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Originally conceived as a sci-fi thriller with philosophical undertones, Species emerged as one of 1995’s weirdest monster movies.

The early 90s digital effects revolution birthed many monsters. Sam Neill and Laura Dern were menaced by velociraptors in the ground-breaking Jurassic Park in 1993. Tom Sizemore and Penelope Ann Miller were chased around a museum by a rhino-like behemoth in The Relic (1996). Samuel L Jackson was rudely interrupted mid-monologue by an intellectual shark in Deep Blue Sea (1999).

Few monster movies were as eclectically cast or as zany as 1995’s Species. Somehow, director Roger Donaldson managed to convince such acting greats as Ben Kingsley, Forest Whitaker and Alfred Molina to appear as members of a specialist team on the trail of a randy human-alien hybrid monster (Natasha Henstridge) seducing assorted men in Los Angeles.

It’s all delightful B-movie hokum, even if the film’s classier elements – the quality cast, the design of...

The movie Virus did not officially scuttle across screens until 1999, but its biomechanical horrors first sprang to life a bit earlier. The road to screen adaptation was not straightforward for Navy Seal turned writer Chuck Pfarrer; he first pitched his high concept to Universal Pictures, only to then have it land at Dark Horse Comics. Upon the series’ success, Pfarrer tried his luck again with Universal. This time, though, producer Gale Anne Hurd was there to help get Virus optioned as well as find a potential director.

It was in 1995 that Universal first approached John Bruno about helming Virus. Initially, the visual effects artist was hesitant about directing a feature, and Pfarrer’s screenplay was a major factor in that uncertainty; he found it to be too dense and complicated for his liking. Yet after a talk with colleague and friend James Cameron, Bruno eventually accepted the offer, providing that...

The episode of Revisited covering Species was Written by Ric Solomon, Narrated by Kier Gomes, Edited by Joseph Wilson, Produced by Lance Vlcek and John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

The 1990s were famous for Alien Invasion films. Independence Day, The X-Files Movie, Alien 3 and Mars Attacks all come to mind. Yes, those are all great but what about Roger Donaldson’s classic 1995 creature feature Species (watch it Here)? Of course, the first thing that comes to mind is the beautiful Natasha Henstridge and this being her first acting role. She’s an absolute terror and force to be reckoned with here. Species is something of a cult classic and one we need to talk about. So, on this episode of Horror Revisited, let’s dive back into one of the better Sci-fi 90s films.

The initial concept for Species came from a script called The Message...

Just One of the Guys is celebrating its 35th anniversary with a special 2K Blu-ray remaster release. The teen comedy is an 80s classic, which is loosely based on William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. While it received mixed reviews from critics upon its release, the movie has since become a cult classic. The project was directed by Lisa Gottlieb and co-written by Dennis Feldman and Jeff Franklin, though according to Gottlieb, she also co-wrote the screenplay with Mitch Giannunzio, but he was denied writing credit by the studio. The Blu-ray edition will be available to purchase on April 28th.

Just One of the Guys centers on Terri (Joyce Hyser), who blames sexism when her journalism teacher refuses to enter her article in a competition to win a summer internship at the local newspaper. With the help of her kid brother, Buddy (Billy Jacoby), she masquerades as a guy at a...

Her looks can be lethal for those unlucky enough to fall for them in Species, and Scream Factory will spotlight the alien hybrid like never before with a new Collector's Edition Blu-ray release of Roger Donaldson's 1995 sci-fi horror film. In addition to a new 4K scan of the film's inter-positive, the Collector's Edition Blu-ray comes packed with plenty of special features that have just been revealed by Scream Factory.

Press Release: Beauty can be deceiving. Loyal fans of the popular sci-fi terror classicSPECIES know well that evil lurks beneath the beauty go unnoticed, especially in the form of a seductive alien-human hybrid. Directed by Roger Donaldson (The Bank Job, The Recruit) and produced by Frank Mancuso, Jr. (Stigmata, Friday the 13th Part II), Species stars Ben Kingsley (Shutter Island), Michael Madsen (The Hateful Eight), Alfred Molina (Feud), Forest Whitaker (Arrival), Marg Helgenberger (CSI) and introducing Natasha Henstridge (The Whole Nine Yards...

