I am not ready to let go of Dexter, but damn, I cannot WAIT for the season to begin. Showtime just released the first actual clip from the final season of Dexter. Not flashes of scenes or cryptic titles, but a solid two minutes of Dexter and Deb talking/arguing. Dexter desperately wants life to return to norma, but Deb is clearly falling apart after last season's nail-biter of a finale. Enough of my jibber-jabber; let's get to the clip!

Dexter returns for its eighth and final season on June 30th on Showtime.

Nope, the artist is not Ed Gein. The artist is Sruli Recht, an Israeli-born, Icelandic-based designer who makes clothing and accessories that are more like pieces of art than off-the-rack designs. But we are not here to discuss items created out of stillborn lamb hides or woven horse hair. We are here to discuss a ring made out of human skin.

Recht had a 110mm x 10mm strip of his own flesh surgically removed from his abdomen. He then salted and tanned the skin and attached the skin to a band of 24 carat gold. The most striking feature of the skin ring is the fact that it still has Recht's hair sprouting out of it. That just gives me the heebie-jeebies.

If you are keen to wear a stranger's skin on your hand, it can be yours for only 350,000 Euros (about US$455,000). But you get a DNA report to prove that ring is made of skin (y'know, for the doubters) and a DVD of the ring being made.

If you are not squeamish, you can check out a video of the skin being removed from Recht's abdomen right here:

via io9

Darkstalkers Resurrection joins the ranks of countless arcade ports on home consoles, which bundle together a handful of arcade-accurate games with minor HD upconversion for mass consumption.  WB Games did it with Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection and Capcom has done it with a few of their Street Fighter entries.  Now, they’re going a little more obscure—and occult—by bringing together Night Warriors: Darkstalkers’ Revenge and Darkstalkers 3 in one handy-dandy download.  While inexplicably lacking the original Darkstalkers (huh?), there’s plenty of fast-paced fighting goodness to be found in this collection, along with some wonderful enhancements that pretty much raise the bar for this sort of “update” in the future.

Darkstalkers was borne of the post-Street Fighter II ­era of Japanese fighting games, which provided a brutal, breakneck speed coupled with scads of extras like cancels and EX moves which would take far too long to explain here.  The creamy topping on the frenetic fighting was a unique, supernatural vibe that filled its ranks with werewolves, succubi, cat-people (insert David Bowie reference here), yetis, and heavy metal zombies.  It spawned two sequels (the games featured in Darkstalkers Resurrection) as well as one of the most maligned American cartoon adaptations of the 90’s.  But I digress.

To be totally blunt, if you’re not into the lightning pacing of Japanese fighting games (these games make Mortal Kombat feel positively glacial by comparison), then you’re not going to care much for the HD upgrade.  However, fans will be delightfully surprised by just how genuinely upgraded the games are.  Sure, there’s the obligatory HD filters (which make the sprites seem blobby and smeary…turn it off), but all of the extras that have been stacked on are well executed and very welcome.

There are tutorials, training modes, a leveling system based off of in-game accomplishments (winning matches, cancels, number of projectiles thrown, etc.), and a remarkable system that integrates single and multiplayer.  At any point during your single player game, you have the option to have other players challenge you to a ranked match…definitely a pleasant upgrade over waiting in a matchmaking lobby.  There are also scads of bonus content to be earned through completing aforementioned accomplishments.  This is the sort of stuff to get fans worked up into a proper lather, and Capcom and Iron Galaxy have certainly provided the soap.

For old-school Darkstalkers fans, this dual pack is worth every bit of virtual currency you’ll spend to get it.  This walk down moribund memory lane has cemented two things in this reviewer’s mind: one, I suck at Japanese fighting games, and two, Darkstalkers is sorely in need of a Street Fighter IV style revisiting. 

We are still a good six months away from a new season of The Walking Dead. I don't know about you, but I am already going through withdrawal. To help, we are digging around to find you some of the coolest Walking Dead stories, pictures, and goodies to get you through the summer.

In honor of everyone's favorite character, we've compiled some of the funniest Daryl-related memes we could find.

If you don't understand this last one, check out this video .

The Vampire Diaries Episode 419
“Pictures of You”
Written By: Neil Reynolds & Caroline Dries
Directed By: J. Miller Tobin
Original Airdate: 18 April 2013

In This Episode...

It’s senior prom. Good for the audience; bad for the inhabitants of Mystic Falls. First, the pre-prom festivities. Bonnie is mourning Jeremy, when he visits her - in a dream. When she wakes, she discovers that her expression has set the room on fire. The Salvatore brothers decide to use prom to flood Elena with emotions until one of them sticks. Rebekah and Klaus each lay out their cases for why they deserve the cure. Elijah decides that Rebekah is more deserving, but only if she can go one single day living as a human. No vampire powers whatsoever. Elena and Rebekah go shopping for prom dresses and find Caroline and Bonnie doing the same. Caroline is wearing a dress that she and Elena picked out together before Elena went evil. Now that she is evil, Elena steals the dress and wears it herself. With few other options, Caroline goes to Klaus of all people, and begs to borrow something from “the family archives.” He obliges.

