Earlier this month, we shared a Marvel Comics fan film called Logan the Wolf, which imagined Wolverine as a Viking. That’s not the only Marvel-inspired fan film that has been going viral in recent weeks – and the other one that has caught a lot of attention can be shared here as a Cool Horror Video! Written and directed by Andy Chen, this one is called The Spider stars Chandler Riggs (best known for playing Carl Grimes on The Walking Dead) and puts a body horror spin on the story of Spider-Man! Some of you may have seen this one already, but if you haven’t, or if you want to watch it again, you can check it out in the embed above.
Featuring a creature suit by Alen Stubbs and Sci-Fi Studios, with visual effects from Gianluigi Carella, Josh Lykkeberg, and the director, The Spider has a short and simple synopsis: A horror take on Spider-Man.
In addition to Riggs, the cast includes Holgie Forrester, Carl Addicott, Matthew Tyler Vorce, Ben Thomas, Caylee Cowan, Kyra Gardner, David W. Rice, Kealani Kitaura, Andrew Hernon, Ronan Arthur, April Clark, Aaron Hill, Jade Dang, and Sof Puchley.
During an interview with The Mary Sue, Riggs revealed that he auditioned for the role of Peter Parker / Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe back in the day: “I had always, always dreamed of playing Peter Parker. I actually auditioned for Peter Parker against Tom Holland all those years ago, so getting to finally step into those shoes was really, really cool, even if it was very brief. His happiness was very short-lived. It was still so cool to get to do that for a few hours.“
There was a time when we almost did get a body horror Spider-Man movie. The Marvel Comics adaptation was set up at Cannon Films in the ’80s with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre director Tobe Hooper attached to direct the film from a screenplay by The Outer Limits creator Leslie Stevens, and if that take on the concept had made it into production, we would have seen that, “instead of being bitten by a radioactive spider, Parker was deliberately bombarded with radiation by a corporate scientist – named Doctor Zork – who transforms the ID photographer (not student, or journalist) into a giant eight-armed spider-hybrid, who’s so monstrous he swiftly becomes suicidal.“
What do you think of the idea of a body horror Spider-Man? Let us know – and tell us what you thought of The Spider – by leaving a comment below.
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2, Ninja Theory’s latest action-adventure narrative journey into the world of Pictish warrior Senua, features a linear, eight-hour trip through Iceland. Over the course of her journey, Senua receives lore lessons from her spiritual companion from the first game, Druth, via totems you can focus…
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2, Ninja Theory’s latest action-adventure narrative journey into the world of Pictish warrior Senua, features a linear, eight-hour trip through Iceland. Over the course of her journey, Senua receives lore lessons from her spiritual companion from the first game, Druth, via totems you can focus…
When Shadow the Hedgehog launched in 2005 as an edgier take on the Sonic series, it was lambasted for including firearms, vehicles, and swearing in what was typically seen as a family-friendly franchise. Sure, it never quite went the route of the M-rated Conker’s Bad Fur Day, but he’d let out a “damn” upon getting hit…
When Shadow the Hedgehog launched in 2005 as an edgier take on the Sonic series, it was lambasted for including firearms, vehicles, and swearing in what was typically seen as a family-friendly franchise. Sure, it never quite went the route of the M-rated Conker’s Bad Fur Day, but he’d let out a “damn” upon getting hit…
A year and a half has gone by since A24 announced that they were re-teaming with Halina Reijn, the director of their slasher satire Bodies Bodies Bodies, on a erotic thriller called Babygirl, with Nicole Kidman (Being the Ricardos), Antonio Banderas (Desperado), Harris Dickinson (The Iron Claw), Sophie Wilde (Talk to Me), and Jean Reno (Léon: The Professional) set to star in the film. Now they have revealed (via Deadline) that they’re bringing Babygirl to theatres just in time for Christmas viewings, giving it a December 20th release date. That’s the same weekend Disney is releasing Mufasa, Paramount is releasing Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and Angel Studios is releasing the faith-based post-apocalyptic film Homestead.
Christmas seems like an odd time to release an erotic thriller, but maybe this counter-programming will work out for A24. While families are taking the kids to Mufasa and Sonic and the devout see Homestead, the remaining movie-goers can get erotic thrills from Babygirl.
