Friday, 28 February 2020

New on Netflix: February 28th, 2020


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Wicked Horror is the author of New on Netflix: February 28th, 2020. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

It’s Friday and you know what that means: It’s time to figure out what you’ll be binging during the upcoming week. Welcome back to New to Netflix! The streaming giant’s horror department has always been a mixed bag. However, I’d say they’ve really stepped up their game in the last couple of years with the release of amazing, essential watches. We’ve been treated to must see original programming like The Haunting of Hill House, Velvet Buzzsaw, Hush, as well as some of the classics we all know and love. This week, we enter into a new month with some highly anticipated originals, acclaimed dramas and a creepy rom-com for you sappy souls. So let’s just jump in and check out the latest Netflix additions for the week of February 28th, 2020! See Also: Five Terrifying Horror Novels that Need to be Feature Films! Corpse Bride The excitement kicks off on March 1st with Tim Burton’s stop motion drama, Corpse Bride. Shortly after meeting Victoria, the woman his family has arranged for him to marry, young Victor accidentally proposes to the deceased Emily who drags him to the Land of the Dead. With another suitor hoping to marry Victoria, Victor must get back above ground and choose between the two women. Related: Five Movies You Might be Surprised Tim Burton Didn’t Direct Resident Evil: Apocalypse & Resident Evil: Extinction Do I smell a double feature? Or is that blood? Also arriving on March 1st is resident badass (get it?) Alice fights the evil Umbrella Corp in two thrilling chapters of the Resident Evil series. In Resident Evil: Apocalypse Alice teams up with a couple of Umbrella Corporation employees to battle a deadly virus. In Extinction Alice is captured by Umbrella Corp, undergoes some gnarly genetic alterations that leaves her with super human abilities, and fights off zombies. Twin Murders: The Silence of the White City On March 6th comes European procedural, Twin Murders: The Silence of the White City, which follows criminal profiler Unai Lopez de Ayala on her latest case where the bodies of a young woman and little boy are found in the crypt of an Old Cathedral. Follow us on social media! Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube.

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Say His Name Five Times; The Candyman Trailer Appears


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Wicked Horror is the author of Say His Name Five Times; The Candyman Trailer Appears. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

We’ve been waiting what feels like forever and finally, finally the Candyman trailer is here in all its glory. At the risk of overselling it, this is the best horror trailer I’ve seen in a long time. In fact, it’s up there with the trailer for Jordan Peele’s Us, which is funny considering he’s a producer on this flick and the clip itself utilizes something that trailer did very well — in an even more brilliant way this time around. From director Nia DaCosta (who’s not even 30 yet, so she’s already doing better at life than the rest of us by a long shot), this rebootquel of the still annoyingly underrated Bernard Rose film is tantalizingly described as a “contemporary incarnation of the cult classic.” The lengthy official synopsis is as follows: For as long as residents can remember, the housing projects of Chicago’s Cabrini Green neighborhood were terrorized by a word-of-mouth ghost story about a supernatural killer with a hook for a hand, easily summoned by those daring to repeat his name five times into a mirror. In present day, a decade after the last of the Cabrini towers were torn down, visual artist Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II; HBO’s Watchmen, Us) and his girlfriend, gallery director Brianna Cartwright (Teyonah Parris; If Beale Street Could Talk, The Photograph), move into a luxury loft condo in Cabrini, now gentrified beyond recognition and inhabited by upwardly mobile millennials. With Anthony’s painting career on the brink of stalling, a chance encounter with a Cabrini Green old-timer (Colman Domingo; HBO’s Euphoria, Assassination Nation) exposes Anthony to the tragically horrific nature of the true story behind Candyman. Anxious to maintain his status in the Chicago art world, Anthony begins to explore these macabre details in his studio as fresh grist for paintings, unknowingly opening a door to a complex past that unravels his own sanity and unleashes a terrifyingly viral wave of violence that puts him on a collision course with destiny. Peele and DaCosta co-wrote the screenplay with producer Win Rosenfeld, of Peele’s own Monkeypaw Productions (who handled Get Out and Us). This new Candyman is based off both Rose’s movie and Clive Barker short story “The Forbidden.” And it’s definitely a horror movie, in spite of what the mainstream media might tell you (are we seriously having this discussion again? Candyman is terrifying, simple as). The trailer, which you can check out for yourself below, is something very special indeed. Slickly, genuinely stomach-churning, and atmospheric, it utilizes none other than Destiny’s Child mega-hit “Say My Name,” similarly to how the trailer for Us reworked Luniz classic “I Got 5 On It,” to super creepy effect. There will probably be those who decry it for showing too much but this is the perfect appetizer for what looks to be a horrifying thrill ride of a horror movie. Tony Todd is returning and, although it’s not official yet, the glimpses of Candyman himself that we’re offered in this trailer suggest he’ll be pulling on the coat and hook once more, even if we only get fleeting glimpses of him. Considering Abdul-Mateen II’s character is a fan rather than the actual Candyman himself (at least, not at first) also hints that Todd will be portraying his most famous character once more. But we’ll have to wait a few more months to see for sure. In the meantime, we can watch this trailer over and over again. Candyman hits theaters on June 12. Stay tuned to Wicked Horror for all the must-know info in the meantime.

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Thursday, 27 February 2020

WIHM 2020: Horror is Punching the Patriarchy in the Face. Literally.


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Wicked Horror is the author of WIHM 2020: Horror is Punching the Patriarchy in the Face. Literally.. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

Over the past few years, there’s been a major uptick in feminist horror movies, from The Witch, to CAM, to Revenge. But 2019 saw the release of two, just a month apart, that took a very literal swing at the patriarchy. Although they were totally different films, certain commentators unfavorably compared Chelsea Stardust’s Satanic Panic and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett’s Ready Or Not — unfairly, in my view, since it limits their power — because both feature a young woman laying waste to a bunch of rich folks. And yet, in doing so, they missed the key element that ties both together. I’m referring of course to the moment their protagonists punch little boys square in the face. Related: Satanic Panic [Frightfest 2019 Review] In Satanic Panic, Hayley Griffith’s sweet, good-natured Sam hits a child after discovering she was attemptedly drugged by his babysitter. She socks him full in the face and then immediately apologizes for it, uttering a desperate “I’m sorry!” before legging it for her life. Ready Or Not‘s Grace punches the kid who tries to shoot her after she’s already been put through hell (demonstrably, judging by her destroyed wedding dress). However, unlike Sam, Grace feels no remorse for decking the little prick and leaves him there on the ground where he belongs. These moments are, obviously, played for laughs in both cases, in a couple horror-comedies that masterfully straddle the line between genres, but they speak to a deeper understanding of the current culture. Horror has taken a massive turn towards more female-fronted fare, whether it’s a man or a woman behind the camera, right down to Leigh Whannell’s upcoming #MeToo take on The Invisible Man. Subtlety has gone out the window because, well, women aren’t taking it anymore. We’re done playing nice. Punching sexists in the face is an extension of that attitude. Neither Sam nor Grace is the typical Final Girl, or at least not as we’ve come to understand her. Sam is a shy pizza girl having a terrible first night, who’s already had to fight off a smarmy would-be rapist before she comes across bratty little boys who gleefully help to put drugs in her Coke. She’s in a hopeless situation because of another man neglecting to tip her. Unlike millions of women around the world, Sam fights back against this injustice and ends up paying for it by becoming cat-nip for a load of Satanists (led by a fiercely feminine Rebecca Romijn, to be fair). Grace, on the other hand, is supposed to be enjoying the happiest day of her life when suddenly she becomes the mouse in a massive game of cat and mouse with her new in-laws. Grace is at the mercy of a handful of women too, among them Andie Macdowell’s terrifying southerner, but her foil is predominantly male including, devastatingly, her new husband who it turns out hasn’t turned his back on family as much as he’s letting on. Once he realizes Grace has a mind of her own, he’s done pretending and turns on her completely. The men in Satanic Panic and Ready or Not are predominantly jerks and slimy leches, from Sam’s co-worker to Grace’s new father-in-law, and they pay for their insolence in delightfully gory, horrific ways. It’s worth noting that both movies were written by men, with novelist Grady Hendrix tackling the former and Guy Busick and R. Christopher Murphy the latter, suggesting it’s not just women who are tired of living in a patriarchy. If men are choosing to push these stories, too, particularly while including the onscreen punishment of their sexist brethren, then there’s hope for us all. Naturally, both movies are incredibly feminist even without the scenes of little boys being punched in the face, and there’s no reason to believe these moments meant anything more to the filmmakers than funny asides. But there’s power in watching a young woman take a swing at the sexist world in which we all live via someone whose brain is still forming and can thus still be pulled back from the brink in time. If either boy had grown up after being forced to face, in a very real way, the consequences of their actions, would he have turned out differently? See Also: Ready or Not [Frightfest 2019 Review] Maybe I’m giving these scenes too much credit. They are, if nothing else, entertaining payoffs for strong female characters who have already suffered and will continue to suffer more as the movie goes on. But the coincidence of seeing the same gag in a couple different flicks released just a couple months apart from each other cannot be ignored. There’s very real change happening, even if it’s purely in showing a girl punching a boy for once. And hey, if nothing else, it’s immensely satisfying to watch a misogynist, even a mini one, get laid out for his crimes against women.

