Available on PC and PlayStation 5 for the last four-and-a-half months, 2024’s smash hit Black Myth: Wukong is still conspicuously absent on Microsoft’s consoles. Exactly why has been a matter of some speculation, with the Xbox makers previously suggesting it’s nothing to do with its tech. However, now Game Science CEO…
The first season of the Netflix series Squid Game premiered back in September of 2021 – and on December 26th, 2024, after a three year wait, the streaming service finally released season 2 of the show. Thankfully, we’re not in for another long wait between seasons, as the third and final season of the show will be coming along sometime in 2025. In fact, Netflix has already unveiled a teaser trailer for the next batch of episodes… and in doing so, they have also introduced a new killer doll. This one is called Chul-su and he hangs out with the “Red Light, Green Light” doll Young-hee. We’ll have to wait and see what Chul-su will be bringing to the games in Squid Game season 3.
Here’s the Squid Game season 3 teaser:
Everyone say hi to Chul-su
Squid Game 3 coming 2025. pic.twitter.com/hCgNexjJbC
— Netflix (@netflix) January 1, 2025
Series creator Hwang Dong-hyuk is the director, writer, and producer of the show. Squid Game season 2 has the following synopsis: Three years after winning Squid Game, Player 456 remains determined to find the people behind the game and put an end to their vicious sport. Using this fortune to fund his search, Gi-hun starts with the most obvious of places: look for the man in a sharp suit playing ddakji in the subway. But when his efforts finally yield results, the path toward taking down the organization proves to be deadlier than he imagined: to end the game, he needs to re-enter it.
Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-hun, Wi Ha-jun, and Gong Yoo reprise their roles from the first season in the second season. New cast members include Yim Si-wan, Kang Ha-neul, Park Gyu-young, Lee Jin-uk, Park Sung-hoon, Yang Dong-geun, Kang Ae-sim, Lee David, Choi Seung-hyun, Roh Jae-won, Jo Yu-ri, and Won Ji-an.
In addition to the next season of Squid Game, Netflix is also moving forward with a second season of Squid Game: The Challenge, a reality series in which 456 players compete for a US$4.56 million cash prize by competing in challenges based on those in the series… although without all the death. There have also been rumors that David Fincher is still working on an English-language version of the series.
Are you looking forward to Squid Game season 3? Take a look at the teaser, then let us know by leaving a comment below.
The post Squid Game season 3 teaser introduces the killer doll Chul-su appeared first on JoBlo.
The gang crosses over into another comedy show in this new teaser for the sitcom event of the new year. The Emmy-winning cast of Abbott Elementary comes face-to-face with the politically incorrect, morally confused Paddy’s Pub staff from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which includes Danny DeVito, in the new trailer for the big crossover two-episode special. The teaser bumps to the soundtrack of “It Takes Two” by Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock as we get snippets of the worlds colliding in the ABC series. The event kicks off on January 8 with the ninth episode of the season, titled “Volunteers.”
Deadline shares the commercial, courtesy of the YouTube channel TV Promos, and the description on the video reads, “Ava announces the school district is sending a group of volunteers to help out at Abbott; however, when they arrive, things don’t go as planned. The cast of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia visit Abbott Elementary for a can’t miss crossover event, January 8th on ABC.” Abbott Elementary is exploring gentrification in their Philly neighborhoods in this current season’s plot. While the first episode of this two-parter starts with Abbott Elementary‘s mid-season entry, part two of the crossover will air as the premiere of It’s Always Sunny‘s seventeenth year on FXX.
Quinta Brunson, the award-winning star of Abbott, has expressed how excited she is about this crossover when she appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Brunson also explained how the episode was conceived. She would tell the host, “I was very inspired by watching a lot of shows over the pandemic. I was binging Family Matters and Full House and stuff like that, and I was shocked at how shocked I was when Steve Urkel showed up on the Full House set. I was screaming at my TV.”
She continued to say that she and It’s Always Sunny‘s star and co-creator Rob McElhenney would connect after social media compared the Philly-set shows. “Something came up online, and he was like, ‘Someone said this seems like a Sunny episode, this seems like an Abbott episode,’” Brunson explained. “And then we kind of connected over that. And then we really connected in person, and I just get along with him and his team so well, that we felt like we could actually do this.”
The post Sitcom worlds collide in the new promo for the Abbott Elementary and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia crossover episodes appeared first on JoBlo.
When Armie Hammer fell, we all wondered just what the heck was going on. We all heard some of the details and the rumors and the speculation, but it just seemed too bizarre. Now that he has had a few years to reflect on everything that went down over the allegations of abuse and cannibalism, Armie Hammer has ideas of how it all spiraled.
