Innholdsfortegnelse for No. 133 i SciFi Now

There can’t be many more convincing arguments that reboots, reimaginings or whatever you want to call them are worthwhile than the new Planet Of The Apes films. Somehow emerging from the long shadow of Tim Burtons risible attempt, Rupert Wyatt’s Rise… was an undeniable success, finding the heart and soul that made the original story so important. Now as Matt Reeves prepares to give us the third chapter in Caesar’s journey, this world and these characters feel more vital than ever. They are, of course, part of a larger piece of genre history, but they’re also about where we are now. We understand just how hackneyed that sounds, but it’s precisely what makes these films so special and it’s what genre does best. There’s escapism there too but the parallels…

1 An offer you can’t refuse Annie Clark is best known as brilliant rocker St Vincent, and she’s now made her directorial debut with one of the segments in all-female horror anthology XX. However, it wasn’t a career move she was expecting: “I always thought that somehow being a performer meant that maybe the most natural progression into film would be acting,” she tells us. “But what I realised in the making of this was that actually what I much prefer is power, and the people who have the power are the directors and the writers. That’s the side I prefer to be on.” 2 Free rein to make art You’d be forgiven for thinking, given the subject matter, that Clark was a genre fan, but she tells us that…

War For The Planet Of The Apes sees the return of Rocket and Maurice; two characters who have been in the franchise since Rise, brought to life by Terry Notary and Karin Konoval, and Serkis tells us that it has been a fantastic experience going on this journey with his fellow actors. “Yeah, amazing,” he enthuses. “And it has felt like a family. For those years, it is like Boyhood, I was saying, it’s like Apehood really for us, and having played Caesar from an infant through to a mature adult it certainly feels like I’ve lived that life with him. Having Terry there and Karin and some of the other guys too.”…

LAST OCTOBER THIS WRITER VISITED THE DARK HEDGES IN NORTHERN IRELAND, an atmospheric lane of gnarled old trees that have been featured on screen numerous times. Upon arrival, the Tarmac was being covered with turf as a production crew prepared for filming there. We asked a security guard what they would be filming, assuming it would be a period drama. “Transformers,” he replied, utterly deadpan. Until the trailer for Transformers: The Last Knight landed, it seemed fair to assume that security guard was kidding. But, no, there it is in the trailer – a man on horseback heading through the Dark Hedges in ye olde Britain. In a Transformers movie. It’s fair to say that the fifth movie in the Transformers franchise aims to be pretty different to what’s come…

SARAH MANNING Episodes: 40 Minutes on-screen: 712 First appearance: S1E01, ‘Natural Selection’ Current status: Alive ALISON HENDRIX Episodes: 34 Minutes on-screen: 243 First appearance: S1E02, ‘Instinct’ Current status: Alive COSIMA NIEHAUS Episodes: 39 Minutes on-screen: 232 First appearance: S1E02, ‘Instinct’ Current status: Alive HELENA Episodes: 30 Minutes on-screen: 170 First appearance: S1E03, ‘Variation Under Nature’ Current status: Alive RACHEL DUNCAN Episodes: 21 Minutes on-screen: 115 First appearance: S1E09, ‘Unconscious Selection’ Current status: Alive BETH CHILDS Episodes: 6 Minutes on-screen: 56 'First appearance: S1E01, ‘Natural Selection’ Current status: Dead VEERA ‘MK’ SUOMINEN Episodes: 6 Minutes on-screen: 26 First appearance: S4E01, ‘The Collapse Of Nature’ Current status: Alive KRYSTAL GODERITCH Episodes: 6 Minutes on-screen: 28 First appearance: S1E03, ‘The Weight Of This Combination’ Current status: Alive KATJA OBINGER Episodes: 1 Minutes on-screen:…

“IT WAS TOUGH TO HAVE REFERENCES FOR IT BECAUSE IT WAS NEW”MEG BASHWINER YOU REALLY KNOW WHEN YOU’RE TALKING TO SOMEONE WHO LISTENS TO Welcome To Night Vale. You’ll see the grin and be able to share references to the Glow Cloud, John Peters (you know, the farmer), the forbidden dog park, librarian-battling Tamika Flynn or the faceless old woman who secretly lives in your home. But Night Vale it isn’t an exclusive club. This weird fiction podcast became a phenomenon. “Somehow we appeal to a very specific audience and that very specific audience is very broad in a weird sort of way,” laughs Cecil Baldwin, the impossibly smooth voice of the podcast’s host Cecil Palmer. “I think it’s picked up many different types of people,” agrees co-star and proverb-deliver…

Filmmaker Nacho Vigalondo has long been shaking up genre with his smart, high-concept movies. Firstly and most impressively he played around with time travel in Timecrimes, next he took on alien invasion with a low-key drama in Extraterrestrial and then he delivered a convoluted take on the cyber thriller with Open Windows. His fourth feature film is an ambitious and inventive play on the monster movie and it’s a blackly funny doozy. Anne Hathaway is on fire as Gloria, a semi-functioning, out-of-work, alcoholic who after being chucked out of her apartment by her boyfriend Tim (Dan Stevens playing the British fop often seen in vacuous romantic comedies) heads back to her home town to recuperate. Hathaway not only delivers on the funny but adds a genuine pathos to this complex…

Details TBC // 104 mins // TBA Director Sasha Louis Vukovic Screenwriter Sasha Louis Vukovic Cast Teresa Marie Doran, Sari? Mercer, Miles G. Jackson, Caleb Noel, William Aaron, Dan Lin Distributor TBC In 1929, some students set out to join their professor on a botanical expedition in a remote forested region of Canada – but find the advance campsite empty and the professor gone. After discovering corpses at a nearby abandoned mill, the group realises that they may be in deadly peril. Sasha Louis Vukovic’s feature debut film begins as a period jaunt – all boater hats and gramophone records and jolly campfire boozing – before revealing that these quaintly old-fashioned antics are just as much out of place as they are out of time. For these students have entered…

Details 18 // 86 mins // 1988 // // Released Out now Director Frank Henenlotter Cast Rick Hearst, Gordon McDonald, Jennifer Lowry, John Zacherle Distributor Arrow Video Schlock cinema legend Frank Henenlotter’s controversial, icky Brain Damage is presented in 1080p so we can all enjoy this giddy VHS cult favourite in striking high definition. For the uninitiated, Brain Damage fits neatly into the Henenlotter back catalogue with a sweaty young man trying to conceal a monster that gets him into a lot of gory, gooey trouble. This young man is Brian (Rick Hearst), who wakes up one night to find that a parasitical creature has attached itself to the base of his skull. This thing introduces itself as Aylmer (gleefully voiced by John Zacherle) and offers to keep Brian juiced…

