Innholdsfortegnelse for No. 135 i SciFi Now

“DISCOVERY WILL SHOW THE FEDERATION AT A VOLATILE TIME” There’s a strange mix of frustration and comfort that comes from a beloved creation being given the label ‘unfilmable’. The former derives from the fact that we’ve already planned the perfect film or TV adaptation in our heads, from the cast and director down to the soundtrack, and so does the latter. No one wants to wait for decades to see their favourite book come to the big screen as a terrible movie misunderstood by everyone involved, or to simply be… average, which is somehow worse. Much like The Sandman, there was a strange comfort in knowing that no one would ever figure out how to adapt The Dark Tower… but here we are, with the film in the can and…

Who you gonna call for your secretarial role in a 21st century reboot of Ghostbusters? Chris Hemsworth as it happens! Casting Thor in the role previously embodied to brilliant effect by Annie Potts as Janine (now Kevin) was an absolute masterstroke. It was a part the actor enthusiastically embraced despite not having much to work with, as he enthused to Sydney Supanova audiences. “It scared the hell out of me going into that film because there wasn’t a whole lot on the page so we had to experiment with it,” he admits.“[But] I love comedy and that was a whole new challenge for me and a lot of improvisation.” As Hemsworth tells it, it was his twice-hosting gig on America’s Saturday Night Live that bagged him the part. “[Paul Feig]…

1 A CHANGE OF LOCATION Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them left things bittersweet, with Newt (Eddie Redmayne) saying goodbye to his friends in New York City as he set sail once more. For the sequel, he’s heading to Europe as he prepares to scout out creatures in Paris and the UK. 2 DUMBLEDORE V GRINDELWALD It has been confirmed that the sequel will see friends-turned-enemies Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald go head to head following the death of Dumbledore’s sister Ariana, which was more than touched upon in Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows. 3 JUDE LAW AS DUMBLEDORE After being so used to seeing Hogwarts headmaster, Supreme Mugwump and Chief Warlock of the Wizardgamot Albus Dumbledore as an old man, Jude Law as a younger version of…

Writer-director Shane Abbess has proven himself to be one of Australian sci-fi’s most inventive talents with films like Infini, and now he’s delivered his most ambitious film yet. Origin Wars is an homage to a bygone era of pulp sci-fi, and offers anything a Eighties kid could hope for: monsters, killers, airborne dogfights, a conspiracy, a prison break, and a race against the clock. How did the idea for this film first come about? I wanted to bring back a type of movie which I felt had become extinct. There was a real naivety to the pulpy Betamax era of the Eighties and I wanted to go back there. Specifically, we tapped back in to the innocence and excitement of the depression-era pulp sci-fi magazines and the fact we used…

WHY IS HOLLYWOOD SCARED OF CALLING HORROR MOVIES HORROR MOVIES? tinyurl.com/yctptbc9 TATIANA MASLANY WANTS AN ALISON AND DONNIE ORPHAN BLACK XMAS SPECIAL tinyurl.com/ycc2qfn5 SENSE8 IS COMING BACK FOR A TW0-HOUR FINALE NEXT YEAR, PRAISE BE tinyurl.com/ycqb68n9 LET’S BE STRAIGHT: WONDER WOMAN IS INTO WOMEN http://tinyurl.com/ yawumqy6 THE CONJURING 3 IS DEFINITELY HAPPENING, HIRES WRITER http://tinyurl.com/y8zr7h2g TRIVIA KAREN GILLAN DID NOT SHAVE HER HEAD FOR VOL. 2…

TOWER OF BABEL In Fritz Lang’s stunning Metropolis, wealthy industrialist Joh Fredersen (Alfred Abel) lords it up in his own fancy tower, overlooking the proletariat below. THE EMERALD CITY Who could forget these famous spires? The Oz books describe the Emerald City as being built of green glass, emeralds and other jewels... #WizardBling. BARAD-DÛR The eye of Sauron in The Lord Of The Rings trilogy sat atop these ‘cruel pinnacles and iron crown,’ the design of which may (or may not) have inspired London’s Shard. WYNDHAM TOWER In 2011’s Attack The Block, Moses (John Boyega) and his gang are terrorised by aliens in this south London council estate, which was filmed on location in Elephant And Castle.…

THE MAN IN BLACK FLED ACROSS THE DESERT, AND THE GUNSLINGER FOLLOWED’. BACK IN 1978, with these tantalising words, a young man called Stephen King began an epic narrative that is still unfolding to this very day. King would go on to become one of the best-selling novelists in the world, a modern-day Charles Dickens, and these two characters — one clad in black, the other packing a pistol — would evolve into the central players in an epic canvas known as The Dark Tower: a story series that comprises novels, short stories, comic books and now, at last, a movie. The movie is set to open with these famous words. And the ‘Man In Black’ is coming to the screen courtesy of a performance from Academy Award-winning actor Matthew…

1 CHARLES XAVIER X-Men: I don’t really know what I’m doing here. My school for gifted youngsters is located in Westchester, how else do you think we could enjoy so much real estate? You couldn’t fit the X-Jet in some loft somewhere, so there’s really no reason why.. Yes, that’s New York state. Well, if I must! The X-Men have been an integral part of keeping the entire world safe, not just New York City. But if you’re looking for city-based heroism, need I remind you of the Statue Of Liberty incident? What do you mean, ‘spending a lot of time at Alkali Lake’? 2 THE PHANTOM The Phantom: I know what you’re thinking. You’re looking at the pink outfit and the skull ring and you’re thinking: “This guy is…

DAVID LOWERY’S A GHOST STORY IS QUITE UNLIKE MOST SPECTRE-BASED TALES YOU’LL HAVE SEEN ONSCREEN. FOR ONE thing, while there’s definitely a haunting going on, it’s no horror film. Told in a series of slow-going sustained takes, it starts off as a tender romance before taking on paranormal qualities, eventually veering into sci-fi territory best left unspoiled. Casey Affleck plays a white-sheeted ghost (really), who declines entry to an afterlife to return to his Texas home to see his bereft wife (Rooney Mara), whom he cannot communicate with. As his love moves on, this spectral figure finds himself unstuck in time, trapped on the land of his former home, forced to witness years of changes... ALL ABOUT TIME The sense of time passing is the film’s most hypnotic quality. “That’s…

FIRST THINGS FIRST: ADAM WINGARD IS VERY MUCH AWARE OF THE ONLINE REACTION to the prospect of an American Death Note remake. “I’ll tell you, from the get go, it’s been crazy,” he tells us amiably when we sit down with him in London, just a few days after the final edit has been completed. “Even from the first announcement, I already had fans telling me I’d ruin Death Note. And it’s kind of hard to take that kind of criticism seriously but it does give you a good idea of what to expect. I still have people, just based on the trailer, saying: ‘You’ve ruined Death Note, you don’t know what you’re doing!’ You guys haven’t seen anything and the trailer is not totally representative of the style and…

GRITTY REALISM AND LOVECRAFTIAN CREATURES DON’T TEND TO GO together easily. Enter acclaimed filmmaker Amat Escalante, who takes his first excursion into genre territory with The Untamed. The Mexican film follows a downtrodden housewife and her brutish husband, who is cheating on her with her brother, a nurse who is also desperate to escape this unpleasant self-loathing homophobe. They meet Verónica (Simone Bucio), a woman who offers escape and release with a strange cephalopod-esque creature that can bring pleasure… or pain. As they encounter this alien being, they are exposed to the possibility of liberation and the dangers of repression. “The original story idea without the scifi element in it came from an image that I saw in a newspaper,” Escalante tells us. “A man that had been drowned in…

