Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: Season Two is a Total Hell-Send

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Wicked Horror is the author of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: Season Two is a Total Hell-Send. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

​When last we saw the sprightly Sabrina Spellman, as Season 1 of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina wrapped up, she was striding confidently through the halls of her Satanic high school with a trio of frenemies, newly platinum hair perfectly coiffed. As the sophomore season opens, it quickly becomes apparent that parting image was more a tease of what’s to come rather than an outright statement on our heroine’s new state of mind/dress.  Sabrina is much darker now (well, apart from her hair), but she’s still Sabrina. Season 2 of Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, from the brains behind the ludicrously addictive Riverdale, was shot in tandem with Season 1. As a result, this feels more like a continuation of the story rather than a standalone second trip to Greendale, and it’s all the better for it. The action kicks off instantly, no tedious recap in sight, with our heroine tussling with her light and dark sides. Related: Our Review of Season One Calls the Show a Devilishly Dark Delight It doesn’t help that new paramour Nick Scratch (that’s an old-timey name for the Devil, fact fans) is skulking around, hoping to take the place of her ex-boyfriend Harvey who still doesn’t really want to know the new her. Thankfully, both Sabrina’s mortal friends and her new, kind-of friends in the Academy are accepting of her new outlook…and look. This time around, Sabrina is even wearing darker colors, leading Hilda to tease her about trying to be “edgy.” Her causes continue to be focused on female empowerment, with our heroine looking to become the Academy’s first female Top Boy, which may lead Sabrina to one day be the first ever High Priestess of the Church of Night, helping Theo (née Susie) get on the boys’ basketball team, and, oh yeah, the small matter of deciding whether her essential nature is good or evil. The stakes are simultaneously high enough for a dark fantasy show and grounded so we still believe Sabrina as a regular high school student. Supporting characters like the dastardly but still attractive Nick, the clearly evil Father Blackwood (Richard Coyle, hamming it up once again), and scene-stealer Prudence get considerably more to do this time around. In particular, the latter is afforded her own compelling story-line regarding her heritage and the true meaning of family. Prudence petitions Blackwood to allow her use his surname and he resists, using her for his own gains all the while. Prudence continues to be arguably the best character on Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, even though Kiernan Shipka once again kills it in the leading role, bringing depth and nuance to her portrayal of the teenage witch struggling to figure out who she is in increasingly bizarre circumstances. Sabrina remains consistently, and understandably, torn between the mortal world, where her friends are, and the supernatural one, where untold power awaits. Michelle Gomez’s conniving Mary Wardwell, revealed in Season 1 as Lilith, first wife of Adam and Satan’s erstwhile mistress, continues to be a delightfully confusing presence. It’s clear to the audience her intentions aren’t good but, similar to Todd and the Book of Pure Evil‘s brilliant Atticus, Wardwell isn’t all bad either. She might be plotting against Sabrina, but she also tries to help her, too, and often against the wishes of the dark lord. Chilling Adventures of Sabrina takes pretty much the entire season, with dark shenanigans aplenty, before finally allowing Sabrina to cop on to who and what her confidante really is, but the big reveal doesn’t pay off in the way you might expect. If anything, it’s yet another stamp for the show’s fiercely feminist credentials, as two more women join forces to fight back against a tyrannical man. Or, rather, a beast in the form of a man. Zelda has her own issues with a horrid male as she’s betrothed to Father Blackwood, realizing too late for her own good that he’s after a Stepford wife rather than an equal partner. This plot-point, again, doesn’t pay off the way we’ve come to expect. In fact Zelda, who in Season 1 was a clear and arguably even proud agent of the patriarchy, comes into her own this time around, finding common ground with Hilda and finally coming to her senses about the sexist issues rotting at the core of the church’s leadership. Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is, at its dark heart, about the continuing fight for equality of the sexes. Sabrina fights tirelessly to be recognized as just Sabrina, rather than an unruly woman causing problems in a man’s world (or worlds, considering she also has her battles in the mortal realm to contend with). Father Blackwood is the ideal foil for her in this regard, consistently undermining her efforts by moving the goalposts whenever Sabrina gets anything close to a win (his solution to everything is to create yet another all-male secret society, to keep her away from the table). Cousin Ambrose, a fan favorite from Season 1 (who I found incredibly irritating first time around), is given more room to breathe — particularly in reluctant servitude to Blackwood. Likewise Zelda finds herself as an unlikely double agent while pretending to be her new husband’s pet. When the dark lord himself does eventually come knocking, in his sexier, less goat-life form, it’s a given he expects to rule while the women bow down to him (crucially, however, it’s a man’s sacrifice that eventually sends Satan packing…at least for a while). It’s not all doom and gloom of course, as Chilling Adventures of Sabrina straddles that same, deliberate line it did in Season 1 between deliciously black comedy, sweet romance, and dark fairy-tale oddity. Hilda gets her guy, finally, and his dark secret brings them together rather than tearing them apart. Sabrina, as previously mentioned, finds a new man who’s, I guess, the witch idea of a bad boy (eye roll) but it’s clear her heart still lies with Harvey (at least I hope so, otherwise this show is dead to me). As for our favorite farm boy — Nick still refers to Harvey as such, in a continuing nod to the show’s previous incarnation — his relationship with Sabrina is complicated. Ross Lynch’s sensitive portrayal of a beloved character is entirely separate from the Sabrina, the Teenage Witch incarnation chiefly because he’s not a complete doofus, nor does is his story-line entirely enslaved to Sabrina’s. Season 2 even pairs him with another woman, ending with the two happily entwined as Sabrina looks on, seemingly happy to focus on her new fella instead (the one major bum note is actually the final line of the season, which seems completely opposed to everything we know about her character). It’s an odd choice but one that will hopefully bring the pair back together over the coming episodes. See Also: The Blackcoat’s Daughter is an Inspired Debut Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is more finely drawn than Riverdale, which throws everything at the screen each week in hopes something will stick. The story here is carefully crafted and keenly observed. Even when certain characters feel like they haven’t been properly given time to shine (Theo is a key example, and one a trans writer would be in a better position to fully explore), the world is so richly detailed it all sort of fits together anyway. As with Season 1, Shipka’s spirited performance anchors the show’s zanier moments, but there’s plenty of campy goodness to enjoy this time around regardless, whether it’s Dorcas’ unbridled horniness or Ray Wise showing up as the goddamn Anti-Pope. Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is at its best when it gives in to those darkly comic tendencies, rather than relying on the Riverdale-esque big reveals (of which there are, mercifully, very few). It may be a little on the nose at times — though the argument could be made that feminism no longer utilizes a softly, softly approach because there’s no time for that anymore — but the continuation of a firmly female focus, delightfully dark angles on religious worship, education, and teenage issues, and terrific performances across the board ensure this is nothing short of a stellar Season 2. Long may Sabrina’s reign continue; the dark lord can suck it.

