Horror Favourites – Corey Danna

Brand new book SHELDON LETTICH: FROM VIETNAM TO VAN DAMME details the glory days of action star filmmaker Sheldon Lettich – whose work ranges from BLOODSPORT to RAMBO III and beyond – is now available from Bear Manor Media. We spoke to the author Corey Danna about what horror movie he loves the most.

With nearly 40 years working in film, screenwriter and director Sheldon Lettich has amassed an impressive resume, having worked with some of the biggest names in the action genre. Sheldon Lettich: From Vietnam to Van Damme takes a look back into those films with recollections from the director as well as some of his oldest friends who went on the journey with him.

Not only does the book take a peek behind the scenes, it also dives into Sheldon’s life before Hollywood and the journey he took before taking over Tinsletown. Thanks to BearManor Media, you can read the exciting story of a filmmaker battling his way to the top of action cinema.

Sheldon Lettich is a writer, director, and screenwriter who, before making waves in Hollywood, spent time in the military, and served in the Vietnam War. He shot to the top of the action genre when he teamed up with Jean-Claude Van Damme to direct a couple of his most successful films like Lionheart and Double Impact. He resides in California with his wife Toni.

Corey Danna is a freelance film journalist who has worked with sites such as HorrorGeekLife.com, TheActionElite.com, KungFuMagazine.com, and several others. His work has also appeared in print magazines like Kung Fu Tai Chi, Exploitation Nation, and Tae Kwon Do Times. He also contributed heavily to the book The Good, The Tough, and The Deadly: Action Movies and Stars 1960-Present released in 2016. Most recently he worked with Enjoy the Ride Records and Malibu Bay Films to release the soundtrack to Andy Sidaris’s Hard Ticket to Hawaii on vinyl, cassette, and digital. Corey currently resides in Michigan with his wife and children.

Corey Danna said about the book “I had just wrapped up a project that had taken up nearly two years of my life and I was feeling a bit lost without something to work on. This opportunity from Sheldon came along at just the right time and I was honored he had asked me. Growing up, I had a Bloodsport poster on my wall, along with one for Rambo III and Only the Strong. He was responsible for some of my all-time favorite action films so for him to trust me with telling his story was something I never had imagined.”

Below the author of Shedlon Lettich: From Vietnam to Van Damme, Corey Danna talks about the scary movie he loves the best:

“Being a teenager in the 80’s and 90’s, I kind of grew up in the video stores and fell in love with films that weren’t major blockbuster or studio films. I was watching stuff like Evil Dead, Prey for Death, Re-Animator, or any other horror/action films I could find. I would walk a mile in the snow with my Walkman on just to rent videotapes. One tape I grabbed on a whim, not knowing anything about it was Don Coscarelli’s Phantasm. This flick may have been released in 1979, I didn’t discover it until I was about fourteen, shortly before the first sequel would be released in 1988.

There’s so much I love about Phantasm, everything from the casting, the production design, the effects, and especially the score by Fred Myrow. What really frightened me though was The Tall Man played by the late Angus Scrimm. There was something in the way he moved, his voice, and a stare that could break down the bravest of individuals. There’s a scene where Mike (A. Michael Baldwin) is walking down Main St. eating a sucker when he notices The Tall Man walking across the street. Just after Reggie (Reggie Bannister) opens the freezer door of his ice cream truck and the fog rolls out, The Tall Man stops and turns to stare directly at Mike. It’s a simple scene, in broad daylight, but the way it was shot and composed, it becomes a deliriously frightening moment that still haunts me to this day.

The Tall Man was a different kind of monster, he wasn’t disfigured or wore a mask, he stood out amongst the horror villains. With each subsequent film, you would learn just enough about his background to fill in some blanks without ever losing sight of what he was. The entire franchise is pretty stellar in my mind but it was that first film that took horror to a new level. The flying spheres were like nothing I’d ever seen before and their presence is just iconic as that of our supernatural undertaker. The characters are relatable and you really do grow to care for them over the course of the film which would eventually carry over to the sequels. Such a terrific and iconic film that sometimes gets overlooked in discussions of influential horror films from that era.”

SHELDON LETTICH: FROM VIETNAM TO VAN DAMME is out now and you can find out more HERE