Edible entrails: Simple, brilliant, and deliciously gross. They look like real innards, but they actually contain very traditional and yummy ingredients. They are a twisted take on a ‘50s cocktail party hors d'oeuvre - if the party was hosted by the Sawyers.

This recipe comes from The Homicidal Homemaker who got the idea while watching The Walking Dead.

“While watching season 2 of The Walking Dead on AMC every Sunday night, I braaainstormed the idea for this dish that could be served as a party appetizer or a meal for two. I posted a picture on my personal Facebook, and not a single person correctly guessed what’s tucked inside this 100% edible dish that looks strikingly realistic to the entrails of…something…or someone…that was once alive.”

Read on for the easy-to-make recipe and secret ingredients.

Ingredients:

•    2 cans of refrigerated Crescent Dough, or puff pastry (I used Pillsbury)
•    Hotdogs (for 2 cans of dough, I used 12 hotdogs)
•    1 egg
•    1 Tablespoon of water
•    Food coloring (I used AmeriColor Gels in Red, Electric Pink, Electric Blue and Electric Purple)
•    Paint Palette, or divided dish
•    1 brand-new paintbrush (or a food-grade brush)
•    1 greased baking sheet
•    rolling pin, optional
•    knife & cutting board

Step One: Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees, or at the temperature recommended on your Crescent Dough package. Begin by cutting off the ends of the hotdogs, and discard them…or do what I did and chop them into tiny pieces and give them to your doggies as a treat. They loved it!
Cut the remaining length of the hotdog into bite-sized pieces. It doesn’t really matter if they’re even; you’re simply cutting them into tiny pieces so it’s easy to manipulate the ‘entrails’ into the desired shape.

Step Two: Make your egg wash. Simply crack an egg into a small dish, add 1 Tablespoon of water, and whisk together until full mixed.

Step Three: Open your crescent dough, and knead into a solid ball. You don’t want any traces of the perforated lines that the dough comes with. Pull off chunks of dough, roll flat with a rolling pin, and use your hands to manipulate the dough into a long length. Make sure it’s wide enough to fully wrap around a hotdog.  To be quite honest, this step wasn’t very easy, as the dough didn’t want to keep it’s shape. However…this totally works in our favor, giving us tiny imperfections which really adds to the final look of the dish. So no worries if you aren’t working with perfectly
flat and shaped rectangles.

Step Four: Lay out the bite-sized pieces of the hotdog onto your dough pieces. Brush one edge with egg wash, and fold and tuck under. Set aside, seam side down.

Step Five: Once you have used all of your dough and hotdog pieces, take your greased baking sheet and carefully arrange the ‘entrails’ end to end, and manipulate them into your desired shape. Brush the ends with more egg wash and press together. Also brush egg wash in between the pieces, where they touch, and gently press together.

Step Six: Use a knife or toothpick to add further indentations and detail to the entrails. Then, add a small bit of food coloring to the paint palette. Add a small amount of egg wash to each color, to make a ‘paint’.  Using your paintbrush, begin adding color to the dough. I started off with pink, added red to the crevices and indentations, and then went over it all with blue and purple in places.

Step Seven: Pop it in the oven! I left mine in the oven for about 15 minutes and it was perfect.

Step Eight: Let cool slightly, and then use a large spatula to gently lift it off of the baking sheet. Mine was quite large, so I simply loosened it from the baking sheet, and then use the spatula to slide it onto my serving dish.

Get more recipes at The Homicidal Homemaker.
 

Supernatural Episode 812
“As Time Goes By”
Written By: Adam Glass
Directed By: Serge Ladouceur
Original Airdate: 30 January 2013

In This Episode...

We start in 1958 in Normal, Illinois. A man named Henry says goodnight to his son before he heads to “work.” Work is actually a secret magical society into which he is about to be inducted. His friend, Josie, is called in for her induction first. Screams, and the sounds of a struggle draw Henry into the ceremony room. Several elders are dead, and Josie is clearly possessed by a demon. With his dying breath, one of the elders presses a box into Henry’s hand and begs him to protect it. Henry races into another room and casts a blood sigil. It is supposed to connect blood to blood and bring him back to his son. Instead, it shoots him into 2013, right into Sam and Dean’s motel room.

