Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 146 i SciFi Now

So, the Infinity War happened. The mad Titan Thanos arrived and, well, we won’t say anything too specific in case any of you somehow haven’t seen it yet, but there’s something of a question mark over the rest of the summer. How on earth do you follow an event film that massive? The answer, of course, is bringing things back down to Earth, which is why we’re so excited to see Luke Cage return. The first season had its ups and downs but the world-building and Mike Colter’s absolutely perfect casting created a vivid, lived-in world of its own and pointed to even better things to come. We talked to the cast and creator about taking things to the next level of the second season. And while we’re on the…

NO HEROICS (2008) This sadly short-lived British comedy followed a team of B-list London superheroes dreaming of something a little bigger. IRON MAN 3 (2013) Pearce co-wrote Tony Stark’s third solo outing with Shane Black, bringing things back down to Earth after the events of The Avengers. ALL HAIL THE KING (2014) This hilarious Marvel one-shot picked up with an imprisoned Trevor Slattery as he sat down with a documentary filmmaker. MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: ROGUE NATION (2015) Along with writer-director Christopher McQuarrie, Pearce helped to set up the explosive new stage of the MI universe. THE BILLION BRICK RACE (2019) Pearce was originally set to co-direct this LEGO movie universe project, but he stepped down and currently only has a story credit.…

We’re currently in the middle of an excruciating wait for the eighth and final season of Game Of Thrones, but while we try to figure out how we can possibly get along Thrones-less until an undetermined date in 2019, HBO has a treat for you. Thrones fans may very well be familiar with artist Robert Ball’s work already. He’s the one behind the absolutely gorgeous ‘Beautiful Death’ pieces, which paid tribute to the series’ fallen characters. Now, he has been commissioned by HBO to create individual artwork for each of the seasons so far for the new Blu-ray and DVD releases. Each of the set is packed with little Easter eggs for the fans and recreate iconic moments such as the ‘Battle Of Blackwater’, the ‘Red Wedding’ and Jon Snow’s…

The wonderful Reg E Cathey died in February this year at the age of 59, shortly after finishing filming Season Two of Luke Cage, in which he plays James Lucas, Cage’s father. The season opens to the sound of his famously gravelly voice and he looms large over the whole season. He’s best known for his role as Freddy in House Of Cards, for which he won an Emmy Award, and for roles in The Wire and The Corner. SFF fans, though, are more likely to know him from the recent Fantastic Four, in which he played Dr Franklin Storm, and the TV show Outcast, where he played Chief Giles. When we ask Cheo Hodari Coker about working with Cathey, he starts to laugh: “I’m laughing because the first thing…

Marie ‘Gran’ma’ L’angelle PLAYED BY: Betty Buckley She’s the only person who scares Jesse and is an ancient, bitter, twisted crone who rules her house with an iron fist. She’s all about family tradition and capital punishment. Also: she might be able to raise the dead. STARR’S NOTES: Inbred swamp trash with delusions of grandeur, but I am impressed by her creative approach to raising her kin as violently as possible. Jody PLAYED BY: Jeremy Childs He’s Marie’s iron fist. He’s completely loyal to his boss and he definitely enjoys the opportunities for violence his role gives him. Jody seems to have a certain amount of affection for Jesse, although that has been mostly conveyed through violent learning experiences and broken bones. Will kill with no hesitation. STARR’S NOTES: Do…

SINCE MAKING HIS DIRECTORIAL DEBUT THREE DECADES AGO, JAMES CAMERON HAS BEEN RESPONSIBLE FOR SOME OF THE MOST ICONIC AND INFLUENTIAL MOVIES, MOMENTS AND IMAGERY IN THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE FICTION CINEMA. HE IS A TITAN. HE’S ALSO INSANELY BUSY. “I was late today because I was working on two Avatar movies so don't try to guilt trip me about work ethic,” he jokes as he approached the table for our interview in Pasadena, California. “I’ve already written the scripts for two more, they’re finished scripts so we’re making four at the same time. We’re also doing the first, hopefully, the first, Alita: Battle Angel movie right now and I had a story conference this morning on three new Terminator movies. “You can’t stop me from creating new stuff because…

THE NOVELS Technically Michael Crichton’s 1990 novel was the source material, but the author only decided to write a sequel because Spielberg told him he’d consider filming it. The original book is nastier than the film and there are several key differences. THE GAMES The fi rst JP game was the 1993 tie-in for the NES and the Game Boy, a top-down shooter where you play as Alan Grant, and in a later version you could play as a Raptor. There were spin-offs too, the most interesting being the Lost World semi-sequel Trespasser. THE COMICS Walter Simonson and Gil Kane created a four-part comic book adaptation for Topps Comics, which ran a number of series and were mostly written by Bill Englehart. In 2010 IDW picked up the rights, and…

Details 15//105 mins //2017// // Released Out now Director Yolanda Ramke, Ben Howling Cast Martin Freeman, Simone Landers, Susie Porter, Anthony Hayes Distributor Netfl ix Based on the gorgeous 2013 short film by Ben Howling and Yolanda Ramke, Cargo is a different look at life in the zombie apocalypse. Martin Freeman is Andy, a father desperately searching the Australian outback for a safe place to raise his infant daughter Rosie after Rosie’s mother is turned. The search becomes more urgent after Andy is also infected with the virus, and has 48 hours of humanity to find the flourishing Aboriginal tribe he’s been told about. With his last breaths being counted down on his wristwatch, he sets out on foot with Rosie strapped to his back, obliviously cooing from a baby…

Details 15//89 mins //1986// // Released Out now Director George Pavlou Cast David Dukes, Kelly Piper, Ronan Wilmot, Niall Tobin Distributor Arrow Video Clive Barker fans will tell you that he doesn’t hold the film adaptation of Rawhead Rex in high esteem and it’s not difficult to see why. It’s not just because the filmmakers decided not to go with his vision for an eight foot phallus monster (a fact that is mentioned in the bonus features), it’s that it’s a cheesy horror B-movie that feels like it could have been written by anyone, not the man who gave us Hellraiser and Candyman. However, those going into the film with the knowledge that Rawhead Rex is packed with schlocky carnage rather than sinister chills may well find much to enjoy.…