Details 15 // 87 mins // 11 August Director David Lowery Screenwriter David Lowery Cast Rooney Mara, Casey Affleck, Sonia Acevedo, Will Oldham, Kesha Distributor Picturehouse Entertainment Writer-director David Lowery, making a return to indie cinema following the underrated Pete’s Dragon, foregrounds the melancholy possibilities of life after death in this sensitive and profound tale. His Ain’t Them Bodies Saints stars Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck play a couple credited only as M and C, whose life together comes to an abrupt end when he is killed in a car accident. Shortly after M goes to the hospital to identify the body, C’s spirit rises up, entirely covered by the bed sheet his body has been covered in, and returns to their home. Together with cinematographer Andrew Droz Palermo (shooting…

Details 15 // 85 mins // 4 August Director Gareth Tunley Screenwriter Gareth Tunley Cast Tom Meeten, Alice Lowe, Dan Skinner, Rufus Jones, Geoffrey McGivern Distributor Arrow Films The truth is a hard thing to get a grip on in Gareth Tunley’s excellent debut, which blurs the lines between genres as its protagonist tumbles into a dangerous world full of untrustworthy figures, of which he is definitely one. The film opens with Chris (Tom Meeten) being called to a disturbing crime scene, where copper Jim (Dan Skinner) tells him that the victims of a violent home invasion kept on walking even after they’d been shot. The only lead is a man named Coulson (Rufus Jones), but when Chris goes undercover as a patient at Coulson’s therapist, we see that he’s…

Details TBC // 100 mins // 18 August Director Amat Escalante Screenwriters Amat Escalante, Gibrán Portela Cast Ruth Ramos, Jesús Meza, Eden Villavicencio Distributor Arrow The slippery tentacles of suspicion and pent-up rage slide deep into the lives of a woman and her husband in Amat Escalante’s confronting and brutal dramatic horror. Andrzej Zulawski’s Eighties film Possession is a key touchstone, made clear from the penetrating opening shot alone, as is the work of fellow Mexican filmmaker Carlos Reygadas. Escalante concocts a heady potion jam-packed full of chaos and confusion as he explores homophobic attitudes, unhealthy relationships, misogyny and a burning desire for sexual liberation in Mexico. Ruth Ramos turns in an alluring performance as Alejandra who makes the shocking discovery that her husband, Angel, is having an affair with…

Details 12 // 107 mins // 2017 // // Released 7 August Director Rupert Sanders Cast Scarlett Johansson, Pilou Asbæk, Takeshi Kitano, Juliette Binoche, Michael Pitt Distributor Paramount Home Entertainment A remake of the beloved Nineties anime classic, Ghost In The Shell centres around Major, a cyborg who’s the first of her kind to have a soul, or a ‘ghost’. But when Major starts having flashbacks to a previous life which doesn’t tally with the past her creators have told her, she tries to discover the truth. Visually, the film’s stunning, with director Rupert Sanders (Snow White And The Huntsman) effectively displaying a colourful, chaotic future. Scarlett Johansson, too, is great, playing Major as tough but vulnerable. Supporting Major (and Johansson) is Pilou Asbæk (Lucy) as Batou, offering some light-relief,…

Details 18 // 99 mins // 2017 // // Released 14 August Director Julia Ducournau Cast Garance Marillier, Ella Rumpf, Rabah Nait Oufella Distributor Universal Pictures The first year away from home and everything you know can be a cruel and unkind place to be. Something which 16-year-old vegetarian, Justine discovers when she starts at a veterinarian college and is thrust into mean hazing rituals and forced to devour a raw rabbit’s kidney by her older sister, Alexia. After her first taste of meat, she develops a terrible rash and an insatiable hunger for human flesh. Julia Ducournau’s coming-of-age body horror explores the sexual urges and strange appetites of young women who have been taught to be ashamed of their cravings and figures. David Cronenberg’s gruesome designs are a key…

Details 18 // 103 mins // 1991 // Released Out now Director Jörg Buttgereit Cast Monika M., Mark Reeder, Carola Ewers, Astrid Ewers Distributor Arrow Video For all the grave robbing, corpse fucking and graphic murder in Jörg Buttgereit’s improbable sequel of transgression, Nekromantik 2 is also a romance. When death-fixated Monika (Monika M.) takes home the cadaver of the first film’s protagonist while also courting porn-dubbing artist Mark (Mark Reeder), we see a woman’s conflicted quest to find her perfect man – even if a certain bloody compromise is required for her to unify the best parts of either imperfect man in her life. In 1989, between the release of the original Nekromantik (1987) and this film, barriers had come down and Germany had undergone her own reunification. So…

Details 15 // 105 mins // 2016 // Released Out now Director Keir Burrows Cast Yaiza Figueroa, Tom Barber-Duffy, Philippa Carson, James Farrar, Noah Maxwell Clarke Distributor Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment Much like the small-scale (yet covertly expanded) experiment at its heart, there is a pleasing DIY quality to Anti Matter (akaWorm), the feature debut of writer/director Keir Burrows which, like Shane Carruth’s Primer (2004) and James Ward Byrkit’s Coherence (2013), spins some very big SF concepts from a small budget. Working on an Oxford doctorate in chemical engineering, Ana (Yaiza Figueroa) chances upon a potentially world-changing discovery: a mechanism for teleporting matter. Yet after rushing to be the first human subject transported, Ana wakes up without hunger, without thirst, without memory of anything following the experiment, and without any ability…

Details 12 // 533 minutes // 2017 // // Released Out now Creators Rob Thomas, Diane Ruggiero-Wright Cast Rose McIver, Malcolm Goodwin, Rahul Kohli, Robert Buckley, David Anders Distributor Netfl ix The latest season of iZombie struggles slightly towards the start, when there are suddenly bigger things to worry about than weekly murder cases to solve. After the events of the Season Two finale, there are zombies all over the place to keep hidden, and it starts to look like the adventures of Liv (Rose McIver), Clive (Malcolm Goodwin) and Ravi (Rahul Kohli) might take a back seat for Season Three. But after a few episodes of finding its way back down the path of righteousness, the show effortlessly slips into what it always was, and it is wonderful to…

Details Author: Gavin Chait Publisher: Doubleday Price: £14.99 Released: Out now Geopolitical discord is examined in detail in Gavin Chait’s timely and intelligent second novel that blends magic realism and action to poetic and thrilling ends. Set in the near-future, we follow aid worker Shakiso Collard as she embarks on a relief effort to help refugees while those around her exploit the same people for their land. With cruel dictators and businessmen leading the charge, the world is crumbling and so the genii step in to whisper in their ears and show them the errors of their ways. Thing is, no one is listening. Chait whisks the reader through West Africa, Paris, London and more painting a picture of environmental strife and social unrest. There’s shades of Kazuo Ishiguro and…

