmonary fibrosis Tuesday in Hingham, Massachusetts. He was 87.

His death was announced by his wife Evelyn Pezzulich in a Facebook post.

“I’m so sorry to tell you that my wonderful husband passed away on October 10th,” Pezzulich wrote. “Several days after celebrating his 87th birthday, he was hospitalized with pneumonia. We were hopeful when he was transferred to a rehabilitation center, but then doctors discovered he was in the final stages of pulmonary fibrosis for which there is no cure.”

By the time he was cast in his breakthrough role as the headstrong Major West, Goddard had built a reputation as a rising young actor through supporting appearances in late-’50s fare such as Johnny Ringo and The Rebel.

Here’s a look at this week’s biggest premieres, parties and openings in Los Angeles and New York, including the Kering Foundation dinner, The Continental: From the World of John Wick special screening and W Magazine and Chanel’s Sofia Coppola Archive: 1999-2023 celebration.

Kelce premiere

Philadelphia Eagles captain Jason Kelce, wife Kylie Kelce and mother Donna Kelce were surrounded by family, friends, teammates and filmmakers to celebrate the Philadelphia premiere of Prime Video’s documentary Kelce on Sept. 8.

Producer Sheena M. Joyce, director Don Argott, Amazon head of original sports content Matt Newman, vp, Prime Video, Amazon global head of sports Jay Marine, Jason Kelce, Amazon unscripted creative executive Karin Hammerberg, Larry Platt and Connor Barwin

Estée Lauder x Highsnobiety party

Highsnobiety and Estée Lauder hosted an “All Beauty No Rest” celebration at the Hotel Chelsea on Sept. 8 to toast New York Fashion Week and Estée Lauder’s Advanced Night Repair serum.

Cinema has gone through many interesting phases. There was a time where there were two movies about the Lambada. We've seen films like Armegeddon and Deep Impact compete to be the number one in showing how the world is going to end. Platoon and Full Metal Jacket competed to be the Vietnam film of the 1980s, and in process kickstarted a whole genre of films about that conflict. Does anybody remember when just about every film was almost put in 3D? However, has there even been any time as interesting as that time that Hollywood tried to cash in on disco and roller skating with the film Skatetown, U.S.A.?

With other roller skating films like the seemingly better known Roller Boogie and Xandau, that were also trying to cash on this roller-disco fad, Skatetown U.S.A. is the standout. This film, centered around one night at a...

Tagline: "Heads are Gonna Roll." The concept for Death Rink began in 2007. Several years later, the film is set for a U.S. release. Originally titled Skateway Massacre, this latest indie slasher focuses on the night staff at a roller shack. In the story, a man was killed on the rink, several years in the past. Now, his spirit is roaming the rink, looking for someone to pay the price for his brutal death. Director Daniel Zubiate (Last Call) also wrote this script, which includes cast members: Amanda Courtney (Midnight Screening), Caedmon Holland and Alan Humphrey. The film's U.S. trailer is here, along with the official release poster. Death Rink was shot in Albuquerque, New Mexico and completed in 2019. "A blend of Roller Boogie and Friday the 13th," this title hopes to revitalize the waning slasher genre - this May. On May 11th, Death Rink will be available across the United States.

Director, writer and producer Mark L. Lester will forever be tied to a handful of quintessential ’80s hits and cult films, among which a place of honor goes to the Joel Silver-produced, over-the-top Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle Commando (1985). A film which irrupts in cinema theatres after another two of the director’s most well-known efforts: Class of 1984 (1982) and the Stephen King adaption Firestarter (1984). In the following interview, Lester reminisces on how he transitioned from drive-ins to the Hollywood studio system.

Let’s start with a question on the narrative structure of your films. Within the last act of some of your biggest hits there will be a total narrative suspension, and what will take place is essentially a completely cinematic mechanism, a cinematic mayhem if you will, that often becomes playful and deconstructs any pretention the film has built upon previously. I’m thinking of films such as Firestarter...

Cathy Crawford Lalonde, daughter of Hollywood legend Joan Crawford, died Friday at her home in Pennsylvania after a long battle with lung cancer, her family confirmed to Deadline. She was 72.

