Internet sensation Rooster Teeth heads into the world of feature films with Lazer Team, a sci-fi comedy that broke Indiegogo records back in 2014 for being the platform’s most successful campaign. It opens in theaters January 29th, with special screenings on January 27th, and we’ve got a full list of locations on tap for you today.

Take note that some of the screenings will feature appearances from the filmmakers and cast!

Directed by Matt Hullum, the film stars Burnie Burns, Gavin Free, Michael Jones, Colton Dunn, Allie DeBerry, and Alan Ritchson.

Synopsis:
When four small-town losers stumble across an alien crash site containing an incredible battle suit, they soon find themselves responsible for the fate of the entire planet.  With this new alien equipment genetically bound to them, and the government hot on their heels, the foursome have no choice but to work together as one to save humanity.  All they have to do is learn to use a strange alien device meant for only one person, train for a battle against an omnipotent enemy, and not kill each other in the process.  They may not be strong, smart, or talented… but they’re Lazer Team.

Lazer Team will open Friday, January 29, in the following markets/theaters:

LOS ANGELES, CA – AMC Burbank 8 (Burnie Burns / cast – opening night appearance)

NEW YORK, NY – AMC Empire 25  (Josh Flanagan / co-writer – opening night appearance)

ATLANTA, GA – AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18 (Matt Hullum / director – opening night appearance)

AUSTIN, TX – Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar (Michael Jones and Gus Sorola / cast – opening night appearance)

BOSTON, MA – AMC Liberty Tree Mall 20

CHICAGO, IL – AMC South Barrington 30

COLUMBUS, OH – Gateway Film Center

DALLAS, TX – AMC Stonebriar Mall 24

DENVER, CO – AMC Highlands Ranch 24

HALIFAX, CANADA – Cineplex Park Lane

HOUSTON, TX – AMC Willowbrook 24 (Brandon Farmahini / cast – opening night appearance)

HOUSTON, TX – Alamo Drafthouse Mason Park

INDIANAPOLIS, IN – AMC Indianapolis 17

JACKSONVILLE, FL – AMC Regency Jax 24

KALAMAZOO, MI – Alamo Drafthouse Kalamazoo

KANSAS CITY, MO – Alamo Drafthouse Mainstreet

LITTLETON, CO – Alamo Drafthouse Littleton

LUBBOCK, TX – Alamo Drafthouse Lubbock

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – AMC Eden Prairie Mall 18

ORLANDO, FL – AMC Disney Springs 24

PHILADELPHIA, PA – AMC Neshaminy 24

PHOENIX, AZ – AMC Westgate 20

PITTSBURGH, PA – Hollywood Theater

RICHARDSON, TX – Alamo Drafthouse Richardson

SAN DIEGO, CA – AMC Mission Valley 20

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – AMC Metreon 16 (Gavin Free / cast – opening night appearance)

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Alamo Drafthouse at the New Mission

SEATTLE, WA – AMC Alderwood Mall 16

SIOUX FALLS, SD – Indievents

TAMPA, FL – Studio Movie Grill

TORONTO, CANADA – Carlton 9

TYLER, TX – Studio Movie Grill

VANCOUVER, WA – Kiggins Theater

YONKERS, NY – Alamo Drafthouse Yonkers

The post Lazer Team Headed to Theaters; Full List of Locations appeared first on Dread Central.

Under The Shadow takes place in Tehran, 1988: As the Iran-Iraq War rumbles into its eighth year, a mother and daughter are slowly torn apart by the bombing campaigns on the city coupled with the country’s bloody revolution. As they struggle to stay together amidst these terrors, a mysterious evil stalks their apartment.

That’s the movie, now let’s get the story from its writer-director, Babak Anvari.

Dread Central: I’m sure you’ve heard of, or perhaps even saw, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, the “other” Iranian horror film… do you think directors whose lives have been so hard-hit by war are somehow better equipped, or differently rigged, to tell horror stories in a narrative format?

Babak Anvari: No, not necessarily. I don’t believe one should need to experience trauma or hardship in order to tell a good story. There are many excellent and engaging horror films out there, where the directors have not experienced war or political turmoil.

DC: What were some of your favorite ghost stories when you were growing up – or even now – and how did they shape Under the Shadow?

BA: I have so many favorite ghost stories. I used to love all of the urban myths about ghosts, djinn, and demons when I was growing up. Djinn is a Middle Eastern myth, very similar to demons. I had a classmate at primary school who used to tell me stories about djinn, selling them to me as real stories, even though now that I think about it, probably all of them were made up by him. He even told me how to capture djinn once, but I was too scared to follow the ritual – he warned me that if I mess up, the djinn would kill me! I guess that’s why I made a film about the myth of djinn. When I was older, I read some interesting studies about these rituals by the Iranian author G. Saedi, whose book The People of the Air is referenced in my film, Under the Shadow.

In terms of more popular ghost stories, I love some of the classics like “Oh, Whistle and I Come to You” by M. R. James or “The Turn of the Screw” by Henry James and obviously Edgar Allan Poe’s stories like “The Fall of the House of Usher.” In terms of films, The Haunting (original 1963 version), The Others, Jack Clayton’s The Innocents (which is based on “The Turn of the Screw”), Poltergeist, and possibly many more titles which I can’t remember at the moment. But I guess you can see the influence of all the above on Under the Shadow.

