If you were at San Diego Comic Con last week, you may have gotten the chance to walk through Legendary's "Godzilla Experience," a "love letter" to fans of the giant movie monster. The first part of the experience is like a tour of Tokyo, with lots of props and memorabilia from various Godzilla movies. Visitors are invited to take lots of photos. But after that, alarms go off, and the military rushes you into an "elevator" to evacuate you before Godzilla attacks. It's fairly elaborate, especially for an exhibit that will only be open for less than a week. Video screens acting like windows in the final room show Godzilla thundering by. While the staff at the Experience swear that this is not the new Godzilla, my husband astutely pointed out that it seems silly for the company to spend the time and money to render a Godzilla that will only exist for five days in a single location. On top of that, the staff was very adamant that once the "attack" was under way, there was to be absolutely no photographs or video taken. I mean, a hardcore anti-photography policy. It was obviously not just part of the "act."

Luckily, nerds are never above shady tactics to get the scoop, and the Godzilla Experience was no exception. One Comic Con attendee (not affiliated with FEARnet, I swear) managed to keep the cameras rolling so that people on "the outside" can get a peek at Godzilla.

Again, this is allegedly not the new Godzilla. Allegedly. Judge for yourself.

Who would have guessed that 30 hours of television would inspire a timeless cult following that has only grown stronger in the 20 years since it went off the air? I am, of course, talking about Twin Peaks, one of David Lynch's most beloved properties. Did you know that there are bars and cafes around the world that are Twin Peaks-themed? I didn't... until now.

The Black Lodge in Vancouver

They have only been open for a couple months, but the Black Lodge in Vancouver features a Red Room bathroom, tree slice tables, and Laura Palmer's photo over the bar. The owners promise that they will be incorporating more Twin Peaks themes over the next few months. I assume that will include cherry pie on the vegetarian menu.

Source: Welcome to Twin Peaks, Yelp

The Log Lady Cafe in Copenhagen

A former tattoo parlor-turned cafe seems the perfect setting for a David Lynch-inspired eatery. Taxidermy, tree trunk stools, and cherry pie bring Twin Peaks to life.

Source: Unlike

The Bookhouse Pub in Atlanta

A woodsy, tiki-themed pub and eatery, The Bookhouse features a specialty cocktail list with drinks based on various Twin Peaks characters: Laura Palmer, Agent Dale Cooper, Log Lady, and Audrey Horne among them.

Source: The Bookhouse Pub

Mission Chinese in New York

This hipster dive Chinese place is an ode to cheap take-out places (with a high-end menu and prices to match) but the bathroom is mildly Twin Peaks-themed. Laura Palmer's photo, a totem, and the theme song on a loop highlight the tiny toilet.

Source: NYMag

Bates Motel has added three new actors for its upcoming sophomore season. Rebecca Creskoff (Hung) will play Christine, a society woman who befriends Norma and introduces her into White Pine Bay society. She is described as "charming and witty," and the "first female friend" Norma Bates has ever had. Michael Vartan (Alias, One Hour Photo) will play Christine's older brother, George, recently divorced and now with a crush on Norma (we all know how well that worked out last time). Kenny Johnson (Blade, Sons of Anarchy, and to be seen on upcoming episodes of Dexter) will play Caleb, the brother who raped Norma all through their childhood. 

The Poltergeist remake has landed its Diana Freeling. The role, originally filled by Jobeth Williams, will now be played by Rosemarie DeWitt (United States of Tara). The remake will be directed by Gil Kenan, based on a script by David Lindsay-Abaire. The hunt is now on for a leading man.

Terrence Howard (Iron Man) has joined the M. Night Shyamalan event series Wayward Pines. Based on a novel by Blake Crouch, the Twin Peaks-ish series stars Matt Dillon as an FBI agent who comes to Wayward Pines, Idaho, to find two missing federal agents, but soon realizes he may never be able to leave the town alive. Howard will play the Wayward Pines sheriff. 