Details Author: Callie Bates Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Price: £16.99 Released: Out now Elanna has spent much of her life in captivity, taken as a child to be held hostage in the Erenian court of King Antoine. When the King passes away, she finds herself swept up into a tale of regicide, revolution, and magic. The problem is that magic is outlawed and the revolution looks set to be quashed before it can get going. The opening few chapters of The Waking Land are a dizzying sprint through plot points before you’re used to where you are or what you’re dealing with to positive and negative effect. As a negative, it can take a while to get into Elanna’s story. The positive? It makes the novel a page turner. Once…

How would you pitch Raid? A grumpy, gun-loving bounty hunter captures a cheerful outlaw-turned-tyrant and drags him across the wastelands seeking justice. The plan soon goes to shit, and the unlikely allies are forced to fight together against a greater threat. Along the way there are car chases, quirky characters with questionable moral standards, and plenty of splattery shoot-outs. Emphasis on the word splattery. If you’re squeamish about blood, this is not the book for you. What is it about the post-apocalypse that appeals to you as a setting? I love that the post-apocalyptic setting is so different from our own world, and yet plausible enough to hit close to home. It really makes you think: if the world went to shit, what would you sacrifice to stay alive? What…

Details Author: Manuel Gonzales Publisher: Del Rey Price: £7.99 Released: Out now Rose is a teenage super-agent who is leading an attack on the Regional Office of an organisation that disguises itself as an elite travel agency. Sarah works in the Regional Office and is alerted to the incoming attack, ready to defend her place of work from the invading forces. She also has a mechanical arm. There are plenty of pop references in The Regional Office Is Under Attack but throughout, Manuel Gonzales steadfastly refuses to write his novel as any one thing in particular. He focuses almost solely on the attack itself, using a journal article framework to fill in the back stories. The mundane office setting provides a unique and wryly amusing contrast to those unseen but…

Details Writer: Fabien Nury Artist: Thierry Robin Publisher: Titan Comics Price: £22.99 Released: Out now Originally published as a two-volume bande-dessinée by French publishers Dargaud in 2011, The Death Of Stalin has been translated into English and rushed into print by Titan Comics to anticipate a big-screen film adaptation, due later this year, with Armando Iannucci in the director’s chair. Now collected into one tidy, 120-page edition, The Death Of Stalin tracks the dying days, and subsequent swift dismantling, of the Soviet Premier’s cult of personality. Writer Fabien Nury and artist Thierry Robin preface the book with a disclaimer, positioning their work as based on true events, but with some artistic licence, blaming evidence that was ‘at best patchy, at times partial, and often contradictory’. That said, though, no flight…

Details Writer: Stan Sakai Artist: Stan Sakai Publisher: Dark Horse Price: $17.99 Released: Out now You won’t find many recommendations to pick up the 31st volume in a long-running series, but Usagi Yojimbo isn’t your typical book. Due to its nature as a series made up of short, episodic stories, this is a rare comic that welcomes new readers despite running beyond 150 issues. Writer/artist Stan Sakai still finds intriguing titbits of Japanese history and mythology to spin into accessible, all-ages adventures starring his rabbit ronin, Miyamoto Usagi – and his expressive, uncoloured linework has never looked better. In this volume, set during an eventful rainy season, Usagi faces flash floods, flying ninjas and a fearsome painting at the heart of a set of murders. Like Hellboy, Usagi Yojimbo is…

“We love dark fantasy, things that are weird, things that aren’t normal,” says JoAnn Cox, administrator of the Shirley Jackson Awards. Cox, along with Paul Tremblay, Sarah Langan, F Brett Cox (no relation), and John Langan (also no relation) founded the awards back in 2007. Noticing that there were no juried awards for horror fiction, the five of them decided to create one, and after contacting Jackson’s estate for permission to use her name, the Shirley Jackson Awards were born, and they have become an essential signpost for anyone looking for a new favourite scary story. Presented each year at Readercon in Massachusetts, the awards recognise “outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic”. Or as Cox puts it, “the things that make you feel…

1 Silent Running (1972) Astronaut Freeman Lowell (Bruce Dern) attempts to preserve the only botanical specimen remaining from Earth on a spacecraft in Douglas Trumbull’s environmentally hinged drama. When he’s given orders to destroy the project, he takes matters into his own hands and embarks on a lonely journey… 2 Capricorn One (1977) Part of an intriguing wave of post-Watergate conspiracy theory thrillers, Peter Hyams (who would helmSpace Odyssey sequel 2010) created much tension out of the intriguing scenario that the first manned mission to Mars would in fact be faked to retain future government space funding. 3 Gravity (2013) Alfonso Cuaron’s suspense thriller concerns the grim consequences of heart-pumping survival following an accident that leaves two astronauts stranded in space, a place where we know no one can hear…

QUIDDITCH (HARRY POTTER) 1 The only Harry Potter concept that is actually cooler than Hogwarts is Quidditch – the Wizarding World’s broomstick-based sport. Well, it is a far sight better than Gobstones, at any rate. PODRACING (THE PHANTOM MENACE) 2 The Star Wars prequel films might have left a lot to be desired, but you would be pretty hard-pressed to find someone who didn’t leave the theatre wanting to give podracing a go for themselves. THE RUNNING MAN (THE RUNNING MAN) 3 If you ever watched Gladiators back in the Nineties on a Saturday evening but wished the threat element of it was far greater than simply being eliminated, then The Running Man is for you. DEATH RACE (DEATH RACE 2000) 4 Well, if you are going to have a…

Q. Who is your favourite genre villain? Jonathan Hatfull Editor A. Pennywise IT was the first Stephen King novel I ever read. Poor Georgie. He just wanted his boat back. Abigail Chandler Deputy Editor A. Joffrey Baratheon When it comes down to it, there’s nothing scarier than a spoiled brat with absolute power. Poppy-Jay Palmer Senior Staff Writer A. Ben Linus Sure, he was kind of good by the end of it, but his mind games in Season Two were fascinating. Marcus Faint Art Editor A. Adrian Veidt Cold, calculated and cunning. Plus that trait that all great villains have - believing their cause is just. Rachael Harper Sub Editor A. Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg Just one of many great Gary Oldman villains. It’s all about that hair flick!…

STRANGER THINGS SEASON TWO We were wondering when everyone’s favourite Eighties-loving addiction was going to unleash some artwork for its second season, and Stranger Things seriously did not disappoint. The Stephen King bicycles are still present and correct, but take a look at that blend of The Mist and Close Encounters up there in that big beautiful red sky! All hail the Demogorgon! SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING The posters for Spidey’s triumphant return to Marvel, or at least the MCU, have been such a baffling mixed bag, and this one is arguably the most confusing of them all. We can definitely see what they are going for in this poster, highlighting that this Peter Parker is very much in high school, but… really? THE LEGO NINJAGO MOVIE Nothing that the LEGO movies…

THERE ARE SOME BOOKS THAT YOU JUST HAVE TO ACCEPT WILL NEVER REACH THE BIG screen. You’ll see announcements made, filmmakers attached, optimistic plans for a franchise outlined, and then… nothing. For example, we still don’t think we’ll ever see a film of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman, no matter how many writers they throw at it (please do keep trying, though). We felt the same way about The Dark Tower for a long time. Stephen King’s epic fantasy series, which began in 1978 with The Gunslinger and fi nally concluded in 2004 (the 2012 novel The Wind Through The Keyhole is set somewhere between books four and five), is a sprawling beast of a series that understandably caught the imagination of several high-profile writers and directors, but somehow no one…

