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In hindsight, 1978's "Halloween" was always destined to have a sequel. Co-writer/director John Carpenter and co-writer/producer Debra Hill even included a particularly prophetic line of dialogue in their tale of a supernaturally-charged maniac, Michael Myers, terrorizing his hometown on Halloween night: "You can't kill the bogeyman." Thanks to the film's massive success critically, commercially, and culturally, "Halloween II" was practically a given.

While "Halloween" concludes with the assertion that Myers has indeed not yet been killed, a trickier question for Carpenter and Hill concerned what to do with the other surviving supporting characters. Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasance) was established as the Van Helsing to Myers' Dracula, so his return was fairly natural. A bigger issue revolved around bringing back star Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, the babysitter who unfortunately crosses Myers' path and becomes the focus of his All Hallows' Eve rampage. Not wanting to kill...

After being hit with a swathe of legacyquels over the past several years, it's pretty clear that as an audience, nostalgia is our kryptonite. Then again, a return to a franchise can silence naysayers the second they hear a few notes from a familiar score that'll have us sitting up in our seats and our chest involuntarily swelling. That's what many fans undoubtedly felt when, while checking out the stunning new poster for James Gunn's "Superman" (a film that really needs to work), they caught the gentle breeze of John Williams' unmistakable theme for 1978's "Superman: The Movie" sounding out. "Superman" (to our knowledge) isn't a legacyquel, but it absolutely would not matter if it still uses Williams' music.

Given the amount of fire emojis and praised heaped upon the one-sheet's unveiling, people are happily expressing their joy over the beloved composer's work getting reapplied to this all-new iteration of DC's poster boy.

Mike Myers recently told Vulture that rumors claiming Dr. Evil from the “Austin Powers” film franchise is based on “Saturday Night Live” creator Lorne Michaels are simply not true. Myers was a cast member on “SNL” from 1989 to 1995. Considering “Austin Powers” originated as a James Bond spoof, the inspiration for Dr. Evil was always Blofeld actor Donald Pleasance from “You Only Live Twice” and not Myers’ “SNL” boss.

“The Lorne of it is just a little tiny overlay,” Myers explained. “I’m Canadian. He’s Canadian. He had an educated Canadian accent, and I have a Scarborough accent. One time he goes, ‘Mike, do you want to come up to the Hamptons?’ I was like, ‘Am I fired?’ I went, and it was like, ‘That’s Mick’s room, or do you want Keith’s room?’ And I was like, ‘Either’s fine. Couch works! The car works!'”

“So anyway,...

More than 25 years later, Mike Myers is breaking down the basis for one of his most quotable characters.

Although he admitted Lorne Michaels provided some inspiration, the Saturday Night Live alum revealed that the Austin Powers villain Dr. Evil was originally based on another more specific character reference.

“No, it was Donald Pleasence forever,” he told Vulture, referring to the actor’s performance as Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the 1967 James Bond film You Only Live Twice.

Myers said there was “just a little tiny overlay” with the SNL creator, for whom he worked on the NBC sketch comedy show from 1989 to 1995.

“I’m Canadian. He’s Canadian. He had an educated Canadian accent, and I have a Scarborough accent,” he explained. “One time he goes, ‘Mike, do you want to come up to the Hamptons?’ I was like, ‘Am I fired?’ I went, and it was like, ‘That’s Mick’s room,...

Much as the legend has grown that Mike Myers' Austin Powers character Dr. Evil is a Lorne Michaels parody, Myers insists "The Lorne of it is just a little tiny overlay." Speaking last month at Vulture Festival, the actor explained that both he and Michaels are Canadian, but Michaels' accent is "educated.

As Sheriff Brackett (played by Charles Cyphers) says in John Carpenter’s 1978 classic Halloween, “everyone is entitled to one good scare”. Any good Halloween movie should have at least one good scare in it, so now that the holiday the film was named after is upon us, we here at Arrow in the Head have decided to look back over all of the Halloween movies and put together a list of moments that get our hearts beating faster and put us on the edge of our seats. On the Halloween: Best Scares in the Franchise list below, you’ll find our picks for the top 5 scariest moments. Did your favorite make the cut?

Halloween (1978) – Nurse Car Attack

It’s a dark and stormy Halloween Eve. Nurse Marion Chambers (Nancy Stephens) has been sent to the Smith’s Grove Sanitarium with Michael Myers’ doctor Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence) to get the...

I​f Hollywood is good at anything, it’s seeing what hits big at the box office and then churning out a hundred clones of that product until it gets driven into the ground. We see it all the time. One such incident came around the release of the 1978 film Halloween. Once it began to rack up box office numbers, everyone scrambled to put out their own slasher film, preferably built around a holiday. This led to a glut of slasher films – which, if you’re a slasher fan like myself, was a fantastic time to be alive. Let’s look at the best Halloween rip-offs.

