They say it is for kids, but the Haunted Playhouse exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Arts in Tokyo looks pretty badass for adults, too. Designed by Torafu Architects,  it is meant to subvert typical museum rules such as "Don't touch." Visitors are invited to interact with the portraits which, at first glance, look like ordinary paintings, but quickly reveal interactive touches that turn it into a haunted gallery. Patrons can even go "behind the scenes" and take part in the trickery.

I must go look into plane tickets for Tokyo immediately. Enjoy these photos.

Photographer Adam Voorhes was commissioned by Scientific American magazine to go to the Texas State Mental Hospital and photograph a normal, healthy, adult brain. While he was there, he discovered the hospital had a collection of over 100 diseased and malformed brains. Initially collected for further study, a lack of funding meant the brains had been in storage - some for decades - untouched. So Adam decided to photograph them, and the results are compelling, eerie, and strangely beautiful.

More photos and the artist's statement can be found at Public School

What began as a clever idea cooked up by filmmakers with more ingenuity than production money has now become a low-budget playground for filmmakers of every race, creed, nationality, and age bracket. We're talking (once again) about "found footage" horror cinema, that recently omnipresent filmmaking presentation that asks the viewer to "buy" that they're watching actual video material.

Although largely the domain of independents both American (The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity, Grave Encounters) and imported (Troll Hunter, [REC], Lake Mungo), the "found footage" hook has also enticed filmmakers as varied as Matt Reeves (Cloverfield), George Romero (Diary of the Dead), and Barry Levinson (The Bay). So clearly there's something about the gimmick that appeals to filmmakers and film watchers in equal measure, and now we have another veteran ready to take a swing at the format.

The mostly conventional but still rather intriguing Devil's Pass (aka The Dyatlov Pass Incident on the festival circuit) comes from good ol' Renny Harlin, the rather unpredictable Finnish director who brought us Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger, Deep Blue Sea, Mindhunters, and 12 Rounds, among others. Those (like me) who devour just about any found footage-style horror flick they can get their eyeballs on will no doubt find a lot of familiar components in Devil's Pass, but a game cast -- and just enough novelty in the plot (and location) department -- prevent the film from becoming just another carbon copy.

The story follows five attractive young American filmmakers who travel deep into the foreboding mountains of Northern Russia to chart the course of a 1959 expedition that ended with nine people dead. And not just from frostbite, either. Suffice to say that there's enough mystery surrounding the decades-old "Dyatlov Pass Incident" to keep director Holly King and her four-person crew interested -- but after a (perhaps slightly overlong) set-up, Harlin and first-time screenwriter Vikram Weet manage to find their way, employ a truly ominous location, and deliver a few weird surprises you might not see coming.

If Devil's Pass suffers from one glaring issue, it's that it follows the Blair Witch Project formula to an almost slavish degree. We even have a second act breakdown from our director in which she weeps and apologizes for all her unthinking hubris. Again, the cast, the locale, and the promise of an interesting couple of twists prevent Devil's Pass from becoming too familiar or tiresome, but at certain points the flick feels like little more than The Siberian Witch Project.

Whether the payoffs in Devil's Pass come off as novel or ridiculous depends on the individual viewer, of course, but for a movie that offers a familiar premise in a fresh location, it does manage to throw in a few twisted little curve-balls towards the end. At the very least, Devil's Pass stands as further evidence that seasoned directors enjoy the found footage gimmick as much as the first-timers seem to, and that they can turn out a simple but crafty little horror tale when they feel like it.

READ FEARnet's PARTNER REVIEWS OF DEVIL'S PASS

New comic book Wednesday has come and gone. The dust at your local comic shop has settled. An eerie silence descends as you finish reading your last superhero book of the week. Now it's time for something a little more sinister. Welcome to Bagged and Boarded: comic reviews of the sick, spooky, twisted and terrifying!

Morbius: The Living Vampire No. 8

Morbius has been tricked. He's been lied to, he's hurt people, and now Brownsville's about to pay for his mistakes. Or so it seems. A villain in a full face mask named The Rose has an Ultimate Nullifier, a sort of pocket device of great power, force, and destruction. He's just blown up part of Brownsville, and now Morbius has to overcome his own self-loathing and fight back.

Bag it or board it up? I'm from the generation, now not as young as we wish we were, that grew up watching the Spider-Man animated series. Morbius was always a strange villain to me. He always seemed lost in a world of Kraven, the Hunter's and Hob Goblin's. In his own series he's written as a down on his luck sad sack. That's an interesting take on the one-time Midnight Son, but it sucks the momentum from the comic.

Hellraiser: The Dark Watch

Kirsty Cotton is now a Cenobite. She and her ilk are getting attacked by demons in the Labyrinth. This is not an ideal situation for anyone, because if Leviathan (the master of hell) comes under attack, it could undo all of this hell and unleash a brand new one. Harry, another cenobite (the cool one from the cover) has to get back to hell and help defeat the demons.

Bag it or board it up? Finally some Hellraiser comics that don't read like a list of names and things you don't care about. The comic's author, Brandon Seifert, is doing a good job of balancing the rich Hellraiser mythology with a story that's actually readable. Well done!

