Mutant spiders are weaving a deadly web in a theater new you.

Tibor Takacs’ Spiders 3D will be getting a limited theatrical release along with a national VOD released on February 8.

If you happen to be a lucky individual who lives in Sin City, there’s a free midnight showing of Spiders 3D as part of CES 2013. It’s happening Saturday, January 12 at Rave Theaters Town Square. Email info@3dff.org to RSVP for a seat.

Here’s the synopsis:

“Harkening back to the beloved creature features from the 50’s and the 60's, SPIDERS 3D centers on mutant spiders created by pieces of material from a disabled Soviet space station that crash lands on Earth. With New York City threatened to be overrun by the gigantic killer spiders who have invaded the metropolitan subway system, it's a race against time to stop the Queen Spider from uniting with her eggs before a deadly chain of events are triggered from the deadly reunion.”

Watch the new Spiders 3D clip below in which the giant, hairy eight-legged killers rampage a city:
 

“The pit wants what it wants.”

The poster tagline for 2011 Slamdance Screenwriting & Teleplay Competition Grand Prize Winner Jug Face is enough to get my ass in a seat, but the synopsis is that much more amazing:

“The pit has spoken. Dawai, the potter of a backwoods community, has crafted a face on a ceramic jug of the person that the pit wants sacrificed.  Ada, pregnant with her brother’s child, has seen her face on the jug and hides it in the woods, determined to save the life of her unborn. If she does not sacrifice herself however, the creature from the pit will kill everyone in the village until she does.”

I’ve always known potters were up to no good – all that hemp and clay. No normal person would spend their day sitting at a wheel making bowls.

Director Chad Crawford Kinkle’s will premiere at Slamdance Wednesday, January 23rd at 10:30pm in the Main Screening Room. The film stars Sean Young, Lauren Ashley Carter, Sean Bridgers, Larry Fessenden, and Daniel Manche.

Check out the poster and stills below.
 

Author Gene O'Neill is a man with a plan. That plan is to write and get paid. He hopes that readers begin to recognize his work and seek him out. He certainly has the skill set having graduated from Clarion in a class filled with, what are now, successful writers. But he was sidetracked along the way because the one thing more important to him than writing is family. But now he is back on track and I was able to sit down with him in late 2012 at Dark Delicacies and have an extensive conversation.

One of the first things you wrote that sticks in my head was the Burden of Indigo short story in Twilight Zone Magazine in 1981. What had you done prior to that that made you think "Hey, I can write short stories"?

About a year before that I won a Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Association writing award – which is a competition with documentaries and stuff – and I'd written and sold, for a special education magazine, a piece on a Muscular Dystrophy boy whom I'd taken to the state wheelchair games and he'd won two years in a row. It was a journalist article called Big John. I was a jock growing up and I taught PE in those days and adapted PE for handicapped kids. Now they're called, not handicapped, disabled. It's a different deal now. This was before the Clarion Workshop. Then I decided that maybe I did have something to say so I went to Clarion. After Clarion, Damon Knight and Kate Wilhelm invited me, when I came back home, to come up to their house on the West Coast and meet with a small group. The group included people I rode up with. Kim Stanley Robinson had talked about the entire outline of The Mars trilogy that he'd eventually write. I learned a lot from him and he learned something from me. Because I had real life experiences by that time. Damon and Kate's writing group included John Shirley, William Gibson...

Some big names. Were they names then?

No. William Gibson hadn't even published anything yet. Well, maybe he'd published something in a thing called Earth something (editor's note: the short-lived magazine Unearth 3). Like about the eighth or ninth time, I went up there with Kim Stanley Robinson, who was just being discovered then by Terry Carr.  They were called the New Age Specials. There was about six writers picked and Kim was one of them. He was just starting to get published. So on the way up I took The Burden of Indigo. We would not talk about the stuff we were taking up to the workshop but we talked about that story because he liked it so well. By then he was a PhD English professor and he knew what he was talking about as far as writing. He was just starting to get published himself. We kind of rose together except he went full-time because he didn't have any kids. I had two kids.

That makes it kind of hard to be a full-timer.

In fact it's hard now. I'm still not getting paid anything.

