At Gamescom Opening Night Live, Techland unveiled a first look at the next game in its Dying Light series, subtitled The Beast. It started development as a DLC for Dying Light 2: Stay Human, but a new game was eventually spun off into its own title. Owners of the Ultimate edition of Dying Light 2 will get The Beast for…
Warner Bros. has been keeping director Gary Dauberman‘s adaptation of the Stephen King novel Salem’s Lot (buy a copy of the novel HERE) on the shelf for a long time – but they won’t be for much longer. The movie, which was supposed to be given a theatrical release back in September of 2022, is now set to be released through the Max streaming service this October (we’ll have to wait a while longer to hear the specific date), and to mark the occasion, Vanity Fair has unveiled a batch of first look images! One can be seen above, and you can check the others out at the bottom of this article.
This is the third adaptation of Salem’s Lot. The previous two were both mini-series, which aired in 1979 and 2004. This new take on the concept is said to be set in 1975, the same year King’s novel was first published. Here’s the synopsis: Haunted by an incident from his childhood, author Ben Mears returns to his hometown of Jerusalem’s Lot in search of inspiration for his next book, only to discover the town is being preyed upon by a bloodthirsty vampire and his loyal servant.
The film stars Lewis Pullman as author Ben Mears; Makenzie Leigh as Ben’s love interest Susan Norton; Spencer Treat Clark as Mike Ryerson, “one of the town’s simple folk”; Bill Camp as Matthew Burke, “a former high school English teacher who knows about the Marsten House’s evil past and helps out Ben”; Alfre Woodard as Dr. Cody; Pilou Asbæk as the vampire’s familiar Richard Straker, whose style this time around includes a purple cloak, feathered Homburg hat, and push broom mustache; Nicholas Crovetti and Cade Woodward as Danny and Ralphie Glick; Jordan Preston Carter as horror fanatic Mark Petrie; William Sadler as Constable Parkins Gillespie; and John Benjamin Hickey as Father Callahan. Alexander Ward (American Horror Story) might be playing the vampire Kurt Barlow.
Speaking with Vanity Fair, Dauberman reveals that his take on Salem’s Lot was inspired by “the lurid humor and macabre extremism of late-night grindhouse thrillers.” He said, “You could do a very dry version of this movie, but that’s just not my personality. It’s trying to ride that wave’s ups and downs. You’re having fun with it, and then you can have a scare, and then you’re having fun again. Hopefully it feels like a complete ride at the end.” There are even some grindhouse / drive-in era tributes, like a poster for the 1974 blaxploitation classic Sugar Hill hanging on Mark Petrie’s wall and a sequence where the vampire hunting heroes take on vampires that are rising from the trunks of cars parked at a drive-in. Dauberman explained, “It’s this crazy sugar-high of a scene. I thought, ‘Yeah, this is what this is. This is a drive-in movie.’” To read more quotes from Dauberman, click over to the Vanity Fair article.
Are you looking forward to Salem’s Lot, and are you glad to hear it will be on Max in October? Let us know by leaving a comment below – and while you’re scrolling down, take a look at these images:
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If you think the idea of making Joker: Folie à Deux a musical is a bizarre choice, wait until you hear what Todd Phillips has in mind for the film’s opening. In addition to featuring musical elements, Phillips plans to open the highly-anticipated sequel with a Looney Tunes-inspired animated sequence.
Before you freak out, know that Phillips recruited top-tier talent for this bold choice. The legendary French artist and animator Sylvain Chomet helped Phillips create the animated sequence. If Chomet’s name sounds familiar, he’s the director of 2003’s The Triplets of Belleville and 2010’s The Illusionist, two positively brilliant and award-winning animated features.
In addition to Chomet’s animated sequence, Joker: Folie à Deux includes a “variety show sequence” with Joker and Harley presenting a Sonny and Cher-like dynamic. These elements are part of Todd Phillips’ radical approach to Joker: Folie à Deux, a sequel to 2019’s box office-breaking Joker. The “jukebox musical” is far from anything fans of the original anticipated for a follow-up to the chaos-embracing drama, starring Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck, a struggling comedian driven mad by society’s failures.
