Posts made in May 2017

Three Beloved John Carpenter Films Getting the Steel Book Treatment.

By
Westley Smith

It was announced a few days ago by Shout! Factory that they are releasing three of director John Carpenter’s most beloved films in Limited Edition Steel Book Covers.

What are those films you may be wondering? Fear not, for I’m about to tell you and disclose the full spec details.

First up: John Carpenter’s They Live

They Live is probably Carpenter’s most discussed film – highly original, very insightful, with thought provoking social commentary about capitalism. They Live may mean more now, nearly thirty years later, than it did when it was originally released back in 1988. It’s a true classic in both Carpenter’s filmography and for action/sci-fi films.

PLOT:

They Live stars Roddy Piper as Nada, a drifter looking for work. After finding work with a local contracting company and befriending Frank (Keith David), Nada stumbles onto a plot involving aliens that are using subliminal messages to control mankind, which he sees for himself once he puts on a pair of sunglasses.

The Bonus Features for They Live are:
o Audio Commentary With Writer/Director John Carpenter And Actor Roddy Piper
o “Independent Thoughts” – An Interview With Writer/Director John Carpenter
o “Man Vs. Aliens” – An Interview With Actor Keith David
o “Woman Of Mystery” – An Interview With Actress Meg Foster
o “Watch, Look, Listen: The Sights & Sounds Of They Live” – A look At The Visual Style, Stunts And Music With Director Of Photography Gary B. Kibbe, Stunt Coordinator Jeff Imada, And Co-Composer Alan Howarth
o Original EPK: The Making Of They Live
o Never-Before-Seen Footage From Commercials Created For The Film
o Original Theatrical Trailer
o TV Spots
o Still Gallery

The second steel book releasing is: John Carpenter’s The Fog

Following the success of Halloween, John Carpenter set out to tell and old fashioned ghost story with The Fog. Though it was not the massive success that Halloween was, most will conclude today that The Fog is one of Carpenter’s best films – eerily spooky, atmosphic, and a creepy ghost pirates in a glowing green fog, what’s not to love?

PLOT:

On the hundredth anniversary of Antonio Bay, pirates return from their graves to seek revenge on the relatives of the conspirators who murdered them.

Bonus Features for The Fog are:
o 1080p High-Definition Transfer Supervised By Cinematographer Dean Cundey
o Audio Commentary With Writer/Director John Carpenter And Writer/Producer Debra Hill
o Audio Commentary With Actors Adrienne Barbeau, Tom Atkins And Production Designer Tommy Lee Wallace
o Interview With Jamie Lee Curtis
o “Tales From The Mist: Inside The Fog” Featurette
o “Fear On Film: Inside The Fog” Featurette
o “The Fog: Storyboard To Film” Featurette
o Horror’s Hallowed Grounds – A Look At The Film’s Locations
o Outtakes
o Theatrical Trailers
o TV Spots
o Photo Gallery

The third release to steel book is: John Carpenter’s Escape From New York

After The Fog, Carpenter would score a huge hit with the action/suspense film Escape From New York. Not only was the film a hit, but it would usher in a wave of dystopian-type movies, much like Halloween did with slasher films.

PLOT:

When President’s (Donald Pleasence) plane is sabotaged and crashes on the island of Manhattan, now a walled-off prison, Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) is forced into rescuing him. But Snake only has 24 hours to save the President – and his own life – or the bomb in his neck will detonate.

Bonus Features for Escape From New York are:
o — DISC ONE —
o NEW 2K Scan Of The Interpositive, Struck From The Original Negative
o NEW Audio Commentary With Actress Adrienne Barbeau And Director Of Photography Dean Cundey
o Audio Commentary With Director John Carpenter And Actor Kurt Russell
o Audio Commentary With Producer Debra Hill And Production Designer Joe Alves
o — DISC TWO —
o NEW Big Challenges In Little Manhattan: The Visual Effects Of ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK
o NEW Scoring The Escape: A Discussion With Composer Alan Howarth
o NEW On Set With John Carpenter: The Images Of ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK With Photographer Kim Gottlieb-Walker
o NEW I Am Taylor: An Interview With Actor Joe Unger
o NEW My Night On The Set: An Interview With Filmmaker David DeCoteau
o Deleted Scene: The Original Opening Bank Robbery Sequence
o Return To Escape From New York Featurette
o Theatrical Trailers
o Photo Galleries – Behind-The-Scenes, Posters And Lobby Cards

If you are a steel book collector, we highly suggest picking these up. It’s already been confirmed that there are only going to be 10,000 copies made – that’s a small amount when you think about how many people love one, or all, of these John Carpenter films.

Right now, The Crimson Screen Collectibles is running a great deal on the three films. $23.99 each! If you’d like to order one, or all three, drop over to our store and place your order. But like we said, do it fast as quantities are limited.

All three films release August 1, 2017.

