It’s a Major Award!

We are thrilled to announce that Maniacs and Monsters has been nominated for a Sunshine Blogger Award.  Thanks so much to our fellow blogger Gill over at Realweegiemidget Reviews for the nomination.  We are honoured to be included in such a prestigious list of nominees.  Please check out Realweegiemidget Reviews for a wide variety of articles, reviews, and interviews.

In the tradition of paying forward, the Sunshine Blogger Award dictates that we must in turn make our own nominations in a prescribed manner.  So without further ado, I present the rules for recipients:

Legalities and Obligations

1. Thank the person who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
2. Answer the eleven questions from the blogger who nominated you.
3. Nominate eleven bloggers.
4. Create eleven new questions for your nominees to answer.

Answers to Gill’s Questions

1. Which actor or actress who hasn’t received an Oscar do you think deserves one? And for what film?
   Lauren Bacall for The Big Sleep.  And yes, I know Bacall received an honourary Oscar in 2009 but she never received a best actress or supporting actress Oscar (and was only nominated once in 1997). 

   

2. Who is your favourite child actor who is still acting and now an adult?
   Danielle Harris who played Jamie Lloyd, orphaned daughter of Laurie Strode, in Halloween 4 and Halloween 5.  Despite being only 10, she gave an impressive performance.  As an adult, she is one of the most popular scream queens today. 

   

3. If you are on Twitter, have you any celebrity followers? 

   

   We consider all our supporters to be super stars but our Twitter followers* include:

   • Andrew Cymek – Director of the Dark Rising movie franchise and other films.
   • Alyssa Lōbit – actress & writer from the films Among Friends and The Things We Carry.
   • Brigitte Kingsley – actress in the Dark Rising movie franchise and others films.
   • Diana “Darcy the Mail Girl” Prince – Joe Bob Briggs’ cohort on The Last Drive-In.
   • Jovanka Vuckovic – writer and director on the films XX & Riot Girls.
   • Judy Jarvis (née Matheson) – actress in Twins of Evil, Lust for a Vampire, and others.
   • Robin Bailes – author of the Universal Library Series & host of the YouTube channel Dark Corners.
   • Russ Streiner – producer of and ‘Johnny’ in Night of the Living Dead.
   • Scott S. Phillips – author of the Pete Drinker of Blood series, writer and director of the films The Stink of Flesh and Gimmie Skelter.
   • Supinder Wraich – actress, writer, producer from Guidestones, Crawford, The 410, and others.
   • Zack Ward – actor in the film A Christmas Story and the television show Titus.

   *several of these follow my personal account.

   

    

4. Who or what do you think needs to have a blogathon tribute?
   Dick Miller may have only had the lead in one film but he appeared in more than 180 films and brought something to every role.  A blogathon could almost be focused on just the films in which he portrayed a character named Walter. 

   
   

5. Who would you cast as you in a biopic?
   Man, that sounds like a boring biopic.  I wouldn’t go see it…unless some liberties were taken and I become a mad scientist or a cyborg.  Hmmm, how about Christian Bale?  Not that I think we have anything whatsoever in common but he is a fabulous actor.  And, if he can portray everything from American Psycho’s Patrick Bateman to Batman to Dick Cheney, I think he’s up to the part.
6. Who would you like to see a biopic made about, and who would you cast in this role?
   Without hesitation, I suggest Vincent Price.  The man is a horror legend and a Hollywood legend.  He appeared in over one hundred films and probably ten times that many episodes of television shows.  He was a writer, a gourmet cook, a fine art collector, a lover of roller coasters, and an advocate for racial, religious, and sexual equality.  He was also involved in the scandal surrounding The $64,000 Question, initially was sympathetic towards Nazism, and made some ethically dubious decisions to protect his own neck during the McCarthy era.  What is the hold-up?  The source material already exists in Vincent Price: A Daughter’s Biography from his daughter, Victoria.  I’m sure Tim Burton would be interested in directing. 

   As for who should play, Mr. Price?  Geoffrey Rush did an excellent job channeling Price for the remake of House on Haunted Hill, but that answer seems too obvious.  Besides, Rush is now sixty eight so portraying Price in his early years would be a challenge.  How about Bill Skarsgård?  He can certainly do creepy.
   

7. What film has had the greatest impact on you?
   It may not be the spiritual answer but probably Halloween (1978).  Not only is it a great film but it holds special meaning for me in my life.  In high school, my friends and I were huge fans watching it repeatedly and going so far as to reshoot several scenes ourselves.  In university, the fascination continued and resulted in hosting screenings of the film in my dorm room.  As these get-togethers may have played a part in cementing the relationship between me and my future wife, I consider the film very impactful. 

   
   

8. If you could rename your blog what would you change it to?
   We actually debated for quite a while in an attempt to come up with an interesting and meaningful name for the site.  Many names were considered and rejected for various reasons.  One that we both liked but was already taken was The Devil’s Eyes.
9. Which famous starry couple (of any time and place) would you want as neighbours?
   Because I only recently discovered they were married, how about Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester?  I don’t need to be invited to wild Hollywood parties but learning some of the behind-the-scenes stories from Captain Bligh and the Bride of Frankenstein would be fascinating. 

