Director John Landis (AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON) doesn’t make a lot of feature films anymore, so it’s nice to see him return with something interesting, and at least peripherally horror-related.
Landis is developing GHOULISHLY YOURS, WILLIAM M. GAINES, a biopic about the outlaw publisher of Mad magazine and EC Comics (the notorious company behind such controversial titles as Two-Fisted Tales, Weird Science and, of course, Tales from the Crypt), which have influenced countless comic creators, filmmakers and authors.
The movie will explore how a reluctant Gaines took over his father’s company (a failed venture called Educational Comics) and in the 1940s and 50s, with artist Al Feldstein, began using the format to tell gothic horror tales with ironic (and occasionally quite profound) twist endings. The books became a phenomenon, and the witch hunt that followed determined that comics were contributing to the nationwide delinquency of kids, leading to public outrage and Nazi-style burnings of comic stacks.
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What’s Not Allowed