Details 15 // 109 mins // 1981 // // Released Out now Director Peter Hyams Cast Sean Connery, Peter Boyle, Frances Sternhagen Distributor Warner Home Video Peter Hyams’ ‘High Noon in space’ gets a handsome Blu-ray upgrade in this HMVexclusive release, which highlights the excellent production design and blue collar feel. As closely as Outland sticks to its Western inspiration (and was originally written as a Western), it also owes an obvious debt to Ridley Scott’s Alien, although it’s all about Sean Connery’s square-jawed marshal kicking down doors rather than xenomorphs bursting out of anyone. Connery is newly-arrived lawman William O’Niel, who finds that everyone on the mining facility orbiting Jupiter is complicit in a drug trade that is causing the workers to lose their minds. Will he take on…

Details 15 // 92 mins // 2017 // // Released Out now Director Stacy Title Cast Douglas Smith, Lucien Laviscount, Cressida Bonas, Doug Jones Distributor Entertainment in Video The Bye Bye Man features terrible CGI and is horribly edited and yet it’s a strangely fascinating failure of a film that touches upon themes such as male insecurity and the psychology behind mass murders. It boasts small turns from Faye Dunaway and Carrie-Anne Moss and opens with Leigh Whannell shooting up his local neighbourhood in a bid to suppress the spreading of the titular character’s brand of evil. Douglas Smith stars as a student embarking on his first year at college who has made the decision to live off campus with his girlfriend and best friend. After the discovery that something…

Details 18 // 103 mins // 1960 // // Released Out now Director George Pal Cast Rod Taylor, Alan Young, Whit Bissell Distributor Warner Bros Home Entertainment George Pal’s classic adaptation of HG Wells’ brilliant story gets a lovely new presentation in this restored special edition, and proves to be a surprisingly contemplative journey through our future. The film begins at a very leisurely trot, as wealthy scientist George (The Birds’ Rod Taylor) attempts to convince his colleagues that he has found a way to travel in time. Settling in behind the controls of his machine, he then sets off into the future but he won’t necessarily like what he finds… The Time Machine fi lm won an Oscar for its time lapse photography and it looks marvellous in high…

Details 18 // 91 mins // 2016 // // Released Out now Anna , James, Lara , Tobias Menzies Distributor Sony Pictures Home Entertainment This fi fth instalment in the franchise sticks closely to formula, and although it’s devious, led by Lara Pulver’s Semira who walks away with the film. Lacking the novelty of the original or the energy of the second (which remains the franchise’s high point), Blood Wars just about gets by due to the commitment of the cast and some gore gags, but a plodding script and repetitive fight sequences make it a slog to watch. Jonathan Hatfull ★★★★★ more fun and does more world-building than the impossibly dour Awakening, it’s not a huge improvement. Kate Beckinsale’s presence as exiled death-dealer Selene feels like the main justification…

Details 15 // 427minutes // 2016 // // Released 19 June Creators John Fawcett, Graeme Manson Cast Tatiana Maslany, Jordan Gavaris, Kristian Bruun, Maria Doyle Kennedy Distributor 2entertain With four seasons down and at least 11 Leda clones to keep track of it would be very easy for Orphan Black to merge into one big blur of conspiracy and confusion if we didn’t pay attention. It’s not the kind of show you can just dip into every now and then. Orphan Black really is a series best viewed in one go, as there are things you miss or forget about a week later when the next episode finally comes around. The science chat in every episode has a tendency to sound like gobbledygook to people who can’t remember studying osmosis…

1. The Void “Think I try and get this in every time you mention a subject near but The Void trilogy by @ PeterFHamilton1 Just a fantastic story. #BookClub” @Craigsg1 2. The Warlord Chronicles “Bernard Cornwell’s The Warlord Chronicles. Historical fi ction meets Arthurian mythology. #BookClub” @seastruck 3. His Dark Materials “His Dark materials. Particularly The Amber Spyglass. Amazing storytelling. #BookClub” @TheAtticAttack 4. Imperial Radch “Poseidon’s Children by Alastair Reynolds and Imperial Radch by Ann Leckie come to mind. Absorbing worlds, interesting characters, big ideas. #BookClub” @ElliottFinn 5. The Inheritance “#TheInheritanceTrilogy by #NKJemisin. A wildly imaginative + brilliant epic fantasy featuring people of color. #BookClub” @The7thMatrix “CITY OF MIRACLES IS AN EXCELLENT FINALE”…

Details Author: Hayley Barker Publisher: Scholastic Price: £7.99 Released: Out now Tightrope walker Hoshiko is a star. She’s the main attraction of the Cirque; her daring antics captivating audiences. She’s also a prisoner, forced to perform to a crowd that wants nothing more than to see her fall. In Hayley Barker’s dystopian YA novel, Britain has torn itself apart along racial lines: the ‘Pures’ live in clean, safe cities, while the ‘Dregs’ are pushed into grim ghettoes. Talented Dreg children are drafted into the Cirque, but that’s more dangerous, because ticket-buying Pures want to see Dregs suffer. When Hoshiko meets Ben, son of the terrifying Minister for Dreg Control, both feel an irresistible connection, but love doesn’t come more star-crossed than theirs. The obvious comparison here is The Hunger Games,…

Details Author: Rowan Coleman Publisher: Ebury Press Price: £12.99 Released: 29 June Time travel purists should probably steer clear of Rowan Coleman’s latest. Though its heroine, Luna Sinclair, is a quantum physicist, it’s not science that helps her step through the fourth dimension. It’s the power of love. After a lifetime of struggling with depression, Luna’s mother kills herself but she left a video for Luna and her sister Pia to watch, and in it, she directs them to her former home in Brooklyn – a place, she says, she never truly left. When Luna finds the building, it turns out that’s almost true, as the summer of 1977 still seems to lurk inside. Somehow, Luna can go back to the moment that ruined her mother’s life, and try to…

