Six Degrees of Sinbad: Working for the Brother of a Genre Legend

The Vault of Horror has led to a whole lot of unusual experiences over the years, and certainly my love for horror in general has led to some fascinating discoveries. There was the time I got a chance to review the script for See No Evil while working for WWE (sort of painful, but a privilege nonetheless.) There was the time I wound up editing copy at Wine Enthusiast magazine with one of the staff members of the old Famous Monsters of Filmland. Most recently, The Vault of Horror did more than bring me an interesting experience--it actually helped open up a career door for me. It was one of those times I was grateful to be a horror blogger.

As you can imagine, when going on a job interview, I'm never really sure if bringing up The Vault would be a good idea, or a bad idea. It does represent some of the writing of which I am most proud, so there's always the temptation to show it off to prospective employers. But naturally, there's also the fear that they're going to look down their collective noses at my little online ode to blood and guts. So it's usually a crap shoot, and I like to feel them before I cart out the ol' VoH.

It just so happened, last year, that while interviewing for a prominent position with Juran Institute, an industry-leading quality management consultancy firm here in Connecticut, that I found myself sitting across the conference table from a CEO who seemed like he just might be interested in checking out what I was really capable of doing as a writer and also in terms of managing a blog. After all, a large portion of the job's responsibilities would be the writing and maintenance of the company blog. So as you can imagine, I wanted to give him a glance at what yours truly could really do when given the reigns of an online domain.

And so, going for broke, I decided to show him what I can do. I punched up The Vault of Horror on his laptop and held my breath. Either he would be impressed at my creation, or he would take one look at The Human Centipede vs. The Very Hunrgy Caterpillar and have me shown to my car. I waited as he scanned the page, my fingers crossed under the table. Would he find it totally unprofessional?

"Hey..." he said, as his eyes moved up and down the screen. "Have you ever seen Night of the Living Dead?"

It was right then and there that I knew that showing him the blog was the right thing to do. He got it. Not only did he get it, but he informed me that there was actually a connection between his company and the genre. As it turned out, Dr. Joseph Juran, the founder of Juran Institute and one of the most respected gurus of the quality management business, was the brother of Nathan Juran--the director of such films as Attack of the 50-Foot Woman, The Deadly Mantis, as well as the Ray Harryhausen classics 20 Million Miles to Earth and The 7th Voyage of Sinbad.

The Oscar-winning art director for the 1941 classic How Green Was My Valley, Nathan Juran carved out a niche for himself as a journeyman director of westerns and sci-fi cinema in the 1950s and 1960s, later transitioning to TV with shows like Lost in Space and The Time Tunnel. The fact that I was interviewing to work for a company founded by his big brother was just another one of those surreal moments in the life of a horror blogger.

"Did you do all this yourself?" he asked me. And I was proud to say that I had. We got to talking about Nathan Juran's amazing films, as well as other horror flicks.

I landed the job with Juran Institute, and was proud to serve them as Communications Director, helping to get their social media presence off the ground, and working to advance the company blog, both visually and content-wise. From that point on, I became known as the "horror guy" in the office, and it wouldn't be unexpected, for example, for me to be asked my opinion of Let the Right One In just before a big board meeting. It was a gratifying experience, and I wouldn't say it's an exaggeration to say that I very well might not have gotten the opportunity if it hadn't been for The Vault of Horror. Not bad a for a guy who just wanted to write about scary movies.

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The Tuesday Top 10: Favorite Ray Harryhausen Creations

Can I admit something? There are nights I go to sleep sounder knowing that Ray Harryhausen is still out there somewhere. That such a titanic legend of the movies, and of genre entertainment in general, is still with us. The great Harryhausen turned 90 today, and to commemorate the birthday of the screen's most revered special effects man, this week I'm looking back at his greatest works.

The efforts of Ray Harryhausen brought me great joy as a child, and they still do. For example, back in the days before VCRs, I became so entranced by a showing of Jason & The Argonauts on TV that I checked the TV Guide (remember that?) to see what day and time it was, my naive six-year-old brain assuming the network would be showing it again each year, like they did with The Wizard of Oz. So that gives you an idea of how deeply I fell in love with the magic of Ray Harryhausen.

