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TV Recap: 'The Originals' Episode 112 - 'Dance Back from the Grave'

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The Originals Episode 112
“Dance Back from the Grave”
Written By: Michael Russo and Michael Narducci
Directed By: Rob Hardy
Original Airdate: 28 January 2014

In This Episode…

Klaus comes back from last week’s The Vampire Diaries in a very good mood, which only makes Marcel feel even more rotten. Adding to the overall rottenness is the fact that two vampires have shown up dead in a circle of black magic symbols. The Originals recognize it and assume some new hotshot witch is mimicking “the old ways.” The vampires haven’t been staked or burned; they are just dead - obviously it is witchcraft.  Marcel leaves the compound and heads to Rousseau’s to wait for Sophie. All he finds there is Cami. He tells her about Davina and the two drink together. Klaus heads to the Cauldron to roust some witches and hopefully find Sophie. Thierry takes Rebekah to the docks to show her where Marcel had another base of operations. Elijah stays back at the compound with Hayley.

We will start with Rebekah and Thierry. At the docks, the vampires are confronted by a powerful warlock named Papa Tunde, one of the witches that Celeste / Sabine resurrected. Rebekah recognizes him - it can’t be. He grabs her and desiccates her with a touch and a chant. Thierry runs, and Rebekah ends up unconscious in the center of another ring of black magic. Elijah has been unable to reach Rebekah all day, so he asks Thierry, now back at the compound. He admits he bailed on Rebekah and tells Elijah what happened. Elijah nearly breaks him in half out of anger. Hayley insists on going with him. They find Rebekah but cannot reach her - the circle has some kind of binding spell around it.

Klaus finds Sophie, and though he is pissed, he realizes he needs her. She explains the symbols are indicative of black magic centered around human sacrifices. The vampires were sacrificed so that the witch who drew these symbols could absorb their power. Elijah calls and tells them about the binding spell. Sophie suggests they need another powerful mystical bonding agent to “screw up” the carefully orchestrated spell. Hayley offers up her blood, since her fetus is one-quarter witch on his dad’s side. They sprinkle it on the circle, the spell is broken, and they whisk Rebekah out of there.

Threaded throughout this episode are lots of flashbacks to 1919. Marcel was just returning from WWI. Elijah and Klaus were meeting with the Guerrera crime family (who also happen to be werewolves) to discuss the new rules about sneaking in bootleg liquor when Prohibition is enacted. And there was a very, very powerful warlock, Papa Tunde, who interrupted the proceedings. He was new to town and wanted a seat at the table with the vampires and the werewolves. Klaus still ran New Orleans and he didn’t need any hotshot warlock invading his turf - even if he did bring Klaus the severed head of the city’s mayor. Elijah had tried, at some point, to arrange a truce: offer Papa Tunde something to sate him without giving him any real power. Papa Tunde wasn’t into this, so next came Klaus’ way: swift and brutal violence. Everywhere Papa Tunde went, his twin teenage sons went. They all had black magic symbols carved in their foreheads, and Klaus figured out that Papa Tunde channeled his power from his sons. So Klaus served up their heads to Papa Tunde in a large box. Klaus then proceeded to kill Papa Tunde by gouging his eyes out with his thumbs.

Rebekah and Marcel were on the outs by 1919, and had been for half a century. Marcel admitted to Rebekah that he was the one who had called forth Papa Tunde in the hopes that if Klaus was scared off, or at least distracted by some new threat, he would leave Marcel in peace to attempt to win back Rebekah. Clearly this didn’t work, but Rebekah informed him that the only person Klaus ever ran from was her father. So we have that to look forward to.

Anyway, back to the present. Papa Tunde surprises Marcel at Rousseau’s, and he is surprised that a witch that should have been dead for a century is so strong. Marcel snaps Papa Tunde’s neck and he literally just shakes it off - he has the power of an Original flowing through him. It seems that his plan is to take all the powers from the Originals and rule the world. For now, he takes Marcel’s power, and Cami manages a call to Klaus to tell him what is going on. Klaus arrives in seconds - just who Papa Tunde was hoping to see. Klaus is shocked by his strength - he cannot get away. He starts his ceremony over Klaus, but it is at this point that Elijah removes Rebekah from the circle. Papa Tunde loses virtually all his power, drops Klaus, and runs.

