Author: Jennifer M Wood

The latter part of the last century was rife with paranormal activity. Throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, supposed supernatural incidents occurred in homes (and a hotel) across the globe and led to novels being written and filmmakers adapting those ghost stories into hit films. Though all of these stories have been debunked, there are those who still want to believe that these events really did happen. Regardless of which side you stand on, they make for some spooky tales. Here are the true stories behind six haunted house movies.

1. THE AMITYVILLE HORROR (1979)

The 1979 film, starring Margot Kidder and James Brolin, was based on a book that chronicled the real-life paranormal activities of a Long Island home. After moving into the house, the Lutz family discovered that, a year prior, previous occupant Ronald DeFeo Jr. had killed six members of his family (including his parents) in the home. Some disturbances they experienced were: swarms of flies in the winter, strange odors of perfume wafting throughout the house, and sounds of the front door slamming. The Lutzes moved a month later, though successive residents of 112 Ocean Avenue have not reported anything abnormal. Several more books were published about the happenings, along with sequels to the film and a 2005 remake. Want to find out for yourself? The home, which is now officially 108 Ocean Avenue (a previous owner worked to have the infamous address changed), is currently on the market for $850,000.

2. THE CONJURING (2013)

One of the highest-grossing supernatural films of all time, James Wan’s The Conjuring depicted the true story of the Perron family, who lived in a demon-filled Rhode Island farmhouse. Akin to the Amityville house, real-life paranormalists Ed and Lorraine Warren (depicted by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga in the film) visited the home and interviewed the family. Despite activity such as a séance causing the mom, Carolyn, to become possessed and speak a strange language, the family tolerated the home until 1980. Andrea, one of the daughters, published a book on the phenomenon, and told USA Today, “People are free to believe whatever they want to believe. But I know what we experienced.”

3. THE CONJURING 2 (2016)

This 2016 sequel exchanges New England for Brimsdown, Enfield, England, where the Warrens investigate a case known as the Enfield Poltergeist. Peggy Hodgson’s daughters claimed they saw a chest of drawers slide and heard knocking, but experts think they made it up. Guy Lyon Playfair published a book on the matter in 1980 called This House is Haunted: The Amazing Inside Story of the Enfield Poltergeist.

4. WHEN THE LIGHTS WENT OUT (2012)

Director Pat Holden’s 2012 British film about the Maynard family is based on his family’s story. His aunt, Jean Pritchard, and her family—who lived at 30 East Drive, Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England in 1966—experienced a poltergeist in their home that looked like a monk, a.k.a The Black Monk of Pontefract; they named it “Fred.” The not-so-friendly ghost smashed eggs, made banging noises, and dragged Holden’s cousin up the stairs. He was too young to visit the house, which is one reason he wanted to make the film.

“I’ve always had this feeling of never quite being in the zeitgeist,” Holden told The Guardian. “And I think it was a little bit like that with the ghost. My sister was allowed to see it. My mum got to see it. My dad wasn’t that interested. I felt like I’d missed out.” Recently, a resident at the same house captured a photo of what’s believed to be the Black Monk. 

5. THE ENTITY (1982)

In The Entity (based on Frank De Felitta’s novel of the same name), Barbara Hershey plays Carla Moran, a fictionalized version of Doris Bither, a woman who claimed the spirits of three Asian men repeatedly assaulted her. The real-life events supposedly happened in Culver City, California, in 1974. Paranormal investigators Dr. Barry Taff and Kerry Gaynor visited Bither’s house, which had been condemned twice. At the house, the doctors witnessed “a green mist that formed the body of a man” and orbs over Bither’s body when photographed. Bither moved out of the house and claimed the entity continued to follow her around.

6. THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT (2009)

In 2009, the film version of the Snedeker family’s harrowing haunting was released, but according to Lorraine Warren, “The movie is very, very loosely based on the actual investigation.” Both the film and the true story involve a family in the 1980s who had a son stricken with cancer, so they moved into a house near the University of Connecticut hospital—but didn’t know that the house was a former mortuary.

While the family resided there, kids levitated and rosary beads pulled apart on their own. The Warrens invited priests over and held mass, but that wasn’t enough. Finally, an exorcist stopped by, and that seemed to calm the place. In 1992, Ray Garton wrote a book about the haunting, In a Dark Place: The Story of a True Haunting. But the book and the events have come under fire as being hoaxes.

A 2013 sequel to The Haunting in Connecticut, The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia, is also based on a real event—a child named Heidi Wyrick attracted spirits in her home in Georgia, not Connecticut.

Why do chimpanzees have such wrinkled faces?

Suzanne Sadedin:

It’s not just chimps. Other apes and their babies are wrinkly, too. And baby monkeys. You know who else has a lot of wrinkles? Premature human babies. During the last month of gestation, babies don’t develop much neurologically or physiologically. They just fatten up. Even full-term babies are still kinda wrinkly, but within a few months, they get nice and chubby.

So the question shouldn’t be, why are chimps so wrinkly? That’s easy: they have lots of facial muscles for signaling complex expressions. The question should be: why are humans so strangely smooth? And the obvious answer is: fat. We have a layer of soft, pillowy subcutaneous fat which billows under our skin, making us pleasantly smooth and rounded and hiding our facial muscles.

Compared with other apes, we store a huge amount of fat and have small muscles. The average female chimp has ~3.6 percent body fat; a newborn human infant has ~13 percent, and the average woman has 24 to 31 percent. The sheer amount of fat we store is astonishing; in particular, no other mammal has such chubby babies. Fat storage is thought to be an adaptation that supports our brains. Brains are hugely expensive to build and run. As infant brain development passes through some critical stages, it’s vital that they have enough stored fat to support their growing brains even if their family goes through a temporary food shortage.

But we also store our fat differently. Apes keep their fat internally, mostly beneath the muscles in their torso, so all you can see externally are their big scary muscles. But we humans store a layer of blubber right under our skin. The other mammals who do this are mostly marine mammals trying to keep warm, a fact that led some researchers to speculate that our lineage went through an aquatic phase. However, most researchers don’t think this is likely.

So why do we store fat on our faces? It’s most likely a scam.

If you’re storing fat, you have more food than you need. That probably means you and your family are healthy and good at procuring and using resources. Importantly, you have nutritional resources to support brain development and maintenance. Our big brains are remarkably costly, metabolically. You’re likely to survive the next famine, and maybe, since you obviously have so much bounty, you’ll share some with your friends. And you’re likely to be fertile: up to a point, fat stores are highly attractive in women. In short, having some stored fat means you’re probably a good social partner. The more our evolution revolved around egalitarian social partnerships instead of ape-like dominance hierarchies, the less we needed big muscles to scare our enemies, and the more we needed fat stores to impress our friends.

Once people started looking at fat as a social cue, it would have made sense for evolution to shift the storage location. Instead of hiding our fat beneath bulging muscles, we started to hide our muscles beneath prominent fat stores. When we lost our body hair, our fat stores became even more visible.

Human facial fat in particular overtly advertises good health. It’s highly visible, and impossible to fake. Hollow-cheeked, sunken-eyed, bony-faced, gaunt, wasted, haggard, shrunken, or emaciated—all these terms suggest chronic illness resulting in loss of facial fat stores.

Indeed, it appears fetuses spend the final month of gestation simply preparing for their grand debut. They consume more resources than ever, but instead of maturing during this time, they just get fatter and fatter. Then after birth, they pile on even more fat in the most visible way possible. They’re saying, “Look, mom, my metabolism is awesome! Invest in me!” and “Look, everybody, my family is awesome! Cultivate social ties with us!”

Since we’ve co-evolved with our babies trying to convince us to invest in them via highly-visible facial fat, we respond quite automatically with kindly and nurturing feelings toward chubby-faced entities. We can’t help it. It’s cute. Even older children and adult females retain high levels of facial fat, again eliciting gentleness and empathy from potentially dangerous adversaries. Actually, our whole species shows a suspicious trend toward neoteny, which some researchers have described as a self-domestication process. So much for survival of the fittest: we got survival of the sweetest, cutest, chubbiest munchkins.

And thus evolution, in addition to all the other awful things it’s done, can be blamed for the blobbiness of emojis.

This post originally appeared on Quora. Click here to view.

Turns out seeing yourself projected on a 40-foot-tall screen can be kind of awkward. Or at least that’s the case for these 15 actors, all of whom prefer to stay far, far away from their own work.