Details 15// 91 mins // 1976// // Released Out now Director William Girdler Cast Christopher George, Andrew Prine, Richard Jaeckel, Joan McCall Distributor 88 Films Some of the best Jaws rip-offs didn’t even try to go into the water… No indeed, William Girdler’s gory creature feature follows the Jaws playbook so closely it borders on plagiarism, just with a big old grizzly bear and a lot more blood and severed limbs. Veteran character actor and B-movie regular Christopher George plays park ranger Michael Kelly, who finds himself in a bit of a pickle when an 18-foot grizzly starts devouring the tourists and locals. He teams up with a helicopter pilot (Andrew Prine) and an eccentric wildlife expert (Richard Jaeckel) to try and stop the beast, but it won’t be easy.…

Details NA // 100 mins // 2018 // VOD // Released Out now Director Ramin Bahrani Cast Michael B Jordan, Michael Shannon, Sofia Boutella Distributor HBO Films Might a desire to stock the arsenal for the oncoming streaming wars lie behind HBO’s attempt to adapt Ray Bradbury’s 1953 novel about a not-so-distant future in which firemen no longer put out fires but use them to burn banned literature? Maybe. It would go some way to explaining why director Ramin Bahrani (a more than capable filmmaker) has chosen to take that simple allegory about the value of inherited knowledge and bring it kicking and screaming into our digital age. The result is a cluttered and remarkably misjudged film that shoots for – and will no doubt miss – the YA audience.…

Details 12 // 150 minutes // 1983 // // Released Out now Creator Robert Young Cast Richard Heffer, Barbara Kellerman Distributor Simply Media A posh Parisienne sneaks her cat into Britain, unaware that the poor puss has had a run in with a rabid fox. The unlucky cat then spreads the virus around Scotland. A sleazy American businessman (Ed Bishop) takes in a clearly ill fox (the RSPCA exists for a reason, mate!), and one cut finger and stroke of a frothy muzzle later, we have our first human casualty. An early Eighties BBC Scotland miniseries, The Mad Death is far from being a lost classic. It starts well, as we watch people and animals getting infected one after another. The hallucinations Bishop suffers as he succumbs to the virus…

Author Richard Matheson and actor Richard Burton were born less than four months apart. There’s no point to be made there, I just thought that was a cool coincidence. And although I’m not a big Richard Burton fan outside of his narration work on Jeff Wayne’s musical version of War Of The Worlds, I am a huge fan of Richard Matheson. Of course, Matheson was more than simply a novelist. He wrote short stories, TV scripts and screenplays (adaptations of other authors’ works as well as his own). He wrote some of the most memorable episodes of The Twilight Zone, one of which, ‘Button, Button’, was re-filmed as The Box in 2009, starring James Marsden, Cameron Diaz and the wonderful Frank Langella. But I think the stories I was most…

1. The Reality Dysfunction “Mine has to be The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F Hamilton. It completely blew my mind. One of the most memorable I’ve ever read. #BookClub” @DBdeBurgh 2. Dune “Dune. Always Dune. It’s a sci-fi without robots or computers. It’s a rare breed and you can always fi nd several copies, well thumbed and falling apart, on my bookshelves. #BookClub” @mickeyralph 3. The Player Of Games “I can never make up my money mind between The Player Of Games, Quantum Thief and The Reality Dysfunction. Light by M John Harrison is a close second. #BookClub” @gavingsmith “IT’S A BOOK TO BREEZE THROUGH WITH RELISH” 4. Pandora’s Star “Pandora’s Star by Peter F Hamilton, or anything else by him really :p. #BookClub” @Roguevox 5. The Icarus Hunt “I…

“Reading Splintered by AG Howard and finding myself pleasantly surprised about it! #BookClub” @VLRavenscroft “Enchanters’ End Game, David Eddings. I think I need to read the first four books again, I speed through them and am sure I’ve missed things here and there. #BookClub” @Ntbw2 “Asimov’s The Robots Of Dawn. Love the master of induction, Baley. And also an interesting fictious study of planetary differences in sex habits. #BookClub” @Yakultheredelk “The epic and original The Infinity Gauntlet graphic novel. THE event that inspired generations to come. #BookClub” @safcinexile “Currently reading the The Great God Pan, by Arthur Machen really enjoying how the story draws you in. #BookClub” @Cascararogue “Currently reading @RSBelcherauthor The Brotherhood Of The Wheel and really enjoying it. Great mash-ups of urban fantasy and creepy horror. Highly recommended!…

“LILWALL IS NOT AFRAID TO HAVE MOMENTS OF DARK COMEDY OR TO CHALLENGE HER READERS” Details Author: Amy Lilwall Publisher: Point Blank Price: £16.99 Released: Out now In the future of Amy Lilwall’s impressive debut novel, humanity needs a boost. We’ve all grown too disaffected, too disconnected, and we need to be reminded of what it’s like to care for someone other than ourselves. Enter the littlers, tiny beings that look like people and are seemingly intended to fall somewhere between a pet and a child even though the manufacturers insist that they are neither. While Bonbon and Jinx may not understand where they came from, they have desires and needs, and they’re beginning to learn how to express themselves… One of the things that’s most interesting about The Biggerers…

Details Writer: Various Artist: Various Publisher: DC Comics Price:$29.99 Released: Out now Happy birthday, Superman! This lavish collection marks 80 years since the character’s first appearance in Action Comics #1 back in April 1938. Over 20 stories are included, running from the first issue to November 2012’s ‘New 52’ relaunch, accompanied by written contributions from the likes of comics historian Jules Feiffer, Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel’s daughter, Laura Siegel Larson, and graphic novelist-turned-Superman writer Gene Luen Yang. In one piece, writer Marv Wolfman recalls how on a tour around the DC offices in the Sixties he came across a cart of ‘written off’ pages from the archives destined for the furnace, including an unpublished 12-page story from 1947. Those pages are reprinted here for the first time, and is perhaps…

There’s two civilisations operating under an extremely delicate peace, a rogue unstable AI, personal vendettas and covert ops, and the last survivor of an exterminated species out for revenge. The Soldier, the first in the Rise Of The Jain series, finds the Polity universe sitting on a powder keg and Neal Asher tells us about lighting the fuse. What can you tell us about The Soldier? As with so many stories, some characters grow bigger than their roles and the reader would like to hear more from them, as would I. Two such from my Cormac series, Orlandine and Dragon, dumped themselves neatly in a hole in my Polity chronology between the end of that series and the start of the Spatterjay trilogy. I just took up that dangling thread.…