 With City Of Miracles, Robert Jackson Bennett has delivered the final chapter in his brilliant The Divine Cities trilogy. These three books have given us a world that blends weird fiction, ancient mythology, spy-fi, politics and family drama, and it’s going to be very hard to say goodbye to them. “SOMEONE SAID ‘OH, IT’S JASON BOURNE BUT WITH MAGIC’” This final book begins with the assassination of controversial former Prime Minister, Shara Komayd, which prompts giant Dreyling-killer Sigrud to set off on a mission of revenge. He’ll soon find that it wasn’t an ordinary man who ordered this murder, and that the legacy of the dead gods is still very much alive… How does it feel coming to the end of The Divine Cities trilogy? Weird. It’s always weird to…

To what extent were you familiar with HP Lovecraft? Quite a lot of people over the years have talked to me about Lovecraft’s writing, and a lot of folk think I’m influenced by his work, but I hadn’t ever actually really sat down to read him before, and it was only in preparing for this project that I got stuck in. His writing style is steeped in melodrama, pitch-black fear of the workings of an unknowable, dark universe, and the potential to go mad from it all at every step. Alan Moore describes it as being between pulp and poetry in his foreword, and I think that is a great description. Lovecraft is such an icon, was it tough to find your own approach? I went at it in the…

Details Writer: Linnea Sterte Artist: Linnea Sterte Publisher: Peow! Studio Price: £19 Released: Out now The Swedish upstarts at Peow! Studio are quickly becoming indie publishers to watch, and this beguiling, peculiar book from artist/ animator Linnea Sterte may be their best release to date. It’s certainly their most beautiful: a gently paced sci-fi head trip taking in the flora, fauna and folklore growing around the carcass of a giant whale-like creature on a mysterious planet. Sterte’s striking, pastel-coloured artwork is an omniscient eye, observing everything from the cellular to the cosmic, while her meticulous fusion of biological study and arcane mythology offers up a unique take on the sci-fi genre. Look closely, and you can chart parallels with the ecological details in Hayao Miyazaki’s Nausicaa Of The Valley Of…

Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, and it has not escaped the notice of Satoshi Kon fans that live-action filmmakers have drawn heavily from his work. That difficult question of tribute or theft has been most clearly seen with Darren Aronofsky and Christopher Nolan. The former is an avowed fan of Kon’s and discussed the remake rights to Perfect Blue with the director to use a specific shot in Requiem For A Dream (in which Jennifer Connelly’s character screams underwater in the bath). Black Swan feels like a direct remake at times, and although Aronofsky would admit to similarities, he would deny that it was influenced by Perfect Blue. Meanwhile, it’s impossible to watch the gravity-defying corridor fight in Inception and not think of the opening sequence in…

“I was struck by how disturbing and emotional the film is. It works as a love story. That was certainly something that attracted people to it who wouldn’t normally be interested in a horror film, especially one that gets relatively gory,” reflects David Cronenberg during the 2005 DVD commentary track to his spine-tingling classic The Fly, a film the director hadn’t seen since its original release and only re-watched for the purpose of said commentary. Indeed Cronenberg’s 1986 film transcends genre tropes, innovatively reimagining and extending upon both Kurt Neumann’s 1958 B-movie original and the Playboy published short story upon which it was based. That story, told in flashback, revolved around a scientist who is fused with a housefly at the molecular genetic level shortly after discovering the key to…

1. Anne Travers (The Web Of Fear) Cool, collected and clever – Anne is the ultimate companion who got away. 2. Sutekh (Pyramids Of Mars) Gabriel Woolf’s chilling villain is one of the series’ most gloriously evil creations. 3. D84 (The Robots Of Death) D84 is insanely loveable – far more all-terrain than K9, it’s a shame he gets killed off. 4. Todd (Kinda) The Fifth Doctor should have dumped his crew on Deva Loka and left with mature, charming and sensible Dr Todd. 5. Winifred Bambera UNIT’s no-nonsense Nineties Brigadier is brilliant – it’s a real shame she hasn’t returned in the new series.…

MANHUNTER (1986) 1 Michael Mann was the very first to tackle the great Thomas Harris and this rather gripping adaptation of Red Dragon boasts a wonderfully steely turn from Brian Cox as Hannibal Lecter. HANNIBAL (2001) 2 Ridley Scott decided to tackle Harris’ overcooked third novel in 2001 by going for dark comedy and gore over chills, and there really is a lot to love here, although Hopkins sails over the top. RED DRAGON (2002) 3 Brett Ratner’s adaptation is much more straightforward but is utterly lacking in personality despite the film’s very strong cast. Hopkins takes Lecter back a few notches. HANNIBAL RISING (2007) 4 This Hopkins-less prequel was a misstep, over-explaining the monster and offering a fairly dull revenge thriller, with Gaspard Ulliel unmemorable in the title role.…

SAW: LEGACY 27 October 2017 Jigsaw’s legacy will be revived in eighth film in the franchise that kickstarted the whole ‘torture porn’ label, with Predestination’s Spierig Brothers taking over as directors. And Tobin Bell’s back… INSIDIOUS: CHAPTER 4 5 January 2018 Adam Robitel will direct the next chapter in Elise Rainier’s (Lin Shaye) journey into the Further.Tucker and Specks are back with our favourite ghost hunter, and Leigh Whannell is back on writing duties. THE NUN 13 July 2018 The second Conjuring spin-off follows the origin of the terrifying nun demon Valak, which stars Demián Bichir and Taissa Farmiga, directed by The Hallow’s Corin Hardy. SMART HOUSE 2018 TBC This recently announced high-concept chiller will be directed by genre favourite Alexandre Aja (Switchblade Romance, Horns) and finds a group of…

IT SEEMS PRETTY FAIR TO SAY THAT THERE WAS SOME SCEPTICISM ABOUT REBOOTING THE Planet Of The Apes franchise back in 2011. With the memories of Tim Burton’s awful remake still relatively fresh in our collective memories and some uninspiring trailers, Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes felt like a film to be approached with cautious optimism at best. Of course, we were wrong. Director Rupert Wyatt, writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver and star Andy Serkis delivered an excellent sci-fi blockbuster that kept the spirit of the source material while placing an ape squarely at its centre, breathing new life into the franchise. “I was a huge Apes fan since I was a child, and the big thing I loved about Rise was I felt like it was…

GEORGE TAYLOR (CHARLTON HESTON) Planet Of The Apes (1968) Crashing on a seemingly alien planet where apes rule, George is irascible, determined and heartbroken by the truth. BRENT (JAMES FRANCISCUS) Beneath The Planet Of The Apes (1970) Brent is sent to find out what happened to Taylor, and he’s cut from the same cloth. CORNELIUS (RODDY MCDOWALL) AND ZIRA (KIM HUNTER) Escape From The Planet Of The Apes (1971) Cornelius, Zira and Dr Milo arrive in 1973. It doesn’t go well. CAESAR (RODDY MCDOWALL) Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes (1972) In the future, Caesar (son of Cornelius and Zira) has a terrible time as a circus slave ape and begins to plan an ape uprising. CAESAR (RODDY MCDOWALL) Battle For The Planet Of The Apes (1973) Caesar begins…