1. MERYL STREEP

She may be one of the most celebrated actors of her time (she currently holds the record for most Oscar nominations, with 19 and counting), but Meryl Streep doesn’t like to dwell on her past roles. In fact, she’s never seen any of her films more than once. “I don’t do that,” she said. “I just look ahead.

2. JOHNNY DEPP

Throughout a decades-long career, Johnny Depp has racked up a list of iconic performances that any actor should be proud of … but, as he explained to David Letterman in a 2009 interview, his children have seen more of his movies than he has. “In a way, once my job is done on a film, it’s really none of my business,” Depp said. “I stay far away as I possibly can … I don’t like watching myself.”

In a 2013 interview with The Independent, Depp reiterated his ambivalence about watching himself onscreen, noting that “I made a choice a long time ago, that I was better off not watching my films, which is a drag because you miss out on a lot of your friends’ incredible work. But I feel like it would just harm me.”

3. JAVIER BARDEM

Javier Bardem may be a sex symbol, but sit him down in front of one of his performances and he doesn’t get the appeal. “The fact that I like to make characters doesn’t mean I like to watch my characters being made, my performance,” he told GQ in a 2012 interview. “I can’t even watch that f*cking nose, that f*cking voice, those ridiculous eyes. I can’t handle that. But when I’m doing it, I don’t see my nose or hear my voice; it’s like there’s something stronger, bigger than that. And I need to express it.”

4. JARED LETO

Like Johnny Depp, Jared Leto has no interest in watching his own movies, noting that “the experience for me making a film is the most profound one. I really don’t have any business watching the movie so much. Maybe I could watch it for entertainment purposes, but you have so little input and control of the final product once you’re done that I feel like I just would rather leave it alone.”

The actor admitted that, months after winning an Oscar for Dallas Buyers Club, he still hadn’t seen the film: “I can’t hear that voice! I’ve never really heard very much of it and I’ve never watched the film. I will at some point, I’m sure. But too soon! It can never live up to the expectations I would have of it now because it was such a beautiful experience and the response that it got was really wonderful.”

5. REESE WITHERSPOON

Reese Witherspoon has a pretty good reason for not watching her movies: Doing so, she says, would make her “spiral into a state of self-hate.”

“I don’t know who feels good looking at themselves. Nobody, right?” Witherspoon mused on Chelsea Lately. “It’s torture. Why would you want to watch yourself being stupid and pretending to be somebody else?”

6. ADAM DRIVER

After watching his work in the pilot episode of HBO’s Girls, Adam Driver made the decision not to watch his own work in the future. “Because I saw all the mistakes. The things that I wished I could change, but couldn’t because it’s permanent,” he explained on The Howard Stern Show. “Plus, I came from a theater background where you don’t get to see it … I’d want to make it better looking or perfect, and that’s a trap.”

Before you ask: Yes, Driver did make an exception for Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, even though doing so was an awkward experience. “Because we did so much work on it … It seemed like I should try getting over it,” Driver explained. “And it’s Star Wars. I literally can’t believe that I was in it.”

7. JESSE EISENBERG

Jesse Eisenberg has been open about the fact that watching his own movies makes him feel extremely self-conscious, so he avoids it whenever possible. (As of mid-April, he still had not watched Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.) In an interview with Business Insider, the actor compared the experience to looking at vacation photos: “You’ve taken a hundred pictures and you only like two of the pictures and you send them to all of your friends and the rest you’re totally mortified by how you look. The side of your face, that Speedo you decided to wear—that’s the experience for me. Two percent of a project I feel so comfortable with and proud of, and the rest of it I feel very self-critical of. I’m doing this willingly, of course, but if you can project that kind of feeling about those 98 pictures of yourself on to a massive scale of a movie that a lot of people are not just going to see but scrutinize, you can understand.”

8. ANDREW GARFIELD

Jesse Eisenberg’s The Social Network co-star Andrew Garfield is similarly gun-shy about watching his own performances—though he admits that The Social Network is one “they made me watch,” per The Hollywood Reporter. For Garfield, the issue is not wanting to over-analyze: “I don’t want to be aware of what I’m doing. As soon as I am, I’m less open … I just want to be fully open to the story and what that subjective moment is.”

9. JULIANNE MOORE

Julianne Moore may be one today’s most critically acclaimed actresses, but there’s one person who hasn’t seen her in anything, and that’s Julianne Moore. “I haven’t seen any of my movies,” the Oscar-winning actress admitted. “I can’t sit there for a premiere or anything. I like being in the movie more than I like watching them. That’s my big thrill, rather than seeing the finished product.”

10. JOAQUIN PHOENIX

Joaquin Phoenix has only watched two of his own movies: The Master and Her. (What, no Space Camp?) He hates seeing himself on the silver screen, telling Hollywood Outbreak that “I don’t ever really want to see myself as the camera sees me … I don’t want to watch myself. Of course, there’s a part of you that’s curious for a second, and I have to constantly tell myself, ‘No.’ Because I know it’s not going to be of any value to me, and in fact it stands a greater chance of having a negative effect on future work.”

11. MEGAN FOX

“I think most actors are pretty insecure,” says Megan Fox—though for Fox in particular, the desire not to watch herself onscreen goes beyond “this is slightly uncomfortable” to out-and-out mental stress. “I never [look at myself], even in still photographs. I don’t look at anything,” Fox says. “I panic if there is a monitor in the room. I immediately go into, like, an anxiety attack.” She was able to make herself watch Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, but doing so involved copious amounts of champagne.

12. ZAC EFRON

He’s garnered a sizable and devoted fan base since his turn in the High School Musical movies, but Zac Efron isn’t one for revisiting his past projects. He describes himself as “more of a cringer” at first, though after several years he’s able to revisit his older work. “I tend to, especially the first time around, pick out every single flaw, or things I could have and should have done better,” he says. “I don’t know why, but I tend to dwell on those things.”

13. BEN FOSTER

Though he did watch this year’s Hell or High Water, Ben Foster admitted that that’s a rarity for him, and that it was the first one of his own movies he had watched in years. “I don’t enjoy watching what I do most of the time,” he told Metro. “I’m usually pretty disappointed with how it was handled. That’s the hard truth about it. Filmmakers and financiers come under pressure to serve a certain result, and that’s not necessarily the one we started with. I come in and I build, and sometimes they handle it well, and sometimes they don’t. I try not to worry about it and move onto the next one.”

14. BILLIE PIPER

Not only can British actress Billie Piper not stand to watch herself onscreen, in a 2008 interview, she explained that she also barred her then-husband Laurence Fox, an actor himself, from watching her. “He has never seen an episode of Doctor Who with me in it because I won’t let him,” Piper explained. “I get really edgy watching myself, and I get even more edgy with my loved ones because they know me and I feel they’re going to take the mickey. Sitting down to watch my performances makes me cry. It’s even worse watching it with another actor, because he can dissect your performance.”

15. MATTHEW FOX

Confused by the ending of Lost? Don’t ask star Matthew Fox, who’s never sat down to watch the biggest thing he’s ever been involved in. “I don’t ever really watch myself,” Fox said in a 2010 roundtable discussion. “I never watched an episode of Lost.” (Bryan Cranston’s response: “It’s a good show. You should see it sometime.”) And Fox isn’t alone among Lost alumni: Naveen Andrews has only seen bits and pieces, though he’s watched some of his other work.

This year marks the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death. Though it’s been 400 years since the Bard stopped writing plays, inventing words, and punning up a storm, the Bard of Avon’s legacy is still as strong as ever. Shakespeare fans have no shortage of places from his life and work to make a pilgrimage to; if you need a starting place for your travels, here are 15 suggestions.

1. SHAKESPEARE’S BIRTHPLACE

Shakespeare was born and grew up in this house on Henley Street in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, in addition to spending the first five years of his marriage to Anne Hathaway (no, not that one) there. Actors perform Shakespeare live here, and costumed guides tell stories from his family life.

2. SHAKESPEARE’S SCHOOLROOM AND GUILDHALL

Shakespeare attended the King Edward VI School, aka K.E.S., from approximately 1571 to 1578, from the ages of 7 to 14. The school is still in operation, with the Guildhall open to the public since 2016. Visitors can explore the classroom where Shakespeare studied and take part in a Tudor-era lesson.