So if you haven’t guessed already, Henry is Sam and Dean’s grandfather. John Winchester grew up believing his father ran out on him, when in actuality he was shot into the future. Henry demands to see his son, John Winchester, which instantly puts Dean on edge. Before they can sort anything out, the possessed Josie comes through the same sigil doorway and attacks. Dean daggers her, which doesn’t kill her but does slow her down enough for the three Winchesters to escape.

Once in relative safety, the three of them finally clear the air. Henry is angry and confused until he finally believes Sam and Dean when they say they are his grandsons. He is not happy to hear that they, like their father, are hunters. Hunters “apes,” uncouth, and the lower class of demon wranglers. The Winchesters were a long line of “men of letters,” and the boys were legacies, meant to be chroniclers of “all that men don’t understand.” Or, as Dean quips, “You’re Yoda to our Jedi.” Henry is intolerant of his grandsons’ hunting ways until he reads John’s journal, which was written in the journal Henry ordered just before he disappeared.

Josie has been possessed by Abbadon, a “Knight of Hell.” She is a first born demon - the first fallen. Archangels were supposed to have killed all the Knights of Hell - obviously they missed one. That is why she can’t be killed by traditional methods. Sam researches some of the other elders that trained Henry, and find one still living in Kansas. The trek begins the next day, but when Sam wakes up, he finds Henry has gone - but thoughtfully left them a note. So the boys split up: Dean looks for Henry while Sam travels to Kansas.

Dean finds Henry in a local magic shop, hoping that another blood sigil will send him back in time to John. Dean tries to talk him out of it (you don’t know if it will work, if you will survive the trip, it may mean that Sam and I never existed, etc) but Henry is stubborn. A phone call causes Dean to knock Henry unconscious to keep him from completing the spell.

Meanwhile, in Kansas, Sam is sitting with Larry, the assumed name of the last remaining elder. Larry tells him that what Abbadon is after is the ornate ceremonial box slipped to Henry that night in 1958. Henry didn’t know what it was, but Larry tells Sam: it holds a key that, if used, would reveal every spell and magic ever collected throughout history - basically, the supernatural motherlode. Larry gives Sam some coordinates and tells him that if he ever gets his hands on the box, bring it to those coordinates and “shut the door.” It is the only place in the universe that the box can be safe. It is impervious to everything and anything - except for the key. It would mean sealing the door on the world’s collected knowledge of magic, but at least it would keep it out of demon hands. Suddenly Larry is killed and Sam is knocked out. Abbadon has taken up residency in Larry’s wife. She calls Dean and tells him that she wants to trade: Sam for Henry and the box. This is why Dean knocked Henry out. Anything to save Sammy.

Dean and Henry go to meet Abbadon and Sam. While we don’t know it at the time, in the car, Henry and Dean have devised a plan to stop Abbadon. At the warehouse, the exchange is made. Sam is safe with his brother, and Henry is not-so-safe with Abbadon, who immediately reaches into his stomach for funsies. The box he is supposed to be carrying is nothing more than a deck of cards. Henry shoots her in the head. This slows Abbadon down, but does not stop her. Unfortunately, she quickly learns that all her powers have been blocked. Henry had carved a devil’s trap into the tip of the bullet, which neutralized her power. Dean steps up and beheads her easily. Since she can’t be destroyed, they are going to chop her up into little pieces, scatter her remains, and bury them beneath cement. Henry dies from his injuries, and the boys give their “deadbeat” grandfather a proper burial.

Dig It or Bury It?

I really enjoyed this episode. We got some great Winchester mythology. It wasn’t an action-y episode, but it was story-heavy, in a good way. It propelled the characters forward and wasn’t just marking time until a more “important” episode.

Spooky Humor

Dean to Sam, when Henry first falls out of their closet: “Dudes time traveling through motel closets? That’s what we’ve come to?”

Prophecies?

