Gerald's Game and a Goodbye from me

GERALD'S GAME 2017

 
"If there's a monster under your bed it won't bother you if you're asleep," Gerald whispers to Jessie, and in that moment Gerald's Game is summed up in one beautiful sentence.

First of all, Gerald's Game is one of my favorite Stephen King novels. I read it far too young at a tender age of 12 where I learned far too much about the scary world of adults. But it has always stuck with me. I learned a lot from Gerald's Game that didn't scar me, life lessons that I subconsciously carried with me as I grew up. I re-read the story when I was 18 and it was like a light bulb went off in my head. Gerald's Game had taught me to fight so incredibly hard despite the odds. And in the tumultuous year where my Dad had left my family and my Mom had mentally checked out and I had to drop out of college....I never once stopped fighting. Because when I was 12 I read a book where a woman was in a lose/lose situation and against all terrifying odds, she fought and battled her inner demons and came out triumphant. And that woman never left me.

That might sound dramatic, but there's a reason I'm such a huge Stephen King fan, because I'm not exaggerating when I say his books have changed my life.

Tonight I watched the new adaptation, Gerald's Game, directed and written by Mike Flanagan and Jeff Howard. And I am happy to say that this film exceeded my expectations and kept what was the most important about this story and brought it to the screen.

Jessie and Gerald are a married couple who are slowly falling apart, they decide to escape up to their cabin for the weekend and play a sexy game where Jessie is handcuffed to the bed. But when things get quickly out of hand, and Gerald has a massive heart attack, dropping dead on the floor, Jessie finds herself in an impossible situation she must escape from. Or else she'll die, whether it be from dehydration, her organs shutting down, or that wild, starving dog that's sniffing around.

Ultimately this story is about survival, but it also speaks to the lengths we go to keep our darkest secrets buried. Jessie experienced something when she was younger that she has never told anyone, and without realizing it, it controls every decision she makes in her adult life. It isn't until she's locked in this situation that she's finally forced to deal with her trauma. It's an important lesson that we all learn in life, that holding secrets will slowly destroy us from the inside out. This film is incredible at how it handles the dark story line. It touches just hard enough that you completely understand what's going on, but not enough that it discredits the careful line its walking.

The story is also one about the fear that you never truly know the ones you love the most. You can be married to someone for ten years and one day they'll say something or do something and you suddenly realize you don't know that person at all. That maybe they were also keeping a deep dark secret they didn't want you to know.

Stephen King always understands the darkness that lies within every person. And Flanagan has brought that to life in this amazing adaptation.

I'm going to get into a little bit of spoilers here so skip ahead if you need to:

First of all, I'm so thankful that Flanagan kept the Dolores Claiborne reference in this film. It's so important to the story and it's a nice little nod for hardcore King fans. There was also a fun little Cujo reference which I appreciated.

Secondly, I want to talk about the horror element of it - there's some real creepy scenes in this movie that keeps the tension high and keeps the story going. Raymond Andrew Joubert, played by Carel Struycken, is incredibly creepy and his first scene caught me totally off guard. I also loved the final court scene with him. Obviously, I also need to touch on the wrist cutting scene. Reading it in the book had me squeamish but seeing it come to life...wow. I was completely unprepared. It was one of those moments where I realized I was yelling out loud and clutching my face, and actually had no idea how long I'd been yelling for (once again, I'm so sorry to my neighbors). I had been pondering how they would pull that off and they WENT THERE. The camera did not pan away once. It was horrific and so well done. An absolutely amazing scene!

Thirdly, I want to talk about the acting performances. Carla Gugino plays our lead Jessie with perfection. From the losing of her mind to the multiple personalities showing through to the final scene, this was an award winning performance. She was so believable, and raw, and emotional, and tough. Bruce Greenwood plays Gerald and it's another great performance. The scenes where Gerald is taunting Jessie, just hanging over her in bed whispering anxieties into her ear were so realistic and such a great portrayal of how having chronic anxiety really feels. Such great casting.

End of spoilers...

Flanagan is proving to me that he can't make a bad movie. This man is a powerhouse who, in my opinion, has already cemented himself as a master of horror. Gerald's Game is just another notch on the belt of a near perfect career and I honestly can't contain my excitement for whatever he has coming next.

