Innholdsfortegnelse for No. 137 i SciFi Now

So, the days are getting shorter, the nights are drawing in, and the cold weather and rain is making its return… While this may be sad news for anyone who enjoys eating lunch outside, the arrival of autumn is always something of a thrill. No, not just because of Halloween (although we’re obviously excited about that), but because this is when we say goodbye to the bloated blockbusters of summer and say hello to awards season movies and the new seasons of our favourite TV shows. Admittedly, the game was somewhat changed this year thanks to Game Of Thrones and Twin Peaks playing through the summer, and by several of the season’s biggest films looking like strong contenders for top ten lists at the year’s end (Wonder Woman and War…

THERE’S A JOKER ORIGIN FILM COMING But here’s the twist: it won’t star Jared Leto. Todd Phillips, Scott Silver and Martin Scorsese are teaming up to bring the beginning of the Joker’s story, but it will be under a brand-new, yet-to-be-named banner that Warner Bros is planning on using to expand a number of DC properties. BLACK ADAM SOLO FILM, ANYONE? Dwayne Johnson has been attached to Shazam! (as anti-hero Black Adam) for a good while but, as it turns out, Warner Bros has decided to go in another direction with the character. The Rock is still game, but instead of co-starring in Shazam’s story, he’ll be getting his own solo film later down the line. THE BATMAN IS PART OF THE DCEU This may seem pretty obvious, but there…

The BFI London Film Festival is back, bringing amazing new films from all around the world to cinemas across the city from 4-15 October. The line-up for sci-fi, fantasy and horror looks particularly strong this year, and here are our choices for what you can’t afford to miss. 1 THE SHAPE OF WATER Guillermo del Toro returns with his Cold War-set monster love story. Sally Hawkins plays a mute cleaning woman who falls for the Creature From The Black Lagoon-esque creature (Doug Jones) that’s being held captive in a government lab. The supporting cast is ace (Michael Shannon, Octavia Spencer, Richard Jenkins) and early word suggests that this is one of del Toro’s very best. 2 DOWNSIZING A unique way to solve the problem of overpopulation has been found in…

THOR: RAGNAROK The latest poster for Thor: Ragnarok incorporates everything we loved about the film’s trailers: it’s extremely bright, loud, brash and absolutely packed to the rafters with excellent actors. It matches the colourful, in-your-face trailers perfectly. There’s even a cheeky little smirking Jeff Goldblum on the right there if you squint ever so slightly. In fact, we really can’t decide who looks the most badass in this poster. Everyone looks like they mean business. It’s also got a bit of a cooler-than-you retro feel to it, which we love, especially with the font used for the title, which is director Taika Waititi all over. This poster really doesn’t help sate our excitement for Marvel’s latest instalment to the franchise; bring on 26 October. STRANGER THINGS Technically Stranger Things doesn’t…

THOR: RAGNAROK Asgard Will Rock 66 WHEN SCIFINOW VISITED THE SET OF THOR: RAGNAROK, IT WAS DAY 66 OF AN 84-DAY SHOOT. 17 Thor: Ragnarok is the 17th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Up next is Black Panther in 2018. 2500 THE COSTUME DEPARTMENT CREATED 2500 OUTFITS FOR THE MOVIE. 9 ALL NINE SOUND STAGES AT AUSTRALIA’S VILLAGE ROADSHOW STUDIOS WERE RENTED FOR THE FILM SHOOT. 4 FOUR OF THE MAMMOTH SOUND STAGES WERE USED FOR FILMING. ONE WAS USED AS A WARDROBE WAREHOUSE AND ANOTHER FOR STUNT TRAINING. 12 A TOTAL OF 12 COSTUMES ARE MADE FOR EACH MAJOR CHARACTER’S LOOK. SIX FOR THE ACTOR, AND SIX FOR A STUNT DOUBLE. EST. 1962 THE CHARACTER OF THOR FIRST APPEARED IN MARVEL COMICS IN 1962. 40 CHRIS HEMSWORTH SPENDS…

THERE ARE 35 YEARS BETWEEN BLADE RUNNER AND ITS EVENTUAL FOLLOW- up. The sequel has been in development in one form or another for 18 years. It’s fair to say that Blade Runner 2049 isn’t your average sequel, rushed out to cash in on the original film’s success. It’s been a long, leisurely process of Ridley Scott and co getting their ducks in a row – ducks that include returning star Harrison Ford, new leading man Ryan Gosling (in his first sci-fi role) and the Oscar-nominated director of Arrival, Denis Villeneuve. The film sees Gosling’s Blade Runner, Officer K, working with Ford’s Deckard to bring down Jared Leto’s Niander Wallace, a replicant manufacturer with nefarious plans. Or, at least, that’s what we think is going on. This is Blade Runner,…

1 Matt Damon plays a botanist who gets stranded on Mars in Ridley Scott’s adaptation of Andy Weir’s novel The Martian. Presumed dead he sets up a home for himself by using his mad gardening skills to grow potatoes and source water. He’s out there alone for around 550 sols which is about a year and a half in Earth days before a plan is hatched to get him home. 2 Duncan Jones impressed audiences with his debut feature Moon in 2009. Sam Rockwell starred as a man on a lone three-year mission transporting fuel back to Earth in 2035. However, after an accident Sam discovers clones of himself. Spending an eternity alone in a repetitive cycle he learns that sometimes the hardest thing to face is yourself. 3 In…

TV SERIES BASED ON CLASSIC MOVIES ARE EVERYWHERE. FROM HANNIBAL AND Bates Motel to Fargo and Ash Vs Evil Dead, we’re used to this process. We’ve seen that they can work and we’ve accepted that these adaptations do not automatically count as sacrilege. But we have to say, we were worried about The Exorcist. Sure, we’ve had sequels and prequels of varying quality, but could William Peter Blatty’s story really work as a TV show? Thankfully, Jeremy Slater’s update turned out to be a chilling delight. With Ben Daniels and Alfonso Herrera as a pair of troubled priests fighting an ancient attacking Geena Davis’ family, it was scary, atmospheric and it created its own mythology while working within the established framework. To put it another way, we could breathe easy…

CRIME THE LEGO CITY MOVIE With a broad range of LEGO City sets at the company’s disposal, a LEGO City Movie could go in any direction. We vote it takes a closer look at its police sets for a buddy cop film because why not? ACTION THE LEGO CAR MOVIE We can’t be the only ones who would quite like to see the spotlight turned on LEGO’s vehicles for a Fast And Furious-esque action movie. Though we would need both Vin Diesel and The Rock to be a part of it somehow. WESTERN THE LEGO COWBOY MOVIE If there’s one thing almost everyone can get behind, it’s a good, old-fashioned comedy western, and after that one scene in The LEGO Movie we reckon the franchise could pull off a whole…

THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE (1961) In this British apocalyptic thriller, the Soviet Union and United States both carry out nuclear weapon tests, triggering a global heatwave and knocking the Earth out of its orbit towards the sun. WATERWORLD (1995) Kevin Costner becomes a web-footed dirt-trader in this insanely ambitious post-apocalyptic thriller set in a world where the polar ice caps have all melted, leaving most of the world underwater. TANK GIRL (1995) Things go the other way in Rachel Talalay’s adaptation of Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett’s post-apocalyptic comic: here, a decade-long drought turns water, not dirt, into the world’s most precious commodity. THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW (2004) After Dennis Quaid’s paleoclimatologist tries and fails to warn the authorities, a disruption of temperature regulating ocean currents sets off…

Details 15 // 94 mins // 13 October Director David Bruckner Screenwriters Joe Barton Cast Rafe Spall, Robert James-Collier, Arsher Ali, Sam Troughton Distributor Entertainment One Rafe Spall turns in an emotionally engaging performance in this loose adaptation of Adam Nevill’s horror novel directed by David Bruckner and written by Joe Barton. Spall really makes you feel his character, Luke’s pain, fear and grief during and after he witnesses the brutal murder of a close friend. The swift opener is truly chilling. We then meet Luke six months later making the long, arduous journey up The Kings Trail in Sweden with three mates to honour his dear friend. Guilt, blame and the worries of middle-aged male life viciously attack the group as they take a shortcut through a treacherous forest…

Details 15 // 117 mins // 1982 // // Released Out now Director Ridley Scott Cast Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos Distributor Warner Bros Home Entertainment At this point you almost certainly own several versions of Blade Runner on Blu-ray and DVD, but if any film merits a 4K upgrade, it’s surely Ridley Scott’s incredible vision of the future. It’s still the template for pretty much every neo-noir sci-fi, rewards repeat viewings and prompts endless debate. While the visuals are as stunning as ever, the melancholy heart of the film is what really shines through upon revisiting, as Deckard’s world-weariness is matched by the dangerous and determinedly alive spirit of Roy Batty For anyone who already owns the Dangerous Days documentary and alternate cuts, you can…

Details 12 // 88 mins // 2017 // // Released Out now Director Sarik Andreasyan Cast Anton Pampushny, Sebastien Sisak, Sanzhar Madiyev, Alina Lanina, Valeriya Shkirando Distributor Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Russian superhero fi lm Guardians picked up a fair bit of interest when its trailer was released and seemed to feature a character who was half-bear. The bad news is that it’s not a particularly good film, but the good news is that there is definitely a heroic bear-man in it, named Arsus (Anton Pampushny). He and three other heroes with slightly more conventional powers (like controlling rocks, invisibility and speed…) are recruited by the military after years in hiding to hunt down the mad scientist who helped to create them after he turns himself into a muscle-bound monster…

Details 15 // 99 mins // 2017 // • // Released Out now Director Mamoru Hosoda Cast Frederick Koehler, Sean Patrick Flanery, Brianna Brown Distributor Screenbound Pictures This strange psychological horror from the late oil tycoon heir Andrew Getty has a fascinating back story. Fifteen years in the making, the film was finally pieced together by editor and producer Michael Lucceri after the writer and director had passed away from an ulcer due to the lasting effects of his meth addiction. His obsessive passion project was inspired by terrifying recurring nightmares he’d been suffering from and has a lot in common with cult flick Jacob’s Ladder (lead actor Frederick Koehler bears a distinct resemblance to Tim Robbins) and is clearly influenced by David Lynch’s body of work, particularly Mulholland Drive.…

Details 18 // 80 mins // 2017 // // Released 2 October Director Dominic Bridges Cast Mim Sheikh, Javier Botet, Mandeep Dillon, Michael McKell, Kola Bokinni Distributor Precision Pictures “Who else lives here?” Mel (Mandeep Dillon) asks her boyfriend Hussein (Mim Sheikh) sarcastically, as he keeps insisting that he is not responsible for things happening in the apartment where they have started living together. Dominic Bridges’ feature debut Freehold, which he co-wrote with Rae Brunton (of the Outpost franchise), opens with a montage of interior shots revealing the single-bedroom London flat which will be both the film’s only setting, and its arena of combat. Estate agent Hussein is woken by his alarm, gets ready for work, and heads out the door, leaving the apartment empty. Well, not quite empty –…

Details 15 // 87 mins // 2017 // // Released Out now Director Justin Barber Cast Florence Hartigan, Luke Spencer Roberts, Chelsea Lopez, Justin Matthews Distributor Signature Entertainment Writing off the found-footage subgenre entirely is not a clever thing to do, but it’s frustrating how many of the tired old tropes keep getting trotted out. For at least half of its running time, Justin Barber’s Phoenix Forgotten is engaging and full of promise, to the extent that you can see why Ridley Scott came on board to produce. It follows Sophie (Florence Hartigan), a documentarian making a film about her brother Josh (Luke Spencer Roberts) and his two friends who went missing while investigating a possible UFO in the Arizona desert. Cutting between Sophie’s investigation and Josh’s footage from 1997,…

Details 15 // 153 minutes // 2017 // // Released Out now Creator Ben Edlund Cast Peter Serafinowicz, Griffin Newman, Valorie Curry, Brandan Hines, Yara Martinez Distributor Amazon Studios As a somewhat satirical comedy series, The Tick succeeds in appealing both to those that love superhero TV and those that hate it. It’s tongue-in-cheek enough to not take itself entirely seriously, but it still continually adheres to the classic tropes and rules of the genre. Based on the comics of the same name, the story starts with Arthur (Newman), a regular, somewhat nervous guy who gets swept up in the drama of superheroism after meeting The Tick (Serafinowicz), a larger-than-life blue-suited crime fighter, and accidentally becoming his sidekick. The show’s tight script means it doesn’t have to rely on easy…

Details TBC // 400 minutes // 2017 // // Released Out now Creator Christian Torpe Cast Morgan Spector, Alyssa Sutherland, Gus Birney, Danica Curcic, Frances Conroy Distributor Netfl ix The TV adaptation of Stephen King’s claustrophobic novella opens up its scope from a supermarket to an entire town but fails to find anything new to say. Anyone who’s read the story or seen Frank Darabont’s superb film will know that this is bleak stuff, but Christian Torpe’s vision is so unpleasant and heavy-handed that you’ll be dying to escape even more than the trapped citizens of Bridgeville. The town’s seedy underbelly is on display even before the mist rolls in, as teenage Alex (Gus Birney, whose sensitive turn is a highlight) is raped at a party and accuses the Sheriff’s…