O​fferings (1989)

Offerings might be the most egregious rip-off Halloween there could be. A young kid accidentally falls down a well while playing with a group of kids. Some of them scare him as he’s walking along the edge, and he hits his head.

The year 1978 was a very important year for horror cinema. This is the year when John Carpenter’s classic slasher Halloween came out and changed history. Carpenter would go on to become a master of the genre known for his unconventional, yet authentic approach to his movies, while the movie gave birth to a franchise that has been active until recently.

And while none of the sequels ended up being very successful, the first movie is still lauded as one of the best examples of horror cinema, and it definitely set the tone for all future slashers, including such 1980s classics as Cunningham’s Friday the 13th and Craven’s Nightmare on Elm Street.

But, this report is not going to be about the historical impact of the movie, but rather about a true story on how Michael Myers’ infamous mask was actually created and how Star Trek‘s Captain Kirk,...

Paul Rudd made his big-screen debut in Amy Hecklering's high-profile modernization of Jane Austen's "Emma," "Clueless" in 1995. He immediately gained a great deal of attention because he was very handsome, and he was very funny. Fun trivia: Rudd was 25 when he filmed "Clueless" in 1995 and, in 2024, he somehow only looks 31. Before "Clueless," Rudd appeared in a Super Nintendo commercial, and he had a recurring role in later seasons of the soap opera "Sisters." He also starred in all six episodes of the short-lived 1994 Fox sitcom "Wild Oats." These days, Rudd is a massive movie star, having established himself as one of the better comedic actors of his generation, and becoming involved with the gigantic Marvel Cinematic Universe, playing Ant-Man. 

But he wasn't always playing with power. Many actors make their way into the mainstream through the portal of horror, starting their careers in slasher movies and ghost stories. Adam Scott,...

Alvin Rakoff, the Canadian-born filmmaker who directed Laurence Olivier in A Voyage Round My Father, has died. He was 97.

His death was confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter by his longtime publicist, Nick Pourgourides. He passed away on Oct. 12 surrounded by family at home in Chiswick, a neighborhood in London.

Rakoff as a writer, director and producer of over 100 TV, film and stage productions, as well as novels, directed Olivier and co-stars Alan Bates and Jane Asher in the 1982 TV drama A Voyage Round My Father, a film written by John Mortimer and which earned the director his second Emmy Award.

Alvin and Olivier also worked together on Mr. Halpern and Mr. Johnson and A Talent for Murder, both shot in 1983. The two-time Emmy Award winner also gave a young Sean Connery his first leading role in the 1957 film Requiem for a Heavyweight, and Alan Rickman as a young actor was...

Alvin Rakoff, the veteran Canadian filmmaker best known for pics like the 1982 feature A Voyage Round My Father starring Laurence Olivier, died in Chiswick, London, October 12 surrounded by his family. He was 97.

Rakoff’s former personal agent confirmed the news with Deadline this morning.

Born on on February 6, 1927, in Toronto Rakoff was the third of seven children. After graduating from the University of Toronto with a psychology degree, Rakoff spent time as a news reporter. His first job as a writer was with the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC), which later sponsored Rakoff to visit the UK. Within days of arriving, he sold his first fiction script to the BBC. He was soon invited to join the BBC’s director’s training course and, the following year at the age of twenty-six, Rakoff became the youngest producer/director in the BBC drama department.

As Rakoff once recalled: “I trained at the BBC as a director-producer.

Canadian director, writer and producer Alvin Rakoff, best known for directing Laurence Olivier in “A Voyage Round My Father,” has died at the age of 97.

The cause of death was “old age,” his publicist told Variety. He died on Oct. 12 at home, surrounded by his family.

Over a career spanning more than four decades, which began when television was still only available in black-and-white, Rakoff was involved in over 100 television, film and stage productions as well as writing novels. According to his representatives, he was still working into his ’90s.

Rakoff was the third of seven children born to Sam and Pearl Rakoff in Toronto in 1927. His parents owned a dry goods shop but the director grew up in poverty after the Great Depression hit in 1929. He would later recount the experience in his novel “Baldwin Street.”

After seeing his first film in a theater at the age of 6, his...

When John Carpenter made the original “Halloween” in 1978, it was just another horror movie in a long line of horror movies. But the blockbuster success of this low-budget movie, about a masked killer murdering babysitters, made “Halloween” a cultural institution. The film spawned legions of imitators and codified the slasher genre as we still know it. And yet the official “Halloween” franchise has often struggled to meet the standard of the movie that inspired the craze. Let’s look back at all of these classic (and not so classic) horror movies, and see how they stack up.

Behold, all the “Halloween” movies ranked from worst to best.

Photo credit: Dimension Films

14. “Halloween: Resurrection” (2002)

The worst “Halloween” movie commits two cardinal sins. First, it nullifies the intense and satisfying finale of “Halloween H20” by striking Laurie Strode’s personal victory from the record; now, not only did she kill an innocent man instead of Michael Myers,...