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Escape Room Director, Adam Robitel, Dives Deep Into the Film and its Upcoming Sequel [Exclusive]

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Wicked Horror is the author of Escape Room Director, Adam Robitel, Dives Deep Into the Film and its Upcoming Sequel [Exclusive]. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

Adam Robitel has had a promising career thus far. His first feature, The Taking of Deborah Logan, was the exact indie-horror many first-time filmmakers hope for. The film had success on home media, and granted him the opportunity to follow in James Wan and Leigh Whannell’s footsteps and direct the fourth film in the Insidious franchise, The Last Key. The film made over 6 times its budget in the States, and Sony opted to give Robitel a franchise of his own to start. Robitel chose Maria Melnik and Bragi F Schut’s script, The Maze, and turned it into the feature film we now know as Escape Room. Adam graciously took some time and talked to Wicked Horror in support of the film’s home video release. Escape Room is now available on DVD, Blu-ray, and DigitalHD. Also See: Escape Room is Clever and Entertaining [Blu-ray Review] WH: Hey, Adam. Really excited to dive into this one with you. I know it’s only April, but it’s one of my favorite films of the year so far. Adam Robitel: You’re very kind. I’m glad you dug it, man. WH: First thing I wanted to hit was the genre of the film. A lot of the marketing pressed it as a horror flick while IMDb lists it as action, adventure, and drama; I just wanted to get your take on what genre you think fits it best. Adam Robitel: I categorize it as a psychological thriller. I sort of call it a “psychological roller coaster ride,” or at least that’s how I always envisioned it in my head. I don’t think its straight horror; one of the mandates going in was that we weren’t going to do gore. I wanted the movie to live outside of films like Saw or Cube that do that so well. I’d lean towards psychological thriller, but some people would tend to disagree and that’s totally fine. WH: Your first two movies, The Taking of Deborah Logan and Insidious: The Last Key were blatant horror films. Were you making a conscious effort to stay away from horror with this movie? Adam Robitel: You’re always looking at, “what’s the angle?” After I read the script, I realized how popular escape rooms were. I didn’t even know what an escape room was, to be completely candid, so I went out and did like 15 of them. The best ones were really visual, and they sort of transformed so that the players could interact with them. Like you solve a puzzle and a blacklight turns on that then reveals a map you couldn’t see; so, I got excited from a visual perspective. Then I thought, “Nobody can out-Wan Wan.” James has such a market on the Insidious’ and supernatural [films] of the world, why not do something that’s a little bit different. So, it was this vital choice of either I could do another possession or horror film, like a straight supernatural thriller, which I love, don’t get me wrong, or I could do something like this which could get more of an international audience. Keep in mind from a purely business perspective, supernatural movies can’t even go to china, that with escape rooms being very popular in Asia, it seemed like the right time to take a gamble and not rely on the jump scares as much. WH: Did you have any type of productive bonding experience for the cast beforehand? Adam Robitel: We had a couple early table reads which really got our chemistry going and then had some really good rehearsal time. The first day we were in the lobby shooting it linearly; basically, the first day, the characters are meeting is the first day of shooting, which helped in a way, to shoot it as chronologically as possible. Deborah Ann Woll, who was probably the most seasoned of the actors, she was sort of like the mother hen who kind of brought everybody together and I think they all brought their A-game. They were each so committed to it that it helped bring out each other’s performances. They were just a little family; I mean you get stuck on that sound stage for 12 hours a day, five days a week and by day three you’re like old friends. There was a lot of moving parts and the movie had a lot of visual effects, it definitely took some acclimating to. I really think they did a great job. WH: I’m actually talking to Tyler (Labine) in a few days, he’s a great example of my next question. It was surely suspenseful, but none of the characters felt like caricatures; they were real people. Tyler can be silly, he can be fun, but he was down to Earth and playing it completely straight. Was this something you did intentionally? Adam Robitel: Oh my God, he’s my favorite person. He’s hilarious. Initially, Mike was meant to be a sort of older, funny, dad kind of guy, and while he does crack a dad joke or two, he really brought an accessibility that we weren’t expecting. You know, it’s hard, the first act of these movies are all just truncated now because most audiences don’t have the attention span. I don’t know how old you are, but I remember movies in the ‘80’s and 90’s where a good 40 minutes was just introductions. You don’t have time to set up characters the way you want to, so you do it by writing, “Here’s the funny older guy; here’s the expert gamer kid; here’s the veteran.” How much character pipe do you lay, how peculiar and odd should we make these characters? Some caricature is good because the audience can go, “Oh, I think I know who this person is” quickly, but at the same time we don’t want too much too quickly. It’s a tight rope. WH: I wanted to touch on something you were saying earlier. You mentioned when you went to escape rooms that you saw how elaborate and visually striking they were. I know it’s a cliché to say, but honestly the rooms seemed to be one of the characters in the movie. Did you and production designer Edward Thomas just collaborate together on exactly how you wanted each room to look? Adam Robitel: Ed Thomas is amazing. He’s from the UK and he’s done a lot of Resident Evil movies and what not. He just-he hit the ground running. We shot in South Africa; I was terrified and knew no one there, but Ed had shot a lot