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Horror fans in the UK are in for a treat this November as Nyx UK, the dedicated horror TV channel, unveils an exciting schedule packed with fourteen channel premieres. From cult classics to modern horror favourites, the line-up promises thrills for every taste. Notably, this month’s programme includes supernatural tales, slashers, and a special tribute to horror legend Boris Karloff on his birthday.

Leading the premieres on 6 November is Spookt (2023), the latest supernatural horror from Tony Reames, starring Eric Roberts. Airing at 9 pm, Spookt follows a group as they grapple with terrifying paranormal events that push them to the edge. Another highlight this month is Stage Fright (2014), a darkly comedic fusion of horror and musical directed by Jerome Sable, featuring Minnie Driver and the late Meat Loaf. This unique slasher-musical airs on 22 November at 9 pm, promising an unforgettable blend of scares and songs.

For fans of genre-bending horror, Justin Benson...

This week on the Film Stories Podcast Network, our array of film and TV chats cover 1960s comedy, B-movie science fiction and more. Here’s what we’ve been up to…

Den of Ten

Sam Stokes regularly unpacks people’s favourite top ten’s in popular culture, today being joined by Geoff Owen to discuss their Top 10 Gaming Systems…

The Magic Box

A possible language barrier this week between Kurt North and guest Carl Sweeney as they discuss Lost 1×06 ‘House of the Rising Sun’…

At the Movies in the 90s

The first of a series of bonus episodes coming over the next month sees A. J. Black talk to Perry Constantine about Roger Corman’s 1990 sci-fi horror Frankenstein Unbound…

ChuckyVision

Mark Adams and Dev Elson continue their odyssey into killer doll territory, joined by Violet Hammond to discuss, err… Heartstopper Season 3. Good old tenuous links, eh?

Britcom Goes to the Movies

Not only Peter Cook,...

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Every comedy team needs a straight man. Lou Costello had Bud Abbot. The Marx Brothers had Margaret Dumont. The Three Stooges had everyone they came in contact with. And while it may not sound like a good deal of fun to be the person setting up the funny folks for laughs, it does take a lot of skill to do it proficiently. And any comedian worth their weight in yuks knows the better the setup, the bigger the laugh.

This applies to many sitcoms, where the cast of zanies needs a steadily turning planet around which to wildly orbit. If you're really good at it, there could be multiple Primetime Emmys coming to you (e.g. Ed Asner won three for "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"). And if you happen to find yourself on "Gilligan's Island," while there might not...

A mutant stalks the Earth when the body of a dead astronaut is used as an alien incubator … Meanwhile, people are being attacked by giant leeches … It doesn’t get any more revolting (or entertaining) than that in this ‘50s creature double feature from producer Roger Corman and Emmy-nominated director Bernard Kowalski (Hot Car Girl).

Night of the Blood Beast (1958)—with an extensive restoration, a new 4K scan from original 35mm archival elements—and Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959)—newly restored in HD—will be available on Blu-ray and DVD on 12th November 2024, in a special collector’s two-disc edition from Film Masters.

Night Of The Blood Beast (1958)

Astronaut John Corcoran (Michael Emmet) dies upon returning to Earth following a space mission, but mysteriously comes back to life! As the scientists at a remote space research station investigate Corcoran’s revival, they discover that a parasitic, alien lifeform is utilizing...

A mutant stalks the Earth when the body of a dead astronaut is used as an alien incubator … Meanwhile, people are being attacked by giant leeches … It doesn’t get any more revolting (or entertaining) than that in this ‘50s creature double feature from producer Roger Corman and Emmy-nominated director Bernard Kowalski (Hot Car Girl). Night of [...]

The post Film Masters’ 4th Roger Corman special collectors set—a creepy creature double feature on Blu-ray & DVD, 12th November 2024 first appeared on Horror Screams Video Vault - Supporting Independent Horror.

Spoilers for "Smile 2" follow.

By necessity, "Smile 2" remixes director Parker Finn's original film. "Smile" concluded with lead Rose (Sosie Bacon) succumbing to her curse; the smiling demon possessed and murdered her, passing itself onto Rose's ex Joel (Kyle Gallner). After a cold opening resolving Joel's fate, "Smile 2" jumps to our round two antiheroine: pop star Skye Riley (Naomi Scott).

The original "Smile" was about a therapist's own mental health unraveling. By switching protagonists, "Smile 2" takes on a new theme, but one also as old as the movies: the psychic torture of fame. It's impossible to watch Skye and not think of real female celebrities like Britney Spears who were chewed up and spit out by tabloid media and impossible expectations.

Even before the smiling demon shows up, Skye is feeling uneasy, as if she's balancing on the top loop of a spiral. A recovering addict...

