Castle of Horror Trivia

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein was originally going to be called “The Brain of Frankenstein” and was also supposed to feature appearances by Kharis the Mummy and Alucard, the son of Dracula! Anyone who has seen Son of Dracula will find that idea particularly baffling.

Have you ever wondered why Michael Myers is sometimes referred to as “The Shape” in discussions of the Halloween franchise? Although some have claimed the script’s use of that name it was a reference to a term used in the Salem witch trials, John Carpenter revealed it was actually his way of suggesting that Myers is a human being with the humanity “bleached” out of him.

Popular rumor has it Disney had expressed interest in making a softened version of A Nightmare on Elm Street back when Wes Craven was shopping the original script around the entertainment industry. However, Craven has gone on record to say he has no memory of Disney ever approaching him.

One common criticism about Anabelle was it seemed unrealistic for anyone to want to purchase such a creepy doll. As it turns out, the makers of the film had once considered making the titular doll look like Raggedy Ann (as was the case with the real Annabelle doll).

The famed Alien imitator Creature almost had a sequel, but the director the script was offered to convinced the producer to make Deep Space instead!

Have you ever wondered why a movie about an insect monster is called Blue Monkey instead of something more appropriate for the subject matter? The film started development as “Green Monkey” because the executive producer wanted to make a horror movie with that title and the first draft of the script featured a monkey-like alien creature. Then the executive producer requested that the space angle be dropped and a later draft by a different writer changed it into a tropical parasite. Somewhere along the line it became “Blue Monkey” and the completed film included a scene where a child refers to the monster as a “blue monkey” after having a nightmare about one.

At one point Maniac Cop III: Badge of Silence was going to include a woman impregnated by the title character.

Pay special attention to the armed forces confrontation scenes in Gorgo the next time you watch it. That way you’ll notice how the ammunition used actually gets less and less powerful with each battle!

There were lots of unused jokes about Ash’s possessed hand pitched for Evil Dead II, including a scene were it would fly through the air wearing a Superman cape!

Ed Wood’s favorite psychic once wrote a stage production of The Picture of Dorian Gray.

The Crypt Keeper literally has Chucky’s eyes!

Jungle Manhunt was supposed to feature a scene where Jungle Jim battled a dinosaur. Although a dinosaur costume was made for the film and the scene was allegedly shot, the battle doesn’t appear in the final version.

The script for The Collector was originally written as the prequel to Saw. On a related note, Saw II started out as a standalone horror script called “The Desperate.”

There’s an interesting controversy regarding the gore in Nightmare. The opening credits claimed Tom Savini did the makeup effects, but Savini denied that was true. However, the director has a different take on the matter…

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