The prom theme is “Pictures of You,” complete with a terrible cover of The Cure classic. Set up like a “video yearbook,” screens loop photos of students and since this is Mystic Falls, most of those students are dead. Naturally, Jeremy’s photo is up there a lot. Before even entering the prom, this sets off Elena, and she blames Bonnie for everything bad that has happened in her life because she promised to bring back Jeremy and she didn’t.  Bonnie runs from the prom - and finds Jeremy. This time she is not dreaming, but she doesn’t believe her eyes. “Does it matter if I am real?” he asks. They dance. Then the sweet talk begins. Jeremy tells Bonnie that this can be real, she just has to use her magic to bring him back. Bonnie realizes that this isn’t Jeremy; it is Silas, and she runs back to the prom to alert Stefan and Damon. Perfect timing - she is named prom queen, and Matt is her king. This gives Elena a brilliant idea: if she can’t stop Silas, she will stop the only witch who can bring him back. Rebekah, giving the ol’ humanity thing a try, warns Matt to get Bonnie off stage - “You didn’t hear it from me but Elena is up to something.”

Bonnie doesn’t need to be on stage for Elena to seek revenge. She approaches Bonnie “backstage,” but Bonnie lays one of those insane brain bombs on her and leaves while Elena is doubled over in pain. Elena takes her frustration out on April, tearing her throat out and stomping off. Poor April - she’s like town blood bank. Matt begs Rebekah to heal her, insisting that act will prove she has more humanity than acting like a mortal and watching her die. She does, and Matt promises not to tell Elijah - but Klaus saw, and he is not very trustworthy. Rebekah returns to Elijah and promises she passed his test, and he hands over the cure. Except Rebekah is still at the prom arguing with Klaus. She calls Elijah to warn him to hold onto the cure because she thinks Klaus is up to something. This is when Elijah realizes that Silas now holds the cure.

Outside, Silas-as-Jeremy approaches Bonnie again; she screams and whips up a wind and banishes Silas from her head. She cannot enjoy the moment of peace because Elena attacks and sinks her fangs into Bonnie. Her blood instantly chokes and poisons Elena. Bonnie is done with this shit and mind bombs the hell out of Elena. She chokes her some more and breaks a few bones for good measure. The Salvatore brothers (who had been detained by Silas, pretending to be each of them so he can stake each of them to trees and get them out of the way for a bit) show up, and beg Bonnie to stop. Bonnie knows what she is doing - then she realizes what is doing and lets go of Elena. The boys pick up Elena, still immobilized by pain, and vervain her. They are moving on to plan B. While Bonnie was torturing Elena, they realized Elena was scared. And fear is an emotion. They lock her in the dungeon at home and plan to torture the humanity back into her. So, basically, we all win.

Elsewhere... Caroline is having the worst prom ever so she bails and goes to set up the after party, being held at Tyler’s old house, now in Matt’s name. Caroline is greeted with a surprise: Tyler. He wouldn’t miss their prom for anything. They dance, and Caroline declares this the best prom ever. Tyler leaves before the other guests arrive, but Klaus is waiting for him outside. In the shared interest of giving Caroline the best prom ever, Klaus gives Tyler five seconds to leave. Klaus goes home and finds a note from Katherine, telling him to get down to New Orleans, that there was a witch there plotting something that will “rattle you to your core” and make him forget all about chasing her. Hello thinly-veiled set-up to The Originals.

And finally, Bonnie uses her location spell (now so powerful she doesn’t need a personal effect) to find Silas in the crypts beneath the town. He reveals his face. It’s hard to see but it looks something like a cross between Mickey Rourke and Freddy Krueger. 

Dig It or Bury It?

Ahhh.... this episode was so good, so satisfying, so fun, so evil. It is everything I love about TVD with almost nothing I hate (Elena and Stefan dancing together was a little nauseating - that scene was clearly put there to make a million teen girls wonder what that funny feeling in their no-no spot is). We got to enjoy some familiar faces. We got to see a new, ugly face. We got to see the softer side of Rebekah. Elena somehow got even more evil. I am looking forward to what I imagine will be five more episodes or so of her being tortured until she finally turns her humanity back on.

Devilishly Charming

Damon to Elena: “Hindsight is a bigger bitch than you.”

Prophecies?

Klaus heads down to New Orleans in the episode that is what is called a “backdoor pilot” for the planned The Originals spinoff.

Hannibal Episode 103
“Potage”
Teleplay By: David Fury & Chris Brancato & Bryan Fuller
Story By: David Fury
Directed By: David Slade
Original Airdate: 18 April 2013

In This Episode...

Abigail Hobbs wakes from her coma. Alana alerts Will, but doesn’t want him to see her yet. Instead, Alana visits Abigail alone. She has been transferred to a psychiatric hospital until Jack is convinced she wasn’t an accomplice. Abigail is strangely logical about her situation. Alana and Hannibal have differing opinions on whether Abigail is in shock or a sociopath, or perhaps somewhere in between. Jack decides it is time for Will to speak to Abigail.

