香港電影網 Hong Kong Films' Web

首頁 -> 電影 -> 香港每年上映電影 ->
Home -> Films -> Films Released in Hong Kong by Year ->

開畫日期 Release Date
片長（分鐘） Running Time (Min.)
級別 Category
上映戲院（首週） Cinema Line-Up (First Week)

全城矚目，嚇破膽的驚慄恐怖電影

《異形》《未來戰士續集》《侏羅紀公園》

《 AI 人工智能》

四項奧斯卡大獎特技效果大師

史丹雲斯頓駭人作品

夜驚客

Darkness Falls

五月一日驚嚇出場

在澳洲一個寧靜的小鎮，當地的居民本來過著安逸愉快的生活。但自從瑪蒂達的出現，就產生了巨大的變化。獨個兒居住於燈塔旁邊小屋的瑪蒂達，為了紀念亡父，她會以美味的糖果及糕點來換取小朋友剛脫下來的牙齒，故此，被冠以「牙仙」的稱呼。豈料，某日瑪蒂達家中無故失火，這場無情的火災把她燒得焦頭爛額。自此以後，她自我封閉，謝絕一切交往。可是禍不單行，兩位小童因探訪「牙仙」而無故失蹤，全鎮居民皆認為瑪蒂達是罪魁禍首，決意將她吊死，並鞭屍以洩心頭之憤，其後才知是一場誤會。瑪蒂達含冤而死，陰魂不散，從此這小鎮就發生了不少離奇怪事！

事隔個半世紀，曾經居住在小鎮的卡約 ( 卓尼奇利飾 ) ，知道初戀情人姬蓮（伊瑪歌菲飾）九歲的弟弟米高（李高米爾飾）深受著瑪蒂達的纏擾，痛苦萬分，性命岌岌可危。他决定冒險重返這個烙印著童年陰影的小鎮，鼓起勇氣面對隱沒在黑暗的魑魅瑪蒂達。到底卡約能否幫助這對姊弟脫離險境？瑪蒂達的冤魂是否繼續强大至吞噬整個小鎮？

氣氛陰霾恐怖特技化粧强勁

< 夜驚客 > 在美國甫開畫獲一千二百五十萬票房，成為全城開畫票房冠軍。這部出色的驚嚇恐怖片，駭人的化粧、驚嚇特技令觀眾膽顫心驚。《夜驚客》如此成功，皆因導演尊拿芬利比斯曼重金禮聘邀請獲獎無數的史丹雲斯頓統籌化粧及特技效果，成功營造恐怖的氣氛，並為瑪蒂達塑造一個望之心寒致死的可怕形象。

史丹雲斯頓曾獲四項奧斯卡大獎、十項奧斯卡提名、三項英國電影及電視藝術大獎、兩項艾美獎等，是荷李活首屈一指的特技化粧高手。自 1986 年，憑《異形》勇奪奧斯卡最佳特別效果大獎後，之後不斷獲得奧斯卡獎項，包括最佳化粧及最佳特別效果《未來戰士續集》 (1991) 、最佳特別效果《侏羅紀公園》 (1993) 。

至於史丹雲斯頓獲得提名的電影更多，包括最佳化粧提名《蝙蝠俠再戰風雲》 (1992) 、最佳化粧《幻海奇緣》 (1990) 、最佳特別效果《迷失世界》 (1997) 、最佳特別效果《 AI 人工智能》 (2001) 。他亦負責《珍珠港》及即將上演的《未來戰士》第三集的特技效果工作。

電視廣告出身的史丹雲斯頓，曾替可口可樂及 Budweiser 拍了一些家傳戶曉的電視廣告。之後，他將從拍攝廣告中汲取的要訣搬到電視及電影界，並於 1972 年，憑電視劇《 Gargoyle 》獲得艾美獎的最佳化粧殊榮。及後，再進軍電影，獲獎無數，事業屢創高峰，並在二零零一年，獲邀在荷李活星光大道打手印，成為第二位出色的特技化粧師獲得此項殊榮。

夜驚客 DARKNESS FALLS 演職員表

REVOLUTION STUDIOS 呈獻 DISTANT CORNERS/BLUE STAR PICTURES 製作
主演 :		< 律政可人兒 > 卓尼奇利伊瑪歌菲
音樂 :		< 狂野時速 > 白賴仁泰勒
執行監製 :		<3X 反恐暴族 > 戴歷杜哲
特技化粧 :		< 異形 >< 未來戰士 >< 侏羅紀公園 > 史丹雲斯頓
故事 :		祖夏理斯
編劇 :		< 再造戰士續集反攻時代 > 尊化沙路占士雲迪標徹
監製 :		尊希治曼尊化沙路
		<D 老篤日記 > 威廉舒華克積遜舒曼
導演 :		尊拿芬利比斯曼

SYNOPSIS

For the past 150 years, the legend of Matilda Dixon, "the Tooth Fairy," has hung over the town of Darkness Falls like a dark cloud. After being unjustly accused of a heinous crime, the kindly old woman was savagely slaughtered by a mad rabble one night, and there are those who say her vengeful spirit hovers over the town, just waiting to pounce on anyone who sees her in the dark.