Overall, Gerald's Game is a stunning, almost perfect adaptation of an author who many people have struggled for years to adapt. I will aggressively recommend it to everyone I know.

Solid 10/10

 Now, I have some sad news. This will be my last review on this blog....

BECAUSE I'VE BOUGHT A DOMAIN NAME FOR HORROR BOUND AND AM MOVING TO A REAL WEBSITE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've wanted to create my own horror site for awhile now but wanted to do it the right way. In April I bought the domain name for my birthday and I've spent the last few months creating the site. It will officially go live this Sunday on October 1st for the 31 day horror movie challenge.

It's time for Horror Bound to go big and not be just a little blog anymore. I've spent almost 6 years writing on this blog so I will be sad to not come here anymore and yell at everyone about how great horror movies are. I will keep this archived though for those of you who want to read old reviews, and mostly for my own nostalgia.

Going forward, you will need to visit horrorbound.net for all your horror bound needs. A MASSIVE thank you to those of you who have visited this blog over the years. It's been so much fun to watch my stats grow and have you reach out on twitter about my reviews. It's helped me blossom into a real writer and move into writing for other great websites like morbidlybeautiful.com and addictedtohorrormovies.com and now my own website! I hope you follow me over there.

As always, follow me on twitter, follow me on instagram, and on Sunday, October 1st, check out the new and improved and OFFICIAL Horror Bound.

Stay spooky forever,

Top Ten Stephen King Cameos!

TOP TEN STEPHEN KING CAMEOS

Stephen King is obviously a huge part of our culture and has been for decades. He's also my hero and just an all around great guy. His 70th birthday is coming up so I've rounded up some of his best cameos so you can keep an eye out when you re-watch! 

In no particular order:

#10 - Band Leader in The Shining miniseries

There was a Shining miniseries I hear you asking? Yes my spooky friends, there was a miniseries. Mick Garris directed this three part series for ABC in 1997 who would only adapt it if King promised to not bad mouth the film version. Both Sam Raimi and Frank Darabont cameo in it too! But King shows up as the creepy mustache wearing band leader named Gage Creed and it's pretty great.

#9 - Hoagie Man in Knightriders

I think this is his first on screen cameo and it's Romero's 1981 film Knightrider. Romero and King have a really cute friendship and it all started here. He plays a heckler at a medieval parade, uttering the phrase "you know, I don't have the balls to wear a thing like that!".

 

#8 - The Cleaner in Sons of Anarchy

King was a huge fan of SOA and was thrilled when he got to cameo as Dick Bachman aka The Cleaner in a 2010 episode. He gets to ride a motorcycle, wear a cool leather jacket and show he's always going to be a total bad ass. In the show he's the go-to man for cleaning up the messes and listens to 80's music while doing so.

#7 - Jordy Verrill in Creepshow

One of my favorite Creepshow stories, King reunited with Romero to play the title character in the anthology Creepshow. King shows some serious acting talent here playing a redneck who gets consumed by alien vegetation.

#6 - Truck Driver in Creepshow 2

King was invited back for the sequel and in this round he plays a hillbilly trucker with a couple of lines. Romero wrote the screenplay for the second film and Michael Gornick directed it.

#5 - Asshole at the ATM in Maximum Overdrive

One of the craziest films I've EVER seen is Maximum Overdrive, a cocaine fulled nightmare. King's directorial debut and his only ever attempt at it, he also claims this is the worst adaptation of all his books. But that was before Cell was made....I JOKE, I JOKE! This is one of my favorite cameos.

#4 - Cemetery Groundskeeper in Sleepwalkers

Written by Stephen King and directed by Mick Garris, this cameo is epic because it includes Tobe Hooper and Clive Barker. THE HOLY TRINITY. Sort of.

#3 - Minister in Pet Sematary

Pet Sematary is one of my favorite King books and one of my favorite adaptations. It came out in 1989 and is directed by Mary Lambert. Never forget how TERRIFYING Zelda is....
King plays the Minister overseeing the funeral of Gage Creed and there's something really spooky about that performance.

#2 - Teddy Weizak in The Stand

Probably one of King's adaptations that most people talk about fondly and absolutely a fan favorite book. The Stand was a TV mini-series that played in 1994 and King gets to play a 2 episode arc as Weizak. He really shows off his acting chops in this one and has to do a very emotional scene.