He and Hannibal visit, but discover Freddie is already there, trying to convince Abigail to share her story with her. Freddie warns her against Will, saying that he catches insane men because he can think like them. The men overhear this; Freddie does not seem embarrassed. Abigail remembers Will as the man who killed her father. She is concerned that she will have nightmares, that she will be “messed up,” that she should have seen the signs... you know, all the things you worry about when you discover your father is a serial killing psychopath. When Will and Hannibal Leave, Freddie is waiting for them. She offers a weak-ass apology and wants Will to feed her information, promising she can make things better - or much worse. “It’s not very smart to piss off a guy who thinks about killing people for a living,” Will hisses. This quote makes it into Freddie’s latest column. Jack is not happy, and blames Hannibal.

It is time for Abigail to return home. Will, Alana, and Hannibal escort her. “Cannibals” is painted across the door. Abigail is quiet as she tours her family home. She says goodbye to her mother over the bloodstained patio; stares at the place where her father died. Most belongings had been packed into evidence boxes. Abigail quickly becomes aware that they are trying to (gently) get information out of her; namely, where the remains of the girls are. Abigail remembers back to her hunting trips with her dad, and how he taught her that no part of the body - pelt, meat, bone - should go to waste; otherwise it was just murder. She says that they will never find any “remains.” Later, she comes to the horrifying realization - confirmed by Hannibal - that her father was likely feeding the family the meat of the girls he killed. Will asks her about the tip-off phone call. She didn’t recognize the voice. Will believes the call came from the Shrike copycat. A neighborhood friend sees that Abigail has returned home and drops by to say hi. The girls go for a walk at the edge of the property, and are accosted by a man who jumps out of the woods. Nicolas is the brother of Cassie, the girl who was the victim of the Shrike copycat. Freddie had told him earlier that Abigail was awake, hinting that she was responsible and justice needed to be served. So he jumps out at the girls, yelling at them. Abigail’s friend, Larissa, throws a couple rocks at him. Hannibal and Will come running, and Nicolas gives up on whatever he was planning and leaves.

The next day, Abigail takes the authorities to her father’s cabin. If there was going to be any evidence, or anything that spurred memories in her, it would be in the cabin. Blood drips onto Abigail’s face and Will goes upstairs to investigate the source. It is Larissa, stripped to her panties and crucified on the antlers. Will believed that this was the work of the copycat again, which would mean he was wrong when he originally said the copycat would never kill this way again. This leads Hannibal to believe that Abigail was not involved in her father’s murder spree - but she may very well be a target. Clearly the copycat is setting up Nicolas to be the new suspect - he even took a bit of skin from the rock that struck him in Larissa’s teeth.

The crew returns with Abigail to her house so she can collect some things and be out of there for good. Two disturbances - one from Larissa’s mother, another from Freddie - leave Will, Hannibal, and Alana outside while Abigail heads in. She clutches a pillow that her father made from various animal hides, thinks for a moment, then cuts it open. She finds it stuffed with human hair. She screams, and is again accosted by Nicolas. He insists she listen to his tale of innocence - but he does so by throwing her up against the wall. Abigail acts on instinct and stabs him in the gut with the knife she is still holding. Hannibal and Alana come in, but Hannibal sees what is happening. He knocks Alana’s head into the stone wall so she blacks out, then goes to Abigail, who is more than a little freaked out. Hannibal places enough doubt in the girl’s mind that, even if it was truly self-defense, people will just see her as another murderer in a family of murderers. She can take her chances with the self-defense argument, or he can help her hide the body. She chooses the latter. Alana has no memory of the event, and Jack just assumes that Nicolas attacked her.

Hannibal is later visited in his office by Abigail. She is wracked with guilt because she didn’t use any part of Nicolas, and therefore did not honor him - it was just murder. She also confronts Hannibal about being the man who called the house that fateful night. Hannibal waves it off as an innocent phone call, but Abigail is not convinced. “You are a serial killer like my dad?” “I am nothing like your dad.” A tentative agreement is reached to keep each other’s secrets.

Dig It or Bury It?

A surprisingly sedate episode, this one was kind of difficult to recap because there wasn’t a lot of action and there was nothing to be snarky about. It was a very cerebral episode.

The question that weighs on my mind is, who cares for Will’s dogs when he is traveling for a case?

Prophecies?

Will has begun sleepwalking. Maybe his next case will get his mind off it - it has to do with victims being flayed and suspended to look like angels.

This is how so many horror movies start: thugs pull up to you in a beat-up van, grab you off the street, blindfold you handcuff you, and throw you into the back of the van. But this is not a horror movie; nor is it the scene from an impoverished country. Nope, this is the new extreme "sport" that is sweeping... Detroit. (Don't they have enough problems?)

This is Extreme Kidnapping, a Detroit-based service created by convicted counterfeiter Adam Thick. He and his goons (many with criminal histories) will stage a customized kidnapping to put a thrill into even the most jaded adventurists. Generally, you will be kidnapped off the street, bound and blindfolded, then taken to a basement room where you may be verbally abused, slapped, waterboarded, stun gunned, or put into stress positions. Like any responsible sado-masochistic relationship, you can choose a safe word in case things get out of control.