The show has only two more seasons to give the fans what they want. Here’s what they’ve been waiting for: CONFIRMATION OF R+L=J This fan theory refers to Jon Snow’s parentage. While HBO accidentally confirmed that Raegar Targaryen is Jon’s father, it’s still yet to be confirmed on screen. It’s a formality, but fans will riot if it doesn’t get confirmed. CLEGANEBOWL Part of the reason fans were so delighted by the return of the Hound was that the long-anticipated Cleganebowl was back on. With the Hound and the Mountain, back from the dead, surely they’ll face off against each other? BRAN BRINGS DOWN THE WALL When the Night’s King touched Bran during a vision, it allowed the White Walkers through any magical barrier. The Wall is magical, so will…

12 years and five films on, the Bayhem might be coming to an end but that certainly doesn’t mean the world of Transformers is. Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura outlines what’s next for the Transformers universe. “We are already in prep on the Bumblebee movie. We’re already taking the franchise in a slightly different direction by taking it back in time and meeting Bumblebee before our movies start… [We’ve] developed such a large mythology that we have the ability to go back and forth in time, the ability to go to different planes, the ability to go to outer space. The Transformers mythology is amazingly six billion years long. I think what’s great is that we have the ability to go almost anywhere because of how well developed the mythology is…

“I WOULD HAVE DONE A MAYO COMMERCIAL WITH BONG JOON-HO”STEVEN YEUN AS THE FIRST BONG JOON-HO-DIRECTED FILM SINCE SNOWPIERCER IN 2013, we’re expecting a lot from Okja (pronounced ‘ok-jah’). That’s a high bar to reach for some movie lovers but for others, particularly British fans of Bong, it’s non-existent. The film has been receiving rave reviews all over the world for years but, unbelievably, Snowpiercer still hasn’t reached UK cinemas. Luckily for us, though, Okja is being released on Netflix in all territories this summer, and it should be enough to fill the Bong void. Like most Netflix projects, Okja has been shrouded in secrecy from the start. All we know is that it’s about a young girl with a giant animal friend, and Tilda Swinton has a fringe in…

DARK MATTER JOSEPH MALLOZZI – CREATOR “We resolve the big cliffhanger obviously from Season Two. Last we saw, all our crew were getting blown up on EOS-7 presumably kicking off this corporate war. Season Three will be very much about that. Then we are going to continue with our stories with the various different characters. We’ve got some surprises in store in terms of characters who are coming back. There’s one character who is coming back at the end of the first episode that will be quite a surprise and we continue to develop our characters through their backstories.” MELISSA O’NEIL – TWO “This season Two kind of gets swept up in decisions happening around her and she’s just trying to keep her head on straight. I think she takes…

Carlos was introduced as the foil for Night Vale. He was the person from the normal world who comes to Night Vale and goes: ‘This place is messed up!’ But it was something in the description that I picked up on, and was like: ‘It sounds like he has a bit of a crush on this guy.’ And being a gay actor myself, it was natural. Imagine if the most beautiful person in the world moves into your town, even if it’s not a romantic attraction there’s still at a curiosity. Every time Carlos came up, Cecil seemed to be so excited and I was like: ‘I think there’s a reason why he’s so excited!’ So I started funnelling that into the performance and eventually the writers caught on. I…

Details 18 // 126 mins // 7 July Director Ben Young Screenwriter Ben Young Cast Ashleigh Cummings, Emma Booth, Stephen Curry, Susie Porter, Damian de Montemas, Harrison Gilbertson Distributor Arrow Films 1985 saw the release of Kate Bush’s album Hounds Of Love, whose B-side comprised a conceptual song cycle (known collectively as The Ninth Wave) about the struggles of a woman fallen overboard. Though set two years later in a working-class suburb of Western Australia’s Perth Ben Young’s homonymous feature debut is similarly concerned with three women desperate to keep their heads above water. One is Evelyn (Emma Booth), locked into a toxic relationship with paedophile John (Stephen Curry), and willing to do anything to hold onto John’s love, even if it keeps her from seeing her own estranged children.…

Details N/A // 75 mins // TBC Director JP MandarinoScreenwriter JP Mandarino Cast Drew Lipson, Charlie Morgan Patton, Marco DelVecchio, Akanimo Eyo Distributor N/A In writer/director JP Marandino’s The KAOS Brief, vain 17-year-old Skylar (Drew Lipson) films his life for his vlog Skylar TV – so a camping trip with his twin sister Dakota (Charlie Morgan Patton) and their respective boyfriends Corey (Marco DelVecchio) and Tren (Akanimo Eyo) seems the perfect opportunity to shoot some outdoor footage and try out his new drone camera. Yet when this foursome sees (and records) strange lights in the sky, and signs that their campsite has been visited overnight, Skylar posts the evidence on his site, drawing the attention of shadowy government agencies, hackers and extra-terrestrials. Where most found-footage films begin with text stating…

Details U // 104 mins // 2017 // // Released Out now Director Chris McKay Cast Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, Ralph Fiennes Distributor Warner Home Video When Warner Bros announced that it was making The LEGO Movie, the whole thing sounded a bit couldn’t have been more wrong either. Instead of attempting to capitalise off a film’s success to sell more LEGO, Warner Bros seems to be using the already immensely successful Lego brand as an excuse to make movies as stupid and ridiculously entertaining as possible. That’s what The LEGO Batman Movie is; it’s simultaneously dumb, razor sharp, hilarious and utterly charming. It rips the whole concept of Batman to shreds while somehow making you love the Caped Crusader even more. Like with The Lego Movie, the…

Details 18 // 116 mins // 1985 // // Released Out now Director Dario Argento Cast Jennifer Connelly, Donald Pleasence, Daria Nicolodi, Patrick Bauchau Distributor Arrow Video Phenomena gets a raw deal. It’s often held up as the first sign of Dario Argento losing his masterly touch; an overblown blend of greatest hits and daftness. However, while it shares key plot elements with Suspiria and arguably never really squares its blend of creature feature, serial killer horror and fairytale, it’s a charming and compelling curiosity that features some genuinely brilliant sequences and an incredible soundtrack. A 13-year-old Jennifer Connelly plays Jennifer Corvino, the daughter of an American film star who arrives at a boarding school in the Swiss Alps just as someone starts brutally murdering teenagers. Jennifer stands out due…

