TBF, Mags, you have been doing a lot of the heavylifting for the quest, so this will be in good hands.
To be clear to everyone, this is just me burning out on imagination of the quest, since my muse has been hitting me over the head a lot with so many different ideas that I just can't find myself too interested in this.
I'll still hang out here, though, since this still does have a sepcial place in my heart.
I'd like to thank you all for making this a wonderful experience while it lasted.
I'd also like to thank @Magoose, @Fluffy_serpent, and @Martin Noctis for doing so much to help prepare and write this quest. I couldn't have done it without you all.
If things follow OTL, then the invasion of Grenada was this year and the intervention in Lebanon was still going on. Next major war though? Arguably the Gulf War, but that won't be until the 90s, unless something changes in between.
Yes? Literally nothing's been changed regarding that and it was always the case that you can run for President so long as you're a natural born citizen, along with satisfying the other requirements. You don't have to be born in America to be president.
Edit: I know you said "public office," but let's be real, you're asking if he can run for President.
I was thinking of pulling an Arnold. Being president would grind Bruce due to actually having a conscience. Specially if a big war was in the horizon. Wich doesn't seem to be the case.
I was thinking of pulling an Arnold. Being president would grind Bruce due to actually having a conscience. Specially if a big war was in the horizon. Wich doesn't seem to be the case.
Then you've answered your own question. Arnold wasn't a natural born citizen, but he became Governor of California, so yes, Bruce as an actual American citizen can become governor.
I would love to work on it, I even have a pitch ready to be used, but i don't want to give that country a single chance to get out of the hole that they dug themselves into.
I mean, I do think the country deserves a chance to mend bridges, we don't actually hate China, we have a problem with the Chinese Government.
Not only could a film about the Journey help put them into a precarious situation, I'm sure that all the chinese people outside of the mainland, like Taiwan and Singapore and every country with a chinese diaspora, would appreciate it.
And if nothing else, it would allow us to flex our Cantonese a bit.
Thought we mechanically it would probably have to be handled like Conan or Star Wars, just because of the sheer amount of sabotage the CCP would attempt.
Actually, do you guys think we can ask the government to take a portion of the pentagon's black budget to subsidize the production, because it could double as an Psy-Op against a communist nation?
I don't know what Bruce's exact legal status is, but I know that an immigrant can become a governor (for example: Arnold Schwarzenegger as Governor of California) and a part of the president's cabinet (for example: Henry Kissinger as Secretary of State and National Security Advisor)
I was actually pretty bummed out that we didn't get a cabinet position after our stunt at the RNC, but it makes sense, we didn't actually seek one
Realistically? Nothing. We don't have the abilities or expertise for any official cabinet appointments. More than likely, we'd just get an ambassadorship if we sought a political role from Reagan.
That being said, could you imagine Press Secretary Bruce O'Brian, lol. 😂
Some symbolic sinecure job about culture or something. I don't know much about the cabinet but there must be a low effort job where not much effort or attention goes. Might also be nice for Reagan to have an official reason to be fotographed with Bruce in a 'Look we're best buds and he agrees with me' to increase his appeal and aproval ratings.
With how well loved we are I can guess that a decade will likely be nicknamed after us. Doubly so if something happens to Bruce O'Brian in the late years of that decade or the early years next decade that will prematurely ends his career like an Accident or Assassination.
Some symbolic sinecure job about culture or something. I don't know much about the cabinet but there must be a low effort job where not much effort or attention goes. Might also be nice for Reagan to have an official reason to be fotographed with Bruce in a 'Look we're best buds and he agrees with me' to increase his appeal and aproval ratings.
With how well loved we are I can guess that a decade will likely be nicknamed after us. Doubly so if something happens to Bruce O'Brian in the late years of that decade or the early years next decade that will prematurely ends his career like an Accident or Assassination.
aren't you a ray of sunshine. jokes aside, the chances bruce dies on his own bed are low; he will probably die on some production while pulling a stunt.
Bruce taking up a cabinet post in the Reagan administration would be a huge waste of his potential while he's in his prime. Bruce is far more influential as a leader, creator and being an investor and most of his strengths wouldn't apply to any cabinet position, not to mention that even with his vast personal success he's not really qualified for such a high spot. The RNC wouldn't even want Bruce because he's better served for them as a big checkbook and a a party advocate on the campaign trail.
Not to mention, I don't think Bruce can technically join the cabinet, at least as a Secretary because he's only 29 so he would be ineligible to become President and as such can't be included in the succession.