Appearing on husband/wife comedians Christina Pazsitzy and Tom Segura’s Your Mom’s House podcast (via People), Armie Hammer put some of the blame on the lockdown that resulted from the Covid-19 pandemic. “The world seemed like it was falling apart, and people were just deeply unhappy with their own lives. And then this salacious story comes around where this actor wants to murder and eat people. And all of a sudden, everyone’s like, ‘Oh, this is so much more fun to focus on than the fact that I can’t leave my living room.”
Armie Hammer, too, noted that words can easily be taken out of context, which, while the words themselves may not be true per se, do give the people – and tabloids – what they want. “This possession kinda thing, like, that’s just fun to talk about. And, by the way, especially if you’re, like, drunk or stoned or high at night and you’re texting. And while you’re saying it, you’re, like, chuckling to yourself, like, I’m gonna f*cking cut your toe off and keep it in my pocket so I got a piece of you everywhere I go, ha ha ha. If anyone took anyone’s bedroom conversations — specifically, like, if people were having a little bit of sexy time — and they took the sh*t that they said, even if it was completely vanilla, and you read that somewhere else out of context, everyone’s gonna go, ‘You guys are f*cking disgusting.’”
While Armie Hammer’s movie career is basically over, he is doing his best to get back onto the screen, as he has the western Frontier Crucible lined up. That said, he might be faring better in podcast land, having launched his own where he can reflect on his career and of course the more controversial elements of his life.
Where do you see Armie Hammer going from here? Do you want to see him appear in more movies?
The post Armie Hammer comments on allegations, thinks he knows how it went so far appeared first on JoBlo.
PLOT: A 19th-century widow has to make an impossible choice when, during an especially cruel winter, a foreign ship sinks off the coast of her Icelandic fishing village.
REVIEW: There’s something about a period piece that lends itself to a dreadful atmosphere. Maybe it’s the harsh time period itself, which carries within it such tragedies and misfortune. Death was a constant presence. But there’s also so much room for metaphor and beautiful imagery, making it an ideal candidate for emotionally resonant stories. Especially within the horror genre. And The Damned fully utilizes its time period and setting to deliver a story that resonates even in modern times.
Odessa Young stars as Eva, the widow who owns the primary ship for a fishing village. They’ve had a particularly cruel winter, and their food supplies are growing smaller and smaller. She’s faced with some difficult choices. When a ship sinks in their bay, they’re faced with the ultimate dilemma: help the sinking ship and risk the lives of everyone, or let the sailors die and allow themselves to live to see another die. After the decision is made, they find their village meeting misfortune after misfortune. The Damned asks the question: what will you do to survive, and will you still recognize yourself when the dust is settled?
The entire cast feels absolutely exhausted at all times and it really adds to this harsh and cruel environment. Young has the most showy role, getting to stew in dark moments. Her eyes are so expressive that she’s able to convey a lot with very little dialogue. I appreciated how valued she was in the village and not just cast to the side once her husband passed. Rory McCann‘s role in Game of Thrones as The Hound pretty much set him up for life with period pieces and he works tremendously well here. There’s an immediate familiarity and control that he exerts over the rest of the cast.
As is often the case with period films, this is a slow burn so those seeking energetic pacing may need to look elsewhere. They really take their time, and allow the viewer to soak in the dread. Though, there are times when I have to question the logistics of some of these events. If they’re having issues with keeping fed, chances are they don’t have the resources or energy to build a bunch of coffins. Not to mention then having to bury them in the frozen ground. But it makes for a good visual and people often go against logic when it comes to traditions of death. So it never ruined the film.
The visuals are where The Damned really impresses with beautiful scenic landscapes on display. How the darkness of night contrasts with the whiteness of the snow, and how it leaves highlights on other elements make for a gorgeous look. It can be a bit dark at times but given the setting, I think that is more than appropriate. Flatter lighting would have taken away the realism of the world.
I wasn’t really sure what to think of The Damned until an intriguing third-act reveal. While I won’t go into detail, this was the final piece of the puzzle that made for a satisfying film. They play with the idea of the supernatural throughout the film, so to get a definitive answer, retexturizes the rest of the film. I’m curious as to how others will take it, as I felt that it gave the film more meaning. Okay, that’s enough being vague as hell. Ultimately, I enjoyed the dark journey that The Damned takes us on.
THE DAMNED IS IN SELECT THEATERS ON JANUARY 3RD, 2024.
The post The Damned Review: Get Ready To Be Filled With Dread appeared first on JoBlo.
