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One of the earliest Alien rip-offs was made for US television. We take a look back at 1981’s The Intruder Within.

Much like Jaws, Star Wars and Mad Max before it, the success of 1979’s Alien prompted studios and producers the world over to make their own hastily-made rip-off movies. Thanks to – shall we say – enterprising filmmakers like Roger Corman and Norman J Warren, we got cheap and cheerful fare like Barracuda (1978), Battle Beyond The Stars (1980) and Inseminoid (1981).

One of the earliest Alien clones to emerge like a shambling monster, though, was The Intruder Within – a low-budget TV movie that cheekily borrowed all sorts of ideas from Ridley Scott’s hit, but transplanted the entire thing from a spaceship in the future to an oil rig in the post-energy crisis early 1980s. As you can probably imagine, it isn’t a lost classic, but it’s fascinating to revisit, both...

Before Disney extended their business with the Star Wars franchise, the studio had an expensive bet against George Lucas’ Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope— a space adventure that took Hollywood by storm. It was one of the greatest hits of the time, which prompted several studios to have their pie in the game.

George Lucas’ Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope poster.

Of course, it was before Disney acquired Lucasfilm— founded by the director of the first and several Star Wars movies, George Lucas. Decades before the acquisition of the company on 30 October 2012, Disney had their own ambitious plan to create another space adventure marvel.

Disney’s Most Expensive Bet Against Star Wars A still from Disney’s The Black Hole

Disney was very keen to have their shot at the space adventure genre following the mega-hit of George Lucas’ 1977 Star Wars movie. Disney made the...

After taking viewers on a walk down the macabre memory lane of ’80s horror cinema with the documentary In Search of Darkness (coming to Shudder later this year), CreatorVC is now giving fans of ’80s sci-fi a similar experience to look forward to with the new documentary In Search of Tomorrow. Although its main focus is on sci-fi films of the ’80s, there are still plenty of insightful scares examined in the new documentary, as the latest trailer highlights the documentary's inclusion of many memorable movies from the horror/sci-fi subgenre.

From Aliens and Invaders From Mars (1986) to Predator and The Thing, the new In Search of Tomorrow trailer shows what happened when horror and sci-fi collided to create iconic cinema moments and masterful practical effects.

Here's what writer/director/producer David Weiner had to say about the horror sci-fi elements of In Search of Tomorrow:

"Eighties Sci-Fi was packed with memorable horror-crossover elements,...

After taking viewers on a walk down the macabre memory lane of ’80s horror cinema with the documentary In Search of Darkness (coming to Shudder later this year), CreatorVC is now giving fans of ’80s sci-fi a similar experience to look forward to with the new documentary In Search of Tomorrow. Featuring interviews with more than 40 (and counting) notable actors, directors, writers, special effects artists, and composers who helped bring iconic ’80s sci-fi films to life In Search of Tomorrow has launched its official Kickstarter campaign.

Running until midnight Pst on May 17th, the Kickstarter campaign for In Search of Tomorrow includes seven support platforms, and not only allows sci-fi fans to support the documentary, but also become a part of its immersive celebration of ’80s sci-fi cinema, including a Discord community that will allow supporters to participate in watch parties and Q&As with special guests from the documentary.

While all of our attention might currently be focused on Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Disney reportedly has its eyes on rebooting another one of its intergalactic features. According to our sources – the same ones who told us an Aladdin sequel was in the works and that Ace Ventura 3 is in early development, both of which have since been confirmed – the studio is intent on remaking The Black Hole.

The 1979 space opera featured an all-star cast that consisted of Maximilian Schell, Robert Forster, Joseph Bottoms, Yvette Mimieux, Anthony Perkins, Ernest Borgnine, Roddy McDowall and Slim Pickens. With a production budget of $20 million and an additional $6 million spent on advertising, The Black Hole was the most expensive film Disney had ever produced at that time. It was also the first movie by the studio to ever receive a PG rating, which is crazy when you consider the debate currently surrounding...

This four part, eight hour miniseries turns the fate of a family of German Jews into a sprawling drama that covers all the bases of the holocaust horror. It was strong stuff and a big Emmy winner, boosting the careers of James Woods and Michael Moriarty. His warped charisma as a psychotic Nazi is so good that he’s consistently more interesting than the courageous victims. As for Meryl Streep, she became an instant star — everybody remembered her from this. Although it’s been called ‘The Holocaust for Dummies,’ it’s a quality show. Looking from today’s perspective, after forty years of Political Correctness adjustments, I’m not sure any two viewers will react in quite the same way.

Holocaust

Blu-ray

CBS Television Studio / Paramount

1978 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 7 hours, 36 min. / Street Date September 24, 2019 / 43.19

Starring: James Woods, Meryl Streep, Michael Moriarty, Joseph Bottoms, Rosemary Harris, Fritz Weaver, Tovah Feldshuh, Deborah Norton,...

