Dangerous Games: ‘Eldritch Horror’ Board Game Review

August 28, 2013, 3:00 pm

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The chair creaks as you settle onto it. The candlelight flickers. All around you the ravenous faces of your so-called friends twist in delight as you slowly open the box laid out on the table. Welcome to Dangerous Games!

 

 

Eldritch Horror

 

Strange things are brewing in this world of ours. Somewhere on the streets of San Francisco, a mob boss is sealing a deal with a strange man in yellow robes. In the peaks of the Himalayas, something vile stirs in the snow. In Rome, a holy man succumbs to the voices in his head. And that’s all just the start of it...

 

In Eldritch Horror, the soon-to-be-released H.P. Lovecraft-based game from Fantasy Flight, players take on the role of intrepid explorers and investigators in a Cthulhu Mythos-packed world of ancient horrors and unknown threats. An Ancient One stirs in the darkness, waiting to devour our world, and it’s up to you and your friends to save us all.

 

 

Gameplay Mechanics

 

Eldritch Horror is a game for one to eight players. Each player will take the role of an adventurer helping to investigate a globe-spanning terror. With twelve heroes to choose from, each with different abilities and storylines to follow, the variance looks like it will be very high.

 

At the beginning of the game players will choose an Ancient One from the options presented (we’re betting on Cthulhu, Nylarthotep, and a few choice others) and try to solve mysteries specific to that foe. There are lots of different problems that can occur when you go out adventuring, from physical injuries and mental injuries to problems like debt and a shrinking spell! Eventually, if the adventurers are able to complete all the mysteries and fend off the evil, the world will be saved once more... easier said than done.

 

 

Replay Value

 

This game looks like it will have tons of replay value. There are several different Ancient Ones to choose to fight, and each has its own style of missions to complete and mysteries to solve. Also, there are tons of different characters to play, thus enhancing the replay experience. And with over 300 different events that could unfold, each game seems utterly different from the last.

 

 

Overall Impressions

 

I can’t wait for this game to come out. From everything I’ve read, watched, and heard about this game it seems like a perfect addition from the company that brought us Elder Sign, Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game, and Arkham Horror. If you like Cthulhu, Lovecraft, or globe-trotting games, you’ll probably love Eldritch Horror.

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Exclusive: Check Out the New Poster for Anthony DiBlasi's 'Cassadaga'

August 28, 2013, 4:00 pm

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Anthony DiBlasi is best known for his work on the Clive Barker “Books of Blood” adaptations The Midnight Meat Train, which he produced, and Dread, his directing debut. His second feature as director, the supernatural tale Cassadaga, premiered at last year's Screamfest in Los Angeles, and is headed for a US release this fall. Today we can share an exclusive peek at the US release poster art!

 

 

Cassadaga is the story of a deaf teacher (Kelen Coleman) who attempts to contact her late sister's spirit during a séance, but instead makes contact with a murder victim, leading her into the clutches of a sadistic serial killer. The cast also includes Kevin Alejandro (True Blood) and Academy Award Winner Louise Fletcher.

 

On October 11th, Cassadaga will premiere simultaneously in theaters and On Demand. More news coming soon!

Exclusive: Dallas Roberts Eulogizes His Character Milton on 'The Walking Dead'

August 28, 2013, 5:00 pm

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The Walking Dead season three blu-ray set was released yesterday, just in time for audiences to catch up before the fourth season starts on AMC on October 13th. Even if you can’t snag one of the amazing special-edition sets, the traditional five-disc set contains plenty of special features, including deleted scenes, episode commentaries, and nearly a dozen featurettes. One of the featurettes looks back on the notable deaths this season, but one was left out: Milton. The Governor’s erstwhile lackey, Milton’s death was a pivotal part of the season finale, and we decided to give him his due. We spoke to Dallas Roberts, the actor who played Milton, to ask about dying on The Walking Dead.

“I found out for sure [that I would die] when we were shooting three episodes before. I got a call from Glen Mazzara, who was the showrunner at the time, and he said, “I’m calling to let you know that Milton is going to kick it.” I had seen it coming, so I was like, “Great! How? Let’s make it fun.” So it was a good phone call.

“I knew I wouldn’t be long for the show. There was one of two ways it could have gone. Milton could have escaped the Governor’s clutches and be assimilated into the prison group; or that he was there as a function of this storyline. It kept reinforcing itself that he was just a function of this storyline and he needed to go through the quandaries that he did, and go out. I was happy to do my time there.”

Exclusive Video: Inside 'The Writer's Room' With 'American Horror Story'

August 29, 2013, 8:00 am

≫ Next: FEARnet Movie Review: 'Under the Bed'

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Sundance Channel's The Writer's Room - hosted by Community's Jim Rash - takes viewers into that most elusive place, the writer's rooms of your favorite TV shows. The season finale, airing September 2nd, is all about American Horror Story. Series creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk of talk about the impetus for the series, and how their writer's room is more like hanging out at home.

American Horror Story: Coven, the third season of the series, premieres on October 9th on FX.

AHS on The Writer's Room

FEARnet Movie Review: 'Under the Bed'

August 29, 2013, 9:00 am

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When most horror-loving filmmakers "hearken back" to the great old 1980s, they do it a lot like Adam Green did in his broadly (and gorily) likable Hatchet trilogy: they remind the viewer what we (hopefully) love and remember from the horror movies we saw when we were younger. A lot of those movies were pretty darn silly, but we loved them all the same -- a sentiment that certainly works for children of any generation.

