While the Gareth Edwards directed new version of 'Godzilla' doesn't hit theaters until May of 2014, that hasn't stopped Legendary Pictures from giving the big guy a really cool presence at this year's Comic-Con. What the studio have created is being dubbed "The Godzille Encounter" which gives you a chance to walk through Tokyo and experience various aspects of Godzilla's 50 plus year history. Want a look for yourself? FEARnet was there! Check it out below!

Metallica closed out the festivities at Comic-Con on Friday night with a live performance, and it was just in time to celebrate the brand new trailer for their upcoming epic IMAX 3D movie 'Through The Never.' Directed by Nimrod Antal ('Predators'), the hybrid live concert film and partially narrative feature follows their roadie Trip (Dane Dehaan of 'Chronicle') who takes to the streets during one of the band's live sets on a mission that gets a bit crazy. If you want a better idea of what I mean, check out the trailer below and you can also watch the first teaser trailer at our previous news piece. Advance tickets for the exclusive 3D IMAX screenings of 'Through The Never' which opens on September 27th are now on sale. The movie plays in theaters everywhere October 4th. For more details visit the official movie website ThroughTheNeverMovie.com.
 

Freddie Highmore visits the orginal Psycho house at Universal Studios for the first time, only to find someone other than himself as Norman Bates in this Comic-Con exclusive video.

Nine years after the release of the "The Chronicles of Riddick", Vin Diesel returns to the titular role in the upcoming film 'Riddick', the 3rd in the series. Diesel, acompanied by co-star Katee Sackhoff and director David Twohy premiered this new red band trailer to their fans at Comic-Con.

Left for dead on a sun-scorched planet, Riddick finds himself up against an alien race of predators. Activating an emergency beacon alerts two ships: one carrying a new breed of mercenary, the other captained by a man from Riddick's past. In Theaters September 6, 2013

How awesome were those Comic-Con exclusive posters for 'The Thing' that we posted about yesterday? Cool, right? Well, a good chunk of the FEARnet staff has their walls plastered with beautiful framed prints courtesy of our friends at Mondo, so amidst all the Comic-Con madness, we dropped by their table to talk a bit about what they've got going on this weekend and just the entire Comic-Con experience for them in general. Watch it below! And be sure to bookmark the MondoTees.com site to get early dibs on their latest and greatest!

The cast of Kick Ass 2 (sans Jim Carrey) was on hand Friday in HALL H of the San Diego ConventionCenter and they treated the folks in attence to a super-sized 4+ minute long trailer for the upcoming ultra-viloent superhero flick. That footage has now been made available on-line and we have it below.

With graduation looming and uncertain what to do, Dave decides to start the world’s first superhero team with Mindy. Unfortunately, when Mindy is busted for sneaking out as Hit Girl, she’s forced to retire—leaving her to navigate the terrifying world of high-school mean girls on her own. With no one left to turn to, Dave joins forces with Justice Forever, run by a born-again ex-mobster named Colonel Stars and Stripes. Just as they start to make a real difference on the streets, the world’s first super villain, The Mother F%&*^r, assembles his own evil league and puts a plan in motion to make Kick-Ass and Hit Girl pay for what they did to his dad. But there’s only one problem with his scheme: If you mess with one member of Justice Forever, you mess with them all.

In Theaters August 6, 2013

Perhaps I'm just a sucker for a little historical fiction mixed in with my crazy horror stories, because over the last several years I've found myself recommending wartime terror tales The Bunker, Deathwatch, Outpost (and its sequel) and, of course, Hellboy. (It's at least partially horror. Don't start with me.) There's just something about a true-life time and setting that automatically adds a touch of ambition to all of those indie and foreign horror flicks I just mentioned, and now we can add a new one to the list: Frankenstein's Army, which comes from a bunch of Czech filmmakers who have clear aspirations of mixing the old with the new.

The old, of course, is the setting: it's the end of World War II we are deep behind German lines with a Russian invasion troop. They're on a mission to rescue some comrades, and kill some Nazis if possible, but everything goes sort of insane once they happen upon the lair of a truly ambitious but certifiably insane German scientist. One who builds virtually unstoppable monster-soldiers who are quite efficient at killing Russian soldiers.

The new hook is that this is (yep, another) "found footage" horror flick. Turns out that one of the Russian soldiers is there solely to document the mission, but certainly that seems strange. Surely this guy has some ulterior motives... as in he knows all about the mad German scientist and his small army of biologically mutated monster men. Those who dislike the "first person" gimmick may be pleasantly surprised by how the long takes and the sly tricks that director Richard Raaphorst pulls out of his bag, while those (like me) who actually like "found footage" presentations will no doubt appreciate how the style works in relation to a WWII setting. (In other words, we don't get many WWII found footage movies.)