It happened to young Kyle. One night he saw Matilda and, though he managed to escape her evil clutches, his mother was brutally murdered.

Or was it just a hallucination?

Haunted by his painful memories of that night, and plagued by guilt, Kyle (Chaney Kley) has never allowed himself to be in the dark since. One day, he is summoned back to town by his childhood sweetheart Caitlin (Emma Caulfield), whose nine-year-old brother Michael (Lee Cormie) is having the same nightmares that drove Kyle to the brink of madness.

When he returns, however, Kyle realizes that Matilda's evil spirit was no figment of his imagination. She is real and extremely dangerous. And if she catches him in the dark again, her horrible, scarred face will be the last thing he ever sees.

Revolution Studios presents A Distant Corners/Blue Star Pictures Production, Darkness Falls, distributed by Columbia Pictures. Starring Chaney Kley, Emma Caulfield and Lee Cormie. The film is directed by Jonathan Liebesman. The screenplay is by John Fasano & James Vanderbilt & Joe Harris from a story by Joe Harris. The producers are John Hegeman, John Fasano, William Sherak and Jason Shuman. The executive producers are Derek Dauchy and Lou Arkoff. Dan Laustsen is the director of photography. The production designer is George Liddle. The film is edited by Steve Mirkovich, A.C.E. and Tim Alverson. The music is by Brian Tyler. Creature Designed and Created by Stan Winston Studio.

Darkness Falls is rated PG-13 for terror and horror images, and brief language.

THE LEGEND OF MATILDA DIXON

The town of Darkness Falls was established in the early 1800's and has a proud history as a busy fishing village. But there is also a blemish on the town's past. Time and selective memory have helped to bury it, but never for very long, because the legend of Matilda Dixon has developed a life of its own.

More than 150 years ago, an old woman named Matilda Dixon lived alone in a small house at the edge of the woods, close to Darkness Falls' historic lighthouse. Matilda and her late husband were among the town's first settlers, coming over with other fisherman who made their living from the whaling industry. Before her husband died in a tragic fishing accident, Matilda had been an outgoing, amiable member of the community, taking care of the neighborhood children and baking sweet treats for them. Even after she became a recluse, many of the kids still stopped by for cakes and biscuits, which was a great comfort to her. As payment, the children gave her their baby teeth. (She said the teeth reminded her of the scrimshaw carvings her husband had made during his whaling days). And that's how she earned the nickname, "the Tooth Fairy."

But poor Matilda seemed to be cursed. One night, while she was sleeping, a fire in her stove raged out of control. By the time the townspeople came to her rescue, the fire was out. But Matilda refused to come to the door or accept their assistance. From then on she ceased all contact with the outside world. Still, from time to time, she would leave gifts at the doorsteps of children's houses, usually small change, since she had stopped baking. Matilda would wander the streets only under the cover of night, her face hidden behind a white porcelain mask, and look for houses where children had left their baby teeth in a handkerchief tacked to the front door. The citizens of Darkness Falls were touched by her acts of kindness and moved to pity by the tragedies that had befallen her.

One horrible night, that all changed. And the name of Matilda Dixon became synonymous with acts too unspeakable to mention.

One afternoon in 1841, two young children told their parents that they were off to visit "the Tooth Fairy." When they failed to return home, suspicion immediately fell on Matilda. The official search party quickly turned into an angry mob, thirsty for revenge. Armed with torches and a rope, they raced up the twisting road toward Matilda's house.

Matilda bolted her door as the mob began hurling rocks at the house and screaming for her to come out. In an anguished, confused voice, she proclaimed her innocence, but it was no use. Half a dozen men broke down the door and dragged Matilda out, knocking over a huge jar and spilling hundreds of baby teeth across the floor.

Matilda covered her face with the porcelain mask and cried out for mercy. Though she begged them not to peek, two men pried the mask away from her face and smashed it on the ground. The men gasped, and some became ill, when they saw what was behind the mask - a once kind face now burned beyond recognition and contorted by pain and anguish. No one who was there ever forgot what he saw, though they never spoke about it, except to cry out in the middle of a nightmare.

Matilda was hanged and suffered terribly before she died, kicking and flailing. When there was finally no breath left in her body, they torched it and, to ease their consciences, agreed that what they had done was an act of justice.

