News
Late to the Party – Wishmaster
When I picked Wishmaster for this entry in Late to the Party, I had no idea I was missing a film with so many horror powerhouses. Actors include Angus Scrimm (Phantasm, John Dies at the End), Kane Hodder (Friday the 13th Part 7, Hatchet), Robert Englund (A Nightmare on Elm Street), Tony Todd (Night of the Living Dead, Candyman) and the movie starts with the death of Ted Raimi (Evil Dead, Spider-Man).
In ancient times, an evil Djinn was running rampant, until a sorcerer sealed the creature in a jewel. Fast forward to current times, a crane operator that is drinking on the job drops a crate from a ship, smashing the statue and revealing the jewel. Another worker steals it and sells it to a pawn shop, who then takes it to an auction house where it ends up in the hands of Alexandra Amberson.
Alexandra accidentally triggers the release of the Djinn while examining the jewel, before passing it off to a friend. From there, the Djinn begins his rampage, granting wishes to people in exchange for their souls, which he needs to charge the jewel and turn it into a doorway for the rest of his race to invade Earth.
Meanwhile, he also searches for Alexandra. Because she awakened him, she gets three wishes, but on the completion of her third wish, the door between worlds will open.
As one might expect of an evil genie, the wishes he grants are twisted versions of the people’s desires. For example, a man who wishes to not see what the Djinn is doing has his eyes sealed. Others that wish to be freed from their pain and fear are just killed.
The Djinn hunts Alexandra down, and forces her to make her wishes, but at the last moment she figures out a wish to rewind time so that she would never have freed him to begin with.
The story isn’t the most original. I remember reading about a similar tale as a fable as a kid, and the idea of a genie that grants wishes that are twisted into things people didn’t mean has been made into single episodes of shows such as Supernatural and The X-Files.
Still, Wishmaster is a fun movie to watch, just to see the twisted wishes and the onslaught of horror stars. Definitely worthwhile if you haven’t seen it and can catch it on Hulu or Netflix. Certainly required viewing for any real fan of the genre.
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Movies
Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month
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.
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.
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Movies
Part Concert, Part Horror Movie M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Trailer Released
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.
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News
Woman Brings Corpse Into Bank To Sign Loan Papers
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.
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