As Scream Factory continues to release pared-down catalogue titles on their now five-year-old label, the brand keeps expanding to include all different kinds of movies. Once known for releasing deluxe special editions of horror fan favorites, the company has diversified over the last half decade and begun releasing new films (as part of their deal with IFC midnight), unknown (and sometimes previously unavailable) cult films, a handful of classics, and even their own in-house productions. This last batch of catalogue titles, the majority of which have been released with only minimum bonus features but new HD scans, continues to broaden the reach of the Scream Factory brand to include a range of titles from secretly successful ’70s sexploitation sci-fi to well-intentioned failures of the 1990s.

First up is the 1958 cult classic I Bury the Living, directed by Albert Band (father of low-budget horror legend Charles Band, who would go on...

Starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Virus is now out on a new Blu-ray from Scream Factory, and to celebrate the latest home media release of the 1999 sci-fi thriller, we've been provided with three Blu-ray copies to give away to lucky Daily Dead readers.

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Prize Details: (3) Winners will receive (1) Blu-ray copy of Virus.

How to Enter: We're giving Daily Dead readers multiple chances to enter and win:

1. Instagram: Following us on Instagram during the contest period will give you an automatic contest entry. Make sure to follow us at:

https://www.instagram.com/dailydead/

2. Email: For a chance to win via email, send an email to [email protected] with the subject “Virus Contest”. Be sure to include your name and mailing address.

Entry Details: The contest will end at 12:01am Est on May 9th. This contest is only open to those who are eighteen years of age or older that live in the United States.

The first week of May has some really stellar home entertainment offerings that genre fans will undoubtedly want to add to their personal collections. Jackson Stewart’s wickedly fun Beyond the Gates makes its way to Blu-ray and DVD this Tuesday, and for those who missed it in theaters earlier this year, Rings arrives on both formats as well. Scream Factory is also giving the sci-fi thriller Virus a brand new HD release, and for those who have been on the lookout for the recent indie horror flick, The Barn, you can now grab the movie on Amazon.

Other notable releases for May 2nd include Camino, Fear, Inc., The Naked Cage, The Windmill, Tunnel, and The Hexecutioners.

Beyond the Gates (Scream Factory/IFC Midnight, Blu-ray & DVD)

Welcome, curious viewers…have you the courage to go Beyond The Gates?

After their father’s unexplained disappearance, two estranged brothers (responsible...

Scream Factory recently announced a Blu-ray release of the Jamie Lee Curtis-starring Virus, and they've now revealed an abundance of bonus features for fans of the thriller to look forward to when the Blu-ray is released on May 2nd.

From Scream Factory: "If you're a fan of this 1999 sci-fi shocker (starring Jamie Lee Curtis) then you're in a lot of luck as an impressive amount of extras ended up coming in on our release.

- New Eye Of The Storm – An Interview With Director John Bruno

- New Science & Fiction – An Interview With Writer Dennis Feldman

- New Into The Woods – An Interview With Actor Marshall Bell

- New Men, Monsters And Machines: The Special Effects Of Virus Featuring Interviews With Robotics Effects Designers Steve Johnson And Eric Allard, Special Makeup Effects Artist Joel Harlow And Special Makeup Effects Supervisor: Second Unit Vincent J. Guastini

- New Audio...

On March 8th, Scream Factory will offer fans of the Species franchise a treat with their Blu-ray release of Species II and the double feature high-def debut of Species III and Species: The Awakening:

Press Release: The first Species movie offers a terrifying look at an experiment combining human and alien DNA. The result proves more dangerous and terrifying than anyone could have ever imagined. The ongoing fight for supremacy between mankind and human-alien hybrids continued in three subsequent feature films. Fans of widely popular Species movies rejoice as the long-awaited Blu-ray™ editions of Species II and Double Feature Presentation of Species III & Species – The Awakening Uncut and Unrated hit home entertainment shelves everywhere on March 8, 2016 from Scream Factory™.

Based on the characters created by Dennis Feldman (Species) and directed by Peter Medak (Rome Is Bleeding), Speciesii, the sequel to the 1995 science fiction thriller stars Michael Madsen (Reservoir Dogs...