“LECKIE’S NOVEL IS AS RICH AS YOU’D EXPECT, WITH EACH PLANET, HUB AND RACE HAVING AN AGENDA” Following her acclaimed and awards-hoovering Imperial Radch trilogy, Ann Leckie returns with a gripping, thrilling tale of murder, politics and back-stabbing that is richly detailed and rewarding. Provenance almost feels like a caper as it begins, with our heroine Ingray attempting to smuggle a crate containing a hibernating prisoner back to her own planet. Ingray is the adopted daughter/ protégé of a powerful politician and is looking to get the upper hand over her callous brother in the endless fight for her approval. While her captive initially claims a case of mistaken identity, Ingray finds herself allied with this gifted and notorious forger… shortly before they both find themselves in the middle of…

“WALTON TAKES A CLASSIC SCI-FI CONCEPT AND GIVES IT A 21ST CENTURY ECOLOGICAL UPGRADE” Whether it’s Robert A Heinlein’s parasites, Jack Finney’s pod people, or the alien of The Thing, the idea of an invasion force taking over the human body has been a long-running idea in science fiction. It allows for all kinds of anxieties to come to the fore and there’s a lot of existential terror to be mined from the loss of the self. Joining this sub-genre is David Walton’s The Genius Plague. Here, the threat arrives in the form of a fungus which infects the lungs of a human host before spreading to their brain. At first, it seems like a perfect marriage; the humans develop extraordinary intelligence and awareness; the kind that allows you to…

When the narrator fi rst encounters Luce, she is a rock star. She tells him that he is the Scribe and he is to write her story. He follows the trail back through people who knew, digging up clues and fleeing from a mysterious agency who wishes to prevent their words from being seen. L R Fredericks’ The Book of Luce is challenging at first, holding you at arm’s length until you are sure you want to be a part of its strange story. It teases out its mystery slowly and deliberately. However, it rewards patience, suddenly opening out into a tale that blurs the boundaries between science and fantasy. The thriller aspects of the book help this along, a driving force to what can often feel more like a…

There are very few novels that have been brought to life as vividly on screen as Philip K Dick’s Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? and A Scanner Darkly, so you have to imagine that illustrators Chris Skinner and Andrew Archer had their work cut out for them when they brought on to illustrate The Folio Society’s new edition. However, each novel is fantastically distinctive in its tone, setting and style, and they have been given beautiful new life by the artists. How did this assignment come about? Chris Skinner: The project was brought to me by my agent, Laura Lee at Debut Art, after Raquel Leis Allion, The Folio Society’s Art Director had discussed the project with her. The Folio Society submitted some work from my portfolio to the…

Already optioned by Hollywood, The Old Guard is one of those Image Comics series that seems tailor-made for the big-screen. Its elevator pitch is perfect: a team of mercenaries travel the globe, taking on high-risk, high-reward missions for which they’re uniquely suited – because they can’t be killed. Think of it as Mission: Immortal, with each member of the ensemble surviving several unageing centuries since they were first drafted. The youngest member, Booker, was a conscript in Napoleon’s Grande Armée, while Andromache, the group’s leader, closely guards her true age – though it’s safe to say it’s in the four-figure region. Their skills are invaluable, but it soon turns out that, to some, the miracle of their indestructibility is priceless. Many Image series have similarly compelling setups, but few have…

Ubik is the holy grail of unmade Philip K. Dick movies. In 1974, French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Gorin commissioned a screenplay from Dick (rediscovered in 1983, published in 1985), but the film went unmade. In the Noughties, Tommy Pallotta – producer of A Scanner Darkly – had an option on Ubik, which then went through other hands before Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind’s Michel Gondry worked on the project in 2013-14. The story – in which the past reasserts itself, obliterating the present – seems unadaptable, although Dick’s daughter Isa Dick Hackett is still hopeful it will be made. Another missed opportunity was the proposed Brian Aldiss Eighties BBC TV miniseries of the 1964 novel Martian Time-Slip. When the project died, Aldiss tried to recruit Stanley Kubrick to make a…

THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU (2011) One of the most accessible films of Dick’s that has been adapted for the big screen is the Matt Damon-starring The Adjustment Bureau, which is based upon Dick’s short story Adjustment Team. Written and directed by George Nolfi, the film exploits Damon and co-star Emily Blunt’s charisma to explore questions of fate and free will in a world where the future is shaped by sinister forces. MINORITY REPORT (2002) Spielberg took his shot at Dick’s unique worlds with 2002’s Minority Report, starring Tom Cruise, in which cops tackle ‘pre-crime’, arresting criminals before they act thanks to the predictions of a trio of captive psychics called ‘precogs’. Visually impressive, Spielberg conjured up a convincing near-future dystopia. A short-lived, cheaply made television series followed in 2015. RADIO FREE…

“THERE’S NO SENSE OF ORDER. WE’RE WATCHING SOCIETY COLLAPSE AND NO ONE IN UNIFORM IS BETTER PREPARED” Film RUNNING TIME: 147 minutes RELEASE DATE: 1 September 1978 DIRECTOR: George A Romero WRITER: George A Romero CAST: Ken Foree, David Emge, Gaylen Ross, Scott H Reiniger, David Crawford About A terrifying outbreak is sweeping the US and chaos reigns. Newsroom employees Francine and Stephen decide to take the station’s helicopter and get out of Philadelphia, accompanied by SWAT team members Roger and Peter. After they successfully escape the city, the question is: what’s next? They encounter an enormous shopping mall, which has enough supplies to keep them alive almost indefinitely. But can they clean out the reanimated inhabitants, and keep out anyone who might want to come in? “It’s really all…

THE WINCHESTER (SHAUN OF THE DEAD) 1 Head to your local and grab a nice cold pint. A zombie apocalypse is a lot like a lock-in, and John can do you up a toastie. A RADIO STATION (PONTYPOOL) 2 When the neighbourhood is being overrun by a virus that is transmitted by spoken language, lock yourself in the soundproof booth. A PRISON (RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE) 3 Why not? It’s designed to be a hard place to break out of, so it should be difficult to break into, right? I mean, what could possibly go wrong? THE OPEN ROAD (THE BATTERY) 4 Everyone’s so concerned with locking themselves in, but the two leads of The Battery just keeping moving. Just don’t get stuck in a car. MEXICO (PLANET TERROR) 5 When…

