| Seizure | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Oliver Stone |
| Written by |
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| Produced by | Garrard Glenn |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Roger Racine |
| Edited by |
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| Music by | Lee Gagnon |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | |
Release date | November 6, 1974 |
Running time | 98 minutes |
| Countries |
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| Language | English |
| Budget | CAD $250,000 [1] |
Seizure is a 1974 horror film. It is the directorial debut of Oliver Stone, who also co-wrote the screenplay.
Horror writer Edmund Blackstone (Jonathan Frid) sees his recurring nightmare come to chilling life one weekend as one by one, his friends and family are killed by three villains: the Queen of Evil (Martine Beswick), a dwarf named Spider (Hervé Villechaize), and a giant scar-faced strongman called Jackal (Henry Judd Baker). [2]
Seizure is the directorial debut of Oliver Stone, who also co-wrote the screenplay. [3] [4] Star Mary Woronov would later claim that one of the film's producers was gangster Michael Thevis, who partially bankrolled the film in an attempt to launder money, as he was under investigation by the FBI. [5]
The film had a very limited release theatrically in the United States by Cinerama Releasing Corporation, [6] playing on New York's 42nd street in 1974. [7]
The film was released on VHS by various video companies in the 1980s including Prism Entertainment. [8] A transfer to DVD and Blu-ray was released on September 9, 2014 by Scorpion Releasing. [9] [10] [11] [12]
Hervé Jean-Pierre Villechaize was a French actor and painter. He is best known for his roles as the evil henchman Nick Nack in the 1974 James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun, and as Mr. Roarke's assistant, Tattoo, on the American television series Fantasy Island that he played from 1977 to 1983. On Fantasy Island, his shout of "The plane! The plane!" became one of the show's signature phrases. He died by suicide in 1993.
Mary Woronov is an American actress, writer, and figurative painter. She is primarily known as a "cult star" because of her work with Andy Warhol and her roles in Roger Corman's cult films. Woronov has appeared in over 80 movies and on stage at Lincoln Center and off-Broadway productions as well as numerous times in mainstream American TV series, such as Charlie's Angels and Knight Rider. She frequently co-starred with friend Paul Bartel; the pair appeared in 17 films together, often playing a married couple.
Ruggero Deodato was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor.
Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde is a 1971 British horror film directed by Roy Ward Baker based on the 1886 novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. The film was made by British studio Hammer Film Productions and was their third adaptation of the story after The Ugly Duckling and The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll. The film is notable for showing Jekyll transform into a female Hyde; it also incorporates into the plot aspects of the historical Jack the Ripper and Burke and Hare cases. The title characters were played by the film's stars, Ralph Bates and Martine Beswick.
Martine Beswick is a Jamaican-born British actress and model perhaps best known for her roles in two James Bond films, From Russia with Love (1963) and Thunderball (1965), who went on to appear in several other notable films in the 1960s. In 2019, she was inducted into the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards' Monster Kid Hall of Fame.
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Zombie Nightmare is a 1987 Canadian zombie film produced and directed by Jack Bravman, written by John Fasano, and starring Adam West, Tia Carrere, Jon Mikl Thor, and Shawn Levy. The film centres around a baseball player who is killed by a group of teenagers and is resurrected as a zombie by a Haitian voodoo priestess. The zombie goes on to kill the teens, whose deaths are investigated by the police. The film was shot in the suburbs of Montreal, Canada. It was originally written to star mostly black actors but, at the request of investors, the characters' names were changed to more typically white names. While Bravman was credited as director, Fasano directed the majority of the film. Problems occurred between Fasano and the production crew, who believed him to be assistant director and ignored his directions.
Maitland McDonagh is an American film critic, writer-editor and podcaster. She is the author of Broken Mirrors/Broken Minds: The Dark Dreams of Dario Argento (1991) and other books and articles on horror and exploitation films, as well as about erotic fiction and erotic cinema. In 2022, McDonagh was inducted into the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards' Monster Kid Hall of Fame. She is the founder of the small press 120 Days Books, which became an imprint of Riverdale Avenue Books.
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Nightmare Castle is a 1965 Italian horror film directed by Mario Caiano. The film stars Paul Muller, Helga Liné and Barbara Steele in a dual role.
Hollywood Boulevard is a 1976 American satirical exploitation film directed by Allan Arkush and Joe Dante, and starring Candice Rialson, Paul Bartel, and Mary Woronov. It follows an aspiring actress who has just arrived in Los Angeles, only to be hired by a reckless B movie film studio where she bears witness to a series of gruesome and fatal on-set accidents. The film blends elements of the comedy, thriller, and slasher film genres.
The Amityville Curse is a 1990 Canadian supernatural horror film directed by Tom Berry and starring Kim Coates, Cassandra Gava and Jan Rubeš. It is loosely based on the novel of the same name by Hans Holzer. It is the fifth film in the Amityville Horror film series.
The Mask is a 1961 Canadian surrealist horror film produced in 3-D by Warner Bros. It was directed by Julian Roffman, and stars Paul Stevens, Claudette Nevins, and Bill Walker.
Night of the Scarecrow is a 1995 American horror film directed by Jeff Burr, and starring Elizabeth Barondes, John Mese, Stephen Root, Bruce Glover, Dirk Blocker, John Hawkes, Gary Lockwood, and Martine Beswick. Its plot focuses on a small farming community where the spirit of a warlock is unleashed and possesses a scarecrow.
Invasion of the Scream Queens is a 1992 documentary film by American filmmaker Donald Farmer. The film interviews the women who have made a career out of starring in the B horror and science fiction genres are interviewed, and clips and trailers from their films are shown. It was produced by Mondo Video (1992) (USA) and released on VHS format.
Ghostkeeper is a 1981 Canadian supernatural slasher film directed by James Makichuk, and starring Riva Spier, Georgie Collins, and Murray Ord. Its plot centers on a trio of snowmobilers in the Canadian Rockies who become stranded at an abandoned hotel where the elderly female innkeeper is hiding an evil entity within the building. The film is inspired by the Windigo legend of North America.
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American Nightmare is a 1983 Canadian slasher film directed by Don McBrearty and starring Lawrence Day, Lora Staley, Lenore Zann, Michael Ironside, and Alexandra Paul in her feature film debut. It tells the story of a successful pianist investigating the disappearance of his sister in an urban decadence as a serial killer targets prostitutes and sex workers. The screenplay by John Sheppard, based on a story by John Gault and Steven Blake, was influenced by the rising crime rates in American cities throughout the 1970s and early 1980s.
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Henry Judd Baker was an American actor known for such films and television shows as Oliver Stone's Seizure, Clean and Sober, The Mighty Quinn, William Friedkin's Cruising and Dark Shadows.