As they looked up at the strangled, charred body, there were shouts in the distance. The rest of the town's inhabitants were running up the winding road toward them, stopping dead in their tracks at the sight of the poor old woman's dangling corpse. The crowd parted and there were the two lost children, who had simply lost their way, wandered too deep into the woods, and fallen asleep.

The citizens of Darkness Falls were stunned into silence. So great was their shame, that no one in town ever mentioned the incident again. Yet, somehow, the story got out and was passed down from generation to generation, until the events of that fateful night in 1841, became as distorted and tortured as the pitiful body of Matilda Dixon, swinging from the branch of that old oak tree, her burnt nightgown flapping in the wind.

DARKNESS FALLS…AND THE LEGEND BEGINS

In Darkness Falls, Kyle Walsh (Chaney Kley) returns home to confront his troubled past and save his childhood sweetheart Caitlin (Emma Caulfield), and her younger brother Michael (Lee Cormie), from an unrelenting evil that has plagued the town of Darkness Falls for more than one hundred and fifty years.

"This story is about someone who's afraid of the dark -- or so everyone thinks," says Darkness Falls producer John Hegeman. "But Kyle soon realizes that there really is something out there in the dark - and it's trying to kill him."

The story of Darkness Falls brings together two universal concepts, fear of the dark and the childhood memory, of "the Tooth Fairy," according to the film's director Jonathan Liebesman. "Only we've turned the idea of the 'Tooth Fairy' on its head. Instead of an angelic presence, this 'Tooth Fairy' is a murderous old hag who is terrorizing the whole town."

Matilda Dixon (aka "the Tooth Fairy") is a long-dead resident of the New England town of Darkness Falls, who was unjustly murdered more than 150 years ago and has returned to seek revenge. "If you see her face, she'll kill you," says Liebesman. "And if you somehow manage to get away, she won't stop until she gets you."

Matilda is a force of darkness and cannot exist in the light. Since she strikes under the cover of night, no one is really sure whether she exists or is merely the figment of an overactive imagination.

The tension between what is real and what is imagined - and how the two frighteningly converge - is the taut thread Liebesman uses to raise audience hackles. Contrary to the recent trend in horror movies spoofing other films in the genre Liebesman's desire was "to play it straight," he says. "When you camp it up, people don't get involved. I wanted to use mood and atmosphere to plumb beneath the surface and tap into people's real fears."

Producer William Sherak echoes that sentiment. "We weren't out to make a teen-slasher film where the audience is so far ahead of the characters that they can sit back and feel safe," says Sherak. "This is definitely meant to be edge-of-your-seat time."

For the central character of Kyle, whose life has been overshadowed by fear and trauma, Liebesman was looking for "someone who looked like he had lived, someone with the qualities of a young Clint Eastwood or Mel Gibson," he says. "I didn't want an actor who brought too much baggage or past association to the role. He had to look like a real person and, at the same time, be a good enough actor to suggest the character might possibly be unstable (echoes of Gibson in the original Lethal Weapon or Eastwood in Play Misty for Me) so the audience could be invested in him."

He found that actor in Chaney Kley, who hails from the Chicago stage and is making his film debut in Darkness Falls. "Because he's such a strong presence and so down to earth, Chaney was able to convey that Kyle might have a split-personality, which immediately gives the story an element of suspense," says Liebesman.

"My approach was to show the conflict inside the character," says Kley, "between something he thinks may be real or might just be in his imagination. "Kyle is a tortured soul who hasn't had much sleep in the past twelve years and spent most of that time battling his demons. Everyone else thinks he's mentally unbalanced. And he's not so sure they're wrong. Ironically, he turns out to be the sanest person in the movie."

The pivotal character of Caitlin represented the film's emotional center. "She's the warmth and true vulnerability in the movie," says Liebesman. For Caitlin he turned to Emma Caulfield, best known to audiences as Anya in the phenomenally popular series "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer." "On a dramatic level Emma starts out dealing with issues about her brother's mental health and, by the end of the film, turns into an action heroine as well."

Caitlin takes care of her nine-year-old brother Michael, who is plagued by the same nightmares and bouts of insomnia that torture Kyle. "Cailtin is strong and resilient, though it takes her some time realize it," says Caulfield. "And that gives her the ability to take care of her brother as well as seek help from Kyle, whom everyone else thinks is dangerous and disturbed."

By far the biggest casting challenge was the role of Michael, which required, "a 45-year-old man in a nine-year-old kid's body, someone with a real sense of torment," says Liebesman. After extensive auditions in the Melbourne, Australia area, the director found his man-child in actor Lee Cormie.

"Lee is amazing," says producer Jason Shuman. "The key is his eyes. They light up on fire when he's scared."

Unlike Kyle's character, Michael knows that his fear is based in reality. "The doctors think he's just afraid of the dark," says Cormie. "But he sees 'the Tooth Fairy.' He knows all about it and that it doesn't like the light. That's why he wants to keep the lights on."

