Episode 3.05 of "The Walking Dead," entitled "Say the Word," brought us Penny, Rick losing his mind, a mysterious ringing telephone, a zombie pit fight, and Michonne leaving Woodbury without Andrea.

During a recent conference call F/X guru/Episode 3.05 director Greg Nicotero and series star Danai Gurira (Michonne) discussed the show and covered topics ranging from Carol's fate, Michonne's intensity and her decision to leave Woodbury, introducing viewers to Penny and the ringing phone only Rick can hear, creating Michonne's now departed companions, and LOTS more. Read on for the highlights.

Can you talk about when we will find out what happened to Carol?

Greg Nicotero: One of the challenging things about Episode 4 was that she disappears. They find part of her clothing and they’ve never found her. They’ve never really found Lori’s body; you just see sort of the remnants of the blood drag. So as far as everyone knows, Carol has suffered the same fate as everyone else, but that will be revealed shortly.

Can you talk a little bit about Michonne’s decision to leave Woodbury? Might she be heading back? Maybe she misses Andrea.

Danai Gurira: There are certain things that you just have to wait and see. Trust me; you’ll see where it ends up. But yes, her decision was pretty obvious in the beginning. She wasn’t happy at Woodbury. It was pretty obvious from the beginning that this was really working against what her instincts were okay with, being in this place with these men having taken her weapon, living under someone else’s rules all of a sudden when she didn’t choose to give them any of that power. So it’s really a complicated thing because you can understand why Andrea wants to be there. There are comforts that she hasn’t seen since before the apocalypse. But Michonne has learned to survive and to thrive through listening to her instincts and never doubting them. And her instincts just get further and further confirmed for her up to the point where there’s no way she can stay there, especially after her experience with The Governor. So it was just a question of really trying to make her friend understand that they needed to get out of there because this place wasn’t a great place for them. But they each had to make their own decisions. And it wasn't easy.

The zombie at the end… did that zombie consume all of Lori or just parts of Lori? We can’t realistically think the zombie could have eaten all of her, but we don’t really see any of her around.

Greg Nicotero: No. The idea is supposed to be that walker has sort of dragged her around the corner of the boiler room so there’s actually a blood trail that continues past the walker and goes around the corner. The zombie has sort of engorged itself, disgusting as it is, and what we did was, when you first see the walker, you see its extended belly. And we kind of wanted to give a little call back to Lori, even though we clearly know that Lori’s not pregnant anymore. And then we come around the corner. and some of the little touches we added was bits of hair in its mouth and hair in his hand when it reaches up towards Rick. And it was just one of those things that we really wanted to show that this thing had feasted on her--as horrible as it is. And it’s sort of a call back even to Episode 1 in Season 2, when they were going to do the autopsy on the walker to see if it had eaten Sophia and they find the pieces of the woodchuck.

So when Rick gets there and kneels down and pulls the blade out, there’s that moment where you think, 'Oh God, he’s going to cut it open because he just needs to see.' It’s almost like a really horrible sick connection. He just needs to be connected. He walks into the room. He sees her clothes on the ground. He picks up the bullet from the ground. It’s a little hard to see until he rotates it, but he picks up the bullet that Carl shot at her. So he keeps that and then walks around the corner and finds the walker. So it’s really the beginning of his descent into madness. He never had a goodbye with her. He never had any resolution, even going into the deepest depths of the prison. That’s a really horrible way for him to have a last final connection with her.

It was important to Sarah (Wayne Callies) that the baby survived. One of the first things that came up when the idea of her death was discussed was that she said, 'Did the baby survive?' So getting into the emotional resonance of Lori’s death, there are some boundaries. You may not believe it, but there are a few boundaries here and there on the "The Walking Dead" that we want to preserve.

This episode was like the epitome of shattering of beliefs in the delusions of the characters, and it culminates at the end with Rick and also the mirror of the two camps where you’ve got this horrible darkness of the prison and you’ve got this sweet scene with the baby. But at Woodbury you have this idyllic town and you have this horrible bloodthirstiness in the middle of it. Can you talk about that because you’ve got the delusions of The Governor, you’ve got Rick’s delusions? You’ve got Andrea not wanting to see what’s in front of her. As a director and an actor, what did you and Andrew talk about and go through for that scene of him just losing his shit at the end because that was some powerful stuff?

Greg Nicotero: Everyone was fantastic. Yes, you’re right. One of the clear ideas in the script was that we start on a very light Woodbury party scene and then cut directly from that to Rick reeling from Lori’s death. And as that scene progresses, Woodbury becomes darker and darker because we see Michonne finding the walkers and killing them. Then we have this fantastic scene with Michonne and The Governor, which is one of my favorite scenes in the whole episode. And then as it gets darker and darker, we get into the gladiator fights. Woodbury clearly has some seedy underbelly that Michonne was right about all the time. Her instincts are correct. And then at the prison we find some salvation because Daryl and Maggie go looking for formula and they survive and they succeed in their mission. So getting them back to the prison and getting that great moment where Daryl nicknames the baby Ass-Kicker… it's really nice to see that the storylines diverge.

Initially you start off with Woodbury going, 'Yes, this is the place to be,' and the prison is this horrible dark, dank place. And at the end of it Woodbury doesn’t look quite as cheery as we were led to believe at the beginning, and in the prison there's a little bit of light. And in shooting sequences with Andy, what was really important to both of us was we shot all his stuff in sequence. We spent one day and just really let him sort of delve into it. And the scene with Rick and Glenn where he grabs Glenn and throws Glenn up against the wall, those are really important moments. And I remember reading the script and going to Stephen Yeun and saying, 'Hey how you feel about getting a little physical here?' You know, clearly Rick has gone off the deep end and he doesn’t want any interaction with anyone. He’s clearly just on bloodlust. He’s going to kill every walker he comes in contact with until he finds Lori. So when Glenn gets in his face and touches his arm, Andy actually grabbed him and threw him up against the wall. And both of those guys just loved it becoming physical. You’ve never seen Rick ever do that to any of our other characters, especially Glenn of all people whose character we love so much. So we spent that entire day just sort of descending into that place. And then we ended that last moment in the boiler room. And we had this guy, Alex, in prosthetic makeup. He was covered from head to toe. He had the bloated belly and all that stuff on. And we had an insert chest for him to stab into, but he really got into it… it was fantastic.

How excited were you at being able to introduce viewers to Penny and the telephone?

Greg Nicotero: I was saying to someone yesterday the trick is when they assign directors, you just get a slot. You get like, 'Okay you’re doing number four, you’re doing number six, you’re doing eight.' So the slot I got was Episode Five. I had no idea what the story was going to entail until much later. And when I got the script, or I got the story document, and not only was it introducing Penny and introducing the gladiator fights… and the phone. Those great iconic moments from the graphic novel. I was really excited.

I mean, even establishing the pits. Grace Walker and I worked really, really well to establish those great pieces of Woodbury that we had never seen before -- the pits and the gladiator fight. But because I have a makeup effects background, that stuff is exciting to me, but also getting a chance to get into really great dramatic pieces. Last season the episode I directed was Dale’s demise. There was one walker in that episode, and it was all drama. I was so excited about that challenge. So for me to have this episode to direct where I had a lot of walker action, and then I had the great scene with Danai and Laurie Holden when they’re at the gate getting ready to split up and Danai walks out, I love that scene; and I love the scene with The Governor and Danai.

Those moments, the great dramatic moments, to me are really what’s at the heart of the show. I love that stuff. I love having the last shots of Daryl at Carol’s grave putting the Cherokee rose down with the beautiful sunrise behind him. It’s really, for me, being on set for the show every day for three years and knowing these characters the way that I know them and seeing the actors make the choices that they make, it really gives me a tremendous insight into the show. And getting a chance to work with all of them and then this year with David Morrissey and Danai and Dallas (Roberts) and everyone, it’s… it just continues to challenge me, and I love that. I always talk about how honored I am to work with such talented actors. And fortunately I have one of them on the phone with me so it’s really pretty amazing.

Are you going to be directing, or did you direct, any other episodes in this third season?

Greg Nicotero: I did. I’ve directed two more episodes. I’m actually in Los Angeles editing Episode 15 right now. And then I fly back to Georgia, and then we start shooting the finale. Each episode is very different, which is, again, what I love. This episode was really jam-packed with 15 different storylines. I mean, if you really try to sit there and separate it out, we have The Governor and Penny, we have The Governor and Michonne, we have Andrea and Michonne. We have Rick’s descent into the prison. We have the pits. We have the gladiator fights. And then we have Daryl and Maggie’s story, and then we have Herschel and Glenn. The episode is so dense and so jam-packed that it was exhausting. This eight days of shooting was just brutal. The nice thing about the other episodes is they’re all very different in tone and in scale and scope. So I’m really proud.

I can’t talk enough about how much I love working on the show. And considering I started in 1984 on Day of the Dead, I just love that people are still ravenous -- no pun intended -- for this kind of material. You have a great mixture. I always say you have great actors and you have great storytelling and great monsters and you sort of mix them together, and nine times out of 10 it explodes in your face. And it’s that one time when you have just the right balance of scares and character-based drama and storytelling. And I really believe that that’s what we fight to do every week on the show.

Can you talk about the challenge of maintaining Michonne's intensity?

Danai Gurira: Yes, it is connecting very deeply to who she is and the roots of that. So it’s staying very connected to her back story and to how she consequently interprets the world around her as a result of that. And how she views things. So it is about connecting, staying very connected, to exactly who she is and what goes through her mind and why certain things trigger her. And being very sensitive to her specific triggers, which are obviously hit a couple times in this episode, and so really allowing that to kind of flow through me. I guess it is not that common for a girl to be fully expressive in her rage or in things like that. But I guess I’ve never been the girl who's had trouble with that so I can help her out in that regard. But really it’s staying very connected to her back story and to why she is who she is and the aspects in my head. I think every character has PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder]. It’s just a matter of how it channels through them.

