Murder Crows, Alien Covenants, and Michael Myers?

It's a very gloomy and rainy Saturday here in Vancouver and I'm up very early with tooth pain, because this is the bane of my existence. So let's talk about some horror news from the week!!

HORROR NEWS OF THE WEEK WRAP UP

Right now somewhere in the world (New Zealand I think?) Ridley Scott is filming Alien: Covenant. We've heard lots of gossip and chat about how this film will be and we've all seen some great concept art. But today we get our first officially released shot from set. The photo is of a production monitor and shows Katherine Waterston laying against the wall with a weapon against her leg:

Alien: Covenant if of course the sequel to Prometheus which was released in 2012. The new film will be the second in a trilogy and is set on a remote planet where the crew of the colony ship Covenant discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is of course...not what it seems.

The cast will be made up of Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterson, Demian Bichir, Danny McBride, Alex England, Billy Crudup, Amy Seimetz, Jussie Smollett, Carmen Ejogo and Callie Hernandez. 
In a recent interview, Michael Fassbender who will be returning as David, mentioned that the sets have "an old school element where things look battered..." And when asked about David returning, Fassbender said "He is creepy. And he's back in a whole new way." 

Oh, and! Scott has mentioned that we will be seeing all the fan favorites; the egg, facehugger, and chestburster. SAY IT AINT SO THIS IS TOO BEAUTIFUL!


Rated a "hard R", look for Alien: Covenant next year on August 4th. 

If you've read this blog...you know I absolutely adore Stephen King. BUT...I cannot stand the obsession with making Stephen King stories into unnecessary TV shows. But low and behold, here comes the next one:

In 2014 King put out the first book in a new trilogy (the third coming out next month) called Mr. Mercedes about a psychopath who wants to blow up a concert filled with thousands of people, mostly young girls (it's a One Direction type band). Bill Hodges, a retired detective, is our lead who is sent mysterious mail from someone threatening a massive attack and must try and stop this from happening.

Now it's being turned into a TV series by the dude who created Ally McBeal and Boston Legal....David E. Kelley. His only toe into horror is that he wrote the Lake Placid movie. Attached as the stars are Brendan Gleeson from 28 Days Later and Anton Yelchin from Fright Night. It's going straight to series with a 10 episode order and will premier in 2018.

All I'm going to say is....WHY? WHAT IS THE POINT? The books are amazing and a thrill ride to read (now I really want to re-read this before the final book next month) and it will not work as a TV series.

ANGERRRRRRRRR

Also, something a little fun....
Here in Vancouver we have a famous crow called Canuck. He can be spotted by the red band that's around his ankle and he's known for being incredibly friendly but also a bit of a pain around here.

Canuck is constantly fucking with the police by flying into their police cars and trying to steal the keys off of the keyboards, he tears down police tape. Canuck has also gotten onto the sky train before and gone for a ride, attacked a cyclist, and tries to appear in news interviews by landing on reporter's shoulders. He's kind of the best.

Canuck is in the news again this week because after the VPD responded to a car fire in a parking lot, they were confronted by a man armed with a knife. The man came running at the officers who then shot him and took him into custody. Canuck decided to help out by grabbing the knife, which is an important piece of evidence, and tried to fly away with it. Oh, Canuck, you adorable murder crow.

(this is not the knife from the crime scene, this is another knife that Canuck found. He seems to really like them....)

AND NOW THE MOST IMPORTANT NEWS OF ALL....

Michael Myers is coming home ya'll!!!!!!!!!! After launching in 1978, spawning 7 sequels, one remake with its own sequel....it's finally coming back.

Only this time it's in the safest hands - Jason Blum (founder of Blumhouse) working with franchise producer Malek Akkad and Miramax and Trancas International Films.

Oh yeah....and John Carpenter himself is signed on as an Executive Producer. Jason Blum describes him as the "Godfather" of the project. Carpenter, at the press conference, said "Halloween needs to return to its traditions, I feel like the movies have gotten away from that...Michael is not just a human being; he's a force of nature, like the wind. That's what makes him so scary."

Obviously this is all in its earliest stages but Blum mentioned that the film would be produced on a modest budget, which Carpenter prefers. "38 years later, I'm going to help to try to make the tenth sequel the scariest of them all." It's also rumored that Carpenter will be composing the music for the film which would just be the cherry on top of this perfect cake.

So yeah, that's pretty amazing. It's been a good week in horror! I'm going to venture out into the rain and go dive into the $5 bins at Best Buy to see if I can find any horror goodies, and also pick up The Witch.

Stay spooky!