Cool News
Brian De Palma & The Producer Of ALIENS Take On THE BOSTON STRANGLERS!!
Merrick here...
The often inconsistent (but usually interesting) Brian De Palma is joining forces with producer
Gale Anne Hurd (ALIENS, THE ABYSS, the first 3 TERMINATOR films, the new HULK movie) to bring us THE BOSTON STRANGLERS.
The thriller will detail the early-'60s Beantown killings and their controversial resolution.
[EDIT]
The Strangler case continues to stir debate. Many question whether Albert DeSalvo -- a publicity hound who confessed to the murders and was later stabbed to death while incarcerated on unrelated charges -- was the actual killer.
...says THIS ARTICLE in Hollywood Reporter.
The project will be scripted by Alan Rosen, a writer on DIFF'RENT STROKES and HEAD OF THE CLASS. (shrugs)
These events have been dramatized on several previous occasions, including a 1968 Richard Fleischer film starring Tony Curtis as DeSalvo. The guy who built that schizo computer that took over Enterprise in an episode of THE ORIGINAL SERIES is also in it. He was also BLACULA.
[EDIT]
The Strangler case continues to stir debate. Many question whether Albert DeSalvo -- a publicity hound who confessed to the murders and was later stabbed to death while incarcerated on unrelated charges -- was the actual killer.
-
+ Expand All
-
Foist!
-
By THAT much!
-
...honey, it's not one of those.
-
but won't be as good.
-
Damn You Michael Bay
-
What's the status on that POTP script DePalma said he had been writing?
-
is DePalma turning into the true crime guy? I miss his early thrillers. I know he was called the heir (or rip off artist) of Hitchcock, but I thought he was more of an Italian-American Argento.
-
Did anyone else see that piece of shit "Redacted" on HDNet? You've gotta go back to Carlitto's Way to find anything watchable. Maybe they could get him for BHC4 if anything happens to Rattner.
-
shirt off? That was a weird episode.
-
Gale Anne Hurd ever done something crappy?! Wouldn't think so.
-
by coked up champman crane operator! This happened during the final take of his new movie strangler. The shot was set up for 15 days and was rehearsed for 36 hours straight,before something went terribly wrong. De Palma, minutes before in an interview said, "the 52 minute long shot was necessary for the story, to convey the continuing madness of the strangler." He was crushed moments later
-
as pointless as ........ Damn You Michael Bay by MCMLXXVI
-
Weird movie, but i´m weird too. The Black Dhalia was boring and Scarlett sucked as usual.
-
I'm glad they're going this angle. I've never bought that De Salvo was the killer, and I'm really not a conspiracy nut. It just doesn't make sense given the facts of the case.
-
This seems like desperation on both of their parts. Also, this script has been around for years...it's nothing new.
-
FUCK YOU BRETT RATNER
-
get naked in this one?
-
or does that Army Ranger "doll" look a bit like "the Zohan"? Its the nose and goatee.
-
I thought it captured the way enlisted think and act very well. On another note I was reading about Ted Bundy the other day, as I do my weekly study of serial killers, and I came to realize SOOOO many movies/TV show episodes are just Ted Bundy stories that dude was pure evil.
-
Over the hill motherfucker! No one wants to see your shit anymore!
-
I saw Roy Hazelwood talk about his experiences with Bundy at a conference once. It was crazy. I guess Bundy said that if he ever actually believed he was going to die that he would answer any questions Hazelwood had, so right before he was executed they had a big sit down. Sounds like you would have dug it.
-
He either knocks it out of the park (Scarface, Untouchables), or is hysterically awful (Raising Cain).
-
While she has been involved in producing some classics (Terminator, Aliens, Abyss), you ask if she's done anything bad:
Virus
Clockstoppers
Dick
Hulk (03)
The Coven
As much as I respect the bright spots on her impressive resume, there have been a few duds. Although I'd admit that I do not hold her responsible for the crappy '03 Hulk. -
Jun 04, 2008 11:46:36 AM CDT
There has never been a movie as bad as "The Black Dahlia"
by drunken rage
Really, there hasn't. Not even "The Hotel New Hampshire," and that's pretty damn bad. DePalma hasn't made a good movie in years and I'm surprised he still gets funding.