The social criticism that Kamiyama wanted to include in Stand Alone Complex comes from Section 9’s adversaries. In the first season, the team comes up against a ‘hacktivist’ called the Laughing Man – remember, this was before Anonymous or Wikleaks. The Laughing Man threatens violent reprisals against business and political leaders because of a long-buried scandal. The plotline was inspired by a medical controversy in Eighties Japan. After watching the first season, google ‘Maruyama vaccine’. Rather than a V For Vendetta mask, the Laughing Man hides behind a smiley logo (created by British designer Paul Nicholson), which incorporates a quote from Catcher In The Rye. This Salinger motif was very much Kamiyama’s idea. “From when I was 17 until I was 24, I felt that I was Holden Caulfield,” he…

ORCA OPENING The opening scene sees divers swim amongst Quint’s sunken Orca, taking pictures of the iconic wreckage until they meet a grisly end by a familiar monster of the deep. DEAD BODY JOLT In a neat wink to that unforgettable, underwater jump-out-of-your-seat dead head appearance from Jaws, the charred corpse from the waterski explosion literally leaps out at Brody from the sea. BEACH SCENE From the familiar bathers montage onwards, the sequel’s beach scene plays upon audience expectations brilliantly: you see a shadow in the water; you anticipate the shark… you get, er bluefish. It’s also apt that Brody has now become the man in the observation tower foreshadowed in the book he flicked through in Jaws. “THIS SHARK, SWALLOW YA WHOLE!” Quint anticipated his own demise during his…

Q. Which TV renewal/ cancellation affected you most? Jonathan Hatfull Editor A. The Exorcist An excellent and scary horror that took the story in bold new directions. Cancelled far too soon. Abigail Chandler Deputy Editor A. Gotham I’m relieved Gotham has been granted one last season. It’s OTT, pulpy, weirdly violent fun. Poppy-Jay Palmer News Editor A. iZombie I doubt I will ever tire of this (renewed!) show. I want to see Liv on the brain of a mime. Marcus Faint Art Editor A. Rick And Morty Banking on this renewal to tide me over until Dan Harmon makes that Community movie. Rachael Harper Sub Editor A. iZombie Even if Season Five is its last this has been a great show! Brilliant cast, fab music and those cooking scenes…!…

“SHE BROUGHT LIGHT AND LIFE TO EVERY ROLE SHE PLAYED” On Sunday 13 May 2018, Margot Kidder passed away at the age of 69. She left behind an incredible body of work, including horror masterpiece Black Christmas and the iconic The Amityville Horror. But the image we saw consistently when the news of her passing broke was that of her character in Richard Donner’s Superman. The 1978 classic Superman simply would not work without Kidder’s performance as go-getter reporter Lois Lane. For all the believing that a man can fly, the actress grounds the film with a performance that is somehow relatable and real but also sparkling with golden era Hollywood wit and verve. Her incredible ability to light up the screen was every bit as magical as the effects,…

1 Welcome home, Scott Scott Lang is home from prison and his adorable daughter reckons it’s high time he got a partner… 2 Giant ants It looks like Scott’s got the hang of the whole “getting much, much bigger” side of Dr Pym’s tech. 3 Meet the Wasp Hope Van Dyne is suited up and fully heroic and it’s about time. The Wasp looks bad-ass! 4 Ghosted Hannah John-Kamen’s Ghost uses Pym’s quantum realm technology to phase through things. 5 Cue the music Honestly, we have no idea what’s going on here, but it looks like a giant ant playing the drums. 6 No, you go low There’s going to be teamwork issues to iron out when Scott and Hope go into battle together… 7 Luis lives! The magnificent Luis…

HALLOWEEN Horror posters don’t have to be overly graphic to be spooky. Sometimes it’s the simplest of setups that stick with you the longest. And this is certainly the case for this brilliant poster for the latest movie in the Halloween franchise. This unembellished but incredibly haunting look at what Michael Myers is up to now is enough to make the hairs on the backs of our necks stand on end and keep our bedside lights turned on at night. It’s the detail in the wrinkles that really gets to us though. And who knows what he’s staring so despondently at? Do we want to know? We’re sure to find out in October when the film is released... THE HOLLOW CHILD We didn’t think we’d find a poster creepier than…

After Harley Quinn was hailed as being one of the best things to come out of Suicide Squad (or one of the only good things, depending on how you look at it), it made sense that Warner Bros would be keen on giving the character her own spin-off film as soon as possible. That spin-off film is Birds Of Prey, or whatever final title the studio settles on. Margot Robbie will lead the film has Harley, but she’s not going it alone; she will be joined by members of the exclusively female super group known in the DC comics as Birds Of Prey, which will presumably include the likes of Black Canary, Huntress, Poison Ivy, and maybe even Suicide Squad’s Katana. Though the film is still in the early stages,…

INVISIBLE MAN RALPH ELLISON Not to be confused with the HG Wells book, this one follows a nameless black narrator in the Forties leaving the American south and moving to Harlem, where he becomes a key player in The Brotherhood. LITTLE GREEN WALTER MOSLEY A mystery novel staring Mosley’s black PI Easy Rawlins, cruising the mean streets of LA looking for a missing black man. THE HEAT’S ON CHESTER HIMES We don’t see Luke reading this, but he does strike up a conversation with the US Marshal who is reading it because he’s a fan. It’s part of Himes’ Harlem Detectives series. BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME TA-NEHISI COATES Season Two sees Luke reading this book about being black in the US, written to the author’s son. Given the father-son…

As well as directing and writing both Incredibles films, Brad Bird also lends his voice to one of Pixar’s most iconic supporting characters: fashion designer Edna Mode. Although he’s often her polar opposite, getting into Edna mode is remarkably easy for Bird. “I mean, it’s strange that a half-German, half-Japanese, bossy, midget is something that feels very natural to me,” he says. “I think that at my most confident moments I’m sort of like E. She exists in that most confident moment all the time. That is something I wish that I could do. It always cracked me up that she’s this tiny, little person with no super powers at all that can cowl superheroes and make them feel inadequate somehow or like they can’t keep up. I’ve known some…

The final minutes of Preacher’s second season were as intense as the show has ever been. Jesse and Cassidy declaring their hatred for each other, the Grail demonstrating just how much control they had over our heroes, the power of Genesis evaporating and leaving the preacher with nothing but his wits, and Tulip dead in the backseat of a car. But those final moments, as the preacher and the Irish vampire drove the hitwoman’s corpse up to the house at Angelville… well, for fans of the comics, that’s quite possibly the most exciting thing we’ve seen on Preacher so far (with the possible exception of Humperdoo). “There are all these great worlds and stories that we wanted to tell, and Angelville was really at the top of the list,” showrunner…

