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For the bulk of his career, Leslie Nielsen was best known for his stern, dramatic roles. His tall stature and low voice had casting directors offering him parts as commanders, leaders, and even heavies. Many might recall Nielsen's stone-faced turn in 1956's "Forbidden Planet" as the captain in "The Poseidon Adventure," or playing a cop in the 1972 cop drama "The Bold Ones: The Protectors." In 1977's "Day of the Animals" he plays a manly outdoorsman who loses his mind and, quite darkly, declares insane dominion over animals and women. Some might recall that he can hold his breath a long time, as he declared in "Creepshow." Many will be shocked to witness Nielsen beat and assault Barbra Streisand in the 1987 drama "Nuts." 

However, Nielsen did appear in a handful of comedies, most notably, playing Dr. Rumack in the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker farce "Airplane!" The parody proved that he had a talent for deadpan comedy,...

The Ghostbusters team is expanding in a major way in the Ghostbusters: Afterlife (watch it Here) sequel Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. Marketing materials for the film – which is set to reach theatres on March 22nd – have shown us original Ghostbusters Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Winston Zeddemore, played by Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Ernie Hudson, suited up for ghostbusting action alongside their receptionist Janine Melnitz (Annie Potts) and Ghostbusters: Afterlife characters Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd), Lucky (Celeste O’Connor), and the Spengler family: Phoebe, Trevor, and Callie. Now Empire magazine has unveiled a new image that introduces inventor Lars Pinfield, a character played by British comedian James Acaster (Hypothetical). The Pinfield image can be seen at the bottom of this article – and seems to give a glimpse of a moment that could be reminiscent of the scenes where 007 would visit armourer Q in his lab, with people conducting experiments in the background.

Now that David Gordon Green has sent another horror franchise to hell with The Exorcist: Believer, the time is right this Halloween for Awfully Good Movies to tackle one of the most awfully good sequels ever made… Exorcist II: The Heretic!

While the late William Friedkin and William Peter Blatty were hellbent against any follow-ups to their seminal horror classic, the suits at Warner Bros. felt otherwise and rolled camera on a follow-up four years later from another prestige filmmaker, John Boorman, despite Boorman passing on the first film and calling it a “repulsive” tale about “child abuse”. So instead, Linda Blair returns as Regan MacNeil one last time to fight the satanic demon nipping at her heels once more, thanks to a mind synchronization device that is just the tip of this sequel’s deeply insane iceberg.

Whether it’s a visibly drunk Richard Burton as the new priest...

There's no question that the moviegoing experience has changed since the "The Exorcist" became a landmark cultural event when it was released the day after Christmas in 1973. Anyone that waltzed right in to see "The Exorcist: Believer" in theaters this October would have been shocked by the long lines snaking around the block to see the controversial original when it took the world by storm almost 50 years ago. It's unlikely that any other film will ever match that particular watershed moment in horror ever again.

"The Exorcist" marked the first time a genre film had ever received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. Notably, the entire production garnered 10 nominations, winning two for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Sound. In the decades since its release, "The Exorcist" has retained its well-deserved status as one of the scariest movies ever made, having left an indelible mark on generations of unassuming spectators that...

I don't throw the word "iconic" around willy-nilly, but I think it's fair to say Linda Blair's performance in "The Exorcist" is iconic. Blair didn't have an easy task; she had to go through hell to portray a possessed kid, shouting foul language and undergoing heavy make-up as young Regan MacNeil, a 12-year-old possessed by the demon Pazuzu.

Well, there's a new "Exorcist" movie on the way — "The Exorcist: Believer." The film, helmed by David Gordon Green, brings back Ellen Burstyn as Chris MacNeil, Regan's mother. But what about Blair? She was definitely on set — as an advisor. Speaking with Total Film, Green confirmed that Blair helped the newly possessed kids — played by Lidya Jewett and Olivia O'Neill — learn the ropes about getting demonic.

"We were really lucky to have Linda," Green said. "The hardships she faced during the production and after the production were certainly headlines and had an effect on her.