And so, this week for the Tuesday Top 10, I reached back through all my favorite Harryhausen flicks to come up with the specific stop-motion creations of his that thrilled me the most. Happy Birthday to Mr. Harryhausen, and thanks in particular for giving us the following...

10. The Kraken
Clash of the Titans (1981)
Why does the ultimate weapon of the gods rank so low? Well, between you and me, the infamous Kraken has never been at the top of my list because, as impressive as it is, the Greek mythology buff in me was always put off by how it looked nothing like the Kraken as traditionally described. In hindsight, since the Kraken is actually a giant squid, I suspect the change was made so the creature wouldn't too closely resemble the next entry in my list, one of Harryhausen's earlier triumphs...

9. Giant Octopus
It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955)
Harryhausen famously created an octopus with only six arms for the sake of manageability, but given the finished product, I can forgive him. The monstrous cephalopod that attacks San Francisco in Robert Gordon's classic giant-monster-run-amok movie is a sight to behold, made even more foreboding by the fact that we only see a bit of it here, and a bit of it there. As a proud Italian-American and sci-fi fan, I can honestly say this movie comes to mind anytime I'm enjoying a little polpo salad...

8. Flying Saucers
Earth vs. The Flying Saucers (1956)
At least up until Independence Day, this might have been the most iconic alien invasion ever put to celluloid, and the thanks for that is due pretty much entirely to Harryhausen. With all due respect to B-director extraordinaire Fred F. Sears and the mighty Clover Productions, it's Harryhausen's unforgettable fleet of spacecraft that everyone remembers to this day. What also makes this particular effort stand out is it's one of the only times that Harryhausen animated something other than living creatures.

7. Rhedosaurus
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)
This particular monstrosity was the one that put Harryhausen on the map as the go-to man in stop-motion animation. And it's a matter of public record that there basically would've been no Godzilla without the influence of Harryhausen's work here, crafting a dinosaur that wreaks havoc in New York City. The final standoff in Coney Island is something to see--hell, every time this thing is on screen it's something to see. Quite literally the granddaddy of all movie dinos.

6. Kali
The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974)
Technically it's not actually the Indian goddess of death, but rather a wooden idol come to life, but that took nothing away from how much this demonic creature freaked me out. Sinbad and his men face a few different beasties in this, my second favorite Sinbad movie, but the six-armed Kali was definitely the one that most stuck with me.

5. Ymir
20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)
One of Harryhausen's most creative creations, the Ymir was a Venusian alien that crash-lands in Italy and grows bigger and bigger as the movie progresses. Today the Ymir is practically synonymous with Ray Harryhausen effects, as was proven when a statuette of the creature was packaged with a recent special edition DVD box set of Harryhausen films (which, with any luck, will be mine before too long...)

4. Medusa
Clash of the Titans (1981)
As if the original Harryhausen masterpiece wasn't enough, the Medusa was made even more wondrous in comparison to the ridiculous CGI failure of the recent Clash of the Titans remake. Harryhausen's brilliance came in taking a well-known creature of myth and making it his own--the snake body and bow and arrow, for example, were his concepts. And the manner in which he pulls off her famous mane of vipers is breathtaking, proving once again that the heart and soul he put into his work could outshine anything spewed forth from a computer.

3. Cyclops
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)
Speaking of classic monsters of myth, here's another one brought vibrantly to life by the master. This was the first time his work would be shown off in a full color feature, and we couldn't possibly have asked for a cooler creature to show off with than this nightmarish behemoth. There have been many Harryhausen creations that impressively embodied the man's artistry, but this may very well be the one for which he's best known.

2. The Skeleton Army
Jason & The Argonauts (1963)
It was very tough not making this my number one, as the sight of this ghoulish battalion of undead warriors is something I will always cherish as a lover of film in general. In fact, talk to any died-in-the-wool Harryhausen fanatic, and it won't be very long before this incredible scene is brought up. The interaction between the human characters and stop-motion figures is particular outstanding, and there's no doubt this climatic combat was the most deftly staged of all Harryhausen effects sequences.

