![]() Jaws 3D hit its low mark during the not-so-thrilling conclusion of the film, as the film's talented cast (including Dennis Quaid and Louis Gossett Jr.) feigned fright (in cheesy slow motion, no less) as a virtually motionless great white (which looks superimposed on the screen, apparently to help achieve the 3D effect) "smashes" through the glass window of an underwater control room for a theme park in perhaps one of the silliest sequences ever filmed in 3D. Let's just say things didn't quite work out since this was Alves' first - and last - directing gig (which earned him a Worst Director Razzie nomination). Throwing caution to the wind and hopping on the resurgence of the 3D film craze in the early 1980s, Universal Studios proceeded with a threequel and hired director Joe Alves for 1983's Jaws 3D, a seemingly logical move since he was the production designer on the previous two Jaws films. This is supposed to be the Wolfman, after all - not the melting Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz. But instead of the flesh tearing away, the cheap effect looks like skin melting off the creature. Instead of the traditional man growing wolf hair, Sommers' version of the Wolfman called for Van Helsing to shed his skin, which underneath revealed a much larger and hairier beast. Given the liberty to reimagine the Universal Monsters universe with his Mummy films and Van Helsing, Sommers appeared to paint himself into a corner with his werewolf transformations. But since Van Helsing is a monster mash that also features other famed creatures like Frankenstein's monster (Shuler Hensley) and Dracula (Richard Roxburgh), as well as the Brides of Dracula (Elena Anya, Josie Moran and Silvia Colloca) who turned into winged harpies, there's a high demand for visual trickery throughout. The transformation into the lycanthrope happens when all these big transformations are set to take place - in the third act - where generally filmmakers place most of their visual effects eggs in one basket. The unnatural-looking, Z-grade effect is laughable, considering that Nichols surely had enough money at his disposal to come up with something more realistic than what looks like a nature park exhibit for elementary school kids. If that wasn't disappointing enough for fans who wanted to see Jack in full werewolf makeup, a la Lon Chaney in any of his Universal Wolfman movies, instead for a couple seconds we get an animatronic wolf as Nichols pulls back a shot that begins with a closeup of the wolf's eyes and ends as we see what's supposed to be a creature tilt its head back to let off a howl to call his future mate (Pfeiffer). What we don't know is that near the end of the film's climactic third act, Nicholson's final transformation into a hairy beast isn't to make him a wolf. If the horror movie is eventually re-evaluated as an unseen cult classic, Beau Is Afraid will join an impressive lineup.For the most part, Nichols goes the minimalist route with his leading man when it comes to his scenes as a lycanthrope, basically giving Nicholson a set of fangs, creepy contact lenses to yellow out his eyes, and additional facial hair around the jawline and chin to make sure we still know Jack. However, the fact that Beau Is Afraid has only earned $6 million on a budget of $35 million three weeks into its release bodes well for the cult potential of Aster’s movie. The mixed reviews of Beau Is Afraid mean that it will be a while before critics can decide whether director Ari Aster’s latest effort fits in this camp. ![]() Unfortunately, much like some great sci-fi movies bomb at the box office, some horror classics lost a lot of money when they were first released. ![]() However, The Shining at least made back its budget (and a tidy profit) when the adaptation arrived in cinemas. Decades later, The Shining is viewed as one of the most important and influential pieces of horror filmmaking in cinema history. When director Stanley Kubrick’s take on Stephen King’s The Shining was released in 1980, it was seen as a middling effort by critics. ![]() Sometimes, it takes time for a classic movie to win over its audience. Not every great movie is recognized upon its initial release, as proven by these 10 great horror movies that bombed at the box office.
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