Details 15 // 88 mins // 2016 // // Released 5 June Director Alice Lowe Cast Alice Lowe, Jo Hartley, Kate Dickie, Gemma Whelan, Kayvan Novak Distributor Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment With Prevenge, you get what you would expect from a film about a pregnant woman whose unborn child tells her to go on a murder spree -–it’s weird, wild and kind of extraordinary – and yet it’s still somehow completely unpredictable. Alice Lowe, who makes her directorial debut, wows as Ruth, the pregnant woman, and offers a performance that really makes you wonder why Lowe isn’t in more things. Just a facial expression or a tone of voice can completely transform not just a scene but all previous assumptions about Ruth as a character. The continuing highlights are the scenes…

Details 18 // 86 mins // 1975 // // Released Out now Director Kazuhiko Yamaguchi Cast Sonny Chiba, Saburo Date, Koji Fujiyama, Tooru Hanada Distributor Arrow Video Where to begin with Wolf Guy? Maybe with the fact that its subtitle is Enraged Lycanthrope? The plot is just about comprehensible, although the filmmakers don’t make things easy for the viewer by throwing us into a conspiracy involving werewolves, the mob, the government, and an abused nightclub singer who unleashes a spirit tiger when angered. It’s a giddy midnight treat that should find plenty of fans with its blend of nonsensical storytelling, gory violence and straight-faced silliness. Japanese action icon Sonny Chiba stars as the titular badass, Akira Inugami, who is pulled into a complicated series of killings that centre on nightclub…

INFO Released Out now Certifi cate 18 Creators The Wackowskis, J Michael Straczynski Cast Doona Bae, Jamie Clayton, Tina Desai, Tuppence Middleton, Max Riemelt, Miguel Angel Silvestre, Brian J Smith, Toby Onwumere Distributor Netfl ix Running Time 689 mins As much as a weird masterpiece Season One of Sense8 was, it also hadn’t fully figured out what it wanted to be. The same is true of Season Two, which gets lost along the way when it attempts to bring in sensates from other clusters. We obviously haven’t spent as much time with these new sensates – we haven’t laughed with them, cried with them, or joined them as they chewed down their fingernails – so their actions often feel hollow and inconsequential. They occasionally help to move the plot along,…

 Many writers begin from a position of privilege. A fine education. A comfortable upbringing. A happy family life, by and large. David Gemmell was brought up in a tough area for many years without a father figure; taught to box as self-defence; was arrested, and later expelled from school. He laboured on lorries and worked more famously as a nightclub bouncer. These are unconventional background notes by today’s standards. Transfer this upbringing into fantasy novels, and it brings something interesting to the table. “GEMMELL’S LEAD CHARACTERS WERE CONSCIOUSLY HEROIC” Prior to David Gemmell, the fantasy scene was a more pastoral place. The novels of the time basked in cosy, sometimes pastoral settings. Those books of the Eighties and Nineties tapped into some rich vein of Tolkien more often than not,…

 Details Author: David Gemmell Publisher: Gollancz Price: £14.99 Released: Out now “DESPITE SITTING IN A DIFFERENT GENRE, GLIMPSES OF CLASSIC ” GEMMELL SHINE THROUGH A long-lost novel from fantasy icon David Gemmell, Rhyming Rings is early work from the legendary author and, despite sitting in a very different genre, glimpses of classic Gemmell shine through. It’s a grim, violent Eighties-set crime thriller with a dash of horror and hints of the supernatural. It follows Jeremy Miller, a young and ambitious journalist who’s alienated everyone at the local paper where he works. As a result, he’s given local interest stories and puff pieces, but an interview with a medium will set him on a collision course with a masked figure who’s been murdering women in a particularly savage fashion. While the…

 Details Author: James Abbott Publisher: Pan Price: £8.99 Released: Out now “THERE’S A COMPLEX HISTORY AND MYTHOLOGY THAT WOULD REWARD FURTHER EXPLORATION” Revenge is an appealing prospect for imprisoned warrior Xavir Argentum in this action-packed fantasy. Held accountable for slaughtering civilians, the former military leader is rotting in jail when spymaster Landril appears with an enticing proposition: break out and lead an uprising against the monstrous Mardonius, and kill everyone who set him up. Abbott does his world-building on the move, dropping us straight into prison with Xavir and broadening the scope once he and his gang break free, which keeps things moving. These men don’t have time to waste, and neither does the story, which barrels along towards its climactic battle at an impressive pace over nearly 500 pages.…

 Details Author: Andrew Caldecott Publisher: Jo Fletcher Books Price: £14.99 Released: Out now “ROTHERWEIRD IS A FEAT OF IMAGINATION PACKED WITH IDEAS AND EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE” Rotherweird was created in the Elizabethan era; an independent state without ties to the wider kingdom as long as people don’t delve into its past. When two outsiders arrive, history teacher Jonah Oblong and the impressively monikered Sir Veronal Slickstone, Rotherweird finds itself heading towards a deadly crisis. And Rotherweird certainly lives up to its name. Andrew Caldecott’s descriptions make it easy to imagine this place existing in its own social bubble. There are strange traditions like coracle racing, a world nearby that seems full of impossible creatures, and a well-respected ban on researching any history prior to 1800. The currency is still guineas and…

Bulikov (City Of Stairs) Political tension is absolutely rife here, but what you really have to seriously watch out for are the giant monsters powered by divine miracles and (not) dead gods. New Crobuzon (Perdido Street Station) This is a pretty hard city to get your bearings in, especially when giant brain-eating slakemoths have taken to the skies and are filling their terrifying bellies. London Below (Neverwhere) Think you’ve got the hang of London? Well, you don’t know anything about London below. There are rat worshippers, killers, angels… oh, and don’t forget about The Beast. Arkham (HP Lovecraft stories) For most people, Arkham is probably a fine place to live. For some of the locals, though… let’s just say things don’t go well for some of the locals. A lot…