Klaus gathers all the vampires at his compound and speaks to them, basically asking them to forget the fact that he initially wanted to kill all of them, and wants them now to join with him to fight against the witches. Thierry would rather leave New Orleans than live under Klaus’ rule. He leaves, and takes about half the vampires with him. Marcel thought he would lose more. They drink to that, and things seem to be mended between them. Klaus brings Sophie in to find out how a dead warlock could be alive. She suspects that someone jacked the power from the Harvest and used it to bring back four witches - just not the four who were supposed to be resurrected. Marcel’s interest is piqued because this means that, in theory, the power could be returned and Davina could be resurrected. Klaus doesn’t care - he just wants to know how to end Papa Tunde. Since his power comes from the power of others, Sophie suggests he keep Papa Tunde from from killing anyone else - eventually his power will just fade.

Unless, of course, Papa Tunde has found a cache of vamps ready to be sacrificed. Which he has - Klaus and Marcel go to the garden and discovers all the entombed vampires dead. 

Celeste (we’re just going to call her Celeste from now on) meets Papa Tunde in the cemetery and turns over the sword which now contains all the power he harvested, enough to do horrible things, even to an Original. There just needs to be one final sacrifice: Papa Tunde himself. Celeste slits his throat unceremoniously.

Dig It or Bury It?

I had a number of issues with this episode. First off, Cami makes a point to tell Marcel that she takes vervain now. Yet when Marcel needs to feed after being attacked by Papa Tunde, Cami insists it be from her, and he feeds without feeling any effects of the vervain. Elijah and Rebekah each threw a couple of utterly boring temper tantrums about the same old things: family, relationships, alliances, how to handle Klaus. 

Most egregious was killing off Papa Tunde. You introduce this awesome bad guy, give him an elaborate backstory, and give him an entire episode - only to kill him? He is way more interesting than Sabine / Celeste / whatever.

And what happened to the other witches Celeste resurrected? We see hints of the lovely young woman from the 1920s, but never get so much as a formal introduction.

Prophecies?

The witches declare “war” on the vampires. Hasn't this war been declared a dozen times over already?


Watch the Twisted Trailer for Noboru Iguchi's 'Nuigulumar Z' aka 'Gothic Lolita Battle Bear'

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If there's anything you can confidently state about director Noboru Iguchi (Machine Girl, Dead Sushi), it's that virtually nothing is off-limits to his imagination. That tradition of nonstop anything-goes insanity continues in his latest epic Nuigulumar Z, also known as Gothic Lolita Battle Bear.
 
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Based on the book by pop singer Kenji Ohtsuki, the film stars prolific anime voice actor Shôko Nakagawa as Dameko, a Gothic Lolita cosplay enthusiast with an anime-inspired superpower: she can merge bodies with her talking (and farting) teddy bear Buusuke to form a super-cute but totally lethal pink fur-trimmed warrior. The film finds our heroine clashing with alien supervillain Takeshi, his murderous sidekick Kill Billy, and over a hundred zombies.
 
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After a well-received screening at the Stockholm Film Festival last Fall, Nuigulumar Z is headed for worldwide distribution later this year. Check out the adorably brutal trailer below!
 

 

TV Recap: 'Supernatural' Episode 912 - 'Sharp Teeth'

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Supernatural Episode 912
“Sharp Teeth”
Written By: Adam Glass
Directed By: John Showalter
Original Airdate: 28 January 2014

In This Episode…

Sam and Dean unwittingly cross paths in Garth’s hospital room. He was caught trying to steal a cow and as he ran from the farmer, he was hit by a car. Garth sneaks out the bathroom window and escapes. Sam goes to talk to the farmer while Dean checks out the surveillance cameras. He lies and tells Sam that the cameras didn’t catch anything, but Sam catches him in the lie. The cameras show Garth getting into a car. It doesn’t take any effort for the boys to track him down.