of movies there. He had this incredible team that was just ready and crewed right up. It’s different down there, they can just start pouring concrete. They don’t have the zoning laws and all the shit that we have here. We really wanted each room to be its own little mini-movie. Marc Spicer, our DP (director of photography/cinematographer), shot lots of Fast and Furious [films] and Lights Out, so, for me he was so instrumental with Ed to figure out ways of building light into the sets or be able to go 365 degrees. It was really important for me to make sure it felt like these characters were actually trapped and to do that you have to show the audience the entire set. Give them the illusion that there’s not a crew, there’s no way out. Everything really had to be on the page. My writer, Maria Melnik, really had to spell everything out in a linear way towards the end of the room. For example, in the ice room, the ice-block that they bring up from the water, that’s a fabricated prop. That’s something that spent weeks and weeks to make, you can’t just go out and buy that from a warehouse; you have to build that. Also, the art department, it was such a tour de force for them. Everything they did was on display. I can’t think of a movie where you have so many macro-shots where you could see each and every prop. Everyone really just picked up the baton and ran with it. WH: Not so much if you were in the Escape Room, but objectively looking outward in, which of the rooms is your favourite? Adam Robitel: I think I was most proud of the billiard room. We were told it was impossible and I had such a huge pitch for it. You know, we were a little movie with very few resources. The whole set was built six feet off the ground, everything had to be engineered structurally to be safe; when Deborah Ann Woll’s climbing across the walls or climbing along the top. Her safety lines actually had to go all the way up through the ceiling to the scaffolding, it was very logistically complicated. Anecdotally, we had a shot at the end when Zoey cracks that the code, it’s upside down. I wanted a crane to rotate around the bar and flip upside down so when the ball falls down, it goes up into Deborah’s hand. We spent two hours trying to get this shot and had to bring in a dinosaur of a crane that had no place being on a film set, but we finally got the shot at the 11th hour. Going from a movie like Insidious: The Last Key, which had no visual effects, to this film was something that was tough. Escape Room had loads; Escape Room actually had more visual effects than Venom. Most was smaller clean-up kind of stuff, but it added up. WH: I wanted to touch on the second to last room, I’m not sure how to word it other than the “trippy” room. I always think it’s fascinating, because you don’t have a writing credit on the film, only Maria Melnik and Bragi F. Schut, so how were you able to translate that from page to film? Adam Robitel: Well that room actually, and I’ll be completely candid now that the movie is out, we sort of ran out of resources by that point in terms of what it could be. Initially, Maria had written a version of a crazy factory room where these presses are coming down, basically an Indiana Jones thing where the presses were almost crushing them. We had gone to an old factory in Cape Town and I was afraid someone was going to get tetanus. It was beyond our scope I think and so I just made a decision. I said, “Let’s try and do something a little different.” It was originally going to be this room full of optical illusions, but we weren’t [chuckles], we weren’t entirely successful with it. The conceit of a neuro-toxin which makes things all trippy I thought was fun. If we’re going to have a mano a mano fight, you need to up it from the billiard room somehow. My college days of eating a fungus or two may have helped. WH: That’s what I thought had happened at first! One thing I’ve been trying to wrap my brain around is how some of the rooms are obviously tailored to the players, while others seem more or less random. Was this a coincidence? Adam Robitel: Not at all. I think the lobby was Deborah’s because she has PTSD from fire. The cabin was Logan (Miller) because of the antlers and his car crash. The ice room was supposed to be for Jason (Jay Ellis) because of his exposure and the guy on the boat. The billiard room was Zoey (Taylor Russel) because she went down in a plane crash and landed upside down. The hospital was kind of supposed to be the coherence of all of them, but also Nik (Dodani) because Danny’s parents died from carbon monoxide. Then the library, or the crushing room, was for Mike (Tyler Labine) because he was almost crushed in the mines. WH: That’s much subtler than I feel like a freshman filmmaker would be confident including. So, the film ended on a definite cliff-hanger. I was researching and it said that Sony had already greenlit the sequel. Anything you can tell us about it? Adam Robitel: Yeah, we’re dated. We’re already discussing concepts for new rooms and we’re expecting a script in a couple weeks! We’re full steam ahead. We have our work cut out for us because we used a lot of the big ones, whether it being gravity, crushing, or fire. How do you kill people without using too much gore or any gore at all, you know? WH: Before you go, I always like to hit on one more thing! I know you said you don’t see the film as a horror movie, but this is Wicked Horror. I like to ask all the actors, directors, writers, and everyone we interview to give me one horror movie that is either your favorite or one that you think got criminally overlooked as of late. Adam Robitel: The movie very few people have seen that I absolutely love is called Session 9. It was the first feature I think Brad Anderson shot and it was filmed at the Danvers Insane Asylum, a place I grew up near outside of Boston. It’s super creepy. They wrote the script based on the location. If you like a slow burn, psychological thriller, The Shining-esque, Session 9 is great. WH: Adam, thanks for talking. Like I said, really dug the movie. Not just excited about the sequel but whatever you have coming down the pipe. Adam Robitel: Thanks, Mark. I really appreciate it! Escape Room is now available on Blu-ray/DVD. *Featured Image Credit: Movie Roar

