Tag: special features

There is no one way to break into the movie business. But one of the most dependable routes for decades has been to make a short film, submit it to festivals, and then hope someone with money or power or both sees it and wants you to turn it into a feature.

20 cases in point: The 20 short films below, all of which served as the source material for 20 extremely popular movies, some of which launched the careers of successful filmmakers like Paul Thomas Anderson, Sam Raimi, and George Lucas. (Ever heard of him? He went on to produce a little movie called Howard the Duck.) Just bear in mind that some of these films ain’t all that short; any movie that’s less than 40 minutes is technically considered a “short.”

The Babadook (2014)
Based on “Monster” (2005)

Almost a decade before Jennifer Kent’s breakthrough horror feature The Babadook, she created a similar short film called “Monster.” It’s only ten minutes long and, unlike The Babadook, it’s shot in black and white. But it also concerns a single mother of a small child fixated on an invisible monster. Kent later described the film as “Baby Babadook.” Which gives me an idea for a prequel…

READ MORE: 10 Good Trailers For Really Bad Movies

Boogie Nights (1997)
Based on “The Dirk Diggler Story” (1988)

I still remember watching the massively detailed DVD special edition of Boogie Nights in college and discovering, via the film’s commentary tracks, that Paul Thomas Anderson had based the film on his own short, “The Dirk Diggler Story,” which told the same basic story in condensed form and with a less famous cast. Both of the short’s lead actors do appear in smaller roles in Boogie Nights: Robert Ridgely, the original Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds’ character) played the role of the Colonel, while Michael Stein, the original Dirk Diggler (Mark Wahlberg) is one of the customers who comes into Don Cheadle’s stereo store. The short version is structured as a fake documentary, in part because the real-life model for Dirk Diggler, John Holmes, had his own documentary called Exhausted.

District 9 (2009)
Based on “Alive in Joberg” (2005)

District 9 owes a lot to director Neill Blomkamp’s original short “Alive in Joburg” including its setting, premise, and some of the cast — most importantly, star Sharlto Copley. The short is only six minutes long, but given its limited resources, its scope and effects are genuinely impressive — if I was a film financier I would absolutely give the guy who made this the budget to make his own sci-fi feature.

The Evil Dead (1981)
Based on “Within the Woods” (1978)

If you thought The Evil Dead was a low-budget horror movie, you ain’t seen nothing. To get the funds to make his debut feature, Sam Raimi and his buddies — including future star Bruce Campbell — scrounged up a couple hundred bucks and created a short about a pair of couples attacked by evil, dead forces at a remote cabin in the woods called “Within the Woods.” Sound familiar? The goal was to make something good enough to convince investors to back The Evil Dead. “Within the Woods” may not be a masterpiece, but it accomplished its mission.

Frankenweenie (2012)
Based on “Frankenweenie” (1984)

The big difference between the Frankenweenie feature and the short that inspired it: Unlike the feature, Tim Burton’s “Frankenweenie” short, which the director made in the early ’80s while he was still working as an animator for Disney, stars flesh-and-blood actors rather than stop-motion puppets. Both films feature black-and white photography, though, along with dramatic camera angles and lighting design inspired by classic horror films.

Hard Eight (1996)
Based on “Cigarettes & Coffee” (1993)

If you’ve seen Paul Thomas Anderson’s first feature, Hard Eight, you’ll recognize “Cigarettes & Coffee.” It features very similar characters, and both star Philip Baker Hall as an aging gambler. After the short played at Sundance, Anderson was invited to the Sundance Institute, where he expanded it into a script called Sydney. (Anderson was eventually forced to change the title.) “Cigarettes & Coffee”s story is a little different than the final film, though, so you might be surprised how the short version turns out.

Lights Out (2016)
Based on “Lights Out” (2013)

Whether it’s because filmmakers like Sam Raimi have had so success doing it and so others have tried to copy that formula, or because horror directors are a particularly industrious lot, there are a lot of feature-length horror films based on shorts by the same director.  Filmmaker David F. Sandberg made a series of no-budget films for YouTube hoping to get noticed by the movie business; his 2013 short “Lights Out,” about a monster that only attacks its targets in darkness, did exactly that. After the film went viral, Sandberg was able to make a feature film version.