There’s a popular idiom often attributed to Picasso about how good artists copy and great artists steal. Naturally, this isn’t referring to plagiarism, but rather the idea that it’s better for an artist to reproduce something directly from the source instead of simply regurgitating it as-is. The way I see it, this sentiment also applies to creative rip-offs, as I’ll take an unlicensed cash-grab over endless sequels any day of the week.

After all, this is how we got beloved franchises like Friday the 13th (the original film was an attempt at capitalizing on the success of Halloween) and even Star Wars (A New Hope was meant to be a cheap Flash Gordon knock-off). And in honor of all the rip-offs that continue to feed the ouroboros that is popular culture, we’ve decided to come up with a list celebrating six spooky Mockbusters that are actually worth your time.

Exclusive: We have the finalists for the 2024 Latine List.

The partnership between the Latin Tracking Board, Nalip and The Black List have selected 10 projects that represent some of the best rising talents in Latin-e/a/o/@ storytelling in film, TV and theater.

Following the List’s core mandate, this year’s selected scripts probe the scope and depth of genres and voices — past and present.

“This collection shines a spotlight on Latine characters, settings and narratives that capture the intriguing complexities of our culture,” the Latin Tracking Board said today. “Each script offers a unique perspective, celebrating the originality and richness of Latine experiences.”

In fact, several writers on this year’s Latine List have received pervious industry praise and recognition for their work.

Rebecca Iliana Kahn was selected for the 2024 Sundance Screenwriters Intensive. Christian Moldes was in this year’s Sundance Screenwriters Lab, as well as awarded the Sundance Institute...

For over fifty years, Francis Ford Coppola has been a towering, and often controversial, figure in American Cinema. His filmography is one of the most legendary of all time and includes some of the greatest movies ever made like The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974), The Conversation (1974), Apocalypse Now (1979), and more. It also includes wild swings—One from the Heart (1982), Rumble Fish (1983), Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)—which sometimes paid off, but sometimes did not. This year, his forty-year-in-the-making passion project Megalopolis finally hit screens for the general public after a festival run that provoked a mixed critical response to say the least. It is a gigantic movie made on a huge budget with vast, and sometimes impenetrable, ideas. His very first film, however, was a much more modest project, made on a minuscule budget, and…it was a horror movie.

Dementia 13 (1963) is very much a...

Back in 1983, legendary producer Roger Corman brought the world a sword and sorcery film with an awesome title: Deathstalker. It was so successful, it paved the way for three sequels: Deathstalker II: Duel of the Titans (1987), Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell (1988), and Deathstalker IV: Match of the Titans (1991). The franchise went dormant for more than thirty years, but earlier this year we learned that it’s being revived by filmmaker Steven Kostanski – whose previous credits include Manborg, Father’s Day, The Void, Leprechaun Returns, Psycho Goreman, Frankie Freako, and episodes of the short-lived Day of the Dead TV series. Kostanski is writing and directing a Deathstalker remake that has Daniel Bernhardt (John Wick) playing the title character… and now that the project is in post-production, the filmmakers recently revealed that the theme song composed for the remake is a collaboration between legendary musician Slash, composer Bear McCreary, and Deathstalker II composer Chuck Cirino!

Film Masters, a group of historians and enthusiasts who seek to keep old films from falling into disrepair, have repaired another one. Night Of The Blood Beast, one of director Roger Corman’s many, many schlocky B-movie bills, has been remastered in 4K and will be available on Blu-Ray this November. If you’ve heard of this at all, it’s because it has its own MST3K episode — well, that’s actually on the disc, along with the restored original, a full commentary track by Tom Weaver and The Weaver Players, and even the silent 8Mm cut for home projectors (that was once a thing!) Astronaut John Corcoran (Michael Emmet) dies upon returning to Earth following a space mission, but mysteriously comes back to life! As the scientists at a remote space research station investigate Corcoran’s revival, they discover that a parasitic, alien lifeform is utilizing his body...

The 1960s saw the release of many classic horror films, including Psycho, The Birds, and Carnival of Souls. My favorite 1960s horror film is more over the top than any of those. It’s also possible that the movie in question had an impact on the world of religion.

My favorite 1960s horror film makes an Edgar Allan Poe story even darker

During the 1960s, director Roger Corman made a series of Gothic horror films based on short stories by Edgar Allan Poe. Almost all of these films starred horror icon Vincent Price. One of the most famous is The Masque of the Red Death. The original story is about Prospero, a prince who hides in a castle with his court while a disease known as the “Red Death” ravages the countryside.

The film version faithfully follows the broad strokes of the story — with a twist. In the movie, Prospero...

As a follow up to the excellent "Bram Stoker's Dracula Starring Bela Lugosi" graphic novel, Kerry Gammill and El Garing return for “Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Starring Boris Karloff." A new adaptation that remains faithful to Mary Shelley's original novel, the graphic novel features Boris Karloff's in a new vision for Frankenstein's Monster, and Sara Karloff, daughter of Boris Karloff, served as an executive consultant on the project. I had the pleasure of catching up with her recently to talk about the graphic novel, her thoughts on the 1931 film and Boris Karloff's performance, and her favorite films that star her father. We also have an 8-page preview you can check out below.