3. SHAKESPEARE’S GLOBE

The actual Globe Theatre where Shakespeare’s plays were performed during his lifetime has been out of commission since, oh, the 1600s. In 1997, a recreation of the Globe—called Shakespeare’s Globe—opened in London, just a few hundred yards from the original site. Theatre is performed here, Shakespeare and otherwise, and there are educational events for “families, individuals, schoolchildren, scholars, Shakespeare lovers and Shakespeare skeptics.”

4. HAMPTON COURT PALACE

Whereas the original Globe is dead and gone, another venue where Shakespeare’s plays were performed during his lifetime is still standing: the Great Hall in Hampton Court Palace, where Shakespeare’s company, the King’s Men, set up shop for a stretch of time in the early 1600s. Aside from the Great Hall, visitors to Hampton Court Palace can see the Cumberland Art Gallery, the famous Hampton Court Maze, and the 450-year-old Chapel Royal.

5. JULIET’S BALCONY

Legend has it that a particular balcony in Verona is the very place where Romeo and Juliet had their famous tête-à-tête in Shakespeare’s most enduring romance. The house where the balcony is located used to be owned by the “Capello” family, and it’s the similarity of that name to “Capulet” that has made the balcony one of Verona’s most popular tourist attractions. There’s a bronze statue of Juliet in the courtyard outside, and people rub her right breast for luck, in addition to leaving love notes in the surrounding walls and doorways.

6. ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY

Since 1875, the Royal Shakespeare Company—then begun as the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Ltd.—has been helping to keep the legacy of Willy S. alive. The company performs Shakespeare and non-Shakespeare plays alike year-round in the Royal Shakespeare and Swan Theatres, both in Shakespeare’s hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon.

7. FOLGER SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY

If you want to get your Shakespeare on without venturing to the UK, another option is Washington, D.C.’s Folger Shakespeare Library, home to the world’s largest Shakespeare collection. Visitors can take advantage of multiple tours, including tours of the library’s famous reading rooms every Saturday.

8. KRONBORG CASTLE

Situated an hour north of Copenhagen is Kronborg Castle, which you may know by another name: Elsinore, a.k.a. the royal castle that was home to Hamlet, Gertrude, Claudius, and all their dead Danish friends. There’s some dispute as to whether Shakespeare ever visited Kronborg Castle, but we do know he set Hamlet there. A Shakespeare festival takes place there every summer, and there’s a daily tour titled “In Hamlet’s Footsteps.”

9. CHARLECOTE PARK

Charlecote Park, on the banks of the River Avon, is said to be the site of one of Shakespeare’s youthful indiscretions: poaching deer. He was caught, legend has it, and brought before local magistrate Sir Thomas Lucy. Lucy is said to have been satirized in The Merry Wives of Windsor as the vain Justice Shallow, though academics by no means agree on that point. Deer still roam in Charlecote Park, which is a favored spot for picnics and birdwatching.

10. SMALLHYTHE PLACE

Smallhythe Place in Kent is of interest not just to Shakespeare fans, but to those interested in costumery as well. The house was once inhabited by Dame Alice Ellen Terry (1847-1928), one of the leading Shakespearean actresses of her time. Smallhythe Place is now host to 250 costumes worn by Tracy, which have been subject to meticulous conservation efforts.

11. THE PAINTED ROOM

Though “easy to miss, or dismiss,” Oxford’s Painted Room hides a little slice of Shakespearean history behind an unassuming facade. The Painted Room, so called for its Elizabethan wall paintings, is part of what used to be the Crown Tavern, owned by one John Davenant. A friend of Davenant’s, Shakespeare would stay in the Crown when traveling between London and Stratford-upon-Avon. He was also friendly with Davenant’s wife, Jane; one of the many rumors surrounding Shakespeare is that he was the father of one of Jane’s sons. The Painted Room is a part of local Shakespeare celebrations and can be visited year-round.

12. MACBETH TRAIL

The so-called “Macbeth Trail” (less a “trail” than a variety of locations spread throughout Scotland, so don’t try to walk it) gives Shakespeare enthusiasts a chance to visit some of the places critical to the life of the ambitious, murderous Macbeth—both the Shakespeare character and the actual historical figure on which he’s based. (There are some differences.) Among the locations are the grounds of Inverness Castle, where Macbeth lived; the heath surrounding the town of Forres, where Macbeth had his encounter with the three witches; and Macbeth’s Stone, which is said to mark the spot where the real Macbeth was executed by Malcolm Canmore in 1057.

13. SHAKESPEARE CLIFF

King Lear fans can visit Dover’s so-called “Shakespeare Cliff,” which is said to have inspired the scene in which the blind Earl of Gloucester is tricked into thinking he survived jumping from a miraculous height. Shakespeare’s description of the cliff matches the real-life version, and Shakespeare and his company visited Dover around the time he was probably writing Lear. Less touristy than other Shakespeare attractions, Shakespeare Cliff is a good spot for fishing or taking a stroll.

14. THE WILLOW GLOBE

If a trip to London to see Shakespeare’s Globe isn’t your speed, just outside of Llandrindod Wells, Wales is the Willow Globe, a scaled-down outdoor version of the Globe made of trees. Per its website, “The Willow has been carefully woven into an organic and spiritual theater, starkly sculptural in spring, which is almost completely absorbed by its lush, green surroundings in summer months.” A variety of events take place there from April through September, among them educational events and community and professional productions of Shakespeare plays.

15. THE LONDON STONE

The London Stone is one of England’s odder tourist attractions, due to the fact that no one really knows why it’s supposed to be a big deal. There are many theories about the stone’s importance, one laid out by Shakespeare himself, who included it in Henry VI, Part 2 as a sort of prop that rebel leader Jack Cade used to declare himself Lord of the City. Nowadays, you can visit the Stone at the Museum of London, where it’s taking a long-term vacation during renovations to its usual home on Cannon Street, where it typically sits behind a metal grille looking like nothing so much as … a moderately-sized stone. In London.

With the growing popularity of online streaming services like Netflix and Hulu, brick-and-mortar video stores have, for the most part, become a thing of the past. But those that have managed to endure have developed massive fan bases. In honor of International Independent Video Store Day (tomorrow, October 15), here are 18 awesome video stores that are still open for business.

1. VIDEO FREE BROOKLYN // BROOKLYN, NEW YORK

Established in 2002, Video Free Brooklyn offers a diverse selection of movies on DVD and Blu-ray, and also sells used DVDs. Co-owned by film critic Aaron Hillis and his wife, photographer Jennifer Loeber, the video store prides itself on giving something back to its film-loving community. Video Free Brooklyn also has a podcast in a partnership with Oscilloscope Laboratories called “DVD Is the New Vinyl,” which highlights the best new movies of the week, offers staff recommendations, and features special guests, such as singer/songwriter Sharon Van Etten and actor Kumail Nanjiani.

2. VIDIOTS // SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA

Regularly cited as one of the best video stores in the Los Angeles area, Vidiots almost closed its doors for good after 30 years of business. However, film producer Megan Ellison of Annapurna Pictures stepped in to save the video store after giving a sizable donation. Vidiots offers a wide array of movies, including great selections of foreign films and documentaries, along with special screening events, which in the past have included Q&As with David O. Russell, Anjelica Huston, and Oliver Stone. The video store also has a podcast to update customers on its latest news and new releases, along with in-depth film discussions.

3. SCARECROW VIDEO // SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

Since first opening its doors in 1988, Scarecrow Video has amassed a movie collection that includes more than 120,000 titles, including a number of rare, out-of-print, foreign, and independent films. And if you really want to take it old-school, you can rent laserdisc players, region-free DVD players, and VCRs to play VHS tapes. Scarecrow Video also helps keep the film community in Seattle alive with special film screenings.

4. FACETS // CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

Facets first opened its doors in 1975 as a local art house that screened movies in a church in Chicago. Over the years, it has branched out into education, distribution, and, of course, a video store, which offers a very large selection of independent, arthouse, classic, documentary, and experimental films from the likes of Bela Tarr, Jean-Luc Godard, and Miloš Forman. Facets even hosts the Chicago International Children’s Film Festival every year. The late film critic Roger Ebert once called Facets a “temple of great cinema.”

5. VULCAN VIDEO // AUSTIN, TEXAS

With two locations in Austin, Vulcan Video offers many foreign, cult, and classic films, along with more mainstream fare, on DVD, Blu-ray and VHS. The Austin Chronicle frequently names it the best video store in the city, and it counts several A-list celebrities among its fans: Jimmy Kimmel and Matthew McConaughey filmed a TV commercial for the store in a Jimmy Kimmel Live! segment.

