posted
If you patch it together from my occupation and my location, I go to the College of William and Mary. I recently had a professor (David L. Robbins, The War of the Rats) tell me and some friends about a horror movie filmed on campus in the 70's or 80's. He said it was The Hawkline Monster, based on the book of the same title. So I went out to find it so I can watch college students get dismembered in the same hallways where I spent my freshman year, and everything I'm finding says this movie doesn't exist - that it was almost made but was ultimately canceled.
It's possible my prof just got the name of the film wrong, but another prof (Tom De Haven, It's Superman), said that he remembered the movie coming out.
Has anyone heard of this movie? Amazon doesn't have the movie, but you can download the music theme to the movie. IMDB doesn't have it. Anyone remember this coming out?
posted
Sorry, I think the movie fell through. Several movies were made (The River Wild and Dead Man as the two I remember) and considered in my childhood hometown. One movie I think fell through was to be filmed at my high school. I know it's easy to lose track of filming success, especially when you're not involved in the project. Probably, your professors remembered the title and the intent and assumed the movie came out. Professor De Haven may have also confused The Hawkline Monster movie with another filmed close by.
posted
My prof had this long story about seeing the movie in an airport terminal and recognizing the Collge (he's also an alum). So some movie exists, but it doesn't seem to be the Hawkline Monster.
IP: Logged |
posted
It's the title of a Richard Brautigan novel, not read by me, but I think I remember seeing it in stores...and, according to the online Googling I just did, it's set in eastern Oregon. William and Mary subbing for some other locale?
There was a try at a movie, but the descriptions implied it fell through before shooting began.
posted
Occassionally. a movie is pulled permanently from circulation as an exercise of the rights of someone with a controlling or significant interest in the story. This could be a producer, writer, story originator, or in rare cases a director. This usually has to be part of the original negotiations. The first movie that comes to mind is the Roger Cormen version of The Fantastic Four - I don't know who would have agreed to this in the first place, but the movie was pulled soon after it was made. I think it had limited theatre play.
Another example, is Disney's Song of the South which was never allowed video circulation from the producer due to feelings that it was racially offensive.
The author of your movie may have had a controlling interest in its circulation and decided he didn't like it. This is VERY rare! Typically, in this case the producer probably thought it sucked and didn't send it to theaters.
posted
Have you checked IMDB.com? You might be able to search by location. It's a great movie database.
Posts: 72 | Registered: Apr 2008
| IP: Logged |
posted
Here's the three things IMDB-dot-com lists for William & Mary as a location:
"John Adams" (2008) TV Series 9.0/10 (4049 votes) Early American Christmas (1978) (TV) 8.4/10 (13 votes) ...aka Perry Como's Early American Christmas (1978) (TV) (USA: complete title) Gospel of Liberty (1996) (V)
posted
Hmmm. What I really ought to do is accuse my prof of making it up. Then his enormous ego will force him to research it himself. (I don't recommend this type of approach to most professors, btw.)
IP: Logged |
posted
Be careful there. I've heard of professors assigning their students to do their research for them. If you challenge your professor, you might end up having to do the research anyway, and your grade could depend on it.
Posts: 8826 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!
| IP: Logged |
Your professor could be entirely correct; you said there was a soundtrack. The movie could have been sent out in limited release or normal distribution could have been skipped and it was sent out to the airlines.
If it was made in the 70's this would make it much likelier. VHS hadn't gotten started and Beta was only available for select movies. If a movie was subpar, theater chains might have passed and the movie was relegated to the airlines.
Nowadays, there is direct to video for all the crap out there. Before that, there was the grindhouse drive-ins and airports.
Movies still get made today and are never featured. Think about when stars have their big breakthough and suddenly become famous. Then about three months later, some crappy movie they were in three years earlier is suddenly released with their name and picture on the jacket. "It happens all the time..."
posted
Theme music is sometimes created before filming, so the existence of "Theme From The Film The Hawkline Monster" does not prove the movie exists.
Either way, you will benefit if you put in the research. You may build a skill useful for your writing, for example.
posted
I checked - looks like it never got off the pad. Hal Ashby bought the rights in 1974. Production fell through, and nothing was shot, except for the prospects of filming. Sorry.
Posts: 2003 | Registered: Jul 2008
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