They enter Garth’s apartment, guns at the ready. Garth begs them to leave, but they refuse - he has been MIA for too long and they want answers. A female werewolf jumps out from the closet, and Garth jumps between the werewolf and the hunters. It is time for him to come clean.

Garth was hunting a werewolf a few months back and he was bitten. He accepted his fate and was ready to put a bullet in his brain when Bess found him and gave him a reason to live. She is a second generation werewolf, and they have been married for four months. Her family has accepted Garth into their pack and they live a quiet, church-going life with her family, only eating livestock. Dean doesn’t believe them, so Garth and Bess invite Dean to come spend the day with her family. Sam goes to the police station to chat with the sheriff. 

At Bess’ parents house, we meet sweet-as-sugar Joy, Bess’ stepmom, and Reverent Jim, Bess’ father. They are so kind, so stereotypically midwest, so direct-from-a-1950s-sitcom that there has to be something wrong. But they say and do all the right things. Dean stays for lunch and they cook his steak (the rest of the family eats their meat raw); they explain that the reason they wear silver bullets around their necks is as a reminder that they are not invulnerable. The only weirdness is Russ and Josiah. I’m not sure if they are Bess’ brothers or cousins or what, but they are intense and creepy. By the end of the afternoon, Dean almost believes that they are on the up-and-up. Almost.

That night, the sheriff calls Sam to report something “weird,” and “right up his alley.” The Winchesters meet the sheriff in the woods, where they find a mauled deer. Doesn’t seem so weird to me, but the sheriff just did it to lure the boys to the woods. He is a werewolf, and he doesn’t like a pair of hunters sniffing around his town. Dean kills him easily, but is startled when he sees a silver bullet around the sheriff’s neck. Engraved on the bullet is the word “ragnarok.” The boys split up again: Sam to restrain Garth until they can figure out what is going on, and Dean to the church to do some snooping.

At the church, Dean discovers an ancient, alarming werewolf book. “ragnarok” appears on the pages. Dean does a quick search and discovers that ragnarok refers to the Norse end of days. There is a cult of werewolves that worships a god named Pheneras and believes that werewolves should rise up and overthrow humans. It is basically the equivalent of Charlie Manson’s “helter skelter.” Dean relays this to Sam over the phone, but no sooner does he hang up than Sam is knocked out by the two creepy brothers. Jim comes to the church to work on his sermon, but sniffs out Dean. Rather than attack, he calmly explains that hate and anger were part of the beliefs generations ago, but not anymore. He has eradicated it.

Sam wakes to find himself tied up in a barn with Garth and Bess, being held at the mercy of Joy, who suddenly doesn’t seem so Donna Reed. Her father was the reverend before Jim, and he believed in ragnarok. Jim was bitten, so he held onto his humanity, and Joy tried living like him. But her younger brother was killed by a hunter, making her the last of the bloodline, and turned back to her father’s ways. Dean fights his way into barn, easily killing the two brothers. In a shoot-out between Joy and Dean, Dean wins.

So the Winchesters leave Bess, Jim, and Garth to return to their quiet werewolf lives. Garth makes a feeble plea to return to hunting to avenge Kevin’s death, but Dean convinces him to stay put. He has a good thing going there.

Dig It or Bury It?

It was nice having Garth back, and I like seeing the “human” side of monsters, but I want the boys to either mend things or go their separate ways. I don’t need all this teen angst.

Plus, I miss Crowley.

Sibling Rivalry

Things seem to be getting even frostier and more awkward between Sam and Dean. “Something is broken here,” says Sam. “We don’t see things the same way anymore. Back in that church, you talked me out of boarding up hell. You tricked me into letting Gadreel possess me. I can’t trust you, not the way I should.” Sam lays out terms: “You wanna work? Let’s work. You wanna be brothers… well, those are my terms.” Dean nods, and Sam gets back in the car.

Prophecies?

We have a fun one next week: the boys go undercover at a weight loss spa to figure out how clients are losing obscene amounts of weight overnight.

Zombie Bees Wreaking Havoc in Vermont

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zombie bees

What do you call an undead bee? A Zombee! And guess what? They're real...

