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Image Source: Sony Pictures Let’s travel back to the 1990s and dust off our VHS collection—okay, start up our streaming service or DVD player. It’s time to take a second look at My Life, a film that starred Michael Keaton and a young Nicole Kidman and really deserves far more praise than it received. This poignant, emotional film explores love, grief, and the human spirit in a stunning way. We follow successful advertising executive Bob (Keaton), who receives the devastating news of a terminal illness. He struggles with the harsh realities of their circumstances with the support of his pregnant wife Gail (Kidman). Keaton portrays a man coming to terms with his mortality in a dramatic and unvarnished performance. His sensitivity and will to leave a lasting legacy for his unborn kid make it hard to be unmoved. In an earlier role, Kidman excels as the reassuring and resilient spouse,...

Directed by Doug Trumbull, 1983 sci-fi thriller Brainstorm could have been deleted as an insurance write-off – but then a London bank intervened.

When Warner Bros announced its plans to effectively delete the films Batgirl, Scoob 2 and Coyote Vs Acme, the reaction was one of outrage. Studios destroying films as a tax write-off is nothing new, however: on the 21st June 1933, the Charlie Chaplin film A Woman Of The Sea (previously called Sea Gulls) was burned on the steps of Chaplin’s own studio. The five witnesses who saw the negative go up in flames then signed a letter confirming that the film had been lost to history.

A film directed and produced by one of the most important visual effects pioneers of the 20th century almost suffered a similar fate. Brainstorm, which went into production in the early 1980s, was directed by Doug Trumbull and featured a superb cast, including Christopher Walken,...

In the summer of 1990, screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin became an overnight success with the release of “Ghost,” a romantic thriller that would go on to become the top-grossing film of the year and earn Rubin an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. At least that’s how it seemed from the outside; the truth is that the 47-year-old filmmaker had been kicking around the industry for decades, working as a TV news editor, film museum curator, and writer-for-hire before “Ghost” (and then “Jacob’s Ladder” a few months later) established him as one of the most original voices in Hollywood cinema.

Rubin tells the story of everything that led up to “Ghost” — and everything that came after — in “It’s Only a Movie,” a book that’s half-show business memoir, half spiritual inquiry detailing his lifelong quest for enlightenment. That quest informs Rubin’s best films — “Brainstorm,” “Jacob’s Ladder,” “Ghost,” “My...

Twin movies. Doppelgängers. Rapid fire remakes. Whatever you want to call them, Hollywood studios have a long and painful history of rushing concepts that run the gamut from similar to identical into theaters at virtually the same moment. Oftentimes the belief is if you get before the cameras first, the competitor(s) will throw in the towel and cancel production. Yet once in a while what seems like a turf war played out in industry trade papers, where the disputed territories are overlapping ideas or historical personages, spills out into the multiplex as “the same movie” comes to cinemas weeks or months apart.

This phenomenon is more than a hundred years old, with the first such instance believed to be two silent adaptations of Ivanhoe being produced on different continents in 1913, although a clearer kickoff might be when Paramount and MGM competed to get the first American Mata Hari movie...

In the late 1980s, Bruce Joel Rubin was a screenwriter with two interesting credits on his resume — “Brainstorm” (1983) and “Deadly Friend” (1986) — and a screenplay (“Jacob’s Ladder”) that everyone in Los Angeles agreed was terrific but which no one at the studios would green light. Rubin’s fortunes and reputation changed seemingly overnight on July 13, 1990, when his romantic thriller “Ghost” opened and became a worldwide smash. A few months later, “Jacob’s Ladder,” which had finally been brought to the screen by director Adrian Lyne, opened as well, and Rubin’s status as one of Hollywood’s top screenwriters was secure.

While “Ghost” ultimately garnered Rubin an Academy Award and went on to become a classic — one of those rare cases where personal expression seamlessly intersected with popular and artistic success — its path to the screen wasn’t always smooth. In the following exclusive excerpt from Rubin’s new memoir, “It’s Only a Movie,...

The Oscar-winning screenwriter says he has always been gay, but is only now going public. At 81, he reflects on LSD, gurus and falling out with Whoopi Goldberg

When Bruce Joel Rubin was writing Ghost, he didn’t think about the Oscars it might win or the money it would make (more than $500m). Instead, he drew on an intimate moment from his past. When Molly, played by Demi Moore, tells her boyfriend Sam (Patrick Swayze) that she loves him, all he can say in return is: “Ditto.” Back in his college days, Rubin was the ditto guy, unable to echo his then-girlfriend’s heartfelt sentiment. But for an unusual reason: he was gay.

“I’ve never not been gay,” says the genial 81-year-old from his home in a leafy part of upstate New York, where the trees are crowding at the window behind him. “I am fully gay, and I always knew it.

One cannot underestimate the enormity of Jerry Zucker's "Ghost" when it was released in 1990. In the film, Molly (Demi Moore) and Sam (Patrick Swayze) are a well-to-do couple in New York who are very, very much in love. Despite their closeness, not to mention their sexual chemistry, Sam cannot entirely commit, replying only with "ditto" when Molly says "I love you." When Sam is murdered by muggers, he returns to Molly as a ghost, using a medium named Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg) to communicate. Can Sam figure out the rules of the afterlife in time to express his undying love for Molly? 