Personally, I have no idea who would want to be pretend-kidnapped, but if you are so inclined, prices start at $500 for a four hour "experience." Visit ExtremeKidnapping.com to set up your experience.

Via Oddity Central

It's finally here: Zombieland. The Amazon Studios pilot from the creators of the original 2009 film is available to stream, for free, on Amazon Instant Video.

It's better than the trailer led me to believe, but as one of my co-workers said, "It's better if you pretend you haven't seen the film." Because this 30-minute pilot hits a lot of the same beats that were already covered in the film. On top of that, it is still weird to see a new cast fill in for Woody Harrelson and crew. But there are some decent (if ultra-low budget) kills and some laughs to be had.

You can vote on Zombieland and have a say as to whether or not more episodes are made.  

Having examined, investigated and completely broken down the ins and outs of the entire 'Psycho' franchise for my documentary project 'The Psycho Legacy,' I’ve managed to become pretty well versed in the mythology and time-line of all the events as they take place within the universe set up by Sir Alfred Hitchcock in his 1960 adaptation of the Robert Bloch novel 'Psycho' right through to the final prequel/sequel of that particular franchise with 'Psycho IV: The Beginning.'

One of my initial concerns with A&E’s original announcement regarding their prequel show 'Bates Motel' was that my knowledge of the movies was going to spoil all the details of how the events leading up to the first 'Psycho' had transpired. But alas, what the writers and producers of the show wisely opted to do instead was set the re-imagining in the present day. So as a fan, I became instantly intrigued and excited because after the pilot episode premiered, I truly had no idea where they were going with this. For those unfamiliar with the original films, I thought it’d be fun to break down the 5 biggest changes from the original 'Psycho' mythology to this new reinterpretation of Norman Bates and his mother Norma on 'Bates Motel.' Granted, the following break-down contains major spoilers to the 'Psycho' film series, but not necessarily to the current show. Any comments or observations I make about the show are purely speculative at this point as we’ve only just crossed the half way mark for Season One. So what’s different?

Norma Louise Bates Is A Murderer– Very little is known about Norma Bates from the original 'Psycho,' but all the gaps of her and Norman’s relationship are filled in by the time we get to 'Psycho IV: The Beginning,' a definitive backstory from screenwriter Joseph Stefano, who adapted the book for Hitchcock’s film. And the biggest difference already right from the get-go is that the 'Bates Motel's version of Norma (Vera Farmiga) is most certainly a murderer. Half way through the first episode, after being sexually assaulted and insulted by the sleazy previous proprietor of the motel Keith Summers (W. Earl Brown), Norma gets a little knife happy and goes "psycho" on her attacker. But in the original films, Norma (as portrayed by 'Romeo & Juliet's Olivia Hussey) was never a murderer. Sure, she was crazy in the sense that her mood swings, overt jealousy and incestuous relationship with Norman drove him to become what he becomes, but it was only in Norman’s mind after he killed his mother that he begins to see her as an uncontrollable murderer that grows insanely jealous anytime he encounters a young girl that he finds attractive. In the movies, Mother aka Norma Bates never killed anyone.

Norman Bates Is Most Definitely Mentally Ill– One of the interesting debates of the original 'Psycho' franchise was tackled pretty head-on in 'Psycho IV: The Beginning'... Was Norman a crazed killer because of the way he was treated by his mother growing up? Or was it something inherent in him since birth? In other words, nature versus nurture. For the movie version, although they left it open for audience interpretation, it definitely seems like it may have been a bit of both. But on the show, Norman Bates is most definitely mentally ill as they’ve slowly started revealing in the opening moments of Episode 4 "Trust Me" when we learn that Mother didn’t actually instruct Norman to break into Deputy Shelby’s place to retrieve Keith Summer’s belt. Instead, he had a hallucination that his mother told him to do it. Norma later explains that this happens sometimes and Norman "sees things that aren’t really there." If he’s already having visions of his mother telling him to do things, then he’s clearly had a mental problem long before he commits matricide, which will inevitably have to be the end-game for the show.

The Motel Came Long Before Mother's Boyfriend Did– Another one of the liberties taken with the new show is the way in which Norma and Norman obtain the infamous motel and house. Even the movies have a fuzzy time-line when it comes to exactly when they obtained the property. In the original 1960 'Psycho,' Norman makes reference to a man that convinced his mother to build the motel on their property before they both died. We later find out that (again, major spoiler) it's Norman who kills both his mother and her lover out of jealousy. In 'Psycho IV: The Beginning,' the house is there, as is the motel which Norman’s father allegedly built (?) and the boyfriend mentioned in the original 'Psycho' "Chet" is actually a bartender that hooks up with Norma and decides to move in with them to take over running the pre-existing motel before Norman murders them both. In the show, it’s the surprising and sudden death of Norman’s father that prompts Norma to buy the property in this small Oregon town (also a change in location from the original Fairvale, California) in an attempt to start over. Little does she know of the house & motel’s dark history, or that the town itself has a sinister underlining past. It seems in the show version, the Bates inherit the negative mojo evident in their new residence as opposed to being the cause of it.