6. LOST WEEKEND VIDEO // SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

While Lost Weekend Video has been serving the San Francisco Bay Area for more than 20 years as a video store with over 27,000 film titles on-hand, it also hosts local comedians with Cinecave Comedy. Originally located in San Francisco’s Mission District, Lost Weekend Video recently relocated to the Alamo Drafthouse at the newly-renovated New Mission Theater.

7. THE VIDEO UNDERGROUND // JAMAICA PLAIN, MASSACHUSETTS

The Video Underground prides itself on catering to the film community by urging Boston area filmmakers to make their movies available to patrons. The video store offers a diverse and wide selection of independent, cult, classic, and foreign films, in addition to new releases. They even have separate sections for famous directors, such as Stanley Kubrick, Michael Mann, and Akira Kurosawa.

8. FOUR STAR VIDEO COOPERATIVE // MADISON, WI

After changing owners four times since 1985, Four Star Video Heaven was in danger of closing until its employees banded together and acquired the business and turned it into the Four Star Video Cooperative. Their mission is to make “underground, art, foreign, and just plain weird titles available to the public by placing them alongside more mainstream Hollywood films.” The co-op offers straight-up rentals, as well as rental subscriptions where members can watch as many movies as they want for one low price. Four Star Video also boasts “the largest in-store selections of animation, foreign-language, documentary, and independent films anywhere in the Midwest.” They even have a film discussion podcast.

9. MOVIE LOVERS // BOZEMAN, MONTANA

Opened in 1984, Movie Lovers offers nearly 20,000 titles, including independent and foreign films as well as new releases. On the first Monday of each month, the video store also offers all of its customers Late Fee Amnesty Day: Customers can get their late fees wiped clean if they rent three or more movies, giving them a great reason to come back and find more movies.

10. VIDEO ROOM // NEW YORK, NEW YORK

Video Room is Manhattan’s oldest and largest independent video store. They offer up over 12,000 VHS and DVD titles that range from foreign and hard-to-find movies to new releases, and they have two locations. Video Room also offers Gold and Platinum memberships that include free unlimited same-day home pickup and delivery, which is a must in New York City!

11. RAO VIDEO // LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS

Established in 1977 as a small kiosk in a mall, RAO Video in Little Rock is a family-owned business that offers more than 30,000 titles on DVD and Blu-ray, including a number of obscure titles, foreign pulp flicks, and martial arts films (not to mention an adult movie section on the second floor). While RAO Video is primarily a video store, it’s also a vape shop, a beauty parlor, and a computer repair store.

12. VIDEODROME // ATLANTA, GEORGIA

Videodrome boasts a very large selection of movies from obscure and cult films to the latest movies and new releases. It prides itself on its many genre and subgenre categories and sections.

13. CINEFILE VIDEO // LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

Considered the edgier version of Vidiots, CineFile Video offers strange and extreme subgenres, such as “Erotikill,” “Swayze Persuasion,” and “Pregnant Men.” The video store boasts more than 42,000 movies “that you simply won’t find online” with memberships and volunteer programs. CineFile Video will also pay you cash for your old DVDs and VHS tapes.

14. THE FLICKS // BOISE, IDAHO

Located in downtown Boise, Idaho, The Flicks is an all-in-one movie theater and video store. It screens the latest in independent, foreign, and arthouse films on four movie screens, while it also offers hard-to-find titles and new releases to rent on DVD and VHS tapes. The Flicks also features a cafe and coffee bar with a garden patio and fountain. It’s even energy-efficient, with newly-installed solar panels on its roof that provide more than 25 percent of the building’s power.

15. JET VIDEO // PORTLAND, MAINE

Not only is Jet Video a video store that offers a wide selection of movies and video games for rent, it’s also a local post office and an ice cream shop, too!

16. VIDEOLOGY BAR AND CINEMA // BROOKLYN, NEW YORK

Deep in the heart of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Videology Bar and Cinema is not only a video store with a wide selection of movies for rent, it’s also a local watering hole for movie lovers and people who just want a beer or top-notch snacks and bar food. It hosts weekly events like trivia night, pop culture bingo, and special screenings of cult classics.

17. ROSEBUD VIDEO STORE // ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA

Rosebud Video is the oldest independent video store in Asheville, North Carolina. It features a large collection of popular, foreign, independent, gay and lesbian, classic, and documentary films, with more than 12,000 titles in stock. Rosebud Video also has standalone sections dedicated to the AFI’s top 100, all of the Academy Award Best Picture winners, and the entire Criterion Collection.

18. CASA VIDEO // TUCSON, ARIZONA

While most video stores just offer thousands of movies to rent, Casa Video in Tucson goes beyond the call of duty and offers free popcorn to everyone who enters. They also offer a mail-order service where you can request titles online and have them sent to you in the mail. You can even rent movies online to pick up in the store, along with your free popcorn.

The video store recently opened a wine and beer bar called The Casa Film Bar on its second floor. It features various draft beers on tap, a number of large movie and TV screens, food, and weekly special events.

Freddy Krueger’s metal fingernails and melted face might be scary, but he’s no match for some of the real-life people who have been featured in cinema’s most disturbing documentaries. We’ve written about some truly haunting documentaries before (see here and here); here are another 10 to add to your queue.

1. CRAZY LOVE (2007)

One sunny day in the Bronx, Burt Pugach met a girl. They fell in love, and soon made plans to get married. The only problem? He already had a wife.

After Linda Riss broke off their affair, Pugach became obsessive. He harassed her, threw rocks at her window, and threatened that if he couldn’t have her, no one else could. He wasn’t kidding: in 1959, he sent hired men to throw lye in her eyes, permanently scarring her face and almost completely blinding her. That didn’t stop Riss from marrying Pugach after he was released from jail in 1974. Crazy Love delves into this twisted romance, seeking to answer how Riss could wed a man who had so viciously attacked her.

Why it’s so creepy: Burt and Linda’s courtship is often presented as a sweet romance from a bygone era. The film mixes in Smokey Robinson tunes, pin-up photos, and Johnny Mathis footage as friends fondly reminisce about the pair’s meet-cute. This wholesome treatment only makes the real-life details more horrifying—especially since Linda, who passed away in 2013, likely viewed her marriage through this rosier, nostalgia-tinged lens.

2. JESUS CAMP (2006)

Jesus Camp follows children attending a Christian summer camp in Devils Lake, North Dakota. Only the young campers at Kids on Fire don’t make friendship bracelets or tell ghost stories around the campfire; instead, they fill their days with sermons preaching Islamophobia, homophobia, and a militant call to action against anyone opposing Christian beliefs. Kids on Fire received so many outraged calls and emails after this movie was released that camp director Becky Fischer had to shut it down. She didn’t quit, though; she just rebranded.

Why it’s so creepy: Watching brainwashed children recite hateful beliefs they can’t possibly understand is bad enough. But a cameo from disgraced pastor Ted Haggard will leave you feeling extra queasy.

3. MADNESS IN THE FAST LANE (2010)

This BBC documentary opens on a highly disturbing image: two women, standing on the highway shoulder with police officers, suddenly make a determined dash into oncoming traffic. Swedish sisters Ursula and Sabina Eriksson wreaked havoc on the London roads in May of 2008 when they repeatedly bolted across busy highways. After cops arrived on the scene, they fought them off to continue their suicidal runs. They were finally subdued and taken to an ambulance. But when Sabina was released a day later, she stabbed a man to death. The explanation for the twins’ bizarre behavior remains murky to this day, but this documentary attempts to make some sense of it all, with the help of criminal psychiatrist Dr. Nigel Eastman.

Why it’s so creepy: Those early images are terrifying, but so is the footage of Sabina in the police station after she’s been apprehended for her highway sprints. She’s chatty, friendly, almost flirty with the cops passing by. There’s no trace of the woman who just struck those same cops for trying to save her life—nor the woman who would murder a kind stranger the very next day.

4. KIDS FOR CASH (2013)

At the heart of this tale of corruption, greed, and wrongful imprisonment is Mark Ciavarella. The Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania judge was convicted of fraud (along with fellow judge Michael Conahan) for sending 3000 kids to juvenile detention centers in exchange for kickbacks. What crimes were these kids accused of committing? Making fake MySpace profiles and stealing DVDs from Wal-Mart.

