More details about Obsidian’s next first-person RPG, Avowed, have been revealed. A recent episode of the so-called Official Xbox Podcast (it’s…not a podcast) has a bunch more footage from the game than we saw during Microsoft’s January Developer Direct, along with a good deal more information about how it’ll actually…
The mask and collectible makers at Trick or Treat Studios have given sneak previews of many of the new masks that will be part of their 2024 product line-up, including revivals of Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees masks from the ’80s and ’90s and masks of Kiefer Sutherland and Jason Patric’s characters David and Michael from Joel Schumacher’s 1987 vampire classic The Lost Boys (watch it HERE)! An image of these masks can be seen at the bottom of this article.
Scripted by Janice Fischer, Jeffrey Boam, and James Jeremias, The Lost Boys has the following synopsis: Teenage brothers Michael and Sam move with their mother to a small town in northern California. While the younger Sam meets a pair of kindred spirits in geeky comic-book nerds Edward and Alan, the angst-ridden Michael soon falls for Star — who turns out to be in thrall to David, leader of a local gang of vampires. Sam and his new friends must save Michael and Star from the undead.
In addition to Sutherland and Patric, the film stars Corey Haim, Dianne Wiest, Corey Feldman, Jamison Newlander, Jami Gertz, Edward Herrmann, Bernard Hughes, Brooke McCarter, Billy Wirth, Alex Winter, and Chance Michael Corbitt, with an unforgettable appearance by Tim Cappello.
Here’s how Trick or Treat Studios describes the David and Michael masks: “Sleep all day. Party all night. Never grow old. Never die. It’s fun to be a vampire. These Deluxe Injection Masks are made of hard plastic and include hair and earring detail.” Fans can sign up for email notifications on the Trick or Treat Studios website so they’ll be the first to know when these masks (and other Lost Boys products) are available for pre-order!
It was recently announced that Insidious star Patrick Wilson will be producing a stage musical based on The Lost Boys. A few years ago, we heard that Gerard “G Tom Mac” McMahon – the musician behind the song “Cry Little Sister” – was working on a stage musical version of the film as well, but apparently that project has nothing to do with the one Wilson and his collaborators are developing.
What do you think of the David and Michael The Lost Boys masks from Trick or Treat Studios? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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Awards season is set to culminate with the 2024 Academy Awards. The nominees were announced earlier this morning, and you can view the full list HERE. There were a lot of favorites that many saw as a shoo-in for nominations. Oppenheimer was a heavy favorite to get recognized as the film would collect nominations for Christopher Nolan, Emily Blunt, and Cillian Murphy, and the film itself is now up for the big Best Picture award. With Killers of the Flower Moon receiving much-talked-about hype before the film came out as well as the non-stop praise after its release, it would seem Martin Scorsese would be an obvious nomination for Best Director, and the legendary filmmaker would indeed get the nod as he receives his tenth nomination and surpasses Steven Spielberg’s record.
Barbie was also a favorite this year, as the film stole 2024, with Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, and Greta Gerwig collecting nominations for earlier awards this year. However, in some surprises revealed in the nomination announcements, Ryan Gosling would be the only one of the big three to get nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Every year, there are some surprises that come with the territory. Many hopefuls, some of whom were shown awards recognition prior, get snubbed, or inversely, some nominations seem to be a surprise. Deadline has started the conversation of the biggest surprises of this year’s announcements.
Their biggest snubs include:
MARGOT ROBBIE – Last year, it was Babylon, this year it’s Barbie. Seems the very talent actress needs to stay away from complicated and roles that are in movies that start with a B. Clearly that’s the only explanation why the SAG Awards nominee and I, Tanya 2017 Oscar nominee was left out of the race today.
SALTBURN – All those Golden Globes and BAFTA nominations meant nothing as the Emerald Fennell directed class conscious dark comedy was truly burned by the Academy this Tuesday morning.
LEONARDO DICAPRIO – The well-deserved Oscar love for Killers of the Flower Moon’s Lily Gladstone did not extend to the former Academy Award winner who portrayed her deceitful and whelp husband. Already given a pass in the SAG Awards nominations, this snub of Leo is a bit of crime unto itself.
