Lost Girl Episode 302
“Subterfaenean”
Written By: Stephen Cochrane
Directed By: Steve Dimarco
Original Airdate: 21 January 2013

In This Episode...

Vex tags along with Kenzi and her friend Ozzy to an underground art event that is literally underground: in an abandoned subway tunnel. A brief power outage yields the death of one of the performers and the disappearance of Ozzy. Kenzi and Vex saw a shadowy fae blur past them.

Bo and Kenzi go back to investigate, and they stumble upon a population of subterranean fae who have been underground so long they are blind and can no longer survive in the sunlight. Their “leader,” an alligator fae named Atticus captures them. He once had a wife and child, but then they were forced deep underground and told they were being quarantined, but sickness only spread after they were forced underground. Atticus summons up a fog of gas and the girls wake up safe in their bed.

Hale, now the Ash, has left the force, so Dyson has a new partner: a bitchy dark fae named Tamsin. They are investigating the artist’s death when Bo charges in with claims that the subterranean fae have kidnapped Ozzy and are killing artists. Tamsin, not happy to see her, claims that the fae Bo fed on briefly at the end of last week’s episode was nearly drained dry and is currently in a coma. He was dark fae, and Tamsin plans to make Bo suffer. The police captain, meanwhile, cannot have all these strange stories from the sewers coming to the surface, so he insists - multiple times - that Dyson and Tamsin kill them all. Dyson believes there must be another way so he talks to Hale, who revealed that his plan was just to relocate all the sub-fae.

Bo and Kenzi are at home when Ozzy comes in, with no memory of being kidnapped. Taking him to a dreamweaver fae, they discover that Ozzy was being held above ground, in a shipping container. Bo and Kenzi free the other kidnap victims and take them to the police station. Kenzi recognizes many of them from missing person flyers in the station. Between that and the raging lunatic that is the captain, the girls go back into the sewer. The captain, not happy that Dyson didn’t get a chance to lock Bo up, follows them down. He is a Pied Piper fae, and had lured fae into the sewers to keep them there so he could feed. Atticus and his followers just want to be left alone. So Bo and Dyson leave him alone - with the police captain.

Also: Bo has been having night terrors, so Trick hires a dreamweaver to figure out why. She has a horrible vision of Bo cannibalizing someone and leaves without sharing what she saw.

Dig It or Bury It?

Tamsin really ruined this episode for me. She came into the episode as an uber-bitch, with no real reason to be, and only got bitchier from there. She was just unpleasant and unlikable in any way. I don’t know if it was my hatred of Tamsin that was distracting me, but in general, I found this episode to be disjointed and not fully fleshed out. Also, I was disappointed that there was not a single Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle joke anywhere in the episode. The Pied Piper was pretty awesome though.

Fae Tales

The Pied Piper stretches himself out to be long and thin. When he does so, he becomes almost translucent and his features blur together. He hypnotizes his victims with lullabies and a hypno-stare. The Pied Piper used to eat humans, until he got a taste of fae and kept them locked away for feast on. Apparently fae is far more delectable than human.

Prophecies?

There is a parasite that is going from host to host, causing the infected to go bug-nutty. 

Two new actresses have been added to the upcoming sixth season of HBO's True Blood.

Amelia Rose Blaire will play Willa Burrell, daughter of the governor of Louisiana. The two do not see eye-to-eye on the vampire rights issue (I have to assume she is "for.") Blaire's few credits have been mostly guest roles on shows like Grimm, 90210, Touch, and The Glades. 

Jurnee Smollett will play Nicole Wright, an idealist who is always looking to do what is right. Smollett's credits include Eve's Bayou, Roll Bounce, and Friday Night Lights. Smollett will join as a regular, while Blaire will be a recurring character with the option to become a regular.

Source: Deadline

EA loves cross-promoting their big-time titles with little bits of tasty DLC that injects their franchises into one another.  This trend continues in Dead Space 3, which gives Mass Effect 3 players a little something extra for their time and money: a suit of special N7 armor.  Check out the trailer after the break!

