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There have already been several tragic celebrity deaths in 2025, including David Lynch and Gene Hackman. Though he was 95 years old, Hackman's passing came as a particular shock as he was discovered in conjunction with the death of his much younger wife, Besty Arakawa. His death was announced days before this year's Academy Awards, where a special speech was given by former co-star and friend, Morgan Freeman. Hackman was a two-time Oscar winner, taking home acting awards for his roles in The French Connection and Unforgiven.

One of the most impressive things about Hackman's career was his ability to play a wide range of roles. The actor could, at once, play both intense drama, like Harry Caul in The Conversation, and comedy, such as when he played the Blindman in Young Frankenstein. One of his most iconic late-career roles blended drama and comedy, playing dying patriarch Royal Tenenbaum in Wes Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums.

Halloween is creeping up, and as October 31st approaches, it’s prime time to start crafting the perfect playlist for a hauntingly good Halloween bash. We all know classics like “Monster Mash” by Bobby “Boris” Pickett – the perennial king of Halloween tunes – but let’s dig a bit deeper into the Halloween crypt. Today, we’re uncovering some old-school gems which you might not have heard before. Each is guaranteed to bring spooky, fun, and downright weird vibes to the party.

These tracks might not always get top billing, but each brings a unique spin on classic Halloween themes like ghouls, goblins, and mysterious creatures. So, let’s drop the needle and dive into these vintage Halloween jams!

10 Old-School Halloween Tracks to Bring Some Retro Spook to Your Party 1. “The Wobblin’ Goblin” – Rosemary Clooney (1950)

Why It’s Great: This whimsical tune captures the mischievous spirit of Halloween night, telling the...

The Wilhelm Scream originated in Distant Drums and has been used over 400 times in movies, including several memorable scenes in the Star Wars franchise. The voice behind the Wilhelm Scream is believed to be actor and musician Sheb Wooley. The iconic scream evolved from an inside joke among sound designers to a rite of passage in modern-day movies.

When it comes to the most iconic sounds in cinema history, there's a lot to choose from, including the unforgettable suspense of Jaws' incredible score, the unmistakable whoosh of an emerging lightsaber in Star Wars, or the maniacal cackle of a murderous clown looking to bring a little chaos to the world in The Dark Knight. As memorable as all those are, one sound effect has been used repeatedly throughout movie history: the Wilhelm Scream.

If you've watched any big-time movie franchise over the past seven decades, you've heard the Wilhelm Scream before,...

Gary Cooper was one of the world's greatest actors during Hollywood's Golden Age. Cooper began his career as a supporting actor during the silent era, with his most notable role occurring in the World War I epic Wings. By the early 1930s, Cooper emerged as one of Hollywood's premier leading men, excelling across multiple genres, such as romantic dramas, screwball comedies, war films, and sports movies. Cooper was also a seminal actor in Golden Era Westerns, appearing in 42 films within the genre throughout his nearly 40-year career in Hollywood.

During his career, Cooper earned five Academy Award nominations for Best Actor in a Leading Role, winning twice for his performances in Sergeant York and High Noon. Cooper possessed a commanding screen presence, frequently portraying soft-spoken, yet morally righteous characters who epitomized the ideal American hero. Charlton Heston said of Cooper, "He projected the kind of man Americans would like to be,...

The following contains major spoilers from Doctor Who Series 14, Episode 6, "Dot and Bubble," now streaming on Disney+.

Doctor Who Series 14, Episode 6, "Dot and Bubble" is emblematic of the genius of Russell T Davies. The reason why fans were so excited to have Davies back as showrunner is that he always knows what he's doing. Not just in the sense that he created the new Doctor Who that they all know and love, but that every story choice he makes is deliberate -- and usually designed to shock the audience. Even though viewers are aware that something's coming, Davies is always able to get one over on them.

"Dot and Bubble" is classic Davies in that sense. Audiences know that what starts out as a vapid, upbeat adventure for the guest character of Lindy Pepper-Bean (played by Wedding Season's Callie Cooke) won't stay that way. There's something menacing right around the corner.

The Wilhelm Scream is a widely used sound effect in over 400 films, and its popularity stems from its inclusion in the Warner Bros. stock sound library. Sound designers Ben Burtt and Richard L. Anderson discovered the scream in the Warner Bros. archive and began using it liberally in their projects, including Star Wars and Indiana Jones. The Wilhelm Scream has become iconic in film and television, appearing in various movies, TV shows, theme parks, video games, and even having its own podcast. It is now available for anyone to use under a Creative Commons license.

The Wilhelm Scream is a sound effect that has been used in over 400 films over the years since its creation. The sound effect was first used in the 1951 film Distant Drums and has since been used as an additive to characters being thrown from an explosion, falling from very high up, or shot. The sound...

Hat. Whip. Nazis. Trains. CG de-aging. It’s interesting what it takes to bring Indiana Jones back to the ‘40s. It’s even more interesting what filmmaking language “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” employs to make us feel embedded in the era’s cinema of action and adventure: It wouldn’t be complete without a goon falling into the abyss to the accompaniment of the Wilhelm scream.

When audiences hear the Wilhelm scream in “Dial of Destiny,” it’s sound designer Gary Rydstrom doing a little time travel of his own: Back to the ‘70s and the creative exuberance of the Movie Brats, and even further still to the Westerns and serials that made heroes seem larger than life. The pained cry, sometimes attributed to actor/singer Sheb Wooley, almost has the quality of a bullet ricochet: You hear it and feel something at the intersection of cartoon comedy,...