The central conflict in The Dark Tower may be between Roland Deschain and The Man In Black, but young Jake Chambers is at the heart of it all. We talked to star Tom Taylor about getting the part, working with Idris Elba and making Jake a strong lead What was the audition process like? I did a self-taped audition that I sent to the casting director in December, and then I found out I got the part in March. It was like five months! And in that period I did about eight auditions. I found it exciting, it was like one of those game shows. They kept saying: “That was great, can you do another one?” It was really fun, the adrenaline and nerves you get. Did you get input…

FILM - THE SHINING King doesn’t care for Kubrick’s 1980 film adaptation of his 1977 novel. Yet many regard it as seminal piece of cinema – including McConaughey. “I have always had tremendous pleasure watching Kubrick’s version of The Shining,” he says. BOOK - THE DARK TOWER McConaughey enjoyed The Dark Tower books: “I was never a big reader and I didn’t follow King’s work. I did check out all The Dark Tower books, though. It was fun. It was different from what I normally would read and it was a good investment of time.” FILM - MISERY People all over the world love the film version of Misery (1990). Even cartoon caperers Family Guy produced their own rendition. McConaughey is no different: “I love James Caan…

Sarit Klein’s been a part of The Defenders since the beginning. As head of the make-up department, she’s created the looks for the characters in each series, and now she’s ensuring they stand out as they come together. Was it important that each character still carried over the tone of their shows? Definitely. SJ Clarkson directed the first two episodes – she also directed the first two episodes of Jessica Jones, and she created this palette that even in the same scene you’ll have different colour palettes. If you turn to Jessica Jones it will be a different tone than when you turn to Luke Cage. I think she was trying to maintain that, and that was with my make-up as well. Knowing what colours are going to pop in…

IT STARTED AS A CONCEPT ON MARVEL’S AGENTS OF SHIELD. THEN IT BECAME A FILM, A CONTINUATION of the MCU. Then the film was cancelled and the idea disappeared completely. Now, finally, the Inhumans are making their way to both the big and small screens with a new TV series and a limited IMAX release. The band of superhuman beings first moved from the comic books to TV when it was revealed that expert hacker Skye was one of them in Season Two of Agents Of SHIELD, and they have been fighting to return in a solo capacity ever since. The new series, aptly named Inhumans, will revolve around the Inhuman Royal Family, made up of Black Bolt (Anson Mount), Medusa (Serinda Swan), Maximus (Iwan Rheon), Gorgon (Eme Ikwuakor), Crystal…

We’ve already discussed a lot of the ways in which Adam Wingard’s Death Note will be different to the original, but there’s one scene in particular that the filmmaker tells us he was sorry to lose. Fans of the anime will remember the moment when Light is under surveillance at home and is forced to find a way to write in the Death Note without being seen. The solution? A small camera hidden in a bag of crisps, and being ambidextrous. As the scene gets increasingly frenetic within the confines of the teenager’s bedroom, Light’s narration frantically declares: “I’ll take a potato chip… AND EAT IT!” “I think a lot of people will be upset that we don’t have that scene,” laughs Wingard. “And I’ll tell ya, I kept being…

We Are The Flesh This non-more-grimy Mexican festival favourite from 2016 finds a brother and sister seeking refuge from the post-apocalypse in the lair of a deeply grubby loner. It’s very well made, fiercely political, and decidedly confrontational. Spring On a much lighter note, Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead’s horror romance is the surprisingly sweet tale of an American tourist (Lou Taylor Pucci) who falls in love with a woman with a very unusual biological make-up. It’s Lovecraft meets Linklater. Possession A clear influence on the slippery sexuality of The Untamed, Andrzej Żu›awski’s strange and ferocious body horror is set in West Berlin and follows Sam Neill’s frantic husband as he tries to figure out what on earth is going on with his wife (Isabelle Adjani). Her lover is not…

DERRY (As seen in Stephen King’s It) There’s lots to do in this community; go on a tour of the ironworks, take one of the town’s canal walks, or explore the Barrens. Just steer clear of the Standpipe. HOBBITON (As seen in The Lord Of The Rings) The ‘party town of Middle-Earth’, Hobbiton is a hot spot to eat, drink and be merry. Expect firework displays when there’s a birthday, which is basically every day. THE ISLAND (As seen on Lost) What better way to get away than being stranded on a mysterious island? Sample the local cuisine (mangos and wild boar), explore the jungles and try not to let the existential dread set in. HOGSMEADE (As seen in Harry Potter) Located in the Scottish Highlands, Hogsmeade village is best…

Details 12A // 149 mins // Outnow Director Michael Bay Screenwriters Art Marcum, Matt Holloway, Ken Nolan Cast Mark Wahlberg, Laura Haddock, Anthony Hopkins, Josh Duhamel Distributor Paramount Transformers: The Last Knight makes no sense, but somehow still makes more sense than the previous film, Age Of Extinction. In almost only that sense, it is a success. There are glimmers of theoretically enjoyably daftness scattered throughout, but the trouble is there’s about ten different films crammed in: one about the hunt for an artefact that can destroy Earth but restore Cybertron; one about a legend-sceptic professor (Laura Haddock) discovering she’s related to Merlin; one where a Transformer dragon aids King Arthur; one where Bumblebee fights Nazis; a Decepticon riff on Suicide Squad; one where Michael Bay seems to just be…

Details 15 // 91 mins // Out now Director Trey Edward Shults Screenwriter Trey Edward Shults Cast Kelvin Harrison Jr, Joel Edgerton, Carmen Ejogo, Christopher Abbott, Riley Keogh Distributor Universal Every year there’s at least one film that is branded ‘not really a horror film’ and Trey Edward Shults’ follow-up to his acclaimed drama Krisha has had its genre credentials hotly contested. That discourse seems to overlook the fact that It Comes At Night is terrifying. This is absolutely a horror film, and it’s one that grips you tight and refuses to let go. Following an unknown event, Paul (Joel Edgerton) has taken his wife Sarah (Carmen Ejogo) and 17-year-old son Travis (Kelvin Harrison Jr) to a house in the woods. They don’t go outside without gas masks on and…

Details 15 // 90 mins // Outnow Director John R Leonetti Screenwriter Barbara Marshall Cast Joey King, Ryan Phillippe, Ki Hong Lee, Sydney Park, Shannon Purser Distributor Vertigo Releasing Everyone loves the old Monkey’s Paw story. Who doesn’t enjoy watching wish fulfilment come with a horrible sting in the tail? Add some elaborate Final Destination-style fatalities and Wish Upon sounds like it should be a whole lot of fun. However, with some woeful dialogue, poor characterisation and increasingly ludicrous plotting, this teen horror is certainly enjoyable, but possibly not in the way the filmmakers were going for. Joey King (Colin Hanks’ precocious daughter in Fargo and one of the haunted children in The Conjuring) stars as Clare Shannon, a good-hearted, hard working high schooler who has to put up with…