“I would walk Hollywood Boulevard with this Rolleiflex camera,” remembers Dennis Feldman. “I would say to someone, ‘Would you mind if I take your picture?’ They would usually ask me ... ‘How do you want me to be?’” His new book Hollywood Boulevard came out of that. It’s a time capsule of the long-ago outlandish. He captured Southern California characters who strutted up and down the Walk of Fame between 1969 and 1972 with square-format portraits. “I kind of made this book in 40 years, and I also made this book, I guess, in the last two,” he says. “There’s a famous story where William Goldman supposedly wrote a screenplay in two weeks, and he explained that ten years earlier he had written a first draft and put it in a box, and he’d taken it out ten years later and wrote it in two weeks of intense work. He...

Editor’s Note: I met Sean Williams at Comic-Con’s Hall H between panels on the first day of the Con this past July, chatting as people do. It turns out that Sean is a filmmaker, and he’s working on a sci-fi project – travel to another planet! strong women! – that sounds really great.

Last week Sean let me know that he was ready to start “officially” talking about the project, and wanted to know what I’d like to know. I told him I wanted to know, basically, everything. How the project got started, who’s involved, where he is in the process, etc. What follows is the narrative he wrote up on the spot on his phone and sent to me via Facebook Messenger in response. One long narrative that was completely engaging. He even copied and inserted biographies as he went along. It’s no wonder the man has won writing awards.

Call them "cult classics." "Guilty pleasures." "Comfort movies." We all have a mental rolodex of flicks that aren't terribly popular but, for one reason or another, they resonate in a very special way. Maybe you saw it at the right moment. Maybe you just see gold where everyone else sees feces. Whatever the case, these are the special favorites that you keep stashed away for sick days. Here are some of ours.

When someone asks you if you want "the big gun" or "the good package," you know s/he's a fan of writer/director Dennis Feldman's "Real Men" (he also wrote "Just One of the Guys" and "The Golden Child"). The wacky spy comedy from 1987 follows ace-but-unorthodox CIA agent Nick Pirandello (Jim Belushi) as he escorts nebbishy family man Bob Wilson (John Ritter) to a secret rendezvous with aliens. Wilson isn't actually anything special, but he's the spitting image of Agent Pillbox,...

The only debate preceding the WGA West election drew a stronger-than-usual turnout for what members described Thursday as a thoughtful and civil discussion of the most pressing issues facing the union. About 150 writers came to the guild's headquarters in Hollywood on Wednesday to hear the candidates make statements and field questions. More than an hour was spent in a question-and-answer session involving vp hopefuls Carl Gottlieb and Dennis Feldman as well as presidential candidates Dan Petrie Jr., the incumbent, and challenger Eric Hughes. A Department of Labor representative was on hand to monitor the presidential portion of the evening as part of an agreement between the union and federal labor officials to rerun last year's race because the winner, Victoria Riskin, was later discovered to have been ineligible to run. Hughes protested that outcome, leading him to be automatically given another chance at the presidency. The election results are due Sept. 21.

Eighteen writers will vie for eight open seats on the WGA West board, the guild said Wednesday in releasing the full list of candidates for the fall election. Current president Daniel Petrie Jr. and challenger Eric Hughes were confirmed as the two presidential candidates, as was expected, along with vp candidates Dennis Feldman, a board member, and current vp Carl Gottlieb (HR 6/16). The guild's nominating committee selected three incumbent board members to run for the eight open seats. They are Ron Bass, Lisa Seidman and Dan Wilcox. The other board candidates are Aaron Mendelsohn, David Weiss, Alex Sokoloff, Thomas Cook, Chris Nee, Lynn Roth, John Bowman, Valerie Woods, Larry Wilmore, David Garrett, Ted Elliot, Christopher Keyser, Garner Simmons, Bernard Lechowick and Craig Mazin. The election will take place Sept. 20 in conjunction with WGA West's annual membership meeting.

This fall's rerun of the WGA West presidential election will pit current president Daniel Petrie Jr. against Eric Hughes, who successfully challenged his loss in the last election and was given a second chance, it was revealed Tuesday. While the guild's nominating committee will not make its official recommendations until Monday, Hughes already was guaranteed a spot on the ballot and Petrie said he also has accepted the nomination. There also is early speculation that the vp race will be between former vp Carl Gottlieb and current board member Dennis Feldman.

Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid producer Paul Monash has died aged 85. He passed away at his Los Angeles home after a short illness, according to his friend, screenwriter Dennis Feldman. He says, "Paul had a great love of life and two full careers as a producer and television writer. He was very active even at the end of his life. He never seemed to have lost his energy or sense of humor." Monash produced hits like Carrie and Big Trouble In Little China, as well as writing, directing and producing the popular 1960's TV show Peyton Place. He was awarded the Laurel Award by the Writers Guild Of America for Lifetime Achievement in 2000. He then quipped, "I have not written the Great American Novel. It is still in first draft."...

A hit in the summer of 1995, "Species" added lots of sex to the overworked humans-versus-killer-E.T.s genre, but it was otherwise relentlessly derivative, starting with H.R. Giger's "Alien"-like creature. It's safe to say people paid to see newcomer Natasha Henstridge as a naked, horny babe from space, and one expected more of the same in the sequel.

Produced by Frank Mancuso Jr. with the original film's writer Dennis Feldman serving as executive producer, MGM's "Species II" is a clunky, poorly conceived follow-up directed with no particular flare by veteran Peter Medak (TNT's "The Hunchback"). There's more than enough blood and sadistic imagery to generate ghoulish word of mouth, but the plot is ludicrous, the dialogue laughable and the performances uninspired.

Henstridge as Eve, a half-human/half-alien clone made from a frozen lab embryo by the returning molecular biologist Laura (Marg Helgenberger), is kept in the wings for most of "Species II". Heavily guarded and hooked on TV shows, she's a docile, simple-minded version of the first film's man-hungry lead.

Eve has been created so that Laura can figure out what kills her. Insurance against future extraterrestrial threats, to be sure, but Eve is no "lab rat." She's part human and it hurts when she's gassed. Playing at times like a twisted soap opera, the movie starts on a epic note, with the first landing on Mars.

"Species II" is primarily the story of the dashing astronaut Patrick (Justin Lazard), who wins everlasting fame as the first hunk to plant the flag on another planet. But he unwittingly collects something nasty in his soil samples and, in a sequence worthy of "The Blob", the crew is slimed with uncertain results.

Back on earth, it's not long before Patrick is screwing and killing women in repulsive scenes of instant conception, pregnancy and gut-busting delivery. The result is a small army of young Patricks and the return of Press (Michael Madsen), who teamed up with Ben Kingsley, Alfred Molina and Forest Whitaker in "Species".

This time ex-assassin Press is joined by Gamble (Mykelti Williamson), Patrick's fellow astronaut who is not infected. They take orders from the one-eyed zealot Colonel Burgess (George Dzundza). Patrick's father, Senator Ross James Cromwell), is forgiving because of his own ambitions for his son, but he's one of many who pays the price for having no clue about what's really going on.

And one certainly pays for the privilege of watching this movie, with such unsavory memories as watching hard-to-kill Eve shot up by a dozen soldiers or a woman's head sawed through during a sickeningly gratuitous autopsy scene. The cheap thrills keep coming, like it or not, while overall the production is lacking in visual pizzazz and the monsters and spaceships are adequate but nothing special.

SPECIES II

MGM Distribution Co.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures presents

an FGM Entertainment production

A Peter Medak film

Director: Peter Medak

Screenwriter: Chris Brancato

Producer: Frank Mancuso Jr.

Executive producer: Dennis Feldman

Director of photography: Matthew F. Leonetti

Production designer: Miljen Kreka Kljakovic

Editor: Richard Nord

Costume designer: Richard Bruno

Music: Edward Shearmur

Creatures/special makeup effects: Steve Johnson

Casting: Amanda Mackey Johnson,

Cathy Sandrich

Color/stereo

Cast:

Press: Michael Madsen

Eve: Natasha Henstridge

Laura: Marg Helgenberger

Gamble: Mykelti Williamson

Colonel Burgess: George Dzundza

Senator Ross: James Cromwell

Patrick: Justin Lazard

Running time -- 93 minutes

MPAA rating: R...