The Abandoned...and why you should abandon the ending of this film

Random movie choice....let's talk about it!

The Abandoned (2015)

Spoilers ahead because this movie made me angry...

You've been warned...

Alright, so The Abandoned suffers from a common horror trope of doing an amazing job and then giving up completely on the ending and causing the whole movie to fall apart. And I always feel so personally let down by this situation because I've invested my time into a movie and enjoyed myself watching it and then the ending hits and I'm sitting there with basically horror movie blue balls.

The Abandoned (also titled The Confines) came out in 2015 and is the directorial debut of Eytan Rockaway. It stars Louisa Krause as Julia, the main character who accepts a job as a night security guard at an abandoned apartment complex. Her co-worker, Dennis, is played by Jason Patric who is wheelchair bound and kind of a dick. The two start off butting heads quite quickly, Dennis annoyed because no one ever lasts in this night shift role.

Julia decides to go out and patrol the building and starts to hear and see things. She also discovers a locked room which Dennis tells her to forget about. BUT HOW COULD ANYONE?! Mysterious locked room in an abandoned building.....I want in!

A homeless man tries to get into the building to hide from the rain and Julia lets him in. She then breaks into the mysterious locked room and discovers some weird shit like child drawings and hospital beds. The homeless man follows her in and is quickly murdered by a ghost child. Julia goes back up to Dennis and the two of them research the building online finding a video that shows an investigative journalist uncovering the building they're in as an orphanage for the deformed and mentally-challenged children. The nurses and doctors treated the children terribly and abused them.

Side note; how many times has this been done before? God damn. It's based off of the real life expose of Willowbrook State School where Geraldo Rivera documented the tragic living facilities of thousands of children basically left to fend for themselves in a poorly run and understaffed institution. Rivera broadcast the expose and it shocked everyone. If you want to see this video, you can find it online, but watch with caution...it will shatter your heart into 1000 pieces and make you hate society.
It was also, of course, cleverly redone in American Horror Story; Asylum. But in the Abandoned it's more of an eye roll of course this is the story they chose moment. They even copied the original video. But again, not as well done as AHS accomplished it.

Anyway, in the movie, this is where Dennis discovers Julia is dependent on antipsychotic medication and his only reaction is to handcuff her......because...that's where we're at in the film. Dennis then goes down to the locked room and is taunted by the ghosts of the deformed children.

Julia goes down to rescue him and is lead by a ghost boy who shares with her the history of the place and how four children attempted to escape but were instead locked into a room containing a reservoir of disgusting water. When they got desperate they drank it and died all except one.

Look...anyway...ghost stuff happens, Julia almost dies, Dennis saves her and happily ever after right?

WRONG.

We are shown a hospital room where Julia is lying comatose and it is revealed that she is the daughter of Dennis Cooper who is sitting next to her bed in his wheelchair. We see some of the other characters from the movie as doctors or patients. You see....it turns out this was all a coma dreammmmm ~~~**~~~

It was literally all a fucking dream.

And I'm here to ask why?!

WHY

This movie was so much fun up until that last few minutes. It didn't need that little twisty turny garbage. It was a great, old fashioned, ghost movie set in an abandoned building. The scares were great, the ghosts were pretty terrifying actually, and the setting was creepy and perfect. The dynamic between Dennis and Julia was complex and interesting. Louisa Krause did a phenomenal job!
So...why...why would you bury your movie like this when it wasn't needed? Just end with Julia escaping and you've got yourself a great horror movie.

End it with "it was all a dream" and leave everyone watching annoyed.

And don't get me wrong, I love certain twists where it ends up that it was all a dream, or some sort of psychotic break. But I love it when it's done right. Like The Uninvited or Silent House.

I'm just pissed. It felt lazy and panicky.

But would I recommend it? Probably. The rest of the film was so great and pretty spooky. But maybe turn it off right before it ends and save yourself the disappointment.

(look...I'm watching horror movies again....hooray!)

Stay Spooky!

Frankenstein - a one-sided preference history

Alright, I've got two free hours and a bag of popcorn and I want to talk about Frankenstein!

Who is he? Where did he come from? Why is Hollywood obsessed with him? And why is the story actually so devastating?