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The Gasoline Thieves Will Steal Your Heart [Tribeca Review]

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Wicked Horror is the author of The Gasoline Thieves Will Steal Your Heart [Tribeca Review]. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

When I was in eighth grade, I asked my friend Mike to ask our friend Liz if she would be my girlfriend. She said yes. I was elated. I didn’t do anything to change my behavior — I didn’t sit with her at lunch, I didn’t call her to talk, I didn’t actually see her outside of art class during the day, though I could’ve. At thirteen years old, I didn’t know I was supposed to do those things. Lalito (Eduardo Banda), the protagonist of The Gasoline Thieves (Huachicolero), doesn’t either. He’s an awkward middle schooler, who asks out Ana (Regina Reynoso) early in the film. Her friends laugh at him, and mock him, “Haven’t you seen a soap opera?” They tell him if he want’s Ana to go out with him that he needs to be spontaneous, to act like a gentleman, and give her gifts. Specifically, an iPhone. The film is set in a part of Mexico where gasoline shortages have led to violent crime. It opens with a pair of gasoline thieves executing someone who’s siphoning gasoline from their spot. Like in so many other crime films, Lalito is a good person outside that world. If he’s going to get that phone and help pay his Uncle’s medical bills, he needs to infiltrate it though. Director Edgar Nito Arrache goes out of his way to show the tragedy: that Lalito, and by extension everyone around him, is predestined by poverty. What sets The Gasoline Thieves apart from cookie cutter crime film is the time it takes to explore Lalito’s life outside of the crime. He’s loved. He loves. He feels joy. It’s something that Victor LaValle has rightly pointed out is missing from the stories of people of color written by outsiders. There’s a beautifully shot scene where Lalito takes Ana on a bike ride and to the circus and both actors exude happiness. Like other crime movies, there’s a sense of dread that hangs over The Gasoline Thieves as well. In the scene where Ana first rejects Lalito, a stray dog slinks through the background of the shot, establishing the dog as a symbol for the boy. Each dog Nito Arrache films later is hurt or killed, suggesting that may be Lalito’s fate. RELATED: Not Quite Horror: Thoroughbreds What the film demonstrates as well as the way good people get sucked into a world of a crime, is the way toxic masculinity is taught. Rulo (Pedro Joaquín) is a grown gasoline thief who’s dating Ana. He serves as Lalito’s in to both the crime world and the world of objectifying women. Nito Arrache shows Lalito being corrupted before our eyes. The small budget hurts The Gasoline Thieves in places. All of the stealing takes place at night, and the dark lighting makes it difficult to differentiate characters or to tell what’s going on, especially in the opening and the climactic fight. That fight is also over edited, relying on cuts rather than stunts to get the point across, likely a combination of budgetary restrictions and protecting young actor Eduardo Banda. The Gasoline Thieves is Nito Arrache’s first movie, but it never shows. He tells Lalito’s story with the poise of a more experienced filmmaker. You should be excited to see this movie. I’m excited to see what Nito Arrache does next. Wicked Rating: 8/10 Director: Edgar Nito Arrache Writers: Alfredo Mendoza, Edgar Nito Arrache Stars: Eduardo Banda, Regina Reynoso, Pedro Joaquín Release: April 25, 2019 (Tribeca Film Festival) Studio/Production Company: AMP International, Pirotencia Films, Screen Division Language: Spanish Length: 93 minutes Sub-Genre: Crime

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The Wild Optimists Spill Their Guts About Escape Room in a Box [Exclusive]

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Wicked Horror is the author of The Wild Optimists Spill Their Guts About Escape Room in a Box [Exclusive]. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

