Innholdsfortegnelse for No. 138 i SciFi Now

There can’t be any question that we need to see heroes being heroic at the moment. Not that we have anything against the brooding antihero, of course, or watching a spotless character forced to confront the idea that they might not always be on the right side of a situation, but damn it, right now we need heroes to be heroes. It’s why we were so happy to see Star Trek back on our TV screens, it’s why we were so overjoyed by just how good and inspiring Wonder Woman was, and it’s partly why we’re ready to see the Justice League come together to battle the forces of darkness. As well as talking to the members of DC’s superhero team-up, we’ve gone on set for Stranger Things 2 to…

His introduction at the end of Outlander Season Two got the internet fired up and now he’s back in the new season, but what about the man behind the tweed? SciFiNow spoke to Richard Rankin about the series. Were you familiar with Outlander? Yes because it had such an impact in Scotland. A hugely positive impact on our television business up there, and also in Scottish tourism. It’s kind of highlighting Scotland as a great location to be shooting film and television. You couldn’t be a Scottish actor, I think, and not be aware of it. Have you read the books at all? Yes, I’ve kept the books with me throughout the process. The books serve me on multiple levels – first I have the opportunity of reading ahead to…

JUSTICE LEAGUE After the lukewarm (we’re putting it mildly) response to Batman V Superman and the completely brilliant Wonder Woman that precedes this newest addition to the DC Universe, the Warner Bros marketing machine is fully churning with the Justice League promotional campaign going all-out. One aspect of this is this rather beautiful Aquaman piece you can see here, which is just one of five new brand-new character posters that have been released. Everything about each of the posters is incredibly eye-catching and frame-worthy. Okay, we have to admit that technically they are actually prints rather than actual film posters, but whatever, we don’t care, they’re completely gorgeous. THE SHAPE OF WATER This delicate entry for The Shape Of Water starring Sally Hawkins is weird, wonderful and unique; basically everything…

Do you know what we need to talk about? Ava DuVernay’s adaptation of A Wrinkle In Time. We currently don’t really have anything beyond a trailer, but it was enough to get us truly jazzed. Everything from the gorgeous cinematography to the impressive visual effects to the haunting rendition of Eurythmics ‘Sweet Dreams’ that plays over the entire thing screams ‘winner’. But if there’s still doubt in anyone’s mind, there’s also the marvellous cast, which is made up of Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine, Mindy Kaling, Stanley Tucci, Zach Galifianakis, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Michael Peña to name but a few. Really, it’s already got something for everyone. There’s no denying that Ava DuVernay absolutely kills everything she attempts (see Selma, 13th, Sugar Queen, etc.), so it will be interesting…

“What should people watch before Season Two launches?” ponders Matt Duffer. “When it comes to inspirations that are specific to this season, definitely take a look at Evil Dead, Halloween and Poltergeist. Our story begins in 1984, which was a fantastic year for Hollywood blockbusters. There was Gremlins, Temple Of Doom, Karate Kid, Ghostbusters, Terminator and many more. I can’t believe how many great Hollywood films were released in 1984. It’s amazing they are all from the same year. They’ve all inspired Stranger Things.” Halloween 1978 Mike Myers is on the rampage and Jamie Lee Curtis is on the run in the iconic Seventies slasher flick. Scream! Poltergeist 1982 “They’re here!” Never build a family-friendly housing estate on top of an ancient burial ground. Ever! The Karate Kid 1984 The…

NEW SEASONS OF THE WALKING DEAD COME IN TWO FORMS. EITHER THE SHOW IS on the move and heading to new adventures, or the characters are still scrambling around in the bear pit they leapt into in the previous season finale. Season Eight is very much the latter, with Negan still at large and the ‘All Out War’ comic book arc beginning in earnest. The Season Seven finale saw the Alexandrians, led by Rick and co, the Hilltop, now led by a pregnant Maggie, and Ezekiel’s Kingdom all coming together against Negan’s Saviours and Jadis’ ‘trash people’ who seem to have joined his side. Fans who took issue with the leisurely pace of Season Seven were pleased when the Season Eight trailer landed, showcasing action galore. Robert Kirkman, the writer…

WHATEVER YOU DO, DON’T CALL IT MOTION CAPTURE. “PERFORMANCE CAPTURE IS WHAT YOU SEE IN A FILM like War For The Planet of the Apes,” explains Imaginarium Studios CEO Matt Brown as we get an exclusive tour of the facility that Andy Serkis set up in 2011. “It’s where you have either a facial or body performance by an actor that’s thoughtful, that’s driving what you see on screen. Motion capture is simply – as the name implies – capturing motion, which could be done by anyone.” Speaking with Serkis a few days later, we’re told that Imaginarium Studios came about as he recognised a need in the UK for “a studio that wasn’t technologically led but creatively led”, especially as he found himself being shipped off to New Zealand…

DID YOU HEAR the one about the serial killer whose only facial features are lidless eyes and a mouth? Maybe you read the one about the guy getting cryptic Facebook messages from his dead girlfriend. Or the one about the girl who tells her father that the thing wearing her mother’s skin is about to wake up. From Slender Man to Eric Heisserer’s The Dionaea House, the short internet stories branded as creepypasta have delivered some of the most effective and shiver-inducing horror stories of the last decade. The good ones are short, sharp, and pack a nasty twist. The best are the ones that, like the best urban legends, sound like something that happened to a friend of a friend. Like something that could happen to you. It was…