In the most memorable scene from The Exorcist, the demon inside preteen Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair) taunts Father Karras (Jason Miller), telling him that his recently deceased mother was in hell with it. “If that’s true, then you must know my mother’s maiden name,” Karras tells her, smirking. “What is it?” The answer wasn’t so much a word as a growl and maybe a gallon of green, sticky vomit. From his reaction, that wasn’t her maiden name.

“Over the years, everyone refers to the vomit here as pea soup,...

There has long been a grave misunderstanding of the spoof movie, a genre that takes one movie or cinematic trend and recreates it while mocking it mercilessly. It's easy to write off comedy staples like "Airplane!" and "Spaceballs" as delivery systems for silly non-stop gags, and sure enough, they absolutely are. But at its best, the spoof genre is much more insidious.

Most great spoof movies don't just mock something popular, they mock something serious. "Top Gun" is a self-serious motion picture, one that's seemingly unaware or at least uncritical of its own artificiality and jingoism. Fans of "Top Gun" may laugh at the film's funnier moments but the film itself is not to be laughed at. That's why a film like "Hot Shots!" is such a delight. The jokes are absurd and rapid-fire, but they're all aimed at taking a movie that set itself on a pedestal down a...

Morgan Creek Entertainment announced a reboot of the 1973 horror classic, The Exorcist last year in August. The currently untitled Exorcist movie was supposed to come out in 2021, but the backlash Morgan Creek received upon its announcement had them treading carefully. David Gordon Green (Halloween (2018) and Pineapple Express) was announced as director in December 2020, with the film being delayed to 2022. Green has now clarified that the film will be a direct sequel to the original and not a total reboot, as previously rumored. Speaking to GamesRadar, Green said the following.

"The Exorcist has been written. That was one of my pandemic projects. It's not inaccurate [that it will be a sequel to the original film]. I like all the Exorcist movies. And not only do I like them, I think they can all fall into the acceptable mythology for what I'm doing. It's not like I'm saying, 'Pretend that The Exorcist 2 never happened.' That's fine to exist. They're all fine to exist,...

Hello, dear readers! We’re back with more new home media releases this week, which includes one of this writer’s favorite films of 2021 - Adam Wingard’s Godzilla vs. Kong, which is not only headed to various formats (Blu-ray/DVD/4K Utra HD and even 3D Blu-ray), but is also being included in a Kong and Godzilla triple feature as well.

Other releases headed to Blu-ray and DVD on June 15th include Anything for Jackson, Jackie Kong’s The Being, The Awakening featuring Charlton Heston, H.P. Lovecraft’s The Deep Ones, Last Action Hero 4K, and Gattaca 4K.

Anything for Jackson

After losing their only grandson in a car accident, grief stricken Audrey and Henry, a doctor, kidnap his pregnant patient with the intentions of performing a "Reverse Exorcism," by putting Jackson inside her unborn child.

The Awakening

Two-time Academy Award winner Charlton Heston stars as an archaeologist driven...

"Let's go to the steps."

Filmmaker William Friedkin is leading a group of journalists around Georgetown, the Washington, D.C. neighborhood that served as the setting for his 1973 blockbuster The Exorcist on a fittingly overcast April day. After a quasi-lecture about his history with the film in Georgetown University's Healy Hall, we've walked through classrooms, courtyards and churches that all played significant roles in the making of the picture and the book that inspired it. Now we're on one of the streets that actress Ellen Burstyn, who played beleaguered mother Chris MacNeil,...

To save everyone you love, you have to sacrifice one person you really care about in Gremlin, the new horror film from Uncork'd Entertainment that's teased in a trailer and official poster. Also in today's Horror Highlights is the latest episode of the Splathouse podcast (featuring special guest Scott Drebit from Daily Dead) and excerpts from WatchMojo's Read-Only: A Collection of Digital Horror.

Gremlin Poster & Trailer: Press Release: "Emmy Award winning director, Ryan Bellgardt’s (Army of Frankenstein) highly anticipated creature feature Gremlin hits VOD July 11 from Uncork’d Entertainment.