Wicked Horror had the good fortune to spend some time chatting with The Wild Optimists (Ariel Rubin and Juliana Patel) the ultra talented and surprisingly humble women behind the new board game sensation, Escape Room in a Box: The Werewolf Experiment. We got the details on taking the project from the conceptual stages to the marketplace, how to run a successful Kickstarter campaign and so much more. If you haven’t already tried the game out, it is available from Mattel at Target and via Amazon! Do yourself a favor and check it out. I’ve had the pleasure of playing a promotional game the ladies put together for the release of the feature film, Escape Room and my copy of The Werewolf Experiment is currently being shipped from Amazon. You can check out the ladies’ official website right here! Also See: Escape Room (2019 Film) is Clever and Entertaining [Review] Wicked Horror: You ladies beat the odds and launched the wildly successful Escape Room in a Box: The Werewolf Experiment on Kickstarter, which  eventually secured distribution via Mattel. How did you manage to succeed where so many others have failed? The Wild Optimists: The first step was research and paying attention to that research. There is a wealth of information on the Internet about how to run a successful kickstarter. Jamey Stegmaier and James Mathe, particularly, are incredibly generous with their expertise and have created blogs with pretty much everything you need to know from what time of year is best to launch a Kickstarter, to how to navigate worldwide shipping, to which reviewers accept Kickstarter submissions. We followed pretty much every piece of advice we read. The second step was having an excellent product and garnering support for it before we launched. We emailed probably a hundred reviewers and asked if we could send them a prototype of the game. Most didn’t reply. Some said they’d love to play. And now, some of our biggest supporters (call out to RoomEscapeArtist.com) said something along the lines of “this sounds like a terrible idea, but, sure I guess I’ll give it a shot.” When they played the game and loved it, they were particularly vocal about spreading the word which helped our numbers enormously. The third thing, and this was mainly luck, was that we were the first to market. No one had heard of doing an escape room tabletop game before, so the fact that we were unique was a huge help. Wicked Horror: How big of a challenge was it to scale down the life size concept of an escape room and turn it into something anyone can play on their coffee table at home? The Wild Optimists: Dreaming up ideas was easy. Creation was harder. Play testing was a real eye opener and manufacturing was brutal. We came at creating Escape Room In A Box from the perspective of enthusiasts, so it was incredibly important to us that it have physical elements: real boxes, locks, searches, surprises. We started by writing down a list of all our favorite puzzles and types of puzzles we had encountered in rooms. Then we narrowed that down to what could conceivably fit in a box, then what we could make in our garage and then which puzzles fit our narrative and how they could all flow together. Wicked Horror: How on earth did you get Elan Lee (creator of the massively successful game Exploding Kittens) to take notice of and back your project? The Wild Optimists: We thought the same thing when we saw his name on the backer list! We are such fan girls. Elan, we now know, is a crazy escape room enthusiast and a Kickstarter superbacker. He ran a hilarious blog for a while called “Elan Backs Everything” so it was really the perfect storm. He is also one of the smartest escape room players we’ve ever seen. Seriously, playing a room with him is like a master class in how to play escape rooms. But I think what’s important is that we were paying attention to every single backer, sending them a personalized thank you.  So when we saw that he was a backer, we reached out and said he could play test our prototype which led to us hanging out about midway through the Kickstarter. Elan was incredible with offering help and advice, truly one of the nicest guys out there. Wicked Horror: Did either of you have any experience with creating board games before creating Escape Room in a Box: The Werewolf Experiment? The Wild Optimists: We did not.  But we both had a lot of experience playing board games and escape rooms, which was a really solid foundation. Wicked Horror: Then, how on earth did you manage to create such an intricately and well designed product with no prior experience? The Wild Optimists: Wild optimism! Also, play testing and trusting our players. Our first attempt at the game took players, like, four hours and left everyone hating life. So, we iterated and tried again and learned from our mistakes and asked advice and took advice and tried again and again…and again until people were having fun playing. Like everything else in life, you have to be willing to learn, willing to listen, and willing to change, and if you are you can make something truly special. Wicked Horror: The success of The Werewolf Experiment led to you collaborating with Sony on a press mailer for an Escape Room in a Box exclusively for journalists. How did that differ from your previous venture? The Wild Optimists: Since licensing Escape Room In A Box to Mattel we’ve founded our company, The Wild Optimists where we create puzzles and games for events, themed attractions, tabletop games, etc. The Sony Box lives somewhere between Escape Room In A Box and these larger immersive experiences. Probably the biggest difference is 1. The game didn’t have to be able to be reset and 2. You all signed a waiver so if you got hurt you wouldn’t sue us. What this meant is we were able to create something more bespoke, edgy and, just a bit, dangerous which was incredibly fun and also really fit with the movie. Wicked Horror: One of the things that impressed me most about the press mailer I played was the attention to detail. You had a key embedded in a candle that was only revealed after the candle was lit and a secret Instagram account that was only visible by peeling off the Fragile sticker from the box the product shipped in. Where do you guys come up with the these incredible ideas? The Wild Optimists: We always start with the narrative and we know from experience that players’ favorite moments are when there is an unexpected reveal. In the movie, the characters all receive a priority mail box with a puzzle box inside – so we knew we had to do that. But we didn’t want the priority mail box to just be trash, so we thought about what would be on it. The game would be fragile, we’d need a Fragile Sticker, what could we do with that? What wouldn’t players expect? Similarly, in the ice scene in the movie there is a key hidden in an ice cube that the characters need to heat to get to. We couldn’t include ice, but we could include a cube with a key that you needed to heat and since the secondary purpose of the game was providing everything players would need for an at home movie night, we thought a candle would be a nice keepsake to add a bit of atmosphere to your evening in. Wicked Horror: The game that I had the good fortune to play can only be played once. As I haven’t yet had the chance to play The Werewolf Experiment, can you explain how it differs with repeat plays? The Wild Optimists: Like a brick and mortar escape room, once you’ve solved the puzzles in Escape Room In A Box you will know the answers and can’t really replay. However, it is entirely able to be reset: EscapeRoominaBox.com has all the puzzle papers for reprinting and instructions on where everything goes.) We also wrote a Host Script, so if you want to host the game for your friends you can play as the evil mad scientist werewolf Dr. Cynthia Gnaw. When you host, there are elements of the game that are removed and put into your control and one puzzle that changes entirely to something you set up around your house. Also, based on our play-testing, if you wait a year you can totally play again, very few people have that good of a memory. Wicked Horror: Thank you so much for speaking with us. It was a pleasure and you two are truly going places. The Wild Optimists: Thank you!