-
What kind of an idiotic question is that? "The Black Dahlia" is just a boring, poorly-acted, incredibly long movie. It has no pacing and a laughably bad script. The acting is sophomoric. It's very simply a terrible, awful movie.
-
It better be.
-
I am DePalma's biggest defender and even I had a hard time sitting through Black Dahlia. I admit that was mostly due to Josh Hartnett who is so fucking boring he could put you to sleep during a bombing raid. I am really, really rooting for him on this one.
-
...that took over Enterprise in an episode of THE ORIGINAL SERIES is also in it. He was also BLACULA."
Merrick...William Marshall. It would have taken 30 seconds to look it up, instead of assaulting us with your idiotic 4th grade book report- level prose. -
sounds like a random list of WTF?
-
Blackenstein, and The Blunchblack of Blotre Blame!"
-
.....DEAD!!!!!!!
-
Yo son! you think cappin on my boy bout' scarface ain't gona come wit some sort a' consequences???You in for a big surprize!..bang bang beaotch, beta watch yo back, scarface straight up best picture...no debate or nuthin...Dats de American dream right there.
-
I guess people only get surrealist cinema when it has dancing little people and red drapes. It wasn't meant to be a Zodiac police procedural, just like Zodiac wasn't supposed to be a James Ellroy melodramtic crime noir.
-
......Dead. So who was the black guy on the old Star Trek episode that's supposed to be in The Boston Stranglers? Nerver saw all the Trek episodes but William Marshall and Rodrigues I remember seeing. Rodrigues did a Sanford and Son episode that was hilarious. He was trying to prove to Fred's girlfriend Donna how fit he was so he dropped to the ground doing push-ups and Fred being Fred said (before all the pc bullshit) "that niggers crazy." Just thinking about it makes me smile. Okay here endeth the lesson.
-
Anyone interested in the Strangler case should read Sebastian Junger's A Death in Belmont. Fascinating book. Now when will Hollywood buy my Lizzie Borden script?
-
You may have to realize that De Palma's been making movies since the late '60s. You can easily add to your list Carrie, Sisters, Dressed To Kill, (you're a real schmuck for overlooking) Blow Out, The Fury, Scarface, Casualties Of War....
-
I've always thought the guy who kissed Halle Berry after winning the Oscar (for "the Pianist"?) looked alot like Albert DeSalvo. He was also in "Summer of Sam"
-
Forgot Phantom Of The Paradise...
-
Maybe some day???
-
At least DePalma brought something new to the table. Sure there are moments in his films that may have similarities with other works, but DePalma brings his own vision/craft to the table. I like a guy who hires Ennio Morricone to score his film to evoke the mood of the old Morricone westerns, as oppossed to a director who just buys the rights to "the Ecstacy of Gold" and sticks it in his film.
-
No Blue Velvet is a surrealist masterpiece. Black Dahlia is a poorly acting, poorly cast, silly failure of a film. I know what you are thinking it is Samuel, some sort of fever dream mind fuck through a bygone era of Los Angeles, but it isn't that. It's too clumsy, straightforward, devoid of atmosphere, and tonally all over the place to be that.
-
more, but I understand where you're coming from, because I'd say I'm about the only person that likes The Black Dahlia. There's nothing i can say that will sway your opinion, but if you get the chance, check it out again sometime.
-
I also like the fact that before that moment in the film there wasn't a dinner scene where the Untouchables talk about how much they love Eisenstein, and how Eisenstein made the ultimate baby carriage rolling down steps scene, and they then proceed to borrow a baby carriage from a redneck and roll it down a big staircase while being pursued by Kurt Russell.
-
The theme to Twisted Nerve plays on the soundtrack!
-
except for Dahlia and Redacted.