Details 15 // 110 mins // Out now Director Niels Arden Oplev Screenwriter Ben Ripley Cast Ellen Page, Diego Luna, James Norton, Nina Dobrev, Kiersey Clemons Distributor Sony Pictures Ever watched a low-rated horror film on Netflix and been pleasantly surprised? Despite the critic in you screaming ‘it’s not that great’, it still amused you enough to enthusiastically recommend it to your work colleague the following morning? Well, Flatliners is one of those titles. Ellen Page plays Courtney, a medical student who’s plagued by the death of her younger sister. Over time, her grief has manifested into an obsession: discovering what happens to a person’s mind when they cross over. Desperate, she convinces four of her peers to deliberately stop her heart for one minute and record her brain’s responses;…

Details 12 // 133 mins // 2017 // • • Digital Download // Released 20 November Director Jon Watts Cast Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Robert Downey Jr, Zendaya Distributor Sony Pictures Home Entertainment With Spider-Man: Homecoming being the third Spidey franchise this century, it wasn’t unreasonable not to expect much from it, but we needn’t have worried. Even after meeting Peter Parker (Tom Holland) in Captain America: Civil War, he still manages to breathe life into not only his own film but the MCU. Director Jon Watts just gets who Spider-Man is. The balance between superhero hijinks and high school drama is spot on, and adds a much needed break from all the heavy moral dilemmas that have been disproportionately occurring in comic book movies as of late. Holland is…

Details 15 // 108 mins // 2017 // • // Released Out now Director Alex Kurtzman Cast Sofia Boutella, Tom Cruise, Annabelle Wallis, Russell Crowe, Jake Johnson Distributor Universal Tom Cruise might have got top billing, but the real star of Alex Kurtzman’s Mummy reboot is definitely Sofia Boutella. As Ahmanet, the resurrected monster of the title, she’s mesmerising – all menacing grace and power. Unfortunately, she is also pretty much the only good thing about this over-stuffed, awkward attempt at launching Universal’s planned Dark Universe. Cruise’s maverick soldier aims for ‘roguish’ but actually lands closer to ‘irritatingly arrogant car salesman’; Jake Johnson is entirely wasted in a subplot stolen from American Werewolf In London; and Annabelle Wallis, as a kind of love interest by default, is given so little…

Details E // 331 mins // Various // // Released Out now Creator Keith Barnfather Cast Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen, Ian Marter, Louise Jameson, Mary Tamm, John Leeson Distributor Koch Media The third in Koch Media’s series of DVDs repackaging the Myth Makers Doctor Who interviews, this is another collection of reminiscences which are, depending on your level of fandom, either fascinating insights into the making of classic Who or familiar stories you probably know off by heart. As with Michael Craze in the Troughton set, the real stand-out here is Ian Marter, who played Harry Sullivan. Marter died tragically young, and as such his is the least familiar of the voices here. That is not to say that the other videos are lacking – it is always a pleasure…

It’s easy to draw comparisons between Sleeping Beauties and several other books in Stephen King’s back catalogue. There’s the unstoppable pandemic and battle between good and evil of The Stand, there’s the isolated small-town panic of Under The Dome and the institutionalised abuse of women of Dolores Claiborne. However, this latest novel, which King co-wrote with his son Owen, feels like it’s born out of current fears and concerns. Are we set on our course of callousness, violence and destruction? Or is there hope? The fate of mankind will be decided in the Appalachian town of Dooling after the so-called Aurora sickness hits. When the women fall asleep, they don’t wake up, becoming cocooned in an organic webbing. As the women desperately try to stay awake and the men scrabble…

How do you fight a monster? If it’s a demon from another world, then incantations might work. But what if it’s something more earthly? That’s the problem facing 15-year-old Trudchen Grey. Growing up, her sister Odette had insisted that their family was special; that their mother was a monster-hunter, and that once they came of age, they’d follow in her footsteps. But Od was sent away when she turned 15, leaving her sister alone to wonder whether any of it was true. So when Od reappears, asking Tru to run away with her to defeat the Leeds Devil, Tru goes with her – even though she doesn’t completely believe any more. Set in the early 1900s, when science and Spiritualism were battling for dominance over people’s hearts and minds, Odd…

 Early on in Tricia Sullivan’s twisty, pacey Sweet Dreams, our heroine Charlie describes her job as a mix between Inception and Secret Diary Of A Call Girl. That’s the best-case scenario for the narcoleptic dream hacker, as events soon spiral out of her control and into distinctly more nightmarish territory. “IT’S A GRIPPING AND SCARY MYSTERY BURSTING WITH IDEAS” It’s 2022, and Charlie has developed the ability to wander into people’s dreams after participating in an experiment run by mega-corporation Big Sky. The side-effect is heavy narcolepsy, but she’s earning a crust helping people overcome their nightmares. Until, that is, a masked figure appears in one of her client’s dreams and murders her. Is there someone else like Charlie out there? Someone with a very different agenda? Following the inventive…

 Scourge begins with a bang, like a medieval version of Ghostbusters, as the three Valmonde brothers attempt to banish a ghost haunting her widowed husband. There is no proton pack here, instead the brothers rely on ancient charms, sigils and rituals to capture the offending spirits. Middle child syndrome means that Rigan gets more attention from the spirits as he can hear their confessions too. “THE BROTHERS ARE SUCH A TIGHT FAMILY UNIT THAT YOU CAN’T HELP BUT ROOT FOR THEM” Undertakers by inherited trade, the orphaned siblings live and work in the city of Ravenwood, governed by controlling Guilds, politically crazed, power hungry Lord Mayors and Merchant Princes, each as corrupt as the next. Desperate to maintain the ‘balance’, someone is controlling homicidal monsters that are working their way…