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Five of the Greatest Horror Film Openings

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Wicked Horror is the author of Five of the Greatest Horror Film Openings. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

We all know you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. So, it stands to reason, we also should not judge a film by its poster. But we have to judge these damn things somehow! Synopses are not always trust-worthy. Reviews can be subjective. What are we to do? Openings. Films, and specifically horror films, should only truly be judged if they are worthy to be watched in their entirety by their opening premise. With that in mind, we are counting down Five of the Greatest Horror Film Openings.  Let’s start with number 5 and work our way to the absolute best. 5. Halloween While the opening to John Carpenter’s 1978 classic slasher Halloween doesn’t have a clearly established protagonist, it checks (slashes?) off all the other criteria for a truly great Horror Film Opening. The tense, voyeuristic tone of the film is established with the score and camera work. We are introduced to the character of Michael Myers. It is actually reminiscent of Jaws in a lot of ways. We have similar perspectives used.  Our interest as viewers is piqued by the mysterious reveal of the child killer by the end. We know this film is going to be about suburbia no longer being safe. We know it’s going to be about children and sexuality and monsters just outside your window. In keeping with Joseph Campbell’s writing on classic heroes’ journeys in The Hero with a Thousand Faces, an important boundary is crossed to get the plot moving. The door to the house, a sacred, safe space, is violated. From the opening moments of the film, we know that suburbia is no longer a refuge from the violent realities creeping up to our front steps. Something M. Night Shyamalan also explores years later in The Village. See the Wicked Horror review of the Halloween Complete Collection 10 Disc Edition 4. It Follows Man, if horror film openings need to pique the interest of the viewer, creating a mystery they just have to stick around to solve… It Follows is a master class in how to open a movie with this objective in mind.  Still suburban street — wait who’s this weirdo running around? Why is she dressed this way? Why is she taking this weird pattern in her flight? No one is chasing her… right?  It’s an opening unlike any I have ever seen. The type of protagonist we are going to meet is established, if not the exact young lady. The monster is hinted at, the tone of the film, the themes, the stakes… it’s all there. Right down to the sort of existential “Why bother” ending of the opening (That feels oxymoronoic to say). And I think in this modern era of horror film making a certain existential mystery is necessary to differentiate your movie from the rest of the pack. Think of Get Out, The Babadook, The VVitch, or Hereditary; all of these film frighten but also create a sense of existential dread in the viewer in how they ask us to search inward. It Follow works in this same mode. Seriously, try to imagine any other way to open this movie. It’s impossible. See the Wicked Horror review of It Follows 3. The Ring Come on. Do I even have to defend this one? Oh, what’s that? I do? I can’t just show you a picture and be like “I’m right, trust me!”? Apparently that is what a writer has to do: write. Well, you are being unreasonable, but I beg you to picture the sheer perfection of terror that is the opening of The Ring. I chose The Ring here over Ringu simply due to a slightly better “scary face” effect at the end of the opening.   We have an adorable back-and-forth with our viewpoint characters to start with. We very quickly know their archetype and feel protective of them. They are school-aged girls still dressed in their uniforms, innocent and full of life. Then, boy, does the mood change fast. Like that overture I mentioned earlier, we get the “themes” to come sampled fast and furious. (NOT Tokyo Drift). Static televisions, unexplained deaths, unstoppable, inevitable punishment.  Oh wait, is It Follows just The Ring, basically?  Makes sense why both films are so strong in their openings. Though, I do think they achieve that near perfect horror film opening in different ways: the former uses mystery and intrigue with the latter creating a connection and sympathy to character. Ultimately, I give the 3 spot to The Ring due to its more effective scare towards the end of the opening, as well as its superior work establishing likability and sympathy for the characters See the Wicked Horror review of The Ring Sequel, Rings 2. 28 Weeks Later I very nearly gave this one the top spot. Even though I think 28 Days Later is actually the superior movie, probably in my top 5 horror films of all time, 28 Weeks Later clearly beats it out as far as horror film openings go. This might actually be the only aspect of Weeks that tops Days — one could argue cast; Weeks boasts Poots, Renner, Carlyle, Byrne, and Idris friggin’ Elba. But out of that impressive cast, only Carlyle shows up in the opening. And what an opening it is. It really is the Carlyle show. The tense, opening minutes of the film tick off nearly every box on the “how to open a horror film” checklist. We establish character, stakes, setting, tone, and even get a good deal of status quo work done in just seconds. We know what these characters’ lives are like and understand what it means immediately when a new character shows up looking for succor.  We know the stakes when the child is let in, when Carlyle chooses to run instead of sacrificing himself for his wife. The score, the themes of survival vs. family, the atmosphere of dread and guilt hanging over all the survivors… its all there. All tragically, beautifully, realized in those final moments featuring Carlyle’s mad dash for his own life. Check out This Installment of Noteworthy Heroines of Horror featuring Selena from 28 Days Later 1. IT We all know what I’m talking about here. I’m specifically pointing to the IT 2017 remake. The pacing here is exquisite — with they storytelling even capitalizing on the foreknowledge expected from the viewer regarding this scene.  The opening can be broken up into 2 distinct parts. The first being the status quo section where we see the two brothers in their relatable, likable familiar environment. This film excels here over every other film on this list in creating a sense of dread for the viewer — knowing what is about to happen. These adorable boys, who love each other, who remind us of our own children or brothers or nephews… are going to be devastatingly harmed.  And beyond creating simply likable characters, this first among all horror film openings sets up children as protagonists, teasing themes of the horrors of a normal suburban adolescence. The terrifying unknowns lurking deep underneath your own home, where you should be safe. Then Georgie goes to sail his boat. He crosses moving water, slowly at first. We have a transition into the unknown from the known. He leaves the safe threshold of his home and passes into the street, and finally descends into the underworld of the sewers. The place alligators grow to be giants. Where our imagination can run wild.  The monster is revealed, but only in shadow, only in one form. We see the surreal aspects of his movements — his jaws and arms. His uncanny humor and terror — made doubly uncomfortable due to the uncanny nature of clowns themselves. I mean, is it really any wonder IT takes the top spot here? Would anyone fight me on this? Please do, because I am fascinated to learn what could supplant IT as the greatest horror movie opening of all time.  See the what Stephen King has to say about the IT remake