Norman Has A Half Brother, Dylan Massett– Norman’s story as told in the original 'Psycho' takes place in 1960, which means he spent a good chunk of the 50's completely on his own at the motel and before that, him and Mother lived alone "as if there were no one else in the world" through the 40's. Part of why Norman becomes the crazed killer in the film series is his lack of interaction with other people besides his mother. The new show introduces Norman's half-brother Dylan, a character created specifically for this interpretation. Dylan's arrival by the second episode seemed like trouble, but as the season has progressed, it’s been interesting to see the dynamic between the two brothers develop. The movie version of Norman Bates makes you wonder would he have become who he is if he just had someone else there to steer him clear of his inner darkness? Dylan is that someone in this version. And while Dylan has obviously had a troubled history that teetered on criminal activity, he clearly doesn’t want his brother to follow in his footsteps, nor does he want him to continue to be dominated by their mother. Considering Norman’s brother is a brand new character, it’s anyone’s guess how their relationship will unfold. Norman Bates is in part loosely based on real life killer Ed Gein, who allegedly killed his own brother Henry after an argument involving their mother, something Norman already tried in the 2nd episode. Could fact inspire fiction on 'Bates Motel'? Only time will tell.

Norman Bates Has Apparently Always Had "Game"– There’s a scene in the original 'Psycho' between Norman (Anthony Perkins) and Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) in the office parlor where you can’t help but wonder if perhaps Marion is a bit smitten by her nervously shy and gracious host. There’s definitely chemistry between the two and it’s obvious that Norman likes Marion immediately too, which is just a testament to the wonderful acting on display by both Perkins and Leigh. "Mother" doesn’t approve of this so naturally this doesn’t end well. But even after that, in the sequels Norman seemed to always elicit the sympathies and affections of his female leading lady. In 'Psycho II,' it’s Mary (Meg Tilly) the young waitress at the diner that forms a relationship with him. In 'Psycho III,' he gets a chance at redemption with the Marion look-a-like Maureen Coil (Diana Scarwid). Hell, by 'Psycho IV,' he was married to his psychiatrist (former super-model Donna Mitchel)! Point being, Norman’s been pretty lucky with the ladies but only after he became a full-fledged psycho. (Proving yet again that pretty gals like a bad-boy?) Right now on 'Bates Motel,' within weeks of moving into town, Norman’s new best friend Emma (Olivia Cooke) has hopelessly fallen in love with him and they’ve even shared a kiss or two. But now, Norman’s also hooked up with Bradley (Nicola Peltz), the equivalent of the most popular girl at school by this small town’s standards. Norman hasn’t heard from Bradley since they did the "deed" 2 episodes back. Was it just a hook up? Does she not really care about Norman in that way? Or even worse, is Norman imagining his entire relationship with Bradley? I mean, we just found out that he tends to see things that aren’t there. But how would that explain Bradley’s text message to "come over"? Curious to see how this relationship plays out. Granted, he’s got Emma who is the wiser, cuter choice in my humble opinion.

You can catch up on all 5 episodes of 'Bates Motel' via the official A&E website. 'The Psycho Legacy' documentary which covers the making of the original 4 'Psycho' movies is available now on a 2 DVD set courtesy of Shout! Factory. Check out the trailer below!

The upcoming eighth season of Dexter will be its last... but could we see a spinoff? Debra, perhaps?

Well, not quite. Showtime honcho David Nevins recently responded to the Hollywood Reporter's speculation: "This is a core franchise to us and all options are on the table as to where it could go after this. There's nothing actively happening but you never know what the future holds. We need to get through this season and see how the dust settles and then see where we go from there. I won't rule it out but I'm not actively planning anything." 

It's fun to dream though. I think that Harrison would make for a better spin-off. How does a child grow up knowing that his father is a serial killer?

You can read the rest of the interview at HollywoodReporter.com. Dexter returns to Showtime on June 30th.

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!

TMNT Villains: Krang

That's right, we're covering a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book here. But be honest, if you had to name one villain from the comics/show that could hang alongside Freddy, Jason, and Michael… it would be Krang, right? What is he, a brain with tentacles? Is he just a nasty little inter-dimensional blob? This one-shot comic gives some background to the grumpy little plop, and we even get to see how he rose to power in his home dimension.

Bag it or board it up? This is a very inventive and fun comic. It's strange to see a Turtles comic branded with the Nickelodeon tag, but they're the owners now. Surprisingly, this comic was a little bit gory and even had some language in it. Krang's journey to become a badass villain was fun to read, and it reminded me of some of the classic TMNT comics. It was bold, brash, and not quite what I expected.

Evil Ernie No. 5

This is the penultimate issue of this new Evil Ernie reboot. Things are looking rough for the kid who's come back from the dead. With Buford now in full-on demon mode, the powers of good and evil struggle back and forth. Ernie, now no more than a chewed up husk of a corpse, screams against the face of his own mortality. But can vigor and hope save the day when, to be honest, shit looks pretty grim?