I think Bruce has found himself a pretty good niche for the moment politically as an advocate, lobbyist and high profile celebrity to be used in spots like the Irish peace process. Dude made an entire new Progressive Conservative wing of the GOP, we're doing fine now.
Bruce entering into true electoral politics, either as Governor or President, is something I view more as an endgame thing when he wants to hand off the reigns of the company to his kids and Wally and do more for the public.
Some symbolic sinecure job about culture or something. I don't know much about the cabinet but there must be a low effort job where not much effort or attention goes. Might also be nice for Reagan to have an official reason to be fotographed with Bruce in a 'Look we're best buds and he agrees with me' to increase his appeal and aproval ratings.
Well we spoke at the RNC and introduced Reagan and he gave us the Medal of Freedom so Reagan doesn't really need more friendship points with Bruce. Though he might want us for a campaign stop in Minnesota to secure that 50 state sweep, lol.
I don't know what Bruce's exact legal status is, but I know that an immigrant can become a governor (for example: Arnold Schwarzenegger as Governor of California) and a part of the president's cabinet (for example: Henry Kissinger as Secretary of State and National Security Advisor)
It's honestly been a bit confusing because there are some aspects of Bruce's backstory that don't lineup. I'm pretty sure he was born in NYC but then moved to Ireland for a while. Even if he was born in Ireland, both his parents are American so Bruce is a natural born American citizen like Ted Cruz's situation. So he is eligible for the presidency, but he can't run until 1992 because he turns 35 in 1989. Apparently if he wanted to he could become Governor in the next election because there's no age requirements.
But yeah, one weird aspect of Bruce's lore is that his dad Joseph worked on Rawhide in 1959 or 1960, but that would have meant that Bruce would have lived in Hollywood for a time but this apparently never happened. Would have been cute in an alternate timeline to have Chibi Bruce and Carrie meet as kids.
I mean, I do think the country deserves a chance to mend bridges, we don't actually hate China, we have a problem with the Chinese Government.
Not only could a film about the Journey help put them into a precarious situation, I'm sure that all the chinese people outside of the mainland, like Taiwan and Singapore and every country with a chinese diaspora, would appreciate it.
And if nothing else, it would allow us to flex our Cantonese a bit.
Thought we mechanically it would probably have to be handled like Conan or Star Wars, just because of the sheer amount of sabotage the CCP would attempt.
Actually, do you guys think we can ask the government to take a portion of the pentagon's black budget to subsidize the production, because it could double as an Psy-Op against a communist nation?
For China we should wait until the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact falls to give it our full attention. Honestly China can go either way because OTL, it was able to survive the downfall because it was too connected to the global economy by that point and China wasn't interested in global Communism so the West didn't go hard on it for Tianamen. Here those connections were cut earlyand if there's no one in the White House who wants reconciliation in the next couple of decades, it will feel a greater hurt and Beijing will lack stability.
Good actor, the best Gomez Adams I've seen and the best thing about a mostly subpar Street Fighter movie. I hope something we do somehow butterflies away the stomach cancer he gets.
Good actor, the best Gomez Adams I've seen and the best thing about a mostly subpar Street Fighter movie. I hope something we do somehow butterflies away the stomach cancer he gets.
Creepshow Directed by: George A. Romero
Written by: Stephen King
Produced by: Alan Ladd
Production: The Alan Ladd Company, Lucasfilms Unlimited
Distribution: Lucasfilms Unlimited
Starring: Tom Atkins, Iva Jean, Joe King, Ed Harris, Carrie Nye, Viveca Lindfors, Jon Lormer, Stephen King, Leslie Nielsen, Ted Danson, Gaylen Ross, Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau, Frtiz Weaver and E.G. Marshall.
Budget: $8,000,000 Domestic: $14,412,423 International: $21,323,122 Total Gross: $35,735,545
VHS: $191,123,124
Unlike National Lampoon Vacation he had not heard of Creepshow in Yugoslavia... then again, by that point he was just about done with the entire production and just wanted to go back home to his wife and family. Coming back to work after a well-deserved works (and telling Mike he was not making another Conan film until the next decade at the latest) he finally was able to catch up with what had been going on with the released films, and just what exactly had been going on with said film.