FANTASIA – The Color Purple actress was fantastic in the Blitz Bazawule directed musical. Golden Globe and BAFTA voters thought so with nominations for the Grammy winner. Strikingly, not so much with AMPAS voters.
ANDREW SCOTT – Fleabag’s Hot Priest was not even lukewarm with Academy voters for his arresting All of Us Strangers performance.
GRETA GERWIG – Barbie must be tickled pink with its Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay nominations. Yet, AMPAS voters, a question: do you think the beloved and rule breaking blockbuster directed itself? Asking for a friend.
ORIGIN – Ava DuVernay’s acclaimed adaption of Isabel Wilkerson’s best seller Caste has been running a guerrilla campaign for months with big names like Regina King and Angelina Jolie casting their lot with the Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor starrer. Sadly, the root was not able to bear Oscar fruit this morning.
GRETA LEE – The Past Lives star was given a pass, even as the film itself garnered Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay nominations.
PEDRO ALMODÓVAR – The Spanish auteur’s 30-minute cowboy love story Strange Way of Life had the star power of Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal, but nada in the Live-Action short category this morning.
LENNY KRAVITZ – No one can take away the power of Colman Domingo scoring a Best Actor nomination for Rustin, but despite being the tune on everyone’s list, Kravitz’s ‘Road to Freedom’ proved a road to nowhere Oscar-wise.
STILL: A MICHAEL J. FOX MOVIE – Davis Guggenheim’s documentary about the Back To the Future star’s life, career and fight with Parkinson’s disease lit up Sundance this time last year and received seven Emmy nominations. Oddly, the film was stillborn with Academy voters.
JULIANNE MOORE – When it came to Best Supporting Actress, it just wasn’t the year for the May December star.
And their biggest surprises include:
STERLING K. BROWN – There’s a lot of Emmys on the This Is Us actor’s shelf, and the American Fiction star has received Golden Globes and SAG Award noms of late. However, the Oscar recognition today for Brown’s tremendous turn in the Cord Jefferson directed drama is fittingly the real deal.
ANNETTE BENING – With her fifth Academy Award nomination today, the Nyad star is fittingly in the Best Actress pool and poised to give it the last one, fast one.
Do you agree? Who do you think was overlooked this year? Who do you think was not deserving?
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Fear the Walking Dead cast member Colman Domingo has produced a horror film called It’s What’s Inside, which just earned a lot of positive reviews after having its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. (You can read an 8/10 review from JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray right HERE.) Now Deadline reports that, while numerous studios were chasing the distribution rights to this movie, Netflix has come out the winner in this situation, forking over $17 million to bring It’s What’s Inside to their streaming service.
It’s What’s Inside marks the feature directorial debut of Greg Jardin, who also wrote the screenplay. Details on the plot are being kept under wraps, with most reviewers doing their best to keep the movie’s secrets. The set-up is, A pre-wedding party descends into an existential nightmare when an estranged friend shows up with a mysterious suitcase.
The film stars Brittany O’Grady (The White Lotus), James Morosini (I Love My Dad), Gavin Leatherwood (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), Devon Terrell (Rap Sh!t), Nina Bloomgarden (The Resort), Reina Hardesty (What Comes Around), David W. Thompson (The Boys), Madison Davenport (Sharp Objects), and Domingo’s Fear the Walking Dead co-star Alycia Debnam-Carey.
Domingo produced the film through his company Edith Productions, alongside Raúl Domingo. Kate Andrews produced for Boldly Go Productions, William Rosenfeld produced for Such Content, and Jason Baum is a producer on the film as well. Such Content’s Robert Kapp serves as executive producer. Such Content also provided the financing. Filming took place in Portland, Oregon over the course of 18 days.
When the project was first announced, Edith Productions provided the following statement to Deadline: “We are thrilled to usher in an extraordinary auteur filmmaker such as Greg. We developed this with thrilling creative partners such as Kate Andrews and William Rosenfeld and we’re excited to share the mind of Greg Jardin with the world.“
Deadline notes that Jardin previously made music videos and promotional shorts for Cowboy Bebop, When They See Us, 13 Reasons Why, and Cursed.