Reijn directed Babygirl from a screenplay she wrote herself. The story she crafted for this one centers on a high-powered CEO who puts her life’s work on the line when she begins a torrid affair with her much younger intern. Given the “thriller” part of the “erotic thriller” description, we have to assume that this affair goes terribly wrong in some way… probably in a way that involves more than just hurt feelings.
Reijn is producing Babygirl for MAN UP Film, alongside A24 and David Hinojosa of 2AM. Julia Oh, Zach Nutman, and Christine D’Souza Gelb of 2AM serve as executive producers. A24 is providing the financing. In addition to working with Reijn on Bodies Bodies Bodies and Babygirl, A24 also picked up the distribution rights to her feature directorial debut Instinct, which was selected as the official Dutch entry for the Best International Feature Oscar.
Are you interested in Babygirl? What do you think of this A24 erotic thriller getting a Christmas release date? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
A24 also set release dates for the horror films The Front Room and Heretic this week, as well as the dark comedy thriller A Different Man (September 20) and the romance We Live in Time (October 11).
Last year, a bidding war was going down between Netflix and Amazon for a lucrative package deal. The two streaming giants were in a fight to acquire the film rights to the novella by Don Winslow called Crime 101. The package deal had included two attached stars — Chris Hemsworth and Pedro Pascal. Although, Pascal has now reportedly been replaced by Mark Ruffalo. It also has a director set to helm the project with Bart Layton, whose credits include the documentary The Imposter from 2012 and American Animals from 2018. Amazon had come out as the victor and according to Deadline, Saltburn and Masters of the Air star Barry Keoghan will now join the heist film.
Crime 101 is said to be a crime drama in the vein of Michael Mann’s Heat. The plot of the film has yet to be released; however, Deadline’s summary of the novel reads that “the original short story by Winslow has shades of Heat as it follows high-level jewel thefts that are taking place up and down the Pacific Coast, which police have linked to Colombian cartels. Detective Lou Lubesnick has other ideas, and he zeroes in on one perp, a thief looking for a final score.” Additionally, it has been reported that HarperCollins had published the heist story as part of the Don Winslow collection, Broken, in 2020.
Bart Layton will not only be directing the crime film, but he will also be credited as the screenwriter. The producers on Crime 101 will include Story Factory’s Shane Salerno, Working Title’s Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan, RAW’s Layton and Dimitri Doganis and Derrin Schlesinger. RAW’s Joely Fether will also be attached to executive produce.
Meanwhile, Hemsworth is coming off a role that many are deeming to be one of his best performances as Dementus, the biker messiah cult leader from George Miller’s recent film Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. He is also in talks to star in the follow-up to Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, which will crossover with the G.I. Joe franchise. But Hemsworth is also playing a young Optimus Prime in Transformers One. In that film, the animated movie tells the “long-awaited origin story of how the most iconic characters in the Transformers universe, Orion Pax and D-16, went from brothers-in-arms to become sworn enemies, Optimus Prime and Megatron.” Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry star as Orion Pax/Optimus Prime and D-16/Megatron, respectively. The cast also includes Scarlett Johansson as Elita, Keegan-Michael Key as Bumblebee, Jon Hamm as Sentinel Prime, and Laurence Fishburne as Alpha Trion. Josh Cooley directs from a script by Andrew Barrer, Steve Desmond, and Gabriel Ferrari. The film will hit theaters on September 20th.
For over a decade, Roger Moore had the task of living up to everything that Sean Connery had put in place as 007. And while some will defend Moore forever, we can’t forget the clown costumes, slide whistles, gondola chases, and so much more that pushed James Bond into an uncharted level of ridiculousness. Perhaps all of this could have been prevented had Timothy Dalton not been so green, turning down On Her Majesty’s Secret Service because he was in his mid-20s. That’s all hypothetical, of course, but Timothy Dalton would go on to reinvent James Bond in a way that may not have sat with contemporary audiences but marked a true challenge for what it meant to carry the torch. Dalton played 007 just twice; and with that, we’d challenge you to name just as many worthwhile post-Bond movies from the underappreciated actor (who we’re huge fans of – as shown on our long-running James Bond Revisited).
Let’s find out: WTF Happened to… Timothy Dalton?
