Before the Oscars, They Belonged to Us, Part 3

Heather Buckley |

Feb 26, 2009

Disclaimer: This article may contain sarcasm; irony and “LOLs” proceed with caution.

The Final Chapter (“>read Part 2 here)! We have Howard the Duck, Freejack and Shyamalan flicks on the list; these are never good signs. Nonetheless we are bringing it all to you in full-color and in 3-D. (Ed. Note: Due to the economy, 3-D has been dropped and will be replaced by Smell-o-vision — check for your scratch and sniff cards in about 4-6 weeks.) Best Sound went to rage-zombie veterans Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke, leaving Mark Weingarten who worked on Rejuvenatrix in the dust. The Sound Editing section contains one too many references to Ron Silver, and at least two references to a Roger Corman film.

The visual effects category pulled on our heartstrings this year due to the loss of Stan Winston, who was noted en memoriam along with other heroes, Vampira, Leonard Rosenman and Charles H. Schneer just to name a few. The Technical Awards were totally lacking from the live awards ceremony. I did include some genre notes on these tech-titans and a link to all the winners. I hope you enjoyed the ride as much I did; if you don’t mind I’ll just hitchhike my way home. If you do care to join me for dinner, I live right next to the old slaughterhouse.

There’s roadkill all over Texas. Now let’s get on with it.

Best Achievement in Sound:

Ian Tapp for Slumdog Millionaire (Winner):
28 Weeks Later, Sunshine
Richard Pryke for Slumdog Millionaire (Winner):
28 Days Later
David Parker for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button:
The Skeleton Key*, Dark Water, Van Helsing, The Mothman Prophecies*, The Mummy Returns, Cecil B. DeMented, Pecker (John Waters!), Tremors II: Aftershocks, Ed Wood, Serial Mom, Amityville: A New Generation, Children of the Night, The Fly II, The Blood of Heroes (Post-Apocalyptic Rutger Hauer), My Best Friend Is a Vampire, Pin (a film I have been dying to see), April Fool’s Day, Creature (Media Home Entertainment VHS; released in a big box? We could only have hoped)
Michael Semanick for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button:
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, King Kong (remake), The Village*, Hellboy, Signs*, The Mothman Prophecies*, Air Bud: Golden Receiver (just snuck that in there didn’t I?), Ed Wood, Serial Mom, Amityville: A New Generation, Rampage (A great Friedkin flick) (Oh, and he also worked on a lot of the Ernest films including Ernest Scared Stupid; of interest perhaps for there are Trolls in it. Ok maybe not)
Ren Klyce for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button:
Sound Department:
Se7en*

Music Department:
Se7en* (Music Consultant: David Fincher)
Mark Weingarten for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button:
“True Blood”, Snakes on a Plane (classy), Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, Rejuvenatrix (This one is for you Gingold), Deadly Illusion (Larry Cohen and some Billy Dee Williams)
Ed Novick for The Dark Knight:
A Simple Plan (Thee Raimi), The Crow: City of Angels*, Masters of the Universe (Meg Foster as Evil Lyn), Exterminator 2 (Cannon Group Inc.; Banned in Finland 1985), Liquid Sky (80’s Cult Film released on Media Home Entertainment VHS)
Lora Hirschberg for The Dark Knight:
The Ring, The Faculty, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, Mimic
Gary Rizzo for The Dark Knight:
My Bloody Valentine 3-D, Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation, Hellboy, Darkness Falls, Mimic 2, The Exorcist (2000 Special Edition), Dracula 2000 (Roger Corman at the Oscars), The Prophecy 3: The Ascent, Lake Placid, The Haunted Village
Tom Myers for WALL·E:
Wes Craven Presents: They, Lake Placid, Mimic
Michael Semanick for WALL·E:
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, King Kong (remake), Corpse Bride, The Village*, Hellboy, Signs*, The Mothman Prophecies*, The Faculty, Ed Wood, Amityville: A New Generation, Rampage
Ben Burtt for WALL·E:
Sound Department:
The Dark Crystal*, Howard the Duck (!!!), Death Race 2000 (1975), (Also everything Star Wars, ever)