Bag it or board it up? This issue feels very different from previous ones. Things don't look so awesome for Ernie, and his troubles keep mounting. This has been a wild ride, and the ending next month should be pretty insane, but this issue still delivers. A lot of times the second-to-last issue is all huffing and puffing, but not so with Evil Ernie.

B.P.R.D. Hell On Earth: A Cold Day in Hell No. 2

The B.P.R.D. and the Russian Special Sciences Service are teaming up to fight giant bug-monsters that are coming out of the Earth. Meanwhile, a vastly powerful demon is recruiting lesser evil spirits to help him in a nefarious quest. When the leader of the R.S.S.S. goes missing, a hunt is called to find him. But the dead don't stay dead, demons come out to play, and chaos and insanity ensue.

Bag it or board it up? This is a strange issue. All of the action of the story has been resolved in issue 1 of 2. So this issue is all about, in a way, cleaning up the mess. It's fine, it has exciting moments, but I don't really feel that it's doing the job. It's not really moving this beautiful, expansive plot.

House of Gold And Bones No. 1

Corey Taylor, author and lead singer of Slipknot and Stone Sour, has finally come out with the first issue of his comic House of Gold and Bones. An unnamed Human finds himself on a strange world. He doesn't remember how he got there, or what he should do next. After a horrible sound presses him forward, he finds a small house where his doppleganger tells him that in order to escape he must find the House of Gold and Bones.

Bag it or board it up? Whoa, this is a very dreamlike comic. I really enjoy the way the first-person narrative is so flawed and suspect in this. What does our protagonist know? What has he forgotten? Why is he here? There are a lot of questions, but I'm having such a fun time with this comic so far. I hope they don't answer them all too quickly.

Another tantalizing teaser for the upcoming finale season of Dexter. I especially like that look Michael C. Hall gives the camera at the very end.

The eighth and final season of Dexter premieres on Showtime June 30th.

We certainly don't get a whole lot of horror films from Israel, so when one called Rabies (aka Kalevet) hit the festival circuit a few years ago I made sure to give it a bit of a spotlight. Fortunately for all involved the debut film from Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado was a dark and novel little treat, one that had no problem combing its own tone and attitude with some obvious inspirations from American horror films of the 1980s. Now the duo has returned with another devious delicacy. It's called Big Bad Wolves, and it's mainly about three men: a suspected killer of children, a detective on very thin ice, and a father who recently buried his young daughter without her head.

If Rabies was riffing on the "body count" movies we know and love, then Big Bad Wolves is an homage to everything from film noir and suspense to torture-laced horror films and psychological mystery thrillers. So obviously it's fun for genre fans of all ages, but is Big Bad Wolves any better than a canny collection of genre touchstones?

Hell yes. If there's anything that's cooler than seeing a little "American cinema" DNA in a non-American movie, it's seeing how another culture brings a fresh spark to even the most commonplace of premises. In a nutshell, because the flick is rife with dark surprises. Big Bad Wolves is about a suspected child killer who is kidnapped and strapped to a chair by the father of his most recent (alleged) victim -- but there's also a disgraced cop who failed to catch the killer through legal means and may be willing to go along with the whole "torture" idea after all.

What I've just described may sound like the plot synopsis of any low-budget or generic thriller found on Netflix or iTunes, but (like I said) the movie is full of cool surprises. To start, the three leads (Lior Ashkenazi, Rotem Keinan, and Tzahi Grad) are simply fantastic. Each actor brings grey shades to their character, which means the cop is a little bit weak, the suspect is somehow a touch sympathetic, and the man who seems to be in control... is also sort of a bloodthirsty lunatic. Just another example of how good acting (not to mention writing) can bring new life to a potentially tired premise.

Big Bad Wolves actually works as three movies in one, provided you watch it from the perspective of each of the "wolves." An astute viewer will see a procedural thriller (not unlike Silence of the Lambs) briefly dip into Saw territory before switching over to a film noir of darkly amusing errors, and then a twisted psychological chiller about the disparate viewpoints of three highly violent men.

And the intangibles are pretty fantastic as well: Giora Bejach's crisp and gorgeous cinematography keep the film visually appealing while Frank Ilfman's wonderfully Herrmann-esque score manages to become its own character by the time Act III ramps up with some chases, scrapes, and escapes. And throughout all of the serpentine-style plot contortions there's a firm but dark sense of humor -- even when dealing with the seriously unfunny topics of torture, murder, and child abuse. When all is said and done, Big Bad Wolves is a colorfully captivating and thoroughly fascinating piece of genre filmmaking. I daresay that at its best moments it reminded me of Fargo, and I don't throw comparisons to the Coen brothers around all that lightly.

J. August Richards, well-known for his work in movies and television, such as The Temptations and as Gunn on the popular television show Angel, took some time out of his schedule to talk exclusively with FEARnet about his upcoming role on the new hit series, Arrow.

FEARnet: With the upcoming April 24^th episode of Arrow, you'll be playing a character called Mr. Blank. Can you tell us a bit about him?