Machete (2010)
Based on “Machete” (2007)

Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s unique collaboration Grindhouse featured two feature films, one from each director, plus a variety of fake trailers shot by the men and their friends. Several of the trailers from Grindhouse then became full-fledged movies in their own right, starting with Machete, Rodriguez’s over-the-top action film about former federale from Mexico on a mission of revenge. The movie was successful enough to get its own sequel, 2013’s Machete Kills. It included trailers for a second sequel, Machete Kills Again … In Space. Sadly, that one has yet to materialize.

Mama (2013)
Based on “Mama” (2008)

Here is another short film that spawned a feature and launched a major director’s career — in this case, Andy Muschietti, who followed Mama with two It movies (and then an It TV show) and The Flash. The YouTube clip of the short below is introduced by Guillermo del Toro, who was a big fan of the “Mama” short film and became an executive producer on the feature.

Marcel the Shell With Shoes On (2021)
Based on “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On” (2010)

Given its handmade aesthetic, it’s perhaps not too surprising that the Oscar nominated feature Marcel the Shell With Shoes On was based on an even more DIY series of shorts by director Dean Fleischer Camp. He actually made three Marcel shorts over a span of five years before he put together the 90 minute version.

Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)
Based on “Mary Last Seen” (2010)

Writer/director Sean Durkin made the short film “Mary Last Seen” during the development and funding of his indie feature, Martha Marcy May Marlene. The two films share the same subject matter (religious cults), and both feature Brady Corbet as a charismatic cult member. But Martha Marcy May Marlene is less of a remake of “Mary Last Seen” than a sequel to it; where the feature version follows a woman trying to escape from an abusive cult, “Mary Last Seen” is about a woman joining the same organization.

Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
Based on “Peluca” (2002)

The main character’s name is different, but the kid at the center of Jared Hess’ student film “Peluca” is unmistakably the same awkward teenager who anchored Hess’ breakthrough feature Napoleon Dynamite two years later. (Both are played by actor Jon Heder.) In the short film, Seth gets picked on at school, then goes to a convenience store with his buddies Pedro and Giel and buys a lottery ticket. They use the proceeds to buy a wig for Giel, who recently had his head shaved. (“Peluca” is the Spanish word for wig.) The short does not feel like the dawn of a comedy empire, but it certainly has a distinctive vibe.

Pixels (2015)
Based on “Pixels” (2010)

The “Pixels” short was more of a special effects demo reel than a full-blown story. It certainly looks incredible, with a bunch of of famous old school video game characters like Pac-Man and the Space Invaders invading New York City and wreaking havoc on the population. The short doesn’t give a reason for the chaos; at two minutes long, it doesn’t really need one. The feature film had to justify the cool visuals, and grafted on a scenario where hostile aliens invade the Earth with giant-size versions of Atari and Nintendo icons, and thus only a video game savant (i.e. Adam Sandler) can save us all.

Short Term 12 (2013)
Based on “Short Term 12” (2009)

Writer/director Destin Daniel Cretton based Short Term 12 on his own experiences working in a group home for teenagers — to the point that the original short he made on the same subject focused a character named Denim who was inspired by Cretton himself. When he blew the story up to feature length, he decided to flip the gender of the protagonist from male to female, and then cast actress Brie Larson in the role that became her big-screen breakthrough.

Sling Blade (1996)
Based on “Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade” (1994)

Interest in Billy Bob Thornton and his breakthrough indie film Sling Blade, which won Thornton an Oscar best Best Adapted Screenplay, was so high in the mid-1990s that the original short film that it was based on, “Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade,” wound up get its own VHS release. That’s despite the fact that the short was only 29 minutes long. You could even rent it at Blockbuster; I vividly recall seeing it there as a kid. The box art had “SLING BLADE” written in huge block letters, and then “Some Folks Call It a” so small you could barely see them from a distance. How many people do you think rented the short because they mistook it for the feature?