Details 15 // 86 mins // 2015 // VoD // Released Out now Director Nick Love Cast Stephen Dorff, Eddie Griffin, Bill Billions, Jonathan Billions, Andrea Cohen, Luis Da Silva Jr., Keena Ferguson Distributor Vertigo Releasing Ltd Fewer projects seem less likely than both a superhero film in the 2010s being led by Stephen Dorff and one of any era being written and directed by Nick Love, he of The Football Factory fame. Yet, somehow, not only do both of these exist, they are the same baffling movie. American Hero hardly fits the mould of usual superhero fare. Thanks to a budget reportedly under $1 million, it’s an inherently small-scale affair; it’s shot in a fourth wall-breaking mockumentary style, which here seems like lazy corner-cutting for exposition. Additionally, though its…

Details 15 // 97 mins // 2017 // // Released Out now Director Takanori Tsujimoto Cast Kevin Dorman, Matthew Mercer, Erin Cahill, John DeMita, Kari Whalgren Distributor Sony Pictures Home Entertainment The CGI animated Resident Evil franchise delivers its third instalment with Vendetta, which offers one or two enjoyably ludicrous action set-pieces but not much else. For newcomers, this series is aligned with the games, rather than the Milla Jovovich films, and follows regular heroes Chris Redfield and Leon S Kennedy as they set out to stop an arms dealer from unleashing the virus on New York City. While the quality of the motion-captured CG animation is wonderful (particularly the hair, you will spend a long time looking at how brilliant Leon’s fringe looks), the film is fairly lacklustre and…

Details 15 // 95 mins // 2016 // Released 14 August Director Michael O’Shea Cast Eric Ruffin, Chloe Levine, Aaron Cliften Moten, Larry Fessenden Distributor Thunderbird Releasing If vampires were real, would they be able to eat garlic and go out in the sun, or would they have to stick to all the traditional rules? For troubled teen Milo (Eric Ruffin), that’s a pretty important question. After the death of his mother, he thinks he might be a vamp. He’s just about figured out the blood-sucking part, but he’s still working on the rest when he meets fellow orphan Sophie (Chloe Levine), who introduces him to Twilight, and offers a potential way out of his impossible situation… The Transfi guration wears its influences on its sleeve: because Milo is obsessed…

Details 12 // 600 minutes // 2017 // Released Out now Creator Steven Moffat Cast Peter Capaldi, Pearl Mackie, Matt Lucas, Michelle Gomez Distributor 2entertain Steven Moffat and Peter Capaldi’s final full series in the TARDIS is over, and what a series it’s been, with the writer and star on their best form, boosted by newcomer Pearl Mackie’s fantastic performance as Bill Potts, delivering the best series of Who in quite some time. It got off to a tremendous start with the cannily named opener ‘The Pilot’ which introduced Bill and found The Doctor in his new, temporarily Earth-bound position as a lecturer at Bristol University. Acting as a kind of jumping-on point, it was not only a great introduction for newcomers; it was a genuinely affecting introduction to our new…

The first thing Terry Pratchett taught me about storytelling was that you could be both funny and clever at the same time. I read Wyrd Sisters first in the early Nineties, and it was a transformative experience. Never before had I come across anything that lit up so many parts of my brain at once: the Shakespeare nerd, the fantasy enthusiast, the bit of me that wanted, and wants, to be made to think while being entertained. First and foremost Pratchett is a storyteller, but his books are not individual tales of people doing things; there are layers of nuance and meaning interwoven with and soaked into the plot. His writing is funny not because he is being funny, but because humour in the abstract consists largely of a sense…

1. The Belgariad “The Belgariad series by David Eddings. Would love to see turned into series of movies on the big screen. Would be awe-inspiring. #BookClub” @safcinexile 2. Various “The Fireman by @joe_hill, The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet by @ beckysaysrawr and The Straight Razor Cure by @DanielPolansky. All would make excellent films. #BookClub” @ClaphamPingu 3. His Majesty’s Dragon “Naomi Novak. Any of the Temeraire novels. #BookClub” @cdone1964 “IT’S CHILLINGLY CLOSE TO REALITY” 4. A Darker Shade Of Magic “@veschwab‘s A Darker Shade Of Magic, it has wide scope and who doesn’t love magic. #BookClub” @Cascararogue 5. My Best Friend’s Exorcism “My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix. Directed by Karyn Kusama! We need more good films about female friendships! @CoconutBoots…

“Johannes Cabal And The Fear Institute by @ JonathanLHoward . I’ve read the first two books and loved them. Love all the Lovecraft references! Some subtle humour too. #BookClub” @MrsHirez “Just started House Of Chains and it’s making me wish I didn’t have a job to do (God bless the kindle app and long toilet breaks). #BookClub” @HamSpanner “Reading Green Earth by Kim Stanley Robinson. Loving every blooming page. Can’t recommend highly enough. #BookClub” @TheCorvidArcher “Little Boy Found by L K Fox pseudonym for @ Peculiar. Highly addictive page turner. Work is currently stopping me from reading last 20 pages. #BookClub” @Bcallar67 “Leviathan Wakes. After the exceptional TV series I had to read the books! Surprising what was added to TV. Loving it though! #BookClub” @Craigsg1 “Shadowshaper by Daniel José…

Details Author: Angus Watson Publisher: Orbit Price: £8.99 Released: Out now A group of brave Vikings set sail for the New World, but when they get there they are confined to a small patch of land, given food, drink and drugs and ignored for a hundred years by the local Native Americans. Life for the Hardworkers is anything but – years of not having to fend for themselves has made them lazy. Finnbogi is an average teenager who’s desperate for a chance to prove himself but the massacre of his people isn’t the opportunity he had in mind. When the majority of Hardwork is slaughtered, a small band of survivors heads west under the guidance of an eight-year-old mute. What could possibly go wrong? This unusual group ventures into the…

“I LIKE THE FEELING OF OFFERING READERS SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT” “While I was working on The Rift I used to refer to it as ‘my alien abduction novel’, because that is how it started out, but again that might be misleading for some readers,” author Nina Allan tells us. “I would say that it is a novel about two sisters coming to terms with a crisis… with added aliens.” Allan’s follow-up to her acclaimed debut novel The Race is tricky to define. It follows Selena, a woman whose sister Julie disappeared when they were teenagers. Decades later, Julie suddenly calls her and asks to meet, and when she tells Selena that she has been on an alien planet called Tristane, it is a stunning revelation that could tear them…

Details Writer: Fabian Rangel Jr. Artist: Alexis Ziritt Publisher: Black Mask Studios Price: £10.12 Released: Out now Alexis Ziritt’s superlative art is an enthralling mix of Jack Kirby at his most out-of-this-world, with a heady assortment of influences from tattoo art and graffiti to heavy metal album covers and b-movie sci-fi. Our hero is Captain – sorry, Capitan – Peligro of the Skullship Santa Muerte. Once betrayed and left for dead, Peligro is back in the ranks of the Space Riders, venturing the galaxy in search of justice and cosmic enlightenment with his crew consisting of First Mate Mono the anthropomorphic mandrill and cybernetic refugee Yara. Along the way, they come across space whales, GWAR-like vikers (that’s viking bikers) and robot imperialists – and end up on the trail of…