Joker: Folie à Deux will be “mostly a jukebox musical, including at least 15 reinterpretations of very well-known songs.” In hindsight, it would have been hard to imagine Joaquin Phoenix returning for more of the same, no matter how many dump trucks full of money they drove to his house.
In addition to Phoenix and Gaga, the film also stars Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Jacob Lofland, and Harry Lawtey. Zazie Beetz returns to reprise her role as Sophie Dumond from the first movie, a love interest for Arthur. Official plot details remain a mystery, but the trailer paints a pretty picture, and it’s been said that much of the sequel will occur within Arkham Asylum, where we left Arthur in the last film. It’s inside Arkham where Arthur meets Harleen Frances Quinzel. After escaping, Arthur and Harley resow the seeds of chaos in Gotham City, a corrupted metropolis continuously on the verge of collapse.
What do you think about Joker: Folie à Deux opening with a Sylvain Chomet-animated Looney Tunes-style sequence? Can this movie get any more questionable? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
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Borderlands 4 is real and coming sometime in 2025. Gearbox Entertainment made the latest sequel to its hit looter shooter franchise official with a teaser at Gamescom Opening Night Live showing a literal collision of worlds. It arrives just in time to give fans something to look forward to after the recent movie bombed…
Borderlands 4 is real and coming sometime in 2025. Gearbox Entertainment made the latest sequel to its hit looter shooter franchise official with a teaser at Gamescom Opening Night Live showing a literal collision of worlds. It arrives just in time to give fans something to look forward to after the recent movie bombed…
Almost exactly one year has passed since we heard that production had wrapped on Manborg, Father’s Day, The Void, Leprechaun Returns, and Psycho Goreman director Steven Kostanski’s horror comedy Frankie Freako, which is said to be a “commemoration of various practical FX-led projects including Gremlins 2: The New Batch and Ghoulies Go to College” – and now we know when the movie is going to be making its way out into the world! Shout! Studios has announced that Frankie Freako will be reaching select theatres on October 4th. Along with that announcement comes the unveiling of a trailer, which can be seen in the embed above.
The story follows Conor Sweeney (The Editor) as a workaholic yuppie with a dilemma: no one in his life respects him! Not his boss, not his coworkers, not even his wife Kristina, who thinks he’s an uptight “square”! Conor sees no way out of this existential rut until one night channel-surfing he catches a bizarre ad for a party hotline hosted by a strange dancing goblin: Frankie Freako. Conor is entranced by Frankie’s promises of wild and freaky adventures, just a phone call away – could this be the recipe to spice up his flavorless life? Home alone for the weekend, Conor works up the courage to dial the number for the Frankie Freako hotline. As soon as the call connects, it unleashes chaos into his white-collar world, releasing Frankie and his troublemaker friends from their dimensional prison. It’s a race against time as Conor must defeat the rambunctious ruffians and clean up their trail of destruction before Kristina returns from her trip, all while going on an unexpected journey of self-discovery.
Sweeney is joined in the cast by Adam Brooks (The Return) and Kristy Wordsworth (The Spy Who Never Dies).
Kostanski provided the following statement to Bloody Disgusting: “The little monster movie is a subgenre beloved by horror fans. Franchises like Critters, Ghoulies and Puppet Master are still immensely popular despite there being no recent entries in the franchises. Frankie Freako is my vision for the next tiny monster franchise, brought to life through a combination of modern visual effects as well as old-school practical puppeteering techniques. Additionally, I envision the film as my personal take on the Evil Dead 2 format: it is a contained story centered around one flawed man fighting an onslaught of tiny terrors, with each set-piece escalating in absurdity and inventiveness. Frankie Freako is meant to be the complete antithesis of the current trend of overly self-serious A24- style horror films, with a tone more akin to early Tim Burton films like Beetlejuice or Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure.“
Frankie Freako seems like a good time to me, so I look forward to checking it out.
What did you think of the Frankie Freako trailer? Are you looking forward to this movie? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
The post Frankie Freako trailer: Steven Kostanski’s tribute to Gremlins 2 and Ghoulies 3 has an October release date appeared first on JoBlo.