The character of Michael serves as a catalyst for the action, according to Liebesman. "Michael is like a mirror image of Kyle. When Kyle comes back to town to save Michael from the hellish life he's experienced, he does it to redeem his own life as well."

Another major character required no casting call at all. "The darkness in this film isn't just a mood thing, it's really the antagonist," says Liebesman. "It has its own personality."

And it is from the dark that Matilda Dixon finally emerges. As with all great monsters (the creature in Alien, the shark in Jaws) however, throughout most of the film Liebesman chooses to show Matilda only in flashes and shadows that punctuate the darkness. "I didn't want her to be seen too much because the audience loses its fear when it begins to understand what it's supposed to be afraid of," he says. "It's when you keep it away from the audience for as long as possible that their imagination starts to go crazy. So I deliberately held her back (as much as possible), so that when the payoff comes, the excitement and satisfaction are that much greater."

FINDING SOMETHING IN THE DARK:

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION OF DARKNESS FALLS

Director Jonathan Liebesman has always been fascinated with the contrast between darkness and light. The thriller Darkness Falls allowed him to fully explore the many gradations between absolute dark and daylight. "It gave me the chance to play with space, perspective and shadow."

As producer William Sherak points out, Liebesman's ambition requires a great deal of skill and balance. "Showing the dark is a tricky thing," he says. "You can't go black because the audience won't be able to see anything. But it has to be dark enough so they'll understand the difference between dark and light."

To capture the subtleties of mood and movement he needed, Liebesman tapped veteran director of photography, Dan Laustsen, who fashioned the scary visual magic that typifies such thrillers as Mimic and Nightwatch, as well as the more recent Brotherhood of the Wolf.

"It's a very dark movie," says Laustsen, "with only one bright sequence. And that's a real challenge for a director of photography. You are always walking a very thin line. If it's too light, it becomes boring. So you must travel to the very edge of darkness, without going too dark."

Interestingly, Laustsen used high-contrast lights to bring depth to the darkness. "High-contrast lighting creates very dark shadows," he says. "These days the shadows are usually deepened in processing. But we did it in the camera, the old-fashioned way."

Slow, deliberate movement of the camera through the darkness, using either a Steadicam or a hand-held camera, further enhanced the film's foreboding mood. "This film is definitely influenced by movies from the '70s," says Liebesman, "when the camera moved slower and the shots lasted longer. Dan definitely captured that sensibility."

Working in tandem with Laustsen and Liebesman was production designer George Liddle, who is no stranger to working in the dark, having designed the sets for Alex Proyas' noir thriller Dark City. "George and I discussed constructing big sets with big windows," says Liebesman. "We wanted things to feel overwhelming, overpowering for the characters. Most of the sets are so tall that you can't quite fit them into the frame. It's only when the camera moves through the set that you start to get a feel for the whole thing. We also shoot through windows and glass a great deal because this film deals with an apparition, something that lives in the shadows."

In addition, adds Liddle, "the sets were designed so they would create shadows in interesting shapes. I fiddled with scale and color. The palette was kept dark to create atmosphere, and the sets were tweaked to create the look that there's always something or somebody lurking around a corner somewhere."

For the thrilling climax of Darkness Falls, Liddle constructed an entire lighthouse, piece by piece. And not just any lighthouse, but one that mimicked the vintage ones that dot the New England shoreline to this day. Though the film is set in a small New England town, it was actually shot in Australia. And while a suitable location for the quaint village of Darkness Falls was found in a coastal town outside of Melbourne, none of the local lighthouses were suitable. "The lighthouse we needed had to be built, because it had to have the texture and look of the kind of old stone that was used in New England in the 19th century," says Liddle.

The lighthouse was constructed piece-by-piece and then assembled on a sound stage, a process that took two weeks. The only accommodations Liddle made were to enable the crew, the actors and the six puppeteers who animated 'Matilda Dixon' to fit inside. "Lighthouses are quite narrow, so the one we built is a little more spacious," he says. "Otherwise it's accurate down to the fittings and it has the exact feel of a real lighthouse including a spiral staircase going up to the lantern room at the top (where the film's climactic battle between good and evil is set)."

However, all the best laid plans of mice and men (and directors and production designers) would be for naught without the right monster, one whose vengeful spirit comes to full-blown life in the film's final face-off. And for that Liebesman went to the master, Stan Winston, whose spectacular creations like the queen alien in Aliens and the Tyrannosaurus Rex in Jurassic Park, lose none of their power to frighten when the audience subsequently learns they are actually animatronic puppets.