Do you think the difference was that they, Kim Stanley Robinson, William Gibson, etc …, could write and get published by major publishers and you, with your family responsibility could only get short stories and small press things written because you needed to work full time because you had a family to raise and they didn't?

That would be easy to say yes to that but the alternative to that is that they were just better writers.

Do you really think so?

No, of course not. Del, you and I both won an Italian Award and then the guy went out of business. For a while there he became my Italian agent. But he couldn't sell anything. He had a hard time.

So why do you believe the authors from your group rose differently in the book world?

The reason that I could persevere was I knew I was publishing short stories in major markets - Fantasy and Science Fiction, Twilight Zone, later on Science Fiction Age.

I noticed a lot of those magazines that published you went out of business.

As soon as they published me they were gone. Horace Gold was a famous publisher of Galaxy Magazine. He tried to make a comeback. He got a story from me and was going to publish it in a new magazine called Quest Star. He died. The magazine died and I never got any money.

Did you ever have a plan for your writing career as far as direction?

No, I was the same as Damon Knight. I wanted to get published, period. A short story. Then, after you get published … you want to get published more often. Then pretty soon you want to start writing novelettes and novellas. That is the old way. Now everybody thinks they can put in on Amazon.com and that's going to do them some good. Which it doesn't. The path that I took was the same as Damon and he was advising all of us. So then before I could afford to spend the time on a novel, I couldn't afford to spend the time on that, you know invest a whole year and a half on one piece, and quit my job. I just couldn't do that. But at this time the short stories were gaining some reputation and I was being bombarded, honest to God, by New York agents to represent any long stuff I had. Now I can't even send a thousand dollar check back there and get somebody to look at it. I was going to quit twenty years ago and write full time. No benefits or anything but quit. Then my daughter qualified a year out of college, she's pre-med, she qualified for medical school. I worked another ten years. She got out of medical school and I've been writing full time now.

You retired.

I quit. I never retired because I never got any money. So I write full time now.

Gene O'Neill can be found on Linkedin.

Del Howison is a journalist, writer and Bram Stoker Award-winning editor. He is also the co-founder and owner of Dark Delicacies “The Home of Horror” in Burbank, CA. He can be reached at Del@darkdel.com.

 

With guys like Fred Krueger, Jason Voorhees and Leatherface dominating the cinematic slaughter scene (the new Texas Chainsawkilled the competition this weekend), it’s easy for horror fans to forget about the little people.  But, we at FEARnet embrace the little people and think that they deserve their moment in the spotlight just as much as the big guns. So, we have put together a list of  underrated psychopaths in horror cinema who we would like to thank for their thoughtful contributions to the horror genre.

The Dentist
Corbin Bernsen does crazy quite well. His performance as a psychotic dentist who wants to rid the world of filth is what makes The Dentist as enjoyable as it is. The film itself is just OK, but Bernsen's performance is great. Watch out for Mark Ruffalo in one of his first feature film roles. The Dentist 2 goes a little off the rails. But, Bernsen's performance in both films is still spot on. It's a shame that more horror fans don't hold Bernsen's turn as The Dentist in higher regard. 

Pumpkinhead
The grotesque supernatural life form, known as Pumpkinhead, has a small franchise under his belt, yet he is all but forgotten amongst mainstream audiences, which is sad, as the first Pumpkinhead film was very good. Its successors unfortunately weren't of the same quality as the original. But, nonetheless, Pumpkinhead is a memorable and welcome addition to the world of homicidal horror baddies. 

Mick Taylor
Mick Taylor is terrifying, but, not for the usual reasons. Taylor is frightening because he is seemingly so unassuming and mild mannered. He isn't the inbred, disfigured, mask wearing, psychopath that we expect to see in a back woods horror film. Perhaps that's why John Jarratt's portrayal of Mick Taylor in Wolf Creek often gets overlooked when we think of iconic horror killers. In reality, Jarratt's performance is what makes the movie. Good news for Wolf Creek fans: a sequel is reported to be in pre production and John Jarratt is said to be attached.

Cropsey
Lou David’s turn as Cropsey in The Burning was what set the film apart from numerous other Friday The 13th knockoffs. His performance is brutal and unflinching. The wake of destruction that he leaves in his path is astounding. His shears could have taken their place beside Freddy's glove, if the film had spawned a franchise. But, since there wasn’t another outing for Cropsey, the character never received the mainstream recognition he deserved. You can see more about Cropsey’s performance in The Burning in our picks for horror films that should have had sequels.

