News
The Scarlet Gospels is the horror novel of 2015!
Barker has his own distinct vision of the architecture and hierarchy of the underworld, and he brings it to life in painstaking detail with this new novel. Right from the first pages, we are witness to the return of the beloved Priest of Hell, disrespectfully known as “Pinhead” but never to his face, and his epic crusade to essentially take over Hell. It is an interesting new way to look at an established character, especially one who we have seen mainly in short scenes in the films, his new ambition all consuming.
In fact, the most fascinating thing we get from this novel is the extended view of who this Lead Cenobite really is, as compared to who he would like to be, and who the audience perceives him as. Despite all of the intimidating and serene speeches of suffering we have seen over the years, we learn that Pinhead is in fact very low on the totem pole of Hell. All of his interdimensional meddling over the years has essentially been keeping this priest in his place as a glorified dog catcher, collecting up strays and mutts who chance upon the unassuming portal in the shape of a puzzle box.
The Scarlet Gospels documents his time and rise to power as he assuredly slaughters and slays through the ranks of the Underworld. Of course that means we are introduced to many characters, including armies of angry demons and wise old alchemists, all the way up to the Lord of Hell himself, Lucifer. But the Lord of Hell is not alone in showing us these sights. Tying together some of his other literary work, Barker crosses the paths of his iconic Cenobite with the fascinating character of Harry D’Amour and his friends. D’Amour is a character that originated in the short story The Last Illusion (brought to the screen by Scott Bakula in the film Lord Of Illusions) and made an appearance in Barker’s giant fantasy epic Everville. His vast knowledge of supernatural events and somewhat unlucky knack of being in the wrong place at the wrong time put D’Amour and his friends directly in the path of Pinhead’s crusade. The story of D’Amour and his friend’s involvement is a fascinating one early on in the novel, and their involvement is central to the world Barker is building. They are especially good comic relief and add a heart and a more human point of view to the spectacle.
And what a spectacle it is! An epic war in Hell, instigated and carried out by the priest who has had enough of his miniscule position and has ambitions bigger than any mortal or demon. The final third of the book is an action-filled war of epic proportions deep in the bowels of Hell, putting Pinhead in a position we fans had never imagined. The warrior of Hell has come to take over, and he has all manner of magic and torture at his disposal, and will stop at nothing to achieve his lofty goals. It is immensely satisfying reading, written in an excitable style by one of the great imaginers of our generation. It isn’t often that a complete re-invention of a decades- old character is successful, but this one hits all of the right notes. This novel is what King was talking about back in the 80s when he had seen the “future of horror”. The future is now. Clive Barker is back and Pinhead has come to take over.
The Scarlet Gospels is the horror novel of 2015!
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News
‘Blink Twice’ Trailer Presents a Thrilling Mystery in Paradise
A new trailer for the movie formerly known as Pussy Island just dropped and it has us intrigued. Now with the more restrained title, Blink Twice, this Zoë Kravitz-directed black comedy is set to land in theaters on August 23.
The film is packed with stars including Channing Tatum, Naomi Ackie, Alia Shawkat, Simon Rex, Adria Arjona, Haley Joel Osment, Christian Slater, Kyle MacLachlan, and Geena Davis.
The trailer feels like a Benoit Blanc mystery; people are invited to a secluded location and disappear one by one, leaving one guest to figure out what is going on.
In the film, a billionaire named Slater King (Channing Tatum) invites a waitress named Frida (Naomi Ackie) to his private island, “It’s paradise. Wild nights blend into sun-soaked days and everyone’s having a great time. No one wants this trip to end, but as strange things start to happen, Frida begins to question her reality. There is something wrong with this place. She’ll have to uncover the truth if she wants to make it out of this party alive.”
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Movies
Melissa Barrera Says ‘Scary Movie VI’ Would Be “Fun To Do”
Melissa Barrera might literally get the last laugh on Spyglass thanks to a possible Scary Movie sequel. Paramount and Miramax are seeing the right opportunity to bring the satirical franchise back into the fold and announced last week one might be in production as early as this fall.
