BENOIT. Wrestling With The Horror That Destroyed A Family And Crippled A Sport (PDF)

Featuring the Canadian WWE wrestler Chris Benoit. Over a 3 day period ending on June 24, 2007, Benoit killed his wife Nancy, strangled his 7yr. old son, and subsequently hanged himself. The personal and the public remifications; the fallout for "sports entertainment" and sports in general; the role the media has played and whether professional wrestling as we know it will survive the scrutiny of fans and lawmakers alike - in this book four of the industry's most respected commentators weigh in on the horrific murder-suicide that outraged the nation, making wrestling's macho but fake cartoon world all too vulnerable and chillingly real.

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Becoming Batman The Possibility Of A Superhero (PDF)

Battling bad guys. High-tech hideouts. The gratitude of the masses. Who at some point in their life hasn't dreamed of being a superhero? Impossible, right? Or is it? Possessing no supernatural powers, Batman is the most realistic of all the superheroes. His feats are achieved through rigorous training and mental discipline, and with the aid of fantastic gadgets. Drawing on his training as a neuroscientist, kinesiologist, and martial artist, E. Paul Zehr explores the question: Could a mortal ever become Batman? Zehr discusses the physical training necessary to maintain bad-guy-fighting readiness while relating the science underlying this process, from strength conditioning to the cognitive changes a person would endure in undertaking such a regimen. In probing what a real-life Batman could achieve, Zehr considers the level of punishment a consummately fit and trained person could handle, how hard and fast such a person could punch and kick, and the number of adversaries [...]that individual could dispatch. He also tells us what it would be like to fight while wearing a batsuit and the amount of food we'd need to consume each day to maintain vigilance as Gotham City's guardian. A fun foray of escapism grounded in sound science, Becoming Batman provides the background for attaining the realizable -- though extreme -- level of human performance that would allow you to be a superhero.

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The Death Of WCW Explained

Really, the answer is Jamie Kellner. He was the one who made the call to pull the plug and kill the promotion. But, really, Kellner only made that call because WCW was losing so much money. If it was profitable, there’s a chance he never would have closed its doors. 

And why wasn’t it making money? Well, because Vince Russo made lots and lots of bad decisions. He took a company that turned a profit of $30 million dollars, and made it one that lost over $60 million dollars. 

But, Russo was only there to fix the mess that Bischoff had put the company in. Russo is an easy scapegoat, but Bischoff’s refusal to look past Hogan is a huge contributing factor to the death of WCW.

Hogan had a shelf life, and Bischoff – and Hogan – couldn’t see that. And giving Hogan creative control from the get go did lead to a lot of issues on what were supposed to be big shows.

He also spent big on contracts.

Contracts that were so big that when WWF bought WCW, they didn’t pick up a lot of the TimeWarner contracts for the likes of Hogan, Hall, Nash, Goldberg etc because it would have upset their own pay structure in the WWF.

But perhaps the person who killed WCW was the man who created it in the first place.

A lot of WCW’s problems can be traced back to Ted Turner’s decision to merge with Time Warner in 1995.

If Turner hadn’t made that merger, they wouldn’t have been involved in the AOL merger of 2000 which wouldn’t have brought in Jamie Kellner who pulled the trigger on the Death of WCW

Turner lost a lot of power after the TimeWarner merger, and even more from the AOL one.

Eric Bischoff even argues that once Turner lost his power after the TimeWarner merger, he no longer was able to have Eric’s back and sign off on his big money spending, and he had other people to answer to who didn’t like the way he spent money, like giving wrestlers big contracts.

You could make the argument for any one of these people being the ultimate reason for the downfall of WCW, but in actuality, it was all of them.

Hi Hi Puffy Amiyumi | Pilot | Cartoon Network

After Sam Register (the creator) pitched the idea of Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi having their own cartoon series on Cartoon Network, the animation studio Renegade Animation created a pitch pilot, in the hopes of swaying Cartoon Network to green-light the show's production.

The pilot was sent to Cartoon Network and they accepted it and it was to air in late 2003, but for unknown reasons, the pilot was reworked and later premiered on November 19th, 2004. The series premiere was successful and was even at the time one of the highest-rated shows to premiere on Cartoon Network.