A perfect seasonal gift for any horror obsessive (is there a Halloween equivalent of the stocking filler?), this short, sweet comic is a welcome return to solo-penned stories from Hellboy creator and legend Mike Mignola. While the expanded Hellboy universe is still going strong, Mignola has favoured co-writing various spin-offs and side projects ranging from Abe Sapien and Lobster Johnson to Hellboy & The BPRD with collaborators such as Scott Allie and Chris Roberson. Here, just over a year since concluding Hellboy In Hell, he’s back in the writer’s chair, working closely with up-and-coming British artist Warwick Johnson Cadwell. And what a terrific tale this is. Reminiscent in equal parts of early Hellboy stories and the charmingly barmy The Amazing Screw-On Head, Mr Higgins Comes Home is a self-contained slice…

The Folio Society has been spoiling genre fans this year, with beautiful illustrated editions from authors like Philip K Dick, Neil Gaiman and HP Lovecraft. They’re not slowing down, as this Autumn sees them bring us two more genre classics: William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist and Ray Bradbury’s The Illustrated Man. Blatty’s classic horror tale of a young woman possessed by a Satanic force comes with illustrations by Jeremy Caniglia that perfectly summon the sense of Catholic guilt and dread, and it’s a wonderful tribute to the author who died earlier this year. Meanwhile, Bradbury’s masterpiece collection of short stories is illustrated by Marc Burkhardt, who captures the deep sense of unease and oddly comforting aesthetics of Cold War Americana, while bringing to life the tattoos of the titular carnival…

JOINING THE CIRCUS I said to my agent: “What is this about?” I knew it was a musical, it was 18 quid a week, upstairs at the Royal Court for three weeks. He wasn’t happy about that because he made 10% of 18 quid a week. He said: “I think it’s something about a circus.” He wasn’t wrong. I’ve been in this circus for over 40 years! It’s taken me around the world, I can join it anywhere I want, I can go to anywhere in Europe and if it’s playing… I used to make a joke about it, I’m like Maria Callas. I drop in, sing ‘Science Fiction [Double Feature]’, anywhere it’s playing, take a bouquet and leave. QUINN DIDN’T KNOW THE ROCKY HORROR TEAM BEFORE HER AUDITION, BUT…

 Cinema lost an icon on 15 September this year. The phrase ‘character actor’ can seem like a backhanded compliment, a way of noting the fact that, as skilled as the performer is, they’re not really ‘leading man/ woman material’. But when it comes to the great Harry Dean Stanton, the moniker seemed to fit despite all that. With his unmistakeable hangdog face and unshowy technique, Stanton was a constant presence in brilliant films for decades, starting out in the Fifties before working with an incredible array of filmmakers including Sam Peckinpah, David Lynch, Francis Ford Coppola, John Carpenter and Martin Scorsese. He continued acting into his 90s, with the acclaimed drama Lucky still awaiting release. “REPO MAN WOULD BE NOTHING WITHOUT BUD: A WEIRD MIX OF WEARY ZEN MASTER AND…

”Stone cold cult classic. Sooo good. Harry Dean Stanton is excellent, and it’s been a while since I have seen it, so… it’s great!” @DaveNeal33 “Repo Man is always intense.” @HannahChapter1 “Possibly ahead of its time as a mixed genre oddball movie. Takes a couple of viewings I think.” @ParsonsFiction “Love it!” @CharlesFPurcell “Yeeeeeessssssss!!” @jeffbiscuits WATCH FIRST KISS ME DEADLY (1955) Robert Aldrich’s pitch-black noir finds a PI drawn into a deadly mystery and a terrible, world-ending mysterious box. WATCH NEXT SOUTHLAND TALES(2006) Richard Kelly’s fascinating flop cribs from a legion of movies, including Repo Man, and it’s getting more relevant every year.…

Rian Johnson hasn’t exactly come out of nowhere. His debut feature Brick was a stunning high school noir, The Brothers Bloom was a winning con-man caper, and his sci-fi Looper was smart and thrilling. Still, when he was given the task of writing the eighth episode of the Star Wars saga, he couldn’t believe his luck. “Kathy Kennedy approached me, but it was very out of the blue,” the writer/director of Star Wars: The Last Jedi explains to SciFiNow in the plush surroundings of the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills. “I had met with Kathy a few times before, but they were very general meetings. I never thought I was a contender for Star Wars – but then she sat down with me and said: ‘I want to feel…

Watchmen has always had a reputation as being difficult to adapt. Hell, even Zack Snyder’s film didn’t do too much to change opinions, and if a nearly shot-for-shot film of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ graphic novel can’t get it right, what hope is there? Still, that hasn’t stopped Hollywood trying, and producer/screenwriter Damon Lindelof is taking the bull by the horns with a TV series. The project has been in development since 2014, but nothing really happened until September 2017, when HBO officially gave it a pilot order. Now, Lindelof is set to serve as showrunner and he’s opening up the writers’ room, with HBO commissioning back-up scripts. With superhero TV adaptations currently dominating the small screen, now might be the right time to bring in something grittier. With…