PLOT: A 19th-century widow has to make an impossible choice when, during an especially cruel winter, a foreign ship sinks off the coast of her Icelandic fishing village.
REVIEW: There’s something about a period piece that lends itself to a dreadful atmosphere. Maybe it’s the harsh time period itself, which carries within it such tragedies and misfortune. Death was a constant presence. But there’s also so much room for metaphor and beautiful imagery, making it an ideal candidate for emotionally resonant stories. Especially within the horror genre. And The Damned fully utilizes its time period and setting to deliver a story that resonates even in modern times.
Odessa Young stars as Eva, the widow who owns the primary ship for a fishing village. They’ve had a particularly cruel winter, and their food supplies are growing smaller and smaller. She’s faced with some difficult choices. When a ship sinks in their bay, they’re faced with the ultimate dilemma: help the sinking ship and risk the lives of everyone, or let the sailors die and allow themselves to live to see another die. After the decision is made, they find their village meeting misfortune after misfortune. The Damned asks the question: what will you do to survive, and will you still recognize yourself when the dust is settled?
The entire cast feels absolutely exhausted at all times and it really adds to this harsh and cruel environment. Young has the most showy role, getting to stew in dark moments. Her eyes are so expressive that she’s able to convey a lot with very little dialogue. I appreciated how valued she was in the village and not just cast to the side once her husband passed. Rory McCann‘s role in Game of Thrones as The Hound pretty much set him up for life with period pieces and he works tremendously well here. There’s an immediate familiarity and control that he exerts over the rest of the cast.
As is often the case with period films, this is a slow burn so those seeking energetic pacing may need to look elsewhere. They really take their time, and allow the viewer to soak in the dread. Though, there are times when I have to question the logistics of some of these events. If they’re having issues with keeping fed, chances are they don’t have the resources or energy to build a bunch of coffins. Not to mention then having to bury them in the frozen ground. But it makes for a good visual and people often go against logic when it comes to traditions of death. So it never ruined the film.
The visuals are where The Damned really impresses with beautiful scenic landscapes on display. How the darkness of night contrasts with the whiteness of the snow, and how it leaves highlights on other elements make for a gorgeous look. It can be a bit dark at times but given the setting, I think that is more than appropriate. Flatter lighting would have taken away the realism of the world.
I wasn’t really sure what to think of The Damned until an intriguing third-act reveal. While I won’t go into detail, this was the final piece of the puzzle that made for a satisfying film. They play with the idea of the supernatural throughout the film, so to get a definitive answer, retexturizes the rest of the film. I’m curious as to how others will take it, as I felt that it gave the film more meaning. Okay, that’s enough being vague as hell. Ultimately, I enjoyed the dark journey that The Damned takes us on.
THE DAMNED IS IN SELECT THEATERS ON JANUARY 3RD, 2024.
The post The Damned Review: Get Ready To Be Filled With Dread appeared first on JoBlo.
With 2024 coming to a close, it’s time to start looking to the future for our cinema needs. What does the year hold in store for us cinephiles? While 2024 held some surprise hits, giant blockbusters, and small films that could, it’s looking like 2025 movie releases will hold more of the same. We can hope that the good fortune that Hollywood has brought us will continue into the new year and keep theater attendance up.
Gerard Butler is back chasing down diamond thieves on the streets of Europe. He stumbles across the planning of the largest diamond heist ever planned. If you liked the first movie, then this will probably be more of the same. I’m personally happy that Gerard Butler is making some fun B-movie action films like back in the day. Plane was fun, and I’m excited to see these types of films at the theater again.
Cameron Diaz is coming out of retirement and teaming up with Jamie Foxx for this Netflix original film. They play former CIA agents who are pulled back in when their identities are exposed. While I’m glad to see Diaz back on screen after a decade away, it’s odd that this generic spy action movie did it. Maybe just the idea of being in a movie with Jamie Foxx again was enough.
A biopic about UK pop star Robbie Williams as we see his childhood all the way through his superstardom. Robbie will be playing himself, but how do you do that without it being weird? What if you make it so he’s a chimp? Sure. With Pharrell releasing his biopic as a Lego movie and now Robbie Williams replacing himself with a CGI chimp it seems biopics are really trying to gain quirk appeal.
This direct to Paramount+ film is a spin off from Star Trek: Discovery starring Michelle Yeoh as her character Philippa Georgiou. This was originally planned as a series, but after COVID-19 delays, it was scrapped. Later they revived the idea for an original movie. Star Trek has always been a beloved franchise but with new movies going direct to streaming, will we ever see them return to the big screen?