DEATH STAR WARS 1. Who was held in Cell 2187 on the Death Star? 2. Which creature lived in the Death Star garbage compactor? 3. Which of the Death Star’s docking bays was the Millennium Falcon pulled through via a tractor beam? 4. James Earl Jones voiced Darth Vader, but who played his physical form? 5. Who kills Obi-Wan in a lightsaber duel? A LITTLE MORE ACTION 6. Who is the Governor of the Imperial Outland Regions? 7. Who rescues Luke Skywalker and C-3PO from a band of Tusken Raiders? 8. What are the names of Luke’s uncle and aunt? 9. Which bounty hunter attempts to deliver Han Solo to crime lord Jabba the Hut? 10. What is the very first vessel shown in the Star Wars saga? WE CAN…

“HIS SUPERPOWER IS HIS RAGE. HE WILL NOT QUIT AND HE STARES DEATH IN THE FACE. IT’S WHAT FUELS HIM.”JON BERNTHAL So, now we’ve finally seen The Defenders. We’ve witnessed Netflix’s Marvel heroes come together to fight off the Hand, putting aside their differences to save New York. But we just have one question: where the hell was Frank Castle? After that Comic-Con trailer we all thought that The Punisher was going to show up to help save the day, but all we got was the post-credits teaser trailer. To be fair, we should have known better. Netflix has been impressively cagey when it comes to the skull-tee-sporting vigilante, refusing to even confirm an air-date for his solo series beyond the fantastically vague ‘2017’. When we caught up with stars…

There’s something we need to talk about, and that something is actor Ed Skrein. In August, Skrein signed up to play Major Ben Daimio in Hellboy: Rise Of The Blood Queen. Also in August, Skrein quit the same job. His motivation for the latter was the fact that he realised that, in the Hellboy comics, Major Ben Daimio was Japanese-American. As you know doubt already know, Ed Skrein isn’t. We see it all the time: white actors joining films where their characters were not white in the original source material. In recent years, viewers have started to call them out on it, but they still rarely back down. Instead, they get on with it without commenting, while actors of colour struggle to get roles that don’t involve stereotyping and/or fake…

Welcome to Memory Bank, where we rifle through our magazine holders, pick out a copy of SciFiNow at random, and take a sometimes excruciating look at what was all the rage in the world of sci-fi, fantasy and horror that particular month. This month, we are flicking through issue 68, which sported a very angst-fuelled picture of Christian Bale’s Batman from The Dark Knight Rises on the cover. Within its pages, we promised to reveal how Christopher Nolan saved Batman, and why he had to destroy him. “Christopher Nolan is a genius who should be studied in every film school,” The Dark Knight Rises’ producer Michael E Uslan declared. “He has raised the bar for all comic book and genre films.” Maybe that bar was raised a little too high,…

POMPEII, 79AD This is why Doctor Who exists, to give time travellers ideas for saving humanity, or at least a portion of humanity. If Captain Cold has been hanging around Pompeii in 79AD, he could have shot ice at the lava to give the city’s residents more time to make a getaway. THE TITANIC, 1912 As far as rewriting the past goes, this one actually seems doable. The passengers of the Titanic could have done with Heatwave sailing in to melt that iceberg. Sure, the James Cameron movie would have been different, but that’s a price we’re willing to pay. THE CHERNOBYL DISASTER, 1986 If the Atom had been in the right place at the right time, he might have stood a chance at controlling or reversing the radioactive contamination…

OLIVER QUEEN • Bow and arrow • Explosives • Salmon bars JOHN DIGGLE • Leather jacket • Guide to alternate realities • Long-range baby monitor THEA QUEEN • Running shoes • A sword • A whole load of knives FELICITY SMOAK • Tablet • Solar powered tablet charger • Glasses wipes CURTIS HOLT • A laptop • His Olympic medal • A good book QUENTIN LANCE • A gun • Bullets • A spare gun…

What can audiences expect from Loki in Thor: Ragnarok? All Thor films are about family. With this family, there is enormous power – but I think the relationship between the two brothers is something that constantly evolves. Without giving too much away, the relationship definitely evolves in this movie. Loki still has this mercurial presence, but he has a very interesting journey in Ragnarok. What do you enjoy the most about the character? Loki has always been unpredictable, but the most fun aspect of the character in this movie is the fact that I don’t have the responsibility to play the villain or the antagonist. Cate Blanchett is the villain and she does an extraordinary job. What’s it like to work with Taika Waititi? I’ve worked on Loki with Kenneth…

FORBIDDEN PLANET 1956 Robby the Robot was one of the very first on-screen robots to demonstrate a personality, rather than just being a mindless automaton. The film’s publicity treated him as if he were a real robot, with his performers going uncredited. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY 1968 In the granddaddy of AI movies, HAL 9000, the ship’s AI, essentially has an emotional breakdown and starts sabotaging the mission and killing the human crew. No robot body is needed to make Hal scary – the fact that he is in the system is far scarier. BATTLESTAR GALACTICA 1978 The original BSG had the Cylons created by an alien race, because they didn’t imagine that humans would ever be stupid enough to create artificial intelligence. Come…

THE EXORCIST Posing as a friendly spirit named Captain Howdy, Pazuzu possessed Regan MacNeil, tormenting her and her mother. Finally, after an long exorcism attempt by Fathers Merrin and Karras, Pazuzu entered the latter just before he launched himself through a window to his death. EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC Pazuzu’s back! While Regan undergoes hypnotherapy, Pazuzu arrives to torment Father Philip Lamont, who travels to Africa to find out more about the demon. Still, it all ends back in Georgetown, with a Regan doppelganger and a swarm of locusts. It doesn’t make much sense. LEGION: THE EXORCIST III Turns out the Gemini Killer isn’t exactly dead. Pazuzu convinces him to pop into the body of Father Karras, leading to a series of brutal murders and intense conversations with Lieutenant Kinderman…

IT’S BEEN A BUSY COUPLE OF YEARS FOR MICHAEL GIACCHINO. SINCE 2016, THE composer has delivered the scores for Star Trek Beyond, Doctor Strange, Rogue One, Spider-Man: Homecoming and War For The Planet Of The Apes, and he shows absolutely no signs of slowing down. We had the chance to talk to him ahead of his 50th birthday celebration concert at the Royal Albert Hall about some of his greatest hits. So where did your interest in music start? As a kid I was obsessed with monster movies. Every Saturday morning we would watch this show called Creature Double Feature on Saturdays, as well as Ultraman, Godzilla and King Kong, all of these different crazy movies. I always loved the music from them. The ones I loved the most were…