Leslie Vernon
Leslie Vernon deserves the award for most Meta horror killer - ever. Scott Glosserman, who co wrote the script and directed Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon put together a great film. Glosserman's efforts combined with Nathan Baesel's portrayal of Leslie Vernon produced an excellent movie and an iconic and likable character. Vernon eventually developed a cult following. But, perhaps Anchor Bay's decision to only run the film theatrically in a VERY small handful of theatres is why Behind the Mask didn't find its audience until DVD. A sequel is said to be in the works, but due to financial obstacles, it hasn't begun shooting. Maybe the second time around we will find Leslie Vernon getting the recognition he deserves.  

Angela Baker
Angela Baker, of the Sleepaway Camp films, became popular with cult audiences via a shocking performance from Felissa Rose and subsequent performances by Pamela Springsteen (With Rose reprising the role in Return to Sleepaway Camp). Angela holds the distinct honor of being the first transgendered serial killer in cinema. In spite of holding such a title, Angela is commonly overlooked in favor of  better known horror icons. It's too bad that Angela doesn't get more credit. She is by far the most unique character on our list.  

Pamela Voorhees
There would be no Friday the 13th: Part Two and certainly no Jason X or Freddy Versus Jason if it weren't for Mrs. Voorhees.  Pamela Voorhees kicked off the series of events that led to decades of her son Jason tormenting and butchering fornicating teenagers. Pamela Voorhees deserves a large piece of the credit and or blame for what Friday The 13th has become. Sadly, casual horror fans forget that the violent matriarch of the Voorhees clan even existed (As was evidenced in the first Scream film, when Casey tells Ghostface that Jason was the killer in the original Friday The 13th).

Frank Zito
Joe Spinell's performance, as Frank Zito, was drastically underrated outside the horror community, but is the primary reason Maniac has developed a rabid cult following amongst die hard horror fans. Spinell's creepy, compulsive, viscous portrayal of Frank made the film what it is. Maniac is reportedly still banned in Germany and England (30+ years after its initial release). When the remake was announced, much controversy arose amongst loyal fans of the film, regarding who would portray the epic role of Frank in the remake. Few actors are able to create characters that invoke such a strong reaction from their audience; and thus the reason why Frank graces this list.

Damien
Damien is one of the most cold blooded, calculating horror killers of years past, and he wasn't even old enough to drive, his first time out. Yet Damien rarely gets credit for helping to shape the future of killer kid cinema and horror films in general. While The Omen went on to ‘spawn’ several inferior sequels, the original still stands with classics of its time like The Sentinel and The Exorcist. Needless to say, Harvey Stephens' masterful portrayal of Damien, in the original film, is an integral part of what makes the film a classic.

Candyman
Candyman has never been given his due. Tony Todd turned in sufficiently jarring performances in the first two Candyman films; the first Candyman being one of Clive Barker's best and most haunting adaptations. The third, of course, is another story. But, for two films, Candyman delivered the scares and is a very unique, very creepy character. It's always shocked me that Candyman doesn't ever rank up there with fan favorites like Leatherface and Michael Myers. For us, Candyman is the most criminally underrated horror killer of our time.

We would like to extend honorable mention to Annie Wilkes (Misery), Cheng Lai-sheung (Dream Home), Mr. Slausen (Tourist Trap) and Mahogany (Midnight Meat Train).
 

This past weekend, 'Texas Chainsaw 3D' ended up defying initial box-office expectations and slaughtering the competition. Whether you liked the movie or not, it’s nice to kick off the new year with a horror title in the number one slot, no? And so, given Chainsaw’s success, it’s no surprise that a sequel has already been announced. "'Cause let’s face it, baby… these days… ya gotta have a sequel!"

As mentioned in our news post from earlier today, Millennium is moving forward with 'Texas Chainsaw 4', a suspect title that at least right now doesn’t make much sense considering in the new sequel timeline, this should be Part 3? But alas, part of the plan when bringing the Chainsaw property over to Lionsgate was to mirror the now dormant 'Saw' series with at least 6 (!) new movies, tentatively one per year.

