Robin Sachs, a British actor who is probably best known for his role as Ethan Rayne in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, has died. He was 61.

In Buffy, Sachs played the small but pivotal role of Giles's former friend-turned-nemesis Ethan Rayne. But Buffy wasn't his only genre role. He got his start in 1972 with a small role in Hammer's Vampire Circus. He also appeared in Lost World: Jurassic Park, Galaxy Quest, Megalodon, and was a voice in the 2012 animated Resident Evil: Domination game. 

Sachs died suddenly on February 1st, four days before his 62nd birthday. A cause of death has not been announced.

Source: Deadline

This week in 1980, we have killer sailors, blood-thirsty cannibals, and some good old-fashioned body horror. First up, John Carpenter’s The Fog. It’s a seaside tale about the vengeful ghosts from a sunken ship, who come back in a glowing fog and claim the lives of townspeople. Jamie Lee Curtis, Nancy Loomis and John Carpenter reunite for this movie, along with Carpenter’s ex Adrienne Barbeau, who plays town dj and ultimate ghost-fighter Stevie Wayne. Janet Leigh also stars.

Cannibal Holocaust is a hilarious musical romp set in the Amazon. Kidding. But the Ruggero Deodato-directed Cannibal Holocaust is actually the original found footage film.  The movie tells the story of a documentary crew sent to the rain forest to study and document indigenous tribes. The crew goes missing and all that’s recovered is their “anthropological” footage documenting highly-graphic scenes of death, dismemberment, sex, and cannibalism. All the good stuff. The film is notorious, and was banned in Italy after Deodato was accused of making a snuff film.

Finally, Videodrome.  More body horror from Canada’s David Cronenberg. Videodrome has an interesting overlap with Cannibal Holocaust in that it deals with questions of morality, and the blurred lines of fact and fiction, in the context of film. James Woods plays the head of a small cable station that becomes obsessed with a channel featuring violence and torture. Soon he can’t tell whether he is watching snuff, or staged execution, and whether his hallucinations are in fact happening.  Corporate control, the influence of mass-media, censorship, brain washing, and early-‘80s technological trends are all at play in the film.

Title:The Fog
Released: February 8, 1980
Tagline: What you can't see won't hurt you... it'll kill you!
 

Title:Cannibal Holocaust
Released: February 7, 1980
Tagline: Ripout! Barbeque! Devour! How long can you take it?
 

Title:Videodrome
Released: February 4, 1983
Tagline: First it controlled her mind, then it destroyed her body... Long live the new flesh!

It never helps when a half-decent indie horror film is saddled with a title that's confusing, generic, or vague. There is an endless amount of solid (or at least decent) horror indies to be found on Amazon, iTunes, and Netflix -- so one could be forgiven for confusing "Truth or Dare" with "Truth or Die" or for mistaking "Would You Rather" with "Did You Know" or perhaps "Spin the Bottle." (How has there not been a horror film called "Spin the Bottle" yet??) Anyway, all of this is a hopefully amusing way to open a review with the opinion that, yes, the strange, savage, and appreciably dark Would You Rather is considerably more interesting than its (confusing/vague/generic) title may indicate.

The Walking Dead Episode 309
“The Suicide King”
Written By: Evan Reilly
Directed By: Lesli Linka Glatter
Original Airdate: 10 February 2013

In This Episode...

We pick up precisely where we left off last year: with Daryl and Merle facing off in the death ring. Merle sucker punches his brother, but when he gets him on the ground, he tells him just to go with it. Soon they are both on their feet and on the same team as the walkers on leashes are brought in. Things get hairy and they are having a hard time fending off the walkers and their handlers, but luckily Maggie opens fire and starts shooting the zombies while Rick throws out a few smoke bombs. The Dixons use this opportunity to escape, Daryl grabbing his crossbow on the way out. Rick does not want to bring Merle with them, but he leads them to a weak point in the perimeter, so Rick doesn’t quibble - until they get to Michonne and Glenn, waiting by the car down the road. The fighting starts immediately, with Michonne and Glenn pulling weapons on Merle, and Daryl and Maggie trying to calm them down. Rick absolutely forbids Merle from coming back to the prison, so Daryl sides with Merle and the brothers strike out on their own. Rick agrees to let Michonne come with them for medical attention, but then she is on her own.