For the first time in nine years, Bridget Jones is back! Only this time, it will be on Peacock in the United States and then in theaters everywhere else in the world. Seems backwards but okay. Bridget Jones is now a single mom and trying to figure out how that works when you’re trying to get back into the dating pool. Renee Zellweger and Hugh Grant return, along with some other familiar faces. Are we past the Bridget Jones fandom, or is there still more life in this franchise?
After the events of Falcon And The Winter Soldier, Anthony Mackie is donning the shield as the new Captain America. Harrison Ford steps in for the late William Hurt as the new President Ross, who has a big red secret to share. Marvel only had one release last summer, and it seemed to work really well for them. Let’s see if something without Hugh Jackman’s claws still registers for Marvel fans.
The new film from Bong Joon-ho sees Robert Pattinson sent on a space mission because he is seen as expendable. With technology, he can be regenerated if something goes wrong. This time, something goes wrong, and he begins to experience an existential crisis. This darkly comedic film looks like a good time as we see Mickey die in numerous different ways and still have to get up to go to work the next day.
Steven Soderberg’s spy thriller is coming out with no details on the plot. With a cast that includes Michael Fassbender, Cate Blanchett, and Pierce Brosnan, you can bet lots of people will be interested in checking it out. Soderberg has always had an interesting take on just about any film he releases, and this will be no different.
Disney continues its trend of doing live-action remakes of its old animated films. This one caused a stir when it was announced, as people seemed divided on how to handle the seven dwarfs aspect of the film. Ultimately, the dwarves will be completely CGI. It will be interesting to see how this plays in a modern culture. Expect some new songs, and Gal Gadot will be playing the evil queen, which is inspired casting compared to the look of the original character.
With Super Mario Bros. and the Sonic movies being big hits, it’s no surprise that the hugely popular game Minecraft would be getting its own movie. Jack Black once again jumps on board to play Steve, the generic character most players take control of when booting up Minecraft. Jason Mamoa, Jennifer Coolidge, and Kate McKinnon round out the cast as random characters are pulled into the cubic world and need the help of an expert crafter to get home. Seems very Jumanji.
I don’t think anyone saw this sequel coming. In the first film, Ben Affleck played a neuro-divergent accountant who had a side job as a hitman. The film was a modest hit but nothing that would seem to warrant a sequel. Some other familiar faces from the first one return.
The second of Marvel’s offerings this year sees a bunch of cast-off characters from previous Marvel films being rounded up for a new agency. Yelena will be leading the team of previous supervillains who are now taking jobs for the government. Of course, this will be complicated by a lot of in-fighting and some unexpected speedbumps. The trailer makes this look like a lot of fun so here’s hoping it will give MCU fans some laughs while providing some great action scenes.
This is the second of Disney’s live-action remakes. Stitch crash-lands on Earth and is adopted by a young girl. Hijinks ensue as others come looking for him. The original had a great sense of humor, and the trailers showing Stitch invading other Disney properties were great. I have no idea if this will translate well into live-action, but kids will probably love it.
This was originally titled Dead Reckoning Part II, but after the last film underperformed, the title was quickly changed. It will continue the storyline from the last film, and we see Ethan Hunt trying to stop the deadly AI from causing worldwide chaos. Of course in order to shut it down, they have to make their way to the submarine that is crashed on the ocean floor.
The franchise returns to the big screen as we see Daniel from the original and Mr. Han from the 2010 “remake” join forces to mentor a new student. It’s a strange crossing of the streams which retcons the remake into being set in the same continuity. With Cobra Kai just ending when this hits theaters, will fans even care enough to go check it out? Fans of the original movie got their nostalgia fix with the series. Are there people who have nostalgia for the 2010 movie?
The spin-off of the John Wick films hits the big screen. We were introduced to the Ballerinas in John Wick 3. Now they get a film all their own while Keanu Reeves will still make an appearance since this is set during that time period. Ana de Armas takes over the role of Eve as she looks to get revenge on the people who killed her family. The intricate world of John Wick is fascinating to explore, and this gives us a chance to see even more of it.
An animated film from Disney that follows Elio. He’s a young space fanatic who gets tasked with saving the universe. They have been struggling to come up with animated films that really stick with audiences that aren’t already established Pixar properties. The shine of the early Pixar films has really dimmed after Disney bought them. Hopefully we can see Disney regain its footing with animated films like we used to have.
Dreamworks seems to be taking a cue from Disney and remaking some of their more popular animated properties. We’re getting another round of dragons as we see the first meeting of Hiccup and Toothless. Again. Not sure if this trend will ever end, but at least Dreamworks doesn’t have as deep of a catalog as Disney. When can we expect to see a live-action Kung Fu Panda?