 Readers of The New Yorker weren’t prepared for what they were about to read when they opened the 26 June, 1948 edition of the magazine. Nestled within its pages was a short story – just over 3,000 words long – that would prompt them to write, in their droves, to demand an explanation. What did it mean? Was it true? And who did this Shirley Jackson think she was, anyway? “SHE HAD A CREATIVE GENIUS SHE COULDN’T SUPPRESS”RUTH FRANKLIN The story that caused all the controversy was The Lottery. Set in an unnamed village somewhere in America, it depicts a community carrying out a time-honoured ritual. Once a year, on 27 June, all the townspeople come together to draw lots from a battered old box. Whoever picks the paper marked…

NEIL GAIMAN Gaiman cites We Have Always Lived In The Castle as one of his favourites, calling it “a strange novel that lives on the border of fantasy without ever crossing it.” He’s also won two Shirley Jackson Awards, for STORIES and The Truth Is A Cave In The Black Mountains. STEPHEN KING In Danse Macabre, King describes the first paragraph of The Haunting Of Hill House as “the sort of quiet epiphany every writer hopes for.” He’s also a big fan of the way Jackson makes Hill House itself a character in the story. Kind of like the Overlook hotel in The Shining. OZ PERKINS It’s not difficult to read Jackson’s influence in the unsettling atmosphere of Perkins’s films, and their subject matter (mostly young women slowly losing their…

1 Check-mate Disguised as a segment of black-and-white check tile flooring, the T-1000 looms up from the ground into his liquid metal self behind a luckless security guard at a vending machine. Then he mimics his form. Creepy and weird. 2 Chest-burster In the steel mill, Schwarzenegger delivers a body blow to the T-1000, firing a rocket to the chest which leaves Patrick’s Terminator split in two and his head hanging by a thread. 3 Blade runner. Taking over the body of John Connor’s foster mother, the T-1000 reaches out an arm… and the camera pans to reveal the hand has mutated into a blade, lancing his foster father through the mouth. 4 Shattered dreams Coated in liquid nitrogen, the T-1000 slowly freezes, limbs splintering as it tried to walk.…

“Though dated now, it does have something to say about the attraction of violence in sport and corruption behind it.” @ParsonsFiction “Good story, lots of action and a good performance from James Caan.” @fl tsteve “Although a little dated in its depiction of the future, the action holds up, as well as James Caan’s performance.” @fburn1 “One of Caan’s better fi lms, I remember it being the most brutal fi lm I’d seen at the time. I was 9 when I fi rst watched it though.” @STBwrites “Loved it. Still do.” @cdone1964 “Thought it was a fantastic fi lm! Loved it.” @ RichardDeakin1 “I think it’s undeniably a great fi lm. And you can’t beat that poster tagline: ‘...But there will be ROLLERBALL.’” @craigimann “I dunno, it’s not as good…

MAX (MAD MAX) He might be a little surly and tough to get on side, but he’ll always come through. Eventually. FURIOSA (MAD MAX: FURY ROAD) We love Max, but we couldn’t choose between him and Furiosa. Hard as nails, a great driver and relentless. FRANKENSTEIN (DEATH RACE 2000) With the world gone to hell and gory car chases being the national sport, the masked man will win it every time. EDEN SINCLAIR (DOOMSDAY) When you absolutely have to get out of Scotland with a plague vaccine and you’re being chased by cannibals to the sounds of Frankie Goes To Hollywood, call Major Sinclair. MILTON (DRIVE ANGRY) Okay, so it’s not technically a post-apocalypse movie, but Nic Cage’s character literally drove out of Hell to find the Satanic cult that…

Welcome to Memory Bank, the corner of the magazine where we reach into the SciFiNow archives and reach out whatever issue we happen to touch first. This month, we’re going…actually not all that far back to 2014 for issue 94. With Caesar’s final journey in cinemas now in War For The Planet of the Apes, it seems rather appropriate to look back at Matt Reeves’ first time behind the camera for the Apes franchise, as Caesar and his clan desperately struggled to peacefully co-exist with the surviving humans. “We’re seeing the dawn of apes,” he told us at the time. “I just thought that would be incredibly exciting. It would also be terrifying to watch because they’re so primal, but then we get into their souls and start to connect…

In 2007 Stephen King was so impressed by JJ Abrams that he sold him the rights for a symbolic $19. But the tower failed to materialise, with Abrams hinting it was down to the pressure of adapting King’s opus. Damon Lindelof was also mooted, but in an interview with C21 Media said: “The idea of taking on something that massive again after having done six seasons of Lost is intimidating and slightly frightening, to say the least.” In early 2011 the rights moved over to Universal (for substantially more than $19) and Ron Howard was to tell the story over three films and two TV seasons, with Javier Bardem, Viggo Mortensen and Russell Crowe in his sights. However, Universal eventually dropped the project due to budgetary concerns. In October 2011…

MEET HEIMDALL Warrior-god and guardian of the Rainbow Bridge in Asgard. Keen senses, sharp dresser, has a very, very big sword. MEET KRALL Star Trek villain, athletic build, enjoys beings with lots of energy and not fussed about species. Tech nerd. MEET STACKER PENTECOST PPDC Marshal, a natural leader, motivational speaker, looking for strong commitment. MEET IDRIS JANEK Captain of the USCSS Prometheus. Enjoys long walks along the bridge, playing the accordion, Stephen Stills songs. Appreciates leggy blonds. MEET MOREAU Boozy French warrior monk with a questionable accent but impressive fighting skills. Proud to be ludicrous in the face of ludicrous people.…

MATTHEW MURDOCK  Alias: Daredevil Known associates: Karen Page, Foggy Nelson, Stick, Elektra Natchios (deceased), Claire Temple, Frank Castle Noted enemies: Wilson Fisk, aka The Kingpin Base of operations: Nelson And Murdock law firm Notes: Don’t be fooled by the glasses and the cane. Matthew Murdock’s loss of sight has been offset by very heightened senses and he has incredible martial arts training to boot. Stir in a nice, healthy dose of Catholic guilt and a rather keen sense of justice, and you have got the one-man army who has been putting the absolute fear of God into the bad guys of Hell’s Kitchen. Murdock is currently taking a bit of a break from the superheroics after defeating the Hand’s representative but unfortunately also losing Elektra in the process, not to…

Originally a mascot for a Boston-area comic book chain, The Tick was created by 18-year-old cartoonist Ben Edlund. The character first appeared in New England Comics Newsletter #14 in 1986, eventually appearing in a black-and-white comic book series with a first issue released in June of 1988. In 1994, the Fox Network green-lit a Saturday morning animated series, written and co-produced by Edlund. The series lasted three seasons, but thanks to repeats on Comedy Central, it became a cult success with adults. Fox debuted a live action TV series in 2001, also written and produced by Edlund. Starring Patrick (Seinfeld) Warburton in the lead role, and Nestor Carbonell as Arthur, the series proved to be short-lived, only lasting nine episodes, but a subsequent DVD release included several ‘missing’ episodes. The…