#1 - Himself in The Simpsons

That's right, King got to play a Simpson's version of himself in the episode "Insane Clown Poppy". Drew Barrymore also appears in the episode as the character Sophie. Barrymore was in two King adaptations - Firestarter and Cat's Eye. It originally aired in 2000 on November 12th. Marge encounters King at a book fair where he tells her that he didn't feel like writing horror anymore so was writing a biography on Benjamin Franklin. It's a really funny moment!

So there you have it! My ten favorite King cameos!

Stay spooky everyone and keep updated with my latest articles over at the other site I write for addictedtohorrormovies.

Stephen King News - because I don't care about anything else

Well, well, well......

I have returned....

( credit for gif )

People who have been following this blog for the past few years know I basically disappear every summer and I apologize for that. This summer has been notoriously worse because I travelled quite a lot and I got promoted at work so I've been busy living out my career dreams ~~~

So let's check in with the summer so far shall we? We've had some insane trailers coming out, some interesting movies have premiered and lots of great old and new movies added to Netflix and Shudder. I also got cable and so have spent most of my time watching things like America's Got Talent and Dr. Phil and letting my brain get melted. I REGRET NOTHING!

I actually haven't watched a horror movie in months? I think the last one I watched was when I re-watched Get Out with Mitch. I'm missing out on a lot and I'm pretty bummed about it but then I get home and I'm like ahhh yes, "my daughter is my mother is my uncle who's a sex predator" ...SIGN ME UP. But I am recognizing my bad habits and trying to move on....."trying" being the important word here...

Let's talk about some horror news I've been excited about lately:

First up of course is IT, it's crawling closer and closer and we just got our third trailer which looks incredible. It premiered during San Diego Comic Con and honestly, I'm trying not to let my expectations get too high but holllllyyyyy shiiiitttt does this movie look scary or what?! Joe Hill recently saw the full film and said it was one of five scariest films he's ever seen. I MEAN HOT DAMN! I am absolutely going on opening night and I am ready to get my pants scared off of me.

The adaptation is brought to us by director Andy Muschietti and stars Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise.

In this new trailer I like that they showed the adults not seeing what's happening to the kids, they just turn a blind eye as all of this is happening and at first you think it's because they're dumb adults but soon realize the town is doing something strange to them. I'm so glad they're including this because it's such a great part of the book where you feel such fear and frustration. We hear Pennywise talk and it's perfect. We get even more balloons. We get an extended look at that terrifying scene of Georgie in the cellar. We see what I hope to be that horrifying refrigerator scene with the leech like creatures. Also that score is just so incredible and jarring. WE JUST SEE SO MUCH WITHOUT GIVING TOO MUCH AWAY AND I'M SO FUCKING EXCITED!!!!!!!!

Check out the final trailer here and let's start counting down the days until IT premiers in theatres on September 8th.

Speaking of Stephen King, Mr. Mercedes premiers next Wednesday (August 9th) on DIRECTV and I'm hoping iTunes the next day for those of us without fancy cable. The trailer has given me a lot of hope that for once a Stephen King TV show will work, and early reviews are positive so woohoo! The casting is spot on and the vibe is a match for the book. I'm really excited for this and here's the trailer which premiered recently:



Executive produced by Stephen King, David E. Kelley and Jack Bender, Mr. Mercedes follows the story of a serial killer taunting a retired police detective. This trailer has got me hyped and I'm totally going to re-read this book this weekend.

The Jigsaw trailer came out a little while ago and I am 100% onboard. I've never been a huge fan of the Saw franchise. I used to be really sensitive to torture scenes in horror movies but two years ago I actually watched Saw for the first time and it was incredible! I would like to actually watch the whole franchise before the premier of Jigsaw.....challenge...accepted? Maybe? Next week?

One of the highest grossing horror franchises is coming back with a bang and it looks like it has a lot of the stuff people love about Saw with some fun new twists. Directed by Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig, it premiers October 27th. I'm going to try and convince my coworkers to go on a work trip to see it for Halloween week.