Cathy and her twin sister Cynthia (Cindy) were adopted by Crawford in 1947, after their biological mother’s death in Dyersburg, Tennessee.

The Academy Award-winning actress moved the twins to Brentwood, where they began their new life. Cathy attended Vernon Court Junior College and the Fashion Institute of Technology before marrying in 1968. Cathy and her husband separated in 1984 and eventually divorced. She reconnected with her biological family in Tennessee in the 1990s.

Cathy had a bit part in the 1979 film Roller Boogie as a featured skater. She also made cameos on The Mike Douglas Show and What’s My Line? in the 1960s.

Screen star Joan Crawford adopted a total of five children. After her death, daughter Christina released the controversial memoir...

Sometimes, TV horror is the perfect medium for a particular kind of story. Perhaps a story that doesn’t rely on effects or sensationalism to affect the viewer; a tale that works in a simple, straightforward way, dealing with all too common emotions experienced by the regular teenage mind. To wit, Summer of Fear (1978) Aka Stranger in Our House, a chiller directed by the late legend Wes Craven based on the bestselling Ya novel of the same name by Lois Duncan (I Know What You Did Last Summer). It’s a breezy thrill ride that also shows Craven could successfully work in the mainstream.

Originally airing Halloween night on NBC under the Stranger title as one of their The Big Event titles, its toughest competition was ABC’s Three’s Company/Taxi/Starsky and Hutch dynamo. But no worries, if you needed a horror fix on Halloween night, this is what you were watching.

This week on Off The Shelf, Ryan is joined by Brian Saur to take a look at the new DVD and Blu-ray releases for the week of June 23rd, 2015, and chat about some follow-up and home video news.

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Episode Links & Notes Follow-up Comic Con News Don Hertzfeldt Blu-ray Kickstarter Arrow Films: October releases Shout / Scream Factory: Comic Con announcements Kino: Epic Of Everest WB: Mad Max Fury Road Universal: Restored Spartacus Fox: August releases Disney: Mr. Boogedy & Bride of Boogedy coming to Dmc DVD (& on Amazon Instant now) Twilight Time: new website Sony: Christine Blu-ray Over The Garden Wall on DVD New Releases

July 7th

Beyond Zero: 1914–1918 Cell, The Contamination The Killers Maggie Ned Kelly Pit Stop Robot Jox Roller Boogie Truck Turner Virtuosity

July 14th

Adventures of Captain Fabian All Quiet On The Western Front The Andromeda Strain Baby It’s You...

The Movie:

Olive Films has released an extremely strange movie on Blu-ray. 1979’s Roller Boogie, directed by Class of 1984’s Mark Lester, and starring Linda Blair. If you’ve seen Class of 1984, Firestarter, Showdown in Little Tokyo, Commando, Armed and Dangerous, or any of Mark Lester’s classics, you will probably not recognize it in this film. Perhaps a little bit, but for the most part, this is the least Mark Lester-like film in his entire body of work. Also a little odd, is the fact that Dean Cundey was the director of photography.

If you’re familiar with Linda Blair’s post-Exorcist career, you’re probably aware that she turned into somewhat of a “bad girl.” Hopefully you’re not expecting much of that here, as Roller Boogie is rated PG. Granted, this PG was prior to the existence of the PG-13, but all that means is...

From a suburban werewolf to a farmer who plants people, Scream Factory will continue to deliver cult horror films to viewers’ doorsteps throughout this Summer of Fear. Those attending Sdcc next week will get a taste of their terror treats firsthand at booth #4248, where a number of Blu-rays will be available, as well a limited edition t-shirt, posters, and an “inside look” panel that will include special announcements and sneak peeks of upcoming Blu-ray releases.

The panel, titled An Inside Look at Shout! Factory, Shout! Kids and Scream Factory, will take place on Friday, July 25th, 2014 at 7pm in Room 23Abc. In addition to exclusive panel announcements, a Comic-Con exclusive blood-red Scream Factory t-shirt will be available at their booth, as well as a free 2014 button pack, collectible keychains, screen wipes, and more. Also available at booth #4248 will be the following batch of Scream Factory Blu-rays, each one coming with...