MANGA 2003-2006 (EPILOGUE 2008) Written by: Tsugumi Ohba Illustrator: Takeshi Obata Published in: Weekly Shounen Jump First English language appearance: 2005 ANIME 2006-2007 Directed by: Tetsuro Araki Studio: Madhouse Episodes: 37 Network: Nippon Television TV Specials: 2007 (Visions Of A God). LIVE-ACTION MOVIE DEATH NOTE (2006) Directed by: Shusuke Kaneko Written by: Tetsuya Oishi Live-action, feature-length adaptation starring Tatsuya Fujiwara and Kenichi Matsuyama. It was a huge box-office success in Japan. DEATH NOTE 2: THE LAST NAME (2006) Directed by: Shusuke Kaneko Written by: Tetsuya Oishi Light joins the hunt for Kira and begins a relationship with Misa (Erika Toda). L: CHANGE THE WORLD (2008) Directed by: Hideo Nakata Written by: Tsugumi Ohba, Takeshi Obata, Hirotoshi Kobayashi Hideo Nakata came on board for this, which attempted to show a more…

WHEN WE SIT DOWN WITH LUC BESSON IN LONDON, THE FILMAKER BEHIND Leon, The Fifth Element and Nikita is wearing the T-shirt of his latest fi lm, Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets, and his excitement is understandable. We’ve just seen a nearly-finished cut of a film he’s dreamed of making since his childhood. “I was ten and there’s this comic book called Pilote, it was a weekly magazine,” he enthuses. “My dad gave it to me, and inside you have two pages ofAsterix, two pages of Lucky Luc, Bilal and, for the first time, two pages of Valerian. I saw the two first pages and I said ‘WOAH!’ And then I waited every week to get my comic book; I was waiting for the adventure of Laureline and…

FILM INFO Released Out now Certifi cate 12A Director Matt Reeves Screenwriters Matt Reeves, Mark Bomback Cast Andy Serkis, Woody Harrelson, Steve Zahn, Karin Konoval, Terry Notary Distributor 20th Century Fox Running Time 140 mins It seems to be one of the most widely shared ‘niche’ opinions that the rebooted Planet Of The Apes series has been one of blockbuster cinema’s best franchises in recent memory. That reputation will be further cemented by this superb third instalment, which puts Caesar (Andy Serkis) front and centre for an emotional and gruelling journey. Director Matt Reeves and his co-writer Mark Bomback have clearly always been more interested in the apes than the people. After opening by following a group of human soldiers launching an attack on an ape forest stronghold, the film…

Details 15 // 109 mins // 11August Director David F Sandberg Screenwriter Gary Dauberman Cast Talitha Bateman, Lulu Wilson, Stephanie Sigman, Anthony LaPaglia, Miranda Otto Distributor Warner Bros Following on from Oujia: Origin Of Evil’s nifty trick of overcoming a terrible predecessor to deliver a solid horror movie, Annabelle: Creation takes a similar route with a period prequel that ramps up the scares. Director David F Sandberg has proven that he’s capable of making audiences jump out of their skin with Lights Out, and here he delivers an accomplished chiller with nods from everything from Hitchcock to Goosebumps. It’s the Fifties, and a girls’ orphanage is relocating to a big house in the middle of nowhere owned by master doll maker Samuel Mullins (Anthony LaPaglia) and his wife (Miranda Otto).…

Details 15 // 137 mins // 2017 // // Released Out now Director James Mangold Cast Hugh Jackman, Dafne Keen, Boyd Holbrook, Patrick Stewart Distributor Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Hot on the tyre tracks of Mad Max: Fury Road in monochrome, director James Mangold releases his high-contrast black-and-white version of Logan, this year’s box-office and critical hit starring Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. This version exists partly because the film’s fans, on seeing Mangold’s black-and-white set photography, clamoured for the same treatment of the movie itself, and the director readily agreed that his images would look particularly striking in this format: “It makes the new feel old again,” he said at a special screening at the Alamo Drafthouse in Brooklyn. But why would the creatives and studio want to hark…

Details 12 // 118 mins // 2017 // Released Out now Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts Cast Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L Jackson, John Goodman, Brie Larson, John C Reilly Distributor Warner Home VideoEntertainment Kong: Skull Island isn’t too far removed from most other King Kong stories, but its setting gives it its own identity. Taking place just after the end of the Vietnam war, the US government hires a crew of soldiers, trackers, scientists and a war photographer to venture out on an expedition to map the mysterious Skull Island, but they end up getting more than they bargained for. The inclusion of the Vietnam War brings with it a killer soundtrack and some gorgeous visuals. The story isn’t complex – it’s almost entirely action and one-liners – but it’s entertaining. Some…

Details 15 // 115 mins // 2001 // // Released Out now Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa Cast Haruhiko Kato, Kumiko Aso, Koyuki, Kurume Arisaka Distributor Arrow Video Given that it deals with the fear of who might be watching from the other end of your dial-up internet connection, it’s pretty impressive how little Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s J-horror classic Pulse (Kairo) has actually aged. Released in 2001, it follows two young people as they separately uncover a growing supernatural threat. The dead are watching us from our monitors, and they want to come through… Kiyoshi’s film taps into urban legend fears early on as computer illiterate Ryosuke (Haruhiko Kato) gets an eerie message asking: ‘Do you want to meet a ghost?’ before being shown footage of the lonely dead. As these presences start…

Details PG // 161 mins // 1979 Released Out now Director Andrei Tarkovsky Cast Alexander Kaidanovsky, Anatoli Solonitsyn, Nikolai Grinko, Alisa Freindlikh, Natasha Abramova Distributor Criterion Stalker opens with two shots: a bar opening; and the ‘Stalker’ (Alexander Kaidanovsky) awake besides his wife (Alisa Freindlich) and their crippled daughter ‘Monkey’ (Natasha Abramova). Although his wife begs him to stay with his family in normal, licit employment, Stalker heads out once more to guide paying clients into a forbidden Zone where the normal rules of time and space do not apply, and to the Room said to grant people their deepest desire. From the bar, Stalker picks up ‘Writer’ (Anatoli Solonitsyn) and ‘Professor’ (Nikolai Grinko) – anonyms used to conceal their identity, but also to mark their archetypal nature in a…

Details 12 // 432 mins // 2017 // // Released Out now Creator Carlton Cuse, Kerry Ehrin, Anthony Cipriano Cast Freddie Highmore, Vera Farmiga, Max Thieriot, Olivia Cooke, Nestor Carbonell Distributor Amazon Video Even after the spectacularly shocking Season Four finale, Bates Motel Season Five somehow tops it with its premiere episode, and then keeps going at full pelt for another nine episodes. It’s disgusting, it’s disturbing and it’s delicious. In short, Season Five is the send off we truly deserve. Bates Motel struggled a little towards the start, with Seasons One, Two and Three teetering in and out of consciousness most weeks; the scenes featuring Norman and Norma Bates (Freddie Highmore and Vera Farmiga) have always been enthralling, but whenever plot points like White Pine Bay’s local politics took…

It’s remarkably difficult to come up with a single Pratchett book I can call my favourite, because I love them all for different reasons, but The Amazing Maurice And His Educated Rodents is a perfect example of why I love Pratchett. It’s a riff on a well-known story; it’s an exploration of what it means to be a person, even if that person is a rat; it’s funny as hell; it lampshades story tropes even while employing them – his wry self-awareness is one of my absolute favourite qualities – and a vein of darkly delicious horror runs all the way through.…