Plot-wise, Frankenstein's Army is pretty darn simple. Where the film shines is in the department of creepy visual style, a grim but essential sense of humor that (thankfully) never gets wacky or dumb, and some creature design that could come off as ridiculous, but -- thanks to a well-earned and ominous tone -- somehow do not. Frankly some of the doctor's crazier concoctions are downright inspired, albeit in a "Lovecraft meets steampunk" fashion that only the hardcore horror fans will appreciate.

It's the attitude, frankly, that elevates Frankenstein's Army beyond that of a minor diversion. With a concept like this one, it'd be a whole lot easier to act super silly and hope you catch the genre crowd in a good mood. To their credit, the folks behind Frankenstein's Army take some crazy chances with some of their more elaborate kills and creatures, but that's what makes it impressive: taking the tougher path and making it work. For all its potential familiarity and possible silliness... the movie is actually sort of scary. That's impressive.

Frankenstein's Army is so earnestly odd and craftily creepy -- and so astutely balanced between homage and originality -- it seems a sure bet to become another international horror favorite not unlike Dead Snow, The Host, and Troll Hunter. Certainly not a mainstream piece of horror filmmaking, and nothing you'll ever want to watch with your mom, but for those who like to keep an eye out for clever, entertaining, and well-crafted international horror cinema, Frankenstein's Army is a cool little winner.

READ FEARnet's PARTNER REVIEWS OF FRANKENSTEIN'S ARMY

Truth, Justice, The American Way… and turning on your friends! That, apparently, is what all good heroes are up to from time to time. Whether they've been brain washed, possessed, or are doing it "for the greater good," heroes from time to time have to get a little evil. Here at FEARnet, we love that! And as Comi- Con winds down we're taking a moment to look at our favorite turncoats in comic history! Warning: this is the most spoiler-y spoiler-filled article you may ever read.


Superman's Infinite Crisis Freakout

During DC Comics' tentpole 2004 event, Infinite Crisis, the publishers put out a storyline that featured one of the best sequences of a superhero getting mind-controlled we've ever seen. The plot line follows Maxwell Lord, one-time businessman, who has gone full villain. In The Omac Project, Lord control's Superman's mind, making him beat the snot out of Batman and really mess up Wonder Woman. He even uses his heat vision on Wonder Woman's face. Not cool, Supes, not cool. Superman is shown as fully under Lord's control, and it's not until Wonder Woman brutally snaps Lord's neck that Superman is freed from the control and will stop destroying everyone. Damn!














Ozymandias

This is one of the best turncoat's in comic history. If you haven't yet read Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' masterpiece, Watchmen, then stop reading this and go buy it and read it (duh!). But you probably have… so you know where I'm going with this. Adrian Alexander Veidt, the genius/superhero known as Ozymandias, uses his intellect, vast wealth, and cold absolutism to "save" a world at the brink of nuclear war. By formulating a plan to make the world suspect an outside attacker, he unites everyone… at the cost of a few million lives. That's a pretty big betrayal, dude.

Everyone Against Captain America

Poor Captain America, when the chips were down and the going looked bleak during the Civil War saga, he stood for those who wanted to fight for freedom. No matter what side you chose in the milestone comic event, it was hard to argue with a lot of the points Captain America made. But the world Cap came up in was definitely not the same world we read about today in Marvel comics. So it was only fitting that this bastion of "The American Way" should get tricked, turn-coated, and eventually murdered by his one-time friends. Now sure, this is a major character from a major publisher, but he stays dead for, like, two years of publication! Impressive for a name as big as Captain America!










Rick Grimes

Life is rough in prison, that's a given, but add to that the zombie apocalypse and you're asking for a disaster. In The Walking Dead Rick Grimes and his survivors finally find a place that could shield them from all the insanity of the ruined world around them. But, when people are killed inside the prison and others are wrongfully accused, it's only a matter of time before tensions boil over. Rick was trying to establish order in the prison and when Dexter, an imposing inmate convicted of murder, tries to lead a non-violent insurrection, Rick betrays his "good guy" status. Using a zombie outbreak and the resulting chaos, Rick puts a bullet in Dexter's brain and so ends his resistance. Wow, Rick, the shitty world of The Walking Dead sure has hardened you.



















No. 5

In this amazing, weird, under-appreciated Manga by Taiyo Matsumoto (the author of Tekkon Kinkreet), the whole series is based on betrayal. The hero of the story, an assassin named No. 5, betrays his group of global security guardians (amazingly called "the Rainbow Council of the International Peacekeeping Forces") for the love of a girl and goes on the run. Now they have to track him down and kill him, but he's their top marksman, and he won't go down without a fight. This initial betrayal sets a whole storyline in motion, and it's a comic that's filled with wonder, emotion, and weirdness. It's fairly likely that you haven't read this, as less than a 1000 copies of this comic were sold in America before the published pulled the plug, but if you can find a copy of it pick it up and check it out!

