Jason Takes... What? A List of 'Friday the 13th' Slayground Suggestions
Ten Fantasia Festival Premieres We're Dying to See
Gift Guide: Zombie Doll Tights
Zombies are scary. Dolls are scary. So why choose between one or the other when you could be both, and scare the piss out of people? Multimedia artist and author Sharon Bateman has combined both into these awesome airbrushed tights. The ball joints drip blood and pus and all sorts of icky stuff. Bateman has lots of other styles, including broken doll, regular doll, and octopus tights.
Not So Good: The Most Brutal Weapons Used by Comic 'Heroes'
Nerf Launches Line of Zombie-Hunting Toys
Nerf, that company that helped traumatize your childhood with their line of foam-tipped weapons that weren't supposed to hurt, have launched a line of zombie-hunting toy weapons.
Other than the Z logo on the sides of these weapons, I am not sure how these are any better equipped at killing zombies than your standard Nerf toy. Some of them feature fabricated handles that look like splintered wood hastily tied together, which makes it look like you got up close and personal with a hungry zombie.
There will be eight toys rolled out starting August 1st at major retailers and toy chains. Prices are set under $20 for each piece.
Source: iO9.com
'80s Gore Classic 'Demons' Gets Its Own 8-Bit Game Mockup
The Nine Most Memorable Villains From Kids' Cartoons
Horror at the Emmys
In all the frenzy surrounding Comic Con, you may not have noticed that the Emmy nominations were announced this morning. Well, they were, and genre is represented. Not a lot, and not as much as it should, but enough to make any horror fiend proud.
The biggest nod went to Vera Farmiga for her manic-depressive role as the ultimate Mother, Norma Bates. Farmiga was nominated for Outstanding Actress in a Drama for Bates Motel. Disappointingly, her co-star Freddie Highmore, who plays Norman, did not get a nod. His performance this season has been equally as intense, but in a more subtle, nuanced way.
Other major nominations went to American Horror Story:Asylum. One for best miniseries and one for - no surprise - Jessica Lange for her role as Sister Jude.
The Walking Dead Invade San Diego Comic-Con
AMC's The Walking Dead booth is always something to see and this year is no exception. Fans are invited to step behind a gated area and come face to face with the walking dead. Naturally it wouldn't be fair to put you back there without a weapon so make sure you pick up a crowbar before you snap your victory pic. Check out the pictures below.
The Walking Dead returns to AMC this October. The show's panel at Comic Con will be Friday afternoon.
'Sharknado' Spotted at Comic-Con
The Sharknado phenomenon sweeps comic con! Like her shirt says, "Enough Said"
This should probably come as no surprise, given the Twitter whirlwind churned up by last week's Sharknado, but now at least we can say it's official: Syfy has announced that a sequel to the outrageous monster/disaster movie mashup is definitely going to happen.
FEARnet Movie Review 'R.I.P.D.'
While it's certainly true that superheroes are enjoying a huge era at the multiplexes these days, that doesn't mean that all comic books need (or even deserve) to become movies. In the comic book world, Dark Horse makes some pretty great graphic literature. but their film division is a mixed bag at best: Hellboy, Mystery Men, Barb Wire, Timecop, 300, Virus (yes, that one), and the nearly unwatchable Alien vs. Predator films. Some good, a lot of bad.
But as long as Marvel and DC are raking in huge bucks, we'll always have a few producers willing to adapt any graphic novel for the big screen -- whether or not the film is actually any good. Such is the case with the truly woeful R.I.P.D.
As a guy who prides himself on being able to identify the legitimate craft and honest artistry in "silly genre" films like Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, I certainly walked into R.I.P.D. with a good attitude: the movie is about two ghost cops who do battle against undead scum on behalf of heaven. Plus the heroes are played by Ryan Reynolds and the always adorable Jeff Bridges, the villain is Kevin Bacon, and the lady in charge of everything is Mary-Louise Parker. Throw in a kooky sense of humor and a few action scenes and we're already halfway to a good movie, right?
That's what I thought.