The Saint Of Killers LOCATION: Hell LAST SEEN: Asking to meet with Satan. NOTES: He could prove to be a helpful asset again if he’s able to return to our plane of existence. Let us hope he never turns his six-shooters on us. Hitler LOCATION: Unknown LAST SEEN: Disappearing into an American city. NOTES: Well, this is interesting. It seems one of history’s worst monsters has donned a hoodie and returned. We should look into this. Arseface LOCATION: Somewhere in America LAST SEEN: Escaping from Hell NOTES: So, the boy Jesse Custer sent down to Hell in a fit of rage has managed to find his way out. This could turn out to be a very useful bargaining chip. Memo AM CONCERNED WITH YOUR METHODS IN OBTAINING GENESIS AND CUSTER.…

KICK-ASS HEROINE Choose from Sarah Connor, Ellen Ripley or Neytiri! Some of the genre’s defining heroines were born in Cameron movies. MILITARY HARDWARE These brave new worlds come with brave new tech! From transport to terrifying weaponry, the military industrial complex is fl ourishing! NEW CINEMATIC TECHNOLOGY Rarely has James Cameron delivered a film without some kind of new or revitalised movie magic, from leaps forward in CGI to bringing 3D back to the cinema. CORPORATE BADDIE No matter how dangerous the situation, there’s always a sleazy suit trying to make a buck. Don’t worry… they’ll get theirs. AN EXTRA REEL OF FILM Visions this big demand a running time to match. SAVE THE DATE A James Cameron movie is an event, and will come with words like ‘gamechanger’ and…

THE MOSASAURUS FILM: Jurassic World LOCATION: Isla Nublar The water-dwelling Mosasaurus proves that genetically altered dinos can’t hold a candle to the real thing when it drags the Indominus Rex into its tank. FINALLY, FLYING DINOSAURS FILM: Jurassic Park III LOCATION: Isla Sorna Was there anyone who wasn’t delighted when, three films in, the characters finally find themselves in an aviary? Enter the Pteranodons. VELOCIRAPTORS IN THE KITCHEN FILM: Jurassic Park LOCATION: Isla Nublar Even the visitor centre wasn’t safe, as raptors stalked Tim and Lex through the kitchen, being tricked by reflections and eventually killed by the loose T-Rex. VELOCIRAPTORS IN THE LONG GRASS FILM: The Lost World: Jurassic Park LOCATION: Isla Sorna The Lost World wisely kept the raptors to…

Okay, tell me what I need to know about end credits stings… There are two, and they are both mid-credits. One is the craziest thing in the whole crazy film. Who’s the best member of X-Force? Peter. Obviously. Are there any big hints I should look out for? Keep an eye out for the name of Russell’s school – it could be referencing the long-awaiting arrival of a big X-Men villain. So who’s the big cameo? Which one? The film pulls off at least four great surprise cameos, and we’re not going to spoil any of them. Are the opening credits as inventive as they were in the fi rst one? The name’s Wilson. Wade Wilson. *Cue Celine Dion* What musical influences come into the movie? Dubstep and Barbara Streisand’s…

Details 12A // 149 mins // Out now Director Anthony Russo, Joe Russo Screenwriters Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely Cast Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Holland, Josh Brolin, Zoe Saldana Distributor Disney Ten years on from Iron Man, the MCU has delivered a massive crossover event that is entertaining, shocking, and, well, massive. Directors Joe and Anthony Russo and writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have done a pretty stunning job of marshalling such an unwieldy group, and, crucially, the thrill of watching these characters come together is absolutely there. Thanos is established as a terrifying threat right off the bat and it is a huge relief that the long-teased villain actually works. Josh Brolin brings the right blend of threat, glee…

Details 12A // 135 mins // Out now Director Ron Howard Screenwriters Jonathan Kasdan, Lawrence Kasdan Cast Alden Ehrenreich, Donald Glover, Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke Distributor Disney Just like the ragtag team of space thieves who feature in this enjoyable and entertaining adventure across a Galaxy, far, far away, Howard and his team were thrown together in difficult circumstances but really start to rev their engines after a spluttery start. Desperate to make his way back to his ex Qi’ra, Han hooks up with a shady bunch of criminals hired to steal a precious energy source and hatches an escape plan, and in the process strikes up a bond with a furry friend. He’ll also need to enlist the help of Lando Calrissian and his droid, L3-37. There’s plenty the…

Details 18// 92 mins// 1973// // Released Out now Director Joe D’Amato Cast Ewa Aulin, Angela Bo, Sergio Doria, Klaus Kinski Distributor Arrow Video This early effort from the late, ludicrously prolifi c schlock fi lmmaker Joe D’Amato is a blend of Poe, Giallo and B-movie excess so baffling that it’s oddly likeable. The plot seems to be a secondary consideration (it’s only really mentioned in the opening and the final ten minutes), as the filmmaker hurls together his plot elements. At the heart of the film is Greta von Holstein (Ewa Aulin), who pitches up at a stately home following a gruesome accident that results in the death of her driver. Walter (Sergio Doria) and his wife Eva (Angela Bo) are taken with their new arrival, and as a…

Details 15 // 82 mins // 2016 // // Released Out now Director Filip Kovacevic Cast Stojan Djordjevic, Daca Vidosavljevic, Sten Zendor Distributor Matchbox Films There’s always room for a good spin on the old Groundhog Day formula, whether it’s a blockbuster (Edge Of Tomorrow), a horror (Happy Death Day) or a thriller (A Day). Serbian fi lm, Incarnation, feels unique because of the intensity of its focus. We’re used to figuring out what the deal is in these kinds of films pretty early on, but director Filip Kovacevic keeps us as clueless as poor Covek (Stojan Djordjevic), who wakes up on a street bench with no memory and barely has time to ask where he is before masked men walk towards him and shoot him. Of course, he wakes…

Details 15// 97 mins // 2017// // Released 11 June Director Graham Skipper Cast Chase Williamson, Fabienne Therese, Lyle Kanouse Distributor Matchbox Films Sequence Break’s protagonist Oz (Chase Williamson) is a young millennial lost in an obsession with the outmoded arcade games that he refurbishes. On the verge of losing his job, two strangers enter his life. The first, Tess (Fabianne Therese), is a fellow geek and gamer, and a perfect match for him. The second is a strange man (John Dinan) who delivers a circuitboard that converts an old arcade machine into a portal to an infinite cosmic world – or to a lo-res labyrinthine trap. With its synth score, its red-, green-and blue-filtered lighting, its gooey, icky practical effects, and its hallucinatory mergers of man and machine, Sequence…

