6. THE BRAVE
The Brave featured one of the final performances of screen legend Marlon Brando. The film was an adaptation of a novel of the same name by Gregory MacDonald, who also wrote the novels that Chevy Chase’s Fletch is based on. The Brave revolves around a Native American man named Raphael, who is desolate at his inability to provide for his family. Depressed and seeing no other options, he agrees to star in a snuff film in exchange for a large sum of money. The bleak film explores Raphael’s relationships over the final week of his life, and coming to terms with his fate.
Despite receiving decent reviews at the ’97 Cannes Film Festival, American reviewers were particularly critical of the film. Disgusted by the hostility of the American press, Depp forbade its release in the U.S. Although the film has received an under-the-radar release in other countries, The Brave is virtually unknown, despite its world famous star. Thankfully, Depp resurrected the bandana for Captain Jack Sparrow.
5. MY BEST FRIEND’S BIRTHDAY
Today, Quentin Tarantino is a household name, known for his uber-violent, black comedy films. Before Tarantino was wining awards and flurries of praise from around the globe, he was working at a small video rental store in California, and taking acting classes in hopes that he would one day become an actor.
Tarantino’s friend and co-worker had written a short script about a man trying to do something nice for his friend’s birthday, only to have his efforts backfire in comical ways. Tarantino helped flesh out the script into a feature length film, and with $5000, the two set out to produce the film. Enlisting the help of friends from his acting class and other co-workers at the video store, Tarantino co-wrote, co-directed and starred in My Best Friend’s Birthday.
The original cut of the film was approximately 70 minutes, however due to a fire in the processing lab, roughly half of the footage was destroyed. The surviving film was re-cut into a 36-minute short film which has been screened at film festivals, but has never been made available commercially. Although it’s more of a curiosity than anything, the good news is that it’s not all that hard to find on the web.
4. ALL AMERICAN MASSACRE
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a highly regarded horror film. Unfortunately, each subsequent film in the series has only served to alienate fans of the original. With tonally different sequels, remakes, prequels and re-imaginings, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre films have one of the most confusing chronologies in all of horror.
Back in 1998, the son of franchise creator Tobe Hooper, William Hooper, set out to make a short film that delved into the past of everyone’s favorite family of cannibals. The short transformed into a 60-minute feature, which saw Bill Moseley reprise the role of Chop Top from Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, and had a soundtrack composed by that guy who wears KFC buckets on his head and was in Guns n’ Roses at one point.
The story was a prequel/sequel that saw Chop Top reminisce about his family’s penchant for blood while orchestrating one final massacre. Supposedly the entire movie was filmed, and a trailer even hit the Internet roughly 15 years ago. Since then, there has been little news surrounding the project. A Kickstarter campaign was launched a few years back to obtain funding for post-production, however it failed to reach its goal. Judging by the quality of the trailer, maybe it’s a good thing that this film remains buried.
3. COCKSUCKER BLUES
A documentary film which chronicled the 1972 Rolling Stones American tour in support of their album Exile on Main Street, Cocksucker Blues has never been released, and never will be. The tour was highly anticipated, since it was the first time the Stones had visited the United States since 1969’s Altamont Free Concert, in which a fan was stabbed and beaten to death by the Hells Angels.
The documentary was shot in an observational manner; numerous cameras were available backstage for anyone to pick up and begin filming. This allowed the cameras to capture backstage parties, drug use, and other examples of debauchery.
Fearing the film would tarnish their reputations, the Stones brought the film to court, as they did not want it shown. The film’s director, Robert Frank, felt differently, and a judge ordered that the film could not be shown unless Frank was present, and prevented him from screening it more than four times a year in an “archival setting”.
2. NOTHING LASTS FOREVER
A 1984 film that was directed by Saturday Night Live writer Tom Schiller and produced by Lorne Michaels, Nothing Lasts Forever stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Billy from Gremlins. How have you never heard of this film? Mainly because its premise is downright bizarre.
The film concerns a dystopian New York City where Gremlins star Zach Galligan works a dead-end job but dreams of being an artist. The totalitarian state makes his dreams impossible, until he learns that there are magical hobos living underneath the city who can grant him his wish of becoming an artist, but first he has to travel to the moon. Like we said, it’s weird, but bears some similarities with Terry Gilliam’s surreal sci-fi flick, Brazil.
MGM canned the film after a disastrous press screening, and Nothing Lasts Forever has sat in relative obscurity ever since. Turner Classic Movies aired the film in its entirety once at 2am, and there have been broadcasts in other countries, but it remains unreleased in any official capacity to this day.
1. THE FANTASTIC FOUR
Marvel’s first family has not had much luck in the film industry. Each attempt to bring the Fantastic Four to the screen has been met with criticism and ridicule, especially the troubled 2015 reboot. Way back in 1993 however, B-movie legend Roger Corman and partner Bernd Eichinger were about to release their version of the Fantastic Four, which included the group’s origin story and their first battle with nemesis Dr. Doom.
Trailers were released in theatres and on home video, the cast promoted the film at festivals and Comic-Con and then, nothing. Stan Lee speculated that Eichinger had never intended to release the film, and that it was simply a way for him to retain the rights to the characters while he found funding for a bigger budget adaptation (something he would do in 2007). Eichinger denied these claims, instead saying that Marvel executive Avi Arad was concerned that the B-movie would harm the franchise, and paid the producers to shelve the film.
In 2002 Arad recounted a story in which he met a fan who was excited about the upcoming premiere of Corman and Eichinger’s Fantastic Four, something he was completely unaware of. Fearing that the low budget adaptation would cheapen the FF brand, he paid Corman and Eichinger a “couple of million” in cash and ordered all of the prints destroyed. If only someone had done that with the 2015 iteration.