Check out the trailer below

Lastly - Eli Roth and AMC have been incredibly busy lately bringing us the horror content we deserve. AMC will be creating three new horror anthology series - the first is a horror/sci-fi mix called Shock Theatre which the incredible Greg Nicotero will direct and produce. Every week a new episode will pay tribute to those B movie classics we all love.

Teaming up with A Fish Ladder, Chris Hardwick's production company, AMC will also be premiering a show called Underbelly which will take a hard look at the dark side of pop culture like fan obsessions, greed, vanity etc. This one is intriguing as I have no idea what kind of format this will be and if it's just going to be hella depressing.

Then there's Wicked West coming from Jason Blum, obviously from Blumhouse, which was will be a non-fiction series about some of the most horrific and true tales of the wild, wild west. This is super awesome as I am a huge fan of the gritty old west and all those depressing but insane stories.

Lastly, what I'm most excited for is Eli Roth's new show. We all know Eli Roth is a massive horror nerd and this show will be a 6 part series about the history of horror. "Sadly, we lose more of these masters every year and with them go their stories and experiences. This show will serve as a record for future generations..." Eli commented. This is such a solid idea - obviously we've lost some horror greats in the past few years, most notably to me Wes Craven and most recently George A. Romero so this show sounds like a really thoughtful idea.

Also huge shout out to AMC for bringing us horror nerds from real quality programming lately!

And that's it for my news wrap-up. Hopefully I'll be back on this thing more now that summer is coming to a close. And hopefully I watch some more horror movies because my life is lacking miserably.

Stay spooky!

11.22.63 - who the hell shot JFK? And why does James Franco suck so much?

11/22/63 plays on the age old question of if you could go back in time and change one event, what would it be? Most common answers are usually "Kill Hitler" or "Kill Trump" or "save the dinosaurs". In 2011 Stephen King answered that question himself in a haunting and exciting novel. I remember getting it the day it came out and devouring it in about two days. I couldn't put it down. And then last February the 8 episode miniseries hit Hulu but I wasn't interested at all. I've always been a doubter in King adaptations - of course there's a few exceptions to the rule - but mostly I'm let down. I still watch them all but when they started making King novels into TV shows, I couldn't take it. Under the Dome? Are you joking?

But since King is having a beautiful and well deserved comeback this year, including the new TV series The Mist which hits our screens this month, I thought I'd give 11.22.63 a try.

While it wasn't perfect, I had a great time watching it and ended up in a puddle of tears by the end.

Starring James Franco in the lead of Jake Epping, a freshly divorced English teacher, he is shown by his friend Al (Chris Cooper), who owns the local diner, that the diner has a secret within it. In the back closet is a portal that takes you to 1960. Al has been going for years but is now dying of cancer and needs Jake to take over his quest - to stop John F. Kennedy from being assassinated. The only problem? We don't actually know who killed him. There's countless theories from Lee Harvey Oswald to the mafia to Russia to the CIA to all of them working together. So Jake has to go back in time, find out who killed JFK and stop him/her before it happens.

In the past Jake joins forces with Bill who is played by the enchanting George MacKay and the lovely and intelligent Sadie, played by Sarah Gadon.

What did I love?

The cast was absolutely amazing - except for James Franco. Sarah Gadon is stunningly beautiful and plays Sadie with the utmost respect that makes you fall in love with her immediately. MacKay as Bill (a character not in the book) is a great addition that fills in the gaps that the book would've left by being turned into a TV show. Lucy Fry plays Marina Oswald and is incredibly powerful in her performance. Daniel Webber as Lee Harvey Oswald is like a young Ralph Fiennes, pulling off Lee's strange speech patterns and odd behavior incredibly well. Leon Rippy as Harry completely stole my heart and broke it with his emotional performance.

And how can I forget T.R. Knight as Johnny Clayton?!? Psychotic done right. 

Yes, the cast is strong. The characters are stronger - there's so many great people in this story. And they way they weave together is incredibly well done.

I loved the scenery - it felt very 60's. The outfits were beautiful, the cars were awesome. And that soundtrack!!!!!!!!!!! Oh it was phenomenal. So many great music choices. And the opening score itself is so catchy. Reminds me very much of Catch me if you Can.