DC: I haven’t seen the movie yet – congrats on your big Sundance premiere! – but I watched the trailer and a clip and am very impressed by how you use everything at your disposal to tell the story not just with words but using the camera in unusual ways. It’s not “shaky-cam” exactly, more “sway-cam” – was this your idea or your DP’s?

BA: Thank you very much. I’m very excited about Sundance. It’s interesting what you’ve mentioned about the camera work – film is a visual medium so camera work and lighting is very important to me. My DP, Kit Fraser, is one of the most talented people I know, and it’s always a pleasure working with him. We met at film school, so not only are we very close friends, but we’re also great collaborators, mainly because we know each other very well. Kit was the first person who heard the idea of Under the Shadow, when it was just something I was thinking of, and he was very supportive and encouraging from day one. We were constantly chatting about the look of the film as I was developing the script (and not even being sure whether it’s ever going to be made). Once we were set to go, we knew exactly what we wanted. We spent many days at the locations, just the two of us, blocking the scenes for the camera. The way we work is that either I come up with an idea and Kit adds his magic and makes it perfect, or he comes up with an idea and I just make further suggestions, so we complement each other in that way and we’re always on the same page. The visual style of the film is the result of this collaboration, but Kit is ultimately the one who executed it, and what you see is the testament of his skill and talent and the hard work of his team.

DC: Tell us a bit about the storyline, your cast, and when horror fans who are not going to Sundance will be able to see Under the Shadow.

BA: Well, all I can say is that it is set in the 80s Tehran, during the Iran-Iraq war and a couple of years after the Iranian revolution. It’s about a young mother named Shideh, who is left on her own with her young daughter as her husband is sent to war. Soon Tehran becomes the target of Iraqi missile attacks, and as her surroundings become increasingly unsafe, she starts to believe that a malevolent supernatural force is haunting her apartment block, and this force is possibly after her daughter… This is a quick summary. I was adamant to make the story in Farsi for the sake of authenticity, so it was very important to find actors who can speak Farsi fluently. We looked everywhere and managed to find some amazing and skilled Farsi-speaking Persian actors in different parts of the world – USA, UK, Germany, France, Italy – and we brought them all to Amman, Jordan, to recreate the 80s Tehran. It was an incredible experience, and I cannot wait to share it with the world. Hopefully the film will be released soon, maybe later this year, so that everyone can see it.

Under the Shadow will debut globally on Netflix later this year, shortly after a theatrical or alternative-platform release. The film’s theatrical rights have yet to be announced.

The film stars Narges Rashidi and Avin Manshadi.

The post Under the Shadow – Five Questions with Director Babak Anvari appeared first on Dread Central.

Starring Cristina Raines, Emilio Estevez, Lance Henriksen, a giant rat

Directed by Joseph Sargent

Distributed by Scream Factory

What happened to the movie-of-the-week? Back in its heyday, networks were producing myriad small screen terrors that still hold up to this day. Spielberg got his start with Universal, signing a contract to make four TV movies. John Carpenter shot Someone’s Watching Me (1978) for NBC, right before making Halloween (1978), and then followed it up with the TV movie Elvis (1979), marking his first collaboration with Kurt Russell. Cult classics like Trilogy of Terror (1975, an ABC Movie of the Week) and Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981, made for CBS) chilled home audiences to such a degree it’s almost hard to believe they were made for general viewing. That is one of the surprising aspects to these network television horror movies – they could get intense… sometimes to such a degree they found themselves off the schedule entirely…

…which is precisely what happened to director Joseph Sargent’s Nightmares (1983). Intended as a pilot for NBC, when network execs saw the footage it was deemed “too intense” and repositioned as a theatrical release. While it can easily be argued many of the television terrors which preceded it were just as – if not more so – extreme the story makes for some good notoriety nonetheless. Sargent’s film is an anthology with no bookends or narrative or connective tissue between segments, aside from each focusing on a potential, well, nightmare.

Kicking things off is “Terror in Topanga”, which finds housewife Lisa (Cristina Raines) leaving her woodsy abode late one night to grab a pack of smokes because she just can’t go a few hours without inhaling 800 deadly chemicals. Despite the insistence of her husband and neighbors that she not leave – because a killer is on the loose in that area – she rebuffs their warnings and heads out into the night anyway. And wouldn’t you know it, she finds herself directly in harm’s way when the killer gets closer than she ever expected.

“The Bishop of Battle”, our second story, features young punk J.J. (Emilio Estevez), an arcade hustler who beats amateurs in order to build up his stockpile of quarters so he can play the segment’s titular game in hopes of finally making it to level thirteen. Some believe the thirteenth level is just a myth, but J.J. thinks otherwise. He learns otherwise, too, after he breaks into the arcade late at night and finds himself becoming a literal part of the game.

Thirdly, in “The Benediction”, a priest (Lance Henriksen) who has lost his faith leaves the congregation to travel westward across the desert plains. His journey is cut short when a blacked-out 4×4 truck (like a roided-out cousin to the vehicle from 1977’s The Car) begins to menace him on the road. At first the priest believes it is a fellow traveler messing around, but when it becomes clear the driver is from the Deep, Deep South the priest suddenly finds his faith may be renewed in preparation for a classic battle.