Kids for Cash plays on real fears that will resonate with parents especially. One is that children’s lives can be irrevocably altered by a single youthful impulse. Another is that elected officials will do truly heinous things for money. But the most sobering is that you can’t completely trust the people who have sworn to judge you fairly in the eyes of the law.

Why it’s so creepy: Ciavarella is a natural villain, especially since he maintained throughout the trial that he was blameless. One highly upsetting scene where the mother of a teen boy he imprisoned confronts him outside the courtroom is bound to stay with you.

5. DREAMS OF A LIFE (2011)

Joyce Carol Vincent was a glamorous, ambitious woman who kept a social circle that included Stevie Wonder and Isaac Hayes. But when she died alone in her apartment in 2003, no one noticed for three years. Director Carol Morley was spurred to make a film about Vincent after learning about the discovery of her body—found decomposing in front of the television, surrounded by unopened Christmas gifts—and wanting to know more about the woman’s life. The question repeated again and again in the film is how could a person as vivacious and well-liked as Vincent end up so alone? Alternately eerie and heartbreaking, this documentary will make you wonder who would notice if you were gone.

Why it’s so creepy: This isn’t some sketch of a stranger. Through interviews with Vincent’s friends and former lovers, she becomes a fully-drawn human being. This is also aided by Zawe Ashton, the actress who plays the fictionalized version of Vincent in several sequences. Once she becomes real, the sinking feeling that this could happen to anyone really takes hold.

6. TITICUT FOLLIES (1967)

Thought American Horror Story: Asylum was scary? Then you won’t be able to sleep after seeing this true-life look at a Massachusetts mental institution. Frederick Wiseman’s unflinching documentary of abuse shows naked patients being mocked, force-fed, and generally treated like animals. Roger Ebert called it “one of the most despairing documentaries” he had ever seen in 1968—and he was one of the few who had even seen it at that time. The documentary was banned for 24 years over an injunction filed by the Massachusetts state government, citing concerns over the patients’ privacy. By the time it was lifted in 1991, Titicut Follies had already helped close several psychiatric wards.

Why it’s so creepy: The starkness of the footage is what makes Titicut Follies so unsettling. Shot in black-and-white, this documentary features no narration and no sympathetic onscreen presence to guide you through the horrors of Bridgewater State Hospital. You’re essentially locked up with the patients, and no one is coming to help.

7. GOING CLEAR (2015)

Scientology has been the butt of jokes ever since its posterboy Tom Cruise bounced off Oprah’s yellow couch. But this HBO documentary makes one thing clear: you shouldn’t be laughing at Scientology. You should be disturbed by it.

Over the course of two hours, director Alex Gibney paints a picture of a cult that threatens its members, drains their bank accounts, and exiles them from their families should they dare complain. Although Scientology is secretive by nature, Gibney managed to unearth tons of clips that reveal the disturbing dynamics of the community—plus all their awful ‘90s sweaters.

Why it’s so creepy: Have you ever listened to someone who escaped a cult tell his or her story? It’s really upsetting, and it happens over and over again in Going Clear. Through interviews with ex-members and archival footage, Gibney makes the specter of Scientology leader David Miscavige loom large.

8. THE CENTRAL PARK FIVE (2012)

The so-called Central Park jogger case electrified New York City in 1989. After Trisha Meili was raped and beaten in the middle of her nighttime run in the park, the NYPD moved quickly to put the perpetrator behind bars. Too quickly, it turns out. Five juveniles were charged on faulty evidence and sentenced to prison. They would remain trapped behind bars until 2002, when the real culprit confessed and cleared the boys (by then, men) with his DNA match. In covering the case, The Central Park Five isn’t just interested in exposing the horrors of the judicial system. It also digs into the racism and media bias that convinced the courts a group of black and Hispanic boys had to be guilty.

Why it’s so creepy: It’s a somber reminder of the precarious position minorities live in each day. In an eerie case of deja vu, Donald Trump is also involved, giving offensive statements to the press.

9. CATFISH (2010)

The documentary that launched an MTV series and a fun new term for conning people online, Catfish examines an Internet flirtation gone wrong. Nev Schulman (whose brother Ariel co-directs) believes he’s chatting with a young dancer named Megan. She has a Facebook network of parents, siblings, and other friends who seemingly back up her identity. But “Megan” is actually a cover for a very different person, whom Nev unmasks in the movie’s climax.

Some critics—including Morgan Spurlock—believe that Catfish was dramatized. But as anyone who’s been on social media for five seconds knows, it’s alarmingly easy to pretend you’re somebody else.

Why it’s so creepy: Millions of people rely on dating apps and websites to meet their future partners. The thought that they might be talking to an avatar is horrifying. Nev drives that point home during the scenes featuring his more, uh, intimate encounters with Megan.

10. ROOM 237 (2012)

Room 237 is ostensibly about The Shining, Stanley Kubick’s mega-famous horror movie. But it isn’t Jack Nicholson’s crazed grin that gives this documentary its frights. Several Shining obsessives spend their screentime detailing theories about what the movie really means—and their explanations range from reasonable to “the moon landing was fake.” (No seriously, one of them connects The Shining to that.) As their narrations go on, you can feel their minds descend into a madness not unlike Jack Torrance’s.

Why it’s so creepy: You never see any of the commentators onscreen, but you can hear their voices catch as they describe the amount of time and resources they’ve wasted chasing a crazy thought. These people have an unhealthy obsession, and what starts as a farcical look at fandom grows troublesome by the end.

While deleted scenes are usually cut out of movies because they disturb the flow, sometimes they do just the opposite. Every so often, a scene that is essential to a full understanding of a movie’s plot ends up on the cutting room floor, leaving the audience feeling confused. Here are 10 of those instances.

1. BLADE RUNNER (1982)

In the original theatrical release of Blade Runner, audiences were confused when Deckard (Harrison Ford) found an origami unicorn that Gaff (Edward James Olmos) left for him during his escape with Rachael (Sean Young). For the next 20 years, this very ambiguous moment was a mystery to many viewers until Ridley Scott restored the deleted scene back into Blade Runner for its 20th anniversary in 2002. The scene featured Deckard’s daydream of a unicorn, which fleshed out the idea that he’s a replicant, and that Gaff knows his true identity.

2. THE GOONIES (1985)

At the end of The Goonies, a number of news reporters surround the titular group of teens and ask them questions about their adventure. Data (Jonathan Ke Huy Quan) tells one of the reporters that the octopus attack was “very scary and very dangerous.” But the audience never saw an octopus attack.

A deleted scene explains what Data was talking about: The group was attacked by a giant octopus before they make it onto the pirate ship. Although the scene was cut out of the movie, it appeared in its computer game tie-in.

3. BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985)

In Back to the Future, Marty (Michael J. Fox) pretends to be a visiting spaceman to scare George McFly (Crispin Glover) into asking Lorraine (Lea Thompson) to the Enchantment Under the Sea dance. He wears the same radioactive fallout suit he wore to get to 1955 and uses his portable AIWA cassette player to play Van Halen to wake up his father. However, Marty also appears to be wearing a modern hairdryer on his belt, which he actually uses as a heat ray in the extended version of the scene.

Here’s where he got it: In a deleted scene, Doc from 1955 rummages through a suitcase of his future self’s personal belongings, which contains a Playboy magazine and a hairdryer. The extended scene also reveals why George overslept instead of going to school the next day.   

4. ALIENS (1986)

At the beginning of Aliens, Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is rescued while in hypersleep after drifting in space for 57 years. When she’s told her daughter died while she was away, Ripley appears to shrug it off and proceeds to take an assignment with a group of space Marines on LV-426.

While Ripley finds Newt (Carrie Henn) on the planet and looks after her as if she were her daughter, a scene that was deleted from the theatrical release reveals Ripley’s heartbreak over her own daughter’s death. The scene fleshes out her character and frames the entire film as a woman trying to piece together her life after fighting Xenomorphs in outer space. Although the scene is short, James Cameron reedited it back into the director’s cut, which emphasizes the family aspects of Aliens.

5. BACK TO THE FUTURE PART II (1989)

In Back to the Future Part II, old Biff Tannen (Thomas F. Wilson) steals the DeLorean time machine in 2015 to give his younger self the Grays Sports Almanac. When old Biff returns to the future, he’s visibly hunched over and in pain when he staggers out of the DeLorean—with no explanation as to what happened to him.