While a lot was changed from the book, the biggest I think being the addition of Bill and that in the book Jake ends up in 1958 not 1960, I was okay with the changes. They were smart changes that made it a mini-series that flowed and made sense. King has a lovely tendency of going on tangents and introducing a lot of background characters and creating very complex story lines. But this adaptation was handled well.

What didn't I love?

Honestly, the only thing I didn't love was James Franco. I've never been a big fan of his in the first place but I didn't want to judge his performance prematurely. But by the end of the first episode I was incredibly disappointed. And that continued on throughout the series. What makes it worse is him being surrounded by strong actors. He drowns in the dialogue and when it comes for an emotional scene it's dead. And I'm pretty sure those tears he had to cry all the time were CGI. It's such an absolute shame because there's so many phenomenal actors out there who could've done SO much better and in turn made this mini-series near perfect. He may look like a dapper 60's star when he's all dressed up, but then he opens his mouth and it all falls apart.

Overall?

I will absolutely watch this mini-series again. I feel really happy that it was done so well and does this massive King novel justice. I would also recommend it.

I also highly recommend picking up the book and reading it, don't be intimidated by it's size. This was an interesting departure for King with it being a historical fictional tale. But the horror is still there - when Jake comes back to 2011, the state he finds the world in is terrifying. 11/22/63 plays with the question of time travel and the butterfly effect and how even the smallest change can affect the entire world. It also speaks deeply to our darkest moments - those personal experiences we have that we lay awake thinking "what if that hadn't happened"..."what if had just...". I came out of the novel with a new found respect for my terrible experiences, knowing that I can't change what happened, and that perhaps that doesn't matter - they shape me.

“We never know which lives we influence, or when, or why. Not until the future eats the present, anyway. We know when it's too late.” 

Ugh...you guys...Stephen King is so great.

Also who the fuck shot JFK?! I feel like I've spent my whole life trying to figure that out. I would love to know how many hours in my lifetime I've spent researching that day. I can't even give you a "odds are" situation. I was sure it was the CIA for a few years until about three weeks ago when I listened to a three hour podcast that changed my mind AND NOW I DON'T KNOW!!!!!

8/10

Horror News - IT, Zodiac, and Scream

We've got a new IT trailer, Alien Covenant comes out next week, and a new Zodiac movie that has me so excited so let's delve right in to my horror movie news wrap-up aka these are completely hand picked to my tastes and I'm the worst.

First up we just got a new IT trailer dropped on us today and it's a goodie. I really have incredibly high hopes for this movie. I actually jumped in this trailer and then watched it three more times. In the trailer we get a better look at Pennywise, we get more time with the kids, a better view of the abandoned house, and we get a full scene of banter between Richie and Eddie. I can't believe how amazing this movie looks - my little king filled heart won't be able to handle it.

We also got The Dark Tower trailer dropped on us last week, but I don't want to talk about that as I seem to be the only one on the internet who hated that trailer...

Watch IT in theaters September 8th. I'll be there first showing on the Thursday screaming my goddamn head off. 

Anyway, watch the new trailer for IT here if you darrreeee....come on bucko, don't you want a balloon?

Next up...Alien Covenant hits theaters NEXT THURSDAY! I just bought my ticket for Friday at 7:45, because I'm an old lady and don't want to stay up late on Thursday night and get up early for work the next day.

I stopped watching the trailers after the second one because they were releasing too much, but I did watch the prequel trailer which was really cool. Check that one out and all the other million trailers they've released.

But this week they released the final posters and boy are they are creepy as hell. The posters for this movie have been fucking fantastic.

Check the three new ones out below and check in with me soon when I post my review:

Lights Out was one of my favorite films from last year and I've really come to love the director David Sandberg because he's such an incredibly open guy. He did a podcast with Shock Waves and was so honest and open about the whole process and his current process on Annabelle 2, which the trailer recently dropped for. While that trailer didn't blow my mind or anything, I am looking forward to it simply because of Sandberg. Sandberg spends a lot of time talking about his craft, his ideas and even spends time on social media reaching out to aspiring filmmakers sharing what he knows.

He just uploaded a video to his youtube that's a mini making-of documentary for Lights Out and it's absolutely fascinating. It goes through his process of setting up the scares and the many different ways he planned them. He even shows some of the storyboarding which is always cool to see.

