Jack the Giant Killer (1962) is a United Artists feature film starring Kerwin Mathews in a fairy tale story about a young man who defends a princess against a sorcerer’s giants and demons. The film was loosely based on the traditional tale “Jack the Giant Killer” and features extensive use of stop motion animation. The film was directed by Nathan H. Juran and later re-edited and re-released as a musical by producer Edward Small.
Trivia:
Producer Edward Small re-released this film as a musical. Songs were dubbed onto the soundtrack. Some of the footage was doctored to make it look like some of the original cast were singing rather than speaking their dialog.
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This was producer Edward Small’s attempt to cash in on the huge success of The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958). He even hired the same director (Nathan Juran), hero (Kerwin Mathews) and villain (Torin Thatcher).
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The film was unreleased in the UK until 1967 and then received cuts for an ‘A’ certificate to edit the witch attack on the ship, Princess Elaine being attacked by the giant, and Jack’s fight with the dragon.
Motel Hell is a 1980 horror comedy film directed by Kevin Connor and starring Rory Calhoun as farmer, butcher, and meat entrepreneur Vincent Smith. Often seen as a satire of modern horror films such as Psycho and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre because of its low budget nature, the original intent was to make a serious horror film, with moments of disturbing wit and irony. The film’s score was composed by Lance Rubin.
Tagline: You might just die…laughing!
Trivia:
Future Cheers star John Ratzenberger appears briefly as a member of the punk rock group Ivan and the Terribles.
Co-star Monique St.Pierre was Playboy’s 1979 Playmate of the Year.
When Sheriff Smith asks Terri to the movies he says it is Monster _That Challenged the World, The (1957)_. Not only is this a real movie, but the scenes shown were actually from it.
Tobe Hooper was originally going to direct this movie for Universal Studios, but when the studio balked at the bizarre project, Hooper also departed.
The chainsaws images were inspired by The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974).
Actor ‘Paul Linke’ lost 25 pounds to play the lead. He was carrying the extra weight to play Grossman on “CHiPs” (1977).
The screenplay for this film was written years before it went into production. The film had a difficult time finding backing. In 1978 it was picked up by the Camp Hill Company and was shot and completed in 1980. In all it was nearly 10 years from the time the script was written to the final release of the film.
Universal Studios was originally approached with the film, but the studio disliked the film’s bizarre nature so it was rejected. United Artists ultimately picked it up for release.