Every year there are books coming out that I’m pretty sure I’m going to like. They may surprise me in some ways (the best ones always do), but it’s no surprise that I like them. I’m talking about books from my favorite authors, like this year’s Joyland by Stephen King or NOS4A2 by Joe Hill.

Naturally, books like that are part of the reason I keep reading. But comprising another, even more important part, are the books that come out of nowhere and blindside me with how good they are.

Books like The Fallen Boys.

I typically take notes when I’m reading a book for review. It’s sometimes tedious, but it’s an important part of the process for me. I stopped taking notes somewhere around the second chapter of Fallen Boys. I simply didn’t want to slow the story’s momentum; I was immersed in it, and surfacing every few pages to jot something down became a nuisance. I decided to let my usual method go and get lost in the story, trusting my creaky old brain to retain enough to let me write a coherent review on the other side.

The story begins with a horrific, ritualistic home invasion and abduction. It then shifts abruptly to a typical family of three. Marshall Deakins and his wife, Claire, are raising a boy named Noah, a kid on the cusp of adolescence. Like a lot of kids his age, Noah is struggling with, well, everything. Friends, school, his relationship with his parents – none of it is coming easy for Noah, and he’s lashing out the only way he knows how, by retreating deep inside himself. Marshall and Claire are doing the best they can to love this sullen little stranger who’s replaced the easy-going, loving little boy they’d grown accustomed to; they keep throwing love at him, hoping all the while that he’ll pull out of his spiral sooner rather than later. Instead, Noah makes a horrific choice, one that alters the makeup and trajectory of the Deakins family for all time.

The Fallen Boys is like a long fuse that’s been lit at both ends, with these two seemingly separate stories burning toward an inevitably explosive collision. Dries takes his time getting there, delighting in the slow process of weaving these two narratives into a complete picture. Fortunately he uses that time wisely, layering in plenty of vivid characterization so that we’re fully invested in the outcome by the time we get there. Unlike so many horror novels that have come before it, you won’t be skimming pages looking for the bloodletting – all the stuff here is “the good stuff.”

You can see glimpses of a wide variety of horror influences blended into this book’s DNA, including echoes of Psycho, Stephen King and even Hostel. The influences are overt in places, but never overpowering; The Fallen Boys feels fresh and original. I think we’ve found an exciting new voice in horror fiction, and I look forward to the next time Aaron Dries writes something this good.

But that’s the last time you sneak up on me, Dries. Next time, I’ll be expecting it.

Blu Gilliand is a freelance writer of fiction and nonfiction. He covers horror fiction at his blog, October Country, and contributes interviews to the Horror World website. Follow him on Twitter at @BluGilliand.

More often than not, horror films are filled with decapitations, amputations, disembowelment, and more. Particularly with the introduction of the ‘torture porn’ subgenre, we are seeing more and more violence and excess in horror cinema. Sometimes it’s effective. Sometimes, watching the film’s cast of characters endure the kind of violence we wouldn’t wish on our worst enemy is a turn off to audiences. 

What we don’t see a lot of these days, though, is films that shy away from on-screen violence and opt for atmosphere over arterial spray. But it isn’t impossible to find. For example, James Wan's The Conjuring, which opened this weekend with a massive $41.5 million, relies on clapping hands, immobile dolls, and creeping shadows to terrify the audience. In fact, some of our most beloved films from years past are less intense than we might remember them. There have been several times where I have re-watched a film for the twentieth time and wound up scratching my head as the credits rolled, wondering, "didn’t that film used to be much more violent?" As it turns out, my favorite movies have not been watered down; I just tend to remember some of them as showcasing more brutality than they actually do. So, because we are thoughtful people, we bring to you six movies that are probably less violent than you remember them. Have a look and tell us what you think in the comments below. 

Saw

The interesting thing about Saw is that I didn’t even consider putting it on this list until after I had begun working on it. Most people wouldn’t think of Saw when considering films that aren’t terribly violent. But realistically, it isn’t that gruesome. James Wan and Leigh Whannell made a movie for very little money and they didn’t overdo it on the gore. The six films in the franchise that it was succeeded by were over-the-top, graphically violent, and sometimes even hard to stomach. However, the original film is primarily comprised of two guys stuck in a room. A lot of the violence is implied, off camera, or shown by way of brief flashbacks. Even the key in the stomach scene – which is one of the more graphic scenes in the film – is tame in comparison to six films that followed. 

