Connect with us

News

‘Outcast’ Season Two: ‘Ramped-up FX’ says Conor McCullagh

Published

on

Detached arms, severed torsos and bloody teeth. No this isn’t a crime scene, it’s Conor McCullagh’s work desk in which he creates practical special effects for some of the movie industry’s biggest directors, producers and studios.

Conor tells us a little bit about his current projects which include the next season of critically acclaimed Cinemax exclusive “Outcast” and work-in-progress indie “Faceless.”

That’s the thing about Conor though, he will take on any project whether it be independent film or a big blockbuster movie such as “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.”

His company, “Nightmares Etc,” dissolved in 2013, worked on some of the most iconic horror movie villains in history, from Chucky to Freddy and beyond.

He helped bring “The Hunger Games” franchise to life; his work on “Mockingjay Part 1” garnered him an award.

Conor is always busy. And that’s good for us.

FX master Conor McCullagh talks season

Cinemax

The artist’s latest venture, as mentioned before, is the graphic-novel-turned horror series “Outcast,” a project from the creators of “The Walking Dead.”

With one season in the can, fans have been wondering when it’s sophomore year will premiere. Cinemax of course, is not spouting out any details of season two, but Conor talked to us about some of the things devotees can expect.

“Outcast” follows the chronically possessed Kyle Barnes (Patrick Fugit) and his attempts to exorcise the demons which haunt the residents of his hometown Rome, West Virginia.

“Right now, the producers aren’t giving anything away,” he told iHorror. “So it would be unwise for me to get into how the story is evolving, but we do learn a lot more about what’s happening in the town of Rome, and how Kyle Barnes is connected to it.”

As most possession storylines go, there’s plenty of room for Conor to do his magic and season one is filled with his oleaginous handiwork, but we wanted to know about season two, he says get ready for even more repulsion.

“The production has definitely ramped up on the FX,” said Conor, “This season, we brought in Justin Raleigh’s company, Fractured FX, to help with the workload. On season one, I was kind of a one-man department, bringing additional help on a few episodes as needed.”

The Fractured FX team have worked on some of the most critically acclaimed horror movies in recent history: Insidious, The Conjuring, Dark Skies and recently the undervalued Incarnate.

Season two of Outcast, Conor says won’t be for the faint of heart.

“The producers wanted dead bodies, surgery torsos, and a little more graphic makeup effects all the way around,” he explained to us. “Fractured FX is located in LA and was able to do life casts of actors before they flew out to shoot, as well as take on the bigger gags that I would never be able to wrangle on a television schedule.”

In true Hollywood fashion mums the word for big name projects being produced for the large or small screen. His next job is one such production. He didn’t spill the beans, but he did give us a hint.

“Sadly, I cannot go into details about my next project, other than to say I’ll be working for an amazing artist and friend, Mike Marino,” Conor revealed. “His company (Prosthetic Renaissance) has gained a lot of press for the amazing makeups he designs for Heidi Klum, each Halloween. Obviously, I’m very excited!”

The award-winning artist worked on the delayed-release movie “Faceless,” as the key prosthetics sculpturer, but he can’t tell us why that movie hasn’t seen the light of day.

“Hmmm, what can I say about Faceless?” Conor said. “Well it was a smaller indie film that my close friend Megan Areford was department head of. I was brought into design and create a multitude of prosthetics needed for the show. The story is centered around facial transplant surgery, so there were a lot of different looks. At this point, I have no idea what happened to the film. We shot that almost two years ago.”

Cinemax has not given an official announcement about the premiere of “Outcast” season two, only to say that it is “coming soon.” Some have speculated that they want to wait until the end “The Walking Dead” season seven.

Even though Conor can’t give anything away about the plot line, it’s the perfect time to binge on all 10 episodes of “Outcast’s” first season streaming on Amazon and Cinemax’s on-demand app Max Go.

Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

Movies

Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

Published

on

Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

Continue Reading

Movies

Part Concert, Part Horror Movie M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Trailer Released

Published

on

In true Shyamalan form, he sets his film Trap inside a social situation where we aren’t sure what is going on. Hopefully, there is a twist at the end. Furthermore, we hope it’s better than the one in his divisive 2021 movie Old.

The trailer seemingly gives away a lot, but, as in the past, you can’t rely on his trailers because they are often red herrings and you are being gaslit to think a certain way. For instance, his movie Knock at the Cabin was completely different than what the trailer implied and if you hadn’t read the book on which the film is based it was still like going in blind.

The plot for Trap is being dubbed an “experience” and we aren’t quite sure what that means. If we were to guess based on the trailer, it’s a concert movie wrapped around a horror mystery. There are original songs performed by Saleka, who plays Lady Raven, a kind of Taylor Swift/Lady Gaga hybrid. They have even set up a Lady Raven website to further the illusion.

Here is the fresh trailer:

According to the synopsis, a father takes his daughter to one of Lady Raven’s jam-packed concerts, “where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.

Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

Continue Reading

News

Woman Brings Corpse Into Bank To Sign Loan Papers

Published

on

Warning: This is a disturbing story.

You have to be pretty desperate for money to do what this Brazilian woman did at the bank to get a loan. She wheeled in a fresh corpse to endorse the contract and she seemingly thought the bank employees wouldn’t notice. They did.

This weird and disturbing story comes via ScreenGeek an entertainment digital publication. They write that a woman identified as Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes pushed a man she identified as her uncle into the bank pleading with him to sign loan papers for $3,400. 

If you’re squeamish or easily triggered, be aware that the video captured of the situation is disturbing. 

Latin America’s largest commercial network, TV Globo, reported on the crime, and according to ScreenGeek this is what Nunes says in Portuguese during the attempted transaction. 

“Uncle, are you paying attention? You must sign [the loan contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, as I cannot sign on your behalf!”

She then adds: “Sign so you can spare me further headaches; I can’t bear it any longer.” 

At first we thought this might be a hoax, but according to Brazilian police, the uncle, 68-year-old Paulo Roberto Braga had passed away earlier that day.

 “She attempted to feign his signature for the loan. He entered the bank already deceased,” Police Chief Fábio Luiz said in an interview with TV Globo. “Our priority is to continue investigating to identify other family members and gather more information regarding this loan.”

If convicted Nunes could be facing jail time on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and desecration of a corpse.

Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

Continue Reading