Books

‘Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror’ Documentary: The Horror News Network Review

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Whenever a film becomes a surprise hit (and leaves an impression on Hollywood executives that are seeking to mine similar material for profit), there are sometimes some unexpected, positive side effects.  In the case of Jordan Peele’s Get Out, which captured the attention of both ticket buyers and studio heads, the shock waves of success helped to unearth and bring attention to some forgotten gems and underappreciated actors and filmmakers that helped pave the way for Peele’s triumph. read more

Shudder’s Upcoming ‘Creepshow’ Anthology Announces Story Line-Up

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Fans of the original George Romero and Stephen King collaboration Creepshow will be happy to heat that production has begun on Shudder’s new anthology series, bearing the same name and  format.

According to the official press release, the six-episode season will feature stories by a who’s who list of horror writers and an as yet to be revealed adaptation of a Stephen King story.  The story list so far includes: “By the Silvery Waters of Lake Champlain” by Joe Hill (NOS4A2), “House of the Head” by Josh Malerman (Bird Box), “The Companion” by Joe Lansdale (Bubba Ho Tep, Hap and Leonard), “The Man in the Suitcase” by Christopher Buehlman (The Lesser Dead), “All Hallows Eve” by Bruce Jones (The Hitchhiker), “Night of the Paw” by John Esposito (The Walking Dead: Webisodes), and “Bad Wolf Down” by Rob Schrab (Monster House).  Other installments will be lead by David Bruckner (The Ritual),  Roxanne Benjamin (Southbound) and Rob Schrab (Ghosted, Community). read more

Paramount Cancels David Fincher’s ‘World War Z’ Sequel

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The long-awaited sequel to World War Z has been officially cancelled by Paramount Pictures, according to an exclusive report from The Playlist.

The report cites the film’s ballooning budget as a concern, but the bigger concern for Paramount was where the funds were being spent. When it came down to gambling on future profits, Paramount took the safe bet, and bankrolled Mission Impossible 7 & 8 (which will arrive in the summer of 2021 and 2022) instead of continuing the zombie franchise.

World War Z 2 has a long history of delays and missteps, as the film was originally scheduled to be directed by A Monster Calls director J.A. Bayona.  When Bayona left the project, producer and star Brad Pitt went after Fincher, and announced that his Fight Club director would assume control of the project in the fall of 2016.  The World War Z sequel was then scheduled for a June 9, 2017 release date, but Paramount removed it from the schedule earlier in 2017. read more

Edwin F. Becker’s Book ‘True Haunting’ Is Being Developed as a Feature Film by Screen Gems

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The 1970s is famous for a number of haunted house and possession cases that everyone remembers, from the world famous Amityville Horror to England’s greatest haunting, the Enfield Poltergeist Case.  Many of these “real life” hauntings also received the Hollywood treatment, but up until now, no one ever decided to make a film based on television’s long forgotten first live exorcism, which aired on NBC in 1971.

Not until today that is, as Screen Gems (a company that never turned down a project it didn’t like) is ready to adapt Edwin F. Becker’s recollection of what he reports was an exorcism gone wrong in his book True Haunting.  According to an exclusive report by Deadline, Producer “Cindy Cowan has optioned the book, and will produce with Steve Bersch and Scott Strauss overseeing the project.” read more

CBS All Access to Adapt Stephen King’s ‘The Stand’ into 10 Episode Limited Series

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The folks at CBS All Access are working hard to make their streaming platform a one stop spot for horror programming. First, they became the exclusive home to Jordan Peele’s new The Twilight Zone reboot; and now they’re turning one of Stephen King’s most popular novels into (another) limited television series!

Variety reports that CBS Television Studios will produce a 10 episode limited series of The Stand for CBS All Access. Josh Boone (The New Mutants, The Fault in Our Stars) will direct the series, based on a script by Boone and Ben Cavell (Justified, SEAL Team, Sneaky Pete). The Stand is a passion project for Boone, who began his love affair with the novel when he was twelve and his religious parents burned his copy in the family fireplace: read more

Horror Legend Clive Barker Discusses His New Book and ‘Books of Blood’ and ‘Nightbreed’ Television Series

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Clive Barker is no stranger to anyone familiar with horror literature and films from the 1980s.  The noted writer, director, and artist has kept busy over the years, turning out a wide-variety of books, stories, and artwork, and he is about to enter the horror-verse in a big way in 2019 with a new book (Deep Hill), and two possible television series based on some of his most famous stories and films (The Books of Blood and Nightbreed).