How do you do? Mr. Carl Laemmle feels it would be a little unkind to present this picture without just a friendly word of warning: We are about to unfold the story of Frankenstein, a man of science who sought to create a man after his own image without reckoning upon God. It is one of the strangest tales ever told. It deals with the two great mysteries of creation; life and death. I think it will thrill you. It may shock you. It might even horrify you. So, if any of you feel that you do not care to subject your nerves to such a strain, now's your chance to uh, well, ––we warned you!!

First of all,
Yesterday I got a chance to watch Victor Frankenstein. Granted, I was multi-tasking while watching it but I enjoyed what I saw while side-eying it in between everything else I was doing.

Victor Frankenstein came out last year and stars the uber talented James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe who do not disappoint in the lead roles. It is directed by Paul McGuigan and written by Max Landis (who I don't love...as a person...but his work is pretty great).

It's told from the perspective of Igor, who is usually portrayed as a hunchback idiot, but in this film Radcliffe plays him as a troubled young man who is held in the circus as a clown because he has a hunchback. But he is incredibly intelligent and has a fascination with the human anatomy. I loved Igor's back story in this film and his tragic circus background really captured my imagination.
Victor Frankenstein visits the circus, and when a beautiful aerialist falls to her almost death, he works with Igor to save her life. When he realizes the hidden talents of Igor, he breaks him free from the circus and asks him to come live and work with him. He also cures Igor of his hunchback which is actually just a giant cyst that needs to be drained. GAG

The two partner and work on Victor's experiments to bring subjects back from the dead and create life through artificial means. 

I enjoyed it! McAvoy and Radcliffe are fun to watch and the scenery and costumes are drool worthy. They're pursued by an angry cop played by Andrew Scott aka Moriarty and that part of the story line bothered me. It was just boring and the same goes for the love story between Igor and the aerialist. Some of the story was really well written and unique, and others were boring and obvious. And that's where the movie fell short.

Was it scary? Of course not. But Frankenstein is a classic horror story so I'm including it in this blog because....I can?

So where does Frankenstein come from? 

 
In 1818 when Mary Shelley was only 20 years old, she published her novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, which is the most pretentious title ever. Shelley was probably exhausting to hang out with. The original story involves a young science student of the name Victor Frankenstein who creates a creature during a science experience.
When the novel was first published, it was anonymous, no one even knew Shelley wrote it until 1823.

She was inspired by Frankenstein Castle in Germany where an alchemist allegedly performed these types of experiments. She was also inspired by the occult ideas that were drifting around at the time and when her and her (most likely pretentious) friends sat around talking about themes and ideas. When Shelley and a few of her friends decided to have a competition to write the scariest horror story, Shelley dreamed about a scientist who created life and was then horrified by his choices, she awoke and began her story on paper. 

The novel is very "gothic" and is a great example of science fiction blended at its best with horror. Of course, as horror fans know, the creature itself is not called Frankenstein, though many make that mistake. In the book it is simply referred to as "wretch" or "monster". 

Since then the story has been adapted into plays, radio shows, movies and made countless cameos in anything you can think of like comics and tv shows and toys.

Frankenstein first appeared in films in 1931 with the iconic portrayal done by Boris Karloff. Universal had released Dracula and was seeing an increase in their wallets, so the next step was to pursue another horror classic. Bela Lugosi, who played Dracula, hoped to play Dr. Frankenstein but the studio wanted him to play the monster instead. After some really bad makeup tests and studio politics, Lugosi left.

 Karloff was chosen for the role after he was seen eating in the cafeteria on the lot. His face was perfect. And hence the iconic monster we still picture today when we hear "Frankenstein" was created. 

The film was another box office success for Universal but one scene was quickly cut from the film after outrage from studio audiences. This is the scene where the monster throws the little girl into the lake and she drowns. Of course, it's an accident, the monster was just playing, but in the 30's...a child dying on screen, basically being murdered, was shocking and unheard of. This scene was not even discovered until the 1980s and was then quickly added back in. We've come a long way ya'll.