 

Then there are scrappy little indies like Under the Bed, which do all they can to pay homage to "kid-focused" thrillers like The Gate, Poltergeist, Silver Bullet, and Stand By Me. As directed by the prolific Steven Miller (The Aggression Scale, Silent Night, Automation Transfusion) and written by Eric Stolze, Under the Bed earns a lot of points for effort and execution -- especially on such a small budget -- and it has just enough assets to let us forgive the film's slightly rocky beginning.

 

It's a simple story of two estranged young brothers who have been reunited after the semi-mysterious death of their mother, and it soon becomes plainly clear to Neal (Jonny Weston) and little Paulie (Gattlin Griffith) that something nefarious resides, you guessed it, under the bed. Disbelieving father, strange stepmother, unkind neighborhood kids, and of course the specter of their deceased mother greet the brothers at every turn, and just when the movie starts to feel a bit too earnest and chatty for its own good...

 

...it turns into a fast-paced and surprisingly rough little monster movie! Several solid chills, kills, and scrapes -- but nothing too nasty, all things considered, and the end result is a movie that feels a bit schizophrenic here and there, but also delivers some legitimately good horror moments because it took some time to introduce us to the kids. Once Under the Bed gets over some narrative speed-bumps it starts to cook, and sure, it does manage to evoke the sort of movies it's emulating.

 

The two lead kids are pretty great together, which certainly helps make the quieter moments more effective, but for all its attempts at nostalgia-tinged innocence, Under the Bed is at its best when it's just a straightforward "monster in the closet" indie. There's some real honesty in the quieter stuff between the young leads, but the movie is simply at its best when it's a straight-out monster movie. This one might not rank as the scariest or most powerful horror movies you'll see all year, but it is evidence of some filmmakers who like to pay respect to the movies that turned them into filmmakers. That -- along with a really cool monster -- is usually worth 88 minutes of your time.

'Psych' Takes a Stab at 'Nightmare on Elm Street'

August 29, 2013, 10:00 am

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I love Psych, the USA comedy about a fake psychic solving real murders in Santa Barbara. Every year, the show does at least one horror-themed episode, written by series star James Roday (who plays fake-psychic Shawn Spencer). Past episodes have offered dead-on spoofs for Friday the 13th, The Shining, Twin Peaks, and found footage flicks. In the upcoming season eight, Psych will tackle one of my all-time favorite horror films: A Nightmare on Elm Street.

In the episode, titled "A Nightmare on State Street," Shawn's best friend Gus seeks treatment for night terrors that have left him sleep-deprived. This will be the final episode of season eight - which will likely be the show's last season.

Guest stars in "A Nightmare on State Street" include Broadway-star Sutton Foster (who also stars in Roday's feature directorial debut, the horror-comedy Gravy) as a "sweet middle school teacher;" Billy Zabka (the head of Cobra Kai in The Karate Kid) as a gym teacher; WWE Divas the Bella Twins as "sinister, double-dutching, demonically sexy sisters who equal parts terrify and tantalize Gus;" Bruce Campbell as Gus's dream therapist; and Curt Smith from Tears for Fears (who will likely play himself).

Hollywood's Love Affair With Ed and Lorraine Warren

August 29, 2013, 11:00 am

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The thrill of a good horror movie is feeling immersed in the intensity of a dangerous situation, all the while knowing that it’s all just a work of fiction.  But what happens when that rush of cinematic fear is prefaced with “based on a true story?”  You no longer have the comfort of calming your nerves with “it’s all just make-believe.”  For movie studios, the hype that surrounds a horror film that claims to be based on a true story results in box office gold.

Without a doubt, the highest grossing horror films that claim to be based on a true story are the ones that have involved the paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren.  Their most notable cases that went Hollywood are The Amityville Horror, The Haunting In Connecticut, and most recently The Conjuring. Soon the Warrens will have yet another Hollywood blockbuster attached to them when the reported The Conjuring sequel, based on another one of their paranormal case files, comes out.  So what’s the next “based on a true story” movie going to be about?  It’s still too early to tell, but a quote by Ed and Lorraine's son-in-law Tyler gives us a little insight into some of the cases they might be considering:

"The sequel to The Conjuring has NOT been determined yet. The Enfield Poltergeist case is only one of about a dozen cases being considered for the sequel. The Annabelle doll, the Satanic Idol found in the woods, Amityville, the Maurice Exorcism, and others have all been talked about. It is way too early to discuss which case will be the basis for the next installment of The Conjuring."

The question that emerges once financial gain becomes an issue is: how much is actually true and how much is the imagination of Hollywood scriptwriters?  Andrea Perron, one of the family members who lived the horror on which The Conjuring was based on was quoted saying, “There are liberties taken and a few discrepancies but overall, it is what it claims to be — based on a true story, believe it or not.”

The Warrens’ most famous case, and also most criticized, is the Amityville Horror.  One of the statements that seem to raise the most questions for me was from horror author Ray Garton.  Mr. Garton wrote an account of the hauntings of the Snedeker family and was quoted as saying, “The family involved, which was going through some serious problems like alcoholism and drug addiction, could not keep their story straight, and I became very frustrated; it's hard writing a non-fiction book when all the people involved are telling you different stories."

