Vanillaware’s Unicorn Overlord has managed to carve out a niche amongst the larger releases of 2024 so far. The game offers tactics and strategy fans one of the best experiences they’ve had in years. One of the game’s most vocal fans is Yasumi Matsuno, best known for directing the likes of Final Fantasy Tactics, often…
Based on the comic book series created by James O’Barr, the first version of The Crow was released in 1994 and told the tragic story of goth rocker Eric Draven and the love of his life, Shelly Webster. Later this year (on June 7th, to be exact), we’ll be getting a remake of The Crow, with the story of Eric and Shelly being told all over again. It seems kind of strange to do a remake and revisit characters in a franchise that lends itself to the anthology format, where each film can be focused on a different vengeful, undead person… but it does make business sense, because The Crow remake is getting more attention than the three Crow sequels ever got. But those Crow sequels do have their fans, and Scream Factory is about to celebrate one of them – The Crow: Salvation from 2000 – with a limited edition Blu-ray release on March 26th.
Directed by Bharat Nalluri from a screenplay written by Chip Johannessen, The Crow: Salvation has the following synopsis: Alex Corvis is falsely convicted of brutally stabbing his girlfriend Lauren to death. He maintains his innocence and insists that Lauren was killed by a man with distinctive scars on his body but the police cannot find any trace of him. After three years on death row, Alex is electrocuted in a messy execution and shortly after, his guardian crow appears and resurrects him. With the help of Lauren’s sister Erin, the Crow begins his hunt for the killer.
The film stars Eric Mabius, Kirsten Dunst, William Atherton, Grant Shaud, Jodi Lyn O’Keefe, David H. Stevens, Dale Midkiff, Bill Mondy, Walton Goggins, Tim DeKay, Don Shanks, Joey Miyashima, Kylee Cochran, Bruce McCarty, Kelly Haren, Noname Jane, and Fred Ward.
The Scream Factory Blu-ray release of The Crow: Salvation will have the following bonus features:
Audio Commentary With Director Bharat Nalluri, Actor Eric Mabius, Producer Jeff Most, Composer Marco Beltrami, And Production Designer Maia Javan
Behind-The-Scenes Featurette
Behind-The-Makeup Featurette
Production Design Featurette
“Who’s That Bird?”
Image Gallery
Trailer
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround and 2.0 Stereo
Optional English subtitles for the main feature
Are you a fan of The Crow: Salvation, and would you like to own a copy of this Blu-ray release? Let us know by leaving a comment below – and if you want a copy, they’re available for pre-order at THIS LINK. There are only 1,620 units, so get it quick!
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Created by Alan Ball and inspired by The Southern Vampire Mysteries, a series of novels by Charlaine Harris, the TV series True Blood ran on HBO for seven seasons, from 2008 to 2014, ending up with a total of 80 episodes. 42 of those episodes featured Joe Manganiello as the werewolf character Alcide Herveaux. Introduced in season 3, Alcide was only supposed to be a guest star for that particular season – but he proved to be so popular with viewers, he was kept around… until season 7, when he was killed off. Not surprisingly, Manganiello wasn’t happy with the way his character went out. In fact, he was so displeased with Alcide being killed off, he feels he still has unfinished werewolf business to this day.
During an interview on Andy Cohen’s SiriusXM show, Manganiello said (with thanks to The Hollywood Reporter for the transcription), “I thought there was so much left on the table for me. The thing about it was, they never planned for me to be on the show past one season. I was signed up as a guest star my first season, and when my character really broke and people really loved the character, they were kind of unprepared for that to happen. I wound up on the show for five years in total, but my character had to get out of the way so that Sookie could wind up settling the A and B plots with Bill and Eric. The only way to get me out of the way was — spoiler alert — you know, to shoot me in the face. I really felt like there was a lot that was left unexplored.“
If you need a refresher on what True Blood had going on with Sookie (Anna Paquin), Bill (Stephen Moyer), and Eric (Alexander Skarsgard), The Hollywood Reporter provides that as well: “Sookie Stackhouse broke up with vampire boyfriend Bill Compton. Sookie’s other love interest, Eric Northman, ended by obtaining control of a new blood product.”
Even though a decade has gone by, Manganiello is still “on the lookout for like a good werewolf script for me because… I feel like there’s a lot in me that was unfinished. I have unfinished business in the werewolf department.” So if you have a good werewolf script, send it Manganiello’s way. He’s ready to wolf out some more.