Special Effects:
The Milpitas Monster
Chris Jenkins for Wanted:
Death Race, Resident Evil: Extinction, Underworld: Evolution, Exorcist: The Beginning, Dawn of the Dead (remake), Freejack (so bad; saw it in the theater), RoboCop 2, Rampage, Day of the Dead, Creepshow
Frank A. Montaño for Wanted:
Death Race, Underworld: Evolution, Exorcist: The Beginning, Dawn of the Dead (remake), Timecop (best Ron-Silver-shattering-like-glass-moment ever captured on film), Body Snatchers, Addams Family Values, Outlaw of Gor (Super tacky, like Deathstalker, but more nudity)
Petr Forejt for Wanted:
AVP: Alien vs. Predator, Van Helsing, Revenge of the Rats

Best Achievement in Sound Editing
Richard King for Dark Knight (Winner):
The Exorcist (Re-Release), Blue Steel (Just because we need more Ron Silver on the list)
Frank E. Eulner for Iron Man:
The Village*, Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation, Hellboy, Dracula 2000, The Prophecy 3: The Ascent, The Haunting, Lake Placid, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, Mars Attacks!, Serial Mom
Christopher Boyes for Iron Man:
King Kong (Remake), Dracula 2000
Tom Sayers for Slumdog Millionaire:
28 Weeks Later, Sunshine, 28 Days Later
Ben Burtt for WALL·E:
Sound Department:
The Dark Crystal*, Howard the Duck (!!!), Death Race 2000 (1975), (Also everything Star Wars, ever)
Wylie Stateman for Wanted:
Grindhouse, The Skeleton Key*, Exorcist: The Beginning, Mighty Joe Young (remake), The Relic, Tron

Best Achievement in Visual Effects:
Steve Preeg for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (winner)
King Kong (remake), Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace
Craig Barron for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (winner):The Ring, Mighty Joe Young (remake), Ghost in the Machine, Dracula, Darkman, Arachnophobia*, RoboCop 2, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, The Witches of Eastwick*, Poltergeist, Dragonslayer (because it was on a Fango cover … Barron also worked on many of the beloved 80s sci-fi/fantasy films as a matte guy; E.T., Explorers, Enemy Mine, The Goonies, The Neverending Story, Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal, just to name a few)
Chris Corbould for The Dark Knight
The Mummy, Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles, Alien 3, Nightbreed, Link, Lifeforce, Krull (because it is always on Cinemax)
Paul J. Franklin for The Dark Knight
Resident Evil: Apocalypse
John Nelson for Iron Man:
Wolf, Forbidden Zone (Visual Effects Animator)
Ben Snow for Iron Man:
King Kong (remake), Van Helsing, The Mummy
Daniel Sudick for Iron Man:
Wolf
Shane Mahan for Iron Man:
Working at Stan Winston Studio: Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles, Predator 2, Leviathan, The Monster Squad, Predator, Aliens, The Vindicator

Miscellaneous Crew:
A Gnome Named Gnorm (Gnorm wrangler)

Make-Up Department:
Chiller

Animation Department:
Invaders from Mars

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year:
John Stevenson for Kung Fu Panda:
Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Labyrinth*, The Dark Crystal*

Best Documentary, Features:
Werner Herzog for Encounters at the End of the World:
Nosferatu the Vampyre

Stars Mentioned in Passing:
Maila Nurmi aka Vampira
Actress:
Plan 9 from Outer Space, “The Vampira Show”
Stan Winston
Make-Up Department:
The Island of Dr. Moreau, Interview with the Vampire: The, Vampire Chronicles, Wes Craven’s Chiller, Friday the 13th Part III, The Thing, Dead & Buried, The Hand, The Entity, The Exterminator, The Island, Dracula’s Dog, Mansion of the Doomed, Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde, The Bat People, Gargoyles