   

    

10. First actor / actress crush and your latest one.
    The earliest crush I can remember was Olivia Newton John when I was around eight or nine.  I’m not exactly sure why.  I mean, she was pretty and the Australian accent was cute but I am not sure how I was even aware of her.  I never saw Grease when it came out (and in fact still haven’t seen it from start to finish).  The video for “Physical” was still at least a year away and, when it was released, I was not a fan.  Who knows the mysteries of the heart? 

    
    As for my latest actress crush, I don’t know as they classify as crushes but any engaging performance in a film can trigger an infatuation for an actress.  Recently I rewatched Cat People (1942) and that reminded me of just how charming, vulnerable, and sympathetic Simone Simon is in that role.

    

11. Who would you most like to interview for your blog in a one off exclusive interview and what three questions would you ask?
    I would take any opportunity to talk to Dame Diana Rigg.  My three questions:
    • In his autobiography, Patrick Macnee beat himself up for not supporting you when you were fighting for pay equality on The Avengers. Did you harbour any resentment towards him at the time?
    • You have been quoted as saying that Theatre of Blood was both your best film and your favourite film to work on. What was it that made it so special and what was it like working with Vincent Price?
    • Your daughter is also a much respected actress.  She once said she wishes she had been less proud and asked you for advice early in her career.  What advice would you have offered?

     

Nominations

As most people will be aware, my co-host and I started this site less than a year ago.  Our familiarity with the blogging community is still a little lacking.  That said, participation in several blogathons, all co-hosted by our nominator, has exposed us to some of the work of our fellow bloggers.  Thus it should come as no surprise that we mined those blogathons for nominees.  We chose some of the bloggers who we found inspiring, or were particularly well spoken/written, or were supportive, or had simply written on a topic we found interesting.  And duplication be damned!  If we wanted to acknowledge you for something you wrote, then we did without worrying about the number of nominations you may already have.  So, please don’t feel obligated to keep the nomination chain going if you have already responded to an earlier nomination.

And the nominees are:

1. Realweegiemidget Reviews
   (Probably cheating to nominate the person who nominated us, but Gill is very active in the blogging community, always seems to be involved in multiple blogathons simultaneously, and we wanted to thank her again for the nomination.  Thanks, Gill!)
2. Diary of a Movie Maniac
3. Cinematic Catharsis
4. Emmakwall (explains it all)
5. Poppity Talks Classic Film
6. Maddy Loves Her Classic Films
7. Pale Writer
8. Taking Up Room
9. Thoughts All Sorts
10. Hollywood Genes
11. Silver Screen Classics

Questions for Nominees

It may seem a little strange for a site largely focused on horror and the macabre to be nominated for something called the Sunshine Blogger Award.  So it should come as no surprise that our questions have a decidedly nightmarish theme.

1. Do you consider yourself a fan of horror, adverse to horror, or a patron of any genre including horror if it is entertaining?
2. What is the first horror film you remember watching and what was your reaction?
3. What is your opinion of real world paranormal activities such as ghosts, spiritualism, UFOs, cryptozoology, or extrasensory perception?
4. Have you ever had what you believe to be a paranormal experience or at least an experience you could not explain?
5. If you were cast in a horror movie, which of the following roles would you want and why:
   • last girl/guy
   • killer/monster
   • fodder for the slaughter
   • evil genius/mad scientist/cult leader
   • tortured soul
   • kick-ass hero/military leader
   • creepy caretaker/gas station attendant/neighbour/sea captain
   • member of the faceless zombie/demon/alien horde
   • wise stranger that warned those reckless kids

6. Horror films, much like comedies, have been historically ignored by the Oscars. What horror film or horror performance do you feel deserved, but did not receive, recognition by the Academy?
7. Which subgenre of horror is most appealing to you (noting that these subgenres often overlap):
   • action horror
   • ‘B’ movies/camp
   • body horror
   • comedy horror
   • disaster/natural horror
   • giallo
   • gothic horror
   • horror thriller
   • kaiju
   • psychological horror
   • science fiction horror
   • slasher
   • splatter
   • supernatural horror

8. Assuming you observe Halloween, describe a favourite costume (scary or otherwise) that you have worn.
9. What is your greatest fear/phobia?
10. You die only to awaken as a ghost, vampire, or zombie. What do you do?
11. Darkness falls across the land. The alien invasion has begun.  Civilization is collapsing.  The dead are returning from the grave.  Cthulhu is rising from his eternal slumber.  The Horsemen of the Apocalypse are on the ride.  It’s the end of the world.  You are among a small group boarding an experimental starship to escape to another galaxy.  You are allowed to bring any three items of your choosing.  What do you bring (and no fair bringing something ‘useful’)?

Thanks yet again to Gill for this nomination.