So Isaac Clarke and bromantic interest John Carver will now—for one reason or another—have the option to don N7-themed armor just like Commander Sheperd from the Mass Effect series, as long as you’ve got a save file on your hard drive from Mass Effect 3.  No words what special buffs or stats the Mass Effect armor will sport…hopefully it won’t bring a crappy ending to the Dead Space trilogy!  Hey-oh!

Dead Space 3 will release on February 5^th for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC.

Video Nasty is a term coined in the United Kingdom in 1982, describing films that were criticized by the press and religious groups for their violent content. The concern being that with titles available on home video, the films were accessible by anyone, with no age restrictions. The lack of a censorship system for home video titles led to The Video Recordings Act 1984. The Video Recordings Act required stricter censorship standards for titles released to home video than what was required for a film’s theatrical release.

With the introduction of home video in the UK, the governing standard of decency was the obscene publications act of 1959. Under that act, any title found to be indecent by the Director of Public Prosecutions could find the film’s producers, distributors and retailers subject to prosecution. The act also allowed for local police to seize content from video retailers if they felt that the material was in violation of the act.

With such loose standards for prosecution and seizure in place, The Video Retailer’s Association asked The Department of Public Prosecutions for a list of titles likely to be confiscated. In response, The DPP provided a list of titles that already had charges pending against the film’s distributors or had resulted in successful prosecutions. The list became known as The DPP list of video nasties.

Some of the entries on the video nasty list are true horror film classics and some are merely cheap trash cinema. All of the titles represent mass hysteria and censorship at its worst. We will now take a fond trip down memory lane and revisit five video nasties that are close to our heart.

I Spit on Your Grave (Day of the Woman)
I Spit on Your Grave was classified as a video nasty in July of 1983. It is currently available in the UK in truncated form, with nearly three minutes cut from the infamous rape scene. It’s no surprise that this rape/revenge tale made the list. I Spit on Your Grave features castration, graphic depiction of gang rape, buckets of blood, and an outrageous amount of nudity. I Spit on Your Grave wears its depravity like a badge of honor. The film was marketed as being based on a true story, but more accurately, part of the film is kind of loosely inspired by a single event that actually happened. The film’s creator, Meir Zarchi witnessed a woman stumbling out of the bushes in a public park. When he approached her, he learned that she had been raped by a group of men. Zarchi took the woman to the police and was appalled by the manner in which the officers treated her. The film is essentially his reimagining of how he might have liked to see the men punished for their wrong doings. However, none of the revenge sequences are based on actual events.  

The Last House on the Left
The Last House on the Left was banned in July 1983. It didn’t receive an uncut United Kingdom release until 2008 when it was finally distributed in all of its gory glory. Something I’ve always thought noteworthy about The Last House on the Left is that it’s produced by Sean S. Cunningham of Friday The 13^thfame. Yet, it seems that the average horror fan doesn’t know that. The Last House on the Left deserves (if you can say deserves) much of the credit for pioneering the rape/revenge sub-genre. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out how The Last House on the Left wound up on the video nasties list. It’s loaded with violence, features an absolutely horrifying rape scene, and lots of exposed nipples. 

Visiting Hours
This 1982 film was classified as a video nasty in September 1984, but dropped from the list just two months later in November 1984. The current UK DVD version is still missing 1 minute and ten seconds that were originally censored from the X rated theatrical release in 1982. Though its tenure as a video nasty was short, Visiting Hours boasts plenty of violence and disturbing imagery. The film pits misogyny against feminism and the results aren’t bad. Director Jean-Claude Lord has his ‘final girl’ up against a woman-hating psychopath in this pseudo slasher film. The unusual thing about Visiting Hours is that Lee Grant was in her fifties when she portrayed the film’s heroin, Deborah Ballin. She was twice the age of most of the leading ladies of horror at the time, but her turn in the film proved that there is no age requirement for taking on the role of scream queen. 

