Tobe Hooper, Texas Chain Saw Massacre & horror film director, dies at 74

Tobe Hooper, Texas Chain Saw Massacre director, dies at 74

Courtesy http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41065552

Horror film director Tobe Hooper, who set the movie world abuzz with The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in 1974, has died in California, US media say.

He died in Sherman Oaks at the age of 74, the Los Angeles county coroner was quoted as saying by Variety and Movie Web, without giving further details.

His tale of a family of cannibals with oversized kitchen utensils, laced with dark humour, became cult viewing.

Hooper also directed Poltergeist, and the Salem's Lot TV miniseries.

Born in Austin, Texas, on 25 January 1943, Hooper worked as a college professor and documentary cameraman before breaking into the film world with Chain Saw.

Shot in six weeks for less than $300,000 (£128,000), it tells of five young Americans waylaid by the said cannibals in rural Texas.

Hooper had got the idea when flustered by crowds in a department store. Finding himself in hardware, he imagined cutting his way out with a chainsaw.

He used real skeletons as props, adding to the macabre feel of a film that spawned a string of inferior slasher movies, with young women usually the victims.

His supernatural thriller, Poltergeist, written by Stephen Spielberg and released in 1982, was also hugely successful and became another classic within the horror genre.

His TV adaptation of Stephen King's vampire story Salem's Lot was also widely acclaimed.

Critics admired Hooper for leaving most of the horror to the imagination. Speaking in 2014 to Interview Magazine, Hooper explained why the Leatherface character in Chain Saw wore a mask.

"When you can't see his face, your imagination goes wild," he said. "When you can't see, you fill in the blanks with something that's far more interesting than what can actually be shown."

Once banned in several countries, the film spawned six sequels, and is said to have influenced other film-makers, notably Ridley Scott when he was making Alien.

Hooper's later work for the cinema and television was said to lack the impact of his early films.

Horror film fans have had much to mourn this summer already. George A Romero, who created the Living Dead movie franchise, died last month at the age of 77.

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Tobe Hooper: the director who took a chainsaw to wholesome family life

With his macabre horror masterpiece The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hooper found dark inspiration in the shadowy, secretive side of the American household

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/aug/27/tobe-hooper-appreciation-texas-chainsaw-massacre-american-family?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Tobe Hooper, ‘Texas Chain Saw Massacre’ and ‘Poltergeist’ Director, Dies at 74

http://variety.com/2017/film/news/tobe-hooper-dead-dies-texas-chain-saw-massacre-poltergeist-director-dies-1202539868/

Living Dead movie franchise director George A Romero dies at 77

Living Dead movie franchise director George A Romero dies at 77

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-40627029

The American-born filmmaker George A Romero, who created the genre-defining Living Dead movie franchise, has died at the age of 77, his manager has said.

Romero died in his sleep on Sunday after a "brief but aggressive battle" with lung cancer, his manager told Variety.

Romero co-wrote and directed the film that started the zombie series Night of the Living Dead in 1968.

It led to a number of sequels - and a slew of imitators.

Manager Chris Roe said Mr Romero died with his wife and daughter by his side, listening to the score of The Quiet Man, "one of his all-time favourite films".

At the time of its release, Night of the Living Dead was criticised for being gory but it went on to be a cult classic and shape horror and zombie films for decades.

While it did not use the word zombies, it was the first film to depict cannibalistic reanimated corpses.

Previous films had shown zombies as being living people who had been bewitched through voodoo.

Despite having a budget of just $114,000, the film made $30m at the box office and was followed by five sequels and two remakes.

Mr Romero had a non-starring and uncredited role in the film as a news reporter.

He went on to direct other films including the 1971 romantic comedy There's Always Vanilla, the 1978 vampire film Martin, and the 1982 Stephen King adaptation Creepshow.

His only work to top the box office success enjoyed by Night of the Living Dead was Dawn of the Dead, released in 1978, which earned more than $40m.

Exorcist writer William Peter Blatty dies aged 89

Exorcist writer William Peter Blatty dies aged 89

Courtesy of http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38613928

The Exorcist - Original Theatrical Trailer (1973)

US author and filmmaker William Peter Blatty, best known for writing The Exorcist, has died at the age of 89.

William Friedkin, who directed the film adaptation of Blatty's novel, broke the news of his death on Twitter.

"William Peter Blatty, dear friend and brother who created The Exorcist passed away yesterday," he wrote.

The Exorcist was published as a novel in 1971, with the hugely successful big screen adaptation - also written by Blatty - following two years later.

Despite a troubled production and a muted launch, the film went on to become one of the highest grossing in history and is considered by critics to be a classic horror movie.

Blatty's widow, Julie Alicia Blatty, told the Associated Press that the writer died on Thursday at a hospital in Bethesda, Maryland.

The cause of death was multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer, she said.

Horror writer Stephen King tweeted: "RIP William Peter Blatty, who wrote the great horror novel of our time. So long, Old Bill."

The Exorcist won Blatty an Oscar for best adapted screenplay and he went on to write and direct the second sequel The Exorcist III.

Blatty also wrote novels such as Elsewhere, Dimiter, The Ninth Configuration and Demons Five, Exorcist Nothing: A Fable.

His film credits include A Shot in the Dark, The Great Bank Robbery and Promise Her Anything.