Since I just spent a good chunk of my Christmas break revisiting every single film in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise, I started contemplating what I’d personally like to see in the upcoming sequel (or sequels) as a fan. Here are the top 5 things I’d like to see in the next Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie.

The Sawyer Family– In picking up from the original, the most radical departure from previous sequels is that they pretty much massacred the entire Sawyer clan, minus Leatherface during the opening fire fight. And now they’ve set Leatherface in present day with only one living relative that we know of. While I understand the need to keep Leatherface on his own for the story of 'Texas Chainsaw 3D' and while the iconic character is interesting enough on his own, he’s not nearly as much fun to watch without his wacky family surrounding him. The new film made me miss The Hitchhiker or Chop-Top or Tex. So although I don’t know exactly what new members of the Sawyer family they can possibly incorporate, I’d like to see Leatherface surrounded by some new crazy characters. What if him and Heather (Alexandra Daddario) start a new family up? Or better yet, in Tobe Hooper's 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2', he established that the Hitchhiker’s twin brother Chop-Top was fighting in the Vietnam War during the events of the original. There’s always room to bring Chop-Top back into the new continuity. Hell, bring Bill Moseley back as that character!

Cannibalism! While there was a dinner sequence in Platinum Dunes prequel 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning', the cannibalism angle was noticeably absent from their remake as well as the new film. Sure, it was somewhat implied by the "weird meat" that Leatherface kept around or the hanging of that Smashmouth guy on a hook. But the average audience member wouldn’t have picked up on that unless they were already well versed in the Chainsaw universe. And look – the cannibalism thing in the original is one of the most terrifying aspects of that movie. It’s shocking. It’s taboo. And hell, it’s still shocking and taboo, even for modern films as it’s still a subject most modern horror films have veered away from exploring. Anti-hero or not, Leatherface is a god damned cannibal because he doesn’t know any better. That’s how he was raised by Drayton. And so the idea of a crazed maniac not only killing you, but eating you afterwards still gives me nightmares. Bring on the chili contests!

More Masks– One of the most grotesque things about the Leatherface character is his eclectic masks made from the faces of his victims. In the original movie, Leatherface wears a total of 3 different masks, something that actor Gunnar Hansen (who portrayed him in the first movie and cameo-ed in the latest one) attributed to reflecting Leatherface’s state of mind, for example him wearing the lady face when Drayton comes home to appear domesticated. For Chainsaw 2& 3, he pretty much stuck to just one mask. 4, he had a few. The remake he wore a couple as well and in the prequel, there were also two. The point being, remember that one teaser poster of all the masks lined up? I thought that was a pretty bad-ass image. In the final movie, he pretty much only wore one mask, not counting the opening sequence which takes place right after the first movie. I vaguely recall him sewing a new mask, but if he did swap ‘em, his 2 masks throughout the movie looked identical. There’s even a scene in 'Texas Chainsaw 3D' where the cop sees dresses and make-up in Leatherface’s lair. Let’s see more sides of Leatherface’s personality as reflected in the masks he wears and let his freak flag fly high!

Formidable Foes– I'm still not comfortable with the idea of Leatherface being portrayed as an anti-hero. At the end of the day, he’s still a murdering machine that eats people, so he can’t be a "good guy", but held up against the Sheriff of the most recent movie, I can’t tell who’s more the despicable character. Point being, my favorite showdowns in the other films have always been strong willed bad-asses who go up against Leatherface either by choice or for survival. In Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, it was Dennis Hopper as Lefty, duking it out with Leatherface in the finale with two chainsaws. In Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, we had the character of Benny (Ken Foree) going up against Leatherface several times and putting up one hell of a fight. There are victims now from the latest film, so it’d be interesting to bring in perhaps a family member of one of Leatherface’s victim’s now seeking revenge, ala the Lefty character or just someone that has a reason to hunt Leatherface.