As reported by ABC News, Vermont beekeeper Anthony Cantrell was shocked to discover zombie bees in his hive last October. What is a zombie bee, you ask? So-called zombie bees are created when a fly called Apocephalus borealis attaches itself to a bee and injects it with its eggs, which quite literally grow on the inside of the bee. The bizarre process causes significant neurological damage to the bees, essentially turning them into 'zombies.' Erratic, jerky movements and strange night activity have been reported in the bees that are infected.

Unlike human zombies, the zombees die shortly after being infected, and they never quite get around to feasting on the brains of non-infected bees.

Zombie bees were first discovered in California back in 2008, and they've since been documented in Washington, Oregon and South Dakota.  The find in Vermont marks the first time they've been found in the eastern United States.

Beekeepers and scientists are worried that the fly eggs could eventually hatch from the dead bees and complete their life cycle inside the hive.  Professor John Hafernik, who first discovered the zombie bees, says that would be a "game changer." I'll say!

Frightening Owlman Haunts Chatroulette

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Owlman Lord of Tears

If you're not familiar with Chatroulette, it's basically a service that takes chat rooms to the next level, by allowing everyone that enters to actually see who they're chatting with. There's a similar website called Omegle, and both of them have been plagued in recent weeks by strange sightings of a creature known only as Owlman, who has been terrorizing the young people that utilize the services.  You can check out a compilation of clips pulled from both websites below, but I must warn you that watching the video will probably have an impact on your sleeping habits!

So who is this mysterious Owlman? The scare pranks are actually a brilliant viral marketing campaign for a new movie called Lord of Tears, which was fully funded through Kickstarter last March. The UK film tells the story of a school teacher being haunted by the Owlman, forced with returning to his childhood home to battle the creature that has been terrorizing him since childhood.  The Lord of Tears DVD and Blu-ray can be purchased exclusively over on the film's offical website, and you'll find the trailer below! And if you liked this, check out this demon baby terrorizing New York!

Stuntman Mike's 'Death Proof' Car For Sale on eBay

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Death Proof car

When it comes to badass and memorable horror movie vehicles, Stuntman Mike's 1970 Chevrolet Nova from Death Proof is without a doubt at the tippy top of that list. Completely black, with a white skull painted on the hood and a cigar-smoking silver duck placed atop it as a finishing touch, Stuntman Mike's car is not just one of the coolest horror movie rides but also one of the most downright deadly. And now, you've got the chance to own it.

Death Proof car

One of the original Chevy Novas made for and used in the film has just popped up for sale on eBay this week, courtesy of a private collector who scored it from the production company. Coolest of all, this is not one of the stunt vehicles but actually the one that was seen throughout the majority of the film, during all close-up and dialogue scenes with the actors. In addition to the car, the winner of the auction also receives the complete costume worn by Kurt Russell, his keychain, the original license plates and even the photos of the girls that Stuntman Mike sticks to the sunshade.

The car, which is in running condition, has a starting bid of $39,900, and zero bids have been placed at the time of writing this. The auction comes to a close on February 1st. Head over to eBay to check it out and/or buy it for your friends here on FEARNET!

Strange Sea Creature is Completely Translucent

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Translucent Sea Creature

We've profiled some pretty amazing sea creatures here on FEARNET over the years, from the real-life 'Cookie Monster' fish to creepy alien shrimp. But a sea creature that's totally see-through? Now this is a new one!

Fisherman Stewart Frasier recently hooked the bizarre fish you see above off the coast of the Karikari Peninsula in New Zealand, reports The Huffington Post. Fraser spotted the translucent fish swimming towards him and though he was hesitant at first to bring it aboard, he eventually worked up the courage to snatch it up and document the unique find.  “It felt scaly and was quite firm, almost jelly like, and you couldn’t see anything inside aside from this orange little blob inside it,” noted Fraser.

What is it, exactly? The fish has been identified as a sea salp, a marine invertebrate with a gelatinous body that is actually quite common in the Southern Ocean. Why then are they so rarely found? Because their translucent appearance essentially camoflauges them in the water, making them very hard to spot. "Their transparency is quite remarkable," says marine biologist Dr. Dennis Gordon.