The Brave featured one of the final performances of screen legend Marlon Brando. The film was an adaptation of a novel of the same name by Gregory MacDonald, who also wrote the novels that Chevy Chase’s Fletch is based on. The Brave revolves around a Native American man named Raphael, who is desolate at his inability to provide for his family. Depressed and seeing no other options, he agrees to star in a snuff film in exchange for a large sum of money. The bleak film explores Raphael’s relationships over the final week of his life, and coming to terms with his fate.
Despite receiving decent reviews at the ’97 Cannes Film Festival, American reviewers were particularly critical of the film. Disgusted by the hostility of the American press, Depp forbade its release in the U.S. Although the film has received an under-the-radar release in other countries, The Brave is virtually unknown, despite its world famous star. Thankfully, Depp resurrected the bandana for Captain Jack Sparrow.
5. MY BEST FRIEND’S BIRTHDAY
Today, Quentin Tarantino is a household name, known for his uber-violent, black comedy films. Before Tarantino was wining awards and flurries of praise from around the globe, he was working at a small video rental store in California, and taking acting classes in hopes that he would one day become an actor.
Tarantino’s friend and co-worker had written a short script about a man trying to do something nice for his friend’s birthday, only to have his efforts backfire in comical ways. Tarantino helped flesh out the script into a feature length film, and with $5000, the two set out to produce the film. Enlisting the help of friends from his acting class and other co-workers at the video store, Tarantino co-wrote, co-directed and starred in My Best Friend’s Birthday.
The original cut of the film was approximately 70 minutes, however due to a fire in the processing lab, roughly half of the footage was destroyed. The surviving film was re-cut into a 36-minute short film which has been screened at film festivals, but has never been made available commercially. Although it’s more of a curiosity than anything, the good news is that it’s not all that hard to find on the web.
4. ALL AMERICAN MASSACRE
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a highly regarded horror film. Unfortunately, each subsequent film in the series has only served to alienate fans of the original. With tonally different sequels, remakes, prequels and re-imaginings, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre films have one of the most confusing chronologies in all of horror.
Back in 1998, the son of franchise creator Tobe Hooper, William Hooper, set out to make a short film that delved into the past of everyone’s favorite family of cannibals. The short transformed into a 60-minute feature, which saw Bill Moseley reprise the role of Chop Top from Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, and had a soundtrack composed by that guy who wears KFC buckets on his head and was in Guns n’ Roses at one point.
The story was a prequel/sequel that saw Chop Top reminisce about his family’s penchant for blood while orchestrating one final massacre. Supposedly the entire movie was filmed, and a trailer even hit the Internet roughly 15 years ago. Since then, there has been little news surrounding the project. A Kickstarter campaign was launched a few years back to obtain funding for post-production, however it failed to reach its goal. Judging by the quality of the trailer, maybe it’s a good thing that this film remains buried.
3. COCKSUCKER BLUES
A documentary film which chronicled the 1972 Rolling Stones American tour in support of their album Exile on Main Street, Cocksucker Blues has never been released, and never will be. The tour was highly anticipated, since it was the first time the Stones had visited the United States since 1969’s Altamont Free Concert, in which a fan was stabbed and beaten to death by the Hells Angels.
The documentary was shot in an observational manner; numerous cameras were available backstage for anyone to pick up and begin filming. This allowed the cameras to capture backstage parties, drug use, and other examples of debauchery.
Fearing the film would tarnish their reputations, the Stones brought the film to court, as they did not want it shown. The film’s director, Robert Frank, felt differently, and a judge ordered that the film could not be shown unless Frank was present, and prevented him from screening it more than four times a year in an “archival setting”.
2. NOTHING LASTS FOREVER
A 1984 film that was directed by Saturday Night Live writer Tom Schiller and produced by Lorne Michaels, Nothing Lasts Forever stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Billy from Gremlins. How have you never heard of this film? Mainly because its premise is downright bizarre.
The film concerns a dystopian New York City where Gremlins star Zach Galligan works a dead-end job but dreams of being an artist. The totalitarian state makes his dreams impossible, until he learns that there are magical hobos living underneath the city who can grant him his wish of becoming an artist, but first he has to travel to the moon. Like we said, it’s weird, but bears some similarities with Terry Gilliam’s surreal sci-fi flick, Brazil.
MGM canned the film after a disastrous press screening, and Nothing Lasts Forever has sat in relative obscurity ever since. Turner Classic Movies aired the film in its entirety once at 2am, and there have been broadcasts in other countries, but it remains unreleased in any official capacity to this day.
1. THE FANTASTIC FOUR
Marvel’s first family has not had much luck in the film industry. Each attempt to bring the Fantastic Four to the screen has been met with criticism and ridicule, especially the troubled 2015 reboot. Way back in 1993 however, B-movie legend Roger Corman and partner Bernd Eichinger were about to release their version of the Fantastic Four, which included the group’s origin story and their first battle with nemesis Dr. Doom.
Trailers were released in theatres and on home video, the cast promoted the film at festivals and Comic-Con and then, nothing. Stan Lee speculated that Eichinger had never intended to release the film, and that it was simply a way for him to retain the rights to the characters while he found funding for a bigger budget adaptation (something he would do in 2007). Eichinger denied these claims, instead saying that Marvel executive Avi Arad was concerned that the B-movie would harm the franchise, and paid the producers to shelve the film.
In 2002 Arad recounted a story in which he met a fan who was excited about the upcoming premiere of Corman and Eichinger’s Fantastic Four, something he was completely unaware of. Fearing that the low budget adaptation would cheapen the FF brand, he paid Corman and Eichinger a “couple of million” in cash and ordered all of the prints destroyed. If only someone had done that with the 2015 iteration.