Peruse through the comments on the most popular paranormal YouTube videos and you’ll see the reality of “based on a true story” tales is a much-heated debate on both ends.  For every believer, there is a skeptic chomping at the bit to debunk any evidence brought to light. One thing is for sure, and what Hollywood is banking on, whether you believe or not… you’ll still buy a ticket and watch. 

What do you think?  Do you believe these events actually happened? Let me know in the comments below.

Anthony Pernicka is the owner and writer for horror website and app www.iHorror.com

Ten of Horror's Most Disarming Psychopaths

August 29, 2013, 12:20 pm

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Many psycho killers in film and television are imposing, scary creeps that no one in their right mind would ever get into a car with, or even sit next to on public transit. But a psychopath of the more cunning variety will take you out to dinner and the opera before revealing his or her true motive and subsequently stabbing, strangling, bludgeoning, or carving you to death... and the funny thing is that you won’t even know what hit you. This rarer breed of maniac is all the more terrifying because there are often precious few warning signs... if any. They've learned to assimilate with modern society and blend into a crowd, or at the very least, avoid standing out. The following list represents some classic examples of this craftier brand of crazy.

 

[Note: Big-time spoilers ahead]

 

 

Norman Bates (Psycho, 1960)

 

Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) is such a nice boy. He'll make you a sandwich before he hits you over the head; he'll spy on you in the shower from a safe distance before he mercilessly stabs you to death. Norman’s tendencies as an adult can certainly be attributed to being reared by a tyrant of a mother who scarred the poor boy for life and left him with some serious mommy issues. However, you won’t discover that until it’s too late.

 

 

Patrick Bateman (American Psycho)

 

I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I would instantly trust Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale), as he's rather condescending and has a slight maniacal quality about him. But he doesn’t let anyone see his true colors until they are squarely within his crosshairs. He's one of the few silver screen psychopaths that take the time to exfoliate and apply a moisturizing facemask before bludgeoning their victims to death, or chasing them with a chainsaw. 

 

 

Frank (Maniac, 2012)

 

Wow. What a transformation of the character from the 1980 original to the remake. Elijah Wood seems so gentle and so disarming as Frank, whereas Joe Spinell was greasy, abrasive, off-putting, and certainly not the type of person you'd approach on the street. It’s worth mentioning, however, that both actors did a phenomenal job of telling Frank’s story; they just came from completely opposite ends of the spectrum, and Wood played Frank as someone you'd be comfortable getting to know.

 

 

Mick Taylor (Wolf Creek)

 

Mick (John Jarratt) seems like the kind of fun-loving guy that would make an inappropriate sex joke in mixed company, or use his salad fork for his entrée, but he certainly does not strike me as the type of person that would take you to his shack in the Australian outback and torture you until you were knocking on death’s door, then laugh as you faded into the afterlife. But that's just the kind of man he is... which is what makes him even more dangerous than a more overtly psychotic killer.

 

 

Brenda Bates (Urban Legend)

 

Could the curly-haired girl from the Noxzema commercials possibly be capable of committing heinous urban legend-inspired crimes? Certainly not! That’s what the majority of audiences assumed, anyway, when they took in this 1998 giallo-esque slasher. But apparently Brenda (Rebecca Gayheart) was harboring some serious-ass resentment and had quite an axe to grind; she also had some puppies to microwave, some frat boys to hang, a goth chick (Danielle Harris) to murder, and more... and she did all of this right under our noses.

 

 

Earl Brooks (Mr. Brooks)

 

The crux of Mr. Brooks (Kevin Costner) is that he's so disarming, a pillar in the community who donates to charity. There was no way he could be a killer. But of course, all the while he's cruising the streets of Portland, Oregon, slaughtering innocent victims to satisfy his own primal urges. He just happened to be doing it under the guise of being way less of a creep.

 

 

Dexter Morgan (Dexter)

 

Michael C. Hall was an ingenious casting choice for the role of Dexter Morgan. Hall had just come off of a turn on HBO’s Six Feet Under, playing a character the polar opposite of Dexter, and his public persona is anything but threatening. (I've seen the man speak at Comic-Con, and it seems he wouldn’t hurt a fly.) Dexter has a tendency to put his victims at ease right up to the point at which he drugs them and wraps them in plastic wrap in a kill room, where they can ponder pictures of their own victims before meeting a grisly fate.

 

 

Dr. Robert Ledgard (The Skin I Live In)

 

Pedro Almodovar’s The Skin I Live in is a haunting and thought-provoking tale, and Antonio Banderas is brilliant as Dr. Ledgard – who is certainly a psychopath. Banderas brings a soothing quality to Robert and puts the viewer at ease, although his actions soon bring the viewer closer to feeing unhinged. Since this film has mostly flown under the mainstream radar, we'll avoid giving away any more information, since to do so would be a major disservice to any potential viewers of this cinematic triumph.

 

 

Leslie Vernon (Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon)

 

Leslie Vernon is the subject of one of the funniest and most effective slasher parodies of all time; the film brings much of the wit that films like Student Bodies and Scream did before it. The character of Leslie, played to perfection by Nathan Baesel, comes across as so congenial that it’s almost shocking to see him running around killing people. You almost expect him to be working in a soup kitchen instead of committing mass murder.