 Details Author: JD Barker Publisher: HQ Price: £12.99 Released: Out now “BARKER LOOKS UNDER THE SUNNY SURFACE AND DELIVERS SOME POWERFUL SHOCKS” The wicked are brutally punished in JD Barker’s fast-paced serial killer thriller, which flits between the detectives hunting a notorious murderer in a race against time and the childhood memories of the psychopath with a twisted sense of good and evil. The Four Monkey Killer was named after his three monkey “see no evil…” calling card, and he suddenly emerges after a long period of silence by jumping in front of a city bus. A dead serial killer is good news, right? Except that he’s just taken a new victim, and it’s up to detective Sam Porter and his team to find the missing girl before it’s too…

“THIS SEQUEL GETS TO DIVE DEEPER INTO THE SUPERNATURAL WORLD” Details Author: Maria Lewis Publisher: Piatkus Price: £8.99 Released: Out now Maria Lewis’s blue-haired Scottish werewolf Tommi Grayson returns in this hugely entertaining sequel to the author’s supernatural sensation Who’s Afraid? After discovering her werewolf heritage and losing two of the people she cared the most about, Tommi is trying to take some time alone to get herself together. However, the next stage of her training awaits and her guardian/inconvenient love interest Lorcan takes her to Berlin to meet a group of lycanthropes who are much friendlier than Tommi’s family. It’s all going well, so naturally an ancient evil rears its head in the city and it’s going to take everything they’ve got to take out this horror… if they…

 Details Author: Nina Allan Publisher: Titan Books Price: £7.99 Released: Out now “THE SHEER AMBITION AT WORKALMOST CREEPS UP ON YOU AND IT’S ABSOLUTELY COMPELLING” Nina Allan’s follow-up to The Race is a tricky one to categorise. It’s the story of a disappearance and the impact it has on a family, and then what happens when that person returns with an unbelievable story. Selena’s life was forever changed when her older sister Julie vanished as a teenager. She has drifted through life somewhat in the subsequent years, but when Julie calls out of the blue, everything changes. Julie says that she suddenly found herself on the alien planet of Tristane, and was told by the inhabitants that she had always lived there. The details that Julie provides are incredibly convincing,…

The Time Machine was possibly the first adult science fiction novel I read, and what I loved about it particularly was the sense of disjuncture – one minute you’re in a comfortable Victorian drawing room, the next you’re running from Morlocks with a forest burning down around your ears. I was also captivated by – I guess you could say I identified with – the Time Traveller’s sense of frustration at not being believed. The Time Machine is still very important to me and I reread it regularly. Roadside Picnic taught me all kinds of things about structure, about ways of telling a story. I also love the theme of alien incursion into Earthly normality. Again, this is a book I still care about very deeply. Thinking about the themes…

Details Writer: Katie Skelly Artist: Katie Skelly Publisher: Fantagraphics Price: $19.99 Released: 31 August A playful riff on vampire tropes, My Pretty Vampire is a colourful collision of Euroarthouse, pop and exploitation influences. Clover – a character perfectly suited for Belle de jourera Catherine Deneuve – breaks free of her brother’s custody and makes a beeline for the big city and its myriad distractions, delights and dangerous urges. Here, the horror genre is a rich vein of sensual, sexual associations for Skelly to sink her teeth into, and My Pretty Vampire plays better as a stylish, surreal study of desire than a bloodbath – although there’s plenty of the red stuff in here, too. Skelly’s talents shine through strongest in her colouring and page layouts, from striking, minimalist block backgrounds…

In April, Netflix announced it was producing a ten-part adaptation of The Haunting Of Hill House, to be directed by Mike Flanagan. It’s hard to imagine a better director to take on the challenge. He’s already demonstrated – in Oculus, Absentia, and Ouija: Origin Of Evil – the kind of sensitivity and cleverness the project requires. Here, he tells us what it is that appeals to him about Jackson’s writing: What was your first encounter with Shirley Jackson’s writing? I read The Haunting Of Hill House first – I was a rabid Stephen King fan, and he had written about how influential that novel was for him, so I sought it out. What I remember most about reading her for the first time was how taken I was with her…

MIKE FLANAGAN Flanagan is currently working on adapting The Haunting Of Hill House for Netflix, but he admits it’s possible to draw a straight line from Jackson’s novel to his 2013 psychological horror Oculus – which also sees a young woman drawn back to a house in which terrible things have happened. DONNA TARTT The Secret History was inspired by the disappearance of Paula Jean Welden, a student at Bennington College and which also inspired Jackson’s novel Hangsaman. As a Bennington student herself, Tartt couldn’t escape Jackson’s influence, which can be heard in Tartt’s work. TIM POWERS Sci-fi writer Powers talked about his appreciation of Jackson when he presented the 2015 Shirley Jackson Awards and you can tell he’d read We Have Always Lived In The Castle before writing Medusa’s…

 It’s 2057 and our sun is dying. Humanity’s last hope remains with a crew of eight astronauts onboard the international spacecraft Icarus II. Their mission: to restart the sun with a nuclear payload the size of Manhattan Island. And to paraphrase a line from the movie, uttered by Chris Evans’ Mace: “There is literally nothing more important than completing that mission. End of story.” “ON SET WE JUST LIVED AND BREATHED THE ROLES AS DANNY WANTED TO CREATE THE REALISM”HIROYUKI SANADA “The principle… that’s the thing that is keeping us all alive and that we’re all completely dependent on, is in jeopardy [is] the maximum vulnerability you can ever imagine for mankind,” considers director Danny Boyle during the DVD commentary to his 2007 space odyssey. The stakes are indeed high…

“CORPORATE SOCIETY TAKES CARE OF EVERYTHING. AND ALL IT ASKS OF ANYONE, ALL IT’S EVER ASKED OF ANYONE EVER, IS NOT TO INTERFERE WITH MANAGEMENT DECISIONS.” BARTHOLOMEW “THIS WASN’T MEANT TO BE A GAME. NEVER.” RUSTY “IT’S LIKE PEOPLE HAD A CHOICE A LONG TIME AGO BETWEEN HAVING ALL THEM NICE THINGS OR FREEDOM. OF COURSE, THEY CHOSE COMFORT.” JONATHAN E “LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WILL YOU STAND PLEASE FOR THE PLAYING OF THE CORPORATE HYMN.” ANNOUNCER “THERE IS NO BRAIN WAVE AT ALL. NO SORT OF CONSCIOUSNESS. JUST A DEEP COMA. A VEGETABLE. NO DREAMS. NOTHING.” DOCTOR “DON’T TRY TO FRIGHTEN ’ ME, YOU ” DON T KNOW HOW. JONATHAN E “WHAT DO YOU WANT BOOKS FOR? LOOK JOHNNY, IF YOU WANNA LEARN SOMETHING, JUST GET A CORPORATE TEACHER TO…

TO HELLMOUTH AND BACK 1. Which high school do Buffy, Willow and Xander attend? 2. What is the name of the seal that acts as the gateway to the Hellmouth in Buffy’s hometown? 3. What is the name of the cult formed by an all-female race of demons that succeeded in opening the Hellmouth? 4. Where is the only known Hellmouth outside of the United States located? 5. Which creatures are also largely referred to as ‘übervamps’? WHAT’S NEW? 6. What collective name does Buffy’s core group of friends go by? 7. Who was Willow attempting to re-soul when she was first introduced to the forces of magic? 8. What character was the treasurer for the ‘We Hate Cordelia Club’? 9. What is Buffy’s home address in Sunnydale? 10. What…