Excited for the season premiere of True Blood? We still have a few more days before the debut, so we've got three new clips to hold you over until the July 16th premiere.
In the first clip, Eric and Pam are having a little "lover's quarrel" - but could it have a deeper meaning? In the second clip, Bill insists he is not Lilith - but can he be trusted? And in the third clip, Sookie meets another fairy halfling in the woods - will he be friend or foe?
Get Bit
You're swimming in the ocean with your friends. It's a beautiful day. The sun is shining, your boat bobs in the sea, and deep below you lurks an ancient predator. You feel a bump against your foot and your heart begins to race. You look to your left, your friend has felt it too. Something's coming for you! With a great splash of water, a giant shark speeds toward your group! Now your mission is clear, to quote the rules text of Get Bit,"You don't have to be faster than the shark, just faster than your friends!"
Hannibal Episode 111
“Releves”
Written By: Chris Brancato & Bryan Fuller
Directed By: Michael Rymer
Original Airdate: 13 June 2013
In This Episode...
Will has been bonding with Georgia while they are both in the hospital. When Georgia is released from the oxygen tube, she will get shock treatment. Her memories of her “killing spree” are hazy. She knows she killed her friend, but doesn’t actually remember it. Of Dr. Sutcliffe’s murder, she dreamed it was Will. When Hannibal comes to visit, Will mentions Georgia’s fear of remembering. (The ironic thing is that ECT usually destroys memories - it doesn’t reveal them.) So then it should be no surprise that a plastic comb appears mysteriously in Georgia’s tube. With no other means of entertainment, Georgia picks it up and starts to brush. She doesn’t make it one stroke before a charge of static sparks the pure oxygen environment into a fiery inferno. The FBI pulls a charred female form out of the oxygen tube. She wasn’t wearing her grounding bracelet. Jack suggests it was suicide; Will insists it was murder. That comb was placed there on purpose.
Will checks himself out of the hospital and sleeps at home. He dreams that Georgia is there and leads him outside with a jittery J-horror walk. Outside, she says, “See? See?” She is impaled through with antlers then is set on fire. Will wakes. In the morning, he goes to Jack, who is not happy to see Will outside of the hospital. Will is there to tell him that he thinks Georgia’s murder is connected to Dr. Sutcliffe’s murder, and the Hobbs copycats. Jack still believes - perhaps more than ever - that Abigail is the copycat killer, and now thinks Will is protecting her. Hannibal assures him he would never hide something criminal from him.
Jack has the techs track every movement Hobbs made surrounding his kills. All the girls came from schools that Abigail had attended and Hobbs always travelled with someone else. While he has no proof, this fuels Jack’s theory that Abigail was her father’s accomplice. Convinced of Abigail’s guilt, and that she now has a taste for killing, Jack goes to see Abigail - but discovers Will has already checked her out. Jack consults with Hannibal, who finally admits that he thinks Will’s loss of time may have been him waking from a dissociative personality state. He didn’t say anything because he wasn’t sure if this was a mental illness or merely stress. Hannibal plays a recording for Jack, just a few seconds of one of Will’s sessions, in which he says he felt like he killed Marissa, clearly setting Will up to take the fall. Will felt like he was becoming Hobbs, and now he has his daughter.... Hannibal apologizes to Jack for not speaking up sooner. They head out to Minnesota in pursuit of Will and Abigail, whom they now believe is in danger.
Arriving at the Hobbs cabin, Abigail and Will go straight to the attic. She is anxious being there; he is growing sicker by the minute. The pair debate hunting and fishing as being two sides of the same coin: in one you stalk, the other you lure. Abigail brings this all up to address her role as her father’s lure, and is surprised that Hannibal didn’t tell Will this already. Will is overwhelmed and his headaches return. Despite fevered chills, he grabs Abigail and impales her on a pair of antlers. This is all in his mind, for seconds later we see Will shaking the cobwebs from his head and Abigail alive and well - albeit scared of Will, who seems to be growing agitated and erratic. Suddenly, in a blink, Will is being woken by a stewardess. He is on the airplane, at Dulles, and it is time for him to leave - he is the only one left on the plane. Will isn’t sure if he was coming or going.