In 1935 a sequel was made called the Bride of Frankenstein which brought back Karloff playing the monster and introduced the iconic wife, played by Elsa Lanchester. It's an absurd film with humor and romantic comedy and horror. It's also wonderful. 

In 1957 came the Curse of Frankenstein and Christoper Lee took over the reigns of the monster. This was Hammer Film Productions first ever color horror film and they went nuts with the color, including painting leaves and flowers to be even more colorful than they naturally were. Peter Cushing played Victor Frankenstein. For the time, this rendition was incredibly violent and filled with blood which gave it worldwide success and led to several sequels.

And that leads us to the truly last good Frankenstein film which was of course....Young Frankenstein. It came out in 1974 and was directed by Mel Brooks. It stared Gene Wilder as Victor Frankenstein (that's pronounced fronk-en-steen) and also other amazing actors like Cloris Leachman and Gene Hackman. Wilder himself wrote the screenplay along with Brooks.


This is of course a comedy that plays very well on the line of lovingly mocking horror films. It's absolutely hilarious and I find myself quoting this movie far too often in regular every day life. It was shot entirely in black and white which never happened in the 70's and was filmed with the old school iris outs and fades to black.

A lot of the funniest scenes were completely improvised including Marty Feldman secretly moving his hump from shoulder to shoulder until someone finally noticed, but they kept the gag in the film, didn't you used to have that on the other side?

Unfortunately since then we've seen a big decline in the Frankenstein movies like I, Frankenstein, Van Helsing, and Frankenhooker. But with the news that Universal will be bringing back all their classic monsters (The Mummy is filming right now), perhaps Frankenstein will finally breathe some fresh air. But probably not.

Frankenstein itself, to me, is the story of a man lost in his passions in life. He selfishly brings a creature to life, who should've never been through that, and is now forced to live in a confusing and terrifying world. Everyone sees him as a monster, but he doesn't see himself that way. It's heart breaking and scary and a classic, beautiful story.

Anyway,
I'm currently reading the original novel (along with about four other books) for the first time and am excited to see how my feelings and thoughts change as I go along with what I know of the story. Here's my trusty copy:

That's it for me for now! As of Friday morning, my hectic life is over and it's back to the couch for me!

Stay spooky!

Stephen King Easter Egg Hunt, Blair Witch, and Split! I'M BACK!

I'M BACK!
Full disclosure - I did not go anywhere. Just didn't post. You know how I get every summer. And also Dungeons and Dragons has kind of taken over my life this month, so that combined with the lack of interesting horror films coming out over the past two months, I've had no inspiration.

But I'm back.
Just to chat about two big things and then drool over Stranger Things...

And also to promise (very loosely) that I'll be back on the horror binge wagon and start posting some more reviews. I noticed Netflix got Holidays and The Invitation, so I'm hoping to plow through those some time soon. It's also pride week here in Vancouver so I've got a tone of plans that don't allow me time to watch horror flicks.

Enough excuses.

First of all let's talk about the biggest damn secret that ever was kept...the Blair Witch sequel:

A month or so ago I saw the trailer for The Woods and was super on board. It looked super spooky and it boasted to be the most terrifying found footage film ever. Then about a week ago I saw a fan theory that said The Woods could be a Blair Witch sequel. They pointed out the original poster where the space between the trees created the Blair Witch symbol, and they also froze and screen capped the trailer and pointed out a split second shot of the symbol hanging from the trees in the background. But.....it couldn't be....could it? That's too good to be true?

Then BOOM....The Woods turns into Blair Witch with a new poster and a new trailer, which you can watch here.

Holy. Shit.

I was fuhreaking. What a damn coup ya'll.

So The Woods, now titled Blair Witch will be a direct sequel to the 1999 original The Blair Witch Project. It will pick up years after the first film when one of the new characters discovers footage showing Heather Donahue, his sister. So naturally him and a group of friends head off into the Black Hills Forest to find out what happened to her and most likely encounter the Blair Witch herself.

The film was a sequel from the get go, but the secret remained in tact with only a select group of people knowing the truth. They filmed it here in BC last year under the title The Woods, directed by Adam Wingard.