Scarlett Johanssen is taking the lead role this time around. No one seems to have learned any lesson about bringing dinosaurs back to life. This time it looks like explorers have to go in to get DNA samples from some prehistoric animals to help cure a disease. Universal really just wants to see if there is any juice left to squeeze out of this fruit. It may be time to let it sleep for a few decades before heading back in.
James Gunn takes his stab at the Man of Steel as the DC Universe reboots itself on-screen once again. Reports are that Gunn held an early screening for WB execs and that it did not go well. That could be internet fodder, but it doesn’t instill a lot of hope for the new version of the DCU. With the DC shows on the CW just wrapping up, we’ll have to see if Gunn’s Superman will connect with comic fans. The recent trailer seemed to gain a lot of views very quickly, so we at least know that fans are interested.
Those magical little blue creatures will grace theater screens once again. This time, the film will be fully animated and musical. Paramount/Nickelodeon will take on the film, and it seems to be inspired by the popularity of the Troll movies. Rhianna will voice Smurfette and be joined by Nick Offerman, John Goodman, Kurt Russell, Dan Levy, and Hannah Waddingham.
Marvel’s first family finally makes their way into the MCU. While they have been on-screen before as part of Fox’s Marvel movies, this time, we’ll see what the MCU has in store for the group. Marvel’s third film in six months will really test if audiences are in superhero fatigue or not. The early footage shown at Comicon seems fun, so hopefully, it will bring something new.
Liam Neeson is hoping to try something drastically different than we’ve seen from him before. He has some big shoes to fill, as Leslie Nielsen based the whole second half of his career on the original Naked Gun. It will be hard to see anyone else trying to play that role. Plus, does that type of comedy have a place anymore?
Disney’s calendar of releases this year is crazy, as we see the reteaming of Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan. The last film was a remake of an old Disney Classic. Now, twenty-one years later, we are getting a sequel. Expect more body-swapping jokes as the Lindsay Lohan resurgence seems to be taking shape. She’s been on an upswing lately, and hopefully, we can see her get a victory lap as she has matured.
Somehow, Bob Odenkirk became an action star after starring in Nobody back in 2021. Now, we get to see some more middle-aged dad action as he returns for this sequel. The first movie really worked to show what appears to be an ordinary man who decides to get back into a life he left a long time ago. Now that we have seen him for what he really is, here’s hoping for more action and more Christopher Lloyd running around with a shotgun.
The third film spin-off of the popular period drama. Many of the cast return to once again play their characters, showing the divide between the upper class and the working class. This drama captivated audiences when it first premiered, and both previous films have been big hits. It only makes sense to keep it going with another film.
We’re traveling back into the world of Tron. Jeff Bridges is back, along with a slew of other familiar faces like Jodie Turner-Smith, Evan Peters, and Jared Leto. This time, a program is sent from the digital world to the real world. Each Tron film so far has pushed the boundaries in terms of special effects and technical marvels. Let’s see what they come up with this time.
We’re heading back to the arcade, so get your quarters ready. The reboot of the Mortal Kombat franchise continues as our heroes are heading back to Outland to continue the fight for all existence. The last film was released during the pandemic, so a true gauge of the popularity is hard to judge, but audiences seem to have a positive response. During the initial film franchise run, the second entry pushed it off a cliff. We can hope they learned their lesson.
Another entry into the magic mystery franchise is in the pipeline. All of our sleight-of-hand artists are returning, but no plot has been released so far. The previous movies have gained an audience through their unique use of stage magic and illusions to foil their adversaries. It is a fun and interesting way of doing a mystery based action film. If it lives up to the previous entries, then audiences should leave the theater happy.
The second part of the recent smash hit. Those who haven’t seen the Broadway play or read the book will get to see how the story ends. I expect more fantastic songs, some great visuals, and more Oz. We all need all the Oz we can get. Let’s all get ready to defy gravity once again.
Disney has quite the release schedule this year, and we’re not even done yet. Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde are teaming up to solve a wild case that could change their entire lives. It will be fun to travel back into the world of Zootopia and see where the characters are. It looks like more of the same fun we had in the last film.
It’s time to head back to Pandora. Last time James Cameron dealt with water motifs and explored more of the world. Looks like we’ll be dealing with fire this time around. While the films seem to always be a wonder of motion capture and CGI, it would be great to see Cameron go back to other projects before his film career comes to an end. We can always hope.
Hey Kids! SpongeBob is back with another movie. This time, he will explore the depths of the ocean to deal with the ghost of the Flying Dutchman. This franchise just keeps engaging generation after generation. At this point, The Simpsons might be about the only animated franchise that has lasted longer. As long as fans keep checking out the movies, the more they will keep making.