But to truly understand what happened to Timothy Dalton, we go back to the beginning. And the beginning began when he was born on March 21st, 1946 in Colwyn Bay, Wales. Dalton fell in love with the craft – at least as it is on stage – as a teen, primarily through a production of Macbeth. That’s quite a traditional way to fall in love with theater, no doubt matched by his taking up acting interests with London’s National Youth Theatre and studies at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Yet he would never finish there, saying his educators were “oppressive” sorts.
Dalton landed his first stage gig in London with, yes, the work of Shakespeare, 1964’s Coriolanus. He, too, through the ‘60s and ‘80s, would be linked to Shakespeare better than any other author… well, almost. Look at this list of Shakespearean productions he took part in and you’d be pressed to think of even a handful that are missing: The Merchant of Venice, Richard III, King Lear, Henry V, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, Love’s Labour’s Lost, As You Like It… There, too, was an early go at the title role of Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs in London and, what stands as his most recent go at the stage, a key role in the first production of His Dark Materials (2003-2004).
Such performances would help him get his start on TV, playing in the Malcolm McDowell series Sat’Day While Sunday (1967), as well as 1970 and 1971 episodes of the BBC anthology series Play of the Month (in adaptations of Shaffer and Shaw) and his introduction to American television, the 1978 miniseries Centennial, in which he played an explorer.
Dalton, too, would make a marked debut on the big screen, playing Philip II of France in 1968’s The Lion in Winter opposite Katharine Hepburn and Peter O’Toole, a job made possible at the recommendation of the latter, high praise for an up-and-comer.
Enter 007
But the biggest – and most foretelling – opportunity came when he was asked to audition for On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) to take over the role of 007 James Bond from Sean Connery. But there was only one person standing in the way of Timothy Dalton, a massive fan of Ian Fleming’s books: Timothy Dalton. See, he thought he was too young for the part. He had another reason entirely when he turned down 1981’s For Your Eyes Only: the series had been relying too much on comedy.
Dalton’s dislike for this variation of James Bond would be evident when he finally signed on for The Living Daylights (1987). But this one only worked out of circumstances surrounding the guy who was lined up first: Pierce Brosnan, whose Remington Steele contract kept him at bay. Timothy Dalton is never ranked as the best Bond but he felt like such a natural in his introduction, challenging both himself and 007 by removing the character from his “role model” status and helping move the franchise in a new direction. Unfortunately, the box office numbers were barely better than Moore’s final outing (1985’s A View to a Kill), topping out at $51 million domestically.
Numbers would be even lower for 1989’s License to Kill, whose $35 million was the worst Bond haul since the mid-70s. Despite his attempts to freshen up Bond – and even balance his tenure with lighter fare, like Hawks (1988), a sleazy comedy where he played a cancer patient looking for one last fit of fun – Timothy Dalton’s spin was a turn-off for contemporary audiences, especially compared to the cheeky Roger Moore. Instead, they got a straighter, rougher, and far less humorous 007, the sort of steel that would set the stage for Bonds of the future. And speaking of which…
Timothy Dalton actually had a three-contract deal but lawsuits between Eon and MGM related to rights halted it. By the time things were resolved in 1992, it had been too big of a gap for Dalton, even if the studios wanted him to sign on for another multi-picture deal. And so while Pierce Brosnan would take advantage of this just as Dalton had the Remington Steele ordeal, Timothy Dalton could redirect his attention, leaving behind just two performances as James Bond.
Between initially turning down Bond and, well, turning down Bond again, Timothy Dalton appeared in a trio of 1970 films: Wuthering Heights as Heathcliff, Prince Rupert in Cromwell and Italy’s The Voyeur, following that up with 1971’s Mary, Queen of Scots, playing Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, displaying an active interest in historical dramas. He would land a role as a civil servant in 1975’s Permission to Kill (also foreseeing his Bond career, in title only) while continuing to hone his stage work. Dalton wrapped up the ‘70s with a diverse trio of films: Sextette (1978), in which he played the husband to Mae West in her comeback/final role; Juan Ciudad biopic The Man Who Knew Love (1978); and Agatha (1979), playing Agatha Christie’s husband (he would later appear on TV’s Agatha Christie’s Marple in 2006, showing his admiration for yet another English scribe).