Fantastic Fest has just announced the first wave of films to screen at the annual Texas festival. Among the highlights are Man of Tai Chi (with star Keanu Reeves there in person) and Nightbreed - The Cabal Cut, a two-and-a-half hour "director's cut" of Clive Barker's classic film. These films join the previously announced Machete Kills, which will headline the fest. 

Other films that were announced:

BIG BAD WOLVES (Israel, 2013)
Texas Premiere
Director- Navot Papushado & Aharon Keshales, 110 mins
The directing team behind the 2010 cult smash RABIES return to Fantastic Fest with one of the best genre films of 2013.   

BORGMAN (The Netherlands, 2013)
North American Premiere
Director - Alex van Warmerdam, 113 mins
Something wicked this way comes in the form of the ordinary, the polite and the normal as a drifter and his followers invade the home of a bourgeois family.  

CHEAP THRILLS (United States, 2013)
Regional Premiere
Director - E.L. Katz, 85 mins
A recently fired father facing eviction is paid to take on an escalating series of insane challenges from a rich couple with a twisted sense of humor.

COMMANDO - A ONE MAN ARMY (India, 2013)
US Premiere
Director- Dilip Ghosh, 120min
Singing! Dancing! Extreme violence and goofy one-liners from Bollywood's answer to Tony Jaa and Marko Zaror! If Cannon Films were to relocate to India, COMMANDO would be the result!

EEGA (India, 2012)
Austin Premiere
Director - SriSaila Sri Rajamouli, 107 mins
A murdered man reincarnates as a fly to wreak vengeance on the villain who took his life and his lover. EEGA is an inventive, insane take on a revenge story unlike anything you've seen before.

HALLEY (Mexico/The Netherlands, 2013)
Texas Premiere
Director - Sebastian Hofmann, 83 mins
Though Beto's life may technically be over, he allows himself to experience it one last time before his body completely falls apart in this unique and contemplative horror film.  

KID'S POLICE (Japan, 2013)
North American Premiere
Director - Yuichi FUKUDA, 100 mins
When evil criminal organization Red Venus strikes, there's only one team of highly specialized cops who can help. Unfortunately, they've been dosed with anti-aging gas that has turned them all into children.   

LFO (Sweden/Denmark, 2013)
World Premiere
Director - Antonio Tublen, 94 mins
A solitary man discovers audio frequencies that open the human mind wide to hypnotic suggestion and, ultimately, his total control in this slyly deadpan dark comedy from Sweden.

MAN OF TAI CHI (United States, 2013)
US Premiere
Director - Keanu Reeves, 105 mins
Keanu Reeves stars in and directs this epic tale about a young martial artist who must compete in an underground fight club to protect his way of life. As the fights intensify so does his will to survive.

NARCO CULTURA (United States, 2013)
Texas Premiere
Director - Shaul Schwarz, 103 mins
NARCO CULTURA is a graphically disturbing documentary that examines the parallels between the Mexican drug war and the increasingly popular musical style of narcocorridos (drug ballads).

NIGHTBREED - THE CABAL CUT (United Kingdom, 2012)
Texas Premiere
Directors - Russell Cherrington, 144 mins
NIGHTBREED: THE CABAL CUT is a new director's cut of Clive Barker's horror classic that places the film in an entirely different light.

NORTHWEST (Denmark, 2013)
Regional Premiere
Director - Michael Noer, 91 mins
A teen hoodlum in Copenhagen becomes entangled in the criminal underworld   

NOTHING BAD CAN HAPPEN (Germany, 2013)
North American Premiere
Director - Katrin Gebbe, 110 mins
Tore, a member of the counter-culture Christian movement Jesus Freaks, is befriended and taken in by a family who play an increasingly cruel, violent game and push his capacity to love to its limits.    

ON THE JOB (Philippines, 2013)
US Premiere
Director - Erik Matti, 200 min
Corruption abounds in this stylish, Cannes-selected, ripped-from-the-headlines story of prisoners released on a day pass to work as killers. The cops must bring them in, never knowing how far the corruption spreads and who they can trust.   