Aside from some half-decent CGI work and some legitimately lovely Boston cinematography, there's nothing for me to pull out of my "good news" bag. R.I.P.D. feels like it was made entirely by computers, truth be told, and no amount of tongue-in-cheek wackiness will make a viewer forgive the tiresome plot, the confused narrative, the wheezing banter between the two leads. the sadly perfunctory and wholly unnecessary attempt at "actual emotion" in a movie that's about as heartfelt as a McDonald's Value Meal, and the look on all the actors' faces that all but screams "Gimme my check and get me outta this movie."
This movie's idea of clever is that, while our lead ghosts look like Jeff Bridges and Ryan Reynolds to us, they actually look like a hot blonde and a creepy old man to everyone else. This leads to some wackiness when our villain mistakes the male hero for a wo... no, I don't want to spoil it. Some of you have never seen a movie or a TV show, ever. When the movie isn't focused on its garish geysers of computer graphics, it's a showcase for the anti-chemistry between Reynolds and Bridges. They never once seem to be working in the same film.
Since the movie is based on a comic book, there are a few stray nuggets of cleverness here and there. The R.I.P.D., for example, is composed of crime-fighters from various eras, which is why Jeff Bridges plays an Old West sheriff and why their office is filled with cops of various shapes, sizes, and time periods. Novel in a comic book, certainly, but here's it's just empty window dressing for a concept, style, and presentation that feels like the unholy combination of Dead Heat (1988), Ghost (1990), Ghostbusters (1984), and (dear lord) Cowboys and Aliens. It's not that the R.I.P.D. source material has no potential; it's that this movie is terribly made from stem to stern.
Director Robert Schwentke (Red, Flightplan) does seem to have a little zing where action sequences are concerned, but those moments fly by so quickly and all that remains is a bunch of hard-working actors forced to ejaculate the stupidest nonsense imaginable, and don't even get me started on how virtually every scene is punctuated with "drag & drop" exposition yammering. You can't even see the actors' mouths on most of the "plot stuff," and that means R.I.P.D. was probably re-cut 19 times before the actors were tossed into a booth to help make sense of the plot with dialogue like "So that's why the demons need the gold for their ceremony that we talked about in the last three scenes!" (I'm paraphrasing.) There's sloppy, there's messy, and then there's amateurish. R.I.P.D. is all three.
From its eyesore character design to its oddly crude and smarmy screenplay, R.I.P.D. is the worst sort of "slap it together because some geeks recognize the title" film production. The flick has a few moments of stray weirdness that hint of what the movie might have been, but unfortunately the final version of R.I.P.D. is a stunningly lazy and patently unlikable film. I'm not even sure who the intended audience would be, truth be told.
'Dexter: The Complete Series' Announced For Nov. 5th!
Fresh from the 'Dexter' panel over in Hall H at the 2013 San Deigo Comic-Con, Showtime made the huge announcement that the 8th and final season of their hit series would be arriving on DVD and Blu-Ray on November 5th. Not only that, but they've already prepped 'Dexter: The Complete Series' for release on that same date & they gave the Comic-Con audience the first glimpse at the awesome packaging. For the DVD version, all the discs will be in a box set resembling Dexter's blood slide collection with each disc subbing as a blood slide. The Blu-Ray version is even more elaborate! You know those dummy heads that Dex smashes in from time to time to determine the blood spatter pattern of a victim? Well, the complete series in the Blu-Ray format will be harbored in one of those heads! We were able to snag the pics below straight from the panel.
'Dexter' is currently airing its 8th and final season on Showtime. The series stars Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Carpenter, Charlotte Rampling, David Zayas, C.S. Lee, Desmond Harrington and Aimee Garcia. Check back every Monday morning for Alyse's TV recaps of 'Dexter.'
Dangerous Games: 'Ghost Pirates' Game Review
'The Walking Dead' Season 4 Comic-Con Trailer
Get an early look at the new season before it premieres on Sun., Oct. 13 at 9pm.
Based on the comic book series written by Robert Kirkman and published by Image Comics, The Walking Dead stars Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Steven Yeun, Lauren Cohan, Chandler Riggs, Scott Wilson, Melissa McBride, David Morrissey, Emily Kinney, DanaiGurira, Chad Coleman and Sonequa Martin-Green. The series is executive produced by Scott M. Gimple, Robert Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, David Alpert, Tom Luse and Greg Nicotero.
Mutants and Mutilations: Our Five Favorite Comic Book Body Horrors
Bagged and Boarded Comic Reviews: Vampires with Huge Tongues, Carnage, and More!