 

 

Rhoda Penmark (The Bad Seed, 1956)

 

Rhoda (Patty McCormack) is a little brat, and I hated her almost instantly after beginning to watch The Bad Seed for the first time... but despite her obnoxious ways, one wouldn’t necessarily peg her as a killer. If I saw her walking around irritating everyone she came into contact with, I would simply conclude she was a little creep, but certainly not a murder. However, looks can be deceiving. In fact, Rhoda killed one of her classmates over a penmanship award. What a little terror she is!

 

Honorable mention goes to Henry Evans (played by Macaulay Culkin) in The Good Son.

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The Unseen: 'Breeders'

August 29, 2013, 1:15 pm

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The 1980s were filled many horror trends: endless sequels, crazy FX, creature features, satanic panics, and much more. But one of my favorite '80s subgenres has always been the New York City horrors. These were a grouping of horror films that took place in the city that never sleeps, with the city itself becoming a key plot point. Why was New York a reoccurring theme during this time? It provided the perfect environment for something horrible to happen right under the city’s unaware nose. Who has time to pay attention to C.H.U.D, driller killers, Frankhookers, and winged serpents named Q when the whole city is filled to the brim with crime, overcrowding, homeless, and general chaos? My personal fave of the '80s New York horror wave is a saucy little T&A creature feature called Breeders.

 

 

After several women are raped in New York City, police are on the hunt for a serial rapist. All the victims are covered in some strange organic matter, and they are all virgins. The search leads to an abandoned subway system that has become home to aliens who are impregnating New York ladies in an attempt to spread its seed... kind of like horny C.H.U.D.

 

 

Helmed by Tim Kincaid, Breeders did a short theatrical run in 1986 and was released to video under the Wizard Video label, part of Charles Band’s Full Moon Entertainment. Kincaid, who both wrote and directed Breeders, is best known for directing homosexual-themed sex films under the name "Joe Gage," and this film is not far from the sex portion as it features ample gracious nudity throughout, culminating in what I can only call an “alien pool orgy”. The effects in Breeders are a tad cheesy, but are just believeable and gory enough to push the film along.

 

 

So why watch Breeders? It’s a hilarious '80s gem!  The hair is big, the blood spray is bigger, and this is a fun amalgam of the '80s T&A flick merged with a creature feature. Don’t expect a plausible horror script, a gripping plot, or high quality scares; just sit back and enjoy this lost treasure from a past decade.

 

Breeders, along with several other Full Moon titles, were recently part of a large controversy in the horror community. Owner of Full Moon Entertainment, Charles Band, allegedly “discovered” a goldmine of old VHS box covers in the Full Moon warehouse. These "big box" covers that defined 1980s horror video culture are now rare and incredibly valuable to avid genre collectors like myself. Full Moon reprinted VHS copies of his older titles and placed them inside these supposedly vintage VHS big box covers, selling them for $40 apiece... and then the turmoil began. Fans began studying the original old box covers next to the supposedly “just discovered” vintage ones, and found noticeable differences in paper quality, fonts, and graphic design.

 

 

Full Moon launched back against the fraud accusations, sticking to the “we found them in a warehouse” story and maintaining that they were real vintage items. Both sides fired volleys back and forth online until finally the roars died down to a rumble. I’m not stating whether or not I think these are vintage, nor am I denying the stark differences between the versions. But ultimately, who cares? If nothing else, these are cool limited edition collectibles that many fans probably would have bought without the “vintage” claims. Numerous recent films have done limited released on VHS format releases: V/H/S and Beyond the Black Rainbow come to mind. These are of course not vintage titles, but still maintain the same collectability to fans. Who cares if it was printed in 1986 or last week? It is still a nice homage to how horror culture has changed over time. 

 

 

Breeders is not rare or hard to find. It’s just a campy little '80s romp that has been lost by fans over time. Copies of Breeders on DVD can be purchased on Amazon for literally a penny. Or spring for the “maybe vintage” big-box VHS version now available on the Full Moon website. Regardless, this one needs to be part of your horror collection. 

Doctor's Abandoned Mansion Still Filled with Terrifying Medical Equipment

August 29, 2013, 2:00 pm

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All Images © Daniel Marbaix

 

Among the urban exploration photo shoots showcased on these pages over the past few months, this one may be the creepiest we've seen so far.

 

 

If we weren't already informed that this mansion was once the genuine residence of a German doctor – a house which has been abandoned for over 20 years – we'd swear we were looking at a fully-dressed set from a gothic horror film. But it's totally real... and totally chilling.

 

 

These images were captured by urban explorer and artist Daniel Marbaix (a.k.a. Daniel Raven), whose many photographic adventures reveal some nightmarish landscapes... but this one is among his most disturbing.

 

 

It's hard to say which images are creepier: the crumbling remains of an in-house examination room...

 

 

...or maybe these preserved slices of human kidneys encased in glass.

 

 

Then again, we have these macabre paintings lining the stairway...

 

 

Just what was the good doctor up to, and why does it look like everyone just suddenly disappeared?

 

 

In an article for the UK's Daily Mail, we found some of Marbaix's theories about the doctor and his family, which he originally documented on Reddit: “It looks like most of the family were killed in a car accident,” he writes, explaining that he found most of their tombstones on the property. “[T]he lady of the house died shortly after, leaving everything behind.”

 

You can see the complete gallery, and haunting shoots from many other urban explorations, in Daniel's Flickr galleries.