Dalton got to loosen up quite a bit as Prince Barin in a delightfully hammy turn in 1980’s Flash Gordon, before playing yet another second fiddle lover, this time to Marie-France Pisier’s Coco Chanel in Chanel Solitaire (1981). He would follow this up as Rochester in the 1983 miniseries adaptation of Jane Eyre, Hallmark Hall of Fame movie The Master of Ballantrae (1984), dreadful gothic horror The Doctor and the Devils (1985), and TV movie Florence Nightingale.
Post Bond
This was all in his pre-Bond days. But what would he do now that he had holstered his Walther PPK? First came something he had grown accustomed to: the costume drama, playing House of Savoy head Vittori Amedeo II in The King’s Whore (1990). Next, he would truly give himself a challenge by playing actor/Nazi Neville Sinclair in The Rocketeer, which sees him as some of the most fun he’s ever been on the screen.
He continued through the ‘90s with a string of works that range from campy (a werewolf hunter in a 1992 episode of Tales from the Crypt) to against type yet ultimately safe (a criminal on short-lived BBC series Framed) to forgettable (1993 rom-com Naked in New York; 1996 family flick Salt Water Moose) to back-to-the-well miniseries (Rhett Butler in 1994’s Scarlett) to getting dragged into the attempt to make Fran Drescher a movie star flop The Beautician and the Beast. There was also a lot more television: Showtime’s The Informant (1997), HBO’s Made Men (1999), period piece The Reef (1999), and ABC miniseries Cleopatra (1999), landing the role of Julius Caesar.
Really, by the time the smoke had cleared on Timothy Dalton’s tenure as Bond, people just wanted the opportunity to attach a once-big name onto their low-level project. That’s how he ends up in crap for Fox Family (2000’s Time Share) and Showtime (Possessed), and how he gets a small role in forgettable westerns like American Outlaws (2003) even if the role of real-life antagonist Allan Pinkerton sounds alluring). And how he plays Brendan Fraser’s abducted father in Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) and is the biggest name in a shitty TV production of Hercules (2005).
At least he was fun in 2007’s Hot Fuzz as a villainous supermarket head, but that’s only because Edgar Wright had respect for him. But that’s the only time Timothy Dalton gets anything chewy: when those who cast him actually admire him as a presence and not just a former James Bond: consider his terrific turn on Doctor Who as the Time Lord founder in the two-part “The End of Time” (2009) or his compelling arc on Chuck (2010). But his most pure rebirth came as a character who is probably more Timothy Dalton than we might expect: Toy Story’s Mr. Pricklepants, playing the always-on hedgehog toy to perfection – and in two movies and numerous shorts. (His other voice outings in Tinker Bell movies, Tangled adaptations, and Faerie Tale Theatre are far less impressive.)
For the most part, at this point, Timothy Dalton has crawled from his post-Bond slump. It’s likely he won’t be the lead ever again, but if he can find the fun (2010’s The Tourist; his go as Niles Caulder on DC’s Doom Patrol) or the meaty role (Peter Townsend on The Crown; Yellowstone spin-off 1923) then he’s golden. Because he knows – and we know deep down – that he’s far more than just Bond, James Bond.
PLOT: A combative stand-up comedian (Bobby Cannavale) in a messy custody battle kidnaps his autistic son to keep him from being heavily medicated and placed in a special school.
REVIEW: Tony Goldwyn’s Ezra is a warm-hearted father-son tale that tries to depict the challenges of raising an autistic child in an authentic way. The film was written by Tony Spiridakis, who has an autistic son of his own, while William Fitzgerald, who plays the title role, is on the spectrum. It’s realistic with some terrific performances from the ensemble cast, including Bobby Cannavale, Rose Byrne, Goldwyn himself, and Robert DeNiro (in a meatier role than usual).
The film is a great showcase for Cannavale, who’s pretty convincing as a somewhat confrontational comic who mines his own fractured personal life for material. In it, his character, Max, is reeling from a bitter divorce from his wife, Jenna (Rose Byrne), who he still loves but can’t see eye-to-eye with on Ezra’s care. For Max, Ezra needs to be with other kids, unmedicated, while Jenna thinks medication and a special school are the way to go. To the movie’s credit, neither parent is presented as “wrong”, with both depicted as loving and simply trying to do what they think is best. Even Jenna’s slick new boyfriend, a lawyer played by Goldwyn, is presented as an ultimately good person.