What excited you about getting involved in the Mary Shelley's Frankenstein graphic novel project?

Sara Karloff: Having seen the wonderful work they did on the Dracula [graphic novel].

One of the things that really stood out to me,...

With the release of The Substance, in which Demi Moore’s fading celebrity seeks to create a younger version of herself, we rate the 10 best films about turning back time

The ageing face of a cosmetics CEO (the tragic Susan Cabot in her final film role) is blamed for falling sales, so she injects herself with an experimental wasp enzyme and sheds 20 years in one weekend. Unfortunately, it also turns her into a homicidal wasp monster in this low-budget creature feature directed by the B-movie maestro Roger Corman.

This weekend is The International Edgar Allan Poe Festival & Awards, commemorating the 175th anniversary of Poe's death in Baltimore. Taking place from October 4th - 6th, the event also celebrates a big milestone: the 60th anniversary of Roger Corman and Vincent Price's The Masque of the Red Death.

The event includes a panel of special guests to talk about the film and its legacy, including Victoria Price, whom I had the pleasure of speaking with to talk about the importance of the film, Vincent Price's lasting impact, and her Halloween celebrations.

The festival will have a 60th anniversary screening of Roger Corman and Vincent Price's The Masque of Red Death, which is a personal favorite of mine.

Victoria Price: Me too! Roger was one of those people I thought was going to live forever, so it's strange to not have him here.

He left such an impression on the people he interacted with.

A while back, C​ocaine Bear surprised everyone with its box office haul. For fans of animal attack movies, this is not a shock. People love animal attack films and can’t get enough of them. I’m not sure if it’s the man vs. nature theme of the films, the animals themselves getting revenge on humans, or just the all-around fun these films bring. No matter what, they are enjoyable for audiences in theaters. T​here has been a long history of animals attacking humans on film. Some films that are classified as ‘classic’ cinema fall into the animal attack category. We can always use more movies of animals rampaging through humans on the big screen. What are some of the best animal attack movies?

G​rizzly (1976)

S​ince bears seem to be on everyone’s brain this weekend; then we might as well start with this classic.

October 25 will mark 62 years since the release of the first film directed by Francis Ford Coppola: “Come on Out” (later retitled “Tonight for Sure”), a re-edited feature version of three different shorter nudie films he made while a film student at UCLA. It debuted in 1962, right in the middle of the Cuban missile crisis.

With “Megalopolis” opening, he likely has the longest feature film directorial career ever, ahead of Manoel de Oliveira (61 years), Jean-Luc Godard (58), Jerzy Skolimowsky (58), and Frederick Wiseman (56). Clint Eastwood, whose latest film “Juror #2” premieres next month, spans a mere 53 as a director.

To sustain a career that long necessitates a lot of success, which Coppola has had, led by “The Godfather.” But it has been a perilous journey, elongated (“Megalopolis” the most extreme) by his willingness to spend money to keep directing. Of note, his last studio-financed film was “The Rainmaker,” 27 years — and nearly half his career — ago.

Since the 1980s, director James Cameron has pushed the limits of visual effects in his blockbusters, from the Terminator and Avatar franchises to The Abyss and Titanic. The innovations that made these movies possible have also made him a beloved, acclaimed, and very wealthy artist. But his latest technological jump has rubbed many fans the wrong way: Cameron this week officially joined the board of the artificial intelligence company Stability AI, which created and operates the generative text-to-image model Stable Diffusion.

Today, our CEO, @premakkaraju, announced that legendary filmmaker, technology innovator,...

Ron Howard's acting career was part of a family legacy, as his father, Rance, was already a prolific performer when he was born in 1954. Howard's first professional acting credit is for the 1959 feature "The Journey," with Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr. That same year, the five-year-old Ron infiltrated TV, appearing as precocious moppets in multiple hot shows.

More notably, beginning in 1960, Ron -- credited as Ronny -- began starring on "The Andy Griffith Show," playing Opie, the son of Griffith's character. Howard would appear in 243 of the show's 249 episodes, over the course of eight seasons. While appearing on "Andy Griffith," Howard would continue to be a TV presence, appearing in dozens of additional hot shows, as well as several notable B-pictures.

Even in his teen years, Howard continued to act, proving that he was no mere child prodigy. He appeared in George Lucas' nostalgia film "American Graffiti," and...

If you're hoping to discover that Russell Johnson, the level-headed, boundlessly inventive Professor Roy Hinkley from "Gilligan's Island" lived a life riddled with scandal, prepare to be sorely disappointed. Aside from his 1948 divorce and the time he entered the Burbank Post Office parking lot through the exit lane because he was running late for a Kiwanis Club dinner, there's not so much as a speck of dirt on this guy.