Elderly People Seen In Titanic Film Were Based On A Real Life Couple

Not only did the film - starring none other than Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio - recall the tragic sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912 and deaths of over 1,500 passengers, but the movie also centred itself on the heart-wrenching love story between Rose and Jack too.

However, there's wasn't the only romance to board the ship.

The true story of another couple has since been revealed.

As well as featuring a scene where Jack paints Rose 'like one of his French girls' and a steamy rendezvous in the back of a car, another couple also makes a cut, spooning one another in bed as the water rushes onto the ship - ultimately deciding to die in one another's arms.

While the scene isn't entirely factually correct - the real-life couple actually deciding to hunker down for a hug on the deck opposed to back in their room - the shot is based on a real couple named Isidor and Ida Straus.

Married in 1871, the Jewish couple had seven children together. Isidor was 67 when he boarded the Titanic and Ida the age of 63.

After the Titanic was struck by an iceberg on that fateful day in 1912, the lives of women and children were prioritised on the lifeboats rescuing passengers from the sinking ship.

However, due to the Straus' status - Isidor a co-owner of Macy's Department Store located in New York - his chance to escape followed shortly after.

Despite being offered a seat due to his status and wealth, Isidor turned the opportunity down, stating: "I will not go before the other men."

Ida resolved to not leave without her husband and according to Historical Honey, said: "We have been living together for many years. Where you go, I go."

Isidor's body was recovered after the ship sunk, however, unfortunately Ida's has never been found.

However, their united love lives on in one of the scenes from the 1997 release - not only portrayed as the couple spooning on the bed, but the design for Rose's cabin room onboard the ship inspired by the Straus' actual room which was the best suite onboard the ship.

Monster In My Pocket (NES)

The evil Warlock wants to take over the world! He calls his fellow monsters to join him, but several refuse - and after casting a shrinking spell that backfires and shrinks down all the monsters around him, transporting them to different homes in Los Angeles.

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Mighty Final Fight (NES)

Mighty Final Fight follows the same premise as the original Final Fight. The Mad Gear Gang, the dominant street gang of Metro City, have kidnapped Mayor Haggar's daughter, Jessica. After Haggar is informed of her kidnapping, he sets out to rescue her along with his two friends: Cody, Jessica's boyfriend; and Guy, Cody's training partner. The story is presented in a more comical fashion compared to the original game due to its satirical nature. For example, Belger's motive for kidnapping Jessica in this version is to force her into marrying him, having become infatuated with her.

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Mickey's Safari In Letterland (NES)

Mickey must collect all of the letters of the alphabet for his museum by going to six different territories, including: Yukon, a swamp, a forest, a jungle, a pyramid, and the Caribbean. Enemies in the game include snakes, porcupines and alligators. However, players can't die from these enemies, and are simply bounced off of them. The game includes voice acting, with Mickey having an audio voice sample for each collected letter, and some of his catchphrases. The game also includes three levels of difficulty.

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Menace Beach (NES)

The player controls a skateboarding hero whose girlfriend, Bunny, has been kidnapped by Demon Dan. An introduction screen shows Bunny shackled and pleading for help. The hero must use his skateboard and any objects he finds, such as balloons, frogs, bombs, and bottles, to defeat ninjas, clowns, and disgruntled dock workers before finally confronting the villainous Demon Dan. Between levels, the girlfriend's clothes fall apart, and when the second-to-last level is completed, she is in her underwear.

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Cancelled Movies: Ghostbusters Film Starring Chris Rock, Chris Farley And Ben Stiller Was Reportedly In Development

Everytime there's rumors of a new "Ghostbusters" film, fans always draw up their dream cast line-up. Prior to the release of Paul Feig's 2016 reboot, fans were clamoring for "Ghostbusters" team that included comedy's top stars of the time (particularly from the Judd Apatow-verse) like Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson, and Paul Rudd, among others. While we know that film never came to be, we did get a stacked cast of top comedians including Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones for the 2016 version of the movie, and Paul Rudd did end up in the cast of 2021's "Ghostbusters: Afterlife."

In the '90s, when a script called "Ghostbusters 3: Hellbent" was going around Hollywood, franchise co-creator and Egon Spengler himself, Harold Ramis, had a dream cast in mind for who he thought would take up the mantle for a new generation in that decade. According to an interview with Ramis on Morewhatnot, the late filmmaker and funnyman revealed he would have cast Chris Farley, Chris Rock, and Ben Stiller in a "Ghostbusters" for a '90s film. 

