News

Re-Visiting ‘Lovecraft Country’ and Its Special Features on Blu-Ray

Published

3 years ago

February 23, 2021

I love a good ritual. A good Sunday night series can make a huge difference to your week. The fun of having that ritual where you get snacks, cozy up and take part in a truly great weekly experience, is one of the little things that makes life great sometimes and maybe even comes with a little dark magic. Lovecraft Country was exactly that sort of series. The Blu-ray is out now from HBO and it’s been a very special revisit with some cool special features to boot.

Lovecraft Country’s synopsis broke down like this:

“Lovecraft Country” is based on the 2016 novel by Matt Ruff, and follows Atticus Freeman (Jonathan Majors) as he joins up with his friend Letitia (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) and his Uncle George (Courtney B. Vance) to embark on a road trip across 1950s Jim Crow America in search of his missing father (Michael Kenneth Williams). This begins a struggle to survive and overcome both the racist terrors of white America and the terrifying monsters that could be ripped from an H.P. Lovecraft paperback.

Watching Lovecraft Country during the protests we had in our country due to the atrocity that was George Floyd’s murder by police. This show running parallel to those events were surreal.

Everyone is familiar with the fact that HP Lovecraft was a racist and bigot. It was obviously a very different time, but that is barely an excuse at all. The fact is Lovecraft was a fantastic writer of the macabre but he was not a good person when it came to real life. The series picks up on that and doesn’t go easy on him for it. The villains in the series are all obsessed with forms of purity in race and in magic. All of that while the characters are facing the very real terrors of the civil rights movement.

Our team of good guys are out to undo everything that is control and segregation. Atticus, Leti, Hippolyta and George are huge heroes and have a natural way of bringing that magic into the world of magic and spells but organically. It’s a fantastic show because of the talent involved and the natural way it does manage to combine the dramatic with the horrific. A lot of times the monsters that Lovecraft dreamed up aren’t as terrifying as the racist cops assaulting a young black girl in an alley. And that is a line that the brilliant creator Misha Green executes beautifully.

In one of Lovecraft Country’s best episodes, Holy Ghost Leti moves into a house in a white neighborhood that is haunted by its fair share of terrors. While Leti is dealing with the racists assholes trying to push her out of their neighborhood, she is also unwittingly dealing with the ghosts of several black people who were made to take part in horrific medical experiments. The house is haunted and things definitely go bump in the night and Green delivers the big scares by way of practical fx that mirrored medical experiments that were executed on those poor unwilling patients. Baby arms attached to grown men, jaw bones removed from still living souls. A lot of terrible experiments that are all revealed in the episodes finale. All of the tortured ghosts come out and show themselves to their soon to be victim and watching a racist get his via furious old souls is so damn satisfying.

That’s what the series does perfectly. Tons of real life events and locations that are constantly being thrown in along with the horror movie content. Now, that is a pretty spoiler free setup. I suppose if you haven’t read the book or watched the series you want everything to remain as spoil free as possible. But, I will say, its wildly imaginative, and provocative and plays on H.P. Lovecraft’s works by deconstructing them with no reverence what so ever toward a know racist.

There are plenty of great special features here too. Each digs into the real bits of horror as well as the stuff that the show touches on that HP Lovecraft’s works brought to the show.

The disc includes an exploration of the series that include items like:

Compendium of Horrors (NEW)
Orithyia Blue and the Imagination of Diana Freeman (NEW)
Crafting “Lovecraft Country”
Exploring “Lovecraft Country”
“Lovecraft Country”: The Craft

Lovecraft Country hits shelves on February, 2021. Go ahead and head over here to order your copy.

Army of the Dead gets its first teaser trailer. Check it out here.

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

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Related Topics:H.P. Lovecraft HBO lovecraft country Misha Green

Movies

Trailer for ‘The Exorcism’ Has Russell Crowe Possessed

Published

10 hours ago

April 25, 2024

Timothy Rawles

The latest exorcism movie is about to drop this summer. It’s aptly titled The Exorcism and it stars Academy Award winner turned B-movie savant Russell Crowe. The trailer dropped today and by the looks of it, we are getting a possession movie that takes place on a movie set.