RESURRECTION OF A BASTARD, THE (The Netherlands, 2013)
Regional Premiere
Director - Guido van Driel, 89 mins
Adapted from his own graphic novel by first time writer-director Guido van Driel, RESURRECTION OF A BASTARD tells the darkly funny, Coen-esque tale of a career thug caught in an existential crisis.   

SHE WOLF  (Argentina, 2013)
North American Premiere
Director - Tamae Garateguy, 92 mins
A sexual predator roams the streets and trains of Buenos Aires, a beautiful woman who uses sex to lure in her victims. A potent, punk rock spin on Euro-sleaze influences in this raw, erotic thriller.   

VIC + FLO SAW A BEAR  (Canada, 2013)
US Premiere
Director - Denis Côté, 95 mins
An ex-con named Vic and her lover Flo retreat to a sugar shack in a small Quebec town to start anew. Their attempt to live a normal life slowly and disastrously unravels.

One of the best things about Comic-Con is the creative costumes that hundreds of fans put together just for the event! And in particular the "booth babes," gals that come up with everything from 'X-Men' cosplay like Rogue or Psylocke to Phoenix from 'Avengers Alliance' to Amber from 'Suckerpunch.' So, we sent our 14 year old journalist-in-training Ethan to find the best of the booth babes and get some advice from them on how to secure a date for junior prom. I mean, what better place to find a cool date than Comic-Con?

This year at Comic-Con, there was a lot of fun stuff going down at the Entertainment Earth booth! For starters, 'Dexter' writer/producer Scott Reynolds hosted 2 live episodes of his official podcast for the series 'Dexter: Wrap-Up' with special guests Julie Benz and Aime Garcia & David Zayas. Several members of the cast were also on hand to sign autographs for fans through out various times during the week. But most importantly, Bif Bang Toys!, the company behind a lot of the 'Dexter' releated toys unveiled a brand new Dexter bobblehead, as well as a collectible 'Dexter' lunch box set, which features a new action figure, blood-slides and a talking key-chain. FEARnet caught up with both Reynolds and Bif Bang Pow! CEO Jason Lenzi to talk about all things 'Dexter' at this year's Comic-Con!

2K Marin’s XCOM has gone through several mutations since its initial E3 announcement years ago, going from a tough-as-nails FPS to a tactical third-person shooter (the more tactical elements possibly introduced in the wake of Firaxis’ XCOM: Enemy Unknown), but still keeping the early-Sixties Cold War setting.

The new gameplay trailer for the retitled The Bureau: XCOM Declassified, via Joystiq, shows off the game’s new third-person perspective, as well as the initial seeding of the Sectoid menace that has persisted through the years.  While some of the grittiness that pervaded the original FPS trailers seems to have been smoothed over, it’s got all of the horn-rimmed Cold War-era flavor that will make alternate history buffs swoon.

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified will be released August 20, 2013 for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC.

As much as I feel that the zombie apocalypse in gaming is becoming as putrescent and relentless as its source material, there are the occasional outposts of life and hope scattered like survivors across its decrepit landscape.  Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead: The Video Game armed itself with a double-barreled shotgun of emotion and character that actually minimized the shambling ghouls to little more than meaty motivation for the survivors to escape the hell of Georgia.  Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us actually manages to trump even Telltale’s beautifully scripted tale with meatier gameplay, more terrifying monsters, and wrenching pathos. 

Within the first twenty minutes, The Last of Us had reduced me to a simpering mess.  We get a brief, beautiful peek into the life of single father Joel and his teenage daughter Sarah, celebrating a late-night birthday before all hell breaks loose and his world is torn from his grasp.  Riots and mutating citizens reduce the world around him to ashes, and his daughter is killed by an overzealous soldier.  In this pain-drenched moment, The Last of Us defines itself and its tone.  There is no gentle release from the mortal coil, no gentle closing of the eyes punctuated with a death rattle.  Instead we are presented with the agonizing chaos of Joel holding his dying daughter, terrified and unable to save her as she screams and bleeds.