Details 15 // 94 mins // Out now Director Jason Flemyng Screenwriter Danny King Cast Charlie Cox, Eve Myles, Tony Curran, Freema Agyeman, Annette Crosbie Distributor The Movie Partnership “We meet only once every 50 years,” says the Duke (Vincent Regan) to Peter (Tony Curran) as a group of people of different ages, genders and ethnicities (played by Charlie Cox, Freema Agyeman, Annette Crosbie, Lukas Leong and Jordan Long) gathers in a farmhouse at night to discuss boundaries, quotas and jurisdictions. They’re carving up the UK between them, as they always have done, while also negotiating how much they need to cooperate with the ‘European Council’. Vampires are immortal, but every one of their acts occurs in a specific era and place, making them a perfect barometer for changing times.…

Details 12A // 129mins // 2017 // • // Released 2 October Directors Joachim Rønning, Espen Sandberg Cast Johnny Depp, Javier Bardem, Kaya Scodelario, Geoffrey Rush, Brenton Thwaites Distributor Walt Disney Pictures In the Noughties, Pirates Of The Caribbean sailed proudly as part of the action-adventure genre. It slowly walked the plank though, as it tried to become more mind-bending. Fortunately, Salazar’s Revenge ditches the overstuffed plots, which dampened its predecessors, in favour of a simpler tale. It centres on Depp’s Jack Sparrow and his old nemesis Salazar, a ruthless naval captain who vowed to rid the world of pirates (when he was alive, that is). Turns out, Jack played a part in Salazar’s demise and the decaying seafarer isn’t going to let bygones-be-bygones now that he’s managed to escape…

Details 18 // 91 mins // 1981 // // Released 9 October Director Joe Dante Cast Dee Wallace, Patrick Macnee, Dennis Dugan Distributor Studiocanal Finally available on Blu-ray in the UK, Joe Dante’s movie has always suffered a little in comparison with that other werewolf movie from 1981, but The Howling deserves to be set apart from An American Werewolf In London. While there are obvious similarities, it’s a sly, funny and surprisingly nasty horror with excellent effects and some fantastic dialogue courtesy of the great John Sayles (who cameos as a morgue attendant). While it offers all the fun transformations you remember, there’s a real mean streak running through The Howling, right from the opening sequence in which Dee Wallace’s news anchor Karen White meets serial killer Eddie Quist…

Details PG // 77 mins // 1940 // // Released Out now Director Ernest B Schoedsack Cast Albert Dekker, Janice Logan, Thomas Coley, Charles Halton Distributor Fabulous Films The title of Ernest B Schoedsack’s 1940 sci-fi seems rather at odds with the leading performance from Albert Dekker, who puts in a wonderfully restrained and curious turn as the mad Dr Thorkel. There’s very little in the way of grandstanding; no shouting at the sky or proclamations of godlike status. He’s a scientist who has made a wonderful discovery and he’s just going to do whatever it takes to push his research further… even murder. Schoedsack’s experience on King Kong is very much in evidence, not just in terms of the special effects (which are absolutely wonderful), but in structure, as…

Details 18 // 101 mins // 2017 // // Released 16 October Director Norbert Keil Cast Barbara Crampton, Rebecca Forsythe, Lucie Aron, Sean Knopp Distributor Studiocanal Young Kira Mabon (Rebecca Forsythe) and Jonas Swierczynski (Sean Knopp) are on their fifth date, and Kira has decided to spend the night with him. Kira wakes up to find Jonas gone, his apartment full of her own furnishings, art and bills, and meets her neighbour Sophia (Lucie Aron), who insists that Kira was already living there before Sophia moved in some months ago. Troubled by dry, peeling skin, Kira experiences déjà vu when she visits Dr Rafaela Crober (Barbara Crampton) at a specialist skincare clinic. She discovers she can replenish her rapidly peeling flesh with the skin of others, and starts killing and…

Details 15 // 94 mins // 1981 // // Released Out now Director Jim Sharman Cast Jessica Harper, Cliff De Young, Richard O’Brien, Patricia Quinn Distributor Arrow Video Richard O’Brien’s Rocky Horror Picture Show ‘equal’ hasn’t always enjoyed the best reputation, but time has been very kind to Shock Treatment. Viewed as a separate entity (despite featuring Brad and Janet, albeit with different actors in the roles), it’s a highly entertaining, gorgeously designed and decidedly prescient look at our obsession with reality TV. Janet (Jessica Harper) and Brad (Cliff De Young) are entered as participants on Marriage Maze, a grotesque game show hosted by Barry Humphries’ Caligari-esque Bert Schnick, run by Richard O’Brien and Patricia Quinn’s incestuous McKinley siblings and bankrolled by the sinister Farley Flavors (also De Young). Janet…

Details 15 // 418 mins // 2017 // // Released Out now Creators Graeme Manson, John Fawcett Cast Tatiana Maslany, Jordan Gavaris, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Kristian Bruun, Kevin Hanchard Distributor Netfl ix If Orphan Black has been anything over the last five year it’s consistent. From the first episode where we meet Sarah and indeed Sarah meets her clone Beth just before her suicide, we’ve been hooked, and keeping with its tradition of consistency, it doesn’t really push the boat out much for the final season. It still manages to shock and captivate, but none more so than usual. We wouldn’t mind if this was Season Five of Six or more, but as it’s the last we’re ever going to get to see of Sarah, Alison, Cosima, Helena and the…

After writing two great urban fairy tales set in contemporary Austin, Texas (Dreams And Shadows and Queen Of The Dark Things), C Robert Cargill heads into new territory with his spin on the post-apocalypse story. There’s a lot about the setting for Sea Of Rust that feels familiar: a dry, blasted landscape where organic life is a thing of the past, deserted ruined cities scarred by war, desert settlements on the brink, an all-powerful threat lurking on the horizon, and a morally conflicted hero fighting for survival. The difference is that every survivor in this world is an AI. The last human wandered out of the sewers to die 50 years ago, the final loser in the war between man and machines. Our hero is Brittle, a caregiver unit wandering…

Does it feel different to blow up an target in a computer game than in real world warfare? When human lives are reduced to pixels, how do soldiers stay connected to the consequences of their actions? That’s the question at the heart of William Sutcliffe’s latest, which follows two different young men: Alan, a talented gamer, who has been recruited by the military to fly a drone following a suspected terrorist living in the ruins of central London, while Lex, a newly initiated messenger working for his dad’s mysterious organisation, is struggling to survive in a world under constant surveillance. As Lex gets drawn further into The Corps and Alan advances through the ranks, their fates become entwined. For such a short novel (just 257 pages long) We See Everything…