"Ghost" was made for a modest $22 million, but made over half a billion dollars worldwide. It was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won Oscars for Whoopi Goldberg and Bruce Joel Rubin, its screenwriter. "Ghost" was a juggernaut, and it's unusual that it...

What more could the heart want than a sweeping romantic drama dealing with grief, loss, love, and music? The Greatest Hits is a fantasy romantic drama film written and directed by Ned Benson, the Hulu film follows the story of a young woman Lucy who had a picture-perfect romance but an accident took him away from her. But she gets a second chance when she discovers that she can travel back in time through the music they love, but her excursions in her past are interfering with a new love interest. The Greatest Hits stars Lucy Boynton, David Corenswet, and Justin H. Min in the lead roles with Nelly Furtado, Andie Ju, Austin Crute, Tom Yi, Bryan Ferry, and Retta starring in supporting roles. So, if you loved the sweeping love story and the time-traveling drama in The Greatest Hits, here are some similar films you could check out next.

Brad Pitt and his ex-wife Jennifer Aniston didn’t star in any films together while they were still in a relationship. Still, the two were seen as the perfect couple for this romantic drama about time travel.

Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston were wanted for ‘The Time Traveler’s Wife’ Jennifer Aniston Brad Pitt | Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic

The Time Traveler’s Wife was a feature based on the best-selling novel of the same name. The film focused on a man with the ability to travel through time, and the impact it had on his life partner.

But years before the film was released, real-life former couple Pitt and Aniston were the ideal choices to star. The film’s screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin couldn’t help think about the former celebrity power couple while adapting the feature.

“I saw them as Henry and Clare. I just did,” Rubin said according to Access. “They...

Los Angeles, May 22 (Ians) Hollywood star Michael J. Fox made an appearance on ‘The View’ where he came face-to-face with Whoopi Goldberg and told her that he regrets not working with her in ‘Ghost’.

During Fox’s appearance on the ABC talk show, the ‘Back to the Future’ alum was asked by Goldberg if he had any regrets about acting roles he had walked away from in the past.

“There was a chance to work with you that I missed,” Fox said. “They talked to me about Ghost early on. I said, ‘It’ll never work.’ I said, ‘Whoopi is great but it’ll never work.'”

Fox continued: “And then it was great, and huge and I’m a f***ing idiot,” reports Deadline.

Goldberg added: “Well, you know what? There’s still time. So, yeah, we’ll find something to do now.”

‘Ghost’ is a 1990 romantic fantasy film...

Michael J. Fox made an appearance on The View where he came face-to-face with Whoopi Goldberg and told her he regretted not working with her on Ghost.

During Fox’s appearance on the ABC talk show, the Back to the Future alum was asked by Goldberg if he had any regrets about acting roles he had walked away from in the past.

“There was a chance to work with you that I missed,” Fox said. “They talked to me about Ghost early on. I said, ‘It’ll never work.’ I said, ‘Whoopi is great but it’ll never work.'”

Fox continued, “And then it was great, and huge and I’m a f***ing idiot.”

Goldberg added, “Well, you know what? There’s still time. So, yeah, we’ll find something to do now.”

Ghost is a 1990 romantic fantasy film directed by Jerry Zucker and written by Bruce Joel Rubin.

(Welcome to Tales from the Box Office, our column that examines box office miracles, disasters, and everything in between, as well as what we can learn from them.)

It happens every so often: two Hollywood movies come out around the same time, with a shockingly similar premise. There was "Top Gun" and "Iron Eagle" in 1986, "Dante's Peak" and "Volcano" in 1997, and in more recent times, "Hercules" and "The Legend of Hercules" in 2014. But the most infamous of these twin films battles took place in the summer of '98, when "Deep Impact" went up against "Armageddon" as the two asteroid disaster flicks battled it out for box office supremacy. Ultimately, Michael Bay's "Armageddon" came out on top.

It's not as though director Mimi Leder's "Deep Impact" was a failure — in fact, by many metrics, it was a gigantic success. It's just that it wasn't quite as big as Bay's bombastic spectacle starring Bruce Willis,...

You can only tell the same old slasher story so many times before it gets stale, and that’s why so many horror franchises eventually find the need to escape the confines of their original small-town settings and have their villains invade larger urban centers. And if you’re going to set your story in a big city, why not the most recognizable metropolis of all, New York?

Urban horror might not be as common as scary movies about Transylvanian castles and cursed cabins in the middle of nowhere, but we’ve seen a plethora of NYC-set horror flicks over the years. And in honor of Scream VI also choosing to relocate the action to the city that never sleeps, we’ve come up with this list celebrating six of the best horror movies set in NYC.

As usual, this list is based on personal opinion, but we’ll be...