And that is why this Boston Strangler movie...While a great idea in theory makes me nervous. Dahlia sucked. So, I can't for the life of me see how this is going to turn out good written by the guy behind Different Strokes. Sounds like a sick joke if you ask me. And I'm not sure that part of it will translate onscreen seeing how badly the humor came off in Dahlia. Go back to doing setpieces DePalma. I would love another Fatale or even Snake Eyes. -
I'm not a huge DePalma fan, although I think he's done some interesting things. But the ONE scene from Untouchables is an homage to Battleship Potemkin, not a rip-off. There is a difference.
-
That's the real DePalma debate, because his films are exercises in formalism, not realism. That's why something like Redacted is a failure, because his style does not lend itself to something that viewers expect realism out of (the shakey/Video genre).
-
The climax with the crazy women shooting herself was terrible. The scene where the look a like of Elziabeth Short getting killed was comically. The DVD should be put in a box of Kitty Litter.
-
Jun 04, 2008 2:46:54 PM CDT
According the National Lampoon Encyclopedia of Humor:
by half-baked-goggle-box-do-gooder
Boston Strangler: Similar to a Boston Cooler, only using cyanide in place of creme de menthe.
-
All I remember: TITTIES! I was happy.And DePalma is still getting work? Wow. Just wow.
-
Thanks for the reply. At least you know your DePalma.I agree that, like another favorite Stephen King, the stories can fall apart at times. But this is one director that I can excuse style over substance, most of the time.
-
... was meant to funny but I think it just sounds harsh. Sorry 'bout that.
-
If Quint's not seen it, he should add it to his movie-a-day thing. Richard Fleischer was an underrated guy. De Palma? He's either awesome (CARRIE, OBSESSION, BLOW OUT, DRESSED TO KILL, UNTOUCHABLES, RAISING CAIN, CARLITO'S WAY, SNAKE EYES, FEMME FATALE) or awful beyond belief (THE FURY, WISEGUYS, BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES, MISSION TO MARS, BLACK DAHLIA). On balance, I'd say cut him some slack, because even his bad movies have something interesting and/or genuinely cinematic about them (albeit often derivative or self-plagiarising), which is more than we can say about pretty much every other A-list director. Love him or hate him, there's a formal brilliance about his work that requires a measure of respect. He's the one guy who could probably pull off a decent James Ellroy adaptation, because they've got similar weaknesses, if that makes sense. And by the way, anyone remember Rod Steiger in NO WAY TO TREAT A LADY? Now that was a strangler movie - not seen it for years, and I bet it looks dated as hell, though...
-
I'm just not gonna be able to get over those. Josh Hartnett?? The fuck? That should have been played by a George Clooney, someone with a classic touch. I also think Hillary Swank is horribly miscast, not her fault necessarily. Eckhart is good, as always, until his character take a detour into crazyland. And I'm sorry, but FIona Shaw should be shot for that ridiculous performance, which is maybe the most ridiculous, on purpose or not it doesn't matter, Ive seen since Nick Nolte in The Hulk.
-
is a great movie, but it's not quite Ellroy. Dudley Smith isn't right.
-
I've always thought Ellroy goes out of his way to unnecessarily complicate his novels, and they suffer as a result. I don't like simplistic storytelling, but I also don't like intentional attempts to confuse. I thought Hanson did a brilliant job with the story.
-
Jun 04, 2008 5:47:05 PM CDT
"scripted by Alan Rosen, a writer on DIFF'RENT STROKES and HEAD
by alice 13
brilliant!
dick van patton is the strangler. -
It's Sabastien Junger's book which focused on a crime that he believes Alberto De Salvo comitted that a black man from the neighborhood was hanged for.
-
Granted, I haven't read the book. And the movie is not a masterpiece, nor De Palma's best. But I thought it succeeded in setting up an atmosphere, and that the atmosphere is much more important than the plot. As for the bickering about the casting, it's just meaningless by now. Get over it.
-
I thought that all the characters were incredibly influenced by the film acting of the time, that over-the-top wacky stuff. So they were wannabes and acted like their favorite film idols in real life. Over-the-top and wacky. I don't know. That's how I saw it. Still love it. I like most of DePalma's films. I did like the old Boston Strangler movie, but if this is going with different killers it could be cool.