Lobster Johnson: A Scent of Lotus 2 of 2

Lobster Johnson continues his newest case in Chinatown. The gun wielding tough-as-nails 1930's detective from the world of Hellboy wants to find out who's been killing couriers in the neighborhood, and why. This leads him into the path of a Wu, a powerful witch/assassin and her hordes of evil monkey monsters.

Bag it or board it up? Well, there were evil monkey monsters, so that's pretty awesome. All in all this is a pretty tame finale for the two-parter. Shots are fired, a spell or two gets launched, and exposition gets heaped upon the reader. Eh, they can't all be gems.

Creepy No. 13

The revival of the old horror series Creepy really hits its stride with Dark Horse. This week, to celebrate the 13th issue, Creepy has all types of awesome mini-comics. One story follows a girl who's family has been hiding dark secrets from her. Another shows what happens when you take that strange, special subway car. And especially of note, a reprinted classic comic featuring a Bram Stoker story.

Bag it or board it up? This is, by far, my pick of the week. I'm normally just so-so on these reprints of old horror comics, but this issue hit it out of the park. The new stories were great, I'd never read the reprint before, even the comical buffer comics in between stories were great. This is just good old-fashioned spooky fun. Check it out.

Dexter Episode 809
“Make Your Own Kind of Music”
Written By: Karen Campbell
Directed By: John Dahl
Original Airdate: 25 August 2013

In This Episode...

Vogel and Dexter are checking Zach’s studio for evidence. The killer cleaned up well, but Dexter finds a spot of blood-caked hair stuck to the underside of the table. Dexter thinks Zach did this on purpose, which impresses Vogel. She uses this as a chance to turn on Dexter a bit, complimenting Zach for acting with “extraordinary calm” while Dexter is currently being “irrational.” Dexter runs the hair for DNA, and while the sample doesn’t have an exact match, it does have a familial match: Evelyn Vogel. Dexter goes straight to Vogel and demands the truth.

Vogel no longer has any family. She used to be married, and they had two sons, Richard and Daniel. One day, Richard drowned in their swimming pool. Vogel thought it was an accident, but it soon became clear that her elder boy, Daniel, killed him. She should have known instantly: Daniel was devoid of empathy and a sense of right and wrong. She and her husband covered up Daniel’s involvement and sent him back to England, where they put him in a secure mental institution. Daniel was 14. Three years later, a terrible fire erupted in the institute, killing seven. One of those kids was Daniel, and while Vogel never saw the body, her husband did. Vogel gives Dexter a photo of Daniel, which Dexter ages up and matches with Oliver Saxon. A quick check of British death certificates shows an Oliver Saxon who would have been about the same age as Daniel. Plus, Oliver Saxon is a really, really British name.

So let’s let that stew for a few minutes and focus on Dexter and Hannah. The manhunt for Hannah is growing intense. Elway has tipped off the federal marshals, and Agent Clayton pays Dexter a visit to “warn him” that Hannah may be in town. Batista wants to put uniforms on Dexter 24/7, but Dex talks him down to just his home and Harrison. But that leaves a couple of problems. First, Hannah has been having her friend Arlene hold onto lots of money for her - whatever the ladies could squirrel away from Castner. She needs to go pick up that money, but Dexter won’t let her go alone. While there, Clayton shows up, and Dexter explains that he met Arlene through Hannah. When questioned about her fancy new digs (paid for by Hannah as a thank you for acting as a bank) Dexter puts his arm around Arlene and lets Clayton fill in the blanks.

With the money in hand, they need to stash Hannah someplace private for a few days, and there is only one place Dexter can think of: Deb’s house. Neither woman is thrilled at the prospect, but  Hannah doesn’t have any other options and Deb seems to have given in to this whole “Hannah” situation. She even sits down and has a meal - that Hannah cooked - with her. (Of course, Deb chooses the chicken that Hannah took for herself, and eats the salad very cautiously.) When Dexter has a few minutes alone with Hannah, talking about their future, he agrees to give notice at Miami Metro, pack up Harrison, and move to Argentina with her. (Harrison, after seeing Hannah’s picture on television, tells Dexter that he misses Hannah, and wishes she could be his mommy.)

But first, there is this little matter of Oliver/Daniel to take care of. Vogel insists that Dexter not kill him. Dexter agrees, but this is all a lie. He figures that Oliver has been reading all of Vogel’s journal entries from her computer, so she writes up an entry about how she will be at the King’s Bay Cafe, a coffee shop she and Daniel used to frequent when he was a boy. The plan is for Dexter and Vogel to snatch him outside the cafe and take him directly to a mental health facility. But Dexter has other plans. He drugs Vogel with one of Hannah’s potions, then waits outside the cafe for Oliver. The plan is to follow him and abduct him a few miles from the cafe, then get him on his table. Oliver must have spotted Dexter beforehand, because when he goes to his car to pursue Oliver, Dexter finds his tires slashed. Dexter races straight to Vogel, who is annoyed that Dexter drugged her. Dexter promises she can be mad at him later, and tells her that Oliver escaped him and he is worried that Vogel is in great danger. Vogel assures him that she will take care of Oliver from this point on and pushes him out the door. The bum’s rush is because Oliver/Daniel is there. “Now do you believe that I didn’t send Dexter after you?” Oliver does, and sits for breakfast with his mom.