Never ceases to amaze me how many creatures are out there in the water, that we haven't yet seen. Makes ya wonder...

'Ghost Girl' Photo Taken at Famously Haunted L.A. Hotel

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The Cecil Hotel in downtown Los Angeles is notorious for its dark and haunted history: serial killer Richard Ramirez (The Night Stalker) and “Black Dahlia” murder victim Elizabeth Short had both stayed there, and the building has played host to numerous gruesome deaths – the most recent of which involved the body of a missing student discovered in a rooftop water tank after hotel guests reported foul-smelling black water coming from their taps.
 
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Photo © 2014 KABC-TV/DT
 
Now it seems a new ghostly guest has signed in at the Cecil, as reported by L.A. affiliate KABC: this week their website revealed the photo above, taken by Riverside resident Koston Alderete, which seems to depict a spectral figure outside a window on the building's fourth floor.
 
"When I looked at that window, it just looked kind of creepy to me,” Alderete told KABC, “and then I showed my friend, and he kind of freaked out.” He also claims to have suffered nightmares after taking the photo.

This Horrifying Clip Proves Teasing Giant Spiders is a Very Bad Idea

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We've seen and shared quite a few nightmarish spider videos from the evil geniuses at Break.com, but most of those clips are in the form of orchestrated practical jokes, usually employing fake arachnids.
 
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Not so with the horrific, skin-crawling clip below, which not only involves a real spider, but a huge one... and of course, a clueless dude who thinks it would be big fun to tease the creature by poking at it. Several times, I might add. I may be stating the obvious, but it's worth mentioning anyway: if you encounter a spider with a legspan bigger than your hand, you probably should leave it the hell alone.
 
You can probably guess what happens next, but I'll warn you anyway, because there's a good chance your pants might need changing afterwards... and you wouldn't want your friends to know about that, right?
 

 

Paranormal Activity Documented in Michigan Nursing Home

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Haunted old folks home

Given how many people pass away in nursing homes on a regular basis, it should come as no surprise that some of them are quite haunted. And according to the residents and staff of the Grand Pines Assisted Living Center in Grand Haven, Michigan, the home they spend their days at is one of the more haunted ones in the country.

As reported by the Grand Haven Tribune, staff members of the center have come to expect visits from former residents who have crossed over, and so commonplace are the hauntings that they've just become a regular part of daily life. One of the more eerie recurring stories is that of a deceased man who refuses to leave the home, and who has been seen by staff members and even his widow, who resides in the center.  “I walked into her room to put her snack on her night stand," one caregiver recounted. "She looked at me straight in the eye and told me that 'Dan woke me up today.' Of course, I freaked out at that moment and fast-walked out of her room."

Other staff members and residents have reported seeing another man and even a little girl in the center, both of whom quickly vanished from sight. In one incident, a strange message was scribbled onto a note placed on a medical cart, and the handwriting couldn't be traced to anyone currently living in the home. It read: "We are from the plane — lost  — we will not hurt you! Honest!"

Paranormal Activity in a nursing home... now there's a movie I'd like to see!

Throwback Thursday: The Shining

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The Shining

It's Thursday once again, and you know what that means; time to check out some vintage behind the scenes shots from another beloved horror flick.  Because it's not just Thursday... it's #ThrowbackThursday, fiends!

There is perhaps no film set that's more fascinating than The Shining's, which was fraught with extreme tensions, endless script changes and incredibly long shoots, to the point that the principal photography process allegedly took an entire year. Though the results of all that stress and work thankfully resulted in one of the best horror films of all time, I think it's safe to say that most of the cast and crew members, including Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall, probably wouldn't go back and do it all over again, if they were given the chance.

But we would. And that's what we're here to do today. So let's hop into our time machines and head back to the late 70s, to hang out with the Torrance family and the one and only Stanley Kubrick, on the set of The Shining. As you'll soon see, though stresses ran high, that doesn't mean there wasn't time for some rest, relaxation and fun!

The Shining

The Shining

The Shining

The Shining

Shelley Duvall

The Shining

The Shining

Overlook Hotel

The Shining

The Shining Twins

The Shining Danny

Want to See the Real-Life Haunted Doll That Inspired Chucky from 'Child's Play'?