However, a deleted scene shows old Biff Tannen hiding behind a car and vanishing away from existence. Director Robert Zemeckis and co-writer/producer Bob Gale explained that old Biff disappeared because he no longer existed in 2015 (Lorraine shot him sometime in the 1990s). The scene was deleted because test audiences didn’t understand what was going on, so the filmmakers decided to make it ambiguous—and only slightly confusing—instead.

6. TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY (1991)

At the end of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the T-800 sacrifices itself to save the future from more Terminators being made. Before it lowers itself into molten steel, John Connor (Edward Furlong) pleads with it not to kill itself. The T-800 tells John that it now understands why people love and why it can never return the emotion to others.

There was a deleted scene that explained how the T-800 now understands human emotions. In the scene, John and Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) reset the CPU chip in the Terminator’s head to make him seem more human. Director James Cameron restored the scene in the film’s extended edition.

Fun Fact: The deleted scene also features Linda Hamilton’s twin sister Leslie as a body double in the mirror reflection. The mirror is just a hole through a wall with Linda Hamilton and a mechanical puppet on one side and her twin sister and Arnold Schwarzenegger on the other.

7. THE LION KING (1994)

In The Lion King, the grown up Nala (Moira Kelly) accidently bumps into adult Simba (Matthew Broderick) after he was exiled from the Pride Lands. But how did Nala run into Simba in the first place? Her expression suggests that she was surprised and confused to see him out in the wilderness, because she believed him to be dead.

There’s a deleted scene that featured two extra songs called “The Madness of King Scar” and an early version of “Be Prepared.” Apparently, Scar wanted Nala to be his new queen, but she refused. As a result, Scar banished Nala from her home. While the song was cut from the film, it was featured in the Broadway version.

8. INDEPENDENCE DAY (1996)

One of the biggest plot holes in Independence Day happens during its climax, when tech wiz David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) uploads a crippling computer virus with his trusty Mac PowerBook in order to disable the aliens’ mothership. Since the film’s release in 1996, fans have questioned how a laptop could be compatible with advanced alien technology.

Well, there’s a deleted scene that shows how David formulated the virus when he was given access to the old alien spaceship from the Roswell crash in Area 51. Considering that he figured out the alien’s countdown clock and how they were coordinating their attack, we’ll just have to trust that he’s also probably smart enough to attack their computer system directly.

9. IRON MAN (2008)

Just before Tony Stark takes Iron Man into combat for the first time, he’s watching a TV news report about potential terrorists from his home in Malibu, California. In the next scene, he’s flying to Afghanistan to stop the terrorist threat. But how does he get from Southern California to the Middle East so quickly? A deleted scene (above) explains how Stark used a party with supermodels at his Dubai house as a cover to travel to Afghanistan.

10. BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE (2016)

At the end of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, an imprisoned Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) warns Batman that “the bell cannot be unrung. He’s hungry. He’s found us and he’s coming!” Many people left the theater wondering why Luthor was in jail, and who he meant by “he.”

Three days after the superhero movie was released in theaters, Warner Bros. actually released a deleted scene on YouTube that (somewhat) explained the ending. The scene featured Luthor and who many people assumed was supervillain Steppenwolf together with three mysterious Mother Boxes, as a S.W.A.T. team advances on the young billionaire. (Some people weren’t sure whether it was Steppenwolf.) To avoid confusion, director Zack Snyder added the scene back into the extended edition home video release.

Disney has had a stranglehold on animated feature films ever since Walt and friends made the first one, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, in 1937. But there have been occasional challenges to Disney’s dominance over the years, none so dramatic as the one represented by Don Bluth and The Secret of NIMH. Released in the summer of 1982, at a time when Disney’s Animation Studio was struggling (these were the The Fox and the Hound/The Black Cauldron years), The Secret of NIMH saw a group of traditional animators attempt to unseat Disney—or at the very least to rattle the company out of its complacency. It was like David and Goliath, except that David lost and motivated Goliath to try harder. Here’s a trove of information about everyone’s favorite non-Disney animated classic. 

1. IT WAS MADE BY FORMER DISNEY ANIMATORS WHO WENT ROGUE.

In 1979, while Disney was in the middle of production on The Fox and the Hound, animators Don Bluth, John Pomeroy, and Gary Goldman left the company, joined by a handful of other members of the animation staff. They were frustrated by Disney’s bureaucracy and assembly-line attitude, and they believed Disney was neglecting certain animation skills and techniques that would be vital in the years ahead, especially as their veteran artists—the legendary Nine Old Men—retired or died.

2. THE FILMMAKERS WORKED FASTER AND CHEAPER THAN THEY HAD AT DISNEY.

Disney’s The Fox and the Hound cost $12 million. The Black Cauldron, released in 1985, would cost $44 million. The Secret of NIMH? A cool $7 million. Furthermore, it was produced in 30 months—half the time Disney’s ‘toon features took. 

3. A TOY COMPANY MADE THEM CHANGE THE MAIN CHARACTER’S NAME.

The 1971 novel from which the book was adapted is called Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. The title was shortened for the movie, and Frisby—which is pronounced like “Frisbee”—was changed to Brisby to avoid trademark problems with Wham-O, the company that makes America’s favorite flying disk.

4. DISNEY TURNED THE BOOK DOWN.

According to writer/producer Gary Goldman, animator Ken Anderson first took the book to Wolfgang “Woolie” Reitherman, Disney’s chief animator. Reitherman’s reply: “We’ve already got a mouse.”  

5. THE MOVIE ONLY TELLS US ONCE WHAT “NIMH” MEANS.

It’s the National Institute of Mental Health, the research facility where rats were being experimented upon. Characters in the movie only call it “NIMH” except for the very first time it comes up:

FARMER’S WIFE: Dear, a man came by today, from NIMH.

FARMER: NIMH?

FARMER’S WIFE: Yes, you know, the National Institute of Mental Health. He was asking if we had noticed anything strange about the rats on the farm…

Anecdotally, when we mentioned this on Twitter, we were surprised to find that many fans of the film never realized what “NIMH” meant. 

6. THE MOVIE NEVER TELLS US ONE IMPORTANT CHARACTER’S NAME. 

Jenner, the conniving rat who sabotages the plan to move Mrs. Brisby’s home and kills Nicodemus, is assisted by a reluctant sidekick. But this beta-rat becomes conscience-stricken, turns on Jenner, and is ultimately the one who kills him. It wasn’t until after the film was released that its makers realized the heroic rodent’s name is never mentioned. It’s Sullivan.

7. IT WAS DRAWN BY THE SAME HANDS THAT DREW XANADU‘S ANIMATED SEQUENCE.

One of the first projects that Bluth’s new company took on was the two-minute animated scene in Xanadu (1980), the famously bad Olivia Newton-John musical. The side project put The Secret of NIMH under an even tighter schedule, and animators were known to take cat naps under their desks while working long hours. 

8. THERE’S HIDDEN SYMBOLISM IN TWO CHARACTERS’ SIMILARITIES. 

John Pomeroy, one of the chief architects of the film, said it was intentional that the Owl and Nicodemus have the same walk, glowing eyes, and speech patterns, meant to imply they were two different physical incarnations of the same mystical character. There was even some talk of having the same actor provide the voices for both characters, but it was determined that the film needed as many different celebrity voices as it could get.

9. THERE WERE MANY SIGNIFICANT CHANGES FROM THE BOOK.

Mrs. Brisby’s magical amulet isn’t in the book at all. As the three producers explained in a letter to a school class that asked about the changes, “The amulet was a device, or a symbol, to represent the internal power of Mrs. Brisby … A visual extension of an internal (and harder to show in a film) power.”

Other alterations: Nicodemus was turned from an ordinary rat into a wizard; Jenner, merely a traitor in the book who leaves the colony, was made into a full-fledged villain; and the ending was changed so that Mrs. Brisby’s children are saved by Mrs. Brisby, not the rats. 

10. DOM DELUISE TURNED JEREMY THE CROW FROM A MINOR CHARACTER TO A MAJOR ONE.

The rotund, jovial comedian was one of America’s favorite funnymen at the time, thanks to his association with Mel Brooks, Burt Reynolds, and The Muppets, and his regular appearances on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show. Just as Robin Williams would do with Aladdin‘s Genie a decade later, Dom DeLuise expanded Jeremy the crow’s role by hamming it up and improvising during the recording sessions. The producers (who supposedly all chose DeLuise for the part independently of one another) responded by incorporating his ideas into the script. DeLuise would later provide voices for several other Don Bluth productions. 