What 2025 movie releases are you looking forward to? Let us know in the comments. And, if you’re looking for more info on horror releases, check out our horror movie preview HERE!
The post 2025 Movie Preview: All the big movies hitting theaters next year! appeared first on JoBlo.
I’ve been very fortunate in my career here at JoBlo to chat with various actors for extended times about their careers. Getting to go over Weird Science with Anthony Michael Hall is still a life highlight. Getting to talk about a wide variety of projects versus just the most recent one that they’re promoting provides insight that we otherwise wouldn’t receive. So I was very grateful to be able to sit down for an interview with Mike Flanagan regular Molly C. Quinn to talk about her unique career.
Being a massive Flanagan fan, Molly and I geeked out a bit about the sheer brilliance of the writer/director. Really, this was just a great excuse to be able to gush about a filmmaker I admire with someone who knows his work on a personal level. Molly gives some really insightful answers and this feels far from the usual guarded interview that can come from a publicity circuit. Molly’s energy is infectious as she goes over what makes Flanagan so special, joining the Night Vale podcast network, as well as what it’s like to scare people for a living. Make sure to check out Scare Tactics on the USA Network as well as Unlicensed on Audible. And don’t forget to check her out in Life of Chuck early next year.
Unlicensed Season 2 plot synopsis: T.L. Thompson returns as the series narrator, and Molly C. Quinn and Lusia Strus reprise their roles as the unlicensed private detectives Molly Hatch and Lou Rosen who work in the far reaches of Los Angeles County, where the glamor of Hollywood fades into the long empty of the desert.
What did you think of our Molly C. Quinn interview? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
The post Interview: Castle, Scare Tactics & Life of Chuck star Molly C. Quinn Sits Down With JoBlo To Discuss Her Career appeared first on JoBlo.
I’ve been very fortunate in my career here at JoBlo to chat with various actors for extended times about their careers. Getting to go over Weird Science with Anthony Michael Hall is still a life highlight. Getting to talk about a wide variety of projects versus just the most recent one that they’re promoting provides insight that we otherwise wouldn’t receive. So I was very grateful to be able to sit down with Mike Flanagan regular Molly C. Quinn to talk about her unique career.
Being a massive Flanagan fan, Molly and I geeked out a bit about the sheer brilliance of the writer/director. Really, this was just a great excuse to be able to gush about a filmmaker I admire with someone who knows his work on a personal level. Molly gives some really insightful answers and this feels far from the usual guarded interview that can come from a publicity circuit. Molly’s energy is infectious as she goes over what makes Flanagan so special, joining the Night Vale podcast network, as well as what it’s like to scare people for a living. Make sure to check out Scare Tactics on the USA Network as well as Unlicensed on Audible. And don’t forget to check her out in Life of Chuck early next year.
Unlicensed Season 2 plot synopsis:
T.L. Thompson returns as the series narrator, and Molly C. Quinn and Lusia Strus reprise their roles as the unlicensed private detectives Molly Hatch and Lou Rosen who work in the far reaches of Los Angeles County, where the glamor of Hollywood fades into the long empty of the desert.
The post Interview: Castle, Scare Tactics & Life of Chuck star Molly Quinn Sits Down With JoBlo To Discuss Her Career appeared first on JoBlo.
This is the fictional story of five strangers picked to live in a house and have their lives taped to find out what happens when people stop being polite and start getting murdered… My Little Eye. And if you haven’t seen this one, it’s the Best Horror Movie You Never Saw.
Reality shows are nearly unavoidable these days, but back in the ‘90s they were still rare. Aside from MTV’s The Real World and episodes of Cops, we hadn’t been exposed to much reality programming yet. And when word started leaking out about the development of shows like Big Brother and Survivor, they sounded odd. A little twisted, potentially dangerous. Big Brother was offering the chance to watch its contestants on 24/7 live streams. Survivor was taking its contestants out to isolated locations and leaving them to provide basic survival necessities for themselves. While the concept of Big Brother just seemed weird, the description of Survivor stirred up real concern that somebody could die on that show. We know now that everything has turned out fine. Survivor has aired for over forty seasons to date and Big Brother has proven to be so popular that more than sixty countries have put together their own version of the show, resulting in over five hundred seasons airing across the last few decades.