Are you a fan of True Blood? What did you think of the way things ended for Joe Manganiello’s werewolf character? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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Saber Interactive, the developer and publisher working on projects such as Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic – Remake, has officially been sold by Embracer Group. This comes in the wake of a Bloomberg report and updates to its website indicating a sale was imminent. The $500 million deal will encompass Saber and…
Saber Interactive, the developer and publisher working on projects such as Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic – Remake, has officially been sold by Embracer Group. This comes in the wake of a Bloomberg report and updates to its website indicating a sale was imminent. The $500 million deal will encompass Saber and…
Everyone has certain notable songs in their lives that can transport you back to some sacred memories that you have kept with you. What if those songs could actually take you back in time to those memories? That’s the fresh new twist on the time travel concept in the new trailer for The Greatest Hits. Ned Benson, writer and director of The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby trilogy, once again pulls double duty for this film which stars Lucy Boynton, Justin H. Min and the new Kal-El of James Gunn’s Superman, David Corenswet.
The official plot synopsis from Searchlight Pictures reads,
“What if a single song, an unmistakable melody, an unforgettable sound – could take you back in time, literally? Harriet (Lucy Boynton) finds music imitating life when she discovers beloved songs shared with her former boyfriend can take her back to the scene of the moment, giving her a second chance to twist fate. While she relives the past through romantic memories, her time-traveling collides with a burgeoning new love interest in the present (Justin H. Min). As she takes her journey through the hypnotic connection between music and memory, she wonders – even if she could change the past, should she?”
The romantic drama comes from the former Fox Searchlight Pictures studio, which was the indie brand of 20th Century Fox, now simply Searchlight Pictures under Disney’s ownership. Disney would distribute their Searchlight titles in conjunction with Hulu for original films that premieres on the streamer. Michael London, Shannon Gaulding, Stephanie Davis, Cassandra Kulukundis and Ned Benson are on board as producers of the film.
Benson commented on his idea for the concept of the film, “I thought it was so interesting how the mind and music interact. And then I kind of came up with this concept of music as time travel. That was basically how it all started.” His star, Boynton, would glow about working with him on this film, “He’s such a romantic, so he really leans in to finding the way this can be a really beautiful love story. But he also doesn’t take himself too seriously, so it never becomes overly earnest. He’s incredibly collaborative and honest with his own experiences, so that sets the tone on set.”
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How often do we see a sequel to a spinoff that is actually a lot of fun? What if you then also made it a tragic love story that involves zombies? That sounds like a Roger Corman or Troma movie but in actuality it’s Return of the Living Dead III (watch it HERE) and its from channel favorite Brian Yuzna. Return of the Living Dead is a stone cold classic and is one that I sometimes prefer watching over any of the original Romero trilogy due to how different it is and how it sets up its own rules. Part 2 I have great memories of seeing on TV at my Nana’s house in Santa Ana, California on an old tube TV. It skates that Evil Dead II line of leaning much further into the comedy realm than the first, which is pretty funny in its own way and right. While there is a part 4 and 5 (God help us), they aren’t really good for anything apart from morbid curiosity or completionism. Looking at the third entry, it sits in that wonderful spot where, sure, it’s not as great as the first 2 but its nowhere near as bad as what followed. That spot is ripe for what we like to call a black sheep around here.
The first movie is… well, it’s not based on, more inspired by the John Russo sequel novel to Night of the Living Dead. The movie was a success for Orion, making 14 million on its 4-million-dollar budget – which, of course, means sequels. The first up would be Return of the Living Dead Part II which producer Tom Fox would decide to fund himself, assuming its success. He was wrong and the budget went up to 6 million and the return on investment was only 9 million back. A third film was still discussed and Yuzna was chosen because he had always wanted to do a sequel to the original and had been a proven success. He is a bit of a triple threat with success as a writer, director, and producer. His directing credits include gross-fest Society, Bride of Re-Animator, and The Dentist, among other things. We have talked about him in one capacity or another a number of times and I can see that trend continuing for at least a couple other movies.