It runs about 20 minutes and check it out below:



When MTV first announced ages ago that they were making a Scream TV show I was angered, disgusted and then ignored everything about it. Then last year I saw the first season was on Netflix and quietly and privately watched it. And to my suprise I fucking loved the show, it was actually really well done and super fun. I then couldn't wait for season two. But then that came out and I'd already forgotten about it. But a few months ago I finally sat down and watched season two and it was just as good! So now I have to consider myself a Scream TV show fan.

But season three couldn't happen, I thought. They've wrapped everything up and anything they do will be dumb. But then MTV was like...oh, Charlotte, when will you ever learn? And have released that season three will be a complete reset with brand new characters and story.

It also comes with a new showrunner, Brett Matthews and new group of executive producers including Queen Latifah. TVline released the casting breakdown and here's the very basic frame of characters we should look to expect:

Dion - football player with dark secrets
Liv - Dion's cheerleader girlfriend with good intentions and a big heart.
Kym - rebellious one
Beth - GOTH!!!!!!!!!!! YESSSSS!!!!!!! SO MUCH ANGST.
Jamal - Dion's step-brother hanging out with a rough crowd.

So new story, new location, new cast, new killer. Right now I am judgmental and hesitant but secretly SUPER excited.

This is the Zodiac speaking....

There's a new movie coming in June that has me SO FUCKING EXCITED!!!!!!!! Just listen to this premise:

A down-on-their-luck couple buy an old storage unit only to find the Zodiac killer's film reels inside. There's a $100K reward for any tips and the couple decide to take the law into their own hands and find the killer themselves.

The Zodiac killer is my favorite serial killer....so much so that I know how to write in the part of his code that was figured out, and at work the Zodiac killer is a valid member of our staff who signs everyone's birthday cards and steals people's stuff for ransom. Zodiac is one of my favorite films ever. So I'm really really REALLY stoked to see this movie. And the trailer has me believing this could be amazing. And even if it isn't, honestly, I'll still be there opening night.

It stars Shane West, Leslie Bibb and Matt Craven and is released June 9th. 

Check out the trailer below:


Alright I'll leave you to digest all that....

It's all getting so exciting this year for horror. I didn't even mention the confirmation of the Unbreakable sequel and all of Shamalamadingdong's tweets about it, all the new movies coming out, and all the new collectables. BUT...I don't have that much time on my hands...I need to go re-watch the IT trailer a few more times.

Stay spooky!

Year of the King baby! IT trailer and stills and poster, oh my!

Oh boy you guys....this Stephen King fan is a goddamn happy camper this week!

We got stills from IT, we got a teaser trailer for the trailer, we got a poster, and today we got THE TRAILER!!!!!!!!!!!!

And you know what...I'm fucking sold. This movie is going to be the best Stephen King adaptation that ever was and will cure all my ailments.

And now you're probably thinking....okay, chill the fuck out, how much cold medicine have you ingested today...and the answer is a lot BUT...read below and then fight me if you think differently:

First let's take a look at the stills:

We get our first good look at the Loser's Club - Stan, Richie, Mike, Bill, Bev, Ben and Eddie. And we get some more sneak peaks at IT's clown form - Pennywise.

I'm already in love with all those adorable kids...AND I HATE KIDS! But these I love. The Loser's Club will always be #1 in my heart.

Now let's take a look at the poster:

AMAZING. We see little Georgie standing in front of Pennywise with the iconic line, you'll float too. Cause we all float down here...

Then today the trailer dropped and all my dreams came true:


I mean goddamn.

We open up on Georgie and Bill making the sailboat and Georgie taking it outside to float in the flooded gutters. It already feels like I'm watching the novel come to life. We see Georgie's boat slide right into the gutter and into the waiting hands of Pennywise.

We see flashes of the film with the voice over talking about how Derry has a higher than average missing persons. Next is Ben in the library, seeing a strange red balloon float by...and we all know what happens next. Cut to the loser's club exploring the sewers and coming to the realization that they're all being tormented by the same creature who comes to them in different forms. Then comes an already iconic sequence in which the projector takes on a life of its' own and shows a photograph turning into Pennywise. Of course, this wasn't in the book, but is a play on the scene with Bill's photo album. We see various frightening scenes including what I can only hope to be the night club that burns down and was left out of the original movie but plays a HUGE, horrific part in the novel. We see the sink scene that traumatized an entire generation of us (I still can't look directly into a drain).