I always kind of connected it to almost that of veterans, where there’s a vigilance. There’s a willingness to take someone down if they have to very quickly. Connecting to that, to her heart and to how she’s interpreting the world around her. And sometimes it's about staying in character on set. You can’t just go off and start joking with people and eating some M&Ms. You have to really stay with her throughout.

Why you think she bonded with Andrea?

Danai Gurira: I think when she saw Andrea that first time that we see her, she saw a fighter. Andrea was fighting tooth and nail to survive. And she was a fighter. And you can see that. If you’re a fighter, you recognize a fighter. And her instincts, as we were just talking about, also led her to Andrea. She saw someone who she could really say about, 'This chick I could hang with. She’s not a liability. She’s going to fight to the end just like me.' And I think that really attracted her to Andrea as a friend and as someone to align with. I think she was lonely. She’d been on her own with these walkers, and you start to want human company.

But I think that initial instinct she had towards Andrea, as we know she listens to her instincts, she saw a fighter. And she saw a woman that she could hang with and they’d make a great team. And then they developed a closeness as a result of that initial instinct's response.

Michonne is like a live wire; she’s like an exposed nerve all the time. From an acting perspective what do you do to keep yourself in that moment all the time? Is that a difficult thing for you?

Danai Gurira: I can’t tell you all my secrets, you know? Girl’s got to keep some mystery. But it is something that requires a lot of focus, a lot of giving all I’ve got to her, which is what I love. I've loved that about her from the beginning. I knew this was going to take every ounce of everything I had to give in terms of the specificity of who she is. And so I knew going in it was going to be intense. And I love that. I love giving everything I’ve got, or having to give all I’ve got, to a character’s needs.

It’s staying the zone. That’s the key thing I can tell you; I have to remain in a certain amount of the zone for her. It’s as I was saying before, it’s really about how she interprets the circumstances that are surrounding her and how she’s hyper-ready. Sometimes I liken her to a type of wildcat type thing, like a puma. She’s hyper-ready at any second because she’s aware of things. She’s thinking five steps ahead. She’s fully aware of what’s around her and what she might have to do at any second, and she’s ready to do it. And being in that mind of hers, there are other things that I do to nurture that, but I can't tell you all my little things.

Since you’re obviously playing off a back story that you know about but we as viewers don’t, is that something that the production actually gave you from the start or something you’ve created for yourself? Because there’s very little in terms of back story that comes out of the comic so I wonder where that story actually comes from for you.

Danai Gurira: Yes, we did adapt it with the writers and Glen [Mazzara]. We did adapt it into who she is for the show. And we did use aspects of what’s in the book. But there’s always the adaptation and the interpretation for the screen. As an actor you add in things that allow you to become the character more fully, but there is also very much a collaboration of ideas and what she was and who she was from the writers' room. So we’re all on the same page in that regard. And then, of course, as an actor you keep it alive in different ways and enrich it in different ways and specify it in different ways. So yes, to answer your question, I’ll give you that. It’s not exactly what’s in the book.

Greg Nicotero: And you know what I love about this episode as well is that it really gives us an opportunity to learn more about her. And I think that when Danai was talking about the puma and that sort of charged animal, the scene with Michonne and The Governor where he gets up and he walks behind her and he’s holding her sword, in that scene she’s like a coiled cobra. And I love that when he’s talking, he’s holding her weapon and he’s saying, 'Oh, you know, we can probably find a place for you.' And then when she strikes, it's instantaneous. And what I love about this episode is we really learn a lot more about Michonne in regards to her relationship with Andrea and how she feels about Woodbury and her instincts.

And in the scene she’s generally hurt. When she’s left at the gate with Andrea and they’re talking about leaving, you know, she’s hurt. I love that vulnerability we see in Michonne and the decisions that she makes where she needs to do it, she needs to do for her character. I love that. And I was really excited about that, exploring a little bit more about who Michonne is in this episode. I think it gives us a lot of good insight into who she is.

The thing that really strikes me is what you were talking about at the beginning of this conversation, the notion that Rick encounters this zombie that’s actually consumed most of his late wife. But the scene is virtually non-verbal. There’s no dialogue. We’re seeing this mostly through Rick’s eyes and some of your stage direction. And it’s also largely in the dark. So you’ve got this incredibly tough scene for the viewers to deal with. And you’ve got to do it without an awful lot of tools. So how did you actually approach that scene to try to give as much as you could to us?

Greg Nicotero: The funniest thing about this episode was Andy was ecstatic because he had one line in the whole episode which was 'Hello' at the end. So he really didn’t have to worry about learning any dialogue at all. It was just about him descending into this place. And there’s basically three key sequences once he gets inside the prison. The first one was that sort of Steadicam shot when we’re pulling back with him and we’re on his face. And the way that it was scripted versus the way that we shot it is that he could have played out that you see him walking through the hallways chop, chop, chop, chop. But I wanted to be on his face, and we’re on his face.

And we pull back and then he goes past us, and we see him kill two walkers. Andy, his eyes and how piercing his gaze can be, especially when he gets into the mode, really is fascinating to me. I’ve wanted the audience to discover, with Rick, just the various levels that he hit. So the first one is rage, and then the next time we see him with Glenn, he’s just inconsolable. And he’s at this point where he can’t even be touched or dealt with. And so we have that moment. And getting into the boiler room, I mean the boiler room sequence for me was really important because the last time that we were there we left Carl kneeling next to his dying mother with a gun in his hand. So it was such an emotional place. And what Andy and I talked about was the way the resonance of the gunshot, that you could potentially almost still hear reverberating in the room when he walks in.

We just loved that idea that he comes in and that we visually told the story, the clothes are on the ground and the bullet is on the ground and there’s that trail of blood that’s just… we didn’t want to come upon Lori’s partially devoured corpse because that really wasn’t what the scene was about. It was finding the end result of it. One of the things we’re always conscious of on the show is if you start building up blood on the actor’s faces and dirt and sweat, by the end of the episode you don’t want them to look like Carrie so you have to be real conscious of that. But in this episode Andy, just seeing the dirt and the spatters of blood and the simulated violence that he’s put himself through to get to that dark place, the scene where he’s sitting there exhausted with the dead walker, there is a great shot.

Then the phone rings and you just bring him up and there. I just love the close up of his grimy blood-covered hand going up to his face when he says 'Hello.' I just got chills when we shot that sequence because Andy was so in the zone. And when he gets into it… Danai was saying earlier about sort of staying in that mode and staying in the zone, and I really fought to make sure we shot all of his sequences in one day. Because I thought getting him to that place, getting any actor to that place and then saying 'Cut' and then going in and having them shoot some light scene while they’re at a party or something… it was important to me to allow Andy as an actor to build into this sequence. And that’s what we ended up shooting.

Between setups, or if we would cut and then get set up to go again, I really didn’t disturb him when he was in there. Every once in a while he would look up at me just to make sure we were good. And he’s such a pro it’s unbelievable.

There are two characters that recently departed the show, Michonne’s companions. How exactly were they brought to life? It looked real… not so much like an actor when you see it on screen. How did you go about bringing that to life? And what was it like to be on set with those two traveling companions?

Greg Nicotero: What was interesting for me was coming up with the way to do those prosthetics practically so that we didn’t have to do a lot of visual effect augmentation. So that was one of the first things that we started testing when we started prepping the show. And what we did was, since walkers really don’t blink a lot and their eyes are already dead and rotted looking, we built a prosthetic that built the performers' faces out. And we put fake eyes in those prosthetics. So when you’re looking at them, you’re not seeing the actors’ eyes. You’re seeing fake eyes because we were able to simulate the missing jaw and the pulled out teeth. So everything on their bodies is all practical and it’s all there, aside from the missing arms, which we painted blue.

So again, one of the things that I strive for as a makeup effects artist is to mix mediums. I always feel that you keep the audience guessing by throwing tricks at them every so often. So you’ll see a practical zombie face with no arms. And so by utilizing both mediums of visual effects and practical effects, I think it gives you the best results. Another perfect example is the sequence where Michonne kills the six walkers. I really love the choreography in that scene. And what was fun for me on two levels was being able to mix up CG kills and practical kills. The first four kills were digital, and then the last two kills were practical. So by mixing it up, I think it keeps the audience on their toes. Right when they think they figured out how we did it, then we do something different.

And I think that’s a really important scene for Michonne because it’s the first time you really see her smile in the whole series so far because she’s in her element. She’s relishing this moment. And with her pets it was a different kind of thing because she really had a different relationship with them.

Danai Gurira: Yes, it was interesting. I mean, they're actors, which is kind of amazing that you forget that completely because of what the brilliant Mr. Nicotero does. So yes, Michonne’s relationship to them is very specific. And so there were times where you’re not talking in between takes, which initially was really weird. You know, to first be handed those chains these guys are attached to. At first it's like, 'Oh God, what have I signed up for?' But then, getting more into Michonne, it actually makes perfect sense. And it makes perfect sense in her mind. And so it just made perfect sense to me. So yes, there’s a distance of course between her and her pets, and at the same time they’re her pets. So my relationship to them was specific in accordance to what goes on in her head.

It seems like the zombies are at a whole new level this season. And it’s really amazing to watch. Are there some new tricks thrown in this season.

Greg Nicotero: When we did T-Dog’s demise when he gets bit in the throat, we did a hand puppet, we did a whole puppet head for him. And it turned out so well that you can’t really tell. People don’t know it’s a dummy head that’s getting its throat torn out. So it’s just one of those things. The creative freedom I have on the show is unparalleled in regards to the prosthetics and the makeup effects works. Because I am a director on the show and I am an executive producer on the show, when I read the story documents and I read the scripts, I envision them and then I just build them. There’s not a lot of approval process that I have to go through with the other producers.