Welcome to Memory Bank, the corner of the magazine where we look back at past issues of the magazine to see what on Earth was going on that month in the world of sci-fi, fantasy and horror entertainment. This month, we are travelling back to 2010 for issue 40. Our cover star for issue 40 in 2010 was Iron Man, circa Iron Man 2. This was still pretty early on in the Marvel Renaissance period, and we speculated whether the film had just a little too much resting on its shoulders. Iron Man, which grossed $585 million, was the right film that came along at just the right time, so could a sequel be just as successful? It turns out that it could, and it was, and it actually spawned…

GREEN LANTERN We know that Green Lantern will be back in the DCEU, with David S Goyer working on Green Lantern Corps and the line: “No Lanterns” in the Justice League trailer. However, we don’t know if the role’s been cast yet or if it’s Hal Jordan or John Stewart. MARTIAN MANHUNTER J’onn J’onzz is a regular on The CW’s Supergirl, but he’s yet to have his big screen break. He wasn’t part of the New 52 Justice League line-up and David S Goyer’s quotes about the character imply that he won’t be part of the team any time soon. ELEMENT GIRL/ELEMENT WOMAN Able to transform into any element, Element Girl, aka Rainie Blackwell had a series of tragic stories culminating in her death. Emily Sung, aka Element Woman, is…

Why did you want to direct Stranger Things? I binge-watched the first season of Stranger Things just like everybody else, and it made me feel like I was a kid again. I felt like I was going to the movies in the Eighties, and I hadn’t experienced that kind of thrill since I made Toy Story. What excites you the most about Season Two? I’m interested in anything the Duffers write. They are amazing. The stuff that comes out of them is gold, so I was really excited to find out what they’d done. In the same way that the cast and crew were surprised by what’s going to happen next, I was equally surprised. They keep a tight lid on the pages, so we continue to be surprised when…

DOGTOOTH (2009) Lanthimos broke through with his third feature film, which tells the story of a couple who keep their three adult children confined in their home without any knowledge of what’s going on outside, telling them that they can only leave after they lose their dogtooth. It’s a brilliantly constructed and unsettling tale that comes to a truly horrifying conclusion, and it’s essential. ALPS (2011) Lanthimos found (slightly) lighter material for his next film, going for much more of the moments of dark, absurd comedy that were found in Dogtooth. Alps follows a small acting troupe that finds work impersonating the dead. They’re hired by grieving friends or family members to assume the role of the departed, and they’ll do whatever you tell them to. It gets…

THE WHOLE THING WAS A COMA DREAM Fans were initially terrified that TWD was going to do a Life On Mars and reveal that Rick had dreamed the whole zombie apocalypse while in a coma following his shooting in episode one. Thankfully, producers quickly denied that one. THIS PARTICULAR SCENE IS A COMA DREAM Perhaps, after sustaining an injury, Rick coma-dreams about a happy ending for everyone, back in a world where everyone has nice clean beds to sleep in with vases of flowers next to them. IT’S A TIME JUMP The comics feature a time jump shortly after the ‘All Out War’ storyline, albeit not a big enough one to justify Rick going grey. This clip might be from the time jump, or it might just be a big…

DESPITE ONGOING DEBATES ABOUT WHAT MAKES A HORROR FILM – AND IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING, SCIFINOW DEFINITELY CLASSES MOVIES ABOUT CHILD-EATING DEMON CLOWNS AS HORROR – WE MIGHT BE ENTERING A NEW GOLDEN AGE FOR THE GENRE. AS WELL AS MIKE FLANAGAN, HERE’S OUR LIST OF FILMMAKERS WHO’LL MAKE YOU WONDER WHAT KIND OF MONSTER MIGHT BE LURKING UNDER YOUR BED… 1 ADAM WINGARD  KEY FILMS: You’re Next (2011), The Guest (2014), Blair Witch (2016), Death Note (2017) Back when he was still pretending it was called The Woods, Adam Wingard Tweeted that Blair Witch would be his “first full on ‘shit your pants’ horror film”, but he’d already been dabbling in the genre before then, with You’re Next and thriller The Guest. He recently adapted cult anime Death…

LON CHANEY: THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1939) “I’ve always been a huge admirer of Lon Chaney, he’s a great example of a transformative actor” – Andy Serkis JOHN HURT: THE ELEPHANT MAN (1980) “I am not an animal! I am a human being!” slurs the excellent John Hurt as John Merrick in David Lynch’s drama. ZOE SALDANA: NEYTIRI (2009) “I see you!” Avatar blazed a blue-tinged CGI trail throughout cinema, with Saldana’s alien warrior princess as the standout. BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH: SMAUG (2013) Cumberbatch supposedly spent much of the performance capture writhing around on the floor. But who can fail to love Tolkien’s sardonic dragon? ELLEN PAGE: JODIE HOLMES (2013) The BAFTA-nominated Beyond: Two Souls actually premiered at the Tribecca Film Festival – an example of how far performance and…

Details 15 // 93 mins // Out now Director Marianna Palka Screenwriter Marianna Palka Cast Jason Ritter, Jaime King, Marianna Palka, Brighton Sharbino, Rio Mangini, Kingston Foster, Jason Maybaum Distributor Studiocanal A marriage quite literally goes to the dogs in Bitch, in which a put-upon woman snaps under crushing pressures and adopts the psyche of a ferocious canine. Marianna Palka writes, directs and stars as Jill. Bitch opens with her attempted suicide by hanging, disrupted by the chandelier her noose was fastened to collapsing to the ground. Her fear she’ll do something else destructive grows, hardly helped by four unruly children and an estranged relationship with Bill (Jason Ritter), the family breadwinner at a business now going through downsizing; he’s introduced mid-cheating on Jill with a co-worker. Their neighbourhood is…