Final Exam

This long out of print title finally received a re-release courtesy of Katarina’s Nightmare Theater. And to the surprise of a lot of viewers who hadn’t seen the film in some time, there is nearly no onscreen violence. There is a fake terrorist attack that leads to some phony bloodshed and that scene almost eclipses the violence incurred by the deaths not tied to a fraternity prank. Most of the deaths carried out at the hands of the film’s killer transpire off camera and the aftermath is panned to when the deed is done. Even the reverberation isn’t much to look at. Final Exam also suffers from an unusually long absence of death. There is a kill scene that takes place at the beginning of the film that sets the stage and then, it’s roughly an hour in to the feature before any more actual blood is shed. 

The Dorm that Dripped Blood

This Daphne Zuniga slasher film was also known as Pranks. Like Final Exam, it recently received a re-release. Synapse films put it out as The Dorm that Dripped Blood. The Blu-ray has a reversible slipcover that also allows the owner to display the Pranks cover art. When I sat down to revisit the film for the first time in a while, I was amazed at how little violence actually occurred onscreen. The Dorm that Dripped Blood is full of very tame kills that don’t live up to the bloodshed of films like Friday the 13^th. Beyond not being very gory, it isn’t that heavy on plot, there is very little character development, and the performances are weak. But there are worse ways to pass 90 minutes. 

Halloween

In the case of the holy grail of slasher films, it is easy to remember it as being more violent than it actually is. Halloween represents a class of films known for excessive onscreen violence. But given that John Carpenter was working on a limited budget, he found that in order to make his financing go as far as he needed, he had to work within his means. As a result, we don’t see buckets of blood in Halloween. In fact, in the kitchen scene where a character takes a knife to the chest, the actor is actually holding the knife in between his bicep and chest. But ultimately everything works very well and Halloween stands as one of the most universally respected and terrifying horror films. Halloween triumphantly proves that excess bloodshed is not always necessary to scare viewers. 

The Fog

Like Halloween, The Fog is a great testament to John Carpenter’s ability to create terror without the use of excessive violence. The Fog is like a good old-fashioned ghost story told around a campfire – in fact, in the opening scene, the story is being recounted over a campfire. Leading lady Jamie Lee Curtis is as delightful as ever and the lovely Adrienne Barbeau turns in a keen performance as an oversexed radio DJ. The film is well made and it packs plenty of tension and scares, but there is barely a drop of blood spilled throughout the entirety of the film. 

Black Christmas

This is another fine example of a film that is easy to think of as filled with violence and if you are thinking of the remake, you are be correct. But if you are thinking of the 1974 original, there is not much of the red stuff flying around. The film has achieved a great deal of notoriety, but that is due more to the filthy dialogue and the film’s willingness to mix murder and the Christmas season. There isn’t a terribly high body count, and of the deaths, none of them are so gruesome as to turn the stomach of even a casual horror fan. Part of what makes the film so effective is that the deaths, while not necessarily gruesome, are still brutal. The killer is merciless and he carries out his ill will with unflinching malevolence

True Blood Episode 606
“Don’t You Feel Me?”
Written By: Daniel Kenneth
Directed By: Howard Deutch
Original Airdate: 21 July 2013

In This Episode...

Lafayette / Corbett has drowned Sookie into unconsciousness when Bill senses her danger and releases the captive Warlow to save her. Sookie promises it wasn’t Lafayette who was hurting her, but her father. Warlow blasts her dad out of Lafayette and Sookie tells him to get the fuck out of her life. He obeys. Warlow feels Bill calling him back to him, so Sookie blinks the two of them into her private golden fairy forest. Warlow can feel the dark approaching - not sure if he means the dark of night or the dark of his vampire side - but either way he has Sookie tie him to a tombstone. He hasn’t fed and worries that he won’t be able to contain himself. Apparently Sookie can’t contain herself either. She offers up her neck so he can feed - then she turns around and takes a bite out of his neck. Then she undresses and fucks Warlow like crazy, while he is still tied up.

Eric and Pam are face-to-face while her shrink, the governor, Sarah, and other lackeys sit behind the two-way glass, waiting for the bloodbath. Eric may have released Pam, but he will always be her maker. Without a word, they float in the air, weapons poised for attack, but instead of attacking each other, they take out the guards as a warning to the governor. The two are taken away and Eric is shackled and locked up in a tiny cage. Nora is wheeled in, strapped to an upright gurney, and injected with the inaugural dose of hepatitis V, a new vampire epidemic that Eric later discovers is being distributed via contaminated bottles of the newly-back-in-production Tru Blood. Eric calls for Willa, who is in general population, playing Connect Four with Tara. Tara advises her to flirt with a guard, rip out his contacts, and glamour him into taking her to Eric. She does just that, then Eric takes it from there. With Eric in the guard uniform and Nora in the doctor’s coat, the three of them make it through the halls unnoticed.