"The creature of Matilda that Stan created is like a living corpse," says Jason Matthews, the creature effects supervisor on the film. "She has a full range of movement in her face, eyebrows, cheeks. The jaw opens. The neck moves. The shoulders shrug. Her hands can be posed. It takes six puppeteers to bring her to life and they're like an orchestra with all the musicians coming together seamlessly to play one piece of music. It's thrilling and chilling at the same time."

"The fantastic thing about Stan Winston," concludes Liebesman, " is that he will always exceed expectations. When I first saw the creature in his shop, I got a little chill. And the first time we shot a scene, it immediately sprang to life. It was absolutely incredible. You could swear there was someone human inside."

STAN WINSTON: THE REAL WIZ

Matilda Dixon, the Tooth Fairy" in Darkness Falls is not the first horrifying female special effects wizard Stan Winston has created for the screen. Back in 1986, he brought the queen alien in Aliens to vivid life and picked up the first of four Academy AwardsR.

Five years later he won two OscarsR, for makeup and visual effects for Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and soon after copped his fourth well-deserved statuette for the brilliantly conceived and executed dinosaurs - some frightening, some gentle, and all awe-inspiring - in Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park.

But then, Winston has been winning awards for almost as long as he's been working, picking up an Emmy back in 1972 for the made-for-television-movie "Gargoyles," in which he created many of the effects and creatures on his dining room table. A second Emmy, shared with another make-up/special-effects genius Rick Baker, was for realistically aging actress Cicely Tyson from age 19 to 110 years old in "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman."

After making his film debut with The Bat People in 1974, Winston brought his magic to such films as The Predator, Aliens, Terminator, Terminator 2, Pumpkinhead (in which he made his directorial debut), Batman Returns and Edward Scissorhands. He has been earning OscarR nominations since 1981, when he was first cited for Best Makeup in the film Heartbeeps. In 1986, he won a Best Visual Effects statuette for Aliens. The following year, he was nominated in the same category for Predator and, in 1990, was honored for his makeup work in Edward Scissorhands. A year later, he was walked away with two OscarsR for Terminator 2, one for makeup and one for his visual effects. Winston's makeup work on Batman Returns garnered another well-deserved nomination in 1992. The visual effects mastery he demonstrated in 1993's Jurassic Park brought a fourth OscarR. He has been nominated in the same category twice since, in 1997 for The Lost World and, in 2001, for Artificial Intelligence: AI.

Interestingly, Winston began his career as an actor 34 years ago, "and I've been working at my sideline career ever since," he jokes. "But when you look at it, what I have been doing is creating characters for film. I thought I'd do it as an actor, but instead I've been doing it with make-up effects, puppets and animatronics. Even though digital technology has enabled us to do anything we want, at the core of it our needs are still the same - a great story and great performances to make it all come to life."

Case in point: Matilda Dixon in Darkness Falls, a character as haunting and gut-wrenching as any created by a flesh-and-blood actress. "Matilda's the evil spirit of a woman who acted as a tooth fairy in town," explains Winston, "but was quite hideously scarred. She has returned for revenge on the town which killed and disfigured her."

In discussing the creation of the character with director Jonathan Liebesman, Winston decided that to make her truly terrifying, he had to build her from the inside out. "You see, Matilda's not really a monster, but someone who has become a monster because of her vengeful spirit," says Wilson. "Her face is that of a burn victim, someone who has been horribly disfigured. I realized she had to be unsettlingly real, an image that you didn't want to look at, because it made you uneasy. And to do that, we had to get completely under the skin."

After doing painstaking research into actual burn victims, Winston constructed a meticulously realistic animatronic figure that required six puppeteers to bring her to life. "Her face is radio controlled, her neck is cable-operated and the arms and body are rod controlled," explains Winston.

For full-length shots, Matilda's figure is dressed in a filament costume, giving her the feeling of movement and spectral weightlessness. Only in a couple of "grab" shots was a real stunt person used, though in every shot the impression is disturbingly lifelike.

And that's just as Winston planned it. "The most important thing is the art of it. If it doesn't look real it won't be real, no matter how well the technology works. And the art of creating Matilda Dixon is quite exceptional."

In addition to Darkness Falls, Winston's wizardry will be seen on screen this year in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and he is currently working on Tim Burton's new film, Big Fish, for Columbia Pictures. Through his Stan Winston Creatures, he is continually evolving the comic book stories Trakk and Realm of the Claw, and creating new characters for his toy line.

As a film producer, his Stan Winston Productions has just completed the horror movie, Wrong Turn, about a carload of teens trapped in the woods of West Virginia, where they are terrorized by genetically inbred, cannibalistic mountain men. Up next is a Halloween thriller, Trick or Treat. In addition to producing and co-directing the film, Winston will have a principal role as well.

"My official acting debut - 34 years later," he laughs.