I, for one, cannot freaking wait for September 16th to watch this damn film!!!!!! Are we finally going to see the witch? Will we find out what happened to Heather and her friends? Are people going to believe this all real like they did back in the 90's?

Alright my next big thing I'm freaking out about is M. Night Shyamalan's new film coming out next year; Split.

Obviously we don't have much on it yet but the trailer dropped today and I'm obsessed. Shamalamadingdong is working with Blumhouse Productions to release this film on January 20th. The plot is supposedly about Kevin, played by James McAvoy, and his 23 personalities. Although, unbeknownst to his psychiatrist, played by Betty Buckley, he has one more hidden away and this one is the worst. Kevin abducts three girls including Casey who is played by Anya Taylor-Joy from The Witch, and hides them away. The three girls try to figure out his 24 personalities and how to deal with each one in order to survive.

The trailer gives me the massive heebie jeebies, already proving that McAvoy might actually pull this off. And ya'll know I love me some Shamalamadingdong so don't come to me hating on this film JUST because he wrote and directed it. Give it a fucking chance. Just like The Visit, which, by the way, was the number one grossing horror movie in 2015. So suck it. The man knows his shit, he just makes...questionable choices. But with Blumhouse backing him, I think he's onto a strong second half of his career.

I WANT TO SEE THIS MOVIE NOW!!!!!!!

Watch the trailer here.

Now, before I go, I want to speak about Stranger Things. I don't need to tell you to watch this show. I'm sure you've already binged it at this point. Everyone is talking about it and you don't need another blog going on and on about it. It's amazing. It's 80's nostalgia done right. The kids are amazing. The monster is terrifying. IT'S SO GREAT!

But what I want to talk about is the Stephen King aspect of it (surprise, surprise) and thought it would be fun to try and point out all the Stephen King references I noticed it while watching it:

• Now obviously the title music is very much Carpenter but it also brings to mind the same motifs that appear in Maximum Overdrive and Firestarter.
• The title sequence is of course the "Stephen King font" used on so many of his books but the title appearing the way it does is much like The Dead Zone.
• Of course, the cast themselves are like something out of IT. But considering this is set in the 80's it's also much like Dreamcatcher, including Eleven with her abilities reflecting Duddits.
• Then there's the walk along the train tracks that is a perfect copy of Stand By Me, or The Body.
• Back to Firestarter, Eleven is of course very much like Charlie and her story.
• Eleven is also a lot like Carrie - sweet-natured with good intentions but capable of shocking violence when pressed.
• There's Lucas's 'wrist rocket' which is exactly like Beverly's slingshot in IT which becomes the powerful weapon that's used against Pennywise.
• In one scene Stephen King is referenced directly where a guard is reading Cujo and you can see Stephen King's author photo on the back. The sheriff references the novel.
• There's a scene where a lab assistant goes into the Upside Down attached to a rope, and when they pull the rope back out there's just gore at the end of it. Exactly like in The Mist.
• When Joyce is trying to get Will to contact her through the alphabet drawn on her wall, she sits hunched over holding an axe. The Shining.

I'm sure there's a bunch I missed, so let me know if you catch any others! Who knew all I needed in my life was a Stephen King easter egg hunt? I've never been so happy.

You can watch Stranger Things right now on Netlflix.

That's it for me for now. I can't promise when I'll return but it will be sooner than later, I know that. Once summer comes to a close, I'll be back on my couch watching horror movies. And of course, October is coming up quickly - I'll need to plan for my 31 days of horror, three of which will be spent in Kauai - so that will take some wrangling. Luckily I've got myself a 6 hour plane ride to maybe binge watch the last three and then blog while avoiding the sun and the ocean.

Anyway, that's my problem, not yours.

STAY SPOOKY THIS SUMMER!
Love you all!

Re-looking at Jennifer's Body

How great is Jennifer's Body?
Seriously...this movie is amazing.
Let's talk about it!

JENNIFER'S BODY 

PMS isn't real Needy, it was invented by the boy-run media to make us seem like we're crazy. 

"Hell is a teenage girl." and so Jennifer's Body begins, a crazy story full of hormones, teenagers, and a man eating psycho demon.