Are you interested in It’s What’s Inside? What do you think of Netflix picking up the worldwide distribution rights? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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Well, it was fun while it lasted. Nintendo has taken action against the Palworld mod that would have made the “Pokémon With Guns” label much more literal. So if you were hoping to play Pocketpair’s monster-taming survival game as long-time Pokémon anime protagonist Ash Ketchum capturing and enslaving Game Freak’s…
Well, it was fun while it lasted. Nintendo has taken action against the Palworld mod that would have made the “Pokémon With Guns” label much more literal. So if you were hoping to play Pocketpair’s monster-taming survival game as long-time Pokémon anime protagonist Ash Ketchum capturing and enslaving Game Freak’s…
“Come with me if you want to live!” But don’t bother if you don’t care for James Cameron’s movies. Michael Biehn — who played Kyle Reese in 1984’s The Terminator — revealed that singer Sting turned down playing the character because he didn’t like the director’s previous work…Piranha II: The Spawning.
Biehn — who was also featured in deleted scenes in Terminator 2: Judgment Day — remembered Sting’s fateful words to Cameron during the casting process, telling Michael Rosenbaum on his podcast, “I think originally [James Cameron] wanted Sting because he thought Sting had this unearthly quality about him. And I think he met with Sting, and I think Sting basically said, ‘Yeah, I just saw Piranha 2. I think I’ll take a pass on this thing.’ Something along those lines. I’m not sure how serious Jim was about him. I’ve never heard any other name associated with Kyle Reese.” Considering Sting played Feyd-Rautha in Dune for David Lynch, he must’ve really dug Eraserhead!
Sting was actually fairly prolific in the 1980s when it came to appearing in movies, playing minor or supporting roles for the likes of Terry Gilliam (The Adventures of Baron Munchausen), Mike Figgis (Stormy Monday) and more. But the very idea of Sting being cast in The Terminator at least lets us picture the alternate version starring him and O.J. Simpson. Others who have been rumored to be in consideration for the role of Reese include Matt Dillon, Tommy Lee Jones, Christopher Reeve, and even The Boss himself, Bruce Springsteen.
But Cameron wouldn’t entirely discard Sting, as the singer’s music — particularly a song off of 1985’s The Dream of the Blue Turtle — helped influence T2. We guess the ecstasy didn’t hurt, either…But outside of Sting potentially having run-ins with Arnold Schwarzenegger, The Terminator has quite a history behind it, from its origins as a nightmare by Cameron to its current status as one of the key sci-fi actioners of all time. You can get more on that our episode of “WTF Happened to This Movie?!”
Sting has been nominated for the Best Original Score Oscar four times.
How do you think Sting would have done as Kyle Reese in The Terminator? Give us your thoughts in the comments section.
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Scream (2022) and Scream VI star Melissa Barrera may have been fired from Scream 7, but she is in Universal Pictures’ upcoming “Dracula’s Daughter” film Abigail, which was directed by her Scream directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett and is set to reach theatres on April 19th. Even beyond that film, Barrera told The Hollywood Reporter that she has no intention of leaving the horror genre behind.
Barrera, who has also starred in a horror movie called Bed Rest, said, “I don’t think I’ll be able to get away from horror, and I also don’t want to. I love the genre so much. It’s so much fun to make. Also, I think a genre that people show up to the theaters for no matter what. No stars have to be in the movie for people to show up. I think that just goes to show how big it is, and I think a lot of great directors start as horror directors. There’s just something about it.“
Barrera’s latest movie is the horror rom-com musical Your Monster, which just premiered at the Sundance Film Festival – and earned a 6/10 review from JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray. The feature directorial debut of Caroline Lindy, who wrote the film based on her 2019 short of the same name, Your Monster centers on an aspiring actress Laura Franco, whose life falls apart after a cancer diagnosis and devastating breakup. The soft-spoken actress finds her voice again when she meets a terrifying, yet weirdly charming Monster living in her closet.