Two things you need to know about next week’s episode: it is full of Nazis (the world’s most perfect supervillain) and it is called “Everybody Hates Hitler.” I’m already laughing.

Duncan Jones is awesome for many reasons. First off, Moon is an excellent film. If you haven’t seen it, do so now. Secondly, well, he’s David Bowie’s son. With Moon and Source Code under his belt, Jones is now taking on a new world, never-before-seen on the big screen: Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft.

Legendary Pictures is making Warcraft; it's a project that has been in the works since 2006. In 2009 Sam Raimi was briefly attached but dropped out to make Oz the Great and Powerful.  According to The Hollywood Reporter, the project boasts a budget of $100 million. It’s a much larger film in terms of financing and scale than Jones has previously tackled.  

There isn’t a whole lot of information on script penned by Charles Leavitt who wrote, among other highly-popular films, Blood Diamond and The Express.  One can only assume it’s going to be epic.

Warcraft is looking at a fall 2013 start date.

via THR

It takes all kinds of critters to make Farmer Vincent’s fritters!

Farmer Vincent is the king of farm-to-table. Making small batch smoked meats and fritters, he’s a Brooklyn bistro’s dream.  There’s just one tiny catch: all of his delicious meats are made from people.

Movie: Motel Hell

Year: 1980

Deadly Recipe: Farmer Vincent’s Fritters are made from top-quality human meat that has been planted in the ground for a number of days and force fed. Vocal cords are cut early on so the animals can't call for help. Sadly, it can’t be called organic, exactly, because Vincent and Ida have to sedate their animals.

Chef: There are really two cooks in the kitchen. Farmer Vincent is head chef, and Ida works as the Sous-chef helping to capture, feed, and cultivate the unlucky strangers who happen by Motel Hell (o). Vincent knows the perfect mixtures of meat, and which parts work best as fritters. Tongues don’t mix with pork.

Culinary Kill: There are quite a few great moments of planting and harvesting, but none so heart-warming as the moment Vincent and Ida share while force-feeding the bunch of hippie ner-do-wells who happened by in a van.

“You think I’m doing this all for the fun,” Ida asks as Vincent looks on proudly. “Somebody’s got to take some responsibility for the planet.”

Leftovers: In the end things don’t turn out so well for Vincent. After a fight in which he wears a pig’s head and brandishes a chainsaw, he is mortally wounded. His final words a sad lament to his secret use of preservatives.

Watch a clip:
 

Atlanta's six-man metal combo Woe, Is Me (the comma is intentional) is carving a memorable swath across the nation, thanks to their famously manic live shows (with a heavy emphasis on audience participation) and an infectious fusion of bottom-heavy riffs, melodic hardcore, electronic atmospheres and roof-raising anthems. So far this year they've toured with Of Mice and Men; next month they'll be playing Soundwave in Australia, followed by several UK shows with Pierce the Veil; and this summer, they'll be joining the legendary Vans Warped Tour... all of them featuring songs from their latest album Genesi(s).

Horror has been good to Danielle Panabaker. At only 25-years-old, the bubbly actress has already appeared in 2009’s Friday the 13th, The Crazies remake, Piranha 3DD and The Ward. Now, there’s Girls Against Boys.

Opening in New York and Los Angeles theaters on February 1st, the Austin Chick -directed movie follows college student Shae (Panabaker) as she is terrorized by several men over the course of a few days. Pushed over the edge, Shae teams up with co-worker Lu (Nicole LaLiberte) for a gruesome killing spree against her attackers and any other male unlucky enough to cross their path. But not everything is as it seems and Shae must wrestle with her personal demons to break free of Lu’s seductive control. Panabaker spoke exclusively to me by phone about Shae, exacting revenge and her dream horror role.  

What impressed you about the script for Girls Against Boys?

There are a lot of films where women have the role of someone’s wife or girlfriend or daughter or sister. This is a role that was really about women, and in particular, one woman’s experience. It felt to me like a coming of age story. This young woman in New York, who has gone off to college, unfortunately goes through this really traumatic event. I’ve always seen it as a coming of age story and that was really appealing to me to see the whole life of this character in the movie.

