I like the poster (dig that shadow) and trailer for Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster. Deal me in!
Beginning just before his debut as Frankenstein’s creation, BORIS KARLOFF: THE MAN BEHIND THE MONSTER compellingly explores the life and legacy of a cinema legend, presenting a perceptive history of the genre he personified. His films were long derided as hokum and attacked by censors. But his phenomenal popularity and pervasive influence endures, inspiring some of our greatest actors and directors into the 21st Century – among them Guillermo Del Toro, Ron Perlman, Roger Corman & John Landis all of whom and many more contribute their personal insights and anecdotes.
Lawn Love (of all places!) dug through a boatload of data to come up with 2021’s Best Cities for Surviving a Zombie Apocalypse. As you can see from the infographic above they have listed the 10 best as well as the 10 worst cities for living through a zombie end-of-the-world scenario.
In order to get their rankings they looked at:
highest/lowest share of the population in good health
highest/lowest share of homes with basements
most/fewest stores with hunting gear
best/worst trail access
most/fewest military bases
Since Florida soil isn’t conducive to basements, I’m surprised that we had two cities that placed in the top 10 for safest. I was also surprised to see that my current city (Daytona Beach, Fl.) and my birth city (Terre Haute, In.) didn’t even make the top 200 of safest cities.
If there was a zombie apocalypse I would want to be in an area that wasn’t over-populated and had a nice year round climate. The Florida coast would probably be a good choice since you could fish year round making food one less worry.
If you click over to Lawn Love’s site you’ll see the full zombie apocalypse infographic and how cities rated in each area. You can even look up your hometown to see how it ranked. Then you’ll know if you’re likely to survive or become one of the walking dead.
George Romero’s original Night of the Living Dead is one of my all-time favorite horror movies. It spawned several Romero directed sequels as well as reboots and remakes with some being very good and some not. I’ll leave it to you to decide where Night of the Animated Dead will fall. I do wish the animation was more realistic.
Revisit George A. Romero’s 1968 horror classic in an altogether unprecedented presentation as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment releases Night of the Animated Dead, a new, star-studded animated recreation of the thriller coming September 21, 2021 to Digital and October 5, 2021 to Blu-ray Combo Pack & DVD.
In Night of the Animated Dead, siblings Barbara and Johnny visit their father’s grave in a remote cemetery in Pennsylvania when they are suddenly set upon by zombies. Barbara flees and takes refuge in an abandoned farmhouse along with stranded motorist Ben and four local survivors found hiding in the cellar. Together, the group must fight to stay alive against the oncoming horde of zombies while also confronting their own fears and prejudices.
Night of the Animated Dead features the voice talents of Josh Duhamel (Jupiter’s Legacy, Transformers) as Harry Cooper, Dulé Hill (The West Wing, Psych) as Ben, Katharine Isabelle (Ginger Snaps) as Barbara, James Roday Rodriguez (A Million Little Things, Psych) as Tom, Katee Sackhoff (The Mandalorian, Battlestar Galactica) as Judy, Will Sasso (MadTV) as Sheriff McClelland, Jimmi Simpson (Westworld) as Johnny and Nancy Travis (Last Man Standing) as Helen Cooper.
Executive Producers are Richard Potter (Diciembres), Thomas DeFeo (The Seventh Day) and Jamie Elliott (Fighting with My Family). Producers are Ralph E. Portillo, p.g.a. (Buddy Games), Robert Feldman, p.g.a. (Dr. Shroud) and Kevin Kasha (I Spit on Your Grave). Animation services were provided by Demente Animation Studio. The original Night of the Living Dead was written by George A. Romero (Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead) and John Russo (The Majorettes, Santa Claws). Night of the Animated Dead was produced by Michael J. Luisi, p.g.a. (The Call, Oculus) and directed by Jason Axinn (To Your Last Death).
That is one creepy poster for The Girl Who Got Away. I like the trailer as well. Some folks are calling The Girl Who Got Away a horror movie while others are arguing it is a thriller. Who cares as long as it’s good? Deal me in.
The trailer for Midnight Mass has me interested in seeing more, but what really sold me was this exchange:
“Who are you?”
“You know who I am.”
But we don’t know! I want to find out so I’ll tune in to Netflix starting September 24th!
From the producers of The Haunting of Hill House, MIDNIGHT MASS introduces Crockett Island, an isolated island community that experiences miraculous events – and frightening omens – following the arrival of a charismatic, mysterious young priest.
I really like this Aliens poster by Steve Berry. Berry is a creative designer based in Yorkshire, UK. If you’d like to see more of his art, you can at his site. If you’d like to see a larger version of his Aliens poster, click on the image above.
Francesco Francavilla hot a home run with his limited edition Horror of Dracula print. There are two versions and both will be released tomorrow as part of MondoShop’s ComicCon@Home celebration.
What do you think of the new poster for Jordan Peele’s Nope? I like it. Bonus points for the tagline: A New Terror from the Mind of Academy Award Winner Jordan Peele. That lets us know it will be horror, and how often do we get a horror film from an Academy Award Winner? Deal me in.
I really like everything about this Alien art by Alex Ogle.
First, it tells a story or at least makes you want to know what happened before and after what we see. Second, Alex’s color choices are awesome. They highlight the pen and ink work instead of drawing attention away from the foundation of the piece.