Barrera plays Laura Franco, with Tommy Dewey (Casual) as the monster. Edmund Donovan (Tell Me Lies) and Kayla Foster (The Deuce) are also in the cast. Barrera said she signed on to star in Your Monster because “This movie has comedy, romantic comedy, horror and musical theater. All the things that I love in one. It was a no-brainer.“
What do you think of Melissa Barrera remaining dedicated to the horror genre even after her Scream 7 firing? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Barrera’s other credits include the musicals In the Heights and Carmen, as well as the survival thriller limited series Keep Breathing.
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The episode of Best Horror Party Movies covering Bride of Chucky was Written, Narrated/Hosted, and Edited by Mike Conway, Produced by John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.
From the director of Freddy vs. Jason and the writer of all things Child’s Play comes a romantic comedy as sharp as a bloodied knife. Join JoBlo Horror as we take the party bus on a road trip with our favorite Good Guy in Bride of Chucky (watch it HERE). Welcome to our horror party, kids, where we take some horror films and make a fun game out of it. I’m Mike Conway, and today we ditch the Child’s Play title and jump right into the “Of Chucky” era with Bride of Chucky, released in 1998.
Bride of Chucky follows Tiffany, the ex-girlfriend of serial killer Charles Lee Ray. After being torn to shreds in Child’s Play 3, Chucky’s former flame stitches him back together and ”ade dues” him back to life to keep that romance a-goin. However, after an argument, Chucky kills Tiffany and transfers her soul into a bridal doll. Now on a quest to find a magical amulet to restore them to human form, the pair arrange a road trip with Tiffany’s neighbor and his girlfriend, who are unaware of the living killer dolls.
So, what type of party is this movie? Well, according to this scale, this party is killer. And as always, I’ll be making a drink to tie along with the movie. As with any game, there are some basic rules you must follow. Keeping in line with horror tropes, take a drink when:
Someone drinks or does drugs
Someone screams
When there is a jump scare
When a car won’t start
When there is a clumsy escape
And finally with any kill.
If you are a more advanced partier, add these modifications to your list:
When Tiffany mentions anything about her mother
When Martha Stewart is mentioned
With any other horror movie reference
When Tiffany says “sweet face”
If alcohol isn’t your bag, there are plenty of other things to choose from. Cannabis if legal in your state, delta 8, 9, 10, or whatever the hell number they’re at now, caffeine, hot sauce, anything. Just know your tolerance. This is supposed to be fun; we don’t want to send you to the hospital. Basically, don’t be a dumbass.
So, on that note, slap on those JNCOs and tighten those Doc Martins as we take a trip back to 1998 to see if this romance is as awkward as I was that year. No one understood me. Anyway, let’s party.
The Movie opens with a little taste of ‘Murica at the Lockport Evidence Depository, which houses quite a bit of horror memorabilia such as Michael Myers’ mask, Freddy’s glove, Leatherface’s chainsaw, and the Jason knock-off mask you can pick up at any Dollar General within a two-mile radius. There, we have this dip wad of a police officer snatching a bag from one of the lockers before speeding off in the rain. Yo, those hands aren’t at 9 and 3. He then calls the person he’s delivering the bag to. Mmm Hmm. 9 and 3, my dude. 9 and 3. While waiting at the rendezvous point, the nosey crooked cop attempts to take a peak to what he is delivering. However, he quickly learns he has the right to remain silent…for good. Who is the other person you may ask? No other than Tiffany Valentine, played by the amazing Jennifer Tilly. She then removes the item from the bag, revealing it to be none other than the destroyed Chucky doll. Apparently, this flick takes place one month after Child’s Play 3. And quite honestly, after revisiting them recently, I have many questions as to how this doll is still intact. You know, being completely torn to shreds at the end of that film. But really, who gives a shit when you have the kick-ass Living Dead Girl by Rob Zombie blasting through the speakers?
When this movie came out, I was completely obsessed with the soundtrack. It featured bands like Coal Chamber, Type O Negative, Static-x, F*cking Slayer, as my man Jose Mangin would say. I could go on about these bands, but let’s get back to the movie.
