News
[REVIEW] Debut Episode of Shudder’s ‘Creepshow’ is Nostalgic Fun
We’re only nine days out from the debut of Shudder’s new series, Creepshow, and if the debut episode is any indication, we’re in for a real treat.
Based on the concept from 1982’s Creepshow written by Stephen King and directed by George A. Romero, each episode features two creepy stories filled with comic panels, frenetic scene changes, and of course, the ever presenter Creeper.
The first episode fittingly begins with an adaptation of King’s “Gray Matter,” the story of a man whose drinking habit, exacerbated by his wife’s death, leads to an insatiable hunger for more.
The segment stars genre icon Adrienne Barbeau, who appeared as the obnoxious alcoholic Billie in the first Creepshow film, as well as Tobin Bell (Saw) and Giancarlo Esposito (Better Call Saul). All three stars seem to be having the time of their lives as they navigate the story’s increasingly strange landscape.
Barbeau, in particular, stands out. Let’s face it, part of any horror story is embracing the weird and sometimes absurd, and the woman who once found herself fed to a monster in a crate does so with style and a feverish sense of urgency that really sells the story she’s telling.
Director Greg Nicotero (The Walking Dead), meanwhile, pulled out all the stops for “Gray Matter,” filling the story with a ton of Easter eggs for fans of Stephen King and the original Creepshow while driving home the creepy/fun combination that makes this feel like a deleted segment of the original film.
What is most surprising, however, is that “Gray Matter” ultimately feels like a savory appetizer setting the audience up for the main course in the second segment of the episode titled “The House of the Head.”
Written by Josh Malerman (Bird Box) and directed by John Harrison (Tales from the Darkside: The Movie), the story concerns a young girl named Evie (Cailey Fleming) who is given an elaborate, beautiful dollhouse by her parents. She spends her time playing with the family who lives in her own little imaginary world until one day when a tiny severed head appears from nowhere and life inside the dollhouse takes a decidedly dark turn.
Malerman crafts an intense and satisfying story in the most unlikely of spaces, creating real terror from inanimate objects.
Fleming (The Walking Dead) proves she can carry a story all by herself. Her performance is beautifully measured throughout as she scrambles to thwart an inexplicable evil while keeping her parents, played by Rachel Hendrix and David Shae, completely in the dark.
Harrison, again, taps into the nostalgia of Creepshow to create visuals that are stunning and ever so slightly tongue-in-cheek to entertain while creating a real sense of dread.
Creepshow is set to debut on September 26, 2019 at 9 pm EST on Shudder and On Demand, and after seeing this initial episode, I personally cannot wait to see what the rest of the series has in store.
'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?
Follow our new YouTube channel "Mysteries and Movies" here.
Movies
‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments
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.
“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:
'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?
Follow our new YouTube channel "Mysteries and Movies" here.
Movies
‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening
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.
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.
'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?
Follow our new YouTube channel "Mysteries and Movies" here.
News
Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date
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.
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.
'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?
Follow our new YouTube channel "Mysteries and Movies" here.
-
News7 days ago
Brad Dourif Says He’s Retiring Except For One Important Role
-
News5 days ago
Original Blair Witch Cast Ask Lionsgate for Retroactive Residuals in Light of New Film
-
Movies6 days ago
Spider-Man With a Cronenberg Twist in This Fan-Made Short
-
News3 days ago
Perhaps the Scariest, Most Disturbing Series of The Year
-
Movies4 days ago
New F-Bomb Laden ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Trailer: Bloody Buddy Movie
-
News4 days ago
Russell Crowe To Star in Another Exorcism Movie & It’s Not a Sequel
-
Movies4 days ago
‘Founders Day’ Finally Getting a Digital Release
-
Lists3 days ago
Thrills and Chills: Ranking ‘Radio Silence’ Films from Bloody Brilliant to Just Bloody
You must be logged in to post a comment Login