Life used to be fairly ordinary for Amy Sullivan, living in Canary Wharf with her parents, her sullen older brother and baby sister, but the arrival of an alien race quickly throws that into disarray. For a while, it seems like things are under control, but then the Prime Minister goes on live TV and declares that these visitors are here for Earth’s teenagers. Icelandic author Sif Sigmarsdóttir’s English language debut has a nifty YA hook, as the aliens’ War Of The Worlds-esque machines with sinister metallic tubes abduct the kids and take them to a space station orbiting Earth. If the adults were useless on Earth, they were at least there. When Amy agrees to set herself up for an abduction to help get a message to the resistance,…

It’s easy to view this sequel to Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns as a project willed into being. Imagine Miller as a Brian Wilson-type figure, propped up by dependable, professional collaborators assigned to deliver a new masterwork. The group keeping Miller on track includes writer Brian Azzarello (100 Bullets), penciller Andy Kubert (Batman), inker Klaus Janson (The Dark Knight Returns) and colourist Brad Anderson, with support from artists Eduardo Risso and John Romita Jr. The difference here is clear: where the previous books were strictly solo efforts (with colour work from Miller stalwart Lynn Varley), Master Race is a team effort, with Miller contributing art only for back-up ‘Dark Knight Universe presents’ vignettes. Whether this division of labour is a marriage of convenience or something more pointed, it’s not…

A host of films have been inspired by the fiction of Philip K Dick. Among the best are works by screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and director Michel Gondry, whose talents were combined in the Jim Carrey-Kate Winslet oddball rom-com Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind. The Wachowskis’ The Matrix trilogy and Christopher Nolan’ s Inception owe a debt to Dick’ s worlds-within-worlds novels such as Ubik, A Maze Of Death, or Eye In The Sky, while The Truman Show (another Jim Carrey vehicle) plays out the ‘constructed world’ of Dick’s 1959 novel Time Out Of Joint. FOR KIDS! During his life, Dick wrote only one novel aimed at young readers, Nick And The Glimmung, in 1966, but it wasn’t published until 1988, six years after Dick’s death. In 2008, however, Disney…

If ever a genre film attempted to appeal to a more mature demographic it was Cocoon. Ron Howard’s 1985 character-driven science fiction comedy concerned a group of senior citizens who feel instantly reinvigorated after plunging into a swimming pool belonging to a group of aliens in human guises. It featured a roll call of yesteryear stars including Don Ameche (who subsequently won an Academy Award for his spritely efforts), Jack Gilford, Gwen Verdon, Maureen Stapleton, a surprisingly not-so-elderly-at-the-time Wilfred Brimley and true-to-life spouses Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, who would significantly reteam for the equally sci-fi hinged Batteries Not Included. Caught in the middle of these senior shenanigans were Steve Guttenberg, former Planet Of The Apes star Linda Harrison, Tahnee (daughter of Raquel) Welch and veteran character actor Brian Dennehy,…

”One of the best opening scenes of all time in any genre. And pretty much a five star horror film throughout, custard pies and all.” @cjlines “Still terrifies me. Watched it when I was younger for a dare. I still can’t watch it without a pillow in front of me.” @LozzimusPrime “One of my absolute favourite in medias res openings. Those first scenes capture immersive chaos like nothing else.” @antbit “Cinema classic.” @nrm1972 “The second greatest horror movie ever made (The Beyond is number one).” @ Cinemartyn “A satire on consumerism wrapped in a delicious horror crust. Zombies wander round the mall like brain dead consumers with no free thoughts.” @Waynelittlewood “That’s like asking: ‘What are your thoughts on oxygen?’ #Vital” @hellboyberry “First zombie movie I watched. Burned itself into…

LEGENDS OF TOMORROW The crew of the Waverider are forced to do a lot of time-travelling and moral questioning after The Punisher murders the world’s villains. IZOMBIE Liv eats the brains of a mob boss and takes on the personality of someone who realises that they really messed up when they crossed Frank Castle. THE WALKING DEAD Rick and his friends face a Q-style trial when The Punisher arrives and asks them if they’re still good people or if they’ve become the real monsters. PREACHER The Saint Of Killers crosses paths with Frank. After an extended and awesome firefight, they end up really getting along. LEGION Attempts to get inside Frank’s head and coerce him into a Bollywood-style dance sequence end… poorly.…

DOCTOR PSYCHO FIRST APPEARANCE: Wonder Woman #5 An enemy of Wonder Woman, mad scientist Doctor Psycho’s name seems to say it all. But really, he’s just this tiny guy in an even smaller suit. His freaky abilities make him even weirder: his ectokinesis lets him extract ectoplasm from the spirit world to use for his own bidding. His intellect and extraordinary grasp on hypnosis and occultism don’t help matters. THE TOP FIRST APPEARANCE: The Flash #122 The Top is basically a toy from a Kinder Surprise. He’s most likely the result of John Broome and Carmine Infantino saying: ‘Screw it,’ and basing a supervillain on the first object they happen to see. The Top’s ability to spin at super speed is more outlandish than the powers possessed by The Flash,…

WHEN TAIKA WAITITI SIGNED UP TO DIRECT Thor: Ragnarok, it became clear that Marvel wanted to do something different with the Asgardian superhero franchise. The critically-acclaimed director was responsible for the cult horror comedy What We Do In The Shadows and a slew of independent movies in New Zealand – but this marks his first foray into blockbuster territory and his first step into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “From the very beginning, Marvel said: ‘We want to make this more entertaining and enjoyable – and a bit lighter,’” Waititi explains to SciFiNow when we visit the set in October 2016. “I feel like we’re taking huge risks with the movie, but it’s fantastic. I feel like this is my one chance to say: ‘This is how I would make a…

THE GRANDMASTER PLAYED BY JEFF GOLDBLUM “The Grandmaster is the ruler of the planet Sakaar, which is where Thor finds himself in prison for a large portion of the movie. He is the hedonistic dictator of a planet that’s based around giant gladiatorial battles. The Grandmaster is an enormously fun, larger-than-life character who is charming and mysterious and dangerous.” VALKYRIE PLAYED BY TESSA THOMPSON “The Valkyrie were an elite squadron of Asgardian warriors, but Tessa’s character experienced something terrible and she has been running away from it. Part of Thor’s journey involves convincing her to pick up the mantle. She’s a victim of post-traumatic stress, and she has a very dynamic arc in our film. Thor wants her to come back and fight for what’s right.” HELA PLAYED BY CATE…

ONE OF THE FIRST THINGS CRAIG CHARLES TELLS US ABOUT RED DWARF XII when we sit down to chat with him, Chris Barrie, Danny John-Jules and Robert Llewellyn at Pinewood Studios is: “I get to play a duet on lead guitar and rhythm guitar with Adolf Hitler and I teach him how to do a selfie.” He’s referring to the first episode of the new series which was filmed back-to-back with Series XI in 2015 for UKTV (Dave). It sees the crew come across a scientific research centre that appears to have found a cure for evil. Inside are figures from history, recreated in the present, and all seemingly cured. With that in mind as we sit round the table where the cast do their read-throughs before filming they are…