The last chapter of the Scary Movie franchise was almost a decade ago and since the series lampoons thematic horror movies and pop culture trends, it would seem they have a lot of content to draw ideas from, including the recent reboot of slasher series Scream.
Barerra, who starred as final girl Samantha in those movies was abruptly fired from the latest chapter, Scream VII, for expressing what Spyglass interpreted as “antisemitism,” after the actress came out in support of Palestine on social media.
Even though the drama wasn’t a laughing matter, Barrera might get her chance to parody Sam in Scary Movie VI. That is if the opportunity arises. In an interview with Inverse, the 33-year-old actress was asked about Scary Movie VI, and her reply was intriguing.
“I always loved those movies,” the actress told Inverse. “When I saw it announced, I was like, ‘Oh, that would be fun. That would be so fun to do.’”
That “fun to do” part could be construed as a passive pitch to Paramount, but that’s open to interpretation.
Just like in her franchise, Scary Movie also has a legacy cast including Anna Faris and Regina Hall. There is no word yet on if either of those actors will appear in the reboot. With or without them, Barrera is still a fan of the comedies. “They have the iconic cast that did it, so we’ll see what goes on with that. I’m just excited to see a new one,” she told the publication.
Barrera is currently celebrating the box office success of her latest horror movie Abigail.
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Lists
Thrills and Chills: Ranking ‘Radio Silence’ Films from Bloody Brilliant to Just Bloody
Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, and Chad Villella are all filmmakers under the collective label called Radio Silence. Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett are the primary directors under that moniker while Villella produces.
They have gained popularity over the past 13 years and their films have become known as having a certain Radio Silence “signature.” They are bloody, usually contain monsters, and have breakneck action sequences. Their recent film Abigail exemplifies that signature and is perhaps their best film yet. They are currently working on a reboot of John Carpenter’s Escape From New York.
We thought we would go through the list of projects they have directed and rank them from high to low. None of the movies and shorts on this list are bad, they all have their merits. These rankings from top to bottom are just ones we felt showcased their talents the best.
We didn’t include movies they produced but didn’t direct.
#1. Abigail
An update to the second film on this list, Abagail is the natural progression of Radio Silence’s love of lockdown horror. It follows in pretty much the same footsteps of Ready or Not, but manages to go one better — make it about vampires.
#2. Ready or Not
This film put Radio Silence on the map. While not as successful at the box office as some of their other films, Ready or Not proved that the team could step outside their limited anthology space and create a fun, thrilling, and bloody adventure-length film.
#3. Scream (2022)
While Scream will always be a polarizing franchise, this prequel, sequel, reboot — however you want to label it showed just how much Radio Silence knew the source material. It wasn’t lazy or cash-grabby, just a good time with legendary characters we love and new ones who grew on us.
#4 Southbound (The Way Out)
Radio Silence tosses their found footage modus operandi for this anthology film. Responsible for the bookend stories, they create a terrifying world in their segment titled The Way Out, which involves strange floating beings and some sort of time loop. It’s kind of the first time we see their work without a shaky cam. If we were to rank this entire film, it would remain at this position on the list.
#5. V/H/S (10/31/98)
The film that started it all for Radio Silence. Or should we say the segment that started it all. Even though this isn’t feature-length what they managed to do with the time they had was very good. Their chapter was titled 10/31/98, a found-footage short involving a group of friends who crash what they think is a staged exorcism only to learn not to assume things on Halloween night.
#6. Scream VI
Cranking up the action, moving to the big city and letting Ghostface use a shotgun, Scream VI turned the franchise on its head. Like their first one, this film played with canon and managed to win over a lot of fans in its direction, but alienated others for coloring too far outside the lines of Wes Craven’s beloved series. If any sequel was showing how the trope was going stale it was Scream VI, but it managed to squeeze some fresh blood out of this nearly three-decade mainstay.
#7. Devil’s Due
Fairly underrated, this, Radio Silence’s first feature-length film, is a sampler of things they took from V/H/S. It was filmed in an omnipresent found footage style, showcasing a form of possession, and features clueless men. Since this was their first bonafide major studio job it’s a wonderful touchstone to see how far they have come with their storytelling.
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