The premise of John Pasquin's 1994 comedy film, "The Santa Clause," is darker than the movie's PG rating might lead one to believe. Tim Allen plays a shiftless, no-good dad named Scott Calvin, perhaps named after the 16th-century philosopher John Calvin who espoused a belief in Christian predetermination. Scott Calvin, on Christmas Eve, hears someone shuffling around on his roof. He goes outside to investigate and startles the interloper, causing them to fall to their death. Calvin finds that the interloper was Santa Claus ... the actual Santa Claus. Scott Calvin may be the only Disney hero who has killed Santa, unless there are dark things I cannot recall about Eeyore.
Calvin, instructed by Santa's business card, dons Santa's red suit and takes control of his sleigh, having to complete the big man's Christmas delivery in his stead. At the end of the night, he returns Santa's gear to the North Pole,...
Calvin, instructed by Santa's business card, dons Santa's red suit and takes control of his sleigh, having to complete the big man's Christmas delivery in his stead. At the end of the night, he returns Santa's gear to the North Pole,...
- 12/19/2022
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
There have been plenty of horror films set in the Old West and the Old South, as well as eras of religious inquisition in the Old World. “The Last Thing Mary Saw” goes where relatively few have gone before, however, by taking place in the still-new United States’ “civilized” rural East, where an industrial age had yet to penetrate and mores remained none too distant from the earliest European settlers’ harsh Puritanism.
Most obviously comparable would be 2015’s sleeper hit “The Witch,” though this first feature by writer-director Edoardo Vitaletti is not as vivid in atmospheric or suspense terms. Still, it’s similarly distinguished by a strong sense of a particular cultural epoch’s comingled faith, fear and oppression, even if “Mary” is set more than 200 years later. Perhaps more rewarding in the end as straight, downbeat period drama than as an occult thriller, it was acquired by genre platform...
Most obviously comparable would be 2015’s sleeper hit “The Witch,” though this first feature by writer-director Edoardo Vitaletti is not as vivid in atmospheric or suspense terms. Still, it’s similarly distinguished by a strong sense of a particular cultural epoch’s comingled faith, fear and oppression, even if “Mary” is set more than 200 years later. Perhaps more rewarding in the end as straight, downbeat period drama than as an occult thriller, it was acquired by genre platform...
- 8/30/2021
- by Dennis Harvey
- Variety Film + TV
Stars: Stefanie Scott, Isabelle Fuhrman, Judith Roberts, Rory Culkin | Written and Directed by Edoardo Vitaletti
The Last Thing Mary Saw begins with an ominous quote from John Calvin, “All events whatsoever are governed by the secret counsel of God.” And God, or a twisted interpretation of His words, will have a large part to play in the events that unfold before us.
It’s December 3rd 1843 in Southold, New York. A young woman, Mary, is being interrogated about a series of deaths at her family home. A blindfold covers the two empty sockets where her eyes used to be so she doesn’t see the rifles aimed at her as she tells her story.
Mary is the daughter of a wealthy family. It’s also a repressively devout one and her life has little joy apart from her relationship with her maid Eleanor. A relationship that brings disapproval and harsh punishment from her family,...
The Last Thing Mary Saw begins with an ominous quote from John Calvin, “All events whatsoever are governed by the secret counsel of God.” And God, or a twisted interpretation of His words, will have a large part to play in the events that unfold before us.
It’s December 3rd 1843 in Southold, New York. A young woman, Mary, is being interrogated about a series of deaths at her family home. A blindfold covers the two empty sockets where her eyes used to be so she doesn’t see the rifles aimed at her as she tells her story.
Mary is the daughter of a wealthy family. It’s also a repressively devout one and her life has little joy apart from her relationship with her maid Eleanor. A relationship that brings disapproval and harsh punishment from her family,...
- 8/23/2021
- by Jim Morazzini
- Nerdly
I don’t like rituals, period. Whether straitlaced (Christian) or darkly purposed (Satanic), I just find them creepy…and off. So while I won’t stand on ceremony, I will watch, with fascination, films that trot out such pageantry. One of my favorites is a two part TV mini-series, The Dark Secret of Harvest Home (1978). Oh, and its horror, but I’m sure you already guessed that.