Night Train Murders
This Italian exploitation film was rejected for a theatrical release in 1976 as Late Night Trains. A cut version of Late Night Trains was released in 1981 with a subsequent uncut version being released the same year. The uncut version was listed as a video nasty but the status was dropped in March of 1984. The uncut DVD version of Night Train Murders was made available to UK audiences in 2008. Night Train Murders is noteworthy for many reasons, not the least of which is that Eli Roth cites it as inspiration for the train scene in Hostel II. It’s also worth mentioning that it it garnered criticism for its similarities to fellow video nasty, The Last House on the Left. Distributors used that controversy to their advantage, with the tagline “You can tell yourself it’s only a movie… But it won’t help.” Though, not a tale originating from entirely original ideas, I rather enjoy Night Train Murders. It’s classic Italian exploitation cinema, complete with bad acting and horrible dubbing. It’s loaded with violence and explores sexual perversions and fetishism in with vigor.

Evil Dead
Evil Dead’s theatrical release was censored by the British Board of Film Classification, with the home video release of the film being banned, all together. Evil Dead was eventually dropped from the list of video nasties in 1985. It’s easy to see why the Sam Raimi classic made the list. With what some may consider tasteless ‘rape vine’ scene, rampant gore, and occult overtones, the Director of Public Prosecutions had plenty to take issue with. Evil Dead deserves major credit for its role as a founding father of the ‘cabin in the woods’ sub genre. The much anticipated remake hits theaters April 13^th 2012. Having been on the set, I can safely say that it will do justice to the original where gore is concerned. It was nearly impossible to find any area of the set that wasn’t coated in stage blood. One of the reasons director, Fede Alvarez, chose to shoot the film sequentially was to preserve the continuity of the blood spatter.

This is one "no bull" piece of sci-fi / action / semi-horror, but first... a history lesson of sorts:

Universal Soldier (1992)
Universal Soldier: The Return (1999)
Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2009)
Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (2012)

These are generally considered the "canonical" Universal Soldier films, which means that Universal Soldier 2: Brothers in Arms (1998) and Universal Soldier 3: Unfinished Business (1999) are either "unofficial" movies or perhaps a second sequel thread that you can choose to follow if you love Universal Soldier so dang much. The connective tissue of the "true" Universal Soldier movies is the presence of Jean-Claude Van Damme (who has appeared in all four) and Dolph Lundgren, who skipped only Part 2. The stagnant franchise was re-ignited a few years back with Regeneration, which was considerably more fun than what you'd normally expect from a decade-late Part 3 spawned from a Part 2 that practically nobody saw -- and now the same team is back for for manly mayhem with Day of Reckoning.

None of this is meant to imply that the Universal Soldier series has much in the way of continuity, but if you're looking for a dark-edged genre mash-up that feels gritty one moment and slyly satirical the next, there's a nice batch of treats to be found in Day of Reckoning, regardless of if you refer to it as Part 4, Part 6, or a stand-alone carnage-fest. A bit too long at 105 minutes, and boasting perhaps two more plot threads than it actually needs, Day of Reckoning earns some points for pure ambition -- there's actually an attempt at a plot here, and that's always a little bit admirable -- the flick feels like a big dash of Robocop, a small splash of The Terminator, a decent amount of the Universal Soldier nonsense (of course), and perhaps even a semblance of super-anti-hero material.

And if you find that the plot stuff runs a bit long, just be patient. Day of Reckoning offers a handful of outstanding action sequences (one in a sporting goods store, and another in an underground tunnel) before letting our confused hero (Scott Adkins) go toe-to-toe in bad-ass boss battles with (yep, you guessed it) Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme. The main story is a pretty familiar throwback to Robocop (Adkins is an enhanced soldier who has horrible memories of his family's murder) but director John Hyams and his co-writers also seem to be having some fun with the highly-convoluted Universal Soldier mythology, and despite its flaws, the flick seems intent on not following the established formula, which at the very least keeps you from getting bored.

Obviously the little details help a lot. Michael Krassner's score sets a cool mood in the quieter moments; Hyams and Andrew Drazek have cut their action scenes remarkably well, especially for a low-budget movie; and last but not least, the massive bad-ass known as Andrei Arlovski makes for a great evil bastard who simply will not give up until he smashes Adkins' skull. All in all, the plot kinda flew past me and I didn't really mind all that much, but when Day of Reckoning sticks to the fights, the thugs, and the attitude, it's a pretty good time.