Details 15// TBA mins //2002-2005// // Released 4 June Creator Kenji Kamiyama Cast Atsuko Tanaka, Akio Otsuka, Koichi Yamadera, Osamu Saka, Yutaka Nakano Distributor Manga Entertainment As fans will tell you, there is far more to the world of Ghost In The Shell than the groundbreaking and hugely influential 1995 anime film (and you can read more about it in our Complete Guide in this issue). Anyone wanting to dive deeper into the world of Section 9 should absolutely snap up this beautiful Blu-ray reissue of the anime TV series, which features both seasons, the two OVAs and the Solid State Society fi lm. The first season is centred around Section 9’s pursuit of a brilliant and untraceable hacker known as The Laughing Man, who seems to be driven to…

I first stumbled upon Matheson in my secondary school library. I was around 15 at the time, and the book I picked (which turned out to be a gateway drug to a far bigger Matheson addiction) was I Am Legend (1954). After reading its final sentence, I remember sitting awestruck, my mouth hanging open. The words rang in my head and I thought: ‘My God, I was in the hands of a master.’ He was the first author to make me realise the importance of ending a story on a powerful, emotive, sock-it-to-the-reader punch. I also remember being shocked that the book had been written almost three full decades before I was born. It felt so present, so timeless. I considered that the mark of a master, too.…

Details Author: Daniel Godfrey Publisher: Titan Books Price: £7.99 Released: Out now The idea that technology designed to make us safer can be used against us is one of sci-fi’s core concepts, and one of the most interesting things about Daniel Godfrey’s latest is that everybody already seems to know it. There are protests against the fact that machines have taken away all but the highest-paid jobs, an unpopular Prime Minister who continues to campaign for more AI, and a priority-based police force that is obviously corruptible. Our protagonist, aircraft crash investigator turned tech developer Anna Glover, may be the most disillusioned of the lot. She’s a public figure of hatred after her actions led to a war, but the chance to solve a kidnapping by going into the memories…

“THERE’S A CREEPINESS THAT WILL STAY WITH YOU” Details Author: Francesco Dimitri Publisher: Titan Books Price: £8.99 Released: 3 July Every year, childhood friends Art, Tony, Fabio and Mauro meet at their favourite pizza place. Until one year, Art doesn’t turn up, re-opening a decades-old mystery they haven’t talk about since they were kids. In the midst of a hot summer, the three friends – now grown adults – will have to confront the terrifying things that lurk in the shadows of their hometown. There are plenty of terrifying things to choose from, too. Casalfranco, a fictional town in Italy, is picturesque, but it’s also pitiless. Organised crime is rife, visions of the Virgin drive a religious mania, even the olive trees seem to be engaged in a violent battle…

Details Author: Neal Asher Publisher: Macmillan Price: £18.99 Released: Out now Scheming AIs, lethal tech, body horror and space battles… yes, Neal Asher has returned to the Polity universe and kicked off a new series with the kind of action and high stakes that readers have come to expect. It should be noted, however, that Asher gives newcomers to this world enough information for The Solider to work as a reasonable jumping on point. The truce between the polity (AI and AI-enhanced humans) and the prador (giant crab-like creatures) is holding, although trust isn’t at a premium. One area where the mutual mistrust seems to be working reasonably well is an outpost to guard and contain an accretion disc containing potentially lethal Jain tech, but the smallest nudge could have…

Details Writer: Julian Voloj Artist: Thomas Campi Publisher: Super Genius Price: $24.99 Released: Out now Just in time for the 80th anniversary of Action Comics #1 arrives this independent graphic biography of Joe Shuster, the artist who co-created Superman with writer Jerry Siegel in 1938. A ‘work of meticulously researched fi ction’ The Joe Shuster Story presents a first person account that traces the young artist’s career from his upbringing in Cleveland to his tentative forays into the burgeoning art form of comic books in collaboration with Siegel, to the unprecedented success of their super-creation and beyond. Writer Julian Voloj condenses decades of comic book history into this framework. Consequently, the book isn’t as focused on Shuster’s own life as one would expect from the title. This is more of…

In 1995, the image of Japanese animation in Britain was very different from what it is now. It was before Pikachu and Naruto, before Death Note and Cowboy Bebop. Studio Ghibli was around in Japan, but only hardcore anime fans knew about it in Britain. The national media called Japanese animation ‘manga movies’, ignoring fans’ protests: “But manga are Japanese comics, not animation…” Manga movies were known for comic-book action, brutal violence, and shocking sex. Musclemen hulked out in bone-splintering fights, their faces exploding in rivers of blood. Women were butt-naked in ways to make Barbarella blush. One ‘manga movie’, Wicked City, had a seductive woman who turned into a spider creature with a ravenous vagina dentata maw. Many of these releases were 18-rated, though that didn’t stop British kids,…

Ghost In The Shell originated as a manga in 1989 by the feted SF artist Masamune Shirow (whose name’s often written in Japanese order as ‘Shirow Masamune’). Amazingly dense technoprose rubs shoulders with goofy humour and an infamously explicit lesbian romp that’s censored in many editions. Carl Gustav Horn, veteran Dark Horse manga editor, contrasts the first film and the manga. The film presents the Major “alone in bed, wearing a dull vest in a darkened room. In Shirow’s manga, page 200 shows a bright living room interior where a man sits on an overstuffed sofa, drink on the side table, smoking a cigar. This is the Major’s boyfriend; she’s in a sharply tailored dress uniform. The feel of the anime is quite different from the manga. I remember the…

The Demon Headmaster crested a wave of quality children’s BBC supernatural dramas like Dark Season, Century Fallsand Earthfasts. The scripts were adapted from the books by Helen Cresswell, who had also written the wildly successful 1991 version of Five Children And It, as well as adapting her own novel Moondial in 1988. The producer-director was Roger Singleton-Turner. Cast as the terrifying Demon Headmaster was Terrence Hardiman, who was perhaps best known at that time for playing Reinhardt in Secret Army. “I had worked with the director-producer years before on some children’s drama. So, I knew him and he knew me, and obviously he thought that I was a good idea for the part. They got in touch and said: ‘The problem is, it’s working with children!’. I said: ‘Yes? What…