Originally airing on NBC Monday, January 23rd (in the NBC Monday Night at the Movies slot) and Tuesday the 24th, 1978, Dark Secret was up against the CBS juggernaut of M*A*S*H/One Day at a Time/Lou Grant. But while many were watching Hawkeye, Schneider, et al crack wise, something insidious was brewing over at The Peacock.
Pull out your yellowed copy of TV Guide and let’s have a look shall we?
The Dark Secret Of Harvest Home (Monday-Tuesday, 9pm,...
Originally airing on NBC Monday, January 23rd (in the NBC Monday Night at the Movies slot) and Tuesday the 24th, 1978, Dark Secret was up against the CBS juggernaut of M*A*S*H/One Day at a Time/Lou Grant. But while many were watching Hawkeye, Schneider, et al crack wise, something insidious was brewing over at The Peacock.
Pull out your yellowed copy of TV Guide and let’s have a look shall we?
The Dark Secret Of Harvest Home (Monday-Tuesday, 9pm,...
- 10/9/2016
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
Jeff Jarrett was involved in a physical altercation with 17 year old John Calvin last night, according to the Examiner. Calvin is the son of Iwa – Mid South promoter Ian Rotten.
The dispute stems from Rotten wanting to pay Jarrett what he was owed in “two to three days” as opposed to on the night. The report states Jarrett was enraged, he cursed out the locker room, before either slapping Rotten’s son or stealing his glasses and threatening to break them. Karen Jarrett was reportedly egging Jeff on and both appeared to be intoxicated.
Ian Rotten has since stated on his official Facebook page that he will pay Jarrett but then immediately intends to contact the sheriff over assault on a minor. He also described Jarrett as “Some paranoid coked out raging idiot. Not saying he Was coked out, but I will say he was drunk.”
This is all very embarrassing for Jarrett,...
The dispute stems from Rotten wanting to pay Jarrett what he was owed in “two to three days” as opposed to on the night. The report states Jarrett was enraged, he cursed out the locker room, before either slapping Rotten’s son or stealing his glasses and threatening to break them. Karen Jarrett was reportedly egging Jeff on and both appeared to be intoxicated.
Ian Rotten has since stated on his official Facebook page that he will pay Jarrett but then immediately intends to contact the sheriff over assault on a minor. He also described Jarrett as “Some paranoid coked out raging idiot. Not saying he Was coked out, but I will say he was drunk.”
This is all very embarrassing for Jarrett,...
- 4/14/2014
- by Grahame Herbert
- Obsessed with Film
'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes' star Jane Russell has died at the age of 89. The World War II sex symbol died at her Californian home from a respiratory-related illness on Monday (28.02.11), her daughter-in-law Etta Waterfield confirmed. She said: "She always said, 'I'm going to die in the saddle, I'm not going to sit at home and become an old woman.' And that's exactly what she did, she died in the saddle." Although a huge movie star in the 1940s and 50s, her fame depleted by the late 60s and she last appeared in a film in 'Darker than Amber' in 1970. However, she did take a starring role in short lived TV series 'The Yellow Rose' in the early 1980s. Discussing why she left Hollywood, Jane once revealed she became "too old" to be a star. She said: "Why did I quit movies? Because I was getting too old!
- 3/1/2011
- by Zoé Berger
- Bloginity
Movie icon and 1950s pin-up Jane Russell has died at the age of 89.
The actress passed away from respiratory problems in her Santa Maria, California home on Monday.
Born in Bemidji, Minnesota in 1921, Russell started out as a receptionist and model in California. She signed a seven-year contract with movie mogul Howard Hughes after he discovered her working for his dentist.
The silver screen sex symbol became an overnight sensation in the mid-1940s when she starred in controversial movie The Outlaw, and she went on to play Calamity Jane opposite Bob Hope in The Paleface. Her most famous role was perhaps opposite Marilyn Monroe in 1953's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
She failed to live up to her early promise as a movie star and became best known for her looks and figure. Russell was the number one pin-up girl of U.S. troops stationed overseas during World War Two and beyond, and her curvy figure earned her a 1970s spokesmodel role for Playtex bras. The Jane Russell Peaks in Alaska are named after her trademark breasts.
