Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Killer Talent Reboots "Killer Shrews"

Return of the Killer Shrews? You mean you didn't know they had been there in the first place?

I am such a huge fan of those who put their dreams into action that I can't let this week go by without raising several big huzzahs to my friend Steve Latshaw, who just finished directing his latest film, Return of the the Killer Shrews.

Writer/director/all around talent Steve Latshaw who made Return of the Killer Shrews a reality.

Steve has written for this blog before, but in case you haven't met him here, you can look him up at the Independent Movie Data Base (link at the end of this post) and it will give you his credits. He's a former coworker of mine from WESH-TV, who, the whole time he was toiling away in the television news biz, was running around in his free time making crazy, funny, unforgettable direct-to-video horror films. 

Then he moved to LA and found real success making his movies with real budgets. 

This time he has a big hit on his hands. 

Young Steve Latshaw in an earlier decade with his friend James Best.

He and James Best have been friends for years, all the way back to their days in Florida and Best (once famous for his role in TV's The Dukes of Hazzard) was a cast member of the original Killer Shrews movie (you can look that up at IMDB also). When he joined this cast and brought in former Dukes co-star John Schneider, the movie was on its way. The cast also includes Academy award nominee Bruce Davison, and Errol Flynn's grandson, Sean Flynn, about whom there is a great Hollywood buzz these days.

Robin and Steve at his birthday party in Los Angeles a year and a half ago.

I met Schneider about fifteen years ago when he was doing a bit for the Children's Miracle Network at Walt Disney World, and he looked about twenty six years old at the time, which can't have been the case, since even then, the Dukes of Hazzard was at least two decades in the past.  I notice from the new Return of the Killer Shrews web site, that Schneider still looks twenty six. Clearly a man who has made a pact with the devil.

But that's not important here.  The new film has a cool web site, Steve is exhausted and happy, and I'm one of his many friends who count myself as really proud of him.  He refuses to give up on his dreams.  His dreams just happen to be nightmares, and that, as it turns out, is a delight to all his fans.

A poster from the original, classic, 1959 Killer Shrews.
Click on the links below to learn more about the old film, the new film and about Steve Latshaw.



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5 comments:

Don Meuler said...

So I'm thinking a good first date with you would be... movie night?

Robin Chapman said...

The original Killer Shrews is on after 1 a.m. Pacific on TCM tonight! But sadly, I've passed "date nights" by, and am now only able to handle "senior moments."

Don Meuler said...

Color me dubious...

Don Meuler said...

Are you staying up to watch, or recording it? I'll do one or the other.

Robin Chapman said...

I don't know if I'm allowed to stay up that late ... but if you go to this site, you can see the beginning of it.
http://www.killershrewsmovie.com/original_movie.html