Details 18 // 89 mins // 1973 // // Released Out now Director Sergio Martino Cast Suzy Kendall, Tina Aumont, Luc Merenda, John Richardson Distributor Shameless Shameless continues their run of uncut restorations of Italian fi lmmaker Sergio Martino’s horrors with this, the luridly-titled Torso. The Italian title is somehow even more in your face, translating as The Bodies Present Traces Of Carnal Violence, and it certainly lacks the elegance of his superior fi lms All The Colours Of The Dark and The Strange Vice Of Mrs Wardh. However, that’s not to say that there’s nothing of worth here. While the film certainly drags in places, Martino constructs some genuinely tense and unnerving chase sequences as our masked killer hunts down a group of promiscuous women. The plot, such as…

Details 12 // 106 mins // 2016 // • // Released 6 November Director Makoto Shinkai Cast Kana Hanazawa, Etsuko Ichihara, Ryûnosuke Kamiki, Mone Kamishiraishi, Masami Nagasawa, Ryô Narita Distributor Anime Limited Following its staggering box offi ce across Asia, Your Name arrived in UK cinemas in 2016 with hype behind it unlike anything anime usually receives, and its British release returns were of the kind usually reserved for ostensibly bigger offerings like Hayao Miyazaki movies. Almost a full year later, hot off the heels of an IMAX re-release, Your Name is finally available for home viewing. A mix of body swap comedy and time travel dramedy (think a cocktail of Freaky Friday and Back To The Future, with a dash more romance), Your Name begins following Mitsuha, a high…

1. Needful Things “I’m not completely certain but I think it was Needful Things. Such gleefully evil fun. #Kingforaday #BookClub” @sennydreadful 2. Salem’s Lot “Salem’s Lot. It was like nothing I’d ever read before and I became a constant reader right away. Hooked for life!! #BookClub” @iutley73 3. Carrie “I am very late to the King fan club, I only read my first two months ago. It was Carrie. Adored it so much, I jumped straight in to It. #BookClub” @Bash2110 “WHAT MAKES THE BOOK WORK ARE THE SHADES OF GREY” 4. Cujo “The first Stephen King book I read was Cujo and to this day I still don’t like being in a hot car!!! #BookClub” @farscape08 5. The Dead Zone “The Dead Zone. I was about 12 and a…

“Currently reading issues 1-5 of @withryn’s comic Triskelion. Truly fascinating use of art and different media to tell a story. #BookClub” @Cascararogue “I’ve found a copy of Electric Dreams to go with the Philip K Dick TV series. Great stuff :-) #BookClub” @TheCorvidArcher “Empress. Gotta love Mark Millar. #BookClub” @Jbarnes532 “Still ploughing through @StephenKing’s gargantuan IT, great story though. #BookClub” @philbooty “Just started Sleeping Beauties by Stephen & Owen King.... very intriguing so far. #BookClub” @BobMcGregor1954 “I read the entire Broken Earth trilogy by NK Jemisin in a couple of days & it was fantastic. #BookClub” @KellyisaBlade “I’m re-reading Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation because the book is fantastic & the film trailer is looking promising. #BookClub” @JardineRoss “Re-reading Good Omens, just to remind myself what it was all about! #BookClub” @johntheboy…

As the nights draw in, it is the best time to read enigmatic and ghostly things. Alison Littlewood’s latest, The Crow Garden, certainly fits the bill. Nathanial Kerner is a ‘maddoctor’ and has recently found himself a position at the Yorkshire institution, Crakethorne Manor. As he tries to introduce new methods into a traditional setup, he becomes fascinated with one of his patients, Mrs Victoria Harleston. She’s supposedly suffering from hysteria, but Kerner isn’t convinced and decides to delve further into her circumstances. The key to a good gothic mystery is atmosphere and The Crow Garden has that in spades, right from its opening paragraph. Littlewood piles on the inclement weather, the shadowy corridors, and the crows that flock to the grounds of Crakethorne Manor and give the garden its…

When Tobe Hooper passed away, this past August aged 74, the horror community lost three of the most important nightmare-makers of the genre’s new wave. Having already said goodbye to Wes Craven (who left us in 2015) and George Romero (who died in July this year) it was emotional to hear that the man behind The Texas Chain Saw Massacre had also made the journey into the Great Unknown. Unlike Craven and Romero, of course, who could boast multiple fan-favourite hits to their name, Hooper’s popularity largely rested on just one film: 1974’s groundbreaking The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Yet, it was The Texas Chain Saw Massacre that really paved the way for the later likes of John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978), Ridley Scott’sAlien (1979), Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead (1981)…

Witching Time (1980) Quinn is a wonderfully wicked West Country witch in this episode of the classic Hammer House Of Horror anthology series. Hawk The Slayer (1980) She is mostly covered up in this but Quinn’s famous lips do great work in her role as the susurrating sorceress. The Box Of Delights (1984) Quinn is brilliantly hissable as the wife of the villainous Abner Brown, played by her real-life future husband Robert Stephens. Doctor Who, ‘Dragonfi re’ (1987) As icy madman Kane’s henchwoman, Belazs, Quinn brings a depth and tenderness to the part which makes her eventual fate genuinely very upsetting. Lords Of Salem (2012) One of a trio of witchy neighbours, alongside Dee Wallace and Judy Geeson, Quinn shares the film’s best moment.…