More Public Carnage– When Leatherface ran into that carnival after Heather, my first thought was "holy crap! This is the first time we’ve ever seen Leatherface out in a public setting! This is going to be nuts!" And instead, while cool, it ended up being a missed opportunity. You unleash someone like Leatherface into a carnival (which is a nice nod to Tobe Hooper’s The Funhouse, by the way) and have him not do anything is kind of a bummer. With that set-up, I was expecting something along the lines of when Freddy Krueger crashes that high school party in A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge. Pure carnage. But alas, it didn’t pan out that way. For the next film, let’s add to the legend! Let’s see Leatherface out in public! Imagine him running into that haunted house at the carnival? Or if he started a massacre out in public, kids today would’ve recorded it on their cell phones and immediately uploaded it to the internet. The legend of the Leatherface character would be all over the news with this one reported sighting. Hell, I’m sure bounty hunters might want to stroll into Texas for the sport of it and those could be potential formidable foes.

At this point, with a somewhat clean slate, there are so many promising directions they can take the franchise. Hopefully they go as bat-shit crazy with it as I hope they do. With a title like 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (and I wish they'd bring back the "massacre") your audience expects something crazy. Here's a chance to bring it in the sequel!

Netflix, in their first appearance at the semi-annual Television Critics Association conference, presented the first trailer for Hemlock Grove. The supernatural thriller from producer Eli Roth is getting its premiere on Netflix on April 19th, with all 13 "episodes" available on launch day. "It's like a long 13-hour movie as opposed to episodic television," executive producer Mark Verheiden said. 

The story, on it's surface, sounds like Twin Peaks: when a high school girl in Hemlock Grove (a steel community, as opposed to Twin Peaks' lumber community) is murdered, the concoction of bizarre townsfolk are drawn into the case. Unlike Twin Peaks, however, Hemlock Grove leans squarely into supernatural territory - no doubt about it. "There's no shortage of monsters on the show and they tend to fall on different varieties --  like what separates a human from a monster," said Brian McGreevy, whose novel, Hemlock Grove was the basis for the series. Famke Janssen, Dougray Scott, Bill Skarsgard, Landon Liboiron, Penelope Mitchell and Freya Tingley star.

Corri English is further cementing her status as a "scream queen" with the upcoming horror thriller Devil May Call. English will play Sam, a woman who works at the suicide call center that one saved her life, when she became blind. On her last night there, a regular caller, who feels Sam betrayed him by leaving, has come to show her his displeasure. Oh, and he is a sadistic serial killer, and Sam has been preventing him from killing himself for over a year. So, you know, this probably won't end well. The film also stars Tyler Mane and Traci Lords.

Corri stars in FEARnet's own original series, Holliston, which returns to FEARnet for its second, blood-splattered season this summer.

American Horror Story: Asylum Episode 211
“Spilt Milk”
Written By: Brad Falchuk
Directed By: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon
Original Airdate: 9 January 2012

In This Episode...

Kit is released from solitary so he can spend time with Grace and the baby (she names him Thomas.) Thredson insists that he is fully supportive of a strong, loving family unit. Unfortunately, the monsignor does not feel the same, and brings in a few nuns to remove Thomas to an orphanage. The nuns have to physically wrest the child away. Thredson swears to Kit that if he turns over the tapes, he will make sure that he, Grace, and Thomas can be a family again. Thredson offers to shift the blame for Bloody Face to Arden. Kit doesn’t know where Lana hid the tape, but he sees her out of the corner of his eye, shaking her head not to believe him, and Kit says he will see what he can do.

True to her word, Mother Claudia comes to Briarcliff to free Lana. She essentially smuggles her out, along with Lana’s medical files, so she has proof of what happened in Briarcliff. Lana takes the tapes, hidden in a sack of flour, and slips away into a waiting cab. Thredson, having just finished his conversation with Kit, arrives just in time to see Lana pull away. She presses the tape and a middle finger to the window as she leaves.

Thredson goes home to find Lana sitting patiently in the dark, waiting for him. She is clean and freshly groomed, and has a gun pointed at him. The tapes are with the police, and they are on their way. Before the cops get there, they have to have the prerequisite expositional/stalling for time conversation. Lana wants to know what he did to Wendy (she was the only one kept in one piece so Thredson could practice having set with her corpse. He couldn’t get it up until he turned her over. It was practice for Lana); where her body is (cut up into pieces and scattered along the Eastern seaboard and/or in scattered ashes.) Thredson wants to know if Lana will get rid of the baby once he is in prison. She will, and he has no use for her anymore. He wants to make her his last victim as the sirens close in on his apartment. He reaches for his gun on the bar, but Lana is quicker and shoots him once through the head.

