Behind the Couch

Guest post by Christine Hadden One of the biggest issues that H.P. Lovecraft fans have is the lack of acceptable translation to film of his work. Many films teeter on the edge of the dark precipice of his brilliant stories, but fail to capture the weird yet exceptional storytelling and sinister themes the author is so famous for. The Resurrected (1992), aka Shatterbrain , while certainly not a celebrated film, is one of the most faithful adaptations of a Lovecraft story. Based on The Case of Charles Dexter Ward , this low-budget, direct-to-video release has the distinction of being directed by the late, great Dan O'Bannon ( Alien, Return of the Living Dead ) and though apparently it got edited without O'Bannon, it still remains a relatively close conversion from story to film. Charles Dexter Ward (Chris Sarandon, reason enough to see the film) has alienated his new wife by occupying his time first in the family's carriage house, and then an old family estate well r...

Nestled amidst the wildly uneven yet marvellously unrestrained film work of Tobe Hooper is Lifeforce , his 1985 adaptation of Colin Wilson’s cult 1976 novel, The Space Vampires . An audacious amalgamation of sci-fi and horror, Lifeforce revolves around the discovery of slumbering humanoid aliens in the tail of Haley’s Comet and the terror they unleash when brought back to earth for study. A critical and commercial flop upon release, Lifeforce has undergone something of a reappraisal in recent times. Co-written by Dan O’Bannon, it’s a solid B-movie that mesmerises with its sheer audacity, abundance of effects, intriguing ideas, bizarro chutzpah and, well, space vampires! Head over to Exquisite Terror to read my full review of this cult classic. While you’re there, why not pick up an issue of Exquisite Terror , an independently produced periodical with an academic, analytical approach to cinematic horror. Issues 1 - 3 are available now, and issue 4 is available to pre-orde...

Dan O'Bannon, the screenwriter of classic genre films such as Alien and Total Recall and cult favourites Dead and Buried , Dark Star and Return of the Living Dead , has died at the age of 63 in Los Angeles following a short illness. O'Bannon attended USC film school in the early '70s where he met director John Carpenter and the pair collaborated on Carpenter's debut feature Dark Star . O'Bannon co-wrote, edited, supervised the special effects and portrayed Sgt Pinback in this existential sci-fi comedy. O'Bannon soon quit his job on the visual effects team on Star Wars to begin screenwriting full time. His first project after Dark Star was a script titled Star Beast - co-written by Ronald Shusett - which would later be filmed as Alien by Ridley Scott. The writer would also go on to work with Tobe Hooper on Lifeforce and Invaders From Mars. O'Bannon is survived by his wife Diane Louise Lindley and their son Adam. He made significant contributions...