1. Talos
Jason & The Argonauts (1963)
Yes, Jason & The Argonauts is my favorite Harryhausen picture, and so it gets the top two spots on my list. As much as I adore the skeletons, Talos will always be the one creation that best represents the talent of Ray Harryhausen for me, personally. That initial viewing of this movie all those years ago was highlighted most of all for tiny B-Sol by the emergence of this terrifying, towering bronze killing machine. The movement, the design, the sound effects--it all added up to pure movie magic. And that's what the body of work of Ray Harryhausen is all about.

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Charles H. Schneer 1920-2009

The longest running collaborator of sci-fi/fantasy/horror legend Ray Harryhausen has passed away at the age of 88. Charles Schneer acted as producer on every one of Harryhausen's pictures from 1955's It Came from Beneath the Sea, all the way up to 1981's Clash of the Titans--both he and Harryhausen's last film.

In addition to the giant monster classic It Came from Beneath the Sea, Schneer produced Harryhausen's other horror gems Earth vs. The Flying Saucers (1956) and 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957). He considered the beloved mythological epic Jason and the Argonauts (1963) to be he and Harryhausen's finest hour, and many a fan (including this one) would agree.

Schneer started out producing under the watchful eye of horror schlock luminary Sam Katzman, but later struck out on his own, eventually taking on Harryhausen himself as a production partner. He was literally the man we can thank for allowing Harryhausen's amazing visions to become reality. He was even the guy who convinced the special effects master to switch to color with The 7th Voyage of Sinbad in 1957.

Trivia note: Schneer also produced Hellcats of the Navy (1957), the only movie in which Ronald Reagan ever appeared with his future wife, Nancy Davis.

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A DVD Bonanza for Fans of Classic Horror

If you own a DVD player, and you have a love of shock cinema made prior to 1961, then today is a very big day for you. Not sure why, just one of those lucky coincidences I guess, but a veritable windfall of classic terror "drops" today, as the kids say. I'm talking not one, not two, but three major releases. Let's get right into it.

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Warner Home Video is finally making this 1945 gem of an Oscar Wilde adaptation available on DVD for the first time, believe it or not. I'm thinking maybe news of another version being mounted may have been the motivation. Check out Angela Lansbury back when she was hot. Oh yeah, and she was nominated for an Oscar, too.

Psycho - Special Edition

Believe it or not, this is the first time Hitchcock's most famous film has ever gotten the deluxe "special edition" treatment as a stand-alone. It's part of Universal's Legacy Series, and even without the inevitable treasure trove of bonus features, it would be worth seeing, simply because it's still one of the finest movies ever made.

Ray Harryhausen Gift Set

You may recall that a Harryhausen gift set came out from Sony a couple years ago, featuring special editions of 20 Million Miles to Earth, It Came from Beneath the Sea and Earth vs. The Flying Saucers. This is the same bunch, except this time both black-and-white and newly colorized versions (supervised by Harryhausen himself) are included. Not quite worth $80, I say. Sure, you fancy-shmancy Blu-Ray people also get a fourth flick, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad--but do you get the adorable Ymir action figure? Huh? Do ya?? Didn't think so.

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TCM's Essentials Jr. Brings the Harryhausen

If you're like me, then you don't pass up any opportunity to expose your kids to the stuff that you really dug when you were a kid. Well, Turner Classic Movies has thought up a way to help those of us who will not rest until our offspring are as socially outcast as we once were. It's called The Essentials, Jr.

Fans of TCM recognize The Essentials as the channel's Saturday night series spotlighting the absolutely can't-miss gems of classic cinema. This month, they've introduced a less "serious" and more fun version intended to lure the kiddies into appreciating great movies from the golden age.

And coming up this Sunday night, The Essentials Jr. (hosted by Little Miss Sunshine's delightful Abigail Breslin and Batman & Robin's far-from-delightful Chris O'Donnell) presents Ray Harryhausen's 1957 chestnut 20 Millions Miles to Earth. The last of Harryhausen's special effects extravaganzas to be made in black and white, the movie tells the story of the implacable Ymir, a creature from the planet Venus who arrives on Earth and promptly begins to enlarge to alarming size and go on an old-school call-out-the-national-guard rampage.

It's a must-see for kids young and old, so whether you have procreated or not, I urge you to get yourself in front of the tube this Sunday for a true popcorn treat.

The Essentials, Jr. runs ever Sunday night. Future pics on the slate include the likes of Mutiny on the Bounty and Harvey.

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