Smile (2022)
Based on “Laura Hasn’t Slept” (2020)

The Smile series follows the same model as Martha Marcy May Marlene; the short film is more of a prequel than direct source material for the feature version. “Laura Hasn’t Slept” focuses on a woman named Laura (Caitlin Stasey) terrorized by visions of a monster with a ghoulish grin. In Smile, Laura (once again played by Stasey) reappears in a hospital, where she kills herself and in the process passes on the smiling Entity to her therapist.

This Is the End (2013)
Based on “Jay and Seth Versus the Apocalypse” (2007)

The same year that Seth Rogen became a full-blown movie star headlining Judd Apatow’s Knocked Up, he appeared in a 10-minute short with his former Undeclared co-star Jay Baruchel about how the tensions in a relationship between roommates get exacerbated by the end of the world. A few years later Rogen and his collaborator Evan Goldberg turned the same basic premise into a far more elaborate sci-fi spectacular, with Rogen, Baruchel and a lineup of up-and-coming comedy stars all playing themselves as pampered celebrities who are extremely ill-equipped to survive the apocalypse. The short is basically one clever idea and not much else; the feature does an impressive job of mining its premise for every ounce of comic possibilities.

THX 1138 (1971)
Based on “Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB” (1967)

The best part about the incredibly uncommercial title THX 1138 is that it’s actually simplified from George Lucas’ original short, which was called “Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB.” Man, that just rolls of the tongue. (Imagine having to spell that out on a marquee in those big block letters.) Lucas made the short while he was still at USC Film School; a few years later, Lucas had hooked up with filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, who made the THX feature the first production in a deal he had struck between his own company, American Zoetrope, and Warner Bros.

12 Monkeys (1995)
Based on “La Jetee” (1962)

Even before Terry Gilliam adapted it as 12 Monkeys, Chris Marker’s “La Jetee” was already one of the most famous shorts in cinema history. The two share the same premise, with a man from a ruined future sent back into the past in the hopes of preventing the apocalyptic war that destroyed the planet. But where Gilliam’s movie presents that story with recognizable movie stars and surreal special effects, Marker’s version is told through a series of still photographs and voiceover. It’s one of the few short films with its own release in the Criterion Collection (although technically it shares its disc with another Market film, Sans Soleil.)

What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
Based on “What We Do in the Shadows: Interviews With Some Vampires” (2005)

Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement supposedly made the first “What We Do in the Shadows” mockumentary short for a measly $200. That’s got to be one of the best initial investments in movie and TV history; What We Do in the Shadows has now been made into a successful 2014 feature film, and a six-season TV series on FX. (It also spawned a spinoff, Wellington Paranormal, about police officers in the same fictional universe.) All from $200!

When horror sequels work, they deepen a film’s spooky lore, elevate fear, or even reinvent their franchise altogether. But when they fail, they remind audiences just how hard it is to recapture what made a great horror flick so awesome in the first place.

A great horror film can linger in the collective consciousness for decades — its atmosphere, performances, and themes becoming part of genre history, and even influencing countless other films and areas of pop culture.

But a poorly made sequel can unravel that legacy almost overnight. When studios rush to capitalize on a hit, the results can often trade artistry for profit, draining all the blood out of what made the original so haunting to begin with.

READ MORE: Great Movies That Were Ruined By Becoming Franchises

Baffling sequels such as The Exorcist II: The Heretic, American Psycho 2, and Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 are infamous examples of this unfortunate phenomenon. Each followed a groundbreaking, critically acclaimed, beloved film with a diluted continuation that misunderstood the tone, pacing, or purpose of its memorable predecessor.

Ultimately, a bad sequel doesn’t just disappoint fans — it can tarnish how the franchise is remembered by the public forever. These terrible horror sequels serve as cautionary tales rather than scary stories, and the message is frighteningly clear: Even the most iconic and capable horror franchises can’t survive on name recognition alone.

