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Spooky Empire Retro: A Retrospective

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This past spring Spooky Empire was filled with retro horror celebrity guests with many returning favorites, as well as some new ones!  Topping off the guest list was Clockwork Orange star Malcolm McDowell, Strangeland’s Dee Snider, Addam’s Family Values actress Joan Cusack, Hatchet trilogy star Kane Hodder, and and Rob Zombie’s Michael Myers Tyler Mane.

Despite the change in venue, moving from its usual autumn location at the Orange Convention Center to the beautiful and accommodating Wyndham Orlando Resort on International Drive, fans came out in droves to worship their favorite horror idols.  Many of them cosplayed as their favorite characters from the genre.  In addition to zombies, vampires, and ghouls there was an overwhelming amount of Disney characters zombified, as well as Disney villains represented in their true form.  Yet what else would you expect from a horror convention located just miles from the happiest place on earth?

 

The first panel to kick off the Saturday of Spooky Empire was by legendary Kane Hodder, star of Friday the 13th 7, 8, 9, and Jason X.  He officially announced the release date for the long awaited Friday the 13th video game by Gun Media on May 26, which happens to coincide with his oldest son’s birthday.  In the game you can choose to play either a camp counsellor trying to evade the infamous killer, or Jason himself.  Hodder, who is not one to be phased by violence and gore, was impressed by the level of brutality this game pushed on its viewers.

As the day continued each panel was packed with eager fans awaiting to hear from their heroes.  Perhaps the most anticipated panel of the day was by former front man of Twisted Sister, Dee Snider.  Always the entertainer, Dee captivated the crowd with stories from his career, which he joked relied heavily upon reality television as of lately.

As eager as the crowd may have been to hear news regarding the long awaited Strangeland 2, now nearly twenty years in the making, the rock star remained tight lipped.  His only comment was it finally felt like the right time for Captain Howdy’s return.

Another fun panel was the cast reunion of Rob Zombie’s Halloween.  Cast members Tyler Mane, Scout Taylor Compton, Kristina Kelebe, Daeg Faerch, and Hanna Hall were all in attendance.  Even though fan favorite Malcolm McDowell, aka Rob Zombie’s Dr. Loomis (originally made famous by the great and late Donald Pleasance,) was in attendance at the convention, he was not a member of the panel for unknown reasons.

The cast reminisced about their days of filming the cult classic, not knowing how its success would fare when compared to John Carpenter’s original.  Mane and Compton exchanged on set accidents that could have gone horribly wrong and ended production on day 1!  Be sure to watch our coverage of the panel to hear their accounts.

No Spooky Empire would be complete without spending your hard earned money, and believe me, there were many ways you could have done so this past weekend!  If autographs and pictures with the celebrities don’t float your boat, two ballrooms of vendors and tattoo artists clamored for your green.

Each vendor room was packed to the brim with talent!  Whether you were looking for new ink, artwork, gifts, toys, or movies you would find it here!

Closing out the spring convention of the hottest horror convention in town, Spooky announced its newest creation; Spooky Day in the Parks.  Based on the little bit of information that has been released, we gather this new event is a horror themed convention that is taking place at, believe it or not, Walt Disney World!

While this is not a Walt Disney World sponsored event, Spooky Empire has rented convention space at the Coranado resort, which will also serve as their host hotel.  Spooky will also be holding events around the park itself!  One of these events will be at the ever so fitting and infamous Tower of Terror!  Be sure to keep an eye on their webpage here, and we will be sure to bring you more news once more is available!

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Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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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.

Infested

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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Part Concert, Part Horror Movie M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Trailer Released

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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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Woman Brings Corpse Into Bank To Sign Loan Papers

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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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