At Wendy’s mausoleum (Lana needed a place to visit) she informs her other sapphic friends that she has a few things she needs to take care of, then she is moving to New York. One of the women refers Lana to a doctor who will abort her baby. But as the procedure is getting underway, Lana changes her mind. “No more death.”

Next, Lana is with the police. Judging by her belly, it is about four or five months later. She convinces the detectives to get a court order so that they can go see Jude - whom Briarcliff won’t allow visitors - and get her to corroborate Lana’s story. Upon arrival, the monsignor informs them that Jude killed herself a few weeks ago, and proffers the death certificate as proof. In reality, the monsignor has Jude locked away in solitary, where she has been since causing a ruckus and refusing her meds.

With Thredson dead and the Bloody Face case closed, Kit is freed. But he wants the monsignor to free Grace as well, and help them get their baby back. In exchange, he will walk away. He won’t talk to anyone about Briarcliff; he will forget all about it. The monsignor agrees, and Kit, Grace and the baby go home to his house. He is startled by a noise inside the long abandoned house, and discovers Alma in the bedroom, her own baby in her arms.

Speaking of babies, Lana has had hers. She is upset when the nurse brings him into her - she specifically told them that she did not want to see the baby. The baby has been crying for hours and is allergic to formula. Lana finally relents and agrees to breastfeed the baby.

Dig It or Bury It?

I feel like the story is really being propelled forward here. We are finally moving beyond the walls of Briarcliff. It was starting to feel like the story was going in circles in there, and there is a lot more story left to be told outside of the asylum. I think that, outside the asylum, Grace may actually be insane, and turn violent. And I am still not 100% certain that Johnny is Thredson and Lana’s kid. He may actually be Grace and Kit’s kid.  

Bloody Face

Johnny has some serious mommy issues. He hires a lactating hooker and breastfeeds off her. Taking a smoke break, Johnny starts complaining about how cold and hateful his mother was. He becomes agitated and attacks the hooker.

Prophecies?

Lana comes into the present day, when Johnny decides to go meet his mommy at a book signing. And Kit takes issue with the fact that Lana is more interested in her career than bringing down Briarcliff.

Congratulations to spooky family favorites Frankenweenie and ParaNormanon their nominations for best animated feature film.

Other genre nominations include Django Unchainedwhich brought in an impressive number of nods including best picture, supporting actor, cinematography, sound editing, and original screenplay. Hitchcock was nominated for best makeup and hairstyling, while Snow White and the Huntsman received two nominations, for visual effects and costume design.

Typically, the Academy shows horror love in the categories of visual effects, sound, music and art direction, but very rarely do we see a best picture nomination.

The Exorcist was nominated in 1973 for best picture, and a number of other categories, and won for best sound and best writing. Jaws was nominated in 1975 for best picture and won for best music, best sound and best film editing.

The only “horror” film to win an Oscar for best picture was Silence of the Lambs in 1991. It took home five Oscars in total. But, if you want to go a little broader in the definition of “horror,” Hitchcock’s noir thriller Rebecca should actually be considered the first to win for best picture, in 1940.

Read all of our Frankenweenie coverage here and ParaNormancoverage here.

Fans of Daniel F. Wilson’s book will be bummed to hear that Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Robopocalypse has been delayed for an indefinite period of time.

The film was full steam ahead, and it was reported that Anne Hathaway and Chris Hemsworth were in line to star, but it’s hit a major snag.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, “Spielberg spokesman Marvin Levy said the project was ‘too important and the script is not ready, and it's too expensive to produce. It's back to the drawing board to see what is possible.’”

Written by super nerd Wilson, who has a PHD in Robotics, Robopocalypse tells the story of the origins of the robot uprising that laid waste to humankind. It overlaps several stories of people who have managed to survive and who are instrumental in human rebellion against their evil robotic overlords.

The extremely talented Drew Goddard of Cloverfield and The Cabin in the Woods fame penned the adaptation, so it comes as a surprise that the script isn’t up to snuff. We’ll have to see what happens. But for now, the rest assured, the robots are at peace and you can use all electronics without getting maimed.

via THR

"An eye for an eye."