New Scream Factory Titles Announced at Comic-Con: 'Nightbreed The Cabal Cut', 'Saturn 3', John Carpenter and More
A ton of new Scream Factory releases were announced at San Diego Comic-Con today including Clive Barker's Nightbreed The Cabal Cut, John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13, Cat People and more.
From the Scream Factory Facebook page:
Here’s the list of upcoming films we literally just announced at Comic-Con tonight:
JOHN CARPENTER’S ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 (Collector’s Edition) – The original classic siege thriller is intensified further with all-new ‘Scream’-produced extras. (Nov 2012)
EVE OF DESTRUCTION – The 1991 Gregory Hines android-gone-amok sci-fi thriller hits Blu and anamorphic widescreen for the first time.
SATURN 3 – This post-Alien 1980 Kirk Douglas and Farrah Fawcett vs. Evil Robot flick gets a considerable upgrade to Blu-ray for the first time. New extras planned. (Dec 2012)
DARKMAN (Collector’s Edition) – The 1990 Sam Raimi cult classic gets the full on ‘Scream’ treatment with all new extras. (Dec 2012)
SCREAM FACTORY “TV TERRORS” –Two made-for-TV movies - 1978’s THE INITIATION OF SARAH and ARE YOU IN THE HOUSE ALONE? – will be packaged together on DVD for the first time at a good price. Fans have been asking us if we could exploit more of this made-for TV content so consider this an “experiment”. If this sells well, we would love to look into bringing you a “Volume 2”. (Dec 2012)
CAT PEOPLE (Collector’s Edition) – The 1982 feline flick (with Nastassja Kinski, sex, violence and a great David Bowie single) arrives on Blu for the first time with all-new extras (2014.)
We still have more tricks up our sleeves for 2014 and we are working feverishly on trying to close deals so that we can announce more favorites soon!
What New Character Is Coming To The Walking Dead...Eventually
Today was the annual The Walking Dead cast and crew roundtable interviews at San Diego Comic-Con. It is no secret that the show is big on, well, secrecy so it is rare that any news accidentally slips out regarding the upcoming season. This year was no different. Precious few details were discussed regarding season 4, and even those were contained to what we saw in the trailer that has just premiered. However, new show runner Scott Gimple and creator and executive producer Robert Kirkman were both quite enthusastic about bringing one character inparticular to the show. And that charcter is.................Negan.
This baseball bat enthusiast is the leader of The Saviors. The Saviors are essentialy the mob in the post zombie outbreak world. They offer "protection" to communities in return for supplies. If you decide you do not need their protection, you will likely have a painful change of heart. Negan recently made it onto our favorite disturbed comic villians list, so that should also give you an idea of what kind of chracter he is.
Check out the video below to see exactaly what Kirkman and Gimple have to say.
Bonus: Here is how Steven Yeun Feels about Negan's imminant arrival. Contains SPOILERS for the comic
Tell us what you think. Will Negan be able to successfully make the jump from page to screen? Who would you cast in the role?
SD Comic-Con 2013: Check Out Neca's Alien Face Hugger Spring Loaded Egg Popper
Blink and you'll miss it, but this is such a cool little tidbit we just had to share. The folks at Action Figure Insider demonstrate the new 'Alien Face Hugger spring loaded egg popper with light up action'! They say that this is still a prototype and the facehugger will indeed be properly colored for release. The Alien Facehugger will be part of NECA's Alien Anniversary line. Check out the video below. Big thanks to the folks at Action Figure Insider for sharing!
Video: Step Into The Further At The 'Insidious Chapter 2' Party!
When you have a venue like Comic-Con to promote a horror movie, the marketing can get really creative; and it seems the best way to give fans a taste of what they're in for with 'Insidious Chapter 2' is to literally throw them into "the further," the supernatural domain of the vengeful & angry spirits as seen in the first (and now) second movie. Join FEARnet's Angie Greenup, Leigh Whannell and Angus Sampson as they give us a tour of the Comic-Con exclusive haunted attraction which gives clues as to what to except for the highly anticipated sequel! 'Insidious Chapter 2,' which is once again helmed by James Wan ('The Conjuring') opens in theaters September 13th!