Can you talk about what brings Shae to the breaking point? Is Lu partially to blame?

Absolutely. Necessity is the mother of invention, so who knows what really brought Lu into her life. I think the assault was pretty jarring to her and something like that doesn’t go away over night. Shae needed a way to deal with it.

Describe Shae’s dynamic with Lu and how it changes over the arc of the movie.

Their relationship is complicated. If it was described on Facebook, it would certainly say it’s “complicated.” From Shae’s perspective, the relationship starts out as a guardian angel, someone who comes in, who has been on the peripheral of your life and now all of a sudden, she’s front and center. That’s where their relationship begins. You get to see this friendship flourish, especially as Lu takes an older sister role as a protector. We can all relate to having someone who showed us the ropes, in one way or another. That’s how the relationship begins and Shae then goes through something really terrible. Lu is there to pick her up, get her back on her feet and helps her get going. Shae places a lot of trust in Lu. I might argue it is misplaced trust, but it certainly got her going.

In Friday the 13th, The Crazies and Piranha 3DD, you were on the receiving end of some brutal punishment. Did it feel good dishing it out for a change?

It was great and really fun, as sort of messed up as that sounds. It was great, as a woman, to see a woman really taking charge. Particularly in iconic stories like Friday the13th, the women are always “getting their due” for being a slut or having bad behavior. It was nice to see the tables turned in this film.

How graphic is Girls Against Boys compared to some of your other projects?

I would say it’s definitely not as graphic. Our film was made for less than a million dollars and one of the limitations of having such a small budget is you don’t have a lot of money for special effects. The day we were shooting the cutting of the feet scene, we showed up on set and there was supposed to be one left foot and one right foot. Unfortunately, they had sent two left feet and they also looked terrible. Austin had to really adapt and didn’t shoot that scene the way he had anticipated because he didn’t have all the tools at his disposal. I actually think it’s a great thing because it leaves it so much more to an audience member’s imagination. You don’t see very much happening, but you can hear it. That gives me goosebumps. I would say it’s not visually as bloody as other films that I have done, but it’s still jarring.

Do you have a favorite disturbing sequence you really got into?

Not particularly. Working with blood is so difficult. It’s so sticky and you can’t get rid of it. It never goes away and gets under your fingernails. I think the scene in the club is pretty fantastic and chaotic.

Considering the physical and psychological ordeal Shae endures, were the girls justified with their revenge?

Personally, I think murder is too far, but what’s great about this film is there is an element of Alice fell down the rabbit hole. You got to the end of the film and that scene in the stairwell… it’s a question of what really happened here? Or was it more of a Fight Club moment? In my world, it would have been too far, but Shae needed a way to cope with that.

You go to some dark places here. Was this a draining role to take on?

It was exhausting. We shot some crazy hours. I was on set most days. It was very draining, but I’m so proud of it. It was all worth it in the end. I remember our last day of shooting, they had dropped me off at 4 a.m. and were coming back to pick me at 8 a.m. I thought I would never make it. There was no amount of caffeine in the world that would help. I’m so glad we did it and powered through.

Ultimately, what does this movie say about human nature?

There’s a part of this film that a lot of people can relate to, which is when someone has wronged them, there tends to be this feeling of, “Oh, I wish I could get them back. I wish I could make them see the pain they have caused me.” Shae’s way of coping, real or fantasy, is something people can relate to, especially when it involves a member of the opposite sex. We all fantasize about getting that person back.

In terms of horror, you’ve been in a popular franchise, a remake, camped it up in a sequel and now this psychological thriller. What else would you like to explore in this genre?

I was watching all the previews for Hansel and Gretel and I would love to be a badass action hero. I would love to strap on a leather suit and kick some witch butt. I would love the physical challenge of learning a martial art. I could definitely see myself doing something like that.

New comic book Wednesday has come and gone. The dust at your local comic shop has settled. An eerie silence descends as you finish reading your last superhero book of the week. Now it's time for something a little more sinister. Welcome to Bagged and Boarded: comic reviews of the sick, spooky, twisted and terrifying!