Finally, the segment that always creeped me out the most as a kid: “Night of the Rat”. When corporate jerk-of-a-husband Steven (Richard Masur) gets fed up with hearing his wife’s complaints about rats scurrying around within the walls, he sets out a few traps and the family bags a reasonably large rodent. But when the noises persist, and an exterminator finds evidence of something large hidden beneath the home, the family soon finds themselves under siege from a rat big enough to be ridden with a saddle on its back. And it screams – often and loudly.

I’ve got a serious affinity for horror anthologies, and this has long been one of my go-to titles when the mood strikes. The stories are thin (as most anthologies are) but each has a couple standout moments to make them memorable. “Topanga” is tense throughout; “Bishop” sees Emilio playing a real-life evil version of TRON (1982); Lance Henriksen back in his prime, you can’t go wrong; and that big rat in the last segment still haunts my dreams. Not part of the upper echelon of this subgenre, or close to a member of the bottom ranks, Nightmares is a thoroughly entertaining trip through four unrelated tales, each with a distinct take on terror.

Previously available only on DVD with a full-frame transfer, Scream Factory has done fans a solid yet again by providing two aspect ratio choices here: open matte 1.33:1 or a widescreen version framed at 1.78:1, both in 1080p. Widescreen or not, this isn’t a great looking film but there are a few moments where it’s clear the HD has made significant improvements. On the negative side, however, the image is often soft… and forget about seeing any kind of details in darkness. The best moments occur during the third segment, out in the sunbaked desert, where fine details get some pop and the lines of each vehicle look sharp and clean.

Don’t expect much sonic fury from the English DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono track. There aren’t any issues, though; it’s just that this is a simple track with few dynamic elements. Dialogue is nicely balanced and clear. The punk songs used during “Bishop” are appropriately loud and raw. Subtitles are included in English.

The audio commentary features Executive Producer Andrew Mirisch and Actress Cristina Raines, which sounds cool until you realize Raines is only in the first segment, leaving her with little to say for the remainder of the picture. Mirisch, thankfully, keeps it moving along but this is hardly a must-listen.

The film’s theatrical trailer and some radio spots are also included.

Special Features:

• Available in Two Versions: 1080p High Definition Widescreen (1.78:1) and Full Frame (1.33:1)
• Audio commentary with executive producer Andrew Mirisch and actress Cristina Raines
• Theatrical Trailer
• Radio Spots

The post Nightmares (Blu-ray) appeared first on Dread Central.

A couple of new videos hit the Net today in support of Sony Pictures’ upcoming Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and of course we have them for you right here.  Take pride in kicking ass on February 5th!

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies stars Lily James, Sam Riley, Jack Huston, Matt Smith, Douglas Booth, Charles Dance, Lena Heady, Ellie Bamber, Millie Brady, Bella Heathcote, and Suki Waterhouse. Burr Steers wrote the screenplay and directs.

Be sure to join the Squad on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Synopsis:
A zombie outbreak has fallen upon the land in this reimagining of Jane Austen’s classic tale of the tangled relationships between lovers from different social classes in 19th century England. Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet (James) is a master of martial arts and weaponry, and the handsome Mr. Darcy (Riley) is a fierce zombie killer, yet the epitome of upper class prejudice. As the zombie outbreak intensifies, they must swallow their pride and join forces on the blood-soaked battlefield in order to conquer the undead once and for all.

The post Pride and Prejudice and Zombies – See a Few Bloody Good Sneak Peeks! appeared first on Dread Central.

Sacred ground. Consecrated ground. Sometimes, much to our chagrin, it gets walked upon. Deadline is reporting that Fox has given a pilot order to “The Exorcist,” a modern reinvention inspired by William Blatty’s original 1971 book.

Morgan Creek, which has the rights to the property, took out the Exorcist drama series project, penned by young feature writer Jeremy Slater (Fantastic Four), in the summer of 2013, around the 40th anniversary of William Friedkin’s classic horror movie adaptation. After a lengthy pursuit and deal-making, the genre drama has landed a pilot order at Fox, with sibling 20th Century Fox TV producing alongside Morgan Creek Prods.

“The Exorcist” is described as a propulsive, serialized psychological thriller following two very different men tackling one family’s case of horrifying demonic possession and confronting the face of true evil.

Slater, who wrote the script, executive produces alongside James Robinson, David Robinson, and Barbara Wall.

The post The Exorcist Being Reimagined by Fox TV appeared first on Dread Central.

Anticipation is building for Sunday’s premiere of a revitalized “The X-Files,” and Fox is pulling out all the stops to promote it.  A slew of videos have rolled out over the past several hours, including five clips from Episode 10.01, “My Struggle”; another “Show & Not Tell” teaser, this time with series newcomer Joel McHale; and a chat with creator and executive producer Chris Carter in which he offers insight into the key themes and character arcs of the new season.  But the really big guns came out in Los Angeles, where a UFO has literally crash-landed at The Grove shopping center.

If you’re in the LA area, you can swing by The Grove to check it out for yourself until 10PM Saturday, January 23rd. Check out the below video and tweets to learn more about how you can get involved.