This art reminds me of a synthesis of Bernie Wrightson and Kyle Holtz, but is 100% Alex Ogle. You can see more of Alex’s art at his Instagram page.
Phil Pirrello decided to rank The 25 Scariest Sci-Fi Movies Ever Made. I decided to play along using just his top five to see how we’d compare. The results are below…
Pirrello
Zablo
1. The Thing (1982)
1. Alien: Because we had never seen a creature like this and because anyone in the cast could die the scare factor was increased.
2. Alien (1979)
2. The Thing: Watch the blood test scene and tell me that The Thing doesn’t belong in the top two. I dare ya!
3. The Fly (1986)
3. Aliens: If the colonial marines can’t stand up to them, what can? (Congrats to Sigourney Weaver for making the top 3 with two different directors!)
4. Aliens (1986)
4. The Fly: Equal parts scary and gory.
5. The Invisible Man (2020)
5. The Invisible Man: was much better than I thought it would be.
Other films in Pirrello’s list that I would have rated higher: Pitch Black; 10 Cloverfield Lane; Us; Predator; A Quiet Place; and Terminator.
What We Do in the Shadows is one of my favorite current shows. If you don’t watch it, you should consider checking it out. If you do watch, you know how good it is. Below is the teaser for season 3 which premieres on September 2nd!
A look into the daily (or rather, nightly) lives of four vampires who have “lived” together for hundreds and hundreds of years in Staten Island.
Here we have the poster and trailer for Risen. The poster is okay and the trailer is better. This kind of reminds me of Invasion of the Body Snatchers meets Arrival (2016). I’ll check it out at some point.
Disaster unfolds when a meteor strikes a small town, turning the environment uninhabitable and killing everything in the surrounding area. Exobiologist Lauren Stone is called to find answers to the unearthly event. As she begins to uncover the truth, imminent danger awakens and it becomes a race against time to save mankind.
Today we have the poster and trailer to Kingdom: Ashin of the North. Billed as a special episode, but at 92 minutes, I see it more as a spinoff movie.
I’ve enjoyed both seasons of Kingdom and Kingdom: Ashin of the North is written by Kim Eun-Hee. who wrote both seasons as well. I had no idea this was coming, so call me surprised and deal me in!
This summer, a 92 minute thirst for blood begins.
Kingdom: Ashin of the North
A Kingdom Special Episode: Kingdom: Ashin of the North
Coming July 23, only on Netflix
The Tomorrow War (2021)
Director: Chris McKay
Screenplay: Zach Dean
Stars: Chris Pratt, Yvonne Strahovski, J.K. Simmons, Sam Richardson, Edwin Hodge and Mary Lynn Rajskub.
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Dan Forester (Pratt) is an ex-military high school science teacher who believes he is destined for something bigger. Forester will get his opportunity when he is drafted to fight in a war being held nearly 3 decades in the future.
Still with me?
Okay. In the future earth has been invaded by aliens who have killed almost everyone on the planet. In an effort to turn the tide and save humanity, future soldiers have come back into the past to recruit people to fight in the future. A worldwide draft is instated and draftees are sent to the future to fight aliens for seven days. If they survive they are returned to their proper time. Forester is drafted.
Forester and the others in his group learn there is no training. They are given weapons and transported to the future to kill aliens. Less than 30% will survive the seven days. In Forester’s group we have a nervous college professor, a tough as nails vet who has done three tours and a bunch of others who we learn nothing about (yep, they’re alien fodder). As soon as they are in the future Forester’s team is given a mission and off we go. Alien battles come fast and furious and we learn about the plan to save the world.
What I liked: Chris Pratt was good. This may be his best performance yet. Edwin Hodge is a standout as the soldier with 3 tours. Sam Richardson provides comic relief (although maybe too much in some spots). I loved seeing Mary Lynn Rajskub and wish she was given more to do. The action is non-stop once. I really liked how they explained who could participate in the time travel (coming and going). I liked the explanation of how the aliens got to earth. All through the movie I was thinking these creatures don’t have the brains for space travel.
What bothered me:
Too many daddy issues. Forester has them with his dad and Forester’s daughter has them with him.
The coincidences to save the day. We need a solution that will kill the monsters. Forester’s daughter (now grown) comes up with it. We need to figure out where the aliens arrive when they come to earth so we can be there to kill them. Forester’s wife brainstorms with him to figure it out. We need someone to figure out what the alien claw can tell us. Remember the nervous college professor? He can do it. We need a volcano expert. Hey, Forester has one in his high school class! We need a way to get into Soviet air space undetected. Uh, Forester’s dad can do it.
Sometimes the aliens are lethal killing machines and sometimes you can go mano y alien and kick their butt (if they have a butt that is).
(Most) Everything gets wrapped up too nicely: Forester was indeed destined for something bigger, daddy issues are resolved all the way around. Everyone (Forester, his wife, his daughter, his dad, nervous college professor, hardcore vet, nerdy high school volcano lover) has a role in saving the world.
What I’d like to know: How does what Forester pulled off change the future (other than the obvious, there will be no aliens wiping out the earth)?
Despite the things I didn’t care for, The Tomorrow War has a core cast that is likeable, a script that keeps things moving and a conflict that involves saving the world. If you’re looking for a fun ride (and don’t give it too much thought) you’ll enjoy The Tomorrow War.