He was a little disappointed with the screen time of his last creation in Bride of Re-Animator and because the producers said the only thing that was required of him was to include the Trioxin gas that creates the zombies and to have them crave flesh, he decided he wanted to make a creature the main character. This character would be played by the absolute knockout that is Melinda Clarke. She had got her start on the soap opera Days of Our Lives, but this movie helped push her up the ranks a little more with future appearances in things like Spawn, the show Soldier of Fortune, Inc, and huge roles in shows The OC and Nikita. She is still active today, but for a certain generation of straight to video horror hounds, she will always be Julie Walker. I say straight to video, but this thing did get a limited theatrical run that produced a little over 50k in sales.
The other two main characters are Curt, played by J Trevor Edmund, and his military father john played by Kent McCord. Edmund stopped acting in 1999 and his only other big horror role is in Pumpkinhead II, another fun Black Sheep. McCord cut his teeth in the early 60s and worked steadily into the next decades with parts in Airplane 2 and a 10 episode run on Galactica 80. For Lance’s sake, I also feel obligated to mention his part in Predator 2, and he randomly showed up as a character in last year’s big game release of Starfield. Weird. The writer John Penney had a relatively short career that also included being one of the many writers on Best Horror Movie You Never Saw The Kindred and late 90s straight to video so bad its good Legend of the Mummy.
The movie opens with exactly what this type of movie should open with; the government being scumbags and trying to figure out how to use the living dead as weapons. The movie does a good job acknowledging the previous ones even if it changes some things here and there. The zombies apart from the main character one are not as I guess intelligent is the word I want to use as in the previous movies, and they don’t expressly go for the brains to ease their pain. There is still obvious pain in them, and the special effects make-up is solid for this era and type of movie. Yuzna did his job though as the only rules were that he had to include zombies and the Trioxin gas.
The two lovebirds of the movie, Curt and Julie, sneak into the military base that his father is in charge of, ya know, as you do. They have pretty much free reign over the facility, which is just terrible security. They see body parts being burned and then a corpse being brought back to life with some sort of gas. The military, curt and julie, and us as the audience get to see them attempt to control the undead with a paralyzing shot to the dome but of course this being a zombie horror movie and only 11 minutes in, that doesn’t hold. The corpse takes out the medical personnel in the room and while the zombies don’t really FEEL like they do in the first movie, they are cool looking ghouls, and the gore gets the job done.
At first, I struggled with this movie because it feels at times like a sequel in name only. The zombies are different, the tone is very different from the first two entries, and it just doesn’t act like a Return movie but at the end of the day, that’s ok. Return of the Living Dead is technically a sequel to Night of the Living Dead but doesn’t do much to tie anything together other than a throwaway line from one of the characters. Anyway, the military adjusted and want to make zombie mech suits which sounds to me like the same thing as those videos you see of people knocking over AI robots on purpose. You are just asking for trouble. Our teens make it home for the required sex scene and Curt’s military dad tells him that they have to leave soon as he screwed up and is getting transferred. The expected disagreement happens, and the young son leaves with his girlfriend.
The turning point for our characters and the movie happens when Julie dies in the most nonviolent looking motorcycle accident I have ever seen. It brings up the question we hopefully all ask ourselves. What would you do for love? I’m not sure I’d bring back the love of my life with an experimental zombie toxin after watching what it does to them but I’m also not saying I wouldn’t. She wakes up and the movie more or less treats it like when the two guys from the first two movies get hit with the gas, it’s a slow descent into death and decay. The movie does a good job with her and her journey but just kind of plods along with various scenarios to stick her with. The bad news is these are very milquetoast things like a convenience store robbery gone wrong and fight with a gang, a sewer exploration, and a culmination back at the military base.
The movie isn’t bad at all, and I think that’s maybe even one of the things that keeps it from being discussed more. No seriously, hear me out. The movie has all of the hallmarks of the era it was made in. It has unnecessary nudity, lots of death and gore, and makeup and special effects that stand out as one of the talking points for the movie. But its not quite bad enough to be so bad it’s good because director Brian Yuzna made it better than it has any right to be. Sadly, its also not quite good enough to be an all time classic. Maybe because it’s missing the humor of the first two or the fact that it changes the rules, even within it’s own movie let alone compared to the rest of the franchise, but it’s just missing that… that… I don’t know, but it’s something.