Details Writer: Genndy Tartakovsky Artist: Genndy Tartakovsky Publisher: Marvel Price: £11.50 Released: Out now Long-teased, and now fi nally collected, Genndy Tartakovsky’s CAGE! is one of those no-brainer projects that make you wonder what took them so long. The creator of Dexter’s Laboratory and Samurai Jack, Tartakovsky has made a considerable mark on animation over the last 25 years, but until now his inimitable style hasn’t graced a comic book page. But first, let’s make something clear. This is not Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Black Panther, nor is it Netflix’s Luke Cage. Unfussed with revamping or remixing the character’s past to better reflect a more contemporary outlook, Tartakovsky’s CAGE! is a fun, and often very silly, comic that sits more alongside Marvel’s lighter, more overtly-comedic books, such as the recent runs of…

Details Writer: Igort Artist: Igort Publisher: Chronicle Books Price: £19.99 Released: Out now Italian artist Igort presents a personal and thoughtful tribute to Japan in this gorgeous hardback, compiled from memories, stray sketches and brief encounters. From drawing inspiration from Japanese history and philosophy as a young man, to a successful career as one of the few western artists working in the competitive Manga publishing industry, Igort peppers his Japanese Notebooks with reflections and observations, highlighting the country’s contradictions and nuances that have always drawn him back. This is a dense and digressive book. Short, but scholarly musings on Japan’s strict class system and the ever-present iconography of the chrysanthemum sit comfortably alongside tributes to pop-culture icons such as Isao Takahata, Hayao Miyazaki, Shigeru Mizuki and Seijun Suzuki – all…

When Kon passed away in August 2010, work had begun on his fifth film, titled Dreaming Machine or The Dream Machine. Pitched as a road movie with robots, it would have been a fantasy adventure aimed at a younger audience, following automatons Ririco, Robin and King on their journey. Reportedly, 600 of 1500 shots had been animated at the time of Kon’s passing, and Madhouse chief, Masao Maruyama, stated that they would complete the film under the stewardship of animation director and character designer Yoshimi Itazu. However, nothing has come of it. In 2012 Maruyama, now set up with a new studio, blamed a lack of funds, and in 2015 he said that they were still searching for a director who could match Kon’s ability. Will we ever get to…

“It’s sleek and it’s gothic and it’s sad and it’s funny and it’s sickening and it will never grow old.” @martang66 “It is a masterpiece.” @DaveNeal33 “Classic. When I think of the massive rise in popularity of serial killers in various media in the 90s this is what I think of 1st.” @iutley73 “It’s a great fi lm because the source novel is so strong, and Demme does not take liberties with it. He basically fi lms the book. @chwarwick1 “I actually think it is slightly overrated. Foster and Hopkins are both very good though. The original Hannibal books are much better.” @ ParsonsFiction “A confused movie which couldn’t decide who the bad guy was.” @MrTCHarris “A masterpiece, through and through. Re-watched it last night and it hasn’t lost any…

MICHELLE (ZENDAYA) Smart, razor sharp and obsessed with books, Michelle feels her classmates are below her and elects not to make friends. Or even interact with people all that much… NED (JACOB BATALON) Peter’s classmate and best friend enjoys science and video games, and can be trusted even with Peter’s deepest, darkest secrets. He’s based on Ned Leeds from the Spidey comics. FLASH THOMPSON (TONY REVOLORI) As one of Peter’s more famous rivals, Flash will be portrayed in the film as a rich, smug kid who likes to show off, played by The Grand Budapest Hotel’s Tony Revolori (pictured). LIZ ALLAN (LAURA HARRIER) The film is bringing in Liz as Peter’s love interest instead of someone like Mary-Jane Watson or Gwen Stacy. Her “type-A” personality isn’t for everyone, but Peter…

1 THE CAST IS INCREDIBLE Chadwick Boseman proved he was the perfect choice for T’Challa in Captain America: Civil War, and the rest of the Black Panther cast may follow suit. Danai Gurira, Daniel Kaluuya, Angela Bassett, and Academy Award winners Forest Whitaker and Lupita Nyong’o are some of the reasons we’re so hyped for February 2018. 2 BLACK PANTHER V KILLMONGER T’Challa will have his work cut out for him when he takes on villain Erik Killmonger, played by Creed’s Michael B Jordan. A Wakandan exile, Killmonger would like nothing more than to overthrow T’Challa’s government. Fun fact: Jordan’s Creed trainer Corey Calliet helped whip him into fighting shape again for Black Panther. 3 RYAN COOGLER IS ON THE CASE After gaining and losing Ava DuVernay, director Ryan Coogler…

It was a day of mixed feelings when we heard that a new Hellboy film was being made, but that it wasn’t the long-awaited Hellboy 3. No, Guillermo del Toro and Ron Perlman will not be back for the latest chapter in HB’s story. Instead, a darker, more gruesome take on the franchise is being shepherded by the comics’ creator Mike Mignola. This R-rated film has the working title of Hellboy: Rise Of The Blood Queen, and genre favourite Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers, The Descent) is signed on to direct. After coming close to playing Cable in Deadpool 2, Stranger Things’ David Harbour is stepping into the title role. The news seems to have been somewhat divisive, with fan reaction split between excitement that the character will be returning to…

Finding an inner ape sounds like a fun challenge for an actor but it’s easy to imagine that it’s more intimidating when you’re coming into a franchise like this, with actors who have done such an incredible job thus far. “I was nervous because you have to be good and you’re being thrown into this world where people have a lot of experience,” Zahn tells us. “But it was also easier because you just felt it. You did what they did, and it worked out.” He tells us that the key to finding the performance was to focus on playing a character, rather than a species. “It reminded me of doing theatre,” he explains. “Approaching a character physically and then finding the truth in all that. So it was theatrical…

The Handmaid’s Tale has been causing a bit of a stir ever since its first trailer was released; even though the book on which the series is based was first published in 1985, a few Donald Trump supporters took it as a personal insult, insisting that it was propaganda meant to target them. One YouTube user said: “Anybody can clearly see that this is leftist propaganda meant to trigger your subconscious mind; very smart games the left is playing,” another wrote: “This looks like crap. Same old liberal nonsense they have been putting out for years… we need more movies/shows based on actual original ideas,” while a third wrote: “This is more of the Left’s Establishment Mind controllers to tell THEIR SHEEP who the Enemy is. Your Marxist overlords want…