If you take a selfie w/ the UFO and include #TheXFiles you get a cupcake (Limited supply details onsite) #FindTheUFO pic.twitter.com/wPq3ffU5Ai

— The X-Files (@thexfiles) January 22, 2016

ATTENTION ALL PHILES PLACE THIS IN YOUR WINDOW DAY OF PREMIERE AND TWEET PHOTOS #XFiles @thexfiles @XFilesNews pic.twitter.com/DQY5eDdp19

— XFilesBtvs (@XFilesBtvs) January 23, 2016

Change your profile image to the X and go X for the weekend! #TheXFiles pic.twitter.com/SVxIjgtaTk

— The X-Files (@thexfiles) January 22, 2016

“The X-Files” returns to Fox with a special two-night event beginning Sunday, January 24, 2016 (10:00-11:00 PM ET/7:00-8:00 PM PT), following the NFC Championship Game, and continuing with its time period premiere on Monday, January 25 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT).

“The X-Files” Episode 10.01 – “My Struggle” (airs 1/24/16; 10-11PM ET/7-8PM PT)
THE X-FILES HAVE BEEN RE-OPENED ON PART ONE OF THE TWO-NIGHT SEASON PREMIERE – Thirteen years after the original series run, the next mind-bending chapter of the thrilling series “THE X-FILES” is here.  FOX MULDER (David Duchovny) and DANA SCULLY (Gillian Anderson) have been approached by TAD O’MALLEY (guest star Joel McHale), a popular conspiracy theorist web-TV show host, who believes he has uncovered a significant government conspiracy. With the assistance of FBI Asst. Dir. WALTER SKINNER (Mitch Pileggi), O’Malley seeks to enlist the help of former X-Files agents Mulder and Scully, who have since severed ties with the FBI. Through O’Malley, they are introduced to SVETA (guest star Annett Mahendru), a possible alien abductee who shares shocking information with them that will challenge everything that Mulder has ever believed about the existence of aliens and the government’s role in covering them up.

“The X-Files” Episode 10.02 – “Founder’s Mutation” (airs 1/25/16; 8-9PM ET/PT)
MULDER AND SCULLY INVESTIGATE A DOCTOR WITH UNSCRUPULOUS PRACTICES ON PART TWO OF THE TWO-NIGHT SEASON PREMIERE WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY JAMES WONG – When a scientist suddenly commits suicide, Mulder and Scully investigate what unseen force may have driven him to it. What they uncover is a laboratory where extreme genetic experimentation has been going on for decades, breeding subjects who possess unexpected and dangerous powers – and who harbor deep resentments.

The post The X-Files – Clips Blow-Out, UFO Landing in LA, and More Promos appeared first on Dread Central.

Immersive production company Clever Fox, whose first original virtual reality narrative short film, Last Man Standing, premiered late last year, isn’t slowing down anytime soon.  Not only are its principals taking part in a couple of panels at this year’s Slamdance, but they’re already releasing their second project, Coyote. You can find it exclusively on Littlstar.com.

From the Press Release:
Building on the strength of its original VR film, Last Man Standing, Clever Fox continues to push the envelope of immersive storytelling with a 3D 360-degree ghost story set in the California desert. The film stars Stephanie Sheh (pictured) and Joe Kaplan.

Director Dekker Dreyer believes Coyote is another leap forward. “Our first original film had a huge response, and it inspired us to push the envelope to make something that’s best experienced on a VR headset in full 3D. My approach to making immersive films is to create a dream-like experience and mix different narrative styles. Coyote is very eerie, and horror fans will love it. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever shot before.”

Dreyer is an advocate who wants to get fellow filmmakers excited about the evolving medium of virtual reality, and as part of that mission he’s hosting two panels in Park City, Utah. On Monday, January 25th, he’ll be joined by Alex Plapinger of PAVR, actors Stephanie Sheh (Coyote), Michael Sinterniklaas, and Sarah Himadeh (WEVR’s The Visitor) to discuss acting for virtual reality. The panel takes place
at 2:00 pm at Park City Studios. Then, on January 26th at 2:45 pm, Dekker will be hosting a discussion about cinematic VR storytelling at the Slamdance Film Festival with an array of panelist including Matthew Collado of VR platform Littlstar, Kim Adams of Google Spotlight Stories, and Jacquie Barnbrook, known for her work on the VR tie-in to the hit film The Martian.

Clever Fox CEO Julia Howe believes that only by making great original content will VR find its legs in 2016. “There are a lot of companies, like Clever Fox, making great branded content, but to keep the audience excited about VR, the industry needs to invest in scripted originals. We try to bridge that gap by reinvesting in making independent productions like Coyote. The more great films are available, the larger the market will grow.”

Coyote is available now in 3D on Littlstar’s Samsung GearVR app and will be available in your desktop browser, Apple TV, and on all iOS and Android devices via Littlstar on February 1, 2016. “The Clever Fox team continues to push the boundaries of virtual reality filmmaking, using new techniques and styles to make their stories come to life,” said Matthew Collado, Co-Founder and Chief Content Officer, Littlstar. “Littlstar is proud to exclusively premiere Coyote on its 360-degree video platform and is looking forward to seeing what quality, immersive content Clever Fox comes out with next.”

The post Get Immersed in the Eerie 3D VR Short Film Coyote appeared first on Dread Central.

Hot on the heels of Ashley “Ash” Williams’ return to pop culture prominence on the small screen in “Ash vs. Evil Dead,” Dynamite Entertainment releases the next chapter of its flagship title in Army of Darkness: Furious Road.