Godzilla meets The Ring in a thrilling, uniquely-scripted horror jaunt that boasts amazing computer-generated effects and from some of the best in the game.

Adam receives a mysterious box from a relative containing a creature that will kill everyone he cares about. The only way to be rid of the curse is to give the box to someone he loves.

Every time I sing the praises of TBS' "Angie Tribeca" on Twitter, I get one of two responses: "That's a comedy? I thought it was another boring police procedural." and "That's a real show? I thought it was a viral video parody promoting a product I couldn't quite identify." On the one hand, this speaks to what a poor job TBS has done of marketing the show, which will debut with a 25-hour, commercial-free marathon of its first season(*) on Sunday night at 9. On the other, put those two misconceptions together, and you more or less have "Angie Tribeca." It's a real show, but one so committed to parodying police procedurals like "NCIS" and "Law & Order: Svu" that it's hard to put any one moment in a promo and not have it look like the genuine article. (*) There are only 10 episodes of that season, so each episode will air...

The battle between good and evil has played out in theaters for decades and it’s the memorable holy terrors that have left a cinematic memory for us. Religious horror films usually consist of figures like Jesus Christ, The Church, Satan, satanic and demonic possession, exorcisms and so on. We’ve decided to make a list of 10 great religious horror movies that you should check out.

It’s all open for interpretation so if you don’t see your favorite here, let us know on Twitter, Facebook or comment below.

Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

Do you think it’s hormones that are driving Mia Farrow crazy or could she be pregnant with Satan’s spawn? That’s the question in Roman Polanski’s classic horror movie. Macabre events surround the characters who all live pretty boring lives; they don’t know there is a satanic ritual aimed at bringing the antichrist into the world.

Louisa and Lisa Burns, who played the now-iconic twins in Stanely Kubrick's The Shining, attended a film screening at the BFI in London yesterday (January 29).

Do you recognise the @Shining_twins? Special guests at our anniversary screening of Stanley Kubrick's Dr Strangelove pic.twitter.com/5x0DLPiPrq

— BFI (@BFI) January 28, 2014The Shining review: Extended cut packs in more psychological terror

The Shining's Maze of Meaning: Room 237 and the extended cut

The twin sisters have kept a low profile since the film's release back in 1980 but happily posed for a picture on the red carpet as they arrived for the screening of Kubrick's Dr Strangelove as part of the Loco London Comedy Film Festival.

We've found 10 other former child stars from iconic horror flicks to see what they look like now, and what they went on to do next:

Linda Blair in The Exorcist

Linda Blair starred as the head-spinning,...

Louisa and Lisa Burns, who played the now-iconic twins in Stanely Kubrick's The Shining, attended a film screening at the BFI in London yesterday (January 29).

The twin sisters have kept a low profile since the film's release back in 1980 but happily posed for a picture on the red carpet as they arrived for the screening of Kubrick's Dr Strangelove as part of the Loco London Comedy Film Festival.

We've found 10 other former child stars from iconic horror flicks to see what they look like now, and what they went on to do next:

Linda Blair in The Exorcist

Linda Blair starred as the head-spinning, projectile-vomiting and crucifix-stabbing child in 1973's controversial The Exorcist.

A few years after the film's release, Blair encountered trouble with the law when charged with possession of drugs and conspiracy to sell. She managed to turn her career around by the early '80s, going on...

Our pumpkins are carved, the bags of mini Milky Way bars are ready for distribution, and my yard is covered with that horrible fake spider webbing that sticks to everything except the damn shrubs. Yup, it is Halloween. For this week’s Unseen inclusion, I wanted to give everyone a good scare! I debated a few titles like Messiah of Evil and The Changling, but I ultimately decided on Exorcist 3 (meaning I’ll cover the other two titles at a later date). Why Exorcist 3? This film may not be on every horror fan’s radar, but it is frighteningly freaky and an excellent choice for a Halloween viewing. A lot of people disregard sequels with a “lesser than” ideal that film franchises must get worse the further they travel away from the original source. Sure the original Amityville is great, but by the time you get to part 7, it has lost that original flare,...