Just like this year’s recent demon-in-media-space film Late Night With the Devil, The Exorcism happens during a production. Although the former takes place on a live network talk show, the latter is on an active sound stage. Hopefully, it won’t be entirely serious and we’ll get some meta chuckles out of it.

The film will open in theaters on June 7, but since Shudder also acquired it, it probably won’t be long after that until it finds a home on the streaming service.

Crowe plays, “Anthony Miller, a troubled actor who begins to unravel while shooting a supernatural horror film. His estranged daughter, Lee (Ryan Simpkins), wonders if he’s slipping back into his past addictions or if there’s something more sinister at play. The film also stars Sam Worthington, Chloe Bailey, Adam Goldberg and David Hyde Pierce.”

Crowe did see some success in last year’s The Pope’s Exorcist mostly because his character was so over-the-top and infused with such comical hubris it bordered on parody. We will see if that is the route actor-turned-director Joshua John Miller takes with The Exorcism.

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

News

Win a Stay at The Lizzie Borden House From Spirit Halloween

Published

12 hours ago

April 25, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Spirit Halloween has declared that this week marks the start of spooky season and to celebrate they are offering fans a chance to stay at the Lizzie Borden House with so many perks Lizzie herself would approve.

The Lizzie Borden House in Fall River, MA is claimed to be one of the most haunted houses in America. Of course one lucky winner and up to 12 of their friends will find out if the rumors are true if they win the grand prize: A private stay in the notorious house.

“We are delighted to work with Spirit Halloween to roll out the red carpet and offer the public a chance to win a one-of-a-kind experience at the infamous Lizzie Borden House, which also includes additional haunted experiences and merchandise,” said Lance Zaal, President & Founder of US Ghost Adventures.

Fans can enter to win by following Spirit Halloween‘s Instagram and leaving a comment on the contest post from now through April 28.

The prize also includes:

An exclusive guided house tour, including insider insight around the murder, the trial, and commonly reported hauntings

A late-night ghost tour, complete with professional ghost-hunting gear

A private breakfast in the Borden family dining room

A ghost hunting starter kit with two pieces of Ghost Daddy Ghost Hunting Gear and a lesson for two at US Ghost Adventures Ghost Hunting Course

The ultimate Lizzie Borden gift package, featuring an official hatchet, the Lizzie Borden board game, Lily the Haunted Doll, and America’s Most Haunted Volume II

Winner’s choice of a Ghost Tour experience in Salem or a True Crime experience in Boston for two

“Our Halfway to Halloween celebration provides fans an exhilarating taste of what’s to come this fall and empowers them to start planning for their favorite season as early as they please,” said Steven Silverstein, CEO of Spirit Halloween. “We have cultivated an incredible following of enthusiasts who embody the Halloween lifestyle, and we’re thrilled to bring the fun back to life.”

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Spirit Halloween is also preparing for their retail haunted houses. On Thursday, August 1 their flagship store in Egg Harbor Township, NJ. will officially open to start off the season. That event usually draws in hordes of people eager to see what new merch, animatronics, and exclusive IP goods will be trending this year.

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

Movies

’28 Years Later’ Trilogy Taking Shape With Serious Star Power

Published

14 hours ago

April 25, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Danny Boyle is revisiting his 28 Days Later universe with three new films. He will direct the first, 28 Years Later, with two more to follow. Deadline is reporting that sources say Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Ralph Fiennes have been cast for the first entry, a sequel to the original. Details are being kept under wraps so we don’t know how or if the first original sequel 28 Weeks Later fits into the project.

**Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ralph Fiennes**

Boyle will direct the first movie but it’s unclear which role he will take on in the subsequent films. What is known is Candyman (2021) director Nia DaCosta is scheduled to direct the second film in this trilogy and that the third will be filmed immediately afterward. Whether DaCosta will direct both is still unclear.

Alex Garland is writing the scripts. Garland is having a successful time at the box office right now. He wrote and directed the current action/thriller Civil War which was just knocked out of the theatrical top spot by Radio Silence’s Abigail.

There is no word yet on when, or where, 28 Years Later will start production.