Wow! I did not have a Ghost remake from Channing Tatum on my 2023 Bingo card, folks, and yet, here we are. According to a Vanity Fair cover story, Tatum’s production company, Free Association, owns the film rights to the supernatural drama released in 1990, starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, and Whoopi Goldberg.

“We actually have the rights,” Tatum said to Vanity Fair. “Yeah, we have the rights to ‘Ghost.'” The report also says Tatum could play Patrick Swayze’s role in the remake.

“But we’re going to do something different,” Tatum added, referring to changes he plans to make to the original film’s harmful stereotypes.

Jerry Zucker directed Ghost from a script by Bruce Joel Rubin. Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, Tony Goldwyn, Vincent Schiavelli, and Rick Aviles star in the romantic fantasy comedy. Zucker’s 1990 classic revolves around Sam West (Swayze), a murdered banker whose...

Channing Tatum has revealed that he has the rights to the classic 1990 romance Ghost from Paramount Pictures and plans to remake it.

His disclosure that his production company Free Association has “the rights to Ghost” came during an interview with Vanity Fair, conducted while the actor-producer was making pottery. “Now I know why they put [pottery-making] in Ghost,” he joked. “This whole process is very, very sexual.”

Tatum told Vanity Fair that he’ll play Patrick Swayze’s role in the new Ghost. “But we’re going to do something different,” he said, alluding to certain problematic elements in the storytelling of the original film. Tatum added, “I think it needs to change a little bit and have our…” but never got around to finishing his sentence after being distracted by the aforementioned pottery. Further specifics as to his plans for Ghost haven’t been disclosed.

Garnering both critical acclaim and...

A new episode of The Arrow in the Head Show has just arrived online, and in this one hosts John “The Arrow” Fallon and Lance Vlcek are taking a look back at director Wes Craven’s troubled and compromised 1986 film Deadly Friend (watch it Here). To find out what The Arrow and Lance think of the film, check out the video embedded above!

Based on the novel Friend by Diana Henstell, Deadly Friend was written by Bruce Joel Rubin and has the following synopsis: Lonely teenage genius Paul, a specialist in brain research, has two best friends: his remarkable robot and the beautiful girl next door. When tragedy strikes both of his friends, he desperately tries to save them by pushing technology beyond its mortal limits into a terrifying new realm. Like a modern-day Dr. Frankenstein, Paul discovers too late that he has created a rampaging monster!

Matthew Laborteaux, Kristy Swanson,...

Gerard Johnstone's "M3GAN" became an internet sensation after the trailer showed an android doll dancing in a hallway, but when critics finally saw the whole film they recognized it as much more than a meme. Gerard Johnstone's "M3GAN" is a smart and emotionally mature motion picture about a young person trying to avoid dealing with the realities of death by glomming onto high-tech robotics and artificial intelligence in the form of an automaton that, before long, goes on a killing spree and obliterating the annoying people that get in her way.

Yes, "M3GAN" has earned rave reviews for both its entertainment value and its narrative ambition. And that's all well and good for "M3GAN," but it was not the first film to match that extremely specific criteria, but critics — and the harsh realities of the studio system — weren't as kind to horror icon Wes Craven when he tried to...

Filmed in 1983 and not released until 1987, the Thanksgiving slasher Blood Rage (watch it Here) slipped past many horror fans when it first came out. But now that it has entered the streaming age and even been presented by Joe Bob Briggs on Shudder, Blood Rage has found an appreciative audience – and we’re diving into the film with the new episode of the Real Slashers video series! You can check it out in the embed above.

Also known as Nightmare at Shadow Woods, Blood Rage was directed by John Grissmer from a screenplay by Bruce Rubin. The film has the following synopsis:

Todd and Terry are twins – blonde, cute as buttons, bright and identical in every respect, with one exception. One of them is a murderer. It all started one night at a drive-in when a teenager was slaughtered in the back seat of his car while his girlfriend watched.

The "life flashing before their eyes" genre of storytelling is usually met with the general criticism of lazy writing. But when it's done well, as "Jacob's Ladder" was in 1990, the result can be disorienting and bleak in the best of ways. Written by "Ghost" scribe Bruce Joel Rubin, the Adrian Lyne-directed psychological drama concerns Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins), a Vietnam vet beset by increasingly grotesque visions, plunging him into a hellscape in which the veil between reality and lunacy wears thin. The movie enjoyed mild box office success, but a robust afterlife as a cult masterpiece.

Few are more excited about the film's sustained success than Lyne, who spoke to Coming Soon on the 30th anniversary of its release and compared its experience to that of reading an Ambrose Bierce short story for the first time (which was adapted into one of Lyne's favorite movies):

"There was a...