READ FEARnet's PARTNER REVIEWS FOR UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING

Dark Skies looks like it will be an interesting blend of scary movie genres, mixing elements of both ghost stories and alien invasion stories. The official synopsis: "As husband and wife Daniel and Lacey Barret witness an escalating series of disturbing events involving their family, their safe and peaceful home quickly unravels. When it becomes clear that the Barret family is being targeted by an unimaginably terrifying and deadly force, Daniel and Lacey take matters in their own hands to solve the mystery of what is after their family."

Keri Russell (Grimm Love, Mission: Impossible III) and Josh Hamilton (J. Edgar) star in a film written and directed by Scott Stewart (Priest, Legion). Dark Skies lands in theaters February 22nd.

In a top-secret research facility buried deep beneath the Appalachian mountains, an elite group of scientists has finally succeeded in opening a pathway to another Earth – a world that is strikingly similar to our own, but fundamentally different in some important ways. This new Earth once had a civilization much like our own, but something has all but wiped it out. Now that something has moved through the breach into our own world, and within hours everything we know is falling to ruin.

It’s an unconventional setup for a zombie novel, one that’s more science fiction than straight horror. Rather than moldy corpses rising mysteriously from their tombs and shambling out of fog-enshrouded graveyards, we’ve got a ravenous disease that doesn’t crave brains or flesh; it only craves survival. To that end, its hosts move fast, spreading it with bite after bite after bite.

Coldbrook may step away from the characteristics of the Romero films, the Brian Keene novels, and the majority of books and movies and stories that have kept the zombie subgenre rolling for so long, but it doesn’t step away from the things that make good horror fiction work; namely, characters you become invested in, an engaging premise, and moments of knuckle-whitening terror. Author Tim Lebbon, who cut his teeth in horror before branching out into fantasy and science fiction (he’s got a Star Wars novel coming out later this year), brings elements of all three genres together in this giant page-turner, released at the end of 2012 by the new publishing imprint of Hammer, the infamous (and beloved) horror movie studio that’s in the midst of a colossal comeback.

Speaking of colossal, this is a really big book – over 600 pages. Lebbon pulls off the amazing trick of making a book of this size read like a novella; you reach the end thinking that, surely, there must be more. That’s not to say that there isn’t a satisfying conclusion. Although many questions are left unanswered, and many problems are still waiting to be solved, the book ends in a perfectly logical place – a place where much has been lost, but great hope still remains.

One way Lebbon manages such a huge block of manuscript is by juggling a number of narrative threads. There’s the story of Jonah, one of the leads on the Coldbrook project, and one of the last people alive in the facility after things go wrong. There’s Vic, a member of the Coldbrook team who took to the hills to save his family, turning the plague loose on the world in the process. There’s Jayne, a woman already ravaged by disease when this new horror is unleashed on the world, and her unlikely protector, Sean; Jayne, it turns out, may be the last hope for our version of mankind. And then there’s Holly, another Coldbrook team member, who makes her escape into the breach, where she discovers a whole new world, and becomes a bridge of sorts in bringing these two Earths together.

While there are definitely elements of science fiction in Coldbrook, Lebbon never forgets that horror is the order of the day. The breach, the existence of another Earth, and the details of the disease are all important elements, but the emphasis remains on the terror of a crumbling society and the fear of a predator that can’t be slowed down or reasoned with. Lebbon juggles all of these different ideas and concepts with considerable skill, resulting in a story that’s epic but personal, tragic but not hopeless.

At the end of the day, your feelings toward zombies or parallel universes or sci-fi should take a backseat when considering whether to give Coldbrook a try. Just ask yourself if you like top-rate storytelling, and if the answer is yes, Coldbrook should be your next destination.

- - -

Order Coldbrook by Tim Lebbon

Blu Gilliand is a freelance writer of fiction and nonfiction. He covers horror fiction at his blog, October Country, and contributes interviews to the Horror World website. Follow him on Twitter at @BluGilliand.

Are you the ultimate Insidious fan? Prove it, and you could win a walk-on role in the upcoming Insidious: Chapter 2. Make a video about your fandom - act out a scene, dress up, sing a song, or just plead your case. Director James Wan, writer Leigh Whannell, and producer Jason Blum from the first Insidious film (and all three are returning for the second) will judge your submission and personally pick one lucky fan for an all-expenses paid trip to Los Angeles for a walk-on role in the film.