1985: Guiding Light's India discovered Floyd was a killer.

1986: Santa Barbara's Kirk was released from the hospital.

1996: Days of our Lives' Kristen saw The Woman in White.

2008: As the World Turns' Lily left Oakdale."History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into d ifferent and unexpected images."

― Anselm Kiefer

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1938: The Life of Mary Sothern ended its run on CBS Radio. The show continued in transcription form for four more years.

1963: On The Edge of Night, Nancy Pollock (Ann Flood) and Mike Karr (Laurence Hugo) were married.

1969: On Dark Shadows,...

1961: Finale of daytime soap opera Full Circle aired on CBS.

1981: Gh's Susan was shocked to learn Pj was Steven Lars.

1994: Another World's "Kate" introduced herself to John.

1997: B&B's Stephanie and Eric made love."History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into d ifferent and unexpected images."

― Anselm Kiefer

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1961: CBS aired the final episode of daytime soap opera Full Circle. The half-hour series starred Dyan Cannon as Lisa Crowder and Jean Byron as Kit Aldrich. It was the first soap opera to be broadcast live from Hollywood. The opening credits below are from the July 1, 1960 episode.

Hello, readers, and welcome to a new year of releases! We may already be well into the month of January, but this is our first official weekly Blu-ray and DVD recap of 2019, since last week was a quiet one on the home media front, and we already have a ton of titles to get excited for this Tuesday. If you happened to miss Hell Fest when it was in theaters last year, you can now catch up with Gregory Plotkin’s slasher on various formats, and as far as recent genre series are concerned, the first seasons of both The Purge and Castle Rock are making their way home tomorrow as well.

Scream Factory is kicking off another great year of releases with the Nic Cage thriller 8Mm, and Scorpion Releasing has put together a special edition Blu for Blind Date that cult fans are going to want to pick up.

1970: The Hortons gathered for Thanksgiving on Days of our Lives.

1989: Peter Bergman debuted as Jack Abbott on The Young and

the Restless. 1997: General Hospital's Quartermaines were robbed

on Thanksgiving, thanks to Tracy. 1997: The Port Charles

interns made sure Ellen and Jake had a Thanksgiving meal."The best prophet of the future is the past."

― Lord Byron

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1964: On Another World, Bill Matthews (Joseph Gallison) and Missy Palmer (Carol Roux) shared a kiss on the bridge.

1970: On Days of our Lives, the Hortons celebrated Thanksgiving. "Bless this food, and give us the courage and strength to live to the fullest...

1973: Nancy Pinkerton debuted as Dorian Lord on One Life to Live.

1978: Dallas' Pam revealed her pregnancy but later lost the baby.

1996: All My Children's Marian played a revealing tape to hurt Tad.

2001: General Hospital's Skye announced she was a Quartermaine."All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find, and when found, so trivial in quantity that the dry, shrivelled kernel scarcely compensates for the trouble of cracking the nut."

― Anne Brontë in "Agnes Grey"

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1968: On Dark Shadows, Jeff (Roger Davis) dozed off in a chair in the living room of the...

1985: Guiding Light's India discovered Floyd was a killer.

1986: Santa Barbara's Kirk was released from the hospital.

1996: Days of our Lives' Kristen saw The Woman in White.

2008: As the World Turns' Lily left Oakdale."All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find, and when found, so trivial in quantity that the dry, shrivelled kernel scarcely compensates for the trouble of cracking the nut."

― Anne Brontë in "Agnes Grey"

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1938: The Life of Mary Sothern ended its run on CBS Radio. The show continued in transcription form for four more years.

1963: On The Edge of Night,...

1961: Finale of daytime soap opera Full Circle aired on CBS.

1981: Gh's Susan was shocked to learn Pj was Steven Lars.

1994: Another World's "Kate" introduced herself to John.

1997: B&B's Stephanie and Eric made love."Whoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past; for human events ever resemble those of preceding times. This arises from the fact that they are produced by men who ever have been, and ever shall be, animated by the same passions, and thus they necessarily have the same results."

― Machiavelli

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1961: CBS aired the final episode of daytime soap opera Full Circle. The...

VHS collectors seem to be coming out of the woodwork lately. What many thought was a dead format seems to be making a major resurgence, similar to the way vinyl did. We wouldn’t dream of telling you that the quality of a VHS cassette provides superior picture, sound, or anything. But it is certainly a lot of nostalgic fun to revisit some of the more obscure titles by way of your Vcr. Be Kind, Rewind is your one stop destination for all the information you could ever want about horror films exclusively available on VHS. We will give you the low-down on the title we are re-visiting, including where to find it, the going rate, a review of the film, and we will even provide an expert recommendation as to whether the title is worth the money. If this segment is successful, we will be examining more titles in the upcoming weeks,...