Writer/director Eskil Vogt joins hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante to discuss a few of his favorite movies.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

The Worst Person In The World (2021)

The Innocents (2022)

The Godfather Part II (1974) – Katt Shea’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

The Breakfast Club (1985)

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)

Trust (1990)

Fight Club (1999)

Evil Dead II (1987) – Alex Kirschenbaum’s review

Gremlins (1984) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

The Getaway (1972) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary

The Getaway (1994)

Junior Bonner (1972) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Star Wars (1977)

The Limey (1999)

Point Blank (1967) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

Out of Sight (1998)

The Hunger (1983)

Providence (1977)

Blind (2014)

Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)

The Card Counter (2021)

First Reformed (2017) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Taxi Driver (1976) – Rod Lurie’s trailer commentary

Light Sleeper (1992)

American Gigolo (1980)

Notorious (1946) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Torn Curtain (1966)

Jacob’s Ladder (1990)

Lolita (1997)

Deep Water...

Hello, dear readers! We have a new batch of horror and sci-fi home entertainment releases on tap for you, and if you’re looking to add some more content to your Halloween season watch lists, there are quite a few titles headed home this week that should help in that regard. One of Wes Craven’s more underappreciated efforts—Deadly Friend—is getting the Collector’s Edition treatment courtesy of the fine fiends from Scream Factory, and Arrow Video has put together a 2-Disc Limited Edition set for Ridley Scott’s Legend.

If you are experiencing a shortage of Jason Voorhees in your home media collections, Paramount has assembled a brand-new Steelbook edition of their 8-movie Friday the 13th set. Rob Reiner’s Misery is getting the 4K treatment on Tuesday, and if you’re looking to catch up on some recent genre titles, Ben Wheatley’s In the Earth,...

Deadly Friend Collector’S Edition: "From Director Wes Craven comes a terrifying tale of technology gone haywire! A lonely teenage genius, a specialist in brain research, has two best friends: his remarkable robot and a beautiful girl next door. When tragedy strikes both of his friends, he desperately tries to save them by pushing technology beyond its mortal limits into a terrifying new realm. Like a modern-day Dr. Frankenstein, Paul discovers too late that he has created a rampaging monster!

Directed by West Craven and featuring an all-star cast including Matthew Labyorteaux, Kristy Swanson, Michael Sharrett, and Anne Twomey, this entertaining sci-fi, horror cult classic makes its Blu-ray debut in a Collector’s Edition on October 12, 2021 from Scream Factory. Deadly Friend Collector’s Edition features new 2K scan, new interviews with Kristy Swanson, screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin, special makeup effects artist Lance Anderson, and more. Fans can pre-order their copies now by visiting ShoutFactory.

The 63rd Academy Awards took place on March 25, 1991. For the first time in 60 years, a western took home the big prize, a first-time director beat out a veteran, the acting awards were split among four different films and an 80s pop idol caused a sensation. For the second consecutive year, Billy Crystal hosted the event, opening the night by riding in on a horse, which was most likely a plug for his upcoming film “City Slickers,” but also seemed to foreshadow the theme for the evening.

“Dances with Wolves” became the first western since “Cimarron” 60 years earlier to win Best Picture. Kevin Costner‘s epic adventure came into the night with the most nominations at 12, and walked away with the most statues at seven. Costner holds the very rare distinction of landing both a Best Director and a Best Actor nomination for the same film, while his win in the...

Screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin still recalls one viewer’s reaction to Jacob’s Ladder.

“I was stood outside the theatre on the very first day it opened in LA, waiting for the crowds to come out to see how they responded,” Rubin recalls. “As the credits started rolling this guy ran out, probably five feet from me, and yelled at nobody in particular: ‘If I ever meet the guy that wrote that movie, I’ll kill him.’”

It was an extraordinary reaction but, then again, Jacob’s Ladder is an extraordinary movie.

Released on November 2, 1990, the film was only a modest success at the box office, debuting at number one in the US before being knocked off the top spot by Child’s Play 2 just a week later. But while plastic dolls reigned supreme on the big screen, Jacob’s Ladder would have its day on home video, where it garnered a cult...

Given that the summer blockbuster season has been a bust as theater chains shut down while cases of the deadly coronavirus rose. Studios continue push openings of highly anticipated films into the fall, next year and beyond. Warner Bros. seems determined to open “Tenet,” Christopher Nolan‘s new big-screen spectacular that involves a secret agent who is tasked to stop World War III. For now, it is expected to play in selective cities and auditoriums in the U.S. starting on September 3.

But more and more titles are turning to VOD or streaming services as options to serve a cinema-starved audience, including Spike Lee‘s “Da 5 Bloods,” Judd Apatow‘s “The King of Staten Island” and “Greyhound,” a war film starring Tom Hanks.

The lack of multiplex visits during these steamy summer days has made me nostalgic for the when I was a movie critic and basked in the...

For this week’s horror and sci-fi home media releases, we have some Stephen King on tap, as well as a ton of indie horror and a classic genre romance as well. If you missed it previously, you can now catch up with the second season of Castle Rock, which is coming out on both Blu-ray & DVD, and if you’re a big softie like this writer, you’ll definitely want to pick up the new Blu for Ghost, which Paramount is releasing in honor of the film’s 30th anniversary.

If you have aspiring young horror fans in your midst, Scoob! hits a variety of formats this week, and for those of you in the mood for a classic suspense film, Torment should more than hold you over for a while.