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Escape Room (2019) is Clever and Entertaining

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Wicked Horror is the author of Escape Room (2019) is Clever and Entertaining. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

Escape Room sees a group of strangers invited to attempt a state of the art escape room with a payout of $10,000 to the winner. What the group doesn’t know is that they aren’t only competing for a cash prize, they will also be fighting for their very survival as they navigate their way through a series of dangerous puzzle-filled rooms. Can they make it out alive or will each of them become a victim of one of the many lethal rooms?  First off, I’m glad to see that director Adam Robitel screenwriters Bragi F. Schut and Maria Melnik  went with the model of strangers meeting for the first time in an escape room. It clearly differentiates this picture from the awful 2017 film of the same name that saw a group of friends taking on an escape room and succumbing to a series of lame traps. (See my review of that massive disappointment here). The dynamic of a series of strangers having to come together to solve each room worked remarkably well and allowed for surprisingly good character development that we may not have otherwise seen.  Escape Room features a fun, interesting, dynamic cast of characters. Some of the typical stereotypes are present but each character is nonetheless interesting and their interactions are fun to watch. The notion that each of the characters is based on some kind of archetype is even playfully nodded to by the writers when one of the characters sums up each of his costars using a single sentence.  Expounding upon what I said above, Robitel and company did a great job of featuring a diverse cast, including not one but two primary black cast members. Moreover, the female characters frequently demonstrate themselves to be the strongest, smartest, and most capable in the film. In one scene, Zoe (Taylor Russell) even tells one of the men to stop telling her to calm down. In another, Iraq war vet Amanda (Deborah Ann Woll) selflessly puts her life on the line to save other members of the group without giving it a second thought. There’s a clear message of female empowerment written into the script. The women live and die on their own terms and it is often the females of the group that come to the rescue of their male counterparts. This is precisely what we need to see more filmmakers doing and my hat is off to the creative team behind the picture for straying from the typical White Bread, male dominated formula that has been used to develop feature films for so long. Although there is a certain adherence to archetypical characters, nearly every key player in the film is fleshed out via a compelling back story and the audience really comes to know and even [gasp] care about the escape room participants.  I was initially concerned by the film’s multiplex friendly PG-13 classification, but my worries were promptly assuaged. Although the death scenes aren’t overly gory, that doesn’t detract from the film as a whole. If anything, it adds to it. The flick is brimming with tension and excitement. And the characters are likable enough that I actually didn’t want to see them die. So, I was ultimately grateful that I didn’t have to see them meet with a graphic demise when their time came.   I am truly in awe of the film’s set design. The rooms are incredibly dynamic and well thought out. All aspects of the set decoration were incredible. I can’t imagine how many hours, days, and months of planning and building went into the setup of each room. The upside down room was a particularly impressive feat.   I don’t have a lot of complaints. My only real criticisms are that the limited CGI that was used is pretty poor. But fortunately, there’s not a whole lot of it. And of course, it goes without saying that the setup requires some pretty serious suspension of disbelief. But, as escapism entertainment, the film works quite nicely.  The ending hints at the possibility of a sequel, which is not out of the question with the film grossing over $150 Million worldwide (according to Box Office Mojo) on a budget of $9 Million. I would love to see a continuation that recaptured what made this film great: A great script, likable characters, and exceptional set design.  The special features on the home video release are highly satisfying. I was thrilled that there was an entire featurette digging into the film’s amazing set design. Additionally, there is an insightful featurette on the cast and the impressive backstory assigned to each of them. In said featurette, the cast members open up about bringing their characters to life and the process behind doing so. There are also a series of deleted scenes, including an alternate opening that gives away too many surprises that are revealed later on and was smartly replaced a flash forward sequence. In addition, there is an alternate ending that lacks the punch of the finale sequence that was actually included in the final version of the picture. Escape Room is now available on Blu-ray, DVD, and DigitalHD. I would highly recommend giving it a look.  WICKED RATING: 7.5/10 Director(s): Adam RobitelWriter(s): Bragi F. Schut and Maria MelnikStars: Taylor Russell, Deborah Ann Woll, Logan Miller, Tyler Labine, and Jay Ellis Release: April 23, 2019 (Home Video)Studio/ Production Co: Columbia Pictures Language: EnglishLength: 99-MinutesSub-Genre: Thriller

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Script to Pieces: The Big Screen Buffy Reboot

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Wicked Horror is the author of Script to Pieces: The Big Screen Buffy Reboot. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