If you’ve listened to the newest Foycast, then you’ve already heard me discuss in detail the 1981 obscurity Longshot - the world’s only foosball movie. Odds are you’ll never see this film, but in this B-Sides you can experience the magic of its title song and dramatic final shot.

In Foycast Xiii: Marching into Madness, I dissected Longshot in more detail than probably anyone has in over 30 years. For those that haven’t listened, what we’re talking about here is a coming-of-age underdog sports flick based around the game of foosball. Yes, foosball. Someone actually made a foosball movie.

Longshot was directed by E.W. Swackhamer and starred past-his-prime teen idol Leif Garrett as a California dude who wanted to go to Europe with his best friend to become soccer players because they knew nobody in America gave a damn about soccer in 1981. But before they can go become Euro soccer sensations,...

Savage Streets (1984) Motion Picture Marketing Directed by: Danny Steinmann Starring: Linda Blair, John Vernon, John Dryer, Linnea Quigley The Plot is Afoot! Brenda is the leader of a pack of young girls in her town who spend their free time making trouble and raising hell. When they cross a gang and wreck their car, they strike at Brenda by raping and violating her sister, Heather, as well as murdering her best friend. Having had enough, Brenda unleashes street justice on the bastards, switch blade and all. The Damage: Sure, Sure, Linda Blair. “The Exorcist” is a family drama, not a horror movie. No, we believe you. And “Repossessed” was a relevant Mel Brooks throwback. And “Chained Heat” was an indictment on the prison system. And “Savage Streets”? An honest look at the peril of American youths! What? Just because “The Exorcist” is my favorite horror film ever made doesn’t...

In 1973, director William Friedkin terrorized global audiences with his squirm-inducing vision of demonic possession, "The Exoricst."

Father Damien Karras' battle with the evil spirit of Pazuzu now continues on the small screen, thanks to the editing wizardry of Film School Rejects, who have re-assembled "The Exorcist" as if it were a cheesifying 1980's sitcom.

Complete with laugh track, lame opening credit music, and Burger King ads, "The Exorcist (80s Sitcom Recut)" is a clever reversal on the trend of making family movies look evil (although the "Shining" trailer is still the king of recuts).

The idea of an exorcism comedy is actually not that bad in principal, and we sure do think Charlie Sheen could be tied to a bed and have holy water thrown at him.

(Also, did you know original star Linda Blair actually parodied "The Exorcist" herself along with Leslie Nielson in a 1990 farce called "Repossessed?")

Watch:...

As we talked about a month ago, White Collar season 4 is just about ready to rock and star Matt Bomer has been tearing up the track lately. As the dedicated fans likely already know, the season 3 finale saw Bomer’s character, Neal, along with his toady Mozzie (well played by Willie Garson), make good his escape from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. As season 4 opens, we find Neal and Mozzie drinking in the lush beauty and fruity alcoholic beverages of a tropical island. The Hollywood Reporter brings us this clip from the opening episode:

So we see the standard White Collar quasi-cutesy back-n-forth dialogue is still well intact. Also, a bit of digging around on the ol’ internet has revealed to me (!!potential spoilers!!) that this elusive Dobbs will be played by none other than Gregg Henry. Henry is probably best known for his work on HBO’s Hung and FX’s The Riches,...

Some movies will always make me laugh, but let’s face it; the same movies might make others yawn. Comedy is tricky business, the hardest genre to pull off form script to screen. I’ve put together a list of 10 underrated or dismissed comedies that deserve a first chance or even a second chance at recognition. Humor is subjective, but gives these flicks a chance and I promise you will enjoy yourself.

Take a look at the list and let me know what you think and what your list might look like.

1. Big Nothing (2006) A frustrated, unemployed teacher joining forces with a scammer and his girlfriend in a blackmailing scheme. Director: Jean-Baptiste Andrea

Writers: Billy Asher, Jean-Baptiste Andrea

Stars: David Schwimmer, Simon Pegg I found Big Nothing after looking for another Simon Pegg fix having just seen Shaun of the Dead. This is a mean-spirited comedy that fits in well...