Other releases for July 21st include The Room, Parts Unknown, Creature Cabin, Deadtectives, and a Horror Thrillers 4-Film...

Here are many more movies to watch when you’re staying in for a while, featuring recommendations from Steven Canals, Larry Karaszewski, Gareth Reynolds, and Alan Arkush with special guest star Blaire Bercy from the Hollywood Food Coalition.

Please support the Hollywood Food Coalition. Text “Give” to 323.402.5704 or visit https://hofoco.org/donate!

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Master of the Flying Guillotine (1976)

Groundhog Day (1993)

Kung Fu Mama a.k.a. Queen of Fist (1973)

Ali: Fear Eats The Soul (1974)

Portrait Of A Lady On Fire (2019)

In The Mood For Love (2000)

Hunger (2008)

The Sweet Hereafter (1997)

Fargo (1996)

Night of the Lepus (1971)

Dolemite Is My Name (2019)

Soylent Green (1973)

Silent Running (1972)

Canyon Passage (1946)

McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)

The Professionals (1966)

Ride Lonesome (1959)

Carrie (1952)

The Heartbreak Kid (1972)

Hello Down There (1969)

The Brass Bottle (1964)

The Trouble With Angels (1966)

Pollyanna (1960)

Tiger Bay (1959)

The Parent Trap (1961)

Endless Night (1972)

The Family Way (1966)

Take A Girl Like You (1970)

Freddy Got Fingered...

Three decades on, this weepie classic retains an innocence and earnestness that makes it as delightfully comforting as ever

Veteran producer-screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin created a comfort-food weepie classic with his gem Ghost, the story of a murdered young man who sticks around as a ghost to watch over his grieving artist girlfriend. It is now rereleased in UK cinemas for the 30-year anniversary. This is a film that for its global army of fans attained a new level of sadness when its star, Patrick Swayze, died of pancreatic cancer in 2009 at the age of 57.

Rubin’s script is a lethally effective tragicomic fantasy. Ghost looks more Spielbergian every time I watch it, and Rubin must surely have hoped that the man himself might have been interested in directing – he has candidly admitted to being disconcerted when the studio put comedy specialist Jerry Zucker at the helm. But that choice was inspired.

A reimagining of the haunting 1990 film of the same name (that starred Tim Robbins and was directed by Adrian Lyne from a screenplay by Bruce Joel Rubin), the first trailer for the new Jacob's Ladder has been unveiled ahead of the movie's release this August.

Below, you can watch the new trailer for Jacob's Ladder, following its premiere on Entertainment Weekly.

Directed by David M. Rosenthal from a screenplay by Jeff Buhler and Sarah Thorpe, Jacob's Ladder stars Michael Ealy, Nicole Beharie, Jesse Williams, and Joseph Sikora. Vertical Entertainment will release the film in theaters on August 23rd.

Synopsis: "After returning home from war, a veteran discovers that his brother, thought to be killed in action, is actually alive. This shocking revelation causes his life to spiral out of control as he desperately searches for the truth."



The post War Veteran is Haunted in the Trailer for Jacob’S Ladder...

Director David M. Rosenthal’s reimagining of “Jacob’s Ladder,” the 1990 psychological thriller directed by Adrian Lyne and starring Tim Robbins, is finally readying for release, six years after the project was launched. Written by Jeff Buhler and Sarah Thorp, this new take on the story stars Michael Ealy, Jesse Williams, and Nicole Beharie as part of an all-black cast.

First announced in 2013 and finally shot in 2016, Ld Entertainment’s remake has remained mostly shrouded in secrecy. The production company’s stated goal was to produce more of an homage, rather than a copy of the original, contemporizing the story while remaining true to the issues it examines and questions raised.

In the original, scripted by Bruce Joel Rubin, the protagonist is a Vietnam veteran whose experiences prior to and during the war result in fragmented flashbacks and bizarre hallucinations that continue to haunt him as he desperately tries to...

Ld Entertainment’s reimagining of “Jacob’s Ladder,” the 1990 psychological thriller directed by Adrian Lyne, starring Tim Robbins, has set what should be a final release date, six years after the project was launched.

Directed by David M. Rosenthal and written by Jeff Buhler and Sarah Thorp, this reimagining stars Michael Ealy, Jesse Williams, and Nicole Beharie.

In the original, scripted by Bruce Joel Rubin, the protagonist is a Vietnam veteran whose experiences prior to and during the war result in fragmented flashbacks and bizarre hallucinations that continue to haunt him, as he desperately tries to get to the bottom of it all. Although not a box office hit ($26 million gross on a $25 million budget), the film went on to achieve cult hit status.

First announced in 2013, and finally shot in 2016, Ld Entertainment’s remake has remained mostly shrouded in secrecy. The production company’s goal was to produce more of an homage,...

Exclusive: Vertical Entertainment has taken U.S. rights to Ld Entertainment’s Jacob’s Ladder, a re-imagination of the 1990 thriller about a Vietnam vet who suffers from a severe case of dissociation.