The audience knows that he was coming, for Abigail is in Minnesota. She lets herself into the family home, and sees Hannibal waiting for her in the kitchen. They hug. Hannibal came to Minnesota because he was worried about her. She is glad to see him because she didn’t feel safe with Will anymore. But then, suddenly, she is no longer feeling safe around Hannibal as all the pieces start to fall into place. “Did Will kill Marissa?” she asks. “They will believe he did,” Hannibal assures her as she backs away. In textbook sociopath speak, Hannibal explains that called the Hobbs house that fateful day to warn him simply so he could see what happens. He was also curious as to what would happen if he killed Marissa, and he wanted to see what Abigail would do. “I was hoping to see how much like dad you are.” “Are you going to kill me?” “I’m so sorry Abigail. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you.” And with Abigail’s fate obvious but not blatant, we cut to black.
Also of importance: When Jack goes to see Bedelia, we find out that the patient Hannibal referred to her would have killed her had he not swallowed his own tongue and died. What she didn’t tell him was that Hannibal was the one who cut his tongue and saved her life.
Dig It or Bury It?
This was a surprisingly sedate episode. It was one of those, “we have a few more block to add to this castle before we destroy it” episodes. The final act, from about the time that Will and Abigail enter the cabin, that is when the tension was really ratcheted up. I was a little disappointed that we didn’t see Georgia’s ghost again. I am assuming/hoping she will appear next week. I don’t care how many times it is used, that jittery, The Grudge, ghost-girl walk is always effective.
I found it very interesting that tonight was the first time Hannibal vocalized his murders. It’s not like it was a secret - we have seen him kill before - but this was the first proof that was offered that he killed Marissa in the Hobbs cabin. It was pretty clear before that scene that Abigail was not long for this world, but it was almost like Hannibal saw Abigail as his confessor. Hannibal has clearly never felt guilty for any of the murders he has committed - I think he is feeling guilty for framing Will. He genuinely likes Will, perhaps sees something of himself in Will, but in the interest of self-preservation, Hannibal has few options.
Bon Apetit
Hannibal brings Will some homemade chicken soup while he is still in the hospital. Will seems to like it, but Hannibal used some super-rare type of bird that actually looked like a big, black Cthulhu tentacle.
Prophecies?
Next week is the season finale, and with the evidence stacked up against him, Will is charged with murder.
Alright fiends, this is it! Victor Crowley returns! 'Hatchet III,' the latest (and possibly final?) installment in the 'Hatchet' franchise is now playing in select theaters as well as VOD. Hit up the official website at Hatchet3.com to find theater listings to see if it's playing in your hometown, or you can check it out On Demand or your local cable provider's VOD service. In celebration of the release, we thought we'd ressurrect some of the 'Hatchet III' video interviews we conducted earlier this year with director BJ McDonnell and star Derek Mears. You can check those out below and be sure to read Scott Weinberg's review of 'Hatchet III.'
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!
Breath of Bones: A Tale of the Golem No. 1
Horror comic mainstay Steve Niles (30 Days of Night) brings a new skew to the horrors of the Holocaust. Breath of Bones takes place in a small European village right before the Allied Forces storm Europe. A young boy, living with his grandparents, befriends a fallen pilot as his grandfather gives him a very important artifact: a tiny clay golem. This is the classic Jewish folk tale of the Golem made of clay that comes to life.
Bag it or board it up? We don't see any real action this issue, but this comic is beautifully illustrated in black and white and the characters jump off the page. Everything looks so well balanced between stylization and realism. Plus, the cover gives away a bit of the plot... a giant clay golem smashes Nazis at some point. And that's just perfect.