Lance and I talk all the time about our love of Full Moon or even Full Moon-like stuff, like the movies of the late, great Albert Pyun. What I’d call, I guess, Crescent Moon? Anyway, all of these movies fall under the category of so bad it’s good, doesn’t take itself seriously at all, or just knows exactly what it is to a formulaic tee. While this is actually a better movie in a lot of ways than them, it’s not as charming. Yuzna is no slouch as a director, writer, and producer with his collaborations with Stuart Gordon or his other efforts like the must be seen to be believed Society being highlights and the heart is there with him wanting to do a Return of the Living Dead project from the beginning.
The movie sits in the exact middle of the franchise with the two before it ranging from undeniable classic to beloved silly sequel and the two after it, let me check my notes, Necropolis and Rave to the Grave, being justifiably not getting special editions like the first 3 or, hell, even talked about all that much. Its not some lost classic or even hidden gem to be discovered. I wanted to talk about it as the last one to watch and the closing of a very loose trilogy of zombie goodness. The love story and tragic ending, special effects, and heart put into it all bleed through into a fun watch for horror fans. Sometimes a Black Sheep doesn’t need to be the best movie, it just needs to be walked through and reminded why it was made in the first place. Give the movie a shot and if you are a physical media person, I know I am, you can get the full story and a hell of a complete edition to add to your collection. Return of the Living Dead III is a black sheep that begs to be given the respect it deserves and the same respect that the filmmakers put into its production.
A couple of the previous episodes of The Black Sheep can be seen at the bottom of this article. To see more, head over to the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!
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Yesterday, a short teaser for the upcoming remake of The Crow dropped online with the promise that a full trailer would follow today – and, true to their word, Lionsgate has just unveiled that trailer. You can check it out in the embed above to see Bill Skarsgard in action as the new version of goth rocker Eric Draven.
Skarsgard is joined in the cast by singer FKA twigs, who takes on the role of Shelly Webster, the love of Eric’s life. Danny Huston (Yellowstone) plays the lead villain. Isabella Wei (1899), Laura Birn (A Walk Among the Tombstones), Sami Bouajila (The Bouncer), and Jordan Bolger (Peaky Blinders) are also in the cast.
Here’s the synopsis: Soulmates Eric Draven (Skarsgard) and Shelly Webster (FKA twigs) are brutally murdered when the demons of her dark past catch up with them. Given the chance to save his true love by sacrificing himself, Eric sets out to seek merciless revenge on their killers, traversing the worlds of the living and the dead to put the wrong things right.
The role of Eric Draven in the original film was, of course, played by Brandon Lee, who was killed on set in a tragic accident that was caused by a series of mistakes and oversights.
Rupert Sanders (Snow White and the Huntsman) directed this take on The Crow, working from a screenplay by Oscar nominee Zach Baylin (King Richard). The remake is produced by Victor Hadida, Molly Hassell, John Jencks, and Edward R. Pressman. Dan Farah serves as executive producer.
A couple weeks ago, we saw the first images of Bill Skarsgard as Eric Draven in The Crow remake, and those images didn’t go over well with a lot of fans – or with original The Crow director Alex Proyas. Now we’ve seen more of him in the trailer – so let us know, what do you think of Skarsgard’s take on Eric? If you were disappointed by his look in those images, did seeing how he was presented in the trailer win you over? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.
Based on the comic book series created by James O’Barr, the first version of The Crow was released in 1994. Following the production of three sequels (each about a different resurrected character), a remake was first announced in late 2008… then it had to make a long journey through development hell. Several screenwriters came and went, scripts were written and scrapped, studios went bankrupt, and directors like Stephen Norrington, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, and Francisco Javier Gutiérrez were all involved along the way. Actors up for the lead role during the long development period included Bradley Cooper, Mark Wahlberg, Tom Hiddleston, Luke Evans, and Jack Huston.
Rupert Sanders’ The Crow remake is scheduled to reach theatres on June 7th.
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As is so often the case, it’s a rough time to be an X-Men fan. The Krakoan age, The latest ambitious take on Marvel’s children of the atom is coming to a close this year, in a not-very satisfying fashion. Picking up the dying torch of this mainline series are more business-as-usual takes on the beloved characters. It…
As is so often the case, it’s a rough time to be an X-Men fan. The Krakoan age, The latest ambitious take on Marvel’s children of the atom is coming to a close this year, in a not-very satisfying fashion. Picking up the dying torch of this mainline series are more business-as-usual takes on the beloved characters. It…