From Trancas International Films and CineLife Entertainment®, John Carpenter’s original horror classic Halloween returns to theaters this month and it’s not coming back alone.

Halloween (1978) will return to the big screen this October, hitting over 600 theatres and drive-ins across more than 400 markets. Additionally, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers and Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers return to theaters in select markets.

“The best way to experience Halloween this season, is on the big screen,” stated Malek Akkad, CEO of Trancas International Films. “We are excited to collaborate with our partners at CineLife

Entertainment® to bring Halloween, Halloween 4 and Halloween 5 to so many theaters and markets. This is a chance for both long-time fans and a new generation to experience the thrill of these iconic films as they were meant to be seen.”

“We are excited to bring the most prominent and enduring horror film...

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If you are a horror fan then there is a big chance that you might have heard about the horror streaming service Shudder, and if you have its subscription you might be wondering what’s in store for you in October 2024. Don’t worry there is a host of new and old horror movies coming to the service in the upcoming month and we have listed the 13 best movies coming to Shudder in October 2024.

Hush (October 1)

Hush is a slasher horror thriller film directed by Mike Flanagan who also co-wrote the film with Kate Siegel. The 2016 film follows the story of a dead writer living in a remote house in the woods but when a masked killer appears in the window she must fight for her survival. Hush stars Kate Siegel in the lead role with John Gallagher Jr.,...

The James Bond franchise has captivated audiences for decades, with its suave secret agent saving the world from nefarious villains. Many actors have donned the iconic role, and an array of talented actresses have played the coveted Bond girls. However, one leading lady has her sights set on a different challenge.

Saoirse Ronan, the Oscar-nominated actress, has expressed her desire to play a James Bond villain. The actress revealed in an interview that she wanted to star in a big commercial movie, like the franchise in question, but as the main villain. News about the upcoming Bond 26 movie are scarce but there are countless rumors about the actor who would replace Daniel Craig as the lead.

The Bond franchise’s next villain: The next big step

Saoirse Ronan, the talented Irish-American actress, has established herself as a leading lady in Hollywood with a diverse range of critically acclaimed performances.

Killer Collectibles highlights five of the most exciting new horror products announced each and every week, from toys and apparel to artwork, records, and much more.

Here are the coolest horror collectibles unveiled this week!

Ben Cooper Costume Figures from Neca

As previewed at San Diego Comic-Con, Neca is adding four new characters to its Ben Cooper Costume action figure line: Alien‘s Xenomorph, Gremlins‘ Gizmo and Stripe, and Beetlejuice (based on the animated series).

Each 6″ toy is outfitted in retro-inspired soft goods clothing and comes with a trick or treat bag. They’re packaged in numbered window boxes. Due out in October, the set of four is available for $79.99.

Escape from New York Steelbook 4K Uhd from Scream Factory

Escape from New York will be released on SteelBook 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray with artwork by Orlando Arocena on November 5 via Scream Factory. The 1981 post-apocalyptic action film been restored in...

John Carpenter's 1981 sci-fi film "Escape from New York" has a novel premise: in the distant future of 1997, crime skyrocketed 400%. Instead of stopping crime in New York City, the government merely built walls around the island of Manhattan and transformed the whole burg into a massive prison. There are no cops on the inside, and only armed guards — and mined bridges — keep people inside. Anyone who commits a major crime is dropped into New York and forced to fend for themselves.

Naturally, Air Force One is shot down, and the President's escape pod lands inside New York Prison. The president (Donald Pleasance) is trapped! The dangerous, eyepatch-sporting criminal Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) was recently apprehended for robbery and is offered an ultimatum by the smarmy Police Commissioner (Lee Van Cleef). Snake will have his record expunged if he agrees to break into New York and rescue the president. Also, as additional motivation,...

Boss Team Games recently worked with Saber Interactive, Renaissance Pictures, Studiocanal, MGM, and Lionsgate to bring fans Evil Dead: The Game, a cool project that stopped developing new content surprisingly soon after it was released. Now Boss Team Games has moved on to a different popular horror franchise, as IGN reports that they’re working on two video games based on the 1978 classic Halloween!

Details on these Halloween games are scarce at this point, but IGN was able to confirm that Boss Team Games are developing them in collaboration with the producers of the Halloween franchise. They also learned that one of the games is being developed in Unreal Engine 5 and will include input from original Halloween John Carpenter. Carpenter, who is said to be “intimately involved” with the project, provided the following statement: “As a huge gamer myself, I’m thrilled to help bring Michael Myers to life again in this game,...

For many filmmakers, the 1966 science fiction film “Fantastic Voyage,” which follows a shrunken submarine crew who travel into the body of an ailing scientist in order to heal him, is the holy grail of untapped IP. Directors such as Guillermo del Toro, Paul Greengrass, and Shawn Levy have all expressed interest in helming a new vision of the material, but none have managed to make it happen. However, almost 20 years ago “Independence Day” and “The Day After Tomorrow”-helmer Roland Emmerich was given a chance to crack “Fantastic Voyage” for Oscar-winning filmmaker James Cameron. Or at least so he thought.

