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[REVIEW] ‘All The Creatures Were Stirring’ Brings Out The Eerie Holiday Spirit.

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The holiday season is upon us. A time for Christmas lights, decorations, gifts, evergreens in our homes. Colder nights, festive parties, it’s the most wonderful time of the year, or is it? On the outside the holiday season appears to be wonderful, however, behind this façade lurks loneliness, darkness, and evil. People tend to go a little bonkers this time of year with their lives filled with dread, watching everyone around them making connections with those they love, can draw a person into profound emotional isolation, causing madness! All The Creatures Were Stirring sets us up with two people not wanting to be alone going on an awkward Christmas Eve date to the theatre. With the Holiday Spirit very much present, this tiny production that the friends endure escorts them through a variety of short stories that make up this holiday horror anthology film.

This new Holiday anthology consists of five chilling unique tales, (1) The Stockings Were Hung, (2) Dash Away All, (3) All Through The House, (4) Arose Such A Clatter, & (5) In A Twinkling. Typically I have a difficult time choosing my favorites out of an anthology, but to my surprise, my favorites of the five were The Stockings Were Hung and Dash Away All. 

The Stockings Were Hung opens at an office Christmas Party, a really dull office Christmas Party, you would probably need to be drunk before attending to get through it, however, the lameness of this party quickly dissipates when the lives of each employee are threatened by a madman who has delivered, rigged presents. I found this segment to be frightening as workplace violence is now an issue that our local news reports quite frequently, and the episode starts off with a bang, literally! This was a fantastic opener to the film and will not disappoint, in the tradition of Saw, you will enjoy The Stockings Were Hung.

My next favorite Dash Away All introduces a man who is just trying to get home for Christmas Eve, but last minute shopping has made him very late. Eric is one of the last shoppers to vacate to the chilling, snow-covered parking lot and during is mad rush to load up the car he accidentally locks himself out. The parking lot is deserted except a van, that Eric approaches occupied by two women who offer him help, or so he thinks. This tale is fueled by the building of tension and proves to be the most unique and satisfying of all the tales for myself. With solid practical effects, Dash Away All delivers insightful thrilling holiday horror.

Overall All The Creatures Were Stirring has proven to be another Christmas holiday horror film worthy enough of a top ten list! Husband and wife duo Rebekah & David McKendry who served as writers and directors of the film, executed a well balanced low budget horror film with nicely done visual aspects and use of practical effects. My Christmas wish is for this team to deliver us similar films, or better yet, a sequel. This film will for sure bring Yuletide Joy to horror fans around the globe, be sure to add it to your list.

In addition to the film now available on DVD, On Demand and Digital Video, the film will also be premiering on Shudder on December 13th.

The official synopsis for All the Creatures Were Stirring:

When an awkward date on Christmas Eve leads a couple into a strange theater, they’re treated to a bizarre and frightening collection of Christmas stories, featuring a wide ensemble of characters doing their best to avoid the horrors of the holidays. From boring office parties and last-minute shopping to vengeful stalkers and immortal demons, there’s plenty out there to fear this holiday season.

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‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments

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It was a risk for Fede Alvarez to reboot Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead in 2013, but that risk paid off and so did its spiritual sequel Evil Dead Rise in 2023. Now Deadline is reporting that the series is getting, not one, but two fresh entries.

We already knew about the Sébastien Vaniček upcoming film that delves into the Deadite universe and should be a proper sequel to the latest film, but we are broadsided that Francis Galluppi and Ghost House Pictures are doing a one-off project set in Raimi’s universe based off of an idea that Galluppi pitched to Raimi himself. That concept is being kept under wraps.

Evil Dead Rise

“Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence,” Raimi told Deadline. “He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.”

That feature is titled The Last Stop In Yuma County which will release theatrically in the United States on May 4. It follows a traveling salesman, “stranded at a rural Arizona rest stop,” and “is thrust into a dire hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty-or cold, hard steel-to protect their bloodstained fortune.”

Galluppi is an award-winning sci-fi/horror shorts director whose acclaimed works include High Desert Hell and The Gemini Project. You can view the full edit of High Desert Hell and the teaser for Gemini below:

High Desert Hell
The Gemini Project

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‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening

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Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.

Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.

Happy Sad Confused

Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.

Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.

Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.

The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.

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Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date

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Jake gyllenhaal presumed innocent

Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s in ‘Presumed Innocent’

Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.

These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:

According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”

Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.

Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.

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