The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys No. 1
This new comic from My Chemical Romance lead singer Gerard Way follows a young girl who was once a member of the superhero team The Killjoys. Now, as the sole survivor and biggest fan of their group, the mysterious girl has to face their biggest foe: a megacorporation that's sucking the life out of Bat City.
Bag it or board it up? I don't care how you feel about My Chemical Romance, Gerard Way is a fantastic comic book writer (see also: Umbrella Academy). This issue crackles with new ideas and ingenuity. And the colors! I've never seen a post-apocalyptic world look so bright! I'm really digging this and will definitely follow the series further.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9 No. 22
In this continuation of the cult vampire series, Buffy and friends are trying to get to the center of the earth... totally normal, right? Buffy's teaming up with Willow (recently returned from a magical wonderland after all the magic in the world was drained) and they're trying to make their case to the mystical council.
Bag it or board it up? There is nothing that displeases me about what I just wrote above; mystical council? Love it. Journey to the center of the earth? Sure thing, I’ll tag along. Willow? Yeah she's my favorite. And when they team up against hordes of magical beings? Everything just seems right. The artwork by Georges Jeanty is beautiful. All the comics this week are so luxuriously illustrated. It's a real treat for the eyes!
Doomsday.1 No. 2
This second issue takes place sixty days after the first issue. In issue one, a group of astronauts on a space station watched as a solar flare decimated the Earth. Now, traveling on the scarred surface of the planet, the group runs into a friendly seeming police officer who offers them safe haven in a prison run by the convicts.
Bag it or board it up? I know the "prison run by convicts" schtick has been done before... but damn, John Byrne (of Next Men fame) can really tell a story. This issue is sad, exciting, gory, and it plays with time. We keep cutting in between action with little boxes that read "Moments Ago..." It's an awesome way to show the frenetic nature of the comic and the world in chaos. I'm such a big fan of this series already, and it keeps getting better.
I’ve been very fortunate working in the horror film industry – I’ve been able to interview many of my favorite actors, directors and FX specialists. But every now and then, there is an interview that really stands out, an interview that is so much fun, I’m left grinning like the Cheshire cat, and I can’t wait to write all about it. One of those interviews took place this week over the phone with director Edgar Wright. And sure, he’s every geek-girl’s dream date, and the British director was not beyond chatting all things geek with me – even when the main focus is promoting his new film, The World’s End.
Struggling with growing up, forty-year-old Greg (Simon Pegg) gets his old buddies together to complete an epic pub-crawl – a crawl they had tried to complete twenty years ago. To complete the challenge, they simply have to reach the titular drinking establishment without ending up in the gutter; but wider forces are at work and it becomes clear that current events may have ramifications for the future of mankind itself.
So Wright and I chatted about The World’s End… but we also talked zombies, blue blood, classic sci-fi novels, Romero and 80s goth and post-punk.
The World’s End is the third and final part of your genre-bending trilogy known as The Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy. Where did the inspiration for the film come from and - be honest - did it come from your own epic pub-crawl?
The idea had been germinating for awhile, but I remember I was on the Hot Fuzz press tour – and I never really intended for these movies to be a trilogy, not until we had the idea for the third one, and then I thought maybe there was a way of connecting the three films. They’re not linked in terms of characters; they’re a trilogy in terms of tone. When I was 21, I wrote a script called Crawl, based on a real pub crawl but I didn’t do anything with it; it was about a group of teenagers going out for the night and having an epic tour of their local pubs, a drinking quest! I never made that film obviously, and then when I was on the tour with Hot Fuzz, Superbad came out and I thought, “now I will never do anything with my Crawl script. But, I thought, what if that pub crawl was just the first five minutes of the movie, and what if these friends reunited in their late thirties to try and relive the pub crawl, and then something major occurs that brings the quest into shaper focus, so that was the initial idea.
But this isn’t a disaster film in the conventional sense – or at all, right?