Our group at the prison is starting to warm to the n00bs. Hershel tends to their injuries; Beth shows off the baby (a sight that Sasha thought she would never see again) and Carl, though he watches them like a hawk, brings them tools with which to bury Donna. They want to join up with the prison crew, but Hershel hesitantly tells Tyreese that they will have to wait until Rick gets back. Alex and Ben don’t like this idea, and want to overthrow our group and take over the prison. Tyreese flat-out says no.

Rick’s crew returns to the prison with hardly a glance at the n00bs. Rick has to tell Carol that Daryl isn’t coming back. Glenn and Maggie are not speaking to one another - he seems more offended and traumatized by what Maggie went through than Maggie herself. Beth is concerned that the Governor will try to retaliate against Rick, and Hershel uses this as an opening to bring up letting Tyreese’s group join theirs. Sensing Rick’s hesitation, Tyreese promises they will keep to their own section of the prison, get their own food and supplies, and back them up if anyone invades. Rick still says no. Hershel takes him aside, telling him that they have always done what he says, and he has protected the group, but now it is time to let others in. Even Carl begs his dad with his eyes. But Rick holds firm. A woman up on the second floor catches Rick’s attention. No one is there, but Rick sees Lori, and starts losing it, screaming at the vision to get the hell out, waving his gun around menacingly. The group is not sure if Rick is responding to Tyreese or something else, but Glenn quickly ushers them out of the way, just in case, while the rest of the group cowers from the madman. 

Meanwhile, Woodbury is in a state of chaos. A half-dozen citizens were killed in the “invasion” and when Rick and his group left, they left a hole in the fence that allowed a walker in. The Governor has holed up in his apartment, which has left the people of Woodbury scared and nervous. They try to leave, but the guards at the gate won’t let them out. One of them even gets violent, until Andrea steps in. She helps kill the rogue walkers who come in, but when they get a few good bites into one of the Woodbury citizens, everyone just stares at the dying human - even Andrea. The Governor comes down from his apartment, shoots the guy in the head, and goes back inside without a word. Andrea goes to see him, and finds he is readying for war. All his compassion is gone. He wants revenge on the “terrorists.” So Andrea takes it upon herself to be the voice of reason to the residents of Woodbury. She calms them down, turns them from fighting one another to hugging one another. Awwww.

Dig It or Bury It?

I thought that we were over this whole “Rick losing his mind” thing. I guess not. He is not only going crazy, but he is debilitatingly paranoid, too. This will only be good if he goes full crazy. Anything halfway - like tonight’s episode - is going to be really annoying. I want to see him shuffling around in tissue boxes and swatting invisible bees. I seriously do not understand the paranoia of pushing all parties away, especially when you have a pair like Tyreese and Sasha, who are able-bodied and genuine. Maybe Carl will just overthrow his dad.

Kill o’ the Week

Goes to Glenn. The group stops on the road to check a pickup for supplies, and finds a walker inside. Glenn is mad that Rick let Merle leave instead of killing him for what he orchestrated against him and Maggie, and Glenn takes his anguish out on a walker. He stops the walker’s head in, over and over until it is literally just a puddle of moldering tissue and black fluid. 

Prophecies?

There seems to be some debate as to whether it is safe in the prison anymore; if Michonne is an asset or a liability; and if Rick is crazy or not. In other words, more of the same.

We have the first image for Eli Roth’s cannibal film The Green Inferno and the nod to Italian grindhouse classic Cannibal Holocaust is pretty obvious in the bloody insanity pictured below.

Apparently, Roth  experienced some real-life jungle perils while filming on location in the Amazon, read more here.

“ … there were tarantulas, there were spider bites, there were snakes. It was insane. Everybody had to get de-parasited after we got back,” Roth said.

Here's a brief synopsis of the film:

The Green Inferno follows an idealistic student and a group of naive do-gooders who are captured by cannibalistic Indios after their plane crash lands in the Peruvian jungle.

The Green Inferno stars Lorenza Izzo (Aftershock), Ariel Levy (Aftershock), Daryl Sabara (Spy Kids) and Kirby Bliss Blanton (Project X) and recently finished shooting in Peru and Chile.
 