J. August Richards: What I can tell you is that I've never played a role like this before in my life, and I was extremely challenged by it and very afraid of it. Andrew Kreisberg, the executive producer, thought of me for the role after he saw an episode of Emily Owens, M.D. that I did. He immediately thought of me for it; I don't know why.

[laughter]

Because nothing I've ever done is like this character. So I was kind of afraid of it, but the director, Ken Fink and I figured it out, figured out how I was going to portray it. It was challenging and very, very fun.

I saw the episode and the way your character treated his wife before his memory loss vs. after, I can see why he would think of you for the role. In that episode it was two different characters, in a way.

That's funny that you say that, because I didn't see it that way at all. But now that you mention it, it's really true. We had a debate on set during Emily Owens and everyone said that my character was mad at his wife, but I didn't see it that way at all. What I played it as I just couldn't look at her face because every time I saw her face I saw our dead son. That's where I was coming from, and that's why I was able to look at her with love after I forgot about that loss. So it's really interesting that you mention that, because I always wondered what it was about that performance that would have made them think of me for this role. My personality is so different from Mr. Blank.

[laughter]

But I found it, and I definitely had fun once I figured it out.

Since it was so different, how did you prepare for that role?

That's a really good question. Once you see it you will see that there's an aspect to the character's personality that I couldn't understand. In terms of how to prepare for it, it was really difficult because the character is very … I'll say he's like a sociopathic version of Nate Berkus. Do you know who Nate Berkus is?

No, I don't think so, but the name sounds familiar.

Nate Berkus is an interior decorator who works with Oprah Winfrey.

Oh, him! Yes, Nate, okay!

[laughter]

Yeah, yeah. So when I read the script I saw him as a sociopathic version of Nate Berkus, because he has no feelings about human beings but he has tremendous feelings about spaces. And I thought that that was so weird, because even though it's not easy, I understand the idea of someone that has no feelings for people. But then I asked myself, “How could someone have no emotions for human beings but then be so sensitive to the energy in a space?” And that's what made the character absolutely fascinating and difficult for me.

Interesting! I don't want to ask you too much specifically about it, so as not to spoil it for the audience.

You can call him a sociopathic Nate Berkus, because no one will know what that means! They might have an idea, but they'll want to see what the hell I'm talking about.

[laughter]

With the storyline right now on the show, they're dealing with a new drug, Vertigo, and I'm wondering how your character fits within that, or is it something different all together?

It's kind of related to that, but it's not. If I told you what it was, it would completely give away the storyline, so maybe I shouldn't answer that one.

[laughter]

Cool! So how do you feel about early work in your career, with movies like The Temptations, vs. your work now. How do you feel you've changed as an actor?

Great question. In a lot of ways, I see my career as the characters I've played. Put all together, it tells a story. I started out on The Cosby Show as sort of a clean-cut kid. Then I did a bunch of guest spots playing as college kids and kids in the military. And then I went from there to Angel, where I played sort of a homeless vampire hunter who turns into a lawyer, and then from there I did two legal shows. I feel like it tells a story that's almost parallel to my life in a lot of ways, and about what it's like getting older and growing up in this time.

Sometimes when I look back at my résumé I get very proud because there's so much diversity. It's funny, early in my career people would say, “Oh, well you're being typecast as a clean-cut kid,” and then they'd say, “Oh, you're getting typecast as a lawyer.” And maybe now people will say I'm typecast as something else, but I remember that there was a time when people said I was typecast as a background singer because I did Temptations and Why Do Fools Fall in Love.

But eventually they're going to get that I seek diversity in the roles I play and diversity seeks me. So I love the challenge of doing different things, and I feel my résumé is diverse. Musicals, science fiction, legal shows, medical shows and everything in between.

Right, right. And I think I read in an interview that you were a fan of science fiction and Star Wars growing up.

I am. When I was nine-years old my friends and I would go in the backyard and play Star Wars and superheroes, play pretend. Sometimes people will ask me how I do all those fight scenes or stunts, and it's like I've been doing this my whole life. I've always been a fan of fantasy and comic books as a kid, and now I feel like I'm doing it for a living, which is really pretty wonderful.

You're also coming to Arrow after working on a project of your own, The Hypnotist. It's still in its early stages, but can you talk about how it's different being at the helm as a writer/producer/director vs. being an actor, and give some background on the project?

I love The Hypnotist. It's something I'm very passionate about. I was inspired by the Star Wars mythology in that I wanted to create a mythology of my own, and this is the beginning of it. So I'd like to do a six-part web-series that is sort of a door opening to a world I'm trying to create. It's about this woman who lives in Los Angeles who cures people of whatever they want to quit, whether it's smoking, or showing up everywhere late, or overeating, or being attracted to a certain type of person.

Whatever habit you want to cure, she can cure you through this form of hypnosis, which is called African Hypnosis. It's the earliest form of hypnosis known to the planet Earth. It allows her to enter into your subconscious mind and remove the reason why you do whatever it is you do. So whatever the deeper reason is to your smoking, she can go into your subconscious mind and remove it with you, and you'll never smoke again. It's this amazing power she has and the story goes in very interesting directions. It's going to be a labor of love, something I'm working diligently on to finish and then hopefully we'll get to continue telling the story on television or in the movie theater.