Nancy A. Collins casts the square-jawed hero of Army of Darkness twenty years into the future, where the Deadites and their Army of Darkness have succeeded in bringing down Western civilization. An unexpected upshot of the demons taking over? Supernatural species such as vampires, witches, and werewolves forming an uneasy alliance with humanity in order to survive. The only hope for both mankind and monsters alike is a ritual that will send the Deadites back to the hell that birthed them. But first, a rag-tag crew that includes the Frankenstein Monster and Eva, the Daughter of Dracula, have to track down the fabled spell book known as the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis and deal with its guardian, a certain Ashley “Ash” Williams.

Army of Darkness: Furious Road features art from Kewber Baal (Jennifer Blood) and will host multiple variant covers by Tyler Crook, Gabriel Hardman, Francesco Francavilla, and Tony Fleecs.

“I think Ash’s biggest appeal is that he’s just an ordinary Joe thrust into some serious Lovecraftian high weirdness,” says Collins. “He is doing his best to be a hero, even though he really doesn’t want the job.”

“Nancy Collins has crafted the perfect Army of Darkness story, putting Ash squarely into a post-apocalyptic world over-run by Deadites, where his only allies are horrific. Plus: Dracula,” says Dynamite Entertainment editorial director Joe Rybrandt.

Look for Army of Darkness: Furious Road at your local comic shop on March 2, 2016.

The post Dynamite’s Army of Darkness Marches Down a Furious Road appeared first on Dread Central.

Over the years we’ve seen films where sharks show up in some pretty weird places, but I don’t think we’ve ever seen them show up in a house before. That’s the premise of the aptly named House Shark (Indiegogo), and it sounds so damn bizarre that I think I’m already super-hyped.

With the constant bombardment of killer shark films these days, it looks like we may finally have one that truly does something new with the formula.

Synopsis:
Just when you thought it was safe to go home!

When Frank (Trey Harrison) finds his happy home under attack by a dangerous but largely unknown breed of shark, he enlists the aid of the world’s only “house shark” expert, Zachary (Michael Merchant), and a grizzled former real estate agent, Abraham (Wes Reid), to embark on a desperate quest to destroy the beast and claim back his life. It’s JAWS in a house!

From writer/director Ron Bonk. Produced by Ron Bonk (She Kills, Clay) and Jonathan Straiton (Night of Something Strange).

The post Sharks Appear in Your Home in this House Shark Trailer appeared first on Dread Central.

If you’re among the millions of US residents who are housebound this weekend due to the crippling snowstorm that hit our East Coast, here’s a quick 30-second adventurous TV spot for the upcoming Gods of Egypt to provide some diversion for you.

From director Alexander Proyas (The Crow; Dark City; I, Robot), comes a completely original action-adventure tale from a world before time began, when gods ruled the earth.

In order to save the world and bring his true love back to life, a clever mortal thief (Brenton Thwaites) teams up with a powerful and vengeful god (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) to stop the god of darkness (Gerard Butler), who hopes to destroy both this life and the afterlife. Chadwick Boseman, Elodie Yung, Courtney Eaton, and Geoffrey Rush co-star.

Don’t miss all the action and adventure with Gods of Egypt, coming to theaters February 26, 2016!

Synopsis:
In this spectacular action-adventure inspired by the classic mythology of Egypt, the survival of mankind hangs in the balance as an unexpected mortal hero, Bek (Thwaites), undertakes a thrilling journey to save the world and rescue his true love. In order to succeed, he must enlist the help of the powerful god Horus (Coster-Waldau) in an unlikely alliance against Set (Butler), the merciless god of darkness, who has usurped Egypt’s throne, plunging the once peaceful and prosperous empire into chaos and conflict.

As their breathtaking battle against Set and his henchmen takes them into the afterlife and across the heavens, both god and mortal must pass tests of courage and sacrifice if they hope to prevail in the epic final confrontation.

The post Take an Adventure with a New Gods of Egypt TV Spot appeared first on Dread Central.

Developed by Hellbent Games

Available on PC through Steam

suitable for ages 13+

I don’t think that anyone would play Slender if it came out today. The craze of indie micro-budget chasing simulators has grown stale, the market too saturated for even quality titles to stand out. Despite my distaste for Slender‘s lack of gameplay and YouTube-bait scares, I can appreciate it for being a fun little title made by fans with more enthusiasm than game design experience.

It spawned a genre, but Slender‘s style lacks legs. You can debate about the respective spookiness of whichever specter or boogyman is chasing you through this week’s forest/abandoned park/haunted house. As far as gameplay goes, it’s not terribly hard to replicate “walk around and hunt for items while being spooked.” Improving on this formula is simple, as any interaction and/or variety is new.

Is it just me, or does it look like this bus just partied too hard and threw up all over itself?

Wick is Hellbent game’s most recent attempt to evolve the genre. Normally, I wouldn’t have interest in such a title. There are countless new Slender permutation every year, and I can’t go through them all for sake of my time and sanity. They tend to be games I play when I have absolutely nothing else to do, and fall to the farthest back burner on my to-do list.