Jennifer's Body came out in 2009 and is directed by Karyn Kusama. It's named after the song by Hole and is a film about female empowerment and the complex relationships of teenage best friends.

Jennifer is played by Meghan Fox, a highschooler who is pretty advanced for her age and stunningly beautiful. Her best friend, Anita or "Needy", is played by Amanda Seyfried. The two have been best friends since they were little and now in high school remain so, even though Needy is your typical nerdy type. One night Jennifer drags Needy to a rock concert at their only local bar so that she can possibly hook up with the lead singer, but the band are a little spooky and after a fire tears about the bar, killing almost everyone inside, Jennifer and Needy escape out the bathroom window. Once outside they are greeted by the lead singer, played by Adam Brody, who encourages Jennifer to come with them, leaving Needy behind.

The band are witches and need to sacrifice a virgin in the devil's kettle, which is a waterfall that the town is named after. It has a whirlpool in it that goes nowhere, hence the rumor it goes to hell. The only problem is that Jennifer isn't a virgin, "Yeah, right. I'm not even a backdoor-virgin anymore, thanks to Roman." and so after they murder her and toss her into the whirlpool, she comes back alive. Only she comes back completely fuckeeeedddd up.

Jennifer becomes beautiful, even more so than she usually was. But the problem is it doesn't last. She needs to feed on teenage boys to keep healthy and beautiful. "You're killing people?" "No. I'm killing boys."

Jennifer's Body is such a fun movie with great one liners and slang and it's gory enough to be satisfying and silly enough that you don't take it too seriously but still enjoy yourself. I watched it for the first time when I was a teenage girl so it hits me close to my cold dead heart. But late in my 20's I still enjoy it so much.

There's some beautiful shots in this film, one of my favorites being an overhead shot of Jennifer swimming naked in the lake. Gives me major Jaws vibes. There's also a great shot of Jennifer holding a lighter to her tongue as it burns and heals itself. There's some fantastic scenery, including the final showdown in what looks to be an abandoned pool, and some of the shots in the forests.

It's just a really well done teenage horror film with some believable and relateable characters and some great cameos including Chris Pratt and J.K. Simmons.

I adore this film and even though it is very much of its time, its still a fun watch every time for me. So give Jennifer's Body a watch, or a re-watch and enjoy the ridiculous but beautiful film!

Stay spooky!

Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse and this movie IS AMAZING

So I took two vacation days for the first time in like 5 months because my mom is in town and this morning I woke up to realize I had so much free time. I sat there for a bit freaking out and then realized I had all the time in the world to watch horror movies!!! So I did. And I chose Scout's Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse.

But first my awesome Halloween sweater arrived from Fright Rags! Their Christmas sweaters went on sale and I snatched this bad boy up for like $12:

Check out their awesome site here and right now they've just released their new Evil Dead collection!

Alright onto the movie!

SCOUTS GUIDE TO THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE (2015)

 

All right, scouts. Let's kick some zombie ass!

I FUCKING LOVE THIS MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From the opening scene of Blake Anderson lip syncing to Rihanna and setting off the zombie apocalypse to the lead cast to the bad ass female lead to the kills to the dick jokes to the very end. And omg DOLLY PARTON!?!

Scouts Guide was directed by Christopher B. Landon and stars Tye Sheridan as Ben, the lead, Joey Morgan as Augie, the overweight sidekick, and Logan Miller as Carter. The three guys are scouts and Carter and Ben are pretty sick of being so but Augie loves it and so they don't want to let him down. During a special camp out where Augie was to be awarded the highest honor badge, Carter and Ben try to sneak off to a senior party but are caught by Augie who's disappointment made even me feel guilty. When they leave the woods they realize that the entire town has been taken over by zombies.

 gif credit

Along the way the trio pick up a bad ass girl who works at the local strip club, Denise, played by Sarah Dumont. She can wield a shotgun like a pro and doesn't get scared once. I'm in love with her. They set out to rescue Carter's sister who is at the senior party aka a giant rave filled with drunk and high teenagers who haven't quite figured out there's zombies outside yet.