Born in 1924, you won't be surprised to learn that he served in World War II. But you might be interested to learn that on his 45th bombing raid in the Pacific Theater, his B-25 was shot down, forcing him to ditch the aircraft off the coast of the Philippines. His co-pilot was killed, while Johnson broke both of his ankles. Johnson received a fistful of medals, was honorably discharged, and used the G.I. Bill to study performance at the Actors' Lab in Hollywood.

Director Max Minghella wears his cinematic influences on his sleeves with sophomore feature effort Shell, a body horror dark comedy written by Jack Stanley (The Passenger).

Elisabeth Moss (The Invisible Man) finds herself embarking on a scary new beauty treatment as aging actor Samantha Lake. She quickly befriends Zoe Shannon (Kate Hudson), CEO of health & wellness company Shell. When their patients start to go missing, including starlet Chloe Benson (Kaia Gerber), Samantha realizes Shell may be protecting a monstrous secret.

The escapist love letter to ’90s cinema leans into dark comedy, but embraces everything from Paul Verhoeven to Soapdish, Species, and Sliver, if that’s any indicator of genre range here. Bloody Disgusting spoke with Minghella, who made his feature directorial debut with 2018’s Teen Spirit, about the genre-bender out of TIFF, where the film had its World Premiere.

The filmmaker revealed more about his influences, but mores o his...

Gremlins may have stopped at only 2 movies and a recent animated TV show, but a lot of its imitators went on to make a killing in the sequel market. Sure, we had one offs like Munchies from Roger Corman and Goobers from the mind of Charles Band which should have rightfully stayed one and done but others wanted in on that franchise action. The Gate would have 2 entries as would Hobgoblins. Troll would get a few sequels, kinda, if you want to go down the rabbit hole of strange Italian sequels in name only that are just called that to capitalize on the profits of other movies and Ghoulies would somehow, miraculously, get 4 films although if I’m being honest, I actually enjoy watching that series. Critters also had 4 (initially) but has a much stronger legacy in terms of enjoyment and interesting background including the fact that even though it came out after Gremlins,...

While “Megalopolis” was in pre-production in 2021, Francis Ford Coppola presented Amazon with a unique idea: the director asked if the company would create a customized version of Alexa to be used in specific theaters. As Coppola told The Telegraph in a new interview, audiences would have the opportunity to ask Adam Driver’s character a question about what had transpired in the movie so far — and Alexa would choose the most relevant answer from a pre-approved list.

“Imagine!” Coppola said. “You could see ‘Megalopolis’ five times in its opening week and it would be different each time! It would have been the future of the movies and ancient theater rolled into one!”

Unfortunately, things didn’t pan out due to layoffs at Amazon that resulted in thousands of jobs cut from the Alexa team, including those working on the project for “Megalopolis.” Coppola didn’t plan to move forward with...

In the pantheon of 1960s B-movie filmmakers whose work later became reappraised and celebrated for its progressive themes, Russ Meyer has the kind of legacy that rivals Roger Corman. Best known for a series of sexploitation films like “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls” and “Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!,” Meyer’s pornographic filmography is now viewed by many as boundary-pushing work that brilliantly encapsulates many of the changing social norms of his generation.

Meyer was fiercely independent and maintained ownership of all of his films until his death in 2004, and quality copies of all but his most famous works have been hard to come by in the 21st century. But thanks to Severin Films, fans will now have a chance to own three iconic Meyer films on DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K Uhd. The distributor has partnered with the Russ Meyer Charitable Trust to release new editions of his trilogy consisting of “Vixen!,...

A World of Timeless Musicians Since long before the days of film, there have been countless great composers throughout history; people who have a true ear for music and have been able to write and produce melodies that have gone on to be remembered for generations to come. Such individuals include Beethoven, Georges Bizet, Krzysztof Penderecki, Ennio Morricone, and John Williams. However, today I’d like to honor a composer that was taken from us far too soon, a man by the name of James Horner. Background James Horner was born on August 14, 1953 in Los Angeles, California. His father, Harry Horner had previously moved to the United States to work in theater as a set designer and art director. Meanwhile, his brother Christopher Horner, born two years later, would go on to write and film a few documentaries, including a 2004 feature titled ‘The Disappearing of Tuvalu: Trouble in Paradise.’ As for James Horner himself,...

Producers for the 76th annual Emmy Awards have been editing the special “In Memoriam” segment to be featured on Sunday’s ABC ceremony. Since the most recent ceremony was delayed until mid-January, there are only eight months of TV legends who have died instead of the typical 12 months.