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Wednesday, 26 February 2020

Seven Jump Scares That Have Never Lost Their Impact


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Wicked Horror is the author of Seven Jump Scares That Have Never Lost Their Impact. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

Jump scares are incredibly hard to pull off, which is interesting, because they’re so often criticized as being used to for easy, cheap moments to get a reaction out of the audience. A jump scare can be used just to keep audiences excited and keep them screaming, but most of the time, it will only have that effect once. A good jump scare takes a lot of effort. It’s incredibly difficult to build up a moment where you can genuinely surprise an audience in a way that will actually scare them instead of just getting them to react. It is even harder to do it in a way that will creep them out on a second viewing, let alone a third or fourth. These are beloved horror features that are made by master filmmakers and that mastery of the genre is responsible for sequences that are truly chilling, no matter how many times you see them. See Also: Six Great Moments from Bad Horror Movies The Clapping Scene in The Conjuring This is the most recent entry on the list, but I’ve seen it a few times now and it has not lost its impact. The scares in The Conjuring work because James Wan is an incredibly skilled director who knows how to scare the living hell out of an audience. This scene is so scary because it’s so well directed. The set up is obvious, but that almost makes it creepier. You’re expecting this one and it still works. That’s pretty impressive. The First Crawler in The Descent Caves are scary. Being trapped in the dark in a claustrophobic setting is scary. What I love most about The Descent is that it’s so long into the movie before the monsters actually show up. It works, too. When we see that first crawler, it comes out of nowhere and changes the course of the entire film. It’s in the background. Suddenly, it’s just there and it works so well. My only complaint is that I wish the trailers hadn’t spoiled this moment. Related: Why The Descent Still Scares Us Over Ten Years Later Barlow’s Initial Appearance in Salem’s Lot This was probably the one that terrified me most as a kid. Barlow’s scary enough on his own in this movie without needing any kind of jump scare, which only makes this scene all the more terrifying. There’s a glimpse of his hand as the jail cell opens, it starts to fog up and then boom. Barlow’s face is revealed in a full close up and he snarls. Poor Ned Tibbits is so scared he can’t scream and no one watching it can blame him. The Medicine Cabinet Scene in Candyman While I’ve always loved Candyman, I never realized until I saw it on the big screen what a frightening movie it actually is. It’s truly scary. There’s a sense of dread that hangs over the whole picture, but at home I’d never even truly understood that there were legitimate jump scares in it. But when Candyman’s hook bursts out of the medicine cabinet, absolutely everyone in the theater in the 2016 screening I caught let out a scream, including myself. That’s a sign that something really, really holds up. The Chest Defibrillation in The Thing Some of the best jump scares come out of nowhere. There’s no build up, no suspense, it just happens and when it does, everything changes. Of that kind of scare, this moment in The Thing might be the very best. It’s a defibrillation scene and there’s no reason not to expect it to go normally—but instead he brings the paddles down and the chest opens up and eats his hands. It’s one of the best moments in horror. Not only is it terrifying, but it’s like a magic trick as the audience tries to figure out how the hell they pulled it off. Jason Popping Out of the Lake in Friday the 13th In some ways, this could be my favorite jump scare. There’s one I think is scarier, for sure, but I honestly think this moment works really well. Even if everyone expects it. The thing that really makes this scare is the score. For most of the feature, Harry Manfredini’s music is very ominous. The whole score is mostly comprised of harsh strings to put the viewer on the edge. But then when we get to this scene, the underlying music is really sweet. Everything about that score tells us the film is over. That’s why it’s so shocking when Jason bursts out of the lake. It still might be the scariest he’s ever been. Related: Why Friday the 13th is the Best of the Platinum Dunes Remakes The Nurse Station Scene in Exorcist III This is it. This is the crown jewel of jump scares. I think this is the best of the best, and I know that talking about it so much should diminish its power, but it doesn’t. That’s how powerful this moment is. Ultimately, what makes this scene so horrifying is that it’s so perfectly directed. It’s a static, expertly choreographed shot. And it goes on for so long. This scene puts you on edge immediately, then it keeps you there, and then it waits until you think “OK, it’s been a few minutes, nothing’s going to happen.” That’s the moment it happens. A single scene builds your guard up, breaks it down, and then it drops the scare on you. Follow us on social media: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube

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Tuesday, 25 February 2020

Summer of Fear [Rabid Dog’s House]


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Wicked Horror is the author of Summer of Fear [Rabid Dog’s House]. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

The Rabid Dog’s House is a recurring feature at Wicked Horror where contributor Justin Steele uncovers hidden gems, lost classics, and overlooked indie offerings. Flying solo or with the occasional guest, he will discuss an array of topics covering film, literature, and television. Check out the latest installment below. In this episode we’re looking back at 1978’s Summer of Fear! Directed by Wes Craven, Summer of Fear is a made-for-television feature based on the novel by Lois Duncan. Linda Blair stars as Rachel, a teenager with a love of horses. Her carefree life is suddenly changed when tragedy strikes, and her cousin Julia (Lee Purcell) comes for a visit. One by one, each member of Rachel’s family falls under Julia’s spell. Rachel suspects that there might be more than meets the eye and that Julia is really a witch. This feature was also released under the tile Stranger in Our House. Related: Worst to First: Ranking the Lois Duncan Film Adaptations Join Justin and special guest star Zena Dixon below as they discuss Summer of Fear!

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Monday, 24 February 2020

Five Short Story Adaptations that Ignored the Source Material


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Wicked Horror is the author of Five Short Story Adaptations that Ignored the Source Material. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

Short stories can often be the best place to mine for film adaptations as material doesn’t need to be cut left and right, the way it does when adapting a novel. At the same time, short fiction can be nearly impossible to get right in an adaptation. The general structure of short stories is very different from the traditional three-act structure of a novel. It’s much tougher to get right in terms of adaptations and changes always have to be made. Here are five examples of short story adaptations that only loosely adhered to the source material. See Also: Six Great Moments from Bad Horror Movies The Unnamable  Credited as “H.P. Lovecraft’s” over the title, it really isn’t. It has almost nothing to do with the short story. Nor – for that matter – does its sequel Unnameable II: The Statement of Randolph Carter. The second installment is titled after two separate Lovecraft stories and really adapts neither. The Unnamable is about a group of college students who dare each other to stay overnight in a haunted house. You know, the sort of 1980’s cliche Lovecraft wrote about all the time. The students don’t last all night, as they are pursued by a monstrous creature. They soon learn that the monster is the daughter of the man who built the house. The film awkwardly tries to shoe in Lovecraft staples like the classic Necronomicon and recurring Lovecraft character Randolph Carter. Here, Carter is billed as the protagonist of the film, but it’s pretty much in name only. The Pit and the Pendulum (1991) There have been a few adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe’s classic story over the years. Stuart Gordon’s 1991 film is one of the best but it doesn’t have all that much to do with the story on which it is based. It’s mostly just a tale of the the Spanish Inquisition. But it works fairly well as that. Lance Henriksen’s performance as Grand Inquisitor Torquemada is actually quite good. The short story doesn’t lend itself to a feature film particularly well. It’s a man alone in a room, practically one extended scene focused mostly on his inner turmoil. Both the pit and the pendulum do appear in the movie, but that mode of torture is hardly the focus. In this instance, veering off topic a bit proved to be a smart choice. The Fly (1986) Although it is one of the most insightful horror movies ever made, David Cronenberg’s The Fly has even less to do with the original short story than it does the first feature film adaptation. It still features the teleportation aspect of the story, and of course the transformation into a fly, but it’s all very Cronenbergian. This transformation is treated much more like a disease. It’s incredibly powerful on its own but it has little if to do with the short story on which it is based. Also See: Script to Pieces: Flies! The Fly Sequel That Never Hatched Lord of Illusions  Clive Barker wrote and directed this adaptation of his short story “The Last Illusion” but it really doesn’t have much of anything to do with that story. The key points are more or less the same. Occult detective Harry D’Amour is brought in to investigate the death of magician Philip Swann. But just about everything else is different, as the major plot of the film revolves around a magic cult and their resurrection of their Manson-like leader, “The Puritan.” Both stories work perfectly well on their own, but they are more or less entirely unrelated. Related: Why Now is the Time to Revisit Clive Barker’s Lord of Illusions The Lawnmower Man  There are many Stephen King stories that could have made this list. Even some of the major adaptations, like Children of the Corn, would fit the bill. But nothing compares to The Lawnmower Man, which King actually sued to have his name removed from. The short story is about a man who becomes haunted and stalked by the man who mows his lawn. The movie is about a man developing state-of-the-art virtual reality technology that links up the brain with the technological world. He volunteers his gardener to be a lab rat for the tech and sets him on a path toward using virtual reality to kill all those that stand in his way. Meanwhile an organization called “The Shop” (from several Stephen King stories and ironically the most King-accurate thing in the movie, despite not being in the story) tries to steal the tech back. The two things have nothing to do with each other, other than the name. Follow us on social media: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube

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Friday, 21 February 2020

New on Netflix: February 21st, 2020


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Wicked Horror is the author of New on Netflix: February 21st, 2020. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

It’s Friday and you know what that means: It’s time to figure out what you’ll be binging during the upcoming week. Welcome back to New to Netflix! The streaming giant’s horror department has always been a mixed bag. However, I’d say they’ve really stepped up their game in the last couple of years with the release of amazing, essential watches. We’ve been treated to must see original series like The Haunting of Hill House, Velvet Buzzsaw, Hush, and some of the classics we all know and love. This week certainly doesn’t disappoint with the release of some gems plus a series I’ve been really looking forward to! So let’s just jump in and check out the latest Netflix additions for the week of February 21st, 2020! See Also: Five Terrifying Horror Novels that Need to be Feature Films! Girl On The Third Floor  Coming to Netflix on February 22nd is Girl on the Third Floor. When ex-lawyer Don Koch moves into a decrepit, old house with the intention of fixing it up so he and his pregnant wife Liz can start a new life in Chicago. Don moves into the house ahead of Liz and learns all too quickly that the house has other, more malicious plans for the growing family. See Our Review of the Film Right Here! Every Time I Die  Grief, death and the afterlife, oh my! Shortly after Sam is murdered in cold blood, his consciousness is transported through the bodies of his close friends in an effort to keep them from falling prey to Sam’s killer who is closer than they think. I Am Not Okay With This Stranger Things meets Perks of Being a Wallflower in the upcoming sci fi comedy-drama, I Am Not Okay With This, which is based on the best-selling graphic novel by Charles Forsman. On February 26th we get to meet Syd, an angsty teen navigating high school awkwardness, grief, family drama, crushes, sexuality and her temper, all while dealing with a new superpower. We’ve all been there, kid. Follow us on social media! Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube.

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10 Horror Themed Bands You Should Be Listening To


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Wicked Horror is the author of 10 Horror Themed Bands You Should Be Listening To. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

As a fan of horror entertainment, I attempt to digest all I can, in as many forms as I can. Movies, cartoons, comic books, etc. But I feel that horror fans sometimes forget a very important facet of horror entertainment: music! There exist some amazing bands whose stage presence, music and lyrics deal with all the things horror fans love: the macabre and the occult. Below I have compiled a list, in no particular order of horror themed bands you should be listening to.  See Also: 10 of Our Favorite Horror-Themed Music Videos The Bloody Jug Band The melding of horror and country rock seems like an odd pairing, but The Bloody Jug Band makes it work. And they do it extremely well. Hailing from sunny Florida, The Bloody Jug Band consists of a group of 8 musicians with some members pulling double duty and providing backing instruments including the jug and the washtub. Band member Craigmire Peace told the website Blues.Gr that the band decided they wanted to do something different in music. Peace says that he was inspired by old Jug bands and the Americana Movement. He says this coupled with his love of old monster movies, cult films, and B grade cinema form the nucleus of The Bloody Jug Band. Their debut album Coffin Up Blood includes such macabre tales as Roadkill Boys, If You Want Blood and Reaper Madness. I, for one, think it’s great to see someone doing something different in the realm of horror-themed music.  Calabrese For some reason, horror and punk are destined to forever go together. Horror punk was pioneered in the 1970’s and most people credit The Misfits for beginning this match made in Hell. There have been many to try their hand at this musical mashup since but few have really nailed it. Phoenix trio Calabrese is one of the few who gets it right. Consisting of brothers Bobby, Jimmy and Davey, Calabrese is everything fans of horror, punk, and the macabre crave. Calabrese’s 2003 debut album Midnight Spookshow is loud, aggressive and dripping with all thing’s horror. With song titles like ‘Backseat of My Hearse’, ‘Every Day’s a Funeral’, ‘The House of Mysterious Secrets’, and ‘The Dead Don’t Rise’, it should leave no question as to Calabrese’s horror credentials. Also See: Five Horror Musicals That Actually Work Wednesday 13 Every once in a great while, a band or artist comes along that shows us that shock and horror rock is not dead. My parents had Alice Cooper and I have Wednesday 13. Wednesday 13 is a one-man shock rock machine, who lives everyday like it is Halloween. His various albums take listeners on journeys through the paranormal and everything else this side of heaven you could think of. Wednesday 13 is a huge horror fan, which can be heard in various tracks like ‘Haddonfield’ which is a tribute to everyone’s favorite babysitter murderer Michael Myers and the Halloween film series. ‘House by the Cemetery’ is a tribute to the Lucio Fulci film of the same name. ‘Carol Anne…They’re Here’ is an amazing song celebrating the iconic horror classic Poltergeist. Recently, on one of his tours, Wednesday 13 was offering VIP packages where ticket holders could get a meet and greet and also watch a classic episode of The Munsters with the Duke of Spook himself. Be sure to check out Wednesday’s latest release Necrophaze, which dropped in September 2019 through Nuclear Blast Records. King Diamond What can I say about King Diamond that overzealous religious folks and horrified parents haven’t already said? King Diamond burst onto the music scene as the lead singer for the massively influential metal band Mercyful Fate before taking his special brand of horror and cadaverous music solo. Adorned with an ever-evolving evil inspired makeup scheme, King belts out tales of the supernatural and the occult. Diamond’s records are special in the fact that they are all concept albums telling a new story of horrendous and ghostly happenings. King Diamond makes his music for horror fans. He is a practitioner of LaVeyan Satanism, lived in a reportedly haunted house, and professes a love of classic monster and horror films. One can easily see where King Diamond gets his inspiration. In a world filled with posers, King Diamond walks the walk and talks the talk. In an arm-wrestling contest between the Devil and King Diamond, I would put all of my money on Diamond.  While not for everybody, King Diamond’s albums and music are one hell of a ride through all things evil and horrific. Long live the King.  See Also: Nine of Our Favorite Rock Icons Who Turned to Horror Acid Witch Like the gritty, unforgiving streets of Detroit from where they hail, Acid Witch is horror inspired metal that brutalizes listeners with tales of abomination and the occult. Remember when 80’s horror flicks had metal bands and punks in them? I do. And so does Acid Witch. I was introduced to them through their Midnight Movies album which includes covers from such great 80’s metal horror flicks like Trick R’ Treat, Return of the Living Dead, and Black Roses but with their own sinister twist. Blending elements of gore, horror, occultism, Halloween, and drugs, Acid Witch is a must for fans of brutal heavy metal and horror. I would highly recommend starting with their debut album Witchtanic Hellucinations. Also See: Five Terrifying Horror Novels that Need to be Feature Films! DEATH SS If you’re a fan of the band Ghost, thank Death SS. If you hate Ghost, thank Death SS. Formed in 1977 in Italy, Death SS stands for (In DEATH of Steven Sylvester). The band refers to their brand of music as “horror rock” with each member taking on the role of a character. Singer Steven Sylvester assumes the persona of a vampire; the drummer, that of a werewolf; the bassist, a mummy; the guitarist, a zombie; and keyboards are played by a Phantom of the Opera-esque character. According to legend, Death SS would perform on stage with gravestones, human skulls, and funeral wreaths all stolen by the band from local cemeteries. With a catalog of songs including ‘Murder Angels’, ‘Kings of Evil’, ‘Terror’, and ‘Death Waits Behind You’, Death SS brings all the occult and horror goodness you can handle. If any band ever practiced what they preached and lived like they do on stage and in their music, Death SS would be that band. According to the group, the name holds no hidden political ideologies. The name Death SS is supposed to symbolize the death of the human known as Steven Sylvester and his rebirth under the powers of the occult. I would encourage all fans of heavy metal, black metal, horror, the occult or just an interest in good music to seek them out and give them a listen. Make sure the lights are out and prepare to take a trip to the dark side. As I mentioned before, the band has had a major influence on and helped pave the way for bands like Ghost.  Gravediggaz If you’re a horror and hip hop fan, I’ve got you covered. Enter the world of the Gravediggaz. Formed in 1994, the Gravediggaz consists of Wu-Tang member RZA as The RZArector, Poetic as The Grym Reaper, Prince Paul as The Undertaker, and Frukwan as The Gatekeeper. The Gravediggaz are recognized as pioneers in the horrorcore genre of hip-hop. Horrorcore consists of hardcore rap mixed  with themes of murder, suicide, horror movie tropes, death, the occult, etc. Gravediggaz debut album 6 Feet Deep received praise from many outlets including Rolling Stone and Source magazine. It even reached #36 on the Billboard 200. 6 Feet Deep spawned three singles, including ‘Diary of a Madman’, ‘Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide’ and ‘1-800 Suicide’. The group has released 3 albums, the last one being in 2002. Sadly, The Grym Reaper passed away on July 15th, 2001 after a valiant battle with colon cancer. While short-lived, the Gravediggaz have made a huge contribution to the horror rap genre. Their legacy continues to inspire emerging artists and garner new fans even today. If horror inspired hip hop is your niche, I would also highly suggest checking out The Geto Boys, Brother Lynch Hung, and the Flatlinerz, after you check out the Gravediggaz of course. See Also: Five Horror Sequels that are Better the Second Time F.K.Ü. F.K.Ü. which stands for Freddy Krueger’s Underwear is a horror loving thrash band hailing from Sweden. According to the band’s biography, F.K.Ü. began in 1987 with 4 guys who decided to form a band to “pay tribute to their two main interests, horror movies from the 1980’s and thrash metal”. The band sadly didn’t go anywhere the first time around. But in 1997, they decided to reform and give it another shot after a 10-year hiatus. The band released their album Metal Moshing Mad that paid tribute to sleaze and classic slasher horror films like Maniac, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hellraiser, and Halloween. Their second album, Sometimes They Come Back….to Mosh was released in 2004 and gave fans another horror-themed thrash outing. This time the band showed love to such classics as Maniac Cop, Christine, The Fog, and Motel Hell. Every subsequent F.K.U. release has covered the gamut of classic 80’s horror films that we hold near and dear to our hearts. If you’re a fan of thrash metal and horror, you cannot afford to pass by F.K.U. It’s loud, abrasive, violent, and most importantly…it’s fun. Just like horror punk, the marriage of thrash metal and horror seem to perfectly compliment each other. Related: Ten Movies That Desperately Tried to Create the Next Freddy Krueger Prozak Underground hip-hop juggernaut Prozak is known as the Hitchcock of Hip-Hop. His music is rife with references to all thing’s horror-related and the paranormal. With a sinister voice that commands you to shut up and listen, Prozak spins tales about the twisted and the macabre. With songs like ‘Tell A Tale of Two Hearts’, ‘Full Moon’, ‘Crossing Over’, ‘Blood Paved Road’, and ‘Wicked 4 Life’, listeners are transported to another world where most fear to tread. Prozak is also a member of Haunted Saginaw. They are a group of paranormal investigators who have released several full-length films, which are hosted and directed by Prozak, documenting their examination of purportedly haunted locations in Michigan. The films are better than most paranormal investigation docs, as the evidence they collect is surprisingly convincing and makes you wonder if other worldly things exist right beside us. Prozak seems to be a jack of all trades when it comes to entertainment and his music and films never disappoint. As a horror fan, I give Prozak my stamp of approval, and I think you will too. See Also: Unholy Night: 8 Christmas Songs For A Horrible Holiday Lordi Finnish heavy metal band Lordi is everything horror-inspired rock should be. Performing in elaborate costumes that make them look like they just crawled out of the 9th circle of hell, Lordi blazes a trail of blown out eardrums and face melting pyrotechnics. Lead singer Mr. Lordi has put together a behemoth of a band who draws heavy influence from horror movies and the music of classic rockers KISS. Lordi currently has 9 studio albums under their skull-studded belts and even won the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest. Check out some of these classic Lordi songs to scratch that horror itch: ‘Would You Love a Monsterman’, ‘Blood Red Sandman’, ‘The Children of the Night’, ‘Haunted Town’ and ‘The Kids Who Wanna Play with the Dead’. In addition to being horrific monsters who play horror-themed rock and metal, Lordi has also appeared in a couple of films. The Kin and Dark Floors see Lordi playing themselves as the main monstrous villains stalking unsuspecting victims. Keep your eyes peeled for Lordi’s new album Killection which was released on January 31, 2020. According to singer Mr. Lordi, this album contains tracks in the style of music one would expect to hear between the 1970’s to the 1990’s. The only condition for listening to Lordi, is that your neighbors must listen to them too. Follow us on social media: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube

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Thursday, 20 February 2020

Five Bigfoot Films that Leave a Deep Impression (and Four That Missed the Mark)


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Wicked Horror is the author of Five Bigfoot Films that Leave a Deep Impression (and Four That Missed the Mark). Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

Lob a stick at streaming services, and it will land on five Bigfoot films. Whether or not Bigfoot is imaginary, the tall apelike creature offers filmmakers brand-name recognition with public domain pricing...

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Wednesday, 19 February 2020

Five Terrifying Horror Novels That Need to be Feature Films


Original Source via Wicked Horror

Wicked Horror is the author of Five Terrifying Horror Novels That Need to be Feature Films. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

The best works of literature stick with you long after you finish reading them. They leave a lasting impression that you can’t shake. The characters come to life in such a realistic way that they almost leap off the page. It is books such as this that make the best candidates for adaptation to feature films. Some of the greatest adaptations of horror novels, like The Exorcist, Carrie, and Let the Right One In took the most chilling elements from their respective tomes and brought them to life with panache on the big screen. While many of our favorite horror novels have been given the Hollywood treatment, there are a large number of ripe-for-the-picking tales of terror that have shockingly not been made into movies. With that in mind, I scoured my bookshelf and came across five horror novels that absolutely need to be realized as feature films!   Also See: Seven Extreme Horror Novels That Could Never be Adapted to Film The Troop by Nick Cutter (2014) The Troop took something akin to Lord of the Flies and made it even darker. The novel takes place in the Canadian wilderness and follows a group of boys camping with their scoutmaster. Suddenly, a sick, emaciated man stumbles into their campsite. Unbeknownst to them, the man is plagued by a parasitic tapeworm. To their horror they find the tapeworm is rapidly eating the man from the inside out. The parasite is also highly contagious. As each boy contracts the parasite, the book tells a gruesome tale of paranoia, insatiable hunger, and the survival of the fittest. No word on a movie release yet. However, if the film is anywhere close to the novel, you will need a strong stomach.  The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King (1999) A little girl is separated from her mother and lost in the woods for several days. She eventually makes it to safety, but not before battling a massive bear. This defeat-the-odds, survival story keeps you on edge throughout and provides a satisfying ending. This brutal tale of survival would make an excellent film. Rumor has it that the late George Romero’s production company, Sanibel Films, is currently working on turning this into a full-length feature film. The late director’s wife Chris Romero is reportedly developing the project with the producers of It. But there hasn’t been any movement reported on the adaptation since last year. So, all we can do at this point is hurry up and wait. Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill (2007) For the handful of people who still don’t know, Joe Hill is the son of the great Stephen King. Hill is the author of several horror novels and has done quite well following in his famous father’s footsteps. Heart-Shaped Box tells the story of an aging rocker who buys a ghost online, but the two have some bad shared history. The ghost tries to murder the rocker and begins picking off people close to him. This tome genuinely gives me the creeps, but that’s one of the many things I love about it.  The rights for the movie release were bought by Warner Brothers in 2007, but still no concrete movement on this as of 2020.  The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black (2013) The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is yet another YA vampire novel. But don’t worry, it’s nothing like Twilight and, in my estimation, it would make for an excellent feature film. The heroine of the book, Tana, lives in a world where vampires are spreading their ‘disease’. Once you are bitten by a vampire, you have the chance to remain human if you can avoid drinking blood for 88 days. Infected people are sent to places called Coldtowns, but even after beating the infection it’s almost impossible to get out. Tana is bitten at some point and her fight to remain human is the central storyline. There is the expected good vs. evil face-off that makes for an especially satisfying climax. And there is also a love interest, but I promise there are no vampires that sparkle.  I hope to see The Coldest Girl in Coldtown realized as a film soon, but no news on this front as of yet.  A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay (2015) A Head Full of Ghosts is uniquely disturbing and leaves you with more than a few unanswered questions. The novel tells the story of the Barrett family from the perspective of young Merry Barrett. It’s 15 years later and Merry is retelling her family’s horror story, which includes the (possible) demonic possession of her sister Marjorie. However, what we believe is a possession may be something else, entirely. Even with the film industry drowning in possession films, A Head Full of Ghosts adds a unique twist to the subgenre. Focus Features is working on a film adaptation that IMDb lists as in pre-production. Director Scott Cooper was recently revealed to be in consideration to helm. Here’s hoping this adaptation gets off the ground! Also See: Five Demonic Possession Movies That Broke the Mold and Redefined the Sub-Genre Follow us on social media: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube

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Five Terrifying Horror Novels That Need to be Feature Films


Original Source via Wicked Horror

Wicked Horror is the author of Five Terrifying Horror Novels That Need to be Feature Films. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