Tiffany takes the shreds back to her trailer park home to give it the ol stich-a-roo until it comes into Chucky’s most iconic look. We then cut to the other cast of characters where a high schooler comes a-knocking on the door of the chief of police, Warren, played by the late-great John Ritter. Back when I first saw this, I was totally mind blown this guy was in a horror movie. I always associated him with roles like in Problem Child or the severely underrated Stay Tuned. The high schooler, David, is there to pick up John Ritter’s niece, Jade, while in turn, he picks up on David’s stereotypical gay tropes. A young Katherine Heigl plays Jade before she got her big break in mediocre rom-coms. As it turns out, David is, in fact, gay and acts as a plant to distract her strict uncle from her true love, bad boy Jesse. Things get all hot and heavy, but their make-out session quickly gets cut short by Officer Needle Nose, sent out by Uncle Warren, who has a hairline just like mine if I decide to let it grow out. Skull Shaver, feel free to sponsor me anytime. You’d think Warren would be somewhat compassionate compared to the other John Ritter roles, but here he is the complete asshole who feels stuck with Jade and compares Jesse to trailer trash.
Back in the trailer, Tiffany takes a page out of her Voodoo For Dummies to recite the famous Dambella curse on her old flame but is having a hard time getting it to work. Well, no shit, you aren’t pronouncing it right. An unrecognizable Alexis Arquette, who plays her Crow cosplaying boyfriend Damien, then shows up at her door. He shows her some Polaroids of some nasty-looking kills he claims to have just committed to try to win her heart. Which worked until she noticed it was actually him in the photos. I mean, shit man, can you blame him? Woof. Tiffany sees her spell actually worked when Chucky has suddenly gone missing, which leads her to trap him for Damien. She then ties up on the bed, which he assumes is some kink, but instead of being all for Damien, it’s all for Chucky…and for the audience, if I’m being honest. Tiffany tells our Jerry Seinfeld from Pulp Fiction about how Chucky and her were once lovers and how jealous he would get if anyone would even look at her. After joking about the size of Chucky, the doll of the hour finally comes to life with a one-liner. Chucky then makes sure Damien will be silent, be still while sitting on his face with a pillow as he reconnects with Tiffany. Aw, wook at the wittle guy as she picks him up. So cute.
While searching for Chucky for ten years, she has been waiting to settle down and start a family, even wearing a ring she thought he left for her. But Chucky had other intentions. “What are you f*cking nuts?” Crushed by this revelation, she realizes he won’t change and keeps him prisoner in a playpen. “My mother”.
The next day, Tiffany gets Jesse, who’s her neighbor, to help load up a box containing Damien’s remains. She gets a little flirty. “Wanna grab a drink?” He turns her down and tells her he’s already in love, to which she gives him some advice. RECORD SCRATCH Hold up. So, Jesse lives alone in the trailer park and is obviously old enough to drink. Why is he dating a 17-year-old high schooler? That’s creepy, bro. I’m sorry, guys, but the older I get, the more I understand where her uncle is coming from. Anywho, while still locked in the playpen, Tiffany surprises Chucky with a present: a bridal doll, who not only looks like Jennifer Tilly with dark hair but also conveniently has her unique voice.
She takes a relaxing bubble bath while watching a movie this flick takes many cues from when Chucky finally escapes. In a very stylish scene, Chucky kills Tiffany by pushing the TV set into the tub and electrocuting her. Aww. Wittle man wuvs his bubbles. He then proceeds to Ade Due Tiffany’s soul into the doll. He explains to her the only way they can get back into human form is to travel to the grave site of Charles Lee Ray to dig up the body and remove the Heart of Damballa amulet. Apparently he was wearing it when he got shot at the beginning of the first film, but, you know, we can overlook that. In order to get across the states, Tiffany phones up Jesse to see if she can drive the dolls. He demands to do it for a thousand bucks, which he thinks he can use to runaway with Jade. Tiff then ditches the wedding garb and gives herself the makeover we all know. After Jesse picks up the dolls, he hauls ass to Jades house to giver her the news about his new income, which, in his mind, is the equivalent of what I thought a thousand dollars was when I was 5. He also thinks this is more than enough for the pair to get married.