We have assembled a list of people below who might be selected. Members of the academy’s TV Hall of Fame are host and producer Phil Donahue, anchor and journalist Robert MacNeil, lighting designer Bill Klages and actor and comedian Bob Newhart. Some of the previous Emmy winners and nominees include previous academy president Leo Chaloukian, actor Bill Cobbs, actor Dabney Coleman, actress Shelley Duvall, actor and writer Joe Flaherty, director Jerry Foley, actor Louis Gossett Jr., actor Bill Hayes, actor James Earl Jones, host Peter Marshall, actor and comedian Martin Mull, actress Gena Rowlands, actor James B. Sikking, actor Donald Sutherland and actor Carl Weathers.

Earlier this year, Shudder renewed The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs for a supersized sixth season that was designed to make sure Joe Bob Briggs would be an even more consistent presence on the streaming service throughout the year. Normally, a season of The Last Drive-In would see Joe Bob hosting double features every Friday for ten weeks straight. This season has taken a different approach, having Joe Bob host a single movie every other Friday. Following a special Roger Corman double feature on March 15th, season 6 officially got started on March 29th – and it’s going to wrap up with a six movie marathon called The Last Drive-In: Nightmareathon (with special guest Rhonda Shear of USA Up All Night!) this Friday, August 30th. But before we get to the end of season 6, Joe Bob has taken to social media to announce that Shudder has renewed The Last Drive-In for season 7!

Joe Bob said,...

Exclusive: Alexander Payne has lambasted a report from earlier this year that the script for his five-time Oscar-nominated film The Holdovers, which he directed from a script by David Hemingson, was plagiarized.

“It was the stupidest thing in the world,” Payne told us at the Sarajevo Film Festival when asked about the Variety report earlier this year, which dropped on the eve of the Oscar ceremony.

In the piece, Luca screenwriter Simon Stephenson accused The Holdovers script of being plagiarized from his 2013 Black List screenplay Frisco.

“It was irresponsible of Variety to report on that without having read the scripts and comparing them themselves,” claimed Payne. “Do you think The New York Times would have done that?”

He added: “I haven’t heard anything more about it and I wish him [Stephenson] well but there was just no merit to it. I mean, I didn’t even pay attention to...

One of the earliest Alien rip-offs was made for US television. We take a look back at 1981’s The Intruder Within.

Much like Jaws, Star Wars and Mad Max before it, the success of 1979’s Alien prompted studios and producers the world over to make their own hastily-made rip-off movies. Thanks to – shall we say – enterprising filmmakers like Roger Corman and Norman J Warren, we got cheap and cheerful fare like Barracuda (1978), Battle Beyond The Stars (1980) and Inseminoid (1981).

One of the earliest Alien clones to emerge like a shambling monster, though, was The Intruder Within – a low-budget TV movie that cheekily borrowed all sorts of ideas from Ridley Scott’s hit, but transplanted the entire thing from a spaceship in the future to an oil rig in the post-energy crisis early 1980s. As you can probably imagine, it isn’t a lost classic, but it’s fascinating to revisit, both...

When “Boulevard Nights” opened in early 1979, it was one of several major studio films — along with “The Warriors,” The Wanderers,” and “Over the Edge” — to take on gang violence as its primary subject. After the movies inspired a handful of violent incidents at theaters, Paramount doubled down on the marketing of Walter Hill‘s “The Warriors” and turned it into a box office hit; unfortunately for “Boulevard Nights” director Michael Pressman, Warner Bros. went in the opposite direction and pulled their film from the venues where violence had broken out, essentially abandoning the movie.

“Warner Bros. said, ‘We’re very proud of this movie, don’t get us wrong,'” Pressman told IndieWire, “‘but we’re not about to risk lawsuits.'” Over the years, however, “Boulevard Nights” has found the audience it always deserved via repertory screenings (it’s a perennial favorite at Quentin Tarantino’s New Beverly Cinema...

In Hollywood's eyes, before James Cameron became a household name for directing things like "The Terminator," "Titanic," and "Avatar," he was just another guy who had worked for low-budget producer Roger Corman and directed the little-seen stinker "Piranha II: The Spawning." Few people were paying much attention to Cameron at that point, but apparently, one industry veteran who had his eye on the up-and-coming filmmaker was legendary director Steven Spielberg.

During a tribute to Spielberg that took place at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles back in 2011, directors Michael Apted, J.J. Abrams, and James Cameron interviewed Spielberg in front of a sold-out crowd, and Cameron shared a story about a note Spielberg gave on Cameron's idea for what would become the 1986 sci-fi action classic "Aliens."

"I tried to get you started, you know," Spielberg told Cameron on stage, recalling that he offered Cameron the opportunity to direct...

From the genre-defining classics A Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream to such transgressive works as The Last House on the Left and The Hills Have Eyes to cult favorites like The People Under the Stairs and The Serpent and the Rainbow, Wes Craven’s reign of terror spanned not only decades but generations.

But there’s much more to the man than just horror movies. In Harker Press’ The Soul of Wes Craven, author Joseph Maddrey allows readers to see the entire person rather than just a collection of his work.