At Comic-Con this weekend, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Emmerich was speaking with Antoine Fuqua for Collider’s Directors on Directing event when he was asked about his involvement in a remake via a video question from “Now You See Me” director Louis Leterrier.

Responding quite bluntly, Emmerich said,...

Studiocanal announce an incredible brand-new restoration of Soldier Blue, as part of the Cult Classics Collection, available on 15th July on DVD, Blu-Ray and collectable 4K Uhd SteelBook. We are giving away a Steelbook to celebrate!

A naive cavalry officer (Peter Strauss) and a resourceful young woman (Candice Bergen) survive a Native American attack and have to make their way home through the wilderness. As they face the hardships of the journey, the couple fall in love, only to witness a horrific bloodbath as the U.S. Cavalry takes revenge upon their enemy, in a battle that became notorious for its brutality.

The film, based on actual events, is a quintessentially gritty and bloody 70s revisionist western, starring Candice Bergen (Carnal Knowledge), Peter Strauss, and Donald Pleasence (Wake In Fright). As well as a collectable 4K Uhd SteelBook, the film is released on Blu-ray and DVD with superb new sleeve art by Tony Stella.

Sir Christopher Lee has led a thoroughly successful career that spanned over the course of sixty years, becoming one of the most reputed personalities in the entire entertainment industry. While he has given excellent performances across multiple genres, he is best known and most critically admired for the villainous roles he brilliantly embodied in horror and thriller movies.

Sir Christopher Lee. | Credit: Siebbi/Wikimedia Commons.

But even through such a successful career, which has led to him becoming one of the most legendary veteran actors in all of Hollywood, Lee still has some regrets regarding the choices he made. Or, to be more precise, regarding one particular decision he made when offered an iconic $70 million horror movie from the 1970s that pretty much transformed the slasher genre: Halloween.

Sir Christopher Lee Immensely Regrets Turning Down Halloween

While his career started in the late 1940s, Sir Christopher Lee soon made a...

There’s a creative freedom to the horror anthology; they’re not tethered to one central narrative, style, tone, or even voice. Some anthology collections unite multiple filmmakers, each taking on a segment. Some employ a single director for cohesion. Even the framework in which the film weaves its tales varies, whether by conventional wraparound or a complete remix.

For the viewer, anthologies offer a grab bag of bite-sized horror treats; there’s no telling what kind of horror the next segment will bring. This week’s streaming picks highlight horror anthologies that run the gamut from classic anthology format to experimental, from lighthearted to bone-chilling.

As always, here’s where you can stream them this week.

For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.

Ghost Stories – AMC+, Plex, Shudder

Written and directed by Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman, based on their 2010 stage play, Ghost Stories challenges the traditional anthology’s boundaries.

The premise of John Carpenter's 1981 science fiction film "Escape from New York" is the stuff of drive-in dreams. In the near future of 1997, crime will skyrocket and New York City will become so overrun with lawlessness that the government will simply wall off the entire island of Manhattan and turn it into a massive, no-rules penitentiary. When Air Force One is shot down by political dissidents (!), the President evacuates in an escape pod that lands right in the middle of New York Prison. In order to rescue him, the government (represented by Lee Van Cleef) hires a grizzled, indifferent badass named Snake (Kurt Russell) to infiltrate the prison, find the President (Donald Pleasance), and ... escape from New York. It's B-movie gold.

While traversing the ruined streets of a futuristic New York, Snake invariably runs afoul of the gangs and warlords who have risen to power on the inside. He...

Before "Star Wars," there was "Thx 1138." A strange, dystopic science fiction movie packed with big ideas up to its eyeballs, "Thx 1138" is now mostly known as the feature directorial debut of one George Walton Lucas Jr. (though it also came back in conversation when the best episode of "Andor" paid homage to it). The future Lucasfilm founder originally created this story of repressed emotions and stymied sexuality as a student film, but by the time it was reimagined as a feature, it had gained backing from Warner Bros.

Lucas' American Zoetrope co-founder Francis Ford Coppola also had faith in the movie, and served as one of its producers. "Thx 1138" starred Robert Duvall, then already known for his work on stage and television, not to mention in films like "To Kill A Mockingbird," "M*A*S*H," and "True Grit." Future "Halloween" actor Donald Pleasence co-starred, along with a then-unknown actress named Maggie McOmie.

New month, new horror recommendations from Deep Cuts Rising. This installment features one random pick as well as four selections reflecting the month of May 2024.

Regardless of how they came to be here, or what they’re about, these past movies can generally be considered overlooked, forgotten or unknown.