Film RUNNING TIME: 106 minutes RELEASE DATE: 2 August 1985 DIRECTOR: WD Richter WRITER: Earl Mac Rauch CAST: Peter Weller, John Lithgow, Ellen Barkin, Clancy Brown, Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Lloyd, Lewis Smith About There’s no one like Buckaroo Banzai. He’s a neurosurgeon, a musician, a race car driver, and a physicist, and he’s just used the oscillation overthruster to drive through a mountain in Texas by taking a shortcut through the 8th dimension. However, in doing so he’s alerted evil alien overlord John Whorfin (who’s currently inhabiting the body of an insane Italian scientist) to his new technology, which will allow Whorfin to break free and return home. The alien race who exiled Whorfin and his allies have no intention of allowing him back, and if Buckaroo and his Hong…

COLONIAL MARINES (ALIENS) 1 You would probably never catch the Hong Kong Cavaliers getting this incredibly excited about violence, but you would be hard-pushed to name a more iconic squad of Eighties badasses. AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE (AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE) 2 You could argue that nothing has got as close to matching Banzai’s tone as the hilarious and wilfully strange Adult Swim cartoon. SERENITY CREW (SERENITY) 3 When you need something smuggled, or when you need a group of misfits to step up and do the right thing, consider hiring Mal Reynolds’ crooks/heroes. THE MONSTER SQUAD (THE MONSTER SQUAD) 4 When the Universal monsters start causing chaos, only a gang of horror movie-loving kids can help. BPRD ( HELLBOY) 5 They’re the only thing standing between us and a…

”Rented it for my 11th birthday party (along The Last Starfighter and Krull). It was the best movie I didn’t understand.” @Nether_Region “Greatest movie ever! Can’t count the number of times my wife and I have watched it, much less quoted it. ‘It might be booby-trapped’ is our favourite!” @mister_terrifi c “Grew up on that movie, one of my exposures Jeff Goldblum (before Jurassic Park even), eminently quotable, great fun, and just an awesome time. Sure, it’s got its flaws, but what doesn’t? Love it.” @thentheresanne “Saw this in the theater with my mother when it first came out. She hated it but I loved it and still do. So many quotable lines! The John Bigboote jokes crack me up every time. And it has Jeff Goldblum!” @ReganZupan “It was…

INPUT DATA 1. Who is the Senior Executive Vice President of ENCOM? 2. What does MCP stand for? 3. What program does Flynn use to try to hack the system? 4. Who runs ENCOM’s science division? 5. What kind of program was MCP originally designed to be before it was ‘improved’? ACTION FAILED 6. Which arcade game is being played at the start of the film? 7. Who does Crom go up against on the Game Grid? 8. What is the name of Flynn’s arcade? 9. Which video game was not created by Flynn? a) Matrix Blaster, b) Space Astroids or c) Vice Squad? 10. Who wrote the security computer program Tron? INSERT USERNAME 11. What is the name of Dillinger’s assistant? 12. In what year was the prototype of…

16-20 KEVIN FLYNN There’s absolutely nothing you won’t do in the name of justice, and your pursuit is helped by the fact that you basically have superpowers. The physical laws of the digital world don’t apply to you. 11-15 ALAN BRADLEY As the creator of Tron, you already one-up almost everyone in every room you enter. As well as excelling in your own avocations, you are also good at exposing other people’s. 6-10 MCP You may think you’re in charge right now, but really you have no idea at all. Although you possess a massive wealth of knowledge, you don’t know how to truly use it to your advantage. 0-5 ED DILLINGER It might have worked pretty well for you in the past, but lying, cheating and plagiarising your way…

Welcome to Memory Bank, the section of the magazine in which we flick through old issues of SciFiNow and reminisce about genre’s days of yore. This month, we’re looking at issue 109, which featured a bunch of DC superheroes on the cover. This was back when Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice was still in the trailer stages of its life. “The most obvious difference [between Marvel and DC] is that DC/Warner did not initially pursue a carefully thought-out universe-building strategy with solo films leading into a team-up,” explained Arnold T Blumberg, a professor at the University of Baltimore who had just introduced a new course called ‘Media Genres: Media Marvels’. “DC’s limited Superman/ Batman cinematic plans finally began heading somewhere only because they’re now trying to play catch-up, and…

CAST YOUR MIND BACK TO A TIME BEFORE BLACK PANTHER BECAME ONE OF THE BIGGEST GROSSING FILMS OF ALL TIME. BACK THEN, A BLACK SUPERHERO WAS A RISKY PROPOSITION (BECAUSE APPARENTLY EVERYONE HAD FORGOTTEN BLADE…) AND LUKE CAGE WAS A TRAILBLAZER. SEASON ONE INVIGORATED THE MARVEL UNIVERSE AND TOOK IT TO BRAND-NEW PLACES, BUT IT WASN’T PERFECT. THE SHOW HAD ITS FLAWS. NOW, AFTER DOING HIS THING IN THE DEFENDERS, LUKE IS BACK ON THE STREETS OF HARLEM, TANGLING WITH NEW AND OLD VILLAINS AS HE TRIES TO KEEP HIS NEIGHBOURHOOD SAFE. Showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker admits that it was a criticism of the first season that drove the story for Season Two. One critic in particular, Angelica Jade Bastien, had written a number of reviews of Season One that…

There is one shot that Luke Cage will forever be associated with. Yes, it’s that Season One shot of Mahershala Ali’s Cottonmouth standing in front of his Biggie portrait, the crown perfectly positioned above his head as he delivers the line “everybody wants to be the king”. And yet, that shot only came about by chance: “Initially we didn’t have that Biggie portrait, it was a Basquiat painting, and at the last minute we lost the rights,” Coker explains. “Basquiat, a lot of his paintings, have a crown as a symbol. I love the images and I didn’t want to alter the speech, so we had to quickly find a replacement that prominently featured a crown. Then I remembered when my friend edited Rap Pages [which Coker used to write…

THE MASK (The Mask) Yellow was in darling, but you have just sent it back out again. THOR (Thor: Ragnarok) It looks like the Mickey’s Toon Town version of the previous outfit. BATMAN (Batman & Robin) Nipples are only good for one thing, darling, but this is not it. BANE (The Dark Knight Rises) That is not where a jock strap is supposed to go… DEADPOOL (Deadpool) My god, you’ve gotten ugly. That disaster of a mask will just have to stay. WOLVERINE (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) Did you even get dressed? You look like you crawled out of a dumpster. RORSCHACH (Watchmen) Is that bag over your head so no one knows who paired that hat with that overcoat? SUPERMAN (Superman Returns) Superman, have you not been listening to me?…

HELLBLAZER Ennis’ run on Hellblazer ran from 1991 to 1994 (Dillon would join him roughly halfway through) and includes some of the character’s finest moments. They were a natural fit for the darkly humorous, violent and bizarre world of John Constantine. THE PUNISHER Speaking of finest moments, ‘Welcome Back, Frank’ is still one of the very best Punisher comics. Recognising the more outlandish possibilities for the character while retaining the street-level vigilante core, it is vintage Frank Castle. PREACHER What can we say about Ennis and Dillon’s masterpiece that hasn’t already been said? It’s such an extraordinary blend of blasphemous high-concept, giddily offensive gore and a big old Western romance. It’s just stunning. Go further: Garth Ennis: The Boys, Hellblazer: Dangerous Habits, Hitman Steve Dillon: PunisherMAX, Wolverine Origins, Animal Man…

1871: CARMILLA BY SHERIDAN LE FANU The idea of a lesbian vampire was out there for the 19th century, which is why the lesbianism was only strongly implied in Le Fanu’s novella. It tells the story of a woman who is preyed upon by a female vampire named Carmilla, a character which went on to inspire a range of films, music, comics, web series and books, including Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Canadian web series Carmilla was a direct adaptation of the story, albeit a comedic and modernised one, and went on to win several AfterEllen visibility awards for its LGBTQ representation. MAY 1936: QUEER CODING IN DRACULA’S DAUGHTER The lesbian implications of an early version of Lambert Hillyer’s vampire horror Dracula’s Daughter were obvious from the start, so much so that…

Details 15 // 126 mins // 15 June Director Ari Aster Screenwriter Ari Aster Cast Toni Collette, Gabriel Byrne, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro, Ann Dowd Distributor Entertainment Film Hereditary is like a nightmare you can’t wake up from. It’s oppressive, it’s unsettling, and as the film continues along its meticulously woven path, the only thing you know for certain is that things are going to get worse. There are not many films that can crawl into your gut with such insidious skill, leaving you to make your way home shaken and upset. While it is best to go into Ari Aster’s feature debut knowing as little as possible, the driving force at the start of the film is loss. It opens with the family preparing to attend the funeral of…

Details 15 // 111 mins // 29 June Directors Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead Screenwriter Justin Benson Cast Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead, Callie Hernandez, Tate Ellington Distributor Arrow Films They say you can never go home again, but for brothers Justin and Aaron (played by filmmakers Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead), it’s more a question of ‘should we?’. The past is never as simple as you remember it, and the real treat about The Endless is that even the most sophisticated genre expert will be surprised by what’s waiting for these two in the hills of Southern California. When a videotape from the commune/UFO doomsday cult they escaped from as teenagers arrives in the mail, Aaron takes it as a sign that they should go back. He’s begun to romanticise the…

Details 15// 91 mins // 1985// // Released 18 June Director Geoff Murphy Cast Bruno Lawrence, Alison Routledge, Pete Smith Distributor Arrow Video The end of the world story gets a philosophical spin in Geoff Murphy’s 1985 New Zealand SF The Quiet Earth, which opens with Zac Hobson (Bruno Lawrence) waking up to find that he might very well be the last person left on the planet. It turns out that Hobson was working on a highly experimental government science project that may have wiped out the human race in an instant. The first chunk of the film is essentially a showcase for the excellent Bruno Lawrence as Hobson teeters on the brink of insanity, enjoying the benefits of time alone at last even as he reaches the pits of…

Details 12A // 135 mins // 2018 // • // Released Out now Director Ryan Coogler Cast Chadwick Boseman, Michael B Jordan, Danai Gurira, Lupita Nyong’o, Letitia Wright, Angela Bassett Distributor Disney In the three months since its theatrical release, Black Panther – the 18th movie in Marvel’s ever-expanding Cinematic Universe – has broken records en route to taking over $1.3 billion at the box office. Revisiting Wakanda proves that it’s a well-deserved stat-line, with Ryan Coogler’s latest offering much more than just the entertaining heroics we’ve grown accustomed to from the MCU over the past decade. That’s not to say that Black Panther doesn’t acquit itself well in that department, as Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa – newly ascended to the throne of Wakanda following the death of his father –…

Details 15// 97 mins // 1999// // Released Out now Director David Cronenberg Cast Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jude Law, Ian Holm, Willem Dafoe Distributor 101 Films David Cronenberg’s long-neglected video game movie has finally received a lovely Blu-ray upgrade, and it is time you gave it another look. While it was negatively compared to the master’s own Videodrome on release, eXistenZ’s prescient VR fears still offer a heady blend of body horror, mind bending and dark comedy as Jennifer Jason Leigh’s game designer is forced to head into her own creation with tech-phobic PR Jude Law after an assassination attempt. The living game-pods are a nice blend of cute and disturbing, the spinal ports are genuinely upsetting and that tooth gun still packs one hell of a punch. The final…

Details PG //475 mins //1996-1998// // Released Out now Creator Roger Singleton-Turner Cast Terrence Hardiman, Frances Amey, Tessa Peake-Jones Distributor Simply Media Young orphan Dinah Glass (Frances Amey) is fostered by the Hunter family, and quickly realises that her new foster brothers have a good reason to dislike their school. The headmaster has a hypnotic hold over pupils and staff, with only a small gang of immune kids, SPLAT (Society for the Protection of our Lives Against Them), willing and able to fight against him. The title is a bit of a cheat, really, as the Headmaster is only in that role for three episodes, before going on to take charge of various nefarious schemes across the country. Terrence Hardiman is unforgettably chilling in the title role, only getting better…

Details 15// 321 minutes // 2018// // Released Out now Creators Jannik Tai Mosholt, Esben Toft Jacobsen, Christian Potalivo Cast Alba August, Lucas Lynggaard Tønnesen Distributor Netfl ix Post-apocalyptic dramas often face challenges when trying to differentiate themselves from other genre titles. Fortunately, Netflix’s Danish outing The Rain has just enough to make it unique. It gets off to a strong start, plunging the viewer into the destruction and mystery. Wide-eyed, we watch as Simone (Alba August) gets yanked out of school by her father and taken to a bunker. We’re as in the dark as she is as he instructs her and her brother Rasmus to hide while he goes back outside to save people from ‘the killer virus in the rain’. Six years pass and the siblings are…