Still, I’m nothing if not a hopeful, cheery chap, and every once in awhile one of these titles catches my eye. For reason’s I can’t quite pinpoint, the Steam page for Wick proved such an occasion. Maybe it was the slightly more cartoonish art style? Hell, it’s likely that I was just overcome with holiday cheer/dead time boredom. Whatever the reasons may be, I decided to go into Wick without the usual cynicism I have for Slender-likes. Yes, the Slender clone is a tired genre, but I can’t exactly hold that over every similar title’s head forever, can I? At some point, shooters had to stop being considered all Doom clones.

Fun Fact: I’ve built a shack in the woods. That shit takes a lot of time. I just wish for once I’d come across a well maintained, properly cared for forest shack. #Shacklivesmatter

Wick goes for a minimalist approach to direction. Dropping into the game, you play a nameless blindfolded teen being led to the area where you will play a game called “Wick”. It’s a permutation of the teenage game where friends go into the woods, leave a fried behind with only a single light source, and retrieve them in the morning. Presumably, spooks of some kind or another occur in the interim. I refer to this as a “plot device” game, since no person I know has ever felt the need to willingly get lost in the woods and fuck with ghosts. Maybe people were more desperate for entertainment before the invention of the computer.

Of course, just standing there and waiting for the morning would make for a boring game. Your only light source at the start is a set of matches, but candles spread throughout the forest serve as more lasting illumination. Light can be transferred from candle to candle, and distant candles can be seen as sparkling dots on the horizon. It isn’t terribly hard to keep yourself perpetually lit, so it serves more as a trail to keep you on track to interesting landmarks than a real restriction. Personally, I kind of like this. Resource management definitely has a place in horror, but the more narrative style of Wick lends itself well to this less stressful approach.

Still better lighting than Aliens Vs Predator: Requiem

Running out of light is suitably dangerous and spooky, spawning all sorts of terrible noises and making you a target for the various fiends. That’s not to say that you are perfectly safe in the light. Certain triggers will cause more persistent enemies to spawn, which must be fled from to survive. As the night goes on, different enemies will pursue you, each with their visual style and method of assault. The variety it offers is refreshing, and while we don’t see anything truly revolutionary, it’s enough to require you to mix up your play style and learn through trial and error.

The meat of the game comes from discovering a large assortment of collectibles. Notes, documents, and items all serve to flesh out the game world through little snippets of story. The notes are generally drawings, and serve as hints/instructions while also building some spooky tension. Items are all suitably unsettling, and come with a little snippet of audio narration to further up the creepiness factor. The documents stand out as the most unique part of the package, and add a dual layer to the narrative. A series of police interviews with the group of friends that left you in the woods allude to the fact that something went wrong during tonight’s game of Wick. It reveals that there’s something special about your experience, and this isn’t just something that all the other kids have done and inexplicably got through just fine. It colors the events of the game in a more questionable light, and what you see might not be what actually is happening.

It would be a creepy mantle piece even outside of a haunted forest.

Alas, that’s all there is to talk about with Wick. It’s a scavenger hunt Slender clone with more variety and legs. Sure, it innovates, but all that can be said about the title is still doable in just a couple paragraphs. It’s an inherent weakness to the genre, and one that prevents me from really getting fully into it. Some visual bugs and awkward spawns will take you out of the experience. The jump scares are also a bit too frequent, with almost every turn or new location prompting some kind of screaming child or demonic arm to dart out. It’s too rapid-fire, which makes the roughness of the seams more glaring.

Still, none of the bugs ruined the experience for me. What is there is good, delivering scares in a unique environment. I had fun figuring out how to survive, and really enjoyed piecing the story together. All said and done, there just isn’t enough here to really love this game. The narrow scope makes the flaws more pressing, since I don’t have any mitigating factors to judge the game by.

It’s the perfect example of an average game that I find enjoyable. This isn’t a big budget title pulled down into mediocrity by a clipped production cycle or inexplicable design choices. This is a small game that does a single thing pretty well. People that like this kind of thing will like Wick. If you absolutely adore Slender, you’ll find Wick to be a familiar experience with some innovations. It’s an indie game total worth checking out, but hard to recommend.

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If you like a side serving of social commentary along with your zombie apocalypse tales, then you’ll want to check out A.E. Stueve’s Former, an insightful look at zombie culture and what it means to be human, which just came out this weekend as an eBook from publisher The Novel Fox.

The zombie invasion is already upon us, at least in terms of popular culture. From “The Walking Dead” to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, it seems that societal interest in the zombie apocalypse is only growing. But why is everyone so interested in the grotesque undead?

Former explores a few familiar themes and introduces some new ones as well:

• How sometimes it is hard to tell who is more monstrous—them or us.
• How sometimes it’s even harder to tell the difference between zombies and humans.
• Though the times are bleak, there is hope, which keeps the characters going and acts as a double-edged sword.
• Racism, nationalism, Border closing, McCarthyism, and other unpleasantness run rampant throughout the novel.

“I’ve always been scared of zombies,” Stueve says on his reasons for writing Former. “Since I was a little kid, the idea that there could be these mindless monstrosities walking around wanting to eat us—monstrosities that look like our loved ones—that’s just always disturbed me to no end. The older I’ve gotten, the more I’ve come to realize it really isn’t their taste for human flesh that scares me—it’s the fact that they are basically a distorted mirror.”