Fans of KPop: Demon Hunters, the critically acclaimed Netflix phenomenon that blends supernatural action, messages of self-acceptance, and the pulse of Korean pop culture, will find plenty to love in other stylish, emotionally charged animated movies that mix music, myth, romance, and adventure.

For starters, there’s Belle, Mamoru Hosoda’s visually striking 2021 re-imagining of Beauty and the Beast. Like KPop: Demon Hunters, it fuses a pop-inspired soundtrack with dazzling visuals and explores the intersection of identity, fame, and trauma. Similarly, 2014’s Big Hero 6 delivers action, humor, and heart as its titular team of tech-savvy, young superheroes navigate grief, friendship, and responsibility to save their city.

Fans who love KPop Demon Hunters’ high energy and sleek fight choreography will undoubtedly enjoy 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which pushes animation boundaries with kinetic, music-driven visuals, while 2020’s Trolls World Tour, though much more light-hearted, doubles down on the whole save-the-world-using-music thing.

READ MORE: 10 Animated Films Every Studio Ghibli Fan Must See

For something more intimate but still fantastical, Disney’s 2022 film Turning Red captures the chaos of growing up, the power of friendship, and the influence of fandom culture — themes that parallel the story of KPop: Demon Hunters. Meanwhile, mature viewers looking for something more edgy won’t be able to look away from 1997’s Perfect Blue, which tackles the dark side of fame as it follows the sinister journey of a young J-pop idol.

Whether it’s big, magical battles, poignant messages about self-determination, or stories about friendship you crave, these animated movies share the same beating heart as KPop: Demon Hunters as they celebrate empowerment, community, and the transformative magic of music.

READ MORE: A Brutally Honest Kid’s Review of KPop Demon Hunters

Disney is known for its heartwarming fairy tales and colorful animation, but many of the studio’s films also contain moments that are surprisingly dark, or even downright disturbing. While Disney is often associated with the notion of dreams coming true, it’s also responsible for more than a few childhood nightmares.

One of the most haunting scenes in Disney animation history comes from 1940’s Pinocchio, when a group of mischievous little boys are transformed into donkeys on Pleasure Island. The terrified cries of children losing their voices as their bodies contort into animals to be sold into slave labor are chilling, and much more scary than the movie’s monstrous whale.

Similarly frightening, 1996’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame features the corrupt Judge Frollo’s “Hellfire” sequence — a fiery, feverish depiction of lust and religious hypocrisy set against flames and shadow, more akin to Dante than Disney.

READ MORE: Lost Disney Animated Movies That Were Never Made

In 1994’s The Lion King, the heartbreaking but instant death of Mufasa is a kind end compared to Scar being mauled and likely eaten alive by his hungry hyena horde, while Clayton, the villain of 1999’s Tarzan, meets his end by accidentally hanging himself — a gruesome fate shown in eerie silhouette.

But these are just a few of the moments of sheer darkness in Disney’s animated filmography, where bright-eyed characters face tragedy, death, and existential dread, among other, more subtle horrors.

Meanwhile, these memorably dark Disney scenes endure because they confront the shadows lurking just beyond the magic. They remind audiences, especially young viewers, that fear, loss, and real-world consequences are as much a part of growing up as fairy godmothers, wishing stars, and happily-ever-afters.

READ MORE: 11 Forgotten Live-Action Disney Movies

There are plenty of reasons to make a movie sequel, but there’s really just one that matters to a Hollywood studio: Money. If a film was a hit, and there’s an opportunity to make more money with a second, a studio is going to take it.

Some movies come with ready-made sequels. A movie about a brave police detective who solves a particularly complicated case? She can go solve another case. A war between humans and aliens for control of a planet and its rich natural resources? Wars can stretch on for years or decades! A superhero defeats a dastardly villain? They don’t call it a never-ending battle for truth, justice, and the American way for nothing.

Ah, but Hollywood doesn’t care if a movie comes with ready-made sequels. If it’s a hit, it’s going to get a sequel one way or another. (Conversely, if it’s a flop, it doesn’t matter if the film ended on a cliffhanger teeing up the next installment in the franchise; it’s not gonna happen. Just ask the folks who made Green Lantern.) In a few cases, a great movie spawned a bunch of sequels so underwhelming they tarnished the reputation of the original film — like the 15 titles below.

