1980 script & 1983 reviews
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1980 script & 1983 reviews
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NIGHTMARE USA
reviews
Pia Lindstrom, reviewing on NBC's
"Live At Five" TV program panned the film, and then
was promptly attacked (on the air)
by the Mother Spawn herself!
"Live At Five" TV program panned the film, and then
was promptly attacked (on the air)
by the Mother Spawn herself!
ABOVE: the arm is NOT Pia Lindstrom's
Local New Jersey papers were, in general,
more generous than the New York Times.
more generous than the New York Times.
(In the shortest of all reviews, Vincent Canby
does hint that there might be some
entertainment value to the film)
the original shooting script
blueprint for suburban sci-fi horror
Between the battered covers, most pages were typed on the same Smith-Corona manual typewriter, but some are manuscript, hastily scribbled for the actors to con on the spot; some are marked with camera notes and stage directions, and some are spattered with the karo-blood used in the scene. There are also some storyboard frames, and scheduling notes
LEFT: part of the breakfast table scene (scene 5B, page 4), marked with the scribbles of a hard day's shoot
LEFT: part of the breakfast table scene (scene 5B, page 4), marked with the scribbles of a hard day's shoot
BELOW:
McKeown's original storyboard of Charles' discovery of the Spawn in the basement. (This sequence was heavily supplemented and/or re-shot at a later date by FX Director Dods)
actually, a poloroid from Mother Spawn's first appearance
After the bloody Spawn has not quite swallowed Dad (James Brewster)
This was actually taken the morning of the Spawn's first appearance on camera, and she was not quite finished in the er, make-up chair when it came time for the camera to roll. So, the shot was going to have to be careful and tight. "Ready for my close-up?"
—Note the still-unpainted head, below right