What these two don’t realize…ya know other than she may need parental consent to get married at 17…is that Warren was spying on them the entire time. However, our dolls noticed and begin to prepare how to take care of the problem. Chucky has it covered, but Tiffany wants to take this pinhead out in style. You know, this would make a killer mask. Hop on it, Trick or Treat Studios.
The couple then head off on their road trip, but it quickly runs into a roadblock when Officer Needle Nose catches up with them at the most happening convenience store in the US. Jesse tells her he will take care of the situation and sends her off to grab some snacks for the road. But when Needle Nose searches the van, he almost finds Warren’s body until Chucky decides to distract him with a stash he was smoking on.
While Needle Nose is in his car to report Jesse, Chucky sneaks out to shove a piece of clothing in the gas tank and lights it. Smelling the smoke, the crooked cop looks ahead to see the dolls waving at him just before the whole thing explodes. Seeing the explosion, Jade and Jesse high tail it the f*ck out of there and also have their first pre-marital spat accusing each other of being cop killers. Yep, that’s one sure way to get her to stay with you. Really. It worked in Knocked Up. Their first official stop on the Killer Love Tour is at a little wedding chapel and sleazeball motel where the pair tie the knot. Eh, they’re mediocre at best. Just like the music scene in 1998. While Chucky jams out to White Zombie’s Thunder Kiss ’65, Warren busts out of the container he was in, which lets Chucky finally get to jam his knife into Warren. Classic. Soon after, a con artist couple busts in the room who seemingly want Jade and Jesse to partake in a freak fest, but really they are there to steal Jesse’s money. This doesn’t fly with Tiffany, so she heads to their room, where she throws a bottle onto an overhead mirror, which shatters and kills the couple. Isn’t it funny how real CGI looked back then? This immediately makes Chucky feel like Pinocchio down in his good guy parts, and the two get right down to the promise of the movie’s tagline
The next morning, the maid pops in to clean the dead couple’s room. Seeing a bloodied mess, Jade and Jesse again flee the crime scene, but not before their friend David meets them. He knows for a fact the pair had nothing to do with any of the killings that have been going on and decides to tag along for moral support. But he then smells something a little funky coming from the back of the van, where he finds the dead body of Warren. He demands to have the van be pulled over and then pulls a gun on the newlyweds. As he backs away in fear of seeing the dolls come to life, a mother f*cking semi-truck plows right into him. Holy shit. Back in the late 90s and 2000s, this type of kill was severely overplayed. But that didn’t mean I didn’t see this one coming.
Chucky explains to the couple how they all got to where they are now and the unfortunate situation they have gotten themselves into. Since Jesse and Jade have now made the news, and every cop in the area is looking for them, they ditch the van for a camper originally owned by some old folks. Tiffany then begins to give Jade a make-over to her liking since she’s about to take over her body while also baking Chucky some fresh hot cookies. This doll’s got it all, folks. Remembering the conversation with Tiffany earlier about the dishes, Jesse takes this opportunity to let Chucky know how shitty of a housekeeper she is. This starts a huge, but pretty adorable argument that leads to Jade kicking Tiffany into the oven and the RV crashing off the road. She ends up busting out of the oven and attacks Jade, but Jesse comes to the rescue and yeets her out the window. The pair jump out the door just before the RV explodes.
Hey, the RV crashed right at the cemetery. How about that? Chucky takes Jade hostage, kills the poor son of a bitch digging up the grave of Charles Lee Ray, and forces Jade to open the coffin to grab the amulet.
Now, with the power of Damballa, Chucky begins the body-swapping curse, but Tiffany suddenly has a change of heart by quoting her favorite movie “WE BELONG DEAD.” And if Tiffany had watched the previous movies, she would have known that you don’t f*ck with the chuck. The dolls then begin to fight to the death, and apparently the power of Damballa let them grow a couple feet. The fight ends with Chucky stabbing Tiffany, killing her. Jesse then shows up and tells Chucky to eat a shovel and knocks him into the grave. Suddenly, a detective shows up, and he sees the real person behind the killings. And if you Five Nights at Freddy’s fans shit yourselves when William Afton said the line, remember our little Good Guy said it first. ‘I ALWAYS COME BACK.’ With the death of Chucky, Jesse and Jade are free to go. Do they live happily ever after? Who cares? Because there is a seed of Chucky coming out this motha.