Check out the key art for The Walking Dead mid-season premiere. The tagline , "An eye for an eye." says it all. It's looking like Rick may be at a point of no return.

From AMC:

With his group in tatters, his sanity in question, and his own son questioning his every move, Rick (Andrew Lincoln) must somehow pull everyone together to face their greatest challenge -- the Governor (David Morrissey).  In order to survive, he must risk everything, including the group's very humanity.

Watch the sneak preview for the new season.The Walking Dead season three returns Sunday, February 10 at 9pm ET.
 

When we’re in the twilight of this console generation, with both Sony and Microsoft promising new consoles by the fall that will replace the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 respectively, it feels a little odd to be discussing the Playstation 2.  However, Sony has announced that they have finally ceased production on the influential console after 12 years of production, ending an astonishing run that boasted over 150 million consoles sold worldwide, a library of over 10,000 titles, and software sales exceeding 1.5 billion units sold.  It is easily the most successful video game console of any generation, and its astonishing life cycle has left an indelible mark on the industry that is unlikely to be topped.

That indelible mark has also been left on horror games, as that massive library boasted some of the best fear and frights that the industry has ever had to offer.  Join us as we reminisce over the life and death of horror gaming on the Playstation 2.

While Silent Hill was introduced a generation prior on Sony’s Playstation, Silent Hill 2 distilled the formula into a perfect bubbling brew of brutal monsters, deep psychological horror, and haunted pasts that has not been matched since, no matter how many times they want to reuse Pyramid Head.  The raw horsepower that the PS2 offered at the time offered some phenomenally detailed character models that still look good to this day, especially when hidden behind the game’s thick grain filter.  It’s a game that looked so distinctive and worked within the technological constraints so perfectly that playing it in 1080p in the recent Silent Hill HD Collection somehow feels less genuine than the original 480i output of the Playstation 2.

Siren
Right before Resident Evil 4 redefined survival horror, Siren was offering a more traditional take with a vicious twist.  While the usual survival tropes were in play—limited resources and a series of physically frail protagonists—the game also gave you the ability to “jack” into the senses of the zombified Shibito monsters that stalked the ruined town of Hanuda, Japan.  This allowed you to see and hear what your enemies could, allowing you to more skillfully run and hide from the stalking Shibito as ten different characters, each represented in a non-chronological slice of a story that centered on a religious cult and the awakening of an ancient god, almost like a J-horror riff on Lovecraft.

Actress Patty Shepard, with nearly 50 Spanish and Italian films to her credit, has died of a heart attack in her home in Madrid on January 3rd. She was 68.

Born in South Carolina, Shepard moved to Madrid at age 18 to study philosophy and never left. She starred in a number of Paul Naschy films, including La Noche de Walpurgis (aka The Werewolf Versus the Vampire Woman) and Los Monstruos del Terror (aka Assignment Terror). Other horror titles to her credit includes Hannah, Queen of the Vampires; Rest in Pieces; Edge of the Axe; Slugs; El Monte de las Brujas; and My Dear Killer.  

I love this necklace. It is pretty and elegant and says "I love Hellraiser" in a subtle way. If you weren't familiar with Hellraiser, you probably would just think this was a strange necklace, possibly an ode to voodoo. I suppose it could be, but everyone knows your heart belongs to Pinhead.

$30 at Etsy

Have you ever wondered what Freddy Kruger or Jason Voorhees may have looked like in high school? Everyone looks awkward in high school - and monsters are no different. Predator had rasta-dreads. Jaws had braces. Dracula was a fan of The Cure. Or at least, they did according to artist Greg DiGenti and his art piece: Movie Monster High 1986.

It’s been a good week for Walking Dead news. AMC just announced that the Activision game The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct is scheduled for release Tuesday, March 26.

Here’s the game description straight from AMC:

“In the game, players assume the role of the crossbow-wielding survivor Daryl Dixon (voiced by Norman Reedus from AMC's hit TV series) alongside his brother Merle (voiced by costar Michael Rooker). Together, they embark on a haunting, unforgiving quest across the Georgia countryside.