Dish will premiere Jacob’s Ladder in an exclusive July window, followed by a theatrical release in August. David M. Rosenthal directed the film which stars Michael Ealy, Jesse Williams, Nicole Beharie, and Karla Souza.

The Exchange is currently selling international rights at the 2019 Cannes Film Market.

In Rosenthal’s Jacob’s Ladder, Jacob Singer is getting his life back together after his brother is killed in Afghanistan. Jacob has a beautiful wife, a newborn child and a successful career as surgeon in a Va hospital. When a stranger approaches Jacob and reveals that...

No 1960s film student had more on the ball than Brian De Palma, who enlisted a smart group of collaborators to pull together his voyeuristic student-filmmaking, Alfred Hitchcock-worshiping early experimental pictures. In these three early features we can feel the director being influenced in multiple directions — do ensemble comedy and Godard-esque minimalism have a future?

De Niro & De Palma The Early Films

The Wedding Party, Greetings and

Hi, Mom!

Blu-ray

Arrow Video

1966-1970 / B&W & Color / 1:37 & 1:85 widescreen / 92, 88, 87 min. / Street Date December 11, 2018 / Available from Arrow Video

Directed by Brian De Palma

Brian De Palma fans tend to love his later overdone exercises in Hitchcockian excess and voyeurism, whereas I tend to enjoy his creative student work, his hit & run, improvise-and-hope enterprises. The man certainly had the drive. By 1964 he was co-directing a film on Long Island with the money of a rich student friend. De Palma’s lopsided...

When Wes Craven directed the 1984 film A Nightmare on Elm Street, no one could have predicted what a success it’d become. The horror genre from that point onward was changed, just as Halloween had impacted it a few years earlier and films like Psycho even before that. With Craven’s name having such a new meaning in the industry, fans were eager for his next effort. They craved something with blood-curdling terror and violence and while his next project entitled Deadly Friend was indeed violent, it sure wasn’t another Elm Street.

Released in 1986 and based on a novel titled Friend by Diana Henstell, the script for the film was written by Bruce Joel Rubin, who intended with Craven to produce a dark romance with less emphasis on gore and a larger focus on character development.

For those unfamiliar, it follows a young teenager named Paul who befriends girl next door Samantha.

We've seen Steven Yeun fight against the infected on AMC's The Walking Dead, but in Joe Lynch's Mayhem, he'll face a different—albeit equally lethal—virus, and you can now mark your calendars with the official release date.

Rue Morgue reported that Rlj Entertainment will release Mayhem in select cinemas and VOD and Digital HD platforms on November 10th. Following its theatrical release, Mayhem is set to stream on Shudder in early 2018.

We'll be sure to keep Daily Dead readers updated as more information on Mayhem is revealed, including its first trailer, and in case you missed it, read our own Heather Wixson's SXSW review of the film.

"Directed by Joe Lynch (Everly) and written by Matias Caruso, the film stars Steven Yeun (The Walking Dead), Samara Weaving (Monster Trucks), Steven Brand (The Scorpion King) and Dallas Roberts (Dallas Buyers Club).

In Mayhem, an airborne virus infects the...

The action-thriller premiered at the 2017 SXSW Film Festival.

Rlj Entertainment and AMC Networks’ Shudder streaming platform are partnering on the North American release of Joe Lynch’s action-thriller Mayhem.

The deal was finalised in Cannes.

Rlje plans to release Mayhem in theatres and on demand later this year, with the Shudder streaming premiere slated for early 2018.

In Mayhem, an airborne virus infects the corporate tower of a major law firm on the day attorney Derek Saunders is wrongfully fired. The infection is capable of making people act out on their most erratic impulses and viral rage takes over. Trapped in the quarantined building, Saunders is forced to fearlessly fight for his job, his redemption and his life.

The film written by Matias Caruso stars Steven Yeun, Samara Weaving, Steven Brand and Dallas Roberts.

Avva Pictures Mehrdad Elie and Parisa Caviani produced, alongside Circle of Confusion’s Lawrence Mattis and Matt Smith.

Rlje’s Chief...

We've been excited for Daily Dead readers to see Joe Lynch's Mayhem since it made its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival (read Heather's review here), and now horror fans know when to mark their calendars, as Rlj Entertainment and AMC's streaming service Shudder have acquired North American rights to the office-set horror comedy.

Rlj Entertainment has slated Mayhem for a theatrical and VOD late this year, with Shudder set to stream the film in early 2018. A trailer has yet to be revealed, but we'll be sure to keep Daily Dead readers updated as more details are revealed. In the meantime, check out Heather's SXSW interview with Lynch.

Press Release: Los Angeles, May 24, 2017 – Rlj Entertainment and AMC Networks’ Shudder are partnering on the North American release of Joe Lynch’s action/thriller MAYHEMthrough a deal finalized at the 70th Cannes International Film Festival. The film first premiered at...

Exclusive: Paradigm represents North American rights to virus thriller.

Octane Entertainment will launch international sales on the Croisette on Joe Lynch’s SXSW action-thriller Mayhem starring Steven Yeun from The Walking Dead.