“It preys on human fear. It feeds on human flesh.” Scream Factory has officially announced their August 5th release of Without Warning to Blu-ray & DVD. The cover art and special features on this first-ever home media release of Without Warning should excite fans of the 1980 sci-fi thriller.

“The hunting season has begun. Earth is the new hunting ground for an alien life form that preys on human fear and feeds on human flesh. Beyond any known terror, mankind is about to become the next endangered species in the 1980 sci-fi horror cult classic Without Warning, also known as It Came Without Warning, from celebrated exploitation filmmaker Greydon Clark (Joysticks, Satan’s Cheerleaders). A non-stop ride into extra-terror-strial mayhem, this highly sought-after sci-fi creature thriller stars Oscar® winners Jack Palance (Batman) and Martin Landau (Ed Wood), Tarah Nutter (Bitter Harvest), Christopher S. Nelson (Roller Boogie), Cameron Mitchell (Blood and Black Lace), Neville Brand...

Released in 1980, the low-budget sci-fi horror flick Without Warning has faded into relative obscurity over the course of the last several years, never managing to find itself on any home video format. That all changes this summer, when Scream Factory breathes new life into a lost and undiscovered gem. Read on for full release details!

From the Press Release

The hunting season has begun. Earth is the new hunting ground for an alien life form that preys on human fear and feeds on human flesh. Beyond any known terror, mankind is about to become the next endangered species in the 1980 sci-fi horror cult classic Without Warning, also known as It Came Without Warning, from celebrated exploitation filmmaker Greydon Clark (Joysticks, Satan’s Cheerleaders). A non-stop ride into extra-terror-strial mayhem, this highly sought-after sci-fi creature thriller stars Oscar® winners Jack Palance (Batman) and Martin Landau (Ed Wood), Tarah Nutter (Bitter Harvest...

Monica Raymund of Sisu Theatrical Productions, Cave 76 Productions and The New York Musical Theatre Festival Nymf are pleased to announce that title of show's Susan Blackwell will return to the 10th Anniversary New York Musical Theatre Festival in the world premiere production of Volleygirls. Blackwell will play a disgraced Olympian coaching an oddball team of high-school volleyball players in this new girl-powered musical with book by Rob Ackerman Tabletop - 2001 Drama Desk, lyrics by Sam Forman upcoming Bway Sleepless in Seattle, book for Fking Up Everything, music by Eli Bolin I Sing, Roller Boogie TV Sesame Street, choreographed by Ryan Kasprazak TV Smash Tour Billy Elliot and directed by Neil Patrick Stewart La theatre The Elephant Man - Ovation Award nominations. Television star Monica Raymund of NBC's Chicago Fire is making her debut as a lead produce because she believes in, and is inspired by, the show's positive message of...

The Cool Ones (1967). Directed by Gene Nelson. Written by Nelson, Joyce Geller, Robert Kaufman.

Nothing ages more quickly and more embarrassingly than a movie or TV show which had worked so hard to be cool in its time. You disagree? Feathered hair, big lapels. Oh, God – mullets! You gonna honestly tell me that stuff still works for you as anything but a laugh-getter?

Lead times for some movies are so long, some crazes burn out between the pitch meeting and opening weekend. Roller disco was dying (if not dead) by the time Roller Boogie (1979) and Xanudu (1980) hit theaters, and did anybody still care about The Village People when Can’t Stop the Music (1980) had movie-goers wishing they could?

The only thing even more embarrassing is a movie that’s lethally uncool even before the first frame of film runs through the camera, not because it’s late to the party,...

Some things are a given when you decide to make a '70s-set disco boogie spoof: there will be disco music, there will be gold lame, there will be big hair, there will be Bee Gees references and there will be roller skates.

But a long-dead dad who was murdered at the hands of video-game pushing gangsters? That's a Picnicface original.

The Haligonian comedy troupe hit the roller rink for their first feature film Roller Town, after their cheeky online videos made Will Ferrell a fan and The Comedy Network gave them their own show that, sadly, only lasted one season.