Bill discovers that Jessica isn’t in her room, and quickly figures that the LAVTF has taken her. He has the professor put him into a coma by draining him of nearly all his blood. Bill talks to Lilith, but blames this whole mess on her, which infuriates her and tells Bill to never come to her again. The professor puts Bill’s blood back in, waking him up. He takes fairy blood the professor has (not sure if it is real or the synthetic he has been working on) and charges out the front door - in the middle of the day. He does not burst into flames; he marvels at the feel of the sun on his skin. Bill enters the detention center courtyard, where the governor sits with his guards. At first, the guards don’t recognize him as a vampire - after all, it is the middle of the day. Bill fangs out and they pepper him with wooden bullets. He laughs and opens his arms, inviting more bullets that have no effect. With his magical powers, he forces the guards to stop firing, turn their guns on one another, and shoot each other in a bloody circle-jerk. Bill takes a big bite out of the governor - then rips his head off and leaves it on display. (Seems to me that turning the governor would have been a better “revenge.” Killing him will only fuel the fire of hate.)

Jason has signed up with the LAVTF, but it is a ruse to get into the detention center and save Jessica. Sarah is pissed to see him, and more so when Jason threatens to tell everyone what a “whore for Christ” she is. She schedules Jason to sit in on a copulation study with a young vampire named James... and Jessica. Jason sits silently, watching with horror. But James assures Jessica - and his captors - that he is a vampire, not a rapist. When they start zapping him with UV light, Jessica feels bad and undresses, intent on having sex to save him. James is a gentleman and refuses to allow her to whore herself out. Eventually Sarah grows tired of this game and sends them back to general population.

Nicole convinces Sam that life on the run is no life for a little girl. He agrees to give Emma back to Martha, as long as Martha does not return to her pack. Martha is eager to agree - Emma is more important to her than her pack. With his dad’s help, Alcide tracks down Sam, but Emma is already gone, and Sam promises that Nicole won’t out the werewolves to the public. Alcide begrudgingly lets Sam go, but tells him never to return to Bon Temps, or anyplace else that his pack can sniff him out.

Arlene is growing increasingly worried about Terry. When Lafayette tells her that he gave him a safety deposit key, Arlene is convinced that Terry is going to kill himself. Holly suggests that they just have a vampire come over and glamour the PTSD and war memories out of him. She calls over her son’s friend’s dad to glamour him. It works like a charm, and Terry is a happy, smiling, devoted husband and father once again. Of course, he still has the hit out on himself, so when he takes the garbage out, he is shot dead.

Also: Andy finally gives his daughter a name: Adalind Braelyn Charlene Danica (the last three to commemorate her sisters).

Dig It or Bury It?

The whole Sookie / Warlow story is turning into a Harlequin romance novel... or Twilight. I would say a bad version of Twilight, but Twilight is a bad version of Twilight and at least True Blood has tits. Fairy sex is just painfully stupid. A purple glow shoots out of their genitals. The only way this storyline can be redeemed is if they introduce a unicorn that poops rainbows and farts glitter.

Terry’s death was awkward. First, I love his character and didn’t want to see him die. But it felt so anti-climactic. It was brutally obvious that he was going to die as soon as his PTSD was glamoured away, but then Arlene just didn’t seem to grieve for him as she should have. She didn’t seem upset or even really concerned. I don’t know, the whole thing just felt fake.

Prophecies?

Jason finds Jessica; Sam decides to return to Bon Temps; hepatitis V is unleashed in the Tru Blood; and Eric begs Bill to save Nora.

Dexter Episode 804

“Scar Tissue”
Written By: Tim Schlattmann
Directed By: Stefan Schwartz
Original Airdate: 21 July 2013

In This Episode...

Deb is staying with Vogel while she is being treated for severe PTSD. Vogel takes Deb back to the container, to “take away the power it holds” and remind her that she is a good person, but she will always choose Dexter. It actually seems to be helping. Vogel shows Deb one of the videos she made with Harry, comparing her with her father. They both did what they thought was in Dexter’s best interest.  Deb eventually sneaks into Vogel’s office and finds more Harry videos. She watches one in which Harry is consumed with guilt after he walks in on Dexter during one of his kills. 