Also: Deb is very close to rejoining the force. Elway is sick of her and encourages her to resign. Batista desperately wants her back and has a detective’s shield all ready for her. She really enjoys helping Quinn with his investigation into Cassie’s death, but when he leans in and kisses her passionately, without warning, Deb is a little weirded out. (But only a little - she has a big smile and it is clear that she would be open to dating him again. The Jamie thing obviously isn’t going anywhere.) Further complicating her decision to return is that Dexter and Hannah were with Zach in the Keys (“What was it, a serial killer’s convention?”), that her brother is a serial killer, and she has another one hiding out in her house.

Dig It or Bury It?

Last week, several commenters eviscerated me about my belief that Vogel was the killer. Well, I was wrong - she merely gave birth to a killer. It is sad that Vogel is so blindly trusting of her psychopathic son - someone that she herself admitted was without empathy. Because there is no way that this will end well for her. Saxon had murder in his eyes when they sat down for that strangely creepy breakfast. 

I can’t stop thinking that, after this episode, there are only three left... three left... it is haunting me. The “romantic” part of me (if I have such a part) wants Hannah and Dexter to escape to Argentina and live a blissful life. I want to see if Hannah can be enough for Dexter, if he will stop killing because of her. Not because she forces him to, but because he no longer feels the need to. But that just doesn’t seem like a realistic ending. At the beginning of the season I predicted that Deb will die, and I still think that is a likely scenario, but if she does, it’s starting to look like Elway is being set up as the killer.

Psycho Babble

Dexter admits to Vogel that he couldn’t say goodbye to Hannah, and insists that they will make a life together - “We will figure it out.” Vogel almost seems disappointed by this: “You are not the perfect psychopath I thought you were. You have a depth of emotion I never thought possible.” She thinks that Dexter’s plan of living a “normal” life with Hannah is dangerous. “Killers can’t have full emotional lives.”

Prophecies?

Someone is going to die next week. At least one person. Judging by the blood-splattered sleeve of the person that Dexter is clutching, that is looking like Vogel. It is definitely a woman’s blouse, it is nothing that Deb or Hannah would wear, and I don’t think he would have that panicked a look on his face for any other female in the cast (which is pretty much just Jamie).

Only three episodes left...

It's not actually sake, but shochu. It's similar to sake but made from barley, and once you're drunk, do you really care what it is called?

Toho Co Ltd, the company that owns the rights to the Godzilla character, comissioned the Konishi Brewing Company to create a tie-in for the 55th anniversary of the Godzilla movies. Artist Nariaki Ito sculpted the Godzilla bottle, which is limited to 3000 editions. The price is 10,500 yen, which translates to roughly US$100. That's about all I can extrapolate about this product because the Japanese translation is almost as hard to read as the original Japanese. So enjoy these photos!

Source: MoIppai

Every time another indie horror film about women hits the scene, I open my reviews with comments on movies like May, Grace, Teeth, Inside, and The Woman: smart, dark, insightful films -- all written and directed by men -- that aim to shed some light on that most fascinating of all animals: the human female. One certainly wishes we had more films like this that come from female filmmakers (like this year's rather impressive American Mary), but at least there are some men out there who clearly take female characters very seriously.

Holy smokes! I love me some 30 second bunny cartoons! And I love me some 'Insidious'! It's seriously one of our favorite horror films of that last couple of years here at FEARnet. So we're thrilled that Jennifer Shiman (the genius behind 30 second bunnies) decided to tackle the film just in time for 'Saw' duo James Wan & Leigh Whannell's follow-up 'Insidious: Chapter 2.' Also, 'Insidious' will have it's broadcast premiere right here on FEARnet on Sunday, September 8th! Tune in! And in the meantime, check out 'Insidious' in 30 seconds as performed by bunnies below!

A few weeks ago back at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con, we made it a point to stop by the table of our good friends at Shout Factory whom we interviewed earlier this summer. After all, for the last year under their horror banner of "Scream Factory," they've been putting out some of our most beloved genre titles and giving them the "Criterion" style treatment, complete with stellar new digital transfers, bonus features galore and new original cover artwork. So right on the cusp of their Comic-Con panel, they announced a slew of new titles for the next year including John Carpenter's 'Assault On Precinct 13,' 'Darkman,' Cat People' and the long sought after director's cut of Clive Barker's 'Nightbreed.' On top of that, they also had the always lovely Adrienne Barbeau and 'Swamp Thing' (and Wolverine!) creator Len Wein at their table to celebrate the recent releases of 'The Fog' and 'Swamp Thing.' We got to chat with Adrienne, Len, as well as Jeff Nelson (marketing director) and Cliff MacMillan (acquisitions) about all of the above! Here's all the latest on Scream Factory! Be sure to keep up to date with them on the official Scream Factory Facebook and Twitter.