We predicted a year or so back that the release of "The Last Exorcism" would not actually be the last exorcism. How do we know? Please refer again to this article's title.

After all, as Michael Bay can attest, Hollywood loves making movies about things that are awesome. Plus, we knew that the Anthony Hopkins thriller "The Rite" was on its way.

Now, this week, we get "The Devil Inside," which is basically like "Paranormal Activity" meets "The Exorcist." We'll take it. Why? Because like most exorcism films, it looks awesome.

Horror film producers hit terror pay dirt in the '60s and '70s when they realized monsters and villains don't necessary have to be physically intimidating to be frightening. It's much freakier to see a child holding a bloody knife than an innkeeper or hitchhiker. This "baby boom" led to the classic films "Village of the Damned" (1960), "Rosemary...

Tremors? Nightbreed? Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat? 976-evil? Are all on the list this year. And though there were not huge horror wins in sound editing through screenplays, the Technical Awards never cease to bring out the horror veterans. Notably Tim Drnec who contributed to such VHS classics as Alien Seed, Destroyer, and Prison won for his work on “Spydercam 3D volumetric suspended cable camera technologies.” An award also shared with Ben Britten Smith and Matt Davis who both also worked on Constantine.

But among all the winners, the Academy also honored some great loses in 2010. And though they mentioned some of our heroes, Dennis Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2), Kevin McCarthy (Invasion of the Body Snatchers) and Dino de Laurentiis (King Kong), they did not mention Zelda Rubinstein or Corey Haim. But we will in this last section and the others lost to us last year.

So farewell fight fans and remember,...

Mikael Hafstrom’s latest feature The Rite, starring the legendary Sir Anthony Hopkins, newcomer Colin O’Donoghue and Alice Braga, gets its UK release on February 25th and to celebrate we thought we’d take a look at the Top 10 Movie Exorcists…

1/2) Max Von Sydow as Father Merrin & Jason Miller as Father Karras – The Exorcist

You couldn’t compile a Top 10 list of movie exorcists without the two most famous exorcists from The most famous exorcism movie of all time, The Exorcist. The frightening and realistic tale of an innocent girl inhabited by a terrifying entity, her mother’s frantic resolve to save her and two priests – one doubt-ridden, the other a rock of faith – joined in battling ultimate evil.

3) Anthony Hopkins as Father Trevant – The Rite

Inspired by true events, The Rite follows skeptical seminary student Michael Kovak (Colin O’Donoghue), who reluctantly attends exorcism school at the Vatican.

F. Scott Fitzgerald famously said, "There are no second acts in American lives," but actor Leslie Nielsen might have disagreed with him.

Nielsen died in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on November 28 from pneumonia. He was 84. Nielsen was best known as the handsome, somber hero and pitiless villain in dramas and thrillers for the first half of his 60-year career. Then he took a role in a 1980 disaster movie parody called Airplane! The film became an overnight classic and Nielsen’s career was never the same again.

Leslie William Nielsen was born on February 11, 1926, in Regina, Saskatchewan. His father was a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and his uncle was actor and esteemed humanitarian Jean Hersholt.

Nielsen began his acting career in radio before attending the Academy of Studio Arts in Toronto. He later studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York, which led to a role on the live...

Canadian actor whose reputation was transformed by his deadpan comic persona in Airplane! and the Naked Gun series

Few people watching the career of the tall, husky and fair-haired Leslie Nielsen, who has died aged 84, could have predicted that the stolid actor who specialised in authority figures would become known as a comedy star after two and a half decades in show business. His reputation was transformed by playing Dr Rumack on board the threatened airliner in Airplane! (1980) and Frank Drebin, the hilariously inept plain-clothes cop, in three Naked Gun films.