Drawing inspiration from Roller Boogie, Skatetown, U.S.A., Airplane, Monty Python's Holy Grail and Wet Hot American Summer, Mark Little and his Picnicface alumnus – co-writer Scott Vrooman, director and co-writer Andrew Bush, co-stars Kyle Dooley, Cheryl Haan, Brian MacQuarrie, Evany Rosen and Bill Wood – thought the era of...

The executive producer and creator of the Halloween films, Irwin Yablans, is releasing his first book, The Man Who Created Halloween, just in time for the yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31st.

The full title is The Man Who Created Halloween: How a Bit of Desperation and Inspiration Gave Birth to the Movie that Changed Hollywood, and it's chock-full of insider info from Yablans, who is known for his work in the horror film industry. He produced films that include Halloween (1978), Roller Boogie (1979), Nocturna: Granddaughter of Dracula (1979), Halloween II (1981), Hell Night (1981), Blood Beach (1981), and Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982).

Synopsis:

The Man Who Created Halloween is the fascinating story of one man's improbable journey from the tenements of Brooklyn's Williamsburg to fame and fortune in Hollywood. It is also a chronicle of the shifting winds of change from the old studio system to the emergence...

Linda Blair Oscar-nominated Actress Linda Blair, who introduced the Academy's tribute to veteran makeup artist and Honorary Award winner Dick Smith, arrives at the 2011 Governors Awards in the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland in Hollywood, on Saturday, November 12. [Photo: Matt Petit / ©A.M.P.A.S.] James Earl Jones was a long-distance Honorary Oscar honoree, as he's co-starring with Vanessa Redgrave in Driving Miss Daisy on the London stage. Oprah Winfrey, a 1985 Best Supporting Actress nominee for Steven Spielberg's The Color Purple, was the recipient of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. Dick Smith's makeup job transformed the young Linda Blair into the demon-possessed girl in William Friedkin's The Exorcist. Among Blair's other screen credits are Airport 1975, Roller Boogie, Hell Night, Chained Heat, Exorcist II: The Heretic, Red Heat, and Moving Target.

Cookie cutting his way to DVD via the Full Moon website is that sweet killing machine known as The Gingerdead Man. The set contains all three films from the series.

“Sometime in 1976 a beautiful young woman named “Cherry Wright” is helping her “Aunt Trixie” close down what’s left of her failing business a roller boogie named “Trixie’s Rollerland”. But before they can begin their work “The Gingerdead Man” arrives from the future (After escaping from “The Institute of Homicidal Baked Goods” and stumbling upon a time machine) and goes on a killing spree in “Aunt Trixie’s Roller Boogie”.”...

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will release the nostalgic drama Skateland on Blu-ray and DVD on August 30 for the list prices of $29.99 and $22.98

Shiloh Fernandez and Melinda McGraw ponder over pizza in Skateland.

Starring Ashley Greene (the Twilight saga) and Shiloh Fernandez (Red Riding Hood), the movie revolves around young Ritchie Wheeler (Fernandez), a carefree teenager growing up in a small Texas town in the early 1980s. The local roller rink, Skateland, is more than just a hangout—it’s a fading symbol of good times, friendship and the move towards adulthood. As everything begins to change for a growing Ritchie, all he can do is try to hang on to is his budding romance with the sweet Michelle (Greene) as some of the most important decisions he has ever faced appear in front of him.

Directed and co-written by Anthony Burns and co-starring Melinda McGraw (TV’s Mad Men...

Campy low budget horror film production company and distributor Full Moon Pictures just recently announced the completion of Gingerdead Man 3-D: Saturday Night Cleaver. In between filming and post production the film's status was updated to include the fact that it will be shown in 3-D. 

The film starring Jacqui Holland, Caley Chase, Peter Stickles, Robin Sydney, Kimberly Pfeffer, Laura Kachergus and Kent Fuher is aiming for a March release according to Full Moon Entertainment. Looking over the credits of the film, various characters such as roller girl keep popping up. So does that mean we are in store for campy horror film that crosses elements of Saturday Night Fever with Roller Boogie starring Linda Blair and Skatetown, U.S.A. with Scott Baio?

The roller disco sub-genre of film has been practically non-existent over the past three decades with the exception of My Super Psycho Sweet 16. So any...

