The PG-13 rating

Up until 1984, films usually had three different ratings. The ratings were G, PG, and R. There was a big gap between PG and R rated films. Some PG films were as violent as R rated films but they did not include the F word or nudity. The film "Jaws" was released in 1975 with a PG rating but if anyone have ever seen that movie, its pretty violent and very bloody. Another example of a very violent PG rated film is "Gremlins." Steven Spielberg released "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" in 1984 and the violence in that and "Gremlins" outraged a lot of parents because of how violent those films were. Steven Spielberg suggested to the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) that there should a PG-13 or PG-14 rating introduced. The MPAA took Spielbergs advise and the PG-13 rating was introduced on July 1, 1984. The first PG-13 film was "Red Dawn."

Rated PG-13: Parents are strongly cautioned to give special guidance for attendance of children under 13 - Some material may be inappropriate for young children.

The 1980's Action Hero

The 1980's had a number of action films released every year. An action film is where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases. Fist fights, gun play, explosions, and car chases are pretty much what sums up an action movie. With every action flick comes the action Hero. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, and Chuck Norris are some popular names in the Action genre. Arnold is known world wide for his role of The Terminator but the Terminator is in fact a villain. He is more of a Hero in "Predator." Stallone is mostly recognized as Rocky or Rambo. Willis got his popularity from playing John McClain in "Die Hard." And last but not least is Chuck Norris. Chuck is popular for his role in the "Missing in Action" films as a POW in Vietnam. These four men will forever remain in movie history as Action Heroes. Bellow is some pictures of the Heroes and the films they are famous for.

4 Killers for the Price of One Ticket!

The year was 1982 and the Horror Genre produced a massive number of Slasher films and other types of Horror films. The Horror fans have already been introduced to Norman Bates (Psycho), Leatherface (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), Michael Myers (Halloween), and Jason Voorhees (Friday the 13th part 2. Jason was in fact not the killer in the original!). With four slasher icons already invented, the producers of New Line Cinema wanted to do something that has never been done before. They came up with a slasher film that involved four killers instead of one! The film was called "Alone in the Dark." The film is about four psychopaths that break out of a mental institution during a city wide black out and proceed to terrorize their Doctor and his family in their secluded house. The producers of the film wanted to give the horror fans four killers for the price of one movie ticket. The film did not do too well theatrically but it is still a very great slasher to watch and is recommended for any horror fan.

This is the poster for the film.


Here are the 4 killers. (LtoR) Preacher, Hawkes, Fatty, and The Bleeder . The Bleeder wears a Hockey mask just like Friday the 13th's Jason Voorhees. This movie came out before Jason got the mask.

The Rise of the Slasher Film

A slasher film is a sub genre of Horror Films. A slasher film typically involves a masked killer with a weapon stalking and murdering teenage girls. Many Horror fans believe that John Carpenter's "Halloween" was the first slasher film. That film was released in 1978 and became the Highest grossing Independent film of all time. "Halloween" introduces Horror Icon Michael Myers, an escaped mental patient who stalks a babysitter on Halloween night. The first slasher to be considered a slasher is Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho", which came out in 1960. There are two other Slashers that also came out before "Halloween." They are "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" and "Black Christmas" which were both released in 1974. "Texas Chainsaw" is about a group of teens on a road trip through Texas that get terrorized by a family of cannibals. "Black Christmas" is about a killer killing off Sorority Girls in their own house one by one. So even though "Halloween" is considered the Grandfather of the Slasher films, there were three other Slashers that were released before it. Slasher films continued to be popular all the way through the 1980's. The Slasher Genre was revived in 1996 with "Scream" and multiple rip offs of Slasher films from the early years.


Leatherface
Norman Bates
Michael Myers

Past Motion Picture Technology

The first device ever made to display movies was called a zoopraxiscope which was patented in 1867. It was made by a guy named William Lincoln.

http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blmotionpictures.htm

Film Noir

A smokey room with plenty of cigarettes, a man dressed in black, and a women in a sexy dress. These three descriptions are sceen in ever single Film Noir movie ever made. Film Noir's hayday began in the early 1940's and stretched until the late 1950's. They all were basically crime dramas with a sexy girl and cynical characters. These films were all shot in black and white at the time with the same low key lighting and overly smokey rooms. Though the most famous of these movies tended to be crime drams which gave that feeling of being the detective Dick Tracy others had more romance, social problems and even gave the point of few of a gangsters life. These movies were honestly the birth of the dramas we see today.

Grindhouse Movie Theaters

Back in the early 1960's and 1970's there was a special kind of movie theater called a Grindhouse Theater. When one would go to a Grindhouse Theater, they stayed for 2 films, also known as a "double feature." The kind of films that were showed in a Grindhouse theater were called Exploitation films. Exploitation films were mainly filled with violence, action, nudity, and over the top gore. Some Exploitation films have created cult followings. Above is a picture of what the outside of a Grindhouse Theater looks like.

Are all four of a horse's hooves ever off the ground at the same time

This question was actually a common debate in 1878, and was answered in the first motion picture ever made by Eadward Muybridge.