Special Effects:
Darkness Falls, Lake Placid, The Relic, Predator 2, Leviathan, The Monster Squad, Predator, “Amazing Stories”* (The one with Christopher Lloyd), Aliens, Invaders from Mars, The Vindicator, The Phantom of the Opera (1983), Dracula’s Dog

Miscellaneous Crew:
Predator 2 (Creature Creation), Leviathan (Creature Designer), The Monster Squad (monsters)

Producer:
Mermaid Chronicles Part 1: She Creature, How to Make a Monster

Director:
A Gnome Named Gnorm, Pumpkinhead

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director:
Aliens

Visual Effects:
Parasite

Writer:
Pumpkinhead

Costume and Wardrobe Department:
“The Star Wars Holiday Special”
Charles H. Schneer
Producer:
Clash of the Titans, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, The Valley of Gwangi, First Men in the Moon, Jason and the Argonauts, The 3 Worlds of Gulliver, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, 20 Million Miles to Earth, It Came from Beneath the Sea, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (produced films featuring Ray Harryhausen’s stop-motion magic)
James Whitmore
Actor:
The Relic, The Shawshank Redemption (King!), “The Ray Bradbury Theater”, “The Twilight Zone”
Leonard Rosenman
Composer:
RoboCop 2, “Amazing Stories”*, Prophecy, The Car, The Possessed, Sybil (I was scared of the disembodied cat head when I was little…), The Phantom of Hollywood, The Cat Creature, Battle for the Planet of the Apes, Fantastic Voyage, “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour”, “The Twilight Zone”

Music Department:
RoboCop 2 (Conductor)
The Lord of the Rings (Conductor … I mention LOTR here because he was the conductor, and that is awesome)
Charlton Heston
Actor:
Soylent Green, The Omega Man
Roy Scheider
Actor:
Jaws, Jaws 2, Naked Lunch, Dracula II: Ascension, Dracula III: Legacy
Ricardo Montalban
Actor:
“Alfred Hitchcock Presents”, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
Pat Hingle
Actor:
“The Twilight Zone”, Tarantulas: The Deadly Cargo, Maximum Overdrive, “The Shining”
Isaac Hayes
Actor:
Escape from L.A., “Tales from the Crypt”, Escape from New York (A-Number 1)
J. Paul Huntsman
Sound Department:
Pet Sematary II, Poltergeist II: The Other Side, Cat’s Eye, Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone
Nina Foch
Actress:
Cry of the Werewolf
David Watkin
Cinematographer:
Return to Oz, To the Devil a Daughter, Mahogany (Anthony Perkins acting nuts), The Devils, Marat/Sade
Robert Mulligan
Writer:
“Dark Shadows”
Evelyn Keyes
Actress:
Wicked Stepmother, A Return to Salem’s Lot, “Amazing Stories”*
Richard Widmark
Actor:
To the Devil a Daughter
Jules Dassin
Director:
The Tell-Tale Heart (1941)
Joseph M. Caracciolo
Art Department:
The Stepford Wives (1975), The Exorcist

Special Guest:

Janusz Kaminski:
Cinematographer:
Grim Prairie Tales: Hit the Trail… to Terror, The Terror Within II

Camera and Electrical Department:

Watchers II (Director of Photography: Second Unit), After Midnight (Chief Lighting Technician), Dance of the Damned (Gaffer)

Director:
Lost Souls

Technical Awards:

Gordon E. Sawyer Award
Ed Catmull
Visual Effects: Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (KKKKHHAAANNNNN!!!)
John A. Bonner Medal
Mark Kimball
TRON (Computer Systems and Software Development)

Please click here and give these folks the attention they deserve.

That’s a rap until next year fright fans, when I go back into the crypt and find out who worked on Basket Case 3 and Dead Pit. It could be any of them. I do dream of the day when a picture like Howling XII takes home an Oscar for Best Picture. And Joe Dante gets his Lifetime Achievement Award where he gives props to monster-kids everywhere. All things are possible in Hollyweird, U.S.A.

– Heather Buckley

Categorized:News