AND THEN...we end on a scene where Bill is taunted by the "ghost" of Georgie. And this fucking scene....THIS SCENE RIGHT HERE...is why I am positive this movie will be amazing. It gave me goosebumps and it captured exactly what IT is about.

YOU'LL FLOAT TOO!

So yeah, I'm amped. Watching this trailer made me feel like the pages of the book I love so incredibly much has come to life. And I cannot FREAKIN' wait to watch this opening night.

IT comes to theaters September 8th.

Oh, and if that wasn't enough King news for you?

King himself sneakily dropped the cover of his next book on twitter today:

Co-written with his son Owen, Sleeping Beauties will tell the story of what happens to the world if all the women fell asleep and became shrouded in a cocoon-like gauze. If the gauze is tampered with the women wake violent and feral. So the men of the world are abandoned and obviously the world falls apart. But one woman is immune. Set in a small town where the primary employer is a women's prison, Sleeping Beauties is going to be a must read come September.

I know I keep yelling about this but it is truly the year of Stephen King....and in fact you can check out my top ten favorite Stephen King villains over at Morbidly Beautiful and follow me all year while I continuously get so excited I lose my goddamn mind.

He thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts.

Stay Spooky, constant readers ;)

Stephen King, Split, George Romero and other news!

Guys,

I failed.

I made it what...two weeks? Not even? Of writing three times a week. IN MY DEFENSE...work took a turn (for the good!) and I've have been throwing myself into that. And as much as I love you and this website, I do not make a dime off of this. And someone's got to pay for all these horror movies I watch! And that is me. I pay. Most of the time. Although, I am working on something with Morbidly Beautiful which is pretty cool. You can check out my article over there right now showcasing the amazing women of the Scream franchise, Scream Article

ANYWAY

Here I am....let's talk about some good old fashioned horror news shall we?

Obviously this wouldn't be Horrorbound without a Stephen King update, and this master of horror has seen IT....and he liked it! And we can trust him. He's super vocal when he doesn't like something. Just the other day I saw him casting shade on twitter about The Shining. Producer of IT, Seth Grahame-Smith let everyone know on instagram what King thought by sharing an email:

Steve asked me to pass along that he saw a screening of IT today and wanted to let everybody know that they should stop worrying about it as the producers have done a wonderful job with the production.

Honestly, I cannot wait for this fucking movie. It hits theaters September 8th and I am counting down the FREAKIN' DAYS. Also, I am currently re-reading Under the Dome and I truly forgot how addicting and wonderful this book was. I feel like when I tried to watch the TV show it tainted my memory of this actually amazing story.

Speaking of IT, a newly updated listing has popped up on the internet saying that the filming for the second half of the IT movie begins on March 17th, 2017 which is kind of insane considering they're not even waiting for box office numbers to jump right in. BUT I AM HERE FOR IT!

In Split news, it remains amazing and I am smug as hell, but we also have a release date - coming to Digital HD on April 4th and on Blu-ray and DVD and On Demand April 18th. So if ya'll wanna get me a birthday gift.......it's on the 21st.
But the best part about this DVD release is the features - deleted scenes, a look at the making of the film, AND A NEVER BEFORE SEEN ALTERNATE ENDINGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!

In podcast news Mick Garris has a new one for us called Post Mortem where bi-weekly he delivers us great interviews with horror icons. Mick Garris is of course one of my favs because he's tackled Stephen King adaptations including The Stand. He also brought us Psycho 4 and directed Dead of Summer. Garris also brought us the amazing anthology series Masters of Horror which was on Showtime. He's a passionate, knowledgeable host.

The first one was Rob Zombie and it was amazing. He was so candid and funny as always. This weeks' features John Landis and Joe Dante and while I haven't listened just yet it sounds amazing - they discuss politics in horror. Go download on itunes now!

And lastly, I saw this trailer for an upcoming documentary series called "Untold Horror" and it's genius. I can't wait! This will cover all those projects that were never made and will feature interviews with filmmakers like John Landis and George Romero. They'll talk in detail about the projects they almost made. And just hearing about a few of them in the trailer made me so angry - SO MANY COOL THINGS COULD'VE BEEN MADE.