This month’s offerings include a self-loathing serial killer, a violinist’s murderous ghost, and a postmodern vamp flick.

Scream, Pretty Peggy (1973)

Pictured: Ted Bessell and Sian Barbara Allen in Scream, Pretty Peggy.

Directed by Gordon Hessler.

The TV-movie Scream, Pretty Peggy first aired as part of ABC Movie of the Week. Bette Davis plays the mother of a reclusive sculptor (Ted Bessell), and after the previous housekeeper goes missing, a local college student (Sian Barbara Allen) fills the position. Little does she know, though, the young employee’s predecessor was murdered — and the killer is still on the loose.

Admittedly,...

The long-gestating sci-fi remake of Fantastic Voyage, which could pair James Cameron with Guillermo del Toro, is still on the cards, according to the Avatar director.

According to James Cameron, his long-gestating remake of Fantastic Voyage is still happening. That in itself is newsworthy given how long Cameron has been talking about this project. The filmmaker wrote a screenplay for the film decades ago, but in the wake of Titanic's success in 1997, he became transfixed with realising the alien world of Pandora onscreen and with the exception of a couple of documentary films, has only released two Avatar films in the quarter century since.

As far as Fantastic Voyage goes, Cameron’s plan has long been to produce the film, with Gullermo del Toro being the man to direct it. We’ve seen Cameron ‘godfather’ films before while working on the never-ending production of the Avatar films, not least...

John Carpenter's 1981 sci-fi film "Escape from New York" is set in the far-flung future of 1997 when crime in across America has suddenly increased 400%. In response, the government has walled off the island of Manhattan, transforming the entire city into a massive prison. Food is airdropped in every so often. All escape bridges are lousy with landmines. There are no guards apart from those walking the parapets. It's a lawless land with no escape. Any criminals and ne'er-do-wells are forced inside and left to their own devices.

The protagonist of "Escape from New York" (I hesitate to call him a hero) is Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell), a freelance badass and thief who was recently apprehended by the government (represented by Lee Van Cleef). Snake is told that Air Force One has exploded over New York, and an escape pod containing the president (Donald Pleasence) has landed inside the New York prison.

“It was all me, James. It’s always been me,” the villain played by Christoph Waltz reveals to super spy James Bond. “The author of all your pain.”

The name of that author? Ernst Stavro Blofeld. When Waltz revealed himself as Blofeld in 2015’s Spectre, he reversed a problem that had plagued the Bond franchise for decades: the long absence of 007’s greatest recurring arch-enemy and the huge stakes that came along with his every appearance.

How could the man who escaped every death trap and seduced every woman lose his man? How did the notoriously controlling Eon Productions, which owns the rights to Ian Fleming’s novels, let one of its most important characters slip through its hands?

Turns out, the true author of Bond’s pain is the copyright office and the he said/she said litigation that slows down big budget productions.

The Birth of Blofeld

Ernst...

Turning down a job can sometimes come back to haunt you, especially if you're an actor who passed up a role in an acclaimed horror movie and later regretted the decision. This scenario may be difficult to imagine. After all, who would pass up the chance to be in a movie or TV show, right? As fans, though, it can be easy to forget that the movie business -- for all its glory, fanfare, legacy, and importance -- is, at the end of the day, just that: a business. A person in any industry may decline a job that doesn't feel like good fit, doesn't align with their schedule, or maybe would have them working with a filmmaker or co-star they unsure of for one reason or another.

Casting is a crucial component to any project's pre-production. In fact, come 2026, "Best Casting" will be an Oscar category. With the exact same material,...

Thanksgiving is a horror slasher film directed by Eli Roth, from a screenplay by Jeff Rendell. The film is based on Roth’s mock trailer of the same name from the 2007’s Grindhouse, after many years of discussions and nearly going into production, the much-awaited Thanksgiving film is finally here and it is set during the Black Friday 2022 in Plymouth, Massachusetts as many people are crushed to death during the riot, despite the intervention of police and town sheriff Eric Newlon. Thanksgiving stars Patrick Dempsey, Addison Rae, Gina Gerson, Rick Hoffman, Nell Verlaque, Tim Dillon, Jenna Warren, and Milo Manheim. So, if you loved Thanksgiving here are some similar movies you could watch next.

You’re Next (Prime Video Add-On) Credit – Lionsgate

You’re Next is nothing if not a brilliant slasher horror for the genre fans. Directed by Adam Wingard, the 2013 film follows the story of the Davison family,...

If there's one actress whose name is synonymous with the "Halloween" franchise, created by director John Carpenter in 1978, it's Jamie Lee Curtis. If there's another, it's Danielle Harris. Curtis holds the record for most "Halloween" movie appearances with six film, not counting archival footage, and the late Donald Pleasance is in five (though his likeness was used in the new "Halloween" trilogy). Harris, however, appearing in four "Halloween" movies, is the only actress to play two different characters in the franchise, and she did so by never taking no for an answer. When conditions were wrong, she walked, and when arbitrary directorial edicts threatened to block her, she acted her way back in with the best audition.