From Universal monsters, to the Walking Dead comic book, horror hounds have so many ways to say, “Be mine for all eternity.”

We’ve chosen a few awesomely scary valentines that are slightly less sweet than the ones you got on your desk in elementary school, but every bit as sincere. Oh they’re handmade, too! Check them out below:

Eat your heart out. The Walking Dead comic book zombie-themed card. “I’d chews you.”
 

Serial killers say it best. Richard Ramirez, Harry Powers, Ken & Barbie Killers, Green River Killer, HH Holmes, Son of Sam send you their love. “The dog in my head is barking for you.”

Universal monsters take the classic route with heartfelt messages.

The Things wants you– body and soul.

Last week I reviewed The Wicked, a nasty little bit of throwback-style horror from the pen of James Newman. Whenever a book grabs me like The Wicked did – shakes me up and reminds me of why I spend so much time reading this crazy genre – I like to talk to the writer, get inside his or her head and find out what led them to make the choices they made in writing it. Luckily for me, Newman was more than willing to answer a few of my questions.

In the afterword to your novel The Wicked, you talk about the influence of the horror of the 1980s. Which novels and writers of that era influence you in general and The Wicked in particular?

Oh, man.  How much time do you have?
Here's my Top Ten: The House Next Door by Anne Rivers-Siddons (that one was the first "adult" horror novel I ever read, in fact), The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum, Feast by Graham Masterton, Legion by William Peter Blatty, The Beast Within by Edward Levy, The Brain Eaters by Gary Brandner, Lightning by Dean Koontz, and of course I can't forget Stephen King's Christine, Cujo, and The Dead Zone.

The bad ones were no less an influence on me than the good ones, though, if you want to know the truth. Not only because they were valuable lessons on what not to do if you wanted to be a good writer, but also because . . . hey, who can deny that those gaudy covers were so freaking cool? Except the ones with the evil kids. We've all seen enough of those to last a lifetime.

The '80s are credited with producing some of the best and most influential writers in horror, but the over-saturation of the market that occurred in that decade left scars on the genre that still haven't fully healed. At this point in time, would you say more was done in the '80s to help or to hurt horror, and why?
 
I think, overall, it hurt. There was that over-saturation you referred to, a case of "quantity over quality" in the truest sense of that phrase. And not just on the literary side, either. There were the bad movies with no point to them other than cardboard characters getting slaughtered in creative ways. Crap like that gave horror a bad name, and still does. Unfortunately, I think we're still trying to get over that stigma to this day. Blood-and-guts is what most folks think of when you say the "H" word. It's not fair, but that's the way it is.

The cream rises to the top, though. The best of the best are still around. The words of those writers who have consistently produced quality work through the years, they'll live on even as the market rises and falls.

Without giving too much away, there is some very explicit action of the sexual variety toward the end of The Wicked. Did you feel self-conscious writing that, or when people bring it up to you? What kind of response did you get on that section of the book?

I wouldn't say I felt self-conscious writing it. I usually refrain from getting too terribly graphic, but that's probably because I think a lot of really detailed sex scenes just come across as silly. For this particular book, though, those scenes felt right. Especially the stuff between David and Kate -- I felt the story needed those uncomfortable moments to convey where both of them were, as individuals and in regards to their relationship, after the awful thing that happened to Kate in New York City. These were damaged people, so obviously that carried over into the bedroom.

One or two reviewers actually suggested that certain aspects of The Wicked were "homophobic". I didn't get that at all. I even ran it by a couple of my gay readers and they agreed with me, that such an accusation was ridiculous.

Why are small towns (such as The Wicked's own Morganville, North Carolina) such fertile settings for horror novels?
 
Small towns can be scary in real life. Everybody has secrets, some more sinister than others, and usually those secrets are shared between multiple parties. Places that are supposed to be quiet and innocent often hide something between the surfaces that's anything but good. Kind and decent people prove themselves to be hateful and malicious. That fascinates me to no end. I don't think I've ever realized it before this moment, but to some extent I've written about those themes in every single novel I've published so far. Cool . . . .

The Wicked reads like a novel that's tailor-made for a film adaptation. Is there anything like that in the works?
 
As a matter of fact, there are a few folks who have shown interest. Nothing's set in stone, though (read: no green has crossed my palm). Just "talk".