A vocal advocate of adoption, she also founded the Women's Adoption International Fund. Unable to have children of her own, Russell adopted three kids with her first husband Bob Waterfield. She was married three times. Her third husband, John Calvin Peoples, died in 1999.
Her second husband, Roger Barrett, died just three months after the couple wed in 1968.
A born-again Christian, the actress held weekly Bible study classes at her homes in Montecito and Santa Maria.
Her 1986 autobiography was called My Path and My Detours.
A service will be held to honour Russell at Pacific Christian Church in Santa Maria on 23 March.
The actress passed away from respiratory problems in her Santa Maria, California home on Monday.
Born in Bemidji, Minnesota in 1921, Russell started out as a receptionist and model in California. She signed a seven-year contract with movie mogul Howard Hughes after he discovered her working for his dentist.
The silver screen sex symbol became an overnight sensation in the mid-1940s when she starred in controversial movie The Outlaw, and she went on to play Calamity Jane opposite Bob Hope in The Paleface. Her most famous role was perhaps opposite Marilyn Monroe in 1953's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
She failed to live up to her early promise as a movie star and became best known for her looks and figure. Russell was the number one pin-up girl of U.S. troops stationed overseas during World War Two and beyond, and her curvy figure earned her a 1970s spokesmodel role for Playtex bras. The Jane Russell Peaks in Alaska are named after her trademark breasts.
A vocal advocate of adoption, she also founded the Women's Adoption International Fund. Unable to have children of her own, Russell adopted three kids with her first husband Bob Waterfield. She was married three times. Her third husband, John Calvin Peoples, died in 1999.
Her second husband, Roger Barrett, died just three months after the couple wed in 1968.
A born-again Christian, the actress held weekly Bible study classes at her homes in Montecito and Santa Maria.
Her 1986 autobiography was called My Path and My Detours.
A service will be held to honour Russell at Pacific Christian Church in Santa Maria on 23 March.
- 3/1/2011
- WENN
Jane Russell, the full-figured beauty who was one of Hollywood's leading sex symbols of the 1940s and '50s, died Monday at her home in Santa Maria, Calif. The Minnesota-born icon, 89, died of a respiratory-related illness, according to reports. Discovered by Howard Hughes in 1941, Russell shot to fame in the controversial Western The Outlaw, about Billy the Kid. The publicity stills were as scandalous as the film, with Russell sprawled in the hay wearing a tight, low-cut dress. Russell also hit movie gold in 1953, when she starred opposite Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Russell also tried a career in music,...
- 3/1/2011
- by Dahvi Shira
- PEOPLE.com
Ready to Learn: Some 7,000 pastors and laypeople filled the Willow Creek sanctuary for its Global Leadership Summit in August. | Photograph by Saverio Truglia
"Messing With People's Minds" Willow Creek pastor Bill Hybels, right, with association president Jim Mellado and summit producer Corinne Ferguson | Photograph by Saverio Truglia
Willow Creek, one of the nation's largest and most powerful megachurches, leads evangelicals by learning from the business world's best.
Jack Welch called the other day. He wanted to talk about his friend Bill. Forget the notion that the ex-ge chief is a curmudgeon -- the guy just gushed. Bill "is a man with enormous capability, a man who can rally a team around a vision." Bill runs a fast-growing organization based just outside Chicago that today has affiliates on every continent except Antarctica. "I have my four Es," Welch says, referring to the four leadership qualities he looks for in executives: Someone...
"Messing With People's Minds" Willow Creek pastor Bill Hybels, right, with association president Jim Mellado and summit producer Corinne Ferguson | Photograph by Saverio Truglia
Willow Creek, one of the nation's largest and most powerful megachurches, leads evangelicals by learning from the business world's best.
Jack Welch called the other day. He wanted to talk about his friend Bill. Forget the notion that the ex-ge chief is a curmudgeon -- the guy just gushed. Bill "is a man with enormous capability, a man who can rally a team around a vision." Bill runs a fast-growing organization based just outside Chicago that today has affiliates on every continent except Antarctica. "I have my four Es," Welch says, referring to the four leadership qualities he looks for in executives: Someone...
- 12/6/2010
- by Jeff Chu
- Fast Company
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