Creepshow... what an interesting film it turned out to be. You recall that when it was first pitched you were still trying to find a way to adapt the rest of King's works, so finding out that he had wrote an entire screenplay that would involve George Romero and pay homage to the old EC Comics of the 50s, well of course you had to sign in on them! Your father had grown up on said comics, and had kept many of them to let you and your siblings read them (those that had not teared or been thrown to the trash after moulding that is). You still had fond memories of you Gavin and Cat staying late at night, with only a small flashlight to read them under the sheets, daring each other to then try and move to the bathroom in the darkness without shouting.
Mother put a stop to it soon after though, turns out she did not appreciate being awoken in the middle of the night.
Regardless, you thought it would be an amazing idea and had agreed to produce it... only for it to fall a bit on the wayside as different projects came from nearly all directions, your attention was required in nearly all of them, and had to delegate to different producers instead of trying for it yourself. Heck, and you had been hoping to get your dad a role in it as well, but perhaps it's for the best, as the end result would not be the fun romp it would turn out to be if you'd meddled even that much.
The movie in and of itself was just... well, a bit out there in a way. An Anthology horror series was nothing new, heck you could even call it the new fad going around nowadays what with the horror craze going around. Yet both Romero and King thought of something wildly different here, since they wanted to bring the horror from the 50s, but also what made the comics fun as well. It seems that many had taken the wrong lessons from the Golden Age of Comics, thinking that the narrative by Fredric Wertham was all there was, but many of the Horror comics were not only stories that were visceral or made to show as much blood and gore as possible, heck you could argue that about slashers nowadays, yet no one would call them similar to the old EC Comics.
Now, what stood out from those comics, aside from the feeling of fear, was the fun; so many of the comics had this little wink and nod to it, a way that you knew that you were not only going to be scared, but you were going to have fun while doing so. The colors in it were bright and vibrant, keeping with the campy feeling of it, while many of the tales had also a sense of fulfillment, perhaps because of someone receiving their just desserts, or fulfilling a long vendetta. It was in no way mean spirited or dark, and the nihilism, if there ever was any, was always kept to a minimum.
That was what both Romero and King wanted to bring. not only horror and spooky stories, but also the fun and enjoyment that had been left behind.
And by God, they succeeded.
The premise is simplicity itself; an homage to the old Horror Comics of the 50s through an embedded narrative as a frame story, beginning with a father scolding his son, Billy, about reading a horror comic book, which leads to Young Billy, angry at his father and wishing revenge, is then visited by a spooky apparition which brings to mind, yet it's not, the Grave keeper from Tales of the Crypt, who beckons him closer and removes the lid from the thrash can where his father threw his comic.
And with the framing done, the movie can begin.
Each section of the film is short enough to be enjoyable and not overstay its welcome. The first one, Father's Day, is a story about a family waiting for their aunt Bedelia for their annual family diner, spending the time talking about how she killed her father during Father's Day, with a short sequence showing just how it happened. Bedelia is then shown at their father's grave, still angry at him for the years of mental abuse and clearly not sorry, after which she accidentally drops some whisky into the grave, from where the rotten corpse of her father rises from the grave, demanding his father's day cake, and going on a killing spree of his family, ending with him putting the head of Bedelia on a platter with some candles on it, and showing it to his youngest descendants, while joyfully claiming to finally having his Cake.
It is campy, thrilling, spooky... and yet not gritty at all. For sure, there is quite a bit of brutality and visceral scenes, yet in many ways the entire story feels.. campy, managing to catch the old tongue in cheek humor of the old comics. The idea of alcohol bringing a rotting corpse back to life in order to get his cake is so ridiculous, yet you can't laugh because of the fear it also evokes. Many of the actors bring in their A-Game here, with Vivica Lindfors, one of the veteran actresses in Hollywood, adlibbing both her dialogue and her characters actions through the movie, giving her an unforgettable personality where you are not sure whether to dislike her or pity her.
The second story, The Lonesome Death of Jordy Vorrill is one of the more funny, yet also tragic stories that you've seen. At first it seems like a typical horror story with its touch of comedy where Jordy Verrill, a Yokel for lack of a better word, finds a meteor which has landed on his farm and fantasizes about selling it for $200 dollars (Keep the dream buddy, keep the dream), only for the meteor to split, releasing a substance on his fingers, and his dreams crushed. Later on, he sees that there is a growth on his fingers similar to grass, which then starts spreading all over his body. Jordy thinks of going to the doctor but fears that they will cut off his fingers or worse. He plans to take a bath hoping that it will make it go away, but a vision of his father tells him that it will only make it worse... which it does. Eventually the growth has spread all over his body and home, with Jordy taking his life in the end... yet the growth remains and expands through his home, land and beyond.