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If you've seen James Wan's hit shocker The Conjuring, you're probably still having nightmares about the terrifying possessed doll Annabelle from the prologue of that film... especially if you read our story about that doll's real-life inspiration. (She's even getting her own movie!But Annabelle's not the only haunted toy with a movie-worthy backstory: seems there's a little guy out there named “Robert” whose own history may be even more disturbing... so much, in fact, that he actually became the inspiration for Chucky and the recently-rekindled Child's Play film franchise.
 
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FEARNET's own John Squires recently wrote a chilling piece for iHorror.com detailing Robert's strange legacy: the chilling story begins over a century ago, when the doll was presented as a childhood gift to painter Robert Eugene Otto, allegedly as an act of revenge by his parents' voodoo-practicing servant. Accounts of the cursed doll's paranormal skills include the ability to speak, laugh and walk around the house, and it's also claimed to have caused several nasty accidents. As an adult, when Eugene inherited the house from his parents, he discovered Robert waiting for him in the attic... and the disturbing events began anew.
 
When Eugene himself passed away in 1974, Robert's sinister shenanigans didn't end. Instead, the doll started to torment the next family who moved into the house – particularly their 10-year-old daughter, who claims the doll tried several times to attack her.
 
Robert now resides at the Martello Museum in Key West, Florida, where he draws the same kind of anxious interest that surrounds haunted artifacts like Annabelle... and according to the museum's employees, the little guy is still up to his old tricks.
 

Massive Foot-Long Snails Eat Houses in Florida

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giant snails

According to legend, a young boy went on vacation with his family back in the 1960s, and returned home from the trip with a few tiny snails he had taken a liking to.  Unbeknownst to the boy, or his family, the snails were actually baby versions of giant African land snails, which grow to sizes of up to a foot long, weighing in at one full pound. Hawaii had been battling the giant creatures for years, and the boy unwittingly caused an invasion of the snails in his home state of Florida, which it took the state seven years to eradicate. But is it bigger than thegiant weta which some have claimed to be the biggest bug in the world?

According to Wired, the foot-long snails are back with a vengeance, and this whole story gets even weirder when you hear who's to blame for the invasion this time around; voodoo practitioners.

Giant Snails

Yep, according to biologist Robert Cowie, from the University of Hawaii, "bizarre, voodoo-like religious proceedings" are potentially the cause of Florida's most recent battle with the mega-snails. Believe it or not, the slime of the giant snails is highly sought after by certain people, who believe that it has healing powers. A year before this latest outbreak, a man reportedly sliced open one of the snails and had his followers drink the fluids inside, which ended up making them very ill.

African land snails reproduce at rapid rates, and over 137,000 of them have been collected in Florida in just the last couple years. What's the problem, other than them being gross to look at? The snails not only eat and destroy important plants in the area, but they also have a fondness for stucco, and have been known to chow down on the exteriors of homes that are coated with it.

Giant house-eating snails... remind me not to move to Florida in my twilight years, will ya?!

This Week in The Vault: Greg McDougall and Josh Thompson Comment on Dario Argento's 'Deep Red'

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On this week's The Vault, we have a classic from the godfather of Italian horror: Dario Argento's Deep RedDeep Red (or Profondo Rosso in Italy) is probably best remembered for that creepy doll and the classic score by Goblin. Joining us for Deep Red are special effects artist Greg McDougall (The Purge) and actor/comedian Josh Thompson (The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson). While Josh may not be known as a "horror guy," he is a horror fan - and he does a killer Morgan Freeman impression that you must see to believe. (I swear, we didn't doctor it at all!)

Deep Red follows a pianist who witnesses the brutal murder of a famous psychic. He becomes embroiled in the case, but the deeper he gets, the more the bodies pile up. Deep Red marks the first collaboration of many between Argento and the band Goblin, led by frontman Claudio Simonetti. Simonetti has gone on to work on all of Argento's projects, whether he is working with Goblin, a portion of Goblin, or solo.