Fright-Rags Celebrates 35th Anniversary of 'Halloween' with Exclusive Shirts and Prints

August 29, 2013, 3:00 pm

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Horror-friendly graphics company Fright-Rags has announced a new series of exclusive limited edition t-shirt and poster designs to mark the 35th Anniversary of John Carpenter's classic Halloween.

 

 

The crown jewel of the collection is a box set including a Halloween t-shirt featuring artwork by Justin Osbourn, an 18x24 screen print by Ghoulish Gary Pullin (100 glow-in-the-dark variants of the print will be inserted into random sets), a Judith Myers headstone magnet designed by Monte Ward, a prismatic sticker, and a reproduction of the “Rabbit in Red” matchbook seen in the film. The set sells for $80, and is limited to 800 pieces.

 

 

Other new shirt designs include two from artist Christopher Lovell: “The Boogeyman” based on the original, and “Michael's Revenge” inspired by Halloween 4 (shown below).

 

 

Also available are standard and glow-in-the-dark variants of the Halloween 4 poster, designed by Kyle Crawford. 

 

 

The exclusive line will be available for preorder at Fright-Rags.com beginning September 10th at 10am Eastern, and all items will begin shipping in late October... hopefully in time for you-know-what!

Shooting Wraps On Roger Corman's 'Sharktopus vs. Mermantula!'

August 29, 2013, 4:00 pm

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Just when you thought it was safe to... oh, never mind. Seriously, no one is safe from the imagination of Roger Corman. Just go with it.

 

 

Not too long ago we had a sit-down with the cult movie legend (check out the interview here) to chat about the launch of “Corman's Drive-In,” a YouTube subscription channel where fans can watch hundreds of feature films from the Corman vaults, ranging from '70s and '80s drive-in faves to his millennial monster mashups – including the infamous Sharktopus, which will now face off against the even more insane-sounding “Mermantula.” The latter was selected by fans from an online poll as their favorite new monster concept, and true to form, Corman's studio has already busted out a feature film about it.

 

Our story finds the Sharktopus returning to invade a Caribbean town, where a mad scientist (Catherine Oxenberg, Lair of the White Worm) just happens to be dealing with the aftermath of an experiment gone bad resulting in a man/tarantula hybrid. Meanwhile, the local drunk (Casper Van Dien, Starship Troopers) is tasked by a voodoo crime lord with obtaining a sample of the Sharktopus... and you can imagine where all this is headed.

 

The premiere date for Sharktopus vs. Mermantula has not been announced, but we're dying to see the promotional art for this one. For now, there's just a couple of tiny excerpts at Corman's Drive-In, one of which you can see here... and we dare you not to laugh.

 

SHARKTOPUS VS. MERMANTULA FIRST LOOK SHARKTOPUS

FEARnet Movie Review: 'The Demon's Rook'

August 29, 2013, 5:00 pm

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If you grew up as a horror film fanatic in the 1980s, you may have run through most of the American slasher flicks and occult thrillers -- and then you rented Lucio Fulci's 1980 cult favorite Zombie, which hopefully led you to all sorts of gore-laden apocalyptic mayhem from Italian splatter-slingers like Umberto Lenzi (Nightmare City), Lamberto Bava (Demons), and Bruno Mattei (Night of the Zombies) -- which hopefully led you back to more Lucio Fulci. Anyway that's sort of what happened to me, and while it's true that the more refined "giallo" thrillers from directors like Dario Argento seem to get most of the respect these days, lots of horror fans still enjoy those cheap, gory, sometimes awful Italian zombie flicks.

 

If you're one of those people, there's a very good chance you'll enjoy a new low-budget independent horror flick called The Demon's Rook, which was made by a bunch of first-timers from Georgia who clearly grew up on the same splatter films I did. If you're looking to scoff at amateurish actors and roll your eyes at silly dialogue, you're missing the point of The Demon's Rook; it's an homage to a very specific type of film -- right down to its plainly evident shortcomings.

 

The story of a young boy who grows up in a demonic dimension but escapes back to Earth and causes all sorts of trouble when his mama demon gives chase, The Demon's Rook is most interested in delivering elaborately gory set-pieces in which shock value and visceral lunacy are the only thing on the menu. Poor, bedraggled Roscoe (writer/director James Sizemore) seems to have a plan to stop the stunningly powerful Dimwos from invading our world, but that doesn't stop the infuriated demon from possessing dozens of people, slaughtering a hundred more, and bringing a few graveyards full of corpses back from the dead. 

 

It all gets really messy, believe me.

 

If several of the film's acting performances are a bit "raw" (at best), and if Mr. Sizemore dallies perhaps a bit too long within an Act II flashback story, those could be dismissed as either minor problems or as intentional call-backs to a sub-genre of Italian horror flicks that had lot of "raw" acting and over-stuffed mid-sections. That's not to say one should forgive a film's "flaws" just because they're intentional (indeed I think The Demon's Rook would be better 15 minutes shorter), but it's interesting to consider that clunky performances and florid flashback stories could actually be part of the homage as a whole.

 

What is pretty much undeniable is that The Demon's Rook has a massive array of wonderfully garish practical effects. Demonic masks, zombie hordes, tons of arterial sprays and sloppy intestines, you name it. Well-designed and cleverly photographed (and often in broad daylight!), the almost non-stop carnage is clearly the star of the movie, and it's always nice to see good ol' American gore done on a tight budget and (of course) completely lacking in CGI touch-ups.