The producers, Glen Mazzara and Robert Kirkman, they trust my input and my visual direction in terms of the walkers. So it really gives me the ultimate creative freedom to create whatever kind of walkers and whatever walker kills we want to do. Even when you watch the first episode and you see Rick pulls the gas mask off of the walker’s face, revealing that skull underneath. Glen had pitched that gag, and I created a puppet head so that we could actually see when the gas mask comes off, it sort of sloughs all the skin off underneath. And it’s just those little moments where I get a chance to just kind of go, 'Oh, I know what I would love to see for that.' Like the walker that’s sitting in the room with Rick, that was a really fun moment.

And there’s one other thing I wanted to throw out real quick before I forget, which is being a fan of the genre, every once in a while I’ll throw little in-jokes out that I’ve never talked about. So, and no one even knows this, but on one of the walkers in the gladiator sequence we did is an homage to the original Dawn of the Dead. There’s a walker when the lights come on, and the second walker that you see is Fly Boy from Dawn of the Dead. We did a little in-joke, and so we had the guy with the white shirt with the torn-out throat in the brown corduroy slacks. So if you see it real quick, you’re like, 'Oh my God!' It’s like a celebrity in-joke cameo walker character.

And even when you watch Episode Three and you see all the heads and the tanks in The Governor’s room, one of the heads is Ben Gardner’s head from Jaws that I re-created. The head that pops out of the boat in Jaws. So one of the heads in The Governor’s tank is my little in-joke to Jaws. So I’m throwing little nods in there to Dawn of the Dead and to Jaws, all my favorite movies that really nobody else knows. And you’ll get them as you watch the show or if I talk about it and you go back and watch it go, 'Oh my God, look; there’s Ben Gardner' or 'I didn’t know that’s the zombie from Dawn of the Dead' and just those little fun things that literally geek me out.

I just directed Episode 15 and did another little in-joke. The camera operator, Mike Satrazemis, came up and said, 'There’s some significance to this walker, isn’t there?' And I said, 'Well, how do you know that?' He said, 'Because you’ve done like three setups on it and you’ve shot it like three times. So clearly you’re loving this for some reason.' And I’m like, 'Oh yes, well, you know for sure.'

Can you explain why you decided to introduce Penny in the way that you did in this episode?

Greg Nicotero: Well it’s a really interesting way to get us into that character. With The Governor we’ve seen that he’s got this sort of sly manipulative way of charming Andrea. And he tries it on Michonne, but clearly it doesn’t work because she’s way too in tune for that and she’s way too smart for that. So to have an opportunity to see him in a different light by seeing the little girl and then sort of leading us into the fact that she’s a walker; the way that the scene was written and even some of the ways we shot it is that she’s actually eating a piece of flesh that we’re supposed to assume is human flesh. So we’re supposed to get the idea that they’re feeding the walkers that are in captivity before Michonne kills them and that The Governor is feeding her flesh.

You see the blood around her face and you see the blood on her hands. So we’re supposed to believe, and we will probably learn in the future episode a little bit more about that. But I just think it was a really fascinating way to get into seeing a different facet of The Governor and giving you a little snapshot into what it is that is obsessing him and driving him to do what he does.

Greg was talking about that really vulnerable moment of Michonne walking away. Considering how guarded she is when you’re playing her, can that friendship come back easily, or when she’s closed off, is she’s going to move on to the next place?

Danai Gurira: The great thing about how the show works and what I love about it is that the characters do have dimension. So I’m not going to directly answer that because that’s a spoiler. But I will say that there’s dimension. You haven’t seen all that she is. There’s a range of possibilities as to what can happen next between them because there’s dimension to who she is. But yes, she has a self-protection that is fierce and that has allowed her to survive and thrive. And it is heartbreaking for her to leave, but she has to stay true to who she is.

In terms of playing that scene with Andrea, they obviously have this long history. Michonne has kept her alive when she was sick. And in that moment you see these two women that have this bond, and one is pulling in one direction and the other doesn’t even understand why she’s not listening to her gut. How did you want to play that? And you play it so quietly, in a way that isn’t getting upset with her or yelling at her. It’s just almost this kind of simmering, 'Why are you picking this place instead of me?'

Danai Gurira: She loves Andrea. So I think her responses to Andrea are not generally going to be explosive. But at the end of the day she’s listening to her gut. She wants this person to be with her and to stay with her. But she knows she can’t force her to because she’s not a person to get forced into anything. So there’s no point in screaming at Andrea to make her do something; she’s going to choose to do or not do. It really is Andrea’s choice. It’s painful, but it’s putting it out there, 'You have a choice. Are you coming or not?' It’s allowing her the choice. Michonne does not violate people’s freedoms as she feels has been happening to her. She doesn’t do that.

So there’s nothing more to do but just make the choice. I can’t make it. You make it. I can’t make it for you. You have to make the choice. And it’s heartbreaking for her because I think she can feel where Andrea’s going, that Andrea’s not going to leave with her, which she doesn’t, because Michonne has amazing instincts. She can feel things coming a little bit before they do. So she can feel it coming, but she has to present her with a simple choice and not violate her freedoms. And as painful as that is, when you love someone, you want them just to do which you want them to do. But I think she’s accepting that. 'I have to accept who she is and what she chooses at this moment.' And 'I have to do what I’ve got to do at this moment.' So there was no point in screaming at her in Michonne’s mind. That’s not how you accomplish anything in her mind. Volume accomplishes nothing in the show.

How long did it take for you to wrap yourself and get into the skin of Michonne because she's a puzzling character? When did you feel comfortable? When did you feel at one with this character?

Danai Gurira: To me she makes sense and made sense to me even when I first auditioned for her. How she particularly was expressing her PTSD, her best story. How do you express your past through your present? To me it all did make sense. So there are definitely times where she resonates very, very loudly to me because I understand her inside. One of the things that we discussed in the writers’ room from the get-go was that she’s going to be very difficult to read sometimes. And that’s a very interesting thing. But then you realize that the writers are so smart because that is what comes across once you start playing who she is on the inside out. She is tricky to read, which they called from the get-go and I thought was very fascinating.

Talk about the choice of the emotional replacement of Carol and Lori by having Daryl and Glenn and Maggie to carry this kind of unlikely emotional weight on their shoulders. We see tenderness with Maggie and Glenn's kiss, which is so very rare in the show. And then to have Daryl holding the baby is so unexpected and shows just how round and full these characters are that they aren’t one-note. Can you talk about the choice to portray that with these characters?

Greg Nicotero: Yes, that’s a great question. You know, the kiss was something I actually wanted them to do because we don’t see it in this world that’s devoid of life and devoid of love. When we rehearsed that scene, I felt like it was important to see that love and to see how committed these two are to each other and that they really do love each other. Especially after the fact that we just saw Maggie cut open Lori. That was really important to me so I’m really glad that you caught that. In regards to Daryl holding the baby, it’s a no-brainer. Norman [Reedus] is such a great actor and is so dedicated to the character that I love giving him that opportunity in all of my episodes. I get that opportunity to really do some great stuff with Daryl. What happens is after Episode Four he’s really put into motion. And when he sees that Rick is gone, he steps up as the leader and basically puts into motion that we’re not going to let anyone else die, not on my watch. We’ve got to keep moving forward, we’ve got to keep going.

So Daryl is really a man of emotion in this episode. And one of the things about this episode is it’s really dense. There’s so much material to talk about. There was one scene that we shot that I love that sadly didn’t make the final cut. And it was a scene where Daryl and Maggie are driving to the daycare. The road is blocked by an overturned tree, and they stop and Maggie starts to break down. And Daryl says, 'Was she dead?' Daryl doesn’t know what happened to Lori, and Maggie says, 'No, she wasn’t. But I had to cut her open.' And she starts reacting to it. Then she looks so sadly at Daryl and she says, 'Oh my God, I’m so sorry about Carol.' And the look on his face was literally like he got punched in the stomach. And he just said, 'You know, that baby gave her so much hope.'

So Carol’s death really pushes Daryl forward, and unfortunately it’s not in the episode but hopefully it’ll be on the DVD because it’s a great scene that those two actors did a really good job with. But I really believe that will push our story forward by showing Maggie’s reaction to Lori’s death plus Daryl saying we have to survive. We’ve lost one third of our group in one day. But what’s important is that we keep this group together and we survive. And if Rick can’t do it right now, which clearly he can’t, it puts Daryl into motion. So when they come back to the prison and they’re feeding the baby, it really feels just natural for him to come in and grab the baby. And I love that scene. And literally I imagined every female fan of Daryl Dixon is just wobbly in their knees. Yes, melting, when he picks up that baby and starts coddling her.

And then to go from there to having him walk out to the grave. It’s so powerful. I was really adamant about shooting that scene with him at the grave in the morning with the sun directly behind him and this beautiful sunrise shot because it’s the dawn of a new day. And he’s not only succeeded in his mission, but now he’s celebrating the people that they lost because they haven’t had 10 seconds to stop and go, 'Oh my God, what just happened?' It’s like all of a sudden as soon as they realized that the baby is there, they have to go into motion to protect the baby because that signifies future and our group surviving and moving forward. So there’s a lot of weight to that. So having Daryl hold the baby and having Maggie and Glenn kiss, those are moments that signify that in the darkest hour there is still light--there’s still light that will push us forward.

To stay up-to-the-minute on all things walker related, follow @WalkingDead_AMC on Twitter and visit "The Walking Dead" on Facebook. For more be sure to hit up the official "The Walking Dead" page on AMC.com.

