Things (film)
Encyclopedia
THINGS is a 1989
low budget independent feature length
B-movie
grade horror
exploitation film
written and produced by Andrew Jordan & Barry J. Gillis. Marking the 1989 mainstream
film debut of porn star Amber Lynn
, the film has a cult following
of fans
who call themselves "Things-ites".
35,000, and $40,000 the film was shot on both super 8
and 16mm film.
Andrew Jordan figured that they would not get any publicity for the movie if the true budget was announced. So he convinced Barry J. Gillis to go along with the lie that the movie was shot on $350,000 dollars. It wasn't until recent years that Gillis and Jordan began revealing the true budget for the movie.
and his feature film Night Of The Living Dead
, by having the film play on a television screen in the background while porn queen Amber Lynn
talks about the copyright
case Romero fought in the courts to try and rescue Night Of The Living Dead from the public domain
, the 16mm feature film The Evil Dead
when one of the players in the movie finds an old tape recorder, clicks play and weird chants, and weird diologue blast through the recorders speaker, the original Last House On The Left when one of the players mentions Wes Craven
's movie by name, and to filmmaker David Cronenberg
in some of its underlying themes.
in September 1989, and re-released 19 years later on DVD
in August 2008 when it was launched at the Rue Morgue Festival of Fear in Toronto, Canada. The DVD contains extras, including hours of audio commentary with Director Andrew Jordon, stars Barry J. Gillis, Doug Bunston, Jan W. Pachul and Victoria Elizabeth Turnbull (Gillis’s daughter), unused footage, Gillis messing with vocal effects, film outtakes, and behind-the-scenes footage.
On November 1, 2009, THINGS was screened at the South African Horrorfest in Cape Town, South Africa On March 20, 2009, THINGS was classified as a restricted movie by the Ontario Film Review Board
.
THINGS has been re-released worldwide by Intervision Pictures Corporation on July 12th, 2011.ref http://www.amazon.com/Things-Barry-J-Gillis/dp/B0052G4P26/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=moviestv-tradein&qid=1310778508&sr=1-1
has been around for a few years now. A comic book
adaption of THINGS has been produced.
1989 in film
-Events:* Batman is released on June 23, and goes on to gross over $410 million worldwide.* Actress Kim Basinger and her brother Mick purchase Braselton, Georgia, for $20 million...
low budget independent feature length
Feature length
Feature length is motion picture terminology referring to the length of a feature film. According to the rules of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a feature length motion picture must have a running time of more than 40 minutes to be eligible for an Academy Award.The term may also...
B-movie
B-movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
grade horror
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
exploitation film
Exploitation film
Exploitation film is a type of film that is promoted by "exploiting" often lurid subject matter. The term "exploitation" is common in film marketing, used for all types of films to mean promotion or advertising. These films then need something to exploit, such as a big star, special effects, sex,...
written and produced by Andrew Jordan & Barry J. Gillis. Marking the 1989 mainstream
Mainstream
Mainstream is, generally, the common current thought of the majority. However, the mainstream is far from cohesive; rather the concept is often considered a cultural construct....
film debut of porn star Amber Lynn
Amber Lynn
Amber Lynn is an American pornographic film actress, Model and exotic dancer.- Early life :...
, the film has a cult following
Cult following
A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of pop culture. A film, book, band, or video game, among other things, will be said to have a cult following when it has a small but very passionate fan base...
of fans
Fan (person)
A Fan, sometimes also called aficionado or supporter, is a person with a liking and enthusiasm for something, such as a band or a sports team. Fans of a particular thing or person constitute its fanbase or fandom...
who call themselves "Things-ites".
Synopsis
The film centers on a husband whose fanatical desire but inability to father children drives him to force his wife to undergo a dangerous experiment. This results in hatching a non-human life form in his wife's womb, and the birth of a multitude of THINGS.Cast
- Barry J. Gillis as Don Drake / TV Maniac
- Amber LynnAmber LynnAmber Lynn is an American pornographic film actress, Model and exotic dancer.- Early life :...
as Reporter - Bruce Hamilton as In Dream
- Robert AllenRobert AllenRobert Allen may refer to:*Robert Allen , American Congressman from Tennessee*Robert Allen , American Congressman from Virginia*Robert Allen , American Civil War general...
as TV Victim - Bruce Roach as Fred Horton
- Doug Bunston as Doug Drake
- Jan W. Pachul as Dr. Lucas
- Patricia Sadler as Susan Drake
Production
With a budget between $United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
35,000, and $40,000 the film was shot on both super 8
Super 8 mm film
Super 8 mm film is a motion picture film format released in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement of the older "Double" or "Regular" 8 mm home movie format....
and 16mm film.
Andrew Jordan figured that they would not get any publicity for the movie if the true budget was announced. So he convinced Barry J. Gillis to go along with the lie that the movie was shot on $350,000 dollars. It wasn't until recent years that Gillis and Jordan began revealing the true budget for the movie.
Homages
THINGS pays homage to several horror icons and films: George A. RomeroGeorge A. Romero
George Andrew Romero is a Canadian-American film director, screenwriter and editor, best known for his gruesome and satirical horror films about a hypothetical zombie apocalypse. He is nicknamed "Godfather of all Zombies." -Life and career:...
and his feature film Night Of The Living Dead
Night of the Living Dead
Night of the Living Dead is a 1968 American independent black-and-white zombie film and cult film directed by George A. Romero, starring Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea and Karl Hardman. It premiered on October 1, 1968, and was completed on a USD$114,000 budget. After decades of cinematic re-releases, it...
