It’s 20 year since zombie comedy Shaun of the Dead hit cinemas – but did you know that it was originally meant to be called Tea Time of the Dead?
The movie, in which Simon Pegg battles the undead, isn’t the only horror film to have started out with a rather different name.
Iconic flicks like Scream, Alien and Beetlejuice were nearly titled very differently. Brush up your film knowledge by checking out more mind-blowing examples below…
1. Hellraiser
The 1987 flick saw Doug Bradley as Pinhead, the leader of the Cenobites – shadowy entities who don’t know the difference between pain and pleasure. It was set to have the less snappy title Sadomasochists From Beyond the Grave.
2. Child’s Play
The first film with Chucky, the serial killing doll, opened in 1988. It was going to be called Batteries Not Included, but when the makers realised a sci-fi movie with the same name was being made by Steven Spielberg they changed it to Blood Buddy, then Child’s Play.
(Image: SNAP/REX FEATURES)
3. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
The first movie in the horror franchise was released in 1974 and started life as Leatherface, after its killer character. But other titles were also considered including Head Cheese after the hitchhiker detailing the way the calf’s head jelly dish is made.
4. Psycho
Hitchcock’s 1960 murder movie Psycho, starring Janet Leigh, was a box office smash. The director used the working title Wimpy while it was still in production – naming it after his cameraman, Rex Wimpy.
5. Alien
Would Ridley Scott’s gripping 1979 space monster flick have had the same success if it had gone by the original moniker of Star Beast? That was the name screenwriter Dan O’Bannon’ came up with while he penning the script… until he realised how many times he had been using the world “alien”.
6. Friday the 13th
Screenwriter Victor Miller had been calling the 1980 horror movie A Long Night At Camp Blood until director Sean Cunningham had the brainwave to use the famously unlucky date for the film’s eventual, much catchier title.
7. Scream
(Image: London Features International)
The original Wes Craven film, starring Neve Campbell as a high school student targeted by the killer Ghostface, was released in 1996. Writer Kevin Williamson originally called it Scary Movie. Ironically the name would later be used for the hit slasher parody franchise which lampooned movies just like Scream.
8. Halloween
The famous slasher franchise, known for its masked villain Michael Myers, began life with the original 1978 movie. When director John Carpenter and his then girlfriend Debra Hill were working on the script it was actually called The Babysitter Murders.
9. Beetlejuice
Tim Burton’s fantasy comedy horror movie from 1988 starred Michael Keaton as the mischief making demon Betelgeuse. But movie bosses weren’t initially keen on the title, preferring House Ghosts and even Scared Sheetless.
10. Night of the Living Dead
George A. Romero’s 1968 movie was meant to be a comedy called Monster Flick featuring aliens visiting Earth, rather than the flesh-eaters that would eventually turn it into a zombie classic.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