I like that idea a lot; I remember watching the first episode and wondering where reality ended and the character's mind and the hypnosis took over. It was very good.

Thank you! That episode starts in the middle of his hypnosis, and no two episodes are alike. I'm doing a lot of pitches right now, trying to find someone to partner with me on it, and people will ask, “Well, is it going to be the same every time,” and the answer is no. Sometimes people have a hard time seeing how it will work as a series, but it doesn't take me long to convince them.

And so how was it going from that to back to acting on a show like Arrow?

Working on Arrow reminded me a lot of working on Angel because they have 15 hour days as well; they worked all throughout the night as well, and it's new show on the CW which used to be the WB. So it felt a lot like being on Angel. I really liked working with the cast and crew, and the director Ken Fink, and collaborating. It was really a collaborative process to really figure out the character, because I had to fill in Mr. Blank with my performance, and hopefully that makes sense when you see it.

Your family is from Panama and you were born here. So I was really curious about how you pull your background into your work with your characters, if you do.

I do. And I'll tell you how I use it. When my parents moved to the States, we moved to a neighborhood that only had one other Black family that lived there before us. So I felt like the outsider there. Then when I was a little older, a lot of my cousins moved from Panama to the states, and when I was with my family, I was the only kid who was very Americanized because I was born here. They all spoke Spanish, I spoke English. So I felt very “other” there.

Then the schools in my neighborhood would bus either kids from other neighborhoods into our neighborhood, or they'd bus us out of my neighborhood into an inner city neighborhood, and I was an “other” there. The truth of the matter is I don't have a comfort zone as a human being. There's no one place I can go to be around everyone that's “like me”. That place doesn't exist. So I know viscerally what it feels like to be an outsider, and I try to bring that to everything I do. And the only place I truly feel at home is in a diverse environment. I think it's part of my job to bring people together.

How do you think heroes now compare to how they were decades ago? In the most recent episode of Arrow, he kills a guy, and I remember back in like the 80s, heroes weren't always allowed to kill bad guys.

[laughter]

I'm not a television scholar; make sure you note that I said that.

[laughter]

And correct me if I'm wrong, but honestly, when I watch Buffy and Angel I think that Joss was doing things then that people are doing now, and I don't think he always gets a lot of credit for the brilliance of his writing. A lot of people in the television industry know it, and there have been a lot of producers that I've worked with who give Joss so much praise, but I feel like when I watch a show – and you know how you sometimes love the main character then despise the main character – I won't say that Joss invented that, but I think he was way ahead of the curve many years ago with what he did. So now, you almost can't put a show on television if the hero isn't complicated. But back then when Buffy and Angel were on, it was a little more rare. This is my perception. I feel like Joss has always been ahead of his time.

Being on Angel was so great because the characters kept shifting, changing from week to week. One week you really love Gunn and the next couple of episodes you really hate Gunn. At the time I didn't really understand that you were supposed to hate me sometimes and you were supposed to love me sometimes. But Joss has a way of making you fall in and out of love with characters. It's a gift.

I completely agree. In college I did a presentation for a class where we were supposed to demonstrate how films were different from earlier decades vs. the modern era at that time. But I was able to compare an episode of Angel or Buffy, and a clip from Lost Boys to show how television and movies were becoming similar. With shows like Angel and Buffy, television became more like the movies in the way it's put together.

I agree. Television is amazing right now. And I had a conversation once with Joss about how he writes, and I'm still wrapping my brain around it. It was so profound, the method of how he comes up with this stuff, and I felt like a hole was burnt into my brain with the genius I was getting.

Tune in to J. August Richards as Mr. Blank on Arrow, Wednesday, April 24^th at 8/7c.

Nancy O. Greene started writing at the age of nine. Her short story collection, Portraits in the Dark, received a brief mention in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 2007. Other works have appeared or will appear in ChiZine; Lovecraft eZine; Cemetery Dance; Tales of Blood and Roses; Haunted: 11 Tales of Ghostly Horror; Shroud Publishing's The Terror at Miskatonic Falls; Dark Recesses; Flames Rising; Smile, Hon, You're in Baltimore!; and others. She has a BA in Cinema (Critical Studies) and a minor in English (Creative Writing) from the University of Southern California, and is a Fellow of Film Independent's Project:Involve.

‘Cursed productions’ are not exclusive to horror pictures. But, it’s typically horror films that garner the most attention for tumultuous circumstances surrounding their filming. At one point, people seemed to like the idea of those involved with horror movies being condemned for their participation in the devil’s work. But, these days, many people would, attribute a cursed production to nothing more than bad luck, negligence, unfortunate circumstances, or a combination of the above factors. Films from The Wizard of Oz to Superman have spawned rumors of a curse associated with their production. But, a lot of people argue that there is a slightly less fantastical explanation for films that endured a particularly turbulent shoot. 

FEARnet employee Sarah Shannon got an early birthday surprise from her sister in the form of this Freddy Krueger-themed birthday cake, created by Carly's Cakes and Cookies in Philadelphia: