Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 148 i SciFi Now

These days we’re seeing horror movies discussed with the kind of regularity that we usually associate with think pieces about whether or not we’ve reached comic book movie saturation point (still waiting on that to happen, by the way). Whether you love or loathe the genre, there’s no disputing that we’re in a boom period for films that scare the living hell out of audiences. They’re winning Oscars, smashing the box office, becoming talking points for misguided genre discussions and shredding their way into popular culture (don’t worry, Pennywise is back soon). While IT may be credited for Hollywood’s most recent love affair with horror, James Wan’s The Conjuring franchise has been smashing the box office and getting great reviews (apart from the first Annabelle) since the Warrens first arrived…

KNOWSMORE ALAN TUDYK KnowsMore is the search bar worker with an over-eager autofill function. Spencer describes him as being “a little bit of Truman Capote [mixed] with Droopy”, and while he’s mostly CG, his eyes are hand-animated to give him a more cartoonish look. YESSS TARAJI P HENSON This BuzzTube worker is so on-trend that her hair and outfits vary dramatically from scene, which posed quite the challenge for the animators. NET USERS AND NETIZENS The internet is full of Netizens who live and work in the internet, like Yesss and KnowsMore, but it is also populated by Net Users, the little square-headed avatars of real-world people navigating their way around the internet.…

For a very influential creator, little is known about Steve Ditko’s personal life – which is how he wanted it. His work was all that mattered, and when that work includes comic book characters that are still shaping storytelling to this day, why would you focus on anything else? He had an extraordinary run of creativity in the Sixties, a period during which he worked at Marvel and co-created Spider-Man and Doctor Strange with Stan Lee. Ditko created the famous Spider-Man suit, web shooters and backstory, stepping in after Jack Kirby failed to deliver a design that worked. During Ditko’s Spider-Man run from 1962-1966, many iconic Spider-Man villains including Doctor Octopus and the Green Goblin were created. Spidey wasn’t his only major Marvel contribution – he also created Doctor Strange,…

DEAD NIGHT Our favourite poster of the month is for Brad Baruh’s upcoming horror film Dead Night and we think it is nothing short of gorgeous. From the subtle colouring, to the bold, plain font with simple text, to all the little details that are pretty easy to miss on the first viewing and its general creepy vibe – we can’t get enough of it. The poster feels very fresh, but it also really captures everything that we absolutely love about snow-covered vintage horror, which is quite the artistic achievement really. The skull fashioned from the branches of a spooky old tree finishes it all off beautifully in our opinion. Here at SciFiNow, we’re all suckers for that kind of thing… CASTLE ROCK This recent poster for Hulu’s Castle Rock…

'BONNIE AARONS LOVED DOING ANYTHING SHE COULD ON SET TO FREAK ME OUT!'TAISSA FARMIGA There aren’t many young actors who have a horror resumé as impressive as Taissa Farmiga. At 23, she’s starred in multiple seasons of American Horror Story and the awesome cult comedy The Final Girls, plus she’s playing the iconic Merricat Blackwood in the upcoming We Have Always Lived At The Castle. With The Nun, she’s adding another horror heroine to the list… What drew you to this film? I absolutely loved the script. Gary Dauberman’s writing is really interesting because yes, it’s a horror movie but reading the script is this rollercoaster ride because it’s really funny as well, he leaves little comments in the stage direction that are meant for the reader. It was very…

“HALLOWEEN 2018 FINDS A DAMAGED BUT BATTLE-READY LAURIE READY TO PROECT HER FAMILY” BLUMHOUSE UNFRIENDED: DARK WEB RELEASED: 10 August DIRECTOR: Stephen Susco DISTRIBUTOR: Universal The follow-up to the savagely entertaining and gleefully mean-spirited real-time Skype horror hit SXSW earlier this year having been kept largely under wraps, and we can’t wait to see if it’ll deliver the same kind of wicked shocks as its predecessor. After finding a laptop with horrifying videos on, an unlucky teen sets up himself and his friends as the target of a cabal of terrifying dark web monsters… Expect a lot of gruesome deaths, cameras cutting out just at the wrong time and deeply sinister messaging. KEY: HALLOWEEN RELEASED: 19 October DIRECTOR: David Gordon Green DISTRIBUTOR: Universal Expectations are high for this surprisingly prestigious…

COME ALONG... HAVE A KAL-EL OF A TIME FREE KRYPTONITE VACCINATION FOR ALL VISITORS THINGS TO DO 1 This is a planet with a rich history: there are nine city states to explore plus another legendary place that you may want to try and fi nd. 2 Try unusual cuisine. With the rankless you can chow down on dry food stuffs that need rehydrating. Try sampling the unusual local brews. 3 If you want to try out some of the fresh food, make sure you befriend important Guild members with access to special growing rooms. 4 Make sure you visit the temples dedicated to the sun god Rao. In Kandor he is all powerful. To explore other religions please visit different city states. 5 If you want to look at…

LESHIES Origin: Slavic mythology Leshies are woodland spirits that are known to protect wild animals, but also enjoy playing tricks on people and leading them astray. They are rarely seen, but they can sometimes be heard in forests, laughing, singing or whistling. They can transform into men, and are good at imitating human voices. KITSUNE Origin: Japanese folklore Intelligent and magical, a kitsune is a Japanese fox with as many as nine tails and the ability to shapeshift into human form. They are great tricksters, and willingly manifest themselves into people’s dreams. In some regions they can also bend time and space, and drive people insane. SELKIES Origin: Faroese, Icelandic, Irish and Scottish mythology Selkies are sea creatures with the ability to transform from seal to human…

Details 18// 96 mins // 1976// // Released Out now Director Alfred Sole Cast Linda Miller, Mildred Clinton, Paula E Sheppard, Niles McMaster Distributor 88 Films Alfred Sole’s brilliantly-titled Alice, Sweet Alice is caught between schlocky slasher, Don’t Look Now-inspired psychological thriller and Lifetime movie, as estranged Catherine (Linda Miller) and Dom Spages (Niles McMaster) are forced to wonder whether their daughter Alice (Paula E Sheppard) is responsible for murdering her little sister Karen. Sheppard is fantastic as the little murder suspect, clearly enjoying pushing everyone’s buttons and just creepy enough to convince as a potential serial killer, but there’s too much plodding going on around her. On the plus side, there are some great jump scares and the reveal of the killer is nonsensical enough to be entertaining. However,…

Details 12 // 111 mins // 2018 // • // Released 6 August Director Wes Anderson Cast Bryan Cranston, Koyu Rankin, Edward Norton, Greta Gerwig, Bill Murray Distributor FOX Wes Anderson returns to stop-motion animation with the beautifully detailed and warmhearted Isle Of Dogs, which follows a young Japanese boy’s attempts to rescue his faithful pup following the nation’s decision to exile all canines to a trash island following a fl u epidemic. The assembled voice cast is hugely impressive (Bryan Cranston emerges as the MVP with his work as surly dog Chief, although Greta Gerwig runs him close as the spirited foreign exchange student determined to reveal the government’s wicked ways), but the most striking element is Anderson and his team’s eye for detail. It’s certainly more ambitious than…

Details 15// 94 mins // 2018// • VOD// Released 13 August Director Hasraf Dulull Cast Katee Sackhoff, Julie Cox, Steven Cree, Ray Fearon Distributor Kew Media Early on in 2036: Origin Unknown, Mack Wilson is engaged in an argument with her sister (and boss) Lena about the vital human components that AIs lack. It’s a little on the nose but it’s the driving force behind this single location SF which feels like it could have been an episode of The Twilight Zone. Katee Sackhoff puts in an excellent lead performance as Mack, who is one of the last actual people working on an investigation of a failed Mars mission which crashed on the red planet years earlier, alongside an advanced AI system named ARTI. After finding a mysterious cube on…

Details 18// 79 mins // 1981// // Released 30 July Director Richard Friedman Cast Patty Mullen, Ruth Collins, Kristin Davis, Michael Rogen Distributor Arrow Video Die-hard fans of Eighties splatter comedies may enjoy Richard Friedman’s ramshackle Doom Asylum, which is so painfully unfunny that it almost ends up being charming. A group of teens head for a sunny day out at an abandoned asylum only to find that an all-girl rock band is practicing there. What neither group knows is that a grotesquely mutilated car crash survivor is living there and is dead set on killing the new arrivals. This knows exactly how silly it is, which would be fine if the self-aware humour was funny. There are some nice ideas (the final girl’s mother died nearby so she insists…

Details Author: Paul Tremblay Publisher: Titan Books Price: £8.99 Released: Out now With so much genre fiction currently exploring the aftermath of the end of the world, the pitch for Paul Tremblay’s latest feels like a nifty idea. What if strangers presented you with the opportunity to stop the end of the world with a terrible sacrifice? And what if they’re lying? Much as he did with A Head Full Of Ghosts, Tremblay grabs you and then opens up a succession of moral dilemmas, shocks and grim realities. The story begins with young Wen being approached outside her holiday cabin by a man named Leonard while her parents Andrew and Eric are inside. He seems friendly but his genial chatter becomes unsettling and he tells us that he needs her…

Details Author: Craig DiLouie Publisher: Orbit Price: £8.99 Released: Out now Genre has long been used to discuss bigotry and hatred but it’s quite rare to find a story with this much heart-breaking impact. Craig DiLouie’s One Of Us is set 14 years after the start of ‘the plague generation’, as thousands are born with bizarre mutations. The kids are shunned, sent to different schools and are regarded as freaks or animals. But now they’re getting old enough to know they’ve been wronged, that they deserve as much out of life as anyone else, a small Georgia town is a powderkeg ready to explode… The author shares out the POV chapters between some of the affected kids (loyal Dog, genius Brain, wise-cracking Goof, and Amy, whose mutation is not visible…

Details Author: Michael Rutger Publisher: Zaffre Price: £12.99 Released: 23 August Nolan Moore is a failed screenwriter and presenter of a popular YouTube series called The Anomaly Files. On the verge of reaching a wider audience via television, despite the derision of experts, Moore takes his crew and a journalist writing a profile on him deep into the Grand Canyon. They go in search of a mysterious cavern, found by explorers a long time ago, but hidden since. The thing is, there’s a good reason why no one has been back there and when they become trapped undeground, Moore and his crew suddenly discover why. Author Michael Rutger is keen to get straight into the action, which results in a few moments of expositional clunkiness. He also packs a lot…

“THE IDEA OF TRULY BELIEVING ONE HAS NO CHOICE IN WHAT ONE IS DOING IS TERRIFYING A HORROR, ONE AND ” A PAUL TREMBLAY Everyone loves a good hypothetical. Would you do a truly awful thing if it meant saving someone’s life? In The Cabin At The End Of The World, author Paul Tremblay twists a classic home invasion opening into a nightmarish and much broader scenario, all within the confines of a single holiday home. Four strangers tie up Andrew, Eric and their daughter Wen and tell them that one needs to kill another, or the world will end. The longer they delay, the more earth-shattering events will occur until it’s finally too late. Was the possibility of the end of the world the starting point for the idea?…

Details Writer: Bill Morrison Artists: Bill Morrison Publisher: Titan Comics Price: £20.99 Released: 28 August Bongo Comics co-founder, MAD Magazine editor and avid Beatles fan Bill Morrison has been talking about his full-length adaptation of the Yellow Submarine animated feature for years. First commissioned in the late-Nineties to tie-in with the film’s release on DVD, the project was scuppered after only 26 pages had been completed – reportedly because George Harrison was uncomfortable with the choice of publisher, Dark Horse Comics, which shared its name with his own company, Dark Horse Records. Now, the project has been finished and published by Titan Comics, to fit alongside the Yellow Submarine fi lm’s 50th anniversary re-release. Frankly, you have to wonder why it would strike anyone as a good idea to adapt…

Before the Sixties, big screen haunted house stories were largely played for laughs. Films like The Old Dark House (1932), The Ghost Goes West (1935) and The Cat And The Canary (1939) were all about skeletons and jump scares. Audiences left the cinemas giddy and excited instead of looking over their shoulders, stalked by an unshakeable sense of foreboding. Even in films later down the line, that brand of ghostly, creaky-floorboards horror continued to be a bit of a giggle. Abbott and Costello combined horror with comedy in the likes of Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein, Abbott And Costello Meet The Mummy and Abbott And Costello Meet The Invisible Man, while Vincent Price brought camp exuberance in all-out exploitation fi lms like House On Haunted Hill. But director Jack Clayton…

The DC movie universe may be in a state of flux so complex that all the information coming out of it is currently of the ‘best guess’ variety, but we’re very excited about Aquaman. Freed from the context of Justice League, this is Jason Momoa’s time to shine and he’s got a brilliant ensemble cast backing him up, including Nicole Kidman, Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe and Patrick Wilson. Perhaps most importantly, it’s directed by the most excellent James Wan and we’ve got all the trust in the world in him.…

The horror boom has been great for Stephen King fans but Clive Barker aficionados would be forgiven for feeling a little hard done by. However, that’s about to change, as Syfy has picked up his classic novel Cabal for a TV series reboot. Barker previously adapted Cabal into his cult classic movie Nightbreed, which starred Craig Scheffer as a young man haunted by visions of a community of monsters living in secret before realising that he must embrace his true nature and become their protector. Nightbreed was subject to vicious cuts but its amazing ideas transcended an occasionally flawed execution. Barker is on board and will be producing, while Jigsaw writer Josh Stolberg is on scripting duties. It’s still some way away from production and casting, but it’s exciting to…

DIALOGUE TREE ENTRY LOGIC CUE Y/N From: Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy To: All Delos staff Memo: Excellent work on getting the host rebellion under control. Here are your new priorities going forward. We will be in touch. WE’LL BE GOING TO THE DISTANT FUTURE The post-credits scene shows a host replica of William in the future, being delityy’ by a host replica of his daughter. “That’s definitely a snippet of something that we’ll come to explore in the future,” co-showrunner Lisa Joy promises, “and it’s definitely timeline to the nth power. The thing that really appealed to us about a story about artificial intelligence is that it truly is immortal. We’re dealing with an epic timescale at this point, so the end is just a little bit of a…

Welcome to Memory Bank, the small section of SciFiNow in which we skim through past issues and reminisce about what was going on in the world of scifi, fantasy and horror. This month, we’re looking at issue 103, which featured TV’s superhero dream team Arrow and the Flash on the cover. Arrow was in its third season as The Flash was just getting started, and the pair were being dubbed the Justice League of television. “We really don’t think of them like superhero shows and genre shows,” said executive producer Greg Berlanti. “I know it’s probably hard to believe, but we get most excited when we’re in the writing room, to work with these actors and to create stories and character stories and character journeys for these people. And it’s…

LANKESTER MERRIN Nemesis: Pazuzu Experience: I tangled with this ancient evil in Kenya as a young man and I’m ready to do battle again. Preferred methods: The old ones are the best ones. I go straight for the good book. A good round of: “The power of Christ compels you,” with liberal doses of holy water works wonders. Employers note: I have a heart condition, so I would appreciate being teamed with a younger priest to handle the more physical elements of the ritual. DAMIEN KARRAS Nemesis: Also Pazuzu Experience: I’m a psychiatrist and I’ve got experience in assessing whether the afflicted are possessed or simply unstable. Preferred methods: A rigorous round of psychological testing. Anything beyond that and I’ll have to go…

The largest megalodon tooth on record is eight inches long – and they had five rows of them. Sharks pre-date dinosaurs by about 200 million years – and the megalodon outlived the dinosaurs too, by over 60 million years. You are more likely to be killed by a cow than a shark – only five people were killed in unprovoked shark attacks last year, whereas on average cows kill 22 people per year. Where are all our murderous cow films, huh? There are more than 465 known shark species around today – very few of them will try to eat you.…

After the success of Peter Jackson’s sextet of JRR Tolkien films and HBO’s Game Of Thrones, it’s no wonder that every TV network is looking for its own hit fantasy show. Coming up with something unique is the challenge. Yet, that is what the writing duo of Jason Faller and Kynan Griffin believe they’ve achieved with The Outpost, which airs on Syfy in the UK and The CW in America. “When we thought about The Outpost we wanted to do something different and something more an amalgamation of some different genres that we love,” Faller tells SciFiNow during a press tour of the show’s sets in Provo, Utah. “We love Kurosawa films, we love Tarantino, we love westerns, we’re big Sergio Leone fans. We wanted to take fantasy in a…

GO ROBO! In these dangerous times, we need the law enforcement of the future and if you’re a Detroit law enforcement officer, you’re in luck! You’ve already been enrolled in our RoboCop programme! MAKE NEW MEMORIES! Let me guess, you’re so busy with work that getting away for a vacation is just a dream? Maybe it’s time to let Rekall do the dreaming for you, as we’ll implant a memory of the perfect getaway. DITCH OLD MEMORIES! Struggling to get over that heartbreak? Is there an embarrassing incident from your past that you wish you could forget? Just pay a visit to Lacuna Inc, and our team of trained technicians will perform a little scrubbing for you. BOOST YOUR BRAIN! Are you finding that you just don’t have enough space…

MATT GROENING FANS have been eagerly awaiting Disenchantment even before they knew it existed, and for good reason: when it hits Netflix this summer, it will be Groening’s first new show in 20 years. His premiere show, The Simpsons, is still going strong, but since cult hit Futurama left TV screens in 2013 there’s been a big new show-shaped hole to fill. Groening had been sitting on the idea for Disenchantment for years before he finally started developing it into something watchable. “It was just percolating in his head,” says executive producer Josh Weinstein, who has been working with Groening since Season Three of The Simpsons. “We’ve really worked together on and off for over 25 years. When we were working on the latest version of Futurama, we would keep…

Details 12// 72 mins // 2018// • • VOD// Released 6 August Directors Jake Castorena, Sam Liu Cast Jerry O’Connell, Rebecca Romijn Distributor Warner Bros Home Entertainment Superman teams up once again with the Justice League in arguably the biggest superhero crossover event since Avengers: Infi nity War a couple of months ago for this fun animated take on DC Comics’ The Death Of Superman. When a brute known as Doomsday emerges from an astroid and starts terrorising Earth, the team must band together to put a stop to it. However, Superman has a lot more than just saving the planet on his mind when his alter ego Clark Kent’s relationship with Lois Lane becomes strained. Can the couple live happily ever when Lois only knows one side of the…

Details 15 // 113 mins // 1984 // // Released 13 August Director Michael Radford Cast Andy John Hurt, Richard Burton, Suzanna Hamilton, Cyril Cusack, Gregor Fisher Distributor Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment The continued relevance of George Orwell’s masterpiece seems so obvious to make pointing it out in a review redundant, but one of the most interesting things about Michael Radford’s film adaptation is that it’s held up remarkably well. Shot in 1984 on locations that were as close to what the author envisioned as possible, its grim, grey and almost entirely colourless vision has become more powerful over the years. Even the dream sequences are oddly restrained, demonstrating just how far Winston’s imagination, that’s never known escape further than the British countryside, can take him. It’s also interesting…

Details 18// 93 mins // 1981// // Released 30 July Director Umberto Lenzi Cast Giovanni Lombardo Radice, Lorraine De Selle, Danilo Mattei, Zora Kerova Distributor Shameless Following hot on the heels of Ruggero Deodato’s Cannibal Holocaust, Umberto Lenzi’s notoriously gruesome cannibal movie arrived at the height of the sub-genre’s boom in 1981 and remains a deeply unpleasant watch. It’s brutally violent, leeringly sleazy and features extended scenes of real animal killings. Depending on what you’re looking for, Cannibal Ferox is either a pinnacle or a nadir. Gloria (Lorraine De Selle) travels to Paraguay with her brother and friend to prove that cannibalism was a colonial myth, but when they run into two coked-up emerald hunters from New York, they discover what the local tribes are capable of when they’re pushed…

Details 15 // 377 mins // 2018 // VOD // Released Out now Creators Sam Vincent, Jonathan Brackley Cast Gemma Chan, Emily Berrington, Ivanno Jeremiah, Katherine Parkinson, Colin Morgan Distributor Channel 4 Sign-wielding protestors, prejudice-filled streets and crumbling communities; no, we’re not talking about a post-Trump America, we’re talking about the world seen in Humans’ third series – the show’s most politically poignant outing to date. Set one year after the Series Two finale, which saw all synthetics being made conscious, we’re reintroduced to green-eyes Mia, Max and Niska when things are looking bleak. Synths everywhere have been forced into isolation after their sudden free thought caused the deaths of thousands of humans around the world. Some acts were committed in violence, most were accidents, but that hasn’t stopped the…

Who did Dolores smuggle out of the park? She left with five control units, and therefore five hosts, and she has the means to rebuild their bodies. So who does she have in there? Who is in Charlotte Hale? Dolores has rebuilt her own body – so who is currently driving the Charlotte Hale host? Will Maeve return? With Sylvester and Felix tasked with choosing which hosts to salvage, you can guarantee they’ll do their best to bring Maeve back. Ditto Hector and Armistice. What the heck is going on in the future? William/The Man In Black has been brought back as a host, but why? Is he needed for something? A host version of his daughter also exists in the future, so is it a future populated entirely by…

1. Meddling Kids “Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero just about qualifies as horror – Tim is by far and away the best character!!! I need to get out more... #BookClub” @SilverFoxLlew 2. The Shining “I liked King’s The Shining because the horror was all in hushed tones. No overboard gory. And I LOVED the topiary animals scene! #BookClub” @vlarouchewrites 3. The Silence “The Silence by @timlebbon was fantastic. Really chilled me AND it was before A Quiet Place so gets all the originality points. Just loved it. #BookClub” @GaryRenton2 4. We Have Always Lived At The Castle “Not that recent, but Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived At The Castle probably ranks among my top horror novels of all time. #BookClub” @Siegel_Jan 5. The Handmaid’s Tale “Not sure if it’s…

“Gridlinked by Neal Asher. 3rd time reading it. Cracking book and the start of some amazing universe building. #BookClub” @Sid_Muntar “I just read Kindred by Octavia E Butler as part of #ReadWomenSF and it was excellent. Hard-hitting sci-fi with heart. #BookClub” }@JoshWinning “Save You by Mona Kasten. I’m looooooving it. #BookClub” @JasminMaaz “The Last Dark by Stephen Donaldson, the very last novel in the Thomas Covenant Chronicles. Tough going but ultimately rewarding. #BookClub” @FanBooRev “Vurt, by @jeffnoon !! (Translated into Spanish by Isabel Nuñez) we are loving this book!! @Ayalaozarco @RutiloBastidas #BookClub” @CiFiccionarios “#amreading Vitals by Greg Bear. Almost done & it’s been a great combo of conspiracy, scifi & thriller. #BookClub” @SageBooks95 “Recently fi nished A Closed And Common Orbit by @beckysaysrawr which was as good as A Long…

Details Author: Micah Yongo Publisher: Angry Robot Price: £8.99 Released: Out now Micah Yongo delivers a strong debut with Lost Gods. This fantasy takes familiar elements and places them in a setting that feels fresh and ensures there is enough detail to immerse you in his tale of betrayal and revenge. Neythan is a young assassin on the verge of taking his place as one of the Shedaím, an elite brotherhood of killers who operate with deadly efficiency and absolute loyalty. He and his fellows have been sent out into the world with their orders for their first mission when he is betrayed by his friend Arianna. Setting aside his instructions, Neythan sets out in pursuit of the turncoat but the closer he gets, the more he realises that the…

Details Writer: Scott Snyder Artist: Greg Capullo et al Publisher: DC Comics Price:£25 Released: Out now Crossover event comics can often be serious, hallowed affairs, but long-term Batman creative team Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo put two devil-horn fingers up to tradition with Dark Nights: Metal – a wildly indulgent and sporadically entertaining addition to DC’s library of universe-threatening miniseries. Spinning out of the pages of Snyder and Capullo’s acclaimed run on Batman, Metal introduces the Dark Multiverse, the flip-side of DC’s interconnected Multiverse that is home to nightmarish alternate versions of the characters we know and love. Key to it all is a number of powerful metals, all of which have come into contact with Batman over his many years of crime-fighting. Deep in the Dark Multiverse, the dark…

How would the world react if we found definitive proof of the afterlife? Would we all carry on as normal, or would the powerful immediately try to exploit it? The second option, of course, is the foundation of Hannu Rajaniemi’s latest novel. Summerland is set in 1938, as the British Empire and Soviets vie for control of the titular land for the recently deceased and follows a SIS agent who needs to bring in a Russian mole from the afterlife. Summerland is such a fascinating vision of the afterlife. What was your inspiration for that world? It’s heavily inspired by spiritualism and the scientific and pseudo-scientific ideas several heavyweight intellectuals were developing in the late 19th Century – especially luminiferous aether, and the fourth dimension. The rabbit hole was John…

English rose Miss Giddens applies for a job as a governess to two charming orphaned children whose rich uncle has no time for them, and is soon whisked off to Bly, a gorgeous country estate with cosy rooms and glorious gardens. However, things begin to look a lot less idyllic than previously thought when the boy, Miles, is expelled from school and sent back to Bly for good. While caring for Miles and his younger sister Flora, Miss Giddens learns more about the children, their previous governess, Miss Jessel, who died suddenly the previous year, and the ghosts that seem to haunt Bly’s grounds.…

1 THE BIRDS (‘RISSELDY ROSSELDY’) Birds begin to flock to a playground jungle gym as Melanie smokes a cigarette and a choir of children build the tension with a nursery rhyme in Alfred Hitchcock’s classic horror-thriller. 2 CHILDREN OF THE CORN (THE OPENING CREDITS) If there is one thing even creepier than children singing, it is children crudely drawing devastating scenes in crayon. This combines the two… 3 THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (THE NATIONAL ANTHEM) This kid’s angelic voice echoing over the silent stadium is thrilling and eerie in equal measures. 4 A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET SERIES (FREDDY’S COMING FOR YOU) Though the song’s used to keep the boogey-man away, it creeps us out. 5 THE RING (SAMARA’S SONG) Samara singing quietly in the sunshine becomes a hell of…

16-20 MICHAEL JORDAN Even in a world alien to your own, you still know how to improvise, adapt and overcome. You’ve always been a team player, but you truly shine when others are depending on you. Not even the laws of physics can stop you. 11-15 BUGS BUNNY You may be the leader in your own circles, but you’re not afraid to ask for help when you need it. Likewise, you’re always there to lend a hand. Your greatest skill is your ability to make it up as you go along. 6-10 SWACKHAMMER When you want something, there’s no stopping you. You’ll do whatever you can to get your way. The laws of karma still apply, however, and your maniacal ways often come back to bite you in the butt.…

WHO WILL HAVE THE LAST LAUGH? DC has, frankly, a mind-boggling number of films in development, but one that’s definitely moving forwards is Todd Phillips’ Joker origin movie, which has signed Joaquin Phoenix on to play the Joker before he became a homicidal clown. It is said to be a ‘gritty character study’ and a ‘cautionary tale’, and it will feel more like a crime drama than a superhero film. It’s set to start shooting in September. This film will reportedly be released under a separate banner to DC’s shared cinematic universe, where the likes of the Justice League and the Suicide Squad sit. Warner Bros is hedging its bets, and this new banner will allow other creative teams to explore iconic characters without treading on the toes of the…

With over 1700 stories, essays and screenplays, as well as multiple awards, to his name, Harlan Ellison is one of the most prolific SF writers ever – as well as one of the most famously pugnacious. Despite never being comfortable with being labelled a ‘science fiction writer’, his powerful writing – which he called ‘magic realism’, and which others termed ‘speculative fiction’ – was memorably political and impassioned He won his first of ten (and a half) Hugo Awards in 1966 for his short story ‘‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said The Ticktockman’. During the Sixties he wrote a huge amount of short fiction as well as writing for TV shows including The Outer Limits, The Man From UNCLE, and, most famously, the iconic Star Trek: The Original Series episode ‘The City On…

RICK IS ON HIS WAY OUT Whether he lives or dies remains to be seen, and his departure date hasn’t yet been confirmed, although rumours are that it will be during the first half of the season. His posture in the poster – facing in a different direction to the others – could indicate that he leaves. But this is The Walking Dead – when does anyone ever just leave? It has also been reported that Jon Bernthal will be returning for one episode, no doubt in a flashback or hallucination surrounding Rick’s departure, as a nice reminder of where the show began. THERE WILL BE A TIME JUMP The All Out War arc that Season Eight focused on was followed by a two-year time jump in the comics, and…

1 A SINISTER SELF-SACRIFICE Annabelle is the weakest instalment of the Conjuring films but its opening scene is really quite something. It also happens to be the bleakest in the whole franchise. The film opens with John Form giving his pregnant wife Mia a porcelain doll so that she can gift it to their daughter when she arrives. That night, two intruders break into their house and injure Mia. When the police arrive, they fatally shoot one of the criminals while the other – later, revealed to be Annabelle Higgins, possessed by a demon – commits suicide while holding the doll. We’re sure you can piece together what happens next… 2 AFTER AMITYVILLE Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) were involved in several…

ON SWITCHING GENRES Griffi n : We did a lot of short features together at school and then in our last year we said: ‘Oops what are we going to do now?’ So, we spent a lot of our last year putting together a business plan and raising money to make our first feature. I think I graduated in April and in June we rolled on our first feature film, which was a romantic comedy. Faller: We started out in comedy and romance because it was where we thought the market was and where we thought we could get investment. We made a couple of comedies and then we said: ‘You know what, maybe we should make the stuff that we like most. Could we make money with…

FOLLOWING THE SUCCESS of the likes of The OA, Black Mirror and Sense8, Netflix is keen to continue combining thrillers and sci-fi, thus leaving its users both bamboozled and exhilarated. Its next pursuit into the genre hybrid is The Innocents, created by Hania Elkington and Simon Duric. The show revolves around a young couple in love, Harry (Percelle Ascott) and June (Sorcha Groundsell). Harry is a kind boy with a challenging home life and a lot of love for his family and friends. June is the same, but she also happens to be a shapeshifter. However, the supernatural element quickly inspires the thrills as they are forced to flee for safety while finding answers and escaping the clutches of a sinister Icelandic fellow who seems to be hunting them down.…

BILLY WEST Occupation: Actor Shows: Futurama As the voice of Fry, Dr Zoidberg and Professor Farnsworth, West has been a Futurama staple, and 3/7 of its core cast, since the start. DAVID HERMAN Occupation: Actor Shows: Futurama He has loaned his voice to a variety of Futurama characters, including Scruffy, Larry and Mayor C Randall Poopenmeyer to name a few. JOHN DIMAGGIO Occupation: Actor Shows: Futurama DiMaggio has voiced a few Futurama characters, but his best known is Bender, the alcoholic, gambling, robot. MAURICE LAMARCHE Occupation: Actor Shows: The Simpsons, Futurama The actor has provided wacky additional voices for both The Simpsons and Futurama. REID HARRISON Occupation: Supervising producer Shows: The Simpsons Harrison wrote two episodes of The Simpsons: ‘The…

Is the sequel better than the original? Sadly, it isn’t, as its villain isn’t quite as effective and it seems to prioritise formulaic fun over progressing the titular family’s story further. That being said, it is more humourous. How effective is Elastigirl as the main protagonist? Given that the original was so male-orientated – (both the hero and the villain were men) – it was time for some Elastigirl power. In truth though, it’s her awesome powers that make her such a great lead. Is the short beforehand worth a watch? Bao is a stunning tale about an aging Chinese-Canadian mother who starts caring for a dumpling after it comes to life. It’s also the first Pixar short directed by a woman… Don’t miss it! Has the animation improved? It’s…

Details 15// 91 mins // 2018// • // Released 30 July Director David LG Hughes Cast Anna Demetriou, Terence Stamp, Will Mellor, Martyn Ford, Ian Beattie Distributor 101 Films In the mythical kingdom of Volsung, royal orphan Princess Helle (Anna Demetriou) is forced to go into hiding despite being the rightful heir to the throne when she is wrongfully framed for the murder of her father, the king. With a band of tyrannical men on her heels looking to hunt her down and bring her back, alive or dead, she seeks out the Viking god Odin (Terence Stamp) to guide her through the training she needs if she is to stand a chance at taking back the patriarchal kingdom and fulfilling her destiny as Queen. Of Gods And Warriors could…

Details 15// 97 mins // 2018// // Released Out now Director Federico D’Alessandro Cast Maika Monroe, Ed Skrein, Gary Oldman Distributor Netfl ix Tau certainly opens like a horror film, as Maika Monroe’s lonely pickpocket Julia is kidnapped and wakes up bound and gagged and subjected to a series of painful procedures. However, this mostly single location thriller shifts gears at around the 20 minute mark, as her host and his house makes themselves known. Alex ( Deadpool’s Ed Skrein) intends to use her mind to help his new AI project, but can Julia win over the system (Tau) that is running the house (voiced by Gary Oldman)? In a way, it’s refreshing to see the main plot of Tau swerve away into SF than horror, and the relationship between…

Details 15 // 98 mins // 2017 // • // Released Out now Directors Jeremy Dyson, Andy Nyman Cast Andy Nyman, Martin Freeman, Paul Whitehouse, Alex Lawther Distributor Lionsgate Home Entertainment Translating a stage play to the big screen can be a tricky business but Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman demonstrate both a clear love of the horror genre and an understanding of how to build a chilling atmosphere in their accomplished directorial debut. In adapting their acclaimed theatrical production, the duo has made something that roots itself as a classic British ghost story. Traditional landscapes are given an unsettling feel, beloved comedians are given the chance to show their dramatic chops, and lingering guilt and trauma bubble to surface to torment the living. Nyman stars as Professor Philip Goodman,…

“They are encircling us,” Vader warned, studying the bar. Reflected in the decorative brasswork were the distorted images of the ten Darshi as they moved quietly around behind him and Thrawn into flanking attack positions. A simple, yet well-executed maneuver. During the Clone Wars, The Jedi had seen many such attacks from Separatist forces. The attacks from the current epidemic of loudly flailing rebel groups were significantly less professional. Rebel groups like the one on Atollon that Thrawn had been sent to destroy. Thrawn had tried encircling them, too, just like the Darshi here in the cantina were trying. The Chiss had failed in his effort, just as the Darshi were going to fail in theirs. Thrawn didn’t reply. Still disapproving of Vader’s decision to launch the First Legion at…

Details Author: Gregory Scott Katsoulis Publisher: Harper Collins Price: £7.99 Released: Out now Speth didn’t mean to start a revolution. Like many YA heroines before her, she just found herself in a moment where she had to do something, and that something strikes a chord. Suddenly, she’s the figurehead of a movement that threatens to destabilise every part of her oppressive society. Speth, though, is never called on to make an inspiring speech. Her disobedience is silence. In her near future world, communication has been copyrighted. Once a child turns 15, every word they speak, plus every movement of their head, hands and eyes is recorded, and billed for. By refusing to speak, Speth exposes a flaw in the system. She becomes a hero but silence has a price, too.…