“LOOK AT THOSE ASSHOLES, ORDINARY FUCKING PEOPLE. I HATE ‘EM.” BUD “IT HAPPENS SOMETIMES. PEOPLE JUST EXPLODE. NATURAL CAUSES.” AGENT ROGERSZ “I DON’T WANT NO COMMIES IN MY CAR. NO CHRISTIANS EITHER.” BUD “NEVER BROKE INTO A CAR, NEVER HOTWIRED A CAR. NEVER BROKE INTO A TRUCK. ‘I SHALL NOT CAUSE HARM TO ANY VEHICLE NOR THE PERSONAL CONTENTS THEREOF, NOR THROUGH INACTION LET THE PERSONAL CONTENTS THEREOF COME TO HARM’ IT’S WHAT I CALL THE REPO CODE, KID!” BUD “HERMANOS RODRIGUEZ DO NOT APPROVE OF DRUGS.” LAGARTO RODRIGUEZ “A REPO MAN SPENDS HIS LIFE GETTING INTO TENSE SITUATIONS.” BUD “YOU REPO MEN, YOU’RE ALL OUT TO FUCKIN’ LUNCH.” OTTO “I’D RATHER DIE ON MY FEET THAN LIVE ON MY KNEES.” BUD “TENSE SITUATIONS, KID. YOU GET INTO FIVE OR…

1 Not exactly lads on tour With four friends paying tribute to their murdered friend before being hunted in the Swedish wilds, The Ritual is a dark and intense character-driven horror, and we assumed it was the of exploration psychological trauma that drew star Rafe Spall to it. “No, I really wanted to do a lads on tour horror movie. Which I think actually would be a really good idea. Actually called Lads On Tour!” he laughs. “No, absolutely, if I’m going to go and watch a horror film I want to see a horror film which could exist without the scary bits and this is one of those.” 2 Into the woods Although it’s set in Sweden, filming for The Ritual took place in the wilds of Eastern Europe,…

GAME ON Going by just the trailer, it looks like the film is going to be fairly accurate, as far as the game is concerned. From the scenery to Lara’s costume to the boat she boards to get to the island of Yamatai, it all looks pretty much spot on. Colour us impressed. WHAT’S THE STORY? As well as looking like the game, the film is using the same plot: in search of her missing archaeologist father, Lara Croft sets off for a mysterious island to find the truth about a discovery her dad made before his disappearance. ROAR UTHAUG IS DIRECTING It’s interesting that Warner Bros has gone with little known director Uthaug for a big budget film like Tomb Raider, and we’re excited to see his take on…

Look. We know Superman will be back. They know Superman will be back. The whole world knows that Superman will be back, and if they didn’t before, the fact that money is having to be spent to remove Henry Cavill’s contractually unshaveable moustache (grown for Mission Impossible 6) through the magic of CGI has now alerted them. But Kal-El has been conspicuous by his absence in the bulk of the marketing material and everyone’s been very cagey about how and if he will return. Well, everyone except Jason Momoa, who answered a small child’s question about it at Comic-Con in no uncertain terms: “Son, I’m not sure if your parents showed you the last movie but Superman’s dead. I hate to break it to you, boy, but he’s dead!” We…

RETURNING LOIS LANE (AMY ADAMS) While the fate of Superman is unknown, The Daily Planet’s most intrepid reporter will definitely be making an appearance. QUEEN HIPPOLYTA (CONNIE NIELSEN) Diana’s mother and the Queen of Themyscira will return and looks to be facing down Steppenwolf in the film’s trailer. ANTIOPE (ROBIN WRIGHT) It’s a little surprising to see that Robin Wright’s badass general is back. Could she appear in a flashback related to the arrival of the mother boxes? MARTHA KENT (DIANE LANE) After emerging as the unlikely centre of the mother-related conflict resolution of BvS, Martha will hopefully have an easier time of it in Justice League. DR SILAS STONE (JOE MORTON) We got a glimpse of Cyborg’s brilliant father in the character’s intro in…

Who You Gonna Call? “If you’ve seen the trailer, you’ll know that the boys dress up as Ghostbusters for Halloween in Season Two. We had to make sure the costumes looked like they were something the kids could’ve made themselves, so we used household items. We tried to make everything look as authentic as possible.” Candy Crush… “We had to find Halloween products from the Eighties, including masks from a company called Ben Cooper and period candy for the trick or treaters of 1984. After the success of the first season, we were able to ask companies to reprint their packaging or lend us their artwork. KFC made us some ’84 packaging. Dunkin’ Donuts and Dr Pepper also helped out.” Crayola King… “I bought 1600 boxes of crayons for the…

KEVIN (WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN) With Ezra Miller playing The Flash, it’s odd to remember his searing performance in this. CHRIS HARGENSEN (CARRIE) Not content with just bullying poor Carrie, she engineers an awful horrible prank to ruin her perfect night. JD (HEATHERS) JD is not the merry prankster you think he is. He’s actually murdering your classmates because he thinks that’s what you really want. PAUL (FUNNY GAMES) These are not funny games. They’re deadly exercises that question why you enjoy watching violence in movies. NANCY DOWNS (THE CRAFT) Every coven needs a leader, and they don’t come much more badass than Nancy Downs. ESTHER (ORPHAN) Okay, so we’re cheating here because technically Esther isn’t a teenager. She’s nine years old.…