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Despite its People's Choice Awards 2013 nomination for "Favorite New TV Drama" and ABC recently ordering a few more scripts for the series, the network officially gave "666 Park Avenue" the axe today.

Per Deadline, the plan seems to be for the series’ original 13-episode order to play out the way things did last season for "Pan Am" with ABC not shutting the door on the show completely, technically keeping it in consideration for next season, although we have to think such a scenario is highly unlikely given the low ratings "666" has received.

In the meantime we'll keep our eyes on the situation and let you know if anything changes.

“666 Park Avenue” stars Rachael Taylor (“Charlie’s Angels,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” Transformers) as Jane Van Veen, Dave Annable (“Brothers & Sisters,” “Reunion”) as Henry Martin, Robert Buckley (“One Tree Hill,” “Lipstick Jungle”) as Brian Leonard, Mercedes Masöhn (“The Finder,” “Chuck,” “Three Rivers”) as Louise Leonard, Helena Mattsson (Iron Man 2, “Nikita,” “Desperate Housewives”) as Alexis Blume, and Samantha Logan as Nona Clark, with Vanessa Williams (“Desperate Housewives,” “Ugly Betty,” Shaft, Soul Food) as Olivia Doran and Terry O’Quinn (“Lost,” “Millennium,” “Hawaii Five-0,” “Alias,” “The West Wing,” “Jag”) as Gavin Doran.

For more info visit the official "666 Park Avenue" website, "like""666 Park Avenue" on Facebook, and follow "666 Park Avenue" on Twitter (@666ParkAve).

Dark Horse Comics Editor-in-Chief Scott Allie provided us with another guest interview this week in which he chats with the incomparable Steve Niles, horror writer extraordinaire.

SCOTT ALLIE: Your 30 Days of Night, which had its tenth anniversary this year, is widely credited as responsible for the resurgence of horror comics in the last decade. What do you think of where horror comics have gone since the first 30 Days of Night?

STEVE NILES (pictured above): It’s very nice people think Ben Templesmith and I had the slightest thing to do with horror becoming a stable comic genre. There was a great shift that happened. Horror comics went from EC tributes to having their own spotlight. I hope it happens to other genres in comics. Right now we have many great horror comics out there, from Hellboy to Fatale to Revival. Even the horror titles from Marvel/DC have gotten pretty great.

ALLIE: What do you mean by EC tributes? You’re talking around the year 2000, or before that?

NILES: For decades most horror comics followed the EC formula—somebody does something bad and pays for it in some macabre method.

ALLIE: Why do you make all your vampires so ugly? Don’t you know they’re supposed to be sexy?

NILES: I like my monsters scary. I feel like the romantic vampire has been—and continues to be—done to death. I’m just not interested.

ALLIE: Where do you see the origins of the real monstrous sort of vampire you did in 30 Days of Night? The prettified vampire owes a lot to Anne Rice, but people connect it to a certain way of reading Dracula. Do you think the 30 Days vampire is a more accurate read of the legend, or something subsequent to that?

NILES: Well, Dracula was pretty hideous in the original novel, so I do feel like the 30 Days vampires are a return to the original monster vampire.

ALLIE: You’ve written novels as well. Besides the obvious, what do you think is the difference, for the reader, between horror comics and horror prose?

NILES: Both have the lack of the “jump scare,” so you have to find other ways to frighten readers. Both offer us a way to get inside people’s heads and really lay the groundwork for a good scare, but comics have the addition of being able to also use images to pound the point home.

ALLIE: Are you trying to frighten your readers with comics? Often horror comics aren’t scary so much as they just feature characters and ideas familiar from the horror genre. When you sit down to write, do you specifically think about scaring the reader?

NILES: Sometimes I do, when I have an idea I think will be scary. But scares in comics are tough. The best I can do is plant something that sticks with people and they think about it when it’s dark. The "creep-out" factor.

ALLIE: Have you had moments where you really felt you pulled it off, got something in the comic that was really gonna get under a reader’s skin?

NILES: Every once in a while. The last time was when I wrote a Western horror. The characters tie bells to the dead they bury in case they come back. Late at night, when everything is quiet, the bell rings. I find that scary as hell.

ALLIE: You worked with Clive Barker really closely at a formative stage in your career. His stuff can be genuinely scary, or just creepy and weird. I think of him when I think of dark fantasy—the good kind of dark fantasy. What did you learn from him?

NILES: I learned a lot from Clive about everything from writing to how to treat fans. With Clive, fans come first. They pay our rent. They feed us. Creators who are rude to fans confuse me. I also learned a lot about characters from Clive. He knows the key to good horror is characters readers care about. When you get that down, scares come much easier.

ALLIE: Do you see Clive’s influence on the current state of horror in comics or film?

NILES: Clive left his mark, to be sure. I think of all his stuff, the Books of Blood for their insane originality and Hellraiser have left the biggest impression. Pinhead is an iconic monster. He’ll be around for a long time with the rest of the monsters.

ALLIE: Outside of horror and comics, your current relationship has you involved in music again, after your early punk rock days. Have you been playing all along?

NILES: I didn’t play at all for nearly fifteen years, maybe longer, but I did a reunion show a few years back and sorta got the music bug again. I recorded a new CD with Monica Richards and might do another reunion show with Gray Matter in September, but no, I’m not jumping back into music.

ALLIE: What’s the scariest thing about LA?

NILES: Nobody walks. Anywhere. Ever.

ALLIE: You grew up in DC, right? Or somewhere on the East Coast? Did you grow up in a walking city?

NILES: I didn’t even learn how to drive until I was thirty-three and moved to LA. I actually showed up in LA with my bike.

ALLIE: Did you grow up reading superhero comics?

NILES: Yes. I was a serious Marvel fan. I read Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Avengers, Defenders, and most everything else. Comics were a quarter then. It was a different time.

ALLIE: If you could turn any Jack Kirby character into a horror comic, what would it be? (Not counting the Demon.)

NILES: Probably one of his monsters, like Goom or something. He did some great monster books.

ALLIE: Would you play Goom straight, or for laughs? Embrace the kitsch?

NILES: I think there’s a point in the middle where you can embrace the kitsch and still tell a good monster story. Along the lines of some Godzilla movies.

ALLIE: You did a book called Crime and Terror with Scott Morse, which led to the Criminal Macabre: The Iron Spirit book we did this fall. Cal McDonald is a failed cop who became a private eye, and the protagonist, and now antagonist, of 30 Days is a cop. How do you see the relationship between horror stories and detective or crime stories?

NILES: Cops and detectives give us a quick in to finding horror in the world. I think that’s what makes them work so well together. These are people who seek out trouble—it’s their job—so in a horror story they are the perfect character sometimes, because it’s easy to imagine them in that situation.

ALLIE: They’re also looking for answers. Horror doesn’t always provide answers. Is that part of the fun of putting a character like Alice Blood front and center in 30 Days?

NILES: Alice has really grown on me. She knows more about the vampire than some of the vampires. She knew Stella (before she killed her) and came to understand that there was some hope for the vampires. Unfortunately when Alice killed Stella, Eben went over the edge.

ALLIE: You’re heavily involved with Trickster, Scott Morse’s event at Comic-Con. Why’s Trickster important?

NILES: Trickster is important because it focuses on creator-driven comics. This is important because even though comics are very big in popular culture right now, most of the focus is on the larger, corporate-owned superhero characters. It’s nothing against that. It’s just a way to put the spotlight on creators who own their creations and their work.

ALLIE: You’ve been outspoken about creator rights and supporting creator-owned comics. What specifically about creator ownership do you think is important to a reader? Is there a moral imperative, or is there something about the reading experience?

NILES: I think it’s important to give back and to have each other’s backs. This isn’t a popular notion in the corporate world, where humans don’t get credit for their work or any of the financial benefits for their work. I believe people who create things should get both credit and a share in profits. It’s very hard to do this retroactively, as we have seen with Jack Kirby and others, so being outspoken is also about spreading the word. It’s important for creators to know what’s happening with their creations. A big part of the reason we have sad stories like what happened to Kirby is because creators didn’t know. It’s very important to know our rights and options now. There is a part of it that’s reading experience too, sure. Comics come out every week that simply would never exist if they were pitched to Marvel or DC. I think creator-owned offers readers many more options than mainstream comics.

ALLIE: How’s Gary Friedrich? [Gary Friedrich sued Marvel and other companies in 2007, stating the copyright used in the first Ghost Rider movie and products reverted to him after Marvel failed to register Ghost Rider’s first appearance in 1972’s Marvel Spotlight #5. Marvel then countersued, and it was ruled that Friedrich would have to pay a $17,000 penalty for unauthorized sales of Ghost Rider posters, T-shirts, and cards at comic conventions. Read more about this case here.]

NILES: I haven’t spoken to him for a while, but last time we checked in with each other, he was doing good. As you may know, he has health problems, but when he last wrote, he seemed in good spirits.

ALLIE: What do you think of as the best period in the history of comics?

NILES: For me, when Watchmen and Dark Knight and Batman: Year One were coming out and there were lots of indie companies and everybody was selling books. It felt like comics had finally made that jump to respectability.

ALLIE: You were self-publishing then, weren’t you?

NILES: I just started self-publishing. 1986 was the year I published the first time, I believe.

ALLIE: What do you think of the horror comics of that time? Besides your own, naturally…

NILES: There were some good ones coming from strange places. Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing was an excellent horror comic.

ALLIE: Right, of course. One of my favorites of all time still…Before that, back when comics were a quarter, you must have grown up reading Bernie Wrightson comics. You’ve done a bunch of work with him now, including writing the sequel to his career-defining Frankenstein book. What’s the process of collaborating with Bernie like?