, by having the film play on a television screen in the background while porn queen Amber Lynn
Amber Lynn
Amber Lynn is an American pornographic film actress, Model and exotic dancer.- Early life :...
talks about the copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
case Romero fought in the courts to try and rescue Night Of The Living Dead from the public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
, the 16mm feature film The Evil Dead
The Evil Dead
The Evil Dead is a 1981 horror film written and directed by Sam Raimi, starring Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, and Betsy Baker. The film is a story of five college students vacationing in an isolated cabin in a wooded area...
when one of the players in the movie finds an old tape recorder, clicks play and weird chants, and weird diologue blast through the recorders speaker, the original Last House On The Left when one of the players mentions Wes Craven
Wes Craven
Wesley Earl "Wes" Craven is an American actor, film director, writer, producer, perhaps best known as the director of many horror films, particularly slasher films, including the famed A Nightmare on Elm Street and Wes Craven's New Nightmare, featuring the iconic Freddy Krueger character, the...
's movie by name, and to filmmaker David Cronenberg
David Cronenberg
David Paul Cronenberg, OC, FRSC is a Canadian filmmaker, screenwriter and actor. He is one of the principal originators of what is commonly known as the body horror or venereal horror genre. This style of filmmaking explores people's fears of bodily transformation and infection. In his films, the...
in some of its underlying themes.
Reception
Bavota San of Oddity Cinema reported that Ed Brisson, director of the horror film Graveyard, felt that THINGS should head the list of "so bad its good". Severed Cinema notes the 19½ year anniversary of the film's re-release, opining that "Things is the work of a genius, or a madman", and writing "a new generation of horror fans and people who have been desperately seeking this glistening turd for years can now experience this infamous abomination". Critic Online notes the various other-film references and writes that THINGS "is definitely one of the worst atrocities ever committed to film. Yet it's one of the funniest movies I've ever seen too!" Obscure Horror notes the film being bad with a "...jumbled mess of visuals, plot veins, and cheesy effects", and grants what "makes the film watchable and a treat to behold, is the dialogue", and that "the interactions with each other are quite funny", and that even though the "news reporter's acting is so brutal... ...you will fall off your chair laughing at it". Oh The Horror opines "Things is bad. Really really bad.", and "Everything that sucks about shitty movies is here in one 84 minute package", but granted it's worth it; "To get the full effect of Things you need two things: a group of friends and enough beers to kill your kidneys. Only then can you see the greatness of Things and laugh yourself silly". They panned the lighting, the audio, and the music, offering "Things is the epitome of bad Canadian horror", yet warmly concluded that the film "earns place as the Worst Canadian Horror Film Ever Made and definitely defines what a cult movie really is". The Video Graveyard also found the film awful and delightful at the same time, writing "no doubt about it this is possibly the worst horror film ever made. So pathetic you wonder if the filmmakers weren't aware they were making this piece of cinematic shit during filming, but it's the perfect 'so bad, it's good' film for lovers of bad cinema", and in the 2005 "wishlist" of DVDs they'd like to see made, they'd "like to close-up with a what’s got to be the worst movie I’ve ever seen. A movie so bad that you can’t help but love it - yes, I’m taking about 1989’s Things".Release
THINGS was originally released on VHSVHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
in September 1989, and re-released 19 years later on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in August 2008 when it was launched at the Rue Morgue Festival of Fear in Toronto, Canada. The DVD contains extras, including hours of audio commentary with Director Andrew Jordon, stars Barry J. Gillis, Doug Bunston, Jan W. Pachul and Victoria Elizabeth Turnbull (Gillis’s daughter), unused footage, Gillis messing with vocal effects, film outtakes, and behind-the-scenes footage.
On November 1, 2009, THINGS was screened at the South African Horrorfest in Cape Town, South Africa On March 20, 2009, THINGS was classified as a restricted movie by the Ontario Film Review Board
Ontario Film Review Board
The Ontario Film Review Board is an agency of the government of the Canadian province of Ontario that is responsible for that province's motion picture rating system...
.
THINGS has been re-released worldwide by Intervision Pictures Corporation on July 12th, 2011.ref http://www.amazon.com/Things-Barry-J-Gillis/dp/B0052G4P26/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=moviestv-tradein&qid=1310778508&sr=1-1
Sequel, and Comic Book Adaption
Interest in THINGS part 2 by hardcore fansFan (person)
A Fan, sometimes also called aficionado or supporter, is a person with a liking and enthusiasm for something, such as a band or a sports team. Fans of a particular thing or person constitute its fanbase or fandom...
has been around for a few years now. A comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
adaption of THINGS has been produced.
Additional reading
- Oddity Cinema, Bavota San interview of Andrew Jordan
- Science Fiction, Horror & Fantasy Film and Television Credits: Filmography by Harris M. Lentz ISBN 0786409517
- They Came from Within: A History of Canadian Horror Cinema by Caelum Vatnsdal ISBN 1894037219
- Rue Morgue Magazine review in issue #82
- Canuxploitation review of Things
- Shock Cinema Magazine review in issue #36
- Danse Macabre interview of Barry J. Gillis and Andrew Jordan
- Psychotronic VideoPsychotronic VideoPsychotronic Video was a film magazine originally started by publisher/editor Michael J. Weldon in 1980 in New York City as a hand-written and photocopied weekly fanzine entitled Psychotronic TV. It was then relaunched by Weldon under its more commonly known name as an offset quarterly in 1989...
Guide to Film review of THINGS - Through the Mousehole: Interview with Barry J. Gillis at The Sins of Cinema