Meanwhile, Dexter has cleared four of Vogel’s former patients. Next up is AJ Yates. Yates attacked a classmate at school when he was 12, and was eventually institutionalized at 15. Vogel tried to channel his violence but was unsuccessful. Currently, Yates is a cable installer and “seems” to be a productive member of society. While Dexter is stalking him, Yates takes off his had, and reveals a huge, jagged scar on his head, similar to the way the Brain Surgeon cracked open his victims’ skulls. Dexter is furious and confronts Vogel. Yates had lesions on his brain and Vogel recommended they be removed; however, they were never removed while she was his doctor, so she didn’t know about the surgery. Dexter accepts this and heads to Yates’ house. Dexter finds evidence that suggests Yates is very close with his ailing father. He also finds a closet full of single, neatly organized women’s shoes. Trophies. Dexter isn’t alone. Yates is watching via CCTV from his underground kill room / bunker. He creeps upstairs with a knife, but stops and returns when he hears Dexter on the phone with Vogel. “She found herself a hero,” he mutters to a badly beaten girl chained up in the basement.

Dexter gets prints back from some of the shoes and discovers three that belong to missing girls, including Janet, the one who was in the basement. He returns to Yates’ home, only to find the place cleaned out. But before he leaves, he notices a sliver of light seeping from the wall. Behind the hidden door, Dexter discovers Yates’ kill room, and the CCTV setup - Yates was watching him. Bone saws, specimen jars, and a brain-surgery-by-numbers chart leave no doubt in Dexter’s mind that Yates is the Brain Surgeon. Dexter discovers Janet crammed into a metal tool cabinet. She is still alive, but barely. It seems Yates stabbed her and shoved her in the cabinet before he made a hasty retreat. The angle at which Janet was stuffed in unintentionally helped staunch the bleeding. Dexter ties her up to keep her in that position and drops her off at a nearby ER before returning to Yates’ kill room - with Vogel. They discover Yates has all of Vogel’s patient files on his computer, including one from just two weeks ago. These are notes on Dexter: “Somehow he has deluded himself into thinking his feelings for his sister are genuine, unaware that there are no real emotions behind them.” Dexter is furious that he is just an experiment, a lab rat to Vogel. “When Yates is dead, you are out of my life. It’s over. Understand? Or do you need to write it down?”

Yates has been sleeping in his van now that his house has been compromised. He gets a call from his father’s nursing home saying that dad doesn’t have much time left. Yates races to the nursing home, where Dexter is waiting for him - it was a setup. Yates yanks the breathing tube out of his father, which sends him into cardiac arrest and brings the nurses running. Yates jumps out the window, and Dexter slips out the door, both unseen.

Deb goes to see Dexter at work. She needs to talk to him, so they go for a ride. Deb asks point-blank if Harry killed himself, and Dexter admits that he did. Matthews told him a few years ago that Harry had OD’d on his heart medication. “Was it because of you?” Dexter admits Harry thought he created a monster. “I know how he felt, why he killed himself. But he only got it half right.” Deb grabs the steering wheel and violently sends the car over a bridge and into a lake. A nearby fisherman sees the accident and jumps in to save Deb. Up on the shore, Deb wakes and, after a long moment, she jumps in and saves Dexter.

Also: Quinn passes his sergeant's test - but so does Miller, who Matthews is backing for the position. Masuka discovers he has a daughter, the result of college sperm donations.

Dig It or Bury It?

This was an emotionally draining episode. There were no shocks; no surprises. Deb running them off the road together wasn’t out of character - I knew she wouldn’t just off herself, but I could see her doing something as totally self-destructive as taking herself out with Dexter. And her jumping back in to save Dex, that wasn’t out of character either. One of the reasons that she hates herself so much is because she loves her brother, and she can’t stop loving him despite what she knows about him. I am a little surprised that the good samaritan didn’t jump back in to save Dexter. That was weirdly random, to save one person from a car accident but not both.

Yates having all of Vogel’s case files could mean that he is either a very clever hacker, or it could mean that they are in cahoots. I wouldn’t rule out either possibility. I have images in my head of Vogel setting up a psychopath Thunderdome, pitting two killers against each other in a fight to... well, to the death, obviously.

Psycho Babble

Vogel sees Deb as Dexter’s mirror. She reflects a positive image of Dexter that he balances with his vision of himself as a monster. Now that the mirror is “cracked,” there is a sense of a lack of control. “You want Deb in your life - but you don’t need her.”

Prophecies?

Dr. Vogel is kidnapped, and Deb and Dex must team up to rescue him.

Teen Wolf Episode 308
“Visionary”
Written By: Jeff Davis
Directed By: Russell Mulcahy
Original Airdate: 22 July 2013

In This Episode...

Through fractured flashbacks, we learn a little bit about the town’s backstory.

Kali, Deucalion, and Ennis all had their own wolf packs. Deucalion was trying to broker peace between the packs so that they could join forces and beat the Argents and their werewolf hunters. All the werewolves wanted to curry favor with Talia Hale, who was like the super-alpha. Her relationship to Derek is not made clear.