Note that I only included franchises that generated at least two sequels. There’s a fair number of excellent films that spawned one sequel that was so bad the studio immediately went “Nope! Our bad! That was a mistake!” They learned their lesson the first time. (Speed and The Odd Couple are two examples that come immediately to mind.)

No, to qualify for this list, a series’ stewards had to doggedly refuse to learn any lessons on multiple occasions. It’s like the Spaceballs sequel they never made (until, uh, now): It’s all about the search for more money.

READ MORE: Forgotten Movies From 20 Years Ago That Deserve to Be Rediscovered

Movies never change. (Unless they were directed George Lucas. Then they might change.) Once a director locks their movie and releases it into the theaters, it’s incredibly rare (again, unless the director is named George Walton Lucas Jr.) for the film to evolve with the times. Sometimes, as new generations of viewers discover a film, the consensus opinion might change. The movie itself does not.

That’s also true of individual movie reviews. A website like Rotten Tomatoes or Metacritic might add new takes on an old film, but the original ones from the initial release sit in their archive forever. So you can go look back at how a film was first received, and compare that to a film’s reputation today. And nowhere is that contrast more stark than on comedies, where even some of the most beloved examples in recent history got negative reviews, and often continue to hold very low scores on sites like Rotten Tomatoes.

Below, you’ll find 20 striking examples of just this phenomenon. They’re all comedies of the last 50 years that have gone down in history as classics of their form. Many of them were huge box-office hits, although a few flopped in theaters (the bad reviews probably didn’t help in that regard) before finding a cult audience on home video. Just don’t go looking for George Lucas’ Radioland Murders. That’s not on there. (Come to think of it, Lucas never recut that film for DVD release … coincidence?!?)

READ MORE: The 10 Best Comedies of the Last 10 Years

The Best Comedy Movie Posters Ever

When looking beyond Disney’s animated blockbusters and billion-dollar franchises, the company’s live-action movies of the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s reveals a long list of titles that have largely been forgotten, even among diehard Disney fans.

At the height of Disney’s animated renaissance in the 1990s, the company also produced many live-action movies ranging from family adventure films to goofy teen comedies. Released in 1993, A Far Off Place starring a young Reese Witherspoon is rarely remembered today, despite fitting in with the now-nostalgic trend of ‘90s kids-on-grand-adventures movies. Meanwhile, 1998’s Meet the Deedles, a zany comedy about two lazy surfer brothers sent to boot camp, never reached the same cult status of other similar buddy comedies of the decade.

The 2000s saw Disney experimenting with more ambitious, even weirder projects, but several have fallen into obscurity over the years. The 2001 comedy Max Keeble’s Big Move, for example, doesn’t seem to be as well remembered as similar kids-centric movies such as Big Fat Liar, while 2009’s forgettable Old Dogs appears to have been put to sleep despite its star-studded cast. (That one stars the late, great Robin Williams, but you’ve probably never even heard of it.)

READ MORE: 15 Lost Disney Animated Movies That Will Never See the Light of Day

By the 2010s, Disney was prioritizing remakes and franchises, leaving little space for smaller live-action originals. Films such as 2015’s Tomorrowland, a lavish sci-fi adventure starring George Clooney, and 2010’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, a Nicolas Cage-led fantasy epic loosely based on a segment from 1940’s Fantasia, were costly experiments that failed to capture audiences.

Whether they’re unfairly ignored hidden gems, or unmemorable flops that deserve to be lost to time, these live-action Disney movies failed to leave a lasting cultural mark, and years after release they remain largely relegated to the forgotten side of Disney’s lengthy filmography.

For those of us who were already cinephiles when Paul Thomas Anderson burst onto the scene with his dynamic breakthrough Boogie Nights, it’s hard to believe the former directing wunderkind (he was only 27 years old when Boogie Nights was released) has now been making films for 30 years.