If you’re a fan of both horror and soundtracks, like me, you know there’s an embarrassment of riches to collect– especially in the current golden age of boutique labels like Waxwork Records and One Way Static. Some of these horror soundtracks are highly uncommon, not because they’re for obscure films or TV series, but because they break the mold in numerous ways.

Read on for some of the most unusual horror soundtracks ever released….

And feel free to add your own oddities in the comments!

Monster In My Pocket (1992)

This might just be the most unusual soundtrack on this list, given that it’s for a toy line! It’s a shame I didn’t pick this up as a kid, because I loved Monster In My Pocket toys and this Halloween-y compilation sounds right up my alley. (I probably would have worn out the cassette playing it year round.

Every Halloween, Robert George Pickett rises from the grave. (Figuratively.)

The song that made Pickett famous (three times over), “Monster Mash,” spikes to 40 times its regular view and search volume on YouTube every Halloween, and with good reason. It is a uniquely ripe piece of American cheese, a novelty hit that stands among the best of a decade packed with them, and Pickett’s life — and dogged attempts to keep grabbing the brass ring he glimpsed with the song — represent a uniquely American story.

Pickett was in born in Somerville, Massachusetts, in 1938, right in the middle of Universal Studios’ reign atop the horror movie industry.

Article by Jim Batts, Dana Jung, and Tom Stockman

Happy Birthday to one of We Are Movie Geeks favorite stars. Clint Eastwood was born on this day in 1930, making him 86 years old. The actor and two-time Oscar winning director hasn’t let his age slow him down a bit. Sully, his new movie as a director, opens in September.

We posted a list in 2011 of his ten best directorial efforts Here

Clint Eastwood has appeared in 68 films in his six (!) decades as an actor, and here, according to We Are Movie Geeks, are his ten best:

Honorable Mention: Honkytonk Man

By the 1980s, Clint Eastwood was one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars. With his own production company, directorial skills, and economic clout, Eastwood was able to make smaller, more personal films. A perfect example is the underrated Honkytonk Man, which also happens to be one of Eastwood’s finest performances.

When J. Edgar was released last Fall, We Are Movie Geeks published our Top Ten Tuesday article on Clint Eastwood’s best films as director. With word that Eastwood has come out of acting retirement, it’s time for another Top Ten list, this time of movies that Clint has starred in. Trouble With The Curve is currently filming and stars Clint as an ailing baseball scout in his twilight years who takes his daughter (played by Amy Adams) on the road for one last recruiting trip. This will be Clint’s first acting role since Gran Torino in 2008.

Super-8 Clint Eastwood Movie Madness will be a great way to celebrate the life and films of this legendary American actor. It takes place February 7th at the Way Out Club in St. Louis (2525 Jefferson in South City). Condensed versions of these memorable Clint Eastwood films will be shown on a...

You've all heard it before, but perhaps you didn't know it had a name or history; The Wilhelm Scream.  Its the agonizing scream of pain and surprise used in many movies throughout film and television history, most notably most, if not all, of Spielburg/Lucas creations.  It's hard to illustrate with an onomatopoeia, but I'll try.  It goes like this "UhAAaaaah!"

The Wilhelm Scream was first used in the 1951 movie Distant Drums and recorded by the great Sheb Wooley best known for his song "Flying Purple People Eater."  Since then it has been used in over 216 shows, movies, and video games.  Its namesake was a character named Private Wilhelm who screamed when shot with an arrow in the 1953 Western The Charge at Feather River.

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As Halloween approaches, what better time to salute the greatest shrieks of terror in TV and cinema? Here’s Jeff’s top ten...

With Halloween lurking in the near future, now is surely the time for studios to release horror movies en masse, for grocery stores to stock aisles full of candy, and for Den Of Geek to run an article like this one.

10. Jaws - Susan Backlinie

Jaws has a plethora of great sounds. One could talk endlessly about John Williams' infamous two-note ostinato, the best fingernails against blackboard screech in the history of cinema, or even the ka-ching! of movie theatre cash registers in the summer of 75.

What gives that film its immediate, visceral impact is the shark attack in the opening minutes of the film. Poor Chrissie (Backlinie) makes the fatal horror movie mistake of getting drunk, trying to pick up a guy, and taking her clothes off.

You’ve heard it. You might not think that you’ve heard it, but you have, countless times in fact. A piercing, despair-ridden wail so aurally disturbing that you instinctively glance up, even if you weren’t watching, to try to glimpse what unspeakable horror just befall the character whose demise it was assigned to signify.

Though named for its first on screen use, the 1953 film Charge at Feather River where a character named Private Wilhelm takes an arrow to the leg and screams in agony, the origin of the scream dates back two years previously. The scream was originally recorded for the 1951 film Distant Drums with Gary Cooper and slated as “man being bitten by alligator” but was never used. A post-production sound effects actor, who some believe to be none other than Sheb Wooley of “Purple People Eater” fame, made several attempts that the supervisor deemed unsatisfactory. The...

A basic western formula has been combined with good characterization in “High Noon,” making it more of a western drama than the usual outdoor action feature. With the name of Gary Cooper to help it along, and on the basis of the adult-appealing dramatic content, the business outlook is favorable.

The Stanley Kramer production does an excellent job of presenting a picture of a small western town and its people as they wait for a gun duel between the marshal and revenge-seeking killer, an event scheduled for high noon. The mood of the citizens, of Gary Cooper the marshal, and his bride (Grace Kelly), a Quaker who is against all violence, is aptly captured by Fred Zinnemann’s direction and the graphic lensing of Floyd Crosby, which perfectly pictures the heat and dust of the sun-baked locale.

Zinnemann carefully and deliberately makes the most of the mood cast by the threat of impending violence.