Yes, it’s not a disaster movie; it’s an invasion film. It’s more in the vein of John Wyndham, more of a sci-fi film, Day of the Triffids, the things that we grew up with, genre movies like Dr. Who, Village of the Damned, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Those kinds of films were on television a lot when [Simon Pegg and I] were growing up, and we wanted to channel those 50s/60s sci-fi movies so the invasion happens, and then it gets bigger and crazier [laughs]!
I’ve read that Pegg was a goth in his youth. Were you excited to have him back in black?
He did have a gothy phase, yes [laughs] and he was very into Sisters Of Mercy and Bauhaus and The Cure. He had his gothy phase in the late 80s. In fact, he’s still a big Sisters Of Mercy fan and we found out through the movie, because Simon wears the t-shirt, the lead singer of the band, Andrew Eldritch, is a big fan of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, so that really made our year! Simon did say that the Gary King costume in the film is the greatest costume he’s ever worn. He got to dress like an eighteen-year-old everyday. He did look a bit tragic, dying his hair black – but he really pulled it off! He looks like a particularly cool goth.
The music that you choose evokes a certain time period – the late eighties/early nineties.
Yeah, the idea is that these five guys – four of them have grown up, and Gary hasn’t and he’s literally trying to drag them back into the 90s. He still has his tape from the times with all of his favorite hits. I wanted to use British music from the phase of hedonistic music during that period – Happy Mondays, Stone Roses, and a lot of those anthems like ‘Loaded’ by Primal Scream; Simon Pegg’s character, Gary, lives his life by the messages in songs like that.
Is it a balancing act trying to sell a film like The World’s End without letting loose all of the jokes, gags and plot twists?
It can be tricky, but the trailer is out and it does give a few things away, it was important for us to establish what we weren’t, we wanted people to know that we weren’t doing a disaster movie, and so that was one of the reasons why we weren’t shy about showing certain things. I’m fine about sacrificing some bigger gags for the sake of new fans coming to see the film. It’s a necessary evil. It was the same for Shaun of the Dead. And to be honest, when you look at old trailers, they’re full of spoilers! So many of them show the last shot of the film! There is still a lot of surprises in our film, I think they will be surprised by what it is, and I think essentially at it’s core, the theme has to do with different people’s viewpoints on what Utopia is. It’s something different for each character in the film, and that theme ties in with the sci-fi genre very well.
The trailer shows robot-like creatures and… blue blood!
Yeah, I don’t want to say too much about that because I’d like for those aspects in the film to uncover for themselves but I will tell you about the GLOOP, which is what we call the blue blood. I wanted the characters, as they get drunker, to regress to their teenaged-selves and one thing I remember very vividly from school, I remember ending every school day with my hands covered in blue ink. This image is really funny to me, and it is very childlike, so I thought using that for the characters as they regress was very appropriate.
Did a lot change between the finished script that you and Pegg worked on when you got on the set and started filming?
Not really, we don’t do that too much actually. It wasn’t improve heavy, our script was quite tight. The casting and the timing of the scenes is all worked out, and it’s rehearsed, and we’ll make little tweaks if funny things come up, but we pretty much stick to the draft that we went into rehearsal with. We’re quite old school that way actually and it’s the actors job to make the dialogue natural and conversational.
I wanted to share with you – I met George Romero last month, and he doesn’t speak very highly about modern zombie movies, but he lovesShaun of the Dead.
I know! He’s always been so supportive! He was the first person we sent the film to when we finished, it was very important for us to get his blessing. Modern zombie films would not exist today without him, I mean, zombie films before Romero, zombie were a voodoo thing. The whole idea of zombies being cannibalistic creatures is George’s vision. I think he gets a lot of credit, but not enough because he really is the godfather of the zombie genre. I always go out of my way to praise his work, and we really wanted his blessing on Shaun. He was very flattered that we bothered to get in touch with him and show him the movie before it came out. He was extremely kind about it. For Simon, and me that was everything! We didn’t need anyone else’s approval! It was amazing.
So if you could send The World’s End to anyone in the world – even those who have passed, who would you send it to?