The best works of literature stick with you long after you finish reading them. They leave a lasting impression that you can’t shake. The characters come to life in such a realistic way that they almost leap off the page. It is books such as this that make the best candidates for adaptation to feature films. Some of the greatest adaptations of horror novels, like The Exorcist, Carrie, and Let the Right One In took the most chilling elements from their respective tomes and brought them to life with panache on the big screen. While many of our favorite horror novels have been given the Hollywood treatment, there are a large number of ripe-for-the-picking tales of terror that have shockingly not been made into movies. With that in mind, I scoured my bookshelf and came across five horror novels that absolutely need to be realized as feature films!   Also See: Seven Extreme Horror Novels That Could Never be Adapted to Film The Troop by Nick Cutter (2014) The Troop took something akin to Lord of the Flies and made it even darker. The novel takes place in the Canadian wilderness and follows a group of boys camping with their scoutmaster. Suddenly, a sick, emaciated man stumbles into their campsite. Unbeknownst to them, the man is plagued by a parasitic tapeworm. To their horror they find the tapeworm is rapidly eating the man from the inside out. The parasite is also highly contagious. As each boy contracts the parasite, the book tells a gruesome tale of paranoia, insatiable hunger, and the survival of the fittest. No word on a movie release yet. However, if the film is anywhere close to the novel, you will need a strong stomach.  The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King (1999) A little girl is separated from her mother and lost in the woods for several days. She eventually makes it to safety, but not before battling a massive bear. This defeat-the-odds, survival story keeps you on edge throughout and provides a satisfying ending. This brutal tale of survival would make an excellent film. Rumor has it that the late George Romero’s production company, Sanibel Films, is currently working on turning this into a full-length feature film. The late director’s wife Chris Romero is reportedly developing the project with the producers of It. But there hasn’t been any movement reported on the adaptation since last year. So, all we can do at this point is hurry up and wait. Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill (2007) For the handful of people who still don’t know, Joe Hill is the son of the great Stephen King. Hill is the author of several horror novels and has done quite well following in his famous father’s footsteps. Heart-Shaped Box tells the story of an aging rocker who buys a ghost online, but the two have some bad shared history. The ghost tries to murder the rocker and begins picking off people close to him. This tome genuinely gives me the creeps, but that’s one of the many things I love about it.  The rights for the movie release were bought by Warner Brothers in 2007, but still no concrete movement on this as of 2020.  The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black (2013) The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is yet another YA vampire novel. But don’t worry, it’s nothing like Twilight and, in my estimation, it would make for an excellent feature film. The heroine of the book, Tana, lives in a world where vampires are spreading their ‘disease’. Once you are bitten by a vampire, you have the chance to remain human if you can avoid drinking blood for 88 days. Infected people are sent to places called Coldtowns, but even after beating the infection it’s almost impossible to get out. Tana is bitten at some point and her fight to remain human is the central storyline. There is the expected good vs. evil face-off that makes for an especially satisfying climax. And there is also a love interest, but I promise there are no vampires that sparkle.  I hope to see The Coldest Girl in Coldtown realized as a film soon, but no news on this front as of yet.  A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay (2015) A Head Full of Ghosts is uniquely disturbing and leaves you with more than a few unanswered questions. The novel tells the story of the Barrett family from the perspective of young Merry Barrett. It’s 15 years later and Merry is retelling her family’s horror story, which includes the (possible) demonic possession of her sister Marjorie. However, what we believe is a possession may be something else, entirely. Even with the film industry drowning in possession films, A Head Full of Ghosts adds a unique twist to the subgenre. Focus Features is working on a film adaptation that IMDb lists as in pre-production. Director Scott Cooper was recently revealed to be in consideration to helm. Here’s hoping this adaptation gets off the ground! Also See: Five Demonic Possession Movies That Broke the Mold and Redefined the Sub-Genre Follow us on social media: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube

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Monday, 17 February 2020

Parasite’s Big Night at the Oscars is a Big Win for Horror


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Wicked Horror is the author of Parasite’s Big Night at the Oscars is a Big Win for Horror. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

Parasite winning big at the 2020 Oscars marked a major turning point for Hollywood in a variety of important ways, chief among them that it was the first ever non-English language film to win Best Picture, as well as the first Korean movie to do so. Bong Joon Ho’s much-deserved Best Director win was also a major, and long overdue, moment for representation. What all of the positive attention and acclaim this movie has been afforded means for Asians worldwide, and Asian-Americans in particular, has been discussed extensively, and very intelligently, by those with personal experience on the topic. Hopefully, it’s kick-started a bigger conversation, too. While Parasite‘s big night, and its awards success across the board (four wins total, out of a possible six), along with the almost universal critical acclaim for the film, is clearly a major moment for Asian cinema, it’s also an indication that the Oscars are maybe, just maybe, finally welcoming horror into the fold. True, Parasite isn’t an out-and-out horror movie, also encompassing elements of comedy, drama, romance, and thriller, by director Bong’s own admission, but compared to the likes of 1917, Jojo Rabbit, and, yes, the ghastly Joker, it’s the weirdest of the 2020 Best Picture nominees by a wide margin. See Also: Get Out Is Nominated For Four Oscars (And Horror Is Finally Getting Its Due) The last time there was a sense that horror might finally be getting its due was back in 2018, when Jordan Peele’s near-perfect social satire, Get Out, was nominated for four Oscars and ended up winning one, for Best Original Screenplay (funnily enough, Parasite also nabbed the same gong this year). These movies have several, notable traits in common, from their horror being rooted in real-life trauma and the terrible things human beings do to each other, to their handling of class struggle and societal division, and even their pitch-black strands of deadly serious (“I’m deadly serious“) humor. Both Parasite and Get Out, crucially, are original stories from unique voices, of the kind hitherto totally ignored by Hollywood. There will be those who argue that the great Guillermo Del Toro, long a hero and icon of horror, and whose Shape of Water, which won Best Picture in 2018, was another victory for the genre. But that film, odd as it was, still trafficked in a rose-colored view of the Hollywood golden age. The Shape of Water was the safe choice, particularly compared to the rest of Del Toro’s monster-filled back catalogue. Still, it’s understandable that, as horror fans, we want to glom onto anything we can (you can apply this same logic to Black Swan‘s Best Actress win for Natalie Portman in 2011 — it may be shocking and dark, but it ain’t a horror movie, pals). True, Parasite won’t scare horror fans the way it’s freaking out the mainstream crowd (virtually every pull-quote included in the legitimately creepy trailer screamed some variation of “Shocking!”). There way be some, myself included, who feel as though it could’ve pushed its violent final act even further. But, let’s be real, that nagging feeling is a result of us all watching way too much messed up stuff to really judge what’s actually shocking anymore. To everybody else, who’s normal, Parasite‘s third act is a roller-coaster of shocks and gulps. Taken from that perspective, it could even be considered a genuinely scary movie. The one shot that frightened the pants off yours truly has to do with a child mistaking an intruder for a ghost. Shrouded in darkness, the man huddles on a staircase where only his white eyes are visible to the kid, who’s stuffing his face with cake at the time. It’s a stomach-dropping moment, intense in how quiet and utterly unexpected it is. The child’s open-mouthed terror is our own as we watch this seemingly otherworldly shape emerge from the darkness. Even though it’s clear this is another human, the moment is charged with supernatural energy. If nothing else gets hardcore horror fans, this visual certainly will (it’s stayed with me since, particularly when I’m alone in my apartment). Elsewhere, the throbbing electro score ensures Parasite retains a sense of impending doom throughout, even in its mundane moments of domesticity. Whether it’s the darting looks shared between rich and poor as the former, quite literally at certain moments, turn their noses up at the latter, or the alarm that registers when an unwanted visitor appears in the middle of a rain-storm (a classic horror movie trope), ready to foil the hustle at the center of the movie, the film exists on a knife’s edge. The razor-sharp social commentary questions what it really means to be a good person (“They’re nice because they’re rich,” we’re sharply reminded by one of the characters) but the great crime at the film’s core is the Have Nots simply wanting as much, if not more, than the Haves. Director Bong has previous with horror, of course, so it’s not surprising Parasite feels as dark as it does (and in spite of the many sunny sequences, too). When the violence the movie’s been hinting at throughout finally erupts, in gloriously bloody fashion, it’s not so much a relief as a further knot in our collective stomachs. Rather than tie everything up neatly, as Hollywood-acceptable films are wont to do, director Bong instead gives us a sort-of happy ending before yet another rug pull reveals it’s all fantasy. Considering The Shape of Water ended with its human protagonist growing gills so she could be with her fish lover forever, Parasite‘s cynical denouement, and The Academy’s warm acceptance of it, feels even more subversive. In the wake of #OscarsSoWhite, there’s been a conscious attempt, at the very least, to diversify the voting group’s ranks. It hasn’t yet led to much female or black representation in the nominees, and the wins this year were mostly predictable (Brad Pitt for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood? Really? The movie where he plays a smarmy, woman-killing asshole?) but Parasite walking away with four gongs at least signifies things are changing, however slowly. Horror has long been the bastard child, the weirdo, the punk rock kid logging spitballs from the back of the classroom, and that designation suits the genre to a certain extent (the weirdest work will probably always be done in the indie world, where there’s no money and, by extension, no limits). But there’s no denying horror deserves more recognition on a greater scale. Related: Respect: Parasite is Now on Blu-Ray [Review] This past year alone, we’ve had several movies and performances that easily could’ve been nominated for Oscars from the likes of Us, Midsommar, and The Lighthouse, if we’re purely thinking high-brow (let’s not go crazy, the Academy is probably never going to recognize something like Bliss, which is a real shame). There’s a sense that horror is moving towards more intelligent, weirder stories rooted in real-life traumas, whether based around racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, or any other number of too-prevalent social issues. The more of these stories that get told in genre movies, the less the Academy is going to be able to ignore them. Oscar wins for Parasite, and Get Out, too, suggest things are finally changing for the better. And, as much as we want to protect our beloved little freak creature and keep it all to ourselves, sharing it with the world means more of these movies actually get made, which can only be a good thing.