OVER THE LAST FEW YEARS, WE’VE SEEN AN EVOLUTION IN CHRIS HEMSWORTH.. Following the release of Thor, there were the inevitable leading man roles in movies that ranged from decent (Ron Howard’s racing biopic Rush) to not-so-decent(Snow White And The Huntsman) to the… well, it depends on who you ask when you’re talking about Michael Mann’s Blackhat. However, slowly but surely, he’s been moving into lighter areas. There was a cameo in Vacation, SNL hosting duties and then came Ghostbusters. Now, with the gloriously bananas Thor: Ragnarok, Hemsworth seems comfortable pushing for the laugh and trying something new. “There’s a lot more humour in the film, a lot more fun, adventure,” he tells us. “There’s a sort of looser version of what we’ve seen before.” DID YOU FIND THAT IMPROVISATION…

“TECHNOLOGY IS AN EXTENSION OF HUMAN NATURE AND NOT NECESSARILY COMPETING WITH IT” MICHAEL ALMEREYDA THERE’S A SCENE at the start of Michael Almereyda’s (Experimenter, Nadja) new film Marjorie Prime in which a couple is talking about how they met. Marjorie (Lois Smith) is an old woman whose recollection seems hazy. She’s disappointed by some of the details that her husband Walter (Jon Hamm) is giving her. Instead of My Best Friend’s Wedding, she’d prefer that they met at a screening of Casablanca. Details like that can be changed. Marjorie’s memory isn’t what it used to be and Walter is an AI, chosen to look like a younger version of her late spouse and capable of being programmed. Questions of truth, memory and identity are raised throughout the film, based…

FILM INFO Released Out now Certifi cate 15 Director Denis Villeneuve Screenwriter Hampton Fancher, Michael Green Cast Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Ana De Armas, Robin Wright, Sylvia Hoeks, Jared Leto Distributor Sony Running Time 163mins Sacred texts of science fiction don’t come more revered than Blade Runner and you have to admire Denis Villeneuve’s nerve in taking it on. What becomes clear early on is that he and his team are capable of laying our fears to rest. This is a film that understands its predecessor, it has the style and craftsmanship to live in the same world, and, most importantly, it has a story that deserves to be told. Villeneuve has asked critics to not reveal any plot details in their reviews, which is easier said than done. Revelations…

Details 12 // 115 mins // 2001 // // Released Out now Director Shinichiro Watanabe Cast Kôichi Yamadera, Unshô Ishizuka, Megumi Hayashibara, Aoi Tada Distributor Manga Entertainment The feature length final outing for Shinichiro Watanabe’s bounty hunter crew finally comes to Bluray, and it’s an essential purchase for fans. It’s also a decent jumping on point for newcomers, as Watanabe and writer Keiko Nobumoto ensure the story is both a continuation and an accessible introduction. Spike Spiegel and his gang get caught up in the chase for a terrorist who plans on unleashing an unknown pathogen on Mars’ capital city. As the team splits up to cover more ground, they realise they might be in over their heads this time. As with the series, there’s a huge amount of charm…

Details 15 // 92mins // 2017 // • // Released 30 October Director Trey Edward Shults Cast Joel Edgerton, Kelvin Harrison Jr, Carmen Ejogo, Christopher Abbott, Riley Keough, Griffin Robert Faulkner Distributor Universal The apocalypse has rarely felt as grimly exhausting as it does in It Comes At Night. Trey Edward Shults’ end-of-the-world thriller sees two families struggle to co-exist in the aftermath of a deadly pandemic – but survival looks almost as unappealing as the alternative. Paul (Joel Edgerton) and his wife Sarah (Carmen Ejogo) and their son Travis (Kelvin Harrison Jr) are holed up in a thick-walled farmhouse. They’ve got food, and water, and they’re more or less safe. But then Will (Christopher Abbott) turns up, asking them to help him and his young family, and things get…

Details 18 // 98 mins // 1974 // • // Released 6 November Director Bob Clark Cast Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder, John Saxon Distributor 101 Films Bob Clark’s festive classic finally comes to Blu-ray for the very first time in the UK courtesy of 101 Films and although we’re still a little way off Christmas, it’s never too early to watch this horror masterpiece. It’s remarkable just how well Black Christmas holds up and no matter how many times you’ve seen it, the ending still sends a chill down your spine. Olivia Hussey stars as Jess, a college student whose sorority is being tormented by obscene phone calls as they head towards the Christmas break. Her situation is made worse when she decides to tell her temperamental pianist…

I grew up in the Eighties when the most widespread and visible male role models were Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone, and they made it seem like job number one for dudes was to blow stuff up. Hollywood sure made those explosions look cool but I was pretty sure I didn’t want to be involved in a real one in any capacity. And working that hard on muscles used for purposes of bulging and glistening did not appeal to me at all. I was much more into art and music and maybe learning how to solve problems without blowing stuff up. For that reason, the first two books of Anne McCaffrey’s Harper Hall trilogy, Dragonsong and Dragonsinger, were incredibly formative for me. Menolly, the protagonist, devoted herself to her music…

 Swedish author John “LINDQVIST LUXURIATES IN SHOWING US THESE PEOPLE AT THEIR WORST” Ajvide Lindqvist will forever be remembered as ‘the author of Let The Right One In’, but in the years since that sensation’s publication, he’s delivered a string of consistent chillers. I Am Behind You feels of a piece with his grim fable Little Star and ghost story Harbour, as four families on a countryside camping holiday wake up one morning to find themselves literally in the middle of nowhere. There’s a clear Stephen King influence to the conceit (they may not be under a dome, but it feels like it), but Lindqvist’s interests have always been darker. He’s unsparing when it comes to showing the nastier side of human nature, and the first half the book suffers…