 

A virtual love letter to early-'80s Italian zombie cinema (with a few dashes of early Peter Jackson affection, if I'm not mistaken), The Demon's Rook is most assuredly a "niche" horror flick. It's made almost exclusively for people who know and love the films it's referencing -- but it's also just good enough to maybe create some new Lucio Fulci fans. Surely that's the goal of a worthwhile homage in the first place. 

READ FEARnet's PARTNER REVIEWS OF THE DEMON'S ROOK

FEARnet Movie Review: 'All the Boys Love Mandy Lane'

August 30, 2013, 9:30 am

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Way back in September of 2006 I reviewed the rather impressive horror film called All the Boys Love Mandy Lane. It has never opened in America. Until this month, that is! Radius/TWC has finally rescued this darkly amusing little indie from financial nightmare limbo (it's a long and boring story, believe me) and you can finally see it for yourself. With the new release in mind, I went back and spruced up my ancient review for you FEARnet freaks:

First-time writer/director team Jacob Forman and John Levine obviously grew up knee-deep in Halloweens, Friday the 13ths, and probably a hundred other slasher flicks, because their All the Boys Love Mandy Lane works as both a spooky, gory homage and as a deconstruction of the age-old "dead teenager movie" stereotypes. (Deconstruction or perhaps destruction. You can choose.)

As the film's title clearly indicates, all the boys really do love Mandy Lane. She's sweet, she's sexy, she's stacked, and she's weirdly nice to everyone. The gal's popularity crosses all the high school demographics, and she acquits herself in a chaste-yet-jiggly fashion. So when Mandy is invited to a weekend getaway with a quintet of typically one-note schoolmates, she figures it'll be a good opportunity to be accepted as a "normal gal" -- as opposed to a "figure of perfection."

Suffice to say that things don't exactly work out that way. Saddled with a crew that includes a jock, a stoner, a slut, a bitch, and a horny jerk, Mandy slowly begins to realize that she doesn't have much in common with her hard-drinking, pot-smoking, coke-snorting, sex-lovin' classmates. And then, of course, a mystery guest pops up and starts slashing everyone to ribbons.

Taken as a straight-faced and enjoyably grim throwback to the halcyon days of mid-'80s slasher-dom, All the Boys Love Mandy Lane works exceedingly well. But since those flicks weren't exactly swimming in character development, depth, or subtext, Forman & Levine have decided to play with the rules that we gorehounds know so well. There's some solid humor to be found in the flick, but don't let that fool you: Mandy Lane is true-blue horror all the way. It's alarmingly dry, sly, and insightful as well, sort of like a slasher flick version of The Last Picture Show.

The filmmakers are supported by a surprisingly strong cast, and leading lady Amber Heard is the doe-eyed anchor in a sea of devilry, debauchery, and death. Her co-stars do a fine job of bringing the typical stereotypes to life, each with their own small semblance of wit, color, or humanity. Hell, you might actually care when some of these victims meet their shrieking demise. And how often does that happen in a slasher flick?

Bringing a quietly artistic taste of teen-aged sexual politics to a sub-genre that's generally disinterested in anything resembling brains, wit, or subtext, All the Boys Love Mandy Lane is what we might actually call a "thinking man's slasher flick." Hell, it might just be the first one ever.

Plus the last ten minutes are icky, intense, and certifiably insane.

READ FEARnet's PARTNER REVIEWS OF ...MANDY LANE

TV Casting Updates: 'The Following,''Grimm,''The Originals,''Penny Dreadful,' More

August 30, 2013, 10:00 am

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The Following

The Fox drama starring Kevin Bacon has added a lot of new characters for the upcoming season (slated to return in January) - and half of them are Dexter alums! Keith Carradine, who played Frank Lundy in seasons two and four, joins as Barry, a "trusted friend" of Bacon's character, Ryan Hardy. Sam Underwood, who plays Dexter's protege Zach in the current season, joins the show as Luke, "a very complicated and dangerous young man who may or may not be a follower of the “late” Joe Carroll." Non-Dexter actors joining for season two include Connie Nielsen (Gladiator) as a Soho art dealer who finds herself in a bit of trouble that only gets more complicated when Ryan comes to her aid. Jessica Stroup (Prom Night, The Hills Have Eyes II) joins as Ryan's niece, Max; Tiffany Boone (Detention) and J.D. Williams (The Wire) will play new cult members; and James McDaniel (You're Nobody 'til Somebody Kills You) joins as a new FBI agent.

The Originals

Alexandra Metz (Chicago Fire) has joined The CW's The Vampire Diaries spin-off, The Originals. Metz will play Katie, "a beautiful and mysterious witch with a hidden agenda that will have shocking ramifications for the supernatural community of New Orleans." Which could pretty much describe every character in The Originals. The show premieres October 3rd.

Penny Dreadful

Showtime's new gothic horror series, which will debut this spring, combines the stories of some of literature's most famous monsters. Former James Bond, Timothy Dalton, has been cast as Sir Malcolm, "a hardened African explorer on a deeply personal quest." Reeve Carney (Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark) joins as Oscar Wilde's character Dorian Gray, a man who makes a deal with the devil to never grow old. Instead, a portrait of him in the attic ages. 

Grimm

Alexis Denisof (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel) reunites with producer David Greenwalt for Grimm. Denisof will play Viktor Albert Wilhelm George Beckendorf, first cousin of nefarious royal Eric Renard. If his family bloodline is any indication, he's going to be a smarmy bastard - and we will love every minute of it.