It was when we were hearing the first rumblings of Big Brother and Survivor that writer David Hilton realized these reality shows were presenting the perfect set-up for psychological thrills. And there were also web cam streams online to provide more inspiration. A treatment was written that made its way into the hands of director Marc Evans, who had gotten his start in TV before moving into features with the drama House of America and the crime thriller Resurrection Man. Neither of which had been successful. So when Evans started developing the My Little Eye script with Hilton, he saw this as a make or break project. His directing career depended on it. If this one failed, he might never direct another movie. James Watkins was brought in to work on the screenplay alongside Hilton. And once a couple drafts had been written, the project was pitched to Working Title, a British film studio that’s a subsidiary of Universal. By then, it was the summer of 2000. Big Brother and Survivor had both made it to American airwaves. And right around the time the first season of Big Brother aired its finale, Working Title gave My Little Eye the green light.
The screenplay crafted by Hilton and Watkins begins with an online ad. Five contestants are being sought for a reality webcast. If they spend six months living in an isolated house that’s full of cameras, they’ll win one million dollars. There won’t be any competitions or evictions. All they have to do is live in the house – a place so far out in the middle of nowhere that they’ll be taken there by helicopter. Occasionally, supplies like food, booze, and cigarettes will be delivered to their door. But they will also have to fend for themselves, setting snares for animals in the surrounding forest, hunting deer, stuff like that. And if anyone leaves during that six month period, everyone loses. No one will get a single dollar.
We’re shown clips from the audition tapes for the five characters we’ll be following through the film. Stephen O’Reilly, who works primarily as a composer these days, was cast as Danny, the sensitive guy who’s into woodworking and was raised by his grandfather. His main goal is to be able to take his grandpa on a nice vacation once he gets out of the house. Sean C. W. Johnson, who may be best known for his work in the Power Rangers franchise, was cast as Matt, the good-looking guy who says he’s there for the challenge. Jennifer Sky was cast as Charlie, who’s on a quest to become famous. Sky hasn’t done much acting in the last twenty years, but at the time she had a following from her roles on the TV shows Cleopatra 2525 and Xena: Warrior Princess. She’s also known for having a short-lived marriage to Alex Band, the lead singer in the rock group The Calling and the son of Full Moon founder Charles Band. For genre fans, Kris Lemche may be the most well-known cast member among the contestants. Around this time, he was also in Final Destination 3 and the Canadian werewolf classic Ginger Snaps… And if you want to spend a day just watching Lemche be awesome, Ginger Snaps, My Little Eye, and Final Destination 3 would make for a great triple feature.
The character of Emma is the obvious horror movie final girl. She auditions to be on this webcast because she thinks it will be a positive life experience, a way for her to learn about herself. How nice and wholesome. Of course she’s going to make it to the end. As he was putting the movie together, Marc Evans was drawing inspiration from John Carpenter. There are hints of The Thing in the film’s snowbound, isolated setting and the fact that the characters feel increasingly paranoid. But he has also cited the works of Roman Polanski as a source of inspiration, and part of the reason why he cast Laura Regan as Emma is the fact that she had a Mia Farrow vibe to her.
Evans told Jigsaw Lounge the Polanski influence can be found in “the atmosphere. Because a lot of his stuff relates to a house becoming a sort of malign presence. Repulsion, and Rosemary’s Baby as well.” He liked that Regan was reminiscent of Mia Farrow in Rosemary’s Baby because “that character was in the same sort of position of not knowing what was happening to her.”
Regan has gone on to do more genre work, in the films They, Hollow Man 2, and Dead Silence, and a lot of television. O’Reilly, Johnson, Sky, Lemche, and Regan play the five contestants. But two other characters show up as the story goes on. Nick Mennell, who would later be killed by Michael Myers in Rob Zombie’s Halloween and Jason Voorhees in Platinum Dunes’ Friday the 13th, plays a cop. And Bradley Cooper, who has since been nominated for many Oscars, makes a brief appearance as Travis, a guy who says he got lost while skiing through the forest. But can he be trusted?
That’s the problem in this place, it’s never clear who you can trust. Knowing it wouldn’t be interesting to show the six months the characters spend in the house, Evans and the writers jump straight to the final week. That’s when everything starts to fall apart. The furnace breaks down. Food isn’t being delivered anymore. It seems like a stalker might be lurking at the edge of the forest. A message left on a frosty window and a bloody hammer on a pillow reference a traumatic incident from Emma’s past. Danny receives a devastating letter from home. The outsider Travis says he has never even heard of this webcast. A supply delivery contains nothing but a gun and some bullets. Is it taunting Rex about his father’s suicide? Is The Company trying to drive the contestants out of the house so they won’t have to pay them? Would The Company go so far as to kill them?