To enter, just go to InsidiousCastingCall.com. Contest is open until February 4th. Insidious: Chapter 2 will bring back stars Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Lin Shaye, and Ty Simpkins and is due in theaters August 13th.

Disney had originally conceived a feature adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Graveyard Book as a stop-motion animation directed by Henry Selick (Nightmare Before Christmas.) The project, which was looking to an October release, fell apart and it looked like the project was DOA. But now it looks like Disney has reworked the project to be a live-action feature, and Ron Howard is in talks to direct. 

The Graveyard Book is about a boy who is raised by ghosts after his parents are murdered. Years later, the murderer - of perhaps unearthly origins - returns to finish the job. Naturally, this is a children's book.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

Face Off Episode 402
“Heroic Proportions”
Original Airdate: 22 January 2013

In This Episode...

The contestants must make their own superhero. The winner of this week’s challenge will see their characters appear in an upcoming DC comic book. There were no guest judges.

The Creations

Eric Z.’s superhero was based on his real-life hero, his father. Unfortunately, his superhero had a massively overdeveloped left arm - but was not named Captain Whack-Off. He is safe.

Autumn wanted to make a 1970s-style superhero, one her daughter would want to be. She was definitely the most superhero-y, but it was a sloppy paint job. She is safe.

Alam had problems. She made a glass man hero. It had a really cool face sculpt, but he was basically wearing a unitard that looked like pajamas. The big problem was the enormous back piece, with huge shards of “glass,” was far too heavy. She had to remove it before her model went out on stage. She is safe.

Jenna’s hero was named Silversight, whom she imagined as Wonder Woman with wings. The wings were kind of a mess and the face makeup was basically a half mask. She is safe.

Alex made an underwater superhero with tentacles and scales. A perfectly adequate facial sculpt was marred by tentacles that looked like lumpy stuffed socks. “H2O” was written on her chest which made me want to slap her. She is safe.

Kris’s was another, perfectly adequate facial sculpt with split-open skull that was kind of cool (except that it was painted weird neon colors.) The costuming was unforgivable. He is safe.

Wayne’s hero was called Solarium, a protector of the Earth. The paint job wasn’t finished. He is safe.

Anthony wanted to do a lava hero. As the time ticked down, he couldn’t get his mold open and had to forgo the chest and back piece. His awesome cracked lava sculpt saved him. Neville said he turned lemons into lemonade. Ve felt this was the first lava theme that worked. Glenn thought the head sculpt was genius and loved the way the colors tied together. He is a top look.

Eric F. fell back on his horror illustration skills to create Dick Gritty (hee hee) a 1940s character who was left for dead by an evil crime syndicate (not that there are many benevolent crime syndicates.) He exposed human anatomy with clear domes and has working, visible lungs. Glenn felt that Eric took a risk - and it paid off (it also reminded him of a toy he had as a kid.) Neville was impressed with Eric’s accurate working knowledge of human anatomy. He is a top look.

House created Robot Girl, a “kick-ass cyber girl,” a pro fighter in the future who is out for revenge. She is pretty cool, with cyber tentacles coming out of her head. This character really spoke to Glenn; Ve liked how cohesive the muscle and tissue and wiring worked together. He is a top look.

Michael’s hero was Elijah, bringer of plagues, based on a traditional plague doctor. He was having a touch time with the mask and it shows. The whole affair looks like a cheap drugstore Halloween costume. There was no sculpting and virtually no makeup; the face was simply a fabricated mask. Glenn found that unacceptable and the entire project was time squandered. Ve agreed. He was a bottom look.

Meagan created Freedom Fighter, a hero built from the Twin Towers. Unfortunately, the terrible face sculpt looked like a melty Jigsaw face, and the Twin Tower arm pieces looked like remote controls, according to Ve. Not only that, but the arm pieces wouldn’t stay on, so Meagan duct taped them on - and thought no one would notice. She is a bottom look.

Katie’s hero, Re-Volt, was some kind of electricity hero. She wanted the costume to have a sort of homemade feel, because she wanted it to look like the hero himself had made it in his home (or his parents’ basement.) So right there, you know that will bite her in the ass. And it did. Glenn thought it looked like a Juggalo tiki mask from a Halloween frat party. She is a bottom look.

The Verdict?

Despite his lack of chest pieces, Anthony’s sculpt was so good, and his costuming so seamless, that he won. Two in a row - wouldn’t that be fun if he made a clean sweep?

Michael was sent home. That must have been a tough choice - there were a lot of terrible projects.

Dig It or Bury It?

This week’s challenge was kind of boring: make a superhero. There was no other direction, no limits, nothing. Just make a superhero. That would be fine, but then the projects were so terrible this week. At one point, I was so frustrated I wanted them all to go home.

Prophecies?

A demonic challenge with a devilish twist. 

With new footage comes new horrors. If this clip from the second half of The Walking Dead Season 3 tells us anything, it’s that nothing good is going to happen. There’s never-before-seen footage in this one and it looks like even the grandfatherly Hershel has gone off the deep end. The Governor is taking his brand of justice to a new extreme and the biggest question this season is where Andrea’s loyalties lie. Fans of the graphic novel can take heart in the fact that it’s staying true to the feel of the comic.

Watch it below:

The folks at Blurppy.com weren’t so thrilled with the first World War Z poster art, so they asked artists Tracie Ching, Midnight Marauder, Marko Manev, Chris Garofalo, Marie Bergeron, Adam Rabalais, David Moscati and Matt Ferguson to come up with their own takes on the film.

Working with very limited information about the movie, they designed some creative and beautiful concept art.  You may notice some references to iconic war and revolution posters. See a few favorite posters below and more images at Blurppy.com.
 

This week, Park Chan-wook’s Stoker made its Sundance debut for all the lucky people in Park City, Utah. And the rest of us? We get an English-language trailer.

Quite frankly, the music doesn’t fit any of the other marketing that’s gone along with this film. It’s jarring - at odds with the mood and visuals. Sometimes this approach works, like Naked City's music in Funny Games, but this time it doesn’t.

Not stoked. Up until this point everything has looked fantastic and the first reviews out of Sundance have been positive. Here's hoping this is nothing more than a small misstep.
 

Nothing says "home-made" gift like crocheted projectile vomit.

Sometimes I get down on crafting. How many tea cozies can one world possibly need? But then I see something like this fully crocheted scene from The Exorcist and it renews my faith in handicrafts. The hand-spun set shows a crocheted Regan sitting on top of her bed, projectile vomiting onto a stunned Father Merrin. It’s frightening how detailed this is, Regan’s face is covered with cuts and Father Merrin looks appropriately disturbed.

More details below, each one is made to order.

Regan sits about 7" tall, Merrin stands at around 9" tall. The two figures are connected by the puke stream, but Regan can be moved from the bed. Bed measures about 7"H x 7.5"L x 6"W and is made from balsa and bass wood, stained, then completed with a crocheted mattress, pillow, and tiny quilt.
 

$250.00 on Etsy.com

 

Jim Mickle’s tale of human-munching family the Parkers was picked up for distribution by eOne after premiering in Sundance’s Midnight screenings. Deadline reports that We Are What We Are was courted by Magnolia, Lionsgate and, Drafthouse, but the final seven-figure deal was made with eOne on the flight back to L.A.

“That premise is not some slasher film, it’s far more stylish and the buyer crowd and audience at the premiere screening ate it up and feel they’ve found a director with a voice worth hearing. The film has gotten strong reviews beyond the genre crowd, and it gives eOne a good theatrical offering,” Deadline said.

eOne will put it out in a platform theatrical release. Read Eric Stanze’s account of directing 2nd unit on the film in the Surviving Cinema blog.

via Deadline

Troma Films, the makers of such cinematic masterpieces as The Toxic Avenger, Surf Nazis Must Die!, and Zombie Island Massacre have launched a YouTube channel dedicated to sharing their trade secrets with fans and aspiring filmmakers.

From the website:

Troma will post free secrets to financing, producing, and selling movies which Lloyd Kaufman has gained over 40 years in the film industry, along with segments featuring the film industry’s leading producers, directors, and actors, such as, James Gunn, Trey Parker & Matt Stone, Eli Roth, Penelope Spheeris, Stan Lee, George Romero, Jenna Fisher, Roger Corman, David Cronenberg, and many more.