Sleepy Hollow

Nicholas Gonzalez (Anacondas: Hunt for the Blood Orchid) joins Fox's Sleepy Hollow as the ex-boyfriend of Detective Abbie Mills. He is on the Sleepy Hollow Police Force as well. Sleepy Hollow premieres on September 16th on Fox. 

Sources: TV Line, Deadline, Hollywood Reporter

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Kill the Precedent: 'Dialogues with the Dead'– CD Review

August 30, 2013, 11:00 am

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Sacramento, CA-based industrial-punk-metal supergroup Kill the Precedent assembled around seven years ago, and since then they've been generating a lot of positive buzz. Hailed by fans as the second coming of Ministry (Al Jourgensen is definitely one of their creative inspirations), KTP have been leaving their bloody mark with outrageous stage performances and a sonic assault from a massive lineup packing three guitars, bass and drums, dueling vocalists Sean “The Ugly American” Smith and Jason "Twig the Exfoliator" VonWussow, and a barrage of programmed rhythms and samples. Their live shows are quickly becoming legendary, with constantly revolving themes that include zombie beach parties, blood-splattered slaughterhouses, Zodiac Killer masks, police and airline uniforms... even a Gilligan's Island theme! In other words, you never know what you're gonna get. The band's first full-length album Dialogues with the Dead dropped this week, and it's just as wildly unpredictable as their image.

 

 

While the influence of Ministry is apparent throughout the record, KTP has incorporated a much wider spectrum of extreme-music elements into their sound, drawing equally from hardcore punk, shock rock and KMFDM-style heavy beat, and they summon much of the same chaotic, anything-goes vibe that made Martin Atkins' experimental supergroup Pigface so shockingly memorable. “Sonically, we have an industrial backbone,” Twig recently told the Sacramento Bee. “There are strong punk and hardcore roots, and the music can jump from thrash to dance anthems in mere seconds. No two songs sound the same as a result. It's out of hand.” The same can be said for the band's live performances, which often spill over into the audience for an unpredictable interactive experience. "We accept all consequences, destroy all standards, and set no boundaries," he concluded. “Music can be dangerous and unpredictable. Everybody listening should play a part.”

 

 

He's right, and the band backs that up: Dialogues is a schizoid genre explosion that never sticks with a single musical style for more than one track... and sometimes they don't even wait that long. Even with the samples and Frankensteinian electronic stimulation, tracks like the infectious "Free Reign (Everybody's Dead)" and "Some People" are vintage fist-pumping hardcore punk anthems at heart, plus we get punk/metal crossovers in "Questions for Weapons" and the call-and-response energy of “Let Go,” with some surprising injections of soaring melody in "Goodbye Lullaby,” on which you can really get a sense of the band's size and scope. Of course, the relentless death-machine riffs and power-tool beats of "Ghost Stories,” "Copout" and "End All" are intensely faithful odes to Ministry, as you can hear for yourself:

 

 

Other industrial-strength material includes the dance-metal of "Headcase" and "Oh Your God," the latter sounding for all the world like a Ministry/GWAR collaboration. Another standout is "Freakonomics," which snaps violently between blistering hardcore, anthemic rap-rock and a beefy, drop-tuned Pantera groove. There's even a dark ambient instrumental interlude, "Unhappy with This World,” which forms a brief but seriously chilling coda.

 

If you're ready for a band that slams together just about every extreme style in the book for maximum impact and a huge, stacked sound – but still manages to latch onto a few really amazing shout-along hooks – then you might be ready for the maniacal onslaught that is Kill the Precedent. Here's a good test for you, in the form of a lyric video for one of the most memorable tracks on the album, “Free Reign (Everybody's Dead).” Hit it and see how many horror movie clips you can identify!

 

Kill The Precedent - Free Reign (Everbody's Dead) official lyric video

 

'Trick r Treat's Sam Welcomes You Back To School!

August 30, 2013, 12:00 pm

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Fret not young ones. Sure it may be time to go back to school, but that also means that we're a mere 2 months away from Halloween! And we all love Halloween, right? Maybe not as much as Sam from 'Trick 'r Treat' but regardless, who wouldn't be excited to enter this spooky time of year?! To kick it off right, we're re-presenting to you Michael Dougherty's 'Trick 'r Treat' short film titled "Back To School"! And remember, this Halloween we'll be airing 24 hours of 'Trick 'r Treat' only on FEARnet! Enjoy, fiends! And have a good labor day!

Trick 'r Treat - Back To School

Spoiler Alert! Cast and Crew Give 'The Walking Dead' Season 4 Spoilers

August 30, 2013, 12:30 pm

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I guess the cast and crew of The Walking Dead have grown tired of keeping every last detail of the show under wraps, because two months before the premiere date, they are dishing on what is coming up in season four. Here are some of the highlights:

Most interesting seems to be a "new threat" on the horizon. According to the new showrunner, Scott Gimple, "It's someone we haven't seen before. Someone unusual; you can't stab them in the face, you can't reason with it. It's a force that would be dangerous in this world and in the world of The Walking Dead, it's terrifying." If I had to guess, I would say we are going to be dealing with a natural disaster or two. They are in the south, so it seems a hurricane is in order. 