Directed by: Ji-hoon Kim

Written by: Je-gyun Yun

Starring: Ji-won Ha, Sung-kee Ahn, Ji-ho Oh, Ae-ryeon Cha

In the 1981 TV movie The Intruder Within, Medical Center's Chad Everett plays the commander of an oil rig who inadvertently discovers some prehistoric eggs. One of the eggs hatches, releasing a snake-like malevolent creature that begins to hunt down the crew one by one. Directed by Peter Carter (Rituals), The Intruder Within has the dubious distinction of being one of the first full-on Alien rip-offs on television or film. (Roger Corman’s first attempt, the surreal Galaxy of Terror, would be released theatrically later that year.) It’s a typical early-eighties television yarn with flat visuals, story points timed for commercial breaks and very little onscreen violence. Joseph Bottoms (The Black Hole) is the “Ash” of the piece, attempting to study the life form at any price. There's also a “chest burster” counterpart which is shown,...

It was Disney’s earliest attempt to replicate the success of Star Wars. Here’s our look back at the rather weird sci-fi odyssey, The Black Hole...

Before The Black Hole, Disney’s live-action output consisted of breezy stuff like Freaky Friday, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes and Herbie Goes To Monte Carlo - the kind of flicks you could take your grandma to see without fear of scaring her to death. The arrival of Star Wars in 1977, with its motion-control special effects, colourful characters and sprawling universe, suddenly made Disney’s family fantasies look somewhat quaint.

Released a little over two years after Star Wars, The Black Hole was Disney’s attempt to try something new; it was an epic space opera which rode the crest of George Lucas’ astral wave. In the final analysis, though, The Black Hole is a strange fusion of 2001: A Space Odyssey’s metaphysical ponderings and cute robots,...

Robin Bartlett (ex-Judy, Ryan's Hope) - 60

Steve Bond (ex-Jimmy Lee, General Hospital; ex-Mack, Santa Barbara) - 58

Joseph Bottoms (ex-Kirk, Santa Barbara; ex-Cal, Days Of Our Lives) - 57

Jeffrey Dean Morgan (ex-Denny, Grey's Anatomy) - 45

Ingo Rademacher (Jax, General Hospital) - 40

Eric Mabius (ex-Daniel, Ugly Betty) - 40

Victor McCay (ex-Doc, Passions) - 39

Michelle Ryan (ex-Zoe, Eastenders) - 2

Also celebrating a birthday today is "Portia" from Pratt Falls.

British-born director known for Anne of the Thousand Days and Mary, Queen of Scots

The film and television director Charles Jarrott, who has died of cancer aged 83, began his career during a golden period of British TV drama, working on Armchair Theatre and The Wednesday Play in the 1960s alongside writers and directors such as Ken Loach, Dennis Potter and David Mercer. Both series were presided over by the Canadian producer Sydney Newman, who encouraged original work – what he called "agitational contemporaneity" – and had an astonishing impact. But in 1969 Jarrott's career took a different turn when he left for Hollywood, thereby increasing his income a hundredfold, while having to contend with far less adventurous material. His best films were his first, two Elizabethan costume dramas, Anne of the Thousand Days and Mary, Queen of Scots, enlivened by the Oscar-nominated performances of Richard Burton (Henry VIII), Geneviève Bujold (Anne Boleyn) and...

If you have Netflix and are a horror fan in need of something to watch this Labor Day weekend, one look at this gargantuan list I compiled of the new terror titles Netflix has added for instant streaming in just the first three days of this month should keep you busy until Labor Day next year. You'll find something for everyone, from older titles to recent releases, famous to obscure, classic to not-so-classic, monsters to maniacs - you name it.

For the record, I considered compiling this list in alphabetical order or by year of the film's release, but then I realized I had already spent well over an hour just sorting through the massive catalogue of titles Netflix has now made available for instant streaming and realized Labor Day would be over by the time I finished arranging this list in any kind of order. Ready? Here you go.

Writer: Gerald Green Director: Marvin Chomsky Cast: James Woods, Meryl Streep, Michael Moriarty, Joseph Bottoms, Tovah Feldshuh, Rosemary Harris, Deborah Norton, Sam Wanamaker, Fritz Weaver Rating: Not Rated Studio: Paramount Release Date: May 27, 2008 I don’t remember when I watched my first movie on the Holocaust. I am going to wager a guess that it was one or two movies. [...]Sharethis.addEntry({ title: "DVD Review: Holocaust: The Anniversary Edition", url: "http://www.literaryillusions.com/LIreviews/2008/06/20/dvd-review-holocaust-the-anniversary-edition/" });...