ABOUT THE CAST

CHANEY KLEY (Kyle) was born in Manassas, Virginia near a military base where his father was stationed. The family soon moved to Denver, Colorado where he was raised. He graduated from the University of Colorado with a degree in Theater and took his acting talents to the respected theater community in Chicago. He was soon cast in several TV shows, which led to his first theatrical starring role in the Chicago Dramatist's production of "The Angels of Lemnos." Kley's portrayal of Nathan Spandrel won him the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Actor in a Lead Role.

Soon after, Kley moved to Los Angeles, where he did some television work before being cast in Darkness Falls, his first major feature film. Next up for Kley is The Skin Horse, an independent film that was shot in Portland, Oregon.

EMMA CAULFIELD (Caitlin) provides humor and levity in her starring role as Anya, the young and beautiful demon turned mortal, in the hugely popular series "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer." Emma was also a series regular on "Beverly Hills, 90210," as Brandon's journalist girlfriend Susan Keats.

Emma was born and raised in San Diego. While still in high school, she studied drama at the La Jolla Playhouse and the Old Globe Theatre, where she was awarded the distinguished honor of "Excellence in Theatre Arts." She continued her education in psychology at San Francisco State and UCLA. After college, she picked up her drama studies once again at The American School in Switzerland (TASIS), and in London.

LEE CORMIE (Michael) Lee Cormie got the role after his parents answered an ad in their local paper. A Melbourne-based talent agency was seeking children with acting potential and Lee certainly demonstrated that potential. Since signing with the agency he has taken a guest role in the popular Aussie television series "Blue Heelers."

Lee has also appeared in commercials for the Melbourne Zoo, Ansett AFL Cup, McCleans toothpaste and "Tip Top" bread. In March he will star in a new Australian television series "Worst Best Friends".

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

JONATHAN LIEBESMAN (Director) was born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa. After high school, he attended the South African School of Film and Drama before moving to the U.S. to study at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. His award winning short film "Genesis and Catastrophe" has been screened at numerous film festivals. Darkness Falls is his first feature film.

JOHN FASANO (Producer, Screenwriter) studied film at the State University of New York College at Purchase, where he was employed as the Film Research Editor for Time/Life's national publication, "TV Cable Week."

Upon graduation he began a career in low-budget films, rewriting and assistant directing the 35mm feature Blood Sister, and writing and co-directing Zombie Nightmare, prior to producing and directing the Cult Classic Horror features Rock 'n Roll Nightmare, Black Roses and The Jitter.

Moving to Los Angeles in 1989, he began working as a Hollywood screenwriter, selling his first script Tailgunner, to Morgan Creek and then, in rapid succession, writing the features Another 48 Hours, Out West, Alien 3, The Wall, Universal Soldier: The Return, Megiddo and Shaolin.

Fasano also had a hand in producing Rapid Fire, Ginostra and Tombstone. In addition, he created several television pilots and tele-films including "Super Street" for UPN, "The Forever War" mini-series for the Sci-Fi Channel, "FX: The Series" for Rysher; "Mean Streets" for Showtime, "The Hunley" and the WGA nominated teleplay for "The Hunchback," for TNT.

JAMES VANDERBILT (Screenwriter) wrote the thriller Basic starring John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson. At present, his screenplay Independence Mississippi is in development at Warner Bros.

JOE HARRIS (Screenwriter, Story by) is a filmmaker, screenwriter and comic book creator whose work spans various publications, websites, motion pictures and genres. Darkness Falls is based on his short film Tooth Fairy.

In the world of comic books, Harris has been a leading contributor to Marvel Comic's best selling fan-favorite line of "X-Men" comics including the young mutant heroes GENERATION X and X-FORCE. He has developed and launched new comic book titles for the "X-Men" and "Spider-Man" franchises, with what Wizard Magazine has described as 'great teen angst'. New creator-owned comic book properties by Harris are currently in the pipeline.

Harris made his directorial debut with the acclaimed student film, Rapscallions. The film's portrayal of a group of seemingly average suburban kids, out on a terrible night of 'fag bashing,' was described by Boston Phoenix critic Peter Keogh as "a chilling, brilliantly narrated exploration into male pathology," and has screened at film festivals around the world. The film has been released on video through Next Generation Video. On the heels of Darkness Falls comes his latest short, the horror film Grandma's House.

On the web, he has written the animated horror series "Bad Vlad" for DistantCorners.com, chronicling the exploits of young Vlad the Impaler before his transformation into his more famous persona, Count Dracula.

A native New Yorker, Harris graduated from The City College of New York's prestigious Picker Institute of Film Production, in 1997.

JOHN HEGEMAN (Producer) joined Revolution Studios in March 2002, overseeing the development of genre related features as well as the company's Online and Theatrical Acquisition efforts.

Darkness Falls is Hegeman's first entry into the world of producing feature films. Prior to producing Darkness Falls, Hegeman founded and ran Distant Corners Entertainment Group.