-
It's the Spider-Man 3 syndrome: every movie that disappoints and has an uneven tone is the WORST FILM EVER!!! and the director is suddenly a "hack" who should "go die". Fuck you little shits. De Palma has FORGTOTTEN more things about great filmmaking than Brett Ratner or Michael Bay will EVER know. I'll admit there are terrible ELEMENTS in Dahlia (Fiona Shaw's barking-mad performane and Sca-Jo's mediocre femme fatale, mostly), but there are also moments that absolutely shine: the staircase murder setpiece, Vilmos Zsigmond's exquisite cinematography, Mark Isham's superb score, the remarkable camera shot that reveals Elizabeth Short's body as an afterthought, Mia Kirshner's touching performance as Short (with De Palma himself providing wonderfully snide narration as the off-screen director)...as sheer craft, the film is impeccable, and the story is generally well-told. If they had re-cast the Hartnett role (Mark Wahlberg was originally going to do it, which might have been interesting), gotten rid of the two unintentionally hilarious Shaw scenes (both of which are mercifully brief), and tightened up the screenplay, the film would have gotten a lot more respect. As it stands, it's a mixed bag to be sure, but I'll take it over 90% of the factory-driven shit being produced these days.
-
One of the greatest voices in all of film. And a GREAT Video Pirate. AND he was the King of Cartoons.
-
...at one time pose as cops and pick up peter lorre's daughter? she could've been a victim, but i think the story goes that after finding out who her dad was, they let her go because they were fans of pete. no joke.
-
I've seen pictures that would change your mind, MorbidObesity
-
There certainly was no need to suggest DeSalvo suffered from multiple personality syndrome. It simply perpetuated the myth notably portrayed in Psycho as some correlation between the serial killer and multiple personality - which there categorically is not. Just a pet peeve.
-
Truly one of the most exquisitely god-awful scenes I've ever seen. Had to be excruciating for everyone involved. And for those who love the baseball bat scene in Untouchables, you might want to check out a 1958 movie called Party Girl with Lee J Cobb. That 1985 version was well-done, even classic, but like the man once said, "The only new things in this world are the history you don't know"
-
That random Rolling Stones reference was all I needed to start my day. Thank You.
Oh, and this will probably be nothing like Zodiac. It'll just be another De Palma art film with some crazy-ass ending or revelation at the end.
DePalma will recieved Total Fucking Destruction. -
Fuckin' AICN is where I read about that. What's the current situation?
-
...and it's a crying shame as the book is simply awesome. De Palma was slavishly devoted to parts of the book he could have trimmed and yet changed some of the best material. Twat.
Readers Talkback
User Login
Top Talkbacks
- Whitney Houston 1963 - 2012 -- 383 total posts 380 posts
- New JUDGE DREDD post production footage pops up -- 111 total posts 111 posts
- WTF HOLLYWOOD: SOLARBABIES -- 75 total posts 73 posts
- HANNA's Saoirse Ronan to boss around seven little people -- 71 total posts 68 posts
- Does ‘SNL’ Rhyme With ‘Deschanel’?? Learn Which SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE Vet Hosts After Sexy Zooey!! -- 77 total posts 55 posts
- If the Behind the Scenes Pics of the Day drops her pen, pick it up, but don’t look at her legs or else it will be on your record. -- 54 total posts 48 posts
- There's a STAR TREK video game that is going to lead into JJ's STAR TREK 2 apparently... -- 165 total posts 41 posts
- Herc’s Seen Tonight’s Return Of THE WALKING DEAD!! Discuss Also DOWNTON ABBEY, FEAR FACTOR, PAN AM, ONCE, SIMPSONS, DYNAMITE, LUCK, SHAMELESS, BAIT CAR, THE GRAMMYS And More!! Sunday Is Sweeps Day 11!! -- 41 total posts 41 posts
- To Commemorate The 3D Release Of STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE, George Lucas Wants You To Know...Greedo Shoots First!! -- 500 total posts 35 posts
- Avid Comic Reader Hercules Does Battle With Tedium During Kevin Smith’s COMIC BOOK MEN! -- 28 total posts 28 posts