It seemed as if Chris Farley had been a part of the new lineup as Ray Stantz's nephew ever since Dan Aykroyd worked with him on "Tommy Boy." Both Chris Rock and Will Smith were talked about at one time or another through the long development of "Ghostbusters 3" for a Winston Zeddemore-type of role. Ben Stiller was a name that came up all the way through 2005 when the script was still being talked about.

The Ghostbusters Go to Hell concept could never get to the production stage

The sequel Chris Farley, Chris Rock, and Ben Stiller could have starred in would have been called "Ghostbusters 3: Hellbent" and was essentially a concept that featured the Ghostbusters going to hell, fighting the devil, and training a new generation to take over their supernatural business. 

Ghostbuster Harold Ramis talked to Morewhatnot about how he envisioned hell in the script. Ramis said, "My concept there was that Hell is a simultaneous reality, it's slightly out of phase with our reality. It's like a strobe, when our reality is on, hell kind of blinks off." He explained (sort of) how the team ends up in hell saying, "So what the Ghostbusters have to do is kind of a hitch step, you know when you try to get in step with somebody. The Ghostbusters had to technically skip one beat and then they're in Hell." 

The '90s concept was thrown out after nearly two decades of being stuck in development hell. Ramis directed a Judd Apatow-produced comedy called "Year One" in 2009 which starred Michael Cera and Jack Black, who of course also came up as names for Next-Gen Ghostbusters, from "The Office" writers Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg. Ramis brought on the writing duo to work on a new script for "Ghostbusters 3" Ramis said that he was interested in a new cast for the movie saying that he wanted to, "Bring a fresh generational spin to it. We were voices for our generation, popular voices, but this generation sounds different." "Ghostbusters 3" never ended up materializing, but fans now have "Ghostbusters: Afterlife 2" to look forward to later in 2023.

Credits: Looper

MC Kids (NES)

The game begins with the titular M.C. Kids, Mick and Mack, reading a storybook about Ronald McDonald showing off his magical bag at a picnic in the meadow. Suddenly, the Hamburglar appears and steals Ronald's Magic Bag. Mick and Mack then search outside Ronald's clubhouse for four of the puzzle cards.

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The Magic of Scheherazade (NES)

The fantasy setting of The Magic of Scheherazade borrows from Middle Eastern folk tales in One Thousand and One Nights. Many years prior to the opening of the game, the land of Arabia was taken over by the malevolent demon Goragora and his army of minions. A magician named Isfa, harnessing the power of the blue star Airosche, vanquished the demons and sealed them underground. Peace briefly returned until the evil wizard Sabaron freed Goragora and the demons from their captivity and imprisoned the Arabian princess Scheherazade and her family.

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"The Cursed Atuk": A Script That Claimed The Lives Of 6 Actors

I want to dive into something a little different today but something super spooky. Outside of the horror genre, I love everything paranormal. I’m a big believer in ghosts and have had too many experiences to count. So I thought it would be fun to bring a little paranormal element to Horror Bound. Why? Because it’s my site and I feel like it. That’s the benefit of being the owner….ya’ll have to read my paranormal ramblings.

But I thought this would be kind of fun because it DOES involve movies. One in particular. And while it’s not a horror movie, it’s a movie that kills people. So it’s kind of like a real life horror movie…

The story is about an Inuit poet from Baffin Island who gets sent to Toronto. A total fish out of water story. But in the movie version, he lives in Alaska and ends up in New York City. A woman visits his town in Alaska, she’s a documentarian. When they leave, he stows away on their plane. When he arrives, he saves a young man who is the son of a powerful real estate mogul and hi-jinks ensue. 

The film adaptation was requested by Norman Jewison (he is a Canadian director and producer who helped start up the CBC, and did a bunch of other wonderful things. He seriously has lived a crazy productive life. Go check him out) in the early 1970’s. Todd Carol wrote the adaptation, and Jewison planned to film it in Canada. 