His latest production, 2025’s One Battle After Another, makes a fitting backdrop for a look at Anderson’s career. It tells the story of a former revolutionary (Leonardo DiCaprio) turned paranoid pothead single dad who is forced to fight for his daughter after she’s targeted by a high-ranking member of the U.S. military. From literal bomb thrower to bewildered, bumbling father … from boy genius to middle-aged statesman of cinema. Time has a way of changing things, huh?

Putting together a list ranking Paul Thomas Anderson’s entire filmography made me realize: As much as I love Anderson and his movies, I might underrate him as a director. When people ask for my favorite working filmmakers, I don’t tend to cite him, maybe because he’s a patient artist and he goes years between projects. If he hasn’t released a movie recently, he sometimes slips my mind.

But looking at the ten movies he’s made to date, it’s clear he’s in that conversation. He hasn‘t made a bad feature. In fact, the worst movie on this list would be the best movie on a lot of directors’ filmographies. So while these movies are ranked from “worst” to “best” based on my personal preference, ranking these ten titles was a bit like ranking ten similarly sized bars of gold. They all shine pretty brightly.

READ MORE: Every Steven Spielberg Movie, Ranked From Worst to Best

When it comes to animation, Disney has reigned supreme for the better part of a century. From its groundbreaking innovations in the medium to its decades-long roster of award-winning, culturally influential, and wildly popular films, Disney (and its subsidiary, Pixar) is synonymous with feature animation, with a long list of unforgettable films to back the claim.

From Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Toy Story, Lilo and Stitch, Finding Nemo, Frozen, and Moana, you’d be hard-pressed to find a human being on the planet who doesn’t know who Ariel is or the lyrics to “Let It Go.”

Okay, I’m exaggerating. But the point remains: Disney’s theatrical animated filmography is just that globally omnipresent. However, that doesn’t mean the House of Mouse doesn’t have a handful of lesser-known or even forgotten hidden gems.

READ MORE: 10 Animated Films Every Studio Ghibli Fan Must See

I’m not talking about the animated Disney films that are best left lost to the ages (I’m looking at you, Chicken Little, Planes, and The Jungle Book 2!), but rather the theatrically released animated movies that, whether due to poor timing or behind-the-scenes meddling, failed to land solidly with movie-going audiences at the time of their release.

Some of these “forgotten” films were simply ahead of their time, or released during weird transitional periods in Disney’s filmography. Some of them were considered too “dark” or experimental at the time, or were unable to make a cultural impact due to reasons outside of their control, such as shifting film trends or even global catastrophes.

Perhaps audiences flocked to theaters at the time of their release but lost interest later on, or maybe they were box-office bombs that slowly grew cult followings over time. Either way, these widely forgotten, theatrically released animated Disney movies deserved better.

READ MORE: 20 Big Blockbuster Movies You Forgot Existed

Cast your mind back to the year 2000. To set the mood, crank up NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye,” put on your finest trucker hat, and begin panicking about the Y2K virus.

Everyone there? Great. Now we are ready to look back at the best movies of the decade, the finest films release from 2000-2009. (Keep the trucker hat on, by the way, it looks great on you.) 

The 2000s were an incredible period for movies. (Especially the year 2007. Half the movies released in 2007 were classics. Was there something in the water in 2007? What happened there?) Christopher Nolan and the Marvel Cinematic Universe were on the rise. Pixar was in the midst of an unprecedented creative hot streak. And Hollywood regularly made these incredible things called “comedies,” where the whole purpose was to make audiences laugh. (Kids ask your parents about that last one.)

We truly did not know how good we had it. As evidence, check out this list of the 20 best titles released from the year 2000 to the year 2009. How many have you seen? Hopefully all 20; if not you have some really fun homework to do, especially if the ones you haven’t seen are the comedies. (Can you believe studios used to make funny movies? It really was a wild time.)

Who decided these 20 movies were the best of the best of the decade? Well, me, in my quasi-professional infinite wisdom. And if you disagree, that’s okay. Just listen to what NSYNC said and go bye bye bye to another website.

READ MORE: The Worst ’90s Movies