Universal Pictures is setting its crosshairs on Reikon’s Ruiner video game for a silver-screen adaptation, with Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and Maze Runner franchise director Wes Ball getting behind the camera. Developed by Reikon Games and published by Devolver Digital (Cult of the Lamb, Death’s Door, Hotline Miami, Enter the Gungeon), Ruiner is a brutal top-down action shooter set in 2091 in the cyber metropolis Rengkok. In Ruiner, a wired psychopath lashes out against a corrupt system to uncover the truth and retrieve his kidnapped brother under the guidance of a secretive hacker friend.
Universal’s Ruiner film project has some serious firepower behind it, with Kelly McCormick and David Leitch producing through 87North. Other producers include Story Kitchen’s Dmitri M. Johnson and Mike Goldberg, with Timothy I. Stevenson and Dan Jevons acting as executive producers. Ball and Joe Hartwick Jr. will produce through Oddball. Marek Roefler, Magdalena Tomkowicz, and Jakub Stylinski will executive produce through Reikon.
Ruiner sits well on Steam with Very Positive reviews and upward of 4 million players. Steam reviews can be fickle, so the thought of the game holding onto its glowing status since its 2017 release is nothing to gloss over. Ruiner features fast-paced, stylish action in a technology-driven city, with non-stop bullets flying through the air as waves of enemies crowd the battlefield. Rated M for Violence, Blood, and Strong Language, Ruiner does not shy away from its Dredd-like aesthetic and propensity for gettin’ up in that ass with a B.F.G.
In addition to adapting Ruiner, Wes Ball is directing Nintendo’s live-action The Legend of Zelda movie, which is in development. Written by Derek Connolly (Jurassic World, Jurassic World: Dominion), Ball faces the impossible task of adapting one of the most beloved video game properties ever, and in live-action no less. The odds are already stacked against Ball, with rabid fans foaming at the mouth for any excuse to trash what he and his team come up with. I do not envy their position and wish them the best. The key to producing a worthy Zelda movie is atmosphere and character representation. My advice is to get weird with it. Please take a good, long look at the freaks of Hyrule and embrace their quirky behavior. It’s the only way you’ll leave this project with any heart containers.
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After winning an Oscar for Monster’s Ball, Halle Berry could have pick of the litter of any project she wanted. She chose a Bond picture and a franchise sequel right off the bat…which sounds good on paper, at least. But when it came time for her to get her own superhero movie, things went sour for her real fast. And after Catwoman, it took a long time for Halle Berry to get back those nine lives.
Appearing on The Tonight Show (via Entertainment Weekly), Halle Berry said that even though Catwoman was a disaster, she has been by its side in the 20 years since its release. “I loved it. It got panned. The critics said it sucked balls. And balls aren’t that bad.” Well, that’s one way to put it!
Halle Berry continued to say that younger audiences have found something special in Catwoman — which seems like a bit of a stretch, but it does have some lasting qualities like featuring a strong female lead. “What I’m happy about is that the children have found it now on the internet, and they love it. So, it’s so vindicating. Because now they’re saying it’s cool and what the heck was everybody’s problem with it, so like, I’m like, ‘I’m so brat now.’ Younger generations don’t know what was said back then. They discover it on their own and enjoy its merits without being mind-led to think a certain way.”
As for what critics and various associations were saying in 2004 about Catwoman, it currently holds an 18% on Rotten Tomatoes (so much for a contemporary critical analysis saving the day!) and ended up being nominated for seven Razzies, winning four: Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Screenplay, and yes, Worst Actress. For her part — and showing how much she has continued to support Catwoman, Halle Berry actually showed up to accept the award…with her Monster’s Ball Oscar in hand.
Twenty years on, what place — if any — do you think Catwoman holds in the realm of superhero movies? Do you think Halle Berry deserves more credit for Catwoman? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below!
The post Halle Berry is happy Catwoman has found another life with younger generation appeared first on JoBlo.
In the early 2010s an odd little shooter by the name of Metro 2033 emerged out of nowhere. Adapted from a similarly named sci-fi novel by author Dmitry Glukhovsky, it didn’t quite take the world by storm, but the story-driven FPS about a community trying to survive the nuclear apocalypse by hiding in the subway…
In the early 2010s an odd little shooter by the name of Metro 2033 emerged out of nowhere. Adapted from a similarly named sci-fi novel by author Dmitry Glukhovsky, it didn’t quite take the world by storm, but the story-driven FPS about a community trying to survive the nuclear apocalypse by hiding in the subway…