The Vault is FEARNET's collection of classic horror and exploitation films, available for streaming exclusively on FEARNET.com. The films in The Vault are considered "must see" movies for any budding horror aficionado. We have brought together some of the horror industry's best and brightest to provide optional commentary for those who want an enhanced experience. Upcoming films include George Romero's The Crazies, Bill Lustig's original Maniac, and Dario Argento's Opera, with commentaries provided by Amber Benson (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Ted Raimi (Drag Me to Hell, Evil Dead), and A.J. Bowen (You're Next) - just to name a few. These commentaries are exclusive to FEARNET.com - you won't find them anywhere else.

Catch up with last week's entry into The Vault, Lucio Fulci's Zombie with commentary by journalist Bryan Collins (Badass Digest) and screenwriter Sean Keller (Giallo). Be sure to check in every Thursday for a new film with new commentaries.

Human Remains Discovered in Underwater Mayan Cave

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Skulls underwater cave

Locals refer to it as Sac Uayum, a flooded sinkhole in southern Mexico that they don't dare enter, or even step foot near. Located just outside the ruins of the ancient Maya city Mayapan, the natural well was said to have been feared even by the Mayan people, and villagers still to this day believe that a giant child-eating serpent, with a horse's head, guards the cavern. Though such stories are of course nothing more than urban legends, designed to keep people away from the sinkhole, the truth isn't actually all that much less frightening than the stories.

haunted maya cave

As reported by National Geographic, archaelogist Bradley Russell and his team bravely ventured inside the allegedly haunted cavern this past August, and spent two weeks exploring it. While no such serpent was found inside, Russell did discover that the floor of the underwater cavern was littered with human bones, including the skulls of 15 different human beings. Also included among the remains are cattle bones, which Russell believes are the result of the animals venturing too close to the sinkhole, and falling down to their death.

haunted maya cave

Though Russell isn't entirely sure what the explanation is for the human remains, he does have one theory that seems to make a whole lot of sense. "Suppose these were plague victims," says Russell. "You wouldn't want them near the rest of the population."

Or, perhaps, the horse-headed serpent really does exist, and the remains are those of his many victims...


Game Review: ‘Dementium II HD’

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Renegade Kid was one of the premier independent developers on the Nintendo DS, leveraging the handheld’s meager hardware into a trio of surprisingly effective first-person shooters: the dark, spacebound Moon, and the Dementium series.  The latter provided a shocking, brutal experience on the DS in a rust-clad, blood-soaked dimension of pain that was equal parts Jacob’s Ladder and Hellraiser, warping between the tortured brain of one William Redmoor and the real world, but the lines between the two quickly become blurred, and what’s real and what’s imagined no longer becomes clear.

The second game of the pair, Dementium II, has been ported to the PC by Memetic Games as Dementium II HD, a perfectly faithful port of the DS original that brings what was easily the best shooter on the platform to a new audience.  Unfortunately, this perfect rendition brings with it some issues with translation between the systems.

The graphical overhaul is a bizarre, uneven affair.  The low-poly models and environments of the original DS version have received a minimal upgrade, but have been dressed in razor-sharp textures and a crisp new lighting engine that can alternate between enhancing the visuals or throwing their flaws into sharp relief.  It falls into a weird no-man’s land that neither offers the glossy polish of a new title, nor the gritty patina of the original.  The other strange holdover from the original game is the near-constant loading between rooms: a necessary workaround for the memory constraints of the DS but an inexplicable artifact on a machine with 16GB of RAM.

Finally, there’s just the simple fact that, while DementiumII and its predecessor were exciting and novel on the Nintendo DS (a 3D FPS featuring fully-polygonal graphics and a touchscreen “mouselook” was a shocking revelation for the handheld), it occupies a very crowded space on the PC.  We’ve had plenty of asylum or prison-set horror games on the platform (The Suffering, Outlast, and Manhunt 2 spring almost immediately to mind) and while Dementium II was unique on the DS, it needs a lot more than what it’s offering to set itself apart in the more broad space of the PC or set-top consoles.  Also, there’s the weird OCD sticking point for this reviewer: why Dementium II and not its prequel Dementium: The Ward?  While the sequel is clearly the superior game of the duo (sorry, The Ward), it’s a jarring experience for players to dive headfirst into the second part of William Redmoor’s story without the foundation laid out by the first game. 