What the writer-directors Jim Abrahams and David and Jerry Zucker saw in Nielsen, silvery grey and in his mid-50s, was his previously po-faced persona. "They spotted me for being what I really was, a closet comedian," he said. "And how lucky can you get? It's like they said to me, 'Leslie, come out and play.' Thank God for them.

Celebrating 80's week here at HorrorBid has been all fun and games so far. Its given us a chance to look back and laugh at a decade that helped mold who and what we are today. Unfortunately in this life, the good is usually followed by bad and such is the case with the news off the wire today.....

If you want to talk about the 1980's, regardless if it invovles horror or not, the name Leslie Nielson is going to pop up near the top of the list. The man was a living breathing icon of the decade and his popularity today is as strong as it was 20 years ago. Obviously when you think of Leslie Nielson comedy first comes to mind. Hits like Airplane, Spy Hard and the Naked Gun movies sky rocketed Nielson as Mr. Dead Pan and led the actor and comedian on a whirlwind of...

Leslie Nielsen, who spent 30 years forging a career as a serious actor, and then another 30 playing the same parts for laughs, has died aged 84. We look back over his life in clips

Few actors have the ability to raise a smile just by the thought of them. Leslie Nielsen, deadpan extraordinaire, who used his training as a regular leading man in po-faced dramas to fruitfully spoof them for 30 years, was one of them. News of his death today will be greeted with both remembered happiness and a huge amount of sadness.

Nielsen was born in Saskatchewan, Canada, in 1926, 100 miles south of the Arctic Circle, the son of a mountie and a Welsh immigrant from Fulham. His older brother, Erik, was deputy prime minister of Canada during the 1980s, while their uncle, Jean Hersholt, was a prominent silent-film actor. Here, on David Letterman, promoting the second Naked Gun film, Nielsen credits...

The passing away yesterday of the late great Leslie Nielsen has led to an outpouring of love and fond memories in print and online. The actor was battling pneumonia in a Fort Lauderdale hospital when he passed away in his sleep on Sunday.

It seemed many in the Twitter and Facebook universes spent most of late Sunday quoting lines from the brilliant scripts for "The Naked Gun" and its progenitor "Police Squad", or Nielsen's work in 1980 comedy spoof "Airplane" (aka. "Flying High").

With over a hundred film and TV credits to his name since his earliest work in 1950, Nielsen's trademark was his delivery of lines with a voice of authority. This commanding presence suited him well in dramatic roles in the likes of "Forbidden Planet," "Prom Night," "CIty on Fire" and "The Poseidon Adventure", but it was applying that same deadpan skill to comedy which lead to a career renaissance...

The great Leslie Nielsen has passed away, at the age of 84.

What a sad way to start a week. We've learned this morning that the great Leslie Nielsen has died, at the age of 84. He died from complications relating to pneumonia.

Nielsen was a rarity amongst actors, having effectively had two careers. The first part of his acting life was dedicated to more serious roles, most notably including the likes of The Poseidon Adventure and Forbidden Planet. In all, he appeared in over 100 films, and 1500 television programmes.

But the ones for which most we'll remember him came in the second wind of his career, starting with 1980's Airplane! David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker cast him for straight delivery of often-insane material, and even though his role in the film was effectively a supporting one, it's one that inevitably springs to mind whenever the film is talked about. Rightly so,...

The world today just became a lot less funny. It's with the heaviest of hearts that we report the legendary Leslie Nielsen is no longer with us.

Though primarily known for his comedic work, Nielsen appeared in such horror film classics as Creepshow, Day of the Animals, and Prom Night; great genre TV shows such as "Thriller", "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", and "Tales of Tomorrow"; and of course his many horror spoofs including Repossessed, Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Scary Movie 3, and most recently Stan Helsing.

The news was broken today by Superstation Cjob out of Manitoba, who report that Nielsen has passed away in a hospital in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida at the age of 84 due to complications from pneumonia.

We here at Dread Central would like to take this time to extend our deepest of condolences to all of Leslie's friends, family, and constituents. Thank you, sir, for all...