Criminal Macabre / 30 Days Of Night: Final Night No. 2

The epic horror comic crossover event of the winter speeds forward as the hero-turned-vampire Eben continues to gather an army of bloodsuckers in L.A. Cal McDonald, the investigator and undead aficionado of Macabre, attempts to track down Eben but he may be too late. And we finally get to see everything a Ghoul can do when he's really pissed off.

Bag it or board it up? This issue is full of so much action and gore that I can't help but be a fan. The story keeps moving succinctly and at a nice clip (which is something I feel the straight up 30 Days monthly is suffering from a lack of right now). Almost every page has some ghastly scene or grisly fight on it which really keeps the pages turning.

Emily and the Strangers No. 1

Emily Strange is fresh out of ideas. She's bored, and the grim girl wants to fill her days with something constructive. Her time machine is on the fritz, her theory on a way to make the whole world blue isn't turning out right, and her cats are driving her crazy. When a radio DJ is looking for new songs, Emily’s wheels start turning.

Bag it or board it up? Oh man, when was the last time you read an Emily Strange comic? This is good old fashioned Strange. Full of black cats, snarky attitude, and drab dress, Emily is back and better than ever. I'm a big fan. This is a fun, cute, all-ages story for the little goth in your life.

The Darkness No. 110

In a world created out of nothingness, the balance of light and dark is finally teetering over to the dark side. An ancient tentacle monster, an evil doppelgänger, and a powerful title girl are all swaying over to the grim and dreary, and all hope is looking pretty damned lost.

Bag it or board it up? I can't stand a lot of fluff in my comics. Creator interviews are nice, but spare me your pages of short fiction and your black and white illustrations of a comic I just read. Please. Of this 36 page comic, 16 pages are ads, previews of upcoming comics, and fiction. Maybe if I really loved the series I could get down with this, but if you're going to throw in all this extra stuff at least give me a square 24 pages of the comic I bought. That being said, eh, this is a pretty good issue - if a little confusing to walk into the middle of.

Evil Ernie No. 4

Pandemonium ratchets up to an even higher degree at the prison as Ernie continues his demonic quest to smite all evil. Blood and guts fly as all the cells on death row get unlocked and all the most dangerous criminals are out for Ernie. But another force is out to stop the demon kid, and it too is growing in number and power.

Bag it or board it up? The goriness and camp factor are at an all time high this issue. If you like your decimation sprinkled with one-liners you'll love this issue. The action is amped up and the stakes have been raised again. Now, soapbox time: I can't fully get behind a comic with a lot of violence towards women in it (even if it is part of the story), as there's a female doctor who keeps getting punched and struck by a male psychopath (not Ernie). This isn't woman-as-monster being fought. This isn't Super Girl duking it out with Wonder Woman. This is a doctor getting hit repeatedly with the butt of a gun. Maybe I'm overly sensitive for not wanting to see this in a comic (or anywhere, for that matter.) But like I parenthetically stated, it's a part of the establishment of the story, for what that's worth. It just leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

Something wicked is coming in The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia. Based on a true story, the film follows the Wyrick family – Andy (Chad Michael Murray), wife Lisa (Abigail Spencer), daughter Heidi (Emily Alyn Lind) and his sister-in-law Joyce (Katee Sackhoff) - as they move into their new Georgian home. Things quickly go to hell as Heidi starts receiving ghostly visitors, the female family members experience chilling visions and an evil force, with shocking ties to the land, threatens to tear them apart. The Haunting in Connecticut 2 is out in limited release and VOD platforms today. 

Best known for his role as Lucas Scott on the long-running TV series One Tree Hill, the amicable Murray chatted exclusively with me about returning to the horror genre and what made Ghosts of Georgia stand out.      

After the House of Wax remake and now The Haunting in Connecticut 2, what makes a good horror movie for you?

The best thing for me watching a horror film is being able to put yourself in that person’s shoes. Having that human element makes it real. When we become fearful of something because it seems so close to us, I think it affects us a little bit more.