Order your copies here: www.thecrimsonscreencollectibles.com

 

Action Figure Review: Neca’s Ultimate Jungle Hunter Predator

By
Steven Smith

Neca has been producing a lot of Predator figures over the past several years. Some of the characters have been pulled directly from the movies, such as Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and the City Hunter Predator (from Predator 2) and the tribal Predators (from Predators). There have also been tie-in figures from AvP line (Aliens vs Predator). And, if that wasn’t enough, NECA has also given us the game and comic adaptations, along with Predator spaceships and other vehicles that fit in the universe – one can only assume that when Shane Black’s The Predator hits the big screen in 2018 that Neca will be producing a line for that film as well.

So to say they have a full plate of Predator figures in their lineup may be an understatement.

And today we’ll be discussing their latest release: the Ultimate Jungle Hunter Predator.

The Jungle Hunter Predator is directly taken from John McTiernan’s 1987 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

With almost all of Neca’s toys, the immense attention paid to the smallest details are impressive and not to be overlooked.
Let’s first talk about the box: it is a window box, meaning it opens like a book, allowing you to see the figure behind a plastic window – which is how Neca has been doing all of their Ultimate Edition figures lately. Having the figures in these types of boxes is a better idea the the old bubble on a card or even a complete plastic casing. These new boxes will hold up much longer and not break down and crack, like the plastic cases do, nor will the glue, like on the old bubble on a card, begin to breakdown and pull away after years of sitting on a shelf or hanging on the wall.

The design on the front flap perfectly captures the spirit of the 1987 film as well as the alien with only showing half of the Predator’s mask, and the three red targeting beams on its helmet highlighting everything in blood red, giving you just a glimpse of the figure waiting inside, while staying mysterious enough to entice you to open it and have a peek inside.

The back of the box has a short description of what the Predator is, and what happens in the movie. There are several different pictures of the figure in posed action, sometime taken right from a shot in the movie. They all look beautiful.

On the inside flap is a nice wide shot of the Predator from the scene in the movie where he and Dutch are about to square off man-to-alien, hunter against hunter, hunter becoming the hunted.

Now onto the figure itself. The Predator’s design is captured to the fullest right down to the small animal skulls it wears as decretive jewelry. The netting around its torso. The Armor, the double blades on its right wrist and the bomb counter (that opens to show the strange red symbols as it counts down) on its left wrist. The helmet is a near a perfect representation from the one in the film.

The figure comes with two heads – one with the mask, one without – and a second helmet. He also has interchangeable hands, and the plasma cannon that can be mounted on to his shoulder with a blue blast coming from it, simulating him shooting at Dutch – if you want.

Other neat items that comes with the figure are the two human skulls. One is Billy’s, complete with the spine still attached. The other skull…well, we’ll leave that up for you to decide who it is. Blane? Poncho? Hawkins?

 

 

If you love the movie and collecting Predator figures, this is a must for you to add to your collection. It goes without saying that this would be a perfect centerpiece beside your DVD, Blu-Ray, or even an old VHS or Laserdisc copy of the film. And it will fit in nicely with your other Predator figures as well.


One can only hope that Neca continues to produce Predator figures – let’s hope they can get the rights to creating the rest of Dutch’s team in full detail and we can have another battle in the jungle.

Everyone ‘get to tha chappah’ and grab yours today here at The Crimson Screen Collectibles in the link below.

http://www.mcssl.com/store/18046487/predator—7-scale-action-figure—ultimate-jungle-hunter

Review of NECA’s Terminator 2: Judgement Day 3D T-800

By

Steven Smith

There have been a lot of Terminator figures released since Terminator 2: Judgement Day opened way back in 1991. The original toy line that came out upon the film’s release, were not the best likeness of the actors and were heavily aimed at children – though Terminator 2 was an R rated film, and marketing toys to kids was still a thing back in the 1990s, even if the movie was R rated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But over the past several years we have been getting figures from some of our favorite movies in with details they we would have never dreamed of years ago.

Case in point: NECA’s T-800 from Terminator 2: Judgement Day 3D

When NECA first announced they were producing a new T-800 to celebrate the release of Terminator 2: Judgement Day in 3D I was excited. The production pictures were fantastic and the likeness to Arnold Schwarzenegger was uncanny – but I remained skeptical as sometimes when the final products hits our shelves it only resembles the actor, but never truly captures their likeness.

How wrong I was.

This may be the best representation of Schwarzenegger I have ever seen in my life. It looks so much like him that it’s like having a mini Ar-nold sitting on your shelf – I’m just waiting for him to say, “I’ll be back,” any moment now.

But it’s not only Arnold’s likeness that they nailed this time, but also some of the small details, like the rose box he carries the shotgun in in the mall when he is tracking down John Connor in the film. The .45 pistol is the same as what he uses in the movie. And the shotgun is exactly the same. His jacket is also riddled with bullet holes after the T-1000 shoots him. It’s fantastic!

Then there is the articulation of the figure. You can practically pose it any way you want, and with over twenty-five points of articulation; your imagination is the limit here as to what you want to do with the figure.

 

The T-800 also comes with an interchangeable head – one with sun glasses, one without – and both are a stunning likeness to Schwarzenegger.

This is a great addition to any Terminator fan’s action figure collection.

If you’d like to order one, they can be picked up here: http://www.mcssl.com/store/18046487/terminator—25th-anniversary-t-800