John Wyndham. The great novelist of The Chrysalids, The Day of the Triffids, etc. His influence extends from British sci-fi to a lot of television and film, so definitely him.
True Blood starts its sixth season this weekend. After seeing the first couple of episodes, here are five interesting, cool, or just plain weird things to look forward to about the new season.
True Blood premieres on June 16th on HBO.
Bill’s new superpowers.
Bill is not sure exactly what he is. He was killed and reborn in the blood of the first vampire. But while he tries to figure it out, he will also discover he has a whole bunch of new, sometimes frightening, superpowers. Will he use them for good or evil?
It’s a lot more fairy-centric.
Sookie meets a new fairy (or rather, a halfling like herself) that is clearly going to be her new love interest. On top of that, we explore Sookie’s fairy family tree and learn more about her fairy powers. All she needs is a giant pink ball gown and a song and Sookie is all ready for her direct-to-DVD Disney movie.
New anti-vampire weapons.
Governor Burrell has been preparing for a war with the vampires for a long time. The problems with the Vampire Authority gave him the excuse to move forward with his plans to disenfranchise, criminalize, and eventually (I assume) exterminate vampires. And with that comes a slew of new weapons he has spent years developing. I don’t want to give too much away, but it is high-tech and very efficient.
The vampires are turning on one another.
It’s understandable. The vampires are very stressed. The Louisiana government has deemed that vampires have no rights. Violence against them is no longer a crime, and they cannot own property. Once the humans can figure out how to glamour the vampires, it is pretty much a return to slavery. On top of that, with the Tru Blood factories out of commission, food is scarce, so I think everyone is getting a little cranky.
Hippies.
California hippies to be exact. They roll into Bon Temps, but not on vacation. One of them, a girl named Nicole, is a supernatural-rights activist looking to start an Occupy movement. I have no evidence to support this, but I suspect she and her friends have darker intentions - or at the very least, their good intentions will have severe consequences.
Our friends over at Dread Central are hosting an extra-special scare for you ghost hunters. Throughout the Comic Con weekend, they are hosting ghost tours through the William Heath Davis house in Downtown San Diego. The oldest house in San Diego, built in 1850, it has not just been a residence, but a hospital, officers's quarters in the Civil War, and hideout for a German spy. The Dread Central tours are self-guided, allowing you to get lost in the atmosphere. Pictures and videos are highly encouraged.
Tours will run twice nightly throughout Comic Con, at 9pm and midnight every night. The tours are $60 per person. But on Saturday night at midnight you can sign up for the "advanced" tour, which, for $100, gives you added time in the house, access to off-limits areas like the attic, and will include food before your adventure. All proceeds from these tickets go to the upkeep of the William Heath Davis house.
Visit Dread Central for all the details and to order your tickets.
Sharknado appears to be the perfect storm of natural disaster flicks. We have runaway carnival rides, flooding oceans, Tara Reid, and of course, the titular sharknados - tornados so massive they literally lift sharks out of the ocean and spew them out onto unsuspecting land lubbers. Enjoy the insanity in this new trailer:
Sharknado premieres tonight on Syfy.
I love horror-porn parodies, mainly because they are usually so ridiculous. And I love television. So I am insanely drawn to The Walking Dead: A Hardcore Parody. From the back cover:
After months in a hospital bed, County Sheriff Rick woke up from a coma and quickly realized the world had been overrun by Zombies. One odd notion was especially troubling; these zombies are hungry for brains and sex! A jizz shot was the only sure-fire way to return these undead creatures to the grave! Will Lori continue to bang Shane or Rick? Will Michonne and Andrea finally fuck? Will Daryl shoot his bow? Find out on the next episode of THE WALKING DEAD : A HARDCORE PARODY
The one thing I take issue with is the horribly dull title. What happened to great titles like "The Exxxorcist," or "Evil Head" or "Pacific Rim Job?" Let's get creative! Why not call it The Fucking Dead? Too obvious? What would you call a Walking Dead porno?