Do you remember the first horror movie that freaked you out?

I remember watching Friday the 13^th when I was real young. That freaked me out. Then I become a huge, huge Halloween fan and still love it to this day. The one movie, even now that I am older I still can’t watch, is The Exorcist.

Does having a project like this that is based on a true story add some weight or credibility to the story?

Yeah, there’s no doubt it does. People like hearing about different stories that have occurred to various people in the world. That gives it that human element, knowing that pieces of these events are true. For me, I read the script and saw the opportunity to be the sane one in this crazy world, or at least that’s what I assume, that my wife, my daughter and my sister-in-law are all schizophrenic. I saw that as a really interesting challenge to have to be the sane one in a paranormal world.

Did you do any special research for your role or have discussions with the real Andy?

It’s funny. Andy was the only one we didn’t meet. He actually passed away, God rest his soul, maybe a year ago. He didn’t really want to get that close to it. But I did meet Heidi, who has now grown up. We met Lisa Wyrick. They came to set. It was interesting. You would never for a second get they were any different than anyone else. They were ordinary, everyday people, who had an extraordinary story.

In the film, Andy is skeptical about his family’s visions and the strange phenomena surrounding him. What finally makes him a believer?

The moment he buys in is when he sees his daughter stuck at the bottom of a well. There’s just no way she could have gotten down there being 8 years old. It didn’t make sense to him. He knew regardless of whether it was a ghost or something else, something wasn’t right. And this property wasn’t helping the situation, so I think, “It’s time to pack up and get out.”

How demanding was it to shoot on location in Louisiana? 

The things that got in people’s way were a lot of the sequences were (done) in two feet of mud. It may not look it on screen, but it was below 20 degrees. It was cold out. I actually thought it was kind of refreshing, but I can imagine everyone else sitting still was freezing their tails off. I was running all night, so personally I enjoyed it.

This is Tom Elkins’ directorial debut. How did he do?

He leads with his heart. Tom really does. He’s a really good man. He’s also an editor by trade, so he knows what he wants and knows how he wants to get it and knows how he wants to cut it together. At the end of the day, he knew how to cut corners and say, 

“Well, I can do this and this and this and do this.” He had a short list all made up. When we did get bogged down in the mud, which would happen because we were in it for a couple of weeks, he was able to cut around things that maybe we weren’t going to be able to do because of time constraints.

Tom mentioned devil worshipping and sacrifices had once taken place on those grounds. Did anything bizarre happen while you were there?

I’ll be honest. That’s news to me, man. I guess I didn’t ask the right questions. Whoops. No, no, not at all. I had an incredible time. I enjoyed everybody’s company. It was a really cool family environment. I met Emily when she was born basically. Her mother was on One Tree Hill in season one when little Emily was born. She was the first baby I ever held. It’s pretty funny. Eight years later, she’s playing my daughter.

You’ve now lived in both your forays into horror.

(laughter) I’m going to try to keep that streak alive, my friend. It’s okay. I’m not too big on the whole movie death thing.  

Half the fun of watching flicks like House of Wax is seeing how the characters are going to be dispatched…

That’s what you see. What fantastic and ingenious ways can we kill somebody? I think it’s absolutely fantastic. I’ve written a lop-sided one (a script) of my own that’s awful and graphic and God knows if I’ll ever try and do anything with it, but when you sit there and go “What did I just think of?” that just goes to show how sick this world is. You know somebody out there is actually thinking “That’s what I could do.” That’s the only funky thing about horror films; you find new ways to kill people. Saw, for instance… Oh my God! You sit there going, “Someone must be having some serious nightmares.”

Ending on a fun note, your House of Wax co-stars Paris Hilton and Jared Padalecki reunited on his TV series, Supernatural. Would you ever consider guest-starring as a demon for an episode?

I loved Jared. I love Jensen (Ackles). I love those guys. We talked about, “Hey, maybe we should cross paths and do some type of arc.” I don’t think I’m that scary. I really don’t know if I can play some demonic demon. I don’t know if I could do it. But if the opportunity arises and I get the chance to work with Jared again, I might take it.

