Christopher Lee

8 Science Fiction Tales Where Heatwaves Nearly Killed Us All

Congratulations! We just survived one record-breaking heatwave, but it was only the first volley in a campaign cooked up by the sun to kill us all. Forecasts anticipate another one soon, so get ready to sweat—and after you turn up the A/C you might as well learn about scifi’s shittiest heatwaves. Remember: Forewarned is forearmed!…

Christopher Lee Really, Really Wanted to Play Gandalf in Lord of the Rings

One of the big cinematic losses of 2015 was Christopher Lee, whose decades-long career was filled with iconic performances. But the role that Lee played so memorably in Lord of the Rings wasn’t his first choice. https://gizmodo.com/22-incredible-facts-about-the-life-and-career-of-sir-ch-1710917366 In an interview with Entertainment Weekly that’s filled with fond memories of Lee, Lord of the Rings director…

The 10 Best (and 2 Most Baffling) Hammer Horror Movies

Hammer Film Productions’ heyday spanned the 1950s through the 1970s, with gloriously gothic takes on classic monster stories that starred Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and other British stars of the day. Here’s our take on the studio’s best and worst … though even “bad” Hammer films do have their cheesy merits. The Best! 1. The…

Meet the Last Person Ever to Be Publicly Executed Via Guillotine in France

On June 17, 1939, Eugen Weidmann—a slick, handsome 31-year-old German—became the last person to be publicly executed via guillotine in France. His journey toward being a trivia-question answer started with a kidnapping gone awry, and spiraled into a deadly crime spree that spanned half of 1937. But the abduction, and subsequent killing, of Jean de…

Watch Edgar Allan Poe’s Greatest Stories Get Animated In A Cool New Trailer

We know the stories. We’ve read them. We’ve seen them made into movies, parodies and more. But we’ve never really seen the stories of Edgar Allan Poe like this. This is Extraordinary Tales. Extraordinary Tales is an animated horror anthology featuring six, all-different animated versions of these classic Poe stories: The Fall of the House…

More Of Christopher Lee’s Hammer Horror Classics Are Coming To Blu-ray!

Krampus is coming early this year — October 6, to be precise — with some juicy additions to Hammer Horror’s selection of classics available on Blu-ray: Taste the Blood of Dracula, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, The Mummy, and Dracula Has Risen From the Grave. Three star the late Christopher Lee. https://gizmodo.com/22-incredible-facts-about-the-life-and-career-of-sir-ch-1710917366 Here’s Lee giving Vampire…

22 Incredible Facts About The Life and Career Of Sir Christopher Lee

If Sir Christopher Lee had just been a movie star, he would still have been an icon. But the late actor, who passed away last week, had an amazing life even beyond his incredible body of work. Whether you’re still lamenting his passing or unsure why his death is such a loss, here’s 22 reasons…

Christopher Lee’s last message feels like a premonitory farewell

I’m a huge fan of Sir Christopher Lee. Not only did he have a wicked sense of humor and a great life philosophy, but he was a fantastic—and very underappreciated!—actor. After I saw his first film in Hammer’s Dracula series, he visited my childhood nightmares every day. He terrified me—and I loved every bit of…

Celebrate Sir Christopher Lee’s Career With His Many Cinematic Deaths

I’m devastated at the loss of the great Sir Christopher Lee, arguably cinema’s finest screen villain and certainly one of its most prolific. But as we mourn the man, we should also celebrate his incredible body of work — including this compilation of his many, many fantastic death scenes. Contact the author at [email protected].

RIP Sir Christopher Lee, 1922-2015

The legendary British actor Sir Christopher Lee — known to many for his roles as Dracula, Scaramanga in The Man With The Golden Gun, Saruman in The Lord of the Rings and Count Dooku in the Star Wars prequels — has died. Lee, who was suffering from respiratory problems, passed away in Hospital on Sunday.…

Newspaper flashback: Here’s a look at Guardian profile of Christopher Lee that was published 43 years ago today. Back then, Lee’s career was only just starting. Who knew it would still be going strong now? And that he’d be a metal Christmas carol singing badass? [Read a digital except here]

Christopher Lee Keeps His Christmas Metal Streak Intact With A New Song

He rocked you in 2012 with “The Little Drummer Boy” and “Silent Night.” In 2013, he slayed you with “Jingle Hell.” Now, Christopher Lee is back to melt the long, white beard off your face with “Darkest Carols, Faithful Sing,” a “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” do-over that contains the lyric “Glory to the metal…

8 Vampires Who Make Bloodsuckers Into Badass Monsters Again

Too long have vampires been portrayed as heroes, lovers, fops, and/or glitter-covered emotional disasters. We remember a time when vampires were monsters, and the only reason they were trying to get into your teenage daughter’s bedroom was to drink their blood and murder them. Here are eight vampires who refuse to be defanged by modern…

Christopher Lee’s greatest horror movie is getting a director’s cut

Yes, 40 years after The Wicker Man came out — and of course I mean the British movie, please pay no attention whatsoever to the Nic Cage clusterfuck of the same name — director Robin Hardy has returned to the horror masterpiece to make his definitive version. Plus Archer, Enterprise, Kurosawa and more! • The…

Christopher Lee returns with a new heavy metal Christmas carol classic

Oh, man. Christopher Lee is so old, you guys. Which is partially why it’s so wonderful that’s he’s still churning out awesome holiday music like this new heavy metal cover (with accompanying metal lyrics!) of “Jingle Bells” titled, of course, “Jingle Hell.” The other reason is that his singing voice is still amazing. https://gizmodo.com/christopher-lee-has-just-released-two-heavy-metal-chris-5970586 You…

Before he was Batman, Christian Bale was Jum-Jum the Swedish boy from the Land of Faraway

Long before Bale was hopping about Gotham in his cape and cowl, he was cast in the Swedish fantasy movie Mio in the Land of Faraway as a boy named Jum-Jum. The Swedish fairy tale (originally titled Mio Min Mio took place half on Earth and half in Land of Faraway, where the evil Knight…

Christopher Lee: A Heavy Metal Christmas

Apparently Christopher Lee, the guy what played Saruman in LoTR, is a fan of metal. He’s also a fan of Christmas. So, he did the only logical thing that someone who likes both metal and Christmas would do—he recorded a metal Christmas album. No, seriously. [Animal NY]

Christopher Lee has just released two heavy metal Christmas covers

God Rest Ye, Christopher Lee, and your new heavy metal Christmas songs. This is all the information you need in order to decide whether you want them or not (if the answer is not an emphatic yes, please see a doctor immediately), but if for some reason you’re on the fence, the songs are “The…

The History of Sexy Monsters

Monsters are horrifying, revolting… and often alluring. It makes sense that so many monsters would be hawt, since they’re the ultimate predators and they need to be able to lure us into their clutches and stuff. But also, monsters represent the forbidden, and sexy danger, and they can get away with wearing outfits that the…

Listen to Christopher Lee read Tim Burton’s original The Nightmare Before Christmas poem

In 1982, while Tim Burton was still working at Disney, he wrote the poem The Nightmare Before Christmas, which would eventually become the animated Halloween classic. As it’s October and our thoughts are turning to skeleton kings and Oogie Boogie monsters, let’s take a moment to listen to that poem, read by none other than…