The Soul of Wes Craven is not the first biography on the master of horror, but it is the definitive one. In addition to a profusion of thoroughly-researched sources, Maddrey interviewed over 80 people from Craven’s life — from professional collaborators like Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, Alexandre Aja, and Patrick Lussier to family members, friends, and college classmates — for...

The year that brought us the classic Alien also gave us dozens of other horror movies – some great, others less so. We head back to 1979:

“The horror… the horror,” a shadowy Marlon Brando intoned in Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now, finally released in 1979 after an infamously protracted shoot. Brando’s Colonel Kurtz was referring to the haunting fallout from the Vietnam war in those final, whispered words, but he could just as well have been reading off a newspaper listing of the numerous genre movies released that year.

Among 1979’s biggest hits was, of course, Alien, Ridley Scott’s prowling space horror that elevated its monster-on-a-ship premise into something unforgettably visceral and disturbing. So disturbing that it launched a franchise that is still going 45 years later; as these words are being typed, Fede Alvarez’s sidequel Alien: Romulus is about to hatch in cinemas.

Alien was a huge hit for 20th Century Fox,...

This article is part of IndieWire’s 2000s Week celebration. Click here for a whole lot more.

When the 2000s began, Todd Field was a journeyman actor best known for his work in “Ruby in Paradise,” “Eyes Wide Shut,” and a pair of Jan de Bont spectacles.. A year into the decade, he would be recognized as one of the most promising filmmakers of his generation after writing and directing “In the Bedroom” (2001), a low-budget indie that became a surprising commercial success on its way to five Oscar nominations. Looking back now, Field recognizes that it was a unique time not just for him, but for film history in general.

“There are so many advantages now, technically, for young filmmakers starting out,” Field told IndieWire. “But in terms of actually having people see the work, it seems much harder. The idea that this film got made, that it got into Sundance,...

In previous episodes of The Best Movie You Never Saw, I’ve talked a little bit about how much I like the eighties and nineties actor Tom Berenger. From Platoon through Shoot to Kill and The Substitute, he was a great character actor with some serious action chops. Were he to have come along in another era, he could have easily been an action star in the vein of Liam Neeson or Gerard Butler, but in his heyday, audiences seemed to prefer larger-than-life heroes. Yet, some of his movies proved to be modestly successful, and one of the more intruding examples is the 1993 movie Sniper, which is probably the best movie you ever saw that got nine sequels.

In it, Berenger plays Master Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Beckett, a legendary sniper with many confirmed kills under his belt. His work nowadays is embroiled in the war on drugs, with him having...

Earlier this year, Shudder renewed The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs for a supersized sixth season that was designed to make sure Joe Bob Briggs would be an even more consistent presence on the streaming service throughout the year. Normally, a season of The Last Drive-In would see Joe Bob hosting double features every Friday for ten weeks straight. This season has taken a different approach, having Joe Bob host a single movie every other Friday. Following a special Roger Corman double feature on March 15th, season 6 officially got started on March 29th – and Shudder has just announced that the season is going to wrap up with a special event: a six film marathon called The Last Drive-In: Nightmareathon!

A press release informs us that The Last Drive-In: Nightmareathon will premiere on Friday, August 30th at 9pm Et on the Shudder TV and AMC+ TV feeds. The marathon will...

Movie, TV and music fans are remembering notable figures who have died since the start of 2024. “Beverly Hills 90210” star Shannen Doherty, “Bob Newhart Show” star Bob Newhart, “An Officer and a Gentleman” Oscar winner Louis Gossett Jr., “Curb Your Enthusiasm” actor Richard Lewis, “Starsky and Hutch” star David Soul and “Honeymooners” star Joyce Randolph, who played Trixie, are among celebrities from the world of television who have died.

In film, cinephiles are remembering actor Donald Sutherland, producer Roger Corman, “Chinatown” screenwriter Robert Towne, “Moonstruck” director Norman Jewison and “The Shining” star Shelley Duvall.

Last year, the entertainment community said goodbye to celebrities including musicians Jimmy Buffett, Shane McGowan, Robbie Robertson and David Crosby, actors Andre Braugher and Matthew Perry, writer-producer Norman Lear and director William Friedkin.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is at a crossroads right now. Their post-Endgame dealings have been an overinflated mixed bag that supersaturated the market. Even their biggest hits have been more about giving a fond farewell to the past, whether it is goodbye to James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Sony’s earlier Spider-Man movies, or Fox’s X-Men movies. Projects that try to build toward the future have had some success, but also some notable failures.

It’s also been little help that the current Multiverse Saga lacks the same creative stability which underwrote the Infinity Saga’s build up of Thanos and the Infinity Stones. There’s been stuff about legacy and the multiverse, but bringing it together was a challenge. Briefly though, the MCU appeared to have something great going with the introduction of Kang the Conqueror as played by Jonathan Majors.

Initially, Majors seemed to be...