11. STUDIO POLITICS PROBABLY DOOMED IT.

Bluth and company made their deal with United Artists. But UA, after having its best year ever in 1979 (thanks to Rocky II, Manhattan, and Moonraker), fell apart completely in 1980, when Heaven’s Gate proved a disastrous flop. UA’s corporate owner sold the studio to another company, Tracinda, which also owned Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer; in 1982, Tracinda merged them into MGM/UA.

The new bosses weren’t as interested in NIMH as the old bosses had been. The release date was moved up from late August to early July, putting it in competition with E.T., Rocky III, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Poltergeist, Blade Runner, and Annie. What’s more, instead of giving the film a wide release, MGM/UA opened it on less than 100 screens and expanded very slowly—so slowly that by the time it rolled out, the advertising had come and gone and people had forgotten about it. NIMH grossed around $14 million in theaters and didn’t become truly profitable until it found an audience on home video. 

12. JOHN CARRADINE DID HIS LINES IN ONE TAKE, ON PAINKILLERS.

Producer Gary Goldman told an online forum that the great John Carradine, hired to lend gravitas to the voice of the wise Owl, arrived late to the afternoon recording session and seemed to be intoxicated. Carradine’s agent confided that the 75-year-old actor suffered from near-debilitating arthritis, the medication for which made him loopy. Also, the agent said, he’d probably had a martini at lunch. Goldman, Bluth, and their cohorts used coffee and conversation to get Carradine sharp again. Once he was sober, he recorded his lines, declared each delivery to be the best performance he had in him, said he wouldn’t do retakes or alternate versions, and left. “Good thing he gave a great performance,” Goldman said.

Don’t you hate it when you tell a U.S. Marshal that you didn’t kill your wife and all he says is, “I don’t care”? It’s enough to make you want to jump off a dam. That amazing moment is one of many indelible images from The Fugitive, the 1993 blockbuster that earned Tommy Lee Jones his only Oscar (so far) and served as about the tenth reminder that Harrison Ford was among the world’s biggest movie stars. As befits a movie with an unnecessarily complicated plot, the behind-the-scenes story of The Fugitive is just as twisty. Let’s take the plunge.

1. THE STORY WENT THROUGH A LOT OF DRAFTS, INCLUDING SOME RIDICULOUS ONES.

It was a five-year process during which nine writers wrote “at least 25 different screenplays,” according to producer Arnold Kopelson. (This might be one of those stories that gets bigger each time it’s told. The week the film was released, Kopelson said it was eight writers and 14 drafts. But still.) No surprise—the movie was to be based on a TV series that had run for 120 episodes and had a master plot running through it, in which wrongly convicted Dr. Richard Kimble searches for the one-armed man who killed his wife. There are countless variations of how that could be condensed into a single two-hour story. In one of the drafts, the big twist was that Tommy Lee Jones’ Agent Samuel Gerard had hired the one-armed man to kill Kimble’s wife as revenge for a botched surgery.

2. IT WAS ALMOST ALEC BALDWIN INSTEAD OF HARRISON FORD.

Kopelson, a fan of the TV series, had been trying off and on to get the film made since the 1970s. It was finally about to happen in the early ’90s, with Alec Baldwin in the lead role and Walter Hill (48 Hrs.) as director, but Warner Bros. didn’t think Baldwin had enough star power. “With an expensive movie, the consideration is, what star can ‘open’ it,” Kopelson said, “and the studio wasn’t certain at that time that Alec could do it.” (By the way, this was the second time Baldwin had lost a role to Harrison Ford, who also replaced him as Jack Ryan in The Hunt for Red October sequel Patriot Games.)

3. IT SEEMS LIKE NOBODY INVOLVED HAD EVER WATCHED THE SHOW.

Except for producer Kopelson, anyway. Harrison Ford said he’d never seen it. Andrew Davis, the director, said, “You know, it was the ’60s, and I was into other things besides watching television.” Tommy Lee Jones made similar comments. Maybe that’s a lesson for successfully turning a TV series into a movie: don’t be too attached to the source material.

4. THAT’S A REAL TRAIN HITTING A REAL BUS.

No miniatures. Twenty-seven cameras (according to Davis). One take. (Ford jumping free from it was a superimposed image, of course.) It was filmed in Sylva and Dillsboro, North Carolina, where the wreckage is now a tourist attraction.

5. SO FAR, IT’S THE ONLY ADAPTATION OF A TV SERIES TO BE NOMINATED FOR BEST PICTURE.

Dozens of TV shows have been turned into movies, but The Fugitive is the only one so far to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. (No, Marty doesn’t count. That was based on a TV movie. And not Traffic, either, which was an adaptation of a miniseries. Look, we said The Fugitive was the only one. Don’t question us.)

6. THE CHASE THROUGH THE ST. PATRICK’S DAY PARADE WAS REAL.

Rather than try to stage a fake one, Davis used Chicago’s actual St. Patrick’s Day parade as the setting for part of Kimble and Gerard’s cat-and-mouse game. Without rehearsal, Ford and Jones just went out into the crowd and did their thing, with camera operators running around trying to keep up. Ford observed that since his character was keeping a low profile, it meant he himself didn’t stand out much and lasted several minutes in the crowd before being recognized.

7. IT WAS FILMED IN A HOSPITAL, AND IN A SCHOOL POSING AS A HOSPITAL.

They were able to shoot some of the hospital scenes in a real hospital in Sylva, North Carolina, while others were filmed in a nearby elementary school whose hallways were dressed to look like a hospital. Apparently old schools and old hospitals look a lot alike.

8. TOMMY LEE JONES MADE UP A LOT OF HIS OWN DIALOGUE.

The film began shooting before the script was complete, with writer Jeb Stuart on the set to come up with new material as needed. That left the door open for the actors to suggest their own ideas, which Jones was happy to do. “Think me up a cup of coffee and a chocolate donut with some of those little sprinkles on top” was his contribution, as was the (above) exchange involving the word “hinky.”

9. HARRISON FORD WASN’T FAKING HIS BEFUDDLEMENT IN THE INTERROGATION SCENE.

To lend more realism to the scene where Dr. Kimble is first questioned by police, Davis had Ford and the other actors do it with only half a script—the cops’ half. Ford, not knowing in advance what the questions would be, had to ad lib responses in character. Naturally, this came across as being defensive and flustered, which was exactly what the situation called for. Acting!

10. IT ENDED UP BEING A RUSH JOB.

Kopelson spent all those years trying to get the project going—and then once it got going, it had to be done fast. Shooting began in February 1993, six months before the scheduled release date. (Warner Bros. really wanted the film by the end of the summer.) The shoot itself was sufficient; it was the pre- and post-production schedules that were shortened. Consequently, instead of having one or two editors and a few assistants, Kopelson had “like, seven editors and 21 assistants working almost around the clock … It was a rather harrowing experience.”

11. A LOT OF EDITORS GOT CREDITED—AND THE ACADEMY WAS OK WITH IT.

Six men ended up being officially credited as the film’s editors: Dennis Virkler, David Finfer, Dean Goodhill, Don Brochu, Richard Nord, and Dov Hoenig. When it received an Oscar nomination for Best Editing, that was the most names that category had ever included. (It’s almost unheard of for any film to have more than three editors, let alone a film that isn’t a disaster.)

12. SCENES HAD TO BE RE-SHOT WHEN AN ACTOR GOT SICK.

Dr. Nichols, the colleague who helps Kimble, was originally played by Richard Jordan. Sadly, Jordan fell ill during the shoot, and had to drop out. (He died a few weeks after the film was released.) When he was replaced by Dutch actor Jeroen Krabbé, a few scenes had to be redone, including one near the beginning, when Kimble still has his beard. Ford had to regrow it, which is why it looks slightly different in Krabbé’s first scene from the way it looks elsewhere.

13. THE DAM SCENE COST $2 MILLION, INCLUDING ABOUT $60,000 FOR DUMMIES.

The maze of tunnels leading to the dam were fake, and built in a Chicago warehouse. The last section of the tunnel—the part that opens over the dam, where Kimble and Gerard have their dramatic confrontation—was actually transported from Chicago to the Cheoah Dam in North Carolina, where it was rigged to look like it belonged there. For the big jump, there were no stuntmen involved. Ford himself (secured by a wire) did the shot where Kimble looks over the edge and considers jumping, and dummies were used for the plunge itself. Six Harrison Ford lookalike dummies were commissioned, each costing somewhere between $7000 and $12,000. They did not survive intact, much to the dismay of their manufacturer, who’d been hoping to re-rent them.

