John Harrison | |
---|---|
Born | 1948 (75-76 years) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States |
Alma mater | Emerson College, Carnegie Mellon University |
Occupation(s) | Director, writer, composer, producer |
John S. Harrison Jr. (born 1948) is an American filmmaker, musician, and composer [1] best known for his collaborations with director George A. Romero and for writing-directing the miniseries adaptation of Dune.
Harrison was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Emerson College in Boston with a BS [2] in Theater Arts and is an MFA graduate of Carnegie Mellon University's School of Drama. [2] For several years after that, he performed on the road with his band Homebrew before moving back to Pittsburgh to take a master's degree in film and television from Carnegie Mellon University. At the same time, he joined blues guitarist Roy Buchanan, with whom he toured across the US and internationally for four years. He was also featured on several of Buchanan's albums, including That's What I'm Here For (1974), Live Stock (1975), and A Street Called Straight (1976).
In 1973, Harrison and his friends, Dusty Nelson and Pasquale Buba, formed a film production company eventually named The Image Works to produce commercials and industrials in the Pittsburgh area. This partnership eventually led to the production of the film Effects (1980), which Harrison produced and performed in [3] as the character Lacey Bickle. [4] In 1974, Harrison began a long collaboration and friendship with filmmaker George A. Romero. Harrison performed as Sir Pelinore in Romero's Knightriders , then became his 1st Assistant Director for both Romero films Creepshow (1982) and Day of the Dead (1985).
Harrison also composed the scores for Creepshow and Day of the Dead (1985). [5] He also played the "Screwdriver Zombie" in Romero's classic Dawn of the Dead (1978). The music that was composed for the score of Creepshow was also featured in the fake trailer for Thanksgiving in the film Grindhouse (2007), and the South Park episode "Tegridy Farms Halloween Special" (2019). Music from Harrison's Day of the Dead score was also featured in the premiere Stranger Things Season 3, "Suzie, Do You Copy" (2019).
After Creepshow, Harrison moved to Los Angeles to continue his writing and directing career. He wrote, directed and composed the music for multiple episodes of the Tales from the Darkside TV show. He was then tapped by producer Richard P. Rubinstein to direct Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990) for Paramount, [6] which won the Gran Prix du Festival at Avoriaz, France (1991). [2] Harrison's collaboration with Rubinstein culminated in the Emmy-winning TV miniseries, Frank Herbert's Dune (2000), which Harrison wrote and directed, [1] and Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (2003), which Harrison wrote and executive produced.
In 2001, Harrison receives a co-song writing credit, for the Gorillaz's track "M1 A1", from the album Gorillaz , which samples music (along with dialogue), from the film Day of the Dead. Gorillaz used samples from the same film for another song, "Hip Albatross", a B-side on the international hit "19-2000".
In 2006, Harrison reunited with mentor Romero to co-produce Romero's film Diary of the Dead (2007). [7] His action suspense thriller Blank Slate for producer Dean Devlin, which Harrison wrote and directed, aired as a twenty episode mini-series on TNT in the fall of 2008. In 2009, Harrison completed his adaptation of acclaimed horror novelist Clive Barker's Book of Blood , which Harrison co-wrote and directed.
His paranormal thriller miniseries Residue (2015), which he created and wrote, was released on Netflix in April 2015. [8]
Harrison has written and directed episodes of Creepshow on Shudder. [6]
He has also written two novels. ‘Destiny Gardens’ which was published in 2013, and ‘Passing Through Veils’ published in 2023.
Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Composer | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1982 | Creepshow | Yes | Also first assistant director | |||
1985 | Day of the Dead | Yes | Also first assistant director | |||
1987 | Night Rose: Akhbar’s Daughter | Yes | Yes | Yes | Made-for-TV | |
1988 | Scary Tales: Night Elevator | Yes | Yes | Yes | Made-for-TV | |
1990 | Tales from the Darkside: The Movie | Yes | Yes | Composed segment "Lover's Vow" | ||
1990 | Memories of Murder | Yes | Made-for-TV | |||
1995 | Donor Unknown | Yes | Yes | Made-for-TV | ||
1996 | The Assassination File | Yes | Made-for-TV | |||
2000 | Dinosaur | Yes | ||||
2005 | Supernova | Yes | Made-for-TV | |||
2005 | Painkiller Jane | Yes | Executive | Made-for-TV | ||
2005 | Effects | Executive | Yes | Made-for-DVD (filmed in 1978) | ||
2005 | After Effects: Memories of Pittsburgh Filmmaking | Yes | Made-for-DVD documentary | |||
2007 | Diary of the Dead | Executive | ||||
2008 | Blank Slate | Yes | Yes | Made-for-TV | ||
2009 | Book of Blood | Yes | Yes | |||
2015 | Residue | Yes | Executive | |||
2021 | Dune | Executive | ||||
2024 | Dune: Part Two | Executive |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1978 | Dawn of the Dead | Screwdriver Zombie | Uncredited |
1981 | Knightriders | Pellinore | |
1988 | Jack's Back | Chooch | |
2005 | Effects | Lacey Bickel | Direct-to-video film (filmed in 1978) |
2008 | Blank Slate | Thomas Hale | Television film |
Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Composer | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1984-1987 | Tales from the Darkside | Yes | Yes | Yes | Directed 8 episodes / written 5 episodes / composer in 4 episodes | |
1988 | Monsters | Yes | Episode "The Legacy" | |||
1991-1996 | Tales from the Crypt | Yes | Yes | Directed 2 episodes / Written 3 episodes | ||
1992 | Nightmare Cafe | Yes | Episode "The Heart of the Mystery" | |||
1995 | Earth 2 | Yes | Yes | Directed 3 episodes / written episode "Survival of the Fittest" | ||
1996 | Profiler | Yes | Episode "I'll Be Watching You" | |||
1996 | Kindred: The Embraced | Yes | Episode "Nightstalker" | |||
2000 | Frank Herbert's Dune | Yes | Yes | Television miniseries (3 episodes) | ||
2003 | Frank Herbert's Children of Dune | Yes | Co-Producer | Television miniseries (3 episodes) | ||
2009 | Mental | Yes | Episode "Bad Moon Rising" | |||
2010-2012 | Leverage | Yes | 5 episodes | |||
2015 | The Librarians | Yes | Episode "And the Heart of Darkness" | |||
2017-2018 | Superstition | Yes | 2 episodes | |||
2019-2021 | Creepshow | Yes | Yes | Directing 4 segments (written segment "Lydia Layne's Better Half") |
Day of the Dead is a 1985 American post-apocalyptic zombie horror film written and directed by George A. Romero, and produced by Richard P. Rubinstein. The third film in Romero's Night of the Living Dead series, it stars Lori Cardille, Terry Alexander, Joseph Pilato, Jarlath Conroy and Richard Liberty as members of a group of survivors of a zombie apocalypse sheltering in an underground bunker in Florida, where they must determine the outcome of humanity's conflict with the undead horde. Romero described the film as a "tragedy about how a lack of human communication causes chaos and collapse even in this small little pie slice of society".
Skeleton Crew is a collection of short fiction by American writer Stephen King, published by Putnam in June 1985. A limited edition of a thousand copies was published by Scream/Press in October 1985 (ISBN 978-0910489126), illustrated by J. K. Potter, containing an additional short story, "The Revelations of 'Becka Paulson", which had originally appeared in Rolling Stone magazine, and was later incorporated into King's 1987 novel The Tommyknockers. The original title of this book was Night Moves.
George Andrew Romero Jr. was an American-Canadian film director, writer, editor and actor. His Night of the Living Dead series of films about a zombie apocalypse began with the original Night of the Living Dead (1968) and is considered a major contributor to the image of the zombie in modern culture. Other films in the series include Dawn of the Dead (1978) and Day of the Dead (1985). He later revived his attachment to the sub-genre with Land of the Dead (2005), Diary of the Dead (2007), and Survival of the Dead (2009), his final film. Aside from this series, his works include The Crazies (1973), Martin (1977), Knightriders (1981), Creepshow (1982), Monkey Shines (1988), The Dark Half (1993), and Bruiser (2000). He also created and executive-produced the television series Tales from the Darkside from 1983 to 1988.
Tales from the Darkside is an American anthology horror television series created by George A. Romero. A pilot episode was first broadcast on October 29, 1983. The series was picked up for syndication, and the first season premiered on September 30, 1984. The show would run for a total of four seasons.