Scouts Guide is so much fun to watch and it's so funny, I was actually snorting out loud at some points. There's a few great one liners that I had to tweet and some hilarious scenes that sound insane when you say them out loud. Like one point where Augie sings Britney Spears to a zombie to calm it down, another scene where there's a zombie cat, and another where Ben is clinging on for dear life to a zombie penis. It's ridiculous but it never gets out of hand.

The main characters are lovable and hilarious and you root for them the whole way through. I think also this movie could've come off really cheesey but it managed to keep itself pretty serious but goofy. The zombie kills were a tone of fun, especially in one of the final scenes when the scouts put together these ridiculous weapons. And though the story is one we've watched a million times, Scouts Guide felt fresh.

I love love love this movie, I will watch it again and again. I highly and aggressively recommend it.

A solid 10/10.

Stay spooooky! I'm off to enjoy my second vacation day :D

I Know What You Did Last Weekend....and it wasn't great...

Hey everyone! Despite the never ending tooth pain I dealt with this weekend which meant no sleep and no food...I ended up having a good weekend otherwise. Just smile and cry through the pain ya'll. Not only did I watch some great horror movies, I picked up some great horror stuurrrff:

Preacher Book One - I want to read the comics before watching the show. And N0S4A2 which is the only Joe Hill book I haven't read yet.

The gorgeous director's cut of Zodiac on blu-ray. The special features includes three documentaries!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's everything I want out of special features. And how beautiful is that cover?!

And I found this gorgeous War of the Worlds record in my alley. It's moving in/out weekend in our apartment building and the surrounding ones so everyone's just dumping their stuff. We also got a good as new TV stand and a rocking chair so I can live Psycho realness.

Anyway, the reason I'm actually here is to talk about a 90's slasher classic:

I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER

"Listen, you little shit-stick-mayberry-ass reject. There's been a murder, and you are going to fry in hell if you ignore it!"

Coming out in 1997, I Know What You Did Last Summer was one of the last great slasher's that came out of the 90's. It's based off of the young adult novel by the same name, written by Lois Duncan. It stars Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, and Freddie Prinze Jr in the lead roles. All four of them were massive stars in the 90's and that just shows how prominent horror was in that decade. The screenplay was written by the same guy who wrote Scream, Kevin Williamson, and was directed by Jim Gillespie

There was a terrible sequel a year later, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, but we're not here to talk about that.

IKWYDLS tells the story of four high-school seniors who are celebrating the end of the school year and the beginning of summer. After a rowdy party and a get together at the beach, the four of them pile into Barry's car (Phillipe). While driving down a twisted road and all screaming and partying, they hit a person. Julie (Hewitt) thinks they should call the cops but Ray (Prinze), Helen (Gellar) and Barry come to the conclusion that hiding it would be much easier. So the teens dump the body in the ocean and begin to move on with their lives.

One year later, Julie arrives home for summer from her college and finds a threatening note that reads....you guessed it..."I know what you did last summer". The four friends have to band together despite everything and try and solve the mystery of who it is they apparently didn't kill, while people around them begin to get killed one by one.

This was a staples of the 90's. I remember watching it at like 13 years old and just being so terrified and loving every moment of it. But unfortunately, for me, it doesn't hold up. Scream will always hold up for me and is fun to watch no matter what. But as this was my first time watching IKWYDLS in probably ten years or so, I was looking at it with fresh eyes. I couldn't remember who the killer was or really much of the story. I found myself getting quite bored. There's also not as many kills in the film as I remember, and the story of the killer and who they are is kind of garbage? If you really think about it, it doesn't make too much sense.

The kills themselves are fun, the weapon of choice is a fish hook so there's lots of gutting. And there's lots of those fun moments where you're yelling at the screen...DON'T GO IN THERE YOU IDIOT or JUST JUMP OVERBOARD YOU WEIRDO...etc.

I think the only reason I like this movie is because I have fond memories of watching it in my basement as a kid, with the lights off, getting super freaked out.

I would say....watch it if you haven't. But if you have fond memories of watching it in the 90's....don't re-watch it.

Alright, I'm off to go bury myself in blankets and cry about tooth pain and how I can't just eat a giant bag of chips. I've got a big pile of DVD's sitting by my TV and a few on my desktop to get to. Reviews to come!

Stay spooky!

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!