Details Author: Dominic Dulley Publisher: Jo Fletcher Books Price: £8.99 Released: Out now Orry is running a long con with her father and brother on an aristocratic member of the Ascendancy, who rule their quadrant, when Orry decides to make her own play and everything goes wrong. With a pendant she does not yet know the significance of, Orry is forced to go on the run and make allegiances with the older and crabbier Jurgen Mender of the spaceship Dainty Jane. There are spaces pirates, the ruling families of the Ascendancy, and a warmongering race on their tail, but Orry has a plan. Everything from Star Wars through to Firefl y and more recently with Becky Chambers’ Wayfarers series has such a dedicated fanbase and cultural stature that to enter…

Details Author: Andrew Caldecott Publisher: Jo Fletcher Books Price: £14.99 Released: Out now With the residents still reeling from the events of Andrew Caldecott’s first novel, Rotherweird, the eponymous town is forced to contend with the prophesied arrival of Wynter. He is the mastermind who set everything in motion. However, they also have more pressing matters to deal with, like a Mayoral election. The delightfully bizarre Rotherweird had the hard job of introducing Caldecott’s hidden world, full of strange traditions and secrets, which means that with its sequel, Wyntertide, Caldecott can really let fly with the weirdness. The jocular tone of the first novel is continued here, but with the higher stakes, deepening relationships, and an expansion of the mythology that makes Wyntertide such a delight. While it can occasionally…

Details Author: Joanne M Harris Publisher: Gollancz Price: £14.99 Released: Out now Four years after giving the character a chance to tell his story his way, Joanne M Harris has returned to Loki. While The Gospel Of Loki was a fun retelling of the classic myths from the trickster’s perspective, Testament is a brand new and brilliant story. Having spent centuries in a netherworld prison after the events of Ragnarok, Loki finds a way to slip into Dream before arriving in our world via an online video game: Asgard™. He also winds up in the mind of a teenage girl named Jumps, who is understandably upset about sharing her consciousness and body with a Norse god. But Loki is not the only escapee. Odin’s hitched a ride too, and he’s…

No one schemes like Loki. There’s no one so skilled at getting what they want and getting away with it than the slippery, selfish, downright sensational Norse deity. However, when the God Of Mischief escapes into our world from his post-Ragnarok prison, he discovers that he’s going to have to find a way to potentially restore Asgard, outwit his enemies and stay on the right side of Odin while sharing a body and mind with a teenage girl. Young Jumps is understandably not a fan of the arrangement either. “You’ve got one great big egomaniac there and a teenager, who, let’s face it, are not that easy to live with!” laughs Joanne M Harris, who has followed up 2014’s tremendously entertaining The Gospel Of Loki with a brand new adventure:…

Details Writer: Carole Maurel Artist: Carole Maurel Publisher: Humanoids Price: $22.99 Released: 20 June The gentlest of sci-fi conceits runs through this charming French coming-of-age story, here translated into English with ‘adaptation’ supervision from teen-comic titan Mariko Tamaki ( This One Summer). In 1995, a 16-year-old girl falls asleep on a bus and wakes up in 2013 in the middle of Paris – miles away from her home in the sticks. Somewhere out in the city, her 33-year-old self is living her messy, modern life, and it seems that they’re destined to meet. Maurel wrings some wonderful time-slip details out of this premise. Through remakes, revivals and relentless nostalgia, the Nineties feel oddly current – but the differences soon become apparent. From pagers to cellphones, Francs to Euros, Luisa is…

you re considering watching TV Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex, you don’t need to have seen the earlier Ghost In The Shell film from 1995. True, both versions were by the same animation studio, Production IG, and have the same lead Japanese voice-actors. But as its name suggests, Stand Alone Complex is a complete reboot; you can start here. The other anime iteration, Ghost In The Shell: Arise, is often misleadingly called a prequel because it features younger, less experienced versions of Kusanagi and her colleagues. But Arise is actually a reboot too. Many of its story details flat-out contradict the other versions, and its characterisations are just as incompatible. It’s impossible to imagine the Arise characters growing up into their older counterparts from either Stand Alone Complex…

“He wanted it really dark. He wanted all the kids’ boats painted black. He wanted Amity to have a dark look with broken picket fences… the shark had just wrecked everything so it was a dark and moody picture,” reveals Joe Alves, regarding the initial plans for a bleaker Jaws 2 by original director John Hancock. This abandoned ghost town premise, would have capitalised upon a subplot from Peter Benchley’s original Jaws novel that was abandoned from early drafts of Spielberg’s adaptation, whereas the mayor of Amity is in debt to the mafia who helped build the island resort. In this alternative follow up, mayor Larry Vaughan (Murray Hamilton) is desperate to revive Amity’s ailing tourist economy, which has been severely impacted by the destructive shark attacks, so that he…

THE FACULTY These teachers are perfectly nice really, but unfortunately they’ve all been possessed by nasty hydrophilic aliens. MR FINCH Doctor Who The leader of a gang of shape-changing Krillitanes, Mr Finch mostly stays in human form… unlike his bat brethren. MISS FRENCH Buffy Miss French catches all the boys’ eyes, but it’s their heads she’s after – once she’s had her wicked way with them! Well, she is a giant praying mantis after all… PRINCIPAL SNYDER Buffy Buffy again, and Snyder is more of a slimy jobsworth than an actual villain – but it’s hard not to hoot when he gets devoured by a demon. MS PADDOCK The X Files When a gang of Satanists offend a demon, Ms Paddock arrives to teach them a lesson they won’t soon…

”HEY NOW, DON’T BE MEAN; WE DON’T HAVE TO BE MEAN, COS, REMEMBER, NO MATTER WHERE YOU GO, THERE YOU ARE.” BUCKAROO BANZAI “HISTORY IS-A MADE AT NIGHT. CHARACTER IS WHAT YOU ARE IN THE DARK.” LORD JOHN WHORFIN “SEALED WITH A CURSE AS SHARP AS A KNIFE. DOOMED IS YOUR SOUL AND DAMNED IS YOUR LIFE.” LORD JOHN WHORFIN “IT’S NOT MY GODDAMN PLANET. MONKEY UNDERSTAND BOY? , ” JOHN BIGBOOTE “MAY I PASS ALONG MY CONGRATULATIONS FOR YOUR GREAT INTERDIMENSIONAL BREAKTHROUGH. I AM SURE, IN THE MISERABLE ANNALS OF THE EARTH, YOU WILL BE DULY ENSHRINED.” LORD JOHN WHORFIN “LAUGH WHILE YOU CAN, ” MONKEY-BOY. LORD JOHN WHORFIN “BUCKAROO, THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS TO KNOW IS EVERYTHING OKAY WITH THE ALIEN SPACE CRAFT FROM PLANET 10 OR SHOULD…