Those that caught a screening of The Last Exorcism at Comic-Con already know whether the Eli Roth-produced, Daniel Stamm-directed horror movie works or not. For the rest of us, we have only the AICN trailer to watch and wonder how demon possession expert Reverend Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian) will succeed in performing an exorcism on a young girl (Ashley Bell).

At the Comic-Con, USA Today reports that Roth told the crowd he didn't mind the movie being compared to 1968's Rosemary's Baby. "Better that than Repossessed," said Roth. We're pretty sure there isn't a trace of Leslie Nielsen in the trailer below.

Next Showing: The Last Exorcism opens August 27th.

Link | Posted 8/2/2010 by Ryan

Eli Roth | Daniel Stamm | The Last Exorcism...

Chicago – Linda Blair trades her celebrity for activism. Her WorldHeart Foundation is a literal pet project, as it rehabilitates neglected and abandoned animals on the streets of Los Angeles. Blair, best known for her unforgettable role as Regan in “The Exorcist,” recently appeared in Chicago at the Hollywood Celebrities & Memorabilia Show.

Linda Denise Blair was a child actor in the early 1970s when she beat out 600 applicants for the role of Regan in The Exorcist. Her portrayal of a little girl who was possessed by the devil was the sensation of the 1973 film year. She received a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress and an Academy Award nomination.

Her career since then has been checkered but has given her steady work. Notable roles after The Exorcist included the TV Movie “Born Innocent,” “Airport 1975” and a sequel that wasn’t as successful as the first, “Exorcist II: The Heretic.

As the demonically-charged Jennifer's Body chomps its way into American theaters this week, we did a 360-degree head spin, marked out a pentagram and decided to sacrifice ourselves at the altar of movies' freakiest female possessions. From the classic (Linda Blair in The Exorcist; Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby) to the obscure (English chiller Blood on Satan's Claw) and the outright absurd (Satan's Cheerleaders; Blair getting Repossessed), here are 6 of the Scariest, 6 of the Sexiest, and -- not to be forgotten -- 6 of the Silliest Beelzebabes on film. So have the projectile vomit bucket handy, and get...

DVD Rating: 2.5/5.0 Chicago – Let’s be honest. Most ‘lost’ films are not found for a reason. It’s so funny to me that movies that were probably ignored for a good reason can suddenly become cult hits just because they’re unavailable for a few years. Having said that, there are one or two movies worth re-finding in Lionsgate’s ’80s-themed “The Lost Collection,” but there are also six to seven that should stay lost.

In “The Lost Collection,” Lionsgate has released eight ’80s movies that time has essentially forgotten. With stars like Drew Barrymore, Robert Sean Leonard, Keanu Reeves, Leslie Nielsen, and Jon Cryer (twice!), “The Lost Collection” has something for everyone. Or nothing for someone. Or something for a few people. I’m confused.

The Lost Collection was released on DVD on April 14th, 2009.

Photo credit: Lionsgate The eight films in “The Lost Collection” are “Irreconcilable Differences,” “My Best Friend is a Vampire,...

Leslie Nielsen trades his naked gun for the good book as he seeks to drive the devil out of Linda Blair. The devil.s been good to Linda and her role has paid a few bills, so he.s apt to stick around. Lionsgate brings this .Airplane.ish comedy to DVD in a new edition that is part of .The Lost Collection.. In 1973, Father Jedediah Mayii (Leslie Nielsen) cast Satan out of a little girl named Nancy. He nearly died in the process and that was to be his last exorcism. It.s seventeen years later and Nancy Aglet (Linda Blair) is all grown up with a family of her own. She.s watching television and becomes possessed by Satan again. they say...

Written by Harrison Pierce Lionsgate has acquired the home entertainment distribution rights to a number of eighties flicks never before seen on DVD and will be releasing them April 14th under the banner “The Lost Collection: The Best Movies You Totally Forgot About.” Included in the eclectic mix are the Drew Barrymore marriage dramedy Irreconcilable Differences and the Leslie Nielsen Exorcist-spoof Repossessed. While I wouldn’t call either film “the best” of anything, both have their entertainingly goofy charms and are worth checking out. The first film, Irreconcilable Differences, is certainly the worthier of the two to receive an overdue DVD release. An early effort from director Charles Shyer (Father of the Bride) and co-writer and future director Nancy Meyers (Something’s Gotta Give), Irreconcilable Differences is ...