FROM THE TIME ITS PILOT FIRST PREMIERED IN MARCH 2013, IT SEEMS AS though Orphan Black has been fighting to survive. Airing on BBC America, and soon after making its home in the UK on BBC Three, the show has never had the best ratings. It didn’t help matters when BBC Three went exclusively online, and then dropped the show completely between Seasons Three and Four. But after being picked back up by Netflix UK, Orphan Black, ever the binge-worthy sci-fi thriller, is gaining new fans, even with just one season left to air. Star Tatiana Maslany, who plays Sarah, Cosima, Alison, Helena, Rachel, Beth and handful of other characters on Orphan Black, talks to us about why so many viewers have stuck with the weird clone thriller until the…

SNOWPIERCER (2013) Still not released in the UK, this Korean-Czech sci-fi thriller was based on the French graphic novel Le Transperceneige by Jacques Lob. It takes place on board a globe-spanning train that contains the last of humanity during a new ice age. MOTHER (2009) Kim Hye-ja and Won Bin star as a herbalist widow and her shy son who has a tendency to attack anyone who tries to mock his intellectual disability. When her son is arrested, the mother is forced to unravel the crime he was accused of. THE HOST (2006) This sci-fi monster horror was inspired by an incident that occurred in Seoul in 2000, in which a mortician working for the US military dumped a large amount of formaldehyde down a drain and caused a lot…

DARK MATTER ANDROIDS Although she’s on a quest to mimic humanity with the aid of an emotion chip, Zoie Palmer’s unnamed Android is more than just Dark Matter’s version of Data. TIME TRAVEL Joe Mallozzi promises mind-bending time travel stories in Dark Matter’s third season. “Back to The Future meets Stranger Things,” is how he describes episode nine. TRANSFER TRANSIT You can have your brain uploaded to a clone and get 72 hours worth of memories beamed back to you as long as it stays alive. ALIENS Some black goo got under Three’s skin in the ninth episode of Season Two and Mallozzi suggests to us that it might not be of this Earth… BLINK DRIVE With this attached to their ship, the crew could nab the last empty parking…

FILM INFO Released Out now Certifi cate 15 Director Ridley Scott Screenwriter Jack Paglen, Michael Green, John Logan, Dante Harper Cast Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Danny McBride, Billy Crudup, Demián Bichir, Amy Seimetz, Carmen Ejogo Distributor 20th Century Fox Running Time 122 mins With a ship full of doomed humans, a threatening alien world and a cavalcade of monsters, there’s a sense of a franchise returning to its roots with Alien: Covenant. But that doesn’t mean that Scott has abandoned the Prometheus story, not by a long shot. Katherine Waterston’s plucky Daniels is our hero but Michael Fassbender’s David has emerged has something quite new for the Alien universe: a clear-cut villain. The truth about what he’s been up to makes up the bulk of Covenant’s second half and, without…

FILM INFO Released Out now Certifi cate 12A Director James Gunn Screenwriter James Gunn Cast Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Michael Rooker, Kurt Russell, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel Distributor Walt Disney Pictures Running Time 136 mins The original Guardians film had the benefit of being an underdog. It snuck up on viewers who were getting tired of superhero films and knocked us for six. But Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 has the weight of expectation to contend with – which it shrugs off, and just does its own thing. Brilliantly. The opening credits set the scene perfectly, taking the wacky gauntlet thrown down by Deadpool and running with it – to an even better soundtrack. The film opens strong, and rarely lets up from there as Chris Pratt’s…

Details TBC // 85 mins // 16 June Director Dennis Bartok Screenwriters Tom Abrams and Dennis Bartok Cast Shauna Macdonald, Ross Noble, Steve Wall, Leah McNamara, Richard Foster-King Distributor Kaleidoscope Entertainment If something evil is coming to get you, you want to be able to do two things: run and scream. But Nails’s poor old Dana (Shauna Macdonald) can’t do either. A car accident has left her not only bedridden, but also mute; she relies on a ventilator to breathe, and a special computer to communicate. So she’s about as vulnerable as it’s possible to be when a shadowy creature made up of approximately 50% fingernails stalks into her hospital room. It’s a terrifying premise, but unfortunately the scares you’ve already imagined based on that description are better than the…

Details TBC // 85 mins // 2016 // Shudder // Released Out now Director Taneli Mustonen Cast Tommi Korpela, Mimosa Willamo, Nelly Hirst-Gee Distributor Shudder This grisly Nordic slasher takes inspiration from the infamous 1960 Lake Bodom murders that resulted in the death of three teenagers who were killed while they slept in their tent. It’s a case that has never been solved despite a sole survivor actually making it out of the woods. Set in the modern day, a group of four teenagers head out to the lake to recreate that horrific night as part of a twisted project. The interplay between the four main characters is well-developed and they don’t fit the typical annoying archetypes. Instead the screenwriters instil a real sense of sympathy for the character of…

Details 15 // 102 mins // 2017 // // Released Out now F. Anna Ingrid , Roe, Johnny Distributor Paramount Home Entertainment After reshoots and two years on the shelf, Rings was dumped in the dreaded January slot where bad horror films go to die and there’s good reason for that. The third chapter in the American reboot franchise is a thoroughly dull sequel that comes up with some interesting concepts and then drops them in favour of following the exact same path that we’ve seen already in the previous films. When Julia’s boyfriend Holt heads off to college they attempt a long distance relationship but when he stops returning her calls she starts to panic and heads to his campus to investigate. Turns out a science professor (played by…

Details 15 // 100 mins // 2006 // // Released Out now Director Richard Linklater Cast Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Robert Downey Jr, Woody Harrelson Distributor Warner Bros Home Entertainment Richard Linklater’s rotoscoped Philip K Dick adaptation has not aged a day. It’s just as sharp, funny and tragic as it ever was, and it’s hard to fathom why it hasn’t been as cherished as contemporaries like Moon and Children Of Men. Keanu Reeves is perfectly cast as Bob Arctor, a detective working undercover with a group of Substance D addicts. However, Bob’s an addict now too, and his loyalties (and brain) are now split between his job, his friends and his lover Donna (Winona Ryder). Linklater’s lovably ramshackle plotting works oddly perfectly with Dick’s labyrinthine paranoia, allowing the actors…

Details 15 // 91 mins // 2016 // // Released Out now Director Mike Flanagan Cast Kate Bosworth, Thomas Jane, Jacob Tremblay, Annabeth Gish Distributor Netfl ix Caught in Relativity’s bankruptcy issues, Mike Flanagan’s follow-up to Oculus finally hit Netflix two films down the line and it’s immediately obvious who’s behind Before I Wake. It’s a melancholy chiller about family and loss and although it doesn’t measure up to his best work, it’s well worth a look. Grieving parents Jessie (Kate Bosworth) and Mark (Thomas Jane) adopt loveable orphan Cody (Room’s Jacob Tremblay) and quickly discover that his dreams manifest physically. When Cody sees a picture of their late son, Jessie and Mark find a way to bring him back… in a way. But what happens when Cody’s dreams become…