NILES: Working with Bernie is probably one of the best things that’s ever happened to me. You called it right. I was a Wrightson fanatic as a kid. I read everything he put out and carried the hardcover of his Frankenstein around with me like it was the Bible. I’m always nervous meeting an idol, but in Bernie’s case it was great. We’re best friends. We work very closely. We usually hang out once a week and talk through whatever we’re working on, then I’ll go write it up. With Frankenstein, though, Bernie is taking the lead. We talk it through, and he writes in what we discussed in his roughs. I take that and script it, and then we finish. I’m still stunned I get to work with him. It’s pretty amazing. The thirteen-year-old in me freaks out a little, still.

ALLIE: Is there anyone whose work inspires you like that these days?

NILES: We’re living in a time where we have so many talented writers in comics it’s almost daunting. I find guys like Vaughn, Brubaker, Simone, Remender, Seeley, Lemire, Snyder, Kirkman—and on and on—inspiring. And that’s the thing I could really go on. These guys are all great, but there’s more and they’ll be pissed I didn’t mention them. So, I’m really inspired on a daily basis by all of the great writers. And artists? I won’t even start a list. Again, so much talent. Guys like Mike Mignola who can do it all make me want to be better. No shortage of inspiration out there.

ALLIE: In Creator-Owned Heroes, you’re doing a post-apocalyptic story. How do you feel post-apocalypse stories fit into your general oeuvre?

NILES: American Muscle started as a post-apocalyptic story and then wound up being a character piece. It’s just one chapter of the story, and I’m hoping to be able to do more and expand the world. It wound up going in some unexpected places.

ALLIE: You’re in a very unique position with Criminal Macabre and 30 Days of Night. They’re at two different publishers, but you own or co-own them both, and you have the same artist on both. What do you think are stronger, the similarities or differences between the two titles?

NILES: It’s hard to say. Cal McDonald, the lead character in Criminal Macabre, has been with me for a long time. I certainly know him better. But 30 Days of Night has a nice, clear horror concept. What was funny was that I was unintentionally doing similar but opposite stories in the two titles. In 30 Days I was writing about the vampires’ ever-growing hatred of humans and wanting to spark a war between the two species. I’ve been writing and hinting about a coming war of the monsters for over a decade in Criminal Macabre and other Cal stories, including the novels. When I first mentioned the idea of the crossover to you, I remember we both noticed the books were already on a potential collision course, so the crossover was pretty much a no-brainer.

ALLIE: You’d been creating your archetypal hero in one book and villain in the other.

NILES: I suppose so! It really worked out perfectly.

ALLIE: What does [illustrator] Chris Mitten bring to the books? Does he bring the same thing to both books, or is there something different about his contribution to one than the other?

NILES: Mitten has been put to the test and come through in flying colors. The sheer amount of pages he’s had to do is staggering. Chris is such a great artist to work with. He knows exactly what we need and does it. He’s perfect for horror, too. He pays a lot of attention to light and endures my endless crowd scenes and need to have multiple actions going on in panels. He’s made both books better books, but if I had to pick where he shines, it’s with Cal. Criminal Macabre has some humor in it, and I think Chris is at his best playing off horror and laughs.

ALLIE: Is the current run of 30 Days at IDW the end?

NILES: If the vampires lose the fight in the crossover, then the series ends.

ALLIE: If you were to do another crossover, what would it be?

NILES: Once upon a time we pitched a Cal McDonald/Batman crossover. But they took one look at Cal and (probably wisely) passed on the idea.

Our thanks to both Scott Allie and Steve Niles for their time! For more info visit the official Steve Niles website, follow @SteveNiles on Twitter, and stop by the official Dark Horse Comics website.

A licensing video in support of the new RoboCop briefly made its way around the web today before the powers-that-be had it yanked. Good thing we got to it for some screenshots before it disappeared. Check out the goods, including a far better RoboCop suit, now.

Jose Padilha's film stars Joel Kinnaman as the title hero plus Samuel L. Jackson, Gary Oldman, Jay Baruchel, Michael Keaton, Michael Kenneth Williams, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Abbie Cornish, Aimee Garcia, and Jackie Earle Haley.

Related Story: More Behind-the-Scenes RoboCop Imagery Shows off the RoboCycle

Currently RoboCop has a release date of February 7, 2014.

Synopsis
In RoboCop the year is 2029, and multinational conglomerate OmniCorp is at the center of robot technology. Their drones are winning American wars around the globe, and now they want to bring this technology to the home front.

Alex Murphy is a loving husband, father, and good cop doing his best to stem the tide of crime and corruption in Detroit. After he is critically injured in the line of duty, OmniCorp utilizes its remarkable science of robotics to save Alex’s life.

He returns to the streets of his beloved city with amazing new abilities but with issues a regular man has never had to face before.

THR just checked in with even more casting news for the Eli Roth produced flick Clown. According to the site Peter Stormare (Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters, Fargo) and Laura Allen (From Within, The Collective) will also star.

They join the previously announced Andy Powers, Christian Distefano, Elizabeth Whitmere, and Matthew Stefiuk.

Jon Watts is directing from a screenplay he co-wrote with Christopher D. Ford. It became an Internet “thing” when a spoof trailer circulated back in 2011. In the film “a loving father dons a clown outfit, wig, bulbous nose, and pancake makeup to entertain at his son, Jack’s (Distefano), sixth birthday after the clown-for-hire is a no-show. Unable to take off the clown garb, dad’s personality changes in horrific fashion. He and his family race to break the curse of the evil outfit before he undergoes a complete transformation into a homicidal killer with over-sized shoes.”

Clown is scheduled for release next year.

Thanks to the Film Sketchr Blog and artist John Gallagher, we now know that originally the Munster family from the "Mockingbird Lane" redux was a lot more monstrous. Get ready for some pretty neat concept art, kids!

The "Mockingbird Lane" pilot/Halloween special was written by Bryan Fuller and directed by Bryan Singer. It is a reinvention of the 1960s sitcom about "The Munsters," a family of “monsters” — vampires, werewolves, and Frankenstein — and their “plain” cousin that will feature striking visuals in the vein of Fuller’s ABC dramedy "Pushing Daisies."

Click here for more.

Portia DeRossi and Jerry O’Connell star as Lily and Herman Munster, Eddie Izzard as Grandpa, Mason Cook as Eddie, and Charity Wakefield as Marilyn.

Synopsis
Sweet little Eddie Munster (Mason Cook) is a normal kid about to enter the horrors of puberty. Truth is, he's about to discover that for him becoming a teenager means growing hair in truly unexpected places -- as in all over his body -- every time the moon is full! Eddie's got it pretty good though. His loving, supportive, run-of-the-mill family includes his mom Lily (Portia de Rossi), the daughter of Dracula; his dad Herman (Jerry O'Connell), who brings new meaning to "Frankenstein"; and Grandpa (Eddie Izzard), who would give Dracula a run for his money if he weren't actually Dracula! Of course then there's creepy cousin Marilyn (Charity Wakefield), who's really the odd one because she's so completely normal.

Buying a house these days is a nightmare, so Herman and Lily are shocked that no one scooped up the rambling Victorian mansion at 1313 Mockingbird Lane that was the site of a series of grisly hobo murders. Settling into their new place, they're quickly on to the mission at hand: to gently ease Eddie into the reality of his werewolf adolescence. But it's not always so easy to accept that your child is a little "different" from the rest of the kids. Meanwhile, Herman, who works as a funeral director, is suffering from a heart condition. Since he's made up mostly of spare parts, he knew his makeshift heart would eventually give out. No worries, though, because Grandpa, who is pretty good at procuring body parts, is on the case. All Herman cares about is finding a new heart with the same capacity to love Lily as much as he has for so many decades.

With less than one week until the launch of the Season Finale of The Walking Dead from Telltale Games, we're happy to share the first screenshot from Episode Five: No Time Left.

In addition, we have a look at the final episode of "Playing Dead" before the finale launches next week on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC/MAC, and iOS.

In the latest episode host A.J. LoCascio sits down with Episode Four: Around Every Corner writer Gary Whitta and director Nick Herman to discuss the events of the penultimate episode as well as give some hints about what might happen in the highly anticipated season finale of The Walking Dead from Telltale Games.

The Walking Dead from Telltale Games has just been nominated in six categories for the 2012 Spike TV Video Game Awards. Categories include: Game of the Year, Studio of the Year (Telltale Games), Best Performance by a Female (Melissa Hutchison, Clementine), Best Performance by a Male (Dave Fennoy, Lee Everett), Best Adapted Video Game, and Best Downloadable Game.

The Walking Dead Episode Five: No Time Left will be launching on PlayStation Network in North America on Tuesday, November 20th, and Wednesday, November 21st, on PlayStation Network (EU), Xbox LIVE Marketplace, PC, and Mac via the Telltale Online Store and digital distribution partners such as Steam and also for compatible iOS devices as the final piece of downloadable content from within the Walking Dead: The Game app, available on the App Store.

Keep your eyes on the Walking Dead: The Game Facebook page and the Telltale Games Twitter feed over the weekend for more screenshots, and check back here on Monday, November 19th, for the final trailer for the finale, No Time Left.

In case there was any doubt that Paranormal Activity 4 would be released on home video unrated, a text message that just arrived has clarified things: "Pre-order Paranormal Activity 4 (Unrated Edition) TODAY on Blu-ray and DVD and watch never-before-seen footage!"

No firm release date or special features have been announced yet, but we suspect that info will be forthcoming soon. In the meantime just click here to visit Amazon.com to watch the footage and pre-order your copy today.

Paranormal Activity 4 (review) was directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman. Don't forget to check out our exclusive Paranormal Activity Timeline to really relive the ghosts of Halloween past!

Related Stories: Get all the latest Paranormal Activity 4 news here

Follow Paranormal Activity on Twitter (@TweetYourScream) for more upcoming announcements, and as always keep an eye on the official Paranormal Activity Facebook page!