Stephen King acted as Jordy Vorrill in the story, and dear God did he deliver an amazing performance. Every movement, tone word spoken fit so perfectly with the tone and mood of the set that you were wondering just what kind of actor he could have been if he had decided to go into the profession. It would be later that you learned that much of his success in portraying a clearly sick man who is in pain due to what is happening in his body... it's because at the time he was clearly a sick man who is in pain due to what is going on in his body. The makeup and props used were causing an allergic reaction and he had to take meds and injections constantly in between shots. Dear Lord, and he wanted to continue even after that?
Your respect for him increased at that moment.
At the same time, you could not help but feel that this story had layers in it, ones that became more clear the more you thought about it; Jordy Vorrill is clearly not very bright, and during the film he is constantly insulting himself and his intelligence. The many sequences where he imagines what would happen if he does something also has the very doctor insult him as well, and when he meets the specter (or hallucination) of his father, it is revealed that it's the same image of the doctor in his mind, or the University Professor in his mind as well. Putting two and two together, it's not hard to see how his father's actions towards him may have molded him and his thoughts of himself growing up, revealing a sadness and tragedy in this Horror-comedy. Heck, his final words, begging God for his luck to hold as he shoots himself is basically him begging to at least let him die in peace.
You might be overthinking this, but you can't help but see it as such.
The third story, Something to Tide You Over, brings back an old friend who you haven't seen in a while. Leslie Nielsen plays millionaire Richard Vickers, a smug and spiteful man who discovers his wife, Becky, is having an affair. He goes to speak with the man, Harry Wentworth, discussing how despite not loving her, he can't stand having anything his taken. He then threatens him to go to his private beach where Harry is held at gunpoint and forced to bury himself in sand, then left for the tide to rise and drown (just like Richard di for Becky). The next day, Richard finds that the bodies have disappeared, but thinks the tide took them away. At night however, the dead drowned bodies now appear on his mansion, and force him to be drowned by the tide as well, just as he did for them, Richard only being able to laugh wildly while threatening that he can hold his breath for a long time.
Of them all, you think this one if your favorite. Not only for Leslie's clearly villainous performance, which you have to admit, you'd forgotten he was able to! His amazing comedy chops in Airplane! had made you forget how before he had become the comedy genius that many were hailing him as, he was usually casted as a romantic lead or as a villain, and damn does he deliver in both tone and speech. Bringing in a truly despicable man whom you can only feel catharsis when he finally receives his comeuppance at the end. Even his breaking point, when he knows that he can do nothing against his fate, and his mind just seems to break, shows him being defiant, shouting how he can still make it... up till the first wave hits him of course.
The fourth story, The Crate, is probably rh longest of them all at forty minutes. Professor Henry Northrup is married to a really obnoxious woman, Wilma, and then discovers that beneath the University he works at, there is a crate from the 19th century that contains a monster from an expedition to Antarctica. This monster has already killed two men (a janitor and a student) and he has been told all this by his friend, Professor Dexter Stanley. Henry thus uses the monster in the crate to kill his wife, then throws the Crate in the Ocean. Both him and Dexter then speak about how they can just let the authorities deal with the disappearances, since there is no evidence linking them to the murders. Meanwhile, the Crate is still in the ocean, with the beast waiting.
This tale really grinded your gears, mainly because of the clearly dysfunctional marriage shown, and how Henry would just so easily dream about killing his wife so gleefully. You know that this is just make believe, and from what you've seen of Wilma, she really is a vindictive, spiteful person, yet at the same time you can't help but think that there should have been a different way to go about.
Then again, you're trying to find logic in a horror movie, so what do you know.
Still, you have to give it to Adrienne Barbeau, she really brought about her A game in making her character as dislikeable as possible, with every word and action just irritating you whenever you saw it. Heck, even her opening her mouth had you beginning to flinch, as her voice had become so annoying to you. Props also had to be given to Tom Savini, who clearly had taken everything he'd learned while working under Romero and improved upon it for the Monster Animatronic Suit. Seriously, that thing may have only appeared some times, and not fully exposed, but it was terrifying, with that row of teeth and simian appearance that just screamed of the uncanny valley.
And there's more to come, for they left the biggest impact for last.