DVD Playhouse—April 2009

By

Allen Gardner

Milk (Universal) Sean Penn deservedly captured his second Best Actor Oscar (and Dustin Lance Black a statuette for his original screenplay) in director Gus Van Sant’s portrait of San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to hold public office in the U.S. Alternately heartbreaking, infuriating and very funny, a film that both captures a bygone era and is still very timely. Fine support from Josh Brolin, Victor Garber, James Franco and Emile Hirsch. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Three featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS 5.1 surround.

Slumdog Millionaire (20th Century Fox) The Best Picture of 2008 is a kinetic, clever audience-pleaser about a determined lad (Dev Patel) from the slums of Mumbai, who has his chance at literal and financial redemption as a contestant on India’s version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Best Director Danny Boyle dazzles...

I count myself among the few, the proud, and the lucky who have never seen any of the recent Jason Friedberg/Aaron Seltzer productions (the men behind Epic Movie, Disaster Movie, so on and so forth), primarily because I don’t feel the need to. I know exactly what’s going to happen once I’ve seen the trailer, and I have as much understanding of the parodied subjects as the writers and directors (most of the referenced films have not even been released when the scripts are written). The problem, by and large, seems to be that they have no real understanding of what they’re parodying, and just slap together the basest resemblance of a narrative to string them together. I’m guessing. I haven’t actually seen them.

So what are we to make of Repossessed as a relic from the years of the first Bush that...

Kate Hudson (The Skeleton Key), Bill Pullman (Surveillance, Scary Movie 4, The Grudge) and Ned Beatty (Repossessed, Superman) have joined the cast of Michael Winterbottom's highly anticipated adaptation of The Killer Inside Me, reports Production Weekly. They join the previously announced Elias Koteas (The 4th Kind, Zodiac), Casey Affleck and Jessica Alba (The Eye, Idle Hands). Published in 1952, The Killer Inside Me concerns a deputy sheriff in a West Texas town whose kind Everyman demeanor masks his true dark self. He is slowly revealed as a psychotic killer. Shooting is scheduled to begin later this month, watch this spot for more news as it comes in.

It seems Liongate is coming out with a new collection of DVD releases under the banner of it being "The Lost Collection: The best movies you totally forgot about".

The horror side of this collection will include the likes of Slaughter High, Repossessed, and My Best Friend is a Vampire. Would it really be the worst thing in the world if Repossessed had remained lost and forgotten?

April 14th, 2009, is the date that Lionsgate will reintroduce the world to these allegedly "best movies you totally forgot about". For those that need their minds refreshed...

Slaughter High is a 1986 slasher starring the lovely Caroline Munro as one of several high school class reunion attendees being stalked by a former bullied classmate seeking bloody vengeance for the awful prank they pulled on him back in their formative years. The DVD release will be the R-rated cut of the film.

The inclusion of...

Another long-in-limbo vintage slasher opus is rescued from video obscurity as Slaughter High makes its DVDebut April 14 from Lionsgate Home Entertainment. It’s part of an eight-disc series called The Lost Collection, described as “The Best Movies You Totally Forgot About.”

Written and directed by the British trio of George Dugdale, Mark Ezra and Peter Litten, 1987’s Slaughter High stars genre veteran Caroline Munro as one of a group of people invited to a reunion at a remote, closed-down school—little knowing they’ve been lured there by a former classmate they once tormented, who soon wreaks bloody revenge on them. Like the other Lost movies (which also include the 1988 comedy My Best Friend Is A Vampire, also marking its first time on disc, and a reissue of the 1990 Exorcist spoof Repossessed with Leslie Nielsen and Linda Blair), Slaughter will be accompanied by a pop-up trivia track. Retail price for...