In December 2023, the first part of Zack Snyder's sci-fi epic "Rebel Moon" was released on Netflix to cold reviews and audience indifference. The story of "Rebel Moon" followed a rebel named Kora who knew that an evil Empire was traveling to her home world -- the titular rebel moon -- to steal all their grain and force the natives to starvation. Kora trekked out into the galaxy to collect whatever ragtag warriors she could find, hoping to hire them as her homeworld's scant defenders. 

The story, of course, was adapted directly from Akira Kurosawa's 1954 classic "Seven Samurai," and no review of Snyder's film was complete without direct comparison's to the master's work. Even the plot point of stolen grain is common between the two films. 

More cinematically well-versed critics likely also made a comparison to "Battle Beyond the Stars," a 1980 sci-fi "Seven Samurai" riff directed by Jimmy T. Murakami...

Marvel’s forthcoming Fantastic Four film has revealed its official title.

During Marvel Studios’ highly anticipated panel at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday, the movie’s title was announced as Fantastic Four: First Steps. Additionally, Michael Giacchino, who won the Oscar for his score for Up, was announced as the composer on the film.

Set to hit theaters July 25, 2025, Matt Shakman (WandaVision) is directing the latest take on the classic Marvel team that originated in the comics in 1961. The movie stars Pedro Pascal (Mr. Fantastic), Vanessa Kirby (Invisible Woman), Joseph Quinn (Human Torch) and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Thing).

The team became available to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe following Disney’s acquisition of Fox.

You don’t see this in Hall H every day: the Fantasticar flies into the Marvel panel. pic.twitter.com/JL1y4vFOPb

— Borys Kit (@Borys_Kit) July 28, 2024

Pascal shared the first cast photo of the...

James Cameron's The Terminator celebrates its 40th anniversary with a 4K restoration. At a recent 4K screening in Los Angeles, producer and co-writer of the action movie, Gale Anne Hurd sat down for a Q&a afterward. She revealed the iconic movie was an independent venture, heavily influenced by their mentor, Roger Corman. Everyone around them believed the movie would fail, so it surprised everyone when it debuted at #1 with a $4 million opening weekend in 1986.

Pedro Pascal posted the first cast photo of Marvel’s next superhero team.

The actor revealed the first behind-the-scenes image of the core Fantastic Four cast, along with the message “our first mission.”

Fantastic Four stars Pascal as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/The Human Torch and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing. Julia Garner is playing The Silver Surfer, while Paul Walter Hauser is among the cast in an undisclosed role.

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A post shared by Pedro Pascal he/him (@pascalispunk)

Fantastic Four has a release date of July 25, 2025 and hails from WandaVision director Matt Shakman, helming from a script by Eric Pearson, Josh Friedman, Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer. WandaVision‘s Peter Cameron has also worked on the script.

Fantastic Four is a cornerstone property for Marvel. Writer Stan Lee and...

On Friday nights, IndieWire After Dark takes a feature-length beat to honor fringe cinema in the streaming age.

First, the spoiler-free pitch for one editor’s midnight movie pick — something weird and wonderful from any age of film that deserves our memorializing.

Then, the spoiler-filled aftermath as experienced by the unwitting editor attacked by this week’s recommendation.

The Pitch: Old School Cool Fuels This Increasingly Odd Portrait of a Female Hot Rodder

[Editor’s Note: “Bury Me an Angel” is half of a two-part After Dark series spotlighting Barbara Peeters. If you can, check out “Humanoids from the Deep” first.]

Barbara Peeters is no prude. That’s maybe the biggest misconception worth clearing up for any cinematic spelunkers who know the infamous Roger Corman defector as the woman director who just could not make “Humanoids from the Deep” exploitative enough. (Did you read the sarcasm that was intended there? Good job.

On July 17, 1926, a theater opened in Portland, Oregon. Talkies were still a year away and the Great Depression hadn’t yet struck vaudeville, so it played host to variety acts, as well as silent films paired with an 8-piece orchestra and organist. It was called the Hollywood Theatre and its popularity grew so rapidly that soon, the entire district around the theater became known as the Hollywood of Portland. Today it remains the last theater of its era still standing in the City of Roses and showcases both first-run films and a wide range of repertory cinema.

Put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, the theater has three auditoriums, one of which features a 50-foot screen and 384 seats. In 1997, the theater was made a non-profit, with major renovations taking place between 2011 and 2015 that revitalized the marquee and brought back 70mm screening capabilities. Extending its reach beyond its doors,...

This article contains spoilers for Homicide: Los Angeles episode 1.

Phil Spector was a music legend and Los Angeles celebrity royalty. He revolutionized rock and roll with his “Wall of Sound” production, and went on to finalize The Beatles’ Let It Be. This means nothing to investigators on Homicide: Los Angeles. On Feb. 3, 2003, the body of Lana Clarkson, a 40-year-old actress and VIP Hostess of The House of Blues, was found dead in a chair in Spector’s foyer.