Details 15 // 772 mins // 2016 // // Released Out now Rob Thomas, Diane Ruggiero Rose McIver, Malcolm Goodwin, Rahul Kohli, Robert Buckley, David Anders Distributor Warner Home Video After showing just how weird and wonderful a story about a friendly zombie detective could be in iZombie Season One, the series only came back bigger and better (and six episodes longer) for Season Two. From everything we’ve seen so far, iZombie has proven itself to be one of those shows that manages to be both quirky and accessible, and we can’t see it getting old any time soon. Season Two picks up three months after the first’s finale; Major (Buckley) and Blaine (Anders) have taken the zombie cure and are living as a personal trainer and funeral home director…

Details Author: Robert Jackson Bennett Publisher: Jo Fletcher Books Price: £14.99 Released: Out now Robert Jackson Bennett’s brilliant Divine Cities trilogy comes to an end, and the author of Mr Shivers and The Troupe has made sure to send his characters off with a bang. The incredibly rich world that he has created, with warring states, undercover operatives, miraculous tricks and dead gods who aren’t as dead as they should be, has been an absolute pleasure to return to every time, but this final chapter opens on a powerful and affecting loss. Shara Komayd, the former Prime Minister of Saypur (and heroine of the first novel, City Of Stairs), has been killed, an assassin’s bomb leaving the world in no doubt that the wily, controversial politician has met her end.…

“I’m reading Angela Carter’s Book Of Wayward Girls And Wicked Women. Interesting collection of stories. #BookClub” @Cascararogue “I’m re-reading Stephen King’s It ahead of the movie adaptation coming out. It’s been 30 years since I first read it. I’m gripped. #BookClub” @StealingCake “I’ve moved on to In The Heart Of The Sea. Still not the ripping yarn I was expecting but pretty good. #BookClub” @TheCorvidArcher “A childhood favourite – Spellsinger by Alan Dean Foster. Quite funny. Never tire of reading it. #BookClub” @safcinexile “The Long Earth right now – for another book club. I can’t decide whether to read The Vorrh next or this Alastair Reynolds’ novella. #BookClub” @TheCharmQuark “#Spin by Rob Wilson: a very nice trip about relativity time and space and man’s evolution. Very excited to read volume…

Was it easy returning to the world of The House Of Shattered Wings? It was harder than I’d thought - I fi nished writing The House of Shattered Wings in mid-2015, and by the time I started writing its sequel The House Of Binding Thorns it was the end of 2016, and I’d forgotten a lot of the universe. Then, one day, I just sat down and wrote the first scene, in which Madeleine finds herself imprisoned in House Hawthorn and not very gently “encouraged” to give up the angel essence to which she’s addicted, and all of a sudden everything seemed to snap back together! Had you always intended on shifting the focus from Silverspires to Hawthorn? I’d always intended to shift Houses for the second book: because the…

Details Author: Jenny T Colgan Publisher: Orbit Price: £8.99 Released: Out now If Bridget Jones met Mr Incredible this would be their story. The knickers that get flashed in Jenny T Colgan’s chick lit/sci fi mash up belong to Holly. After attempting to thwart bad guy Frederick Cecil and his dastardly robbery at a nightclub, she finds herself thrown over the shoulder of purple spandex fetishist Ultimate Man as he swoops in to save the day. With her arse now broadcast to the nation thanks to media coverage of the event, Holly is less than grateful for Ultimate Man’s input. But this is chick lit (with a tiny sci fi edge) so we need some romance and Holly cannot be mad with him forever. It isn’t easy to figure out…

You’d be hard-pushed to name someone who’s had as significant an impact on genre in any medium than HP Lovecraft. His work has entranced and terrified readers for decades, offering glimpses of a world beyond our own that is ancient, evil and patient. The universe and mythos he created inspired legions of authors, filmmakers and artists, and it seems absolutely right that he be given the Folio Society treatment. Their collection of short stories and novellas features incredible artwork by Dan Hillier and is available in two different editions (one is very, very special indeed). We spoke to The Folio Society team about putting this all together… What made HP Lovecraft a great fit for The Folio Society? Tom Walker, Publishing Director, The Folio Society: Lovecraft is one of the…

Details Writer: Sara Kenney Artist: John Watkiss Publisher: Image Price: £13.99 Released: Out now lf there was ever a case of something being too timely, Image’s new medical thriller series Surgeon X might be it. In a near-future dystopia Britain, the NHS is in collapse, there’s a rise of reactionary politics in Parliament, and there are terrorists targeting London. Against this backdrop, surgeon Rosa Scott turns rogue, setting up a vigilante underground practice that struggles to do the right thing in the face of a corrupt, and dying, society. Writer Sara Kenney – working with artist John Watkiss, under the editorial eye of Karen Berger – comes from a career in science-focused factual TV, and it shows: this is an exhaustively researched series that is interested in ideas both macro…

 The best moments in Satoshi Kon’s films are difficult to put into words. You’ll hear phrases like “mind-bending” and “eyeball-popping” thrown around a lot, but Kon was so much more than a visual stylist. The reason why his films have such an impact is because they engage the head and the heart, as well as burning those amazing images into your retinas. They are moving and thought-provoking even as your brain struggles to process what exactly is going on. He gave us a sensitive look at one woman’s life in film, a comedic drama about three homeless people looking after a baby on Christmas Eve, a terrifying horror about a pop idol and her stalker, and a sci-fi that verges on indescribable (yes, that’s Paprika). “KON IS, WITHOUT AUTEUR DOUBT,…

1930s 1. In which English county is The Lion’s Head Inn situated in The Invisible Man? 2. What creature does Larry Talbot (played by Lon Chaney Jr) turn into? 3. In The Mummy, what is the name of the ancient Egyptian priest played by Boris Karloff? 4. Which famous Universal Monsters character is actor Bela Lugosi known for playing? 5. Who composed the music for Bride Of Frankenstein? 1940s 6. Who does Erique Claudin fall in love with in the 1943 version of Phantom Of The Opera? 7. Who directed the 1943 film Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man? 8. Which comedy duo met Frankenstein in the 1948 film directed by Charles Barton? 9. How many sequels to The Mummy were released during the Forties? 10. Which Universal film was the…