In addition to the "dangerous force," the zombies will be even more threatening. According to producer Greg Nicotero, "We've devised ways to put our characters in instantaneous jeopardy without them being prepared for it. Danger could come from anywhere, and it was really important that we re-establish the rules of our world." Suddenly our champion zombie killers aren't so cocky anymore!

A burgeoning new community at the prison will bring huge changes. "Some people buy it and some people don't subscribe to it and some don't really conform to it," says producer Greg Nicotero. Rick will finally focus on being a father, not a megalomaniac. Producer David Alpert promises that this will be a "very different Rick" but however long that will last, is "another question."

And apparently, the Governor will get even darker. According to actor David Morrissey, "He doesn't carry what happened at the end of season three very lightly. He was a man that recognizes a switch went off in his head and even though he's done terrible things, that ramped him up to somewhere else and he was out of control. That's a very worrying thing for him and that switch takes him into this dark place." Short of the Governor bursting into flames and becoming an actual demon, I'm not sure how much darker he can go.

The Walking Dead starts its fourth season on October 13th on AMC. To read more dish, check out the entire article at Hollywood Reporter.

Turn Your Toddler Into a Brain-Hungry Ghoul with the 'Zombabiez' Costume!

August 30, 2013, 1:00 pm

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Though I'm a 27-year-old married man who wants to someday have kids, or at least one kid, it's not often I get the urge to drag my wife into the bedroom and try to make one. In other words, I'm not one of those guys who will take a look at a friend's super-cute baby with the drool hanging out of its mouth and turn to my wife and say "awww, we should have one of those, honey!" That's just not me.

 

 

That being said, I saw something today in my travels around the Internet that did in fact make me reach for my cell phone and text my wife such a sentiment... okay, so I deleted the text before actually sending it, for fear that she'd take me seriously and come home with sexy lingerie and a plan to procreate, but you get the idea. What I saw totally made me feel, for a second at least, the urge to have a child of my own, and what I saw... was a baby with its legs ripped off. Before you judge, allow me to explain...

 

 

The story goes that a few years back, New York-based designer Stephanie Davidson was at a wedding when a baby crawled out onto the porch she was sitting on. A male stranger standing behind her let out a sigh of relief and joked that he thought the baby was "a torso-only zombie," since for a moment he couldn't see the baby's little legs behind him. Sometimes a quick throwaway comment like that is all the inspiration you need to do something really awesome with your life, and Stephanie took that comment and ran with it.

 

 

After searching the internet to make sure nobody had come up with the idea before, and being further inspired by the lack of cool Halloween costumes for babies, Stephanie got to work on creating the world's first "torso-only baby costume." What is this horrifying creation, you ask? Well, it's actually quite cute. "Disgustingly cute," as Stephanie likes to say. It's a Halloween costume for babies that's comprised only of a shirt with all sorts of colorful dangling intestines attached to the bottom, thus giving the illusion that the baby wearing it has had his or her lower body ripped away. Disgustingly cute... yep, that about sums it up.

 

 

After a few quick pencil sketches, the prototype phase began, and Stephanie soon realized that if she wanted to actually make and sell these things, she'd need some money. So she did what any enterprising young artist would do and launched a Kickstarter campaign, looking to raise just shy of $10,000 in order to get the costumes done and ready in time for Halloween. Though the fundraising deadline isn't up for another couple weeks, the goal has already been met and surprassed, which means that the torso-only zombie costume for babies is shambling our way and should in fact be here by Halloween... and just in time for the return of The Walking Dead to boot!

 

So if you want to gross out your family and friends and turn your baby into a disgusting zombie rather than a cute little monkey or ear of corn, then keep your eyes peeled on the Zombabiez website so you'll be the first to know when the costumes go up for grabs. In the meantime, check out Stephanie's pitch video below, which includes a fun little short film, and feel free to donate to her Kickstarter campaign, even though the project has already been funded. Every dollar counts, and you can still get some awesome perks for helping out.

 

 

Now if you'll excuse me, I think I just heard my wife pull into the driveway, and I think we've got ourselves a little zombie to make. Because for the first time in my life, I'm totally feeling like we should have one of those.

Mad Scientist Wasp Performs Zombie Brain Surgery on Cockroaches

August 30, 2013, 2:00 pm

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In case our story about 1.5 million escaped cockroaches didn't convince you that the world of bugs is a 24-hour waking nightmare of horror, today we present this little story about the most sadistic mad scientist of the insect world: Ampulex compressa. Oh yeah, and we're also going to talk about roaches again. You're welcome.

 

BoingBoing recently published an excerpt from the truly horrifying (and totally non-fiction) book Parasite Rex by Carl Zimmer, in which the author describes the nightmarish traits of many parasite organisms – including the ability to turn hosts into zombies, like this particular specimen. Ampulex has evolved a very special kind of sting which she uses to zombify roaches by injecting a special toxin into their brains, disabling their will to escape. Sensors on the stinger give it almost surgical accuracy. The venom doesn't paralyze the roach, however, and it can still walk... so she literally steers it like a tank, grabbing hold of its antennae and driving it to a burrow she's prepared in advance... and that's where the torture porn really kicks in.

 

 

Once the roach is sealed up in the hole, Ampulex lays an egg on its body, and after hatching, the larva will chew its way right inside its host, devouring all of its internal organs and basically turning it into a little house... while the roach is still alive. When the larva is ready to emerge, a full-grown wasp bursts out of the hollowed-out host, Xenomorph-style.