While one might think a movie about an estranged parent kidnapping his son might not make for feel-good-fare, you never doubt Max’s desire to do the best he can for his son, even if he doesn’t really know what that might be. In the film, he takes his son on the road, with him heading for LA, where he’s been promised a spot on The Jimmy Kimmel Show, which is complicated by the fact that he’s now technically a fugitive from the law. The cast is peppered with many familiar faces, including Whoopi Goldberg as Max’a agent, Rainn Wilson as a comedian friend who shelters him, and Vera Farmiga as a potential love interest.
Again, the good thing about Ezra is that there are no bad guys. Rose Byrne’s Jenna doesn’t want Max to end up arrested, so she and his father, Stan (DeNiro), hit the road in the hope of finding them before the cops do. When DeNiro shows up in movies like this, often his roles are limited to a few scenes, but he has a pretty meaty part as Max’s formerly aggressive dad, who’s trying to make up for his own failings as a father by being there for his son.
While it all sounds schmaltzy, the movie actually isn’t at all. Goldwyn is probably still best known as an actor, but he’s been directing since the nineties and can tell a sweet story in a way that’s not overly mawkish. With autistic actors and a script by the actual father of an autistic child, this feels like a film made by people who actually know what they’re talking about. In the title role, Fitzgerald doesn’t play Ezra as this magical, “perfect” child who needs to be protected. The film’s message is that no, Ezra isn’t perfect; he’s just a kid and can be a handful. But he deserves to be treated with dignity, the same as any other kid. That’s ultimately the movie’s message, which Goldwyn presents in a focused, nuanced way. There’s probably a lame Hollywood version of this movie that could have been made, but this one gives the story some much-needed edge without promising everything will be tied up in a neat little bow by the time the credits roll.
Back in 2019, Rebel Wilson starred in a meta romantic comedy called Isn’t It Romantic, which was released by Warner Bros. / New Line Cinema in the United States and Canada and received a Netflix streaming release throughout the rest of the world. Now Deadline reports that Isn’t It Romantic is getting an unexpected sort of follow-up – one that will dive into horror territory! This follow-up is called Isn’t It Scary.
New Line Cinema has hired April Prosser, who earned her first writing credit with the Netflix romantic comedy Look Both Ways, to write the screenplay for Isn’t It Scary. Look Both Ways had the following synopsis: On the eve of her college graduation, Natalie’s life diverges into parallel realities: one in which she becomes pregnant and remains in her hometown to raise her child and another in which she moves to LA to pursue her dream career.
Isn’t It Romantic was directed by Todd Strauss-Schulson from a screenplay by Erin Cardillo, Dana Fox, and Katie Silberman. Here’s what it was about: Natalie is a New York architect who works hard to get noticed at her job, but is more likely to deliver coffee and bagels than design the city’s next skyscraper. Things go from bad to weird when she gets knocked unconscious during a subway mugging and magically wakes up to find herself in an alternate universe. Always cynical about love, Natalie’s worst nightmare soon comes true when she suddenly discovers that she’s playing the leading lady in a real-life romantic comedy. So, basically, “a woman who finds herself in a world where everything around her plays out like a clichéd PG-13 romantic comedy.” (And just to avoid confusion: no, the Natalie played by Rebel Wilson in Isn’t It Romantic was not the same Natalie played by Lili Reinhardt in the Prosser-scripted Look Both Ways.)
Deadline hears that Isn’t It Scary will take the same meta approach to horror as Isn’t It Romantic took to rom-coms, “riffing on the tropes of the horror genre.” It’s not clear if Rebel Wilson is expected to return for this one.
Isn’t It Scary is being produced by Todd Garner for Broken Road Productions, along with Gina Mathews and Grant Scharbo of Little Engine Entertainment. Garner, Mathews, and Sharbo are also working on What Kids Want, a follow-up to What Women Want and What Men Want.
I watched Isn’t It Romantic once five years ago and remember enjoying it at the time, but I definitely never thought it would get a horror comedy follow-up. I’m interested to see how Isn’t It Scary is going to turn out.
Does Isn’t It Scary sound interesting to you? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