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Friday, 14 February 2020

Nicnevin and the Bloody Queen is a Stunning Execution of Gothic Horror [Graphic Novel Review]


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Wicked Horror is the author of Nicnevin and the Bloody Queen is a Stunning Execution of Gothic Horror [Graphic Novel Review]. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

Nicnevin and the Bloody Queen follows Nissy (Nicnevin) a rebellious teenage girl who is whisked away to her maternal grandmother’s abandoned estate alongside her kid brother. Nissy is not a fan of her mom or of the estate or of the small town she is having to live in over the summer. Her days are filled with angst and her nights with dreams of something better. She finds this in stolen cigarettes, text messages, and an older man who takes an interest in her. However, not is all what is seems, and Nissy quickly discovers that the grandmother she never met may have left her a unique inheritance. Also see: Remember One of the Greats with Wes Craven: Interviews [Book Review] Nicnevin and the Bloody Queen is a fantastic gothic horror, fairytale-esque story that draws in readers with an unnerving art style and a narrative that keeps you turning the pages. A coming of age tale quickly turns into a murder mystery that effects Nissy and her family, but also, the people who live in the small town to which she is confined. Otherworldly elements mixed with modern life blur the lines of reality, resulting in a world that is ruled by forces outside your control, but forces that have names and faces. The last act of Nicnevin and the Bloody Queen left me breathless and the narrative was so strong that I was craving more. I could have read and consumed hundreds of pages based on this world presented by writer Helen Mullane. Which, by the way, this is her debut graphic novel and she did such an excellent job that I would happily consume more of her content in the future for the sheer entertainment value. Sometimes, graphic novels are not very precise or effective because of the limited space, but Nicnevin and the Bloody Queen makes the most of every page. In fact, the brevity leaves a bittersweet taste in my mouth that makes me want to watch out for additional books in the future. Catch Nicnevin and the Bloody Queen when it releases from Humaniods on March 10, 2020. Follow us on social media! Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or Youtube.

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Thursday, 13 February 2020

Camp Cold Brook Composer Chad Rehmann Talks Scoring the Upcoming Horror Film [Interview]


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Wicked Horror is the author of Camp Cold Brook Composer Chad Rehmann Talks Scoring the Upcoming Horror Film [Interview]. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

What do horror legends like Joe Dante, Danielle Harris and Courtney Gains (Children of the Corn) all have in common? They are all involved with the new film, Camp Cold Brook, which will see release February 14th by Shout! Studios. The film follows reality TV producer and host Jack Wilson (Chad Michael Murray) as he finds himself in a tough spot with his show on the verge of being canceled. In a last ditch effort to spark ratings, he and his producer Angela (Danielle Harris) choose to film their next episode at the legendary Camp Cold Brook. The location was host to a horrific incident 20 years ago. Their arrival begins like any other episode, but the TV crew soon realizes they are in for more than they bargained for. The flick was scored by the talented Chad Rehmann who scored the cult classic The Funhouse Massacre. Rehmann is fully aware that a good score is crucial to making quality horror and realizes that if done correctly, it can elevate the creepiness to another level. Accordingly, he takes his job very seriously. That means differentiating the many sounds/rules to the various horror subgenres. Where The Funhouse Massacre was a slasher flick, Camp Cold Brook is more of a psychological horror thriller, so it is scored using a completely different approach. Rehmann goes more in depth about this and much more in the exclusive interview below! Wicked Horror: The film takes place in Oklahoma. And more specifically in the woods. How much did the setting influence your score? Chad Rehmann: Before filming was even complete, the director (Andy Palmer) and I had decided to create two distinct worlds: the world outside the camp and the world inside the camp. For all of the scenes that take place outside of the camp, a more traditional orchestral score was written and recorded. For all of the scenes that take place inside the camp, a more avant-garde score was created using sounds that one would find in the woods, and more specifically at a summer camp in the woods. Before a note was written, my team and I spent a couple of weeks processing recordings that we had made of splashing water, twigs breaking, windows creaking, swing set chains, static from walkie-talkies and similar objects. This score definitely pushed me as a composer, as it was the first film that I’ve scored that heavily relied on sounds and instruments that were specifically created for a production. WH: We won’t give away too much but when Angela (Danielle Harris) is watching the live monitor and sees something approaching the building she is in, there is a big punch, musically. How do you decide how loud/intense that is going to be? Chad Rehmann: Hitting on screen scares is such a delicate balance. In films like Camp Cold Brook, I am constantly conversing with the director on whether or not to musically hit the scare (if at all) or hit the character’s reaction to the scare. Believe it or not, musically hitting a scare in the wrong spot can lessen the impact…or worse, make it less scary! In other instances, there are accompanying sounds that take place when a scare happens (a scream, a slice, a gunshot, etc) In my experience, it is always important to not intrude on any sonic space that is already being used. If, for instance, the director wants a musical hit when someone falls on screen, I try my best to surround the sonic space around the thud that’s already there. In other words, if the fall creates a deep boom, there is no sense in me duplicating that in the score since the boom is already there – so, I may instead using instruments or effects that are higher in the spectrum WH: What would you say are some of the dos and don’ts of scoring a horror film? Chad Rehmann: When I first started scoring films a little over 15 years ago, I had a tendency to overwrite. Sometimes in horror films, it is absolutely necessary to pull every tool out of your “composer toolbox” and hit the audience over the head with it; I have, however, come to appreciate how silence and simplicity can be just as effective. There were many times in this film where a few cello squeaks were all that was needed. If the script works and the actors are strong, sometimes we composers just need to get out of the way. For any score, not just horror, I think it is important for composers to have a concept in place before writing a single note. My grandfather was a carpenter, and he always told me, “Measure twice, cut once”. Having a plan in place will serve any composer well when they begin the scoring process. WH: You have talked about working with Andy before and how he encourages you to experiment with different sounds/techniques. Was there anything that you tried with the score for Camp Cold Brook that didn’t work? Chad Rehmann: Because children play such an important role in this film, I originally had considered creating a score with children’s voices being the dominant color. No matter what I tried, though, I just couldn’t make it work with the visuals – in fact, many of the sketches never even made it to the director because they never got to the place where I felt confident that it was a viable option! I did end up using children’s voices, however, by having my own kids scream during many of the crescendos and hits in the score. It’s not overt, but I do hope that blending that element into the score elicits a more visceral reaction from the audience during those moments. And, my kids had a blast doing it! WH: What was the most challenging scene to score in Camp Cold Brook? Why? Chad Rehmann: The most difficult scene for me is when we meet Jack’s (Chad Michael Murray) family in the beginning of the film. There are some tender moments between him and his wife and the interactions with his kids that needed to be scored, but how do you score “tender” in the Camp Cold Brook world? If it was a RomCom or holiday film, the scene would be a no-brainer in terms of how to score it. That scene, however, exists in a horror film so there is this delicate balance of staying true to the genre while acknowledging what’s happening on screen. WH: You were trained as a contemporary composer for the concert hall. Did you ever think you would be scoring horror movies with this training? Chad Rehmann: I love telling stories and always knew that I wanted to work in a collaborative medium such as film. That being said, scoring horror films was never on my radar. As work in that genre picked up, however, I found myself going back to old college textbooks and digging around in my “composer’s toolbox” for processes and techniques that I hadn’t thought about in years. That education has served me well. WH: If you had to pick one, would you say the violin or piano delivers a more intense reaction to jump scenes? Chad Rehmann: The standard response would be, “It depends”; however, I’m just gonna flat out answer the piano, and here’s why – the piano has twice the octave range as a violin and a variety of elements that can produce unique sounds (wood, cast iron, copper, steel, plastic, felt). When I’m scoring a film, I want as many options at my disposal as possible – so, having a piano would allow me to score the jump scene reaction 100 different ways. (And…cue violin enthusiasts shredding me in the comments section). WH: Camp Cold Brook is more of a psychological horror thriller. Would you score a slasher horror film differently then a title from this genre? Chad Rehmann: Psychological horror and slasher films are two very different animals. With psychological horror films, I think there’s more of a slow burn involved and often the first kill doesn’t happen until well into the second act – sometimes not until the end of the film! With slasher films, however, the audience is presented with a larger than life character and kills are happening every few minutes. For a composer, this means that there is a constant ramping up and down, and giving a lot of musical weight to the antagonist. I think slasher films, in general, allow you to go a bit bigger in terms of sound in order to sell the gravitas of the character. There’s also the fact that many slasher movies have a trauma element inherent in the killer’s past, which sometimes makes an audience connect with the murderer. How does a composer create themes that can be varied to evoke both empathy and fear…and sometimes in the same scene? It’s interesting that Camp Cold Brook does have some elements of a slasher film, namely a main character that is avenging a wrong in her past, but we hardly ever see her and…..well, it hasn’t come out yet, so I’ll leave it at that! WH: You also scored the horror cult favorite, The Funhouse Massacre. Did you have a favorite scene to score in that film? If so, what was it? Chad Rehmann: Talk about slasher films! I think one of the reasons that Funhouse Massacre was such a joy to work on, was because the characters that Ben Begley and Renee Dorian created were just so damn cool! There was a taxidermist which allowed me to use banjos on the score, a cult leader which allowed me to use soaring voices and strings, a murderous chef which allowed me to use forks and knifes as percussion instruments, and the list goes on and on. Part of the inspiration for that score also, was Metallica’s S&M concert with the San Francisco Symphony. I remember playing some of the tracks for Andy Palmer [who also directed Funhouse] and asking him to consider a metal meets orchestra score. He said “Let’s try it” and the rest is history! *The film’s score is now available digitally on all major sites and psychically on chadrehmann.com. Follow us on social media: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube!