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The Fog! The Howling! The Burning! Day of the Dead! Night of the Comet!Lifeforce! Coming to Blu-ray in 2013! Thank you, Scream Factory!

Every Friday, Scream Factory has been announcing new horror titles it intends to release to DVD and/or Blu-ray in 2013. This Friday’s announcement, the last for this year, was being hyped in advance on the company's Facebook page as the “Super Six” – six huge horror titles coming to Blu-ray next year. Super Six, indeed!

THE FOG (1980): John Carpenter's seaside ghostly revenge flick with Adrienne Barbeau and Jamie Lee Curtis. New extras are in the works! First time on Blu-ray.

THE BURNING (1981): Summer camp. Garden shears. Tom Savini effects. Need we say more? First time on Blu-ray.

THE HOWLING (1981): Joe Dante's ultimate werewolf pic with superb Rob Bottin effects. First time on Blu-ray.

LIFEFORCE (1985): Tobe Hooper's space vampires and light-show extravaganza finally gets its first ever anamorphic widescreen presentation! First time on Blu-ray.

NIGHT OF THE COMET (1984): Shopping and zombies highlight this post-Doomsday cult classic. First time on Blu-ray.

DAY OF THE DEAD (1985): George Romero's splattery undead classic gets a new collector's edition with new extras.

Expect more details to come in 2013. Hope you’re all saving your money. 2013 is going to be an expensive year for horror fans.

We first mentioned production studio Necrostorm's animated gorefest series Dhondolone in our recent Taeter City review, but now you can experience the bloody delights on show as the Necrostorm folks have uploaded a few preview episodes in advance of the 2013 DVD release.

Synopsis:
Ndolone is the cheekiest and most unlucky boy of the world: Every time he tries to show off for his beloved Dho, he has a terrible accident. Mutilations, blood, guts, decapitations, shark attacks, assassin bees, snakes, mad bulls, dinosaurs, zombies, ninjas, robots, aliens... and all the worst crazy stuff you can imagine in THE MOST FUNNY AND EXTREME CARTOON EVER.

And this is just a taste. The DVD will feature over 75 minutes of cranium-cracking goodness. Keep an eye on the official Necrostorm website for more release details.

Another installment in the anthology film known as The Profane Exhibit is now complete, and we have a still from Marian Dora's "Mors in Tabula" to share along with the complete list of all 14 titles comprising the project.

Dora's part was filmed in Heidenheim, Germany, and producer David Bond tells us, "Marian did an amazing job! The score is done by Rune Eriksen, of the infamous Norwegian band Mayhem, and Ava Inferi."

The plot of "Mors in Tabula" revolves around a middle-aged woman who suffers from incurable cancer. A surgeon offers her the possibility of an operation. The operation is the patient's ultima ratima (last chance), but he has only his own desires in mind...

Here are the titles; only three spots are left to be filled:

"22 Rue des Martyrs" - ?
"Manna" - Michael Todd Schneider
"Tochka" - Andrey Iskanov
"Good Wife" - Ryan Nicholson
"Tophet Quorom" - Sergio Stivaletti
"Bridge" - Ruggero Deodato
"Viral" - Coffin Joe
"Mors in Tabula" - Marian Dora
"Mother May I" - ?
"Coltan" - Richard Stanley
"Jigoku" - Yoshihiro Nishimura
"Basement" - Uwe Boll
"Sins of the Father" - Nacho Vigalondo
"Epilogue" - ?

The Profane Exhibit is an extreme international horror anthology film that was conceived, written, and produced by David Bond and Manda Manuel. Legendary horror writer Ray Garton wrote the wraparound segment, and Scott Swan (Showtime’s "Masters of Horror") wrote the screenplay. Jeremy Kasten, director of such films as the recent Wizard of Gore remake, serves as the film’s editor.

Deep within the underbelly of Paris, there is a club which is the home of a secret, wicked society. At first it resembles an ordinary fetish or Goth nightclub, but hidden within the cavernous building are many hidden rooms, one of which is known as “The Room of Souls,” a private gathering place of the world’s richest and most evil people. Their host is the elegant yet frightening Madame Sabatier. For their amusement, each member takes a turn and spins a true tale of their depravity: A good wife learns that her husband goes out at night to abduct and murder young women; A botched suicide attempt leads to a drug induced dream; A girl is believed to be possessed by a demon, and her overly religious parents enlist the help of a corrupt reverend who has his own sinister plans; We are invited inside the deranged mind of a respected surgeon as he takes us on a guided tour of life, death, and everything in between; A young street prostitute crosses paths with a charismatic flesh trader and is forced to take an unspeakable journey of sex, violence, and murder; A nun is abducted off the streets of Rome and held captive for over a year, turning her into a feral, murderous creature to be unleashed on society; A chance encounter on a fateful bus ride for an unsuspecting girl who dreams of riches and fame is her undoing; A man picks up a woman in a nightclub and soon finds himself at the mercy of a cult of women who believe consumption of their sacrifice will bring them to their highest form of female dominance; An unflinching look into darkest Africa where human life is traded for fortune and the most unspeakable atrocities are committed. It truly is a profane world, and this is THE PROFANE EXHIBIT. There are no boundaries.

For more info check out the official The Profane Exhibit Facebook page, and follow them on The Profane Exhibit Twitter feed (@ProfaneExhibit).

People will never learn that former battlefields and hospitals make terrible livings quarters. Too much bad mojo. But without such stupidity, we'd have a lot fewer horror stories like Brad C. Hodson's debut novel, Darling, published last month by Bad Moon Books.

In Darling Hodson, who has honed his craft and passion for horror through a successful track record of popular fiction and non-fiction short stories, takes readers to Raynham Place, a former battlefield and tuberculosis hospital and home to a number of mysterious occurrences. It's a tale that's sure to spook, haunt, and thrill legions of horror story genre fans.

“Growing up in rural Tennessee, my family shared ghost stories which turned me into a lifelong horror and mystery fan,” says Hodson. “I delight in sharing with my readers tales of murder, mystery, and suspense that will continue to haunt them long after they’re read.”

Synopsis:
From its start as a battlefield through its time as a tuberculosis hospital and even in its current incarnation as an apartment complex, the grounds of Raynham Place have been awash in blood and instability. When two friends decide to move into Raynham together, a wound that they share opens wide and threatens their sanity. But they’re not alone. Something is off here at Raynham, something that goes beyond the local legends of ghosts and serial killers and Black Hounds, something that gets inside of everyone who ever lives here. When a sacrifice is made, the first freely given in ages, the truth behind Raynham’s legends finally surfaces, and the building fills to bursting with all the dreams of Hell.

For more info visit Brad Hodson's website, where you can read the book's first chapter.

Word of an upcoming new vampire project called The New Neighbor landed in our inbox, and since we're always on the lookout for a different take on the bloodsucker sub-genre, we thought we'd pass on the info along with a bit of artwork.

From the Press Release:
From writer/producer Brandon Sites (Fat Kid Massacre: The Short Film Version) and director James Cullen Bressack (Hate Crime) comes The New Neighbor, a film that combines elements of horror, mystery, and erotic thriller to create a thrilling horror movie experience. The New Neighbor is set to start production in the Virginia area on January 14 with filming ending by the end of the month. Heading up the cast of The New Neighbor is Kaylee Williams (Porkchop 3D, Slices of Life) and raising horror star Ryan Sandefur (MTV’s "Teen Wolf" Season 2, Fat Kid Massacre).

The New Neighbor is about a college student (Kaylee Williams) and her brother, who notice a puzzling epidemic sweeping their neighborhood timed to the arrival of a new neighbor. Everyone starts to turns pale, they act anemic, they avoid sunlight and they might have a strange bite mark on their necks. The siblings become convinced that the new neighbor is slowly turning everyone into vampires. To complicate matters, sis finds herself inexplicably drawn to the new neighbor (Ryan Sandefur). Is she a moth being drawn to the flame? Or is there a greater evil at work?

Sites explains his motivation: "Instead of just focusing on vampires biting people, I wanted to focus on things such as secrecy, mystery, emotional vampirism, and sexuality - all things inherent to vampires. I think that’s what is going to make our vampire film different from other films in the genre."

To stay up-to-date on the film's progress, be sure to "like"The New Neighbor on Facebook.

The only place to find the dreaded Governor's back story is in The Walking Dead: Rise of The Governor and The Walking Dead: The Road to Woodbury, and we have the first three chapters of the latter right here.

In addition, we have a kick-ass contest to tell you about where one lucky grand prize winner will receive the Zombie Library, consisting of both Walking Dead books along with The Brain Eater’s Bible by J.D. Ghoul with Pat Kilbane, a field manual and manifesto for the reanimated dead, and 21st Century Dead, a zombie anthology edited by Christopher Golden. Runners-up will receive a hardcover copy of The Walking Dead: The Road To Woodbury, a The Walking Dead: Rise of The Governor iPhone decal, or a special early galley copy of The Walking Dead: Rise of The Governor with exclusive comics art on the front.

To enter for your chance to win, just send us an E-MAIL HERE including your FULL NAME AND MAILING ADDRESS. We'll take care of the rest.

Now, how can you read the excerpt? All you have to do is CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A PDF of The Walking Dead: The Road to Woodbury Chapters 1-3.

Readers of The Walking Dead: Rise of The Governor followed the disturbing transformation of Philip Blake as he morphed into The Governor; fans of Kirkman’s The Walking Dead comics know Woodbury’s leader as one of the most ruthless and inhumane in the series; and viewers of AMC’s “The Walking Dead” were recently introduced to The Governor as the character made his television debut in the show’s third season. Yet, the depths of The Governor’s psyche and his merciless interpretation of law and order on the citizens of Woodbury manifest in THE ROAD TO WOODBURY with unprecedented fashion and with riveting plotlines and shocking scenes that will leave even the most ardent Walking Dead fans in awe.

