Other Horror Guests

[nicky]

ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK,

THE THING,

HALLOWEEN,

THE FOG,

BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA.

and yes, even ESCAPE FROM L.A.

Edited October 15, 2007 by nicky

[MikeDonovan]

What was your take on Escape from LA Nicky? I always felt it was a bit of a curates egg - a lot of crap in there - and where $60 million dollars went is anyone's guess. But there were some really inspired moments.

I love the final basket, that one take shot of Russell putting it through the net from across the court - fantastic.

 

Russell was fantastic throughout the whole film in fact, and I loved the ending. I just wish that Carpenter would have had the courage to do something new with the character, rather than a semi-lame remake. If he had, we might have seen "Escape From Earth" after all.

[nicky]

What was your take on Escape from LA Nicky?

I was in the cinema in Oct 1996 and as I was such a huge fan of EFNY, I left the theater feeling heartbroken that I had waited all this time for this wasted let-down of a sequel. It was a cinematic heartbreak I would experience once more in Nov 1997 with Alien: Resurrection.

 

I hated EFLA. The SFX were so bad and cheap - the submarine sequence, motorbike jump and surfing plus it was cheesy too, especially the surfing and the final basketball hoop. I watched it repeatedly when it hit VHS with a determination to enjoy it and found myself doing just that.

 

I just saw it as a cheap, fun, exploitation movie with some subtle social and religious satire thrown in. It also had incredible sets and design, a rousing Carpenter score, a great all-star cast (Bruce Campbell, Steve Buscemi, Peter Fonda, Pam Grier etc) and a truelly cool performance by Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken which alone makes the film worth watching and IMO is an even better performance than in EFNY.

 

Originally EFLA was a prequel idea floating about in 1988 that Carpenter had asked Colman Luck to write. This only-one-in-existence script was recently sold on eBay for a four figure dollar amount and featured on aintitcoolnews.

 

Around 2002 Carpenter and co started plans on a Snake Plissken anime series which Russell would have voiced plus a Namco video game which went as far as having a website. "The Snake Plissken Chronicles" comic book series was also successfully launched which took place just after the events in EFNY. Sadly producer and Carpenter's ex-wife, Debra Hill died sometime a while later and all projects were scrapped except for the comic book which was already running but has now stopped since AFAIK.

 

Escape From Earth was an idea Carpenter had if EFLA was a success as Earth was the only place left that Snake could escape from. It never went past the title stage as EFLA was a flop and IMO Carpenter was only kinda half-joking. New Line bought the rights to film a EFNY remake to be written by Ken Nolan (Black Hawn Down) with Gerard Butler cast as Snake and to be directed by Len Wiseman but Wiseman has since left the project and been replaced by Brett Ratner. The remake has been said to be partly a prequel and re-imagining much like Halloween (2007).

 

Today I love both EFNY and EFLA. Unfortunately my heart is still broken after every repeated viewing of Alien: Ressurection, a pain that sees no end.

[AJ Jones]

Unfortunately my heart is still broken after every repeated viewing of Alien: Ressurection, a pain that sees no end.

So Nicky, how many more viewings until you start enjoying it?

[MikeDonovan]

What was your take on Escape from LA Nicky?

I was in the cinema in Oct 1996 and as I was such a huge fan of EFNY, I left the theater feeling heartbroken that I had waited all this time for this wasted let-down of a sequel. It was a cinematic heartbreak I would experience once more in Nov 1997 with Alien: Resurrection.

 

I hated EFLA. The SFX were so bad and cheap - the submarine sequence, motorbike jump and surfing plus it was cheesy too, especially the surfing and the final basketball hoop. I watched it repeatedly when it hit VHS with a determination to enjoy it and found myself doing just that.

 

I just saw it as a cheap, fun, exploitation movie with some subtle social and religious satire thrown in. It also had incredible sets and design, a rousing Carpenter score, a great all-star cast (Bruce Campbell, Steve Buscemi, Peter Fonda, Pam Grier etc) and a truelly cool performance by Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken which alone makes the film worth watching and IMO is an even better performance than in EFNY.

 

Originally EFLA was a prequel idea floating about in 1988 that Carpenter had asked Colman Luck to write. This only-one-in-existence script was recently sold on eBay for a four figure dollar amount and featured on aintitcoolnews.

 

Around 2002 Carpenter and co started plans on a Snake Plissken anime series which Russell would have voiced plus a Namco video game which went as far as having a website. "The Snake Plissken Chronicles" comic book series was also successfully launched which took place just after the events in EFNY. Sadly producer and Carpenter's ex-wife, Debra Hill died sometime a while later and all projects were scrapped except for the comic book which was already running but has now stopped since AFAIK.

 

Escape From Earth was an idea Carpenter had if EFLA was a success as Earth was the only place left that Snake could escape from. It never went past the title stage as EFLA was a flop and IMO Carpenter was only kinda half-joking. New Line bought the rights to film a EFNY remake to be written by Ken Nolan (Black Hawn Down) with Gerard Butler cast as Snake and to be directed by Len Wiseman but Wiseman has since left the project and been replaced by Brett Ratner. The remake has been said to be partly a prequel and re-imagining much like Halloween (2007).

 

Today I love both EFNY and EFLA. Unfortunately my heart is still broken after every repeated viewing of Alien: Ressurection, a pain that sees no end.

 

Agreed - it was a let down in many ways. I felt that Russell nailed Plissken, but where the hell that huge budget went is anyone's guess - there were some really horrific effects in there. My suspicion is that a lot of the money went on the cast and crew - most probably a lot of it formed Russell's and Carpenter's cheques.

 

That final basket though - allegedly that was a real take, no special effect, and apparently it took Russell a hell of a lot of takes to manage it.

 

Anyway, it's just such a pity that Carpenter couldn't take a few cool ideas (i.e. the EMP device) and weave them into a new story that wasn't a blatant scene for scene rewrite of the first. Whatever we say about Chronicles Of Riddick (and it was a massive dissapointment), at least Vin Diesel tried - at least he did that (as RP McMurphy would say). And as for the remake, I don't think I'll even bother seeing it - only Russell is Snake Plissken as far as I'm concerned. They should have given him another chance to prove it.

[nicky]

That final basket though - allegedly that was a real take, no special effect, and apparently it took Russell a hell of a lot of takes to manage it.

 

And as for the remake, I don't think I'll even bother seeing it - only Russell is Snake Plissken as far as I'm concerned. They should have given him another chance to prove it.

Just like Sigourney Weaver in Alien: Resurrection, the basket ball shot was real. Kurt Russel's eye patch was swapped over for a transparent one so he could handle the ball better. TBH I think we have a much better chance of an EFLA SE DVD than another sequel but I don't see that happening either even though Russell/Carpenter have expressed interest.

 

Edited October 18, 2007 by nicky