According to an interview with Barker on his official website, Revelations, his latest novel “Deep Hill, is a little over halfway typed now. I am still working on it and am very excited about it. It’s a rather larger book than I thought it was going to be but, as you know, that always happens with me! It is not a book for the very young readers of Thief of Always, say, because it has some very dark, fantastical material in it. It does not, however, contain any sexual material and any cursing you may hear is nothing you wouldn’t hear on the nightly news, but it is scary and I won’t try and water that fact down. In fact in some ways I think it’s one of the scariest things I’ve done, because it mingles both imaginative scares (that is to say strange creatures and the like) with very threatening issues about the world we live in. Deep Hill involves a world of waste, how we deal with waste… read more

The Old and New Gods Prepare for Battle in ‘American Gods’ Season Two Trailer

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Starz adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s hit novel depicting a battle between the gods of mythology and the gods of modern life is set to return for its second season on March 10, promising us an ole’ fashioned show down! If you have been waiting for a sneak peak into the battle for the souls of humanity, the trailer for American Gods season two has just landed.

Season two continues to focus on Wednesday (Ian McShane) and Shadow Moon’s (Ricky Whittle) cross country road trip in search of ancient allies for the coming battle with Mr. World (Crispin Glover) and his many minions.  The series also stars Pablo Schreiber, Emily Browning, Orlando Jones, Yetedi Badaki, Bruce Langley, Omid Abtahi, Mousa Kraish, and Demore Barne.  Gillian Anderson’s role as Media has been picked up by Kahyun Kim (listed as “New Media” in the credits) after her departure from the series after season one.  Kristin Chenoweth will also not be returning to American Gods as the fertility goddess Easter. In addition to Kim, Dean Winters (as the sinister Mr. Town) and Devery Jacobs (portraying Sam Black Crow) have joined the cast for season two. read more

The Original Horror Book Store Dark Delicacies Needs Your Help

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Dark Delicacies has been a staple for horror fans and creators in the Los Angeles area since founders Del and Sue Howison opened the doors in 1994.  The shop quickly became known as a place for writers, artists, and filmmakers to not only sell their work, but also to meet, greet, and interact with fans.

Like many other brick-and-mortar specialty stores, Dark Delicacies found it difficult to cope with rising rental costs and earlier this year, the co-founders considered shuttering the very first horror themed book store in the United States.  Due to a great outpouring of support from the horror community, the Howisons decided to move the world-famous horror hang-out to a new location (with a more reasonable rental charge) so the legacy of Dark Delicacies could continue. read more

‘Halloween: The Changing Shape of an Iconic Series’: The Horror News Network Review

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Fans and critics were certainly split over last October’s Halloween reboot.  While critics gave the film praise for updating the franchise for a modern audience, fans who have followed the series since John Carpenter’s original were less impressed, finding the film to be derivative and (the cardinal sin of any horror film) not scary enough.

Despite the mixed feelings about 2018’s version of Michael Myers tale, fans still hold the series in high regard, including some of the questionable later entries in the series.  Author Ernie Magnotta is one who certainly hold the films near and dear to his heart, but he also approaches the many Halloween films with a critical perspective in his new book Halloween: The Changing Shape of an Iconic Series. read more

First look at Zachary Quinto as Charlie Manx in ‘NOS4A2’

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The King family is no stranger to vampire fiction, specifically dad Stephen and son Joe. In 2013 Joe Hill, oldest son of author Stephen King, released his third novel, called NOS4A2, to mostly critical acclaim as it was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for best novel as well as named one of the top books of 2013 by Time Magazine.

In 2015, AMC announced that it had ordered a ten-episode series based on the book which finally began production this past October. Starring Ashleigh Cummings (Hounds of Love) as Vic McQueen and Zachary Quinto (Star Trek, Hannibal) as Charlie Manx – the story’s protagonist, an ancient sort of “psychic vampire”, AMC is looking to have the series out summer of 2019. read more