And that’s it. Bride of Chucky came out in October of 1998 and opened at #2, just behind Practical Magic. The Chucky series is my favorite horror franchise and this film in particular remains my favorite. Is it the best one? Not really, but it’s a little personal to me since it’s the first R rated film I snuck into. What’s your favorite Child’s Play film? Let us know in the comments and we will see you on the next one.
A couple previous episodes of the Best Horror Party Movies series can be seen below. To see more, and to check out some of our other shows, head over to the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!
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PLOT: A mild-mannered psychology professor (Glen Powell) interested in electronics takes a sideline bugging undercover cops in sting operations, specializing in setting up phony hits. When the usual undercover guy is suspended, he’s enlisted to pose as a hitman. He turns out to be a natural at undercover work, with the police using him to entrap people taking out contracts. Things get complicated when he falls for an abused wife (Adria Arjona) wanting to take out her husband.
REVIEW: Richard Linklater’s Hit Man is the movie where Glen Powell finally becomes a legit star. Granted, there was little to no doubt remaining in anyone’s head after his breakout turn in Top Gun: Maverick, but in Hit Man, his charisma is so white hot and old-school in that true movie star way that he should rocket to the top of everyone’s young leading man list. Linklater previously cast Powell (with a solid role) in Everybody Wants Some, as well as in his more recent Apollo 10 1/2, and seems to know precisely what his leading man’s strengths are. This is tailored to his talents like a bespoke suit.
Powell (who also had a hand in the screenplay) plays a real(ish) guy named Gary Johnson, who worked for the Houston police as an undercover man, posing as a hitman for hire. Through clever use of famous hitman movie clips, the movie tells us that this profession doesn’t really exist in the way Hollywood seems to think it does. People may kill for money, but it’s not the ordinary criminal profession people think, yet we, as a culture, choose to believe such a thing exists.
That’s where Johnson comes in, with his job being to get perps to pay him to kill people, and then they get some jail time for plotting a murder. Part of Hit Man is based on a true story, but other parts are made up, with Linklater only revealing the “truth” at the end. No matter; it just exists to give Powell an old-fashioned movie star part to sink his teeth into.
Despite being such a good-looking guy, Powell is convincing as both the character’s natural, geeky self and any of his more badass identities. The character proves to be a master of disguise, allowing Powell to play a whole host of characters, with him enjoying playing one tough guy so much that he starts to become the persona full-time.
Powell’s matched by Adria Arjona, in her best role to date, as a quasi-femme fatale who wants him to off her good-for-nothing husband. By falling for her, Gary starts to fall into a film noir rabbit hole, but Linklater, who knows his genres inside and out, always keeps it unpredictable. Whatever you think people in this movie are bound to do, thanks to the conventions of the genre, he has them do the opposite. It’s like a mixture of the original Fletch, with heavy doses of The Sting and Stakeout thrown into the pleasing cocktail. Powell and Arjona are legitimately sexy together, with their love scenes having more heat than we’ve seen in a mainstream Hollywood movie in quite some time. Their chemistry is white hot.
Additionally, Linklater works with an excellent supporting cast that seems to be a mixture of local non-actors and professionals, like Parks and Recreation’s Retta as one of the cops handling Gary. One of Powell’s Everybody Wants Some co-stars, Austin Amelio plays a racist, hard-hearted cop the more tender Gary replaces as an undercover man, with him probably the closest the movie has to antagonist. Notably, despite being a movie about killing, the film is pretty non-violent and charming. If there was ever a feel-good movie to be made about murder-for-hire, this is it.
Hit Man began its fall film festival run without a studio distributor, but it seems likely to score a big sale, with it one of the most crowd-pleasing films I’ve seen at a film festival this year. Powell could even emerge as a dark horse Oscar contender, although the movie might ultimately be too light to win over the Academy. Whatever the case, it seems like a surefire hit – whether in theaters or on streaming. If it gets a distributor behind it that believes in it, there’s no telling what this could do for Powell’s career.
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