Fifteen-year-old Derek falls in love with a girl named Paige. Peter, being Derek’s best friend, tells Derek that he needs to turn her so they can be together forever (or nearly forever). The way Peter tells the story, Derek obsessed over the idea but it was Peter who set things in motion. Ennis attacks Paige at school late one night. Derek hears this and jumps into the fray, but Ennis is significantly stronger than Derek and throws him against the wall. I’m not sure if Peter set this up so that Ennis could turn Paige, or so that Derek would be forced to turn Paige so she could protect herself. Either way, it didn’t work. Ennis bit Paige, but the bite didn’t take and she died a slow, agonizing death until Derek put her out of her misery.

Gerard tells Alison and Scott that Deucalion’s pack attacked him and he did what he could to defend himself. It was actually Gerard who lured the pack to an abandoned distillery and gassed them all so that he could bash them over the head with a mace. Deucalion escapes, but Gerard follows him and jams a pair of  arrows into his eyes. Sparks (for some reason) fly out of Deucalion’s eyes. Gerard takes his arrows and goes home. Deucalion is blind... but he maintains his wolf vision.

We also learn a little bit about the Druids and how they fit into all of this. Werewolves have always had a relationship with the Druids, and they called them emissaries. Following the Greek myth of Lycan, the Greeks believe they owed theirs lives to more than just gods, but to Prometheus. Deucalion (though I don’t think this is the Deucalion we know) was the son of Prometheus. Prometheus and Deucalion threw a wild orgy and made Zeus feast on human flesh. To get revenge, Zeus turned the Lycan family into wolves. The Lycans sought help from their emissaries, who could not reverse the curse, but could turn them into shifters, allowing them to control their shifts. Deaton was once an emissary; so was his sister,.

Dig It or Bury It?

I liked getting backstory, but I feel like this episode was too fractured. We got slivers of story, but never the whole thing. There were two current tales and three told in flashback... makes it hell on a girl to take notes. I still feel like we only got pieces of the story. It just didn’t fit in with the narrative flow of the story.

Prophecies?

Melissa is kidnapped; Lydia and Stiles kiss; and there are lots of fights to be had.

kid running awkwardly thru the woods, falls down emankment, sees one of those electronic fences. runs into another kid - you’re a hale aren’t you? the other kid gets shot thru the throat by argent and ger and their team. another kid saves derek from getting shot. chris wants them to be taken alive, by the code.

Under the Dome Episode 105
“Blue on Blue”
Written By: Brian K. Vaughn
Directed By: Jack Bender
Original Airdate: 22 July 2013

In This Episode...

It’s “visitor’s day” at the dome. The government is bringing in people by the busload who have family in the dome. Linda sees Rusty, but has to tell him that his brother is dead. Julia looks for Peter, but instead finds his sister, who has a simple Dear John letter for her. Dodee talks to her mom in sign language. Norrie gets a visit from a man she has never seen before. He holds up a sign: his name is Michael and he is her father. Baby pictures and a picture of Michael with Alice back up his claim, and Alice’s fury when she sees him there confirms it. Norrie is furious - her moms told her they used an anonymous sperm donor.

As visitor’s day is wrapping up, Barbie asks Dodee if she can read lips. She can. He shows some military coin to one of the soldiers who recognizes it and snaps to attention. All the soldier knows is that they have been told to vacate the premises and not return. This combined with Lester hearing the word of god in his ear say “Moab” and another garbled transmission from Dodee’s radio leads Barbie to believe that the military is going to bomb them. Moab stands for “Mother of All Bombs.”

The town evacuates into the tunnels under the concrete factory. Jim goes to his bomb shelter and lets Angie go, telling her she should “die as a free woman.” She doesn’t think much about this, and runs home. Junior, who had first stopped by home only to be told by his dad that he let Angie go, waits for her at her house. With a gun. But when Angie enters, she is nice to him, caresses his face, and invites him to lay his head in her lap. She holds him. Norrie and Joe are also not in the evac center. They decide to kiss, just as the bomb hits. Fireworks, rockets launching, yadda yadda yadda. It doesn’t get much more cliched than that. 

Anyway, the bomb doesn’t make a dent in the dome, but it sure does in the surrounding environs. Everything visible outside the dome has been demolished into smoldering rubble. Jim looks out on the destruction and is approached by Lester, who claims they were saved because he repented. He would give Jim a day to “repent,” then he would do it for him - meaning he would spill the secret. Jim pats him on the cheek - then pushes his head against the dome. Lester’s hearing aid goes nuts, blood pours out of his ears, and he drops to the ground, dead.

Dig It or Bury It?