Twenty years later, and Joel has settled into the world ravaged by the spore-based infection that reduces its victims to fungal zombies.  Martial law is the way of the new world, which has been transformed into beautiful ruin.  In the absence of man, crumbling buildings are now embraced by creeping greenery, a destructive dichotomy of life and death.  Through these ruins Joel has to escort Ellie, a young girl who, in a typical post-apocalyptic fashion, may hold the biological key to humanity’s salvation.  Unfortunately for the two of them, the ruins are populated by all manner of monsters, human and post-human, that must be avoided or overcome by Joel.  The game’s open mechanics allow for a surprising degree of freedom, and all paths are a series of nail-biting challenges.  Joel can stealthily sneak around, using a distracting toss of a bottle to divert his enemy’s attention, dispatch them with a sleeper hold or brutal finisher, or dive in with proverbial guns a-blazing.  All provide their own unique challenges, with the more “open attack” method being particularly hairy at times, with some enemies overcoming Joel within moments or swarming in a truly horrific fashion.  Stealth is especially crucial when engaging some enemies, such as the Clickers that hunt by sound as a result of their faces being blown open by the fungal spores, their upper mandibles reduced to mangled mushrooms.

Amidst all the horror is some true beauty.  Joel and Ellie start off on shaky ground, but Joel’s paternal instincts take over soon enough and something beautiful begins to bloom out of all of the chaos.  Parallels are quickly drawn as Ellie’s role as a savior becomes more fleshed out: she can possibly save humanity, as well as restore Joel’s.  This is definitely much heavier stuff than Naughty Dog’s normal oeuvre (Uncharted played itself as a far more absurd archaeological adventure), but it works so beautifully that it becomes something far greater than one would expect.  Maybe I’m getting soft on this side of 32, but there’s something truly heartwarming about watching Joel step back into his lost role as a father figure after two decades. 

The Last of Us represents the best that the zombie apocalypse has to offer: focusing more on the Romero side of things than the Fulci, it reminds us that the human element and character will make sure that the genre won’t become completely lifeless.

Cthulhu is probably the geekiest monster in all of literature, so it makes perfect sense that he should be the subject of a chess set. Made by Etsy artist Little Fat Cthulhu, each piece is hand crafted without the use of molds. I love the purple and green color scheme used here, but if that doesn't work for you, custom colors are available. The pieces included are: Pawns - Little Fat Tentacles; Rooks - Rhogog; Knights - Zvilpogghua; Bishops - Chaugnar Faugn; Queens/Kings - Little Fat Cthulhu.

$250 at Etsy (chessboard not included) 

Horror photographer and FEARnet fave Joshua Hoffine swears that his daughters, whom he often uses as the subject of his photographs, were not actually traumatized during the shooting of these photographs. "I am interested in the psychology of fear," says Hoffine on his website. "We are all born with certain inherent and instinctual fears, such [as] fear of the dark, the fear of lurking danger, and the fear of being eaten." His photographs explore fear, especially childhood fears: monsters under the bed or in the closet, dead parents, and of course, clowns. Frequently, Hoffine uses his four young daughters as the traumatized subjects of his photos - but he promises his kids are never scared and are, in fact, very proud of their dad's work. "They loved it. It was like a giant game of dress-up for them. They also knew we were making a scary picture -- and loved the idea of scaring the audience as much as I did."

For more on Joshua Hoffine and his art, check him out on Facebook

Source: HuffPo

When it comes to an event as big as Comic-Con, you're bound to run into a lot of familiar faces. So it's no surprise that FEARnet's own Angie Greenup got the chance to catch up with Jordan Hembrough from The Travel Channel's hit series 'Toy Hunter!' With a 3rd season just on the horizon, FEARnet got to talk to the ultimate toy collector about why Comic-Con is the place to be when it comes to finding awesome toys and meeting other fellow toy geeks. 'Toy Hunter' airs on Wednesday night's at 9PM on the Travel Channel. You can find more details about the show on the official website.