The fifth and final story, They're Creeping Up on You!, was a tale of germophobe Upson Pratt, a cruel business mogul who delights in the deaths of his rivals and mocks the penuries of those he has crushed in the making of his fortune, to the point that even a voice mail telling him he's evil has him laughing in glee. He lives in a hermetically-sealed penthouse apartment outfitted with electric locks and surveillance cameras, with only his phone as a way to communicate with the outside world. During the film, Cockroaches begin appearing inside his apartment, and though he tries to call the exterminators or kill them himself, more and more of the insects keep getting in, even his panic room being useless. In the end, he is found dead when the exterminator arrives, and when touching the body, cockroaches begin coming out of his every orifice.
You're not going to lie; this one was the one that was so impactful to you because of how utterly gross it was to see those despicable insects. And if what the budget is saying is true, finding them and buying them was what cost the most! Not the animatronic, not the actors, not even the freaking make up. No, what cost the most in the film, was the freaking cockroaches!
...Hollywood is so weird sometimes.
Once the stories ended however, the movie went back to the beginning, to the framing as the garbage can is being collected, and the men doing so find the comic, seeing the advertisements pages and all the whacky things that were being offered like 3D glasses, a Nuclear Submarine, or even a Voodoo doll... which seemed to have already been redeemed.
And in his room, young Billy, using a newly bought Voodoo doll, begins jabbing at it, having gathered some of his father's hair and clothes and putting them on said doll. At the same time we see the results, as the father begins rolling in pain, grabbing at his throat, as suddenly the images of Billy jabbing the doll becomes the cover of the next issue of Creepshow. The Creep is seen holding the same comic book, laughing sinisterly as a candle goes out.
And that, as they say, is that.
The movie was spooky, with good vibes, was visceral and brutal (as promised) and was some of the best fun that you've had since you came back from filming Conan. A movie that manages to work perfectly with both cast and crew, gave a stellar performance, and truly paid homage to the 50s Horror Comics, while sticking it to the old Comic Code Authority, finally symbolizing the end of such an antiquated restriction on the creativity and ingenuity of artists.
What was truly odd was how you felt that old feeling of nostalgia hit you as you saw the film. The memories of reading the comics, and the time spent with your siblings, impulse you to see the movie more than once, as if in some way reliving a part of your childhood. You wonder, is it possible that someone in the future will feel nostalgic for the 70s or 80s? Surely not, right?
Right?
Still, just like National Lampoon Vacation, Creepshow became a victim of Lucasfilm's previous success, yet not so much as expected. The movie making a profitable $35 million, with critics going wild with their praise of both Romero and King. Siskel and Ebert giving it two thumbs up, saying how they managed to capture the spirit of 50s comics, and brought it back in near perfect recreation. There is praise for both the perfect use of lighting and props, both similar to the wild and colorful tones of the comics, as well as for the cartoonishly gruesome elements. Tom Savini is clearly being lauded as another pioneer when it comes to said effects, which he's using to further improve his marketability in future projects.
Each of the actors has been already singled out and been praised by Hollywood, already being scouted for future projects in more horror films, heck even Stephen King is being asked if he's not interested in becoming an actor, what with his over-the-top performance being seen as a perfect return to campiness that was sorely missed in many films. And though the reception may have been somewhat low in America, it still made nearly double its budget. Overseas though its greatest success was in Japan, where it made around $7 million on its own, finding the horror element in the film similar to their own, heck you would not be surprised if you find them making an entire Fanclub around it.
Overall, Creepshow has been a success, if not on the level you'd hoped for, but only because of your even greater success. Even so, the VHS sells tells another story, as word of mouth quickly turned this film into a must see for anyone who truly loved Horror, the sells shooting up as more and more soon discovered that Lucasfilms had once more managed to create an amazing, and fun, horror film, and not even in October at that!
Creepshow thus joined the growing Cult Classic ranks made by Lucasfilms, with demands for a sequel quickly growing among its nascent fanbase. You're more than willing to give it to them of course...
If only you could convince Romero to join your ranks in order to make it...
It's worldwide box office is still pretty good, and I can't be the only one who wants to have a marvel Creepshow comic now. Even if it's just a limited run.
Also, this reminds me did we ever find out if we had the rights to Stephan Kings older short stories or do we just have some of his novels?
I believe we have adaptation rights to almost all his novels, although Brian De Palma owns the rights to Carrie. I don't think there was any other rights split or anything.
Oddly enough, the reward for the Creepshow Pitch was that Stephen King's works would only be adapted by Lucasfilms, though I'm not sure if that means forever or until that point.
Oddly enough, the reward for the Creepshow Pitch was that Stephen King's works would only be adapted by Lucasfilms, though I'm not sure if that means forever or until that point.
