Pet Sematary (sometimes referred to as Stephen King's Pet Sematary) is a 1989 horror film adaptation of Stephen King's novel of the same name. Directed by Mary Lambert and written by King, the film features Dale Midkiff as Louis Creed, Denise Crosby as Rachel Creed, Blaze Berdahl as Ellie Creed, Miko Hughes as Gage Creed, and Fred Gwynne as Jud Crandall. Andrew Hubatsek was cast for Zelda's role. Author King has a cameo as a minister.
Flashdance is the soundtrack to the 1983 American musical and romance film Flashdance, produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer and starring Jennifer Beals and Michael Nouri. It sold more than 20 million copies worldwide. The film is set in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and follows Alex, a welder and exotic dancer and her dreams of becoming a professional ballet dancer. In 1984, the album received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year and won for Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special.
Stir Crazy is a 1980 comedy film starring Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor as down-on-their-luck friends who are given 125-year prison sentences after being framed for a bank robbery; while in prison they befriend other inmates and ultimately escape. The film was directed by Sir Sidney Poitier. In 2000, Total Film magazine voted it the 22nd greatest comedy film of all time. The film ended up grossing $101,300,000, making it the third largest grossing film in 1980, behind The Empire Strikes Back and Nine to Five.
Sixteen Candles is a 1984 film starring Molly Ringwald, Michael Schoeffling and Anthony Michael Hall. It was written and directed by John Hughes. The original soundtrack was released as a specially priced mini album containing only 5 songs. However, the movie actually featured an extensive selection of over 30 songs.
Halloween is a 1978 independent horror film directed, produced, and scored by John Carpenter, co-written with Debra Hill, and starring Donald Pleasence and Jamie Lee Curtis in her film debut. The film was the first installment in what became the Halloween franchise. The plot is set in the fictional midwestern town of Haddonfield, Illinois. On Halloween 1963, six year old Michael Myers murders his older sister by stabbing her with a kitchen knife. Fifteen years later, he escapes from a psychiatric hospital, returns home, and stalks teenager Laurie Strode and her friends. Michael's psychiatrist Dr. Sam Loomis suspects Michael's intentions, and follows him to Haddonfield to try to prevent him from killing.
The Thing (also known as John Carpenter's The Thing) is a 1982 science fiction horror film directed by John Carpenter, written by Bill Lancaster, and starring Kurt Russell. The film's title refers to its primary antagonist, a parasitic extraterrestrial lifeform that assimilates other organisms and in turn imitates them. The Thing infiltrates an Antarctic research station, taking the appearance of the researchers that it absorbs, and paranoia occurs within the group.
American Pop is the soundtrack album to the 1981 film of the same name. The album was released on vinyl to coincide with the release of the film, but has not been re-released onto compact disc. According to director Ralph Bakshi, this is because the cost for licensing the music from the film has gone up significantly since the movie was made: "The amount of music was so spectacular in the picture - it would be millions."
Paul Simon's One Trick Pony was released concurrently with the film of the same name, in which Simon also starred. Each features different versions of the same songs, as well as certain songs that appear exclusively on either the film or the album. The album is best known for the Grammy-nominated track "Late in the Evening" which was a hit for Simon in 1980, peaking at #6 in the U.S. Two of the tracks (the title song and "Ace in the Hole") were recorded live at the Agora Theatre and Ballroom in Cleveland, Ohio in September 1979. The rest are studio cuts.
Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. A product of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, several of its songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement. The musical's profanity, its depiction of the use of illegal drugs, its treatment of sexuality, its irreverence for the American flag, and its nude scene caused much comment and controversy. The musical broke new ground in musical theatre by defining the genre of "rock musical", using a racially integrated cast, and inviting the audience onstage for a "Be-In" finale.
National Lampoon's Animal House is a 1978 American comedy film directed by John Landis. The film was a direct spin-off from National Lampoon magazine. The plot is about a misfit group of fraternity members who challenge the administrators of their university. The soundtrack is a mix of rock and roll and rhythm and blues with the original score created by film composer Elmer Bernstein, who had been a Landis family friend since John Landis was a child. Bernstein was easily persuaded to score the film, but was not sure what to make of it. Landis asked him to score it as though it were serious. Bernstein said that his work on this film opened yet another door in his diverse career, to scoring comedies.