Harris was a young child when she first encountered Michael Myers. What happened to that little girl? She grew up, but she never stopped working. These days, she's a mother in real life,...

John Carpenter's "Escape From New York" is a cult classic for a reason — it rules. Released in 1981, "Escape From New York" is a down-and-dirty sci-fi action pic in which New York City has become a giant maximum security prison. As bad luck would have it, an attempted hijacking of Air Force One forces the President (Donald Pleasence) to eject from the plane in an escape pod. Guess where he ends up? Yep — NYC, baby! The Big Apple! The militarized government wants to save the President and retrieve a top-secret briefcase he has cuffed to his wrist, but New York is too dangerous to simply enter for your average rescue mission. So the powers-that-be strike upon a simple plan: they force criminal Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) into doing the job.

Snake, a cool dude with an eyepatch and a whispery voice, has no real choice in the matter: a device...

Vinegar Syndrome just put a Massive lineup of new releases up for grabs this afternoon, making one thing crystal clear: in the horror world, physical media is alive & well in 2024!

First up, Vinegar Syndrome’s March 2024 lineup includes the 4K Uhd debut of the landmark horror anthology and Amicus classic, Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors from 1965.

The March package also includes Specters (1987), Singapore Sling (1990), Story of a Junkie (1985), and Goin’ South (1978), while Nightbeast (1982) gets a VHS release.

Vinegar Syndrome further details, “We’re getting in the Halloween spirit 7 months early with the 4K Uhd debut of director Freddie Francis’ landmark horror anthology and Amicus classic, Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors (1965), newly and exclusively restored by Vs from its 35mm camera negative and overflowing with an array of archival interviews and other exciting extras. Moving two decades on, we’ve paired a duo of devilish supernatural horrors from director Marcello Avallone...

The late 1950s and the entirety of the 1960s was the golden age for big, brawny, studio-produced action-adventure epics. Films like "The Bridge on the River Kwai," "The Guns of Navarone," and "The Train" plopped big movie stars in the midst of finely crafted yarns about unflappable heroes pooling their expertise to pull off seemingly impossible tasks. Most of these were next-phase World War II movies that eschewed the reverential tone of the films made in the immediate wake of the conflict's end; they were less about the Axis enemy, and more about the ingenuity of men in high-pressure situations. When done well, they were hailed by critics and ticket-buyers alike.

And with due respect to the many entertaining entries in this subgenre, none of them can match the armrest-shredding suspense and rousing camaraderie of John Sturges "The Great Escape."

Working from a screenplay credited to W.R. Burnett and the...

In November of 1993, writer/director John Lafia (Child’s Play 2) unleashed Cujo Cocaine Bear (great punk band name) upon the world with Man’s Best Friend. In the movie, a Tibetan Mastiff named Max 3000 is released from a genetic research facility by a reporter named Lori (Breakfast Club’s Ally Sheedy) while trying to expose a company for their cruel experiments on animals. We eventually learn that while Max might look like the best boy ever, he has a lot more in common with Wesley Snipes’ Simon Phoenix character from Demolition Man than he does Lassie.

While in the lab’s care, Max has been experimented on and genetically enhanced with the DNA of a slew of dangerous animals. For example, if threatened he can camouflage himself with the colors of your garage and hide there like a chameleon before deciding to pop out and bite your dick off. He has super strength,...

It’s been another blockbuster year for horror, but then again it always feels like that. Superhero fatigue has set in and major franchise pictures haven’t returned as expected, but horror, as ever, always seems to reach new heights. The news in 2023 may have been a load of gout, but the horror has been pure gold.

So, without further ado, here is a list of my top 10 of 2023.

RoboDoc: The Creation of RoboCop

Arrow Films, Vinegar Syndrome and others who have perfected the art of producing feature-length behind the scenes documentaries really have their work cut out for them thanks to RoboDoc. RoboDoc has broken the mould by creating an in-depth documentary that takes you through the entire film scene-by-scene. RoboDoc combines a retrospective documentary, director’s commentary and behind the scenes features into one glorious 4-part series.

No stone has been left unturned when gathering contributors - from...

James Bond is currently in limbo. Following the end of the Daniel Craig era, no one is quite sure what long-time producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson have in store for the next 007 installment, and it might be some time before we find out.

In the meantime, several actors have been touted as frontrunners to don the tux. But what about the villain? Bond antagonists are almost as important as the man himself, and there's no shortage of actors who'd be willing to play one. Brian Cox, for example, mistakenly thought he was about to be the next Bond villain when he got the call for "007: Road to a Million." Speaking to Jimmy Fallon (via The Hollywood Reporter), Cox said, "For years I thought, 'Yeah, I'd love to be a James Bond villain. It'd be really interesting.' And I thought, 'This is my moment.' But it wasn't.