DON’T PANIC This is a big one. Don’t blindly start running around trying to open doors. Keep calm, look for a tape or some kind of instructions, introduce yourself to your fellow captives. FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS Jigsaw is an absolute stickler for rules. If you listen to what he says, that’s a good start. If you see someone not following the rules, make sure to keep your distance. They’re going to get it bad. LOOK FOR THE LESSON Obviously Jigsaw’s main thing is hurting people but he also wants you to learn something. Sometimes that lesson is ‘suffer’ but there might be a nifty trick to getting out of this without losing too many body parts. LOOK FOR THE PUN If Jigsaw’s got one weakness, it’s wordplay. Admittedly, you might…

THE LEGO MOVIE FRANCHISE ALWAYS HAS ITS PLASTIC FINGERS IN A LOT OF PIES. GENRE-HOPPING WITHIN FILMS isn’t unusual. The more the better, it seems. “That’s the cool thing about LEGO,” explains Charlie Bean, the director of the series’ latest, The LEGO Ninjago Movie. “Nothing is off the table. You could do any type of genre in this.” After mimicking classic adventure films with The LEGO Movie and the world of superheroes with The LEGO Batman Movie, literally anything could come next. And that’s the beauty of it. “The LEGO Batman Movie is one of my favourite Batman movies, full stop,” Bean continues. “But I love horror. I’d love to see a horror movie! There are films that are in development now, I don’t know if I can talk about…

WHOEVER CONTROLS THE WEATHER CONTROLS THE WORLD,” SAYS GERARD BUTLER, QUITE SERIOUSLY. Controlling the weather might sound like an X-Men style fantasy, but in the world of new environmental disaster movie Geostorm, it’s science. Following a series of natural disasters, the world’s greatest scientific minds have come up with a solution: the Dutch Boy Program. Using a network of satellites connected to an international space station, the weather can be safely managed. But then it all goes horribly wrong. Butler plays Jake Lawson, an engineer part of the original team who built the climate-control system. “Jake’s not your typical character,” he laughs. “He’s got that weird scientific mentality, you know, where he’s not the best at getting on – he hates bureaucracy, and every now and then he punches someone…

Details 18 // 115 mins // Out now Director Darren Aronofsky Screenwriter Darren Aronofsky Cast Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Michelle Pfeiffer, Ed Harris Distributor Paramount Pictures Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan saw Natalie Portman’s character struggle to maintain her identity and sanity in her own manic pursuit of perfection. Similar concepts rear their head in mother! too; only it examines control being taken rather than being lost, creating something more harrowing. Charismatic duo Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem offer up powerhouse performances, as a distant couple whose relationship becomes more strained when a series of odd individuals show up on their doorstep. He – an esteemed poet – thinks the experience will inspire him out of his writer’s block while she despairs at the intrusion in the house she so lovingly…

Details 12A // 95 mins // Out now Director Nikolaj Arcel Screenwriters Akiva Goldsman, Jeff Pinkner, Anders Thomas Jensen, Nikolaj Arcel Cast Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Taylor, Katheryn Winnick Distributor Sony By its very nature, a semi-sequel to Stephen King’s epic series of novels may never have been able to give the die-hard fans what they wanted, but this intermittently entertaining fantasy feels like it’s caught trying to straddle two worlds. Yes, there are a lot of references to the novels and the greater King universe, but it’s also a streamlined and determinedly efficient YA tale of a young boy (Tom Taylor as Jake) realising he’s the key to ending or saving all worlds. First off, it’s by no means the disaster it’s been painted as. We’ve seen worse…

Details 12 // 141 mins // 2017 // • // Released 9 October Director Patty Jenkins Cast Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Robin Wright, Connie Nielsen, Lucy Davis, David Thewlis, Danny Huston, Elena Anaya Distributor Warner Home Video If it wasn’t for the fact that we know that it is, Wonder Woman doesn’t feels like part of the DC Extended Universe in the slightest. Where Man Of Steel and Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice were built on a foundation of grit, angst and suffering, Wonder Woman is a beacon of light. It’s optimistic without being sugary sweet. It’s explorative without starting totally from scratch. It’s a film that could well turn the somewhat lacking DCEU completely around. After the events of Batman V Superman, Diana Prince is working as an…

Details 15 // 83 mins // 1966 // // Released Out now Director Mario Bava Cast Giacomo Rossi Stuart, Erika Blanc, Fabienne Dali, Piero Lulli Distributor Arrow Video Transylvanian castles, mysterious witches and creepy blonde ghost kids… Mario Bava’s glorious gothic horror is dripping with atmosphere and worthy of rediscovery. Kill, Baby… Kill! (also known as Curse Of The Dead) is more in the vein of Black Sabbath than something like Blood And Black Lace, as a doctor arrives in a Carpathian village to help with the investigation into a mysterious death. Naturally, the locals are secretive and mostly unfriendly, and it’s not very long before he discovers that the fears and superstitions are justified. It’s a beautifully made film, and one that juggles classic Gothic tropes (creepy mansions, giant…

Details 18 // 105 mins // 1972 // // Released Out now Director Lucio Fulci Cast Florinda Bolkan, Barbara Bouchet, Tomas Milian, Irene Papas, Marc Porel Distributor Arrow Video The prolific Lucio Fulci still had his masterful Gates Of Hell trilogy to come when he made this excellent, bleak Sicilian giallo, which follows a series of murders of young boys in a small village. The whodunit question is twisty and compelling, but the impact comes from watching the locals eagerly and brutally turn on potential suspects. Outsiders and outcasts are seen as the danger, from the notorious Patricia (Barbara Bouchet) to a supposed witch (Florinda Balkan). As each suspect is accused and prematurely punished, the bodies of the children continue to pile up as Fulci creates an atmosphere of danger,…

Details N/A // 95 mins // 2017 // // Released 1 September Director Eli Craig Cast Evangeline Lilly, Adam Scott, Clancy Brown Distributor Netfl ix It’s been nearly six years since the hilarious Tucker And Dale Vs Evil graced cinema screens in the UK. Director Eli Craig hit all the right notes with his parody of slasher horror in a film he co-wrote with Morgan Jurgenson. It lovingly poked fun at the sub-genre and so the prospect of him taking on the devil child was an exciting prospect. However, his follow-up, which debuts on Netflix, is an obvious effort that has a lot in common with the worst instalments of the Scary Movie franchise. A few jokes are laugh-out-loud funny but it’s mostly disappointing. Though Adam Scott is perfectly cast…

