Tobe Hooper, director of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and UAE's Djinn dies

Tobe Hooper, whose last movie as director was 2013's Djinn, a supernatural thriller set in the United Arab Emirates, has died. He was 74.

________________

Read more:

Djinn: fact or fable?

Terrorised from the making of Djinn

Djinn thrills Emirates Palace audience

________________

The Los Angeles County coroner's office on Sunday said Hooper died Saturday in the Sherman Oaks area of Los Angeles. It was reported as a natural death.

Along with contemporaries like George Romero and John Carpenter, Hooper crafted some of the scariest nightmares that ever haunted moviegoers. Hooper directed 1982's Poltergeist from a script by Steven Spielberg, and helmed the well-regarded 1979 miniseries Salem's Lot, from Stephen King's novel.

Hooper was a little-known filmmaker of documentaries and TV commercials when he made his most famous work: 1974's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. He made it for less than $300,000 in his native Texas, and yet it became one the most influential films in horror: a slasher film landmark.

Marketed as based on a true story, Texas Chain Saw Massacre is about a group of friends who encounter a family of cannibals in Central Texas. The central villain, Leatherface (played by Gunnar Hansen) was loosely based on serial killer Ed Gein, but the tale was otherwise fiction. Hooper, whose inspiration struck while looking at chain saws in a department store, considered the film a political one — a kind of shock to '70s malaise. The film's cannibals are out of work, their slaughterhouse jobs having been replaced by technology.

"I had never seen anything like it and I wanted to see it myself," said Hooper in 2014. "That was a driving force and my ability to pull the energy up out of myself to work that damn hard as I wanted to see it. the movie, I mean, as a finished picture. The energies are making a decision at a point."

The film was controversial. Several countries banned it, though the independent film — aided by its gory reputation and lightning fast word-of-mouth — grossed $30.8 million, playing for eight years in drive-ins and theaters. Still, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre wasn't as explicitly grisly as it was reputed to be; much of its humor-sprinkled horror was summoned by the filmmaking and the buzz of one terrifying power tool.

Carpenter, the Halloween director, on Sunday called it "a seminal work in horror cinema." William Friedkin, director of The Exorcist, recalled Hooper as "a kind, warm-hearted man who made the most terrifying film ever."

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre wasn't received too kindly by critics. Roger Ebert said it was "without any apparent purpose, unless the creation of disgust and fright is a purpose." But its renown steadily grew, and many appreciated its harrowing craft, comparing it to Alfred Hitchcock's Pyscho (which also took inspiration from Ed Gein). The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was selected to the Director's Fortnight of the 1975 Cannes Film Festival. Later, it would become part of the permanent collection at New York's Museum of Modern Art.

Poltergeist was Hooper's other horror classic, though it sprung from the mind of Steven Spielberg, who also produced it. Made with a much larger budget of $10 million, Poltergeist is about young parents (Craig T. Nelson, JoBeth Williams) whose suburban dream house is haunted by the graveyard it was built on.

Hooper also directed a more comic sequel to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in 1986. A poorly received but profitable remake followed in 2003. Numerous spinoffs have also been produced, most recently a prequel titled Leatherface to be released in September.

________________

New TV streaming service Viu TV is tailor made for Gulf audiences

Twitter retaliation: Stephen King blocks Trump from It

________________

The Sand Castle

Director: Matty Brown

Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea

Rating: 2.5/5

Game Changer

Director: Shankar

Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram

Rating: 2/5

Emergency

Director: Kangana Ranaut

Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry

Rating: 2/5

Ticket prices

Golden circle - Dh995
Floor Standing - Dh495
Lower Bowl Platinum - Dh95
Lower Bowl premium - Dh795
Lower Bowl Plus - Dh695
Lower Bowl Standard- Dh595
Upper Bowl Premium - Dh395
Upper Bowl standard - Dh295

Match info:

Real Betis v Sevilla, 10.45pm (UAE)

How to avoid crypto fraud

Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
Avoid suspicious social media ads promoting fraudulent schemes.
Only invest in crypto projects that you fully understand.
Critically assess whether a project’s promises or returns seem too good to be true.
Only use reputable platforms that have a track record of strong regulatory compliance.
Store funds in hardware wallets as opposed to online exchanges.

Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)

Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi

Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi

Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai

Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi

Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia

About Krews

Founder: Ahmed Al Qubaisi

Based: Abu Dhabi

Founded: January 2019

Number of employees: 10

Sector: Technology/Social media

Funding to date: Estimated $300,000 from Hub71 in-kind support

The National Archives, Abu Dhabi

Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.

Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en

While you're here

Hend Al Otaiba: A year ago, Covid-19 forced us apart – now, vaccines can bring us back together

National Editorial: Iata travel pass – 'digital passports' will get the world moving again

Lucy Sherriff: Covid vaccine passports: safeguard or ethical nightmare?

The bio

Favourite book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Favourite travel destination: Maldives and south of France

Favourite pastime: Family and friends, meditation, discovering new cuisines

Favourite Movie: Joker (2019). I didn’t like it while I was watching it but then afterwards I loved it. I loved the psychology behind it.

Favourite Author: My father for sure

Favourite Artist: Damien Hurst

COMPANY%20PROFILE%20

%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAlmouneer%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202017%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dr%20Noha%20Khater%20and%20Rania%20Kadry%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EEgypt%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E120%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EBootstrapped%2C%20with%20support%20from%20Insead%20and%20Egyptian%20government%2C%20seed%20round%20of%20%3Cbr%3E%243.6%20million%20led%20by%20Global%20Ventures%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”