Synopsis:
Welcome to Woodbury: a walled-in community where people barter services for food, sleep with roofs over their heads, and find protection under the rule of a self-proclaimed leader. In the barren, zombie-infested outskirts of Atlanta, after an apocalyptic plague has left the living pitted against and grossly outnumbered by the lurking dead, Woodbury seems like a perfect sanctuary. Caught in the mass exodus, crippled by fear and hunger, and barely alive after a bloody and dismal struggle against the multiplying Walkers, stumbling upon Woodbury may have saved Lilly Caul’s life—and the lives of the few she took under her wing.

Despite Lilly’s initial hesitations about Woodbury, her vote to keep moving is outnumbered by the others in her group. And as she considers the grim alternative of solitude, Lilly finds no choice but to rely on the residents of Woodbury for refuge and, thus, accept their mysterious leader – The Governor – as her own. Lilly’s suspicions about Woodbury and The Governor soon come to fruition in THE ROAD TO WOODBURY (Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press; 10/16/12; $24.99), the latest page-turning novel in the New York Times bestselling series by Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga. Ultimately, Lilly and a band of rebels devise a plot to take over The Governors reign – and in doing so, open up a Pandora’s box of mayhem, destruction, and irrevocable consequences.

Robert Kirkman was thrilled to elaborate on familiar characters and introduce a cast of new ones with his first Walking Dead novel in 2011 and is excited to team up with Jay Bonansinga for the sequel. “We’re going to meet new characters as they come to Woodbury and see how Woodbury is founded and how The Governor continues to grow as a character,” said Kirkman. “It all takes place before we met The Governor in the comic book series, and there’s a lot more story to tell with that guy. We’ll also look at others—Lilly is going to be another focus. It’s going to be fun to explore those characters again.”

Tony Todd's resume is extensive and diverse. He's credited with everything from gruesome horror films to voiceover work in children's cartoons and appearances in video games. His 20+-year career has been incredible, and he recently sat down with Dread Central to talk about his newest project, Sushi Girl.

Sushi Girl (review) is a unique horror-flavored heist-gone-wrong film directed by Kern Saxton that stars Todd along with Mark Hamill, Noah Hathaway, James Duval, Andy Mackenzie and Cortney Palm. When asked what audiences should expect when sitting down to watch Sushi Girl, Todd said, "I don't want to compare it to any other film because I think it's unique unto itself. Basically my character, Duke, is the leader of this particular crew and I invite a group of people back to see each other six years from the last time we met. Ostensibly, it's a dinner, but it turns out to be a celebration of the release of one of us from prison, which leads to a questioning about some details that were left unattended, and when the right answers aren't given, things go down different paths. And then it becomes a survival film. A very atmospheric survival film, as the whole thing takes place in a deserted sushi restaurant."

The cast for Sushi Girl was actually assembled over a year before filming began, so a real cohesion developed among the players. "It's a well-rounded cast," Todd said. "One of our strengths was that our ensemble was really tight. We became really close, and to this day we're still getting together and having different functions and parties. That's very un-Hollywood. You meet a lot of people, you meet a lot of acquaintances, but to still have that sense of family is a treasure."

Sushi Girl presented an opportunity for Todd to be a producer as well. "I helped secure some of the funding opportunities and picked up some pieces here and there, going to some meetings, crossing the T's and dotting the I's. Invisible producing," Todd said. "But because of that, having that title going into the shooting, maybe it made me take a little more responsibility in making sure we were remaining focused. Sometimes in independent films, forces get scattered a little bit, but it helped that we were in the same location, primarily. And we worked non-stop, six days a week, for two and a half weeks. But because we had met each other a year before we started shooting, that helped. We were all aware of who each other was, what each could bring. I think we grounded ourselves and made everybody bring their best job to it. It wasn't just a job for hire. Everybody worked far below their quote because we loved the story, we loved our characters and we respected each other, which is important."

Todd commented on the uniqueness of Sushi Girl, "I don't think Sushi Girl is a film people have seen. I'm firmly convinced, as a producer, that when we hit VOD and we have a theatrical shelf life and when it finally settles down to its television home, this film will be one that people will talk about and that they'll remember. And it's a testament to the fact that you don't need $100 million to make a film." And Todd was adamant about the strength of the production company. "Assembly Line, this company will be working together again and again. People should pay attention to Assembly Line."

A lot of the intensity of Sushi Girl came from the creative process the cast used. "We made a concerted effort not to see our other characters. We tried to look at each other fresh, as these new characters, Crow, Duke, Fish, etc.," Todd said. "I made it clear, before we started shooting, I started sending out text messages as my character, Duke, and I didn't break characters. Everybody works differently, some people need to laugh and get away from the intensity, but I felt I had to be Duke for the entire two and a half weeks just to keep it grounded."

Todd remarked how the character-driven Sushi Girl drew him in from the beginning. "I like playing any character that's good, that resonates with me, that does something inside me that says, 'I've got to do this.'" Todd said. "And I look at the characters in this film as a dysfunctional family. Think of it like a Thanksgiving dinner without the turkey and everybody's gathered, everyone's got their own history and I’m the dysfunctional father figure who happens to be slightly psychotic. When I tell you to go to your room, it's not up for debate; even though I’m smiling, it's not for debate. Do it or die, and you can quote me. Do it or die."

"And I have to give props to Cortney (Palm), too," Todd said about the Sushi Girl herself. "Her ability to endure all the things that were happening around her is a testament to the best quality an actor can have, which is the ability to listen and respond and to react in whichever small way they can. She was terrific for her debut film, and I think she'll go far."

In addition to the powerful main cast, Sushi Girl has some nice surprises in the supporting roles. "We had great cameos in the film," Todd said. "Like Sonny Chiba. The first male character you see in the film is Sonny Chiba. That's just outstanding." Other actors in supporting roles include Danny Trejo, Michael Biehn and Jeff Fahey.

The atmosphere of the film was enhanced by so many quality aspects. "We had the influence of a lot of great moments and opportunities," Todd said. "The musical score…I think Kern did a great job in choosing which songs would draw people into the atmosphere. Our DP was able to shoot in an already dark space but was able to light it with different surfaces and textures. Our crew was fantastic."

Todd was very excited to have the opportunity to star in Sushi Girl and spoke about the diversity of his resume. "I fight for that," Todd said. "There are people that come up to me and are like, 'Oh my god, it's Candyman. Are you still in movies? Do you still work?' I mean Candyman is 20 years old. People sometimes have a very myopic views, but that's their right. That's their opinion. But I know the truth and I tell them, 'Your kids might have heard me this morning on their favorite cartoon.' I'm able to jump back and forth between the big budgets...things like the Final Destinations have allowed me to do that, to pick and choose character-driven stories in the independent world, or going back to New York and to my theater roots. I'm in a lucky position because I've been doing this for 22 years, and I'm able to still tightrope and jump back and forth between genres and I really appreciate it. It makes me more of a chameleon than a personality. That is what I think a true actor should be. To go from a "Holliston" to a Sushi Girl to Call of Duty. That's pretty cool. I like that."

And in speaking of some of his other projects, Todd was extremely complimentary of FEARnet's original series "Holliston," in which he appeared last season. "The key to 'Holliston''s success is Adam Green," Todd said. "He has such an infectious energy. I met Adam maybe five or six years ago and he was basically a fan. He was in line at a Fangoria convention and he bought some of my pictures and said, 'I'm going to be a filmmaker.' Now I get that a lot and I'm not the type of guy to discourage anyone or say, 'Get the fuck outta here, kid.' You can't do that. I was taught if someone has a dream, until they prove otherwise, you encourage it. And lo and behold, about a year and a half after we met, I get a script for this film called Hatchet and at first I turned it down. I just wasn't motivated by it. But certain people in the cast, like Robert Englund, called me and said, 'You've gotta help this guy.' So I had a meeting with Adam and agreed to do the cameo in the first movie and he said if it worked, he'd expand my character for the second one. And not only is Adam a man of his word, but his sets are some of the most fun experiences I've ever had. Every project starts with the leader, and whether that leader is the producer or director or writer or lead actor, they set the tone. If the person is an asshole, it's not a good experience; and it usually reflects in the finished product if the person is there for the true joy of the work, like Adam was with "Holliston" or Kern and Destin (Pfaff, writer) were for Sushi Girl. The people who, no matter what time you have to get up, 6am, 4am, 5am, you're there because you can't wait to work and see the people, that's what makes the magic."

Todd also plays a character in the recently released, hugely anticipated Call of Duty: Black Ops II video game. "I'm a gamer," Todd said. "I'm in a weird position. I’m really nervous because I'm not a schizophrenic; not only am I doing voiceover in Call of Duty: Black Ops II, but I'm digital. I play Admiral Briggs, sending players out on missions. It's a little awkward playing the game, seeing myself digitized and taking orders from myself."

And in addition to Sushi Girl and Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Todd has more projects that will be available soon. "There's a film called Changing the Game I shot in Philadelphia for a young filmmaker named Rel Dowdell. That's been getting a lot of good reviews. Also there's a project that's on the table right now that's called Man With a Gun that I haven't shot yet, but we're in discussions and it's a really good script. It takes place in 1931, the presumed final days of the last gunslingers. It takes place on the crossbanks of the River Styx."

The Wagner/Cuban Company’s Magnolia Home Entertainment and Phase 4 Films jointly acquired North American rights to Sushi Girl. The revenge thriller will have a Blu-ray, DVD, and digital VOD release by Magnolia Home Entertainment under the Magnet Releasing label in early 2013.