While Dementium II was a revelatory experience in its original format (I was pretty damn fond of it) transplantation from handheld to home PC has led to some less-than-stellar results.  What was once brilliant on its limited platform becomes woefully rote years later and with the hardware ceiling lifted.

Rock The Shining's Carpet Pattern with This Awesome Sport Coat

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The Shining carpet

The Shining is a movie that is absolutely full of iconic imagery, from Jack Nicholson sticking his head through a hole in an axe-smashed door to the insanely creepy sight of two twin ghosts holding hands in the hallway of the Overlook. And speaking of the Overlook, the hotel is essentially a character in and of itself, and the look of it as iconic as any of the aforementioned moments. It's the design of the carpet in the hotel that is particularly memorable, and you've now got the chance to wear that carpet loud and proud.

The Shining carpet

Introducing the 'All Work and No Play Sport Coat,' from the folks over at clothing company Loudmouth. The dudes who run the company are all about wearing your personality on your body, and if you're a fan of The Shining, I can think of no better way to show your love for the movie than with this awesome jacket, which is sure to make an impression.

Head over to Loudmouth to add one to your closet, for the cost of $395. And remember, all boring articles of clothing and no fun ones makes you a dull person!

Though it's unfortunately sold out, check out this awesome winter beanie, which was also inspired by the Overlook's iconic carpet!

Exclusive! Sneak an Extended Peek at Next Week's 'Teen Wolf'

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So far this season on Teen Wolf, we've had firefly demons, electric girls, psycho killers, and a rave. What is next? Oh yeah, the YAKUZA. Rock. Check out this exclusive extended look at next week's Teen Wolf to see what horrors await the kids of Beacon Hills.

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Official synopsis: Scott's friends pledge to protect him against an increasingly hostile enemy while Argent, Isaac and Allison search for answers through an old adversary from the Japanese Yakuza. At the same time, Stiles enlists Melissa's help in figuring out exactly what's going on with him.

Teen Wolf airs Monday nights at 10pm on MTV.

Korean Plastic Surgeon Fined for Building Towers of Real Human Jawbones

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While collecting hundreds of human bones as trophies is not an uncommon practice among historic tyrants, serial killers and supervillains, it's pretty damn creepy when it's the hobby of a practicing doctor (even when it's not Hannibal Lecter). Just imagine: you're an incoming patient at a high-class cosmetic surgery clinic, and entering the doctor's office for your first consultation, you encounter these gigantic glass towers filled with human jawbones:
 
Jaw_Tower1
 
Obviously this horrific sight didn't discourage wealthy patients of a plastic surgeon in Seoul, South Korea, who was recently fined and ordered to remove the towers, which contained around two thousand jaw fragments. Most of the bones were discarded bits from a very popular cosmetic procedure called “double-jaw” surgery.
 
According to Medical Daily, photos of the towers were actually posted to the clinic's website, and were only taken down after they went viral and stirred up controversy, finally leading to health officials penalizing the doctor for failing to properly dispose of medical waste.

First Trailer for 'From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series' is Bloody Awesome

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From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series

As we mentioned in our recent post about 8 big screen horror movies that are headed for the small screen, Robert Rodriguez' first horror flick, From Dusk Till Dawn, is set to sink its teeth into the ole boob tube. It will be the first original series to air on Rodriguez' El Rey Network, which just launched this past December.

Much like the movie, the series will center around brothers Seth and Richie Gecko, who find themselves in a most unexpected situation, after kidnapping a former pastor and his two young children. D.J. Cotrona and Zane Holtz take over the roles of Seth and Richie from George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino, and the series also stars familiar faces like Robert Patrick (as Jacob Fuller), Don Johnson (as Earl McGraw) and Wilmer Valderrama, who is playing a new character named Carlos Madrigal.

The 10-episode first season kicks off on March 11th, at 9pm EST, and the first three episodes are directed by Rodriguez. Check out the very first trailer for the show below, which has us thinking this is going to be one TV adaptation of a horror film that you won't want to miss!

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