You're moving away from the supernatural in your next novel, which you described on your website as "Southern noir." Why the shift, and do you feel it could be a permanent move for you?

Well, technically the shift away from the supernatural has already happened for me. The Wicked was the first full-length novel I wrote, but then Midnight Rain -- which wasn't horror -- was the first one that was published. The first edition of The Wicked was released after Midnight Rain. Animosity followed The Wicked. Then came the paperback edition of The Wicked.

Confused yet?

Animosity had no supernatural element, I should mention. As a matter of fact, reviewers have called it "white picket fence suspense" (I love that), the kind of this-could-really-happen horror that Jack Ketchum's so great at. Of course, I'll take that comparison any day of the week!

As for moving away from the genre entirely? I doubt I'll ever do that. I love it too much. Book-by-book, I'm just writing the kind of stuff I'd want to read. I figure if I do that, I can't go wrong.

You've called Joe Lansdale a major influence on your work. He's built a long career writing in all kinds of genres - horror, western, crime, etc. What other genres would you like to explore?
 
I haven't given any thought at all to exploring other genres, honestly. I'm sure whatever I write will always be "dark." I've never been a sci-fi fan, per se (with the exception of growing up a Star Wars nerd and a newfound obsession with Doctor Who), but I have been thinking about maybe writing a time-travel tale at some point. I love time-travel stories and films, always have.

Again, though, it'll be dark.  I don't think I could avoid that if I tried.
 
Will you keep writing stories set in the South? Is writing about the South a deliberate choice of yours, or just a natural extension of who you are and where you're from?
 
I'd say it's a natural extension, definitely. I don't ever sit down at the computer and consciously decide, "Yeeeehaw! Time to write some Southern-fried horror." It just comes out of me. I suppose it's because I was born and raised in the South, and these characters are the people I know -- the good and the bad.

"Write what y'all know," as they say.

What other projects do you have in the works, and when can we get our hands on them?

There are a few exciting things in the works. I wanted to mention that my first novel, Midnight Rain, was reprinted just a few weeks ago in trade paperback by Evil Jester Press. My little contribution to the "coming of age" subgenre still holds a special place in my heart, so it's nice to get it back out there.

Also, I'm pleased to announce that my novel Animosity will see publication in trade paperback and e-book around the first quarter of 2014. Since the ink hasn't quite dried on the contract yet, I should probably wait a few more days before I give specific details, but I'll be announcing everything soon on my website, Facebook page, etc. So far Animosity has only been available as one of those pricey limited-edition hardcovers, so I'm very happy to get it into more readers' hands.

Meanwhile, I'm about to cross the finish line on my latest novel, Ugly As Sin. It shouldn't be too much longer till I'm ready to announce the publisher for that one.

Visit the official James Newman website and order The Wicked by James Newman.

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.



 

The Walking Dead is back. Boy, is it back, and we’ve got the fever. Watch a sneak peak of Season 3 Episode 10 below where Daryl and brother Merle take off on their own.

“While the group ponders their next move, Rick sets out to find a missing friend. Later, Merle and Daryl begin to have second thoughts about their choices.”
 

Check out the first trailer for Devil May Call, written and directed by Jason Cuadrado, and starring Holliston's Corri English, plus Tyler Mane and Traci Lords.

Official Synopsis: After an accident leaves her sightless, crisis hotline counselor Samantha Creed (English) devotes herself to helping troubled callers back from the brink of despair. But when Sam decides to step down, one of her frequent callers does not take the news well. On her last night on the job, Sam faces a terrifying visit from John (Mane), a frequent caller who feels betrayed by her leaving.

But John is no ordinary caller. He’s a sadistic serial murderer she’s unwittingly kept from killing himself for over a year. With only a skeleton crew on the graveyard shift, there’s very little that stands between John and Sam. He’s come for her and won’t let anything or anyone stand in his way.

Can Sam survive the longest, darkest night of her life?

The CW has made three early pickups for the 2013-2014 season: The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural, and Arrow.

These pickups should come as a surprise to no one, but it is exciting to get the confirmation so soon. The last few years confirmation has come in May, which is just way too close for comfort.