Netflix’s five-episode true crime docuseries fully covers the prosecutorial pursuit in one installment. Here’s what was condensed in discovery.

Lana Clarkson Was a Successful Actress

In the June 2003 article “Inside the Undoing of Phil Spector,” Spector told Esquire Clarkson “kissed the gun” before shooting herself. At trial, Spector’s attorneys claimed a depressed Clarkson used the 38-caliber pistol in his foyer. In spite of the Spector PR team’s smear campaign,...

On Friday nights, IndieWire After Dark takes a feature-length beat to honor fringe cinema in the streaming age.

First, the spoiler-free pitch for one editor’s midnight movie pick — something weird and wonderful from any age of film that deserves our memorializing.

Then, the spoiler-filled aftermath as experienced by the unwitting editor attacked by this week’s recommendation.

The Pitch: A Meddlesome Producer’s Bloodiest, Briniest Catch of the Day

As titillating as it is atrocious, “Humanoids from the Deep” has everything. Sandy boobs. Practical gore. A woman director undermined by Roger Corman. Garnish with those dead dog scenes, and what more could you ask of a creature feature from the summer of 1980?

Starring Doug McClure as a hero fisherman, Ann Turkel as an inquisitive biologist, and Vic Morrow in a shifty special performance, this sluggish monster invasion imagines a community ravaged by sea creatures (Aka clumsy actors in suits...

Intro: Marriage. Divorce. Dating. Unplanned pregnancy. Psychological counseling. Gambling debts. Sexual awakening. Absentee fathers. Balloon animals. Cowboys. It’s all covered in the 1989 comedy Parenthood – which tells the stories of parents, grandparents, and a whole lot of kids. This led to Oscar nominations, financial success, and even a couple TV series follow-ups – and we’re about to hear all about it, because it’s time for Parenthood to be Revisited.

Set-up: Legendary producer Roger Corman gave Ron Howard his first shot at directing a feature film with 1977’s Grand Theft Auto. At the time, Howard was best known for his acting roles, having played Opie Taylor on many episodes of The Andy Griffith Show and then Richie Cunningham on many episodes of Happy Days. It was while he was working on Happy Days that he met the writing duo of Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, as Ganz was a supervising...

Plunge into the ocean’s murky depths to find shark hybrids, deadly piranhas, fish-men, and more with Shout! TV’s Killer Fish Weekend, a binge-worthy marathon of cult classics streaming on both Shout! TV and Scream Factory TV on July 12-14.

The marathon includes Piranha (1978 and 1995), Sharktopus Vs. Pteracuda (featuring a cameo from Conan O’Brien), Sharkansas Women’s Prison Massacre (have you ever seen a shark walk on land?), and Lords Of The Deep (co-produced by Roger Corman).

The Killer Fish Weekend marathon can be viewed on Shout! TV and Scream Factory TV; as well as the Shout! TV app on Roku, Android, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire TV; and the following digital streaming platforms – Samsung TV Plus, Amazon Freevee, Local Now, Plex, Sling Freestream, LG Channels, available on LG Smart TVs, Fubo, Xumo and LiveTVx, available on Google devices. Scream Factory TV is available to stream on The CW.

Longlegs is a crime horror film written and directed by Oz Perkins. The 2024 film follows the story of FBI Agent Lee Harker as she takes on the case of unsolved serial killings but the mystery takes an interesting turn when the evidence suggests a connection to the occult. Soon, Harker discovers that she has a personal connection to the killer and she must find him before he kills someone else. Longlegs stars Maika Monroe in the lead role with Nicolas Cage, Alicia Witt, Kiernan Shipka, Blair Underwood, Erin Boyes, Dakota Daulby, Lisa Chandler, and Jason Day starring in supporting roles. So, if you loved the horror, crime, psychological, and mystery elements in Longlegs, here are some similar movies you could watch next.

The Silence of the Lambs (Prime Video) Credit – Orion Pictures

The Silence of the Lambs is a psychological horror thriller film directed by Jonathan Demme from a screenplay by Ted Tally.

Filmmaker Joe Swanberg was a major figure in the mumblecore film movement, and as the years have gone by he has also earned several credits in the horror genre, whether by taking acting roles in films like A Horrible Way to Die, You’re Next, The Sacrament, and Blackout, or by directing the werewolf movie Silver Bullets and contributing a segment to the anthology film V/H/S. Now Swanberg has increased his number of horror credits by five, as Deadline reports that he has teamed with Jordan Yale Levine and Jordan Beckerman of Yale Entertainment to produce a slate of five horror films – all of which have already wrapped filming! Four of the titles are Helldorado, Kenneled, Yellow Eyes, and Monkey’s Magic Merry Go Round. The fifth movie is currently simply known as the Untitled Jae Matthews Project.

Written and directed by Kansas Bowling (Cuddly Toys and the Troma release B.