Players will need to tread carefully throughout this grim adventure, as resources are scarce and hope even scarcer. From scrounging for weapons, food and water to surviving encounters with the undead and the living, gamers will have to use their wits to stay alive in this terrifying, post-apocalyptic world. Do you risk using stealth to go in close for a quiet kill, attack from a distance and hazard attracting a swarm of walkers, or avoid the battle and live to fight another day? Helping survivors can bring benefits -- but can you afford to trust everyone you meet?"

Watch the video release announcement from Merle and Daryl and pre-order the game here.
 

via AMC

Man, January 12 and 13 are pretty amazing days in the history of horror movies. Universal Pictures released The Invisible Man Returns, a sequel one of their most classic horror titles, which boasted never-before -seen visual effects for which John P. Fulton received an Oscar nomination. Vincent Price plays the Invisible Man in his debut horror role.

Universal also released Son of Frankenstein, the sequel to Bride of Frankenstein, starring Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, and Basil Rathbone. Son of Frankenstein was hugely successful for Universal and re-invigorated the careers of the actors and crew involved with the production. It’s also the film where Frankenstein first dons that stylish fur vest.

In terms of more modern horror, this weekend saw the release of Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, which you can read all about here. It’s a personal favorite of FEARnet writer Rob Galluzzo.  I particularly like the fact that, in the trailer, a chainsaw is thrown to Leatherface by a lady in a lake and struck by lightning as he holds it aloft, as if he’s holding the chainsaw equivalent of Excalibur. Amazing.

Last but certainly not least, the Crypt Keeper made his feature-length debut on January 13, 1995 in Demon Knight. I can’t tell you how much I love the Crypt Keeper. Hands down, he has the best puns around. I like to think of him as horror’s answer to Fran Drescher.

Watch clips from all of the films:

Title: The Invisible Man Returns

Released: January 12, 1940

Title: Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III
Released: January 12, 1990
Tagline: There's Roadkill All Over Texas

Title:Son of Frankenstein
Released: January 13, 1939
Tagline: The black shadows of the past bred this half-man . . . half-demon ! . . . creating a new and terrible juggernaut of destruction !

Title:Demon Knight
Released: January 13, 1995
Tagline: Ready for your deadtime story ?

Just like the rest of us, zombies get ugly sweaters for Christmas.  I really like these nesting dolls. The faces are detailed and hilarious, with each member of this undead clan is sporting a unique and bewildered expression. They are drawn and painted by graphic designer Andrew Ford who offers several version of the matryoshka. If zombies don’t strike your fancy you can also choose from Yetis and robots too!
 

$150.00 on Etsy

Last night was the first Horror Trivia Night, sponsored by Shock Till You Drop and Fangoria. So naturally, Team FEARnet had to represent.

The games got underway around 8pm, and consisted of eight rounds: general horror; movie poster taglines; early horror directors; when nature attacks; know your ghosts; screen capture identification; and a sketching round. Questions ranged from easy and "mainstream (the name of the demon in The Exorcist; the name of Dexter's boat; director of The Creature From the Black Lagoon) to the far more obscure (draw the old Wizard Video logo; what kind of animal did Leslie Nielsen wrestle in Day of the Animals; what movie was about five Japanese businessmen whose ghosts haunt a woman named Doris.)

Team FEARnet (playing under the team name Rosemary's Adults) consisted of myself, Lawrence (editor-in-chief), Rick (standards & practices), Sarah (head of programming), Jeff (development), and Rob (web coordinator). With such a crackerjack team, how could we lose?

Well, we did lose. We didn't embarrass ourselves, but some of the questions were too obscure even for us. Regardless, it was a fun evening with horror nerds. If you missed out, the plan is to make this a monthly event, so keep an eye on JumpcutCafe.com.

Watch a clip for the follow up to Director Darren Lynn Bousman and writer/actor Terrance Zdunich’s The Devil’s Carnival, The Devil’s Carnival 2: The Librarian starring Tech N9ne as The Librarian.
 

Having worked as a librarian I can attest to the fact that some weird things go on in the stacks, but I haven’t seen anything quite like this teaser. That being said, adorable boys in kilts and cardigans would have been quite welcome in my library.

Apparently, the nine-minute teaser offers fans quite a few “visual and musical hints” so keep on the lookout.  In case you missed it, you can watch episode one here and get updates on the Facebook page.