“TROUBLING AND INSPIRING, COMFORTING AND HORRIFYING” Details Author: Kate Mascarenhas Publisher: Head Of Zeus Price: £14.99 Released: 9 August Kate Mascarenhas’ debut novel is a smart, twisty murder mystery, but it’s also, as the title suggests, an exploration of how time travel would affect people, psychologically. When four scientists step into their time machine for the first time in 1967, we might be braced for something grotesque to happen to them, but physically, they come back fine. Mentally, though? One of the scientists suffers a mental breakdown that will shape the future, leading to the creation of a time travelling institute that allows only a certain type of personality to become a time traveller. But that leads to more problems and when the body of a woman is found in…

Details Author: Nick Harkaway Publisher: Windmill Price: £8.99 Released: Out now In a near-future society where a system called the Witness has eyes on everything, Inspector Mielikki Neith has a problem. When a dissident, Diana Hunter, dies in custody, the inspector is tasked with examining what’s happened. She immerses herself in the memories of Hunter, finding other psyches which may hold the key to what Hunter had been hiding, though the consequences may be far-reaching. To read Gnomon is like watching a jigsaw puzzle solve itself in front of you. It is intricate and involved, but it also has the capacity to surprise. Likewise, the narrative might be something that feels like a classic trope within futuristic noir, yet manages to also be unpredictable as everything slides into place. There’s…

Details Writer: Chris Baker and Matt Fitch Artist: Mike Collins Publisher: SelfMadeHero Price: £15.99 Released: Out now ‘Once upon a time, we soared into the solar system. For a few years. Then we hurried back. Why?’ Apollo, a graphic retelling of the moon landing, opens with Carl Sagan’s ambivalent quote on the passing of the Apollo programme. This book lands on shelves just a year shy of the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11’s voyage in July 1969, and chronicles not just the eight days that saw Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins go on their inspiring journey from launch to lunar landing to splashdown, but much of the personal, political and social circumstances surrounding the mission. This is hardly a nostalgic retelling. Grand statements predicting a new era of…

Set in small-town America and concerning intergalactic organisms taking over humankind via emotionless replicates who ‘get you when you sleep’, Jack Finney’s 1954 short story The Body Snatchers was published during the height of McCarthyism. However, its rather inconspicuous author largely dispelled notions that it was an allegory on communism or the importance of individuality. Nevertheless, considering the times, it wasn’t exactly irrational to propose such an analysis. Even if it was unconscious on the author’s behalf, the story’s proposed political undertones have subsequently allowed generations of filmmakers to creatively reinterpret it to reflect their individual eras. Finney had tapped into the paranoia of an era and a very primal fear concerning the loss of human identity. This is the crux of Don Siegel’s still chilling small-town set 1956 original…

1. MY UNCLE IS NOT MY UNCLE! (INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, 1956) When the genuinely sane Wilma (Virginia Christine) nervously explains to Dr. Miles (Kevin McCarthy) that although her uncle may look and act like her uncle there is ‘something missing’, it’s a chilling forewarning for what’s in store in Don Siegel’s spine-chilling classic. 2. THE BODY AWAKENS (INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, 1956) In this creepy scene, Carolyn Jones discovers the once completely featureless body in her living room has now awakened and bears the exact facial features of her husband… a disturbing insight into how seamlessly these duplicates are taking over humankind. 3. DON’T LEAVE HER ALONE! (INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, 1956) With the town transformed into pods who are hot on their trail, a sleep…

“IT WAS ONLY THE WIND, MY DEAR.” MILES “ABOVE ANYTHING ELSE, I LOVE THE CHILDREN.” MISS GIDDENS “SHE WAS SO FOND OF MISS JESSEL AND IT DID COME AS AN APPALLING SHOCK.” THE UNCLE “NOW IT’S YOUR TURN TO HIDE!” MILES “ALL I WANT TO DO IS SAVE THE CHILDREN, NOT DESTROY THEM.” MISS GIDDENS “YOU THINK YOU CAN RUN TO MY UNCLE WITH A LOT OF LIES. BUT HE WON’T BELIEVE YOU, NOT WHEN I TELL HIM WHAT YOU ARE: A DAMNED HUSSY, A DAMNED DIRTY-MINDED HAG!” MILES “YOU’RE SAFE, YOU’RE FREE. HE’S LOST YOU FOREVER. MILES.” MISS GIDDENS “HE SEEMS TO PREFER THEM YOUNG AND PRETTY.” MISS GIDDENS “THERE’S NOBODY ELSE HERE, MISS. NOBODY AT ALL.” MRS GROSE “ROOMS GET BIGGER AT NIGHT. DO YOU KNOW THAT?” FLORA…

BASKETBALL JONES 1. What sport does Michael Jordan take up after retiring from basketball? 2. How do the Nerdlucks transform into the Monstars? 3. Who referees the Tune Squad versus the Monstars game? 4. Which basketball team does Michael Jordan play for in the non-cartoon world? 5. Which real life basketball player does not feature in Space Jam: a) Clyde Drexler, b) Larry Johnson, or c) Charles Barkley? HEAD-TO-HEAD 6. What is the name of the blue Nerdluck/ Monstar in the film? 7. Where do the Looney Tunes live? 8. Who is the proprietor of Moron Mountain? 9. What is the name of Bugs Bunny’s love interest? 10. Which two Looney Tunes does Michael Jordan send to his house to retrieve his basketball kit? BENCHED 11. What year is it…