The image of a vampire licking their blood stain lips after feeding, or bearing their fangs may or may not send a shiver up your spine, but for viewers these are possibly a quintessential appearance of a vampire. Vampires was first mentioned in literature around the 1700’s, but until Bran Stroker’s Dracula was published around 1897, the other vampire works weren’t as definitive or influential. Now the usage of vampires is a very common tool. Viewers can easily see vampires in contemporary series like Twilight, True Blood, or The Vampire Diaries. But consider these vampires in three different categories, Movies; Television; Comics, and see if you want to be bitten, if they have their focuses on you. Read more…
2008 was a rough year for releasing a game based on an original IP — sorry, Mirror’s Edge — but EA took a big gamble on the excellent sci-fi horror excursion Dead Space. And it paid off! Dead Space sold pretty well for a new IP, and nowadays you can snag it for $20 as part of the Xbox 360 Platinum Hits collection, or get the spinoff Dead Space: Extraction for the Wii. Now, if you’re already familiar with how awesome the original was, you’ll probably be very interested to know that a playable demo of Dead Space 2 has just hit Xbox Live and PSN, letting you unleash Isaac’s mighty boot once again. So go get it! And if you haven’t played the original yet, go do that too! Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Dec 10, 2010 in Cinema, Horror
Word was that Ridley Scott’s long-planned prequel to the sci-fi classic Alien had been pushed back to 2013 or 2014 at best, or shelved at worst. But it looks like it’s finally happening, with production slated to begin in March and a promise of old-school claustrophobia and horror. There’s even casting going on, with some notable hopefuls, including Michelle Yeoh. Sounds good so far! The only weird thing is the actual title, which is “Paradise,” though we’re not sure if it’s just Paradise or whether it’ll be called Alien: Paradise or something along those lines. Kind of an odd name for an Alien movie, but maybe it’s supposed to be ironic. Read more…
If you’re like many people, you’ve probably enjoyed The Walking Dead’s first season on AMC, likely due in no small part to its strong writing. If that’s the case, you might be just as confused with the news that showrunner Frank Darabont has fired his entire writing staff as we were. Word is that Darabont wants to replace them all with freelancers, which isn’t uncommon in television, but it is a bit strange for a show as high-profile as The Walking Dead, and one based on an established IP, too. Read more…
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Nov 30, 2010 in Cinema, Horror
So you want to be a bald space marine? If that’s the case, you’ll need one of these — that, and the $900 it’ll cost you to buy it. Sounds like a bit much, but when it comes to faithful replicas of our favorite hollywood props, it usually is. This particular prop happens to be a replica of the M41-A pulse rifle from the sci-fi classic Aliens. Of course, you won’t stand a chance against a real alien, let alone one that bleeds acid, but at least you’d look pretty awesome carrying one of these around. Weighing in at a solid 15 pounds, it features a collapsible shoulder stock, pump action underbarrel, and a working LCD ammo display that requires some AA batteries. You’d think for $900 they’d make it a lithium battery, but I guess that’d be asking too much. At least it comes with a nice mount and plaque for when you’re done playing with it. If you’re crazy enough to drop the cash for this, ThinkGeek currently has them in stock.
Last week I posted some of the character sheets from the upcoming Supernatural anime. While I liked the designs, I wasn’t quite sure how well they’d translate to the animation. Thankfully, there’s a short trailer that’ll illustrate it for us. Again, the series will be covering the first two seasons of its American live-action counterpart, and follows the story of two brothers bent on revenge against the demon responsible for their mother’s death. While the trailer has me a little worried — the animation certainly isn’t the best I’ve seen — they seem to have hit everything else about the show on the mark. Needless to say, I’m still excited and I’m looking forward to seeing what Madhouse and Warner Brothers have in store for us when the series hits shelves next year.
Posted by Michael Sacco on Nov 26, 2010 in Cinema, Horror
The prequel film to John Carpenter’s The Thing was originally slated for an April 2011 release, but it just got bumped from that slot thanks to some reshoots. Thankfully, Universal decided not to just give up on the film entirely — it’s set to be released October 14th, 2011. Just in time for Halloween! Carpenter’s original film is a tense, claustrophobic horror classic, and the fact that the prequel is being handled by another director gives me cause for concern, but honestly I’m a little surprised it got made at all. Maybe there’s something here after all — and with a year until the release date, there’s enough time for the film to shapeshift into something compelling. Read more…
It’s been months since this was officially announced, but I recently stumbled across what appears to be some of the original character sketches from the upcoming anime based on the hit show Supernatural. Like the series, the anime will feature the story of the Winchester brothers and will consist of twenty four episodes which will feature the same story arcs from the first two seasons — namely their quest to find their father and avenge the death of their late mother. The first twelve episodes will go on sale in Japan in early January, and while there’s been no word on if Supernatural: The Animation will be licensed for distribution stateside, I imagine it won’t be long before someone does — if not Warner Brothers themselves.
Believe it or not, this actually exists — in Japan. Back in 2008 Konami released a first person “on rails” coin-op entitled simply Castlevania: The Arcade. The game lets you play as a whip-wielding Belmont, a Witch, or a gun-toting Eastern wanderer and makes use of a motion-sensing light-wand for attacks. Players then swing it at enemies or pull the trigger depending on their character of choice in order to vanquish the monsters. Sounds pretty awesome right? As if that weren’t enough to sell you on it, Konami threw in a soundtrack of arranged music from previous games in the series. Sadly, the arcade machine was never formally released in the United States, and though Wikipedia mentioned something about a European release back in 2009, I haven’t heard any reports of it showing up. Hopfully with the recent boom in motion-related gaming, Konami might have a change of heart and port it to a console.
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Nov 11, 2010 in Fandom, Horror
He’s always been a favorite amongst Lovecraft fans, but his cameo in recent episodes of South Park has brought him national attention. Rather than hide your obscure love for Lovecraft lore, you can choose to embrace it, and what better way to do that than with an adorable Cthulu hand puppet. Okay, I’m sure there’s probably better ways to do it, but this hand puppet is pretty killer. He’s made out of a soft ploy-fiber plush, giving you the ability to manipulate the claws and tentacles with ease. I don’t know if owning him will grant you admittance to the enigmatic Cult of Cthulu, but there’s no harm in trying. Head over to Neatoshop to order yours today. Read more…