Filming on My Little Eye took place in Nova Scotia throughout the months of March and April in 2001, with sets being built inside an abandoned leisure center. To achieve the webcast look, the movie was shot on mini-DV camcorders. And since the house is meant to have cameras all over the place, much like the Big Brother house, there were around eight cameras covering each scene. So once Evans was in the editing room, any moment would have eight angles to choose from and he could pick which angles he thought a webcast viewer would click on.
As he put together the sound design, another filmmaker became a source of inspiration: David Lynch. Because, as Evans put it, Lynch “just knows to put you in this place that’s really strange that you’ve never been to before, with a masterful use of sound. He was a big influence.” The sound was recorded normally, then beat up in post-production to drop in aural disturbances, the constant sound of whirring cameras, and low industrial rumbles. Creating an atmosphere meant to get under the viewer’s skin.
The aim was to get the movie as close to a ninety minute running time as possible. Evans wanted it to be the cinematic equivalent of a thrash metal single. Short, effective, and nasty. But it proved to be very difficult to get the film down to ninety minutes. The first rough cut was four hours long. Evans started to lose confidence in the film as he went through the editing process, so Working Title suggested holding a test screening in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, that screening was held on September 11, 2001. And, understandably, the test results were terrible. Nothing was going to go over well with an audience on 9/11. For a while, the companies behind My Little Eye didn’t know what to do with it. It was so dark and unnerving. Was there any place for it in the post-9/11 market? It looked like it might go straight to video. Then they found distributor Momentum Pictures, which believed in the film and wanted to give it a theatrical release. And when a woman had a panic attack at a festival screening in Scotland, that just made it clear that Momentum had made a great decision when they acquired this movie.
Made on a budget of three million, My Little Eye earned nine million during its theatrical run. so it was a solid success. And when Universal brought it to DVD, they did some interesting things with it. An audio track called Conversations of the Company allowed viewers to eavesdrop on what members of The Company are saying to each other throughout the film. In a UK release, viewers could choose to watch a version of the film that was presented as if it was being viewed on the Company-run website. The interactive mode even lets you see certain scenes from multiple different angles. This includes the Travis and Charlie sex scene, so it proved to be a popular option for some viewers.
It’s cool that there’s a Company audio track and an interactive website version of the movie. But My Little Eye didn’t need those enhancements to be entertaining and intriguing. Evans put a lot of effort into creating a dark, unsettling atmosphere for his movie – and it paid off. When you’re watching My Little Eye, the imagery and sound really make you feel like you’re in the house with the contestants. Stuck in the middle of nowhere with something dangerous lurking outside. Evans and the writers did an excellent job building up the paranoia, and the cast did great work bringing their characters to life. That’s not to say all of the characters themselves are great. Some of them definitely could have been given more depth and made more interesting. But we still get drawn into the situation and want to see them come out of it okay. And if they don’t all come out of it okay, there are some expendable ones we wouldn’t mind seeing removed from the story.
As mentioned, Kris Lemche is awesome in this movie, making Rex the most fun character of the bunch to watch. While Emma worries about her past, Danny and Matt hang around being bland, and Charlies does her “horny girl wants fame” thing, Rex tries to keep things under control for as long as possible, in hopes of getting his money. And when things start getting too strange, it’s Rex who is able to start figuring out exactly what’s going on.
Rex is the MVP of the contestants, but the standout sequence of the film is the appearance by Bradley Cooper. Paranoia is already running high by the time his character Travis shows up at the door. Things have been getting increasingly uncomfortable in the house. Then this guy arrives, saying he got lost skiing. His GPS died and he’s not sure how to get back to his truck. Now it’s dark out and he needs shelter. So the contestants take him in – and he soon reveals that he has never heard of the webcast they’re supposedly on, even though he’s a programmer who says he lives on the internet when he’s not out skiing in the middle of nowhere. This gets the contestants more worried than they already were. Travis, on the other hand, seems surprisingly at ease. He quickly sets out to seduce Charlie, which is not a challenge. And not only do the cameras everywhere not bother him… he even gives them suspicious looks. When he speaks directly to one of the cameras the following the morning, it becomes very clear: there’s something bad going on here. Bradley Cooper is only in the movie for around nine minutes, but he makes an impact.
My Little Eye makes for an impactful viewing experience overall, even if you don’t remember the details of what happens in it beyond the fact that people get murdered. Somehow, by someone. The imagery and the atmosphere can stick with you for years. Marc Evans took the concept and made it into a very effective psychological thriller, and its success saved his directing career. He has continued working steadily ever since this movie was released in 2002, bouncing back and forth between feature films and episodes of TV shows. He has more projects lined up, making their way through pre-production. And it’s all because of My Little Eye.
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