While at Distant Corners, he oversaw the production of over a dozen genre franchise properties across all media platforms.

Prior to Distant Corners, Hegeman served in various marketing and distribution capacities for such companies as Artisan Entertainment, MGM/UA, Orion Pictures and Orion Classics, where he has worked on such features as The Blair Witch Project, Leaving Las Vegas, Stargate, The Birdcage, Goldeneye, Silence of the Lambs and Dances with Wolves.

John Hegeman began his career with United Film Distribution Company in 1985 where he worked on the cult classic Day of the Dead. Hegeman was born in Yonkers, New York and currently calls the "Big Apple" his home.

WILLIAM SHERAK (Producer) Previous credits as producer include Comic Book Villains and Four Dogs Playing Poker (both as executive producer). He also co- directed the short film Spoof! An Insider's Guide To Short Film Success, with production partner Jason Shuman. He was also a production executive on the films Dudley Do-Right, Dr. Doolittle and Mr. Wrong.

JASON SHUMAN (Producer) Previous credits as producer include Comic Book Villains and Four Dogs Playing Poker (both as executive producer). He also co- directed the short film Spoof! An Insider's Guide To Short Film Success, with production partner William Sherak.

DEREK DAUCHY (Executive Producer) is part of the creative team at Revolution Studios and has helped develop several feature films including The Animal, Dana Carvey's film The Master of Disguise, XXX (all of which he co-produced), the recently wrapped Anger Management with Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson, as well as the Eddie Murphy family comedy Daddy Day Care. At present, he is working on Radio starring Cuba Gooding Jr. and Ed Harris. Dauchy previously spent three years working for Barry Levinson and Paula Weinstein at their Baltimore/Spring Creek Pictures, where he helped develop such blockbusters as The Perfect Storm and Analyze This.

LOU ARKOFF (Executive Producer) most recently created, developed and produced five feature-length films for the HBO movie series "Creature Features," which included "The Day the World Ended," "She Creature," "Earth vs. Spider," "How to Make a Monster" and "Teenage Caveman." In the mid 1990s he created, developed and produced ten original movies for Showtime, working with such directors as Robert Rodriguez ("Roadracers"), John Milius ("Motorcycle Gang"), William Friedkin ("Jailbreakers"), Ralph Bakshi ("Cool and Crazy"), Jonathan Kaplan ("Reform School Girls") and Joe Dante ("Runaway Daughters").

He has also served as co-producer on such films as Inspector Gadget, The 13th Warrior, George of the Jungle and Gone Fishin'.

Arkoff holds a B.A. in Cinema Arts from the University of Southern California and also attended Loyola University's School of Law.

DAN LAUSTSEN (Director of Photography) is a renowned cinematographer and a native of Denmark whose credits include Nightwatch, Mimic, Brotherhood Of The Wolf, Beyond, Running Free, Heart Of Light, Carmen and Babyface, The Boys From St. Petri, Emma's Shadows and Elise.

GEORGE LIDDLE (Production Designer) is one of Australia's most successful production designers. His credits include Down & Under, Alex Proyas' Dark City starring William Hurt, Komodo, for producers Alan Riche and Tony Ludwig, A Cry in the Dark directed by Fred Schepsi and starring Meryl Streep, Willful, Mushrooms, Rapa Nui, Till There Was You and The Time Guardian.

Television credits include the acclaimed mini-series "Tracks of Glory" and "Which Way Home."

STEVE MIRKOVICH, A.C.E. (Editor) is a noted editor whose credits include Valentine, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Con Air, The Ghost And The Darkness, Broken Arrow, The Astronaut's Wife, Fire In The Sky, Cool World, Flight Of The Intruder, Friday The 13th Part VIII, Spellbinder, John Carpenter's Prince Of Darkness, Deadly Illusion, Jackals and John Carpenter's Big Trouble In Little China.

TIM ALVERSON (Editor) started his career as a production assistant at Lion's Gate Studios in 1983. Born in Seattle, Washington in 1964, his life long ambition was to become a Film Editor. His first editing job was assisting Steve Mirkovich on Miracles. That led to a 16-year collaboration that has seen Tim rise from the ranks of assistant to that of Editor. Of the many movies that he has worked on, he is most fond of those in the horror genre.

At the age of twelve, he wrote, directed, starred in and, of course, edited the super eight thriller Monster Movie. His most recent credits include New Line Cinema's The Astronaut's Wife, the Sylvester Stallone vehicle D-Tox and Gold Circle Film's Strange Hearts.