Additional sources:
Director’s DVD commentary

“It was better than Cats!” Thirty-four years after Andrew Lloyd Webber’s famed musical opened on Broadway on October 7, 1982, this tongue-in-cheek idiom remains a part of our lexicon (thanks to Saturday Night Live). Although the feline extravaganza divided the critics, it won over audiences of all ages and became an industry juggernaut—one that single-handedly generated more than $3 billion for New York City’s economy. In honor of the production’s current run on The Great White Way, let’s take a trip down memory lane.

1. THE WORK THAT IT’S BASED ON WAS ORIGINALLY GOING TO INCLUDE DOGS.

Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, published in 1939, is a collection of feline-themed poems written by the great T. S. Eliot. A whimsical, lighthearted effort, the volume has been delighting cat fanciers for generations—and it could have become just as big of a hit with dog-lovers, too. At first, Eliot envisioned the book as an assemblage of canine and tabby-related poems. However, he came to believe that “dogs don’t seem to lend themselves to verse quite so well, collectively, as cats.” (Spoken like a true ailurophile.) Ultimately, according to his publisher, Eliot decided that “it would be improper to wrap [felines] up with dogs” and barely even mentioned man’s best friend in the finished product.

For his part, Lloyd Webber has described his attitude towards cats as “quite neutral.” Still, the composer felt that Eliot’s rhymes could form the basis of a daring, West End-worthy soundtrack. It seemed like an irresistible challenge. “I wanted to set that exciting verse to music,” he explained. “When I [had] written with lyricists in the past … the lyrics have been written to the music. So I was intrigued to see whether I could write a complete piece the other way ‘round.”

2. “MEMORY” WAS INSPIRED BY A POEM THAT T. S. ELIOT NEVER FINISHED.

In 1980, Webber approached T.S. Eliot’s widow, Valerie, to ask for her blessing on the project. She not only said “yes,” but provided the songwriter with some helpful notes and letters that her husband had written about Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats—including a half-finished, eight-line poem called “Grizabella, the Glamour Cat.” Feeling that it was too melancholy for children, Eliot decided to omit the piece from Practical Cats. But the dramatic power of the poem made it irresistible for Webber and Trevor Nunn, the show’s original director. By combining lines from “Grizabella the Glamour Cat” with those of another Eliot poem, “Rhapsody on a Windy Night,” the two men laid the foundation for what became the powerful ballad “Memory.” A smash-hit within a smash-hit, this showstopper has been covered by such icons as Barbra Streisand and Barry Manilow.

3. DAME JUDI DENCH LEFT THE CAST WHEN HER ACHILLES TENDON SNAPPED.

One of Britain’s most esteemed actresses, Dench was brought in to play Grizabella for Cats’ original run on the West End. Then, about three weeks into rehearsals, the performer was going through a scene with co-star Wayne Sleep (Mr. Mistoffelees) when disaster struck. “She went, ‘You kicked me!’” Sleep recalls in the above video. “And I said, ‘I didn’t, actually, are you alright?’” She wasn’t. Somehow, Dench had managed to tear her Achilles tendon. As a last-minute replacement, Elaine Paige of Evita fame was brought aboard. In an eerie coincidence, Paige had heard a recorded version of “Memory” on some local radio station less than 24 hours before she was asked to play Grizabella. Also, an actual black cat had crossed her path that day. How spooky.

4. TO FINANCE THE SHOW, WEBBER ENDED UP MORTGAGING HIS HOUSE.

Although Webber had previously won great acclaim as one of the creative minds behind Jesus Christ Superstar and other hit shows, Cats had a hard time finding investors. According to choreographer Gillian Lynne, “[it] was very, very difficult to finance because everyone said ‘A show about cats? You must be raving mad.’” In fact, the musical fell so far short of its fundraising goals that Webber ended up taking out a second mortgage on his home to help get Cats off the ground.

5. WHEN CATS CAME TO BROADWAY, ITS VENUE GOT A HUGE MAKEOVER.

Cats made its West End debut on May 11, 1981. Seventeen months later, a Broadway production of the musical launched what was to become an 18-year run at the Winter Garden Theatre. But before the show could open, some major adjustments had to be made to the venue. Cats came with an enormous, sprawling set which was far too large for the theatre’s available performing space. To make some more room, the stage had to be expanded. Consequently, several rows of orchestra seats were removed, along with the Winter Garden’s proscenium arch. And that was just the beginning. For Grizabella’s climactic ascent into the Heaviside Layer on a giant, levitating tire, the crew installed a hydraulic lift in the orchestra pit and carved a massive hole through the auditorium ceiling. Finally, the theater’s walls were painted black to set the proper mood. After Cats closed in 2000, the original look of the Winter Garden was painstakingly restored—at a cost of $8 million.

6. CATS SET LONGEVITY RECORDS ON BOTH SIDES OF THE ATLANTIC.

The original London production took its final bow on May 11, 2002, exactly 21 years after the show had opened—which, at the time, made Cats the longest-running musical in the West End’s history. (It would lose that title to Les Miserables in 2006.) Across the pond, the show was performed at the Winter Garden for the 6138th time on June 19, 1997, putting Cats ahead of A Chorus Line as the longest-running show on Broadway. To celebrate, a massive outdoor celebration was held between 50th and 51st Streets, complete with a laser light show and an exclusive after-party for Cats alums.

7. ONE THEATERGOER SUED THE SHOW FOR $6 MILLION.

Like Hair, Cats involves a lot of performer-audience interaction. See it live, and you might just spot a leotard-clad actor licking himself near your seat before the curtain goes up. In some productions, the character Rum Tum Tugger even rushes out into the crowd and finds an unsuspecting patron to dance with. At a Broadway performance on January 30, 1996, Tugger was played by stage veteran David Hibbard. That night, he singled out one Evelyn Amato, an unemployed office worker, as his would-be dance partner. Mildly put, she did not appreciate his antics. Alleging that Hibbard had gyrated his pelvis in her face, Amato sued the musical and its creative team for $6 million.

8. THANKS TO CATS, T. S. ELIOT RECEIVED A POSTHUMOUS TONY AWARD.

Because most of the songs in Cats are almost verbatim recitations of Eliot’s poems, he’s regarded as its primary lyricist—even though he died in 1965, long before the show was conceived. Still, Eliot’s contributions earned him a 1983 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical. A visibly moved Valerie Eliot took the stage to accept this prize on her late spouse’s behalf. “Tonight’s honor would have given my husband particular pleasure because he loved the theatre,” she told the crowd. Eliot also shared the Best Original Score Tony with Webber.

9. THE ORIGINAL BROADWAY RUN USED OVER THREE TONS OF YAK HAIR.

Major productions of Cats use meticulously-crafted yak hair wigs, which currently cost around $2300 apiece and can take 40 hours or more to produce. Adding to the expense is the fact that costumers can’t just recycle an old wig after some performer gets recast. “Each wig is made specifically for the actor,” explains wigmaker Hannah McGregor in the above video. Since people tend to have differently-shaped noggins, precise measurements are taken of every single cast member’s skull before he or she is fitted with a new head of hair. “[Their wigs] have to fit them perfectly,” McGregor adds, “because of the amount of jumping and skipping they do as cats.” Perhaps it should come as no surprise that, over its 18-year run, the first Broadway production used a whopping 3247 pounds of yak hair. (For comparison’s sake, the heaviest actual yaks only weigh around 2200 pounds!)

10. A RECENT REVIVAL INCLUDED HIP-HOP.

In December 2014, Cats returned to the West End with an all-new cast—and some upgraded music. “The Rum Tum Tugger,” a popular Act I song, was reimagined as a hip hop number. “I’ve come to the conclusion, having read [Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats] again, that maybe Eliot was the inventor of rap,” Webber told the press. Let the record show that this take on the song does not appear in the current Broadway revival, which uses the original, fully-sung version instead.

11. THE CURRENT PRODUCTION FEATURED AN INTERNET FAMOUS FELINE—FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY.

Congratulations on a furocious Broadway debut, @RealGrumpyCat! We’re sure you hated every minute. #CatsBroadway pic.twitter.com/WJlyW2aEAC

— CATS on Broadway (@CatsBroadway) October 1, 2016

On September 30, Grumpy Cat made her Broadway debut in Cats, briefly taking the stage with the cast. Despite being named Honorary Jellicle Cat, she hated every minute of it.