What are you all doing out front of my house on a cold night like tonight? You want to hear about another movie from back in the day? Don’t you have school or something? Ok, I guess I can spare a few minutes to share another forgotten gem with you, but then it’s straight to bed…for me, anyway.

I think it’s safe to say that Linda Blair and I have pretty much grown up together, albeit on different sides of the camera. While I was toiling in the multi-media club in high school making movies for the classes she was in Hollywood making movies for the masses, but we were on the same ship. From the Exorcist movies, Born Innocent, Sarah T.–Portrait of an Alcoholic, Roller Boogie, Ruckus, Savage Streets, Night Patrol, all the way up to All is Normal…I’ve pretty much seen it all.

Whip It is the post-punk, feminist Slap Shot. Well, that's John Patterson's pitch anyway

Ballet dancing is a fine art, ice skating is campy, is kitsch, and roller derby is just trashy. That's the hierarchy of legitimacy as it plays out in some of your girlier physical activities and, true to form, I find myself tending towards the trashier end of the spectrum, where one finds Drew Barrymore's two-fisted, eight-wheeled, candy-coloured directorial debut Whip It.

Barrymore has nicely adapted the roller derby revival of the last decade into a movie about a lonely smalltown girl (Ellen Page) who finds a second family among the waitresses, grocery store clerks and single moms who, under wrestling-style aliases like Bloody Holly, Rosa Sparks and Smashley Simpson (Drew herself), make up her local team. True to the rules of the sports-movie genre – and its surprisingly abundant cadet genre, the roller skate flick...

In the pantheon of strange films, Blue Sunshine (1976) certainly holds a spot, and a high-ranking spot amidst the films of the 70’s. Written and directed by Jeff Lieberman (Squirm), this is a movie that appeals on more than one level. To some, the film will be a memorable b-movie experience, but it’s a drug-induced out-of-your-mind crazy experience as well. The film also appeals to those horror fans that enjoyed the early works of David Cronenberg, as it maintains a similar feel as movies like Rabid and Brood.

I saw this movie some years ago, but recently picked it up on DVD off that Internet thing. Sure, I could have purchased the Blue Sunshine DVD on it’s own, but part of the fun for me seeing it the first time was that I discovered it while watching Elvira’S Movie MacAbre on TV. Yeah, you got me… the original...

This summer, the 12th and final season of San Francisco’s Midnight Mass, presented by Peaches Christ, will take place at the Landmark Theatres Bridge (3010 Geary Boulevard). Running July 10-August 22, the weekly series of midnight cult flicks hosts an exciting lineup this year, complete with two very special guests, Linda Blair and Elvira.

The schedule is as follows:

Friday, July 10: Roller Boogie Saturday, July 11: The Exorcist Both will feature Blair in person with preshow events, performances, an onstage interview, fan Q&A and a meet-and-greet.

Saturday, July 18: Heathers Saturday, July 25: Evil Dead II (pictured) Friday-Saturday, July 31-August 1: Showgirls Saturday, August 8: Pink Flamingos Saturday, August 15: Poltergeist Friday-Saturday, August 21-22: Elvira, Mistress Of The Dark Elvira (a.k.a. Cassandra Peterson) will appear live an in person at the latter two shows for the ultimate Midnight Mass finale, including an interview, Q&A and meet-and-greet.

Have a question about gay male entertainment? Ask the Monkey!

Q: I'm a huge fan of The Biggest Loser and I'd heard somewhere that Bob is gay. True? -- Daniel, Auckland, Nz

A: Rumors have swirled around Harper, who is the oldest of The Biggest Loser’s three personal trainers, for years. Harper declined to comment, but he’s never come out, nor does he list a sexual orientation on his MySpace profile.

Biggest Loser personal trainer Bob Harper

Still, two of The Biggest Loser 6 contestants recently seemed to out him while appearing on a radio show:

According to Realityblurred.com:

Phillip and Amy Parham called in to the Monsters in the Morning show on Real Radio 104.1 two weeks ago (listen on iTunes, around 2:45:00), and when asked “Is Bob married?” there was a pause, and Amy said, “no,” and Phil said, “Uh, no.” He then added, “Bob likes his clothes and all that.