The story centres on attorney Derek Saunders who is framed by a co-worker and wrongfully fired when the tower office where he works is placed on lock-down after an airborne virus breaks out.

Matias Caruso wrote the screenplay and the cast includes Samara Weaving, Steven Brand and Dallas Roberts. Paradigm represents North American rights.

Avva Pictures’ Mehrdad Elie and Parisa Caviani produce with Circle of Confusion’s Lawrence Mattis and Matt Smith.

Octane Entertainment president Jack Campbell announced the deal on Friday and said: “We’re beyond thrilled to be introducing Mayhem to international buyers in Cannes.

“It’s such an amazing, fun, action-packed thrill ride that hooks the viewer from the first frame and does not disappoint. Director [link=nm...

Whit Stillman has done this awards season thing before. Back in 1990, the first-time filmmaker was nominated for a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for his script for “Metropolitan,” a comedy of manners about a group of young Manhattanites lolling their way through a series of debutante galas and in-home gatherings during the holiday season. Stillman didn’t win – the award went to Bruce Joel Rubin for “Ghost” – but he still looks back on that period of his life with fondness.

“I remember going to my nominees luncheon and all the people were saying, ‘Don’t worry, you won’t get it. Just don’t worry, there’s no chance,'” Stillman recently told IndieWire. “And that was good, because I didn’t have to worry about writing any acceptance speeches. Then I thought, ‘But what if, what if you get it and I have to go up and say something, what am I going to say?...

Mark Harrison Sep 13, 2016

Before he hit big with Star Wars and Star Trek, Jj Abrams was penning films such as Forever Young, Regarding Henry and Armageddon...

Jj Abrams is one of the most powerful people in Hollywood right now. Over his career in the movies, he's written, directed, produced, acted and played a wicked keyboard solo on Cool Guys Don't Look At Explosions, and through his production company Bad Robot, his name is counted among the credits of massive franchises like Cloverfield, Mission: Impossible, Star Trek and of course Star Wars. He's more of a household name than most filmmakers of his generation and we sometimes wish we wanted anything as much as he wants that Steven Spielberg status.

You can't blame him when you hear about his first paid job in the film industry. Returning a bunch of Spielberg's personal super-8 home movies that he discovered after his...

Tony Sokol Jul 1, 2016

The new Jacob's Ladder will be a "modern-day paranoid action thriller about two brothers"

As you may know, a Jacob's Ladder remake is in the works. Ld Entertainment says that Jacob’s Ladder will be an homage to the classic 1990 supernatural thriller rather than a remake, meaning it will take place in the present and deal with contemporary issues.

Jacob’s Ladder will be directed by David M Rosenthal. The screenplay was written by Jeff Buhler (The Midnight Meat Train) and Sarah Thorp.

It's now being reported that Karla Souza, a regular on the Us TV show How to Get Away With Murder, will play Annie/Angel, a trauma nurse who works with Jacob’s medical crew in Afghanistan. Souza’s latest movie ¿Qué Culpa Tiene el Niño? opened at number one in her native Mexico in May.

Ray Donovan's Guy Burnet will play Hoffman, a...

Tony Sokol Jul 2, 2019

A remake of the 1990 film, Jacob's Ladder, provides a modern update to a classic horror tale.

This may be one of my flashbacks, but a Jacob's Ladder remake is in the works from the same people who might bring you a remake of Angel Heart. Studio Ld Entertainment promises that Jacob’s Ladder will be an homage to the classic 1990 supernatural thriller, rather than a remake, meaning that it will take place in the present and deal with contemporary issues.

Jacob’s Ladder will be directed by David M. Rosenthal. The screenplay was written by Jeff Buhler (The Midnight Meat Train) and Sarah Thorp.

Jacob's Ladder Trailer

Here's the trailer for the reimagined Jacob's Ladder.

Video of Jacob's Ladder Official Trailer (2019) Michael Ealy, Jesse Williams Horror Movie HD Jacob's Ladder Release Date

Jacob's Ladder is set to arrive on August 23.

Jacob's Ladder Cast and Details

Joining primary...

I really like Adrian Lyne's 1990 existential horror film Jacob's Ladder. So much, in fact, that I wrote an entire 25th anniversary retrospective on it last year featuring interviews with Lyne, screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin and star Tim Robbins. Give it a read if you're interested in learning more about the film, which ranks as one of the best and most influential fright flicks of the 1990s.  Speaking of which! The cult classic is now available to watch for free via Paramount Vault, a YouTube account featuring officially sanctioned free streams of movies from the studio's library. As a testament to the film's enduring popularity, it's already been viewed over 34,000 times since going up on the site just 15 hours ago. Get it while it's hot! As a matter of fact, why not watch the entire movie right here on this page? We're more than happy to host. [Thanks to Bloody Disgusting for the tip.]...