Arrow is one of the highest rated new shows of the season on any network, and had the best premiere of any series since The Vampire Diaries in 2009. While Arrow is the network's highest-rated program, The Vampire Diaries is the highest rated series in targeted demographics, and is one of television's "most social" shows (whatever that means.) Meanwhile, Supernatural has benefitted from Arrow's strong lead-in, seeing a 15% rise in viewership since being paired with the show this season.

The new pickups will mean Arrow goes into a second season; The Vampire Diaries goes into a fifth; and Supernatural goes into a ninth season - which makes it the third longest running scripted drama currently on television (behind Law & Order: SVU and the original CSI.)

Teen supernatural romance continues to have a strong pull on Hollywood. The newest series added to the long list of movies about pretty, pretty teens drinking blood is the young adult, best-seller Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters.

Mean Girls helmer Mark Waters is planning to direct the on-screen adaptation written by his brother Daniel Waters, who also penned Heathers.

The Weinstein Company will distribute the film in the U.S. Zooey Deutch, who is in the current supernatural teen tear-jerker, Beautiful Creatures, will star as Rose. Unknown Lucy Fry will play Lissa and Russian star Danila Kozlovski will play the male lead.

“The books tell the tale of Rose Hathaway, a 17-year-old girl who has a mental and spiritual bond with her vampire best friend Lissa. The two girls attend a special school for Vampires who struggle to retain some humanity while other Vampires become more feral,” Deadline said.

This will be the first project on which the Waters brothers have collaborated.

“It was the best first draft I had ever read, and that includes other screenplays by my brother,” Mark Waters said. “This is a dream project for us, since we have wanted to work together for so long. Richelle’s mythology and the world she creates is so real and her voice so clear. These kids have real life, modern day problems. And they drink blood.” The popularity of the series was evident when they started a Facebook page for the film and got 238,000 signed up, a number much higher than a lot of films that have already been released.”

Weinstein is looking to release the film on Valentine’s Day 2014. How sweet.

via Deadline

Can Tommy Wirkola outdo the Nazi zombie gorefest from the first Dead Snow in his sequel? We will soon find out.

Screen Daily reports that Wirkola will return to Norway to direct Dead Snow: War of the Dead.

“Set to be released in both English and Norwegian, the new film follows the sole survivor of a Nazi zombie attack who battles an even larger army of Zombies with the help of the Zombie Squad, a professional gang of zombie killers from the US,” Screen Daily said.

Wirkola is very positive about his return to the zombie genre.

“I am delighted to step back into the world of Nazi zombies yet again with Dead Snow: War Of The Dead, a world that is very close to my heart,” Wirkola said.

“Ever since we premiered Dead Snow at Sundance 2009, I’ve been getting questions on a sequel, and now, after Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters has been released, the time is finally right.”

“We have a script that I am super excited about, which is bigger, scarier, funnier, more action-filled and gorier than the previous one, and I can’t wait to unleash another horde of undead Nazi zombies onto the world again.”

I can’t wait to see what he comes up with to match the intestine-hanging scene. Watch it along with other clips of Dead Snow uber grossness:
 

After a number of years spent sifting through independently-produced horror movies of every size, shape, quality, and nationality, one starts to notice the little intangibles. Things like intent, effort, and passion -- and, on the other hand, stuff like laziness, cynicism, and outright plagiarism. One of the recent "discoveries" on my horror rounds was an American indie called Smiley that, oddly enough for such a tiny film, earned itself a small theatrical run a few months back, probably because the sales agent knew what s/he was doing. Michael J. Gallagher's monumentally uneventful slasher flick Smiley comfortably joins the ranks of films like Chain Letter, Blood Creek, and Creature: low-rent horror flicks that play theaters only so the DVD sales sheets can legally say "fresh off a successful theatrical run!"

READ FEARnet's PARTNER REVIEWS OF SMILEY

They taste like love! Brain-y, brain-y, zombie love.

These chocolate skull delights are homemade and come in several delicious flavors: White, cranberry white chocolate, milk chocolate, cinnamon milk chocolate, and dark chocolate skulls with candied walnuts for the brains.  The perfect mixture of sweet and evil, the skulls are made in Spain and ship internationally. The company also makes a candied severed leg!
 

About $9.00 on Etsy.com