What is The Tethered Mage about? The Tethered Mage takes place in a fantasy empire which conscripts mages into the military and assigning non-mage Falconers who can seal or unleash their power. Amalia, a retiring heir to a position on the ruling council, accidentally becomes linked in this way to Zaira, a brash pickpocket who’s hidden her fire magic on the streets. The unwilling partners have to work together to try to unravel a deadly intrigue before it can plunge their city into war. How did this idea come about? I first got the idea on a long car drive with my husband. He said something to the effect that in a world where some people were born with powerful magic, those people would inevitably wind up in control. Feeling…

One of the latest novels to ponder a future world transformed by global warming is Austral. Antarctica has been colonised, the retreating ice revealing the landscape underneath, and humanity is building a new world there. The eponymous central figure is a husky, an edited person designed to survive better in the cold. Austral is working as an officer in a prison camp, but she soon becomes a fugitive. She offers a damning perspective on the society that renders her and other huskies outcasts. She’s resourceful with a wry sense of humour and dominated by a will to liberate herself from the society that spurns her. Indeed, nothing is well in this world. He threads through repeated assertions that humanity has failed to learn from its past; capitalist structures still dominate…

“[My first encounter with science fiction] was probably when I was very small and the adult who was responsible for me on a particular weekend really wanted to go see a special re-engagement of 2001: A Space Odyssey. This was back when you couldn’t just rent a movie or see it on cable or anything – if you wanted to see a film you had to see it in the theatre. And so, they really wanted to see 2001 but there was no one to watch me while they did, so along I went. It made a huge impression on me – I had no idea what was going on but there’s no forgetting some of those scenes, even when you don’t understand them.”…

Originally Kickstarterfunded and self-published in black-and-white, Kyle Starks’ Kill Them All – a gloriously overblown tribute to action cinema – has now been reissued by Oni Press, sporting an exuberant colour job from Luigi Anderson. A spiritual successor to Starks’ Eisner award-nominated series Sexcastle, Kill Them All sets up a two-pronged narrative before letting all hell break loose. Disgraced Detective Iruka is following a tip that crime bosses are meeting downtown; meanwhile, former assassin the Tiger’s Daughter is set up by her low-level crook boyfriend, and is now out for revenge. Both heroes, weapons in tow, converge on Raquin Plaza, and must fight their way to the top floor through assorted guards, henchmen and office drones in pursuit of justice and retribution. Essentially, it’s Die Hard in reverse, with shades…

EGGSHELLS (1969) Hooper anticipates the arthouse surrealism of his follow-up movie, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, with Eggshells, which has a rather oddball Vietnam-era story of hippies, sex and post-traumatic shock (albeit represented by lots of student film class metaphor!). Veering from documentary-style realism to all-out avant-garde insanity, Eggshells demands to be seen at least once… THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE (1974) What else can be said about this? Is now a good time to reveal that the filmmaker actually had germophobia? It might add an extra layer to the classic. Featuring great visuals, this darkly comic and yet confrontational and beautifully rendered geek-show of cannibalism in the Deep South deserves its reputation as one of the finest low budget American films of the Seventies. EATEN ALIVE (1977) Clearly hampered…

 What makes an iconic horror villain? It’s not just about having a killer costume, or a distinctive murder weapon. To create a seriously scary, enduring baddie, you need a motive, a personality – and an actor who’s willing to fully inhabit that character, even if it means going to some dark places. “WHETHER YOU AGREE WITH WHAT JOHN DOES OR NOT, HE DOESN’T DO NOTHING” TOBIN BELL Saw’s Jigsaw definitely ticks all those boxes. Which might be why sitting opposite actor Tobin Bell in a plush central London hotel – about as far as you could possibly get from the grimy bathrooms and warehouses Jigsaw usually sets his lethal traps in – is a little bit nerve-wracking. “John Kramer’s a great character to play,” Bell smiles, not entirely putting us…

BRETT (ALIEN) 1 Stanton delivers the blue-collar truckers in space element of Ridley Scott’s sci-fi with his brilliant dead-pan double act with Yaphet Kotto’s Parker. Just two griping mechanics who are worrying about the bonus situation. Right. BRAIN (ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK) 2 Snake Plissken’s not getting out of New York without help, which is where Brain comes in. Shifty, influential, and not really happy to accept visitors… DETECTIVE JENKINS (CHRISTINE) 3 The appreciation of this Stephen King adaptation grows, and Stanton brings the real world to the story as the cop who knows more than he’s letting on. JOHNNIE FARRAGUT (WILD AT HEART) 4 David Lynch’s movie is full of killers and weirdos, and Farragut’s old fashioned PI isn’t cut out to survive when Grace Zabriskie and her gang…

HERE COME THE MIB 1. What is the name of the Men in Black’s alien informant that disguises itself as a dog? 2. Where was Agent J’s father, Colonel James Edwards Jr, killed? 3. Who was Agent K’s MIB partner before J? 4. Who is the Head of the MIB in the first Men In Black film? 5. What is K’s occupation at the start of Men In Black II after he has been neuralyzed? OUT OF THIS WORLD 6. Where is the MIB-built LunarMax Prison located? 7. Which alien poses as a pawn shop owner in the fi rst Men In Black film? 8. What kind of weapon is the Noisy Cricket? 9.In Men In Black III, what species is Griffin? 10. What is the name of the evil,…