STAN WINSTON (Creature Effects) Not since Lon Chaney has one individual been responsible for the creation of so many memorable character icons. Multiple Academy AwardR winner Stan Winston is indeed the world's foremost creator of creatures, the common denominator linking some of cinema's most innovative and accomplished character designs. From The Terminator and the extra terrestrial monstrosities of Aliens, to the amazing dinosaurs of Jurassic Park and the fanciful character of Edward Scissorhands, Winston has garnered a record number of awards for his achievements. He has won four Academy AwardsR and has been nominated for ten. He has also claimed three British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards, two Emmys and numerous other industry awards.

Winston won his first OscarR nomination for creating robotic-looking make-up for Heartbeeps in 1981, the first year that make-up effects were recognized as an official category. He received OscarR nominations for Aliens, Predator, Edward Scissorhands, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Jurassic Park, Batman Returns, The Lost World and, most recently, A.I. Artificial Intelligence. He won his first OscarR for Aliens, as well as a BAFTA Award. He won two Academy AwardsR for Terminator 2: Judgment Day, for Best Make-Up and Best Visual Effects and a second BAFTA Award for Best Achievement in Visual Effects. Winston won his fourth OscarR for fashioning the live-action dinosaurs in Jurassic Park.

Winston moved to Hollywood in 1969 to become an actor. While waiting for his big break he wanted to avoid the typical day jobs of parking cars or waiting tables. Like Lon Chaney, Winston saw make-up design as a powerful actor's tool for creating characters. So he became a make-up apprentice at Disney Studios, which eventually led to his first Emmy, in 1972, for the television movie "Gargoyles." He followed that with five more Emmy nominations, between 1973 and 1979. For Winston, the "day job" quickly evolved into an impressive career. He smoothly segued into feature films and has been making movie history ever since, working with the likes of James Cameron, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Joel Silver, Tim Burton, Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg, to name a few.

Recent releases featuring Winston's work include Pearl Harbor, from director Michael Bay, Joe Johnston's Jurassic Park 3 and Steven Spielberg's Artificial Intelligence (which earned Stan his tenth Oscar nomination). Winston and the artisans at his studio are currently at work on Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, to be released in summer 2003.

Some of Winton's television credits include "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman" and "Roots." He has taken part in several commercials as well, including the Coca-Cola "King Kong" spot and the successful Budweiser series, featuring the "Budweiser Frogs" and their comic "Louie & Frank" lizard counterparts. As a director, Stan Winston helmed the film Pumpkinhead, for which he won a "Best First Time Director" award at the Paris Film Festival and a nomination for a Saturn Award as "Best Director." He also directed the film The Adventures of a Gnome Named Gnorm and Michael Jackson's Ghosts, set to the music of Jackson's song "Too Bad," for which he combined his creativity and talents in creature design and special effects for a frightening and entertaining combination of film, music and dance.

Following this natural progression, Winston currently runs his own production company to develop, direct and produce feature films. Debuting in the fall of 2001 was "Creature Features" - a series of five original world premiere movies that were broadcast on the Cinemax and HBO cable networks. Produced by Stan Winston, Lou Arkoff and Colleen Camp, these films are updated versions of Sam Arkoff's classic 1950's horror and sci-fi movies.

The Stan Winston Studio in Los Angeles continues to break new ground in the areas of design, make-up and creature effects. Embracing the technology of CGI, Winston was a founding partner of the successful computer effects company Digital Domain in the mid-90s. Currently, he has formed a new division of his studio called SW Digital, which will enable his team of creators to expand the possibilities in developing realistic characters - bringing together the best of the live-action and CG worlds.

In 2001 he formed Stan Winston Creatures -- a new toy company that features original, never-before-seen characters from the minds of the artists at the world famous Stan Winston Studio. The collectible action figures are available exclusively at Toys 'R' Us and Toysrus.com.

Outside of work, Winston enjoys spending time with his family, exercising at the in-studio gym he built for his employees, playing with his "big toys" (his Harley Davidson motorcycles and sports cars) and working with Free Arts for Abused Children. Winston has been recognized for his community contributions by the County of Los Angeles, and he holds an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities from the nation's largest art school, the Savannah College of Art and Design, for his contributions to the art community. Last year, Winston received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, being only the second artist in the field of make-up effects to do so. Most recently, he has devoted his creativity and sponsorship in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on the most realistic artificially intelligent robot to date.

"ACADEMY AWARDR" and "OSCARR" are the registered trademarks and service marks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences."

註：以上資訊由片主或其推廣代表提供。本網並不保證此等資訊是否正確。
Note: The information above is provided by the owners of the film or their agents who are responsible for the promotion of the film. We do not guarantee the accuracy of such information.

相關連結 Related Links

由於Javascript未有執行，官方網站資料不能被顯示。
Official Web Site information cannot be displayed because Javascript cannot be run.

由於Javascript未有執行，用家評分不能被顯示。
User Rating cannot be displayed because Javascript cannot be run.

最近公影電影 Recent, Current, and Upcoming Films