Here's the thing about remakes: even the bad ones can't taint our fond memories of the original. Which is why I'm choosing not to feel any way at all about today's news that Ld Entertainment's Jacob's Ladder "reimagining" will be directed by David M. Rosenthal, who helmed last year's critically-reviled thriller The Perfect Guy (which nevertheless made $60 million at the box office). Before that: A Single Shot starring Sam Rockwell (49% Rotten Tomatoes score) and Janie Jones starring Abigail Breslin (52%). Am I sensing a downward trend here? Joining Rosenthal for the destined-to-be-mediocre effort is his Perfect Guy star Michael Ealy, who is talented and attractive and will likely be wasted in the lead role. All due respect to Rosenthal, but his resume makes it pretty clear what kind of "remake" they're going for here. The original Jacob's Ladder may not be a masterpiece, but it is still a bracing, personal and...

Steven Yeun, the actor who plays Glenn on The Walking Dead, has landed the lead role in an action movie called Mayhem. He will be joined by Samara Weaving (The Babysitter) in the film. The is a big deal for Yeun because this is his first big leading movie role!

According to Variety, the film tells the story of “a virus that infects a corporate law office on the day attorney Derek Saunders (Yeun) is framed by a co-worker and wrongfully fired. The infection is capable of making people act out their wildest impulses. Trapped in the quarantined building, our hero is forced to savagely fight tooth and nail for not only his job but his life.”

The movie will be directed by Joe Lynch (Knights of Badassdom) from a script written by Matias Caruso. The film project is being produced by Circle of Confusion production company, who also produces The Walking Dead,...

As Glenn Rhee on AMC’s The Walking Dead, Steven Yeun has survived countless encounters with the living dead, and now he’s set to face humans with a different type of infection in a new film from Joe Lynch.

According to THR, Steven Yeun will star as Derek Saunders in Mayhem, an upcoming action horror movie that will be helmed by Joe Lynch, co-star of Holliston and director of Everly and Wrong Turn 2: Dead End.

Written by Matias Caruso, Mayhem focuses on “a virus capable of making people act out their wildest impulses that infects a corporate law office on the very day attorney Derek Saunders (Yeun) is framed by a co-worker and wrongfully fired. Trapped in the quarantined building, our hero is forced to fight tooth and nail for not only his job, but also his life.”

Samara Weaving (who recently played Heather in Ash vs Evil Dead...

Everly director Joe Lynch is beginning to set the wheels in motion for his next project, Mayhem, and The Hollywood Reporter brings word today that the filmmaker has set sights on his two leading stars – Steven Yeun (The Walking Dead) and Australian actress Samara Weaving (The Babysitter).

Lifted from an eye-catching script produced by Matias Caruso – he penned Black List screenplay Carnival – Mayhem revolves around a deadly virus that causes Average Joes to lose control, acting out their wildest impulses in the process. Mayhem indeed.

Yeun will topline Lynch’s actioner as Derek Saunders, an attorney at law who finds his career hanging by a thread after being wrongfully accused of something unspeakable. But it’s out of the frying pan and into the freezer for our reluctant hero, who is left fighting for his life when the outbreak strikes. He spent five season fending off the undead on AMC’s flagship,...

"Eckhart saw Hell too. He said: The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of life, your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you, he said. They're freeing your soul. So, if you're frightened of dying and you're holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away. But if you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels, freeing you from the earth." -- Louis (Danny Aiello) in "Jacob's Ladder" I first viewed "Jacob's Ladder" on VHS several years after its release in theaters, when it received a lukewarm response from audiences (it grossed around $26 million by the end of its run) and received a polarizing response from critics: Roger Ebert called it "powerfully written, directed and acted" while The Washington Post's Hal Hinson charged it with being "garbled and cliched."  My initial reaction to...

[Editor's Note: In this special guest post, Joseph Maddrey, author of Beyond Fear, reflects on Deadly Friend as part of our Wes Craven tribute week.]

"For horror fans, Deadly Friend is a film that seems to have everything going for it. It’s a modern-day reimagining of Mary Shelley’s classic novel Frankenstein, directed by A Nightmare on Elm Street creator Wes Craven, written by Bruce Joel Rubin (the future Oscar-winner behind Ghost and Jacob’s Ladder), and starring Kristy Swanson (the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer). But while the film has its admirers, it was a critical and commercial failure in 1986, quickly disowned by its creators and leaving viewers to wonder what went wrong....

...Deadly Friend began its life as a popular novel by Diana Henstell, simply called Friend. The story revolves around an emotionally disturbed 13-year-old boy named Paul “Piggy” Conway. Piggy is cursed with a lack of social grace, troubled over his parents’ recent divorce, and haunted by daydreams and nightmares about a violent “accident” that resulted in the fiery death of a classmate.

If I pale at writing this review, it's because I've just seen a Ghost. Screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin won an Oscar for the 1990 film as did Whoopi Goldberg, supporting Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore. The film was also nominated for best picture back when there were only five a year. But all that star power and the sub-Borzage skills of director Jerry Zucker helped to camouflage the flimsy clunkiness of the story's material, exposed in all its clumsy manipulation by a musical adaptation that emphasizes artificial big moments and sentimental sign-posting over grace notes and anything else that

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