Creepshow is a 1982 American horror comedy anthology film directed by George A. Romero and written by Stephen King, making this film his screenwriting debut. The film's ensemble cast includes Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau, Fritz Weaver, Leslie Nielsen, Carrie Nye, E. G. Marshall, and Viveca Lindfors as well as King himself. The film was primarily shot on location in Pittsburgh and its suburbs, including Monroeville, where Romero leased an old boys' academy to build extensive sets for the film.
Tales from the Darkside: The Movie is a 1990 American comedy horror anthology film directed by John Harrison, serving as a spin-off of the anthology television series Tales from the Darkside. The film depicts the frame story of a kidnapped paperboy who tells three stories of horror to the suburban witch who is preparing to eat him.
Daniel Thomas O'Bannon was an American film screenwriter, director and visual effects supervisor, usually in the science fiction and horror genres.
Thomas Vincent Savini is an American prosthetic makeup artist, actor, stunt performer and film director. He is known for his makeup and special effects work on many films directed by George A. Romero, including Martin, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Creepshow, and Monkey Shines; he also created the special effects and makeup for many cult classics like Friday the 13th, Maniac, The Burning, The Prowler, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.
Fritz William Weaver was an American actor. He appeared in over 170 theatre, television, and film productions in a career spanning nearly 60 years.
Creepshow 2 is a 1987 American comedy horror anthology film directed by Michael Gornick, and the sequel to Creepshow. Gornick was previously the cinematographer of the first film, and the screenplay was written by George A. Romero who was director of the original film. The film's stars were Lois Chiles, George Kennedy, Dorothy Lamour, and Tom Savini. It was once again based upon stories by Stephen King, and features three more horror segments consisting of "Old Chief Wood'nhead", "The Raft" and "The Hitchhiker".
Tom Atkins is an American actor. He is known for his work in the horror and thriller film genres, having worked with writers and directors such as Shane Black, William Peter Blatty, John Carpenter, Fred Dekker, Richard Donner, Stephen King, and George A. Romero. He is also a familiar face to mainstream viewers, often playing police officers and tough authority figures and is perhaps best known for his role as Lt. Alex Diel in The Rockford Files (1974–1977).
Monkey Shines is a 1988 American science fiction psychological horror film written and directed by George A. Romero and starring Jason Beghe, Kate McNeil, John Pankow, and Joyce Van Patten. Its plot follows a young athlete who becomes a paralyzed quadriplegic, and develops a bond with an intelligent service monkey named "Ella" who becomes homicidal after she is injected with an experimental serum of human brain tissue. It is based on the 1983 British novel of the same title by Michael Stewart.
Gregory Nicotero is an American special make-up effects creator, television producer, and director. His first major job in special effects makeup was on the George A. Romero film Day of the Dead (1985), under the tutelage of Romero and make-up effects veteran Tom Savini.
Taso Nicholas Stavrakis is an American film and television actor and stunt performer best known for his appearances in the George A. Romero films Dawn of the Dead, Knightriders, and Day of the Dead.
John Amplas is an American actor known primarily for his work with director George A. Romero, particularly his appearances in the title role of Martin (1977), as well as Dawn of the Dead (1978) and Creepshow (1982).
Richard P. Rubinstein is an American film and television producer, who has worked mainly in the science fiction and horror genres. In the 1970s and 1980s he collaborated frequently with horror director George A. Romero, including on the seminal zombie films Dawn of the Dead (1978) and Day of the Dead (1985). He also produced 1984–1988 anthology horror television series Tales from the Darkside. In the 1980s and 1990s Rubinstein produced a substantial number of projects based on the writings of horror novelist Stephen King.
Pasquale A. "Pat" Buba was an American film editor, noted for his longtime collaboration with George A. Romero.
Creepshow is an American horror anthology television series that was released on Shudder in 2019. The series serves as a continuation of the 1982 film of the same name and features seventeen episodes with two horror stories per episode. The series premiered on September 26, 2019.
Warner Shook is an American director and actor.
During a career that spanned several decades, the American film director George A. Romero worked on a number of projects which never progressed beyond pre-production under him. Some fell into development hell or were produced after he left production.