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Wednesday, 12 February 2020

VFW Director Joe Begos “Wants You to Have Feelings When You’re Looking at an Image” [Interview]


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Wicked Horror is the author of VFW Director Joe Begos “Wants You to Have Feelings When You’re Looking at an Image” [Interview]. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

Joe Begos is having a breakthrough. Last year’s Bliss was a tour de force, taking viewers into Dezzy’s (Dora Madison) world while she struggles to figure out if she’s turning into a vampire or tripping too hard. It earned a 91% on Rotten Tomatoes, and good reviews here from Joey Keogh and me.  The success helped him get his next film, VFW produced by Fangoria Films. VFW tells the story of seven veterans—played by genre stalwarts Stephen Lang, Martin Kove, William Sadler, David Patrick Kelly, George Wendt, Fred Williamson, and newcomer Tom Williamson—getting mixed up with “mutant” drug addicts next door. The two factions wage war against one another. It’s brutal and excellent. We caught up with Begos to talk about it ahead of its Valentine’s Day release.  Wicked Horror: VFW marked a few firsts for you. It’s the first film you directed that someone else wrote. What was that experience like?  Joe Begos: It was something that I always wanted to do, but the right script never came along. I enjoyed the experience because I didn’t have to write the f***ing thing. Writing’s the most pain in the ass part.  It was really hard to familiarize myself with the material because when I’m writing as a director, as a technical person, I always think things through. How is this thing going to be staged? How is it going to be lit?  When I come into a script that’s already written, it’s hard to visualize it from top to bottom. Rewriting helped with that a little bit, but that was the weirdest thing about it. I’d be open to doing it again if the right script came along. I wanna crank out a few of my own first. Kind of get back into my mindset of what I do.  Does that make sense?  WH: It does. You don’t have the same creative scaffolding when someone else writes it.  Joe Begos: Yeah. You’ve got to build it or find your way into it.   WH: VFW was also your first film with Fangoria Films. How did that differ from producing your own films?  Joe Begos: It’s much different. They’re both really low budget movies, but Fangoria has the ability to bring a little bit more money to the table, to get a better cast, stuff like that. I’ve done three movies that I’ve produced. I raised the money. I went from a blank page to getting that shit in theaters myself, with my production company. Doing that three times in such a specific way and then coming into a movie that not only did I not write, that I’m not producing, was interesting.  We both had very specific ways to make movies, and we were able to meet in the middle and use each other’s strengths to our advantage. It’s definitely something that’s hard to come into. You know, I haven’t had anyone tell me what to do in a decade. It’s f***ing weird. If someone tells me what to do, I don’t react well to it. But Fangoria gave me a lot of freedom. I had final cut.  It’s just different going into a mechanism like that when you have such a singular view of something.   WH: You mentioned that you’re working with bigger name performers in each film, especially in VFW. Do you ever get star struck?  JB: I never get star struck, but I was nervous because there’s eight of these guys in there and you don’t know how their egos are going to be. You don’t know how they’re going to feel about being directed by someone who’s half their age. You hear horror stories about how a lot of these older guys are d****bags. They don’t give a f*** anymore and they don’t want to be there. None of these guys were like that.  I had anxiety about that before I started. I was nervous, but once we started rehearsing it went away. I saw how rad everybody was. They actually wanted to be there and make the material good. It was amazing. It definitely wasn’t a payday, because I know how much everybody got paid. [Laughs].  WH: VFW and Bliss have a markedly different visual style than Almost Human and The Mind’s Eye, with lots of reds and blues along with strobing lights. What inspired that shift?  Joe Begos: My mindset grew organically. When I made Almost Human and The Mind’s Eye, I was so young. My life experience was watching movies in my basement and getting stoned. I was going to make movies that felt like the movies I watched. Then, there was a big gap of time, where I formed myself. I got that out of my system. It let me put more of my own self into the movies.  I was like, “You know what? F*** it. I’m going to put my brain into the movies. F*** cinematic rules. F*** what anybody thinks about what I should’ve done. I’m just going to put my brain on the f***ing screen. That’s what I want to do.”  And that’s what I did with Bliss. That’s how my living space is designed. You know, my walls are purple and black. There are neon lights everywhere. I’m a night owl. I do a lot of substances while I’m creating stuff, and I’m always f***ing procrastinating my work. I’m going to make a f***ing movie that is like my life.  I’m kind of now approaching material like that, where it’s not like “I’m going to be a bad boy” but I’m going to approach s*** like in the f***ed up way I see stuff in my brain and that’s it. Now I realize that there’s a niche for that. There’s not a lot of other people making movies in the very secular little realm that I am. I realized that maybe I should run with my f***ed up brain on film.  WH: I loved Bliss too. It felt much rawer than your earlier work.  JB: I wanted to be very distinct. You know the way you mentioned the way the movies looked and the visual style. I feel like the way horror’s moving with very few exceptions looks so bland and lame these days. Everything is so blown out, and digitally shot, and the exposure is so high. Everything is so bright. I’m so sick of movies that are shot in f***ing locations where there’s zero production design. It looks like an Airbnb. Every single f***ing light is on. There’s no shadows.  This isn’t what horror movies are supposed to look like. I want my movies to look sensational. I want them to be dark. I want you to not know what’s a shadow. I want you to feel grimy. I want you to have feelings when you’re looking at an image. I don’t want to look like a Netflix f***ing show of the week. I can’t stand how horror looks.  Bliss was a reaction as a whole, the way it looks, the way it feels, to the way horror is being done now. VFW is an organic extension from that.  Related: Director Joe Begos Talks Bliss [Frightfest 2019 Interview] WH: You’ve killed Graham Skipper‘s character in every film you’ve made. Do you ever plan to let him survive?  Joe Begos: No. [Laughs] WH: Where did your production company Channel 83 get its name?  Joe Begos: It is the channel that Max Renn in Videodrome runs.  WH: What are you working on next?  JB: I’m writing a few different things. I’m not sure which one will get financed if any. I’ve got to keep a lid on that. Don’t want to jinx anything. Hopefully something will get going sooner rather than later.  WH: February is Women in Horror month. Do you have a favorite female director you’d like to shout out?  JB: My favorite independent horror director right now is Jen Wexler. She’s f***ing really awesome, and I’m looking forward to her follow-up to The Ranger. The Ranger is on Shudder now.  Related: The Ranger is Bloody, Smart, and Unpredictable [Frightfest 2018 Review] Follow us on social media: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube

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Fifteen Years Later Hostel is Still Plagued by Awful Characters and Cringeworthy Dialogue [Editorial]


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Wicked Horror is the author of Fifteen Years Later Hostel is Still Plagued by Awful Characters and Cringeworthy Dialogue [Editorial]. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