Synopsis:
Mark Hamill (Star Wars franchise) and Tony Todd (Candyman) lead a cast of cult heroes including Noah Hathaway (The NeverEnding Story), James Duval (Donnie Darko), Andy Mackenzie (MacGruber), David Dastmalchian (The Dark Knight) and Cortney Palm (Superbad). Sushi Girl also includes feature appearances by Michael Biehn (Aliens), Sonny Chiba (Kill Bill Vol. 1), Jeff Fahey (Grindhouse) and Danny Trejo (Machete).

The film centers on the compelling character of a man called “Fish,” just released after six years in jail after successfully not ratting on those involved in the robbery that sent him to prison. The night he is released, the men he protected with silence celebrate his freedom with a congratulatory dinner. The meal is a lavish array of sushi, served off the naked body of a beautiful young woman. The sushi girl seems catatonic, trained to ignore everything in the room, even if things become dangerous. Sure enough, the unwieldy thieves can’t help but open old wounds in an attempt to find their missing loot, with violent results.

Bill Rebane’s The Capture of Bigfoot makes a highly unlikely second appearance in the B-Sides with its folk rock opening number that serves as a stern reminder that every living creature has its place in this world – including Sasquatch. Let your spirit run free, Bigfoot. Run free, I said!

A Yeti goes on a rampage after some hunters capture its offspring and decide to make a fortune turning the little creature into a tourist attraction. Those hunters obviously were not paying attention to the lyrics of the title song, “My Spirit Runs Free” by The Friends.

This song holds a special place in my heart. A VHS copy of The Capture of Bigfoot sat in my video collection for years. It was at a time nearly a decade ago when I was recovering from surgery that I decided to finally pop it into my VCR. Curled up in my recliner, doped up on Percocet, wee hours of the morning seemed like as good a time as ever. Watched the opening credits, got about ten minutes in, and the next thing I know I’m waking up just in time to see the closing credits. Rewound, started over, heard the song in the opening credits again, and I’ll be damned if I didn’t find myself waking up once again in time for the end credits. Decided to try one more time; this time I didn’t even make it all the way through the opening credits before being awoken by the snapping sound a VHS tape makes as it finishes rewinding. Gave up and went to bed.

To this day I have never seen The Capture of Bigfoot in its entirety. I might be better off considering Lloyd Kaufman considers it to be one of the five worst movies in the Troma library. Think about what that statement entails for a moment.

I will say “The Spirit Runs Free” is a decent little, slightly haunting, 1970’s folk rock tune. You won’t need Percocet to hear this one out. Hopefully listening to it will not put you to sleep for 90 minutes either.

Run, Bigfoot, run! Run free!

Not too many good Bigfoot songs out there, and when you do come across a song about ol’ Sasquatch, it tends to lean heavily to the folksy side of the musical spectrum. Bigfoot’s heyday was the 1970’s, and they sure loved their soulful folk music back then.

So what's going on with the new Riddick film? Read on for an update from director David Twohy, and take a look at both the title treatment and the first image of Karl Urban in character. It's like Christmas, but R-rated!

"Been pulling 14-hour days trying to finish RIDDICK," says Twohy on his blog. "My typical day starts at 9am with intensive visual effects meetings, sweating out the details of our 900 VFX shots. Then I jet across town to the mix stage, Soundelux, where I supervise the sound, balancing out the often-competing elements of music, sound fx, sound design, and dialog. At night I hit the lab, Technicolor in Hollywood, staying until midnight to do “DI work” — color-correction of the movie. This is where David Eggby and I have one last chance to get the images right, dropping in grads and power windows to finesse what we shot on set. It’s a great tool, the Digital Intermediate. Kind of like Photoshop for movies. Gotta love it. Gotta love the challenge of bringing it all home."

Chronicles of Riddick 2, or Dead Man Stalking as it is currently called, is based on a script by David Twohy, who wrote both the first Chronicles of Riddick and Pitch Black, where he first created the character of Riddick.

Joining Diesel are a returning Karl Urban (Star Trek) as Vaako; Jordi Molla as Santana, the arrogant captain of the mercenary ship; Matt Nable (Killer Elite) as Boss Johns, a man looking for answers; Katee Sackhoff (TV's "Battlestar Galactica") as the Nordic mercenary Dahl; and Bokeem Woodbine (Total Recall) as bounty hunter Moss. Rounding out the cast are Dave Bautista (The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption), Conrad Pla (Immortals), Raoul Trujillo (Apocalypto), Nolan Funk (Aliens in America), and two-time Grammy Award-nominated singer Keri Hilson.

Synopsis:
The latest chapter of the saga that began with 2000's hit sci-fi film Pitch Black and 2004's The Chronicles of Riddick reunites writer/director David Twohy and star Vin Diesel (the Fast and Furious franchise). Diesel reprises his role as the antihero Riddick, a dangerous, escaped convict wanted by every bounty hunter in the known galaxy.

The infamous Riddick has been left for dead on a sun-scorched planet that appears to be lifeless. Soon, however, he finds himself fighting for survival against alien predators more lethal than any human he's encountered. The only way off is for Riddick to activate an emergency beacon and alert mercenaries who rapidly descend to the planet in search of their bounty.

The first ship to arrive carries a new breed of merc, more lethal and violent, while the second is captained by a man whose pursuit of Riddick is more personal. With time running out and a storm on the horizon that no one could survive, his hunters won't leave the planet without Riddick's head as their trophy.

Let us be clear... Katharine Isabelle can operate on us any time that she likes. Qualifications be damned! Yeah, we'll end up dead, but what a way to go! Where were we? Oh yeah! Check out this new international one-sheet for American Mary (review)!

Written and directed by the Soska Sisters, American Mary stars Katharine Isabelle, Antonio Cupo, Tristan Risk, David Lovgren, Paula Lindberg, Clay St. Thomas, John Emmet Tracy, and Twan Holliday.

For more on the film, visit the official Twisted Twins Productions website, like American Mary on Facebook, and on Twitter follow American Mary (@_American_Mary) and the Twisted Twins, Jen and Sylvia Soska (@twisted_twins).

Synopsis
This metaphor for the Soskas' own journey through the independent film industry follows medical student Mary Mason as she becomes increasingly broke and disenchanted. The allure of easy money sends Mary into the twilight world of body modification and underground surgeries where obsessed flesh artists will pay anything and go through any pain to get their unusual procedures done. But Mary soon finds that her new "profession" leaves more marks on her own psyche than on her freakish clientele.

A key character in the "Hannibal" universe has been cast, and as has been the case with several other roles in the upcoming show, it's being played by yet another alumnus of a previous Bryan Fuller series. Read on for the details.

Per TVLine, Broadway vet Raul Esparza (My Soul to Take) will appear in at least two episodes of NBC’s contemporary Hannibal Lecter series in the key role of Dr. Chilton. The character was originated on the big screen by actor Benjamin Hendrickson in 1986′s Manhunter, and Anthony Heald took over the role of Lecter’s infamous jailer in The Silence of the Lambs and Red Dragon.

Like the previously announced Caroline Dhavernas, Molly Shannon, Chelan Simons, Ellen Greene, and Gina Torres, Esparza previously worked with exec producer Fuller: He played traveling salesman Alfredo Aldarisio in Fuller’s "Pushing Daisies."

"Hannibal" Synopsis:
One of the most fascinating literary characters comes to life on television for the first time: psychiatrist-turned-serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter. In this new drama from Bryan Fuller ("Pushing Daisies,""Heroes") based on the characters from Thomas Harris' classic novels, we see where this incredible story began.

Will Graham is a gifted criminal profiler who is on the hunt for a serial killer with the FBI. Graham's unique way of thinking gives him the astonishing ability to empathize with anyone - even psychopaths. He seems to know what makes them tick. But when the mind of the twisted killer he's pursuing is too complicated for even Will to comprehend, he enlists the help of Dr. Lecter, one of the premier psychiatric minds in the country. Armed with the uncanny expertise of the brilliant doctor, Will and Hannibal (known as a serial killer only to the audience) form a brilliant partnership, and it seems there's no villain they can't catch. If Will only knew...

Starring Hugh Dancy as Will Graham and Mads Mikkelsen as Hannibal Lecter, "Hannibal" will breathe new life into a deadly classic. Laurence Fishburne and Caroline Dhavernas co-star.

"Hannibal" is set to debut on NBC at midseason so look for a premiere date soon! In the meantime visit "Hannibal" on NBC.com for more.

It's been around a year since last there was anything to report on Old 37, but with the passage of time good things can come. Case in point: This unique little slasher flick finally began shooting on November 17th in Long Island, New York.

The film stars Kane Hodder (Friday the 13th, Hatchet) and Bill Moseley (Texas Chainsaw 3D, The Devil’s Rejects, House of 1000 Corpses) as twisted brothers working together to exact revenge on careless teen drivers who may be responsible for their mother’s hit and run death.

The star cast includes Brandi Cyrus, (Hannah Montana, Zoey 101), Caitlin Harris (Secret Life of the American Teenager), Olivia Alexander (Attack of the 50-Foot Cheerleader, Killer Eye), the face of Abercrombie & Fitch Maxwell Zagorski, Ben Schneider, Mindy White (States, Lydia), a performance by 6-piece Australian band Sheppard and more.

Written and produced by Paul Travers, directed and edited by three-time Emmy winning editor Christian Winters, with producing partners Carrie Alton, Evan Greenhill, Dayna Ghiraldi and executive produced by Steven Beer, this team is ready to bring the scare. And many of the scares will be provided by Brian Spears, who is doing the FX and has worked on V/H/S, Beneath and Hellbenders, just to name a few.

The official Old 37 website, which is very eerie in its own right, features some additional information and cool storyboards to give you a feel for the film. Up-to-the-minute information can be found on the Old 37 Facebook page or by following them on Twitter.