Only Under the Dome can make a bomb a non-event. The whole idea of “visitor’s day” should have offended more people - it made them seem like prisoners. Perhaps the best part was the worst part: when Norrie met her dad. What kind of douchebag would introduce himself to his daughter for the first time in that situation? It was almost laughably bad. Other things I didn’t understand include why Jim thought his son might have a good reason for holding Angie captive; and why, when confronted with gun, does Angie comfort Junior? Why not take the gun and get the hell out? I wish I could blame the town’s stupidity on the dome.

Prophecies?

It rains in the dome. So I suppose that the dome encompasses enough atmosphere that it still has weather?

The last couple years have seen a big time resurgence in the multi-director horror anthology film, with movies like V/H/S and ABCs of Death giving young up and coming filmmakers the chance to show off their stuff, in an abridged and easy to digest fashion.  What's great about this recent trend is that it gives fans a chance to become acquainted with the work of filmmakers that aren't yet established as masters of horror, providing us with a gateway into the careers and minds of the men and women who will be scaring the daylights out of us, for years to come.

Last week, the website VICE partnered up with James Wan's box office hit The Conjuring for a fun little experiment, titled The 3:07 AM Project.  Four budding masters were given the chance to make short films for the project, with the only rule being that they must take place at the time of 3:07am.  Why?  Because that's the time in The Conjuring where all the shit goes down, and the clocks in the family in peril's home all stop ticking.  The Devil's hour, if you will.

The four filmmakers tasked with creating early morning spookshows were Nacho Vigalondo, mostly known for writing/directing Timecrimes, Max Landis, son of John and the writer of the highly impressive Chronicle, House of the Devil's Ti West and last but not least Jason Eisener, who brought into our lives the unforgettably entertaining Hobo With a Shotgun.  Four guys that know what they're doing behind the camera, that's for damn sure.

The four films are as short as they are creepy, running a combined length of 6 minutes long.  So if you can manage to find any excuse to not watch them all, then I think we're going to have to revoke your membership in the horror fan club.

Check out all four shorts below, compiled together in one quick video!
 

As San Diego Comic Con comes to a close you may be left asking yourself, "What now?" We understand your sense of loss, and we're here to help! Don't hang up that cape, that spandex, or those cat ears just yet, we've got five current horror comics you should be reading. These are coming out monthly and they need your adoring attention!

Hellboy in Hell

If you read my weekly comic review round-up you'll know my love for all things Mike Mignola. It's no secret that I think Mignola and crew are doing the best work in horror comics today. The artwork is always thoughtful, the story lines are always deeply emotional, everything works perfectly together. That's never been as true as in Hellboy in Hell, where we see Big Red going back to his hometown (Hades). It was great to see Hellboy react to Hell, but now that the series is entering its second arc we're going to see how Hell reacts to Hellboy.

The Massive

This taut, tense thriller is on my must read list for a bunch of reasons. The apocalypse as presented in The Massive is a realistic one. There are no gnawing zombies or radioactive wastelands, just an Earth flooded with ocean after Alaska melted. The artwork on this comic follows that realistic tradition closely, as each character is lavishly and lovingly drawn in honest detail. The story follows the crew of The Kapital, a huge ocean liner, as it sails around the flooded earth. Yes, this is another comic that shows us an end of the world scenario, but it does so with style and grace.

Eerie and Creepy Comics

There's been a recent revival in the classic horror anthologies. Back in the good ol' days, the best way to get a good scare was to go down to the soda shop (I assume, I'm in my late twenties) and scare up an issue of a horror comic anthology. Now we have a horror movie coming out every week and media serving up scares by the handful, but you can still get your claws on these awesome horror anthologies. Eerie serves up four to six stories about horror and the supernatural with a science-fiction tinge, while Creepy is just straight up, old-fashioned scares! Check them out for that old time feeling.

Spider-Man

Yes, for real. You should be reading all things Spider-Man that are coming out right now. It may not seem, on the surface, like this is appropriate to recommend for a horror site, but let me make my case. Peter Parker is dead. The person running around in Peter Parker (and Spider-Man's) body is the disembodied spirit of Doctor Octavius! Whoa! That's some Emily Rose shit. And that's just the monthly main title run, called Superior Spider-Man. There's also The Superior Foes of Spider-Man, all about the half-wit villains who are out for blood. Then there's Superior Carnage which only just started up and which will truly amp up the body count. Check it out, for real, just trust me.

The Walking Dead

If this article came out five months ago The Walking Dead would not have made the cut. But the issues are starting to pick up the pace, and a big showdown is imminent. The Walking Dead is an amazing, sprawling piece of work, but it sometimes loses its pacing and footing. When it's good, though, holy smokes is it good. And right now, with Negan (I want to teleport into the comic to kill him myself) and Rick at each other's throats, there's bound to be big changes in this little comic. Each issue may not give you everything you're looking for, but if you've put in the time you'll be vastly rewarded.