Brag a little. If you were an otherworldly villain on Supernatural, would you be able to kick some Padalecki butt?

HA! In the film or television world, yes. In the real world, that would be a giant “No!” Have you seen the size of Jared Padalecki? He is 6’5 and a monster of a man. I just saw him at Comic Con this last summer and we hung out one night. He just picked me up and tossed me around like I was nothing. And I’m not a small guy either. I’m 6’1. He’s a monster of a man. So, yes Jared, I would kick your ass. Lovingly. 

It seems that the producers' goal in following up The Haunting in Connecticut with Ghosts of Georgia is to produce a series of creepy horror movies that are based on documented events of the supernatural. That's all fine and good, but it doesn't make a title like The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia a good idea. Yes, you need to wedge your "Part 1" title into the "Part 2" title somehow, but let's be honest here. Georgia and Connecticut are pretty much opposites. But enough about the goofy title. The movie's the thing, obviously.

READ FEARnet's PARTNER REVIWS OF THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2

Smart horror fans know that they have to be flexible on some things. Sometimes a vampire is a feral beast of a monster, and sometimes a vampire is a tall, handsome wimp who struggles with emotional baggage. Sometimes the boogeyman who used to scare you every Halloween is transformed into a hulking brute who kills people simply because his white-trash mama wouldn't take him trick or treating. And sometimes zombies, usually the most basic and consistent of movie monsters, are not mindless chewing machines, but love-struck young men who change their ways when enamored with a pretty human female. It happened in the little-seen My Boyfriend's Back (1993), and the concept of "undead boyfriend" is back again with Warm Bodies, a certifiably strange but quietly appealing "zombie rom-com" that's based on the novel of the same name by Isaac Marion.

Adapted for the screen with equal doses of earnest sweetness and absurd wit by Jonathan Levine (All the Boys Love Mandy Lane), Warm Bodies may sound like "zombie Twilight" on the page, but that's pretty much where the similarities end. While author Marion and screenwriter Levine are clearly taking some large liberties with zombie lore, there's actually a method to their madness. Put another way: if you got angry when movie zombies learned to RUN, you probably won't like Warm Bodies very much. In this goofy little movie, zombies can talk, drive, and (of course) make endless doe eyes at a beautiful blonde girl named Julie.

Our undead hero is a zombie known simply as "R," and as the movie opens he's on his umpteenth day of wandering through an airport, surrounded by similar corpses but still completely alone. The young zombie is so evolved, in fact, that he has an airplane all to himself, which he has adorned with hundreds of trinkets and old rock albums. But when R and some "colleagues" stumble across (and ultimately devour) a squad of survivors, violence turns to romance in short order. Smitten by the beautiful Julie, R takes her back to his airplane to enjoy some Guns & Roses records. Yes, I'm serious. And the flick gets even weirder than that.

It's the affable tone buried amidst such potentially dark comedy that manages to lift Warm Bodies beyond the status of mere curiosity. Yes, the old-school horror fan in me bristled a few times when confronted with some of this movie's "new" zombie mythology, but if we don't allow our movie monsters to evolve in various ways, then they quickly become tiresome. Warm Bodies monkeys with the zombie "rules" that we know and love, but I'll take a movie that fiddles with the formula over a movie that colors strictly between the lines. This is an oddball romantic farce that takes place in a horror movie world, not a horror movie with a few chuckles tossed in for flavor.

It certainly doesn't hurt that the young leads (Nicholas Hoult and Teresa Palmer) are on the same tonal wavelength as the director; both performers deliver fine work with a premise that, frankly, could fall horribly flat without a pair of strong actors. And while Hoult and Palmer are the main focus of virtually every scene, there's still room for some solid support from the likes of John Malkovich (gruff survival leader), Rob Corddry (kind-hearted zombie), and the lovely Analeigh Tipton, who isn't given much to do, but does interrupt a potential montage sequence with the movie's best laugh.