Synopsis:
Unlike his wife, family, and friends, Billy Dodge is alive. Profine, an international pharmaceutical and defense conglomerate, has cured him of an infection that has ravaged Earth for over a decade. Life isn’t easy for the “formers,” however, and despite Profine’s help, Billy is struggling to cope in a less-than-welcoming world. When Billy and a friend are blamed for an unfortunate death, things only become more difficult, and Billy finds himself at the center of a global crisis.

As Billy wrestles with his inner demons and the strife around him, society struggles with an important question: Are formers really human, and should they be allowed to live?

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A new promo has arrived for Legendary/Universal’s upcoming Warcraft, and it looks to be bringing all the spectacle we could have hoped for!  Enemies will unite… worlds will collide… will your asses be in theater seats this summer?

Directed by Duncan Jones (Moon, Source Code) and written by Charles Leavitt and Jones, the film starring Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster, Dominic Cooper, Toby Kebbell, Ben Schnetzer, Rob Kazinsky and Daniel Wu is a Legendary Pictures, Blizzard Entertainment, and Atlas Entertainment production.

The producers are Charles Roven, Thomas Tull, Jon Jashni, Alex Gartner, and Stuart Fenegan. Jillian Share, Brent O’Connor, Michael Morhaime, and Paul Sams serve as executive producers. Rob Pardo, Chris Metzen, Nick Carpenter, and Rebecca Steel Roven co-produce. Warcraft will be released by Universal Pictures.

War is coming… on June 10, 2016.  For more info visit the Warcraft website.

Synopsis:
The peaceful realm of Azeroth stands on the brink of war as its civilization faces a fearsome race of invaders: Orc warriors fleeing their dying home to colonize another. As a portal opens to connect the two worlds, one army faces destruction and the other faces extinction. From opposing sides, two heroes are set on a collision course that will decide the fate of their family, their people, and their home.

So begins a spectacular saga of power and sacrifice in which war has many faces, and everyone fights for something.

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Hollywood proved little match for the forces of nature this weekend as Superstorm Jonas froze out over a dozen major film markets. How cold was the reception for The Boy and The 5th Wave? Here’s a hint: Dirty Grandpa proved to be the hotter ticket.

Holdovers The Revenant, Star Wars, and Ride Along 2 held on to the top three slots, and Dirty Grandpa took fourth place despite getting some of the worst reviews in the history of film criticism. That left the weird and wacko demented doll flick The Boy (review) to take the fifth slot with about $11.26 million, according to Box Office Mojo. Given that already matches the film’s reported $11 million budget, The Boy has to be considered a success despite the studio hiding it from both critics (no critical screenings) and audiences (no Thursday sneak previews).

At least this new horror opus from the director of The Devil Inside didn’t generate reports of movie patrons spitting on the ground and throwing stuff at the screen in disgust. Cinemascore for The Boy was a fickle B- as opposed to the big fat F audiences gave The Devil Inside. Still, I think I know a way this movie could have been an even bigger box office hit…

As someone who has seen The Boy, let me just say it has one of the most uproariously bug-nuts third acts I’ve seen in a long time; so much so it might actually propel the film into future cult movie status. Seriously, the reveal is the stuff midnight movies are born from.

The 5th Wave had to settle for sixth place with $10.7 million its opening weekend. The adaptation of the apocalyptic YA novel starring Chloe Grace Moretz as one of the least proactive screen heroines in a long time, desperately trying to save her kid brother from alien invaders while constantly Dear Diary-ing the audience about the human condition and in constant need of being rescued by either of her love triangle boy toys: the high school crush turned non-Connor future freedom fighter with whom she shared about 30 seconds of flirtation and the Robert Pattinson with more muscles and less charisma human hybrid she literally shacks up with after the aliens invade.

Yes, I saw this one as well, and it was so anticlimactic I doubt The 6th Wave will be gracing screens any time soon. Unless the international box office blows up, that is.

Hey, remember The Forest? Already out of the top ten. That was fast. Guess you could say the box office has been “deforested.” Rimshot.

Won’t be doing too many of these box office reports in the near future since few horror films are getting wide releases in the next two months. The only horrific February offering is the genre mash-up Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. The Witch does get a limited release as well, which could lead to a wider release if the positive buzz continues to build.

Oh, wait. I almost forgot about Gods of Egypt. It may not be specifically horror, but I suspect it’s definitely going to be something. Seems fitting it’s opening the same weekend as this year’s much-maligned Oscars ceremony. Get your #GodsOfEgyptSoWhite hashtags ready now!

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Horror on the small screen is more popular and prevalent today than ever before, and streaming service Hulu is about to dip their toes into the genre pool. They’ve just ordered pilots for two brand new shows with ties to the world of horror, so read on for the first details!

Per Variety, “Citizen” comes from Me and Earl and the Dying Girl director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon and “Blood and Oil” duo Josh Pate and Nicholas Schutt. Gomez-Rejon, Pate and Schutt created the concept and will pen the script as well as exec produce alongside Anonymous Content’s David Kanter, Matt DeRossand Steve Golin.

From Paramount Television and Anonymous Content, the drama is described as a fresh take on the hero origin story. It blends elements of magical realism and gritty vigilantism and is set against the backdrop of a vibrant, “supernaturalized” Los Angeles.