John Belushi was the first actor to be attached to the film. He was offered the lead role in 1982 and showed a lot of interest in the script. But a few months later, on March 5th, Belushi was tragically found dead in his hotel room at the Chateau Marmont by his trainer Bill Wallace. He was only 33 years old. The cause of death was determined to be drug related, most likely a speedball. His death was investigated by a forensic pathologist and the findings were disputed. 

Two months later, Catherine Evelyn Smith admitted she had been with Belushi on the night of his death and had given him the fatal dosage. The case was reopened and she was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. 

In 1986, after losing their lead, the script went back on the market and this time Sam Kinison got involved. He would play the lead role of Atuk. In 1988 production began and managed 8 days of filming before Kinison halted the production. He didn’t like the way it had turned out and began to rewrite the script. Kinison said that he was given creative control. Apparently he became difficult when the studio got involved. A lawsuit began.

The movie was put on hold again until 1992 when production began to set up again. Unfortunately, during these negotiations, Kinison died.

It was Friday, April 10th, 1992. He was only 38. His vehicle was struck head-on in California by a pickup truck, driven by a 17 year old who was drunk. Kinison was alive after the crash, his best friend Carl LaBove had been driving behind him at the time of the accident. His brother was there as well and they could see no visible injuries. But Kinison began to talk to himself, repeating “I don’t want to die.” It then appeared as if he were talking to someone who wasn’t there, “But why?” “Okay, okay…” and then he lost consciousness. He could not be resuscitated and he died at the scene from internal injuries. His wife who was also in the car survived with a mild concussion. 

The production team refused to give up, they really believed this script was something special. And so, in 1994, they approached John Candy and offered him the role. Candy was thrilled and began to study the script. In March of that year he also died. Candy was working in Mexico and at some point in the night of March 4th, he died of a heart attack. He was 43 years old. 

Candy had reportedly asked his close friend, Michael O’Donoghue, to also read the script and perhaps join the cast. In November of that same year, he also passed away. He had a history of chronic migraines and died from a cerebral hemorrhage at 54 years old. 

1997 rolls around and the film surfaces again. Atuk was offered to Chris Farley. Farley was aware that his idol Belushi was once offered the part and so he was intrigued, and expressed an interest. But, much like his idol, Farley also died young, and the same age of 33. A few months after reading the script, on December 18th, Farley was found dead by his younger brother in his apartment. He died of a drug overdose. A speedball. Just like Belushi.

Farley, much like Candy, also introduced his friend Phil Hartman to the script. 5 months after the tragic death of Farley, Hartman’s wife murdered Phil in cold blood. His wife, Brynn Hartman, got into a heated argument with Phil after he threatened to leave her if she started using drugs again. At 3am Brynn entered the bedroom and around 3am shot Phil twice in the head and once in his side. She drove to a friends house and confessed to the murder, the friend didn’t believe her so the two of them drove back to the house. The friend saw the body and called the police. As the police arrived and escorted the children out of the home, Brynn locked herself in the bedroom and shot herself, committing suicide. 

And so, Atuk sits unmade and untouched for years. Some believe in the curse, some don’t. I’m not sure why no one is questioning the fact that a bunch of white men were being cast as an Inuit...but that’s a whole other side of Hollywood.

Who knows if the script will ever come out of the dark and attempt to be made again? But I really hope it doesn’t. That’s a long history of bad luck (and whitewashing) that I wouldn’t want to tamper with.

Credits: Horrorbound

The Krion Conquest (NES)

The year is 1999. The player was put in the middle of a war already lost. When the Akudama Empire, (known as the Krion Empire outside Japan), attacks the Earth with its army of robots. No conventional weapon in existence is efficient against this opponent. The robots are, however, totally vulnerable to magic. A hired mercenary, Kagemaru, summons the only non-sealed witch, Doropie (known as Francesca outside Japan), to stop the Akudama Empire's offence. The imperial army, led by an old nemesis of Doropie, Empress Elysia, does not surrender though. Elysia captures Kagemaru and blackmails Doropie into breaking her seal and setting her free. It seems that the mercenary lost his life, and Doropie sets out to stop the now-free Empress. After the battle, the dying Empress Elysia confesses the reasons behind the invasion and apologizes. The imperial warship explodes shortly thereafter, but not before Doropie escapes it. She is contacted by Kagemaru, who apparently has survived the wounds that Elysia inflicted on him. Doropie comes back to Earth shortly afterwards.

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