Based upon Kaufman’s hit Make Your Own Damn Movie! book and DVD series, a brand-new filmmaking lesson will be posted every Friday via Your Own Damn Channel.“This is film school on YouTube,” said Lloyd Kaufman. “We have thanked our fans for keeping us in business for 40 years by making 250 of our best movies available on YouTube for free, and we are keeping up with that tradition by offering this companion piece to my book and DVD series free of charge as well.”

Right now there are videos about funding your movie, making your fans your distributors, and how to get your movie to Sundance. Check it out, pretty cool.

Legend of the Red Reaper’s Tara Cardinal teamed up with David Williams and producer/ martial artist extraordinaire Sean Wyn to create Scarlet Samurai: Incarnation.

Judging from the trailer, it’s part-co-ed adventure, part- horror fantasy, and part-martial arts action flick.  The movie stars Alicen Holden (Dukes of Hazzard), Christian Boeving (Battledome, Zombie Massacre), Maria Olsen (Paranormal Activity 3, Percy Jackson), Horror Cult Icon DeeDee Bigelow (Alien Armageddon, Show Girls 2), Justin Irwin, Patricia Dunn, Catherine Scrivo and Tara Cardinal (Wrath of the Crows, Zombie Massacre) as the Scarlet Samurai.

Synopsis and trailer below:
Five reckless college kids on an urban archaeological expedition uncover a preternatural evil, and discover only a legend can fight a myth..

Almost a century ago, the Buffalo Central Terminal was cursed. Eighty years (and 922 missing persons) later, we find Ikari  trying to follow in her (missing) father's archaeological footsteps. But Ikari--a part Chinese, part Japanese, half Jewish lesbian--has problems. She's suicidal, her girlfriend dumped her, she's failing her classes, she's about to lose her scholarship, her twin sister Feng is a samurai with supernatural abilities, and, on top of it all, she still lives with her Jewish mother (Maria Olsen).

To keep Ikari and his other students from failing, Professor Harrison sends them on a quick "in and out" field expedition to the Terminal. Along for what should be a fast and fun exploration are Ikari's best friend and gay fashion photographer Michael, goth martial artist Tavy, mild-mannered T.A. Lindsey, and Ikari's recently estranged ex-girlfriend Becks. But Ikari has other ideas... obsessed with her father's research and trying desperately, if not comically, to get her blonde, beautiful, and cold ex-girlfriend back, she unknowingly leads the team deeper and deeper into the ominous 17-story building...

…and right into the lair of the Jiang Shi.

Considered by Western Culture to be a myth, the zombie-like Jiang Shi is an undead demon that sucks Chi (the life force) from its victims while torturing, raping, and paralyzing them with its venomous claws. And now it is after them.

Samurai-in-training Feng, psychically linked to her twin sister Ikari, races to the Terminal to save Ikari and her friends from the Jiang Shi and its endless horde of undead minions. To defeat the mythical creature Ikari and Feng will have to join forces to become a legend.  Because it takes a Legend to fight a Myth.

A few weeks ago we excitedly mentioned the first two roles that the Dexter team was looking to fill. Well, those roles have been filled.

In the role of Dr. Evelyn Vogel, a "formidable and whip-smart neuro-psychiatrist in her late 50s who assists the law in profiling criminals," especially "young psychopaths," producers have hired Charlotte Rampling. The actress is probably best known for her role in the controversial Nazi drama The Night Porter. Other credits include Swimming Pool, Orca, and Melancholia.

The other role, that of Jacob Elroy, a "handsome and straightforward former cop who now owns his own private eye business," has been filled by Sean Patrick Flanery. Genre fans probably remember him from Saw 3D and The Devil's Carnival.

No word yet on whether a deal has been reached to have Yvonne Strahovski return in her role of Hannah, the serial poisoner whom Dexter fell in love with. Unlike most season-long guest roles, Hannah was not killed off - she merely went to prison, leaving the door wide open for hers and Dexter's story to continue.

Dexter returns to Showtime on June 30th (several months earlier than usual) for its eighth season. A decision on whether or not this will be the final season will be reached closer to the premiere date.