Moms loved actor Robert Shaw. He wasn’t traditionally handsome, but he was sexy with his piercing blue eyes and forceful British accent. There was a gravatas to his performances, a danger that was appealing to women of a certain age. And he knew how to make an entrance on the big screen. Who could forget his introduction as the fanatical shark hunter Quint in the 1975 blockbuster “Jaws” when he runs his fingernails down the blackboard. He was the bad boy of many a mother’s dreams in the 1970s.

Let’s face it, they don’t make them like Shaw anymore. In its 1978 obit of the British actor, the Washington Post declared him as “one of the most forceful and successful character actors on the contemporary English-speaking screen.” He was also a true renaissance man having written five novels and three plays. He was writing his sixth novel when...

It seems only natural that Severin Films would follow up its two Eurocrypt of Christopher Lee box sets with a collection of some of the more offbeat entries in the filmography of Peter Cushing, Lee’s legendary Hammer Films co-star. Cushing Curiosities collects five films and the remaining episodes of a TV series that highlight the diverse aspects of Cushing’s always authoritative on-screen persona. Featuring crisp new 2K restorations sourced from original elements, Severin’s compelling new set comes complete with loads of bonus materials, including some priceless audio interviews with the man himself and commentaries by historians, as well as Peter Cushing: A Portrait in Six Sketches, a 200-page book by film historian Jonathan Rigby.

Cushing appears as a stiff-necked yet urbane airline pilot in 1960’s Cone of Silence, a modestly compelling exposé based on the actual investigation into a 1952 airplane crash. Reprimanded for a crash that killed his copilot,...

The Shape is back! Well, of course he is. He can't be killed, after all, and the "Halloween" franchise must go on to ensure that Michael Myers will still be terrorizing the fine folks in Haddonfield for generations to come. "Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers" continued the trend established in "Halloween 4" and "Halloween 5" of weirdly copying the sequel titles of the "Pink Panther" movies starring Peter Sellers. There was "The Return," then "The Revenge" and now it was time to dive a little deeper into "Halloween" lore, for better or worse.

Honestly, it was something of a miracle that "Halloween 6" even got made at all. After becoming the first in the series to actually premiere on Friday the 13th, "Halloween 5" was the lowest grossing movie of the franchise when it opened in October of 1989. After the development for "Halloween 6" stalled multiple times due to legal issues,...

Warning: Seeing as some readers are sensitive to this point, this post will discuss dogs that are killed in movies.

In John Carpenter's 1978 slasher film "Halloween," the masked serial killer Michael Myers -- in addition to murdering five people -- kills two dogs. The first kill is not shown, and is only alluded to in a grisly dialogue exchange. When Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasance) and Sheriff Leigh Brackett (Charles Cyphers) investigate Michael Myers' childhood home, they see a dead dog left on the floor, kept tastefully off-camera. "He must have gotten hungry," Dr. Loomis notes. Yes, Michael Myers ate a dog. 

Later in the film, a more shocking scene of animal violence occurs. At the home of Linsday Wallace (Kyle Richards), the family dog barks at Michael who approaches the home from the shadows, targeting Linsday's babysitter Annie (Nancy Loomis). The dog, Lester, does not meet a pleasant fate,...

Dario Argento’s classic Phenomena has just landed on Screambox, courtesy of Synapse.

Also known as Creepers, the 1985 Giallo stars Jennifer Connelly and Halloween‘s Donald Pleasence.

Connelly portrays an American at a Swiss finishing school who calls on insects to help a paralyzed scientist (Pleasence) fight a monster.

Phenomena has been celebrated several times here on Bloody Disgusting, including a remembrance of Igna, the extremely smart chimpanzee owned by Pleasence’s character.

Other Argento classics on Screambox include Deep Red, Tenebrae, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, and The Wax Mask.

Screambox’s December has been jam-packed, including the goriest film you’ve never seen, Adam Chaplin, as well as the “Frankenstein”-inspired Santastein, body-swap thriller Devils, and Tobe Hooper’s Eaten Alive! Get all of the details here.

Start screaming now with Screambox on iOS, Android, Apple TV, Prime Video, Roku, YouTube TV, Samsung, Comcast, Cox, and Screambox.

Watching Santastein as part of this year's Popcorn Frights Film Festival felt like unwrapping a Christmas gift extra early this past summer, so I'm especially excited that Manuel Camilion and Benjamin Edelman's new holiday horror film is coming to Screambox on December 19th as part of their streaming lineup this month!

Below, you can check out the previous Santastein trailer and details on Screambox's December streaming lineup (which also includes Rare Exports), and in case you missed it, feel free to read my Popcorn Frights review of Santastein, which brings Santa Claus back to life with a blood-splattered vengeance!

Santastein synopsis: Max was only six years old when he accidentally burned Santa to a crisp on Christmas Eve. 12 years later, Max attempts to raise Santa from the dead in order to fix his past mistakes and restore the Christmas spirit. But he soon realizes that the creature he has...