Clearly intended for the demographic best described as "young ladies," Warm Bodies is an admirably odd and unexpectedly sweet little genre concoction. It won't take a literary professor to decipher the movie's simplistic messages about love and tolerance, but the moral is a nice little bonus from a flick that already earns strong marks for wit, weirdness, and a slightly self-mocking tone that helps even the silly stuff go down easy. I'm not saying I want all my zombie movies this "different," but hey, once in a while "different" is pretty refreshing.

I said it before, and I am saying it again. I suspect Guillermo del Toro has cloned himself. For all we know there are four or five Guillermos running around, making movies that scare the pants off of us, being charming in interviews, snacking on trail mix … The man is a horror-movie-making machine and he’s just added a new movie to his list: The Secret Garden. This time, he’s working with Beasts of the Southern Wild scribe Lucy Alibar and re-teaming up with his Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark co-producer Mark Johnson.

Yes, it’s that Secret Garden, the Frances Hodgson Burnett novel that was last adapted for screen by director Agnieska Holland in 1993.  It’s the story of a young, lonely girl sent to live with her uncle who discovers a magical garden.  Alienated, outcast children in a magical space that adults can’t find? It’s the prefect project for del Toro.

Deadline reports rumors of del Toro directing are unlikely.

“There was a swirl of interest in the hope that del Toro could direct, but he’s so busy with his other projects–he opens the big global tent pole Pacific Rim this summer and is working on a sequel; he’s turning Pan’s Labyrinth into a stage musical; he next helms the haunted house pic Crimson Peak; and he’ll direct the pilot for an FX series adaptation of The Strain, the apocalyptic vampire novel he wrote with Chuck Hogan–that del Toro will guide Alibar creatively as producer. Both of them have had success with projects surrounding young people who build fantasy worlds as a way of dealing with loneliness, grief, loss and abandonment (del Toro with Pan’s Labyrinth)," Deadline said.

via Deadline

Here's one for you fans of gut-munching undead and not-so-subtle irony: Max Evry, resident “Zombie Keeper” at NextMovie, has unveiled a groovy piece of speculative artwork depicting some familiar zombies hunched over that beloved family-friendly board game, Milton Bradley's LIFE – which, for those of you unfamiliar, follows the players from school to work to retirement. But much to these players' dismay, that's where normal game play ends, with no living-death upgrades (not yet, anyway).

Help Neil Gaiman write a book. Sort of.

In an interesting turn of events, Neil Gaiman has teemed up with Blackberry in support of the Keep Moving Projects. The project brings readers and Gaiman together in the spirit of collaboration.

Basically, Gaiman is asking readers to use the Blackberry Keep Moving Hub and Twitter for inspiration for the upcoming A Calendar Of Tales. He’ll write one reader-inspired tale a month for a year – hence the calendar part – which will then be collected into one book and sold for charity.

Watch the video below for more info on the project. If the fans in the video are anything like the readers who will be involved with this project, we can expect a lot of stories about zeppelins and the Hellfire Club. I love this video because if you look at it quickly, it looks like Gaiman is walking with a direwolf.  Look very quickly.
 

If H.P. lived today, it's a safe bet his iPad cover would look a lot like this one. This custom-made cover comes straight from the vaults of etsy and the maker sums its origins up in the most nerdy of ways:

The origin of the Necronomicon is shrouded in mystery. Written by the crazed Abdul Alhazred, this ancient, mouldy tome contains untold arcane knowledge, incantations to summon elder gods, and access to boundless networks. It has been handed down from person to person at great personal cost - dangerous to keep, it is even more dangerous to study. Guard your sanity with care, for the history of the Old Ones is contained within. Bound with magnetic clasps, the book is impressive in size and form, seeming almost to pulsate with seething life. For those who do the bidding of Yog-Sothoth and Cthulhu, look no further. Curiously, the form seems to change, to fit iPads, Nooks, Kindles, Kobos, and countless other tablets and eReaders, depending on the bearer, and available as a journal option as well.

ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn
In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.
Heed the call.

(Please allow 7-10 business days for this rare archaeological find to ship)
 

$65.95 on etsy (fur throw not included)