The series was conceived in 2015 by Dave Alexander and Mark Pollesel and asks the questions whatever happened to that movie? Together, along with Bob Barrett and Kevin Burke, they'll uncover exactly what those never-seen projects from those great horror directors were really all about.

Check out the trailer below. As of right now there's no premier date but I'm crossing my fingers it comes out soon.

Alright that's it for now!

Sorry for all the yelling - I'm in a weird mood.

Stay spooky!

(Hopefully I can get back to my three a week schedule when things die down. But for now we're back to sporadic posts. But did you really expect anything less?)

Frightful Friday - Stephen King, The Purge and Alien!

WELCOME TO FRIGHTFUL FRIDAY!
You guys...I have had a week. I am so glad it's Friday night. I have a horror movie playing which hopefully I stay awake through and then I plan on doing nothing all weekend but make my way through my Netflix horror movie to-watch list. I also want to go see Get Out. But even though the movie theater is a ten minute walk from my house, I find it incredibly hard to find the energy to get there. But I've been craving movie theater popcorn for like a month now so I think that will help.

Let's jump right in - a lot has happened!

First off, and most important - we got a surprise announcement that changed my life forever....10 episodes are on their way for a TV show called Castle Rock based around the fictional Stephen King town.
OH and if that wasn't cool enough....it's from Hulu and Bad Robot. AKA JJ ABRAMS AND STEPHEN KING ARE REUNITING!!!!!!!

It's being called a psychological-horror series set in the Stephen King universe. It will "weave an epic saga of darkness and light, played out on a few square miles of Maine woodland." It will be an original story, claiming the "first-of-its-kind re-imagining".

Castle Rock appeared in 1979 in The Dead Zone and keeps popping up, including 2014's Revival. The name itself is taken from a fictional mountain fort in Lord of the Flies. What else is set there? Oh you know, just Cujo, Needful Things, Gerald's Game, and The Stand just to name a few....SO MANY CHARACTERS AND STORIES. Fun side story - when my parents and I were driving to Florida one summer when I was about 15, I didn't realize Castle Rock wasn't real and I asked my parents if we could drive there. After looking at a map for a long time (the internet was not such a go-to back then OKAY) I realized Castle Rock was fake.

Anyway, it's being executive produced by Sam Shaw and Dustin Thomason who will also be the writers. Sources are saying it will "intertwine characters and themes from the works of Stephen King" and "subsequent seasons will feature a new set of characters and will tie in to previous characters and themes."

Right now there's no casting or premier date but production will begin this year.

THIS IS SO FUCKING EXCITING!!!!!!!! I don't why this Stephen King upheaval is happening this year but I am so goddamn here for it.

Watch the teaser trailer they released here:



There also lots of Alien Covenant news coming out as the movie creeps closer and closer. We got our first full cast photo:

And FOX released a sort of introductory prologue clip that introduces us to each character and lets us know that all of these people are on this ship because they are headed to colonize another planet. The crew is made up of romantic couples and of course their AI Walter.



This clip got me SO AMPED for this movie. I cannot wait to see this in theaters. Although I will admit I completely forgot James Franco was in this movie and it caught me off guard. I really can't stand him. Hopefully he dies quick?

We also got one more still of the film showing the crew arriving at a planet after receiving a distress signal.

Alien Covenant is released May 19th.

Remember last year when I got SUPER bummed that they wanted to turn The Purge franchise into a TV series? Well it looks like that idea's been put on the shelf because Blumhouse Productions has announced that they will be teaming up with Universal Pictures for another Purge film. A fourth in the franchise that will be released on July 4th, 2018. Obviously we don't have any casting news or a title but we do know writer and director of the first three Purge films James DeMonaco will be returning which is an amazing thing to happen. And I have full trust that this will be another amazing addition to the franchise. Purge is quickly becoming my favorite franchise. Except Scream. And Final Destination. But you know what I mean.

Obviously lots of others great things are happening in the horror world, and some not so great things (the Friday the 13th remake is once again cancelled) but these are my three favs and what I'm truly most excited for.

See you tomorrow for SPOOKY SATURDAY!