Screambox has revealed the new films that are joining the horror streaming service in December, including the goriest film you’ve never seen, Adam Chaplin, as well as the “Frankenstein”-inspired Santastein, body-swap thriller Devils, and classics Dario Argento’s Phenomena and Tobe Hooper’s Eaten Alive.

Fresh off its Beyond Fest premiere, the extended cut of Adam Chaplin is streaming exclusively on Screambox now! Drawing comparison to The Crow, Fist of the North Star, and Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky, the unrated Italian splatterfest is a must-see for gorehounds.

Santa Claus has also come to Screambox in Rare Exports, also now streaming. From Sisu director Jalmari Helander, the Finnish film joins Screambox’s Yuletide Fear collection alongside exclusives like Secret Santa and Night of the Missing and such classics as Black Christmas and Silent Night, Deadly Night 2.

Violent South Korean thriller Devils streams exclusively on Screambox on December 5. It...

John Carpenter's 1978 film "Halloween" begins with a prologue in 1963 wherein a six-year-old Michael Myers (Will Sandin), with no discernible motivation, takes a knife from his family kitchen, brings it upstairs, and slays his big sister Judith (Sandy Johnson). Michael was immediately taken to a mental asylum where he didn't speak a word for 15 years. His psychiatrist Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasance) tried to reach through to Michael, aiming to discern why he might have killed his sister, but ultimately found that Michael was merely, irretrievably evil. Naturally, in 1978, Michael escaped the asylum and returned to his childhood home in Haddonfield, Illinois. 

There is a notable scene wherein Dr. Loomis visits the grave of Judith Myers in 1978, only to find that the tombstone had been dug up out of the ground and stolen. The tombstone will reappear late in the film when Michael, now wearing a mask and committing multiple murders,...

What’s most shocking about the fact that it’s been 35 years since Mystery Science Theater 3000 began its run on Ktma in Minneapolis-St. Paul is the fact that it’s been only 35 years. Sporting a premise that’s gained added resonance since Covid redefined what it’s like to watch movies in isolation, the series has existed long enough—and in enough iterations—as to feel almost impervious to time, endlessly redefining itself as technology and media consumption mutate and grow, and, more frequently, as circumstances necessitate.

While the show’s hook—a human and their robots joke their way through bad movies—suggests a cynical outlook, its overriding imagination leaves room enough to enjoy both the films being watched and the jokes made at their expense. The classics that MST3K has yielded far exceed the limitations of this list’s format—to say nothing of the multitude of grace notes contained within,...

The Jamie Lee Curtis episode of the Wtf Happened to This Horror Celebrity? video series (formerly known as Where in the Horror Are They Now) was Written and Narrated by Jessica Dwyer and Edited by Jaime Vasquez. It was Produced by John Fallon and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

The final girl. The antithesis of every horror movie villain. The final girl typically has a few traits that has become the standard for horror films over the last few decades. She needs to have a sense of innocence, be intelligent, and have a girl next door vibe that makes her the dream girl for a lot peeps. But most of all she’s a survivor who manages to outwit and outlast a supernatural evil (usually) that has been terrorizing her friends and neighbors and puts a stop to it. The blueprint for the final girl really was minted by an...

David Gordon Green's 2018 slasher film "Halloween," a direct sequel to John Carpenter's 1978 slasher film also called "Halloween," famously ignored the nine "Halloween" sequels and remakes made from 1981 to 2009. The original film starred Jamie Lee Curtis as a teenage babysitter named Laurie Strode who ran afoul of a mysterious, silent masked killer named Michael Myers. In the original "Halloween II," it was revealed that Laurie was Michael's long-lost sister, a conceit Green would handily abandon for his 2018 update. Instead, Laurie was, 40 years later, still wounded by the events of the 1978 film, and had become a ragged survivalist, outfitting her home with booby traps and training herself how to use weapons in the off chance that Michael should ever escape the local mental institution and begin his killing spree again. Perhaps predictably, that very thing happens. 

Green's "Halloween" ends with Laurie trapping Michael in a burning building, seemingly to die forever.

Look out! Michael Myers is back — for revenge. Sort of. While "Halloween 5" is officially subtitled "The Revenge of Michael Myers," that subtitle never actually appears in the opening credits. Maybe they forgot. In any case, The Shape is back yet again, despite being shot approximately a billion times and dropped down into a mineshaft at the end of "Halloween 4." But you just can't keep this guy down for long (unless you're making a sequel about masks that turn kids' heads into bugs or something like that).

In "Halloween 5," The Shape spends a full year sleeping, only to then wake up, refreshed and ready to go after his niece Jamie Lloyd (Danielle Harris) once again. Meanwhile, his old nemesis Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) has gone off the deep end, and he's willing to act like a crazy person if it means finally killing Michael once and for all.