Also from Paramount TV and Anonymous Content, “When the Street Lights Go On” is based on the Black List feature script from writers Chris Hutton and Eddie O’Keefe. The coming-of-age thriller is about a sleepy, suburban town that is rocked by the brutal murder of a high school girl and her teacher in the summer of 1983.

Brett Morgen will direct the pilot episode and will serve as exec producer alongside Hutton and O’Keefe. Anonymous’ Chad Hamilton, Tariq Merhab, Michael Sugar and Steve Golin will also exec produce.

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Writer/director Mickey Keating (Ritual, Pod) is both super talented and super busy, and while we wait for a release date for his fourth feature, Darling, today already brings a clip from his fifth. It’s a violent thriller titled Carnage Park, and it world premieres at Sundance on Tuesday.

Check out the clip below, courtesy of Entertainment Weekly!

“Carnage Park is my total love letter to Peckinpah, and Deliverance, and ’70s survival movies,” Keating told EW. “It’s set in 1978 and it’s a crime story [which] turns into a fight for survival. It’s hard to categorize in a way, because it’s an energetic crime movie that goes horribly horribly awry. I think it’s going to be something different for people.”

Carnage Park Sundance Screenings:
Tuesday, January 26 @ 11:59 PM, Library Center Theatre, Park City (World Premiere)
Wednesday, January 27 @ 8:45 PM, Prospector Square Theatre, Park City
Thursday, January 28 @ 3:45 PM, Broadway Centre Cinema 3, Salt Lake City
Saturday, January 30 @ 11:59 PM, Library Center Theatre, Park City

The film’s cast includes Ashley Bell (The Last Exorcism), Pat Healy (Cheap Thrills), Alan Ruck (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off), James Landry Hébert (Looper), Darby Stanchfield (“Scandal”), and Larry Fessenden.

Synopsis:
Set during the 1970s, Carnage Park follows a pair of wannabe crooks who botch a bank heist and flee into the desert. There, they stumble upon Carnage Park, a remote wilderness occupied by a psychotic ex-military sniper.

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Originally announced back in 2014, Starbreeze/Overkill’s The Walking Dead is a cooperative first-person shooter computer and video game made in collaboration with Robert Kirkman’s Skybound. It’s certainly not the first game based on the franchise, but when can we expect to play it?

Though it had been scheduled for release this year, a new partnership between Starbreeze and Smilegate has prompted the game to be pushed back to the second half of 2017. The partnership will allow the game to be distributed in Asia, and Starbreeze wants to launch simultaneously with the western version. They’ll also be expanding it with more content.

“It will be gameplay focused, ferocious and bring chaos to the traditional industry model – from us developers straight to you,” Starbreeze CEO Bo Andersson Klint recently said of the game.

While we wait, check out the trailer for Overkill’s The Walking Dead below!

The post Overkill’s The Walking Dead Video Game Pushed to 2017 appeared first on Dread Central.

Richard Bates Jr., the writer/director of Excision and Suburban Gothic, continues to be an interesting voice worth listening to in the filmmaking world, and his third feature just debuted over the weekend at Sundance. On tap tonight is the first clip from Trash Fire, so check it out!

The film stars Adrian Grenier, Angela Trimbur, Fionnula Flanagan, AnnaLynne McCord, and Matthew Gray Gubler.

Remaining Sundance Screenings:
Monday, January 25th @ 6:00PM – Press & Industry Screening – Holiday 2 Theater
Friday, January 29th @ 11:59PM – 3rd Public Screening – Library Center Theater
Saturday, January 30th @ 11:59PM – 4th Public Screening – Tower Theater

Synopsis:
When Owen is forced to confront the past he’s been running from his whole adult life, he and his girlfriend, Isabel, become entangled in a horrifying web of lies, deceit, and murder. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll be scarred for life.

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The third season of Machinima’s eSports reality documentary series “Chasing the Cup” is all about the top Mortal Kombat X players in the world, and in the wake of the first three episodes hitting the net today, we’ve just learned that the season finale will air on The CW. Read on for details.

Variety reports that The CW will distribute the first five episodes of “Mortal Kombat X: Machinima’s Chasing the Cup” online at CW Seed. The finale, covering the championship of the ESL Pro League Finals with contestants battling for $100,000 in prize money, will air on the CW Network as a one-hour primetime special on Monday, Feb. 15, at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

“Mortal Kombat X: Machinima’s Chasing the Cup” follows five of the world’s top-ranked players: Carl White (Perfect Legend), from Toledo, Ohio; brothers Timothy Commandeur (HoneyBee) and Matthew Commandeur (BioHazard) from Toronto, Canada; Brant McCaskill (Pig of the Hut) from Atlanta, Ga.; and returning champ Dominique Maclean (SonicFox), from Townsend, Del.

Head over to CW Seed to watch the first three episodes right now.

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Played by horror icon Bill Moseley in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2, Leatherface’s brother Chop Top is without question one of the most memorable and beloved slasher baddies of them all. He may have been a secondary villain, but I think it’s fair to say he stole the whole damn show.

Several years back, Mezco added Chop Top to their Cinema of Fear action figure line, and now NECA just announced that they’ll also be sending the crazed hippie to the toy shelf. A retro-style Chop Top toy is coming early this summer, they say, along with a Part 2 version of Leatherface.

Check out your first look at the prototype head sculpt below!

NECA’s retro figures come dressed in tailored clothing, and housed in clamshell packaging.

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