Welcome to Script to Pieces, a recurring feature at Wicked Horror where we look at the best, most interesting and at times most unbelievable horror movies that never happened. Sometimes these will be productions that never came together at all, other times, they will be original incarnations that were completely different from what we wound up with. Each should be fascinating in its own way, because the stories of movies that never see the light of day can sometimes be even more interesting than the stories of those that do. Sometimes, as a fan, it’s hard to think that Buffy the Vampire Slayer went off the air in 2003. It’s been and has remained a part of so many people’s lives that it’s easy to forget that it’s been over fifteen years. There have been so many attempts over time to revisit the world of those characters, almost all of them with original creator Joss Whedon involved. After Buffy ended, gears were shifted toward the creation of an animated series. A pilot was made, but the show did not get picked up. For a while, it looked as though Giles would receive his own spinoff, Ripper, written and directed by Whedon himself. For a time, it seemed that that would happen before Buffy even ended, and there were several attempts made—most of them through the BBC—to make it a reality over the course of several years. A Faith TV series, Slayer School, a Spike TV movie, all these things came close to becoming a reality, but nothing ever quite made it. In the late 2000s, meanwhile, we started to see a lot of attempts to revive recognizable vampire brands thanks to the massive pop culture phenomenon that was Twilight. In 2011, we even got a Fright Night remake written by none other than Buffy’s Marti Noxon. It only made sense, then, that in 2009, the reboot was announced. Of course, Buffy the Vampire Slayer began life as a movie even though most people certainly remember the show. The movie was not a success at the time, though it did eventually become a cult favorite. Fran Rubel Kuzui and Kaz Kuzui, who produced the show with Fran directing the original film, partnered with Vertigo Entertainment’s Roy Lee and Doug Davidson to begin developing Buffy the Vampire Slayer as a new movie for the big screen. It would not, it seemed, take place in the same continuity as Whedon’s TV show, but the hope was for it to be an “event” with “franchise potential.” Also See: Ten Episodes of Buffy that Changed Television It’s surprisingly unclear exactly what the movie would have been, as there are a lot of conflicting reports. This was around the same time that The Amazing Spider-Man was in development. Vampire stories were definitely catering to a teenage crowd. So initial reports that the movie would not be set in high school were surprising. Especially considering the fact that, if they wanted to center on characters that were a little older, why not use the cast of the show? Then there were reports that the movie would center on a new slayer and not necessarily Buffy herself. That’s a good idea considering it would allow the film to be set in the universe of the TV show while also telling a completely new story. But it’s also confusing because the reboot was definitely going to be called Buffy the Vampire Slayer. That part, at least, was always very clear. Rumors began circulating that Vanessa Hudgens was being eyed to portray the new slayer. It seemed that the approach was for her to be a new, younger slayer and rumors even started that Sarah Michelle Gellar was being courted to return as an older Buffy guiding and training the new slayer. That, I think, would have made the reboot easier to swallow for most fans. It would have kept the original Buffy and just made the new film a story within that universe. It would also make sense to bring in Gellar’s Buffy for a passing of the torch. Those rumors did not seem to be unsubstantiated, but Hudgens apparently turned it down because she considered that with Twilight still a big success, the market was just oversaturated with vampire content. What really made people nervous, though, was the absence of creator Joss Whedon. So much of the show had been his own creative vision and since Buffy went off the air, not even a comic book had been made without his involvement, with Whedon himself even writing some of those comics while in the midst of directing his two Avengers movies. The cast of the show all proved to be vocally against the notion of doing Buffy without Whedon’s involvement. Gellar called the attempt without him “the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard.” Alyson Hannigan said “If Joss isn’t involved, it’s only the title.” And others such as David Boreanaz, Anthony Stewart Head and Seth Green echoed those statements. Whedon himself was refreshingly coy about it, even though he could not have been happy. When actually asked for a comment, he responded: “This is a sad, sad reflection on our times, when people must feed off the carcasses of beloved stories from their youths—just because they can’t think of an original idea of their own, like I did with my Avengers idea that I made up myself.” The original Buffy, Kristy Swanson, was vocally in support of the reboot which she hoped would be more in line with the original film than the television show, and said that it would be “fantastic” if she could be a part of the film. In 2010, Warner Bros. joined with Vertigo Entertainment and the Kuzuis to produce the new movie. Whit Anderson was hired to write the script. At the time, she was a surprising choice because she didn’t have a lot of work under her belt and was primarily known as an actress with small roles in Yes Man and as Jill in the short animated comic Saw Rebirth. Since being hired to write the script for the Buffy reboot, however, Anderson has garnered some major writing credits, on shows such as Allegiance, Ozark and Daredevil. That last one is especially worth noting as it is a show spearheaded by Buffy writers, including Drew Goddard, Doug Petrie and Steven S. DeKnight. Then, in 2011, things started to slow. The L.A. Times reported that development of the reboot had halted as the producers were not happy with the script Whit Anderson had written. She was then taken off the project, which was put on indefinite hiatus. That was the last we ever heard about that incarnation of the series. In 2018, a new Buffy reboot was announced for television. It made a lot of people mad until the new showrunner, Monica Owusu-Breen, confirmed that it would be set within the same universe and focus on a new slayer, serving as an extension of the original series and its world more than anything else. She also revealed that her new take on the material had Joss Whedon’s full support and that he was guiding her when needed. The creator, by all accounts, seemed to agree that it was a perfect time for a new voice to take a fresh approach to the material.

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