Hostel marks Eli Roth’s second feature film directorial effort, with Cabin Fever being his first. Roth amped up the gore for his sophomore outing. Following in the footsteps of films like Saw, Hostel is an earlier installment in the gratuitous torture sub-genre. The film ups the ante by being even more reprehensible and more violent than the director’s previous film. And if that sounds like a compliment, it’s actually not.  The flick follows three (total bro) tourists as they are lured to a Slovakian hostel with the promise of sexually generous women who aim to please. Once they arrive, the bros learn that everything is not as it seems. They soon discover they are being targeted by an organization that gives patrons the opportunity to maim and kill for thrills. Yikes. In case you couldn’t tell from the plot crunch above, where writer/director Eli Roth goes horribly wrong is with his core cast of characters and his piss poor attempts at scripting dialogue. Jay Hernandez stars as the film’s lead, Paxton, with Derek Richardson and Eythor Gudjonsson appearing as Paxton’s bros. The problem with the trio at the center of the film is that none of the three are at all relatable. It could be argued that this is because they’re being set up as cannon fodder but that’s not an excuse for scripting underdeveloped and frequently homophobic, overtly sexist characters. Also See: Knock Knock Borders on Misogynistic [Review] The film is full of offensive banter amongst the three leads. At the time of the flick’s release, it read as insensitive and it certainly hasn’t gotten any better with time. Lines like, “we can’t rail her if she’s in a coma” stand out as possibly even more upsetting than they were upon the film’s debut in 2005. After a rewatch, I’m left wondering if Paxton making that proclamation about the young woman being in a coma was supposed to be a good thing? Like, he’s a hero because he won’t have an orgy with a near comatose female? If that’s Roth’s standard for what makes a relatable and well meaning character, color me mortified. Another key concern is that the flick seems to have been made with satisfying the male gaze as an almost singular priority. There is an unfathomable amount of female nudity. There are young women parading around in nothing throughout the picture and it rarely, if ever serves to advance the storyline. I’m all for a little nakedness in a  horror picture but it should serve some purpose, aside from titillating the male libido. In Hostel, it’s clear that the nude scenes are intended as nothing more than window dressing and they come across as exploitative and entirely unnecessary. These concerns I’ve called out above aren’t, however, exclusive to Hostel. Roth packed Cabin Fever full of gay jokes and sent an anti feminist message with the overtly sadistic female torture scenes in Hostel Part II. Not to mention vilifying and over simplifying the female characters in Knock Knock and portraying the male lead as a helpless and innocent man who fell victim to naughty female temptresses. My hope is that with future filmic efforts, Roth uses his platform to present his audience with relatable, three-dimensional characters that have more to say than I like jubblies and that’s so gay, bro. Follow us on social media! Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube.

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Worst to First: Ranking the Lois Duncan Film Adaptations


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Wicked Horror is the author of Worst to First: Ranking the Lois Duncan Film Adaptations. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

Last year for Women in Horror month, I listed some of my favorite Lois Duncan novels. Duncan’s stories were a major part of my life during my formative years. She had a way of putting her finger on the pulse of teenage dreams and fears. From issues of self-esteem to peer-pressure, Duncan presented authentic teenagers placed in life threatening situations. These youths didn’t always do the right thing. And, unlike other young adult novels, they sometimes get away with their wrongdoings. This year, I’m back with a list ranking the film adaptations of Duncan’s novels. Films based on her work are hit-or-miss, but always seem to offer some enjoyably suspenseful moments. For every amazing adaption of her work, there is another that falls apart by the end. No matter the quality of the picture, the truthful vision and thrilling imagination of the late author are never in doubt. Related: Remembering the Author and the Mystery Behind Her Daughter’s Murder Don’t Look Behind You Based on the first Lois Duncan novel this writer read, 1999’s television movie quickly falls apart and is easily the worst adaptation of the author’s work. This is a complete disappointment as Duncan’s source material is among my favorite of her literary works. Jeff Corrigan (Patrick Duffy) turns in his boss (Dominic Raacke) to the F.B.I. and has to take his ex-wife (Pam Dawber) and children (Tanja Reichert and David Kaye) on the run. Scenes focusing on the central family are more successful and even offer up some suspense; however, as soon as the family comes into contact with F.B.I. agents or obnoxious boyfriends, the film becomes excruciating to watch. Ending on a less optimistic note, the book is a roller-coaster ride and highlights what is important in life. Meanwhile, the movie showcases bad acting and unrealistic characterizations. Killing Mr. Griffin Lois Duncan’s novel of the same name takes a look at the harmful effects of peer-pressure. As an adaption, 1997’s Killing Mr. Griffin has one of the strongest casts in the author’s film collection. Amy Jo Johnson is an excellent choice as Susan, and Mario Lopez has solid charisma as Dave. As teenage sociopath Mark Kinney, Scott Bairstow is genuinely believable. Up until the climax, Killing Mr. Griffin is an entertaining teenage suspense flick. Unfortunately, the film takes a wrong turn in the third act. The novel goes all the way in showing how dangerous peer-pressure can be, but the film inexplicably has the supporting cast decide to “do the right thing.” These unlikely actions by the students derail what could have been a truly scary ending. Still, the author’s point is made by the rest of the movie. Held for Ransom This direct-to-video release from 2000 is based on one of Lois Duncan’s earliest attempts at the horror genre. The feature adheres closely to the novel’s plot with some minor deviations. Having Dennis Hopper as the lead villain aids the production and overall, Held for Ransom works at selling the idea of five supposedly wealthy teens being kidnapped. Unlike most Duncan flicks, this one is clearly intended for a more mature audience. Containing both adult language and themes, this approach hinders rather than helps the movie. On paper, the suspense is derived from the internalized emotions of the teens, whereas on film, there is an obvious need to externalize the drama. Unfortunately, more often than not this comes across as sleazy filler as opposed to genuine horror. Nevertheless, Held for Ransom is probably good for a one-time viewing. Check Out: Teen Screams: Most Underrated Post-Scream Slashers! Stranger with My Face Released in 2009, this Lois Duncan adaptation takes the general idea of the book and then falls short as a result of problematic casting. This is unfortunate because Stranger with My Face is a reasonably scary movie. Alexz Johnson plays the dual role of twin sisters Laurie and Lia. Johnson is adequate. However, the character is supposed to be an adopted girl of Native American heritage. Johnson is very Caucasian with blonde hair and blue eyes. Perhaps, the filmmakers wanted to make her look more like her movie mother (Catherine Hicks) in order to maintain the “surprise” element of the story. Fans of Lois Duncan will enjoy the engaging story. Still, a better adaption would have allowed Laurie’s portrayal to be more authentically represented. I’ve Been Waiting for You  Adapted from Duncan’s Gallows Hill, this 1998 supernatural horror film is surprisingly effective. Released during the resurgence of slashers in the late 1990’s, I’ve Been Waiting for You did not receive a theatrical release; however, the level of suspense and acting could have competed with the bigger budget flicks of the time. Sarah Zoltanne (Sarah Chalke) is a new student in a small town with a history of witchcraft. Incredibly superstitious, the residents come to suspect Sarah as a reincarnated witch out for revenge. The production values are lacking, but sincere performances help sell the sinister mystery. Down a Dark Hall This 2018 adaptation starring Uma Thurman and AnnaSophia Robb is quite close in tone and atmosphere to Lois Duncan’s original vision. At the same time, the feature finds a way to have a distinct energy all its own. Uma Thurman’s performance brings a level of clout to the shifty headmistress of an academy designed to bring out the best in troubled students. Robb plays one of these students named Kit. The headmistress is deceitfully using the students as vessels for artistic geniuses from the past. Kit realizes what is happening and desperately seeks help from her companions to bring this paranormal experience to an end. Down a Dark Hall has low-level scares, but the atmospheric style will undoubtedly appeal to horror fans. Summer of Fear (aka Stranger in Our House) A made-for-television feature directed by horror master Wes Craven, Summer of Fear is about a young woman named Rachel (Linda Blair) and her increasing suspicion that something is off about her cousin Julia (Lee Purcell). Summer of Fear contains solid moments of suspense and thrills despite feeling a bit dated. The involvement of horror greats Wes Craven and Linda Blair only helps the enduring appeal of this Lois Duncan adaptation. Even early in his career, Craven was able to make the most out of a limited budget. In addition, he was able to create something special for horror fans considering he would have to frame the story in a way that would also be appropriate for prime time audiences. (Special thanks to Zena Dixon for her recommendation on this one!) Also See: Top Ten Wes Craven Movies! I Know What You Did Last Summer The obvious choice as the number one pick and, you know what, it fits. Premiering during the resurgence of slashers in the late 1990s, this choice is the most well-known by horror audiences. Unlike writer Kevin Williamson’s satirical mega-hit Scream (1996), I Know What You Did Last Summer is a straightforward slasher flick. Still, Williamson’s influence is all over the screen as he reframes Duncan’s 1973 novel. Replacing the novel’s killer with a hook-wielding fisherman, the suspenseful ideas from the source material are heightened into a fast-paced thriller. The cast works together as an ensemble as well as delivering memorable solo performances. Packed with intense chase sequences and a “keep you guessing” mystery, I Know What You Did Last Summer is a Lois Duncan adaptation not to be missed.

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