Fantasia 2017: Untold Horror Docu-series Announcement and Panel Highlights
Drew Tinnin
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The 2017 Frontières Market at the Fantasia International Film Festival has just wrapped up, and some exciting breaking news has been announced. Dave Alexander and Mark Pollesel have entered into an agreement with The Wolper Organization at Warner Bros. to develop their now-in-progress docu-miniseries called Untold Horror.
The series will highlight passion projects from some of the biggest names in horror that tragically never saw the light of day and ended up in development hell.
Untold Horror was created by host/writer/producer Dave Alexander (former editor-in-chief of Rue Morgue magazine) and writer/producer Mark Pollesel. With additional partners director/producer Bob Barrett and editor/animator/producer Kevin Burke, the documentary series officially debuted as a selection in the 2016 Frontières Market. Dedicated to exploring the greatest horror tales almost told, Untold Horror will uncover the fascinating stories behind these stillborn films – as told by the legends who tried to get them made, reveal truths about the often tortured relationship between art and commerce, and find out what it would take to bring some of them back from the dead.
Yesterday at the festival, the Untold Horror panel revealed some great info about a few of these long lost projects with directors Gary Sherman (Dead and Buried, Vice Squad), Buddy Giovinazzo (Combat Shock), and Richard Stanley (Hardware, Dust Devil) in attendance.
Buddy Giovinazzo spoke at length about his desire to make Maniac II, aka Mr. Robbie, with Joe Spinell before the actor’s death ultimately put an end to the production. Also, Gary Sherman gave an incredible description of a post-apocalyptic anti-nuclear musical he developed with Zalman King that would have featured Eddie Van Halen, Joe Cocker, and possibly even Marlon Brando!
Perhaps the most intriguing news came from Richard Stanley, who announced that pre-production on his version of The Island of Dr. Moreau is under way with Edward R. Pressman Film. Anyone who has seen the fantastic documentary Lost Soul knows Stanley’s insane journey with this project until a bastardized version hit theaters with Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer.
Stanley also talked about how Bill Paxton was who he originally wanted as the lead in Hardware and his plan to do a sequel entitled Hardware II: Ground Zero with the tagline “Even the end of the world has to start somewhere.” Bruce Campbell was also set to star in what Stanley referred to as “my 9-11 movie” called Vacation about a rich couple who fall into chaos at a hotel during an attack. If the film had actually come out, Stanley joked, “I suspect someone would’ve killed me.”
Look for more insight on these projects and interviews with John Landis, Joe Dante, and Guillermo del Toro (to name a few) when Untold Horror makes its way to screens!
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