Details 15 // 700 mins // 2017 // // Released Out now Creators Douglas Petrie, Marco Ramirez Cast Charlie Cox, Krysten Ritter, Mike Colter, Finn Jones, Sigourney Weaver, Rosario Dawson Distributor Netfl ix Following their first real stumble with Iron Fist, we’d hoped that Marvel’s Netflix universe could get back on its feet by bringing its four heroes together. But while there’s a lot to like in The Defenders, it also highlights several of the wider ongoing issues. Matt (Charlie Cox) is struggling to stick to his promise to hang up the Daredevil suit, Jessica (Krysten Ritter) is at the bottom of a bottle and ignoring anyone coming to her for help, Luke (Mike Colter) is out of prison and heading back to Harlem and Claire (Rosario Dawson), and Danny…

“AN AI-CENTRED, DESERT-BOUND TWIST ON CHILDREN OF MEN” 1. On The Beach “Brilliant and depressing in equal measure. #BookClub” @Shane_Rees 2. The Stand “Always The Stand. Read it about seven times (including recently). #BookClub” @ianskenny 3. Earth Abides “Earth Abides, George R Stewart, 1949. Following an epidemic, one guy tries to rebuild his community. Really well defined characters. #BookClub” @jobabybear 4. The Road “It made me peek around the corner of the book just to make sure the sun was shining & the world was still green. Haunting prose. #BookClub” @Goldenbeard73 5. The Girl With All The Gifts “The Girl With All The Gifts and The Fireman by Joe Hill are two which I really enjoyed. #BookClub” @davekely…

“Star Wars: Phasma by @DelilahSDawson Superb so far. #BookClub” @Rozza1210 “I am reading the incredibly ‘Wunderous’ new book Nevermoor by @digressica soon to take the world by storm! Step Boldly! #BookClub” @indianamulder “The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker, dark, chilling and gory, the novella that became the film Hellraiser is always a great read. #BookClub” @paul_bowler “Just fi nished #DanaFredsti’s The Spawn Of Lilith which was a fun urban fantasy and all round good read. #BookClub” @Cascararogue “Just fi nished Dan Leno And The Limehouse Golem for my own Gothic Reading Group. Working my way through the questions now... #BookClub” @TheCorvidArcher “All-Star Superman. A true Superman story that makes me like the character more. #BookClub” @Jbarnes532 “The Rift by Nina Allan. It’s an interesting idea but I’m not particularly gripped.…

“THERE’S A REAL VARIETY TO THE TALES, BOTH ” IN TERMS OF CONTENT AND TONE Short fiction anthologies can be a bit of a gamble, but with the names assembled for Titan’s New Fears anthology (edited by The Wolves Of London author Mark Morris), you can be sure of a good scare or two. There’s a real variety to the tales, both in terms of content and tone. While Alison Littlewood’s opener ‘The Boggle Hole’ is a folk horror with more than a hint of MR James, Brian Keene’s ‘Sheltered In Place’ is a short shocker that seems to be working backwards from its twist. While there are a couple of stories that are somewhat underwhelming, there’s plenty here that will linger after you put the book down. Stephen Gallagher’s…

WONDER WOMAN “I’m more excited for the second one though, because Patty Jenkins is going to have more control and it also would be awesome if the script wasn’t written by six white men.” GET OUT “It’s probably my favourite movie of the year so far. It’s fucking unbelievable, so tight and succinct and such a good idea.” THE BIG SICK “There’s been so much talk lately about the death of the rom-com or how it’s readjusted or reformed into different hybrids and I just loved it. It’s really beautiful, sweet and charming.” THE MUMMY “I loved The Mummy. I am the only person in my circle of friends. I know two other people online who liked it. I fucking loved that movie so much.” AND: Hidden Figures, The Girl…

Originally published and released as part of the quarterly comics hamper ShortBox, Rosemary Valero-O’Connell’s What Is Left is a perfect example of the mini-comic format. Compact and expansive, full of feeling and imagination, the book wrings mystery and meaning out of an intriguing sci-fi premise. In an unspecified future, spaceships are powered by a Memory Core, a combustion engine fuelled by the brainwave activity of a human ‘donor’, specifically when their neurons react to the experience of reminiscing and recollecting. This being a system built around the human element, there’s potential for human error, and an unexpectedly powerful memory can cause a catastrophic meltdown. One such instance sets the stage for this short story, which sees a crewmember sucked into an overloading machine, saving her from the ensuing explosion, but…

Few science fiction authors experience lives that are anything like those of their fictional characters, but Philip K Dick came close. Now, his short stories and novels provide the raw material for a small industry of filmmakers and television creators, but Dick was largely underappreciated during his lifetime. Toiling in the world of Fifties pulp magazines and Sixties cheap paperbacks, Dick was a prolific author (through financial necessity) who burned through off-the-wall ideas as quick as he could conceive them. Later in the Seventies he experienced weird events and hallucinations like one of his much-put-upon characters in the pages of his fiction. From Blade Runner to Total Recall, Minority Report, and A Scanner Darkly at the cinema, to The Man In The High Castle and the forthcoming anthology show Electric…

BLADE RUNNER (1982) AND BLADE RUNNER 2049 (2017) The first, and still best, film adaptation of a Philip K. Dick novel. The atmospheric Ridley Scott classic was unappreciated in 1982, despite starring Star Wars actor Harrison Ford. Not only has it enjoyed the (multiple) ‘director’s cut’ treatment, but it now has a sequel in Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049, with Ryan Gosling. A SCANNER DARKLY (2006) Richard Linklater’s animated film starred Keanu Reeves as Bob Arctor, an undercover drug cop who ends up spying on himself. Linklater gave the film a unique visual look thanks to rotoscope animation over the top of live action footage, suitable to the dream-like world of Substance-D abuse. Dick’s novel was based upon his real-life experiences in the drug counterculture of the Sixties and early-Seventies.…

Despite Steve Guttenberg’s initial fears, not all extraterrestrials want to eat your face off! Here are five other such cinematic creatures from outer space that share the kinder qualities of Cocoon’s Antareans. 1 Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977) Remaining a mystery for most of the running time, the cute humanoid UFOs that emerge from the mothership in Steven Spielberg’s classic were content to communicate with us all along. 2 ET: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) Accidentally left behind by his fellow extraterrestrials, the homesick ET has no desire for world domination and simply wants to phone home and reunite with his family. Cue the climatic tears! 3 Starman (1984) John Carpenter’s atypical romantic tearjerker starred Jeff Bridges (in an Oscar-nominated performance) as an alien that answers Earth’s…